UPPSC GS I Practice Test - 17 (Old Pattern) - UPPSC (UP) MCQ

Important Point

• The joint sitting of the Parliament:

• It is called by the President (Article 108).

• It is presided over by the Speaker. So, option 4 is correct.

• In his absence, it is presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or in his absence, the Deputy-Chairman of the Rajya Sabha presides.

• The Chairman doesn't preside over the joint session.

• If any of the above officers are not present, then any other member of the Parliament can preside by consensus of both the House.

Additional Information

• The Parliament of India is bicameral.

• The concurrence of both houses is required to pass any bill.

• There may be some deadlock situations between the upper house (Rajya Sabha) and the lower house (Lok Sabha).

• Therefore, the Constitution of India provides for Joint sittings of both Houses to break this deadlock.

In News

• The Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, designed to monitor oceans, was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 21.

Important Point

• This is a part of the next mission dedicated to measuring changes in the global sea level. Other satellites that have been launched since 1992 to track changes in the oceans on a global scale include the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and OSTN/Jason-2, among others.

• The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite has been named after Dr Michael Freilich, who was the Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division from 2006-2019 and passed away in August this year.

Additional Information

• The mission, called the Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) mission, is designed to measure the height of the ocean, which is a key component in understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing.

• The spacecraft consists of two satellites, one of them launched on Saturday, and the other, called Sentinel-6B, to be launched in 2025.

• It has been developed jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat), the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the EU.

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced to set up the country's "biggest and most beautiful" film city in the state's Gautam Buddh Nagar.

• He instructed officials to search for suitable land in or around Noida, Greater Noida or Yamuna Expressway and prepare an action plan.

• This film city will provide a good option to film producers and it will also help in generating employment.

• Uttar Pradesh:

  • Lok Sabha seats - 80.

  • Rajya Sabha seats - 31.

  • Number of Districts - 75.

  • State Animal - Barasingha.

  • National Park - Dudhwa National Park.

  • Dams - Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar Dam (Rihand River).

  • Registered GI - Varanasi Glass Beads, Lucknow Chikan Craft, Mango Malihabadi Dusseheri, Banaras Brocades and Sarees.

  • Governor of the state - Anandiben Patel.

  • Chief Minister of the state - Yogi Adityanath

• The 11th schedule of the constitution related to the functioning of the Panchayati Raj system.

• It has 29 topics related to Panchayati Raj institutions.

• Few of them are agriculture, land reform, land improvement implementation, land compaction, and soil conservation, etc.

Additional Information

• Under Article 243K The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the Panchayats shall be vested in a State Election Commission consisting of a State Election Commissioner.

• The 'State Election Commissioner' is appointed by the Governor.

• 'Gram Panchayats' is the cornerstone of the Panchayati Raj system.​

• The terai and bhabar area in the Gangetic Plain have most of the forests while the Vindhyan forests consist mostly of scrub.
  • Terai region is the area with sand and clay soils at the junction of northern plains and Himalayas.
  • It gets higher rainfall than the plains.
  • In this region, the speed of the Himalayan Rivers is slowed down and then they deposit fertile silt during the monsoons.
• The existing flora in Uttar Pradesh can be classified into three categories-
  • Wet tropical deciduous forests
  • Dry tropical deciduous forests

  • Tropical thorny forests

    

Key-Points

• China successfully launched its first unmanned space mission on 24 November 2020 to collect samples from the moon's surface and return them to earth.

• It successfully launched the Change-5 lunar probe from the southern province of Hainan.

• Change-5 is one of the most complicated and challenging missions in China's aerospace history, as well as the world's first moon-sample mission in more than 40 years.

Additional Information

• China:

  • Capital - Beijing.

  • Currency - Chinese Yuan.

  • President - Xi Jinping.

  • National Sport - Table Tennis.

Key-Points

• Article 21A (part of Fundamental Rights) - 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. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• Article 51A was added by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 as part of Fundamental Duties and it reads: “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”. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• The preamble does not have such provisions. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.

The Brahmaputra originates in Tibet.

Additional Information

The Ganga

• Origin: Gangotri glacier near Gaumukh (3,900 m) in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.

• Here, it is known as the Bhagirathi.

• The river has a length of 2,525 km.

• It is shared by Uttarakhand (110 km) and Uttar Pradesh(1,450 km), Bihar (445 km), and West Bengal (520 km).

