Daily Current Affairs Quiz: January 30, 2026

Statement 1 is correct: Westerlies are permanent planetary winds that originate from subtropical high-pressure belts (around 30° latitude) and move towards subpolar low-pressure belts (around 60° latitude).

Statement 2 is correct: Due to the Coriolis force, westerlies in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right, causing them to blow from the south-west towards the north-east.

Statement 3 is correct: Mediterranean cyclones, embedded in the westerly wind system, travel eastwards and bring winter rainfall to north-western India as Western Disturbances.

Statement 1 is correct: Wind is the horizontal movement of air caused by pressure gradient force, which drives air from regions of higher atmospheric pressure to regions of lower atmospheric pressure.

Statement 2 is correct: The Coriolis force, resulting from Earth’s rotation, deflects winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, influencing their direction.

Statement 3 is incorrect: Trade winds originate from subtropical high-pressure belts and blow towards the equatorial low-pressure belt, not from equatorial low pressure to subtropical high pressure.

Statement 1 is correct: The apparent seasonal reversal of monsoon winds is closely linked to the latitudinal migration of the ITCZ, which shifts northward during summer and southward during winter.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Monsoon climate is characterised by a strong seasonal concentration of rainfall, mainly during the summer monsoon, not uniform rainfall throughout the year.

Statement 3 is incorrect: El Niño events are generally associated with weaker monsoon rainfall over India, and their impact is neither uniform nor invariably leads to excess rainfall.

Statement 1 is correct: Divergent boundaries are zones of plate separation where magma upwells and solidifies, creating new lithosphere, typically at mid-oceanic ridges.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Transform boundaries involve lateral sliding of plates past each other and do not cause sea-floor spreading, which is a feature of divergent boundaries.

Statement 3 is correct: At convergent boundaries, especially oceanic–continental or oceanic–oceanic convergence, subduction can form deep-sea trenches.

There are seven major lithospheric plates: Pacific, African, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North American, South American and Antarctic. Plates such as the Philippine, Arabian, Nazca, Caribbean, and Cocos are classified as minor plates due to their relatively smaller size. Hence, only the Pacific and African Plates qualify as major plates.