UPSC CSE Complete Practice Test - 3 - UPSC MCQ

• Recent Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently paid tribute to Savitribai Phule on her birth anniversaries, saying she inspired society with her compassion and courage.
• Savitribai Jyotirao Phule (3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897) was an Indian social reformer and poet. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important role in improving women's rights in India during British rule. The couple founded the first women's school at Bhide Wada in Pune in 1848.
• She established Balyata Pratibandak Gruha, a home for widowed mothers and children born out of wedlock.
• She authored  "Kavya Phule" which was published in 1854, when she was only 23. This includes 41 poems on nature, social issues and teaching. The second "Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar" appeared in 1892.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• Chloroplasts: They are green-colored plastids, which comprise green-colored pigments within the plant cell and are called chlorophyll. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Chloroplast is an organelle that contains the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll that captures sunlight and converts it into useful energy, thereby, releasing oxygen from water.
• Chloroplasts are found in all green plants and algae. They are the food producers of plants. These are found in the guard cells located in the leaves of the plants. They contain a high concentration of chlorophyll that traps sunlight. This cell organelle is not present in animal cells. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Chloroplast has its DNA and can reproduce independently, from the rest of the cell. They also produce amino acids and lipids required for the production of chloroplast membranes.
• Functions of Chloroplast: Following are the important chloroplast functions:
  • The most important function of the chloroplast is to synthesize food by the process of photosynthesis.
  • Absorbs light energy and converts it into chemical energy.
  • Chloroplast has a structure called chlorophyll which functions by trapping solar energy and is used for the synthesis of food in all green plants.
  • Produces NADPH and molecular oxygen (O₂) by photolysis of water.
  • Produces ATP – Adenosine triphosphate by the process of photosynthesis.
  • The carbon dioxide (CO₂) obtained from the air is used to generate carbon and sugar during the Calvin Cycle or dark reaction of photosynthesis.
  • Where does the photosynthesis process occur in the plant cell?
  • In all green plants, photosynthesis takes place within the thylakoid membrane of the Chloroplast

• X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is India’s maiden mission dedicated to analysing the polarisation of X-rays emanating from bright celestial sources in the medium frequency band.
• X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is India’s first and world's second mission dedicated to analyzing the polarization of X-rays emanating from bright celestial sources in the medium frequency band (8 to 30keV). In 2021, NASA launched Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). It has been designed to operate and perform X-ray polarisation measurements within the soft X-ray band (2 to 8 keV energy band).Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• XPoSat comprises primarily two payloads, including Indian X-ray Polarimeter (POLIX) and X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing (XSPECT).

• Recent Context: As per fourth advanced estimate from Directorate of Economics and Statistics Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India, In  2022 Uttar Pradesh is the leading lentil producing state in India (0.47 million tonnes from 0.49 ha. acreage, 36.43 % of national production), followed by Madhya Pradesh (0.44 million tonnes from 0.49 million ha. acreage. 34.55% of national production), West Bengal (10.53%), Bihar (8.84%) and Jharkhand (4.50%). Hence statement 1 is not correct. 
• India is the second largest producer of Lentils after Canada. India is set to become the world’s largest producer of lentil (masoor) during the 2023-24 crop year on account of higher acreage.Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• India, despite being among the world’s top five lentil growers, second only to Canada, depends on imports to meet its domestic demands. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

• Lactic acid is produced through the fermentation of lactose (milk sugar) by bacteria, primarily Lactobacillus, during the process of curd formation. It gives curd its characteristic sour taste.
• Vinegar contains acetic acid, not methanoic acid. Acetic acid is the primary component of vinegar, which is produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.
• Tamarind - Tartaric acid: Tamarind contains tartaric acid. Tartaric acid is a naturally occurring organic acid found in various plants, including tamarind.
• Others
  • Orange - Citric acid
  • Ant sting - Methanoic acid
  • Lemon - Citric acid
  • Malic Acid: Present in apples and other fruits
  • Hydrochloric Acid: Found in the stomach as gastric acid, aiding in digestion
  • Oxalic Acid: Found in spinach, rhubarb, and beet greens.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

