JKPSC Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test - 1 - JKPSC KAS (Jammu and Kashmir) MCQ

Mahajanapadas - The Mahajanapadas were the set of sixteen kingdoms that existed in ancient India. About 2500 years ago, some janapadas or states became more important than other states and were known as mahajanapadas. Some of the Mahajanapadas were Magadha, Gandhara, Kuru, Kamboja, Kosala, Panchala,

Vajji, Kashi etc.

Most mahajanapadas had a capital city, many of these were fortified. This means that huge

wall of wood, brick or stone were built around them.

The Himalayan Wolf has been classified as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List, indicating that it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. This classification is based on factors such as population decline, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict.

January 15th is celebrated as Indian Army Day, marking the anniversary of Field Marshal Kodandera M. Cariappa becoming the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army in 1949. This day honors the contributions of the Indian Army to the nation.

The theme for Indian Army Day 2024 is "In Service of the Nation," which aligns with the Indian Army's motto "Service Before Self." This theme emphasizes the commitment of the army to prioritize national service over personal interests.

Manoj Kumar, the CMD of Vekoli, received the IMMA Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his significant contributions to the industry. Such awards highlight individuals who have dedicated their careers to advancing their fields.

On January 15, 2024, Maldives' President Mohamed Muizzu formally requested India to withdraw its military personnel by March 15. This request reflects a shift in Maldives’ foreign policy, which may be leaning towards a pro-China stance.

On January 15, 1759, the British Museum was opened in London. This institution has played a crucial role in preserving and showcasing artifacts of historical and cultural significance from around the world.

The estimated population of the Himalayan Wolf is between 2,275 and 3,792 mature adults. Conservation efforts are critical to maintaining this population, which faces threats from habitat modification and poaching.

Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001. It has since become one of the largest and most popular reference websites, allowing users to collaboratively edit content across a vast array of topics.

The Youth Co:Lab 6th edition has been launched to empower youth-led startups. Such initiatives are vital for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship among young people, which can drive economic growth.

The theme for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2024 is "Rebuilding Trust." This theme emphasizes the importance of trust in addressing global crises such as climate change and misinformation.

Ujjain hosted the Rahgeere Anand Utsav, a vibrant celebration promoting community joy through sports and cultural programs. This event fosters local engagement and celebrates cultural heritage.

Croatia and Slovenia were recognized as independent nations in 1992 following the breakup of Yugoslavia. This recognition marked a significant moment in the history of the Balkans, leading to the establishment of several new states.

PM Modi is set to inaugurate the 'Atal Setu', which is recognized as the longest sea bridge in India. Infrastructure projects like this are crucial for enhancing connectivity and boosting economic development.

Statement 1 is correct. As Sangam Literature can be divided into two groups, Pathinenkilkanakku (narrative) and Patinenkilkanakku (deductive). Patinenmelkannakku is the older set of works from 200 to 100 BC whereas Patinenkilkanakku refers to a collection of 18 works from 100 to 500 AD. The narrative portion consists of heroic poetry, perpetual war and cattle raids. They show that early Tamil people were primarily pastoral. The narrative Sangam texts give some idea of the state formation in which the army, the taxation system and judiciary arose in rudimentary form.

Statement 2 is not correct. Poems included in the Tamil Sangam anthologies often illuminate social and economic relationships, suggesting that while there were differences between rich and poor, those who controlled resources were also expected to share them.

• Statement 1 is correct: The Ajivikas was one of the heterogeneous sects developed in pre-Mauryan times. The followers of the Ajivikas were described as fatalists: those who believe that everything is predetermined.

• Statement 2 is correct: The Lokayatas were usually described as materialists. They rejected the notion of an afterworld, karma, liberation (moksha), the authority of the sacred scriptures, the Vedas, and the immortality of the self.

• Statement 3 is correct: Makkhali Gosala was an Ajivika teacher and Ajita Kesakambalin was a lokayata teacher.

As each new dynasty came to power, kings wanted to emphasize their moral right to be rulers. They took following steps in this regard - Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God, especially important in an age of rapid political change. Temples and mosques were constructed because they were places of worship and were meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.

The largest temples were all constructed by kings. These temples served a miniature model of the world ruled by the king and his allies. As they worshipped their deities together in the royal temples, it seemed as if they brought the just rule of the gods on earth. For instance, in Rajarajeshvara temple, an inscription mentions that it was built by King Rajarajadeva for the worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram. Thus, the king took the god’s name because it was auspicious and he wanted to appear like a god -through the rituals of worship in the temple one god (Rajarajadeva) honoured another (Rajarajeshvaram).

Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”. For instance, an inscription in the Quwwat al-Islam mosque explained that the God chose Alauddin as a king as he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon, the great lawgivers of the past.

Rulers also offered patronage to the learned and pious, and tried to transform their capitals and cities into great cultural centers that brought fame to their rule and their realm.

Kings were expected to care for their subjects, and by making structures for their use and comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise.

Between the eighth and the eighteenth centuries kings and their officers built two kinds of structures:

• The first were forts, palaces, garden residences and tombs – safe, protected and grandiose places of rest in this world and the next;

• The second were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravanserais and bazaars.

• Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan He ruled from 997 to 1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent.
• He raided the subcontinent almost every year – his targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat.
• Sultan Mahmud was also interested in finding out more about the people he conquered, and entrusted a scholar named Al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent.
• Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was a contemporary of Rajendra I. During his campaigns in the subcontinent he attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols.
• The best-known Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

• The archaeological findings at the Indus Valley sites indicate a tradition of burying the dead bodies in pits. The dead bodies in some cases were buried along with the pottery and ornaments indicating a belief that these could be used in the afterlife.
• The Indus Valley people had established trade relations with the contemporary Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamian literature refers to trade with a region called Meluha which is identified with the region occupied by the Indus Valley civilization. These texts mention the products from Meluhha: carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.
• The Indus valley people used a standard system of weights and measures. The lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. up to 12,800), while the higher denominations followed the decimal system. The weights were made of stone called chert.
• The Indus Valley people were aware of gold and gold ornaments have been discovered at the Indus Valley sites. It is believed that the gold was procured from the south. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.
   

• Iltutmish organized his trusted nobles or officers into a group of "Forty. Iltutmish established the 'Group of Forty' Turkan-i-Chahalgani. These were Turkish amirs (nobles) who advised and helped the Sultan administer the Sultanate. After the death of Iltutmish, this group assumed great power in its hands. For a few years, they decided to select Sultans one after the other. Balban finally eliminated the group. Turkan-i-Chahalgani was is organised by Qutbuddin Aibak. So, Pair 1 is not correct.
• Balban ruled in an autocratic manner and worked hard to elevate the position of the Sultan, and he did not allow any noble to assume great power. He even formulated the theory of kingship. Balban maintained a magnificent court. He refused to laugh and joke in the court and even gave up drinking wine so that no one may see him in a non-serious mood. He also insisted on the court's ceremony of sijada (prostration) and paibos (kissing of the monarch's feet). Hence, Iltutmish has not insisted on the ceremony of sijada. Therefore, Balban insisted on paibos (kissing the monarch's feet) in the court. So, Pair 2 is not correct, and Pair 3 is correct.
• Jalaluddin Khalji laid the foundation of the Khalji dynasty. Alauddin Khalji was Jalaluddin's ambitious nephew and son-in-law. He helped his uncle in his struggle for power and was appointed Amir-i-Tuzuk (Master of Ceremonies). Alauddin Khalji has made an important policy initiative on Market Regulations. Alauddin set up three different markets for different commodities in Delhi. These markets were the grain market (Mandi), cloth market (Sarai Adl) and the market for horses, enslaved people, cattle, etc. And to ensure the implementation, Alauddin appointed a superintendent Shahna-i-Mandi, who an intelligence officer assisted. Apart from Shahna-i-Mandi, Alauddin received daily market reports from two independent sources, braid (intelligence officer) and munhiyans (secret spies). So, Pair 4 is correct.

• Mrichchhakatika is a ten-act Sanskrit drama attributed to Sudraka and is generally thought to have lived sometime between the 2^nd century BC and the 5^th century AD. The play is set in the ancient city of Ujjain during the reign of king Pataka. The main story is that of a noble that a young Brahmin Charudatta falls in love with a wealthy courtesan, vasantasena. So, Pair (1) is not correct.
• Mahakavi Kalidasa is a great Indian poet of the 5^th century AD. He was one of the greatest Sanskrit poets in the world. He belonged to the Gupta period. He had written three plays, i.e., Malavikagnimitra, Abhigyanashakuntalam and Vikramorvasiyam. These three plays became so famous that they made Kalidasa one of the legends. He has also written some epic poems, i.e., Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava. Some of the other poems of Kalidasa are Ritusamhara and Meghaduta. So, Pair (2) is correct.
• Vishakhadatta, the author of a rare semi-historical play called Mudrarakshasa, apparently was a courtier at the Gupta court. Mudrarakshasa is a political drama that narrates the ascent of king Chandragupta Maurya to power in India. His play dramatizes the political principles expounded in the book Arthasastra by Kauᒷilya, who appears as the play's hero. So, Pair (3) is not correct.

