UPSC Exam: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz May 26 - June 01

The term niche means the sum of all the activities and relationships of a species by which it uses the resources in its habitat for its survival and reproduction. A niche is unique for a species while many species share the habitat. No two species in a habitat can have the same niche. This is because if two species occupy the same niche they will compete with one another until one is displaced. For example, a large number of different species of insects may be pests of the same plant but they can co-exist as they feed on different parts of the same plant.

Convention on Climate Change) in 2011 in Durban, South Africa. However, the idea behind Green Climate Fund was first proposed at the Copenhagen Accord in 2009. It was formed by 194 countries. The aim of the GFC is to raise $100 billion per year by 2020 for investing in low emission and climate resilient development projects. 

It is an event conceptualized by TERI as a platform to accelerate action towards climate change. It is built on the legacy of Delhi sustainable development summit, organized first in 2005, under MoEF in collaboration with Ministry of external affairs.

Majuli is the biggest river island in the world. It is in River Brahmaputra. It is also first such island to be declared a district.

The Maharashtra state cabinet has recently approved the State Thermal Power Plant Ash Utilization Policy.  With this, it has become the first state to adopt this policy. The policy seeks to curb transport of fly ash produced in the coal-based thermal plants and stipulates measures to utilize all coal waste at source. Fly ash is one of the coal combustion products and is composed of fine particles that are driven out of the boiler with flue gases.

The main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:

(i) The zamindars of Bengal were recognised as the owners of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India Company regularly.

(ii) The amount of revenue that the zamindars had to pay to the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised under any circumstances. In other words, the Government of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to the zamindars.

(iii) The ryots became tenants since they were considered the tillers of the soil.

(iv)This settlement took away the administrative and judicial functions of the zamindars.

The Doctrine of Lapse was applied by Dalhousie to Satara and it was annexed in 1848. Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed in 1854. As a result of these annexations, a large part of the Central Provinces came under the British rule. The new province was governed by a Chief Commissioner from 1861. Dalhousie’s annexation of Oudh, the last one among his annexations, created great political danger.

The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable since 2016 on IUCN Red List. It is threatened by destruction of wetlands as it is found in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps and mangroves. West Bengal has declared it a state animal.

Hakki Habba is a three-day bird festival which was held at Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary near world famous Hampi in Ballari district, Karnataka. It was the 3rd edition jointly organized by State’s Forest Department and Eco Tourism Board in association with the local birdwatchers’ association.

The appointment of Wellesley as Governor- General marks an epoch in the history of British India. He was a great imperialist and called himself ‘a Bengal tiger’. Wellesley came to India with a determination to launch a forward policy in order to make ‘the British Empire in India’ into ‘the British Empire of India’. The system that he adopted to achieve his object is known as the ‘Subsidiary Alliance’.

Norway has become the first country in the world to ban deforestation. Henceforth, Norway will no longer procure use or procure products that encourage deforestation. Under the pledge, Norwegian Government will also not award contracts to any company that cuts down and destroys forests.

All three

China launched a navigation satellite – X-ray pulsar navigation satellite called XPNAV-1 – which will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies. It would operate in a Sun-synchronous orbit. Periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars would be used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space. It will help reduce the spacecraft’s reliance on ground-based navigation methods and is expected to lead to autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future. 

Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter.

Surendranath Banerjee was called the Indian Burke. He firmly opposed the Partition of Bengal. He founded the Indian Association (1876) to agitate for political reforms. He had convened the Indian National Conference (1883) which merged with the Indian National Congress in l886.

The Ambubachi Mela is an annual Hindu mela held at Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam. This yearly mela is celebrated during the monsoon season that happens to fall during the Assamese month Ahaar, around the middle of June when sun transit to the zodiac of Mithuna, when the Brahmaputra river is in spate.

