UPSC Prelims Past Year 2020: Paper 1 (GS) - UPSC MCQ

► Recently, it has been demonstrated that functionalized carbon nanotubes can be degraded by oxidative enzymes . This finding is offering a new perspective for the development of carbon nanotubes in medicine.

► Enabling technology would facilitate the making of nanodevices using these blood-compatible nanomaterials as building blocks for biomedical applications such as artificial implants, including structural tissue replacements, that is, artificial blood vessels, or functional devices such as drug delivery matrices.

► Biochemical Sensors Using Carbon Nanotube Arrays

► NASA has successfully demonstrated a miniaturized electronics technology with extremely high sensitivity and simplified sample preparation for in-vitro detecting specific biomarker signatures, which is based on incorporating embedded vertically aligned carbon nanotubes as nanoelectrode arrays in diagnostics devices. 

Drones are already well known to spread pesticides and inspecting volcanoes remotely. Hence statements 1 and 2 are true.

Since 2015 Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod have begun using a helicopter-style drone to monitor humpback whales off the coast, collecting breath samples from their blowholes and taking aerial pictures. Getting a breath sample from a whale isn't the easiest task in the world. But with the help of a hexacopter, scientists are getting the job done.
Therefore, the correct answer is (d).

► The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a mission led by the European Space Agency to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves, tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time from astronomical sources.LISA would be the first dedicated space-based gravitational wave detector. It aims to measure gravitational waves directly by using laser interferometry.

► The LISA concept has a constellation of three spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides 2.5 million km long, flying along an Earth-like heliocentric orbit. The distance between the satellites is precisely monitored to detect a passing gravitational wave

Generation of pig induced pluripotent stem cells using an extended pluripotent stem cell culture system.

Pigs have emerged as one of the most popular large animal models in biomedical research, which in many cases is considered as a superior choice over rodent models. In addition, transplantation studies using pig pluripotent stem (PS) cell derivatives may serve as a testbed for safety and efficacy prior to human trials. Recently, it has been shown that mouse and human PS cells cultured in LCDM (recombinant human LIF, CHIR 99021, (S)-(+)-dimethindene maleate, minocycline hydrochloride) medium exhibited extended developmental potential (designated as extended pluripotent stem cells, or EPS cells), which could generate both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues in chimeric mouse conceptus. 

Statement 3 is not correct, each vaccine has some mild side effects , so 3rd option can be eliminated.

Statement 2 is correct, Pneumococcal disease is caused by bacteria  thus by using this vaccine dependence on antibiotics could be reduced 

Statement 1 is correct: The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is 97?effective in preventing bacteremia and meningitis. It can also help prevent ear infections and pneumonia.

A public key infrastructure is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption.

Both animal and plant cells have mitochondria, but only plant cells have chloroplasts. Plants don’t get their sugar from eating food, so they need to make sugar from sunlight. This process (photosynthesis) takes place in the chloroplast. Once the sugar is made, it is then broken down by the mitochondria to make energy for the cell. Because animals get sugar from the food they eat, they do not need chloroplasts: just mitochondria.

• Both plant and animal cells have vacuoles. A plant cell contains a large, singular vacuole that is used for storage and maintaining the shape of the cell. In contrast, animal cells have many, smaller vacuoles. 3 is correct.
• Plant cells have a cell wall, as well as a cell membrane. In plants, the cell wall surrounds the cell membrane. This gives the plant cell its unique rectangular shape. Animal cells simply have a cell membrane, but no cell wall. 1 is correct.
• Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts, plasmodesmata, and plastids used for storage, and a large central vacuole, whereas animal cells do not. 2 is incorrect.

Benzene (CAS Registry Number 71-43-2; C₆H₆; molecular weight 78.1 g/mol) is an aromatic compound with a single six-member unsaturated carbon ring. It is a clear, colourless, volatile, highly flammable liquid with a characteristic odour and a density of 874 kg/m³ at 25°C.

