HPPSC GS 2018 Official Paper 1 (Previous Year Paper)

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

Khajjiar:

• Khajjiar is a hill station in Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh.
• Altitude: 1951 meters.
• It is about 2,000 metres (6,500 ft) above sea level in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges of the Western Himalayas
• It is part of the Kalatop Khajjiar Sanctuary.
• Willy T. Blazer, Vice Counselor and Head of Chancery of Switzerland in India, officially declared Khajjiar as 'Mini Switzerland' by putting up a yellow Swiss hiking footpath signboard on 7th July 1992.
• It was because it bears a topographical resemblance to Switzerland.
• Places all over the world similar to Switzerland in respect of geographical and topographical traits and scenic elegance are named after it.
• Therefore, Khajjiar became the 160th tourist spot in the world, named "mini Switzerland".

Additional Information

Kalatop Khajjiar Sanctuary:

• Located at Kalatop and Khajjiar in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
• It lies in the itinerary of the Ravi River and is encircled by coniferous and oak forests.
• Flora: Cedar and blue pine, oaks like moru and ban, deodar trees, rhododendron, firs etc.
• Fauna: Bear, Himalayan Black Marten, Leopard, Deer, Barking Goral, Squirrel, Serow, Jackal, Langur, Himalayan Tahr, Goral, Ibex, Himalayan Squirrel, Muntjak, etc.
• This sanctuary is known for preserving the native Himalayan serow.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

Kirda Dun valley of Sirmaur:

• It lies between the Eastern extremities of Markanda and the Dharti ranges.
• It falls in the South-Eastern corner of the State.
• Jamuna river separates it from Dehra Dun.
• Kirda Dun valley is very fertile as it is watered by Giri and Bata rivers.
• Adjoining the Kirda valley is the Dun and Spron valleys of Solan district.

Balh Valley:

• It lies in the Mandi district.
• It is also known as Sundernagar valley.
• It is located between an offshoot of the Shimla Ridge in the North and Shivalik hills in the South.
• The valley stretches from Gutker in the North to Sundernagar in the South, Biaggi in the East and Gumma in the West.
• The soil found in this valley is loam in texture and light grey to brown in colour.

Kangra Valley:

• It is located between the Dhauladhar range in the North and the Shivalik hills in the South.
• It ranges from West to East rising gradually from Shahpur to Baijnath and Palampur.
• The important towns of this valley are Baijnath, Palampur, Kangra and Dharamshala.

Bara Bhangal:

• It lies at the extreme northern tip of Kangra.
• It borders both Mandi and Chamba, between the Dhauladhar and Manimahesh ranges, deep in the Ravi valley.
• It is a huge, about 1,400 sq km, thickly forested area.
• Residents, here are pastoralists and shepherds since little agriculture is not possible at 8,500 feet.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• Himachal Pradesh can be divided into three zones :
• The outer Himalayas,
• The inner Himalayas,
• The greater Himalayas.

The Outer Himalayas:

• Altitude ranges from 350 meters to 1500 meters.
• It is known as 'Shivalik Hills'.
• It covers the lower hills of district Kangra, Hamirpur, Una, Bilaspur and lower parts of Mandi, Solan and Sirmaur districts.
• The famous places: Kangra, Dharamshala, Palampur, Dalhousie and Chamba etc.

The Inner Himalayas:

• Altitude ranges from 1500 meters to 4500 meters.
• The Himalayas in this zone shows a gradual elevation towards the Dhauladha and Pir Panjal Ranges.
• The climate and soil in this zone are suitable for to temperature of fruits and seed potatoes.
• There is a sudden rise in the Dhauladhar mountains of 3,600 meters or 10,800 feet above the Kangra valley.
• Pir-Panjal is the largest range of the lower Himalayas and it separates itself from the Himalayas near the bank of the Satluj river.

The Greater Himalayas :

• Altitude ranges from 4500 meters to the highest points of the great Himalayas.
• The Satluj river divides it and separates the Spiti's (Lahaul-Spiti) drainage from Beas.
• The climate in this zone is not cold in summer and of semi-arctic nature in winter.
• The famous Zanskar Range is also found in this part of the Himalayas which is the Easternmost range.
• This range acts like a big wall by separating Spiti and Kinnaur from Tibet.
• Zanskar Range has a number of very high peak points rising over 6,500 meters (19,500 feet).

The correct answer is Gaddi.

Key Points

 Gaddi:

• Mostly found: In Bharmour tehsil of Chamba district. and some parts of Kangra.
• Bharmour is called the “abode of Gaddis”.
• Lord Shiva is the principal god of Gaddis.
• Local people call Gaddi 'Mitra'.
• They are semi-nomadic, semi pastoral, and semi agricultural tribes.
• Four types of marriage performed by Gaddis.
• Jind Phunk or Brar Phuk – Elopement.
• Jhanjrara
• Ghar jawai
• Batta Satta – Marriage by an exchange.
• The breakfast is called Nuhari or Dutelu, Lunch is called Kallar, and Dinner is called Baili.
• Dress: Chola and Dora are traditional dresses. Dora is the most important part of the dress of Gaddi men, women and children.
• Chadru is used by Gaddan to cover the head.
• Gaddis take their food four times.
• The breakfast called Nuhari or Duteloo.
• In the noon Kaller, the lunch and their dinner Baili.
• ‘Sur’ or ‘Jhol’ is their local drink.

The correct answer is Option 1.

• Here, List 1 is Tribes of Himachal Pradesh whilst List 2 is the Type of marriage prevalent in their tribal community.

Key Points

Swangla: 

• Mainly found: In the Pattan valley in Lahaul and Spiti district.
• Types of marriages:
• Rusa –te- byah is elopement.
• Kua – byah is marriage by capture.
• Mazmi byah is an ad hoc marriage.

Gaddi: 

• Mainly found: Chamba district and some parts of Kangra.
• Bharmour is called the “abode of Gaddis”.
• Type of marriageS:
• Jind Phunk or Brar Phuk – Elopement.
• Jhanjrara.
• Ghar jawai.
• Batta Satta – Marriage by an exchange.

Khampa: 

• They are not the original inhabitants of HP.
• Kham is the name of a state in Tibet and the people of that state are known as Khampas.
• In Spiti – Piti Khampa, In Kinnaur Khunu Khampa, In Kullu – Neodi Khampa, In Chamba – Thava Khampa.
• In Khampas, marriage is fixed by a negotiator, who is known as “Phaktum”.
• On the occasion of marriage, girls sing Titmde- Luh.

Pangwal: 

• Mainly found: In Pangi valley of Chamba district.
• Types of marriage:
• Bari Shadi: Marriage by negotiation.
• Pith Chuk or Chori: Marriage by capture.
• Dogri: Marriage by the exchange.
• Topi Lana: Widow remarriage.

Additional Information

Lahaulas:

• Arranged marriage is called Tabhagston and theft marriage is called Kumai Bhagston.

The correct answer is Kinnauras.

Key Points

Mention of Kinnauras in scriptures:

• Mahabharta: They are grouped as Gandharvas.
• Vayu Purana: Residents of 'Mahand Mountains'. Hence, option 4 is correct.
• Matsya Purana: They were related to Yakshas and Kiratas.

About Kinnauras:

• ​Total population: 0.52 lakhs (13% of ST population of HP.)
• Origin: Mongoloid.
• Mainly found: In the western Himalayas, Baspa or Sangla valley located in Kinnaur district, Basteri, Rakchham, Chitkul.
• Family system: Joint family
• Special feature: As per their custom, the brothers in a family share only one wife.
• It is also known as the Pandava style of marriage.
• Occupation: Domestication of sheep and rearing wool, horticulture and agriculture.
• Weaving is mainly done by females of the family.
• There is a tradition to maintain sheep in their houses.

Additional Information

Other tribes in Himachal Pradesh are:

• Gaddis, Gujjars,
• Lahaul,
• Pangwalas,
• Smaller tribes groups like Bhot/Bodh, Beda, Jad/Lamba/ Khampa, and Sangla.

The correct answer is 23655 sq. km. 

• In order to protect the interests of the Scheduled tribes, the provision of the “Fifth Schedule” is enshrined in the Constitution under Article 244 (2).
• It identifies certain areas with a predominantly tribal population that require special protection and measures for conserving their population and culture and provides administrative arrangement and consent of the Gram Sabha to implement development programs in these areas.

Key Points

• Out of the total 55,673 km² geographical area of HP, about 23,655 km² area falls in the Scheduled V area.
• It constitutes around 42.49 % of the total area of the state.
• Hence, option 1 is correct.
• The total population living in the Scheduled Area is 173,661 of which 123,585 are tribals which constitute nearly 71.16 per cent of the total population living in this area
• The official list of scheduled tribes in Himachal Pradesh includes
• Gaddis, Gujjars,
• Kinnara or Kinnauras,
• Lahaulas and Pangwalas
• Smaller tribes groups like Bhot/Bodh, Beda, Jad/Lamba/ Khampa, and Swangla.
• The ST population is quite dominant in Lahul & Spiti and Kinnaur – two rural districts of the state.
• Literacy percentage among Scheduled Tribes has increased from 65.5% in 2001 to 73.64% in 2011;
• The male literacy rate was 83.17%
• The female's literacy rate was only 64.20% in 2011.

The correct answer is Masrur Temple.

Key Points

Masrur Temple:

• Location: in the Kangra Valley of Beas River in Himachal Pradesh.
• The temple complex referred to as the ‘Ellora of the North’, excavated on the single outcrop, is the only one found in the Himalayas.
• Due to carved interlocked male and female sculptures, the cluster of temples is also known as Ellora's of North India.
• Only three other monolithic rock-cut temples are:
• ­­Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), Dhamnar in Rajasthan, and the Kailasha shrines in Ellora.
• It is styled in the Nagara form of architecture.
• It can be referred to as a mature form of the Nagara-Shikhara style.
• It is a cluster of 15 rock temples carved out of single rock and built around a central shrine.
• It was originally constructed to worship God Shiva but later converted to worship Lord Rama.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Raja Kirpal Pal.

• The Pahari painting includes paintings from Basohli, Mankot,  Nurpur, Chamba,  Kangra,  Guler,  Mandi, and Garhwal.
• The earliest paintings in this style originated in Basohli from where the style spread to the Hill States of Mankot, Nurpur, Kulu, Nalagarh, Chamba, Guler and Kangra.
• These paintings were originated in the Himalayan regions and are mostly done in miniature form.

Key Points

Basohli School of Painting:

• It is considered the first school of Pahari paintings.
• The earliest paintings in this style have been dated to the time of Raja Kirpal (1678–93).
• It was during his reign these paintings were at their peak.
• The first mention of Basohli painting was in the annual report of the Archaeological Survey of India for the year 1918-19 published in 1921.
• Evolution:
• Possibly of pre-Mughal origin,
• Underwent a transition phase giving rise to pre-Kangra (1740 to 1775) and
• Finally evolved into the new Kangra style of miniature painting with strong Mughal influence.
• Themes are largely based upon the landscapes, natural beauty of surrounding hills, Hindu deities and simple poetic themes of Rasamanjari and Gita Govinda.
• The prominent use of natural eco-friendly primary colours like yellow, red, blue and delicate detailing and red borders makes it unique.

Additional Information

• Other significant features:
• Vigorous, bold and imaginative artistic style
• Perfect geometrical patterns.
• Use of characteristic red borders and bold lines.
• Unconventional style of painting.
• Predominant colours– ochre yellow, brown, and green grounds.
• Peculiar facial formula, dominated by the large bulging eyes.
• Basohli faces have a receding forehead, high nose and lotus-like eyes.

The correct answer is The Great Himalayan National Park.

Key Points

The Great Himalayan National Park: 

• Location: In the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, India, in distant western Himalaya.
• Area: 1,171 km².  Hence, option 2 is correct.
• Notified as a national park in 1999.
• The National Park (GHNP) was created to protect, sustain and propagate wildlife, under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site:  23 June 2014.
• Vegetation:
• It contains the world’s highest mountains and alpine ecosystems.
• It is home to large expanses of lower-elevation temperate and subtropical forests and grasslands.
• The boundaries of GHNP are also contiguous with:
• the Pin Valley National Park in the trans-Himalaya range (675km²);
• the Rupi Bhabha Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sutlej watershed (503km²); and
• the Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary in Parvati valley (107.29km²).
• GHNP provides sanctuary for globally threatened animals:
• Mammals (Snow leopard, serow, Himalayan tahr, musk deer),
• three globally threatened birds (Western tragopan, koalas, cheer pheasants) and
• a large number of medicinal plants.

Additional Information

• Pin Valley National Park:
• Location: Lahaul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh.
• Area: 675 Km²
• Established: 1958.
• Renuka Sanctuary: 
• Location: Sirmour district, Himachal Pradesh.
• Area: 4.028 km²
• Established: 1964.
• Manali Sanctuary:
• Location: Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh.
• Area:  31.8 km²
• Established: 1954 (under the Punjab Birds and Wild Animals Protection Act of 1933.)

The correct answer is Saksham Gudia Board, H.P.

Key Points

Saksham Gudia Board, H.P.:

• Objectives:
• The Board was constituted in the state with the broad objectives to make recommendations for the police for the empowerment of girl child/adolescent girl.
• The Board will also make recommendations on acts, rules, policies and programme related to the safety and security of girl child/adolescent girl and protection of crime against the girl child.
• Social Justice and Empowerment and the Directorate of Women and Child Development are the nodal departments.
• Social justice and Empowerment, the Home and Finance departments are the stakeholders in Saksham Gudiya Board.

Additional Information

Other women empowerment schemes of state government are:

• Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna:
• Under this scheme, girls who are orphans or whose father is incapable can get rupees 25,000 grant for their marriage if their parent's annual income is not more than rupees 35,000 per annum.
• Mahila Vikas Nigam:
• The objective is to provide self-employment to women by providing loan on subsidised interest rates.
• State Home For women:
• It is meant for housing for a widow and the women who are in mortal danger.
• These inmates get free of cost food and lodging.
• For their rehabilitation, they get various skill training in the state home so that after leaving the state home they can earn and be settled.
• After leaving the state home department provides a grant of Rupees 20,000 per inmates for her rehabilitation.
• Mata Shabari Mahilla Sashktikarn Yojna:
• Under this scheme, LPG Gas connection is provided to the women who belong to BPL and SC family or whose income does not exceed rupees 35,000 per annum.