Ripon Education reforms

For further improvement of the system Ripon appointed a Commission in 1882 under the chairmanship of Sir William Hunter. The Commission came to be known as the Hunter Commission. The Commission recommended for the expansion and improvement of the elementary education of the masses. The Commission suggested two channels for the secondary education-one was literary education leading up to the Entrance Examination of the university and the other preparing the students for a vocational career. The Commission noted the poor status of women education. It encouraged the local bodies in the villages and towns to manage the elementary education. This had resulted in the extraordinary rise in the number of educational institutions in India.

The leadership at Delhi was nominally in the hands of Bahadur Shah, but the real control was exercised by General Bakht Khan. At Kanpur the revolt was led by Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Baji Rao II, the last Peshwa. Kunwar Singh, a ruined and discontented zamindar of Jagdishpur near Oudh, was the chief organiser of the revolt in Bihar. He fought the British in Bihar. Kunwar Singh sustained a fatal wound in the battle and died on 27 April 1858 at Jagdishpur. 

It was started in the Madras Presidency by Periyar EVR.

Charter Act of 1853

This was the last of the series of Charter Acts passed by the British Parliament between 1793 and 1853. It was a significant constitutional landmark. It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council. It provided for addition of six new members called legislative councillors to the council.

The “Stone Chariot”, as it is often referred to as the flagship tourist attraction of Hampi. The Stone chariot is built on a rectangular platform of a foot or so high. All around this base platform is carved with mythical battle scenes. Though the chariot is not resting on it, the four giant wheels attached mimic the real-life ones complete with the axis shafts and even the brakes. A series of concentric floral motifs decorate the wheels. It appears from the marks on the platform, where the wheels rest, the wheels were free to move around the axis.

Curvilinear shikhara is a feature of Nagara style.

• The periodic rise and fall of the waters in the oceans is called tides. Tides are the response to the gravitational pull of the sun, the rotation of the earth and the moon. The moon has the biggest influence on the earth’s tides, because it is closest but the sun also has a significant effect.
• In the open ocean tidal currents are relatively weak. Near estuary entrances, narrow straits and inlets, the speed of tidal currents can reach up to several kilometers per hour.

Factors Influencing the World Climatic Regions

1) Latitude and its influence on solar radiation received.

2) Air mass influences.

3) Location of global high and low pressure zones.

4) Heat exchange from ocean currents.

5) Distribution of mountain barriers.

6) Pattern of prevailing winds.

7) Distribution of land and sea.

8) Altitude.

Sierra Nevada is a block mountain.

Albedo is a measure for reflectance or optical brightness of a surface. It is dimensionless and measured on a scale from zero (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to one (corresponding to a white body that reflects all incident radiation).

All are correct

Caspian Sea

Evidence for the movement of continents on tectonic plates is now extensive. Similar plant and animal fossils are found around the shores of different continents, suggesting that they were once joined. The fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile rather like a small crocodile, found both in Brazil and South Africa, are one example; another is the discovery of fossils of the land reptile Lystrosaurus in rocks of the same age at locations in Africa, India, and Antarctica. Widespread distribution of Permo-Carboniferous glacial sediments in South America, Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, Antarctica and Australia was one of the major pieces of evidence for the theory of continental drift.

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international non-profit organization, hosted in India, which aims at prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. It aims at reducing poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in these areas.

DRDA has traditionally been the principal organ at the district level to oversee the implementation of anti-poverty programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development. This agency was created originally to implement the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). Subsequently the DRDAs were entrusted with number of programmes of both state and central governments. From April 1999 , a separate DRDA Administration has been introduced to take care of the administrative costs. This aims at strengthening the DRDAs and makes them more professional in managing the anti-poverty programmes and be an effective link between the ministry and the district level.

Birds usually have a single ovary.

•  It is a new initiative launched by the Narendra Modi led NDA government.
•  The scheme is for MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Sector to increase the quality of products matching global standards.
•  The main objective of ZED scheme is to reduce the bad effect of products on environment.
•  Under the scheme, MSME sector is urged to make products improving the brand image of the country.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a quasi-judicial body in India that adjudicates issues relating to companies in India. The NCLT was established under the Companies Act 2013 and was constituted on 1 June 2016.

