Social Studies PYQs

Key PointsNational "Sports Day":

• India celebrates its National Sports Day on 29^th August.
• Birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand is celebrated as National Sports Day.
• He was one of the greatest players of the Indian Hockey team.
• He is popularly known as the 'The Wizard'.
• In his career of 22 years, he had scored over 400 goals.
• Under his leadership, India won three Olympic gold medals in the years – 1928, 1932, and 1936.

​Hence, the National "Sports Day" is celebrated on 29 August.

The correct answer is 1896.

Important Points

• The first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece in the 1896 Summer Olympics.
• Baron Pierre de Coubertin started the modern Olympics.
• He is known as the father of the modern Olympics.

Key Points

• The Olympic flag has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
• Each colour corresponds to a particular continent: blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Australia and Oceania, and red for the Americas.
• The Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Faster, Higher, Stronger”) was coined by Father Henri Didon.
• Only three modern Olympic Games have been cancelled.
• The games were cancelled due to World War I (1916) and World War II (1940, 1944).
• The youngest Olympian is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics at the age of 10.

Key Points

Doping test:

• A doping test is usually done in athletic events such as the Olympic Games to find out any traces of performance-enhancing drugs in blood or urine.
• Several testing labs to carry the doping test have been set up to check the urine and blood samples of the athletes.
• Athletes can be tested at any time, any place.
• Organizations that have the authority to conduct testing are National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADO) such as UK Anti-Doping, International Federations (IFs), or Major Event Organisers (MEO) such as the Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• There are currently two types of anti-doping tests: urine and blood.
• Once a sample is collected it is sent to a WADA accredited laboratory to be analyzed.
• They never know whose sample they have, as it is anonymous.
• Trained and authorized Doping Control Officers (DCO) to conduct testing.

Hence, a Doping test is done in players by Blood & Urine.

The correct answer is coaches.

• National Sports Awards are conferred every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports.

Some of the famous awards are,

• Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award
• Dronacharya Award
• Arjuna Award
• Dhyan Chand Award
• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy

Key Points

The Dronacharya Awards: 

• In India, the Dronacharya Award is given to coaches as recognition for their contribution to a particular sport or for their role in an athlete's rise to the top.
• The Dronacharya award, introduced in the year 1985, is conferred to outstanding coaches in sports and games.
• The award is named after Dronacharya or Guru Drona from the Hindu epic of Mahabharata.
• Dronacharya is mainly known as a military arts teacher to the Kauravas and Pandavas.
• It is the highest sporting honor bestowed upon the coaches in India.
• The Dronacharya award is handed out annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• The award consists of a bronze statue of Dronacharya, a certificate, a ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of INR 15 lakhs.
• Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat was the first-ever person to be honored with the Dronacharya Award in the year 1985.
• Bhagwat was a coach of wrestling at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala when he was conferred with the award.
• Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.

The ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution of India is a brief introductory statement that sets out the guiding purpose and principles of the document, and it indicates the source from which the document which derives its authority, meaning, the people.

• It was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of India and came into effect on 26^th January 1950.
• After the 42^nd amendment, three new terms "Socialist, Secular, and Integrity" were added to the Preamble.
• 42^nd Amendment Act, 1976 is one of the most important amendments to the Indian Constitution.
• It was enacted by the Indian National Congress headed by Indira Gandhi then.
• Due to the large number of amendments this act has brought to the Indian Constitution, it is also known as the ‘Mini-Constitution.’
• Only one time the Preamble was amended in 1976 till date.

Thus, it is clear that through 42^nd Amendment the word 'secular' is added in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Additional Information

• 41^st  amendment act- Chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission's retiring age changed from 60 to 62 years(article 316).
• 43^rd Amendment act- 
• Deprived parliament to make law for anti-nationalist.
• Restoring judicial reviews and writs of SC and HC.
• 44^th amendment act- Right to property, not a fundamental right. It has been shifted from Article 31 to 300A.

17^th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held at Margarita Island in Venezuela.

• It was held on 13–18 September 2016.
• The slogan of the 17^th conference of NAM was Peace, Sovereignty, and Solidarity for Development.
• The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.
• After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.

Right to Information was enacted in 2005.