• Hormones are body’s chemical messengers. Once released by glands into the bloodstream, they act on various organs and tissues to control everything from the way the body functions to how you feel.
• One group of hormones are nicknamed the "feel-good hormones" because of the happy and, sometimes, euphoric feelings they produce. They're also considered neurotransmitters, which means they carry messages across the spaces between nerve cells. They are Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphins, and Oxytocin. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.
  • Dopamine: Dopamine is most notably involved in helping us feel pleasure as part of the brain’s reward system. Sex, shopping, smelling cookies baking in the oven — all these things can trigger dopamine release, or a "dopamine rush." Neurons in the region at the base of the brain produce dopamine in a two-step process. First, the amino acid tyrosine is converted into another amino acid, called L-dopa. Then L-dopa undergoes another change, as enzymes turn it into dopamine.
  • Serotonin: This hormone is responsible for boosting mood, as well as a host of other functions. An area in the center of the brainstem produces serotonin, which then acts on many different parts of the brain to affect a variety of functions and behaviors, including memory, fear, the stress response, digestion, addiction and sexuality.
  • Endorphin: Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. Endorphins are released by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in response to pain or stress, this group of peptide hormones both relieves pain and creates a general feeling of well-being.
  • Oxytocin: Oxytocin is a hormone that's produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland. Its main function is to facilitate childbirth, which is one of the reasons it is called the "love drug" or "love hormone." Oxytocin, like endorphinsor serotonin, is a type of hormone in your body that promotes positive feelings.

• Radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, is a widely used method for determining the age of organic materials by measuring the radioactive decay of Carbon-14 (14C). Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Radiocarbon dating relies on the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 (C-14), a naturally occurring isotope of carbon. Carbon-14 is produced in the atmosphere through the interaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen-14.
  • Living organisms take in carbon, including the radioactive C-14, through processes such as photosynthesis or consumption of other organisms.
  • When an organism dies, it stops taking in carbon, and the C-14 in its tissues undergoes radioactive decay.
  • By measuring the remaining C-14 in a sample, scientists can estimate the time that has elapsed since the death of the organism. Radiocarbon dating has limitations on its effective dating range. The half-life of Carbon-14 is approximately 5,730 years. As a result, radiocarbon dating is most effective for dating materials up to around 50,000 years. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Beyond this timeframe, the amount of remaining Carbon-14 becomes too small to provide accurate measurements.
• For dating fossils or materials that are millions of years old, other dating methods based on different isotopes, such as uranium-series dating or potassium-argon dating, are more appropriate

1. The Department of Atomic Energy is getting ready to commission its ultra-modern indigenously designed fast breeder reactor. The world’s only commercially operating fast breeder reactor is situated in the Ural Mountains of Russia at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant.
2. A ‘Fast Breeder Reactor’, these are a special kind of nuclear reactor that generate more atomic fuel than they consume as they work. A fast breeder reactor can help extract up to 70 per cent more energy than traditional reactors and are safer than traditional reactors while reducing long lived radioactive waste by several fold. Hence Statement-I is correct.Electricity generated by FBR would be a source of green energy as the waste from the first stage nuclear programme is reprocessed and used as fuel in FBR.
3. The spent fuel from this reactor can be fed back into the reactor core several times, till the spent fuel contains only short lived fission products. This is the concept of FBR with closed fuel cycle. Hence, there is no need of large quantity of fuel materials for the annual external feed and thus eliminates the need for large capacity waste storage spaces with complex construction features.Hence Statement-II is not correct.
4. Hence option (c) is the correct answer

• The Internet of Things refers to the rapidly growing network of connected objects that are able to collect and exchange data in real time using embedded sensors. Smart agriculture is mostly used to denote the application of IoT solutions in agriculture. By using IoT sensors to collect environmental and machine metrics, farmers can make informed decisions, and improve just about every aspect of their work – from livestock to crop farming.
• Some of the applications of IoT in agriculture:
  • Monitoring of climate conditions: Probably the most popular smart agriculture gadgets are weather stations, combining various smart farming sensors. Located across the field, they collect various data from the environment and send it to the cloud.
  • Greenhouse automation: The use of IoT sensors enables them to get accurate real-time information on greenhouse conditions such as lighting, temperature, soil condition, and humidity. In addition to sourcing environmental data, weather stations can automatically adjust the conditions to match the given parameters. Specifically, greenhouse automation systems use a similar principle.
  • Cattle monitoring and management: Just like crop monitoring, there are IoT agriculture sensors that can be attached to the animals on a farm monitoring their health and log performance. Livestock tracking and monitoring help collect data on stock health, well-being, and physical location. Crop management: Just like weather stations, they should be placed in the field to collect data specific to crop farming; from temperature and precipitation to leaf water potential and overall crop health. You can monitor your crop growth and any anomalies to effectively prevent any diseases or infestations that can harm your yield.
  • Precision farming: Also known as precision agriculture, precision farming is all about efficiency and making accurate data-driven decisions. It’s also one of the most widespread and effective applications of IoT in agriculture. By using IoT sensors, farmers can collect a vast array of metrics on every facet of the field microclimate and ecosystem: lighting, temperature, soil condition, humidity, CO₂ levels, and pest infections. This data enables farmers to estimate optimal amounts of water, fertilizers, and pesticides that their crops need, reduce expenses, and raise better and healthier crops.
  • Agricultural drones: Perhaps one of the most promising agritech advancements is the use of agricultural drones in smart farming. Also known as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), drones are better equipped than airplanes and satellites to collect agricultural data.
  • Predictive analytics for smart farming: Precision agriculture and predictive data analytics go hand in hand. While IoT and smart sensor technology are a goldmine for highly relevant real-time data, the use of data analytics helps farmers make sense of it and come up with important predictions: crop harvesting time, the risks of diseases and infestations, yield volume, etc.
  • End-to-end farm management systems: A more complex approach to IoT products in agriculture can be represented by the so-called farm productivity management systems. They usually include a number of agriculture IoT devices and sensors, installed on the premises as well as a powerful dashboard with analytical capabilities and in-built accounting/reporting features.
  • Thus, The passage describes the applications of IoT in farm management. Hence, option (c) is correct.

