Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Miscellaneous) | November 15,2020

Kanheri caves: Kanheri the Kanhasela, Krishnagiri, Kanhagiri of ancient inscriptions, is located north of Mumbai and was a major Buddhist centre.
Kanheri is located in the island of Salsette and 6 miles from Thana.
The Kanheri Caves demonstrate the Buddhist influence on the art and culture of India. 
Kanheri comes from the Sanskrit Krishnagiri, which means Black Mountain.
They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.
Belum caves: are located in Andhra Pradesh.
Barabar caves: The Barabar Caves are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, mostly dating from the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE), some with Ashokan inscriptions, located in the Bela Ganj Block of Gaya district, Bihar, India, 24 km north of Gaya.
The caves were used by ascetics from the Ajivika sect, founded by Makkali Gosala, a contemporary of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and of Mahavira, the last and 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. 
Also present at the site are several rock-cut Buddhist and Hindu sculptures.
Source: NCERT

Originating at village Koom Kalan of Ludhiana (Punjab) and running for 47 kms till Walipur Kalan where it merges with River Sutlej, this stream carrying fresh water was earlier known as ‘Buddha Dariya’.
Over the years, the name got changed to Buddha Nullah (drain) owing to the sewage, industrial and domestic waste that is dumped into it in the 14-km stretch within Ludhiana city municipal corporation limits beginning from Tajpur road.
There are three major sources polluting Buddha Nullah – untreated sewage waste from Ludhiana city Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), untreated industrial effluents from 228 dyeing units, and 16 ‘outlets’, which are directly releasing sewage and industrial waste into the stream.
Of these 16 outlets, 11 are “MC disposal points” through which the civic body is directly releasing untreated sewage waste into the stream.
Source: Indian Express

Saranda and Chaibasa — in Jharkhand‘s West Singhbhum district had large iron ore reserves.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) will soon form a committee to explore the prospect of opening conservation or no-mining zone in Saranda and Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand for iron ore mining.
Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM), which regulates mining in Chaibasa and the Saranda Sal forest area.
Source: The Hindu

Wellesley broadened the scope of this arrangement by his Subsidiary Alliance System, bringing under it Hyderabad, Mysore, Lucknow, the Maratha Peshwa, the Bhonsle (Kolhapur) and Sindhia (Gwalior).
The provisions of the Subsidiary Treaty are:
An Indian ruler entering into Subsidiary Alliance with the British had to dissolve his own armed forces and accept British forces and a British Resident in his territory.
He had to pay for the British army’s maintenance. If he failed, a portion of his territory would be taken away and ceded to the British.
The protected prince was to sever all connections with European powers other than the British, especially the French.
No European should be employed without the permission of the British.
No negotiation with any Indian power should be held without the Company’s permission and
No other Indian power to interfere in its internal affairs.
Source: NCERT

The development of the Western culture and ideology forced the traditional institutions to revitalize themselves.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, the expression of protest and desire for change were articulated through various reform movements.
What gave these reform movements an ideological unity were rationalism, religious universalism and humanism.
For example, Raja Rammohun Roy repudiated the infallibility of the Vedas and during the Aligarh Movement, Syed Ahmed Khan emphasized that religious tenets were not immutable.
As Keshab Chandra Sen said, ‘Our position is not that truths are to be in all religions, but that all established religions of the World are true.’
Source: NCERT

Monetary transmission is the pass-through of the RBI’s rate actions to the economy at large.
As you know, the RBI’s most important task is to keep tabs on inflation by adjusting money supply.
It also monitors the exchange rate. To control all this, the RBI uses many monetary tools.
The repo rate, reverse repo rate and cash reserve requirement are being the key instruments.
Let us take the repo rate, for instance. This is the rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to banks to manage their day-to-day operations.
When the RBI wants to stimulate growth, it cuts the repo rate to reduce the cost of borrowings.
Banks get money at a cheaper rate. If this is passed on to borrowers, then monetary transmission is said to have happened smoothly.
Source: The Hindu

In CY 2019, the world crude steel production reached 1870 million tonnes (mt) and showed a growth of 3.4% over CY 2018.
China remained world’s largest crude steel producer in same period (996 mt) followed by India (111mt), Japan (99mt) and the USA (88mt).
Per capita finished steel consumption in 2018 was 224.5 kg for world and 590.1 kg for China (Source: World Steel Association).
The same for India was 73.3 kg in 2018 (Source: JPC) and 75.7 kg (provisional) in 2019.The per capita consumption of India in 2018-19 was 74.1 kg and that in 2019-20 was 74.6 kg (prov.) 
The Indian steel industry has entered into a new development stage, post de-regulation, riding high on the resurgent economy and rising demand for steel.
Rapid rise in production has resulted in India becoming the 2nd largest producer of crude steel during 2018 and 2019 (prov), from its 3rd largest status in 2017.
The country was also the largest producer of Sponge Iron or DRI in the world and the 3rd largest finished steel consumer in the world after China & USA in 2019 (prov.)
Source: Economic Survey

Titan and Earth are the solar system’s two places with standing bodies of liquid on the surface. Titan boasts lakes, rivers and seas of hydrocarbons: compounds of hydrogen and carbon like those that are the main components of petroleum and natural gas.
“Titan is the most Earth-like body in the solar system. It has lakes, canyons, rivers, dune fields of organic sand particles about the same size as silica sand grains on Earth”. 
Source: NASA

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer State in Protected Area management and development of forest resources and wildlife.
The total area under the protected area management is 7,072.95 sq. km. which comes to 30.92% of the State’s Forest area.
The Protected Areas in the State includes 5 National parks, 15 Wildlife sanctuaries, 15 bird sanctuaries and 2 conservation reserves besides 4 Tiger Reserves viz. Anamalai,  Kalakkad – Mundanthurai, Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam.
These Protected Areas have been established under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Further Tamil Nadu also has the distinction of having 3 Biosphere Reserves viz. Nilgiris, Gulf of Mannar and Agasthiarmalai, which are internationally acclaimed for their rich and unique biodiversity.
Source: ENVIS

Saprotrophs feed by a process known as absorptive nutrition, in which the nutritional substrate (e.g., dead organism or other nonliving organic matter) is directly digested by a variety of enzymes that are excreted by the saprotroph.
The enzymes convert the detritus into simpler molecules, which are then absorbed by the cells to feed the organism.
Source: NCERT