Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Environment & Geography) – September 13, 2020

‘Green’ crackers have a small shell size compared to traditional crackers.

• They are produced using less harmful raw materials and have additives which reduce emissions by suppressing dust.
• Green crackers don’t contain banned chemicals such as lithium, arsenic, barium and lead.
• They are called Safe Water Releaser (SWAS), Safe Thermite Cracker (STAR) and Safe Minimal Aluminium (SAFAL) crackers.

Green crackers release water vapour and don’t allow the dust particles to rise. They are designed to have 30% less particulate matter pollution.

Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which has the highest concentration of one-horned rhinos in the world and is often called ‘Mini Kaziranga’ due to similar landscape and vegetation.

• Pobitora is popularly known as ‘miniature Kaziranga’ for its highest density of one horned rhino in Assam.
• It is situated in the flood plains of River Brahmaputra in the district of Morigaon and 45 kms from Guwahati.
• Once the grazing reserve of erstwhile Nagaon district, Pobitora came into limelight during 1961-62 for the presence of one horned rhino (Rhinoceros Unicornis).

The freedom to define land, not already classified as forests by the Centre or state records, as forest has been the prerogative of the States since 1996 and stems from a Supreme Court order called the Godavarman judgement.

Godavarman judgement: On December 12, 1996, a bench led by Chief Justice J.S. Verma passed an interim order directing that tree-felling and non-forestry activity in forests across the country be stopped.

• The path-breaking order re-defined the meaning of forests and extended protection to all areas with natural forests irrespective of their ownership.
• It laid down that ‘forests’ will be understood by its dictionary meaning, and the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, shall apply to all thickly wooded areas.
• States were directed to form expert committees to identify forests as defined and file reports. Senior Counsel Harish Salve was appointed Amicus Curie to assist the Supreme Court.

The Great Nicobar Island of Andaman has an area of about 1044 sq. km.

• According to the 2011 census, has a population of about 8,069.
• The island is home to one of the most primitive tribes of India — the Shompens (PVTG).
• The island includes the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve (GNBR) comprising of the Galathea National Park and the Campbell Bay National Park.
• The island harbours a wide spectrum of ecosystems from tropical wet evergreen forests, mountain ranges and coastal plains.

The island is also home to giant robber crabs, crab-eating macaques, the rare megapode as well as leatherback turtles.

The HKH region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

• It traverses about 5 million square kilometres and hosts a large and culturally diverse population.
• The Third Pole, which contains vast cryospheric zones, is also the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region.

The King of fruits — Mango —and it may come as a surprise to many that India is the world’s largest producer of Mangoes, along with Banana, Papaya, and Lemon.

Also, Milk, Chilli pepper, Ginger, Chickpea, Millet, Jute and Wood fuel feature in the list of items in which India leads the world. The list was released by The Spectator Index.

Mango: Indian Mango had been on the international radar as in 2007, India allowed investments by Harley Davidson in exchange for the lifting of 18 years old ban on mangoes in the US.

• Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the leading Mango producers in the country.
• India produces over 40% of mangoes in the world. The fruit is exported to UAE, Bangladesh, UK, Saudi Arabia, and Nepal.

Banana: Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra are the topmost Banana producing Indian states.

• Bananas are the fifth largest agricultural commodity in world trade after cereals, sugar, coffee and cocoa.
• India’s Banana productivity per hectare is over twice as compared to the rest of the world.
• India exports the fruit to UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

Chillies: Most of the Indian states produce chilly pepper. Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are some of the importers of Indian chilly.

Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) is the assessment of how well protected areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves, community reserves and tiger reserves are being managed and their effectiveness in conserving target flora and fauna.

Important Mountain Peaks.

• Mount Everest, Asia (8,848 metres)
• Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa (Tanzania) (5,895 metres)
• Mount Denali, North America (USA – Alaska) (6,190 metre)
• Mount Aconcagua, South America (6,962 metre)
• Mount Elbrus, Europe (5,642 metre)
• Mount Vinson Massif, Antarctica (4,892 metre)
• Mount Kosciuszko, Australia (2,228 metre)

Sisseri is a tributary of Dibang.

• Dambuk in Lower Dibang Valley district is cut off from the rest of the country for around six months each monsoon.
• The Border Road Organization constructing Sisseri Bridge, so residents welcomed the prospect of actually driving over dry land instead of piggy-backing on elephants to cross River Sisseri (known as Sissar in the Adi tribal language).

A large number of hypotheses were put forth by different philosophers and scientists regarding the origin of the earth.

• One of the earlier and popular arguments was by German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Mathematician Laplace revised it in 1796. It is known as Nebular Hypothesis.
• The hypothesis considered that the planets were formed out of a cloud of material associated with a youthful sun, which was slowly rotating.
• Later in 1900, Chamberlain and Moulton considered that a wandering star approached the sun. As a result, a cigar-shaped extension of material was separated from the solar surface.
• As the passing star moved away, the material separated from the solar surface continued to revolve around the sun and it slowly condensed into planets.
• Sir James Jeans and later Sir Harold Jeffrey supported this argument. At a later date, the arguments considered of a companion to the sun to have been coexisting.
• These arguments are called binary theories. The most popular argument regarding the origin of the universe is the Big Bang Theory.
• It is also called expanding universe hypothesis. Edwin Hubble, in 1920, provided evidence that the universe is expanding.