General Knowledge (Part-2) (CDS-Solved Paper)

The  Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is one of the five  Central Armed Police Forces  of  India. It was raised on 24th October, 1962, under the CRPF Act, in the wake of the  Sino-Indian War  of 1962.

The ITBP was intended for deployment along India’s border with China’s-Tibet Autonomous Region. In 2004-05, it replaced the Assam Rifles on the Indo-China border in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh under the concept of ‘One Force, One Border’.

The ITBP, was started with 4 battalions. Since 1978, it has undergone expansion to a force of 56 battalions. As of 2017 , it has sanctioned strength of 89,432 personnels. Hence, statements 1, 2, 3 are correct and statement 4 is incorrect.

Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), Bengaluru is a wholly-owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the Department of Space.

Antrix Corporation Limited was incorporated as a private limited company owned by Government of India in September, 1992 as a Marketing arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

It’s objective is promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. Its another major objective is to facilitate development of space related industrial capabilities in India.

The Ministry of Shipping launched the Maritime Agenda 2010-2020, a perspective plan of the Shipping Ministry for the present decade.

The main objective of the agenda was “To create a port capacity of around 3200 MT to handle the expected traffic of about 2500 MT by 2020.  Hence, option (d) is incorrect.

The November 2015 meeting held in Malta has the theme of ‘‘Commonwealth: adding global value. Adding global value is about the commonwealth’s strength in international politics to interence and eventually effect changes on important global issue. In 2018 the meeting was held in Reldin United Kingdom. Hence, option (d) is incorrect.

The  Indian Coast Guard  (ICG) protects India’s maritime interests and enforces  maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of India, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.

The Indian Coast Guard was formally established on 18th August, 1978 by the Coast Guard Act, 1978. Role of Indian Coast Guard includes:

(i) Safety and protection of artificial islands, offshore terminals and other installations. (ii) Protection and assistance to fishermen and mariners at sea.
(iii) Preservation and protection of  marine ecology  and environment including pollution control.
(iv) Assistance to the Department of Customs and other authorities in anti-smuggling operations.
(v) Law enforcement in  territorial  as well as  international waters.
(vi) Scientific data collection and support.
(vii) National defence during hostilities (under the operational control of the Indian Navy).
Hence, all the statement are correct.

‘Hong Kong’ became a part of China in 1997 following the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’. Hong Kong  is an  autonomous territory  in the  province of Guangdong. Hong Kong was formerly a colony of the British empire.

Under the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system apart from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong retains independent executive, legislative and judiciary powers.

Potato is an economical food, as it provides a source of low cost energy to human diet. The states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar and Gujarat accounted for more than 80% share in total production.

In potato year the production of potato was decreased due to large scale damage by ‘late blight’ diseases in West Bengal. But after the recovery, there was an increase in the production of potato.

In 2016-17, onion production saw an increase of 3.8% over the previous year, whereas, potato registered a growth 11.1% higher than the previous year. Hence, option (c) is incorrect.

Eminent modern Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh was chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith award for the year 2016. He is the 52nd recipient of Jnanpith award.

He is regarded a leading authority on Rabindranath in addition to being one of the most prolific writers in Bengali. Some of his famous poems are ‘Adim lata gulmonary’, ‘Kabir abhipray’, ‘Babarer prarthana’.

Jnanpith award is India’s highest literary honour. It is bestowed upon any Indian citizen who writes in any 22 official languages of India mentioned in 8th Schedule of Constitution of India.

In 2018 Jnanpith award given to Amitav Ghosh and Malayalam Poet Akkitham wins 55th Jnanpith award for the year 2019.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 Global Goals by the year of 2030, which are measured by progress against 169 targets.

The SDGs cover a broad range of social issues like poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality and social justice. The SDGs are officially known as “Transforming our World : the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development”.

The SDGs framework does not distinguish between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations. Instead, it articulates goals that apply to all countries.

Teejan Bai is an exponent of traditional art form, Pandavani a form of folk theater quite popular in Chhattisgarh and in the neighbouring tribal areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

Pandavani is a folk singing style involving narration of tales from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharat. The singing also involves musical accompaniment. Bhima, the second of the Pandava is the hero of the story in this style.