QUIZ – 2016: Insights Current Affairs Quiz

Solution: c.

See Image – Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and in 2014 (right).

“The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest saline lake in the world with an area of approximately 68,000sqkm, stretching from Kazakhstan in the north to Uzbekistan in the south. But in the 1960s, when Soviet rulers diverted the course of the two rivers that fed it to develop cotton production in the region, the waters started to recede. The salinity levels also rose drastically, killing most of the fish that remained. Over the next 50 years, this terrible environmental disaster caused the once-magnificent Aral Sea to shrink to just 10% of its former size.”

http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20161011-the-port-city-that-lost-its-water

—

Solution: d.

This Hindu article is quite comprehensive, and providing extracts from it is insufficient here. If time permits, read it.

• Fisherfolk have had to go further into the sea to break even (mechanised boats mean greater financial inputs and so require greater fishing returns)…
• Scientists also attest to warming forcing fish further from the shore.
• “Concentration of industrial corridors like chemical and pharmaceutical units in Vapi and Ankleshwar, petrochemicals in Vadodara, refineries and power plants in Jamnagar, and power plants and ports in Kutch have rendered the sea coast highly polluted and that is directly affecting fishing.”…
• A major factor cited by the fishermen for the declining catch is an ever expanding vessel fleet — 35,150 fishing vessels in all in Gujarat as of 2011 according to the figures provided by the State fisheries department, which has resulted in overcapacity with larger fishing fleets competing for the limited fisheries resource.

Solution: a.

“While the country has an 8,118-km-long coastline and an EEZ covering two million square kilometres, marine capture fisheries production is greater in waters off the west coast due to the large continental shelf in the Arabian Sea — 70 per cent of India’s marine catch comes from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa with cyclical swings.”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-risk-of-entering-pakistani-waters-fishing-in-troubled-waters/article9220587.ece

Solution: b.

“….But now the sun is setting on Patam, the 900-year-old art of storytelling from this region. Once practised by thousands of artists from 12 sub-castes, the narrations would mostly be tales of the mythological origins of each of the parent caste groups, narrated with the aid of a Patam or painted scroll.”….. Dalit scholar Ashok Gurram from the University of Hyderabad says the art forms should be allowed to die their natural death, as they reinforce and justify existing caste and gender-based structural hierarchies. “Each of these caste stories or puranas tries to accommodate the parent caste in some mythology, and thereby justifies hierarchical caste relations. They are not mere art forms but a significant political message inseparable from the Varna system”….. “All researchers, however, agree that at least some of the stories have emerged from the 12th Century ‘Veera Shaiva’ movement propounded by Basava.”

http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/swathi-vadlamudi-on-the-fading-art-of-patam-storytelling/article9220072.ece

—

Solution: a.

Why is this relevant?

One, many of Bhasa’s plays were discovered through Koodiyattam (Kutiyattam) plays – a form of Sanskrit theatre traditionally performed in the state of Kerala, India. Next, ‘Mantrankam’ is the third act of Bhasa’s celebrated Sanskrit play Pratijna Yougandharayan, written sometime between 2^nd and 3^rd century AD, and the play has been performed as an annual offering at five Shiva temples in Kerala. But with temple funds drying up, and Koodiyattam itself in a state of decline, Mantrankam – a 41-day enactment – wound up in 1995. Finally, this year, backed by the Kuttiyattam Centre and the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the 41-day enactment was revived in the Peruvanam temple.

• Bhasa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit.
• His works, notably Svapnavasavadatta and Pratijnayaugandharayana, were foundational to the Sanskrit drama.
• The plays of Bhāsa had been lost for centuries. He was known only from mention in other works like the famous text on poetics Kavyamimamsa written during 880–920 AD by Rajashekhara a famous poet, dramatist and critic. In the Kavyamimamsa, he attributes the play Svapnavasavadatta to Bhāsa.
• Bhāsa does not follow all the dictates of the Natya Shastra. This has been taken as a proof of their antiquity; no post-Kālidāsa play has been found to break the rules of the Natya Shastra’s. Bhāsa portrayed battle scenes and killings on the stage, something which is frowned upon in the Natyashastra.
• The majority of his dramas are ingenious adaptations on themes of heroism and romantic love borrowed from India’s two great epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. His influence is seen in the works of the great 5th-century dramatist Kālidāsa, who consciously imitated and improved upon some of Bhāsa’s literary motifs.

Sources: Wikipedia; Britannica;

Improvisation: The Hindu;

—

Solution: a.

• It is one of the oldest living theatrical traditions.
• Originating more than 2,000 years ago, it represents a synthesis of Sanskrit classicism and reflects the local traditions of Kerala.
• Neta abhinaya (eye expression) and hasta abhinaya (the language of gestures) are prominent.
• A single act may take days to perform and a complete performance may last up to 40 days.
• It is officially recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

http://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/?s=films_details&pg=33&id=1746

—

Source: The Hindu;

Solution: d.

