The correct answer is These minerals are coloured due to impurities.

Key Points

• The Minerals that are colourless in their pure form are known as Allochromatic Minerals.
• These minerals show colours due to the presence of small quantities of “Colouring” agents.
• Corundum, Spinel, Beryl and Quartz are examples of such minerals.
• Nickel, Cobalt, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, copper & Nickel are examples of ‘Colouring Agents’.

Additional Information

• Idiochromatic minerals are "self-coloured" due to their composition.
  • The colour is a constant and predictable component of the mineral.
  • Examples are blue Azurite, red Cinnabar, and green Malachite.
• Pseudochromatic minerals are "false coloured" due to tricks in light diffraction.
  • In these cases, colour is variable but a unique mineral property.
  • Examples are the colours produced by precious opal and the Shiller reflections of labradorite.

The correct answer is Meghalaya.

Key Points

• Drums Festival
  • Hundred Drum Festival also known as the 'Wangala Festival, the Wangala Festival is a traditional festival in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya.
  • A group of 30 dancers with 10 drums would form a group and 10 such groups will be there. 
  • Thus, a total of 100 drummers and 300 dancers make up what is now known as the “100 Drums Wangala Festival”.
  • Every year the festival is celebrated for 3 days during the month of November.
  • Ordinary Garo people pay gratitude and reverence to Missi Saljong or 'Pattigipa Ra'Rongipa' (Great Giver) for blessing humans with a prosperous harvest for the season.

Important Points

• The Wangala festival marks the end of a period of toil, that brings good results to the fields which also signifies the onset of winter.
• It is also celebrated in honour of the Sun God that marks the end of the long harvest season.
• Wangala is celebrated with different forms of dance.
• These dances are performed on the tunes of folk songs that are played on drums and primitive flute.
• Additionally, these flutes are made of buffalo horns.
• On the first day of the festival, people celebrate it with a ceremony called Ragula.
• This ceremony is performed in the house of the village’s chief.
• Then on the second day of celebration, which is called Kakkat, people begin the ceremony by dancing to the rhythms of long oval-shaped drums
• In this celebration, young and old join together while men play the drums and women perform traditional dance forms. The dance form is known as Dama Dagota.

Additional Information

• Meghalaya:
  • Lok Sabha seats - 2.
  • Rajya Sabha seats - 1.
  • State Animal - Clouded leopard.
  • State Bird - Common hill myna.
  • National Parks - Balphakram National Park, Nokrek Ridge National Park.

The correct answer is Eutrophication.

Key Points

• Harmful algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills are the results of a process called eutrophication—which begins with the increased load of nutrients to estuaries and coastal waters.
• Eutrophication sets off a chain reaction in the ecosystem, starting with an overabundance of algae and plants.
• The excess algae and plant matter eventually decompose, producing large amounts of carbon dioxide.
• This lowers the pH of seawater, a process known as ocean acidification. Acidification slows the growth of fish and shellfish and can prevent shell formation in bivalve mollusks.
• This leads to a reduced catch for commercial and recreational fisheries, meaning smaller harvests and more expensive seafood.

Additional Information 

The correct answer is Stomata.

Key Points

• Stomata
  • In leaves transpiration takes place through stomata.
  • The little apertures known as stomata are found on the epidermis of leaves.
  • Stomata are visible under a light microscope.
  • Stomata can be found on the stems and other portions of various plants.
  • In gaseous exchange and photosynthesis, stomata are crucial. Via opening and closing, they regulate the rate of transpiration.

Additional Information

• Transpiration
  • Water is lost from the aerial regions of plants in the form of water vapour through a biological process called transpiration.
  • Like all other living things, plants need an excretory system to remove extra water from their bodies.
  • Transpiration is the term for this process of removing extra water from the body of the plant. Typically, it is the evaporation of water from the leaf surface.
  • The plants only use a small portion of the water they absorb for growth and development.

The correct answer is "Sikkim".

Key Points

• The Pakyong airport, which spans 201 acres, is situated 31 kilometers south of Gangtok.
• Domestic flights land at Pakyong Airport, which serves Pakyong in Gangtok, the Sikkim state in India.
• The Airports Authority of India built the airport, and as of right now, Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal is 124 km far from Pakyong Airport.
• The Indo-China border is about 60 kilometers from the Pakyong airport.
• Pakyong Airport ranks as one of India's five highest airports at 4,646 feet.
• It is also the only airport in the region of Sikkim, the very first greenfield airport built in Northeast India, and the country's 100th commercial airport.

Additional Information

• Nagaland​
  • Dimapur Airport
  • Kohima Chiethu Airport
• Arunachal Pradesh​
  • Tezu Airport
  • Itanagar Airport
  • Along and Pasighat Airport
• Assam
  • ​Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport
  • Dibrugarh Airport
  • Jorhat Airport
  • Silchar Airport
  • Lilabari Airport
  • Tezpur Airport

The Correct Answer is Chennai.

