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The correct answer is ​Australia.

Key Points

• India and Australia signed an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA).
• The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), signed on April 2, 2022, is India's first trade agreement with a developed country after more than a decade.
• The Agreement encompasses cooperation across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between India and Australia, and covers areas like Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Customs Procedures, Pharmaceutical products, and Cooperation in other area.
• It seeks to provide duty-free access to 96 percent of India’s exports to Australia.
• The exports include engineering goods, gems and jewellery, textiles, apparel, and leather. The pact is expected to boost bilateral trade in goods and services to USD 45-50 billion over five years and generate over one million jobs in India.

Additional Information

• The agreement will benefit various labour-intensive Indian sectors that are currently subjected to a 5% import duty by Australia.
• The agreement will result in immediate market access at zero duty to 98.3% of tariff lines, accounting for 96.4% of India’s exports to Australia in value terms.
• The remaining 1.7% of lines are to be made zero-duty lines over 5 years. Overall, Australia is offering duty elimination on 100% of its tariff lines.
• Immediate duty-free access covers all labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and apparel, agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, many engineering products, Jewlery and select Pharmaceuticals.
• As a result, many industries, such as steel, aluminium, garments, and others, will get cheaper raw materials, which will enable them to become more competitive.
• Both sides have also agreed to a separate Annex on Pharmaceutical Products under this agreement, which will enable fast-track approval for patented, generic, and biosimilar medicines.

The correct answer is New Zealand.

Key Points The Plain Language Act

• The Plain Language Act was passed by the New Zealand Government recently.
• The act requires government officials to use simple and easily understandable English language in official documents and websites.
• Purpose of the Plain Language Act is to improve the efficiency and accountability of public services by making communications clear, inclusive and easily accessible for the general public.
• According to the bill, plain language is a language that enables the target audience to understand after reading once. The Act defines plain language to be clear, concise and well-organized.
• Though the Plain Language Act does not specify which language constitutes a “plain language”, the Act is intended for the use of “plain English”. The Act does not restrict the use of Maori language (language of indigenous people in New Zealand) in official documents and websites.

Additional Information Key features of the Plain Language Act

• ​The law mainly seeks to benefit those who speak English as their second language, those with disabilities and less educated.
• Its aim is to make New Zealand a more inclusive democracy by removing jargon and complex language from the country’s bureaucracy.
• The Act mandates the appointment of plain language officers and creation of plain language guidance by the Public Service Commissioner.
• It also requires the forming a reporting framework to assess the compliance by the government officials.
• Under this Act, a public service agency must report its compliance to the plain language usage each year to the Public Service Commissioner.
• The Commissioner, in turn, must report the compliance of the agencies to the Minister of Public Service, who will then table a copy of the report to the New Zealand Parliament within 20 business days upon receiving it.
• Though the Act is legally binding once it receives Royal Assent, it does not confer a legal right or impose a legal obligation that is enforceable in the court of law on any person.

The correct answer is Russia.

Key Points

• In a recent discovery, fossils of the world’s first known plant pollinators and the oldest known insect called tillyardembiids were found in Russia.
• These earwig-like insects with clumps of pollen on their heads, bodies, and legs are estimated to be around 280 million years old, which predates the previously known pollen-covered insects by about 120 million years. This discovery sheds new light on the early evolution of insects and plants.
• The fossils were discovered along the riverbank, near the village of Chekarda in Russia.
• According to the researchers, the fossils of these insects were well-preserved in the layers of sedimentary rocks, which were formed during the Permian period.
• The tillyardembiids are named after an Australian entomologist, Robert John Tillyard, who worked on the study of fossils of ancient insects.

Additional Information Tillyardembiids as Plant Pollinators

• The most exciting finding in these fossils is that the tillyardembiids were the world’s first-known plant pollinators.
• The pollen found on their bodies was from gymnosperms, a type of plant that produces seeds without flowers.
• The discovery suggests that these insects played an essential role in the evolution of seed plants, which are an integral part of the ecosystem today.

Importance of the Discovery

• This discovery is significant as it helps in understanding the early evolution of insects and plants.
• The tillyardembiids are the oldest known insects and predate the previously known pollen-covered insects by about 120 million years.
• This discovery fills in the gap in the fossil record of plant pollinators and helps researchers to understand the role of insects in the evolution of seed plants. It also highlights the need to preserve ancient ecosystems and the importance of studying fossils.

The correct answer is Oceans.

Key Points

• The UN Ocean Conference 2022 concluded with the unanimous adoption of the Lisbon Declaration “Our Ocean, our future, our responsibility.”
• More than 150 countries agreed to scale up science-based and innovative actions to address the ocean emergency.
• The Lisbon Declaration takes into account the capacity challenges being faced by the developing countries, mainly the Small Island Developing States and Least Developing Countries.

Lisbon Declaration:

• Protecting at least 30% of national maritime zones by 2030
• Achieving carbon neutrality by 2040
• Allocating funds to research on ocean acidification, climate resilience and surveillance.
• Scale-up Science-based and innovative actions to address ocean emergency.
• Support implementation of SDG14 (life below water) by empowering women and girls- recognising their participation is crucial to building a sustainable ocean-based economy.
• Protect biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which lie outside the 200-mile (322-kilometre) exclusive economic zones of countries.

Additional Information Controlling Marine Pollution:

• Nutrient pollution
• Untreated wastewater
• Solid waste discharges
• Hazardous substance
• Emissions from the maritime sector, including shipping, shipwrecks.
• Anthropogenic underwater noise

UNESCO launched: the State of the Ocean Report during the event.

