IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Mar 16, 2016

ANSWER: Mahindra and Mahindra

Explanation:

• A new ecommerce startup called Trringo, rolled out by Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector, will be an e-commerce venture that will connect farmers looking to rent farm equipment either through an app or a call.
• Trringo will operate on a franchise and aggregator-based business model. The firm will appoint franchises in regional rural hubs, which will buy new farm equipment as well as aggregate the existing equipment for rents.
• This is an attempt to improve the penetration of farm mechanisation, which is currently at 35 per cent.
• Another business model would be connecting large farmers who own expensive equipment, which could be rented out to smaller farmers based on seasonality. Trringo said it would connect the asset owner and the user through the app.

ANSWER: Vijaynagar Empire

Explanation:

• Aravidu dynasty, was the fourth and the last Hindu clan to hold sway over the once-powerful Vijayanagara Empire.
• Recently a copper plate was decoded by researchers from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI).
• The plate, dated January 7, 1606, belongs to King Venkatapati Raya of the Aravidu dynasty,
• The plate dates back to a time when the empire’s grandeur had all but faded after Rama Raya, the powerful regent of the Vijayanagara empire, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Bahamani kings in the battle of Talikota in 1565 A.D.
• The Aravidu plate bears five strips and 160 lines of text. It talks about a land grant in the villages of Puliyendal and Randal in Karnataka.

ANSWER: Devagiri

Explanation:

• The Seuna, Sevuna or Yadavas of Devagiri (850–1334) was an Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Tungabhadra to the Narmada rivers, including present-day Maharashtra, north Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad in modern Maharashtra).
• The Yadavas initially ruled as feudatories of the Western Chalukyas.
• Around the middle of the 12th century, as the Chalukya power waned, they declared independence and established rule that reached its peak under Singhana II.
• A plate decoded by researchers from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) dates back to the time of the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri. It records King Kanhardev Yadav giving a strip of land near Saundatti in Karnataka to some beneficiaries on April 29, 1254.
• Kanhardev ruled the Yadavas before the dynasty was subjugated by Ala-ud-Khilji and incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate in 1294 A.D.
• This plate bears three strips and consists of 104 lines in Sanskrit and Kannada. It also has a seal in the shape of an eagle.

ANSWER: Badami

Explanation:

• The capital was at Vatapi (modern Badami).
• The rise of this empire saw the birth of efficient administration, overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called "Chalukyan architecture".
• Kannada literature, which had enjoyed royal support in the 9th century Rashtrakuta court found eager patronage from the Western Chalukyas in the Jain and Veerashaiva traditions.
• The 11th century saw the birth of Telugu literature under the patronage of the Eastern Chalukyas.
• A plate decoded by researchers from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), which has inscriptions in Sanskrit and Kannada, dates back to the 7 Century A.D. It records an anecdote about Vinayaditya, who ruled the Badami Chalukyan dynasty from 680 A.D. to 696 A.D.
• Vinayaditya gifted the village of Telgi in Karnataka to a scholar of the Gautam Gotra in 683 A.D. The village is on the northern banks of the Krishna river in Bijapur district in Karnataka.
• The Chalukya plate, which is divided into three iron strips, consists of 33 lines of text spread across it. The strips are made into a ring and contain the king’s seal depicting a boar.

ANSWER: 20 weeks

Explanation:

• Currently, abortion in India is legal only up to 20 weeks of pregnancy under specific conditions and situations.
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act of India clearly states the conditions under which a pregnancy can be ended or aborted, the persons who are qualified to conduct the abortion and the place of implementation. Some of these qualifications are as follows:

1. Women whose physical and/or mental health were endangered by the pregnancy
2. Women facing the birth of a potentially handicapped or malformed child
3. Rape
4. Pregnancies in unmarried girls under the age of eighteen with the consent of a guardian
5. Pregnancies in "lunatics" with the consent of a guardian
6. Pregnancies that are a result of failure in sterilization

• An adult woman requires no other person's consent except her own.
• Pregnancies not exceeding 12 weeks may be terminated based on a single opinion formed in good faith. In case of pregnancies exceeding 12 weeks but less than 20 weeks, termination needs opinion of two doctors.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The AYUSH Ministry has tried to take forward the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan by initiating a Swasthya Raksha Programme so as to protect and promote health for preventing, identifying and treating the diseases related to poor hygiene and sanitation.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:

• Ministry of AYUSH through Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, an autonomous organization under the Ministry has developed a programme on ‘Homoeopathy for Healthy Child’ aiming at screening, early diagnosis and management of common diseases of children & adolescents.
• The aim is to sensitise health workers, patients and care givers to deal with conditions such as diarrhoea, respiratory infections, dental conditions, skin conditions and others through homoeopathy.
• The main features of the program are:

1. Part 1: Health promotion during teething - Field health workers (ANM, ASHA & AWW) are being trained to provide home based care for minor complaints related to teething. These health care workers are being provided a kit of common bio-chemic/homoeopathic medicines for timely management. A training manual has been developed for using this kit.
2. Part 2: Integration of Homoeopathy under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) – Homoeopathic doctors are being provided training for the diagnosis of 30 disease conditions of children & adolescents (0-18 years) identified under RBSK.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4

Explanation:

• The Union Cabinet approved the signing of Agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) for promoting Traditional medical system.
• The Agreement, however, is yet to be signed. As per Cabinet approval, as a first step in the long term collaboration, India would assign to WHO activities for development of the following WHO Technical documents/publications which will help in better international acceptability of Indian Systems of Medicine:

i) Benchmarks for training in Yoga
ii) Benchmarks for practice in Ayurveda
iii) Benchmarks for practice in Unani Medicine
iv) Benchmarks for practice in Panchakarma

• The WHO will extend only the technical assistance.

ANSWER: B Vitamin

Explanation:

• Folic acid or folate is a B vitamin. It is also referred to as vitamin M, vitamin B9, vitamin Bc (or folacin)
• Folic acid is synthetically produced, and used in fortified foods and supplements on the theory that it is converted into folate.
• Vitamin B9 is essential for numerous bodily functions. Humans cannot synthesize folates de novo; therefore, folic acid has to be supplied through the diet to meet their daily requirements.
• The human body needs folate to synthesize DNA, repair DNA, and methylate DNA as well as to act as a cofactor in certain biological reactions.
• Folate as the nutrient required to prevent anemia during pregnancy.
• National Iron Plus Initiative For Anaemia Control includes giving Iron and Folic Acid supplements.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Under this, life cycle approach, age and dose specific Iron & Folic Acid supplementation programme is being implemented for prevention of anaemia among:

1. Under 5 children – Iron and folic Acid supplements and de-worming for children 12 months and above.
2. 6 to 10 years aged children - Iron and folic Acid supplements
3. Adolescents (10 to 19 year olds)- Iron and folic Acid supplements and biannual de-worming in adolescents
4. Pregnant and lactating women - Iron and folic Acid supplements
5. Women in reproductive age - Iron and folic Acid supplements
6. Anaemic children - Iron and folic Acid supplements