• The Ganga basin covers about 8.6 lakh sq. km area in India alone.

• The Ganga river system is the largest in India.

• The Son is its major right-bank tributary.

• The important left-bank tributaries are the Ramganga, the Gomati, the Ghaghara, the Gandak, the Kosi, and the Mahananda.

• The river finally discharges itself into the Bay of Bengal near the Sagar Island.

The Yamuna

• Origin: Yamunotri glacier on the western slopes of the Bandarpunch range (6,316 km).

• It is the westernmost and the longest tributary of the Ganga.

• It joins the Ganga at Prayag (Allahabad).

• It is joined by the Chambal, the Sind, the Betwa, and the Ken on its right bank.

• It is joined by the Hindan, the Rind, the Sengar, the Varuna, etc. join it on its left bank.

The Brahmaputra

• Origin: Chemayungdung glacier of the Kailash range near the Mansarovar lake in Tibet.

• In Tibet, it is known as the Tsangpo, which means ‘the purifier.’

• The Rango Tsangpo is the major right-bank tributary of this river in Tibet.

• It enters India west of Sadiya town in Arunachal Pradesh.

• Flowing southwest, it receives its main left-bank tributaries, viz., Dibang or Sikang, and Lohit; thereafter, it is known as the Brahmaputra.

• The Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh near Dhubri and flows southward.

• In Bangladesh, the Tista joins it on its right bank from where the river is known as the Yamuna.

• It finally merges with the river Padma, which falls in the Bay of Bengal.

The Godavari

• Origin: Nasik district of Maharashtra.

• The Godavari is the largest Peninsular river system.

• It is also called the Dakshin Ganga.

• It discharges its water into the Bay of Bengal.

• Its tributaries run through the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.

• It is 1,465 km long with a catchment area spreading over 3.13 lakh sq. km.

• The Penganga, the Indravati, the Pranhita, and the Manjra are its principal tributaries.

In News -

• India has added two more Ramsar sites. They are Lonar lake in Maharashtra which is the only crater lake of the country while the other is Sur Sarovar, also known as Keetham lake in Agra of Uttar Pradesh.

Important Point

• The Ramsar Convention signed on 2nd February 1971, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord signed by member countries to preserve the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance. Hence statement 1 is correct.

• It is named after Ramsar, the Iranian city where the treaty was signed in 1971, and places are chosen for conservation under it are given the tag ‘Ramsar site’.

• The aim of the Ramsar list is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.

• Recently, Kabartal in Bihar’s Begusarai district was recognised as a wetland of international importance, the first such wetland in the state, under the Ramsar Convention, according to the Union Environment Ministry.

• The Asan Conservation Reserve in Dehradun, the first wetland from Uttarakhand to be recognised by Ramsar convention, was added to the list in October this year. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• The Drafting Committee of the Constitution was chaired by Dr B.R Ambedkar.

• B. R. Ambedkar was a wise constitutional expert, he had studied the constitutions of about 60 countries.

• Ambedkar is recognised as the "Father of the Constitution of India".

Key-Points

• The drafting committee was entrusted with the responsibility to prepare the Draft constitution.

• The drafting committee was set up on 29 August 1947 under the chairmanship of Dr B R Ambedkar.

• The constituent assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame the constitution.

• There were 22 parts, 395 articles, and 8 schedules in the original constitution.

• The constitution had got ready on 26th November 1949 and some provisions relating to Citizenship, Elections, provisional parliament, temporary & transitional provisions were given immediate effect.

• The rest of the constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.

Important Point

• 26 January 1930 marked the “Poorna Swaraj“ resolution of Indian National Congress under Jawahar Lal Nehru and so the date was chosen in 1950 to be our republic day.

• It must be noted that the idea of the constituent assembly was not of congress.

• The idea was put forward by MN Roy in 1934.

• The idea put forward by MN Roy was officially raised by Congress in 1935 and the British Government accepted this demand.

• This demand of constituent assembly was accepted in the August offer of 1940.

• Marina Beach is the longest beach in India.

  • Marina beach is located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

  • It lies along the Bay of Bengal.

  • Marina Beach is also the world’s second-longest beach.

  • The beach was renovated by Governor Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff in the 1880s.

  • Two prominent statues of Mahatma Gandhi is situated on the Marina beach.

  • Marina Beach is one of the most crowded beaches in India.

• Juhu Beach is located in Mumbai in Maharashtra.

