UPSC CSE Prelims Paper 1 (GS) Mock Test - 22 (June 6, 2021) - UPSC MCQ

Fresco paintings of Ajanta caves is the art of Guptas. The Ajanta caves in Maharashtra, India have among the most beautiful fresco paintings in the world. They depict scenes from the Jataka tales, which have stories of previous lives of the Buddha. Especially interesting are paintings of the Avalokiteshwara Padmapani and the Vajrapani in Cave number 1.

There are about 10 such rathas in Mahabalipuram, and the most magnificent of these are the Pancha Rathas, a cluster of shrines named after Arjun, Bhima, Dharmaraja (Yudhishtir), Draupadi and Sahdev. However, these are just local names, and the structures have nothing to do with the Pandavas.

The correct option is B.
Taj Mahal is a mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. He built it in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is situated on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. Verses from the Quran were inscribed in calligraphy on the arched entrances to the mausoleum. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

The Metropolitan Museum's ShivaNataraja was made some time in the eleventh century during the Chola Dynasty (9th-13th centuries C.E.) in south India, in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu. A great area innovation within the arts of theChola period was in the field of metalwork, particularly in bronze sculpture.

The correct answer is C as The correct option is C.
Pushyamitra Shunga (IAST: Puṣyamitra Śuṅga) was the founder and first ruler of the Shunga Empire in East India.

The correct answer is A as An example of the Nagara style of architecture is provided by the
Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur

Mauryan art encompasses the arts produced during the period of the Mauryan Empire. Although the art encompasses pillars, stupas, and caves, Pillars are the best specimen as the uniformity of style in the pillars suggests that they were all sculpted by craftsmen from the same region. They were also inscribed with edicts of Ashoka on Dhamma or righteousness.

The Seuna, Sevuna or Yadavas of Devagiri (c. 860–1317) was an Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of the Deccan region. Its territory included present-day Maharashtra, north Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad in modern Aurangabad district, Maharashtra).

B) Chalukyas.
Elephanta Caves are assumed to date back to time of the Silhara Kings. There are legends that suggest that the great warrior Prince of Chalukya Dynasty - Pulkesin ll built the Lord Shiva shrine, to celebrate his victory.

Article 15 provides that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth Article 39(d) – equal pay for equal work for men and women; Article 42 – To make provision for just and humane conditions for work and maternity relief. Article 123 is related with ordinance making power of President and hence do not have any relation to rights of women.

In participatory development (PD), people are willingly involved in a wide range of development activities, as agents and beneficiaries of development. Participatory development seeks to engage local populations in development projects. It is clear from the definition of PD that NGOs, Pressure Groups, and Cooperatives are involved in it. There might be some confusion over how state is a part of PD. It is actually the state activity that can facilitate or hinder PD. If state does not allow NGOs or pressure groups, how can they function? On the other hand, states through their policy and support can facilitate PD. In last few years, the role of the state in participatory development has changed: from the reconstruction and development programme to growth, employment and redistribution.

Regionalism is not necessarily bad. Not all forms of regionalism are against national unity or nationalism. Regionalism can and has existed within the larger framework of nationalism. In this respect, regionalism has helped various regions put their demands before the central leadership. Regionalism is very much conducive to the idea of federalism. Both are helpful in governing large and diverse countries like India. However, at times regionalism has taken forms of secessionism, which goes against national unity. Similarly, at times it has also given rise to hatred among ethnic groups which disturbs national unity and harmony.

Policy implementation and socio -economic development is understood. Some might think how policy making is a role of civil servants. Remember, policies are made on the basis of information and expert knowledge. Civil servants on account of their information and expertise advise politicians on policy making. In reality, its the civil servants that make policies. They can conceal or exaggerate information to drive policy in a particular direction.

In the collegiums system, Judges appoint judges and there is no role of executive. So, statement 1 and 3 are incorrect. It has been argued that the collegiums system has lead to submissiveness of the puisne judges as they may not want to go against their senior judges who may appoint them to higher positions later. Context – This has been in news throughout 2014.

The first two statements are actually the demerits of the FPTP system. There is a mismatch between seat share and vote share. With only a few percent increases in vote share the seats can increase drastically. Votes polled in excess of the votes required to win and those polled for losing candidates are in a sense wasted. Candidates win even after securing as low as 20% votes. However, FPTP system helps establish a clear link between constituency and representative. People know before elections who will represent their constituency.

Governance is what government does. Governance happens everywhere and involves business and markets, Pressure groups and NGOs etc. So, there can be governance without government.

Parliament provides a mechanism to represent people in rule making. They act as checks and balances to the executive power – e.g. any law proposed by government has to passed in parliament; it examines demands for grants, scrutinizes expenditure etc. In this way, it provides legitimacy to a government – making people see the government as ruling in their favour.

Federalism divides the government power between centre and state. At times there may be disagreements between central and state government (e.g. the case of GST). This actually hinders quick decision making. Federalism brings government closer to people helping regional issues gain prominence thus giving voice to regional interests. By dividing government power, it creates a network of checks and balances.

Most people would have thought the answer as MOSPI, because that deals with statistics. The registrar general and census commissioner being under ministry of home affairs would have come to you as a surprise.

Now most of us have this idea that in rural areas people tend to have more children compared to urban areas, so statement 1 might look true. But it is not. The urban decadal growth rate of population is more than that of rural areas. This is because urbanization is increasing. More and more areas are coming under the definition of “urban areas”. There is no point in memorizing how much is urban decadal growth rate and how much is rural one. As I said data/facts are not important, but trends are. The second statement is also true. The contribution of rural and urban areas to the total increase in population is nearly equal – 91 million.

Delhi should be the first and most of you will know this. Even if you didn’t, it’s not hard to figure out that Delhi being quite small in area compared to states, and having a large population (with all those migration) will surely have the highest population density. Now, before 2011 census, WB was the state that had the second highest population density. This changed after the census 2011 report and Bihar overtook WB.

The Census definition of child is one who is between 0 to 6 years of age.

This question might look a bit tough and irrelevant. You are surely not expected to remember the highest and lowest data of various population groups. However, you can get the right answer by elimination. The underlying fact is that scheduled tribes are highest in those states where there are large forest areas. UP certainly don’t have that. Infact, UP has a marginal population of ST. So, eliminate the 3rd statement and you get your ans. UP has largest rural and SC population.

Socio economic and caste census is being conducted the first time in India. It will be undertaken through a comprehensive door to door enumeration across the country to enumerate castes along with socio-economic data. SECC paves the way to identify the households living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas of the country. The following households will have the highest priority for inclusion in the BPL list.
(a) Households without shelter
(b) destitute/living on alms
(c) Manual scavengers
(d) Primitive Tribal Groups
(e) Legally released bonded laborers

Merely being an SC/ST household does not mean belonging to BPL. There are many wealthy among them too. So, including them in the priority group does not make sense.

Adolescents are those in the age group of 10-19 years. Youth are those in the age group of 15-24 years. Sex ratio is the number of women per thousand men.

Since its the other function of the office of the registrar general and census commissioner, it’s important that you know it. In this question, even if you didn’t know the answer, you could apply your knowledge of current affairs. In India, we do not have a uniform civil code. This matter keeps coming up in the newspapers, and we read articles about minorities having their separate personal laws.