QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 13 September 2017

Solution: a.
Iran and Turkmenistan share borders.

Afghanistan is a notoriously difficult country to govern. Empire after empire, nation after nation have failed to pacify what is today the modern territory of Afghanistan, giving the region the nickname “Graveyard of Empires, ” even if sometimes those empires won some initial battles and made inroads into the region.

Afghanistan is particularly hard to conquer primarily due to the intersection of three factors. First, because Afghanistan is located on the main land route between Iran, Central Asia, and India, it has been invaded many times and settled by a plethora of tribes, many mutually hostile to each other and outsiders. Second, because of the frequency of invasion and the prevalence of tribalism in the area, its lawlessness lead to a situation where almost every village or house was built like a fortress, or qalat. Third, the physical terrain of Afghanistan makes conquest and rule extremely difficult, exacerbating its tribal tendencies. Afghanistan is dominated by some of the highest and more jagged mountains in the world. These include the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Pamir Knot — where the Hindu Kush, Pamir, Tian Shan, Kunlun, and Himalayas all meet is situated in Badakhshan in northeast Afghanistan.

As both the British and Russians have learned, while it is possible to conquer territory in Afghanistan temporarily, and defeat Afghans militarily in open battle, it is virtually impossible to hold the region down for long, when it is filled with guerrillas, tribes, and castles that can constantly weigh down a foreign power. The people of Afghanistan have nowhere to go, and can fight their whole lives a luxury that outsiders do not have.

http://thediplomat.com/2017/06/why-is-afghanistan-the-graveyard-of-empires/;
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/a-battleground-not-a-graveyard-for-empires/article19590678.ece;
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/guardian-of-afghan-culture/article19672250.ece;
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Solution: a.
“Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had asked police and district administrations in Tengnoupal and Churachandpur to beef up security to check infiltration of Rohingya Muslims.” … Rakhine State is where most of the Rohingya Muslims have faced persecution.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/security-beefed-up-on-manipur-border/article19672235.ece;
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Solution: c.
The Strategic Partnership Model has been in the news in recent times related to the issue of indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment.

Vishwajeet scheme, which entailed the provision of Rs. 1,250 crore to each of the top seven IITs over a period of five years to upgrade infrastructure, hire foreign faculty, and collaborate with foreign institutions to break into the top league in global rankings, has reportedly been shot down by the Finance Ministry. The MHRD Minister said that the Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA), the Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana, and the Prime Minister’s proposed scholarships of Rs. 75,000 a month are schemes that serve similar purpose as the Vishwajeet scheme.
• Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions. All the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions would be eligible for joining as members of the HEFA.
• The Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) was launched to promote industry-specific need-based research projects so as to keep up the competitiveness of the Indian industry in the global market. All the IITs have been encouraged to work with the industry to identify areas where innovation is required and come up with solutions that could be brought up to the commercialization level. The projects should have collaboration between the academia and industry – within or outside India.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/vishwajeet-scheme-a-non-starter/article19673713.ece;

Solution: a.
Wikipedia states that Bina Agarwal is an Indian citizen, and some media outlets are referring to her as an “Indian Economist”. The Balzan Prize Foundation website itself refers to her nationality as “India/UK”. This however is not very relevant for determining the correctness of Statement 2, as Mother Teresa was awarded this prize many decades ago as an Indian citizen.
• Economist Bina Agarwal is a professor at the University of Manchester, who was recognised in the gender studies category for her “heroic” work studying women’s contributions to agriculture in India.
Few points about the Balzan Prize:
• The Balzan Prizes are chosen by the General Prize Committee in two general subject areas: Humanities – Literature, Moral Sciences and the Arts; and Sciences: the Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences and Medicine.
• The four Balzan Prizes, two per category, are awarded to scholars, artists and scientists who have distinguished themselves in their fields on an international level
• The subject areas in which the awards are granted are rotated, and this special characteristic of the Balzan Prize ensures the promotion and recognition of new or emerging fields of study or research that may have been overlooked by other international awards.
• Since 2001, prizewinners must destine half of the prize to finance research projects that are preferably carried out by young scholars or scientists.
http://www.balzan.org/en/balzan-prize;
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/two-us-scientists-awarded-balzan-prize/article19672457.ece;
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Solution: a.
This is a mains-oriented question. The link provided below contains a few excerpts from Peter Singer’s work, ‘Animal Liberation’. Here is one important statement of his: “The principle of the equality of human beings is not a description of an alleged actual equality among humans: It is a prescription of how we should treat human beings.” Extending this argument, he goes on to propose that animals too deserve to be treated as equals.

Read the text provided in the image for Rukmini Devi Arundale’s contribution to passage of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

From 2015: https://www.peta.org/about-peta/learn-about-peta/ingrid-newkirk/animal-liberation/;
Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/no-more-monkeying-around-macaque-selfie-case-settled/article19672351.ece;
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