UPSC

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) 

Surat Split refers to the splitting of the Congress party into 'Moderates' and 'Extremists' after a clash at the session. The extremists were led by Lokmanya Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Sri Aurobindo and the moderates were led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Surendranath Banerjee. The divided Congress re-united in the crucial Lucknow session of congress in 1916.

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. 

Excessive instream sand-andgravel mining causes the degradation of rivers. Instream mining lowers the stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the streambed and along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion from the nearby sea. The effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported from streambeds and coastal areas is a loss to the system.
Excessive instream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand mining also affects the adjoining groundwater system and the uses that local people make of the river.
Sand aquifer helps in recharging the water table and sand mining causes sinking of water tables in the nearby areas, , drops leaving the drinking water wells on the embankments of these rivers dry. Turbidity increases at the mining site.

Around 11^th century, several processes were transforming the social system. Changes in the environment were gradual and almost barely visible.

Artemis is NASA’s human lunar exploration program. Through this program, NASA envisions sending astronauts to the lunar south pole by 2024 and eventually establishing a permanent presence on the Moon

India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and came into force on 26th January 1950. The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features. The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his/her functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head. The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Every State has a Legislative Assembly. Certain States have an upper House also called State Legislative Council. There is a Governor for each state who is appointed by the President. Governor is the Head of the State and the executive power of the State is vested in him. The Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head advises the Governor in the discharge of the executive functions. The Council of the Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State. The Constitution distributes legislative powers between Parliament and State legislatures as per the lists of entries in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. The residuary powers vest in the Parliament. The centrally administered territories are called Union Territories. 

All the statements are correct.
A day after a group of journalists was told that India’s access to preferential trade terms under the U.S.’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) was on its way out, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation ending the trade benefits effective June 5.
“I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India’s designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019,” Mr. Trump’s proclamation read.
The GSP is a programme that seeks to aid developing countries by giving some of their products non­reciprocal, duty­free access to U.S. markets. In 2018, some $ 6.3 billion of Indian merchandise exports to the U.S. were covered by GSP, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In News: Trump ends concessions for Indian exports under GSP

RCEP is the proposed mega-regional Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 16 Asia-Pacific countries including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member ASEAN bloc.

The proposed FTA, which aims to open up trade in goods and services as well as liberalise investment policies and will cover a market of over three billion people in these countries whose total GDP is more than $17 trillion and account for 40 per cent of world trade.

The concerns of these RCEP countries stem from fears of China dumping its excess capacity in several items including steel as well as highly subsidized items, thereby harming the local industry in the importing countries and distorting trade in the process.

India has managed to convince its partner countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to insert the words ‘single undertaking’ for both goods and services to ensure that the pact on services is signed jointly with the one on goods.

(a) is incorrect as the passage specifically talks about income related issues in the countries around the world and not on all economic issues.
(b) is correct as the passage tells the benefits of global integration and essentially tells that it can help when countries are going through income shocks and drops i.e. protects them at the time of financial distress.
(c) is incorrect as the passage does not claim the failure of survival of low income without borrowing or lending, it only says that such activity would help smoothen the effect of income shocks.
(d) is incorrect as the passage does not point the countries to be self-dependent but towards the benefits of being integrated into the global financial system.