• It was passed by the Parliament of India to all states and Union Territories.
• It empowers the citizen with information and transparency about the working and decisions of the government.
• The right to information is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution.
• In 1976, in the Raj Narain vs the State of Uttar Pradesh case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Right to information will be treated as a fundamental right under article 19.
• The Supreme Court held that in Indian democracy, people are the masters and they have the right to know about the working of the government.
• Thus the government enacted the Right to Information act in 2005 which provides machinery for exercising this fundamental right.

Hence, we can conclude that the Right to information is a constitutional right.

Additional Information

• RTI was elevated to a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a).
• It was made during the case Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, 2010.

A Bi-cameral legislature is a legislative body with two houses.

• India is one such example where there are two houses both at union and also at 6 of its 28 states.
• In a bicameral legislature, the function to administer and implement the laws is shared between the two houses.
• At the central level, the Indian Parliament has two houses:
• Lok Sabha (Lower House)
• Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
• At the state level, six of the 28 state legislatures have two houses:
• Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)
• Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad)

Important Points

The names of the six states having bicameral legislature are:

• Andhra Pradesh
• Bihar
• Karnataka
• Maharashtra
• Telangana
• Uttar Pradesh

Thus, we can say that Tamil Nadu does not have a Bi-cameral legislature.

The correct answer is 86^th Constitution Amendment.

• WHAT IS THE 86TH AMENDMENT?
• ​Spurred by the Unnikrishnan judgment and a public demand to enforce the right to education, successive governments from 1993 worked towards bringing a constitutional amendment to make education a fundamental right.
• That led to the 86^th amendment in December 2002 which inserted the following articles in the Constitution:​
• Insertion of new article 21A - After article 21 of the Constitution, the following article shall be inserted, namely:-

Right to education.-

"21A. The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine."

• Substitution of new article for article 45 - For article 45 of the Constitution, the following article shall be substituted, namely:-.

"Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years."

 "45. The State shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years."

• Amendment of article 51A - In article 51A of the Constitution, after clause (J), the following clause shall be added, namely:-

 "(k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years."

• Right to Education Act, 2009
• ​Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education.
• This is stated as per the 86^th Constitution Amendment Act via Article 21A.
• The Right to Education Act seeks to give effect to this amendment.
• The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by School Management Committees (SMC).
• Private schools shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee.
• The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality.

The correct answer is Femur.

Key Points

• The largest bone in the human body is the femur, the thighbone.
• It is the largest, longest, and strongest bone in the human body.
• The femur runs from the keen to the hip.
• Our body comprises 206 bones. Among them, the longest and shortest bone are mentioned here.

The longest bone:

• The Femur or thigh bone is the largest and heaviest bone in the human body.
• At the proximal end of the Femur, there is a rounded prominence which is called the Head of the Femur.
• It is the largest, longest, and strongest bone in the human body.
• The femur runs from the keen to the hip. It carries all the upper body weight.
• The other parts of the leg are the tibia, femur, fibula, and keep cap also known as patella.

Additional Information

The shortest bone:

• The smallest bone in the human body is called stapes, located in the middle ear.
• The size of the staples is 3mm × 2.5mm.
• There are three bones in the middle ear – Malleus, stapes, and Incus.
• The Stapes is the smallest of the three bones and it looks like a bell.

Hint

Key PointsClassification of vitamines:

• Vitamins are classified as either fat-soluble (vitamins A, D, E and K) or water-soluble (vitamins B and C).
• This difference between the two groups is very important.
• It determines how each vitamin acts within the body.
• The fat-soluble vitamins are soluble in lipids (fats).
• These vitamins are usually absorbed in fat globules (called chylomicrons) that travel through the lymphatic system of the small intestines and into the general blood circulation within the body.
• These fat-soluble vitamins, especially vitamins A and E, are then stored in body tissues.

Hence, Vitamin C is soluble in water.

Important Points

Additional Information

Other Important Vitamins:

Learning Disability is a neurological disorder that prevents a person from learning a skill and using it effectively. Generally, occurs in childhood and is characterized by difficulty with certain skills such as reading, writing, speaking, etc.

