Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Dihing or Burhi Dihing is a large tributary of the Brahmaputra River in Upper Assam in northeastern India.
• The river originates in the Eastern Himalayas (the Patkai Hills) in Arunachal Pradesh and flows through Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Districts in Assam to its confluence with the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh.

Explanation :

• Brihadishvara Temple, also called Rajarajesvaram or Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in South bank of Kaveri River in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
• It is one of the largest South Indian temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Dravidian architecture. It is called as Dhakshina Meru (Meru of South).
• Built by Tamil king Raja Raja Chola I between 1003 and 1010 AD, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples", along with the Chola dynasty era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple.
• The temple has a massive colonnaded prakara (corridor) and one of the largest Shiva lingas in India.
• It is also famed for the quality of its sculpture, as well as being the location that commissioned the brass Nataraja – Shiva as the lord of dance, in 11th century.

Explanation :

• Rakhigarhi, a Harappan site, is a village located in Hisar District of Haryana. The site is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain, some 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar River.
• It is the site of a pre-Indus Valley Civilisation settlement going back to about 6500 BCE.
• Later,the archaeological excavations revealed the mature Harappan phase represented by planned township having mud-brick as well as burnt-brick houses with a proper drainage system.
• It is the largest Indus Valley Civilization site in the Indian subcontinent, twice the size of Mohenjo-daro.
• In May 2012, the Global Heritage Fund, declared Rakhigarhi one of the 10 most endangered heritage sites in Asia. It found out that the villagers sell the artefacts they dig out of the site and parts of site are now being encroached by private houses.

Explanation :

• The Law Commission of India, in its 41st Report dated September 24, 1969 pointed out the necessity of introducing a provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure enabling the High Court and the Court of Sessions to grant “anticipatory bail.”
• Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, lays down the law on anticipatory bail, which reads: “When any person has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence, he may apply to the High Court or the Court of Session for a direction under this section; and that Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that in the event of such arrest, he shall be released on bail.
• The provision empowers only the Sessions Court and High Court to grant anticipatory bail.
• As opposed to ordinary bail, which is granted to a person who is under arrest, in anticipatory bail, a person is directed to be released on bail even before arrest made.

Explanation :

• Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) was formed by the Government of India in 1949.
• It was made a permanent commission in 1951.
• The objective of the
• The objective of the Commission is to advise the Government in matters falling in the domain of UNESCO and to play a role in UNESCO’s work particularly in the formulation and execution of its programmes.
• The Commission consists of five Sub-Commissions namely:
  • Education
  • Natural Sciences
  • Social Sciences
  • Communication
  • Culture

Explanation :

• India and Bangladesh, which is hosted alternately by both countries.
• It was held for the first time in 2011.
• The ninth edition of SAMPRITI will be conducted at UMROI, Meghalaya, India from 3^rd February to 16^th February, 2020.
• During SAMPRITI-IX, a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field Training Exercise (FTX) will be conducted.

Explanation :

• Nagoba Jatara is a tribal festival of Gonds held in Keslapur village, Inderavelly Mandal Adilabad district, Telangana.
• It is the second-largest festival in Telangana after Sammakka Sarakka Jatra which is a biennial festival organized at Medaram.
• Before the start of the pujas, the Gonds continue to ‘purify’ the temple with Ganga Jal or water from the Godavari drawn at a spot called ‘Hastina Madugu’ where Nagoba is believed to have quenched his thirst after partaking the ‘naivedyam’.
• The Gusadi Dance performance by dancers from the Gond tribe is a major special attraction of the event.
• The event also includes a ceremony called ‘bheting’, which incorporates new brides into the clan.
• The ceremony of Betal puja, which involves display of martial art, constitutes the last of the rituals in the event.

Explanation :

• Yellow rust or stripe rust (Puccinia striiformistritici) is an important disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum), especially in cool climates.
• Ripe rust of wheat is caused by the basidiomycete fungus Puccinia striiformis in the order Uredinales.
• It is considered to be an obligate parasite.
• The symptoms are symmetrical “stripe” lesions along the leaf, bearing orange-yellow pustules. These are located just underneath the upper leaf layer (epidermis), and are much less compact than brown rust pustules.
• The ideal growth conditions for yellow rust are temperatures of between 8-13°C for spore germination and penetration, and 12-15° C for further development and with free water.

Explanation :

• The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is smaller and paler than the African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus). It has more fur everywhere on the body, espeically on the back of the neck and the belly, a smaller head and longer neck, the Asian species usually have red eyes and they have a more cat-like appearance, while on the other hand the African cheetah looks like a panther.
• The Asiatic cheetah is constantly said to be a different animal and sub-species than the African cheetah in genetic composition.
• The Asiatic cheetah is listed as critically endangered species while the African Cheetah is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.
• In the 2015 update of the IUCN Red List, the Asiatic cheetah is considered regionally extinct in Iraq, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. At present however, the Asiatic cheetah is believed only to survive in isolated parts of Iran.

Explanation :

• Under the Article 72 of the Constitution, the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment.
• It says that the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
• A similar and parallel power vests in the Governors of each state under Article 161.
• However, the pardoning power of the president is not absolute. He is advised by the council of ministers under article 74 even though he is not bound to act on their suggestions.
• The power of the President to grant pardon extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor.
• The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is sentence of death but pardoning power of Governor does not extend to death sentence cases.