Kerala PSC KAS Prelims Paper 2 Mock Test - 4 - Kerala PSC KAS MCQ

Korea's KSTAR reactor recently set a new record by sustaining plasma at an incredible temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds. This achievement brings researchers closer to practical nuclear fusion, a potentially revolutionary clean energy source.

Juan Vicente Perez Mora, who lived to be 114 years old, was acknowledged as the world's oldest man until his death in April 2024. His long life drew attention to the subject of longevity and its various factors, including genetics and lifestyle.

Japan introduced an e-Visa specifically for Indian tourists, reflecting an effort to boost tourism from India and strengthen bilateral ties. This initiative simplifies the travel process, making it easier for Indian travelers to visit Japan.

Mukesh Ambani was ranked 9th on Forbes' World's Billionaires List in 2024. His wealth primarily comes from the telecommunications and petrochemical sectors, and his business ventures have significantly impacted the Indian economy.

The Kangra region experienced a devastating earthquake in 1905 that resulted in the loss of around 20,000 lives. This disaster highlighted the region's vulnerability to seismic activity and led to discussions on disaster preparedness and building resilience.

Senegal declared its independence from France in 1960, becoming one of the first countries in West Africa to gain independence. This marked a significant moment in the decolonization of Africa and inspired other nations to pursue self-governance.

The theme for the International Day of Mine Awareness in 2024 was "Protecting Lives, Building Peace." This theme emphasizes the importance of awareness regarding the dangers of landmines and the necessity of promoting peace in affected regions.

The Param Vir Chakra Garden was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi. It features statues of the 21 awardees of the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military honor, celebrating the bravery and sacrifice of the nation's armed forces.

The Indian Army conducted tests of a new integrated anti-aircraft weapon system, demonstrating its capabilities in detecting and neutralizing aerial threats, including drone swarms. This exercise is part of ongoing efforts to enhance national security and defense readiness.

The Wadge Bank is a resource-rich submarine plateau recognized as part of India's exclusive economic zone, following the 1976 India-Sri Lanka agreement. This designation grants India sovereign rights over the area's resources, making it significant in bilateral relations.

EVI, the world's first emotionally intelligent voice AI, developed by Hume, can understand emotions in speech by processing the tune, rhythm, and timbre of vocal expressions. This capability allows it to engage more empathetically in conversations, enhancing user experience.

Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to fly into space. She flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia and became a symbol of inspiration for many aspiring astronauts, particularly women in science and technology.

Sanjay Nayar took over as the president of ASSOCHAM in April 2024. ASSOCHAM, or the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, plays a crucial role in advocating for business interests and economic growth in India.

The new Rs 500 crore EV subsidy scheme aims to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India. This initiative is part of the government's broader strategy to reduce carbon emissions and encourage sustainable transportation.

The RBI controls the money supply in the economy in various ways. The tools used by the Central bank to control money supply can be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative tools control the extent of money supply by changing the CRR and SLR, or bank rate or open market operations. Hence option 3 is not correct. Qualitative tools include persuasion by the Central bank in order to make commercial banks discourage or encourage lending which is done through moral suasion, margin requirement, etc. Hence options 1 and 2 are correct. 

• Expert group constituted by the Planning Commission and, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar, was constituted to review methodology for poverty estimation and to address the following shortcomings of the previous methods:
  • Obsolete Consumption Pattern: Consumption patterns were linked to the 1973-74 poverty line baskets (PLBs) of goods and services, whereas there were significant changes in the consumption patterns of the poor since that time, which were not reflected in the poverty estimates. o Inflation Adjustment: There were issues with the adjustment of prices for inflation, both spatially (across regions) and temporally (across time).
  • Health and Education Expenditure: Earlier poverty lines assumed that health and education would be provided by the state and formulated poverty lines accordingly.
• Recommendations:
  • Shift from Calorie Consumption based Poverty Estimation: It based its calculations on the consumption of the items like cereal, pulses, milk, edible oil, non-vegetarian items, vegetables, fresh fruits, dry fruits, sugar, salt & spices, other food, intoxicants, fuel, clothing, footwear, education, medical (non-institutional and institutional), entertainment, personal & toilet goods. Hence option 1 is correct.
  • Uniform Poverty line Basket: Unlike Alagh committee (which relied on separate PLB for rural and urban areas), Tendulkar Committee computed new poverty lines for rural and urban areas of each state based on the uniform poverty line basket and found that all India poverty line (2004-05) was: ✓ ₹446.68 per capita per month in rural areas ✓ ₹578.80 per capita per month in urban areas. Hence option 2 is correct.
  • Private Expenditure: Incorporation of private expenditure on health and education while estimating poverty. Hence option 4 is correct.
  • Price Adjustment Procedure: The Committee also recommended a new method of updating poverty lines, adjusting for changes in prices and patterns of consumption (to correct spatial and temporal issues with price adjustment), using the consumption basket of people close to the poverty line. Hence option 3 is correct.
  • Mixed Reference Period: The Committee recommended using Mixed Reference Period based estimates, as opposed to Uniform Reference Period based estimates that were used in earlier methods for estimating poverty.
• Tendulkar committee computed poverty lines for 2004-05 at a level that was equivalent, in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms to Rs 33 per day.
  • Purchasing Power Parity: The PPP model refers to a method used to work out the money that would be needed to purchase the same goods and services in two countries. 

• GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a domestic territory of a country measured in a year. There are three ways to calculate the national income; namely product method, expenditure method, and income method.
  • The Product or Value-Added Method: In the product method, the aggregate annual value of goods and services produced (if a year is the unit of time) is calculated. If we sum the gross value added of all the firms of the economy in a year, we get a measure of the value of the aggregate amount of goods and services produced by the economy in a year (just as we had done in the wheat-bread example). Such an estimate is called Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  • Expenditure Method: An alternative way to calculate the GDP is by looking at the demand side of the products. This method is referred to as the expenditure method.
  • The expenditure approach is the most commonly used GDP formula, which is based on the money spent by various groups that participate in the economy. GDP = C + G + I + NX; ✓ C = consumption or all private consumer spending within a country’s economy, including, durable goods (items with a lifespan greater than three years), nondurable goods (food & clothing), and services.
    • G = total government expenditures, including salaries of government employees, road construction/repair, public schools, and military expenditures.
    • I = sum of a country’s investments spent on capital equipment, inventories, and housing.
    • NX = net exports or a country’s total exports less total imports. o Income Method: As we mentioned in the beginning, the sum of final expenditures in the economy must be equal to the incomes received by all the factors of production taken together (final expenditure is the spending on final goods, it does not include spending on intermediate goods). Total National Income – the sum of all wages, rent, interest, and profits.
  • Balance of Payment: In international economics, the balance of payments of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time and the outflow of money to the rest of the world. Balance of Payment is primarily an indicator of an economy's link with the outside world and is not used as a method to calculate the national income. Hence option (c) is the correct answer. 

Statement 1 is not correct:

• Diesel fuel is made from crude petroleum, consisting of small amounts of sulphur, nitrogen, and oxygen.
• The diesel distillate is heavier than gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel and derived by distillation process of crude oil.
• Advantages of diesel: The higher fuel economy of diesel engines compared to petrol engines. Statement 2 is not correct:
• Diesel has greater energy content per litre, as they have higher compression ratios and diesel engines are inherently efficient. This makes diesel the fuel of choice for heavy vehicles. 

Statement 1 is correct:

• The ‘Rubber Board’ is a statutory body constituted under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country. On the recommendation of the ad-hoc committee, the government passed the Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1947, on 18th April 1947, and the “Indian Rubber Board” was constituted forthwith. The Rubber Production and Marketing (Amendment) Act, 1954, amended the name of the Board as “The Rubber Board”.

Statement 2 is not correct: It functions under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Government of India.

Statement 3 is not correct: The Board’s headquarters is located at Kottayam in Kerala. 

Both the statements are correct:

• The Railway Board was established in 1905 under the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 for controlling the administration of railways in India with certain powers of functioning under the Indian Railways Act, 1890, which was later revised as the Railways Act, 1989.
• Thus, it is a statutory body, which was established through an Act of Parliament.
• The Union Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, invest the Railway Board, either absolutely or subject to conditions, like
• with all or any of the powers or functions of the Central Government under the Indian Railways Act, 1890 (later revised as the Railways Act, 1989), with respect to all or any Railways, and with the power of the officer referred to in Section 47 of the Act to make general rules for Railways administration. 

