JKPSC Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test - 9 - JKPSC KAS (Jammu and Kashmir) MCQ

Greeks who came through the northwest about 2500 years ago and were familiar with the Indus, called it the Hindos or the Indos, and the land to the east of the river was called India. The name Bharata was used for a group of people who lived in the northwest, and who are mentioned in the Rigveda.

Cholas were Samantas or Subordinates to Pallavas who ruled in Tamilnadu.

Statement 1 is correct. Cholas and Muttaraiyar both were subordinates to Pallava king. The rise of Cholas started during the middle of the 9th century when Vijayalaya from Uraiyur captured the kaveri delta from Mutharaiyar and built the town of Thanjavur.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Vijayalaya built the town of Thanjavur and Goddess Nishumbhasudini temple While Rajaraja I became king in 985 CE and was considered as the most powerful Chola ruler.

He recognized his administration and expanded his control over most of South India. His son Rajendra Chola led an expedition to the Ganga valley.

Statement 3 is correct. Rajendra I was Rajaraja’s Son who continued his Father’s policy and raided Ganga Valley, Sri Lanka as well as Southeast Asian Countries. Rajendra I also developed the Navy for these raids.

About Tanjore Paintings:

• Tanjore Painting is one of the most popular forms of classical South Indian painting. It is the native art form of Thanjavur (also known as Tanjore) city of Tamil Nadu.

• Tanjore Painting of India originated during the 16th century, under the reign of the Cholas. Maratha princes, Nayakas, Rajus communities of Tanjore and Trichy and Naidus of Madurai also patronized Indian Thanjavur Paintings from 16th to 18th century

• The dense composition, surface richness and vibrant colors of Indian Thanjavur Paintings distinguish them from the other types of paintings. There are embellishments of semi-precious stones, pearls and glass pieces that further add to their appeal.

• The relief work gives them a three dimensional effect.

• Most of these paintings revolve around the theme of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, along with saints.

• The main figure is always painted at the center of the painting:

  • Mysore Painting: Mysore Painting is a form of classical South Indian painting, which evolved in the Mysore city of Karnataka. During that time, Mysore was under the reign of the Wodeyars and it was under their patronage that this school of painting reached its zenith. Quite similar to the Tanjore Paintings, Mysore Paintings of India make use of thinner gold leaves and require much more hard work. The most popular themes of these paintings include Hindu Gods and Goddesses and scenes from Hindu mythology. The grace, beauty and intricacy of Indian Mysore Paintings leave the onlookers mesmerized.

  • Company Painting: Company painting, also called Patna painting, style of miniature painting that developed in India in the second half of the 18th century in response to the tastes of the British serving with the East India Company. The style first emerged in Murshidabad, West Bengal, and then spread to other centres of British trade: Benares (Varanasi), Delhi, Lucknow, and Patna. Basohli painting, school of Pahari miniature painting that flourished in the Indian hill states during the late 17th and 18th centuries, known for its bold vitality of colour and line. Though the school takes its name from the small independent state of Basohli, the principal centre of the style, examples are found throughout the region.

• The Mauryan Empire covered vast areas of the Indian subcontinent. It extended from the present-day North West Frontier Provinces of Pakistan to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Uttaranchal in India.
• The Ashokan inscriptions mention five major political centres in the empire – the capital Pataliputra and the provincial centres of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvarnagiri. The administrative control of the empire was strongest in areas around the capital and the provincial centres.
• The provincial centres were carefully chosen, both Taxila and Ujjayini were situated on important long- distance trade routes, while Suvarnagiri (literally, the golden mountain) was possibly important for tapping the gold mines of Karnataka.
• The city of Manyakhet in Karnataka was the capital of the Rashtrakuta Empire which arose during the 8^th century AD. Thus Manyakhet was not a major political centre of Mauryas.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
   

