Answer: (c)

Explanation:

International Mother Language Day is celebrated on February 21st every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) first announced the day in 1999, and the world has been celebrating it since 2000. The theme for 2024’s International Mother Day Language is Multilingual education – a pillar of learning and intergenerational learning. The day commemorates Bangladesh's struggle to preserve its mother language, Bangla and honors the contributions of Rafiqul Islam, a Bangladeshi in Canada, who proposed the resolution. Hence, both statements are correct.

Answer: (d)

Explanation:

Archaeologists recently discovered a Harappan-era fortified settlement named Morodharo. Morodharo is a fortified settlement dating back to the Harappan-era. It is located in Kutch District, Gujarat. The settlement looks mature (2,600-1,900BCE) to late (1,900-1,300 BCE) Harappan. Burial cairns, which are mounds of stones to demarcate a boundary, are also found here. Hence, option (d) is correct.

Answer: (a)

Explanation:

Recently, the government has increased the allocation for Sustainable and Inclusive Development of the Natural Rubber Sector by 23% to Rs 708.7 crore for the next two financial years and the scheme is run by the Rubber Board.

Rubber Board is a statutory organization constituted under the Rubber Act, 1947. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is responsible for the development of the rubber industry in the country by assisting and encouraging research, development, extension and training activities related to rubber. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

It is headed by a Chairman appointed by the Central Government. It has 28 members representing various interests of the natural rubber industry. The headquarter of Rubber Board is in Kottayam, Kerala. Hence, statement 2 is notcorrect.

Answer: (c)

Explanation:

An international team of astronomers said the recently discovered quasar named J0529-4351 was the brightest and fastest-growing quasar discovered so far and had a supermassive black hole about 17 billion times the mass of the Sun.

A quasar is an extremely active and luminous type of active galactic nucleus (AGN). An AGN is nothing more than a supermassive black hole that is activeand feeding at the center of a galaxy. All quasars are AGNs, but not all AGNs are quasars. Quasars are thought to form in regions of the universe where the large-scale density of matter is much higher than average. They are among the most luminous, powerful, and vibrant objects known in the universe. The brightest quasars can outshine all of the stars in the galaxies in which they reside, which makes them visible even at distances of billions of light-years. Most quasars have been found billions of light-years away. Hence, all statements are correct.

Answer: (c)

Explanation:

According to scientists, anoxic marine basins may be among the most viable places to conduct large-scale carbon sequestration in the deep ocean.

An anoxic basin is a body of water without oxygen. Permanent anoxic basins form when there is a strong layering of the water column created in a cup-like formation on the ocean floor. The layering is caused by density differences due to salt concentration or temperature. Hence, statement 1 and 3 are correct.

In most anoxic basins, the water is extremely stagnant and can have mixing times of many thousand years. They range from a few hundred meters to several kilometers across and from 10 meters to 500 meters deeper than the surrounding seafloor. They can’t support animal life, and are populated primarily by microbes and some very specialized fungi with different metabolisms than creatures in oxygen-rich environments. Many anoxic basins also contain toxic chemicals, which are produced by geothermal activity or by microbes living in the basins. Some also contain salt domes, big mounds of hardened salt. Hence, statement 2 is correct.