Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 16-03-2023

Q1. The term of the Lok Sabha

a. cannot be extended under any circumstances

b. can be extended by six months at a time during President’s Rule

c. can be extended by one year at a time during the proclamation of emergency

d. can be extended for two years at a time during the proclamation of emergency

Answer (c)

Explanation:

The term of the LS can be extended by not more than one year at a time during the proclamation of national emergency under Article 352.

Q2. Who among the following led the Rampa or Manyam Rebellion?

a. Alluri Sitharama Raju

b. Birsa munda

c. Sidhu and Kanhu

d. Tilka Majhi

Answer (a)

Explanation:

Who was Alluri Sitharama Raju?

Raju is believed to have been born in Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898. He is said to have become a sanyasi at the age of 18 and gained a mystical aura among the hill and tribal peoples with his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and his ability to tame wild animals.

At a very young age, Raju channelled the discontent of the hill people in Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari into an effective guerrilla resistance against the British.

Colonial rule threatened the tribals’ traditional podu (shifting) cultivation, as the government sought to secure forest lands. The Forest Act of 1882 banned the collection of minor forest produce such as roots and leaves, and tribal people were forced into labour by the colonial government.

While the tribals were subjected to exploitation by muttadars, village headmen commissioned by the colonial government to extract rent, the new laws and systems threatened their way of life itself.

Strong anti-government sentiment, shared by the muttadars who were aggrieved by the curtailment of their powers by the British, exploded into armed resistance in August 1922. Several hundred tribals led by Raju attacked the Chintapalle, Krishnadevipeta and Rajavommangi police stations in the Godavari agency.

The Rampa or Manyam Rebellion continued in the form of a guerrilla war until May 1924, when Raju, the charismatic ‘Manyam Veerudu’ or Hero of Jungle, was finally captured and executed.

The Rampa Rebellion coincided with Mahatma Gandhi’s Non- Cooperation Movement. The NCERT history textbook notes that “Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking. But at the same time, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.”

The Rampa Rebellion of 1922, also known as the Manyam Rebellion, was a tribal uprising led by Alluri Sitarama Raju in Godavari Agency of Madras Presidency, British India. It began in August 1922 and lasted until the capture and killing of Raju in May 1924.

Q3. Freedom fighter Komaram Bheem was from tribal group of

a. Gond

b. Kol

c. Bhil

d. Saharia

Answer (a)

Explanation:

And who was Komaram Bheem?

According to the government’s Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav website, Komram Bheem was born in the Gond tribal community at Sankepally village in Komaram Bheem District, renamed after him in 2016.

It is said a jagirdar, who was an informer of the Nizam, occupied his family’s land and Bheem killed him in a fit of rage. To escape authorities, he went to Assam and worked as a labourer in coffee and tea plantations for five years. Though he was illiterate, he learned to read and write and later became aware of movements by the likes of Birsa Munda.

Around that time, the Nizam government used to collect tax in the name of ‘Bambram’ and ‘Dupapetti’ from people grazing cattle and collecting firewood for cooking. In opposition, Bheem spread the message of “Jal, Jangal, Zameen” (water, forest land) among tribal people. This has become a clarion call for indigenous people’s rights to natural resources, used in many parts of India to date.

Villages in Adilabad were ready with the help of a guerrilla army composed of Gond and Koya communities’ men. Bheem trained tribal people to fight with weapons. However, the Nizam’s army overwhelmed them and Bheem died at their hands in the Jodeghat forest.

Presence in culture

In 1986, the Indian Postal Department issued a stamp in honour of Raju and his contribution to India’s struggle for Independence. Raju and Bheem both have long been folk heroes in the region, and the 1974 Telugu film’ Alluri Seetarama Raju’, featuring actor Krishna, became very popular.

The 1990 Telugu film ‘Komaram Bheem’, directed by Allani Sridhar and starring Bhoopal Reddy, was also well-received.

Q4. Consider the following statements about Forest in India

1. The country’s forest cover includes all patches of land with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and more than 1 hectare in area

2. The National Forest Policy of 1988 set the national goal ” to have a minimum of one-fourth of the total land area of the country under forest or tree cover

Which of the above is/are correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (a)

Explanation:

According to FSI, the country’s forest cover includes all patches of

land with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and more than 1 hectare in area, irrespective of land use, ownership and species of trees.

The National Forest Policy of 1988 set the national goal ” to have a minimum of one-third of the total land area of the country under forest or tree cover. In the hills and in mountainous regions, the aim should be to maintain two-third of the area under such cover in order to prevent erosion and land degradation and to ensure the stability of the fragile ecosystem.”

Q5. Consider the following statements with regard to the methane hydrates

1. On the Earth, they are found only on the ocean floor

2. If released these can significantly increase the global warming

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 (b)

Explanation:

• Methane hydrates are sensitive sediments. They can rapidly dissociate with an increase in temperature or a decrease in pressure. This dissociation produces free methane and water. The conversion of solid sediment into liquids and gases will create a loss of support and shear strength. These can cause submarine slumping, landslides, or subsidence that can damage production equipment and pipelines.

• Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Warmer Arctic temperatures could result in gradual melting of gas hydrates below the permafrost. Warming oceans could cause gradual melting of gas hydrates near the sediment-water interface. Although many news reports have presented this as a potential catastrophe, USGS research has determined that gas hydrates are currently contributing to total atmospheric methane and that a catastrophic melting of unstable hydrate deposits is unlikely to send large amounts of methane into the atmosphere.