INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 15 May 2021) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Statement 1:  These are sects of Buddhism.
• Statement 2:  While, like all Buddhists, the Sarvastivadins consider everything empirical to be impermanent, they maintain that the dharma factors are eternally existing realities.
• The dharmas are thought to function momentarily, producing the empirical phenomena of the world, which is illusory, but to exist outside the empirical world.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/mongolian-kanjur-manuscripts-2/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Maitreya is regarded as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita.
• According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma.
• According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha).
• The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya refers to a time in the future when the dharma will have been forgotten by most on the terrestrial world Maitreya has also been adopted for his millenarian role by many non-Buddhist religions in the past, such as the White Lotus, as well as by modern new religious movements, such as Yiguandao

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/mongolian-kanjur-manuscripts-2/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• All three are major features.
• Buddhas and bodhisattvas are central elements of Mahāyāna. Mahāyāna’s vastly expanded cosmology, with various Buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in different worlds and buddha-fields.
• This is shown through the depiction of buddhas and bodhisattvas through image worship and rituals in monasteries and viharas.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/mongolian-kanjur-manuscripts-2/

Ans: (c)

Explanation: Basavanna:

• Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India.
• Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
• He introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, the “hall of spiritual experience”), which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open.
• As a leader, he developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas, or “ardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva”. This movement shared its roots in the ongoing Tamil Bhakti movement, particularly the Shaiva Nayanars traditions, over the 7th- to 11th-century.
• Basava championed devotional worship that rejected temple worship and rituals led by Brahmins, and replaced it with personalized direct worship of Shiva through practices such as individually worn icons and symbols like a small linga.
• He is the founding saint of the Lingayat sect.
• Basaveshwara is the first Kannadiga in whose honour a commemorative coin has been minted in recognition of his social reforms.
• In November 2015, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi inaugurated the statue of Basaveshwara along the bank of the river Thames at Lambeth in London.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/basava-jayanti-2/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Worldwide there are six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones. The tropical cyclones forming over different Ocean basins are named by the concerned RSMCs & TCWCs.
• India Meteorological Department is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under WMO/ESCAP Panel
• Link: Criteria for name selection
  • The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe
  • It should not be very rude and cruel in nature
• S3: It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member
• S2: The maximum length of the name will be eight letters
• The proposed name should be provided along with its pronunciation and voice over
• S1: the names are not rotated every few years. It is believed that since the cyclones cause so much death, destruction and devastation, names are considered for retirement and hence is not used repeatedly.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/cyclone-tauktae/

Ans: (b)

Explanation: About SWAMIH Fund:

• The SWAMIH Fund was launched by Sitharaman in November 2019.
• SWAMIH Investment Fund has been formed to complete construction of stalled, RERA-registered affordable and mid-income category housing projects which are stuck due to paucity of funds.
• The fund was set up as a Category-II AIF (Alternate Investment Fund) debt fund registered with SEBI.
• The Investment Manager of the Fund is SBICAP Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Bank of India.
• The Sponsor of the Fund is the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/special-window-for-affordable-mid-income-housing-swamih/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• It is a central sector scheme with 100 per cent funding from the Government of India. The scheme was launched in December 2018.
• How to register for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi
  • Farmers have to approach the local revenue officer (patwari) or a nodal officer (nominated by the state government)
  • The Common Service Centres (CSCs) have also been authorized to do the registration of the farmers for the Scheme upon payment of fees
• How to register for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi
  • Farmers have to approach the local revenue officer (patwari) or a nodal officer (nominated by the state government)
  • The Common Service Centres (CSCs) have also been authorized to do the registration of the farmers for the Scheme upon payment of fees

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/pm-kisan-scheme-6/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The red-eared slider is included in the list of the world’s 100 most invasive species published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
• S1 and S2: It is the most invasive turtle, because of this, it is the most commonly traded species of turtle in the world.
• S3: Olive ridley sea turtle most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/05/15/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-13-may-2021-2/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Biosphere is that part of the earth in which living organisms exist or which supports life. Please note we are not talking about the “biosphere reserve”. Protected areas, just like any large ecosystem, are a significant part of our biosphere that is established to protect our flora, fauna and their habitats. So, the most appropriate analogy is option A where a tree is one among many (species both plant and animals) in a forest.
• Option D: This in invalid as biosphere is much larger than any protected area on earth. Two celestial bodies may be of the same size.

Refer: https://www.britannica.com/science/biosphere

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Self-explanatory

Refer: India Map