DAY – 11 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: A

Child Marriage

The practice of child marriage was another social stigma for the women. In November 1870, the Indian Reforms Association was started with the efforts of Keshav Chandra Sen. A journal called Mahapap Bal Vivah (Child marriage: The Cardinal Sin) was also launched with the efforts of B.M. Malabari to fight against child marriage. In 1846, the minimum marriageable age for a girl was only 10 years. In 1891, through the enactment of the Age of Consent Act, this was raised to 12 years. In 1930, through the Sharda Act, the minimum age was raised to 14 years. After independence, the limit was raised to 18 years in 1978.

Solution: A

In the meantime, a new social consciousness also dawned among the Indians. Abolition of’ untouchability became a major issue of the 19th century social and religious reform movements in the country. Mahatma Gandhi made the removal of untouchability a part of his constructive programme. He brought out a paper, The Harijan, and also organised the Harijan Sevak Sangh. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar dedicated his entire life for the welfare of the downtrodden. In Bombay, he formed a Bahiskrit Hitkarini Sabha in July 1924 for this purpose. Later, he also organized the Akhil Bharatiya Dalit Varg Sabha to fight against caste oppression. Jyotirao Phule in Western India and Shri Narayana Guru in Kerala respectively established the Satya Sadhak Samaj and the Shri Narayana Dharma Partipalana Yogam to include self-esteem among the downtrodden.

Solution: D

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) is an index for measurement of gender disparity that was introduced in the 2010 Human Development Report 20th anniversary edition by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

According to the UNDP, this index is a composite measure to quantify the loss of achievement within a country due to gender inequality. It uses three dimensions to measure opportunity cost: reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market participation.

The new index was introduced as an experimental measure to remedy the shortcomings of the previous indicators, the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), both of which were introduced in the 1995 Human Development Report.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Inequality_Index

Solution: D

Swami Dayanand Saraswathi and the Arya Samaj

The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswathi at Bombay in 1875. Born in Kathiawar in Gujarat, Swami Dayanand (1824-83) was a scholar, a patriot, a social reformer and a revivalist. He believed the Vedas were the source of true knowledge. His motto was “Back to the Vedas”. He was against idol worship, child marriage and caste system based on birth. He encouraged intercaste marriages and widow remarriage. He started the Suddhi movement to bring back those Hindus who had converted to other religions to its fold. He wrote the book Satyartha Prakash which contains his ideas.

The Arya Samaj, though founded in Bombay, became very powerful in Punjab and spread its influence to other parts of India. It has contributed very much to the spread of education. The first Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) School was founded in 1886 at Lahore.

Solution: B

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) was constituted under Section 410 of the ‘Companies Act, 2013’ for hearing appeals against the orders of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), with effect from 1st June, 2016.

It is also the Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by NCLT(s) under Section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), with effect from 1st December, 2016.

It is also the Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India under Section 202 and Section 211 of IBC.

It is also the Appellate Tribunal to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction issued or decision made or order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), as per the amendment brought to Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013 by Section 172 of the Finance Act, 2017, with effect from 26th May, 2017.

Solution: C

Prarthana Samaj

The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 in Bombay by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang. It was an off-shoot of Brahmo Samaj. It was a reform movement within Hinduism and concentrated on social reforms like inter-dining, inter-marriage, widow remarriage and uplift of women and depressed classes. Justice M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar joined it in 1870 and infused new strength to it. Justice Ranade promoted the Deccan Education Society.

Solution: B

Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission

The original name of Swami Vivekananda was Narendranath Dutta (1863-1902) and he became the most famous disciple of Shri Ramkrishna Paramahamsa. He was born in a prosperous Bengali family of Calcutta and educated in Scottish Church College. In 1886 Narendranath took the vow of Sanyasa and was given the name, Vivekananda. He preached Vedantic Philosophy. He condemned the caste system and the current Hindu emphasis on rituals and ceremonies.

Swami Vivekananda participated at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago (USA) in September 1893 and raised the prestige of India and Hinduism very high.

Vivekananda preached the message of strength and self-reliance. He asked the people to improve the lives of the poor and depressed classes. He believed that service to mankind is service to God. He founded the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in Howrah in 1897. It is a social service and charitable society. The objectives of this Mission are providing humanitarian relief and social work through the establishment of schools, colleges, hospitals and orphanages.