• Nanomaterials have always attracted researchers due to their size, which are comparable to most of the biological macromolecules such as DNA, enzymes and antibodies. Rapid advancements in nanotechnology and the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991 opened up new vistas in material sciences. These carbon allotropic tubes have a unique array of electronic, magnetic and chemical properties. The uniqueness of CNTs is attributed to the presence of strong bonding pattern which exists between the atoms and their extreme aspect ratio.
• A CNT can be as thin as a few nanometers and as long as hundreds of microns. The structure, length and number of layers vary in different CNTs’ forms. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are the two major classifications of CNTs depending upon their side walls configuration. Due to its unique properties, it has many applications in wearable technology, drug delivery, climate action, etc.
• Devices embedded in the clothes we wear are en route to become the order of the day for applications like health-care monitoring, point-of-care diagnostics, military defense and homeland security. The major hurdle for these devices is suitable systems for instantaneously charging them. Indian scientists have developed carbon nanotube-coated cotton yarns (CNT-wires) that convert the electrical insulating yarn into a metallic conductor thereby behaving like a flexible and pliable electrode. They combined the electrode (CNT-wire) with the electrolyte sheet by a simple and elegant approach of interweaving the CNT wire across the electrolyte to create junctions. These junctions are super capacitive in nature and can store electrical energy. Since the supercapacitors are created by sewing, they are referred it to as “sewcap”. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are the front-running candidates owing to their classical performance as adsorbents. CNTs are pure carbon cylinders with a radius of a few nm and variable lengths (100 nm to mm). CNTs are extraordinarily light and highly porous and very suitable for gas storage applications due to their high surface area. CNTs also have elevated conductivity (thermal and electrical) and are rich in chemistry. The properties mentioned above make them a competent candidate for CO2 adsorption and desorption, efficiently and selectively. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The easy uptake of CNTs into many different cell types enables these nanomaterials to be desirable for biomedical applications such as drug and gene delivery. CNTs can be directly penetrated through the cell membrane as well as through passive uptake, which allows them to be suitable candidates for drug and gene delivery. CNTs can be utilized in drug and gene delivery through functionalization, which allows specific cell types to be targeted for the gene or drug to be delivered effectively, enabling medical intervention for many types of diseases. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• With the development and application of nanotechnology, large amounts of nanoparticles will be potentially released to the environment and possibly cause many severe health problems. Pulmonary exposure to CNTs leads to lung inflammation, the pathological condition that has been linked to the development of lung fibrosis and cancer. Animal studies demonstrated the involvement of various inflammatory cytokines and growth factors. Numerous data and reports have been reported to determine the nature of toxicity arising due to the applications of CNTs in living systems, precisely during the drug delivery process. Hence, statement 4 is not correct.

In the Tamil region, large landowners were known as Vellalar, ordinary ploughmen were known as Uzhavar and landless labourers, including slaves, were known as Kadaisiyar and Adimai. In the northern part of the country, the village headman was known as the Grama Bhojaka. Usually, men from the same family held the position for generations. In other words, the post was hereditary. The Grama Bhojaka was often the largest landowner. Generally, he had slaves and hired workers to cultivate the land. Besides, as he was powerful, the king often used him to collect taxes from the village. He also functioned as a judge, and sometimes as a policeman. Apart from the Grama Bhojaka, there were other independent farmers, known as Grihapatis, most of whom were smaller landowners. There were men and women, such as the Dasa Karmakara, who did not own land and had to earn a living working on the fields owned by others.