Where benzene is found and how it is used

• Benzene is formed from both natural processes and human activities.
• Natural sources of benzene include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.
• Benzene is widely used in the United States. It ranks in the top 20 chemicals for production volume.
• Some industries use benzene to make other chemicals that are used to make plastics, resins, and nylon and synthetic fibers. Benzene is also used to make some types of lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides.

How you could be exposed to benzene

• Outdoor air contains low levels of benzene from tobacco smoke, gas stations, motor vehicle exhaust, and industrial emissions.
• Indoor air generally contains levels of benzene higher than those in outdoor air. The benzene in indoor air comes from products that contain benzene such as glues, paints, furniture wax, and detergents.
• The air around hazardous waste sites or gas stations can contain higher levels of benzene than in other areas.
• Benzene leaks from underground storage tanks or from hazardous waste sites containing benzene can contaminate well water.
• People working in industries that make or use benzene may be exposed to the highest levels of it.
• A major source of benzene exposure is tobacco smoke.
• Benzene in particular, one of the main organic compounds emitted by wood-burning, has the potential to cause cancer.

How benzene works

• Benzene works by causing cells not to work correctly. For example, it can cause bone marrow not to produce enough red blood cells, which can lead to anemia. Also, it can damage the immune system by changing blood levels of antibodies and causing the loss of white blood cells.
• The seriousness of poisoning caused by benzene depends on the amount, route, and length of time of exposure, as well as the age and preexisting medical condition of the exposed person.

Being dependent on Short term borrowings means India will face cash crunch in times of global crisis as there will be global liquidity crunch. 1 is correct.

The International movement of capital is not always free; countries restrict flows of capital as and when needed to safeguard their markets from erratic flows of capital. In India, for example, there are restrictions on the movement of foreign capital and the rupee is not fully convertible on capital account. 2 is incorrect.

What does Capital Account Convertibility mean?

CAC means the freedom to convert rupee into any foreign currency (Euro, Dollar, Yen, Renminbi etc.) and foreign currency back into rupee for capital account transactions. In very simple terms it means, Indian’s having the freedom to convert their local financial assets into foreign ones at market determined exchange rate. CAC will lead to a free exchange of currency at a lower rate and an unrestricted movement of capital.

The consensus that emerges from the literature focussing on the implications of foreign bank lending during the global financial crisis (GFC) is that foreign banks seem to promote instability through rapid cut backs in their lending relative to domestic banks. Opening up to foreign banks will be riskier in times of crisis. The banks may move out the capital to their origin countries. 3 is incorrect.

If a person withdraws 1,00,000 in cash from his/her Demand Deposit Account at your bank Aggregate money supply in the economy will be unchanged 

M3 consists of both cash held by public and Demand Deposit. The money that has been withdrawn from Demand Deposit is just added to cash (both are components of M3), so aggregate money supply will not have any immediate effect.

Pāramitā (Sanskrit, Pali) or pāramī (Pāli), is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as noble character qualities generally associated with enlightened beings

The indigo production collapsed in Bengal, after the revolt.. Discovery of synthetic dyes in the late nineteenth century severely affected the business

The initial attempt to train the Civil Servants locally was done by Lord Wellesley. Within the campus of the Fort William, he founded Fort Williams College on 10 July 1800.

The idea was to teach the Britishers to understand the Oriental culture, tradition, law and administration to better coordinate in the “governance”.

Born in 1875 in the Munda tribe. He is often referred to as ‘Dharti Abba’ or the Earth Father.

He led the rebellion that came to be known as Ulgulan (revolt) or the Munda rebellion against the British government-imposed feudal state system.

Pushyamitra’s Guru, Patanajali, one of the greatest geniuses in Indian history was a student of another very famous genius Panini, has written Mahabhashya, a commentary on Panini’s grammar and a very celebrated work on Sanskrit literary. 1 is incorrect.

Amarasimha was a Sanskrit grammarian and poet from ancient India, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been "one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya," and according to the evidence of Xuanzang, this is the Chandragupta Vikramaditya who flourished about CE 375. 2 is incorrect.