• Another step which Muhammad-Bin- Tughlaq took at this time was the introduction of the ‘token currency’. Since money is merely a medium of exchange, all countries in the world today have token currencies - generally paper currency, so that they do not have to depend upon the supply of gold and silver. There was a shortage of silver in the world in the fourteenth century. Moreover, Qublai Khan of China had already successfully experimented with a token currency.

• A Mongol ruler of Iran, Ghazan Khan, had also experimented with it. Muhammad Tughlaq decided to introduce a bronze coin which was to have the same value as the silver tanka. Specimen of this coin has been found in different parts of India, and can be seen in museums. The idea of a token currency was a new one in India and it was difficult to induce the traders, as well as the common man to accept it.

Thirumalapuram caves and Jaina caves at Sittanavasal are some of the surviving examples. However, mural painting as an art did not decline during the reign of the Cholas. In fact, the Cholas were known for their patronage of the arts. They patronised both Hindu and Jain temples and these temples are renowned for their beautiful paintings and sculptures. Hence, statements 1 and 2 are correct.

• Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah was one of the many maulvis who played an important part in the revolt of 1857. In 1856, he was seen moving from village to village preaching Jihad (religious war) against the British and urging people to rebel. He moved in a palanquin, with drumbeaters in front and followers at the rear. He was therefore popularly called Danka Shah – the maulvi with the drum (danka). In 1857, he was jailed in Faizabad. When released, he was elected by the mutinous 22nd Native Infantry as their leader. He fought in the famous Battle of Chinhat in which the British forces under Henry Lawrence were defeated. He came to be known for his courage and power. Many people in fact believed that he was invincible, had magical powers, and could not be killed by the British. It was this belief that partly formed the basis of his authority.

• Shah Mal was a rebel at the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, based out of the village of Bijrol, Uttar Pradesh. He led the Jats of Baraut in rebellion against the East India Company. Maulvi Liaquat Ali was a Muslim religious leader from Prayagraj (Allahabad), in the state of Uttar Pradesh in present-day India. He was one of the leaders in the revolt against the British in 1857. Maulvi captured the Khusro Bagh and declared the independence of India. Khusro Bagh became the headquarters of the sepoys under Maulvi Liaquat Ali who took charge as the Governor of liberated Allahabad. However, the Mutiny was swiftly put down and Khusro Bagh was retaken by the British in two weeks.

• He escaped from Allahabad after the British recaptured the city, but was caught after 14 years in September 1871 at Byculla railway station in Surat. He was tried and sentenced to death, but died in captivity in Rangoon on 17 May 1892.

• Bakht Khan (1797–13 May 1859) was commander-in-chief of the Indian rebel forces in the region of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company.

These comparisons are as follows:

• Statement 1 is correct. The stated objective this time was complete independence and not just remedying two specific wrongs and a vaguely-worded Swaraj. The Civil Disobedience Movement had the objective of Poorna Swaraj.

• The methods involved violation of law from the very beginning and not just non-cooperation with foreign rule.

• There was a decline in forms of protests involving the intelligentsia, such as lawyers giving up practice, students giving up government schools to join national schools and colleges.

• Statement 2 is incorrect. Muslim participation was nowhere near that in the Non-Cooperation Movement level.

• No major labour upsurge coincided with the movement.

• The massive participation of peasants and business groups compensated for the decline of other features.

• The number of those imprisoned was about three times more this time.

• The Congress was organizationally stronger.

• Statement 1 is correct: Historians have observed that the idea of finding an ocean route to India had become an obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, who was nicknamed the ‘Navigator’.

• Statement 2 is correct: In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, due to which merchandise trade from India to the European markets came under Arab Muslim intermediaries. The Red Sea trade route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers earned tremendous revenues.

• Statement 3 is correct: In 15th Century, Europe had made great advances in the art of ship-building and navigation. Hence, there was eagerness all over Europe for adventurous sea voyages to reach the unknown corners of the East.

• The British Government summoned the first Round Table Conference of Indian leaders and spokesmen of the British Government in London in 1930 to discuss Simon Commission Report. The National Congress boycotted the Conference.

• The Government now made attempts to negotiate an agreement with the Congress so that it would attend the Round Table Conference. Finally, the Pact was signed by Gandhiji on behalf of the Congress and by Lord Irwin on behalf of the Government, a procedure that was hardly popular with officialdom as it placed the Congress on an equal footing with the Government.