• Dandi Beach located in Dandi village, Gujarat.

• Puri Beach is located in Puri, Odisha.

Key-Points

• Supreme Court provisions are mentioned in Part V of the constitution under Article 124 to 147.

• The Judges of the Supreme court are appointed by President. The CJI is appointed by President after consultation with such judges of SC and HC as he deems necessary.

• Qualification of SC Judges-

  • He should be a citizen of India

  • He should have been a judge of HC for five years, or He should have been an advocate of an HC for 10 years or He should be a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the President.

• He can be removed from his office by President on the recommendation of Parliament.

Important Point

• Article 124- Establishment and Constitution of SC

• Article 126-Acting Chief Justice

• Article 127-Ad Hoc Judges

• Article129 - SC to be a court of record

• Article 147- Interpretation of Constitution

In News -

• Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri launched Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge across 243 Cities to ensure that no life of any sewer or septic tank cleaner is ever lost again owing to the issue of ‘hazardous cleaning'.

Important Point

• The Challenge, launched on the occasion of World Toilet Day, is aimed at preventing ‘hazardous cleaning’ of sewers and septic tanks and promote their mechanized cleaning.

• Representatives from 243 cities across the country took a pledge to mechanize all sewer and septic tank cleaning operations by 30th April 2021.

• The initiative is in line with PM Modi’s vision, who has always placed the safety and dignity of sanitation workers at the core of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U)

• The actual on-ground assessment of participating cities will be conducted in May 2021 by an independent agency and results of the same will be declared on 15 August 2021.

• Cities will be awarded in three sub-categories – with a population of more than 10 lakhs, 3-10 lakhs and up to 3 lakhs, with total prize money of ₹52 crores to be given to winning cities across all categories.

Key-Points

• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (2013) and various judgements of Hon'ble Supreme Court expressly prohibit hazardous cleaning, i.e. manual entry into a septic tank or sewer without protective gear and observing operating procedures.

Chilika Lake:

• It is the largest brackish water lake in India and is situated in Odisha.

• It covers an area of about 1165 sq. km.

• It is also considered to be the largest lagoon in India.

• It is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia and the second largest coastal lagoon in the world.

• It was designated as a "Ramsar Site", the wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Dal Lake:

• It is a natural freshwater lake located in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

• It is also referred to as the “Jewel in the crown of Kashmir” or “Srinagar's Jewel”.

Lake Pichola:

• It is an artificial freshwater lake, situated in the Udaipur city of Rajasthan.

• It was created by Pichhu Banjara in 1362 AD.

Kolleru Lake:

• It is one of the largest freshwater lakes and is located in Andhra Pradesh.

• It is situated between Krishna and Godavari delta.

• Palk Strait is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Mannar district of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
• It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with the Palk Bay and then with the Gulf of Mannar in the southwest.

• The strait is named after Robert Palk.

  

Important Point

A Strait is a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water.

It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two landmasses.

Additional Information

• Adam's Bridge, also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu, is a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island (known as Rameswaram Island), and Sri Lanka.
  • It is created across the sea connecting Pamban Island in Tamil Nadu to Mannar Island in Sri Lanka.

• A teenager in Bangladesh has won the International Children's Peace Prize for his efforts to educate young people about cyberbullying.

• Sadat Rahman, 17, was inspired to create a mobile app to help young people report online abuse.

• Created a mobile app after hearing about a 15-year-old girl who took her own life because of bullying.

• Bangladesh:

  • Capital - Dhaka.

  • Currency - Taka.

  • President - Abdul Hamid.

  • Prime Minister - Sheikh Hasina.

  • National Sport - Kabaddi.