• The decorative forms of Indo-Islamic architecture included designing on plaster through incision or stucco. The designs were either left plain or covered with colors.
  • Motifs were also painted on or carved in stone. These motifs included varieties of flowers, both from the sub-continent and places outside, particularly Iran,
  • The lotus bud fringe was used to great advantage in the inner curves of the arches.
  • Walls were also decorated with cypress, chinar, and other trees as also with flower vases,
  • Many complex designs of flower motifs decorating the ceilings were also to be found on textiles and carpets.
  • In the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries tiles were also used to surface the walls and the domes.
• Popular colors were blue, turquoise, green, and yellow.
• Subsequently, the techniques of tessellation (mosaic designs) and pietra dura were made use of for surface decoration, particularly in the dado panels of the walls.
• At times lapis lazuli was used in the interior walls or on canopies.
  • Other decorations included arabesque, calligraphy and high and low relief carving, and profuse use of jalis. The high-relief carving has a three-dimensional look. The arches were plain and squat and sometimes high and pointed.
• From the sixteenth century onwards arches were designed with trefoil or multiple foliations.
• Spandrels of the arches were decorated with medallions or bosses.
  • The roof was a mix of the central dome and other smaller domes, chhatris, and tiny minarets. The central dome was topped with an inverted lotus flower motif and a metal or stone pinnacle.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Karanthai copper plates are the biggest bunch and the largest volume of copper plates in the world. They are a set of 86 plates held together by a ring fastened with a heavy circular copper seal inscribed with the royal Chola emblem. Rajendra Chola issued these plates dated 1020 C.E. The term ‘Ulgu’, a term used for customs, finds mention in Karanthai copper plates. The plates from Tiruvalangadu (in Tiruvallur district), Karanthai (in Thanjavur town) and Esalam (near Tindivanam) all use the term Ulgu. These plates indicate that Ulgu, the customs duty, was a ubiquitous tax in the Chola empire. The Kuram copper plates of Parameshwaravarman and the Velurpalayam copper plates of Nandivarman III record their achievements in the military department. So, Option (a) is correct.

• Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II (1686-1743) was the ruler of the Rajput State of Amber in India. A feudatory of the Mughals, he received the title of 'Sawai' (one and a quarter) from Emperor Aurangzeb, who declared him a quarter superior to his famous forebearer Mirza Raja Jai Singh (d. 1667) after he captured the Fort of Vishalgarh from the Marathas in 1701.
• After bringing to the Emperor's notice some astronomic discrepancies that possibly affected the timings of Hindu and Muslim holy events and expressing his desire to correct these, Jai Singh also received Imperial backing for building his Astronomy Observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Mathura.
  • All except the observatory at Mathura are in existence today.
• Sawai Jai Singh's ingenuity led to the invention of several outsize masonry instruments, the majority of which were used to determine the coordinates of celestial objects with reference to the local horizon.
  • During Jai Singh’s lifetime, the observatories were used to make observations in order to update existing ephemerides such as the Zīj-i Ulugh Begī.
  • Jai Singh established communications with European astronomers through a number of Jesuits living and working in India. In addition to dispatching ambassadorial parties to Portugal, he invited French and Bavarian Jesuits to visit and make use of the observatories
• Jai Singh wrote the astronomical work 'Zij-e-Muhammad-Shahi' (Muhammad Shah's astronomical tables) in 1728. That same year he also built his new, magnificently designed capital Jaipur, about 200 km southwest of Delhi and constructed by combining the aspects of the ancient Hindu treatise on architecture, the Shilpa Shastra, and plans of many European cities of the period with Jai Singh's own ideas.
• The European travelers of the time, like the Frenchman Louis Rousselet, and the English bishop, Heber, were greatly impressed by Jai Singh's unparalleled excellence in city planning.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

1. Kumbhandas

2. Surdas

3. Krishnadas (Shudra by caste)

4. Parmanand Das

5. Govindswami

6. Cheetswami

7. Nand Das

8. Chaturbhuj Das

Statement 1 is incorrect. Mughal court chronicles were written in Persian though Turkish was their mother tongue. Under the Sultans of Delhi it flourished as a language of the court and of literary writings, alongside other north Indian languages, especially Hindavi(near Delhi) and its regional variants.

Statement 2 is correct. Mughals were Chaghtai Turks by origin, Turkish was their mother tongue. Their first ruler Babur wrote poetry and his memoirs in the Turkish language. KB) Chagatai Turks were descendants of Chagtai Khan the second son of Genghis Khan.

Achievements

1. With coalition partners, they out-voted the government several times, even on matters relating to budgetary grants, and passed adjournment motions.

2. They agitated through powerful speeches on self-government, civil liberties and industrialisation.

3. Vithalbhai Patel was elected speaker of Central Legislative Assembly in 1925.

4. A noteworthy achievement was the defeat of the Public Safety Bill in 1928 which was aimed at empowering the Government to deport undesirable and subversive foreigners (because the Government was alarmed by the spread of socialist and communist ideas and believed that a crucial role was being played by the British and other foreign activists being sent by the Commintern).

