QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 11 NOVEMBER 2017

Solution: d.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-slips-21-places-in-gender-gap-ranking-bangladesh-ahead-4920129/;

Solution: b.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/top-colleges-to-compete-for-national-ranking/article20007103.ece;

https://www.nirfindia.org/Docs/Ranking_Methodology_And_Metrics_2017.pdf;

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Solution: d.

What is an XPRIZE?

An XPRIZE is a highly leveraged, incentivized prize competition that pushes the limits of what’s possible to change the world for the better.

It captures the world’s imagination and inspires others to reach for similar goals, spurring innovation and accelerating the rate of positive change.

An XPRIZE must (apart from those listed in the options above)

• Have a bold and audacious goal
• Be audacious but achievable
• Have clear, objective and simple rules
• Be telegenic and easy to convey
• Be leverageable
• Drive investment
• Create “back end” business
• Provide vision and hope

Some examples of XPRIZE include:

• Google Lunar XPRIZE
• Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE
• Global Learning XPRIZE
• Anu & Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE

Improvisation: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41935521

To read about the XPRIZE in detail, refer: https://www.xprize.org/about/what-is-an-xprize?language=en;

Solution: a.

Of the given list of states, the highest (and excessive) utilisation of fertilisers for a long period (since green revolution and continuing to this day) has been in the state of Punjab. Read the following extract to understand what a ‘nitrate time bomb’ is:

A study by researchers at the British Geological Survey reveals that huge quantities of nitrate chemicals from farm fertilisers are polluting the rocks beneath our feet.

• These researchers say it could have severe global-scale consequences for rivers, water supplies, human health and the economy. They say the nitrate will be released from the rocks into rivers via springs.
• That will cause toxic algal blooms and fish deaths, and will cost industry and consumers billions of pounds a year in extra water treatment.
• The scientists estimate that the quantity of nitrate stored in rocks worldwide is perhaps twice the amount stored in soils.
• They say this is the first global estimate of the amount of nitrate trapped between the soil layer and the water-bearing aquifers below. They warn that over time the nitrate will inevitably slowly seep into the aquifers. Water quality will be impacted for decades, even where controls on fertiliser use have been put in place. This is what is known as a ‘nitrate time bomb’.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41945650

Solution: a.

• Born on this day (11^th November) in 1885, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, pioneering feminist and activist Anasuya Sarabhai was instrumental in altering the course of India’s labor history.
• Briefly married as an adolescent, Sarabhai fought social convention and left in 1912 to study at the London School of Economics. There she was swept up in the suffragette movement and newly discovered ideas of social equality that laid the foundation for her life’s work (she came in contact with Fabianists, who rejected the revolutionary doctrines of Marxism, recommending instead a gradual transition to a socialist society).
• Back home in Ahmedabad, Sarabhai started to work with disempowered women, particularly taking on the cause of local mill workers after learning of their 36-hour work shifts. In 1914 she helped Ahmedabad’s weavers successfully organize their first strike for higher wages. In the years that followed, she went on to become their most vocal supporter, negotiating with mill owners (including her brother, Ambalal) for better working conditions. She was affectionately called “Motaben,” Gujarati for “elder sister.”
• She was supported in her work by Mahatma Gandhi (example – 1918 Ahmedabad mill-workers’ Satyagraha), with whom she set up Gujarat’s oldest labor union and India’s oldest union of textile workers (Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association [Majoor Mahajan Sangh]). It later paved the way for the founding of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA).

Google Doodle: http://www.google.com/doodles/anasuya-sarabhais-132nd-birthday;

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/google-doodle-on-anasuya-sarabhai-throw-light-on-little-known-labour-movement-4932211/;

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Solution: d.

Justification for statement 3: Farm mechanisation has killed the practice of using paddy stalk and straw as fodder, and burning is the only way out. “The cuttings left by the machines are too sharp. Not only do they injure us, even animals find it difficult to graze on,” says a farmer.

An excellent article to understand the issue of stubble burning (and a solution for the same) in north-west India: http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/delhi-air-pollution-smog-crop-stubble-burning-delhi-school-shut-odd-even-scheme-manish-sisodia-amarinder-singh-arvind-kejriwal-punjab-farmers-4930457/;

Summary of a related report (wherefrom this question has been framed): http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Report%20Summary/SCR%20Summary-%20Agriculture%20Research.pdf;

For a additional reading: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/river-of-fire-57924;

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