Important point

• India has a coastline of 7516.6 Km [6100 km of mainland coastline + coastline of 1197 Indian islands] touching 13 States and Union Territories (UTs).
• On the basis of the location and active geomorphological processes, it can be broadly divided into two:
  • the western coastal plains;
  • the eastern coastal plains.
• Extending from the Gujarat coast in the north to the Kerala coast in the south, the western coast may be divided into following divisions – the Kachchh and Kathiawar coast in Gujarat,
  • Konkan coast in Maharashtra,
  • Goan coast and in Karnataka,
  • Malabar coast Kerala.
  • The western coastal plains are narrow in the middle and get broader towards north and south.
  • The rivers flowing through this coastal plain do not form any delta.
  • The Malabar coast has got certain distinguishing features in the form of ‘Kayals’ (backwaters), which are used for fishing, inland navigation and also due to its special attraction for tourists.
  • Every year the famous Nehru Trophy Vallamkali (boat race) is held in Punnamada Kayal in Kerala.
• Eastern coast extends from the Subarnarekha river along the West Bengal-Odisha border to Kanyakumari.
  • This plain is known as the Northern Circars between the Mahanadi and the Krishna rivers and Carnatic/Coromandel between the Krishna and the Cauvery rivers.
  • As compared to the western coastal plain, the eastern coastal plain is broader and is an example of an emergent coast.
  • There are well developed deltas here, formed by the rivers flowing eastward in to the Bay of Bengal.
  • These include the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri.

  • Because of its emergent nature, it has less number of ports and harbours.

    

Important point

• Damodar River is one of the most important Rivers In Eastern India, flowing across the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.

• Earlier known as Sorrow of Bengal and Jharkhand, Damodar is one of the most contaminated rivers in India.

• The tributaries and sub tributaries of the Damodar include Konar, Barakar, Haharo, Bokaro, Ghari, Jamunia, Khadia, Guaia and Bhera.

• The biggest tributary of the Damodar River is the Barakar.

Key-Points

• Indravati River is a tributary of the Godavari River.

• Uttar Pradesh government has announced to run the family planning program in mission mode.

• State Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said that it will reduce the mortality rate among infants and women and will also expand the health facilities.

• On World Contraception Day (26 September), the UP government has ordered to provide all contraception related facilities to every beneficiary.

• Uttar Pradesh:

  • Number of Districts - 75.

  • Lok Sabha seats - 80.

  • Rajya Sabha seats - 31.

Key-Points

• Casting vote or the deciding vote of the presiding officer of a deliberative body made when the other votes are equally divided.

• The Speaker has a casting vote in the event of a tie. It is customary for the Presiding Officer to exercise the casting vote in such a manner as to maintain the status quo.

• If in a Division the number of `Yes' and `No' is equal, the question is decided by the casting vote of the Chair.

• Under the Constitution, the Speaker or the person acting as such cannot vote in a Division; he/she has only a casting vote which he/she must exercise in the case of an equality of votes.

Important Point

• Om Birla is the current and 17th Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

• M Venkaiah Naidu is the current Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

• Ulsan, South Korea:

  • The Ulsan factory (Hyundai Motor Company) is the world's single largest automobile manufacturing plant, located in South Korea.

  • The Ulsan factory started in 1968 in South Korea.

  • The factory is spread over 54 million sq feet.

• Detroit, USA: It is famous for Automobile Industries and is also known as Motor City.

• Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, a Japanese machine tool builder is located in Oguchi, Japan.

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, USA is an automobile production subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation.

• Plantation farming is a form of commercial farming where crops are grown to make profits. The fact that crops are grown for profits means that large tracts of land are needed to make this type of farming successful. This form of farming is mainly found in areas that experience a tropical climate.

• Plantation agriculture was introduced by the Europeans in colonies situated in the tropics. Hence statement I is correct.

• Some of the important plantation crops are tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, oil palm, sugarcane, bananas and pineapples.

• Tropical equatorial biomes soil is acidic and poor in nutrients.

  • These soils are highly acidic (pH 4 to 5), often contain toxic concentrations of Al and Mn, and are usually deficient in essential plant nutrients but on the ground of the rain forest, there is a thick layer of quickly decaying plants and animals.

  • Nutrients are washed by the heavy rains almost directly from the rotting surface material into the trees without entering the soil much. Hence statement II is correct.

• Plantations exist on every continent possessing a tropical climate.

• Highly productive soil is found in the tropics which help plantation to grow. Hence, Both the statements are individually true and Statement II is the correct explanation of Statement I

Important Point

• Industrialization occurs when an industry is introduced on a large scale to a region or country — for example, when an economy goes from being based on agriculture to being based on production and other industries.

• This period hence referred to the Industrial Revolution.

• Urbanization relates to the increasing number of people that live in urban areas.

• Urbanization is not solely a modern phenomenon but a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being quickly replaced by predominantly urban culture.

Key-Points

• Rural depopulation processes affect regions where the rural exodus surpasses natural growth, reducing the total number of inhabitants to a critical level and causing aging of demographic compositions.