Samudragupta’s Prashasti, inscribed on the Ashokan pillar at Allahabad / Prayagraj. It was composed as a Kavya by Harishena, who was a poet and a minister at the court of Samudragupta. This inscription is of a special kind, known as a Prashasti, a Sanskrit word, meaning ‘in praise of’. The poet praised the king in glowing terms – as a warrior, as a king who won victories in battle, who was learned, and the best of poets. He is also described as equal to the gods. “Samudragupta the warrior, whose body was most charming, being covered with the plenteous beauty of the marks of hundreds of scars caused by battle-axes, arrows, spikes, spears, barbed darts, swords, iron clubs, javelins, barbed arrows, long arrows, and many other weapons”. Harishena, in the Prashasti, also describes four different kinds of rulers, and tells us about Samudragupta’s policies towards them:

1. The rulers of Aryavarta. There were nine rulers who were uprooted, and their kingdoms were made a part of Samudragupta’s empire.

2. The rulers of Dakshinapatha. There were twelve rulers, who surrendered to Samudragupta after being defeated and he then allowed them to rule again.

3. The neighbouring states, including Assam, coastal Bengal, Nepal, and a number of Gana Sanghas in the north-west. They brought tribute, followed his orders and attended his court.

4. The rulers of the outlying areas, perhaps the descendants of the Kushanas and the Shakas, and the ruler of Sri Lanka, who submitted to him and offered daughters in marriage.

There are fourteen Major Rock Edicts, seven Pillar Edicts and some Minor Rock Inscriptions, which give us this information. The Major Rock Edicts are located at Shahbazgarhi and Maneshra near Peshawar, Kalsi near Dehra Dun, Sopara in Thana district, Girnar near Junagarh in Kathiawar, Dhauli near Bhubaneshwar and Jaugada in Ganjam district of Odisha. In Karnataka, the Minor Rock Edicts appear among other places at Siddapura, Jatinga-Rarneshwara and Brahmagiri. Other Minor Rock Edicts are found at Rupnath near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Sahasram in Bihar, Bairat near Jaipur in Rajasthan and Maski in Karnataka.

Option 3 : Samaharta
 

• Mauryan administration was highly centralized.
• The Emperor was the supreme power and source of all authority.
• He was assisted by a Council of Ministers. It was called ‘Mantriparishad’. The ministers were called ‘Mantris.’
• The council was headed by ‘mantriparishad-adhyakshya’ akin to the Prime Minister of today.
• Tirthas: the Highest category of officials in the administration. There were 18 Tirthas.
• Registration of births and deaths, foreigners, industries, trade, manufacture and sale of goods, sales tax collection were under the administration’s control.
• The smallest unit of administration was the village.
• Head of a village: Gramika Villages had a lot of autonomy.
• Pradeshika was the provincial governor or district magistrates.
• The commander-in-chief of the entire military was called Senapati and his position was next to the Emperor. He was appointed by the Emperor.
• The revenue department chief was called Samaharta

• Mathura became India's most important artistic production centre in the second century BCE, with its highly recognizable red sandstone statues being admired and exported all over India. In particular, it was in Mathura that the distinctive Indian convention of giving sacred figures multiple body parts, especially heads and arms, first became common in art around the 4th century CE, initially exclusively in the Hindu figures, as it derived from the Vedic texts. The Buddha image at Mathura is modelled on the lines of the earlier Yaksha images, whereas in Gandhara, it has Hellenistic features.
• The images of Vaishnava (mainly Vishnu and his various forms) and Shaiva (mainly the Lingas and the Mukhalingas) faiths are also found at Mathura, but Buddhist images are found in large numbers. It may be noted that the images of Vishnu and Shiva are represented by their Ayudhas (weapons). Among the important Stupa sites outside the Gangetic Valley is Devnimori in Gujarat. In the subsequent centuries sculptures had little variations, while slender images with transparent drapery remained a dominant aesthetic sensibility. In this period, two important schools of sculptures in northern India are worth noting.
• The traditional centre, Mathura, remained the main art production site, whereas Sarnath and Kosambi also emerged as important centres of art production. Many Buddha images in Sarnath have plain transparent drapery, covering both shoulders, and the halo around the head has very little ornamentation, whereas the Mathura Buddha images continue to depict folds of the drapery in the Buddha images and the halo around the head is profusely decorated.

The Amaravati School of Art refers to a significant artistic tradition that flourished in Amaravati, an ancient town in present day Andhra Pradesh. It developed from the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The Amaravati School of Art is renowned for its exquisite sculptures and relief works, primarily focused on the Buddhist themes. The sculptural form at the Amaravati site is characterised by intense emotions. Figures are slender, have a lot of movement, bodies are shown with three bents (i.e., Tribhanga), and the sculptural composition is more complex than at Sanchi.

The idea of creating three-dimensional space in the relief sculpture is devised by using pronounced volume, angular bodies and complex overlapping. However, absolute attention has been paid to the clarity of form despite its size and role in the narrative. Narratives are profusely depicted, which include events from the life of the Buddha and the Jataka stories.