The correct answer is Sharda and Tankri.

Key Points

Stone inscriptions:

• Stone inscriptions found in Himachal Pradesh can be divided into four categories- Rock inscription, fountain inscription, slab inscription, sati stone inscriptions.
• The earliest inscriptions have been found in Pathyar, Kanihara (Kangra), Salanu (Mandi) etc.
• Those inscriptions have been written in various scripts such as Sharda, Kharoshti, Tankri, Kutila, Nagri, Sankha, Bhotia and Sidhamatrika.
• The highest number of inscriptions (36) have been found in the Chamba region which have been written in Sharda and Tankri.

Additional Information

• Other Sources of information:
• The earliest 87 punch-marked coins include
• 12 kept in State Shimla were found from Arki,
• 21 coins from Appollodotus, founded in Tappa Mewa village in Hamirpur district,
• 31 coins were found from Jwalamukhi in Kangra district.
• Some Indo-Greek coins have also been found in the Lachori and Sarol villages of the Chamba district.
• These coins show the influence of Greco-Bacterian penetration
• Most of the coins found are punch marked earliest coins found in Kullu were issued by a Virayash King of 1st century A.D.
• Literary sources:
• Persian Sources: Tarikh-i-Yamini: Habib-us-Siyar of Khawand Mir's, Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi: Barani, Tarikh-e-Farishta etc.
• Sanskrit Sources: Puranas, Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Asthadhayayi, Rajtaragini etc.
• Sikh Sources: Guru Granth Sahib' (The Adi Granth), the ‘Bachitra Natak' of Guru Govind Singh, the Janam Sakhis' (biographies) of Sikh Gurus etc.
• The Nirmand copper plate of 7th century AD issued by Mahasamanta Maharaja Samudrasena.

The correct answer is Lt. Col. Paris Bradshaw.

Key Points

 Treaty of Sugauli (March 4, 1816):

• It is an agreement between the Gurkha chiefs of Nepal and the British Indian government that ended the Anglo-Nepalese (Gurkha) War (1814–16).
• The British East India Company prepared the draft of the treaty with the signature of Lieutenant Colonel Paris Bradshaw on December 2, 1815.
• It was sent to Nepal with a 15- day ultimatum for counter-signature and asked to return it to them.
• Hence, Option 3 is correct.
• The treaty reduced the average east-west length to 885 kilometres and the total area of Nepal is confined to 147,181 km2 between the Mechi and the Mahakali Rivers.
• Nepal was forced to give up not only its western front but also the Mechi to Teesta area on the east.
• To console the Gorkha army, they provided two Lakhs of rupees annually as compensation.
• Chandrashekhar Upadhyaya, who had accompanied Pandit Gajaraj Mishra to the British camp at Sugauli, put his signature on March 4, 1816, and gave it to Britishers.
• Article 7: The Raja of Nepal hereby engages never to take or retain in his service any British subject, nor the subject of any European and American State, without the consent of the British Government
• Article 9: The treaty shall be approved by the King of Nepal, but there is no record of the treaty being approved by King Girwana Yuddha Bikram Shah.

Additional Information

• Nepal got back the Terai area from Rapti to Kali after 44 years of the Sugauli Treaty.
• Had the Sugauli Treaty was done on a permanent basis, Nepal would not have received back those lands at different times.
• This proves that Sugauli Treaty was not done to last forever.
• The main reason behind the land dispute between India and Nepal:
• The treaty failed to mention clearly in so many sections of land where the borderline would actually pass through between India and Nepal.

The correct answer is Olive.

Key Points

• As per the report published by a joint study of Space Applications Centre, (ISRO), Ahmedabad and Himachal Pradesh Remote Sensing Cell, State Council for Science, Technology & Environment, Shimla:
• The Chamba district has suitable pockets for the production of hazelnut, olive, chilgoza, apricot, walnut, peach, apple, pear, plum and mango.
• There are three Olive development centres in the Chamba district at Lanji, Saro and Rajnagar. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
• Walnut is grown all over the district.
• Chilgoza is mostly found in the Pangi area and certain pockets of Bharmaur tehsil.
• The apple orchards are located mainly in Churah, Bharmaur, Chamba and Pangi tehsil and Salooni sub-tehsils.

Basics:

• The Chamba is situated in the bosom of the Himalayas mountains.
• The territory is wholly mountainous with altitudes varying from about 610 metres to about 6,400 m.
• The Ravi is pre-eminently the river of the Chamba District and with its tributaries.
• It drains the whole of the Chamba valley between the Dhaula Dhar and Pangi range.
• Chamba has three well defined snowy ranges ie. Dhaula Dhar,. Pangi and Zanskar.
• As the district is wholly mountainous, every variety of climate is found from semi-tropical to semi-arctic.
• The soil of the district is generally loamy in texture with a little more percentage of clay on the higher altitude as well as on the lower elevations.
• The soil is well supplied with organic matter.

The correct answer is 10519 MW.

Key Points

• Himachal Pradesh has significant potential for hydroelectricity generation due to the thawing of glaciers and frozen lakes.
• Fed from five mighty snow-fed rivers (Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej & Yamuna) emanating from the western Himalayas, the state is endowed with a vast hydropower potential of about 25% of the total hydropower potential assessed in India.

As per the State Economic Survey 2017-2018:

• The State of Himachal Pradesh has an estimated Hydro Potential of 27,436 MW out of which 24,000 MW has been assessed as harnessable.
• Out of the total harnessable potential of about 24,000 MW, the potential to the tune of 20,912 MW already stands allotted under various sectors.
• A potential of about 10,519 MW has already been harnessed so far under various sectors.

• Capacity addition of 149.50 MW has been achieved by commissioning three projects namely Sainj HEP (100 MW), Chaiju-I HEP (36 MW) and Upper Nanti HEP (13.5 MW).

The correct answer is Matri Shakti Bima Yojna.

Key Points

Matri Shakti Bima Yojna:

• Launched on 25-09-2000.
• It covers all rural women living below the poverty line within the age group of 10-75 years.
• The policy provides relief to family members/ insured women in case of their death or disablement arising due to any kind of accident, surgical operations like sterilization, a mishap at time of childbirth/delivery drowning washing away in floods, landslide, insect bite & snakebite etc.
• The scheme also gives benefit to a married woman in case of accidental death of her husband.
• From 1st April 2008, the compensation amount under the scheme has been doubled from Rs. 25,000/- to Rs, 50,000/- in case of death of her husband.
• Similarly, the compensation amount in case of disability arising out of extent has also been doubled from Rs. 12500/- to Rs. 25,000/-.
• From 1st February 2009, the compensation amount under the scheme has been increased by the State Government.
• The enhanced benefit is as under:-
• Death: Rs. 1,00,000/-
• Permanent total disability: Rs. 1,00,000/-
• Loss of one limb and one eyes or both eyes or both limbs: Rs. 1,00,000/-
• Loss of one limb/one ear: Rs. 50,000/-
• In case of death of husband: Rs. 1,00,000/-

Additional Information

Janani Suraksha Yojna:

• It is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission (NHM).
• Launched on 12th April 2005.
• It is being implemented in all states and UTs with a special focus on low performing states.
• It is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme and it integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care.

Beti Bachao Yojna:

• This yojna is being implemented through a national campaign and focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in Child Sex Ratio, covering all States and UTs.
• This is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

P. M. Matri Vandana Yojna:

• It is a maternity benefit programme.
• It offers cash incentives to all eligible Pregnant women and Lactating mothers.
• The Government offers ₹ 5,000 to Pregnant women and lactating mothers for the first living child family with an objective to fulfil specific conditions relating to maternal and child health.
• The cash incentive is given to all the eligible women who are above 19 years of age in three instalments - first, second and third- for ₹ 1,000, ₹ 2,000 and ₹ 2,000 respectively.

The correct answer is Soil Testing.

Key Points

• Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh issued a notification exercising the powers vested under Section 3 of the HP Public Services Guarantee Act 2011.
• It notified Soil Testing as public service by State Govt. under H.P. Public Service Guarantee Act, 2011.
• Description:
• Name of Service: Soil Testing.
• Application accepting authority: ADO/AEO of Soil Testing Lab of the area concerned.
• Designation of Designated officer: Soil Testing Officer.
• Time limit: 60 Days after receipt of the application.
• Designation Authority 1st: Deputy Director of Agriculture.
• 2nd: State Information Commission, Himachal Pradesh.

Soil Testing:

• Soil tests are used to determine the soil's nutrient level and pH content.
• With this information, farmers can define the quantity of fertiliser and the exact type that is needed for application to improve the soil on their farm.
• This is essential because fertile soils are necessary to grow healthy crops.
• Advantages:
• It informs the farmer of the current health of the farm’s soil and how to improve it.
• Soil test leads to minimisation of fertiliser expenditure.
• Soil testing results in limited over-fertilisation.
• Farmers can easily avoid soil degradation.

Additional Information

• Kisan Credit Card, Organic Farming, Seed Certification Programme was not declared as public service by State Govt. under H.P. Public Service Guarantee Act, 2011.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

Gaiety Theatre:

• It was designed by the renowned architect Henry Irwin, who also designed the ‘Viceregal Lodge’ of Shimla.
• It became functional on 30th May 1887.
• It designed ‘Gaiety Theatre Shimla’ in typical Gothic Style which represents a renaissance in Europe, with its arches, ribbed vaults and flying buttresses.
• This complex has come up as the vibrant centre of all types of creative and performing arts; as for example – painting, photography, dance, drama, theatrics, elocution, sculpture and classical and folk music.

Kalka Shimla Railway:

• The Guinness Book of Rail facts & feats records Kalka Shimla Railways as the greatest narrow gauge engineering in India
• Ambala Division is the custodian of “World Heritage Site-Kalka Shimla Railway.
• UNESCO World Heritage status: 7th July 2008. (Also listed in Mountain railways of India).
• It was built to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the British Raj, with the Indian rail system.
• The line measuring 95.68 Km from Kalka to Shimla was opened for traffic on Nov.9, 1903
• Barog Tunnel at 1144 meters is the longest tunnel on the route.
• The tunnel was completed by Chief Engineer H.S. Harrington with the help of local ascetic Bhalku.

Satyakam:

• Samuel Evans Stokes a Philadelphia born American Missionary and Military academy graduate came to India with Dr Carlton on 9 Jan 1904.
• He was involved with the spreading of Christianity however he converted to Hinduism and took a Hindu name, Satyanand Stokes
• The writings of Maharishi Swami Dayanand, the founder of Arya Samaj had a lasting impression on Stokes.
• He became an Arya Samaji and built an Arya Samaj temple on his estate, known as the Paramjyotir Temple.
• He was bestowed with the title of The Economic Emancipator of The Hills.
• He learnt Sanskrit, studied eastern and western thought, and expounded his philosophy of life in a book entitled Satyakam.

Old Shimla Bank:

• Old Shimla Bank was established by the co-operation of Messrs Barrett & Co.
• Messrs Barrett & Co. was the first European merchant established around 1838 in Simla.
• In 1845, Mr Barrett additionally opened a resort in Shimla. It was known as Pavilion. Later, it grew to become Royal, after which Lowrie’s Hotel.​

The correct answer is Amrita Shergil.

Key Points

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941):

• Born in Budapest on Jan. 30, 1913, to a Hungarian-Sikh couple.
• Her style and her emphasis on women-led her to be known as the "Indian Frida Kahlo.
• She used her paintbrush to depict the daily lives of Indian women in the 1930s, revealing a sense of their loneliness and even hopelessness.
• It was a rendering rarely seen in depictions of Indian women at the time when portrayals tended to cast them as happy and obedient.
• She got her first recognition at the age of 19, for her oil painting titled Young Girls (1932).
• In addition to paintings of relatives, lovers and friends, she created self-portraits that showed her “grappling with her own identity,”
• She often reflected an introverted and troubled woman caught between her Hungarian and Indian existences.
• She sympathized with the Indian National Congress, which had been fighting for the rights of average Indians who sought independence from Britain.
• Her south Indian trilogy of paintings comprised Bride's Toilet, Brahmacharis, and South Indian Villagers Going to Market.
• Some of the works of Amrita Shergil are:
• Self-portraits,
• Hungarian Gypsy Girl
• Group of Three Girls
• Village Scene etc.

The correct answer is Auckland House.

Key Points​

• Britishers did a disaster in Afghanistan which is popularly known as The First Anglo-Afghan war.
• It was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842.
• The apprehension of the Russian invasion of India and the attempt of the British to check it on the border of Afghanistan was the primary cause of the First Anglo-Afghan War.
• Lord Palmerston who became the foreign minister of Britain in 1830 was determined to stem Russian advance towards the East and favoured a forward policy to achieve that purpose.
• He appointed Lord Auckland particularly with a view to pursuing that policy in 1836.
• Lord Bentinck's successor Lord Auckland, choose a residence on the northern eastern spur of the Shimla range which was known as the Auckland House.
• Auckland was living in the Auckland House in Shimla in 1838.
• It was the venue where Shimla Manifesto declaring war against the Afghan was signed on October 1st, 1838.

British disaster in Afghanistan:

• The first Anglo-Afghan war brought no advantage to the British.
• Their primary object was to place a friendly person on the throne of Afghanistan. They failed in this attempt.
• Shah Shuja was murdered by the Afghans and Dost Muhammad, freed by the English from imprisonment, went back to Afghanistan and again captured his throne.
• He ruled there till 1863.
• Thus, the same person ruled in Afghanistan after the war, who had ruled it before the war.
• Besides, there was no change in the relations of the English with the Amir after the war.
• Dost Muhammad kept himself free from British influence.
• Thus, it is clear that the British drew no advantage from the war in which they lost nearly twenty thousand soldiers and rupees one and a half crores.

The correct answer is Abhay Ashtekar.

