UPSC 2021: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Nov 06 - Nov 12

Yashpal Committee of 2009 is related to higher education reforms.

Both are correct. Read more about the National Skill Development Mission.

The Samagra Shiksha Scheme is under the Ministry of Education.

Read more on the NIPUN Bharat Programme in the linked article.

Pratham, an NGO. Read more on the ASER Survey in the link.

Only statement 2 is correct.

• Guru Nanak Dev, the first of the 10 gurus, founded the Sikh faith.
• He started the institution of Guru ka Langar.
• He was a contemporary of Mughal emperor Babur.
• The Holy City of Amritsar was founded by the 4^th Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das.

The Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine regions (kililat) of Ethiopia.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

• The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization.
• Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and fair elections.
• It has 57 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America.
• All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

2, 3 and 5 only are correct. Austria is bordered by Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic.

Statements 2 and 3 only are correct.

• In October 2020, the Centre amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, to facilitate the setting up of District Development Councils (DDC).
• Each district in the Union Territory will be divided into 14 territorial constituencies.
• The term of the DDC will be five years.
• They will be directly elected by voters in the Union Territory.
• The representatives will, in turn, elect a chairperson and a vice-chairperson from amongst themselves. The councils will replace District Development Boards, which when Jammu and Kashmir was a state, were chaired by a cabinet minister or a minister of state and included MLAs, MLCs and MPs.
• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India allows for the formation of Autonomous District Councils. 

• The Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge is an open call to Indian cities to propose and pilot neighbourhood-level improvements in public space, mobility, access to services, and data management to enhance the physical and psychological health of young children and their caregivers.
• The challenge is being implemented by the Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs.
• It will be open for the 100 Smart Cities, cities with a population of more than 5 lakh and State/Union Territory capitals.

The Vohra (Committee) Report was submitted by the former Indian Home Secretary, N. N. Vohra, in October 1993. It studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and of the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India. The report contained several observations made by official agencies on the criminal network which was virtually running a parallel government.

1, 2 and 4 only are correct.

• Maharashtra was the first state to officially declare Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) as its state butterfly in 2015.
• It was followed by Uttarakhand (Common peacock), Karnataka (Southern Birdwing) and Kerala (Malabar banded peacock also called Papilio buddha).
• In 2019, declaring Tamil Yeoman as the state butterfly, Tamil Nadu became the fifth Indian state to declare its state butterfly.

The Khudai Khidmatgar was a non-violent movement against British occupation of the Indian subcontinent. It was led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun freedom fighter, in the North-West Frontier Province.

Whales are known to strand themselves on beaches across the world and they do so singularly or in groups. Whale beaching, also called Cetacean Stranding is the phenomenon in which cetaceans strand themselves on land (generally beaches).

None of the above statements is incorrect.

• Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian political activist and freedom movement activist.
• She hoisted the Indian National Flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
• She also edited Inquilab, a monthly magazine of the Congress Party, along with Ram Manohar Lohia.
• She was called the Grand Old Lady of the Independence Movement.

Statement 2 is only correct.

• Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist.
• She is most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement.
• She became the first woman to run for a legislative seat in India (Madras Provincial Legislative Assembly). Though she could campaign for only a few days, she lost only by a small margin of 55 votes.
• She is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee.

Only 1 is correct.

• The Supreme Court and High Courts by virtue of being courts of record, have the jurisdiction to punish for contempt of court.
• The power to punish for the contempt of court is given to the Supreme Court and high courts which is defined under Article 129 and Article 215 of the Indian Constitution respectively.
• Civil contempt: It is committed when someone willfully disobeys a court order or wilfully breaches an undertaking given to the court.
• Criminal contempt: It consists of three forms:
  • Words, written or spoken, signs and actions that “scandalise” or “tend to scandalise” or “lower” or “tends to lower” the authority of any court.
  • Prejudices or interferes with any judicial proceeding.
  • Interferes with or obstructs the administration of justice.

Both are incorrect. Red sanders or red sandalwood is a species of Pterocarpus endemic to the Eastern Ghats of South India. This tree is valued for the rich red colour of its wood. The wood is not aromatic. The tree must not be confused with the aromatic Santalum sandalwood trees that grow natively in South India.

1, 2, 3 and 4 only are correct. Know more about the Global Hunger Index in the link.

• The GHI scores are based on a formula that captures three dimensions of hunger—insufficient caloric intake, child undernutrition, and child mortality—using four component indicators:
  • Undernourishment
  • Child Wasting
  • Child Stunting
  • Child Mortality (Under the age of 5)

1 and 3 only are correct. Know more about the Purchasing Managers’ Index in the linked article.

2, 3, 4, 1 is the correct order.

National Parks in Assam West to East: Manas National Park, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, Dibru Saikhowa National Park.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Natal Indian Ambulance Corps was created by Mahatma Gandhi for use by the British as stretcher-bearers during the Second Boer War.
Gandhi was bestowed with the ‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ and other medals by the British for his work in Boer war.

None of the above is incorrect. In the Third India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue that took place in Delhi (2020), the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geo-Spatial Cooperation was signed.
With this signing India is now a signatory to all U.S.-related foundational military agreements.
Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geo-Spatial Cooperation would entitle India to receive highly classified U.S. defence and sensitive geo-spatial intelligence information.

1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 share their formation dates. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kerala celebrate their formation day on November 1.
UTs Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh and Puducherry were also formed on November 1.
Delhi was also formed on this date.

1 and 3 only are correct. Arribada is a Spanish word meaning “arrival by sea” and refers to the mass nesting behaviour exhibited by Kemp’s Ridley and Olive Ridley sea turtles. It is the unique mass nesting of female olive ridley turtles and Kemps ridley turtles.

All are incorrect.

• A recognised political party can have 40 star campaigners and an unrecognised (but registered) political party can have 20.
• The list of star campaigners has to be communicated to the Chief Electoral Officer and Election Commission within a week from the date of notification of an election.
• If a candidate or her election agent shares the stage with a star campaigner at a rally, then the entire expenditure on that rally other than the travel expenses of the star campaigner is added to the candidate’s expenses. Even if the candidate is not present at the star campaigner’s rally, but there are posters with her photographs or her name on display, then too, the entire expenditure will be added to the candidate’s account.

Statement 2 is only correct. Finance Commission is a constitutional body for the purpose of allocation of certain revenue resources between the Union and the State Governments. The Finance Commission is constituted by the President under article 280 of the Constitution. The Fifteenth Finance Commission was constituted in November 2017, by a Presidential Order against the backdrop of:

• The abolition of the Planning Commission.
• Abolition of the distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure.
• Introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

1, 4, 2, 3 is the correct order. West to East: Alboran Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea, Aegean Sea.

1, 5, 4, 3, 2 is the correct sequence. The eight core sector industries include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity.
Eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage in the Index of Industrial Production: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.