5. By their activities, they filled the political vacuum at a time when the national movement was recouping its strength.

6. They exposed the hollowness of the Montford scheme.

7. They demonstrated that the councils could be used creatively.

Drawbacks

1. The Swarajists lacked a policy to coordinate their militancy inside legislatures with the mass struggle outside. They relied totally on newspaper reporting to communicate with the public.

2. An obstructionist strategy had its limitations.

3. They could not carry on with their coalition partners very far because of conflicting ideas, which further limited their effectiveness.

4. They failed to resist the perks and privileges of power and office.

5. They failed to support the peasants’ cause in Bengal and lost support among Muslim members who were pro-peasant.

The political consequences of foreign capital investments were equally harmful as they caused political subjugation and created vested interests which sought security for investors, thus perpetuating the foreign rule. Statement 2 is incorrect. The drain theory was put forward by Dadabhai Naoroji in his book Poverty and Unbritish Rule in India. Statement 3 is correct. The drain took the form of an excess of exports over imports for which India got no economic or material return.

They pointed out that the pattern of foreign trade was unfavourable to India. It relegated India to a position of importer of finished goods and exporter of raw materials and foodstuffs. According to the nationalist calculations, this drain amounts to one-half of government revenues, more than the entire land revenue collection and over one-third of India’s total savings.

• Statement 1 is correct: There was a separation of revenue and justice administration. As a part of the Cornwallis Code the collector was now responsible only for the revenue administration with no magisterial functions. The Zamindars were also relieved of their police duties.

• Statement 2 is correct: The principle of sovereignty of law was established and European subjects were also brought under jurisdiction.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Government officials were made answerable to the civil courts for actions done in their official capacity.

• In the middle of the seventeenth century, the English began to emerge as a big colonial power. The Anglo-Dutch rivalry lasted for about seven decades during which period the Dutch lost their settlements to the British one by one.

• The English were also at this time rising to prominence in the Eastern trade, and this posed a serious challenge to the commercial interests of the Dutch. A commercial rivalry soon turned into bloody warfare. After prolonged warfare, both the parties came to a compromise in 1667 by which the British agreed to withdraw all their claims on Indonesia, and the Dutch retired from India to concentrate on their more profitable trade in Indonesia. They monopolized the trade in black pepper and spices. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

• In the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74), communications between Surat and the new English settlement of Bombay got cut due to which three homebound English ships were captured in the Bay of Bengal by the Dutch forces. The retaliation by the English resulted in the defeat of the Dutch. The Battle of Chinsurah (also known as the Battle of Hooghly) took place near Chinsurah, India on 25 November 1759), which dealt a crushing blow to Dutch ambitions in India. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The Leader (October 24, 1909 – September 6, 1967) was one of India's most influential English-language newspapers during British Raj. Founded by Madan Mohan Malviya, the paper was published in Allahabad.
• Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, also known as Mahamana, was from Allahabad and a moderate nationalist who served as President of INC for three terms and founded Banaras Hindu University in 1916. So, Pair 1 is correct.
• The Free Hindustan is described as "An Organ of Freedom, and Political, Social and Religious Reform," The Free Hindustan was published in April 1908 by Tarakanath Das. Tarankanath Das traveled to Japan in 1905 and lived in exile there for a year under the name of Tarak Brahmachari. He traveled to San Francisco, California, to begin his journal, "Free Hindustan." and was the first leader of the Indian community in North America to start a paper. He began influencing American public opinion about the true state of India through his articles, and he promoted the cause of a free Indian republic. He helped Lala Hardayal organize the Ghadar Party Movement in the United States and founded the Indian Independence League in California. So, Pair 2 isnot correct.
• Krishna Kumar Mitra founded his Bengali journal "Sanjibani" in 1883. On July 6, 1905, it was the first
• newspaper to announce the partition of Bengal. It also highlighted the working conditions of  ssamese
• tea plantation laborers. Krishna Kumar Mitra (1852–1936) was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, and leader of the Brahmo Samaj. He is remembered for his contributions to the Swadeshi movement through his journal Sanjibani. So, Pair 3 is correct.

