QUIZ – 2016: Insights Current Affairs Quiz – 29 September, 2016

Solution: a.

‘Visaranai’ translates to ‘Interrogation’.

“The film won the Amnesty International Italia Award for focusing on human rights violations after it premiered in the Orrizonti section at the Venice International Festival this year, the first ever for a Tamil language film. Visaranai is set in the border area of Andhra Pradesh where four innocent migrant workers from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu are callously picked up. The four are tortured into taking the rap for a crime they have not committed as the police find it easier to make scapegoats of the poor than searching for the real culprits.”….”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37469678

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http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/visaranai-is-indias-official-entry-for-oscars-2017-in-foreign-language-film-category/article9136134.ece

Solution: b.

Poly-Metallic Nodules (Manganese Nodules) are found in the Central Indian Ocean Basin region.

“The ISA earlier approved an application submitted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences for allotment of 10,000 sq. km. area along with 15-year plan of work for exploration of PMS along Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) region of the Indian Ocean. The Union Cabinet approved signing of this 15-year contract by the Ministry with the ISA in its meeting held on June 15, 2016.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151130

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Solution: b.

• “Deep seabed Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) containing iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold, platinum in variable constitutions are precipitates of hot fluids from upwelling hot magma from deep interior of the oceanic crust discharged through mineralized chimneys. PMS in the Ocean Ridges have attracted worldwide attention for their long term commercial as well as strategic values.”
• Point to note: The ISA website does not mention Platinum as one of its constituents. But since PIB and some newspapers include the metal, consider it to be one constituent of PMS.
• The next question on ‘Chemosynthesis’ is associated with this point: “More than 350 sites of high-temperature hydrothermal vents and about two hundred sites of significant massive sulphide accumulation have been identified since the discovery of black smokers in 1978-79. Most of these deposits are associated with the mid-ocean ridges, backarc environments, submarine volcanic arcs and in basins near volcanic arcs. Unusually high temperature and thriving biological communities are most conspicuous of the vents phenomenon.”

https://www.isa.org.jm/mineral-resources/56

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http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151130

Solution: b

“Hydrothermal vent fields are hosts of thriving biological communities such as giant tube worms, clam shells, crabs and micro fauna. These animals use chemosynthesis – they derive energy from bacterial oxidation of chemicals in the vent fluids for survival.”

• “The animals inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents are unlike any other life on Earth. Instead of sunlight, vent life relies on hydrogen sulfide – more commonly known as rotten egg gas and toxic to most land-based life.”
• “In a process called chemosynthesis, specialized bacteria create energy from the hydrogen sulfide present in the mineral-rich water pouring out of the vents. These bacteria form the bottom level of the food chain in these ecosystems, upon which all other vent animals are dependent.”
• “Vent microorganisms are unique in other ways, too. They can survive temperatures of up to 113°C.”

Primary Reference: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/deep_sea/vents_seeps/

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Improvisation/Source: ISA, PIB;

Solution: b.

“The six (6) member countries of the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka— released this week, the SASEC Operational Plan (OP) 2016-2025. The SASEC OP is the program’s first comprehensive long-term plan to promote greater economic cooperation among the member countries.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151132

Solution: c.

“Established in 2001, the SASEC program is a project-based partnership to promote regional prosperity by improving cross-border connectivity, boosting trade among member countries, and strengthening regional economic cooperation. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as the secretariat and lead financier of the SASEC program.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151132

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Solution: d.

“An Indian strategic thinker of the 3rd century B.C. bearing the name Kautilya dwelt on the subject of threats that states encounter.”

He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra. “Kautilya (Click Here) became a counsellor and adviser to Chandragupta (reigned c. 321–c. 297), founder of the Mauryan empire of northern India, but lived by himself. He was instrumental in helping Chandragupta overthrow the powerful Nanda dynasty at Pataliputra, in the Magadha region.”

Improvisation: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151207

Solution: a.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved ‘Project SAKSHAM’, a New Indirect Tax Network (Systems Integration) of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Introduction of GST will result in a several-fold increase in the number of taxpayers and resultant document load on the system. CBEC’s current IT system was set up in 2008. It cannot cater to the increased load under GST without an immediate upgrade of its IT Infrastructure.”

“It will help in:

• implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST),
• extension of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) and
• other taxpayer-friendly initiatives under Digital India and Ease of Doing Business of Central Board of Excise and Customs.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151194

Solution: a.

“Delivering the inaugural address, Dr Jitendra Singh called for a “green gold” revolution through promotion and trade of bamboo which, he said, had a vast unexplored potential to bring about a quantum jump in the economic growth of Northeast in particular and whole of India in general. The expression “green gold” has been coined to refer to bamboo because it is a miracle plant which is often placed in the category of grass product rather than forest product and matures faster than its other peers, he added. He said that there is approximately 8.96 million hectare of forest area of this country which is covered by bamboo and Northeast is the home for over 60% of India’s bamboo reserves.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151167