General Questions

The correct answer is ​India Post Payments Bank.

Key Points

• India Post Payments Bank launches its digital payments services ‘DakPay’.
  • ​Aims to Transform Banking Experience at the last mile.
  • DakPay is not just a digital payment app but a suite of digital financial and assisted banking services provided by India Post & IPPB.
  • Launched under: Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
    • Minister: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Additional Information 

The correct answer is Distorted Style.

• The origin of Rajasthan style of painting is traced from distorted style.
• Painting of Marwar is a distorted “Maruvar”, which means “Land of Mary".
• Anamorphosis is a distorted projection requiring the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point, use special devices or both to view a recognizable image.
• There are four principal schools of paintings in Rajasthan:
  • The Mewar school that contains the Chavand, Nathdwara, Devgarh, Udaipur and Sawar styles of painting
  • The Marwar school comprising the Kishangarh, Bikaner style of painting from Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Ghanerao styles
  • The Hadoti school with the Kota, Bundi and Jhalawar styles
  • The Dhundar school of Amber, Jaipur, Shekhawati painting and Uniara styles of painting.

Additional Information

• Guler style painting constitutes the early phase of Kangra Kalam. About the middle of the eighteenth century, some Hindu artists trained in Mughal style sought the patronage of the Rajas of Guler in the Kangra Valley. There they developed a style of painting which has a delicacy and a spirituality of feeling.
• Pala style is naturalistic and resembles the ideal forms of contemporary bronze and stone sculpture, and reflects some feeling of the classical art of Ajanta.
• Paintings in Gujarat are very much well-identified and popularly known as styles of miniatures which symbolises religious themes.

The correct answer is Jalore.

Key Points

• The great 7th Century Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta wrote some important works on both mathematics and astronomy.
• He was from Bhinmal, a town in the Jalore District of Rajasthan, India.
• Later he became the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain in central India.
• Most of his works are composed in elliptic verse, a common practice in Indian mathematics at the time, and consequently have something of a poetic ring to them.

Thus, it is clear that the great mathematician Brahmagupta was born in the Jalore district of Rajasthan.

The correct answer is the Maldives.Key Points

• Debris Of China’s Long March 5B-Rocket Crashes Into Indian Ocean Near Maldives
• The core of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket carried the "core module" of the country's space station into low Earth orbit.
• After that mission was completed, the rocket lost control and began plunging towards Earth.

Additional Information

•  Maldives:
  • Capital: Male
  • Population: 5.41 lakhs (2020)
  • Currency:  Maldivian Rufiyaa 
  • President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
• Japan:
  • Capital: Tokyo
  • Population: 12.58 crores (2020)
  • Currency: Japanese yen
  • Prime minister: Fumio Kishida
• South Korea:
  • President: Moon Jae-in
  • Capital: Seoul
  • Population: 5.18 crores
  • Currency: South Korean won

The correct answer is Jaisalmer, Sirohi, Jalore, Barmer.

Key Points

• The literacy rate in these districts (Literacy rate in 1%)

Important Points

• The rural literacy rate of Rajasthan as per census 2011 was 61.44%
• The total number of literature in the rural area was 26,471,786 out of which the females were 9,567,197 and males were 16,904,589.
• The literacy rate of rural males was 76.16% and that of rural females was 45.8%. 

Additional Information

• Census
  • ​In 1872, the first census was done in India in the time of Lord Mayo.
  • The first synchronised census in India took place in 1881 in the time of Lord Rippon.
  • Since 1901, it has been taking place every decade.
  • Census 2011 is the 15th census and 7th after Independence.
  • India was the first country to adopt family planning in the world.

The correct answer is Kathak.

Key Points

• The word Kathak has been derived from the word Katha which means a story.
• Kathakars or storytellers are people who narrate stories largely based on episodes from the epics, myths and legends.
• Three specific forms of this genre that is three Gharanas (schools), which mostly differ in the emphasis given to footwork versus acting, are more famous names, the Jaipur Gharana, the Benaras Gharana and the Lucknow Gharana.
• One name that has almost become famous in modern-day Kathak dance is Pandit Birju Maharaj, a scion of the legendary Maharaj family and son of Acchan Maharaj.
• He is considered the leading advocate of the Lucknow Kalka-Bindadin Gharana.
• Sitara Devi was also another star of this dance form described as Nritya Samragini that is the empress of dance by Rabindranath Tagore and she continues to retain her Kathak Queen title even after death.
• Other eminent Kathak artists include Roshan Kumari, Shovana Narayan, Maya Rao and Kumudini Lakhia.​