• Nevertheless, depopulation may also be caused by displacement because of large infrastructure investments.

• It is a modern museum that showcases the traditional handloom and handicrafts of Varanasi.

• The project is aimed to benefit weavers and other handicraft workers of Varanasi and adjoining districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

• National Handloom Development Corporation Limited, under the Ministry of Textiles, has been appointed a nodal agency to implement it.

• It is a 200 crore project, and it came upon an area of 8 acres.

• The modern art gallery’s display includes works of artists like Latika Katt, Madan Lal, and many more.

• A project monitoring group under Union Ministry of Textiles’ Development Commissioner (Handlooms) Alok Kumar has been constituted for daily monitoring of the project.

Important Point

• Shri Siddharth Nath Singh is the minister of Handloom and Textiles Industries in UP.

• Uttar Pradesh is producing 13.24 percent of India's total textile production. It is also the largest textile market in the country.

• Azamgarh, Barabanki, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Sitapur, Mirzapur, Meerut, Varanasi, Bijnor, etc. are the major handloom weaver districts of the district.

• Uttar Pradesh has been famous worldwide for its artistic weaving fabrics since ancient times, including silk saris of Varanasi, rutis of Sitapur and Kanpur, bedcovers of Gorakhpur, curtains of Meerut, and teritawals of Ghaziabad.

• The success of the First Five-year plan boosted the confidence of the leaders.

• The agriculture growth target in the first plan was achieved, so the government quickly started looking beyond agriculture.

• The second five-year plan focused on industry, especially heavy industry.

• The target of a 25% increase in the national income was set through rapid industrialization.

Therefore, industrialization was the focus area for the Second Five Year Plan.

• NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) has replaced the Planning Commission.

• The Planning Commission was established in 1950.

Key-Points

• NITI Aayog -

  • It was established on 1 January 2015, as the successor to the Planning Commission.

  • It was created by an executive resolution of the Government of India.

  • It is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body.

  • It is a Think Tank of the Government of India providing both directional and policy inputs.

  • It is shaped by a 'bottom-up' approach rather than 'top-down' approach.

  • The Aayog consist of:

    • Prime Minister (as chairperson)

    • Chief ministers of all the states and the union territories with the legislature and Lt. Governor of other union territories. (Governing Council)

    • Regional council: by the Prime minister to tackle the issues in a particular region consists of the Chief ministers or Lt. Governors of that areas and council chaired by the Chairperson or his nominee.

    • Special invitees consist of experts, specialists and practitioners with related domains and invited by the Prime minister.

    • Full-time organisation:

      • Vice-chairperson (By Prime minister)

      • members (status of Minister of state)

      • Part-time members (Maximum two members from universities, research organization etc.)

      • Ex-Officio members (maximum 4 members nominated by Prime minister)

      • Chief executive officer (by Prime minister and having the rank of Secretary)

      • Secretariat

  • It is working on the principle of cooperative federalism and developing strategies with the active involvement of states.

  • It was established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals.

  • It fosters the involvement of State Governments in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.

  • It envisages the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’.

  • It aims to create knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support systems through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.

• The court music that found patronage in the Courts of state Uttar Pradesh in cities like Agra, Fatehpur-Sikri, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Banda and Datia.
• Uttar Pradesh had been the land of the great sages and hermits and the singing of ancient hymns and mantras laid the basic tradition of music.
• The medieval age saw the emergence of two distinct strands of music, one was court music and the other was religious music.
• Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, Kathak wizard Birju Maharaj, Tabla maestro Kishan Maharaj, the legendary Baba Allaudin Khan and his disciples Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ghazal singers Begum Akhtar, Rasoolan Bai, Girija Devi and many more personalities that lived in Uttar Pradesh and practiced their art.

About Uttar Pradesh

The correct answer is option 1, i.e. Uttar Pradesh.

• Uttar Pradesh has provided the highest number of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

• It has provided employment to 57 lakh 12975 workers in 56,981 village panchayats.

• 1.91 lakh workers are engaged in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The state has generated 7.93 crore man-days.

• The employment in Uttar Pradesh is 18% of the total work generated under MGNREGA.

• Second position- Rajasthan with 53.45 lakh workers.

• Third position-Andhra Pradesh with 36 lakh workers.

• As most of the casual labourers returned to their home states because of the economic crises of pandemic COVID-19. This scheme has provided relief to many migrants.

• The objective of MGNREGA is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.