[MISSION 2023] RTM(Revision through MCQs)- 6 May 2023

Ans: (d)

Explanation: GLO:

• It is a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) flagship publication, whose 1st edition was launched in 2017 at the UNCCD COP13 (China).
• It underscores land system challenges, showcases transformative policies and practices, and points to cost-effective pathways to scale up sustainable land and water management.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/global-land-outlook-report/

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/2023/05/06/vaisakh-purnima/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Statement 1: It is central to the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.
• In non-Mahayana Buddhism, it usually refers either to Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, or to the historical Buddha Gautama prior to his enlightenment.
• Statement 2 and 3: A bodhisattva is literally a living being (sattva) who aspires to enlightenment (bodhi) and carries out altruistic practices. The bodhisattva ideal is central to the Mahayana Buddhist tradition as the individual who seeks enlightenment both for him- or herself and for others. Clearly 2 is correct.
• Compassion, an empathetic sharing of the sufferings of others, is the bodhisattva’s greatest characteristic.
• It is held that the bodhisattva makes four vows expressing a determination to work for the happiness of others: “However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them; however inexhaustible the passions are, I vow to master them; however limitless the teachings are, I vow to study them; however infinite the Buddha-truth is, I vow to attain it.”
• Clearly 3 is correct.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/vaisakh-purnima/

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/2023/05/06/vaisakh-purnima/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• S1: They were Theravadins.
• S2:The Mahāsāṃghikas school was first located in the area of Vaiśālī and spread also to southern India, with centres at Amarāvatī and Nāgārjunakoṇḍ Its texts were written in Prākrit. It further divided into several subsects, of which the best known was the Lokottaravāda (so called because of its views on lokottara).
• The Lokottaravāda was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others
• S3:The Mahāsaṅghikas believed in a plurality of buddhas who are supramundane (lokottara) and held that what passed for Gautama Buddha in his earthly existence was only an apparition.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/vaisakh-purnima/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:About the Mridangam:

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/mridangam/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The National Day of France, also known as Bastille Day, is celebrated on July 14 every year.
• What was Bastille? The Bastille was a fortress prison located in the heart of Paris, which had become a symbol of royal tyranny and oppression.
• The fall of the Bastille is widely considered the beginning of the French Revolution. The event also marked the beginning of a period of intense violence and social upheaval in France.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/frances-bastille-day-celebrations/

Ans: (d)

Explanation: Important Connectivity Projects:

• Kaladan Multimodal Project – links India and Myanmar.
• Asian Trilateral Highway – connecting India and Thailand through Myanmar.
• Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement – for seamless flow of passenger and cargo traffic.

Refre: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/kaladan-multimodal-transit-transport-project-kmttp/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Article 355 imposes two duties on the Centre: (a) to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance; and (b) to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
• It is this duty in the performance of which the Centre takes over the government of a state under Article 356 in case of failure of constitutional machinery in state.
• Statement 2 is incorrect.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/article-355-2/

Ans: (b)

• Article 356 empowers the President to issue a proclamation, if he is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of a state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
• Notably, the president can act either on a report of the governor of the state or otherwise too (ie, even without the governor’s report).
• A proclamation imposing President’s Rule must be approved by both the Houses of Parliament within two months from the date of its issue. If approved by both the Houses of Parliament, the President’s Rule continues for six months.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/05/06/article-355-2/