UPSC CSE Prelims Paper 1 (GS) Mock Test - 16 - UPSC MCQ

• Statement 1 is correct: Chauth was a tax which small Kingdoms or dynasties had to pay to the Marathas. This was a kind of security money to protect their own territory from Maratha invasions. It was not collected in the Maratha kingdom but in the neighbouring territories of mughals or Deccan Sultanate. Shivaji appointed his own revenue officials known as Karkuns.

• Statement 2 is correct: Sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% tax levied on the Chauth. It was claimed on those lands which Marathas claimed to be having hereditary rights. It was started by Maharaja Som Shah of Ramnagar.

The Official Language Amendment Act 1967 provides for continuing use of English in official work. The act mandated that both Hindi and English will be used for the purpose of Resolutions, General Orders, Administrative reports and other official papers which were to be laid before the both Houses of Parliament. According to Munshi Ayyangar Formula (1949) English was to continue as the official language of India alongwith Hindi for a period of 15 years, but this limit can be changed and power of extension was given to the Parliament. Munshi and Ayyangar represented Pro Hindi and English blocs respectively. The Munshi Ayyangar formula is considered as the basis for the provisions of language in the Constitution. It recommended Hindi with Devanagari script, Union Government to develop and promote hindi language, State government free to choose their own official language etc.

The first Official Language commission was appointed in 1955 with BG Kher as Chairman. It submitted its report in 1956. The Commission was constituted by the President of India according to Article 344 of the Constitution. The three language formula was proposed by the Government of India in 1968 which provided for the study of Hindi, English and modern Indian language in Hindi speaking state and Hindi, English and Regional language in non-Hindi speaking state.

Learning poverty means being unable to read and understand simple text by the age of 10. This indicator brings together schooling and learning indicators with the share of children who have not achieved minimum reading efficiency and is adjusted by the proportion of children who are out of school and assumed not able to read proficiently. The average Human Capital Index score across countries is 0.56 which means that by the age of 18 a child will be only 56% proficient as compared to a child having standard education and health. The World Bank along with UNESCO has a global learning target of reducing the learning Poverty Rate by half before 2030.

• Statement 1 is correct: The main objective of the Regulating Act was to solve the issue of dual administration instituted by Lord Clive. The Regulating Act 1773 was the first intervention by the British Government in the Company's territorial affair. The Governor General of Bengal now had supervisory powers over presidencies of Madras and Bombay. Warren Hastings became the first Governor General of India. The act recognised the political function of the company and set up a written constitution for British ownership in India instead of arbitrary rule of the company.

• Statement 2 is correct: The British Government appointed a council of 4 men to advice and control Governor General. The four members were Clavering, Monson, Barwell and Francis. These members could only be removed by the British Queen on recommendation from the Court of Directors.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: The Supreme Court established had Original and Appellate Jurisdiction. It had one Chief Justice, Sir Elijah Imphey and 3 other Judges. It was given jurisdiction over all the British subjects. The Supreme Court was made to respect religious and social customs of Indians. Appeals can be made to the provincial courts and finally to the King in Council

• Statement 1 is correct: Rajah Moonje pact serves as a model for the scheduled communities not to compromise justice nor would get carried away by the Divide and Rule policy of the British. Rajah was a leader of Justice Party and the first to organise scheduled castes at the national level. He was also the pioneer of the mid-day meal scheme in India.

• Statement 2 is correct: MC Rajah concluded the pact with two members of Congress, BS Moonje and Jadhav. According to the pact Moonje offered reserved seats for scheduled castes in return for Rajah support. Rajah did not support the conversion of scheduled castes from hinduism. Moonje was a social reformer and founded schools, gymnasiums and hostels for dalit children

Mahishmati was an ancient city in present Central India. It is said to be the most important part of the Avanti Kingdom. Its mention can be found in Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Epics. Epigraphic records suggest that it may have served the capital of Kalachuri Kingdom. Uraiyur in Tamil means the residence. Uraiyur was the capital of early Cholas. Found near today's Tiruchirapalli it was ruled by Karikalan, a Chola King. Korkai is a small village in Tamil Nadu. It was a port city and trade centre in Pandyan Kingdom. It is mentioned in the Sangam Literature as well as classical Western Literature. Keeladi is a village near Madurai Border in Tamil Nadu. The excavations in this area reveal evidence of the Sangam era.

Ajivika is a heterodox school of Indian Philosophy founded by Makkhali Gosala. The school is known for its Fate doctrine which states that there is no free will and everything is predestined as a function of cosmic principle.

Antinomianism is a view that rejects laws and legal aspects and encourages going against social and moral norms. Ajivaks believe that there is no objective moral law. Tamil Literature suggests that Ajivaks practised Ahimsa and were non-meat eaters.

Ajivaks had atheistic philosophy. They did not presume any deity as the creator of the Universe. They believe that the soul exists in every being. The soul has a material form that helps in focusing while meditating.

Megalithic burials were done in stone capped burial monuments and similar interment arrangements in stone. The Urns were earthen pots for man in sitting posture. The dead men were placed in sitting posture in earthenware pots. The pot was then filled with Sand rice and other grains. Burials in subterranean chambers formed of stone slabs is called Cist burial. A number of burials of this type have been excavated. The main burial chamber was around 8 ft large and 7 feet deep. There were smaller elaborate small chambers and partitions.

One more type of burial is grave burial in which the body is buried in a horizontal position. 

• Statement 1 is correct: Lord Krishna is also known as Girdhar Gopal. Mirabai was a mystic poet and devotee of Lord Krishna. She sang in praise of Lord Krishna having deep devotion and complete surrender to Lord Krishna. Even today some of her compositions are sung in India like ―Payo ji maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo”. She finds mention in Sikh literature also. Prem Ambodh Pothi dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh includes poetry of Mirabai.

• Statement 2 is correct: Tulsidas is also known as Goswami Tulsidas was a Vaishnava saint and poet devoted to Lord Rama. He is best known for his epic Ramcharitmanas written in Awadhi. He is also the founder of Sankatmochan Temple in Varanasi, dedicated to Lord Hanuman. He is also credited for Ramlila folk theatre plays which are popular all over India.

• Statement 1 is correct: Bengal British India society was founded in Calcutta in 1843. George Thompson played a major role in Its establishment. The organization was represented by intellectuals from Bengal especially the Young Bengal group. Its membership was open to all adults donating to the society funds. The society sent petitions urging the government for increasing employment of Indians in public offices and asking for judicial reforms.

• Statement 2 is correct: The Ghadar Mutiny or Ghadar conspiracy was a plan to initiate pan India mutiny in the British Indian Army to overthrow British in India. It was planned that mutiny will start Punjab to be followed in Bengal and then to the rest of India. The British intelligence thwarted the plan at the last moment and hence the mutiny could not happen. Consequently, new laws were introduced like The Foreigners Act 1914, Defence of India Act 1915.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Gandhi wrote and issued ―Green Pamphlet” at Rajkot in which he exposed the conditions of Indentured labourers and coolies in South Africa. The British government considered it as an anti-government publication. When Gandhi reached Durban his ship was not allowed to dock for three days and later on he was even beaten by the Britishers.

Marsiya is derived from Arabic word which means tragedy for a departed soul. It is written to commemorate the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain and the Battle of Karbala. It is a form of Urdu Poetry and its tradition first evolved in Delhi and Deccan but it reached its peak during the Nawabs of Lucknow. Mir Anis and Mirza Dabir are among the most iconic poets of marsiya. Depicting events of 7th century Arabia in a manner relating to South Asian audience is also a unique feature of it.

ICEDASH: Ease of Doing Business monitoring dashboard of the Indian Customs helping the public see the daily Customs clearance times of import cargo ATITHI: Easy to use mobile app for international travelers to file the Customs declaration in advance.

Two new IT initiatives – ICEDASH and ATITHI – for improved monitoring and pace of Customs clearance of imported goods and facilitating arriving international passengers by electronic filing of Customs baggage and currency declarations.

ICEDASH is an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) monitoring dashboard of the Indian Customs helping the public see the daily Customs clearance times of import cargo at various ports and airports. With ICEDASH, Indian Customs has taken a lead globally to provide an effective tool that helps the businesses compare clearance times across ports and plan their logistics accordingly. This dashboard has been developed by CBIC in collaboration with NIC. ICEDASH can be accessed through the CBIC website.

• Statement 1 is correct. The sangai deer is an endemic and endangered subspecies of brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India. It is also the state animal of Manipur. Its original natural habitat is the floating marshy grasslands of the Keibul Lamjao National Park, located in the southern parts of the Loktak Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in eastern India.

• Statement 2 is incorrect. The hispid hare also called Assam rabbit and bristly rabbit is found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and possibly Bhutan. The species inhabits tracts of early successional tall grasslands and takes refuge in marshy areas or grasses adjacent to river banks during the dry season, when these areas are susceptible to burning.

• Statement 3 is incorrect. The markhor is native to Central Asia, Karakoram and the Himalayas. It is listed on the IUCN Red List as Near Threatened. Markhor are adapted to mountainous terrain, and can be found between 600 and 3,600 meters in elevation. They typically inhabit scrub forests made up primarily of oaks, pines and junipers.

• Pair 1 is incorrectly matched. The Dhuandhar Falls is a waterfall in Jabalpur district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The Narmada River, making its way through the marble rocks, narrows down and then plunges to form the waterfall.

• Pair 2 is correctly matched. Kempty Falls is the most popular and one of the oldest tourist spots near Mussoorie. The Kempty Falls, and the area around is surrounded by high mountain ranges at an altitude of 4500 feet.