• The terms of the agreement included:

  • the immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted for violence,

  • the remission of all fines not yet collected,

  • the return of confiscated lands not yet sold to third parties, and

  • lenient treatment for those government employees who had resigned.

• The Government also conceded the right to make salt for consumption to villages along the coast, as also the right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing. The Congress demand for a public inquiry into police excesses was not accepted, but Gandhiji’s insistent request for an inquiry was recorded in the agreement. Congress, on its part, agreed to discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Hence option (b) is not the correct answer.

• In 1534 AD the Portuguese gained possession of Bombay, after the Treaty of Bassein was signed between them and Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate. In 1612, a battle was fought between the British and the Portuguese at Surat for the possession of Bombay, which ended the Portuguese monopoly over trade in India. 
• In 1661, under the Treaty of Whitehall, Bombay changed hands as it was presented to King Charles II as part of the dowry, when he married Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Treaty included a secret provision that it would be used to protect the Portuguese settlements in India. It involved a mutual defence pact against the aggressive and expanding Dutch East India Company. 
• The French East India Company was founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English and Dutch trading companies in the East Indies. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• Rural indebtedness and large-scale alienation of agricultural land to non-cultivating classes was a countrywide phenomenon in rural India during the last quarter of the 19th century. Faced with peasant uprisings in Bengal and Maharashtra the Government could not wait for a similar rebellion in Punjab before it would act. The communal complexion of the Punjab rural situation and the martial character of the Sikhs called for early effective action.
  • Following its annexation by the British in 1847, Punjab province witnessed several significant developments—individualization of property rights in land, fixation and rigorous collection of land revenue in cash, the introduction of a new legal-administrative system, construction of a road and railway network, canal-building activities and a colonization program, commercialization of agriculture and increased monetization of economic transactions.
  • These developments created a situation which, in turn, gave rise to two related problems –agricultural indebtedness and land transfer.
• As early as 1895 the Government addressed a circular to the provincial governments suggesting the advisability of imposing restrictions on the alienation of agricultural land. The famines of 1896-97 and 1899-1900 resulted in large-scale distress and brought the matter into sharp focus. The Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 was passed "as an experimental measure " to be extended to the rest of the country if it worked successfully in Punjab.
  • The Act divided the Punjab population under three heads viz., the agricultural classes, the statutory agriculturist class (those who though not belonging to the agricultural class long settled interests in the land) and the rest of the population including the moneylenders.
  • Restrictions were imposed on the sale and mortgage of the land from the first category to the other two categories, though members of the second and third category could sell or mortgage land as they pleased.
  • The Punjab peasant was also given partial relief against the oppressive incidence of land revenue demand by the Government whereby the state land revenue demand was not to exceed 50% of the annual rental value of the land.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

• In 1882, the Government appointed a commission under the chairmanship of W.W. Hunter to review the progress of education in the country since the Despatch of 1854. The Hunter Commission mostly confined its recommendations to primary and secondary education.
  • It emphasized that state’s special care is required for the extension and improvement of primary education and that primary education should be imparted through vernacular.
  • It recommended the transfer of control of primary education to newly set up district and municipal boards.
  • It recommended that secondary (High School) education should have two divisions— literary—leading up to university and vocational—for commercial careers.
  • It drew attention to inadequate facilities for female education, especially outside presidency towns and made recommendations for its spread.
• The Sadler commission was set up in 1917 to study and report on problems of Calcutta University but its recommendations were applicable more or less to other universities also. It reviewed the entire field from school education to university education. It held the view that, for the improvement of university education, the improvement of secondary education was a necessary pre-condition. Its observations were as follows:
  • School course should cover 12 years. Students should enter university after an intermediate stage (rather than matric) for a three-year degree course in university.
  • A separate board of secondary and intermediate education should be set up for the administration and control of secondary and intermediate education.
  • There should be less rigidity in framing university regulations.
  • A university should function as centralized, unitary residential-teaching autonomous body, rather than as scattered, affiliated colleges.
  • Female education, applied scientific and technological education, teachers’ training including those for professional and vocational colleges should be extended
• The Hartog Committee was set up in 1929 to report on the development of education. Its main recommendations were as follows.
  • Emphasis should be given to primary education but there need be no hasty expansion or compulsion in education.
  • Only deserving students should go in for high school and intermediate stage, while average students should be diverted to vocational courses after VIII standard.
  • For improvements in the standards of university education, admissions should be restricted.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.