Key Points

• 'Long-sightedness' or farsightedness is a disorder caused when the cornea is less curved than normal.
• It is a condition of the eye where distant objects are seen clearly but near objects appear blurred.
• Another name for long-sightedness disorder is hyperopia. It affects the ability to focus.
• In this condition, nearby objects appear blurry as the light from them is focussed behind the retina instead of on it.
• It can be corrected by a convex lens (converging lens).
• For example, the student who feels difficulty in reading the book on the table but reads properly the words written on the blackboard is suffering from Long-sightedness.

​Thus, it is clear that the sight defect of the students in the above question is called Long-sightedness.

Additional Information

• Astigmatism:​ 
• This is an eye defect in which a blurred image is formed on the retina.
• It can be corrected by using spectacles, contact lenses, or by undergoing surgery.
• Short-sightedness is a defect of vision due to which a person cannot see the distant objects clearly (though he can see the nearby objects clearly).
• The far point of an eye suffering from myopia is less than infinity.
• Such a person can see clearly only up to a distance of a few meters.
• Short-sightedness or near-sightedness is corrected by using spectacles containing concave lenses.
• Color blindness is the inability or decreased ability to perceive color differences, under normal lighting conditions. It is caused due to absence of cone cells in the retina.

Key Points

Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine:

• B.C.G. vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB).
• It is named after its inventors Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin.
• In countries where tuberculosis or leprosy is common, one dose is recommended in healthy babies as soon after birth as possible.
• In areas where tuberculosis is not common, only children at high risk are typically immunized, while suspected cases of tuberculosis are individually tested for and treated
• Adults who do not have tuberculosis and have not been previously immunized but are frequently exposed may be immunized as well.
• BCG also has some effectiveness against Buruli ulcer infection and other nontuberculous mycobacteria infections.
• Additionally, it is sometimes used as part of the treatment of bladder cancer.
• The BCG vaccine was first used medically in 1921.
• It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
• As of 2004, the vaccine is given to about 100 million children per year globally.

Hence, the B.C.G. vaccine prevents Tuberculosis or T.B.

There are twelve swaras in Indian Music including as Sapta Swaras and Vikrit Swaras (Komal and Teevra). 

Thus in total there are 12 swaras –  7 shudh and 5 Vikrit.

Key PointsSapta Swaras:

• A swara refers to a tone or a musical note on an Octave.
• Now assume this to be a building including floors.
• The beginning point is the Shadja known as Tonic.
• Measuring upto certain heights from the ground level, there are the positions of other notes
• Carnatic Music is ruled by 7 octave musical notes. These Sapta Swaras are believed to have originated from “Dumru” (Musical Instrument) of Lord Shiva. 7 musical notes (Swaras) are the following:
• Sa – Shadjama (Tonic)
• Ri – Rishabha
• Ga – Gandhara
• Ma – Madhyama
• Pa – Panchama (Perfect Fifth)
• Da - Dhaivata
• Ni – Nishada
• Full names of these notes follow sounds with which they are being sung.
• As per Shruti – Notes Sa (Tonic)& Pa (Perfect Fifth) stay fixed always once you have settled on the Tonic.
• They are known as “Prakriti Swaras”.
• The other 5 notes feature 2 variants each. And so they are named as “Vikruthi Swaras”.

'Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan' is held every year in Mumbai.

Key PointsSwami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan:

• Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan (English: Swami Haridas Music Festival) is a noted Hindustani classical music and dance festival organized by Sur Singar Samsad, and held annually in Mumbai, India.
• All the prominent Indian classical vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers perform at the week-long festival.
• It was started in 1952 in honor of the 16^th-century saint, Swami Haridas by Sur Singar Samsad.

Additional Information

Swami Haridas (1480—1573):

• Swami Haridas was a spiritual poet and classical musician. Credited with a large body of devotional compositions, especially in the Dhrupad style, he is also the founder of the Haridasi school of mysticism, still found today in North India.
• His work influenced both the classical music and the Bhakti movements of North India, especially those devoted to Krishna's consort Radha.
• Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu, Hariram Vyas, Rupa Goswami, Vidyapati, Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya, Vitthalnath (Gusainji), were his contemporaries.
• It is known that he was the direct student of Bhai Mardana a follower of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Sri Purandara Dasa of Karnataka.
• He had many pupils, Tansen being one of them and one of Akbar's nine gems.

The correct answer is Akbar.

