UPSC Paper 1 Mock Test - 12 - UPSC MCQ

Foreign Intelligence Service (or SVR) is Russia’s primary external intelligence agency. The SVR is the successor of First Chief Directorate (FCD) of the KGB since December 1991. The former chief of the KGB First Chief Directorate, Yevgeni Primakov, was appointed head of the SVR. The headquarters of SVR are still in Yasenevo, Moscow

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) Pinyin: Guojia Anquan Bu, or Guoanbu) is the security agency of the People’s Republic of China. It is also probably the Chinese government’s largest and most active foreign intelligence agency, though it is also involved in domestic security matters. Because of its role in collecting domestic intelligence and in monitoring domestic political dissidents, it has sometimes been termed a secret police.

THE SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), often known as MI6, collects Britain’s foreign intelligence. The Service is based at Vauxhall Cross in London. Its Chief is Sir John Scarlett. SIS provides HMG with a global covert capability to promote and defend the national security and economic well-being of the United Kingdom.

Mossad is headquartered in Tel Aviv. The staff of Mossad was estimated during the late 1980s to number between 1,500 to 2,000 personnel, with more recent estimates placing the staff at an estimated 1,200 personnel. The identity of the director of Mossad was traditionally a state secret, or at least not widely publicized, until in March 1996 the Government announced the appointment of Major General Danny Yatom as the replacement for Mossad Director Shabtai Shavit, who resigned in early 1996. Danny Yatom (1996-1998) was succeeded by Ephraim Halevy (1998-2002). In September 2002, Meir Dagan was designated the new Mossad director.

Formerly known as the Central Institute for Coordination and the Central Institute for Intelligence and Security, Mossad was formed on 01 April 1951. Mossad was established by then Prime Minister David Ben Gurion.

The Bengal Renaissance refers to a socio-cultural and religious reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in undivided India's Bengal province, though the impact of it spread in the whole of India.

The Bengal Renaissance is said to have begun with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) and continued until the death of Rabindranath Tagore in 1941.The Renaissance was a revival of the positives of India's past and appreciation of the impact of the Modern West, as it had emerged since the Fifteenth-century European Renaissance.

Thus, the Bengal Renaissance blended together the teachings of the Upanishad in order to create public opinion against Hindu superstitions including Sati, infanticide, polygamy, child marriage, caste-division, intercaste hatred, Dowry, untouchability etc. and the efforts of the Christian Missionaries and the British Colonial Government who introduced Western education, politics and law to administer all those who indulged in superstitions and caste-based Hindu medievalism. 

INS Satpura, India's second Shivalik class indigenous stealth frigate with versatile control system with signature management and missile capabilities will soon be commissioned in Mumbai. Conceived and designed by Indian Naval Team, it is expected to considerably heighten Indian Navy's strike capabilities. 

There has been no uniform measure of poverty in India. The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report which says that 37% of people in India live below the poverty line(BPL).

The Arjun Sengupta Report (from National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector), based on data between the period 1993-94 and 2004–05, states that 77% of Indians live on less than 20 a day (about $0.50 per day). The N.C. Saxena Committee report states, on account of calorific intake apart from nominal income, that 50% of Indians live below the poverty line 

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was developed in 2010 by Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Programme and uses different factors to determine poverty beyond income-based lists. It replaced the previous Human Poverty Index.

The MPI is an index of acute multidimensional poverty. It shows the number of people who are multidimensionally poor (suffering deprivations in 33.33% of weighted indicators) and the number of deprivations with which poor households typically contend. It reflects deprivations in very rudimentary services and core human functioning for people across 104 countries. Although deeply constrained by data limitations, MPI reveals a different pattern of poverty than income poverty, as it illuminates a different set of deprivations. 

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices to rank countries into four tiers of human development. It was created by economist Mahbub ul Haq, followed by economist Amartya Sen in 1990, and published by the United Nations Development Programme. 

The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These were devised and launched by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990 and had the explicit purpose "to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people centered policies".

To produce the Human Development Reports, Mahbub ul Haq brought together a group of well-known development economists including: Paul Streeten, Frances Stewart, Gustav Ranis, Keith Griffin, Sudhir Anand and Meghnad Desai. But it was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s work on capabilities and functionings that provided the underlying conceptual framework.

Haq was sure that a simple composite measure of human development was needed in order to convince the public, academics, and policy-makers that they can and should evaluate development not only by economic advances but also improvements in human well-being. Sen initially opposed this idea, but he went on to help Haq develop the Index.

Sen was worried that it was difficult to capture the full complexity of human capabilities in a single index but Haq persuaded him that only a single number would shift the attention of policy-makers from concentration on economic to human well-being. 

The first bank of limited liability managed by Indians was Oudh Commercial Bank founded in 1881. Subsequently, Punjab National Bank was established in 1894. Swadeshi movement, which began in 1906, encouraged the formation of a number of commercial banks. Banking crisis during 1913 -1917 and failure of 588 banks in various parts of the country during the decade ended 1949 underlined the need for regulating and controlling commercial banks. The Banking Companies Act was passed in February 1949, which was subsequently amended to read as Banking Regulation Act, 1949. This Act provided the legal framework for regulation of the banking system in India. 