The Amaravati style of art experienced a self contained development and flourishing within India for around six centuries, devoid of external influences. The Satavahanas were the earliest patrons of this artistic tradition, which developed and thrived in the lower valleys of the Krishna and the Godavari rivers in Andhra Pradesh. This School of Art encompassed both religious and secular images.

1. Kiratarjuniya is an epic poem by Bharavi written in Sanskrit. It describes the combat between Arjuna and Lord Shiva.
2. Hammira Mahakavya is a 15th century Indian Sanskrit epic poem written by the Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri. It is a legendary biography of the 13th century Chahamana king Hammira.
3. Gaudawaho is an 8th century Prakrit language epic poem written by Vakpatiraja. It narrates the story of king Yashovarman, who was the patron of the poet. The poem deifies the king as an incarnation of God Vishnu and credits him with several military achievements, including slaying of the Gauda king.
4. Dasakumaracharita is a prose romance in Sanskrit written by Dandin, believed to have flourished in 7-8th centuries AD. It describes the adventures of 10 young men, the Kumaras, all of whom are either princes or sons of the royal ministers, as narrated by the men themselves.

The Architecture of Hampi: 
The Tungabhadra flows on the left bank of the city of Vijayanagar. The Sacred Centre and 
the Royal Centre are separated by river-fed canals. 

 Zones of Vijayanagar: The city of Vijayanagar was divided into two halves, i.e., the Sacred Centre and the Royal Centre.  

The Sacred Centre: It was located on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra River. The Sacred Centre was composed of many massive temple complexes separated by fort like walls.  

The Urban Core: It is a walled area of settlement, separated from the Sacred Centre by a small granite mountain and an irrigated valley with intensive agricultural zone irrigated by river-fed canals. This area reflects the religious diversity, as it had Jain temples, Shaivite temples, Vaishnavite temples and a Muslim Quartet.  

The Royal Centre: This was an area contained within the Urban Core containing areas where the royalty and higher classes stayed and numerous walled enclosures protecting monumental structures. The Royal Centre contained palaces, elephant stables, many audience halls and platforms, and also temples (including large temples like the Ramachandra temple).  

Fortified City: Hampi was a well-fortified city and was enclosed by great fortress walls. No mortar or cementing agent was used in the construction of these walls. The walls were made by wedge the blocks of rocks by inter-locking. According to Abdur Razzaq (A Persian traveller), there were seven lines of forts surrounding the city, which encircled not only the city, but also its agricultural hinterlands and forests.  

The oldest historical settlement at Vijayanagar is a Hindu Tirtha, where the local goddess Pampa and her consort Virupaksha, a form of Shiva, are worshipped. Virupaksha cult at Hampi has been in existence since the 8-9th centuries. It survived down to present day as the most important pilgrimage spot in the city of Vijayanagar.  

The Urban Core of Vijayanagar had a block, known as the Islamic Quarters. This enclosure had a mosque, a tomb, an octagonal hall, watch tower and a band-stand tower. The mosque in the complex was built by Ahmad Khan, a military officer under Devaraya in 1439.

Bengal witnessed a temple building spree from the late 15th century. Temple architecture in Bengal got inspired from the double roofed (Dochala) or the four-roofed (Chauchala) structure of thatched huts in the villages, which housed the local deities. The temples were usually built on a square platform. The interior of the temples was relatively plain, but the outer walls of these temples were decorated with paintings, ornamental tiles or teracotta tablets. In the Vishnupur group of temples in Bankura district of West Bengal, such decorations reached a high degree of excellence. This style incorporated elements of dome and multi-lobe arch of the Islamic architecture. The elements of Bengal temple architecture were outside Bengal as well. There are two prominent styles of Bengal temples:

1. Dochala (two-roofed style)

2. Chauchala (four-roofed style): This was a comparatively more complex structure. Here, four triangular roofs placed on four walls move up to converge on a curved line or a point.

• The Lakshmana temple of Khajuraho, dedicated to Vishnu, was built in 954 by the Chandela king, Dhanga. A Nagara temple, it is placed on a high platform accessed by stairs. There are four smaller temples in the corners, and all the towers or the Shikharas rise high, upward in a curved pyramidal fashion, emphasizing the temple’s vertical thrust ending in a horizontal fluted disc, called an Amalak topped with a Kalash or vase. Khajuraho’s temples are also known for their extensive erotic sculptures.
• The erotic expression is given equal importance in human experience as spiritual pursuit, and it is seen as part of a larger cosmic whole. There are many temples at Khajuraho, most of them devoted to the Hindu gods. There are some Jain temples, as well as a Chausanth Yogini temple, which is of interest. Predating the tenth century, this is a temple of small, square shrines of roughly hewn granite blocks, each dedicated to the Devis or the goddesses associated with the rise of the Tantric worship after the seventh century.