• Pair 3 is correctly matched. Nohkalikai Waterfalls is around 5 km from Cherrapunjee and is the fourth highest waterfall in the world. Falling from a height of 1,100 ft, this fall is a great attraction of Cherrapunjee.

Gross value added (GVA) is defined as the value of output less the value of intermediate consumption. It is used to measure the output or contribution of a particular sector. When such GVAs from all sectors (∑ GVA) are added together and adding taxes (product) and reducing subsidies (product), we can get the GDP (at market price). GVA thus shows the production contribution of a particular sector.

Technically, GDP at Market Prices = ∑ GVA at basic prices + product taxes – product subsidies.

In this context, when GVA from all sectors are added together and necessary adjustment for taxes and subsidies are made, we will get the GDP for the economy.

GVA is for a particular sector ∑GVA is for the economy GDP is for the economy When the value of taxes on products (less subsidies on products) is added to the gross value added, the sum of gross value added for all resident units gives the value of gross domestic product (GDP). Thus, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any nation represents the sum total of gross value added (GVA) in all the sectors of that economy during the said year after adjusting for taxes and subsidies.

Transplantation technique is a form of active reef restoration that is usually designed to assist natural recovery processes of the reef. It includes the transplanting of living corals from one location to another. Other reef restoration techniques include installing branching ceramic stoneware on damaged reefs for new corals to colonize, and using electrolysis within reef-associated water currents to accelerate the deposition of calcium carbonate.

ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is a plate-based assay technique designed for detecting and quantifying peptides, proteins, antibodies and hormones. In an ELISA, an antigen must be immobilized to a solid surface and then complexed with an antibody that is linked to an enzyme. Detection is accomplished by assessing the conjugated enzyme activity via incubation with a substrate to produce a measurable product. The most crucial element of the detection strategy is a highly specific antibody-antigen interaction.

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was the first biosphere reserve in India established in the year 1986. It is located in the Western Ghats and spreads over parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Nilgiri Biosphere reserve includes Bandipur and Nagarhole Tiger Reserves; Aralam, Mudumalai, Mukurthi and Silent Valley national parks as well as the Wayanad and Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuaries.

• Statement 1 is correct. Indian elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia. It has been declared as the national heritage animal of India.

• Statement 2 is incorrect. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. The main threats to the asian elephant include agriculture, hunting and biological resource use.

• Statement 3 is correct. It is included in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Species included in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 get absolute protection and offences under this schedule attract the maximum penalties.

• Statement 4 is correct. India’s proposal to include Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican in Appendix I of the UN Convention on migratory species was unanimously accepted at the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on MigratorySpecies (CMS).

• Pair 1 is incorrectly matched. The purple frog, also known as pignose frog, was first discovered in October 2003 in the Idukki district of Kerala. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. The purple frog has a bloated body with short stout limbs and is dark purple to greyish in colour.

• Pair 2 is correctly matched. The Indus Dolphin can only be found in the lower parts of the Indus River in Pakistan and in River Beas, a tributary of the Indus River in Punjab, India. They have adapted to life in the muddy river and are functionally blind. They rely on echolocation to navigate, communicate and hunt prey including prawns, catfish, and carp.

• Pair 3 is correctly matched. Jerdon's Courser is a nocturnal bird known only from Eastern Ghats. It is listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN red list. It inhabits open patches within scrub-forest. Their habitat is under tremendous pressure due to various anthropogenic activities.

Kyoto protocol aims to reduce emissions of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and toxic trace pollutants in exhaust gases. The Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level ozone covers four air pollutants - sulphur (mainly sulphur dioxide), nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOC) other than methane and particulate matter. The key aims of the International Nitrogen Initiative are to optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production and minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.

Scientists at the National Centre for Microbial Resource — National Centre for Cell Science (NCMRNCCS) in Pune have reported a new archaeon (a kind of microorganism), which they discovered in Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan. Archaea (singular archaeon) are a primitive group of microorganisms that thrive in extreme habitats such as hot springs, cold deserts and hypersaline lakes. These slow-growing organisms are also present in the human gut, and have a potential relationship with human health. They are known for producing antimicrobial molecules, and for antioxidant activity with applications in eco-friendly waste-water treatment.

• Statement 1 is correct. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) supports society by providing authoritative information about the past, present and future climate in Europe and the rest of the World. It offers free and open access to climate data and tools based on the best available science.

• Statement 2 is correct. The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) provides regular and systematic reference information on the physical and biogeochemical state, variability and dynamics of the ocean and marine ecosystems for the global ocean and the European regional seas. The service also contributes to the protection and the sustainable management of living marine resources in particular for aquaculture, sustainable fisheries management or regional fishery organisations decisionmaking process.

• Statement 3 is correct. The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) supports applications in a variety of domains such as spatial and urban planning, forest management, water management, agriculture and food security, nature conservation and restoration, rural development, ecosystem accounting and mitigation/adaptation to climate change.