Chandragupta II (also known as Chandragupta Vikramaditya) was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta Empire in India. His rule spanned c. 380 – c. 415 CE during which the Gupta Empire reached its peak. Kālidāsa was a Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language of India. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. 3 is correct.

Pronuclear transfer involves the transfer of pronuclei from one zygote to another. This technique first requires fertilisation of healthy donated egg/s (provided by the mitochondrial donor) with the intending male parent sperm.

Simultaneously, the intending mother's affected oocytes are fertilised with the intending father's sperm. Both sets of fertilised oocytes are allowed to develop to the early zygote stage where the pronuclei are visible. 

Pronuclear transfer has the potential to 'treat' human mtDNA disease at a genetic level. D is correct.

Mutations in mtDNA are a cause of mitochondrial disease, a heterogeneous group of diseases that can lead to premature death, sometimes in infancy or childhood. Most mitochondrial diseases lack specific treatments, and women who carry the causative mutations are at high risk of transmitting the diseases to their offspring. Risk of transmission is greatest for women with high heteroplasmy—women whose total mtDNA content in affected cells or tissues is made up of between 60 and 90 percent mutated mtDNA

Both maternal spindle transfer and pronuclear transfer attempt to minimize heteroplasmy by replacing the mother’s mitochondria with healthy donor mitochondria.

• Artificial intelligence has the potential to cut energy waste, lower energy costs, and facilitate and accelerate the use of clean renewable energy sources in power grids worldwide. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Artificial intelligence can hold a meaningful conversation like humans, write songs and stories. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Artificial Intelligence is just as good at diagnosing a disease based on a medical image as healthcare professionals. AI-based software can tell whether a patient has a certain disease even before evident symptoms appear. In their latest research, Google proves that a neural network can be trained to detect signs of lung cancer earlier and faster than trained radiologists. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• Google Assistant speech recognition AI uses deep neural networks to learn how to better understand spoken commands and questions as well as for text-to-speech conversion. Hence statement 4 is correct.
• We can mark the option 4th is correct. However, in wireless power transfer, online prediction of the receiver positions is necessary in order to efficiently charge the power receivers. The prediction accuracy of AI is very high. Hence statement 5 is correct.

Visible light communication (VLC) is a data communications variant which usesvisible light between 400 and 800 THz (780–375 nm). VLC is a subset of optical wireless communications technologies. 1 is correct.

The technology uses fluorescent lamps (ordinary lamps, not special communications devices) to transmit signals at 10 kbit/s, or LEDs for up to 500 Mbit/s over short distances. 

Systems such as RONJA can transmit at full Ethernet speed (10 Mbit/s) over distances of 1–2 kilometres (0.6–1.2 mi). It is not long range. 2 is incorrect.

VLC has the characteristic, to resist electromagnetic interference. 4 is correct.

It carries more data than WiFi and bluetooth. 3 is correct. 

Blockchain Technology:
Blockchain technology is a structure that stores transactional records, also known as the block, of the public in several databases, known as the “chain,” in a network connected through peer-to-peer nodes. Typically, this storage is referred to as a ‘digital ledger.’

In simpler words, the digital ledger is like a Google spreadsheet shared among numerous computers in a network, in which, the transactional records are stored based on actual purchases. 

The fascinating angle is that anybody can see the data, but they can’t corrupt it. 1 is correct.

Blockchain can be used for many purposes like Secure sharing of medical data, Music royalties tracking. 2 is incorrect. It is an extreme statement also.

Applications that depend on basic features of the blockchain can thus be developed without asking anybody for permission or paying anyone. 3 is correct.

A parliamentary system or parliamentary democracy is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislature, typically a parliament, and is also held accountable to that parliament.

Basic structure is not defined by Constitution so option 1 is incorrect 

There is a great similarity between Mahatma Gandhi and Karl Marx. However, while the final aim of both of them was the establishments of a stateless and classless society, their means for achieving this aim are different. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to achieve this end through non-violent means but Marx wanted to achieve it through violent means.

