UPSC CSE Prelims Paper 1 Practice Test - 34 - UPSC MCQ

Estuarine environments are among the most productive on earth, creating more organic matter each year than comparably-sized areas of forest, grassland or agricultural land. The sheltered waters of estuaries also support unique communities of plants and animals specially adapted for life at the margin of the sea.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the European Union, today launched a new Observatory to drive action on reducing methane emissions.The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) was launched at the G20 Summit, on the eve of the latest round of climate talks, known as COP26 in Glasgow.

IMEO will improve the reporting accuracy and public transparency of human-caused methane emissions. IMEO will initially focus on methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector, and then expand to other major emitting sectors like agriculture and waste.

Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India. Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned.

These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use.

Balpakram National Park is a national park in the south of Garo Hills in Meghalaya, India, located at an altitude of about 910 m (3,000 ft) close to the international border with Bangladesh. It was inaugurated in December 1987 and provides habitat for barking deer, Asian golden cat, Bengal tiger, marbled cat, wild water buffalo, red panda and Indian elephant. It is often compared to The Grand Canyon of USA

The International Law Commission was found in 1947 and 34 members of known expertise elected for a term of 5 years.

The World Economic Forum is partnering with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and over 30 global businesses to invest in innovative green technologies so they are available for massive scale-up by 2030 to enable net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest

Jute is primarily grown in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh. The jute industry in India is 150 years old. There are about 70 jute mills in the country, of which about 60 are in West Bengal along both the banks of river Hooghly. Jute production is a labour intensive industry

There are 53 tiger reserves in India at the moment. Srivilliputhur, Sathyamangalam and Simlipal are declared one of them.

India is largest dairy producer in the world. Dairy contributes 4.2% to Indian economy and under Dairy Sahakar scheme financial support will be lent to farmers.

Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world and are often looked at in similar ways as rain forests and coral reefs. Their physical and chemical features (including climate, topology, and geology) are the deciding factors when it comes to which species inhabit the wetland.

Not only do they provide habitat for these species, but they also provide a large amount of food that helps attract them. The dead plant leaves and stems break down and create organic matter for insects and aquatic animals to feed on which, in turn, are food for the other fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals in the area. With a majority of the animals using wetlands for a portion (or all) of their life, this cycle continues and ensures the wetlands remain healthy and thriving.

The Ganges river dolphin was officially discovered in 1801. Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges.

Gross primary productivity is the amount of carbon fixed during photosynthesis by all producers in the ecosystem. However, a large part of the harnessed energy is used up by the metabolic processes of the producers (respiration). Net primary productivity, or NPP, is gross primary productivity minus the rate of energy loss to metabolism and maintenance. In other words, it's the rate at which energy is stored as biomass by plants or other primary producers and made available to the consumers in the ecosystem.

Prohibition of Cutting/Uprooting Specified Plants: It prohibits the uprooting, damage, collection, possession or selling of any specified plant from any forest land or any protected area. Many other prohibitions come under WPA 1972’s jurisdiction.

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms.

Allogenic  succession is succession driven by the abiotic components of an ecosystem. In contrast, autogenic succession is driven by the biotic components of the ecosystem. 
Not Xerarch but The hydrarch succession may take place in freshwater ecosystems such as ponds, lakes, etc, or in saline water ecosystems such as mangroves, estuaries.

GM is a technology that involves inserting DNA into the genome of an organism. To produce a GM plant, new DNA is transferred into plant cells.
The world's first genetically modified (GM) rubber plant was planted on the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam

Kedarnath Temple was built by Adi Shankaracharya and is among one of the 12 jyotirlingas in India.Kedarnath temple is built on the banks of Mandakini and the mythical Saraswati rivers

A center of origin (or center of diversity) is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties.[2] They are also considered centers of diversity. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov.

• Khel Ratna Award. ...
• Arjuna Award. ...
• Dronacharya Award. ...
• Major Dhyan Chand Award. ...
• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy. ...
• Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar. ...
• Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award. ...
   

In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches

Recent context: The RBI has decided to extend the coverage of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme by including street vendors identified as part of the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) in tier-1 and tier-2 centres as beneficiaries.
Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF):

• ​The Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme was announced by the Reserve Bank on January 5, 2021. The objective of the scheme was to encourage deployment of Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure (both physical and digital modes) in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The objective of PIDF is to increase the number of acceptance devices multi-fold in the country. The Scheme is expected to benefit the acquiring banks / non-banks and merchants by lowering overall acceptance infrastructure costs.
• It envisages creating 30 lakh new touchpoints every year for digital payments
• The Validity Period of PIDF is three years from January 01, 2021, extendable by two further years, if necessary.
• PIDF is governed by an ex-officio Advisory Council (AC). § The composition of the AC consists of members like Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association, Chief General Manager, DFIBT, NABARD etc.
• The primary focus shall be to create payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres o Contributions to the PIDF shall be mandatory for banks and card networks. RBI shall contribute ₹250 crores to the corpus; the authorised card networks shall contribute in all ₹100 crores
  • The card-issuing banks shall also contribute to the corpus based on the card issuance volume (covering both debit cards and credit cards) at the rate of ₹1 and ₹3 per debit and credit card issued by them, respectively. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

The PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on June 01, 2020 for providing affordable Working Capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.

