Answer: D
Explanation
● The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is functioning as the Central Counter Terrorism
Law Enforcement Agency in the country.
● It is mandated to investigate all the offences:
○ affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, friendly relations
with foreign states, and
○ the offences under the statutory laws enacted to implement international
treaties, agreements, conventions and resolutions of the United Nations, its
agencies and other international organisations.

● These include terror acts and their possible links with crimes like smuggling of arms,
drugs and fake Indian currency and infiltration from across the borders.
● The agency has the power to search, seize, arrest and prosecute those involved in such
offences.
● Headquartered in Delhi, the NIA has its branches in several parts of the country.
When did the NIA come into being?

● In the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, which shocked the
entire world, the central government decided to establish the NIA.
● The agency came into existence on December 31, 2008 under the NIA Act, 2008, and
started its functioning in 2009.
● NIA was created mainly to specialize in investigations into incidents of terrorist attacks
and bomb blasts in various parts of the country. Majority of such incidents were found to
have complex inter-state and international linkages while at the same time being linked
to drug and arms smuggling among other activities.
● The NIA Act was amended in the year 2019 to enlarge the mandate of the NIA by inclusion
of offences related to human trafficking, manufacture/sale of prohibited arms, cyber-
terrorism and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and expanded its
jurisdiction beyond India.
How wide is the NIA's jurisdiction?
● The law under which the agency operates extends to:
○ whole of India and also applies to Indian citizens outside the country;
○ persons in the service of the government wherever they are posted;
○ persons on ships and aircraft registered in India wherever they may be;
○ persons who commit a scheduled offence beyond India against the Indian citizen or affecting the interest of India. Hence all the statements are correct.

Why in the News?
● The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested five individuals in a major operation
against an organized human trafficking and cyber fraud syndicate.

Answer: C
Explanation
● Statement 1 is correct: Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty,
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a security alliance of 32 countries from
North America and Europe.
● Established in the Cold War as a bulwark against Soviet aggression, NATO’s fundamental
goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and military means.
● Statement 2 is correct: Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack against
one Ally is an attack against all — is at the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective
defence.
● Article 4 of the treaty ensures consultations among Allies on security matters of common
interest, which have expanded from a narrowly defined Soviet threat to the critical mission
in Afghanistan, as well as new threats to security such as cyber attacks, and global threats
such as terrorism and piracy that affect the Alliance and its global network of partners.
● A “NATO decision” is the expression of the collective will of all 30 member countries since
all decisions are taken by consensus.
● At present, NATO has 30 members. In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the
Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,

Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. The other member countries
are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary
and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia
(2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017), North Macedonia (2020), Finland
(2023) and Sweden (2024).
● NATO's Headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium,

5. Which of the following is correct about the term ‘Kavach’ which is sometimes seen in news?

Answer: D
Explanation
What is Kavach?
● The KAVACH is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system
by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with the
Indian industry.
○ RDSO is a research and development organization under the Ministry of Railways of
India.

● It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4)
standards. It is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at
Red (which marks danger) and avoid collision.
● It activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train
as per speed restrictions.
● In addition, it prevents the collision between two locomotives equipped with
functional Kavach systems.
● The system also relays SoS messages during emergency situations. An added feature is
the centralized live monitoring of train movements through the Network Monitor System.
● ‘Kavach’ is one of the cheapest, SIL-4 certified technologies where the probability of error
is 1 in 10,000 years.
How does Kavach work?
● The Traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), with the help of equipment on board the
locomotive and transmission towers at stations connected with Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) tags, helps in two-way communication between the station master and loco-pilot to convey any emergency message.
● The instrument panel inside the cabin helps the loco-pilot know about the signal in advance
without visual sighting, and the permissible speeds to be maintained.
● If a red signal is jumped and two trains come face to face on the same line, the technology
automatically takes over and applies sudden brakes.
● Additionally, the hooter activates by itself when approaching a level crossing which serves
as a big boon to loco-pilots during fog conditions when visibility is low.

Officer's Daily Motivation

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Officer's Daily Motivation

#upsc2024 #motivation #upscpreparation #success #officersiasacademy #upsc #dream #coaching #ias #ips

1. Consider the following statements about Space Docking.
1. Docking allows spacefaring components to be launched separately and assembled in space
to form a larger module.
2. India is the first country in the world to demonstrate space docking.

Answer: A
Soln:
● On December 30, 2024, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its PSLV-
C60 mission.
● Its primary payload was a pair of satellites for the Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, to
demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking.
● The ability to execute it in orbit is an essential stepping stone to more complex missions.
The satellites successfully docked on January 16 after a few abortive attempts.
● With this, India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
● Docking allows spacefaring components to be launched separately and assembled in space
to form a larger module. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
● This allows a space agency to plan interplanetary missions whose spacecraft are heavier
than what the heaviest rockets can launch. Docking is thus a symbolic gateway to new opportunities, with the Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return mission being a good example.

2. With reference to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), consider the following statements.
1. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
2. It is responsible for designating World Heritage Sites across the globe.

Answer: C
Explanation:
● Statement 1 is correct: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) which works to build the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect for commonly shared values.
● Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture.
● Statement 2 is correct: For instance, it designates locations globally as World Heritage sites, which means international recognition and possible funding.
● UNESCO has more than 190 member countries (including India) and it pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

3. . Consider the following statements
1) Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy and has a lower carbon footprint.
2) Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas where the associated emissions are released to the air.
3) Turquoise hydrogen is made using a process called methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen and solid carbon.

4. Consider the following statements
1) Ecological hypoxia
2) Harmful algal blooms
3) Extreme temperature
4) Abrupt salinity changes

Answer: B
Explanation
● Hydrogen can be ‘grey’, ‘brown’, ‘Turquoise’, ‘blue’ and green.
○ Statement 1 is correct: Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using
renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind or hydel power. It is produced by
splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. That makes
green hydrogen the cleanest option – hydrogen from renewable energy sources
without CO2 as a by-product.
○ The vast majority of industrial hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas
through a conventional process known as steam methane reforming (SMR). The
standard SMR process produces what is known as Grey Hydrogen and has the
major disadvantage of releasing large quantities of by-product CO2 into the
atmosphere - the main culprit for climate change.
○ Grey hydrogen has increasingly been produced also from coal, with significantly higher CO2 emissions per unit of hydrogen produced so much that it is often called brown or black hydrogen instead of grey.
○ Statement 2 is incorrect: Blue hydrogen, too, is produced using electricity
generated by burning methane or coal but with technologies to prevent the
carbon released in the process from entering the atmosphere;
○ Statement 3 is correct: Turquoise hydrogen is made using a process called methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen and solid carbon. As a result, there is no requirement for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the carbon can even be used in other applications. Where the electricity driving the pyrolysis is renewable, the
process is zero-carbon.

5. The World Press Freedom Index is published annually by which of the following organizations?