QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 11 March 2020

Solution: c)

An IFSC enables bringing back the financial services and transactions that are currently carried out in offshore financial centers by Indian corporate entities and overseas branches / subsidiaries of financial institutions (FIs) to India by offering business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centers in the world like London and Singapore.

It would provide Indian corporates easier access to global financial markets.

What are the services an IFSC can provide?

• Fund-raising services for individuals, corporations and governments.
• Asset management and global portfolio diversification undertaken by pension funds, insurance companies and mutual funds.
• Wealth management.
• Global tax management and cross-border tax liability optimization, which provides a business opportunity for financial intermediaries, accountants and law firms.
• Global and regional corporate treasury management operations that involve fund-raising, liquidity investment and management and asset-liability matching.
• Risk management operations such as insurance and reinsurance.
• Merger and acquisition activities among trans-national corporations.

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Solution: a)

Born in 1879, Periyar is remembered for the Self Respect Movement to redeem the identity and self-respect of Tamils. He envisaged a Dravida homeland of Dravida Nadu, and launched a political party, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

He associated himself with the Justice Party and the Self Respect Movement.

Periyar’s fame spread beyond the Tamil region during the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924, a mass movement to demand that lower caste persons be given the right to use a public path in front of the famous Vaikom temple.

Periyar took part in the agitation with his wife, and was arrested twice.

In the 1940s, Periyar launched Dravidar Kazhagam, which espoused an independent Dravida Nadu comprising Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada speakers.

As a social reformer, he focused on social, cultural and gender inequalities, and his reform agenda questioned matters of faith, gender and tradition.

He asked people to be rational in their life choices. He argued that women needed to be independent, not mere child-bearers, and insisted that they be allowed an equal share in employment.

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Solution: c)

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. The GCF is based in Incheon, South Korea.

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Solution: b)

The preferred habitat of an Indian rhinoceros is alluvial flood plains and areas containing tall grasslands along the foothills of the Himalayas. Formerly, extensively distributed in the Gangetic plains, today the species is restricted to small habitats in Indo-Nepal terai and northern West Bengal and Assam. In India, rhinos are mainly found in Kaziranga NP, Pobitara WLS, Orang NP, Manas NP in Assam, Jaldapara NP and Garumara NP in West Bengal and Dudhwa TR in Uttar Pradesh.

The Indian rhino has a single horn, which is present in both sexes. It is the largest of all the Asian rhinos.

The rhino is the fourth largest land animal.

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Solution: d)

Programme for Capacity Building of Scheduled Tribe Representatives in Local Self Governments is aimed at empowering tribal PRI representatives by enhancing their decision making capabilities at local government level. Among other issues concerning tribal development, it also focusses on constitutional and legal provisions that protect and promote the rights and welfare of the tribal population. The programme will ensure greater participation of ST PRIs representatives in planning, execution and monitoring of government policies and programmes. Their better participation in the development process would ensure better prioritization of the tribal development agenda. This initiative is aimed at empowering tribal PRI representatives by enhancing their decision making capabilities at local government level. The capacity building programme, among other issues concerning tribal development, will also focus on constitutional and legal provisions that protect and promote the rights and welfare of the tribal population. The programme will ensure greater participation of ST PRIs representatives in planning, execution and monitoring of government policies and programmes. 

‘1000 Springs Initiative’ aims at improving access to safe and adequate water for the tribal communities living in difficult and inaccessible part of rural areas in the country. It is an integrated solution around natural springs. It includes provision of infrastructure for piped water supply for drinking; provision of water for irrigation; community-led total sanitation initiatives; and provision for water for backyard nutrition gardens, generating sustainable livelihood opportunities for the tribal people. He hoped that the learning and suggestions coming out of the consultation will be used for further expansion of the project.

Springs are natural sources of groundwater discharge and have been used extensively in the mountainous regions across the world, including India. However, in the central and eastern Indian belt with more than 75% tribal population, it remains largely unrecognized and under-utilized. The initiative will help in harnessing the potential of perennial springs’ water to address natural scarcity of water in tribal areas.

Online portal on GIS-based Spring Atlas has been developed to make these data easily accessible from an online platform. Presently, data of more than 170 springs have been uploaded on the Spring Atlas.

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