• The characteristic feature of moderate nationalism was an almost obsessive invocation of Indian poverty. . For the last three decades of the nineteenth century, and into the twentieth, "poverty" was the biggest stick with which the Congress beat the British. 
• Apart from Naoroji's relentless publicizing of Indian poverty and the "drain of wealth" from India to England, there was a veritable flood of literature investigating the subject. 
• Some of the landmarks in this included 
  • Prithwis Chandra Ray's The Poverty Problem in India (1895). Hence pair 2 is correctly matched. 
  • William Digby's "Prosperous British India (1901) 
  • Romesh Chandra Dutt's England and India: A Record of Progress during a Hundred Years (1897) ✓ Romesh Chandra Dutt, a retired ICS officer, published The Economic History of India at the beginning of the 20th century in which he examined in minute detail the entire economic record of colonial rule since 1757. Hence pair 3 is not correctly matched. 
  • Subramanya Iyer's Some Economic Aspects of British Rule in India (1903). Hence pair 1 is correctly matched.
• In the press and in books, in Congress speeches and resolutions, India's poverty and the "drain of wealth" were' constantly discussed and the blame was laid at Britain's door.
• Leaders like G.V. Joshi, G. Subramaniya lyer, G.K. Gokhale, Prithwis Chandra Ray and hundreds of other political workers and journalists analysed every aspect of the economy and subjected the entire range of economic issues and colonial economic policies to minute scrutiny. 
  • They raised basic questions regarding the nature and purpose of British rule. Eventually, they were able to trace the process of the colonialization of the Indian economy and conclude that colonialism was the main obstacle to India’s economic development.

• As the knowledge grew of the high profits earned by the Portuguese in Eastern trade, English traders too wanted a share. So, in 1599, a group of English merchants calling themselves the ‘Merchant Adventurers’ formed a company. On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter with rights of exclusive trading to the company named the ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies’. Initially, a monopoly of 15 years was granted.
• Captain Hawkins arrived in the court of Jahangir in April 1609 itself. But the mission to establish a factory at Surat did not succeed due to opposition from the Portuguese, and Hawkins left Agra in November 1611. In 1611, the English had started trading at Masulipatnam on the south-eastern coast of India and later established a factory there in 1616.
  • It was in 1612 that Captain Thomas Best defeated the Portuguese in the sea off Surat; an impressed Jahangir granted permission to the English in early 1613 to establish a factory at Surat under Thomas Aldworth.
• In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe came as an accredited ambassador of James I to the court of Jahangir, staying on there till February 1619. Though he was unsuccessful in concluding a commercial treaty with the Mughal emperor, he was able to secure a number of privileges, including permission to set up factories at Agra, Ahmedabad, and Broach.
• In 1632, The Company got the golden Farman from the Sultan of Golconda, ensuring their trade's safety and prosperity.
• Other important events in the formative years of the company are
  • 1609 : William Hawkins arrives at Jahangir’s court.
  • 1616 : The Company establishes its first factory in the south in Masulipatnam.
  • 1639 : The Company gets the lease of Madras from a local king.
  • 1651 : The Company is given permission to trade at Hooghly (Bengal).
  • 1662 : The British King, Charles II, is given Bombay as dowry for marrying a Portuguese princess (Catherine of Braganza).
  • 1667 : Aurangzeb gives the English a Farman for trade in Bengal.
  • 1691 : The Company gets the imperial order to continue their trade in Bengal in lieu of payment of Rs 3,000 a year.
  • 1717 : The Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar issues a Farman, called the Magna Carta of the Company, giving the Company a large number of trade concessions.
  • Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

The 1930s saw the rise of fascism in Europe and the struggle against it. The nationalists saw imperialism and fascism as the organs of capitalism. They lend support to the struggle against fascism in other parts of the world, in Ethiopia, Spain, China and Czechoslovakia. In 1939, at the Tripuri Session, the Congress dissociated itself from the British policy, which supported fascism in Europe. In 1939, the Japanese attack on China was condemned by the nationalists. The Congress also sent a medical mission under Dr. Atal to China. Note: Among the resolutions at Tripuri was an interesting one relating to China: ―The Congress sends its greetings to the people of China and its deepest sympathy in their trials and privations in their struggle against ruthless and inhuman imperialism. It congratulates them on their heroic resistance.‖ ―The Congress expresses its approval of the sending of a Medical Mission on its behalf to the people of China and trusts that this Mission will continue to receive full support, so that it may carry on its work of succour effectively and be a worthy symbol of Indian solidarity with China

In August, 1935, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1935. The Act provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation to be based on the Union of the British Indian Provinces and the Princely States. The representatives of the States to the Federal Legislature were to be appointed directly by the Princes, who were to be used to check and counter the nationalists. The franchise was limited to about one-sixth of the adults. Defence and foreign affairs would remain outside the control of the Federal Legislature, while the Viceroy would retain special control over other subjects.

