Explanation :

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They were the Founding Members of the Organization. Therefore, statement 2 is incorrect.

Notable Absentee of the OPEC: Egypt, Oman, Yemen

How can a Country become an OPEC member?

The Statute stipulates that “any country with a substantial net export of crude petroleum, which has fundamentally similar interests to those of Member Countries, may become a Full Member of the Organization, if accepted by a majority of three-fourths of Full Members, including the concurring votes of all Founder Members.” Therefore, statement 1 is also incorrect.

Ecuador & Venezuela are the only two South American countries who are the members of this grouping.

Purpose of the Question:

Recently, Qatar has decided to opt out of the OPEC and hence this becomes very important from prelims point of view.

Source Name : IE, TH

Explanation :

• Among OPEC countries, Venezuela has the most oil reserves but Saudi Arabia produces more crude per day. Therefore, statement 1 is incorrect.
• Qatar has the fourth largest overall gas reserves and is third in the production of Natural Gas. Therefore, statement 2 is correct.

Purpose of the Question & some Arguments which can be used in Mains Answer Writing:

1. Qatar has decided to leave the OPEC cartel; students need to keep this in mind that Iran, Turkey, Lebanon & Qatar are present in one grouping which is opposed to the dominating behaviour of Saudi Arabia.

2. Share of Qatar in oil production is merely 2%, so its ouster is not going to affect the price of oil too much but it has given a clear cut message to Saudi Arabia that its high handed approach can’t go unchallenged.

Source Name : IE, Economic Times

Explanation :

• Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to Russia and hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• “Lake Balkhash” is a semi-saline lake located in Kazakhstan. It is mainly fed by Ili River.
• Gaganyaan” will be launched by GSLVMKIII. Statement 3 is also incorrect.

Purpose of the Question:

Recently, Baikonur Cosmodrome was in news because of astronauts who were sent to the International Space Station; students shall have a fair idea about the location and important facts related to the same.

Source Name : TH

Explanation :

Visualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral Atom Sensing-2 (VISIONS-2) is NASA’s Mission to probe how the Earth's atmosphere is slowly leaking into space as the Earth is losing weight; anywhere from a hundred to several hundred tons of atmosphere is going into space every day.

Source Name : TH

Explanation :

Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon. Since the death of Abbas al-Musawi in 1992, the group has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General.

Source Name : Diplomat

Explanation :

Government of India hadconstituted a six-member committee under the Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, Dr.Rajiv Kumarto look at the selling of 149 small and marginal oil and gas fields of state-owned the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to private and foreign companies to boost domestic output.

How will it Boost Domestic Outputs?

Small Gas & oil fields contribute to only 5% of the total gas & oil, so by disinvesting these small oil & gas fields to Private Companies, ONGC/ OIL can focus on major oil fields. The main purpose is to streamline the functioning of ONGC &OIL.

Source Name : Business Standard

Explanation :

It is India’s First Privately built satellite that has been launched by Space X.

The satellite is built by Mumbai based start up “Exceedspace” & costs around Rs. 2 crore.

Features of ExceedSAT1:

1. It has paved the way for privately funded space missions.

2. It will help the private radio operators in coordinating in better ways.

3. It can be used for communication during the disaster.

Note-It’s life span is 5 years and is placed in the polar orbit.

Source Name : TOI

Explanation :

Explanation :

World Customs Organization (WCO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. So, it is not an organization working under World Bank.

Aim of WCO

It works for combating counterfeiting in support of Intellectual Property Rights & administers the technical aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin.

WCO Secretariat is at Brussels & is headed by Secretary General who is having 5 years term. So, statement 3 is wrong.

Purpose of the Question:

The 80th Session of the Policy Commission Meeting of the World Customs Organization (WCO) was held in Mumbai. Students shall be aware with the importance & features of this organization.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

Namdapha National Park is present in the state of Andhra Pradesh & is the only reserve in the country to have four big cat species- Tiger, Leopard, Clouded Leopard & Snow Leopard together.

Namdapha was originally declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972, then a National Park in 1983 and became a Tiger Reserve under the Project Tiger scheme in the same year. It is a part of the Biodiversity Hot spot of Eastern Himalayas.

