Daily Quiz #87 UPSC Prelims Marathon – February 13, 2020

Explanation: India’s defence scientists have successfully launched Agni 5, the nuclear-capable ballistic missile, with over 5,000 km range. It is a three stage missile, 17 metres tall, and two metres wide and capable of carrying upto 1.5 tonne of payload, especially nuclear warheads. It is developed by labs (DRDO) under the Missile Complex in Hyderabad and several industries across the country were first flight tested in 2012.

Explanation: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is the Central Drug Authority for discharging functions assigned to the Central Government under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. CDSCO has six zonal offices, four sub-zonal offices, 13 port offices and seven laboratories under its control. Major functions of CDSCO:
1. Regulatory control over the import of drugs, approval of new drugs and clinical trials, meetings of Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) and Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), approval of certain licenses as Central License Approving Authority is exercised by the CDSCO headquarters.

Explanation: The Australia Group (AG) is an informal forum of countries which, through the harmonization of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons. Coordination of national export control measures assists Australia Group participants to fulfill their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to the fullest extent possible. India joined Australia Group in 2018.

Explanation: GLONASS is an acronym, which stands for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, or Global Navigation Satellite System. GLONASS is Russia’s version of GPS (Global Positioning System). Soviet Union started the development of GLONASS in 1976. GLONASS is the most expensive program of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming a third of its budget in 2010.

Explanation: Of all the mineral resources considered as potential targets for deep-sea mining, poly-metallic nodules (also commonly called manganese nodules) are probably the most likely commodity to be developed into a commercial operation. Poly-metallic nodules are rounded accretions of manganese and iron hydroxides that cover vast areas of the seafloor, but are most abundant on abyssal plains at water depths of 4000-6500 metres. They form through the aggregation of layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a central particle (such as a shell or small rock fragment), and range in size from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters. The composition of nodules varies with their environment of formation, but in addition to manganese and iron, they can contain nickel, copper and cobalt in commercially attractive concentrations as well as traces of other valuable metals such as molybdenum, zirconium and Rare Earth Elements.