Solution: C

India State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2019 is biennial exercise of Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change which assesses the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires.

Forest Cover of India Forest Cover refers to all lands more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status.

Tree cover, defined as patches of trees less than 1 hectare and occurring outside the recorded forest area, grew by 1,212 sqkm

Very Dense Forest: All lands, with a forest cover with canopy density of 70% and above

Moderately Dense Forest: All lands, with a forest cover with canopy density of 40 – 70 %

Open Forest: All lands, with forest cover with canopy density of 10 to 40%

Solution: B

Sikh Reform Movement

Punjab also came under the spell of reforms. Baba Dayal Das founded the Nirankari Movement. He insisted the worship of God as nirankar (formless). The Namdhari Movement was founded by Baba Ram Singh. His followers wore white clothes and gave up meat eating.

The Singh Sabhas started in Lahore and Amritsar in 1870 were aimed at reforming the Sikh society. They helped to set up the Khalsa College at Amritsar in 1892.They also encouraged Gurmukhi and Punjabi literature. In 1920, the Akalis started a movement to remove the corrupt Mahants (priests) from the Sikh gurudwaras. The British government was forced to make laws on this matter. Later, the Akalis organised themselves into a political party.

Solution: C

PRANASH Missile is ballistic missile which would be used for tactical missions.

It is a surface to surface ballistic missile and will be used by the Army and the Air Force for destroying enemy targets at short ranges.

The missile would be an advanced version of the 150-km strike range Prahar missile developed by the DRDO

It is a non-nuclear missile and will be propelled by a single-stage solid propellant engine

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-developing-new-200-km-strike-range-pranash-ballistic-missile-11581256503188.html

Solution: A

The Deoband Movement was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema as a revivalist movement with the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

The Deoband Movement was begun at the Darul Uloom (or Islamic academic centre), Deoband, in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community. In contrast to the Aligarh Movement, which aimed at the welfare of Muslims through Western education and support of the British government, the aim of the Deoband Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community. The instruction imparted at Deoband was in original Islamic religion.

On the political front, the Deoband school welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress and in 1888 issued a fatwa (religious decree) against Syed Ahmed Khan’s organisations, the United Patriotic Association and the Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental Association. Some critics attribute Deoband’s support to the nationalists more to its determined opposition to Syed Ahmed Khan than to any positive political philosophy.

Solution: A

• Scott-Moncrieff Commission (Irrigation) by Curzon in 1901
• Fraser Commission (Police Reforms) by Curzon in 1902
• Hunter Commission (Punjab Disturbances) by Chelmsford 1919
• Butler Commission (Indian States relation with British Crown) by Irwin in 1927
• Whiteley Commission (Labour) by Irwin in 1929
• Sapru Commission (Unemployment) by Linlithgow in 1935
• Chalfield Commission (Army) by Linlighgow 1939
• Floud Commission (Tenancy in Bengal) by Linlighgow in 1940

Solution: C

Special economic zone (SEZ) is a duty-free enclave and deemed to be foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs.

India’s SEZ Policy was implemented from 1 April, 2000. Subsequently SEZ Act, 2005 was introduced. Number of operational SEZs have grown to 241. In the recent past, exports from SEZs are growing at a faster rate than overall exports from the country.

A primary requirement for SEZ units to be eligible for benefits is to have a positive net foreign exchange (NFE). Net Foreign Exchange criteria is determined by subtracting the value of imported inputs, input services and capital goods along with the value of all payments made in foreign exchange from the value of exports)

http://sezindia.nic.in/cms/introduction.php

Solution: D

Why Militant Nationalism Grew

1. Realisation that the true nature of British rule was exploitative, and that the British India government, instead

of conceding more, was taking away even what existed.

2. Growth of self-confidence and self-respect.
3. Impact of growth of education—increase in awareness and unemployment.
4. International influences and events which demolished the myth of white/European supremacy. These included

— emergence of Japan—an Asian country—as an industrial power

— Abyssinia’s (Ethiopia) victory over Italy.

— Boer Wars (1899-1902) in which the British faced reverses.

— Japan’s victory over Russia (1905).

— nationalist movements worldwide.

