UPSC Current Affairs Quiz, 6 November 2026

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. A core challenge in India's renewable mix is that wind and solar generation profiles are not highly complementary on a seasonal basis. Wind output surges during the monsoon but drops sharply outside it, whereas solar output remains comparatively stable across seasons. This contrasts with certain European contexts where wind and solar can complement each other more effectively across seasons, thereby reducing overall grid variability. Statement 2 is correct. Pumped-storage hydropower is a proven grid-balancing technology: surplus renewable electricity (e.g., from midday solar peaks) is used to pump water uphill into a reservoir; when demand rises or generation falls, water is released through turbines to generate power. This makes it a critical storage and variability-management tool for grids with high renewable penetration. Statement 3 is incorrect. The IEA's characterisation is precisely the opposite: solar PV generation in India remains comparatively stable across all seasons, with relatively small monthly variations. It is onshore wind that introduces the greater seasonal variability. The combined wind-solar generation profile is therefore dominated by wind's monsoon seasonality, resulting in a more variable aggregate output — not because solar is volatile, but because wind is.

Explanation

Pair 1 is correctly matched: the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 mandate segregation at source, requiring waste generators — households, bulk generators, and institutions — to separate waste into biodegradable (wet), non-biodegradable (dry/recyclable), and domestic hazardous categories before handing it over to collectors. This is a core obligation under the Rules. Pair 2 is correctly matched: Haritha Karma Sena (HKS) is Kerala's model of decentralised, door-to-door waste collection units operating under local self-government bodies, constituted as part of the state's Suchitwa Mission to assist panchayats and municipalities in source-level segregation and collection — consistent with the decentralised framework envisioned by the SWM Rules, 2016. Pair 3 is incorrectly matched: under the Plastic Waste Management Rules (amended in 2022 and successive notifications), the financial responsibility for managing plastic waste — particularly collecting, processing, and meeting recycling targets — is placed on Producers, Importers, and Brand Owners (PIBOs) through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, not on urban local bodies. Local bodies are responsible for collection and ensuring handover to registered recyclers, but the financial liability of EPR sits with the producers, not with the local body.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: a core purpose of grid-scale BESS is temporal shifting of energy — storing surplus renewable generation (which would otherwise be curtailed or wasted) and discharging it during evening or other peak-demand windows, thereby displacing costly spot-market or short-term power purchases. Statement 2 is correct: renewable curtailment happens precisely when instantaneous supply exceeds demand and there is no mechanism (storage, flexible load, or export capacity) to absorb it — battery storage directly addresses this by acting as a sink for excess generation. Statement 3 is incorrect: solar generation peaks around midday, while electricity demand typically peaks in the morning and again in the evening. Co-located BESS can store midday solar surplus and discharge it during the evening peak — which is exactly the peak-demand management function. The claim that co-location 'does not contribute to peak-demand management' because generation and peak demand coincide is factually wrong; it is the temporal mismatch between midday solar generation and evening peak demand that makes storage valuable for peak management.

Explanation

Pair 1 is incorrectly matched. Under PCMA, 2006, child marriages are of two kinds: voidable and void. A marriage is voidable (not void) where the child party exercises the option to annul it, generally within two years of attaining majority — this is the default status. A child marriage is void (not merely voidable) in specified aggravated circumstances, such as where the child was trafficked, taken by force or deceit, or used for immoral purposes. Pair 1 therefore inverts the law: trafficking cases produce a void marriage, not a voidable one. Pair 2 is correctly matched. Section 16 of PCMA, 2006 specifically empowers State Governments to appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) by notification in the Official Gazette. Their statutory duties span prevention, evidence collection, counselling, awareness creation, and furnishing periodic returns. Pair 3 is correctly matched. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) is implemented as a component of Mission Shakti, with the Ministry of Women and Child Development as the nodal ministry, working in multi-sectoral collaboration with the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Minority Affairs.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. India's Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 derive their authority from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. They categorise areas into industrial, commercial, residential and silence zones, prescribing different permissible decibel limits for daytime and night-time for each zone. This is a foundational element of India's statutory framework for noise regulation. Statement 2 is correct. Research on anthropogenic noise consistently shows that its disruption of predator–prey dynamics — predators having to expend far more energy while catching fewer prey — is a systemic ecological consequence that goes beyond individual species mortality. Conventional conservation tools such as protected-area boundaries and habitat restoration address physical landscape degradation but do not, by themselves, reduce acoustic disturbance within those areas. This is precisely why conservation scientists argue for dedicated 'acoustic refuges' or low-noise zones as a complementary policy instrument. Statement 3 is false, and the error is conceptual: marine ecosystems are actually MORE vulnerable to noise pollution than terrestrial ones, not less. Sound travels both faster and farther through water than through air (not more slowly or over shorter distances). Marine organisms — from small invertebrates to whales — are highly dependent on acoustic communication, echolocation and sound-based prey detection, so the superior propagation of sound in water amplifies rather than dampens the harm caused by shipping, underwater construction and similar noise sources.