Science & Technology Mixed Quiz: Set 15

The correct answer is B, rupees 6,003.65 crore. The Union Cabinet approved this amount on 19 April 2023 for the period 2023-24 to 2030-31, that is an eight year span, and the Department of Science and Technology implements the mission within it. Option A is wrong because a thousand crore is far below the sanctioned figure and would not cover four thematic hubs and their hardware programmes. Option C is wrong because ten thousand crore is a round number candidates often guess but is not the approved outlay. Option D is wrong because twenty five thousand crore is of the order of much larger industrial programmes rather than this mission. The three numbers to carry into the examination hall together are the date 19 April 2023, the outlay of 6,003.65 crore rupees and the period up to 2030-31.

The correct answer is B, the Department of Science and Technology. The Union Cabinet approved the mission on 19 April 2023 and placed its implementation with that department, which runs it through four thematic hubs at leading academic institutions. Option A is wrong because the Department of Atomic Energy looks after nuclear power, nuclear research centres and related applications, and it is not the nodal agency here. Option C is wrong because the Department of Space, which runs the Indian Space Research Organisation, has demonstrated quantum key distribution of its own but does not implement the mission. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology runs programmes in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, a separate stream. Learn the pairing of each mission with its nodal department, since that is the usual question format.

The correct answer is A, 20 per cent ethanol. In this notation the letter E stands for ethanol and the number gives its percentage by volume in the blend, so E20 is one fifth ethanol and four fifths petrol, while E10 is a tenth ethanol and E85 is a high blend meant for flex fuel vehicles. Option B is wrong because biodiesel blends are written with the letter B, as in B5 and B100, and are blended with diesel rather than petrol. Option C is wrong because methanol blends are written with the letter M, as in M15, and form a separate programme. Option D is wrong because compressed bio-gas is a gaseous fuel used in place of compressed natural gas and is not blended into petrol at all.

The correct answer is B, ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH. Ethanol is the two carbon alcohol obtained by the fermentation of sugars by yeast, and it is the alcohol blended into petrol under the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme. Option A is wrong because methyl alcohol or methanol is a different, single carbon alcohol; it is highly poisonous and is the subject of a separate methanol blending programme, not the ethanol one. Option C is wrong because glycerol is a three carbon trihydric alcohol and in this chapter appears as the by-product of biodiesel manufacture, not as a fuel blend. Option D is wrong because acetic acid is a carboxylic acid, the acid of vinegar, formed when ethanol is oxidised; it is not a fuel. Remember that ethanol also raises the octane number of petrol.

The correct answer is B, 1984. Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard proposed the protocol in that year, and the name BB84 combines their initials with the year. It describes how two parties can build a shared secret key by sending single photons in randomly chosen polarisation bases and then publicly comparing which bases they used, discarding the rest. Option A is wrong because 1974 is remembered in a different context, as the year the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was formed, and has no bearing here. Option C is wrong because 1994 is the year Peter Shor published his factoring algorithm, which is a threat to classical cryptography rather than a protocol for securing it. Option D is wrong because 2004 is too late; by then quantum key distribution had already been demonstrated over fibre.

The correct answer is C, August 2021. The Prime Minister announced the National Hydrogen Mission in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on 15 August 2021, with the aim of making India a hub for producing and exporting green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is made by splitting water through electrolysis using electricity from solar, wind or other renewable sources, so it releases no carbon dioxide, unlike the grey hydrogen made from natural gas. The Union Cabinet later approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023 with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore. Option A is wrong because May 2021 saw no such announcement. Option B is wrong because November 2021 is when the Prime Minister gave the Panchamrit climate pledges at the Glasgow COP26 summit. Option D is wrong because January 2021 belongs to the vaccination drive against Covid-19, not to hydrogen. Exam tip: announced 15 August 2021; the mission was approved by the Cabinet in January 2023.

The correct answer is B, advance the 20 per cent ethanol blending target to 2025-26. The National Policy on Biofuels of 2018 had set 2030 as the year for twenty per cent ethanol in petrol; the 2022 amendment brought that forward to the ethanol supply year 2025-26, and also widened the permitted feedstock and allowed the production of biofuels in special economic zones for export. Option A is wrong because molasses remains the mainstay feedstock for Indian ethanol and was never banned. Option C is wrong because the biodiesel blending target of five per cent by 2030 continues under the same policy. Option D is wrong because the policy is administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which was not changed by the amendment. Remember also that an ethanol supply year runs from December to November.

