Questions

i. The 'Swachh Survekshan 2017' survey results were recently announced by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. The total 434 cities of India were surveyed. Indore in Madhya Pradesh is India’s cleanest city while Gonda in Uttar Pradesh is the dirtiest.

ii. Gujarat has the maximum of 12 cities among the top 50 clean cities, closely followed by Madhya Pradesh with 11 and Andhra Pradesh with eight. Uttar Pradesh accounted for half of the bottom 50 cities in the cleanliness ranking.

Top 10 clean cities of India in 2017 are:

Indore (MP)
Bhopal (MP)
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
Surat (Gujarat)
Mysuru (Karnataka)
Tiruchirapally (Tamil Nadu)
New Delhi Municipal Council (New Delhi)
Navi Mumbai (Mumbai)
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)
Vadodara (Gujarat).

Top 5 Dirtiest cities of India (with Rank) in 2017 are:

Gonda (UP)- 434,
Bhusawal (Maharashtra)- 433,
Bagaha (Bihar)- 432,
Hardoi (Uttarakhand)- 431,
Katihar (Bihar)- 430.

Nitrogen is found as a diatomic molecule (N2) in nature. There is a triple bond between the two nitrogen atoms.

The triple bond is pretty strong. Therefore, it needs a lot of energy to break those bonds and participate in a reaction. So nitrogen is commonly referred to as and used as an inert gas (high abundance & low cost.) However, it’s not truly inert like most noble gases. Nitrogen does react if the conditions are met. But those conditions are not exactly mild, but are not as extreme as for noble gases.

It forms nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide with oxygen, ammonia with hydrogen, and nitrogen sulfide with sulfur.

The World Thalassaemia Day (WTD) is observed every year on May 8 to spread awareness about this deadly disease and the importance of blood donation and how it helps the millions of people suffering from Thalassemia worldwide. Thalassemia is genetic blood disorders characterised by reduction in the synthesis or absence of haemoglobin in the body. According to a WHO report, more than 90% patients with thalassaemia in western countries lead a normal life, whereas in India, roughly half of all patients die before reaching adulthood. Approx 3.9% of India’s population is a carrier for thalassemia. The 2017 theme ‘Together for Humanity’ highlights the need for unity and the efforts that are required to fight this fatal disease.

Hispar and Beturaof the Hunza valley are over 57km long. They are the largest glaciers. Biafo and Baltaro of the shigar valley are 60 km long

There are 8 different types of Soils present in India. They are primarily differentiated on the basis of composition and structure. They are ::

1.  Alluvial soils, 

2.  Black soils,

3.  Red soils,

4.  Laterite and Lateritic soils,

5.  Forest and Mountain soils,

6.  Arid and Desert soils,

7.  Saline and Alkaline soils and

8.  Peaty and Marshy soils.

The first of the four stages of coal formation is lignite coal.

There are four stages of coal formation:

1. Peat,

2. Lignite,

3. Bituminous and

4. Anthracite.

The bacteria has removed a large portion of the other constituents of the plant matter and left around 25 to 34 percent.