APPSC General Studies Mock Test - 2 - APPSC (Andhra Pradesh) MCQ

• Lothal was one of the southernmost cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt. Construction of the city began around 2200 BCE.

• Discovered in 1954, Lothal was excavated from 13 February 1955 to 19 May 1960 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the official Indian government agency for the preservation of ancient monuments.

• According to the ASI, Lothal had the world's earliest known dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea.

Social infrastructure are foundational services and structures that support the quality of life of a nation, region, city or neighborhood. This includes any infrastructure that goes beyond basic economic functions to make a community an appealing place to live.

• The organic compounds are the amino acids, nucleic acids, proteins, vitamins and pigments.

• Generally, nitrogen is usable only after it is fixed. 90% of fixed nitrogen is biological.

Only a few types of organisms like certain species of soil bacteria and blue-green algae are capable of utilising it directly in its gaseous form.

Both are headed by the Prime Minister. Means Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Inter-state Council.

• The Pampas are fertile South American lowlands, covering more than 750,000 km2, that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba; most of Uruguay.

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  The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia.

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  Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and Lands typically referred to as “prairies” tend to be in North America.

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  Veld is the name given to various types of open country in Southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. To most South African farmers today, the “veld” refers to the land they work, much of which has long since ceased to be “natural.”

• By the early 1980s, a new development strategy emerged. Though it was not new, it was the old idea getting vindicated after failure a comparatively newer idea.

• Governments of the socialist or the planned economies were urged/ suggested to privatise and liberalise, to sell off state-owned companies and eliminate government interventions in the economy.

• These governments were also suggested to take measures which could boost the aggregate demand in the economy (i.e., macroeconomic stability measures). The broad outlines of such a development strategy were regarded as being inspired by the Washington Consensus.

• In the ancient period, the term "Swara" was associated with the Vedas recitation over time; it is used to define the 'note' or 'scale degree in composition.

• In the Natyasastra, Bharata has divided the swaras into twenty-two notes scale. The Hindustani music's notational system is currently defined by these abbreviated was - Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni. The Seven Swaras together are called Saptak or Sargam. There are 22 Shrutis or microtones out of which only 12 are audible.

In 2004-05, 37.2% of the country's population was below the poverty line with ratios for rural and urban areas at 41.8% and 25.7%. 

A law made by the Parliament or president or any other specified authority continues to be operative even after the President's Rule. This means that the period for which such a law remains in force is not co-terminus with the duration of the proclamation.

Oceanic islands: 

• These islands are normally small and are located in the midst of oceans. They have no connection with the mainland, which may be hundreds or thousands of miles away. 

• They have flora and fauna unrelated to those of the continents. The Galapagos Islands have many unique species of animals.

• Due to their remoteness from the world's major trading centres, most of the oceanic islands are very sparsely populated.

• Composite volcanoes are characterised by eruptions of cooler and more viscous lavas than basalt. These volcanoes often result in explosive eruptions.

• Along with lava, large quantities of pyroclastic material and ashes find their way to the ground. This material accumulates in the vicinity of the vent openings leading to the formation of layers, and this makes the mounts appear as composite volcanoes.

• Number Pyramids include only the number of species and not their sizes

• Inverted Pyramids have one single primary producer which can support numerous primary consumers and secondary consumers.

• Energy Pyramids suggests a pyramid of energy to have an idea of ecological productivity.

• Biomass Pyramids includes the biomass of each tropic level instead of number of species and it does not give any idea of the rate of ecological/ecosystem production.

• The Narmada is one of the most famous Rivers of India. It creates the conventional border between South India and North India.

• The river runs to the west for a span of 1,312 km (815.2 miles) before flowing through the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay) into the Arabian Sea, at a distance of 18.6 miles or 30 km west of the Bharuch city in Gujarat.

• Also known as Rewa. River in Central India. Similar to the Mahi River and the Tapti River, the Narmada River is a river flowing from east to west.

(i) venture capital fund, merchant bank, stockbroking firms (SEBI registers and regulates them);

(ii) insurance company (registered and regulated by the IRDA);

(iii) housing finance company (regulated by the RBI); [ The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 has amended the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 conferring certain powers for the regulation of Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) with Reserve Bank of India ]

(iv) Nidhi company (regulated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under the Companies Act, 1956); (e) chit fund company (by respective state governments under Chit Funds Act, 1982).

• The bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private member and does not require prior permission of the president.
• A private member here means an MP who does not belong to the ruling coalition.
• Special days in the Parliament are reserved for Private member bills - not constitutional amendment bills.

Additional Information
The legislative process begins with the introduction of a bill in either house of Parliament, i.e. the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. A bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private member. In the former case it is known as a government bill and in the latter case it is known as a private member's bill.

• The tenor of the Mughal paintings changed rapidly in the period of Shah Jahan. 

