QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 06 June 2017

Solution: b

Improvisation: TH: Five Arab powers sever ties with Qatar;

Solution: b.

• Most of the new animal species were from the four biological hotspots of the country — the Himalayas, the northeast, the Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The geographical distribution of the new plant species reveals that most discoveries were made in the Western Ghats (17%), followed by the Eastern Himalayas (15%), the Western Himalayas (13%), the Eastern Ghats (12%) and the west coast (8%).

Th: India’s biodiversity riches grow by 499 species;

Solution: d.

• Space: There’s a whole lot of it. But if you want a spacecraft to stick around your celestial neighbourhood, there are only five places (two of which are referred to in option ‘a’) to consider. These are the “Lagrange points”, which are locations in space where objects sent there tend to stay put (option ‘d’).
• Typically, a spacecraft sent from the Earth into the vacuum of space will continue moving in the direction we send it, unless it’s affected by the gravity of a celestial object, like a star or a planet. Even if we stopped a spacecraft in the middle of space, the gravity of objects around it would eventually pull it in some direction.
• Enter Joseph-Louis Lagrange. He theorized that at certain points the gravity of two bodies, combined with the third body’s centripetal force, would keep the third body in a constant location relative to the other bodies. Lagrange was right. And now, NASA is using those points in space as parking spots for spacecraft which are discovering the secrets of the universe.
• A little push or bump, and the spacecraft at these L-points starts moving away. Thus it must use frequent rocket firings to stay in so-called ‘halo orbits’ around the L-point.

NASA: About Lagrange Points; ESA: About Lagrange Points;

Improvisation and In the news: “Work is on to launch two approved missions – Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-II… The ‘Aditya-L1’ will be placed in the halo orbit around the ‘Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system, according to ISRO”.

Solution: b.

Information regarding the ATBIP appeared in The Hindu and on the websites of several media outlets around when the US dropped its biggest non-nuclear device, the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs) in Afghanistan.

• Unlike the MOAB, which uses conventional ordnance, the FOAB aka “Big Daddy” is Thermobaric — meant to burn its targets. It uses oxygen from the atmosphere, rather than carrying an oxidising agent in its explosives. It produces more energy than normal weapons but is harder to control.
• Such devices generally detonate in two stages. First a small blast disperses a main load of explosive material into a cloud, which then either spontaneously ignites in air or is set off by a second charge. This explosion generates a pressure wave that reaches much further than that from a conventional explosive. The consumption of gases in the blast also generates a partial vacuum that can compound damage and injuries caused by the explosion itself.
• “The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature. All that is alive merely evaporates,” news agency Reuters reported in 2007 quoting Russian media reports.

Solution: d.

A general question.

• The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announced the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) on Antyodaya Diwas, 25th September 2014.
• DDU-GKY is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), tasked with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youth.
• DDU-GKY is uniquely focused on rural youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years from poor families. As a part of the Skill India campaign, it plays an instrumental role in supporting the social and economic programs of the government like the Make In India, Digital India, Smart Cities and Start-Up India, Stand-Up India campaigns.

Solution: c.

• HP: Purnima Barman, a recipient of the Whitley Awards 2017, has mobilised followers into the ‘Hargila Army’, an all-female team of conservationists dedicated to protecting the greater adjutant stork which, through this programme, are offered sustainable livelihood, training and education opportunities. The project is giving marginalised women a voice. Together they are changing local perceptions and numbers of stork nests have risen from 30 seven years ago to over 150 today.
• TH: Sanjay Gubbi has been awarded (the Whitley Award) for his work to protect tiger corridors in Karnataka. He works with the Mysuru-based Nature Conservation Foundation. Mr. Gubbi works with authorities and stakeholders to secure and connect tiger habitat. In 2012, working closely with the State government, he secured the largest expansion of protected areas in India since 1970 — increasing the size of protected areas in Karnataka by 37% and enhancing connectivity across 23 sites.

Improvisation: Q6, 3rd June Quiz;

Solution: b.

Rentier State: A government that derives its revenues predominantly from the sale of valuable resources it owns to clients in other countries. The idea was first proposed by Iranian economist Hossein Mahdavy in 1970. Saudi Arabia’s government, which earns almost all revenue by selling its oil to the rest of the world, is a good example of a rentier state. Some social scientists have argued that rentier states are unlikely to be accountable to their citizens as they are not dependent on tax revenues for their survival. This can lead them to be more tyrannical than other governments.

TH: Rentier State;