Key Points

Abhay Ashtekar:

• He has been conferred the prize "For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology."
• Appointment:
• Director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos,
• Evan Pugh Professor (It is the highest distinction that the University can bestow upon a faculty member) of Physics, and
• Holder of the Eberly Chair at Penn State.

Einstein Prize:

• It is given by the American Physical Society (since 2003).
• This prize recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of gravitational physics.
• The prize was established by the Topical Group on Gravitation (now Division of Gravitational Physics) in 1999.
• The prize consists of $10,000 and a certificate citing the contributions of the recipient.
• It also includes an allowance for the recipient to travel to a meeting of the Society to receive the award and deliver a lecture.
• It is awarded biennially in odd-numbered years.

Additional Information

• Other distinguished prizes for contribution in Physics include:
• Andrei Sakharov Prize:  "Leadership and/or achievements of scientists in upholding human rights"
• Frank Isakson Prize: "Optical research that leads to breakthroughs in the condensed matter sciences"
• Fluid Dynamics Prize:  "Achievement in fluid dynamics research"
• Thomas Young Medal and Prize:  Distinguished research in the field of optics, including physics outside the visible region.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

e-Drishti:

• The Indian Railways, in association with the Centre For Railway Information Systems (CRIS), has launched a software system called e-Drishti.
• Objective: To enhance transparency and vigilance in the Railways department.
• Services provided by the software:
• The software will supply train timing information directly to the Ministry, on a daily basis.
• It will help the department to better monitor the punctuality performance of trains and take necessary corrective actions.
• It will also make available, the information concerned with freight and passenger earnings of the trains.
• It will help the Ministry in keeping a check on railway stations, focusing on aspects such as safety and sanitation.
• Real-time updates about major projects shall be sent via the system, in order to make policy and decision-making swifter.
• To ensure quality control of Railway food, live CCTV footage of IRCTC base kitchens can also be seen.

Additional Information

• Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS):
• It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Railways.
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Founded: July 1986
• Parent Organisation: Indian Railways

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

Additional Information

• The Fields Medal is awarded every four years on the occasion of the International Congress of Mathematicians.
• Awarded for: Outstanding contributions in mathematics attributed to young scientists.
• Reward(s): CA$15,000 (Canadian Dollar)
• The Fields Medal Committee is chosen by the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union and is normally chaired by the International Mathematical Union President.
• Condition: A candidate's 40th birthday must not occur before January 1st of the year of the Congress at which the Fields Medals are awarded.
• The medals and cash prizes are funded by a trust established by J.C.Fields at the University of Toronto.

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

Additional Information

 Noble Prize:

• The Nobel Prizes are given in the memory of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896).
• Originally, the Nobel Prize was awarded for works in 5 disciplines that are:
• Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine & Literature.
• The first prize was given in 1901.
• The Prize for Economics was instituted in 1968 by a Swedish bank.
• It was awarded first time in 1969.
• The award comprises a Gold Medal, Diploma, extension in Swiss visa & passport & 8 million Swedish Krona.
• The awards can be given to a maximum of three persons in the same field at the same time.
• It is not awarded posthumously.

The correct answer is Ashok Kumar Gupta.

Key Points

 Competition Commission of India:

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory body of the Government of India.
• It is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 (as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007) throughout India.
• Objectives:
• To ensure freedom of trade.
• To protect the interests of consumers.
• To promote and sustain competition in markets.
• To prevent practices that harm the competition.
• Members:
• The members of the CCI are appointed by the Central Government.
• The Competition Commission of India is currently functional with a Chairperson and 6 members.
• The Competition Act, 2002 was enacted by the Parliament of India and governs the Indian competition law.
• The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP Act) was repealed and replaced by the Competition Act, 2002.
• It was repealed on the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee.
• Major functions of the Act:
• It prohibits anti-competitive agreements.
• It prohibits abuse of dominant position by enterprises, and
• It regulates acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A, which can cause an appreciable adverse effect on the competition within India.

Recent News:

• On November 5 & 6, 2020, the Competition Commission of India organised a virtual Workshop of BRICS Competition Agencies on Competition Issues in the Automotive Sector.
• The correct Chairman is - Ravneet Kaur.

The correct answer is Sikkim.

Key Points

• The world’s best laws and policies promoting agroecology are awarded the Future Policy Award (FPA).
• The “100% organic state” Sikkim, in India, was 2018's winner of the “Oscar for best policies” (nickname of the award),
• This year’s award is co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM – Organics International.

Sikkim:

• Gold Prize winner Sikkim is the first organic state in the world.
• All of its farmland is certified organic.
• The policy implemented a phase-out of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and achieved a total ban on the sale and use of chemical pesticides in the state.

Additional Information

 Future Policy Award:

• It is the only award which honours policies on an international level.
• Each year, the World Future Council chooses a topic for the Future Policy Award on which policy progress is particularly urgent.
• Awards are distributed in partnership with FAO and IFOAM – Organics International.

Silver Awards of 2018:

• Brazil’s National Policy for Agroecology and Organic Production,
• Denmark’s Organic Action Plan,
• Quito's (Ecuador) Participatory Urban Agriculture Programme.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

QUAD:

• It is an informal (neither economic nor military) strategic forum comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States of America.
• The idea was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007 (although main progress started from 2017 after the Philipines meet).
• It aims to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.

The objective of Quad:

• To advance the security and the economic interests of all countries having legitimate and vital interests.
• To develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence (especially China).
• It has become necessary due to the increased presence of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean.
• From the Indian context, the rising dominance of China is the new and emerging security concern.

Recent News:

• In November, the Quad nations came together to participate in a two-phase joint military exercise, Malabar 2020, in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
• The first summit of the leaders' of the QUAD (Quadrilateral Framework) was hosted by the USA on a virtual platform in 2021.
• QUAD pledged to promote a free, open rules-based order, rooted in international law to advance security and prosperity and counter threats in both the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

​

Additional Information

• Malabar exercise is an annual trilateral naval exercise between the navies of India, Japan, and the USA which is held alternately in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

Blue Economy:

• As per the World Bank, It is the “sustainable development of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem."
• In the Indian context, it is a sector of the national economy that comprises the ocean resources system and man-made economic infrastructure in oceans, maritime, and onshore coastal zones within the country’s legal jurisdiction.
• It aims to promote economic growth, social inclusion and the preservation of livelihoods while ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal regions.
• Significance: 
• ​It focuses on livelihood generation by creating employment opportunities for coastal communities.
• It boosts domestic and regional trade.
• Harnessing abundant oceanic resources.
• It focuses on a more fuel-efficient, cheaper and reliable mode of transportation,
• It enhances resilient coastal biodiversity and promotes an ecologically safe tourism industry.

Additional Information

Recent News:

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) prepared the draft blue economy policy framework in line with the Government of India’s Vision of New India by 2030.
• It highlighted the blue economy as one of the ten core dimensions for national growth.
• The document recognizes the following seven thematic areas.
• National accounting framework for the blue economy and ocean governance.
• Coastal marine spatial planning and tourism.
• Marine fisheries, aquaculture, and fish processing.
• Manufacturing, emerging industries, trade, technology, services, and skill development.
• Logistics, infrastructure and shipping, including trans-shipments.
• Coastal and deep-sea mining and offshore energy.
• Security, strategic dimensions, and international engagement.

The correct answer is My Son, Temple.

Key Points

My Son Temple:

• My Son, an architectural temple complex on the coast of Vietnam, was the spiritual and political capital of the Cham people (the Champa Kingdom).
• Champa, an ancient Indo-Chinese kingdom lasting from the 2nd to the 17th century AD.
• It extends over the central and southern coastal region of Vietnam.
• This site consists of Hindu temple towers built between the 4th and 13th centuries.
• The towers are built of bricks and held together by vegetable-based cement.
• The surviving temple towers still comprise the oldest and largest built relics in the history of Champa society.

Archaeological Survey of India:

• Established: 1903.
• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Ministry of Culture, is the main organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.
• It regulates all archaeological activities in the country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
• It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.

Additional Information

• Other architectural monuments under ASI renovation:
• The Angkor Wat in Cambodia,
• The My Son Temple in Vietnam,
• The Ananda Temple in Myanmar,
• The Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia,
• The Vat Phou Temple in Laos, and
• The Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan

The correct answer is Meghalaya.

Key Points

Nongkrem dance festival:

• Period: Generally, in the month of November, every year.
• Venue: Smit, the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya.
• The Nongkrem dance festival is celebrated during Autumn at Smit, the cultural centre of the Khasi Hills.
• It is a five day long religious festival of the Khasis, Ka Pomblang Nongkrem dance is popularly known as Nongkrem dance.
• Nongkrem Dance Festival is performed to appease the all-powerful Goddess Ka Blei Synshar for a rich bumper harvest and prosperity of the people.

Additional Information

• Other major festivals of Meghalaya:
• Shad Suk Mynsiem, Wangala, Laho dance festival, etc.
• The state is also known for its popular modern festivals such as Autumn festival, Strawberry festival, Cherry blossom festival etc.

The Correct answer is the Centre for Science and Environment.

Key Points 

• The Indira Gandhi Prize or the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize or the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development is the prestigious award accorded annually by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust to individuals or organizations in recognition of creative efforts toward promoting international peace, development, and a new international economic order; ensuring that scientific discoveries are used for the larger good of humanity, and enlarging the scope of freedom.
• The prize carries a cash award of 2.5 million Indian rupees and a citation.

Additional Information

• Centre For Science and Environment
• Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi, India.
• Established in 1980, CSE works as a think tank on environment-development issues in India, poor planning, climate shifts devastating India's Sundarbans, and advocates for policy changes and better implementation of the already existing policies.
• In 2018 the CSE was awarded Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development.
• UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement to a third country.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Since 1954, the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award has been annually awarded to a person or an organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced or stateless people.
• The UNHCR itself was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981.
• The UNHCR was awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize in 2015.
• Indian Space Research Organisation
• The Indian Space Research Organisation is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru.
• It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India while the Chairman of ISRO acts as the executive of DOS as well.
• ISRO is the primary agency in India to perform tasks related to space-based applications, space exploration, and the development of related technologies.
• It is one of six government space agencies in the world that possess full launch capabilities, deploy cryogenic engines, launch extraterrestrial missions and operate large fleets of artificial satellites.
• Antrix Cooperation Limited(Commercial Wing of ISRO) set up in 1992 as the marketing arm of ISRO, Antrix's job is to promote products, services, and technology developed by ISRO.
• NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is a Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) of the Government of India established in 2019 and it is a second commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The main objective of NSIL is to scale up industry participation in Indian space programs.
• The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development is awarded to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2014 in recognition of its path-breaking achievement, culminating in the Mars orbiter mission.
• Manmohan Singh
• Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014.
• The first Sikh in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.
• In 2017 he was awarded Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development award.

The Correct answer is Electricity.

Key Points

• The annual World Energy Outlook is the International Energy Agency's flagship publication, widely recognized as the most authoritative source for global energy projections and analysis. It represents the leading source for medium to long-term energy market projections, extensive statistics, analysis, and advice for both governments and the energy business.
• World Energy Outlook 2018 examines future patterns of a changing global energy system at a time of increasing uncertainties and finds that major transformations are underway for the global energy sector. Across all regions and fuels, policy choices made by governments will determine the shape of the energy system of the future.
• The energy sector is the principal source of global greenhouse gas emissions. The World Energy Outlook 2018 contains updated projections for energy-related CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases.

 

• World Energy Outlook- 2020
• There are two key themes in this World Energy Outlook 2020
• Theme - The impact of Covid-19 on the energy sector and the prospects for accelerated energy transitions.
• By 2040, coal's share in global energy demand dips below 20% for the first time in modern energy history.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has caused more disruption to the energy sector than any other event in recent history.
• This report explores different pathways out of the Covid-19 crisis, with a particular focus on a pivotal next ten years to 2030.

Additional Information

• International Atomic Energy Agency
• The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
• It was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
• As the preeminent nuclear watchdog under the UN, the IAEA is entrusted with the task of upholding the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970.
• Though established independently of the UN through its own international treaty, the agency reports to both the UN General Assembly and the UNSC.
• India is not a member of the IAEA.

The Correct answer is Shakti.

Key Points

• Shakti is the first Microprocessor Of India which is designed and developed by the students of IIT (Indian Institute Of Technology) Chennai.
• It is built with a microchip that is manufactured or created at ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) Chandigarh.
• According to IIT-M, the Shakti microprocessor can be used in low-power wireless systems and networking systems besides reducing reliance on imported microprocessors in the communication and defense sectors.
• The Shakti family of processors was fabricated at Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), Indian Space Research Organizations (ISRO) in Chandigarh, making it the first 'RISC V Microprocessor' to be completely designed and made in India.
• The other crucial aspect of such an indigenous design, development, and fabricating approach is reducing the risk of deploying systems that may be infected with back-doors and hardware Trojans.
• According to IIT-M, the Shakti processor family targets clock speeds to suit various end-user application devices such as various consumer electronic devices, mobile computing devices, embedded low-power wireless systems, and networking systems.

Additional Information

• A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control are included on a single integrated circuit or a small number of integrated circuits.
• The microprocessor is a multipurpose, clock-driven, register-based, digital integrated circuit that accepts binary data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results (also in binary form) as output.
• Microprocessors contain both combinational logic and sequential digital logic.

The Correct answer is 1987.

Key Points

• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, abbreviation INF Treaty, nuclear arms-control accord reached by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987 in which those two nations agreed to eliminate their stocks of intermediate-range and shorter-range (or “medium-range”) land-based missiles (which could carry nuclear warheads).
• It was the first arms-control treaty to abolish an entire category of weapons systems.
• In addition, two protocols to the treaty established unprecedented procedures for observers from both nations to verify firsthand the other nation’s destruction of its missiles. In February 2019 the United States announced that it was suspending compliance with the treaty.
• The INF Treaty defined intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) as those having ranges of 1,000 to 5,500 km (620 to 3,400 miles) and shorter-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) as those having ranges from 500 to 1,000 km.

The Correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

• Mariculture is an activity involving food production for human consumption.
• It is an activity in which aquatic organisms both plants and animals are cultured in a confined environment in the aquatic medium which may be completely marine or marine mixed to various degrees with freshwater in the brackish water areas.
• Mariculture is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean of offshore aquaculture, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds, or raceways which are filled with seawater.
• It is commonly known as marine farming also. An example of the latter is marine fish farming, including finfish and shellfish like prawns, or oysters and seaweed in saltwater ponds.
• Non-food products produced by mariculture include fish meal, nutrient agar, jewelry (cultured pearls), and cosmetics.

The Correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) in India.
• The center would aim to bring together the government and business leaders to pilot emerging technology policies.
• The center would be based in Maharashtra. Drones, artificial intelligence, and blockchain have been selected as the first three project areas.
• The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India will work in collaboration with the government on a national level to co-design new policy frameworks and protocols for emerging technology alongside leaders from business, academia, start-ups, and international organizations.
• The National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog will coordinate the partnership on behalf of the government and the work of the center among multiple ministries.

Additional Information

• World Economic Forum 
• The World Economic Forum (WEF), based in Cologny, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, is an international NGO, founded on 24 January 1971.
• The WEF's mission is stated as "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
• The Forum provides a platform for the CEOs of the largest companies, heads of state of countries, to meet each other and discuss business through bilateral meetings. It’s a meet to showcase countries’ potential in order to attract businesses.
• The theme of WEF 2020 is Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.
• It is basically a networking event where countries project themselves to garner investment.

The Correct answer is Gujarat.

Key Points 

• Banni Grasslands Reserve or Banni grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch in Kutch District, Gujarat State, India. They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometers.
• They are currently legally protected under the status as a protected or reserve forest in India. Though declared a protected forest more than half a century ago Gujarat state's forest department has recently proposed a special plan to restore and manage this ecosystem in the most efficient way. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.
• The word ‘Banni’ comes from the Hindi word ‘banai’, meaning made. The land here was formed from the sediments that were deposited by the Indus and other rivers over thousands of years.
• It was first declared a "protected forest" in May 1955, using the nomenclature of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

Additional Information

• Sehima-Dichanthium Type
• ​These are spread over the Central Indian plateau, Choto-Nagpur plateau, and Aravalli ranges, covering an area of about 17,40,000 km².
• This region has an elevation between 300 and 1200 m.
• There are 24 species of perennial grasses, 89 species of annual grasses, and 129 species of dicots, including 56 legumes.
• This is also a rich wildlife area, with a large number of protected areas, especially forest protected areas (sanctuaries and national parks).
• Dichanthium-Cenchrus-Lasiurus type
• These are spread over an area of about 436,000 km², including northern parts of Delhi, Aravalli ranges, parts of Punjab, almost whole Rajasthan, and Gujarat, and southern Uttar Pradesh.
• The elevation of this region is not high, between 150 to 300 m.
• There are 11 perennial grass species, 43 annual grass species, and 45 dicots including 19 legumes.
• This area has many protected areas, mainly in the hilly regions, but the Lasiurus sindicus dry grassland of the Thar desert is under-represented in the PA system.
• These grasslands are extremely important for the survival of certain bird species.
• Phragmites-Saccharum-Imperata type
• These types of grasslands cover about 2,800,000 km² in the Gangetic Plains, the Brahmaputra Valley, and the plains of Punjab and Haryana.
• The elevation of this region between 300 to 500 m.
• There are 10 perennial types of grass, 26 annual types of grass, and 56 herbaceous species, including 16 legumes.
• The Gangetic Plain is one of the most thickly populated regions in the world so the original grassland type is almost gone.
• Some wet grasslands survive in protected areas of the Terai region and the Brahmaputra floodplains. These wet grasslands harbor many globally threatened wildlife species.
• Themeda-Arundinella type
• These grasslands cover about 230,000 km² and include the states of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
• The elevations range between 350 and 1200 m.
• There are 37 major perennial grass species, 32 annual grass species, and 34 dicots including 9 legumes.

The Correct Answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• A time zone is an area that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude because it is convenient for areas in frequent communication to keep the same time.
• Soth Africa has 2 time zones.

Countries with the Most Time Zones

The Correct answer is 15 October.

Key Points

• UN Women supports the leadership and participation of rural women in shaping laws, strategies, policies, and programs on all issues that affect their lives. Training equips them with the skills to pursue new livelihoods and adapt technology to their needs.
• The idea of honoring rural women with a special day was put forward by international NGOs at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. It was suggested that 15 October be celebrated as “World Rural Women’s Day,”.
• International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, while also making a call to action for strengthening gender equality and accelerating women’s empowerment.
• This international day, established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”
• “World Rural Women’s Day” has been celebrated, primarily by civil society, across the world for over a decade. The first International Day of Rural Women was observed in New York on 15 October 2008.
• International Day of Rural Women theme 2020: “Building rural women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19”.

Additional Information

• 8 March
• International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women.
• It is also a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.
• 2 October
• Gandhi Jayanti is an event celebrated in India to mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is celebrated annually on 2 October, and it is one of the three national holidays of India.
• The UN General Assembly announced on 15 June 2007 that it adopted a resolution which declared that 2 October will be celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence.
• 10 December
• Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly.
• This day is observed to protect the fundamental human rights of all people and their basic human freedom.

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

• Bathukamma is a Flower and Cultural festival of Telangana and celebrated by women singing Bathukamma Songs, Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Every year this festival is celebrated as per the Sathavahana calendar for nine days starting Bhadrapada Pournami (also known as Mahalaya Amavasya or Pitru Amavasya) till Durgashtami, usually in September–October of the Gregorian calendar.
• Bathukamma is celebrated for nine days during Durga Navratri. It starts on the day of Mahalaya Amavasya and the 9-day festivities will culminate on "Saddula Bathukamma" or "Pedda Bathukamma" festival on Ashwayuja Navami, popularly known as Durgashtami which is two days before Dussehra.
• Historically, Bathukamma meant "festival of life" and was celebrated to thank Goddess Parvati for her blessings for the crop harvest and income she helped generate this (current) year and again ask her blessing for the next year.
• It is the festival for feminine felicitation. On this special occasion, women dress up in the traditional sari combining it with jewels and other accessories.
• Teenage Girls wear Langa-Oni/Half-Sarees/Lehenga Choli combining it with jewels in order to bring out the traditional grace of the attire. In Telugu, ‘Bathukamma' means ‘Mother Goddess come Alive’ and Goddess Maha Gauri-‘Life Giver’ is worshipped in the form of Bathukamma - the patron goddess of womanhood, Gauri Devi. Hence the statement 3 is correct.
• The other being Bathukamma, as the daughter of the 'Chola' King 'Dharmangada' and 'Satyavati'. The king and queen lost their 100 sons on the battlefield and prayed to Goddess Lakshmi to be born in their house, as their child. Goddess Lakshmi heard their sincere prayers and chose to oblige them. When Lakshmi was born in the royal palace, all the sages came to bless her and they blessed her with immortality "Bathukamma or Live Forever". Since then Bathukamma festival is celebrated by young girls in Telangana. The purpose of this festival is to pray to the Goddess in the belief that the young girls would get husbands as per their wish, to teach the young girls how to take care of their in-laws, their husbands, be great women who respect elders, love people around them, a guide to their younger ones.
• The New South Wales Parliament in Sydney, Australia, came alive with the celebration of Telangana culture and its identity, for the first time ever, as women in resplendent clothes danced around ‘floral deities’ singing Bathukamma songs. Hence statement 2 is correct.

The answer is Jai Prakash Narayan.

Key Points

• Jai Prakash Narayan
• In party-less democracy, elections are not contested on party lines but on an individual basis.
• Jayaprakash Narayan proposed partyless democracy in India. Jayaprakash Narayan, commonly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak, was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader.
• Jayaprakash Narayanan led his socialist group out of the Congress party in 1948 and later merged it with a Gandhian-oriented party to form the People’s Socialist Party. Narayan never held a formal position in the government.
• Jayaprakash Narayanan is also known as the ‘Hero of Quit India Movement.
• He was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award, the highest civilian award of India in 1999.
• He was also the recipient of the Magsaysay Award.
• Jayaprakash Narayanan was born on 11th October 1902 in present-day Bihar and died on 8th October 1979.
• He called for a peaceful total revolution in 1974.

Additional Information

• Jawahar Lal Nehru 
• Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian independence activist and, subsequently, the first Prime Minister of India, as well as a central figure in Indian politics both before and after independence.
• He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement, serving India as Prime Minister from its establishment in 1947 as an independent nation, until his death in 1964.
• He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community, while Indian children knew him better than Chacha Nehru.
• Veer Savarkar
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, commonly known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar or simply Veer Savarkar in the Marathi language, was an Indian independence activist and politician who formulated the Hindu nationalist philosophy of Hindutva.
• He was a leading personality in the Hindu Mahasabha.
• Savarkar joined the Hindu Mahasabha and popularized the term Hindutva (Hinduness), previously coined by Chandranath Basu, to create a collective "Hindu" identity as an essence of Bharat (India). Savarkar was an atheist and also a pragmatic practitioner of Hindu philosophy.
• Indira Gandhi
• Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress.
• She was the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India.
• Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. She served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father.

The answer is the Indian Council act,1892.

Key Points

• The Indian Councils Act 1892 brought the provision of bringing additional members into the Legislative Council through the indirect election. For the first time, the element of an election was introduced into the Indian political system.
• Provisions of 1892 act
• The act increased the number of additional or non-official members in the legislative councils as follows:
  

In 1892, out of 24 members, only 5 were Indians.

• The members were given the right to ask questions on the budget (which was barred in the Indian Councils Act 1861) or matters of public interest but had to give notice of 6 days for it.
• They could not ask supplementary questions.
• The principle of representation was initiated through this act. The district boards, universities, municipalities, chambers of commerce, and zamindars were authorized to recommend members to the provincial councils.
• The legislative councils were empowered to make new laws and repeal old laws with the permission of the Governor-General.

Additional Information

• Indian Council Act, 1861
• For the executive functions of the Council, a fifth member was added. Now there were five members for home, military, law, revenue, and finance.
• Lord Canning, who was the Governor-General and Viceroy at the time, introduced the portfolio system. In this system, each member was assigned a portfolio of a particular department.
• Lord Canning nominated three Indians to the Council in 1862 namely, the Raja of Benares, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao.
• Any bill related to public revenue or debt, military, religion, or foreign affairs could not be passed without the Governor-General’s assent.
• The Viceroy had the power to overrule the council if necessary.
• This Act restored the legislative powers of the Governor-in-Councils of the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay (which was taken away by the Charter Act of 1833).
• Government of India act 1909
• This Act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India).
• It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and provincial. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform.
• It retained an official majority in the Central Legislative Council but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have a non-official majority.
• It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both levels. For example, members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget, and so on.
• It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the executive councils of the Viceroy and Governors. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was appointed as a law member.
• It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of a ‘separate electorate’. Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘ legalized communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal Electorate.
• It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce, universities, and zamindars.
• Government of India act 1919
• On August 20, 1917, the British Government declared, for the first time, that its objective was the gradual introduction of responsible government in India.
• The Government of India Act of 1919 was thus enacted, which came into force in 1921.
• This Act is also known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Montagu was the Secretary of State for India and Lord Chelmsford was the Viceroy of India).
• It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects.
• The central and provincial legislatures were authorized to make laws on their respective list of subjects. However, the structure of government continued to be centralized and unitary.
• It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts- transferred and reserved.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points   

• The drain of Wealth Theory
• Dadabhai Naoroji's work focused on the drain of wealth from India to Britain during the period rule of British rule in India.
• The constant flow of wealth from India to England for which India did not get an adequate economic, commercial or material return has been described as the drain of wealth from India.
• Dadabhai Naoroji gave 'drain of wealth theory' in his book 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India.
• Swaraj is my birthright - B. G. tilak
• Lokmanya Tilak's slogan 'Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it's caught the imagination of a country fighting to free itself from the colonial rule. Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on August 1, 1920 in Mumbai. Bal Gangadhar Tilak tirelessly contributed to help the country break free from British rule.
• In April 1916, Bal Gangadhar Tilak launched the Indian Home Rule League with the rousing slogan “Swarajya is my birthright and I will have it.” In September 1916, Annie Besant launched the Home Rule League at Madras.
• Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. When he emerged from prison in present-day Mumbai, he was revered as a martyr and a national hero.
• ​​Separate Communal electorate - Moh. Ali Jinnah
• The Fourteen Points of Jinnah were proposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.
• In 1928, an All Parties Conference was convened to solve the constitutional problems for Muslims. A committee was set up under Moti Lal Nehru. That committee prepared a report which is known as the "Nehru Report".
• This report demanded "Dominion Status" for India. Separate electorates were refused and the reservation of seats for the Muslims of Bengal and Punjab was rejected. In this report, not a single demand of the Muslims was upheld.
• Entry into legislation - C. R. Das
• Legislation is a law or a set of laws that have been passed by Parliament. The word is also used to describe the act of making new law.
• Das and Nehru thought of contesting elections to enter the legislative council with a view to obstructing a foreign government
• As a result of the Bengal Partition, the Swaraj Party won the most seats during elections to the Bengal Legislative Council in 1923. The party disintegrated after the death of C. R. Das.
• The Swaraj Party or the Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party was formed on 1 January 1923 by C R Das and Motilal Nehru.
• The formation of the Swaraj Party came after various significant events like the withdrawal of the non-cooperation movement, the government of India act 1919, and the 1923 elections.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• Directive Principles of State Policy are the instrument of instructions to the state.
• Articles 36-51 under Part-IV of the Indian Constitution deal with Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). The provisions contained in this Part cannot be enforced by any court, but these principles are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws
• They are borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland, which had copied it from the Spanish Constitution.