Geographical Location

• It is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range.
• It is crossed from east to west by the “Noa Dihing” River which is a tributary of Brahamputra.

Note: Mishmi tribes are settled in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Purpose of the Question:

Mishmi tribals live in complete harmony with the animals of Namdapha National Park, so we rarely find any Human-Animal conflict over there. This park was in news because of the cordial relation between Mishmi tribals and animals, hence the question.

Source Name : The Hindu

Explanation :

• Among OPEC countries, Venezuela has the most oil reserves but Saudi Arabia produces more crude per day. Therefore, statement 1 is incorrect.
• Qatar has the fourth largest overall gas reserves and is third in the production of Natural Gas. Therefore, statement 2 is correct.

Purpose of the Question & some Arguments which can be used in Mains Answer Writing:

1. Qatar has decided to leave the OPEC cartel; students need to keep this in mind that Iran, Turkey, Lebanon & Qatar are present in one grouping which is opposed to the dominating behaviour of Saudi Arabia.

2. Share of Qatar in oil production is merely 2%, so its ouster is not going to affect the price of oil too much but it has given a clear cut message to Saudi Arabia that its high handed approach can’t go unchallenged.

Source Name : IE, Economic Times

Explanation :

• Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to Russia and hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• “Lake Balkhash” is a semi-saline lake located in Kazakhstan. It is mainly fed by Ili River.
• Gaganyaan” will be launched by GSLVMKIII. Statement 3 is also incorrect.

Purpose of the Question:

Recently, Baikonur Cosmodrome was in news because of astronauts who were sent to the International Space Station; students shall have a fair idea about the location and important facts related to the same.

Source Name : TH

Explanation :

Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon. Since the death of Abbas al-Musawi in 1992, the group has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General.

Source Name : Diplomat

Explanation :

• GCF is the operating entity of financial mechanism of UNFCCC. The decision to set up GCF was taken in COP16-Cancun Summit (2010) but was operationalised in COP17-Durban Summit (2011).
• It is headquartered at Incheon, South Korea. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• “NABARD”is the nodal agency of India in the matters of GCF and has signed Funded Activity Agreement (FAA) with GCF for the implementation ofGround water Recharge projects in tribal areas of Odisha.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

• China tops the list in the emission of CO2 followed by US and then India. Therefore, statement 1 is correct.
• CRI is developed by Germanwatch. It analyses quantified impacts of extreme weather events in terms of fatalities and economic losses. India ranks 14^th in the CRI ranking, (as India suffered due to cyclones and floods but still it has managed to restrict the casualties and losses).

Source Name : IE

Explanation :

The ‘AI 4 All Global Hackathon’ was announcedby NITI Aayog, The AI for All Hackathon aims at supporting meaningful social, economic and technological advancements directed at making people’s lives better with the help of Artificial Intelligence techniques.

Note: NITI Aayog organized its first hackathon, ‘MoveHack’ in August, on the sidelines of the Global Mobility Summit 2018, with the aim of garnering cutting-edge mobility applications.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

Transponders Frequency

Purpose of the Question:

Source Name : IE

Explanation :

Digital Sky Platform is an online IT platform developed by Ministry of Civil Aviation for handling Unique Identification Numbers, Unmanned Aerial Operator’s Permit applications and permission to fly drones in India. It will take care of necessary licensing and permissions to fly drones simplifying the process of getting government clearances.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

• It is a flagship programme of Government of India which is being implemented by the Ministry of MSME.
• It is a credit linked initiative of GoI which is being monitored at national level by the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

Important Provisions under PMEG Scheme

• The Scheme is aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth in rural as well as urban areas. Any individual above 18 years is eligible to get the benefit of scheme.
• Under PMEGP, general category beneficiaries can avail of margin money subsidy of 25% of the project cost in rural areas and 15% in urban areas.
• For beneficiaries belonging to special categories such as Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe/ OBC/ Minorities/ Women, Ex-serviceman, Physically Handicapped, NER, Hill and Border areas etc. the margin money subsidy is 35% in rural areas and 25% in urban areas.