In News : PFRDA is in the process of appointing DSP Pension Fund Managers as the 11th fund manager permitted to manage retirement savings under the National Pension System (NPS).

• Statement 1 is not correct : NPS has been implemented for all Government Employees (except armed forces) joining Central Govt. on or after 1st January 2004. Most of the State/UT Governments have also notified the National Pension System (NPS) for their new employees.
  • NPS has been made available to every Indian Citizen from 1st May 2009 on a voluntary basis
  • It is being administered and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) set up under PFRDA Act, 2013.
• Statement 2 is correct : NPS can be subscribed by any Indian citizen (resident/non-resident/ overseas) aged between 18-70 years on a voluntary basis.
• Statement 3 is not correct : An NRI can open an NPS account. Contributions made by NRI are subject to regulatory requirements as prescribed by RBI and FEMA from time to time. Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) are not eligible for subscribing to NPS.

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations that represents chemists in individual countries. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC). IUPAC is registered in Zürich, Switzerland, and the administrative office, known as the "IUPAC Secretariat".

• IUPAC was established in 1919 as the successor of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry for the advancement of chemistry. The IUPAC has the responsibility of naming all new elements and compounds, declare atomic weights and physical constants, update the Periodic table and carry out research projects for the benefit of mankind. Hence statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is not correct.

• IUPAC has publications in many scientific fields including chemistry, biology and physics. Some important work IUPAC has done in these fields includes standardizing nucleotide base sequence code names; publishing books for environmental scientists, chemists, and physicists; and improving education in science. IUPAC is also known for standardizing the atomic weights of the elements through one of its oldest standing committees, the Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW).

Examples of Exothermic Reactions:

• any combustion reaction

• a neutralization reaction

• rusting of iron (rust steel wool with vinegar)

• the reaction between water and calcium chloride

• reaction between sodium and chlorine to make sodium chloride (table salt)

• reaction between water and any strong acid

• reaction between water and any anhydrous salt

• dissolving laundry detergent in water

• freezing water into ice cubes

• snow forming inside clouds

• respiration, decomposition of organic matter, photosynthesis. Hence the correct answer is option (d).

• rain forming from water vapor in clouds

• burning sugar

• a burning candle

• nuclear fission

• Diarrhea results from exposure to parasites or harmful bacteria like E. coli through contaminated food or water. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

• ‘eSanjeevani’ and ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ Both the platforms have been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Mohali.

• ‘eSanjeevani’ and ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ are telemedicine service platforms of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• He was a 17th-century commander of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• With Chhatrapati Shivaji’s rise and increasing control of the region, Afzal Khan was seen as the man to subdue him in the Deccan.

• Khan put together a force of 10,000 cavalry and marched from Bijapur to Wai, plundering Shivaji’s territory along the way.

• Shivaji called a council of war at the fort of Pratapgarh, where most of his advisers urged him to make peace. However, Shivaji was not eager to back down and he set up a meeting with Khan.

• During the meeting, an embrace between the two turned into an attack in which Shivaji emerged victorious. This was followed by a rout of the Adilshahi army at the hands of the Marathas.

• As per Maratha sources, Khan’s remains were buried at the fort and a tomb was constructed on Shivajij’s orders.

• In an act of grace Shivaji erected a tomb over the remains of Afzul Khan and built a tower in his honour, which is still known by the name ‘Afzul Buruj’ at Pratapgarh. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus), transmitted by several species of female mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally Aedes aegypti. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• This mosquito also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infection. There is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Of the five states, the matter can be in, the Bose-Einstein condensate is perhaps the most mysterious. Gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas were all well studied for decades, if not centuries; Bose-Einstein condensates weren't created in the laboratory until the 1990s.

A Bose-Einstein condensate is a group of atoms cooled to within a hair of absolute zero. When they reach that temperature the atoms are hardly moving relative to each other; they have almost no free energy to do so. At that point, the atoms begin to clump together and enter the same energy states. They become identical, from a physical point of view, and the whole group starts behaving as though it were a single atom.

This state was first predicted, generally, in 1924–1925 by Albert Einstein following and crediting a pioneering paper by Satyendra Nath Bose on the new field now known as quantum statistics. One application for BEC is for the building of so-called atom lasers, which could have applications ranging from atomic-scale lithography to measurement and detection of gravitational fields. Hence the correct option is (a).