One hundred and seven countries came to an agreement (adoption of an amendment to the 1989 Montreal Protocol) in Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday, to substantially phase out a potent greenhouse gas (HFCs – which have a zero ozone depleting potential) by 2045 and move to prevent a potential 0.5 C rise in global temperature by 2050.

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a family of gases that are largely used in refrigerants in home and car airconditioners. They, however, substantially worsen global warming. On late Friday, India, China, the United States and Europe agreed on a timeline to reduce the use of HFC by 85% by 2045.
• The details of the agreement are yet to be made public and India’s Environment Ministry is yet to detail India’s road map for achieving this goal.
• With respect to statement 2, according to Britannica, “The CBDR….was retroactively incorporated into the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol on substances that destroy the ozone layer. Practically, it entails the deferral of developing countries’ compliance with the objectives of these environmental conventions.” Additionally, according to the Ozone Secretariat (Click Here) under the UNEP, “The Montreal Protocol embodies key guiding principles which are now recognized to be the cornerstones of sustainable development including: (i) the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/countries-agree-in-kigali-to-phase-out-85-of-potent-greenhouse-gas-by-2045/article9223509.ece

—

Solution: a.

The second statement means, all developing countries have accepted 2024 as the year in which HFCs consumption levels will peak, which is not true. India and some other nations will freeze HFCs consumption levels only in 2028. That is, they will be permitted to not impose any limits on rise in consumption of HFCs till 2028. The second part of the statement though is correct (India beginning reduction of HFCs usage in 2028).

• Under the compromise stitched up, developed countries will start to phase down the climate impacting family of refrigerant gases called HFCs by 2019.
• Most developing countries, including China, will subsequently follow with a freeze of HFCs consumption levels in 2024 and subsequently reduce the usage.
• Some countries, including India, bargained to get the peak consumption year pegged to 2028, gaining an four extra years.
• India was not able to bargain for the 2030 as the freeze year and had to settle for 2028. The consequence, in terms of costs to the Indian industry and economy, would be much higher than what the two year difference suggests.
• “By 2028, many of the patents on costly alternatives are to expire. So, we wanted 2030 to be the freeze year. The two years in between would have given us the chance to figure out cheaper new technological options rather than their patented technologies that would have taken root by 2028”.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/global-deal-on-climate-changing-refrigeration-gases-sealed-in-rwanda-116101500866_1.html

—

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/kigali-amendment-to-montreal-protocol-cool-the-world/article9226943.ece

—

Solution: b.

• Alang, 185 miles (298 kilometers) northwest of Bombay, serves as the final stop for about half of the world’s maritime vessels (this figure varies – the Hindu in today’s article mentions 35%).
• Alang’s beachfront location is ideal for shipbreaking. Tides are heavy there, and the natural slope of the beach makes it easy for a ship to be run on shore.

Primary Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/alang-shipyard.htm/printable

—

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/maersk-lines-charts-new-course-to-alang-for-recycling-ships/article9226998.ece

—

Solution: a.

“Maersk is helping local ship breakers to achieve high standards as per the International Maritime Organisation and Hong Kong Convention (HKC) which set occupational health and safety standards for workers.”

• The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (the Hong Kong Convention) is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and to the environment.
• It intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone-depleting substances and others. It also addresses concerns raised about the working and environmental conditions at many of the world’s ship recycling locations.
• The text of the Hong Kong Convention was developed over three and a half years, with input from IMO Member States and relevant non-governmental organizations, and in co-operation with the International Labour Organization and the Parties to the Basel Convention.
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/maersk-lines-charts-new-course-to-alang-for-recycling-ships/article9226998.ece

Solution: b.

“Indian efforts in studying both theory and observations are sizeable, from looking out for exoplanets in the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory and through Astrosat, to theoretical work on evolution of the solar system and methods of detecting exomoons, as was evidenced by the presentations in the IIA-ISAC National Symposium on Exoplanets, held in Kodaikanal, earlier this month.”

“Much discussed were the Indian facilities, especially, the PARAS-1 spectrograph, which is part of the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory, focussed on detecting exoplanets. Located at an altitude of about 1,700 m, this spectrograph enjoys around 220 cloudless nights each year. This facility is soon to be upgraded, and PARAS-2, as it is known, is expected to see first light in 2020.”

“The first dedicated program to search for exoplanets in India is called PARAS which stands for PRL (Physical Research Labouratory) Advanced Radial-velocity All-sky Search.”

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/moving-beyond-the-solar-system-to-exoplanets/article9224410.ece

—