UPSC Prelims Past Year Paper 2015: Paper 1 (GS) - UPSC MCQ

PMJDY main objective is financial inclusion

The FFC has radically enhanced the share of the states in the central divisible pool from the current 32 percent to 42 per cent which is the biggest ever increase in vertical tax devolution. The FFC has not made any recommendation concerning sector specific-grants unlike the Thirteenth Finance Commission.

Fortaleza Declaration issued at the 6th BRICS Summit

Key Points

• A tax-to-GDP ratio is a gauge of a nation's tax revenue relative to the size of its economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
• The tax-to-GDP ratio is a measure of a nation's tax revenue relative to the size of its economy.
• It determines how well a nation's government use its economic resources via taxation.
• Developed nations typically have higher tax-to-GDP ratios than developing nations.
• If the tax to GDP ratio is low it shows a slow economic growth rate.
• The ratio represents that the government can finance its expenditure.
• A higher tax to GDP ratio means that an economy's tax buoyancy is strong.
• A lower tax-to-GDP ratio puts pressure on the government to meet its fiscal deficit targets.

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Important Points

Reasons behind low India's tax-GDP ratio:

• The excise rate was 16 per cent in 2007-08, whereas it dropped to 12 per cent in consequent years. An expanding economy needs to maintain a 16% rate recovery.
• The drop in customs revenue, from 2.02 per cent of GDP to 1.50 per cent.
• The drop in corporate tax revenue, with GDP.
• Excessive subsidies and revenue expenditure. 

Additional Information

• It only shows growth in the economy not the distribution of national income. Hence statement 2 is incorrect

The most proximate reasons for the lack of cyclone formation in the South Atlantic are sea surface temperatures that tend to run a shade cooler than ideal for tropical cyclone formation even in the southern summer, climatologically high values of vertical wind shear across that basin throughout the year, and a lack of pre-existing centers of rotation (vorticity) in that area.

This last point is due both to the absence of tropical waves similar to those generated over west Africa in the northern hemisphere and to the fact the the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which shifts toward the north in our summer and toward the south in the southern summer, usually stays at or north of the equator.

Though many people might speculate that the sea surface temperatures are too cold, the primary reasons that the South Atlantic Ocean gets few tropical cyclones are that the tropospheric vertical wind shear is much too strong and there is typically no inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the ocean. Without an ITCZ to provide synoptic vorticity and convergence (i.e. large scale spin and thunderstorm activity) as well as having strong wind shear, it becomes very difficult to nearly impossible to have genesis of tropical cyclones.

The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west.

The directive principles are meant for promoting the ideal of social and economic democracy. However, unlike the Fundamental Rights, the directives are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they are not enforceable by the courts for their violation. 

The weights of the eight core industries are - 
Electricity (10.32%); Steel (6.68%); Petroleum refinery (5.94%); Crude oil (5.22%); Coal (4.38%); Cement (2.41%); Natural Gas (1.71%) and Fertilizer (1.25%). 
These 8 industries account for 37.90% weight in the Index of Industrial production (IIP).

The Keibul Lamjao National Park is in Bishnupur district of Manipur. The Keibul Lamjao, the only floating national park in the world, is home to the last of the brow-antlered deer (Rucervus eldii eldii), one of the most endangered deer in the world.a

National Innovation Foundation-India is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, based on the Honey Bee Network philosophy,  which provides institutional support to grassroots innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders from the unorganized sector of the society.
So statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is incorrect.

Nitrogen fixing bacteria converts N2 to Ammonium ion NH4+. with fertilizers already containing NH4 ions, there is no demand or need from plants for the symbiotic association. further, we can certainly assume that there is no positive correlation between fertilizers and bacterium

IUCN has an observer status at the United Nations. Elimination 1 we get option (b) as answer.

IUCN is the only international observer organization in the UN General Assembly with expertise in issues concerning the environment, specifically biodiversity, nature conservation and sustainable natural resource use.

FRP is approved by CCEA and recommended by CACP 

The easterly Equatorial Counter-Current between about 40 and 100 N may be explained as follows, The overall effect of the Trade Winds is to drive water towards the west, hut the flow is blocked by the land masses along the western boundaries. As a result, in equatorial regions the sea-surface slopes up towards the west, causing an eastward horizontal pressure gradient force. Because winds are light in the Doldrums, water is able to flow down the horizontal pressure gradient in a current that is contrary (i.e. ‘counter’) to the prevailing wind direction. The zone of calm is the necessary and dominant factor here, though other factors play their role as well. 

Srisailam is reputed for the shrine of Lord Mallikarjuna on the flat top of Nallamala Hills (Andhra Pradesh). Omkareshwar is situated on the Mandhata hills in Vindhya Mountains of Madhya pradesh. The Pushkar valley is formed between the Aravalli hills. 

Statement 1 and 2 are correct. The events between May 1916 to January 1919 give us the background of the establishment of the Satyagraha Sabha in Bombay under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The newly started Home League was the leading force in all these events, which prepared the ground for the April Satyagraha. The Satyagraha Sabha was organised with Mr. Gandhi as President, Mr. Horniman as Vice-President, and the leading Home Rulers on the Committee.  
Simon Commission was dispatched to India in 1928 way after Rowlett Satyagraha. 

Other three options a, c and d contain countries of middle east, SE Asia/Indian ocean region and Latin America respectively. Hence, could be eliminated easily. 

Fly ash is used in the manufacture of building materials and in construction activity, like replacement of cement in concrete. It contains trace levels of toxic elements (like e.g. arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, thallium, selenium, molybdenum and mercury) 

Feeding on sea grass, dugongs are found in sea grass beds, sheltered waters, lagoons and bays. Fourteen sea grass species are found in the marine waters in the country of which 13 are found in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay areas. Dugongs had been brought under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, the punishment for its poaching is imprisonment. 

Dadabhai Naoroji, R. C. Dutt, Ranade, Gokhale, G. Subramania Iyer, were among those who grounded Indian nationalism firmly on the foundation of antiimperialism by highlighting economic critique of colonialism. 

World Bank publish the 'Global Economic Prospect's Report periodically 

The SLR cut by the RBI is likely to give more elbow room for banks to cut rates. 

Both are correct. 

In India, markets in agricultural products are regulated under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act enacted by States.

Important features were consistent and militant antiimperialism, anti-landlordism, the organization of workers and peasants in trade unions and kisan sabhas, the acceptance of a socialist vision of independent India and of the socialist programme of the economic and social transformation of society. They were to give the Congress and the national movement a socialist direction; and that to achieve this objective they must organize the workers and peasants in their class organizations, wage struggles for their economic demands and make them the social base of the national struggle. They preferred methods adopted by Congress.
1st and 2nd statements can be related to radical communism in India during 1920 to 40. 3rd statement is also not related to CSP.

Statement 1 and 2 are right. 3rd statement is incorrect as Budget can be discussed by Rajyasabha.

GOI Act,1919, relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects. The central and provincial legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective list of subjects. 

CPI(IW) is released by Labour Bureau.

IceCube is a particle detector at the South Pole that records the interactions of a nearly massless subatomic particle called the neutrino. IceCube searches for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool to search for dark matter and could reveal the physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature. In addition, exploring the background of neutrinos produced in the atmosphere, IceCube studies the neutrinos themselves; their energies far exceed those produced by accelerator beams. IceCube is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometer of ice. It is burried upto 2.5 Km of depth.