Additional Information

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

• A money bill is defined by Article 110 of the Constitution, as a draft law that contains only provisions that deal with all or any of the matters listed therein​.
• The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration, or regulation of any tax.
• The regulation of the borrowing of money by the Union government.
• The custody of the Consolidated Fund of India or the contingency fund of India, the payment of money into or the withdrawal of money from any such fund
• The appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
• Declaration of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or increasing the amount of any such expenditure.
• The receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money, or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a state.

The correct answer is 368.

Key Points

• The Constitution of India provides for a distinctive amending process as compared to the. Article 368, which has been amended by the Constitution.
• The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX (Article 368) of the Constitution of India. This procedure ensures the sanctity of the Constitution of India and keeps a check on the arbitrary power of the Parliament of India.
• There are three ways in which the Constitution can be amended
• Amendment by a simple majority of the Parliament.
• Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament.
• Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament and the ratification of at least half of the state legislatures.
• As per the procedure laid out by article 368 for amendment of the Constitution, an amendment can be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill in either House of Parliament.
• The Bill must then be passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting.
• There is no provision for a joint sitting in case of disagreement between the two Houses.
• Indian Constitution is neither rigid nor flexible because, under Article 368, the Constitution can be amended by a simple majority or by the special majority and by the majority of not less than 2/3 members of each house.

Additional Information

• Article 361
• Article 361 is an exception to Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Indian Constitution.
• The President or the Governor is not answerable to any court for the exercise of the powers and duties of his office.
• No criminal proceedings shall be conducted against the President or the Governor during his term of office.
• No arrest or imprisonment shall be made against the President or Governor during his term of office.
• Article 364
• Article 364 of the Constitution empowers the President to issue a public notice specifying, “Any law made by Parliament or by the state legislature of a state shall not apply to any major port or aerodrome or shall apply thereto subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification.
• Article 370
• Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent which was administered by India as a state from 1954 to 31 October 2019, conferring it with the power to have a separate constitution, a state flag, and autonomy over the internal administration of the state. The Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been a subject of dispute since 1947 between India, Pakistan, and, partly, China.
• Article 370 was drafted in Part XXI of the Indian constitution titled "Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions".
• It stated that the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir would be empowered to recommend the extent to which the Indian constitution would apply to the state.
• The state assembly could also abrogate Article 370 altogether, in which case all of the Indian Constitution would have applied to the state.

The correct answer is 91^st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003.

Key Points

• This Act may be called the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003. Short title of article 75.
• The total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers, shall not exceed 15 percent.
• In article 75 of the Constitution, the following clauses shall be inserted, namely
• “The total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed fifteen percent. of the total number of members of the House of the People.

Additional Information

• 89th Constitutional Amendment 
• The 89th Amendment of the Constitution came into force on 19 February 2003, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has been set up under Article 338A on bifurcation of erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to oversee the implementation of various safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution.
• With this amendment, the erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was replaced by two separate Commissions namely
• The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)
• The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)
• 90th Constitutional Amendment
• Constitution (90th amendment) act 2003 Article 332 of the Constitution of India provides for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States.
• 93rd Constitutional Amendment
• The 93rd Constitutional Amendment allows the government to make special provisions for "advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens", including their admission in aided or unaided private educational institutions.

The correct answer is Rs. 15,000 each.

Key Points

• President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. Every candidate has to make a security deposit of Rs 15,000 in the Reserve Bank of India. The security deposit is liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the votes polled. Before 1997, the number of proposers and seconders was ten each and the amount of security deposit was Rs 2,500. In 1997, they were increased to discourage the non-serious candidates.

Additional Information

• A person to be eligible for election as President should fulfill the following qualifications
• He should be a citizen of India.
• He should have completed 35 years of age.
• He should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.
• He should not hold any office of profit under the Union government or any state government or any local authority or any other public authority.
• A sitting President or Vice-President of the Union, the Governor of any state, and a minister of the Union or any state is not deemed to hold any office of profit and hence qualified as a presidential candidate
• A candidate who contests election for the posts of President and Vice President of India has to tender the security deposit amount is Rs 15,000 each.

The correct answer is Article 72.

Key Points

• Article 72
• ​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 offense.
• Article 72 of the Indian Constitution deals with the pardoning powers of the President of India. When the President of India takes an action over the case of punishment or the sentence of any person convicted for an offense, it takes the form of his pardoning powers. They are of five types
• Pardon
• Reprieve
• Remit
• Respite
• Commute

Additional Information

The correct answer is None of the above.

Key Points

• Article 360 empowers the president to proclaim a Financial Emergency if he is satisfied that a situation has arisen due to which the financial stability or credit of India or any part of its territory is threatened. Article 360 in The Constitution Of India 1949.
• Provisions as to financial emergency
• If the President is satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the financial stability or credit of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, he may by a Proclamation make a declaration to that effect.
• A Proclamation issued under clause 
• May be revoked or varied by a subsequent Proclamation
• Shall be laid before each House of Parliament
• Shall cease to operate at the expiration of two months unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament: Provided that if any such Proclamation is issued at a time when the House of the People has been dissolved or the dissolution of the House of the People takes place during the period of two months referred to in sub-clause (c), and if a resolution approving the Proclamation has been passed by the Council of States, but no resolution with respect to such Proclamation has been passed by the House of the People before the expiration of that period, the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of thirty days from the date on which the House of the People first sits after its reconstitution unless before the expiration of the said period of thirty days a resolution approving the Proclamation has been also passed by the House of the People
• Untill now no Financial Emergency has been imposed in India by any president.

The Correct answer is A large landlord.

Key Points

• The Talukdars or Talukders were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire, and British times.
• They were owners of a vast amount of lands, consistently hereditary, and were responsible for collecting taxes.
• The Taluqdars played helpful roles in the progression of Indian architecture and the Indian economy during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, particularly in Bengal Subah, the most economically developed province in South Asia.
• The district or estate ruled by a Taluqdar was known as talukdari or taluqdari. That Taluq or district usually comprised over 84 villages and a central town.
• The Talukdar was required to collect taxes, maintain law and order, and provide military supplies/manpower to the provincial government (similar to the role of feudal lords in Europe).
• In most cases, the Talukdars were entitled to keep one-tenth of the collected revenue. However, some privileged Talukdars were entitled to one quarter and hence were called Chaudhry, which literally means the owner of the fourth part.

The correct answer is Benaras.

Key Points 

• The resolution of Swadeshi was adopted in the 1906 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
• This session was headed by Dada Bhai Naoroji.
• Prior to this, in Banaras 1905 session, a resolution of a boycott of British goods was put forward (supported). In 1905, in the Benaras session of the Congress, Gopal Krishana Gokhale supported the Swadeshi and Boycott Movements to Bengal only.
• The resolution of Swadeshi was adopted in the 1906 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. This session was headed by Dada Bhai Naoroji. Prior to this, in Banaras 1905 session, a resolution of a boycott of British goods was put forward. However, it was the 1906 session at Calcutta in which four resolutions on self-government, boycott movement, Swadeshi, and national education were passed by Congress.
• Dadabhai Naoroji said in his presidential speech: “we do not ask for favors we want only justice. Instead of going into any further divisions or details of our rights as British citizens, the whole matter can be comprised in one word -  self-government or Swaraj like that of the United Kingdom or colonies.”
• 1905: Benaras. President: Gopal Krishan Gokhale, The formal proclamation of the Swadeshi movement against the government.​

Additional Information

• Karachi Session - 1931
• The Gandhi Irwin Pact was endorsed by the Congress in the Karachi Session of 1931, which was held from March 26-31. Gandhi was nominated to represent Congress in the Second Round Table Conference. Just a week back, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru had been executed. So, there was anger in the public whose point was that why Gandhi did accept to sign the pact.
• The Karachi session was presided by Sardar Patel.
• Congress adopted a resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy which represented the Party’s Social, Economic, and Political program. It was later known as Karachi Resolution.
• Belgaum - 1924
• It was the only congress session over which Mahatma Gandhi presided.
• Calcutta Session - 1906
• The extremists wanted to extend the boycott all over India and refuse cooperation so that the task of administration becomes impossible. The main extremist leaders were Lala Lajpat Ray, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal. They were called Lal Bal Pal. They had become so popular that the British got alarmed. The slogan was “Swaraj is my Birthright”
• They wanted to disobey the unjust laws; they wanted to kick the loyalists out of society. They wanted all that Gandhi would take up in the future minus non-violence. This was the first phase of the passive resistance.

The Correct answer is Gurdit Singh.

Key Points

• The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship that sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada via Japan in May 1914.
• It was carrying 376 passengers who were immigrants from Punjab, India. Of these, only 24 were granted admittance in Canada when the ship docked in Vancouver
• At that time, Canada had laws restricting the entry of migrants of Asian origin. Following a two-month stalemate, the ship and its 352 passengers were escorted out of the dock by the Canadian military and forced to sail back to India.
• The ship returned to Calcutta on 27 September and was stopped by the British. The passengers were put under guard and the ship was allowed to dock in Budge Budge, Calcutta. The British believed that the passengers were lawbreakers and political agitators.
• When the police sought to arrest the persons it viewed as leaders of the group, there was resistance and a riot ensued. The police fired shots and 19 passengers were killed. Baba Gurdit Singh, who was one of the persons the British wanted to arrest, escaped with some other persons. Most of the remaining passengers were either arrested or sent back to Punjab. Baba Gurdit Singh later surrendered to the police.

The Correct Answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• The List of various governors-general are as below

The Correct answer is Ambika Charan Mazumdar.

Key Points

• The INC 1916 session was held in Lucknow under the Presidentship of Ambika Charan Mazumdar. This session was important in Indian history because it paved the way for the acceptance of the extremist wing in congress.
• Lucknow Pact, (December 1916), an agreement made by the Indian National Congress headed by Maratha leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the All-India Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah; it was adopted by the Congress at its Lucknow session on December 29 and by the league on Dec. 31, 1916. The meeting at Lucknow marked the reunion of the moderate and radical wings of the Congress. The pact dealt both with the structure of the government of India and with the relation of the Hindu and Muslim communities.
• The Provisions of Lucknow pact are as below
• A majority of the members of the Legislative Councils to be elected.
• At least half the seats to be filled by Indians, in the Viceroy's Executive Council.
• The provinces should be free as much as possible from the control of Central Governments in matters of finance and administration.
• Separate electorates should be provided for all the communities until they ask for a joint electorate.
• Provision for the separation of judiciary from the executive.
• In the case of minority political representation, a system of weightage to be adopted in which minorities were to be given more representation in the government than proportional to their share in the population.
• Legislative Council term to be 5 years and the strength of the Central Legislative Council to be increased to 150.
• 4/5 of the Central and Legislative (Provincial) should be elected and 1/5 to be nominated.
• The salaries of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs not to be paid from Indian funds rather it has to be paid by the British government from their own funds.

The Correct answer is 25%.

Key Points

• The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India and is considered a historically important revolt in the Indian Independence Movement.
• It was a farmer's uprising that took place in the Champaran district of Bihar, India, during the British colonial period. The farmers were protesting against having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.
• Gandhiji was persuaded by Raj Kumar Shukla to study the conditions of the Indigo Plantation workers in Champaran, a district in Bihar.
• The system prevalent in the Indigo Plantations was the Tinkathia System. In this system, the peasants were required to mandatorily cultivate indigo in the 3/20th of their landholdings.
• Gandhiji did his research. At the same time, the Govt. appointed a Commission of Inquiry to go into the whole issue and nominated Gandhiji as one of its members. Needless to say, it found the Planters guilty of exploitation.
• A compromise was reached and Planters were ordered to refund 25% of the amount they had illegally taken.

The Correct answer is ​Marquess of Linlithgo.

Key Points

• Marquess of Linlithgo was the viceroy of India from 1936-1943.
• Individual Satyagraha was the resultant of the August offer.
• It was started with the mass Civil Disobedience Movement but M.K Gandhi on Individual Satyagraha.
• This was a movement not only to seek independence but also to affirm the right of Speech.
• The demand of the Satyagrahi was using freedom of speech against the war through an anti-war declaration. If government did not arrest the Satyagrahi, he or she will move repeating it in villages and start march towards Delhi (“Delhi Chalo Movement”).
• The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the Indian government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II.
• The mission was headed by a senior minister Sir Stafford Cripps. Cripps belonged to the left-wing Labour Party, traditionally sympathetic to Indian self-rule, but was also a member of the coalition War Cabinet led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had long been the leader of the movement to block Indian independence.
• Cripps was sent to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist Congress leaders (including Gandhi), most of whose leaders represented the majority Hindu population, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League, who claimed to represent the minority Muslim population. Cripps worked to keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of elections and full self-government (Dominion status) once the war was over.
• The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement.
• It was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.
• After the failure of the Cripps Mission to secure Indian support for the British war effort, Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay on 8 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan.
• The All-India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India.

The correct answer is Gopal Hari Deshmukh.

Key Points

• Gopal Hari Deshmukh (18 February 1823 – 9 October 1892) was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer, and writer from Maharashtra. His original surname was Shidhaye.
• Because of 'Vatan' (right of Tax collection) that the family had received, the family was later called Deshmukh. Deshmukh is regarded as an important figure of the Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra.
• Gopal Hari Deshmukh, popularly known as Lokhitwadi, was the pioneer of all-sided reformism in Maharashtra, Lokhitwadi was active throughout his life.
• He was against the Caste distinction of the society. He said that if Religion does not sanction the social reforms then such religion should be changed.

Additional Information

• Swami Vivekananda
• Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk.
• He was a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.
• He was a major force in the contemporary Hindu reform movements in India and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India. Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
• He is perhaps best known for his speech which began with the words "Sisters and brothers of America, in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
• B.G.Tilak
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak (or Lokmanya Tilak, 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence activist.
• He was one-third of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate. Tilak was the first leader of the Indian independence movement.
• The British colonial authorities called him "The father of the Indian unrest." He was also conferred with the title of "Lokmanya", which means "accepted by the people (as their leader)".
• Mahatma Gandhi called him "The Maker of Modern India".
• Dadabhai Naoroji
• Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the "Grand Old Man of India" and "Unofficial Ambassador of India" was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar, and writer who was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895 and the first Asian to be a British MP other than the Anglo-Indian MP David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was disenfranchised for corruption after nine months in office.
• Naoroji is renowned for his work in the Indian National Congress, of which he was one of the founding members and thrice - in 1886, 1893, and 1906 - elected president.