The correct answer is A, tuberculosis. BCG stands for Bacillus Calmette Guerin, a live attenuated strain of a bovine tuberculosis bacterium, and it is given at or soon after birth under the Universal Immunization Programme to guard against severe forms of childhood tuberculosis. Option B is wrong because tetanus is prevented by a toxoid, a toxin made harmless, given in the childhood series and again after a wound. Option C is wrong; hepatitis B is prevented by a recombinant subunit vaccine that carries only one surface protein of the virus, and a birth dose of it is also part of the programme, which is why it is a strong distractor. Option D is wrong because measles is prevented by a live attenuated viral vaccine given later in infancy, usually combined with rubella. Learn each vaccine with its type as well as its disease.

The correct answer is C, China. Micius was launched in 2016 and was used to demonstrate quantum key distribution between a satellite and ground stations, and entanglement distribution over distances far greater than optical fibre allows, since fibre loses photons rapidly over long runs. The satellite is named after an ancient Chinese philosopher. Option A is wrong because the United States has run major quantum programmes in computing and in post quantum cryptography but did not launch this satellite. Option B is wrong because Russia has no comparable dedicated quantum satellite to its name. Option D is wrong because Japan has done notable work on quantum communication over fibre but was not first to orbit. India's own target under the National Quantum Mission is satellite based secure quantum communication over 2,000 kilometres between ground stations.

The correct answer is C, phosphorus. Silicon has four valence electrons, so adding a pentavalent atom such as phosphorus, arsenic, antimony or bismuth leaves one electron over after four bonds are formed; that spare electron is loosely held and becomes a free carrier, making electrons the majority carriers and the crystal n-type. Option A is wrong because boron is trivalent and creates a vacancy, giving a p-type crystal. Option B is wrong because aluminium is also trivalent and is another p-type dopant. Option D is wrong because indium is trivalent as well. Note that an n-type crystal is not negatively charged: the donor atom keeps its positive nucleus, so the crystal as a whole stays electrically neutral, and examiners test exactly this point in statement-based questions.

The correct answer is B, second generation ethanol bio-refineries. The Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana was approved in 2019 to give viability gap funding to commercial and demonstration projects that make ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass such as paddy straw and bagasse, since such advanced plants cost far more than ordinary molasses distilleries. Option A is wrong because solar pumps and panels for farmers come under the PM-KUSUM scheme. Option C is wrong because electric buses are supported through the FAME and later electric mobility schemes of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. Option D is wrong because rural cooking gas connections were given under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. India built its first such commercial paddy straw plant at Panipat in Haryana, and the full name of the scheme expands to Jaiv Indhan Vatavaran Anukool Fasal Awashesh Nivaran, which itself points at crop residue.

The correct answer is D, 1.6 W/kg. The Specific Absorption Rate measures how much radio energy from a handset the body takes in, in watts per kilogram of tissue. From 1 September 2012 the Department of Telecommunications made 1.6 W/kg, averaged over one gram of human tissue, the limit for every new mobile handset design sold in India. Before that India followed the older figure of 2.0 W/kg averaged over ten grams. The rules also require the SAR value to be printed on the handset and its box, and a buyer can check it by dialling a code given by the maker. India's limit matches the standard used in the United States. Option A is wrong because 1.8 W/kg is not a prescribed limit anywhere. Option B is wrong because 2.1 W/kg is not a SAR standard. Option C is wrong because 2.2 W/kg is only a distractor. Exam tip: India's SAR limit is 1.6 W/kg over 1 gram of tissue, in force from 1 September 2012.

The correct answer is D, quantum agriculture, which is not a recognised branch of the field and is not part of the mission. The four thematic areas, each with its own hub, are quantum computing at the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru, quantum communication at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, quantum sensing and metrology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and quantum materials and devices at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Option A is wrong as an answer because quantum computing is the first of those areas. Option B is wrong because quantum communication, covering quantum key distribution over fibre and by satellite, is the second. Option C is wrong because quantum sensing and metrology, which produces atomic clocks, magnetometers and gravimeters, is the third. The fourth, materials and devices, supplies the hardware for the rest.