Upper Limits under PMEG

Total cost of project shall not exceed Rs 25 lakh for manufacturing and Rs 15 lakh for service sector.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

Note:

• In 2018, the Global Innovation Index (GII) ranked India as the 57th most innovative nation in the world.
• According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2018 of WEF, India ranked 58th, up five places from 2017 out of 140 countries.
• India ranks 44 in the Logistics Performance Index 2018 up from 54th position in 2014.
• Environmental Performance Index is released by the WEF in collaboration with the Yale and Columbia University. India ranks 177 out of 180 countries in 2018 rankings.

Source Name : PIB

Explanation :

The Indian Owl Festival, the country’s first owl fest, was held at Pingori village of Pune, Maharashtra from 29 November 2018. It was organized by Ela Foundation, an NGO working towards nature education and conservation of owls. India’s owl is protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972 and out of 262 species of owl, 75 species feature in the Red Data Book i.e they are threatened.

Why Owls needs Conservation?

Despite being protected under an Act, according to reports, owls are highly prized and are in demand for black magic purposes.

Source Name : IE

Explanation :

Asia’s first Data City Programme has been launched in Bengaluru. Data City Project aims at resolving burning issues of the city using innovative solutions created by startups from a pool of applications. It is a seven month long programme where the corporates, startups, government agencies and citizens will work closely to find solutions to city’s growing issues like mobility, water, waste management, energy, buildings, transparency etc. Hence, both the statements, 1 and 2 are incorrect.

Source Name : Economic Times

Explanation :

It is a medium ranged surface to air defence system that can target Aeroplanes, Helicopters etc. within a range of 30km and 18km altitude. This has been developed by the DRDO in collaboration with the Bharat Electronics limited.

Source Name : IDSA

Explanation :

Gause’s Law, also known as the competitive exclusion principle is named after Soviet biologist, Georgii Gause, which says that when two species compete for limited resources in an area, the dominant species will take advantage over the weak species and weak species will get excluded from its previous territory leading to its reduction in its numbers.

Source Name : TH

Explanation :

‘Coastwise 2018-19’ has been launched by the “Mangrove cell of Maharashtra”, WWF India and Marine life of Mumbai, an organisation working to create awareness about marine life. The campaign aims at creating public awareness about essential marine flora and fauna of the Maharashtra region.

Hence, both the statements are wrong.

Source Name : IE

Explanation :

Seismic Airguns are used to find oil and gas deep underneath the ocean floor. Seismic Airguns are towed behind ships and shoot loud blasts of compressed air through the water and miles into the seabed, which reflect back information about buried oil and gas deposits. These blasts harm marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and other wildlife as most of these wildlife uses Echolocation for their movement.

Purpose of the Question:

Recently, US government has allowed Seismic Airgun Blasting in the North Atlantic Ocean to detect the oil beds.

Source Name : National Geographic

Explanation :

• The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• India joined this grouping in 2017 as its associate member and not a full time member.
• World Energy Oil Report is published by OPEC and World Energy Outlook Report is published by the IEA.

Source Name : IE

Explanation :

Qatar shares its land boundary only with one country and that is Saudi Arabia.

If the question would have been with which country it is surrounded then it will be Saudi Arabia, Bahrain (Hawar Island), UAE etc. But student must remember that it shares land boundary with only Saudi Arabia.

Purpose of the Question:

Due to exit of Qatar from OPEC, this region becomes important from our prelims perspective. Students are advised to look into the map of this region.

Source Name : TH

Explanation :

The phenomenon, ‘Urban Heat Island’ was first investigated and described by Luke Howard in the 1810s. Urban Heat Islands (UHI) are significantly warmer urban areas than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. Urban Heat Island is a major problem associated with rapid urbanisation.

The temperature increase is attributed to deforestation and the construction materials adopted for city building. Usually, under the urban heat island phenomenon, the central regions of urban centres exhibit higher mean temperatures than the surrounding areas. Urban Heat Island (UHI) occurs in both the seasons (summers and winters).

The temperature difference is usually gretaer at night than day, and is most apparent when winds are weak. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

Latest studies have shown that UHI is one of the main reasons of Global Warming. The rising columns of warm air in the urban areas are commonly called as “urban thermal plume”.