QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 20 June 2017

Solution: a.

• There are 18 Mahapuranas and many more Upapuranas.
• The Puranas are supposed to have five characteristics – Sarga (creation of the world), Pratisarga (re-creation), Vamsha (genealogies of gods and rishis), Manvantara (periods of the various Manus) and Vamshanucharita (genealogy of kings). Not all Puranas deal with all these five topics, and most of them deal with much more.
• The earliest parts of the Puranic genealogies are either entirely or partly mythical. The later genealogies of kings of the kali age have historical material.

‘A history of ancient and early medieval India’ by Upinder Singh;

Improvisation: PIB;

Solution: d.

• Ethylene is a plant hormone that affects ripening and rotting in plants. It is a particularly interesting plant hormone because it exists as a gas. No other plant hormone is gaseous.
• Ethylene can be produced in almost any part of a plant, and can diffuse through the plant’s tissue, outside the plant, and travel through the air to affect a totally different plant.

BBC: How is it possible to buy apples all year round?;

Plant Hormones;

Solution: b.

• Startup India Virtual Hub is an effort to create a marketplace where all the stakeholders can interact, exchange knowledge, and enable each other to grow. It will streamline the lifecycle of existing and potential startups, helping them access the right resources at the right time.
• The portal will host startups, investors, funds, mentors, academia, incubators, accelerators, corporates, Government bodies and more. The Hub attempts to solve the problem of information asymmetry and lack of access to knowledge, tools, &experts, especially in the nascent ecosystems across Tier II and III towns.
• The Minister also announced a new initiative, wherein a Startup exchange program amongst the SAARC nations would be organized.

PIB;

Solution: a.

• Membership: The Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment – Chairman; Minister of State SJ&E – Vice-Chairman of the Council. Members of the Council include: Secretary (SJ&E), Joint Secretary (Social Defence), related central ministries such as Finance, Rural Development, Home Affairs, Law and Justice, Human Resource Development etc., National Commissions like NHRC, NCW etc., State Governments (on rotation), Oldest member of the Lok Sabha, Oldest member of the Rajya Sabha, along with representatives of Senior Citizens Associations, Pensioners’ Associations, eminent senior citizens working on issues related to senior citizens etc.
• In order to have a definite structure as well as regional representation, the National Council for Older Persons (NCOP) has been reconstituted and renamed as National Council of Senior Citizens (NCSrC) vide a resolution dated 17th February, 2012.

PIB;

Solution: d.

TH: Anti-profiteering body can take suo moto action;

Solution: c.

• Fossils of five early humans have been found in North Africa that show Homo sapiens emerged at least 100,000 years earlier than previously recognised. It suggests that our species evolved all across the continent, the scientists involved say.
• Prof Hublin’s excavation has further revealed that these ancient people had employed stone tools and had learned how to make and control fire. So, not only did they look like Homo sapiens, they acted like them as well.

BBC: ‘First of our kind’ found in Morocco;

TH: Origins of us;