The largest bank - Imperial Bank of India - was nationalised in 1955 and renamed as State Bank of India, followed by formation of its 7 Associate Banks in 1959. With a view to bringing commercial banks into the mainstream of economic development with definite social obligations and objectives, the Government of India issued an ordinance on 19 July 1969 acquiring ownership and control of 14 major banks in the country. Six more commercial banks were nationalised from 15 April 1980. 

Self Help Groups (SHGs) The SHG-Bank Linkage Programme was started in the year 1992 as a flagship programme by NABARD and ably supported by RBI through policy support. The programme envisages organization of the rural poor into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) building their capacities to manage their own finances and then negotiating bank credit on commercial terms. The poor are encouraged to voluntarily come together to save small thrift regularly and extend micro-loans among themselves. Once the group attains required maturity of handing larger resources, the bank credit follows. 

MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME 
The Mid-day Meal Scheme was launched and implemented by the Ministry of Human Resource Development with a view to enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children with effect from 15 August 1995 for the benefit of students in primary schools, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. 

Preventive Detention, as the name suggests is done “before the act”. The authorities may resort so such action when they feel that someone might commit an offence and hence, by detaining the person, they seek to prevent him from committing the offence. The Constitution enables enactment of law providing for Preventive Detention on the following grounds:
i) Security of state;
ii) Maintenance of public order;
iii) Maintenance of essential services, or of essential supplies;
iv) Matters related to defence, foreign affairs or security of India. The second part of Article 22 of the Constitution provides some protection to persons under preventive detention. Under Article 22, a person under preventive detention has following rights:
i) The maximum period of detention can be only three months. Beyond this, detention can be continued only on report of an Advisory Board;
ii) The detainee must be informed of the grounds of his arrest, as soon as possible, except when it is considered that doing so would be against public interest;
iii) The detainee must be given an opportunity to argue against his detention at the earliest. Besides, the general protection available to any detainee under Article 22 is also available to detainees under preventive detention. It mainly prescribes that:
i) The arrested person must be produced before a magistrate within twenty four hours of his arrest, excluding the time taken in travel.

Beyond this time, no person can be kept in custody without the authority of a magistrate; neither shall the period of custody exceed that authorized by the magistrate;

The Advisory Board to extend the period of preventive detention beyond three months is to be headed by a sitting judge of the appropriate High Court and should have at least two other members, who are either sitting or retired High Court Judges.

The time period of three months can be exceeded without the report of the Advisory Board in specific cases, where the Parliament has enacted a law specifying the period of detention. For example, in 2009 the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1976 was amended to increase the maximum permissible period for preventive detention (for arrests made under the provisions of the UAPA) from 90 days to 180 days. 

NTERNATIONAL GRAINS COUNCIL (IGC) 
India is a member of the International Grains Council (IGC) which was previously known as International Wheat Council up to 1995 and is an intergovernmental forum of exporting and importing countries for cooperation in wheat and coarse grain matters. It administers the Grains Trade Convention 1995. India being a member of the International Grains Council, this Department pays the annual membership contribution to International Grains Council. 

Sarat Mela is an annual fair which is held in late January every year for seven days to showcase the different lifetimes of Sarat Chandra. The fair is solely dedicated to Sarat Chandra and his works. Sarat Mela was started in 1972. Complete with countless stalls of handicrafts and local products, giant wheels, merry-go-rounds, stalls of jalebi, papad, toys, utensils, etc. Cultural programmes mostly held by local talents, debate and singing competition is also held. Students display their handicrafts as do amateur and professional gardeners.

The government has hiked the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by 4.2 per cent at Rs 145 per quintal for the 2011-12 season, starting October. The FRP of sugarcane for 2010-11 season was Rs 139.12 per quintal. Sugar season runs from October to September. FRP is the minimum price that sugarcane farmers are legally guaranteed.

However, the sugar mills are free to offer any price above the FRP. From the 2009-10 season, the Centre has decided to fix FRP as the price to be paid by the sugar mills instead of the Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) earlier. FRP is linked to a basic recovery rate of 9.5 per cent, subject to a premium of Rs 1.46 for every 0.1 percentage point increase in recovery above 9.5 per cent.

Recovery rate is the sugar produced from the crushed cane. The FRP is fixed after taking into consideration the margins for sugarcane farmers on account of risk as well as profit on the cost of production of sugarcane, including the cost of transportation. 

Oldest microbe fossils found in Australia The fossilised remains of microbes that lived beside the sea in the earliest chapter of life on Earth have been discovered in a slab of rock in Western Australia. These fossils date to 3.4bn years ago, making them strong candidates to be the oldest microbes found. 

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. It is also the world most expensive experimental set-up having cost $10 billion and 16 years of collective effort. It is an underground research facility build by the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), close to Geneva, near the Switzerland - France border. The LHC was first used on September 10, 2008. Its set-up is used to shoot very small particles into each other at high speed. When the particles hit each other, their energy is converted into many different particles, and sensitive detectors keep track of the particles that are created. By looking carefully at the detector data, scientists can study what the particles are made of and how the particles interact. 