The Regulating Act, 1773 reformed the Company’s Government at home and in India. The important provisions of the Act were: The term of the office of the members of the Court of Directors was extended from one year to four years. The Governor of Bengal was styled the Governor-General of Fort William, whose tenure of office was for a period of 5 years. A Council of 4 members was appointed to assist the Governor- General. The government was to be conducted in accordance with the decision of the majority. The Governor-General in Council was made supreme over the other Presidencies in the matters of war and peace. Provision was made in the Act for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta, consisting of a Chief Justice and 3 junior judges. It was to be independent of the Governor-General in Council. In 1774, the Supreme Court was established by a Royal Charter.

The prominent mountain passes of India are:

1. Nathu La Pass: Located in Sikkim it is a border trade post between India and China.

2. Shipki La Pass:It is in Himachal Pradesh and is also a trade post between India and China. It is located through Sutlej Gorge.

3. Jelep La Pass: This pass links Sikkim to Lhasa in Tibet autonomous region of China. It passes through the Chumbi valley which was in the news due to Dokhlam stand-off.

4. Khardung La: It links Leh to Siachen. It is the highest motorable pass in the country..

5. Bara-Lacha La: This pass links Himachal Pradesh to Ladakh, connecting Manali with Leh.

6. Lipu Lekh: This pass connects Uttarakhand with Tibet autonomous region of China. Mansarovar pilgrims travel through this pass. It is also a border trade post between India and China.

7. Niti Pass: This pass joins Tibet ARC with Uttarakhand.

8. Rohtang Pass:It is located on eastern Pir Panjal Range and connects Kullu valley with Lahaul and Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh.

9. Bomdi-La: The Bomdi-La pass connects Arunachal Pradesh with Lhasa, in Tibet ARC.

10. Dihang pass: Located in Arunachal Pradesh, this pass provides connectivity with Myanmar.

11. Diphu pass: This pass also connects Arunachal Pradesh with Myanmar. It remains open all round the year and is hence important for trade and transportation.

12. oji La: It connects Srinagar with Kargil and Leh. Beacon Force of Border Road Organization is responsible for clearing and maintaining this pass.

13. Senkotta Gap: It is located in the Western Ghats and connects Madurai in Tamil Nadu with Kottayam in Kerala.

• Statement 1 is incorrect. Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ partners Niti Aayog and Facebook for Second Phase of Goal.

• Statement 2 is correct. GOAL connects underprivileged young tribal women with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.

• It aims at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities. Launched in March 2019.

• Statement 3 is correct. In the second phase of the program, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5000 young women in India’s tribal dominated districts.

• The Savanna landscape is typified by tall grass and short trees. The trees are deciduous, shedding their leaves in the cool, dry season to prevent excessive loss of water through transpiration, e.g. acacias.

• The grass is tall and coarse, growing 6 to 12 feet high. The elephant grass may attain a height of even 15 feet. The grass tends to grow in compact tufts and has long roots which reach down in search of water.

• The vegetative luxuriance reaches its peak in the rainy season when trees renew their foliage and flower. Due to the presence of trees along with the luxuriant tall grass this landscape is also known as 'parkland' or 'bush-veld'. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

• In tropical monsoon forests, the ecosystems which develop are very similar to the true rainforests which develop in equatorial climates, but are more open, less luxuriant & contains far fewer species. The natural vegetation of tropical monsoon land depends on the amount of summer rainfall. Trees are normally deciduous, because of the marked dry period, during which they shed their leaves to withstand drought.

• China Type climate supports luxuriant vegetation. The lowlands carry both evergreen broad-leaved forests and deciduous trees. On the highlands, are various species of conifers such as pines and cypresses which are important softwoods. Perennial plant growth is not checked by either a dry season or a cold season.