• On World Environment Day (June 5), Uttarakhand became the first state in India to take into account Gross Environment Product (GEP) while calculating its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Four critical natural resources- Air, Water, Forest and Soil- will be assigned monetary values. The quality and quantity of these natural resources would determine the GEP of Uttarakhand.
• Environmentalists estimate that Uttarakhand through its biodiversity gives services to the tune of Rs 95,112 crore per year to the nation.
• Discussions on having a GEP in the state came after the Kedarnath disaster (2013) and were further accentuated by the acute water shortage in the state during summers.
• Gross Environment Product (GEP):
  • ​It is the total value of final ecosystem services supplied to human well-being in a region annually and can be measured in terms of biophysical value and monetary value.
  • It indicates the overall health of the environment as GEP measures prime indicators such as forest cover, soil erosion, air quality and dissolved oxygen in river water.
  • Unlike Green GDP which is obtained after deducting the damage to the environment from the total production of the state, GEP will assess the improvement in the environmental components in a year. Further, it will tell how much work the state has done in reducing the loss of the ecosystem in environmental protection and resource use.

Hence, option (c) is the correct answer

• The Munda rebellion or Ulgulan is one of the most prominent tribal revolts in the history of Indian Independence. Ulgulan means 'Great Tumult'.
• The rebellion of the Munda tribesmen, led by Birsa Munda, occurred during 1899-1900. For over thirty years the Munda sardars had been struggling against the destruction of their system of common land holdings by the intrusion of jagirdar, thikadar (revenue farmers) and merchant moneylenders. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• Birsa Munda, born in a poor share-cropper household in 1874, had a vision of God in 1895. He declared himself to be a divine messenger, possessing miraculous healing powers
• Thousands gathered around him seeing in him a Messiah with a new religious message.Birsa Munda became a critic of the traditional tribal customs, religious beliefs and practices. He called upon the Mundas to fight against superstition, give up animal sacrifice, stop taking intoxicants, to wear the sacred thread and retain the tribal tradition of worship.
• It was essentially a revivalist movement, which sought to purge Munda society of all foreign elements and restore its pristine character.
• But the movement later attained agrarian and political undertones. Birsa began to move from village to village, organising rallies and mobilising his followers on religious and political grounds. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Birsa had a positive political programme, his object being the attainment of independence, both religious and political. The movement sought the assertion of the rights of the Mundas as the real proprietors of the soil. This ideal agrarian order, according to Birsa, would be possible in a world free from the influence of European officials and missionaries, thus necessitating the establishment of the Munda Raj.
• On Christmas Eve, 1899, Birsa proclaimed a rebellion to establish Munda rule in the land and encouraged ‘the killing of thikadars and jagirdars and Rajas and Hakims (rulers) and Christians.’ Saiyug would be established in place of the present-day Kalyug. He declared that ‘there was going to be a fight with the dikus, the ground would be as red as the red flag with their blood.’ The non-tribal poor were not to be attacked.
• To bring about liberation, Birsa gathered a force of 6,000 Mundas armed with swords, spears, battle-axes, and bows and arrows. He was, however, captured in the beginning of February 1900 and he died in jail in June and rebellion came to an end.
• Nirang Phidu was a Singhphos Chief who led the Singhphos rebellion in 1843 in Assam.

• Sir Subbier Subramaniya Iyer was popularly known as 'Mani Iyer'. Just as Dadabhai Naoroji elicited the title 'Grand Old Man of India' by his services to his countrymen, Sir S. Subramania Iyer earned the title 'Grand Old Man of South India' by rendering yeoman's service to the people of the Madras Presidency.
• The Government awarded a Certificate of Merit to Subramaniya Iyer on 1 January 1877 as a mark of their appreciation of his services to the public, on the occasion of Lord Lytton's Durbar at Delhi. Government appointed him Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor in 1888, the first Indian to be appointed so. As Government Pleader, he appeared in two sensational cases – the Nageswara Iyer Forgery Case and the Tirupati Mahant Case. He was appointed an Acting Judge in 1891 and continued in that position until being appointed a Judge of the Madras High Court in January 1895.The Government conferred upon Subramaniya Iyer the Knighthood on the New Year Day of 1900.
• He renounced Knighthood in 1917 on arrest of Annie Besant during the suppression of Home Rule League.
• Subramaniya Iyer was one of the "Brave 72" who founded the Indian National Congress. He led the Madras contingent to the first session of the Indian National congress held in Bombay in December 1885.
• Subramanyia Iyer was a great admirer of Mrs. Besant, leader of the Theosophical Movement in India and founder of the Home Rule League in Madras. He agreed to serve as the Hon. President of the All India Home Rule League established in Madras on 1 September 1916.