The philosophy of sustainable agriculture is to maximize crop production through scientific methods of farming. It essentially entails growing high-yielding varieties using optimum inputs without exploiting and polluting the environment. 

India ranks first in world buffalo population, with 56.5% i.e. 94.1 million of buffalo population and one-sixth of goat population in the world. India also ranks first in milk production with over 100 million tonnes a year. The country is also fifth in egg production with over 1.6 million tonnes, while it is ninth in the number of poultry. Though India tops in meat, milk and eggs production, exports are very low because of quality considerations.

Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose, was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, Maharishi, guru and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then turned into a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.
Sri Aurobindo studied for the Indian civil service at King's College, Cambridge. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of Baroda and started to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by British India for writing articles against British rule. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail, he reputedly had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. 
During his stay in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa ("The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry. He was the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in English. 
His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri, an epic poem which refers to a passage in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise integral yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita. 

Blood pH: The bloodstream is the most critically buffered system of the entire body, far more sensitive than any other. Arterial and venous blood must maintain a slightly alkaline pH: arterial blood pH = 7.41 and venous blood pH = 7.36. Because the normal pH of arterial blood is 7.41, a person is considered to have acidosis when the pH of blood falls below this value and to have alkalosis when the pH rises above 7.41.

Oilseeds Sector in India: Size 
India is one of the world’s largest edible oil economies with 15,000 oil mills, 689 solvent extraction units, 251 Vanaspati plants and over 1,000 refineries employing more than one million people. The total market size is at Rs. 600,000 Mln. and import-export trade is worth Rs.130, 000 Mln. 
India being deficient in oils has to import 40% of its consumption requirements. With an annual consumption of about 11 mln Tonnes, the per capita consumption is at 11.50 kgs, which is very low compared to world average of 20 kgs. China is currently at 17 kg. India is also a leading producer of oilseeds, contributing 8-10% of world oilseed production. India is estimated to account for around 6% of the world’s production of edible oils. Though it has the largest cultivated area under oilseeds in the world), crop yields tantamount to only 50-60% of the world’s average. 
India is the fifth-largest producer of oilseeds in the world, behind US, China, Brazil, and Argentina. 
Three oilseeds - Groundnut, Soybean and Rapeseed/ Mustard - together account for over 80 percent of aggregate cultivated oilseeds output. Mustard seed alone contributes Rs.120, 000 Mln. turnover out of Rs.600, 000 Mln. oilseed based Sector domestic turnover. Cottonseed, Copra and other oil-bearing material too contribute to domestic vegetable oil pool. 
Currently, India accounts for 7.0% of world oilseeds output; 7.0% of world oil meal production; 6.0% of world oil meal export; 6.0% of world veg. oil production; 14% of world veg. oil import; and 10 % of the world edible oil consumption. 

Amphibole is example of Hornblands. It contains silicate of calcium, magnesium, and iron. Mical contains magnesium, iron and aluminum silicate.<br>Quartzites are generally formed from sandstones which are dominated by silicon dioxide. 

Sal, Sandalwood and Shisham are the most important trees of tropical moist deciduous forests in India. 

During summer season there is easterly jet stream over the peninsula. Its presence is temporary which eliminates during winter. 
The coastal districts of Tamil Nadu receive rainfall from north-east monsoon during October to December. 

Waste to Energy (WtE) 
refers to any waste treatment that creates energy in the form of electricity or heat from a waste source. 
Waste to Energy Technologies 
• Incineration
• Anaerobic Digestion
• Landfill Gas to Energy
• Refuse Derived Fuel; RDF
• Plasma Arc 

Air is the name given to atmosphere used in breathing and photosynthesis. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. While air content and atmospheric pressure varies at different layers, air suitable for the survival of terrestrial plants and terrestrial animals is currently only known to be found in Earth's troposphere and artificial atmospheres.

State          Production (%)
Karnataka       34.8
Maharashtra     23.9
Andhra Pradesh    22.9 

winds blow because of differences in atmospheric pressure. Pressure gradients may develop on a local to a global scale because of differences in the heating and cooling of the Earth's surface. Heating and cooling cycles that develop daily or annually can create several common local or regional thermal wind systems. 
Pressure Gradient Force: 
Force due to spatial differences in atmospheric pressure. Usually expressed in millibars or kilopascals per unit distance (meters or kilometers). This force is primarily responsible for the formation of wind. 

Incineration is described as “thermal treatment” for reducing mass and volume of wastes effectively destroying hazardous components of the waste High temperature (650-1,200 ºC) is employed for combustion process. Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and heat. Effective controls are required to prevent the negative impacts on human health and environment. 

Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced at power plants. Its composition depends on what is being burned, but it will usually consist of mostly nitrogen (typically more than two-thirds) derived from the combustion air, carbon dioxide (CO₂), and water vapor as well as excess oxygen (also derived from the combustion air). It further contains a small percentage of a number of pollutants, such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides.