Answer: (a)
Only statement 1 is correct.
Great Indian Bustard (GIB)
• GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican, and the Bengal florican.
• It is state bird of Rajasthan. (The greater flamingo is the state bird of Gujarat. It is the chief of the whole flamingo family.)
• It is considered the flagship bird species of grassland.
• Protection Status:
1. Birdlife International: Uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (2011)
2. Protection under CITES: Appendix I
3. IUCN status: Critically Endangered
4. Protection under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

Answer: (b)
Statement 1 is not correct, 2 and 3 are correct.
• One of Usha Mehta’s most notable contributions to the freedom struggle was her involvement in the radio broadcasting network known as the “Secret Congress Radio.”
• On August 8, 1942, the historic Quit India Resolution was passed during the All India Congress Committee meeting in Bombay.
• In this response, the idea of an underground radio station, known by various names such as the Freedom Radio, the Ghost Radio, or the Congress Radio, was conceived to counter the British-controlled AIR.
• Usha Mehta, a 22 YO master’s student at Wilson College, became the voice of the Congress Radio.
• The radio was an expensive endeavour, but funds were procured through various means, including contributions from Mehta’s colleague, Babubhai Khakhar.
• Radio engineering expert Nariman Abarbad Printer constructed the Congress Radio transmission set.
• Their first broadcast was on 14 August 1942.
• Welcome line in her voice: “This is the Congress Radio calling on 42.34 from somewhere in India.”
• In the beginning, they were broadcasting twice a day, in Hindi and English. But they reduced it to just once in the evening between 7.30 and 8.30 pm.
• On 12th November 1942, the police raided the radio while Vande Mataram was being played and arrested Mehta and others.

Answer: (b)
Section 153A IPC
• Section 153A of the IPC deals with the offence of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.
• The primary is to prevent the promotion of disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different groups in society.
• It was enacted in 1898 and was not in the original penal code.

Answer: (c)
All the statements are correct.
• Critical minerals are elements that are crucial to modern-day technologies and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
• These minerals are mostly used in making electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computers, batteries, electric vehicles, and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
• Many of these are required to meet the manufacturing needs of green technologies, high-tech equipment, aviation, and national defence.
• List of critical minerals includes:
• The centre has released a list of 30 critical minerals for India in 2023:
1. Identified Minerals: Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, Platinum Group elements (PGE), Phosphorous, Potash, Rare Earth Elements (REE), Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium and Cadmium.
2. Fertilizer Minerals: Two minerals critical for fertilizer production, phosphorous and potash, are also included in the above list.

Answer: (d)
The Gibraltar Strait was formed around 5.33 million years ago during the Messinian salinity crisis, not during the Holocene Epoch.