Additional Information

• Kathakali:
  • ​Kathakali is a dance mainly performed in Kerala.
  • It is an art that has evolved from many social and religious theatrical forms which existed in the southern region in ancient times. Chakiarkoothu, Koodiyattam, Krishnattam andRamanattam are a few of the ritual performing arts of Kerala.
• Kuchipudi
  • Kuchipudi is one of the classical styles of Indian dance.
  • Around the third and fourth decade of this century, it emerged out of a long rich tradition of dance-drama of the same name.
  • Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
  • It is about 35 km. from Vijayawada.
  • Andhra has a very long tradition of dance-drama which was known under the generic name of Yakshagaana.
• Bharatnatyam
  • Bharatnatyam Dance is considered to be over 2000 years old.
  • Several texts beginning with Bharata Muni's Natya Shastra (200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.) provide information on this dance form. 
  • It is mainly performed in Tamil Nadu in southern India.

The correct answer is Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Key Points

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the "Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report" on 21 January 2021.
• This report provides a broad perspective of telecom services in India.
• It presents the key parameters and growth trends of the telecom services as well as Cable TV, DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering 1 Jul to 30 Sept'20.

The correct answer is Tarun Rajasthan.

• After the closure of the newspaper named 'Naveen Rajasthan', it was published again as Tarun Rajasthan.

Key Points

• Tarun Rajasthan
  • After the establishment of Rajasthan Seva sangha in 1922, a newspaper named Naveen Rajasthan was started by it.
  • It used to run many mass movements.
  • The bijolia movement gained much importance due to this.
  • Due to this was banned in Mewar and also the arrival of Pathik in Mewar.
  • After the closure of the newspaper named 'Naveen Rajasthan', it was published again as Tarun Rajasthan.
  • It was started under the editorship of Ramnarayan Chaudhary and Shobhalal Gupt.

Additional Information

• Press development in Rajasthan​
  • First, the Christian missionaries in Rajasthan established the 'Litho Press' at Beawar in 1864 AD.
  • In Rajasthan, the first 'Marwar Gazette' was published from Jodhpur in August 1866.
  • Maharana Sajjan Singh in Udaipur published Sajjan Kirti Sudhakar (Government Gazette) in 1879 AD. This was the first fortnightly paper.
  • Maulvi Murad Ali first started publishing 'Rajputana Gazette' from Ajmer in 1882.
  • In 1882 Munshi Munnalal Sharma started the publication of 'Deshitaishi' monthly newspaper.
  • Hanuman Singh 'Rajputana Herald' in 1885 AD.
  • In 1927, Haribhau Upadhyaya published 'Tyag Bhoomi' for the purpose of propagating Gandhian ideology.
  • Other important newspaper
    • Prabhat - 1932
    • Navjyoti - 1936  by Capt. Durgaprasad Chaudhary
    • Jaipur News - 1935
    • Navajivan - Kanak Madhukar from Ajmer in 1939 AD
    • Lokvani - Devishankar Tiwari in 1943 AD

The correct answer is 102.

• Rajasthan budget 2021 for cowshed and animal husbandry:
  • 102-Mobile Veterinary Service' on the lines of 108 Ambulance to provide emergency veterinary care to the Gaushalas and cattle ranchers at their doorsteps.
  • 48 crore will be spent on this in the coming year.

Additional Information

• Some of the important announcements in Rajasthan Budget 2021:
  • Mini food parks will be set up in 9 districts of Pali, Nagaur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Bikaner, Dausa at a cost of Rs. 200 crore.
  • Mega Food Park will be set up at Mathania (Jodhpur) at a cost of about 100 crores.
  • New agricultural colleges will be opened in Dungarpur, Hanumangarh and Bundi.
  • Announcement of 102 mobile services on the lines of 108 ambulances for the emergency facility to the cattle owners at their homes. 

The correct answer is Ganeshwar.

Key Points

• Ganeshwar civilization: The Ganeshwar civilization was first founded in 1977 according to historian Ratan Lal Mishra.
• This Ganeshwar civilization is more than 4000 years old and the estimated time period was 2500 - 2000 BCE.
  • He founded red and black pottery and thousand pieces of copper.
  • This culture is related to the pre-Harappan period and the main sources of copper nearby the Aravalli range.

Important Points

• Kalibangan civilization: The Kalibangan civilization is older than 4000 BC. Prof Amlanand Ghosh rediscovered the Kalibangan site in 1952. This Rajasthan civilization was the first metropolis state in India. The shreds of evidence are as follows
  • Fortification walls, mud bricks, etc.
  • Pottery, a sign of successful Harappan.
  • Outstanding discovery of ploughed fields.