UPSC 2017: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Jun 25 - July 01

Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

• Implementing agency: Ministry of Tourism.
• Completely funded by central government.
• Swadesh Darshan Scheme is based on some of tourist circuit that will be covered under the PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) and Swadeshi Darshan.

• Lingaraja Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Harihara, a form of Shiva and Vishnu and is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneswar
• The central tower of the temple is 180 ft (55 m) tall.
• The temple represents the quintessence of the Kalinga Architecture and culminating the medieval stages of the architectural tradition at Bhubaneswar.
• The Kaḷinga architectural style is a style which flourished in the ancient Kalinga region or present eastern Indian state of Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh. The style consists of three distinct types of temples: Rekha Deula, Pidha Deula and Khakhara Deula.

• Researchers have discovered a new cause of high blood pressure.
• New cause – Connshing syndrome which is linked to the over production of the stress hormone cortisol.

Amritlal Vitthaldas Thakkar Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, popularly known as Thakkar Bapa He was an Indian social worker who worked for upliftment of tribal people in Gujarat state in India. In 1922, he founded the Bhil Seva Mandal.

The central government launched the “City Liveability Index” – a first of its kind initiative introduced by the Urban Development Ministry – to measure the quality of life in 116 major cities including capital cities and those with population over one million.

Sun Temple is a 13th century temple of Odisha, built by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. It is also known as Black Pagoda. It’s a World Heritage Site. It is considered as architectural marvel for which Odisha, best known worldwide.

• The Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite, and is the sixth in the series
• It will be used for cartographic applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, Land Information Systems (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

Preamble of Indian Constitution declares India as SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR and DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. The words Socialist, Secular, and Integrity were not in the original constitution and have been inserted by 42nd amendment act 1976.

The first statement is factually incorrect. Legislative Council is a continuing House and one-third of the members retire in two years.

The sands on the beaches in Kovalam are partially black in colour due to the presence of ilmenite and Monazite.

The sands on the beaches in Kovalam are partially black in colour due to the presence of ilmenite and Monazite 
Kovalam Beaches:

• Kovalam has three beaches separated by rocky outcroppings in its 17 km coastline, the three together form the famous crescent of the Kovalam beach.
• Lighthouse Beach: The southernmost beach, the Lighthouse Beach is the one most frequented by tourists, Lighthouse Beach got its name due to the old Vizhinjam Lighthouse located on a 35 meter high on top of the Kurumkal hillock.
• Hawah Beach: Eve’s Beach, more commonly known as Hawa Beach, ranks second, in the early day, is a beehive of activities with fishermen setting out for sea. With a high rock promontory and a calm bay of blue waters, this beach paradise creates a unique aquarelle on moonlit nights.
• Samudra Beach: A large promontory separates this part from the southern side. Samudra Beach doesn’t have tourists thronging there or hectic business. The local fishermen ply their trade on this part.

NISAR is the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO. The satellite aims to study global environmental change and natural disasters.

The United Nations Children’s Fund is a United Nations (UN) programme headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Three decorated chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra were tugged along the Grand Road in front of the 12th century temple as lakhs of devotees converged for the annual rath yatra here on Sunday.

SEBI is a statutory body and it was established in the year 1988 and given statutory powers on 30 January 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.

The ASEAN Dengue Day (ADD) is observed every year on June 15 to raise awareness on dengue and to mobilise resources for prevention and control involving private and public sector stakeholders. The day observed as a collective advocacy event to reiterate calls on all sectors of society to unite against dengue, as well as to highlight innovative and effective strategies in the prevention and control of dengue. The 2017 theme is “United Fight Against Dengue”.

• The headquarters of the ECOSOC is located in New York, Unites States.
• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations for coordinating the economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for implementing internationally agreed development goals.
• Recently, it is in news because India has been re-elected to the United Nations ECOSOC for another 3-year term. India was among 18 nations to win election to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
• India obtained 183 votes, the second highest after Japan in the Asia Pacific category. The elected members of ECOSOC for a three-year term beginning 1 January, 2018 are Belarus, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Turkey and Uruguay.

Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) are also called white scavenger vulture or pharaoh’s chicken and are the smallest among all vultures. They are a globally endangered species on the IUCN Red List.

India has been ranked 60th out of 130 nations on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017. The 2017 index highlighted the continual improvement of India in terms of investment, tertiary education, quality of its publications and universities, its ICT services exports and innovation clusters. Among India’s neighbors, Sri Lanka has acquired 90th spot, Nepal 109th, Pakistan 113th and Bangladesh 114th spot. The list is topped by Switzerland, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands. The theme of the 2017 Index is “Innovation Feeding the World” that focuses on innovation in agriculture and food systems. The index is co-authored by Cornell University, INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

• The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum-2017 was held in Geneva, Switzerland on June 12-16 to represent the world’s largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community.
• The WSIS 2017 theme is ‘Information and Knowledge Societies for SDGs’ and has served as a platform for discussions on the role of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) as a means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Manoj Sinha, the Minister of Communications, has represented India in the WSIS forum and highlighted the success story of India in leveraging ICT for providing citizen centric information and services in timely and reliable manner under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

About Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES):

• The summit will promote economic growth, inclusion and opportunities among entrepreneurs from across the world, with a special focus on emerging nations from Africa and Asia. The GES is a personal initiative of US President Barack Obama to bring entrepreneurs from across the globe on one platform.
• The 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) will be hosted by India.

• India recently signed International Expedited Traveler Initiative Programme with the United States. Also called as Global Entry Programme, this scheme will allow expedited entry into the US to low-risk travellers from India., with India making a formal entry into an American initiative.
• The move would facilitate closer business and educational ties between the citizens of India and the U.S.

• The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing.
• It strengthens security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.