• Unlike his father and grandfather who liked naturalistic depictions, Shah Jahan liked to create artificial elements in the paintings

• It is said that he tried to reduce the liveliness of the paintings and bring in unnatural stillness as he was inspired by the European influence.

• India's third geological division comprises the plains formed by the river Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra Originally.

• It was a geo-synclinal depression that attained its maximum development during the third phase of the Himalayan mountain formation approximately 64 million years ago.

• Since then, it has been gradually filled by the sediments brought by the Himalayan and Peninsular rivers Average depth of alluvial deposits in these plains ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 m.

Geosyncline

• It is a linear trough of subsidence of the Earth's crust within which vast sediment accumulate.

• The filling of a geosyncline with thousands or tens of thousands of feet of sediment is accompanied in the late stages of deposition by folding, crumpling, and faulting of the deposits, the intrusion of crystalline igneous rock and regional uplift along the axis of the trough generally complete the history of a particular geosyncline, which is thus transformed to a belt of folded mountains,

• All industrial areas left out of Schedules A and B were put under this in which the private enterprises had the provisions to set up industries.

• Many of them had the provisions of licencing and have necessarily fit into the framework of the social and economic policy of the state and were subject to control and regulation in terms of the Industries Development and Regulation (IDR) Act and other relevant legislation.

Indian citizenship can be acquired in five ways, they are:

• Citizenship by Birth
• Citizenship by Descent
• Citizenship by Registration
• Citizenship by Naturalisation
• Citizenship by incorporation of Territory

The correct answer is option (B), Akbar Namah. During later years of his reign, Akbar introduced the rank of ‘Zat’ and ‘Sawar’ in the Mansabdari system. Different views have been expressed regarding these terms. According to Blochmann, every mansabdar had to maintain as many soldiers as were indicated by his rank of Zat’ while the rank of ‘sawar’ indicated the number of horsemen among them. Irvin expressed the view that Zat indicated the actual number of cavalry under a mansabdar besides other soldiers while sawar was an additional honour.

The drafting committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr B R Ambedkar by the Constituent Assembly on 29th August 1947. S. N Mukherjee was the chief draftsman of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly. 

The Correct Answer is b: Lord Mountbatten

Key Points

• Lord Mountbatten
  • Lord Mountbatten served as the last Viceroy of India and the first Governor-General of independent India.
  • He was appointed as the Viceroy in February 1947 and was given the task of overseeing the transition of power in India and avoiding the partition of the Indian subcontinent with the liberty given to act according to the prevailing situation.
  • He tried to convince Jinnah about the benefits of keeping India united.
  • Mountbatten postponed India's partition from 15 August 1947 to June 1948  .

Important Points

• Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
  • Chakravarti Rajagopalachari was the only Indian to have served as the Governor-General of India.
  • He was one of the founding members of the Swatantra Party.
  • He has served as the Prime Minister of Madras from 1937 to 1939.
• Clement Attlee
  • He was the leader of the British Labour Party and has served as the Prime Minister of England between 1945–51.
  • He has also served as the Deputy Prime Minister under Winston Churchill.
• ​Lord Wavell
  • He was appointed as the 23rd Viceroy of India by Winston Churchill in 1943.
  • He helped the Bengal people who faced the disastrous famine by distributing relief supplies at lower prices.
  • Some of the major events that took place during his tenure were - C. Rajagopalachari formula (1944), Gandhi Jinnah talks (1944), Wavel Plan (1945), RIN Mutiny (1946), Cabinet Mission Plan (1946), etc.

The Tropic of Cancer divides India approximately into two equal parts.

• Here again, Article 74(1) comes in the picture. Because of the controversy about the president's powers' scope, a specific mention was made in the Constitution by an amendment that the Council of Ministers' advice will be binding on the President. By another amendment made later, it was decided that the President can ask the Council of Ministers to reconsider its advice but has to accept the reconsidered advice of the Council of Ministers (the Prime Minister representing them in this case).

• Archaeologists have found numerous seals of different shapes and sizes all across the excavation sites. While most seals are square, it was found that triangular, rectangular and circular seals were also used.

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• The script of Indus valley civilization is yet to be deciphered.

Additional information
A relatively long inscription of eight symbols runs along the top of the seal. The elongated body and slender arching neck is typical of unicorn figurines, as are the tail with bushy end and the bovine hooves. This figure has a triple incised line depicting a pipal leaf shaped blanket or halter, while most unicorn figures have only a double incised line. The arching horn is depicted as if spiraling or ribbed, and the jowl is incised with multiple folds.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was set up in 1963 by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and now it enjoys the status of an attached office.

 Arrival of the British and the establishment of British East India Company was the outcome of the Portuguese traders who earn enormous profit by selling their merchandise in India. Hence, the correct option is 'A'.