5. Reaction to increasing westernisation.
6. Dissatisfaction with the achievements as well as the methods of the Moderates.
7. Reactionary policies of Curzon such as the Calcutta Corporation Act (1899), the Official Secrets Act (1904), the Indian Universities Act (1904) and partition of Bengal (1905).
8. Existence of a militant school of thought.
9. Emergence of a trained leadership.

• The Extremist Ideology

(i) Hatred for foreign rule

(ii) Belief in the capacity of the masses

(iii) Swarajya as goal

(iv) Advocacy of direct political action and self-sacrifice.

Solution: B

Nirbhaya fund:

• The fund is created by Ministry of Finance in 2013 with a corpus of Rs 1000 crore.
• The corpus was to be utilised for upholding safety and dignity of women.
• Ministry of Women and Child Development apart from several other concerned ministries were authorized to work out details of structure, scope and application of this fund.
• The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.

Solution: B

Subhash Chandra Bose was president of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His main area of work lay in the organisation of the youth and promoting the trade union movement. Subhash Bose did not agree with Gandhi and other leaders of the Congress on many aspects of the struggle for freedom. He along with Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the Motilal Nehru Report which spoke for dominion status for India. Bose was all for full independence; he also announced the formation of the Independence League. When the Lahore Congress session under Jawaharlal Nehru’s presidency adopted a resolution that the Congress goal would be ‘Poorna Swaraj’, Bose fully endorsed the decision. He was again fully active in the Salt Satyagraha Movement in 1930, forcing the government to arrest him. He was vehemently against the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement and the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931, especially as the government refused to negotiate on the death sentence for Bhagat Singh and his associates. From all this we get a clear idea that Bose was a man of action and radical ideas.

In May, Bose and his followers formed the Forward Bloc (at Makur, Unnao) as a new party within the Congress.

Solution: D

Pandita Ramabai was foremost among the Indian leaders who worked for the emancipation of women. After the death of her parents she and her brother travelled to different parts of the country. They went to Calcutta in 1878. Two years later her brother also died. A little later in 1880 she married a Bengali belonging to a family of lower social status. Thus, even at that time she was bold enough to marry a man of a different caste and different language. After the death of her husband two years later she returned to Poona and started the Arya Mahila Samaj with the help of leaders like Ranade and Bhandarkar. 300 women were educated in the Samaj in 1882.

Ramabai started the Sharada Sadan (shelter for homeless) for the destitute widows with the help of Ranade and Bhandarkar. But soon she was accused of converting Hindu women to Christianity and hence had to shift her activities to Khedgoan near Poona. She established a Mukti Sadan (freedom house) there. Soon there were 2000 children and women in the house. Vocational training was given make them self-reliant.

Solution: D

The Delhi government has kicked off its pilot project of creating Delhi’s first ‘zero fatality corridor’. It has also issued actionable points to all agencies to ensure a 10% reduction in road accidents by the end of the year.

As per the government’s plan, a 3km stretch between Burari Chowk and Bhalswa chowk will be taken as a case study for scientific assessment of accidents, road engineering, road-user engagement and for checking police enforcement and rapid emergency care.

Solution: C

Rao Bahadur Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu was a social reformer and writer of Madras Presidency, British India. He is considered as the father of renaissance movement in Telugu. He was one of the early social reformers who encouraged women education, remarriage of widows which was not supported by the society during his time and fought against dowry system. He also started a school in Dowlaiswaram in 1874. He constructed a temple known as ‘Brahmo Mandir’ in 1887 and the ‘Hithakarini School’ in 1908 in Andhra Pradesh. His novel Rajasekhara Charitramu is considered to be the first novel in Telugu literature.

Veeresalingam was inspired by the principles of Brahmo Samaj leaders like Raja Rammohan Roy, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, & Maharshi Keshab Chandra Sen. He started his own Brahmo Mandir in Rajahmundry near bridge in 1887.

One of the greatest reforms of Veeresalingam was to promote women’s education, which was considered to be a taboo in those days. In 1876, he started a journal called Viveka Vardhini and published articles about women’s issues of that era. The magazine was initially printed at Chennai (then Madras), but with his writings gaining popularity, he established his own press at Rajahmundry.

Veeresalingam served as one of the members of the first Indian National Congress (INC) meeting in 1885.

Solution: A

Oxytocin:

• Oxytocin has also been dubbed the hug hormone, cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone due to its effects on behavior, including its role in love and in female reproductive biological functions in reproduction.
• Oxytocin is naturally secreted by the pituitary glands of mammals during sex, childbirth, lactation or social bonding,
• Oxytocin is a hormone that is made in the brain, in the hypothalamus. It is transported to, and secreted by, the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain.
• It acts both as a hormone and as a brain neurotransmitter.
• The release of oxytocin by the pituitary gland acts to regulate two female reproductive functions: Childbirth and Breast-feeding
• The Delhi high court had quashed the Centre’s December 14, 2018 notification, which had banned its sale by private manufacturers and retail chemists, saying the sale was allowed. Essentially, this meant that only KAPL could produce the drug as there is no other public sector enterprise doing so. However, Delhi high court quashed the amended order too. The central government moved Supreme Court against the Delhi high court order.

Solution: D

Context: Birth anniversary of Indian Social Reformer Savitribhai Phule is observed on January 3.

Key facts:

• Born in Naigaon in Maharashtra on January 3, 1831, Phule is widely regarded as one of India’s first generation modern feminists for her significant contributions in ensuring equal education opportunities under the British raj.
• She became the first female teacher in India in 1848 and opened a school for girls along with her husband, social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
• The two also worked against discrimination based on caste-based identity, something vehemently opposed by the orthodox sections of society in Pune.
• She went on to establish a shelter for widows in 1854 which she further built on in 1864 to also accommodate destitute women and child brides cast aside by their families.
• Phule also played a pivotal role in directing the work of the Satyashodhak Samaj, formed by her husband with the objective to achieve equal rights for the marginalised lower castes.
• Savitribai opened a clinic in 1897 for victims of the bubonic plague that spread across Maharashtra just before the turn of the century.
• She also set up “Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha”.
• In her honour, University of Pune was renamed Savitribai Phule University in 2014.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/03/savitribai-phule/

Solution: C

Behramji Merwanji Malabari JP (1853–1912) was an Indian poet, publicist, author, and social reformer best known for his ardent advocacy for the protection of the rights of women and for his activities against child marriage.

In August 1884, Malabari published a set of Notes on “Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood”, that he sent to 4,000 leading Englishmen and Hindus. In it, Malabari deplored the “social evil” of “baby marriage” and demanded legislature to prevent it.

Solution: B

E-AUSHADHI portal:

• Ministry of State (IC) for AYUSH, launched the e-AUSHADHI portal, for online licensing of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy drugs and related matters.
• E-AUSHADHI portal is intended for increased transparency, improved information management facility, improved data usability and increased accountability.
• Timelines will be fixed for processing of application through this portal with SMS and e-mail status updates at each step of the process.
• It will provide real-time information of the licensed manufactures and their products, cancelled and spurious drugs, contact details of the concerned authority for specific grievances.

Solution: D

Balshastri Jambhekar (1812-1846) was a pioneer of social reform through journalism in Bombay; he attacked brahminical orthodoxy and tried to reform popular Hinduism. He started the newspaper Darpan in 1832. Known as the father of Marathi journalism, Jambhekar used the Darpan to awaken the people to awareness of social reforms, such as widow remarriage, and to instil in the masses a scientific approach to life. In 1840, he started Digdarshan which published articles on scientific subjects as well as history.

Jambhekar founded the Bombay Native General Library and started the Native Improvement Society of which an offshoot was the Students Literary and Scientific Library. He was the first professor of Hindi at the Elphinston College, besides being a director of the Colaba Observatory

Solution: C

Central Wakf Council:

• Central Wakf Council is a statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under Wakf Act, 1954 (now a sub section the Wakf Act, 1995).
• It has been established for the purpose of advising Centre on matters pertaining to working of the State Wakf Boards and proper administration of the Wakfs in the country.
• It is a permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties for religious, pious or charitable purposes as recognized by Muslim Law, given by philanthropists.
• Composition and appointments: The Council is headed by a Chairperson, who is the Union Minister in charge of Wakfs and there are maximum 20 other members, appointed by Government of India as stipulated in the Wakf Act.