White blood cells (WBCs), also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from multipotent cells in the bone marrow known as hematopoietic stem cells.

Project Dantak was raised in May 1961 in Eastern Bhutan. A humble beginning was made in bamboo huts and thatched roofs. Since then Project Dantak has not looked back. It has contributed to economic growth of Bhutan by not only developing roads and tele-communication networks but also other prestigious works throughout Bhutan. Over the years, Project Dantak has constructed 1500 Km of roads, airfields, a number of helipads, tele-communication network in Bhutan, Indo-Bhutan Microwave link, Bhutan Broadcasting Station, the prestigious India House Complex, Chukha Hydel Housing Complex, Hydel Sub-stations, river training works, Schools and Colleges.

• Aryabhata is the first Indian spacecraft that was built in the country.
• ‘Bhashya’, usually refers to commentary on a text. For instance, Patanjali’s Mahabhashya is a commentary on Panini’s Ashtadhyayi as well as on Katyayana’s Varttika.
• Aryabhatibhashya is a commentary by Bhaskara I, a mathematician belonging to the 7th Century A.D., on Aryabhatta’s work.
• Aryabhatta’s work includes the Aryabhatiyam and the Aryasiddhanta.
• Brihatsamhita is Varahamihira’s work.

NAVIC is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services. NavIC is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. NAVIC will provide two levels of service, the ‘standard positioning service’ will be open for civilian use, and a ‘restricted service’ (an encrypted one) for authorized users (including military).

• Chakmas and Hajongs were originally residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in erstwhile East Pakistan who left their homeland when it was submerged by the Kaptai dam project in the 1960s.
• The Chakmas, who are Buddhists, and Hajongs, who are Hindus, also allegedly faced religious persecution and entered India through the then Lushai Hills district of Assam (now Mizoram).

NNP at factor cost = NNP at market price- indirect taxes+ subsidies

A sunrise industry is typically characterized by high growth rates, numerous startups and an abundance of venture capital funding. Sunrise industries generally have plenty of “buzz” surrounding them as public awareness about the sector increases and investors get attracted to its long-term growth prospects. Automobile industry is a well-established industry, but renewable energy industry holds a lot of promise.

Parts of Saurashtra are prone to drought, and irrigation water is also a politically sensitive issue in this region. SAUNI stands for Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation, a project launched in 2012. SAUNI envisages filling several major dams of the arid Saurashtra region by diverting floodwaters overflowing from the Sardar Sarovar Dam across the Narmada in south Gujarat. Unlike traditional irrigation projects, SAUNI is technically a ‘linking’ project, where the water will be filled in irrigation dams that are already equipped with canal network. This network of canals will then help channel water into farms. Also, SAUNI project involves making pipe canals instead of the conventional open canals. The pipelines in the SAUNI project are underground, which means that no land needs to be acquired.

Hemoglobin in humans has a very high affinity for carbon monoxide, forming carboxyhemoglobin which is a very bright red in color. Carbon monoxide is thus problematic for humans because it has affinity higher than that of oxygen.

The committee did not accept chemical castration.

• P2P can be defined as the use of an online platform that matches lenders with borrowers in order to provide unsecured loans.
• It is used to raise loans which are paid back with interest.
• The borrower can either be an individual or a legal person requiring a loan.
• The interest rate may be set by the platform or mutual agreement between the borrower and the lender.
• Fees are paid to the platform by both the lender as well as the borrower. Borrowers pay an origination fee — either a flat rate fee or as a percentage of the loan amount raised — according to their risk category.

• Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is given a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
• Eligible households will be identified in consultation with state governments and Union territories.
• The scheme is being implemented over the next three years.
• The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

• The United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations (UN) program 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. It was established on 11 December 1946.