Key Points

Mian Tansen:

• Akbar made Tansen one of the Navaratnas in his court and gave him the title of ‘Mian’.
• Tansen was the title given to him by Raja Vikramjit of Gwalior.
• Akbar gave the title of Kanthabharan Vanivilas to Tansen.
• He was the court poet of Raja Ramchandra Singh of Rewa and also Akbar.
• He was specialized in the Dhrupad style of singing.
• He invented the night raga Darbari Kanhra, morning raga Mian Ki Todi, mid-day raga, Mian ki Sarang, seasonal raga Mian ki Malhar.
• He composed many Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses like Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati, and Rama.

Important Points

Akbar (1556-1605):

• Emperor Akbar founded the city by the name of “ILLAHABAS” which later became ALLAHABAD.

• He introduced the new religion as Din Ilahi.

• He introduced the Mansabdari system.

• Akbar defeated Hemu in the second battle of Panipat.

• He built Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri.

• He followed the policy of Sulh-i-kul.

Additional Information

Humayun (1530-40 and 1555-56):

• He was the son of Babur.
• The city of Din Panah was founded by Humayun in 1533.
• He fought two battles against Sher Shah Suri at Chausa (1539) and at Kannauj (1540) and was completely defeated by him.

The correct answer is Geet Govind.

Key Points

• Jaidev wrote the epic Geet Govind.
• Jaidev was the court poet of Bengal and the famous Sanskrit poet of the 12^th century.
• He composed the book Geet Govind, an important text of the Bhakti Movement.
• It was composed in the 12^th century.
• Here, in the lyrical poem, he immortalized the love of Radha and Lord Krishna.
• He describes every phase of longing, jealousy, hope, anger, reconciliation, and disappointment in the poem.

Thus, we can conclude that Jaideva composed the epic poem 'Geet Govind'.

Additional Information

• This epic has 180 editions in the Indian regional languages.
• It was also translated into English, French, Latin, Hungarian, Dutch, and German.

Key Points

Perspective:

Perspective is the art and mathematics of realistically depicting three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional plane, sometimes called centric or natural perspective to distinguish it from a bicentric perspective. The study of the projection of objects in a plane is called projective geometry. The principles of perspective drawing were elucidated by the Florentine architect F. Brunelleschi (1377-1446). 

These rules are summarized by Dixon (1991):

1. The horizon appears as a line.
2. Straight lines in space appear as straight lines in the image.
3. Sets of parallel lines meet at a vanishing point.
4. Lines parallel to the picture plane appear parallel and therefore have no vanishing point.

There is a graphical method for selecting vanishing points so that a cube or box appears to have the correct dimensions (Dixon 1991).

Conclusion: Perspective is the way that one looks at something. It is also an art technique that changes the distance or depth of an object on paper. An example of perspective is a farmer's opinion about a lack of rain. An example of perspective is a painting where the railroad tracks appear to be curving into the distance.

The paintings of Ajanta belong to the Bodh religion.

Important Points

• It is located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
• It is an ancient rock-cut cave built in the 2^nd century BC to the 5^th century AD.
• There is a total of 29 caves in Ajanta related to Buddhist which were decorated with sculptures and paintings.
• Some of the caves were used as residential caves while four of them used a prayer hall.
• Caves from 19 to 26 are elaborately decorated with the images of Buddha and Boddhisattva.
• The caves were inscribed by the Buddhist monks themed around Buddhism- the life of Buddha.

Thus, we can conclude that the paintings of Ajanta belong to Buddhism.

Additional Information

• The caves were done using fresco painting.
• The images have limited color bordered with red paint.
• The figures are broad and are placed orderly and are projected outward.
• The events are placed according to place and location.

By applying continuous lines to create a shading light effect is called Hatching.

Key PointsHatching technique:

• Hatching is a great way to create value with both pen and unblended pencil.
• Here are a few variations of fast and effective hatching techniques.
• Hatching, also called cross-hatching, is a technique used by draftsmen, engravers, and other artists who use mediums that do not allow blending (e.g., pen and ink) to indicate shading, modeling, and light and shade.
• It consists of filling in the appropriate areas with a mass of parallel lines, of varying length, the intensity of effect being achieved by the number of lines used and their proximity to one another.

Some of the examples of hatching techniques: