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The correct answer is Raichur Doab region.

Key Points

• Raichur Doab region:

• It is a triangular region of land in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka lying between the rivers Tungabhadra and Krishna.

• The doab had been an area of contention between the Bahmani kingdom and the Vijayanagar empire.

• Claims and counterclaims of victory show that neither side gained effective and lasting control over the doab, and the struggle extended eventually into the Konkan and Andhra regions.

• Vijayanagar empire:

• Harihar and Bukka founded this independent kingdom in the region between the river Krishna and Tungabhadra in 1336.

• The most famous king of the Vijaynagara Empire was Krishnadeva Raya. The Vijayanagar kingdom reached the pinnacle of its glory during his reign.

• The decline of the Vijayanagar kingdom began with the death of Krishnadeva Raya in 1529.

• The kingdom came to an end in 1565, when Ramrai was defeated at Talikota by the joint efforts of Adilshahi, Nizamshahi, Qutubshahi, and Baridshahi.

• Bahmani Kingdom:

• The Muslim kingdom of Bahmani was established by some nobles of the Deccan who revolted against the repressive policies of Sultan Muhammed Tughlaq.

• In 1347, Hasan became the king under the title Abdul Muzaffar Ala-Ud-Din Bahman Shah and founded the Bahmani dynasty.

• This dynasty lasted for about 175 years and had 18 rulers.

The correct answer is International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).

Key Points

• In December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution declaring 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). Hence statement 1 is correct.

• The year is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.

• To support the IYPH proclamation, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures established the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) IYPH Steering Committee in 2016, which currently serves as IYPH Technical Advisory Board (IYPH TAB).

• In 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the IPPC Secretariat established the IYPH International Steering Committee (ISC).

• United Nations General Assembly: 

• United Nations General Assembly, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and the only body in which every member of the organization is represented and allowed to vote.

• The first session of the assembly convened on Jan. 10, 1946, in London, with 51 countries represented.

• Numerous nonmembers, such as states, organizations, and other entities (e.g., the Vatican, the African Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Palestine), maintain observer status, enabling them to participate in the work of the General Assembly.

• Headquarters:- New York

• President:- Abdulla Shahid

The correct answer is B.

Key Points

• Varna/Warna river:

• It is a tributary of the river Krishna. Hence pair B is incorrectly matched.

• Warna River and Yerla River converge with the River Krishna in the Sangli district of Maharashtra.

• The floods of the Warna River causes damage to the region it flows through every year.

• The four villages namely Aitawad Khurd, Kanegaon, Koregaon, and Shigaon are the worst affected ones, along with Walwa taluka and three villages; namely the Sawalwadi, Dudhgaon, and Samdoli.

• Tributaries of Godavari river:

The correct answer is Ranchi – Chaibasa region.

Key Points

• Ranchi – Chaibasa region: 
• This region falls under the Chotanagpur Industrial Region which extends over Jharkhand, Northern Orissa, and the Western part of West Bengal.
• The birth and growth of this region are linked with the discovery of coal in Damodar Valley and iron ore in the Jharkhand-Orissa mineral belt. As both are found in close proximity, the region is known as the ‘Ruhr of India’.
• This region is known for its heavy metallurgical industries.
• It has a large percentage of mineral-based industries in its industrial structure.
• Important centres are Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chaibasa, Sindri, Hazaribag, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Rourkela, Durgapur, Asansol, and Dalmianagar.

Additional Information

• Industrial regions in India:
• Major Industrial Regions: 1. Mumbai-Pune Region, 2. Hugli Region, 3. Bengaluru-Tamil Nadu Region, 4. Gujarat Region, 5. Chotanagpur Region, 6. Vishakhapatnam-Guntur Region, 7. Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut Region, and 8. Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Region.
• Minor Industrial Regions: 1. Ambala-Amritsar, 2. Saharanpur-Muzaffarnagar-Bijnor, 3. Indore-Dewas-Ujjain, 4. Jaipur-Ajmer, 5. Kolhapur-South Kannada, 6. Northern Malabar, 7. Middle Malabar, 8. Adilabad-Nizamabad, 9. Allahabad-Varanasi-Mirzapur, 10. Bhojpur-Munger, 11. Durg-Raipur, 12. Bilaspur-Korba, and 13. Brahmaputra valley.
• Industrial Districts: 1. Kanpur, 2. Hyderabad, 3. Agra, 4. Nagpur, 5. Gwalior, 6. Bhopal, 7. Lucknow, 8. Jalpaiguri, 9. Cuttack, 10. Gorakhpur, 11. Aligarh, 12. Kota, 13. Purnia, 14. Jabalpur, and 15. Bareilly.

The correct answer is A and B only.

Key Points

• System of Air Quality Forecasting And Research (SAFAR): 
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, has introduced the System of Air Quality Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) to provide location-specific information on air quality in near real-time and its forecast 1-3 days in advance in major metropolitan cities such as Delhi and Pune. Hence statement A is correct.
• This system benefits the general population by increasing awareness of climate-related events and forecasting adverse environmental effects.
• The system is indigenously developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and is operationalized by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).  Hence statement B is correct.
• It monitors all weather parameters like temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction, UV radiation, and solar radiation.  Hence statement C is incorrect.
• Pollutants monitored by the SAFAR system are PM2.5, PM10, Ozone, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, and Mercury.

Additional Information

• Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune:
• The Institute was founded as the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM) on 17 November 1962 at Pune (the then Poona), as a distinct unit of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• Consequent to the recommendation of the Committee for Organization of Scientific Research (COSR) appointed by the Government of India the Institute was transformed into an autonomous organization on 1^st April 1971 under the name Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
• In the initial years, along with the IMD, the Institute functioned under the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, but later in 1985, it was brought under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Ministry of Science & Technology, and now, with effect from 12 July 2006 the IITM has been under the administrative control of the specially formed Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

The correct answer is Different.

Key Points

• Theory of Comparative Advantage of International Trade by David Ricardo:
• It states that a country tends to specialize in and export those commodities in the production of which it has maximum comparative cost advantage or minimum comparative disadvantage. Similarly, the country’s imports will be of goods having relatively less comparative cost advantage or greater disadvantage.
• According to the theory, if the comparative Cost Ratio of goods is the same for both countries, there is no reason for undertaking specialization. Hence, trade between the two countries will not take place.
• If there is cost ratio for commodities is different for both countries then one of them will have specialization in the production of that commodity and hence, the trade between the two countries can be useful.

Important Points

Example:

• It follows that country A has an absolute advantage over В in the production of X while В has an absolute advantage in producing Y.
• As such, when the trade takes place, A specializes in X and exports its surplus to В and В specializes in У and exports its surplus to A.

The correct answer is Dhruv.

Key Points

• Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme - DHRUV:
• It has been started by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India to identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge.
• In centers of excellence across the country, gifted children will be mentored and nurtured by renowned experts in different areas, so that they can reach their full potential.
• The program is named after a pole star called Dhruv Tara.
• The main objective of the program is to allow students to realize their complete potential and contribute to society.
• The program aims to cover two areas namely Science and Arts.
• The program is to be launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• Around 60 students are selected broadly from Class 9 to Class 12 all over the country.

Additional Information 

• NISHTHA:
• The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2019-20.
• NISHTHA is a capacity-building program for "Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training".
• It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.
• ShaGun:
• The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry launched a school education portal ‘Shagun’ with an aim to integrate over 2.3 lakh educational websites.
• The web portal links 15 lakh schools across the country and provides teachers, students, and parents all the information that they need on school education.
• YUVIKA - Yuva Vigyani Karyakram (Young Scientist Programme):
• It is an ISRO young scientist program, with the broad objective of imparting basic knowledge of space technology, space science, and space applications to younger ones.
• 3 students, studying in 9thStd, from each state and UT of India shall be selected.
• The program includes 2 weeks of residential training, involving 4 centers of ISRO viz. VSSC, URSC, SAC, and NESAC and a visit to SDSC, SHAR as a part of the program.

The correct answer is A, B and C are correct.

Key Points

• Christina Koch:
• She launched on March 14, 2019, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz spacecraft with NASA  Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin.
• She returned to Earth on February 6, 2020, on a Soyuz spacecraft with ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. Hence statement B is correct.
• The crews she served on contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology development.
• Some of the scientific highlights from her missions include improvements to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which studies dark matter, growing protein crystals for potential use in treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and testing 3D biological printers to print tissues in microgravity. Hence statement C is correct.
• Koch conducted six spacewalks, including the first three all-women spacewalks, totaling 42 hours and 15 minutes.
• She has spent a total of 328 days in space. Hence statement A is correct.

Additional Information

• International Space Station (ISS):
• The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation project that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space.
• Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011, although the station continually evolves to include new missions and experiments.
• The ISS includes contributions from 15 nations. NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), and the European Space Agency are the major partners of the space station who contribute most of the funding; the other partners are the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

The correct answer is A and C only.

Key Points

• British East India Company:
• In 1599, a group of English merchants calling themselves the ‘Merchant Adventurers’ formed the British East India Company. Hence statement A is correct.
• On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter with rights of exclusive trading to the company named the ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies.
• Initially, a monopoly of fifteen years was granted, which in May 1609 was extended indefinitely by a fresh charter. Hence statement B is incorrect.
• The Company had sent Captain Hawkins to the court of the Mughal Emperor, Jahangir in 1608 to secure permission to establish a “factory” (storehouse of goods) at Surat. Hence statement C is correct.
• The Charter Act of 1813 ended the trade monopoly of East India Company in India. Hence statement D is incorrect.

Additional Information

• French East India Company:
• During the reign of Louis XIV, the king’s famous minister Colbert laid the foundation of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales (French East India Company) in 1664, in which the king also took a deep interest.
• The Compagnie des Indes Orientales was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The correct answer is Chang’e 4.

Key Points

• China's Chang'e 4 was the first mission to land on the far side of the Moon.
• Chang'e-4 consists of a lander and a rover, as well as a relay satellite
• The lander and rover communicate with Earth via the Queqiao relay satellite.
• The lander and rover landing touched down in Von Ksrman crater on Jan. 3, 2019.
• Chang'e 4 will collect compositional measurements of the farside basaltic rocks.

China National Space Administration (CNSA):

• China National Space Administration (CNSA), is a Chinese government organization founded in 1993 to manage national space activities.
• The organization is composed of four departments: General Planning; System Engineering; Science, Technology, and Quality Control; and Foreign Affairs.
• Its headquarters is in Beijing.
• The CNSA operates three launch facilities: Jiuquan, in Gansu province; Taiyuan, in Shanxi province; and Xichang, in Sichuan province.

Additional Information 

• Moon has a 'near side' that is perpetually Earth-facing and a 'far side', which always faces away from Earth.
• The far side is almost entirely craters; craters piled within other craters, with rough terrain.