The correct answer is Horse.

Key Points

• The people of Harappan civilization domesticated a wide variety of animals.
• It included camel, buffalo, sheep, cows, dogs, pigs, bulls, etc.
• Camels were used as a means of transportation, while oxen or bulls were used by the farming community for cultivation.
• Dogs and cats were kept as pets.
• Other animals, such as cows, buffaloes, and pigs, were used as sources of food.
• We learned about the domesticated animals through their presence on seals and pictures engraved on tablets.
• Interestingly, there is no evidence of horses being domesticated during the Harappan period.

Hence, we can conclude that the domestic animal that was not known to the Indus Valley people was horse.

The correct answer is India Gate.

Key PointsUNESCO World Heritage Site:

• There are 43 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. Santiniketan, established by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, becomes the 41^st site to be declared a world heritage site in India in September 2023.
• UNESCO also included the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas in Karnataka in the list in September 2023.
• India Gate does not come in this list.

Qutub Minar:

• It was listed in the UNESCO world heritage site in the year 1993.
• Built in the early 13^th century a few kilometres south of Delhi, the red sandstone tower of Qutb Minar is 72.5 m high, tapering from 2.75 m in diameter at its peak to 14.32 m at its base, and alternating angular and rounded flutings.
• The surrounding archaeological area contains funerary buildings, notably the magnificent Alai-Darwaza Gate, the masterpiece of Indo-Muslim art (built in 1311), and two mosques, including the Quwwatu'l-Islam, the oldest in northern India, built of materials reused from some 20 Brahman temples.
• The ensemble of mosques, minars, and other structures in the Qutb Minar complex is an outstanding testimony to the architectural and artistic achievements of Islamic rulers after they first established their power in the Indian subcontinent in the 12^th century.
• The complex, located at the southern fringe of New Delhi, illustrates the new rulers’ aspiration to transform India from Dar-al-Harb to Dar-al-Islam with the introduction of distinctive building types and forms.
• Built of red and buff sandstone and eloquently carved with inscriptional bands, the Qutb Minar is the tallest masonry tower in India, measuring 72.5 metres high, with projecting balconies for calling all Muadhdhin to prayer.
• An iron pillar in the courtyard gave the mosque a unique Indian aesthetic.
• The 13^th-century square tomb of Iltutmish in the north-western part of Quwwatu’l-Islam marks the beginning of the tradition of constructing royal tombs, a practice followed as late as the Mughal era in India. The tomb-chamber is profusely carved with inscriptions and geometrical and arabesque patterns associated with Saracenic tradition.

Red Fort:

• The Red Fort Complex was built as the palace fort of Shahjahanabad – the new capital of the fifth Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan.
• Named for its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone, it is adjacent to an older fort, the Salimgarh, built by Islam Shah Suri in 1546, with which it forms the Red Fort Complex.
• The private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel, known as the Nahr-i-Behisht (Stream of Paradise).
• The Red Fort is considered to represent the zenith of Mughal creativity which, under the Shah Jahan, was brought to a new level of refinement.
• The planning of the palace is based on Islamic prototypes, but each pavilion reveals architectural elements typical of Mughal building, reflecting a fusion of Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions.
• The Red Fort’s innovative planning and architectural style, including the garden design, strongly influenced later buildings and gardens in Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra and further afield.
• The final flourishing of Mughal architecture built upon local traditions but enlivened them with imported ideas, techniques, craftsmanship and designs to provide a fusion of Islamic, Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions.
• The Red Fort demonstrates the outstanding results this achieved in planning and architecture.

The correct answer is Ireland.

Key Points

• The authors of the Constitution borrowed this idea from the Irish Constitution (1937) of Ireland.
• We also borrowed the "Method of Election of the president" and procedure of "Members nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the President" from the Irish Constitution (Ireland).
• It is true that our constitution had borrowed some features from the world constitution but drafted them according to the Historical prospect, Geographical variety, Cultural and traditional aspects of India.
• The purpose of DPSPs is to secure social, economic, political justice, and dignity & welfare of the individual.
• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar defined these principles as ‘Novel Features’ of the Constitution.
• The DPSPs and the Fundamental Rights comprise the outlook of the Constitution.

The correct answer is 1975.

Key Points

• Sikkim was a Protectorate of India in the past
• Sikkim was an Indian princely state ruled by Chogyal till 1947.
• In 1947, after the lapse of British paramountcy, Sikkim became a ‘protectorate’ of India, whereby the Indian Government assumed responsibility for the defence, external affairs, and communications of Sikkim.
• In 1974, Sikkim expressed its desire to join the association with India.
• Accordingly, the 35^th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1974 was enacted by the parliament which introduced a new class of statehood under the constitution by conferring on Sikkim the status of an ‘associate state’ of the Indian Union.
• The 36^th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1975 was enacted to make Sikkim a full-fledged state of the Indian Union.
• It then became the 22^nd state of India.

Additional Information Sikkim:

Capital: Gangtok.

Governor: SHRI Lakshman Prasad Acharya

Chief Minister is Prem Singh Tamang.

The correct answer is Pound Sterling.

Key Points

• Sterling (ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories.
• The pound (sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and the word "pound" is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. In British English, its most common nickname is "quid."
• 1 Pound Sterling = 100.71 Indian Rupee

The question is deleted by BPSC.

Key Points

• The Govt. Of Bihar signed an MOU with UN Environment Programme to make Bihar Pollution free from 2040. This year is not mentioned in any option. Hence deleted