QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 02 April 2018

Solution: c.

The Kuthiyottam ritual (In the news): It is usually performed every year during the Pongala festival (Pongala, which means ‘to boil over’, is a ritual in which women prepare a pudding made from rice, jaggery, coconut and plantains cooked together, and offer it to the goddess. The ritual can only be performed by women, and the streets of the city are known to be jam packed with devotees during the festival) at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Nearly 1,000 young boys undertake a seven-day penance before Pongala day. These boys are said to represent the wounded soldiers of the goddess. The boys have to observe strict discipline and stay inside the temple for seven days. The rigours include sleeping on the floor, strict diet restrictions, and bathing three times a day. They also have to prostrate 1,008 times before the deity.

The ritual also reportedly involves piercing the child’s side with a small hook and knotting a thread through it to symbolise their bond with the Goddess.

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:

• Tradition of Vedic Chanting
• Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana
• Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
• Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas
• Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala
• Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan
• Chhau dance
• Buddhist chanting, recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region
• Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur
• Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab
• Yoga
• Nawrouz/Navruz/Novruz
• Kumbh Mela

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=176981;

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Solution: b.

• For each language, the Atlas provides its name, degree of endangerment (see below) and the country or countries where it is spoken.
• Gondi is in the ‘vulnerable’ category.
• The ‘Himalayas’ can be divided into the following sub-divisions – Kashmir Himalayas, Himachal and Uttaranchal Himalayas, Darjeeling Himalayas, Arunachal Himalayas and Eastern Hills and Mountains (they are known by different local names – ex: Patkai Bum, Naga Hills, Lushai Hills etc.) Hence statement 3 is correct (view map below).

UNESCO Atlas;

Source/Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/society/this-indian-language-can-be-written-by-only-100-people/article23384526.ece;

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Solution: a.

All of this information has appeared in The Hindu over the past few days.

TH1: “It was only in 2017 that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released a White Paper by a committee of experts led by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.N. Srikrishna, on a data protection framework for India. Until that consultative process agrees upon basic principles to guide data protection laws, India will continue to suffer the existing regulatory framework under the Information Technology Act, 2000, which only identifies six types of “sensitive personal data” and requires entities handling such data to have “reasonable security practices and procedures” in place before collecting the information.”

TH2: “One can approach a court and seek redress under the IT Act, but only if you have suffered a loss of property or money. If your data has been breached or leaked, and you haven’t suffered a monetary or property loss, there’s nothing you can do.”

“Apart from its profound significance for Europe, the GDPR has global implications as it also applies to those outside the E.U. who either monitor the behaviour of EU residents or sell goods and services to them. Consequently, the law is expected to have a significant impact on Indian IT firms and other service providers with an E.U. clientèle.”

Source/Improvisation: About E.U.’s GDPR

India-E.U. trade;

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Solution: c.

The MSD is a day-and-night lighting single device unique in its features, that has a transparent semi-spherical upper dome made of acrylic material which captures the sunlight and the light passes through a sun-tube having a thin layer of highly reflective coating on the inner wall of the passage. There is a shutter in the bottom of the lower dome which can be closed, if light is not required in the daytime.  It is leak proof and works throughout the day and 4 hours continuously after sunset (in the case of PV-Integrated MSD). There are two types of MSDs – PV Integrated and non-PV Integrated.

Source/Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/100-zero-fuel-bulb-shines-bright/article23402550.ece;

From 2016: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=153493;

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Solution: d.

The Union Cabinet recently approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and SACEP for cooperation on the response to Oil and Chemical Pollution in the South Asian Seas Region.

• Indian Coast Guard (ICG) will be the Competent National Authority and national operational contact point for implementation of “Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan” under the MoU and shall respond to oil and chemical spills on behalf of Government of India. Further, ICG Maritime Rescue. Coordination Centres (MRCCs) will be the national emergency response centre for marine incidents.
• About SACEP: In order to promote and support protection, management and enhancement of the environment in the South Asian region, the Governments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (same as SAARC membership) established the SACEP in 1982 in Sri Lanka.
• The SACEP jointly with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) developed a “Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan” to facilitate international co-operation and mutual assistance in preparing and responding to a major oil pollution incident in the seas around the Maritime States of Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=178177;