INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 9 March 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• 1503 AD: The Portuguese had established their first fort in Cochin in India.
• Goa was Portugal’s first territorial possession in Asia, captured by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, and it served as the main Portuguese base in the East for four and a half centuries. Albuquerque had intended Goa to be a colony and a naval base, as distinct from the fortified factories which had been established in certain Indian seaports.
• Elsewhere in India, the Portuguese had constructed a fort at Diu, an important port that commanded the commercial and pilgrimage routes between India and the Middle East. By the mid-1550s all Gujarati ships entering and leaving the Gulf of Khambhat were being required to pay Portuguese duties at Diu. In 1559 the Portuguese occupied Daman, a port that they had sacked and burned almost 30 years earlier.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/marakkars-who-fought-against-portuguese-invaders/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award for Best Private Sector organization/ Public sector undertaking in promoting the well-being and welfare of women, named after Ahilyabai Holkar, 18th-century ruler of the Malwa kingdom.
• Kannagi is a legendary Tamil woman who forms the central character of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram.
• Rudramadevi was a monarch of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan Plateau from 1263 until her death. She was one of the very few women to rule as monarchs in India and promoted a male image in order to do so.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/nari-shakti-puraskar/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The first Gender Social Norms Index was recently released by the UN Development Programmme (UNDP).

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/gender-social-norms-index/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+25), the most visionary agenda on women’s empowerment to date.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/gender-social-norms-index/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The law (The Representation of the People Act 1951 Section 29A) sets down certain conditions for a political party to form and get registered by the Election Commission of India (ECI):
  • It must consist only of Indian citizens
  • It must call itself a political party set up for the purpose of contesting elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures and for no other purpose.
  • It must have at least 100 registered electors as its members.
• An application for registration (along with all supporting documents) is to be submitted to the Secretary of the ECI in the prescribed format.
• Also, after a political party has been registered by the ECI, it is its legal duty to keep the ECI duly informed of any change in its name, head office, office-bearers, address, or in any other material matters, like its constitution.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/centre-cannot-brand-organisations-political-sc/

Ans: (c)

• The Asiatic Society: ministry of Culture
• National Institute of Solar Energy : Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/enforcement-directorate/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

About Samagra Shiksha:

• The Union Budget, 2018-19, has proposed to treat school education holistically without segmentation from pre-nursery to Class 12.
• Samagra Shiksha – an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12 has been, therefore, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
• It subsumes the three erstwhile Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).

About Right to Eductaion:

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.

• The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools.
• It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). Kids are admitted in to private schools based on economic status or caste based reservations.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/status-of-govt-schools/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheria, which primarily infects the throat and upper airways, and produces a toxin affecting other organs.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/in-news-kyasanur-forest-disease-2/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) does not recommend commercial stem cell banking.
• Cord blood (short for umbilical cord blood) is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta post-delivery. It contains special cells called hematopoietic stem cells that can be used to treat some types of diseases.
• Cord blood banking is the process of collecting the cord blood and extracting and cryogenically freezing its stem cells and other cells of the immune system for potential future medical use.
• Globally, cord blood banking is recommended as a source of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for haematological cancers and disorders where its use is recommended. For all other conditions, the use of cord blood as a source of stem cells is not yet established.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/cord-blood-banking/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Red Panda: Sikkim, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Lion tailed macaque: Endemic to Western Ghats

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/09/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-9-march-2020/