IAS Preparation Questions for Prelims: 20 March 2018
Current affairs quizzes given here are much important for the upcoming IAS Prelims Exam. Such questions can be asked in the General Studies paper 1 of IAS Prelims Exam. The IAS aspirants should practice such questions on a daily basis so that no important current affairs topics get untouched before IAS Exam.
1. A team of scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered the new species of water strider in which of the following states?
a. Kerala
b. Nagaland
c. Sikkim
d. West Bengal
Answer: b
Explanation:
A team of scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered the new species of water strider named ‘Ptilomera Nagaland Jehamalar and Chandra’ from Intangki River in Peren district of Nagaland.
The species is named after the Nagaland state itself. The findings were published in Zootaxa Journal in January 2018. The Study was co-authored by E Eyarin Jehamalar, Kailash Chandra, Srimoyee Basu & C. Selvakumar of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.
2. The state cabinet of Karnataka decided to recognise Lingayats as a ‘religious minority’. Consider the following statements regarding the Lingayats:
1. Lingayats, a distinct Shaivite religious tradition, are followers of the 12th-century poet-philosopher-social reformer Basaveshwara who rebelled against established Hindu tradition by defying the caste system and Vedic rituals.
2. The people of the community are strict monotheists, they worship only one God, namely, Linga (Shiva) in the form of ishtalinga.
3. They consider themselves different from Veerashaivas, also a Shaivite religious tradition, which adheres to the Vedas and supports the caste system, while the Veerashaivas think the community was an ancient religion established by Shiva and Basavanna was one of its saints.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 1 and 2
c. 2 and 3
d. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: d
Explanation:
The state cabinet of Karnataka on March 19, 2018, decided to recognise Lingayats as a ‘religious minority’ and include the Veerashaivas who follow Basavanna as a group within the community, approving recommendations of the HN Nagamohan Das Committee.
Lingayats, a distinct Shaivite religious tradition, are followers of the 12th-century poet-philosopher-social reformer Basaveshwara who rebelled against established Hindu tradition by defying the caste system and Vedic rituals.
The people of the community are strict monotheists; they worship only one God, namely, Linga (Shiva) in the form of ishtalinga. They consider themselves different from Veerashaivas, also a Shaivite religious tradition, which adheres to the Vedas and supports the caste system, while the Veerashaivas think the community was an ancient religion established by Shiva and Basavanna was one of its saints.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018
3. Researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) have discovered a number of Acheulian artefacts (dated to about 1, 500,000–1,50,000 years ago). Consider the following statements regarding this:
1. The discovery of stone tools belonging to the Acheulian age in a region known to have rich evidence of the Soanian period presents the possibility of continuity of the two Stone Age cultures at the site.
2. The oldest dated Acheulian sites in India are those at Attirampakkam in Tamil Nadu, dating to 1.5 million years ago.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: c
Explanation:
Researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) have discovered a number of Acheulian artefacts (dated to about 1, 500,000–1,50,000 years ago) along with contemporary Soanian ones from an unexplored site at Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. The site is close to the site where scientists in the 19th century discovered fossil remains of Sivapithecus, the last common ancestor of orangutans and humans.
The discovery of stone tools belonging to the Acheulian age in a region known to have rich evidence of the Soanian period presents the possibility of continuity of the two Stone Age cultures at the site.
The oldest dated Acheulian sites in India are those at Attirampakkam in Tamil Nadu, dating to 1.5 million years ago, whereas recent assessments of the South Asian Paleolithic (Stone Age culture) records have suggested that most Soanian assemblages are younger than Acheulian evidence in the Sivalik region. According to experts, the Soanian stone age cultures date to 600 ka (about 6,00,000) years ago.
Must watch Bollywood movies for IAS/IPS aspirants
4. Consider the following statements regarding recently discovered material- graphene:
1. Graphene made from honeycomb sheets of carbon just one atom thick.
2. It is a three-dimensional form (allotrope) of carbon that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice.
3. Graphene has been described as wondrous stuff — of being the strongest material ever tested, almost 300 times stronger than steel.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 1 and 3
c. 2 and 3
d. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: b
Explanation:
The 21st century seems set to become the age of graphene, a recently discovered material made from honeycomb sheets of carbon just one atom thick. It is a two-dimensional form (allotrope) of carbon that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene has been described as wondrous stuff — of being the strongest material ever tested, almost 300 times stronger than steel. It is also the best heat- and electricity-conducting material to be discovered. It could also become a valuable aid in filtering water. Researchers from Australia announced recently that they used a graphene-based product to make a water filter that can make highly-polluted sea water drinkable after just one pass.
IAS Exam 2018: All You Need Know
5. Recently, it has been found that the coral reefs in Seychelles face climate change threat. Seychelles is an archipelago island in which of the following Oceans?
a. Indian Ocean
b. Pacific Ocean
c. Atlantic Ocean
d. Arctic Ocean
Answer: a
Explanation:
Beneath the crystal-clear waters of the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles, a fight is growing to save the coral reefs that shelter a range of creatures, from tiny invertebrates to the sprawling octopus, from climate change.
The fragile reefs act both as a protective barrier for coastlines and an attraction for the tourists who keep the country’s economy going. But the reefs are also one of the first victims of rising ocean temperatures.
Seychelles in some areas lost up to 90 percent of its coral reefs in 1998 in an environmental event known as bleaching, where coral in warming waters expel the colourful algae that live within their skeletons and, without their nutrients, starve. Another bleaching event occurred in 2016 after the reefs had partly recovered, said David Rowat, chairman of the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles.
Already, conservationists have launched a number of coral reef restoration projects around the nation’s 115 islands. In one, more than 50,000 coral fragments have been nurtured and transplanted by a local charity, Nature Seychelles, in what the organization calls the world’s largest coral restoration program.
Must do things after the UPSC IAS Notification and Form Filing