INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 26 May 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Nandalal Bose was born on 3 December 1882 in a middle-class Bengali family of Kharagpur, in Munger district of Bihar state.
• As a young artist, Nandalal Bose was deeply influenced by the murals of the Ajanta Caves. He had become part of an international circle of artists and writers seeking to revive classical Indian culture; a circle that already included Okakura Kakuzō, William Rothenstein, Yokoyama Taikan, Christiana Herringham, Laurence Binyon, Abanindranath Tagore, and the seminal London Modernist sculptors Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein.
• To mark the 1930 occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest for protesting the British tax on salt, Bose created a black on white linocut print of Gandhi walking with a staff. It became the iconic image for the non-violence movement.
• His genius and original style were recognised by famous artists and art critics like Gaganendranath Tagore, Ananda Coomaraswamy and O. C. Ganguli. These lovers of art felt that objective criticism was necessary for the development of painting and founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art.
• He became principal of the Kala Bhavana (College of Arts) at Tagore’s International University Santiniketan in 1922.
• He was also famously asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to sketch the emblems for the Government of India’s awards, including the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Shri. Along with his disciple Rammanohar, Nandalal Bose took up the historic task of beautifying/decorating the original manuscript of the Constitution of India.
• He died on 16 April 1966 in Calcutta.
• Today, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi holds 7000 of his works in its collection, including a 1930 black and white linocut of the Dandi March depicting Mahatma Gandhi, and a set of seven posters he later made at the request of Mahatma Gandhi for the 1938 Haripura Session of the Indian National Congress.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/ramkinkar-baij/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) was a Haridasa, great devotee of Lord Krishna and a saint.
• Purandara Dasa’s songs express his love for Lord Narayana, especially Sri Krishna. He sings of various aspects of Sri Krishna’s life. In many of these songs, he also satirizes all the various pretensions and vices prevailing in the society.
• He was a disciple of the celebrated Madhwa philosopher-saint Vyasatirtha, and a contemporary of yet another great Haridasa, Kanakadasa.
• Purandaradasa was the pioneer who blended the rich musical streams, namely the Dravidian and Aryan music, into a single stream known as Carnatic music.
• Prior to his initiation to Haridasa tradition, Purandara Dasa was a rich merchant and was called as Srinivasa Nayaka.
• Stat2: Purandara Dasa fought the evils of casteism through his songs. In his song aavakulavaadarenu aavanadarenu aatma bhavavariyada mele he wonders what is the use if one does not understand the spirit of humanism whatever caste or status one might be accredited to.
• Stat3: Tyagaraja (1767-1847) was a renowned composer of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. He was prolific and highly influential in the development of India’s classical music tradition. Tyagaraja and his contemporaries, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar, were regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music. Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most in Telugu and in praise of Lord Rama, many of which remain popular today.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/purandara-dasa/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Bharat stage emission standards (BSES) are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from compression ignition engines and Spark-ignition engines equipment, including motor vehicles. The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/govt-notifies-bs-vi-emission-norms-for-quadricycles/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has given the following criteria for Heat Waves:
  • Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40°C or more for Plains, 37°C or more for coastal stations and at least 30°C or more for Hilly regions.
• When the normal maximum temperature of a station is less than or equal to 40°C, Heat Wave Departure from normal is 5°C to 6°C and Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is 7°C or more.
• When the normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40°C, Heat Wave Departure from normal is 4°C to 5°C and Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is 6°C or more.
• When the actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more irrespective of normal maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/what-are-heatwaves/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Somalia shares a border with three countries: Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia. The country also has a border the Gulf of Aden which is located to the northern region and the Indian Ocean and Guardafui channel to the east, which separates the country from Socotra.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/no-answers-yet-for-somalia/

Ans: (c)

Explanation: What is ANITA?

• Designed by NASA, the ANITA instrument is a radio telescope which is used to to detect ultra-high energy cosmic-ray neutrinos from a scientific balloon flying over Antarctica.
• ANITA is the first NASA observatory for neutrinos of any kind.
• It involves an array of radio antennas attached to a helium balloon which flies over the Antarctic ice sheet at 37,000 meters.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-26-may-2020/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: Neutrinos are elementary that have the following properties:

• Neutrinos are electrically neutral and interact only via the weak interaction.
• Neutrinos exist in (at least) three different so-called flavors.
• Neutrinos are almost massless, i.e., they have very small masses compared to the other fermions. Since neutrinos are massive and mixed, neutrino oscillations occur among the different flavors.
• Neutrinos are very elusive, i.e., they have very tiny cross-sections.
• Neutrinos are the most frequent particles in the Universe.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-26-may-2020/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Open stubble burning emits large amounts of toxic pollutants in the atmosphere which contain harmful gases like methane (CH4), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Volatile organic compound (VOC) and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They may eventually cause smog.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/stubble-burning-5/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• It is a new species of small freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae.
• It was recently discovered in Velankanni in Tamil Nadu.
• It grows to a length of 7 cm. Its physical characteristics included a protractible mouth, a pair of maxillary barbels (a sensory organ near the snout), 24-25 lateral line scales and 10 pre-dorsal scales.
• The Puntius species are known locally as ‘Paral’ in Kerala and ‘Kende’ in Tamil Nadu. They are purely freshwater fishes.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-26-may-2020/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Jubaland is an autonomous region in southern Somalia.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/26/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-26-may-2020/