UPSC Quiz – 2020 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz [Day 79]

Solution (c)

Malabar Rebellion or Moplah Uprising or Mapillah Revolt (1921)

• The trigger of the uprising came from the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by the Congress in 1920 along with the Khilafat agitation.
• The anti-British sentiment fuelled by these agitations affected the Muslim Mapillahs (also known as Moplahs) of south Malabar region of Kerala.

New Tenancy Laws

• After the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Malabar had come under British authority as part of the Madras Presidency.
• The British had introduced new tenancy laws that tremendously favoured the landlords known as Janmis and instituted a far more exploitative system for peasants than before.
• The new laws deprived the peasants of all guaranteed rights to the land, share in the produce they earlier got and in effect rendered them landless.
• Most of the landlords were Namboodiri Brahmins while most of the tenants were Mapillah Muslims.

• It is fuelled by the fiery speeches by Muslim religious leaders and anti-british sentiments, the Mopillahs launched a violent rebellion. Numerous actions of violence were reported and series of persecutions were committed both against the British and the Hindu landlords.
• By the end of 1921, the rebellion was crushed by the British who had raised a special battalion, the Malabar Special Force for the riot.
• In November 1921, 67 Moplah prisoners were killed when they were being transported in a closed freight wagon from Tirur to the Central Prison in Podanur. They died of suffocation. This event is called the Wagon Tragedy.

 Solution (a)

Indian council of Historical Research

• Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is an autonomous organization, established under Societies Registration Act,1860 in 1972.
• It is under the Ministry of Education.
• The council also provides grants, assistance and fellowships for historical research.

Objectives of ICHR:

• To bring historians together for exchange of views.
• To give a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history.
• To promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history and ensure its dissemination.

Solution (b)

Mysticellus franki  is a mysterious narrow-mouthed frog that was spotted in the seasonal roadside puddles in Kerala’s Wayanad district.

• It is a new species and belongs to a completely new genus, Mysticellus.
• Mysticellus is named after Latin ‘mysticus’, meaning mysterious; and ‘ellus’ meaning diminutive as the frog is just around 3 cm long.
• The species is named after evolutionary biologist Franky Bossuyt from Brussel’s Vrije Universiteit.
• The frogs’ calls are extremely different as it resembles that of insects.
• Genetic studies further revealed that the frog is around 40 million years old and its nearest relatives live more than 2,000 km away, in Southeast Asia (including Indo-Burma, Malaysia and Vietnam).
• The genetic studies add strength to the theories that India and Southeast Asia were connected in the past by land bridges.

Solution (d) 

Foreign exchange reserves are assets denominated in a foreign currency that are held on reserve by a central bank. These may include foreign currencies, bonds, treasury bills and other government securities.

Forex Reserves in India: Forex reserves are external assets accumulated by India and controlled by the RBI in the form of:

• Gold
• SDRs (special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund – IMF)
• Foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, Foreign Direct Investment and external commercial borrowings)
• Reserve Position with IMF

Solution (a)

Uttar Pradesh share borders with 9 different states. Neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh – Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in northwest, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan in west, Madhya Pradesh in south, Chhattisgarh in southeast, Bihar and Jharkhand in east.