• Ibn Battuta found cities in the sub continent full of exciting opportunities for those who had the necessary drive, resources and skills. They were densely populated and prosperous, except for the occasional disruptions caused by wars and invasions. It appears from Ibn Battuta’s account that most cities had crowded streets, and bright and colourful markets that were stacked with a wide variety of goods. Ibn Battuta described Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the largest in India. Daulatabad (in Maharashtra) was no less, and easily rivalled Delhi in size.
• According to Ibn Battuta, the bazaars were not only the places of economic transactions, but also the hub of social and cultural activities. Most bazaars had a mosque and a temple, and in some of them at least, spaces were marked for public performances by dancers, musicians and singers.
• Ibn Battuta found Indian agriculture very productive because of the fertility of the soil, which allowed the farmers to cultivate two crops a year. He also noted that the sub-continent was well integrated with inter-Asian networks of trade and commerce, with the Indian manufactures being in great demand in both West Asia and South-east Asia, fetching huge profits for the artisans and the merchants. Indian textiles, particularly cotton cloth, fine muslins, silks, brocade and satin, were in great demand. Ibn Battuta informs us that certain varieties of fine muslin were so expensive that they could be worn only by the nobles and the very rich.

• The Budget can also be presented to the House in two or more parts and when such presentation takes place, each part shall be dealt with as if it were the budget. Further, there shall be no discussion of the budget on the day on which it is presented to the House.. The finance minister presents the budget with a speech known as the ‘budget speech’. At the end of the speech in the Lok Sabha, the budget is laid before the Rajya Sabha, which can only discuss it and has no power to vote on the demands for grants. The budget documents presented to the Parliament comprise of the following :
  • Budget Speech
  • Annual Financial Statement
  • Demands for Grants
  • Appropriation Bill
  • Finance Bill
  • Statements mandated under the FRBM Act:
    • Macro-Economic Framework Statement
    • Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement
    • Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement
  • Expenditure Budget
  • Receipts Budget
  • Expenditure Profile
  •  Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill (xi) Budget at a Glance
  • Outcome Budget
• Earlier, the Economic Survey also used to be presented to the Parliament along with the budget. Now, it is presented one day or a few days before the presentation of the budget. This report is prepared by the finance ministry and indicates the status of the national economy. Hence option (c) is the correct answer. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• Rules of origin are the rules to attribute a country of origin to a product in order to determine its "economic nationality". The need to establish rules of origin stems from the fact that the implementation of trade policy measures, such as tariffs, quotas, trade remedies, in various cases, depends on the country of origin of the product at hand.
• Rules of origin are used:
  • to implement measures and instruments of commercial policy such as anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures;
  • to determine whether imported products shall receive most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment or preferential treatment;
  • for the purpose of trade statistics;
  • for the application of labelling and marking requirements; and
  • for government procurement.
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has no specific rules governing the determination of the country of origin of goods in international commerce. Each contracting party was free to determine its own origin rules, and could even maintain several different rules of origin depending on the purpose of the particular regulation.
• During international trade, an exporting country needs to show a certificate under norms of "rules of origin" to prove that the commodity or a product originates there. Rules of origin norms help in containing dumping of goods. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

• Millions of baby Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled towards the Bay of Bengal after emerging from eggshells along Odisha’s Rushikulya beach in Ganjam district, recording one of the most successful mass nesting and hatchings in the past few decades.
• Usually, mass nesting takes place for three to four days. However, turtles had come to lay their eggs over a period of nine days this year. After laying eggs, they disappeared into the sea.
• After 50 days, baby turtles have emerged from eggs themselves, without mother turtles, and started their journey towards an unknown destination using a vast seawater route.
• Generally, an Olive Ridley turtle lays 100-150 eggs in a cavity created by them with their front flippers. They scoop out sand for hours to create the void. After laying eggs in one go, these creatures cover it again with sand. Before sunrise, the turtles return to the sea, leaving behind the eggs to hatch after 40-60 days. Sometimes, a turtle lays eggs in a pit at a place which was previously used by another turtle, leading to the loss of thousands of eggs.  Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The Rushikulya beach is a unique phenomenon, which is not a wildlife sanctuary, yet turtles feel safe to carry out mass nesting. Baby turtles started coming out from eggshells in the second week of April this year.  Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• Once a turtle finds the right spot, it settles down to make a shallow nest where it will lay about 100 eggs on average. A turtle uses its flippers to scoop out sand to create a cavity 30 cm to 50 cm deep to lay eggs.
• Growing to about half a metre and 50 kg in weight, the Olive Ridley turtle gets its name from its green grey carapace (top shell). It is the smallest of all the sea turtle species. Olive Ridley turtles, a vulnerable species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, come ashore to the Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha to lay eggs.  Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The Olive Ridley turtles do not wait to see the eggs hatch but come back next season to lay eggs again. They spend their lives in the ocean, inhabiting the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans.
• Turtles also arrive at Gahirmatha Beach in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, known as the world’s largest rookery. Besides, Puri and Devi river mouth beaches too host Olive Ridley turtles this time around.
• As part of a long-term study, researchers of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) continued tagging of Olive Ridley turtles at three mass nesting sites – Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth, and Rushikulya. The metal tags affixed to turtles are non-corrosive and they do not harm their body. The metal can be removed later. The tags are uniquely numbered containing details such as the name of the organization, country code, and email address.