The correct answer is B, Smiling Buddha. The test was carried out in the desert at Pokhran in Rajasthan on 18 May 1974 and was described by India as a peaceful nuclear explosion; Raja Ramanna led the team. Option A is wrong because Operation Shakti is the name of the second round of tests, the five devices fired on 11 and 13 May 1998 at the same range, after which India declared itself a nuclear weapon state. Option C is wrong because Operation Vijay is the name given to the military operation in Kargil in 1999, which has nothing to do with the nuclear tests. Option D is wrong because Dhruva is a research reactor at Trombay that began working in 1985, not a test. Note also that National Technology Day on 11 May marks the 1998 tests, not the 1974 one.

The correct answer is B, the G20 summit in New Delhi. The Global Biofuels Alliance was launched in September 2023 during the G20 summit held in New Delhi under India’s presidency, with India, the United States and Brazil among its founding members, the three being the largest producers and users of ethanol. Its purpose is to help member countries build biofuel markets, trade and technology. Option A is wrong because the BRICS summit at Johannesburg in 2023 is remembered for the admission of new members, not for this alliance. Option C is wrong because the climate conference at Dubai that year produced the first global stocktake. Option D is wrong because Davos is an annual business gathering and does not launch intergovernmental alliances of this kind.

The correct answer is A, totipotency. A single plant cell retains the capacity to divide and differentiate into every tissue and so to regenerate a whole plant, which is why an explant grown on a sterile nutrient medium can form callus and then complete plantlets. Option B is wrong because osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane and explains water uptake, not regeneration. Option C is wrong because transpiration is the loss of water vapour through stomata and has nothing to do with culture. Option D is wrong because photoperiodism is the response of flowering to day length. Tissue culture built on totipotency gives micropropagation for banana, sugarcane and orchids, virus free plants through meristem culture, and haploids through anther culture, all of which are asked as applications.

The correct answer is A, Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen. GOBARdhan, which expands to Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan, was launched in 2018 by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Ministry of Jal Shakti as a part of the rural sanitation mission, because turning dung and farm waste into biogas is both a waste management and a clean fuel measure. Option B is wrong because the Fasal Bima Yojana is a crop insurance scheme. Option C is wrong because the National Clean Air Programme sets city-wise targets for cutting particulate pollution and is run by the environment ministry. Option D is wrong because the Gram Jyoti Yojana dealt with rural electrification and feeder separation, not with biogas. The petroleum ministry runs a parallel scheme for the same fuel, SATAT, on the commercial transport side.

The correct answer is B, the Integral Coach Factory at Chennai, which designed the train set under the project name Train 18 and rolled out the first rake. Option A, the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab, builds LHB coaches and other passenger stock but did not design this train set. Option C, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in West Bengal, builds electric locomotives, and a Vande Bharat rake does not use a locomotive at all, since its propulsion equipment is distributed under the coaches. Option D, the Modern Coach Factory at Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, is the newest of the coach factories and also builds LHB stock. All four are production units of Indian Railways, so the question is really asking which unit does which job, and coach design of this kind belongs to Chennai.

The correct answer is B, Brazil. After the oil shock of 1973 Brazil launched the Proalcool or National Alcohol Programme in 1975, requiring ethanol made from its abundant sugarcane to be blended with petrol and later building cars that could run on pure ethanol; it is the oldest and best known national biofuel programme. Option A is wrong because the United States became the largest ethanol producer much later, using maize, and its blending mandates date from the 2000s. Option C is wrong because China came to fuel ethanol later still and in smaller volumes. Option D is wrong because Germany is associated with biodiesel from rapeseed rather than with a pioneering ethanol programme. India, the United States and Brazil founded the Global Biofuels Alliance in 2023.

The correct answer is B, L1, about 15 lakh kilometres. The Lagrange point L1 of the Sun and the Earth lies between the two bodies, roughly 1.5 million or fifteen lakh kilometres from the Earth. At that point the gravitational pulls of the Sun and the Earth combine with the motion of the spacecraft so that it keeps station with the Earth. A spacecraft there can watch the Sun without any interruption from an eclipse or from the night side of the Earth, which is why Aditya-L1 was sent there.

Option A names L2, which lies on the far side of the Earth from the Sun at a similar distance and holds the James Webb Space Telescope. Option C gives the distance of the Moon from the Earth, about 3.84 lakh kilometres, which is far too close. Option D gives roughly the distance of the Earth from the Sun and a different Lagrange point altogether. Remember that L1 is about one hundredth of the way to the Sun.