Answer: (b)
Statement 1 is not correct, 2 and 3 are correct.
Coral Bleaching
• The world is on the verge of a fourth mass coral bleaching event (after 1998, 2010, and 2014).
• For an event to be deemed global, widespread bleaching must occur in three ocean basins – the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian.
• The last global mass coral bleaching event ran from 2014 to 2017, during which time the Great Barrier Reef lost nearly a third of its corals.
• Preliminary results suggest that about 15% of the world’s reefs saw large coral die-offs in this event.
• This year is turning out to be even worse. For example, following the Northern Hemisphere summer last year, the Caribbean registered its worst coral bleaching on record.
• Coral bleaching is often tied to the naturally occurring El Nino climate phenomenon which leads to warmer ocean waters.

Answer: (a)
Statement 1 is not correct.
MethaneSAT
• Institutions involved in the development include the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), a US-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group.
• Essentially, MethaneSAT will orbit the Earth 15 times a day, monitoring the oil and gas sector.
• It will generate a vast amount of data, detailing methane emissions’ sources, trends, and responsible parties.
• EDF collaborated with Harvard University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the New Zealand Space Agency to develop the satellite.
• The data collected by MethaneSAT will be publicly accessible in near real-time.
• While some satellites offer high-resolution data, they can only focus on specific, pre-selected areas.
• Others can survey larger regions and detect significant emission events but may miss smaller sources that contribute to the majority of emissions.
• MethaneSAT is poised to address this disparity and provide comprehensive monitoring coverage.

Answer: (a)
Only statement 2 is correct.
Sixth Schedule
• Article 244 in Part X of the Constitution outlines a special system of administration for designated ‘scheduled areas’ and ‘tribal areas.’
• The Fifth Schedule deals with scheduled areas and tribes in states except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram (ATM2).
• The Sixth Schedule focuses on tribal areas in these four northeastern states.
• Tribal areas are constituted as autonomous districts within the executive authority of the state.
• The governor holds powers to organize and re-organize these districts, including boundary changes and division into autonomous regions.

Answer: (a)
Only statement 1 is correct.
Bharat Rice and Other Commodities
• ‘Bharat’ Rice refers to the retail sale of rice by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the general public at a subsidized price.
• Its primary objective is to stabilize markets and ensure affordability for consumers.
• This rice is available in 5kg and 10kg packs priced at ₹29/kg.
• It is distributed through cooperatives such as Kendriya Bhandar, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF).
• Additionally, it can be purchased from mobile vans and physical outlets of these cooperative agencies.

Answer: (b)
Statement 1 is not correct, 2 is correct.
Kulasekarapattinam
• It will be second after Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota Range (SHAR)), founded in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota in 1971, with two launch pads.
• It will focus on the launch of Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) on a commercial basis.
• It would have the capacity to launch 24 satellites per year using a mobile launch structure.
• It strategic location helps save fuel for small rocket launches as the port can launch rockets directly south over the Indian Ocean without requiring crossing landmasses.