• Recently, West Bengal notified Char Balidanga (Nadia), Namthing Pokhari (Darjeeling), Amkhoi Wood Fossil Park (Birbhum) and State Horticulture Research and Development Station (Nadia) as the four latest Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS) making it the state with the highest number of BHS in India.
• Biodiversity Heritage Sites are well-defined areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems with a high diversity of wild and domesticated species, the presence of rare and threatened species, and keystone species.
• The State Government, in cooperation with local bodies, may designate sites of biological importance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites under the Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
  • Gandhamardan Hill Range is located in Bargarh and Balangir districts, Odisha. Hence pair 1 is not correctly matched.
    • This is the third BHS of Odisha after Mandasuru Gorge in the Kandhamal district and Mahendragiri Hill Range in the Gajapati district.The Gandhamardan Hill, located in both Balangir and Bargarh, is considered as the treasure trove of medicinal plants and an Ayurvedic paradise of Odisha. This ecologically fragile ecosystem is rich in floral and faunal diversity having diverse socio-economic, ecological and biological significance for the people of Odisha.As per the government, the floral diversity of the hill comprises 1,055 plant species that include 849 angiosperms, 56 pteridophytes, 40 bryophytes, 45 lichens and two gymnosperms and 63 species of macrofungi. Moreover, the faunal diversity comprises 500 species of animals that include 43 mammals, 161 birds, 44 reptiles, 16 amphibians, 118 butterflies, 27 dragonflies and 7 damselflies, and 83 species of spiders. One angiosperm, Ficus conccina var dasycarpa and one spider, Peucetia harishankarensis, are endemic to this hill. Besides, two historical monuments such as the Nrusinghanath Temple located on the northern slope and the Harishankar Temple situated on the southern slope of the foothills of Gandhamardan, have immense cultural significance.The two hill shrines are major pilgrimage sites of Odisha. In his chronicles, Hiuen Tsang had described the hill shrine as a Buddhist heritage site named Parimalagiri.In the 1980s, then public sector Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), now under the control of Vedanta Group, had almost started mining of bauxite from Gandhamardan. o Arittapatti is located in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu. Hence pair 2 is correctly matched.
    • Arittapatti village, known for its ecological and historical significance, houses around 250 species of birds including three important raptors - birds of prey, namely the Laggar Falcon, the Shaheen Falcon and Bonelli’s Eagle.Arittapatti village of Melur block in Madurai. It is also home to wildlife such as the Indian Pangolin, Slender Loris and pythons. The area is surrounded by a chain of seven hillocks or inselbergs that serve as a watershed, charging “72 lakes, 200 natural springs and three check dams,” the notification said. The Anaikondan tank, built during the reign of Pandiyan kings in the 16th century is one among them. Several megalithic structures, rock-cut temples, Tamil Brahmi inscriptions and Jain beds add to the historical significance of the region.
  • Namthing Pokhari is located in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Hence pair 3 is not correctly matched.
    • Titled as the natural habitat of the rare endangered species of Himalayan Salamander, Namthing Pokhari is the only place except for Jorpokhari in Darjeeling to inhabit these rarest species in the world. The Himalayan Salamander in Namthing Pokhari is cited to fall under the Tylototriton verrucosus species which is found only in Darjeeling. Therefore, this unique amphibian is conserved under Schedule II Part I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Himalayan Salamander found in Namthing Pokhari is a keystone species of the lentic zones in the Eastern Himalayas. This endangered species belongs to an offshoot of the ancient family Salamandridae, which is known to have existed in Europe during the Miocene age, that is, between 13-25 million years ago. These salamanders are now entirely vanished in the other part of the world. Fortunately, they are still surviving in the solitary Namthing Lake of Shelpu Hills.