The correct answer is the Thermal concept of Halley.

Key Points

• Thermal concept of Halley
• The thermal origin of monsoons was explained in detail by Sir Edmund Halley in 1686.
• This is known as the 'classical theory of the origin of the Asiatic monsoon.
• According to this concept, monsoons are land and sea breezes on a gigantic scale produced by the differential seasonal heating of continental and oceanic areas.

Additional Information

• The dynamic concept of Flohn
• This theory explains the existence of monsoon not by the temperature, contrasts between land and sea, but by the annual migration of thermally produced planetary winds and pressure belts.
• Jet stream Theory
• The easterly winds become very active in the upper troposphere and they are associated with westerly winds in the lower troposphere (south-west monsoon winds).
• This results in a more active southwest monsoon and heavy rainfall are caused. The plateau of Tibet and Central Asia becoming too hot is considered for its origin.
• Air mass theory 
• It is one modern theory that explains the mechanism of the monsoon.
• In the summer the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Cancer and the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shifts northwards.
• These displaced trade winds are called southwest monsoons when they blow over the Indian subcontinent.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• The percentage of Indian soil in India is as below.

 

Additional Information

• Alluvial soil
• Mostly available soil in India (about 43%) covers an area of 143 sq. km.
• Widespread in northern plains and river valleys.
• In peninsular India, they are mostly found in deltas and estuaries.
• Humus, lime, and organic matters are present.
• Highly fertile.
• Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plain, Narmada-Tapi plain, etc are examples.
• They are depositional soil – transported and deposited by rivers, streams, etc.
• Sand content decreases from west to east of the country.
• New alluvium is termed as Khadar and old alluvium is termed as Bhangar.
• Rich in: potash
• Poor in: phosphorous.
• Wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, pulses, oilseed, etc are cultivated mainly.
• Red soil
• Seen mainly in low rainfall areas. Also known as Omnibus group.
• Porous, friable structure.
• Absence of lime, kankar (impure calcium carbonate).
• Deficient in: lime, phosphate, manganese, nitrogen, humus, and potash.
• Colour: Red because of Ferric oxide. The lower layer is reddish yellow or yellow.
• Wheat, cotton, pulses, tobacco, oilseeds, potatoes, etc are cultivated.
• Black soil/regur soil-
• Regur means cotton – best soil for cotton cultivation.
• Most of the Deccan is occupied by Black soil.
• Mature soil.
• High water-retaining capacity.
• Swells and will become sticky when wet and shrink when dried.
• Self-plowing is a characteristic of the black soil as it develops wide cracks when dried.
• Rich in: Iron, lime, calcium, potassium, aluminum, and magnesium.
• Deficient in: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and organic matter.
• Colour: Deep black to light black.
• Laterite soil
• Name from Latin word ‘Later’ which means Brick.
• Become so soft when wet and so hard when dried.
• In the areas of high temperature and high rainfall.
• Formed as a result of high leaching.
• Lime and silica will be leached away from the soil.
• Organic matters of the soil will be removed fast by the bacteria as it is high temperature and humus will be taken quickly by the trees and other plants. Thus, humus content is low.
• Rich in: Iron and Aluminum
• Deficient in: Nitrogen, Potash, Potassium, Lime, Humus
• Rice, Ragi, Sugarcane, and Cashew nuts are cultivated mainly.
• Desert / arid soil
• Seen under Arid and Semi-Arid conditions.
• Deposited mainly by wind activities.
• High salt content.
• Lack of moisture and Humus.
• Kankar or Impure Calcium carbonate content is high which restricts the infiltration of water.
• Nitrogen is insufficient and Phosphate is normal.
• Colour: Red to Brown.

The correct answer is Bhils.

Key Points

• India has the largest concentration of tribal people anywhere in the world except perhaps in Africa.
• The tribals are children of nature and their lifestyle is conditioned by the Eco-system.
• India, with a variety of ecosystems, presents a varied tribal population throughout its length and breadth.

Additional Information 

• The Major Tribe
• There are 533 tribes (with many overlapping types in more than one State) as per notified Schedule under Article 342 of the Constitution of India in different States and Union Territories of the country with the largest number of 62 being in the State of Orissa.
• Some of the major tribes of different States are

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• Among the notified tribes, some groups are still at the most primitive stage.
• They continue to live in isolated areas and practice either primitive agriculture or no agricultural practice and most of them are still in the food-gathering stage with an almost stagnating population.
• Such groups (75 Nos.) are named Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). Asked in UPSC Prelims exams.
• They are spread over 17 states and one Union Territory.

The correct answer is Norwester - Haryana.

 

• Some Famous Local Storms of Hot Weather Season
• ​Mango Shower
• Towards the end of summer, there are pre-monsoon showers which are common phenomena in Kerala and coastal areas of Karnataka.
• Locally, they are known as mango showers since they help in the early ripening of mangoes.
• Blossom Shower
• With this shower, coffee flowers blossom in Kerala and nearby areas.
• Nor Westers
• These are dreaded evening thunderstorms in Bengal and Assam. Hence, option 4 is not correct.
• Their notorious nature can be understood from the local nomenclature of ‘Kalbaisakhi’, a calamity of the month of Baisakh.
• These showers are useful for tea, jute, and rice cultivation.
• In Assam, these storms are known as “Bardoisila”.
• Loo
• Hot, dry, and oppressing winds blowing in the Northern plains from Punjab to Bihar with higher intensity between Delhi and Patna.

Additional Information

• Local Winds 
• ​Differences in the heating and cooling of earth surfaces and the cycles that develop daily or annually can create several common, local, or regional winds.

The correct answer is Option 2.

 

• TYPES OF VEGETATION​
• ​Tropical Evergreen Forests
• ​These forests are restricted to heavy rainfall areas of the Western Ghats and the island groups of Lakshadweep, Andaman, and Nicobar, upper parts of Assam, and Tamil Nadu coast.
• They are at their best in areas having more than 200 cm of rainfall with a short dry season.
• The trees reach great heights up to 60 meters or even above.
• There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves.
• As such, these forests appear green all year-round.
• Tropical Deciduous Forests
• ​These are the most widespread forests of India.
• They are also called the monsoon forests and spread over the region receiving rainfall between 200 cm and 70 cm.
• Trees of this forest type shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks in dry summer.
• On the basis of the availability of water, these forests are further divided into moist and dry deciduous.
• Moist deciduous
• These are found in areas receiving rainfall between 200 and 100 cm.
• These forests exist, therefore, mostly in the eastern part of the country — northeastern states, along the foothills of the Himalayas, Jharkhand, West Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, and on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.
• Teak is the most dominant species in this forest.
• Bamboos, sal, shisham, sandalwood, Khair, Kusum, Arjun, and mulberry are other commercially important species.
• The dry deciduous forests
• They are found in areas having rainfall between 100 cm and 70 cm.
• These forests are found in the rainier parts of the Peninsular plateau and the plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
• There are open stretches, in which teak, sal, peepal, and neem grow.
• In these forests, the common animals found are lions, tigers, pigs, deer, and elephants.
• A huge variety of birds, lizards, snakes, and tortoises are also found here.

Additional Information

• Natural Vegetation

​

The correct answer is Point Calimere - Kerala.

Key Points

• Point Calimere is in Tamil Nadu. Hence, option 4 is not correct.

​

• Bay
• I​​t is a body of water partly surrounded by land.
• A bay is usually smaller and less enclosed than a gulf.
• The mouth of the bay, where meets the ocean or lake, is typically wider than that of a gulf.
• Bays form in many ways. Plate tectonics, the process of continents drifting together and rifting apart, causes the formation of many large bays.

• Creek 
• A narrow area of water that flows into the land from the sea, a lake, etc.

• Mal Bank
• The Malacca Banks are sandbanks (shoals) below the sea surface, in the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat, India.
• They lie to the west and southwest of the port of Surat and are a system of four irregular ridges running roughly from north to south parallel with the entrance channels to the Gulf.​

The correct answer is Option 2.

• Cape Leeuwin
• Cape Leeuwin is located in Western Australia. It is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. The cape is in the Augusta-Margaret River local government area, and is the point where the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean meet
• Ozark Plateau
• ​It​ is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas.
• Katanga Plateau
• It is a farming and ranching region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Located in the southeastern Katanga Province, it is 1220 m (4,000 ft) above sea level and is rich in copper and uranium deposits.
• The altitude makes it cooler than the surrounding area, with a mean annual temperature of 19-20° C.
• It is the source of the Lufira River, which becomes the Lualaba River.
• Lake Tshangalele is an artificial lake created by a dam on the Lufira and is an important ecological site on the plateau.
• Kamchatka Peninsula
• ​It is a 1,250-kilometre-long peninsula in the Russian Far East.
• The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively.
• The Kamchatka peninsula contains the volcanoes of Kamchatka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

The Carajas Mine

• It is the largest iron ore mine in the world.
• It is located in the Carajás Mountains of Northern Brazil.
• The mine is operated as an open-pit mine and is estimated to contain roughly 7.2 billion metric tonnes of iron ore, plus gold, manganese, bauxite, copper, and nickel.
• The mine is largely powered by hydroelectric power from the Tucuruí Dam.

 Kalgoorlie mine

• ​It is also known as the Fimiston Open Pit, colloquially known as the Super Pit, which was Australia's largest open-cut gold mine until 2016 when it was surpassed by the Newmont Boddington gold mine also in Western Australia.
• The Super Pit is located off the Goldfields Highway on the southeast edge of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
• The gold mining area of Kalgoorlie-Boulder-Fimiston has long been called the Golden Mile because of the geographical concentration of rich mines in that area.

Salobo mine

• It is the largest copper deposit ever discovered in Brazil.
• It is the open pit mine.
• Salobo is an iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposit located along the southern margin of the Amazon Basin, within the Carajás Mining District, in south-eastern Para, Brazil.
• The mineralization at the Salobo deposit is found hosted in metamorphosed rocks.

Haerwusu mine 

• With estimated recoverable coal reserves of more than 1.7 billion tonnes, the Haerwusu Coal Mine is located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
• Production from the mine was started in October 2008 and is also a major open-cast coal mine in China.

The correct answer is Bay of Fundy.

Key Points

• Bay of Fundy
• The highest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada.
• The tidal bulge is 15 - 16 m.
• Because there are two high tides and two low tides every day (roughly a 24 hour period), then a tide must come in within about a six-hour period.
• As a rough estimate, the tide rises about 240 cm an hour (1,440 cm divided by 6 hours).

​

• Tides
• ​The periodical rise and fall of the sea level, once or twice a day, mainly due to the attraction of the sun and the moon, is called a tide.
• The movement of water caused by meteorological effects (winds and atmospheric pressure changes) are called surges.
• Surges are not regular like tides.
• The moon’s gravitational pull to a great extent and to a lesser extent the sun’s gravitational pull, are the major causes for the occurrence of tides.
• Another factor is centrifugal force, which is the force that acts to counter balance gravity.
• Together, the gravitational pull and the centrifugal force are responsible for creating the two major tidal bulges on the earth.
• The centrifugal force is the apparent force that is felt by an object moving in a curved path that acts outwardly away from the center of rotation
• Relation between gravitational forces and tides

​​

Additional Information 

• Importance of Tides
• ​Since tides are caused by the earth-moon-sun positions which are known accurately, the tides can be predicted well in advance.
• This helps the navigators and fishermen plan their activities.
• Tidal flows are of great importance in navigation.
• Tidal heights are very important, especially harbors near rivers and within estuaries having shallow ‘bars’ at the entrance, which prevent ships and boats from entering into the harbor.
• Tides are also helpful in desilting the sediments and in removing polluted water from river estuaries.
• Tides are used to generate electrical power (in Canada, France, Russia, and China).
• A 3 MW tidal power project at Durgaduani in Sunderbans of West Bengal is under way.

The correct answer is Option 4.

 

• Ocean currents
• Ocean currents are like rivers flowing in oceans.
• They represent a regular volume of water in a definite path and direction.
• Ocean currents are influenced by two types of forces namely :
• Primary forces that initiate the movement of water;
• Secondary forces that influence the currents to flow​
• The primary forces that influence the currents are
• Heating by solar energy 
• Heating by solar energy causes the water to expand.
• That is why near the equator the ocean water is about 8 cm higher in level than in the middle latitudes.
• This causes a very slight gradient and water tends to flow down the slope.
• Wind
• Wind blowing on the surface of the ocean pushes the water to move.
• Friction between the wind and the water surface affects the movement of the water body in its course.
• Gravity
• Gravity tends to pull the water down the pile and create gradient variation.
• Coriolis force
• The Coriolis force intervenes and causes the water to move to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
• These large accumulations of water and the flow around them are called Gyres.
• These produce large circular currents in all the ocean basins.
• Major currents in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans

Key Points

• Effects of Ocean Currents
• ​Ocean currents have a number of direct and indirect influences on human activities.
• West coasts of the continents in tropical and subtropical latitudes (except close to the equator) are bordered by cool waters.
• Their average temperatures are relatively low with narrow diurnal and annual ranges.
• There is fog, but generally, the areas are arid.
• West coasts of the continents in the middle and higher latitudes are bordered by warm waters which cause a distinct marine climate.
• They are characterized by cool summers and relatively mild winters with a narrow annual range of temperatures.
• Warm currents flow parallel to the east coasts of the continents in tropical and subtropical latitudes.
• This results in warm and rainy climates.
• These areas lie in the western margins of the subtropical anti-cyclones.
• The mixing of warm and cold currents helps to replenish the oxygen and favor the growth of planktons, the primary food for the fish population.
• The best fishing grounds of the world exist mainly in these mixing zones.

The question has been cancelled by ​Revised Answer Key for H.P.A.S.(Pre) Examination-2018.

The correct answer is Negro.

