UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 3rd November 2021

Solution (b)

During Durga Puja, while festivities marked cities, these Bengal villages used art to fight COVID-19

The campaign is being organised by the community radio of Jadavpur University with support from UNICEF and is being executed by the Kolkata-based Chalchitra Academy. ‘chhau’ dance, ‘paik’ dance and ‘patachitra’ [showing artworks to the accompaniment of songs] to caution the people against COVID-19 and encourage them to get vaccinated.

Chhaau, is a semi classical Indian dance with martial and folk traditions, with origins in the Kalinga(Odisha) region from Mayurbhanj, and panned out to its variants in the states of West Bengal and Jharkhand.

Paik is a martial folk dance. The dancers are armed with wooden spears and shields and show off their skills and agility in infantry like formations.

Patachitra or Pattachitra is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/during-durga-puja-while-festivities-marked-cities-these-bengal-villages-used-art-to-fight-covid-19/article37225598.ece

Solution (c)

In relay cropping the second crop is planted even before the first crop is harvested. Thus, both crops share some part of the season. Thus relay planting means the planting of different crops in the same plot, one right after another, in the same season.

Relay Cropping – Relay planting means the planting of different crops in the same plot, one right after another, in the same season. Examples of such relay cropping would be planting rice (or wheat), cauliflower, onion, and summer gourd (or potato onion, lady’s fingers and maize), in the same season. The risk is less since you do not have to depend on one crop alone.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/indian-farming-practices-learning-from-elsewhere-in-the-world/article37262554.ece

Solution (c)

The Joro Spider — Trichonephila clavata — is part of a group of spiders known as orb weavers for their highly organized, wheel-shaped webs. Common in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan, Joro females have colorful yellow, blue and red markings on their bodies. They can measure three inches across when their legs are fully extended.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/asian-spider-seen-in-georgia/article37262564.ece

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joro-spiders-georgia-asia-invasive-species/

Solution (c)

The most important feature of cryptocurrencies that is flaunted by their enthusiasts is their limited supply.

Cryptocurrencies possess no significant use value or exchange value to sustain their current high prices

Gold and silver have traditionally served as hedges against inflation because they possess fundamental value derived from their use as jewellery and money. But bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies neither offer direct use value nor possess significant exchange value — bitcoin can buy you very few real goods and services. In short, cryptocurrencies possess no significant fundamental value to sustain their current high prices.

China recently imposed a complete ban on all cryptocurrencies and plans to issue its own central bank-issued digital currency.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-crypto-conundrum/article37292276.ece

Solution (a)

Scientists find a mineral seen in the depths of the Earth in a meteorite

The study by IIT Kharagpur scientists adds a clue to the puzzle of the formation of the Moon

The key findings of a study led by IIT Kharagpur researchers could help us understand the formation and evolution of the Earth. They have studied a meteorite that fell near the town of Katol in Nagpur District of Maharashtra on May 22, 2012, reporting for the first time, presence of veins of the mineral bridgmanite, which is the most abundant mineral in the interior of the Earth, within the Katol L6 Chondrite meteorite. This finding adds evidence to the Moon-forming giant impact hypothesis.

Bridgmanite is the most volumetrically abundant mineral of the Earth’s interior. It is present in the lower mantle (from 660 to 2700 km).

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/scientists-find-a-mineral-seen-in-the-depths-of-the-earth-in-a-meteorite/article37256589.ece