• Steppes occur in temperate climates, which lie between the tropics and polar regions. A steppe is a dry, grassy plain. Steppes are semi-arid, meaning they receive 25 to 50 centimetres (10-20 inches) of rain each year. This is enough rain to support short grasses, but not enough for tall grasses or trees to grow. Many kinds of grasses grow on steppes, but few grow taller than half a meter.

• The density of population is defined as the ratio of the total number of people per unit area of land. It is a crude measure of human and land relationships. To get a better insight into the human-land ratio in terms of pressure of population on total cultivable land, the physiological and the agricultural densities should be found out which are significant for a country like India having a large agricultural population.

• Physiological density refers to the number of people per unit area of net cultivable land. It is a basic indicator of a country's food-producing capability and the human pressures placed upon it.

  • Physiological density = total population / net cultivated area

  • Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• Agricultural density refers to the total number of agricultural population per unit area of net cultivable area. Here Agricultural population includes cultivators and agricultural labourers and their family members.

  • Agricultural density = total agricultural population / net cultivable area

Statement 1 is correct: Crossing through ten countries and draining some 817,000 km² and the territory of 18 countries, the Danube is the most international river in the world.

• Flowing from Germany’s Black Forest to the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine and the Black Sea, the Danube is Europe’s only major river which flows west to east, from Central to Eastern Europe Statement 2 is not correct: The Danube is the longest river of the European Union and Europe’s second-longest after the Volga.
• The European Commission now recognizes the Danube as the “single most important non oceanic body of water in Europe” and a “future central axis for the European Union”.
• Statement 3 is correct: Major tributaries of the Danube include the Tisza, Drava, Sava, Inn, and Prut rivers. 

Statement 1 is not correct and 2 is correct.

• The Yamuna rises on the slopes of the Bandarpunch massif in the Great Himalayas near Yamunotri in Uttarakhand.
• The river flows through the state of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and  the Union Territory of Delhi.
• The important tributaries of the Yamuna River are Tons, Chambal, Hindon, Betwa and Ken.
• Yamuna is the  right bank tributary of river Ganga.

• Statement 1 and 2 are correct: Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture. The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter. Tea bushes require warm and moist frost- free climate all through the year. Frequent showers evenly distributed over the year ensure continuous growth of tender leaves.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Major tea producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Apart from these, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are also tea-producing states in the country.

Peneplains are irregular structure which is reduced to low lying structure by the action of agents of erosion like rain, rivers, ice, winds etc.

• Ocean basins cover approximately 71 per cent of Earth's surface. Their average depth is 5,000 meters. There are five major subdivisions of the world ocean: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.

• The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans are conventional ocean basins and are bounded by the continental masses or by ocean ridges and currents; they merge below 40° South latitude in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or west Wind Drift, at the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean. In the North Polar Region, the nearly circular Arctic Ocean, almost landlocked except between Greenland and Europe, is considered the fifth ocean subdivision.

• Oceans form a single, large, continuous body of water encircling all the landmass of the earth. They account for four-fifths of the Southern Hemisphere and three-fifth of the Northern Hemisphere. They contain 97.2 per cent of the world’s total water. Hence both statements 1 and 2 are correct.

• There are four principal oceans in the world which are separated largely on the basis of their geographical locations. These are the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. All the other seas, inland seas or the arms of the oceans, are counted within these four main oceans.

• Shale gas is a natural gas produced from shale, a type of sedimentary rock. Due to constant announcements of shale gas recoverable reserves, as well as drilling in Central Asia, South America, and Africa, deepwater drilling, estimates are undergoing frequent updates, mostly increasing.

• Unlike conventional hydrocarbons that can be extracted from permeable rocks easily, shale gas is trapped under low permeable rocks. It requires a mixture of ‘pressurized water, chemicals, and sand’ (shale fluid) to break low permeable rocks and have the access to the shale gas reserves. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

• Around 5 to 9 million litres of water is used per attempt of extraction (fracturing) activity. These (fracturing) activities are likely to deplete water sources and cause pollution due to the disposal of flow back (produced) water. Flowback water is the fluid that returns to the surface when shale fluid is injected underground at a high pressure to fracture the rock. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• China is estimated to have the world's largest shale gas reserves followed by the USA, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

• The United States and Canada are the major producers of commercially viable natural gas from shale formations in the world, even though about a dozen other countries have conducted exploratory test wells. China is the only nation outside of North America that has registered commercially viable production of shale gas.