• Mahi river
• ​The Mahi is a river in western India.
• It rises in Madhya Pradesh and, after flowing through the Vagad region of Rajasthan, enters Gujarat and flows into the Arabian Sea.
• It is one of the relatively few west-flowing rivers in India, alongside the endorheic Luni River, the Sabarmati River, the Tapti River, and the Narmada River.
• It is the only river in India that cuts the Tropic of Cancer twice.
• Negro river
• ​The Rio Negro is the largest left tributary of the Amazon River (accounting for about 14% of the water in the Amazon basin).
• It is the largest blackwater river in the world.
• It is also one of the world's ten largest rivers by average discharge.
• Negro river does not cross the equator, tropic of cancer and tropic of Capricorn.
• Limpopo river
• ​The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastwards through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean.
• The river is approximately 1,750 kilometers long, with a drainage basin of 415,000 square kilometers (160,200 sq mi) in size.
• The Limpopo is the second largest river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, after the Zambezi River.
• The Limpopo River in Africa crosses the Tropic of Capricorn twice.
• Zaire river
• ​The Congo River formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second-largest river in the world by discharge volume, following only the Amazon.
• It is also the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths in excess of 220 m (720 ft).
• The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km, which makes it the world's ninth-longest river.
• It is the only major river to cross the equator twice.

The correct answer is option 3.

Key Points

• Sunda Strait
• It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.
• It is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.

• Isthmus and Strait

​

Additional Information

• Major Straits of the World
• Palk Strait - Palk Bay & Bay of Bengal
• Malacca Strait - Andaman Sea & South China Sea
• Gibraltar Strait - Mediterranean Sea & Atlantic Ocean
• Yucatan Strait - Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
• Otranto Strait - Adriatic Sea & Ionian Sea
• Mesina Strait - Mediterranean Sea
• Bab-el-Mandeb Strait - Red Sea & Gulf of Aden
• Cook Strait - South Pacific Ocean
• Mozambique Strait - Indian Ocean
• North Channel - Irish Sea & Atlantic Ocean
• Taurus Strait - Arafura Sea & Gulf of Papua
• Bass Strait - Tasman Sea & South Sea
• Bering Strait - Bering Sea & Chuksi Sea
• Bonne-Fasio Strait - Mediterranean Sea
• Dardenleez Strait - Marmara Sea and Agean Sea ​
• Davis Strait - Baffin Bay & Atlantic Ocean
• Hudson strait - Gulf of Hudson & Atlantic Ocean

The correct answer is Economic development refers to the flow of goods and services in the economy for a long period of time only.

• Sustainable development
• It is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Key Points

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
• Sustainable Development Goals​
• ​Eliminate Poverty
• Erase Hunger
• Establish Good Health and Well-Being
• Provide Quality Education
• Enforce Gender Equality
• Improve Clean Water and Sanitation
• Grow Affordable and Clean Energy
• Create Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Increase Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• Reduce Inequality
• Mobilize Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Influence Responsible Consumption and Production
• Organize Climate Action
• Develop Life Below Water
• Advance Life On Land
• Guarantee Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• Build Partnerships for the Goals

The correct answer is 2030.

Key Points

• Sustainable Development Goals ​
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint for achieving a better and sustainable future for all.
• The United Nations (UN) General Assembly in its 70th Session held on 25th September 2015, with the aim of taking forward the success of Millennium Development Goals, adopted the document titled "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" consisting of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and associated 169 targets.
• The SDGs came into force with effect from 1st January 2016.
• The SDGs are a comprehensive list of global goals integrating social, economic, and environmental dimensions of development.
• Moreover, the SDGs are universal (for all nations – developed, developing, and least-developed), interconnected and indivisible and hence necessitate comprehensive and participatory approaches in bringing everybody together so that no one is left behind.
• Countries are primarily responsible for following up and reviewing the progress made in implementing the goals and targets at the national level till 2030.

Key Points

• Sustainable Development Goals​
• ​Eliminate Poverty
• Erase Hunger
• Establish Good Health and Well-Being
• Provide Quality Education
• Enforce Gender Equality
• Improve Clean Water and Sanitation
• Grow Affordable and Clean Energy
• Create Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Increase Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• Reduce Inequality
• Mobilize Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Influence Responsible Consumption and Production
• Organize Climate Action
• Develop Life Below Water
• Advance Life On Land
• Guarantee Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• Build Partnerships for the Goals

The correct answer is Family Planning Programme.

Key Points

• Family Planning Programme
• ​India was the first country in the world to have launched a National Programme for Family Planning in 1952.
• The key strategic focus of this initiative is on improving access to contraceptives through delivering assured services, ensuring commodity security and accelerating access to high-quality family planning services.
• The program's primary objectives were to lower fertility rates and slow population growth.

 

 

• Integrated Rural Development Programme
• ​The objective of the Integrated Rural Development Program is to help families who live below the poverty line to enhance their state of living and to empower the poor by helping them develop at every level.
• The program’s objectives are met by providing productive assets and inputs to its target groups.
• The assets, which could be in the primary, secondary or tertiary sector are provided as financial assistance to these families in the form of government subsidies as well as loans or credit from financial institutions.
• The beneficiaries of this program are as follows
• Rural artisans
• Laborers
• Marginal Farmers
• Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
• Economically backward classes with an annual income of less than Rs 11,000.
• National Rural Employment Programme
• The NREP was launched in 1980 with a view to significantly increase employment opportunities in rural areas.
• This was viewed as a major step towards poverty alleviation.
• The NREP replaced the food for work (FFW) program.
• Jawahar Rojgar Yojna
• ​Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched on April 1, 1989, by merging National Rural Employment Program (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP).
• A general objective of providing 90-100 Days of Employment per person particularly in backward districts.
• People below Poverty Line were the main targets.

The correct answer is Option 4.

 

• POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION
• ​The government’s approach to poverty reduction was of three dimensions.
• Growth-oriented approach
• ​It is based on the expectation that the effects of economic growth — rapid increase in gross domestic product and per capita income — would spread to all sections of society and will trickle down to the poor sections also.
• Rapid industrial development and transformation of agriculture through a green revolution in select regions would benefit the underdeveloped regions and the more backward sections of the community.
• Poverty alleviation programs
• Expanding self-employment programs and wage employment programs are being considered as the major ways of addressing poverty.
• For example - Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), and Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
• Providing minimum basic amenities to the people
• ​India was among the pioneers in the world to envisage that through public expenditure on social consumption needs — provision of food grains at subsidized rates, education, health, water supply, and sanitation—people’s living standards could be improved.
• Three major programs that aim at improving the food and nutritional status of the poor are the Public Distribution System, Integrated Child Development Scheme, and Midday Meal Scheme.
• Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana are also attempted in developing infrastructure and housing conditions.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is available in which people in India are encouraged to open bank accounts.

The correct answer is The difference between the poverty line and the actual income level of all those living below that line.

Key Points

Poverty Gap

• The poverty gap is a ratio showing the average shortfall of the total population from the poverty line—the minimum level of income required to secure the basic necessities for survival.
• In other words, it reflects the intensity of poverty in a nation.
• The poverty gap indicator is produced by the World Bank Development Research Group.
• It measures poverty by looking at household per capita income and consumption.
• The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index-2018 released by the UN noted that 271 million people moved out of poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16 in India.

Important Points

Poverty 

• ​According to World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions.
• It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity.
• In India, 21.9% of the population lives below the national poverty line in 2011.
• Types of Poverty
• ​Absolute Poverty
• A condition where household income is below a necessary level to maintain basic living standards (food, shelter, housing).
• Relative Poverty
• ​It is defined from the social perspective that is the living standard compared to the economic standards of the population living in its surroundings.
• Hence it is a measure of income inequality.
• Causes of Poverty in India
• ​Population Explosion
• Low Agricultural Productivity
• Low Rate of Economic Development
• Inefficient Resource utilisation
• Unemployment
• Climatic Factors - Natural calamities such as frequent floods, disasters, earthquakes,s, and cyclones cause heavy damage to agriculture in these states.
• Poverty Alleviation Programs in India
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005
• ​Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
• National Food security act
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
• National Urban Livelihood Mission
• National Rural Livelihood Mission: Aajeevika (2011)

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• The Action Agenda for enhancing digital connectivity is based on the following strategic objectives
• Enhancing digital infrastructure
• ​Soft and hard digital infrastructure such as network and cloud computing, fiber optic cables, mobile network penetration, and regulatory framework including digital standards, is critical for enhancing connectivity and, more generally, promoting economic development.
• Developing software for services that can be provided digitally
• ​Digital provision of services for individuals and firms will help reduce transaction costs.
• Electronic databases and online applications for government departments will increase efficiency, automation, and transparency.
• Empowering citizens digitally
• ​In the long term, digital connectivity will be important in empowering citizens by enhancing engagement, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and providing opportunities for participative governance.

Additional Information

• Digital connectivity facilitates the communication and commerce that drives economic growth.
• Individuals cannot transfer payments digitally, use e-governance portals to connect with the government, access information, or make online purchases without continuous and reliable Internet or telephone access.
• The Digital India Programme, an inter-ministry campaign launched in 2015, has made significant progress in its nine growth areas.
• The areas of focus include building broadband highways, providing universal access to mobile connectivity, a public internet access program, E-governance, electronic service delivery, access to information, increasing electronics manufacturing, providing information technology skills for jobs, and early harvest programs.

The correct answer is Low proportion of labour force in the primary sector.

Key Points

• The low proportion of labor force in the primary sector indicates a high proportion of the labor force is working in the Secondary and Tertiary sectors, which are major factors of economic growth. 
• This suggests that a particular country is a developing country. Thus, option 3 is correct.

Additional Information

• Commonly used Indicators of Economic Development
• Gross National Product per capita​
• Population Growth
• Occupational Structure of the Labor Force
• Urbanization
• Consumption per capita
• Infrastructure
• Social Conditions
• Literacy rate
• Life expectancy
• Health care
• Caloric intake
• Infant mortality

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• Competition Commission of India
• ​The objectives of the Act are sought to be achieved through the Competition Commission of India, which has been established by the Central Government with effect from 14th October 2003.
• The Competition Commission of India's goal is to create and sustain fair competition in the economy that will provide a ‘level playing field’ to the producers and make the markets work for the welfare of the consumers.
• CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.
• It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having an adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India. Hence, option 4 is correct.
• The Commission is also required to give an opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.
• The Competition Act 
• ​​The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises, and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control, and M&A), which causes or are likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

The correct answer is 1921.

Key Points

• The year 1921 is known as the year demographic divide because it is the only census year when there was a decrease in the growth of population.
• After 1921, there has been a trend of continuous rise in population.
• Decadal Growth Rates in India

• Growth of Population
• ​Phase I 
• The period from 1901-1921 is referred to as a period of the stagnant or stationary phase of growth of India’s population, since in this period growth rate was very low, even recording a negative growth rate during 1911-1921.
• Both the birth rate and death rate were high keeping the rate of increase low.
• Poor health and medical services, illiteracy of people at large, and inefficient distribution system of food and other basic necessities were largely responsible for high birth and death rates in this period.
• Phase II 
• The decades 1921-1951 are referred to as the period of steady population growth.
• An overall improvement in health and sanitation throughout the country brought down the mortality rate.
• At the same time, better transport and communication systems improved distribution systems.
• The crude birth rate remained high in this period leading to a higher growth rate than the previous phase.
• This is impressive in the backdrop of the Great Economic Depression, the 1920s, and World War II.
• Phase III 
• The decades 1951-1981 are referred to as the period of population explosion in India, which was caused by a rapid fall in the mortality rate but a high fertility rate of population in the country.
• The average annual growth rate was as high as 2.2 percent.
• It is in this period, after the Independence, that developmental activity was introduced through a centralized planning process and the economy started showing up ensuring the improvement of the living conditions of people at large.
• Consequently, there was a high natural increase and a higher growth rate.
• Besides, increased international migration bringing in Tibetans, Bangladeshis, Nepalese and even people from Pakistan contributed to the high growth rate.
• Phase IV 
• In the post-1981 till present, the growth rate of country’s population though remained high, has started slowing down gradually.
• A downward trend of crude birth rate is held responsible for such population growth.
• This was, in turn, affected by an increase in the mean age at marriage, improved quality of life particularly education of females in the country.
• The growth rate of population is, however, still high in the country, and it has been projected by World Development Report that the population of India will touch 1,350 million by 2025.

The correct answer is The number of children a woman will likely bear in her lifetime.

Key Points

• The fertility rate refers to the number of live births per 1000 women in the child-bearing age group, usually taken to be 15 to 49 years. 
• This is a ‘crude’ rate – it is a rough average for an entire population and does not take account of the differences across age groups.
• Differences across age groups can sometimes be very significant in affecting the meaning of indicators.
• That is why demographers also calculate age-specific rates.
• The total fertility rate refers to the total number of live births that a hypothetical woman would have if she lived through the reproductive age group and had the average number of babies in each segment of this age group as determined by the age-specific fertility rates for that area. Hence, option 3 is correct.

​

• India's population is stabilizing as per the Fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) as the total fertility rate has decreased across the majority of the states.
• Of the 17 states analyzed in the NFHS-5 data, except for Bihar, Manipur, and Meghalaya, all other states have a TFR of 2.1 or less, which implies that most states have attained replacement level fertility.
• There have been some improvements in women's empowerment-related indicators.
• More women are able to participate in household decision-making in 9 states while 30% more women now have bank accounts in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, and West Bengal.
• Anemia among women remains a big concern.
• In all the states, anemia is much higher among women compared to men.

