Ans: A

Exp: 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the launch of UPI Tap and Pay feature among other new digital payment functionalities at the Global Fintech Fest in September this year. 

Statement 1 is correct: The feature utilises near-field communication (NFC) technology to capture details about a payee’s UPI ID or a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) without capturing a quick response (QR) code via a camera. Mobiles and devices, that have the NFC capability, can use the service. 

Statement 2 is incorrect: If a user enables the UPI LITE account for the tap feature, transactions with a value of less than ₹500 will be processed through UPI LITE. Transactions of over ₹500 will require a UPI PIN. However, to expand the service of UPI Tap and Pay, merchants will need to have UPI Smart QRs or tags, which are certified for NFCs. 

Ans: D

Exp:

SLIM is a spacecraft built and launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on September 7, 2023, from the Tanegashima spaceport. It weighed only 590 kg at launch, which is almost one-seventh of Chandrayaan 3, which weighed 3,900 kg at launch. SLIM was launched together with XRISM, a next-generation X-ray space telescope, onboard an H-2A rocket. JAXA had planned to launch SLIM and XRISM together, so delays in readying XRISM pushed SLIM’s launch date from 2021 to 2023. JAXA launched SLIM only two weeks after the surface component of India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission succeeded and Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft failed. SLIM will also mark the second Japanese attempt this year to soft-land on the moon, the first one being the HAKUTO-R M1 lander.

Ans: C

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The vision of the mission is that every rural household has a drinking water supply in adequate quantity of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis at affordable service delivery charges leading to improvement in the living standards of rural communities.

Statement 2 is correct: Jal Jeevan Mission was launched to assist, empower and facilitate:

• • States/ UTs in the planning of participatory rural water supply strategy for ensuring potable drinking water security on a long-term basis to every rural household and public institution, viz. GP buildings, Schools, Anganwadi centres, Health centres, wellness centres, etc.

• States/ UTs for creation of water supply infrastructure so that every rural household has a Functional Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024 and water in adequate quantity of prescribed quality is made available on a regular basis.

• States/ UTs to plan for their drinking water security.

Ans: B

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: Huntington’s disease is a rare, inherited disease that causes the progressive breakdown (degeneration) of nerve cells in the brain. Huntington’s disease has a wide impact on a person’s functional abilities and usually results in movement, thinking (cognitive), and psychiatric disorders. Each one of us has two copies of the HTT gene: one we inherited from the father and one from the mother. The disease is triggered even if only one copy of the gene is mutated while the other is normal. That is, the mutant gene is said to be dominant to its normal counterpart.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Huntington’s disease patients have mild symptoms: forgetfulness, loss of balance, and clumsiness in performing simple tasks. The symptoms begin in the ages 30-50, when the patient might also have had children. The patient eventually dies, but not before raising the spectre that one or more of their children will suffer the same fate. There is no cure. Medications are available to help manage the symptoms of Huntington’s disease. However, treatments can’t prevent the physical, mental, and behavioural decline associated with the condition.

Ans: B

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The implementation of the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan is one of the top priorities of the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India to provide an option to all eligible ration card holders/beneficiaries covered under NFSA to access their entitlements from anywhere in the country.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Beneficiaries can quote either their ration card number or the Aadhaar number to any Fair Price Shop dealer across the country. Anyone in the family, who has seeded Aadhaar in the ration card can undergo authentication and lift the ration. There is no need to share or carry the ration card or Aadhaar card with a ration dealer to avail of the benefit. Beneficiaries can undergo Aadhaar authentication by using their fingerprints or iris-based identification.

Statement 3 is correct: If the beneficiary took some foodgrains from any fair price shop, the ONORC system also allows their family members back home to claim the balance of foodgrains on same the ration card. Apart from this, ONORC will also give the beneficiaries the opportunity to choose their own ration dealer.