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The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
• The National Development Council (NDC) in its 53^rd meeting held on 29^th 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 12^th 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 12^th 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 21^st 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

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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.

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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.