Additional Information

• Female sterilization continues to dominate as the modern method of contraceptives in states like Andhra Pradesh (98%), Telangana (93%), Kerala (88%), Karnataka (84%), Bihar (78%), and Maharashtra (77%).
• Sikkim recorded the lowest TFR, with one woman bearing 1.1 children on average.
• Bihar recorded the highest TFR of three children per woman.
• In 19 of the 22 surveyed states, TFRs were found to be ‘below-replacement, a woman bore less than two children on average through her reproductive life.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
• The National Development Council (NDC) in its 53rd meeting held on 29th May 2007 adopted a resolution to launch a Food Security Mission comprising rice, wheat, and pulses to increase the annual production of rice by 10 million tonnes, wheat by 8 million tonnes, and pulses by 2 million tonnes by the end of the Eleventh Plan (2011-12).
• Accordingly, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, 'National Food Security Mission (NFSM), was launched in October 2007
• The Mission met with an overwhelming success and achieved the targeted additional production of rice, wheat, and pulses.
• The Mission continued during the 12th Five Year Plan with new targets of additional production of food grains of 25 million tonnes of food grains comprising of 10 million tonnes rice, 8 million tonnes of wheat, 4 million tonnes of pulses, and 3 million tonnes of coarse cereals by the end of 12th Five Year Plan. Hence, option 2 is correct.

Additional Information

• Major Components of NFSM 
• ​National Food Security Mission – Rice (NFSM-Rice)
• National Food Security Mission – Wheat (NFSM-Wheat)
• National Food Security Mission – Pulses (NFSM-Pulses)
• National Food Security Mission - Coarse cereals (NFSM-Coarse cereals)
• National Food Security Mission – Nutri cereals (NFSM- Nutri cereals)
• National Food Security Mission – Commercial crops (NFSM-Commercial crops)
• National Food Security Mission – Oilseeds and Oilpalm (NFSM-Oilseeds)
• National Food Security Mission – Seed village program

The correct answer is Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission.

 

• Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
• ​Large parts of rural areas in the country are not stand-alone settlements but part of a cluster of settlements, which are relatively proximate to each other.
• These clusters typically illustrate the potential for growth, have economic drivers, and derive locational and competitive advantages.
• These clusters once developed can then be classified as 'Rurban'.
• Hence taking cognizance of this, the Government of India, has launched the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM), aimed at developing such rural areas by provisioning economic, social and physical infrastructure facilities.
• The Mission was launched on 21st February 2016.
• The Mission aims at the development of 300 Rurban clusters, in the next five years.
• These clusters would be strengthened with the required amenities, for which it is proposed that resources be mobilized through the convergence of various schemes of the Government, over and above which a Critical Gap Funding (CGF) would be provided under this Mission, for focused development of these clusters.
• Vision
• ​It follows the vision of "Development of a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural community life with a focus on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a cluster of "Rurban Villages".
• Objective
• ​The objective of the mission is to stimulate local economic development, enhance basic services, and create well-planned Rurban clusters.
• Outcomes
• ​The larger outcomes envisaged under this Mission are
• _​Bridging the rural-urban divide-viz: economic, technological, and those related to facilities and services.
• Stimulating local economic development with emphasis on reduction of poverty and unemployment in rural areas.
• Spreading development in the region.
• Attracting investment in rural areas.

Key Points

• ​Rurban Cluster
• ​A 'Rurban cluster', would be a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.
• As far as practicable, clusters of villages would follow administrative convergence units of Gram Panchayats and shall be within a single block/tehsil for administrative convenience.

The correct answer is Upto 0.06 ppm.

Key Points

• What is Ozone?
• ​Ozone is a colorless gas made up of three oxygen atoms.
• Ozone is not emitted directly into the air but is formed through chemical reactions between natural and man-made emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight.
• These gaseous compounds mix like a thin soup in the ambient, or outdoor, air, and when they interact with sunlight, ozone is formed.
• Ozone can be split into two major types: Stratospheric Ozone and Ground-Level Ozone.
• Stratospheric ozone
• It is also known as the "ozone layer" that forms high in the atmosphere, 6-30 miles above the earth's surface, when intense sunlight causes oxygen molecules (O2) to break up and re-form as ozone molecules (O3).
• These ozone molecules form the ozone layer and are commonly referred to as "good ozone."
• At concentrations as high as 12,000 ppb (the EPA considers anything over 70 ppb to be unhealthy for human health and welfare) this ozone protects and shields people, trees, crops, property, and microorganisms from the harmful effects of the sun's ultraviolet light.
• Ground-level ozone
• It forms just above the earth’s surface (up to about 2 miles above ground) and impacts human, animal, and plant respiration.
• Although ground-level ozone is less concentrated than stratospheric ozone, its impacts on human health and welfare make ground-level ozone "bad ozone."
• Ground-level ozone is an irritant and can negatively affect human health and welfare.
• Weather plays a substantial role in the formation of ground-level ozone.
• Ground-level ozone concentrations typically are highest on days warm/hot days with low humidity when the wind is light or stagnant.
• Good Up High, Bad Nearby

​

Additional Information

• What types of weather conditions contribute to high ozone? Asked in UPSC Prelims exam.
• On any given day, there are enough emissions of NOx and VOC to produce high ozone.
• The key difference between a high ozone day and a low ozone day is the weather.
• Weather conditions associated with high ozone include:
• Lots of sunlight
• Slow wind speeds
• High peak temperatures
• Large differences between high and low temperatures for the day
• Low humidity

The correct answer is 35 - 60.

Key Points

• The loudness of sound is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the vibration producing the sound.
• For example, if the amplitude becomes twice, the loudness increases by a factor of 4.
• The loudness is expressed in a unit called decibel (dB).
• Above 80 dB the noise becomes physically painful.
• The following table gives some idea of the loudness of sound coming from various sources.

Additional Information

• Sound is produced by vibrating objects.
• In human beings, the vibration of the vocal cords produces sound.
• Sound travels through a medium (gas, liquid, or solid). It cannot travel in a vacuum.
• The eardrum senses the vibrations of sound.
• It sends the signals to the brain. This process is called hearing.
• The number of oscillations or vibrations per second is called the frequency of oscillation.
• The frequency is expressed in hertz (Hz).
• The larger the amplitude of vibration, the louder is the sound.
• The higher the frequency of vibration, the higher is the pitch, and shriller is the sound.
• Unpleasant sounds are called noise.
• Plantation on the roadside and elsewhere can reduce noise pollution.

This question has been cancelled by the Revised Answer Key for H.P.A.S.(Pre) Examination-2018. We have changed the question according to facts.

Key Points

• What are dams and how do they help us in conserving and managing water?
• A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.
• Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate agricultural fields.
• Today, dams are built not just for irrigation but for electricity generation, water supply for domestic and industrial uses, flood control, recreation, inland navigation, and fish breeding.
• Hence, dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects where the many uses of the impounded water are integrated with one another.
• For example, in the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra – Nangal project water is being used both for hydel power production and irrigation.
• Similarly, the Hirakud project in the Mahanadi basin integrates the conservation of water with flood control.
• Multi-purpose projects, launched after Independence with their integrated water resources management approach, were thought of as the vehicle that would lead the nation to development and progress, overcoming the handicap of its colonial past.
• Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed the dams as the ‘temples of modern India’; the reason being that it would integrate the development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialization and growth of the urban economy.

Additional Information

• In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny and opposition for a variety of reasons. 
• Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds.
• Poorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life. 
• Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.
• The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.
• Koyna Dam in India has experienced the most damaging reservoir-induced seismicity of magnitude 6.3. Hence, option 2 is correct.
• Multi-purpose projects and large dams have also been the cause of many new environmental movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc.
• Resistance to these projects has primarily been due to the large-scale displacement of local communities.
• Local people often had to give up their land, livelihood, and my meager access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation.
• So, if the local people are not benefiting from such projects then who is benefited? Perhaps, the landowners and large farmers, industrialists, and few urban centers.
• There is no direct relation between the construction of dams and reservoirs and water-borne diseases, and desertification.

The correct answer is Composition.

Key Points

• Water Cycle (HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE)
• ​Water is a cyclic resource. It can be used and re-used.
• Water also undergoes a cycle from the ocean to land and land to the ocean.
• The hydrological cycle describes the movement of water on, in, and above the earth.
• The water cycle has been working for billions of years and all the life on earth depends on it.
• Next to air, water is the most important element required for the existence of life on earth.
• The hydrological cycle is the circulation of water within the earth’s hydrosphere in different forms i.e. the liquid, solid, and gaseous phases.
• It also refers to the continuous exchange of water between the oceans, atmosphere, land surface and subsurface, and the organisms.
• About 71 percent of the planetary water is found in the oceans.
• The remaining is held as freshwater in glaciers and ice caps, groundwater sources, lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere, streams, and within life.
• Nearly 59 percent of the water that falls on land returns to the atmosphere through evaporation from over the oceans as well as from other places.
• The remainder runs off on the surface, infiltrates into the ground or a part of it becomes a glacier.
• Water cycle

 

• Components and Processes of the Water Cycle

The correct answer is Option 4.

 

• Appiko Movement
• ​The famous Chipko Andolan (Hug the Trees Movement) of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas inspired the villagers of the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka Province in southern India to launch a similar movement to save their forests.
• In September 1983, men, women, and children of Salkani "hugged the trees" in Kalase forest. (The local term for "hugging" in Kannada is appiko.)
• Appu and Mamtha were leaders of this movement.
• Narmada Bachao Andolan
• ​An ambitious developmental project was launched in the Narmada valley of central India in the early ’eighties.
• The project consisted of 30 big dams, 135 medium-sized and around 3,000 small dams to be constructed on the Narmada and its tributaries that flow across three states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
• Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat and the Narmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh were two of the most important and biggest, multi-purpose dams planned under the project.
• Narmada Bachao Aandolan, a movement to save Narmada, opposed the construction of these dams and questioned the nature of ongoing developmental projects in the country.
• Narmada Bachao Aandolan continued a sustained agitation for more than twenty years under the leadership of Medha Patkar.
• People for Animals
• ​People for Animals, also known as PFA, is India's largest animal welfare organization with a nationwide network of 26 hospitals, 165 units, 60 mobile units, and 2.5 Lakh members.
• It works to rescue and rehabilitate sick and needy animals.
• It set up and run shelters, ambulance services, sterilization programs, treatment camps, and disaster rescue missions for animals.
• It also conducts education programs in schools, fights cases in court, and lobby on animal issues in parliament.
• Maneka Sanjay Gandhi is the Chairperson of People For Animals.
• The resurrection of Kali bein Rivulet
• Balbir Singh Seechewal is a Nirmala Sikh who spearheaded an anti-river pollution campaign in Punjab, India.
• By combining his assiduously cultivated self-help philosophy with the environmental essence of the Gurbani.
• He has resurrected the 110-miles long Kali Bein rivulet.

The correct answer is option 3.

• The Montreal Protocol
• ​The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is the landmark multilateral environmental agreement that regulates the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals referred to as ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
• When released into the atmosphere, those chemicals damage the stratospheric ozone layer, Earth’s protective shield that protects humans and the environment from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
• Adopted on 15 September 1987, the Protocol is to date the only UN treaty ever that has been ratified by every country on Earth - all 198 UN Member States.
• The Paris Agreement
• ​The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
• It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
• Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
• To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.
• By 2020, countries submit their plans for climate action known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
• In their NDCs, countries communicate actions they will take to reduce their Greenhouse Gas emissions in order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.
• Countries also communicate in the NDCs actions they will take to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of rising temperatures.
• The Rio Summit
• ​Held in June 1992 at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the Rio Earth Summit as it became known, was the largest environmental conference ever held, attracting over 30,000 people including more than 100 heads of state.
• The objectives of the conference were to build upon the hopes and achievements of the Brundtland Report, in order to respond to pressing global environmental problems and to agree on major treaties on biodiversity, climate change, and forest management.
• Perhaps for the first time, a major environmental conference adopted a more nature-centered approach towards environmental problems.
• First UN IPCC Conference
• ​It should be the First UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP).
• What is the COP?
• The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention.
• All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
• The COP meets every year unless the Parties decide otherwise.
• The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March 1995.

The correct answer is Spinach.

​​

Key Points

• Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a leafy green vegetable that originated in Persia.
• It belongs to the amaranth family and is related to beets and quinoa.

Additional Information

• Wild cabbage 
• ​Brassica oleracea (otherwise known as wild cabbage or wild mustard) is an incredibly diverse assemblage of edible plants that, while they appear to be different species, are in fact cultivars of the same species.
• It is native to southern and western Europe.
• It grew primarily in coastal areas as it has high salt- and lime tolerance.
• It was not a very good competitor in open prairies and thus was restricted naturally to limestone sea cliffs.
• Today the cultivars of Brassica oleracea are divided into seven major groups. 
• These groups are categorized by developmental forms, such as
• Acephala Group: kale and collard greens
• Alboglabra Group: chinese broccoli
• Botrytis Group: cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli, and broccoflower
• Capitata Group: cabbage
• Gemmifera Group: brussels sprouts
• Gongylodes Group: kohlrabi
• Italica Group: broccoli

The correct answer is Darwin.

Important Points

• Theory of natural selection
• ​English naturalist Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection after a five-year voyage to study plants, animals, and fossils in South America and on islands in the Pacific.
• In 1859, he brought the idea of natural selection to the attention of the world in his best-selling book, On the Origin of Species.
• Natural selection is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change.
• Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they are all different in some ways.
• This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others.
• Individuals with adaptive traits—traits that give them some advantage—are more likely to survive and reproduce.
• These individuals then pass the adaptive traits on to their offspring.
• Over time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population.
• Through this process of natural selection, favorable traits are transmitted through generations.
• Natural selection can lead to speciation, where one species gives rise to a new and distinctly different species.
• It is one of the processes that drive evolution and helps to explain the diversity of life on Earth.

Additional Information

• Gregor Mendel
• Gregor Mendel​ known as the "father of modern genetics", chose to study variation in plants in his monastery's 2 hectares (4.9 acres) experimental garden.
• After initial experiments with pea plants, Mendel settled on studying seven traits that seemed to be inherited independently of other traits: seed shape, flower color, seed coat tint, pod shape, unripe pod color, flower location, and plant height.
• John Burdon Sanderson Haldane
• ​He is known for his works in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics.
• With innovative use of statistics in biology, he was one of the founders of neo-Darwinism.
• He established human gene maps for haemophilia and colour blindness on the X chromosome, and codified Haldane's rule on sterility in the heterogametic sex of hybrids in species.
• Kenneth Raymond Miller 
• ​Miller's primary research focus is the structure and function of cell membranes, especially chloroplast thylakoid membranes.