• Kisan Sabhas were coming into existence in different states. In Bengal, the Kisan Sabha was set up as an offshoot of the Communist Party of India. The Kisan Sabha took up the issues of the sharecroppers and started a movement at Jessore and Khulna, now the parts of Bangladesh, the Kisan Sabha submitted a 70- page memorandum to the Land Revenue Commission in 1939.
• In March 1940, the Land Revenue Commission, headed by F.L.C Floud, and thus popularly known as the Floud Commission, published its report which suggested several reforms. Along with other recommendations, the Commission suggested two important reforms:
  • The sharecroppers should retain 2/3rd share of total crops
  • Produce must be stacked in the khamars of the sharecroppers.
• These recommendations of the Land Commission galvanised the farmers. The Kisan Sabha took up the issue and started mobilising the sharecroppers. At the 4th provincial Kisan conference held at Panjia, Jessore in June 1940, the call for Tebhaga was given. But the start of World War II and the great famine delayed the movement.
• After the World War, Bengal Kisan Sabha Council met in September 1946 and gave the call to launch the Tebhaga movement. Thus, the Tebhaga Movement started in September 1946.

Hence option (c) is the correct answer

• The Delhi Durbars were grand events organised by the Viceroys to mark the coronations of Emperors or Empresses. Hence, these were also known as the Coronation Durbars. Durbar which means a ‘court of a ruler’ in Persian was adopted by the British from the Mughals. The idea was to come across to the people of India as the’ heirs of the Mughals’.
• Delhi Durbar 1877: The Viceroy, Lord Lytton was asked to hold an Imperial Assemblage as Queen Victoria assumed the title of ‘Empress of India’.
• Delhi Durbar 1903: The second Durbar was held in 1903 and was not just an Assemblage but a grand affair that marked the succession of Edward VII.
• The Darbar of 1911: marked the succession of King George V. This Durbar was historic for two reasons; one it was the only one attended by the Emperor himself and second, this was where the shifting of the Imperial Capital from Calcutta to Delhi was announced. The annulment of the Partition of Bengal was also announced during the ceremony.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Direct Democracy:

• It is a form of self-government in which all collective decisions are taken through the direct participation of all adult citizens of the state in the spirit of equality and open deliberations. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• ‘Gram Sabha’, as envisaged in the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, is an instance of direct democracy in rural India. It is a body consisting of all persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level. All the people collectively make a decision regarding matters concerning the village population. For instance, they approve of the plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before such plans, programmes and projects are taken up for implementation by the Panchayat at the village level. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Gram Panchayat is not a form of direct democracy as people choose representatives to the Panchayat.
• The following principles apply in direct democracy:
  • People are sovereign
  • Sovereignty is inalienable and cannot be represented.
  • People must express their general will and make decisions
  • Decisions are to be based on majority rule

• Khirsapati, also known as Himsagar is a GI-certified mango from West Bengal. The inside of Khirsapati is yellow to orange in colour and does not have any fibre.
  • Recently, these mangoes were exported to Bahrain.
• Gholvad Sapota: It is a Geographical Indication (GI) certified fruit from the Palghar district of Maharashtra.
  • GI certification of Gholvad Sapota is held by Maharashtra Rajya Chikoo Utpadak Sangh and the fruit is known for its sweet and unique taste. It is believed that the unique taste is derived from calcium rich soil of Gholvad village.
  • Recently, it was exported to the United Kingdom.
• Jardalu Mangoes: Jardalu mangoes are from the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. It received GI certification in 2018.
  • Recently first commercial consignment of Geographical Indications (GI) certified Jardalu mangoes were exported to the United Kingdom.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

• The Charter Act of 1813 was an important act that gave a push towards westernisation in India.
• By the 1813 Act, The company’s rule was extended to another 20 years. But it ended the monopoly of the East India Company of trade in India, the company’s monopoly in trade with China and trade in tea with India was kept intact. Thus, trade with India for all commodities except Tea was thrown open to all British subjects.
• There was also a provision that Company should invest Rs. 1 Lakh every year on the education of Indians. It empowered the Local Governments in India to impose taxes on persons and to punish those who did not pay them.
• The act also granted permission to the persons who wished to go to India for promoting moral and religious improvements for example, christian missionaries.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer

• The Administrative Tribunals Act of 1985 empowers the Central government to establish the State Administrative Tribunals (SATs) on specific request of the concerned state governments. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• The SATs exercise original jurisdiction in relation to recruitment and all service matters of state government employees.
• The chairman and members of the SATs are appointed by the President after consultation with the governor of the state concerned. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The act also makes a provision for setting up of joint administrative tribunal (JAT) for two or more states.
  • A JAT exercises all the jurisdiction and powers exercisable by the administrative tribunals for such states.
  • The chairman and members of a JAT are appointed by the president after consultation with the governors of the concerned states.

Hence statement 3 is correct