Bureaucracy or the permanent executive is body of appointed officials which primarily responsible for two functions
1. Providing policy inputs to the elected representatives who form the popular executive
2. Implementation of the public policy approved by the popular executive
Therefore, option (d) is most appropriate answer as it represents one of the primary function of bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy has no direct role in the dynamics of parliamentary democracy as it works on principles of political neutrality and anonymity. Hence, it is apolitical. In context of India, bureaucracy is represented by All India Services like IAS which are unitary in characteristic and they are often criticised by state governments as going against the federal spirit. Though bureaucracy acts as catalyst for economic growth and provides stability to administration and policy to some extent, it has no direct role in political stability. Political stability in India’s parliamentary system is dependent on the confidence enjoyed by executive in Lok Sabha. 
Therefore, options (a), (b), (c) are not correct.
Therefore the correct answer is (d).

• Kesavananda Bharati Case: In this case, for the first time, a bench of 13 judges was assembled to hear a writ petition. The Court held that:
  • The Preamble of the Constitution will now be considered as part of the Constitution.
  • The Preamble is not the supreme power or source of any restriction or prohibition but it plays an important role in the interpretation of statutes and provisions of the Constitution.
  • So, it can be concluded that preamble is part of the introductory part of the Constitution.
• In the 1995 case of Union Government Vs LIC of India also, the Supreme Court has once again held that Preamble is the integral part of the Constitution but is not directly enforceable in a court of justice in India.

The IMF is funded through its members and their quota contributions. The reserve tranche is basically an emergency account that IMF members can access at any time without agreeing to conditions or paying a service fee. In other words, a portion of a member country’s quota can be withdrawn free of charge at its own discretion.
In short,

• The reserve tranche is a segment of an International Monetary Fund member country’s quota that is accessible without fees or economic reform conditions.
• Initially, member nations’ reserve tranches are 25% of their quota, but this position can change according to any lending that the IMF does with its holdings of the member’s currency.
• The reserve tranches that countries hold with the IMF are considered their facilities of first resort, meaning they will tap into them before seeking a formal credit tranche that charges interest.

Therefore the correct answer is (d).

• The phrase ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’ denotes the ideals that the State should keep in mind while formulating policies and enacting laws. These are the constitutional instructions or recommendations to the State in legislative, executive and administrative matters.
• The Directive Principles resemble the ‘Instrument of Instructions’ enumerated in the Government of India Act of 1935. In the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, ‘the Directive Principles are like the instrument of instructions, which were issued to the GovernorGeneral and to the Governors of the colonies of India by the British Government under the Government of India Act of 1935. What is called Directive Principles is merely another name for the instrument of instructions. The only difference is that they are instructions to the legislature and the executive’. 
• The Directive Principles constitute a very comprehensive economic, social and political programme for a modern democratic State. They aim at realizing the high ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as outlined in the Preamble to the Constitution. They embody the concept of a ‘welfare state’ and not that of a ‘police state’, which existed during the colonial era. In brief, they seek to establish economic and social democracy in the country. 
• The Directive Principles are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they are not legally enforceable by the courts for their violation. Therefore, the government (Central, state and local) cannot be compelled to implement them. Nevertheless, the Constitution (Article 37) itself says that these principles are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws. Hence, statements 2 and 3 are correct.

Therefore the correct answer is (d).

Qualifications a person should possess to become eligible for appointment as a minister are:

• He should be a citizen of India.
• He should be above 25 years of age
• He should not hold any office of profit under the government of India
• If he is not a member of Parliament, then he should be elected to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha within six months after his appointment as a minister.

Section 8 (3) of the RP Act states that if an MP or MLA is convicted for any other crime and is sent to jail for 2 years or more, he/ she will be disqualified for 6 years from the time of release. 2 is incorrect.

Article 85(1) of the Constitution empowers the President to summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one Session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next Session. 1 is correct.

By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year. The longest, the Budget Session, is held towards the beginning of the year, a three-week Monsoon Session follows from July to August, and then there is the Winter Session, also three weeks long, in November-December. Constitution does not provide that. 2 is incorrect.

There is no minimum number of days that Parliament is required to meet in a year — in fact, the number of days that Parliament meets has reduced over the years. 3 is correct.