INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS (18 January 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
• Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.
• There is no specific treatment for disease caused by a novel coronavirus. However, many of the symptoms can be treated and therefore treatment based on the patient’s clinical condition. Moreover, supportive care for infected persons can be highly effective.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/coronavirus/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

Government of India Act of 1919:

 It extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans.

Communal Award:

• In August 1932, Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, announced a scheme of representation of the minorities, which came to be known as the Communal Award. The award not only continued separate electorates for the Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans but also extended it to the depressed classes (scheduled castes).

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/sikhs-in-us-to-be-counted-as-separate-ethnic-group/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology in Bengaluru, which will provide Blockchain as a service and allow stakeholders to benefit from shared learning, experiences and resources.
• Petromoneda, launched in February 2018, is a cryptocurrency issued by the government of Venezuela.
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Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/block-chain-technology-4/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• NITI Aayog has implemented a structured initiative for “Development Support Services for States (DSSS) for Infrastructure Projects” with a vision to achieve transformational, sustained delivery of infrastructure projects with state of art capacity disseminated at all levels of governance.
• The key objective behind the objective is creating PPP success stories and rebooting infrastructure project delivery models so a sustainable infrastructure creation cycle is established.
• The DSSS Infrastructure initiative involves providing project level support from Concept plan till financial closure to State Governments / UTs.
• NITI Aayog has appointed M/s Ernst & Young LLP (EYLLP) as its consultant to formalize the initiative and to engage with states to identify a project shortlist and providing transaction management for implementing selected infrastructure projects on ground.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/development-support-services-for-states-uts-dsss-for-infrastructure-projects/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia.
• Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland.
• Temperate grass land found in Australia is Downs.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/australian-bushfires/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Z-Morh Tunnel is a road tunnel project and is the first step toward ensuring all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Kargil in Ladakh region of India.

Refer: Facts For Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-18-january-2020/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• It is a joint coast guard exercise between India and Japan.
• The latest edition is being held in India.

Refer: Facts For Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/18/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-18-january-2020/

• Ans: (c)

  Explanation:

  • In the medieval ages, Manipur and Burmese kings often wrested the valley from each other until the British defeated the Burmese and signed the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826.
  • But the valley was returned to Burma in the second treaty of 1834 and a boundary line between British India and Burma was drawn by Captain R.B. Pemberton.
  • The Pemberton Line had left out certain restive Kuki areas that were included in a rectified boundary in 1881 called Johnstone Line.
  • The boundary was redrawn again in 1896 to have 38 pillars and be known as Maxwell or Pemberton-Johnstone-Maxwell Line.

• • Ans: (c)

    Explanation:

    • Geologists have classified the last 4,200 years as being a distinct age in the story of our planet. They are calling it the Meghalayan Age, the onset of which was marked by a mega-drought that crushed a number of civilization’s worldwide.
    • We currently live in what is called the Holocene Epoch, which reflects everything that has happened over the past 11,700 years -since a dramatic warming kicked us out of the last ice age.
    • But the Holocene itself can be subdivided, according to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).
    • It is the official keeper of geologic time and it proposed three stages be introduced to denote the epoch’s upper, middle and lower phases.
    • These all record major climate events. The Meghalayan, the youngest stage, runs from 4,200 years ago to the present. It began with a destructive drought, whose effects lasted two centuries, and severely disrupted civilizations in Egypt, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze River Valley.
    • It was likely triggered by shifts in ocean and atmospheric circulation. The middle phase of the Holocene will be referred to as the Northgrippian, and runs from 8,300 years ago up to the start of the Meghalayan.
    • The onset for this age was an abrupt cooling, attributed to vast volumes of freshwater from melting glaciers in Canada running into the North Atlantic and disrupting ocean currents.
    • The oldest phase of the Holocene -the exit from the ice age -will be known as the Greenlandian.
    • See image: A portion of an Indian stalagmite (from Meghalaya) that defines the beginning of the Meghalayan age.

  

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• 10 –Sun Temple, Konark;
• 50 –Stone chariot, Hampi;
• 100 –Rani kiVav, Patan;
• 200 –Sanchi Stupa;
• 500 –Red Fort, Delhi;
• 2000 –Mangalyaan;