• Dakar Declaration
  • ‘Dakar Declaration’ was adopted by 21 African countries committing to strengthening reporting on road crash fatalities, enhancing data capture, analysis, sharing, and coordination to shape better road safety policies. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.
  • It is being conducted at the first African sub-regional conference on implementing the Global Plan for Road Safety in Dakar, Senegal.
  • Other treaties on road safety:
    • The decade of Action for road safety 2021–2030 (target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030);
    • Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety 2020;
    • National Road Safety Policy 2010;
    • Delhi Declaration on Road Safety 2021

• Consumer Price Indices (CPI) measures change over time in the general level of prices of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• In India, CPI measured by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with Base Year 2012. In India, there are four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated, and these are as follows:
  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
  • CPI for Rural Labourers (RL) and
  • CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME). Hence statement 2 is correct.
• While the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation collects CPI (UNME) data and compiles it, the remaining three are collected by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour.
• Inflation is measured using CPI. The percentage change in this index over a period of time gives the amount of inflation over that specific period, i.e. the increase in prices of a representative basket of goods consumed.
• CPI is calculated for a fixed list of items including food, housing, apparel, transportation, electronics, medical care, education, etc. The weightage of food and beverages in the CPI is close to 50%. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• Recently, the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which is now travelling in interstellar space, has gotten a new lease of life after mission engineers developed a new plan to keep its instruments running for longer till 2026.
• Voyager 2 was launched by NASA in 1977, with its initial mission objective of probing space. Currently, it is so far away from Earth that radio signals from the spacecraft take 18 hours to reach us.
• Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 are the only spacecraft that has ever operated outside the heliosphere, which is considered to be the border of our solar system. The heliosphere is a bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun.
• NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close; Cassini-Huygens, commonly called Cassini, was a space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn; Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

• The Capital Account: The Capital Budget is an account of the assets as well as liabilities of the central government, which takes into consideration changes in capital. It consists of capital receipts and capital expenditure of the government. This shows the capital requirements of the government and the pattern of their financing.
  • Capital Receipts: The main items of capital receipts are loans raised by the government from the public which are called market borrowings, borrowing by the government from the Reserve Bank and commercial banks and other financial institutions through the sale of treasury bills, loans received from foreign governments and international organizations, and recoveries of loans granted by the central government. Other items include small savings (Post-Office Savings Accounts, National Savings Certificates, etc), provident funds, and net receipts obtained from the sale of shares in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
  • Capital Expenditure: This includes expenditure on the acquisition of land, buildings, machinery, equipment, investment in shares, and loans and advances by the central government to state and union territory governments, PSUs, and other parties. Capital expenditure is also categorized as plan and non-plan in the budget documents.
    • Plan capital expenditure, like its revenue counterpart, relates to the central plan and central assistance for state and union territory plans.
    • Non-plan capital expenditure covers various general, social, and economic services provided by the government.
  • Note: Revenue receipts are current income receipts from all sources such as taxes, profits of public enterprises, grants, etc. Revenue receipts neither create any liability nor cause any reduction in the assets of the government. Capital receipts, on the other hand, are the receipts of the government that either create liability or cause any reduction in the assets of the government. e.g., borrowings, recovery of loans, and disinvestment, etc.

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was set up in 1982 as an apex body to coordinate the activities of all institutions involved in the rural financing system.  It was established in 1982 under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
• NABARD  is a development bank in India that focuses on providing financial and other support to the agriculture and rural development sectors. It offers a range of financial products and services, including various funds, to meet the needs of its clients.
• NABARD is responsible for supervising and providing financial assistance to the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in India. RRBs are public sector banks that were established to provide banking and financial services to the rural and semi-urban areas of the country.
• Some of the funds managed by NABARD include:
  • Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF),
  • Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF),
  • Rural Innovation Fund (RIF)
• The origins of priority sector (PS) lending can be traced back to 1966 when Morarji Desai saw a need for increasing credit to agriculture and small industries. However, the definition of PS was only formalized based on a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report in the National Credit Council in 1972. The Priority Sector norms are applicable to apply to every Commercial Bank [including Regional Rural Bank (RRB), Small Finance Bank (SFB), and Local Area Bank], and Primary (Urban) Co-operative Bank (UCB) other than Salary Earners’ Bank. As per the PSL norms, the Domestic commercial banks (excluding RRBs & SFBs) & foreign banks with 20 branches and above are mandated to allocate 40 percent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) to the priority sectors.
• Rural Banks were set up on the basis of the recommendations of the Narasimham Working Group (1975), and after the legislation of the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976. The first Regional Rural Bank “Prathama Grameen Bank” was set up on October 2, 1975.
• The first phase of the nationalization of banks took place in 1969. 14 banks were nationalized that year.