In News

• India’s first ‘Police Drone Unit’ launched in Chennai.

Key Points

• The Greater Chennai City Police (GCP)  launched ‘Police Drone Unit’ for aerial surveillance over vast areas and quick detection of criminal activities.
• The unit has been established at a two-storey building and functions with over 20 trained police personnel. 
• It is an important milestone for the Tamil Nadu Police.
• This project is the first-of-its-kind in the country.
• The unit was established at the cost of ₹3.6 crore.
• In this Drone Police Unit, a total of nine drones under three categories namely — Quick response surveillance drones; heavy lift multirotor Drone and long range survey wing plane — are available and are equipped with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and can be operated up to a distance of 5–10 kilometers from the ground station.

The correct answer is Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

• Chlorine was first isolated by Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

Key Points

• The chlorine element was first isolated by the Swiss-German chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774.
• It was isolated by reacting hydrochloric acid with manganese (IV) oxide.
• Chlorine
  • Chlorine (Cl), chemical element, the second lightest member of the halogen family elements, or Group 17 (Group VIIa) of the periodic table.
  • Chlorine is a toxic, corrosive, greenish-yellow gas that is jittery to the eyes and to the respiratory system.
  • Apart from very small amounts of free chlorine (Cl) in volcanic gases.
  • Chlorine is generally found only in the form of chemical compounds.
  • It accumulates 0.017 per cent of Earth’s crust.
  • Natural chlorine is a mixture of two stationary isotopes: chlorine-35 (75.53 per cent) and chlorine-37 (24.47 per cent).
  • The most general compound of chlorine is sodium chloride, which is found in nature as crystalline rock salt, often discoloured by impurities.
  • Sodium chloride is also found in seawater, which has an average concentration of about 2 per cent of that salt.

Additional Information

• Elisha G. Otis invented the Elevator.
• William Gilbert invented the Electroscope.
• Henry Cavendish discovered Hydrogen.

The correct answer is Bengaluru FC.

Key Points

• The Durand Cup is one of the oldest football tournaments in the world and the oldest in India.
• It's named after its founder, Sir Mortimer Durand, who started the tournament in 1888.
• The tournament has been held annually, except for some breaks during the World Wars.
• In the 2022 Durand Cup, Bengaluru FC emerged as the winner.
• Bengaluru FC is a professional football club based in Bengaluru, India, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL).
• The team was established in 2013 and has been successful in Indian football, with several major titles to their name.
• In the 2022 Durand Cup final, Bengaluru FC faced Mumbai City FC.
• The match saw Bengaluru FC come out on top with a 2-1 victory, thus securing their win of the prestigious Durand Cup title​1​.
• This was a significant achievement for Bengaluru FC and its captain, Sunil Chhetri, one of India's most celebrated football players.
• This victory added another feather to their cap and marked a key moment in their history.

The correct answer is Energy from fossils.

Key Points

• Renewable energy is energy that is produced from natural processes and continuously replenished. 
  • We can also define renewable energy as those energies which can never be depleted. 
  • Few examples of renewable energy are sunlight, water, wind, tides, geothermal heat, and biomass. 
• Energy from fossils
  • Fossil fuels are formed from dead and decayed remains of plants and animals because of their origin fossil fuels have very high carbon content.
  • Coal, natural gas, oil etc are examples of fossil fuels.
  • The reaction involved in the combustion of fossil fuel is: Hydrocarbons + O₂ → CO₂ + H₂O + energy.

Additional Information

• Solar energy
  • It is derived from the Sun radiation that is converted by solar panels to generate electricity.
• Geothermal energy
  • ​Geothermal energy is a type of thermal energy that is derived from a heated groundway.
  • It is produced by geothermal plants by using heat from deep inside the earth to generate steam that activates the generator by rotating the turbine to produce electricity.​
• Wind Energy
  • It is a renewable and cleaner energy that produces no greenhouse gas emissions.
  • It is produced energy using wind turbines through wind speed, air density, and blade radius.
  • India is the fourth-largest wind energy producer in the world after China, the USA, and Germany.
  • India ranked 4th in the Global wind power installed capacity index.
  • Tamil Nadu is the first in wind energy production and the second is Gujarat, third in Maharashtra.

The correct answer is '14'.

Key Points

• Non-metallic elements are the elements with high ionization energies, high electronegativity and small size.
• They gain electrons on reaction with other compounds forming covalent bonds.
• Owing to all these properties, non-metals are placed in Group- 14,15,16 and 17.
• But in group 14 there is only one non-metal present which is Carbon.

Additional Information

• No. of non-metals in group 15 - Two 
• No. of non-metals in group 16 - Three
• No. of non-metals in group 17 - Four