QUIZ – 2016: Insights Current Affairs Quiz – 15 October, 2016

Solution: a.

Question framed with a mains perspective.

“BRICS, too, may have passed the moment of peak solidarity. The challenge now is to manage the growing differences among them. The political origin of BRICS lay in the concept of a “strategic triangle” that was articulated by the Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov in the early 1990s. Primakov wanted Russia, China and India to blunt the edge of American power in the post-Cold War world. Brazil and South Africa joined the forum a little later and lent it greater credibility as the voice of the emerging powers. Although Brazil and South Africa are important partners, it is the shifting dynamic among the three Eurasian powers — Russia, China and India — and their relationship with the US that will shape the future of BRICS.”

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/brics-brazil-russia-india-china-south-africa-vladimir-putin-xi-jinping-narendra-modi-barack-obama-nuclear-suppliers-group-nsg-3083150/

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Solution: d.

If you read just the title of this article, you would have answered this question. “On October 11, when most of central and northern India was busy celebrating Vijayadasami-Dasara in remembrance of Lord Rama’s victory over the Lankan king Ravan by setting the latter’s effigies on fire, Gond tribals were gathering in large numbers in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra to revere their “God Ravan”, and to demand that the practice of demonising him be stopped.”

Source for Statements 1 and 2: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/on-the-margins-championing-gond-culture/article7686156.ece

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Solution: d.

‘Tasawwuf’ or ‘Sufism’ found its way to Hindustan from the eleventh century onwards, a process which was strengthened with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. Sufism was present in the Deccan region by, at least, the 17^th Century (references in Class XII NCERT to Sufism being influenced to some extent by the Vachanas of Lingayats in Karnataka region in the 17^th century).

In fact, Class 7 NCERT states, “A large number of Sufis from Central Asia settled in Hindustan from the eleventh century onwards. This process was strengthened with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, when several major Sufi centres developed all over the subcontinent.

Page 112, Our Pasts II, Class 7 NCERT

Section 6 onward, Page 153, Themes in Indian History Part II, NCERT Class XII

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sufism-can-act-as-an-antidote-to-terrorism-arjun-ram-meghwal/article9220708.ece?homepage=true

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Solution: b.

• Unesco’s draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change.
• Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the UN, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.
• Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/israel-cuts-ties-with-unesco-over-jerusalem-draft-resolution/article9220698.ece

Solution: b.

The same question was posted here in August.

“Talk about a post-Cold War partnership between the world’s two greatest military powers is now a thing of the past. It looks like a throwback to the Cold War days with Russia and the U.S. fighting a proxy war in Ukraine, leading two competing military operations in Syria and raising allegations and counter-allegations on a host of issues, ranging from human rights violations and breaking international norms to interfering in each other’s domestic politics.”

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/usrussia-relations-a-return-to-cold-war-tensions/article9220631.ece

Solution: b.

Q27, CS(P) 2015;

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/usrussia-relations-a-return-to-cold-war-tensions/article9220631.ece

Solution: c.

“Last year, it was found that a little over two-thirds of India’s prisoners were undertrials. Poverty remains the main reason for this, as most prisoners are unable to execute bail bonds or provide sureties. Since 2014, there is some effort to invoke Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which undertrials who have completed half of the maximum jail term specified for their offences may be released on personal bonds.”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/time-to-decongest-our-prisons/article9220635.ece