Test: Geography - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The temperate grasslands are ideal for extensive wheat cultivation.

They are, naturally the greatest wheat exporters.

Statement 2 is correct: Three-quarters of the world's wheat is winter wheat, i.e. wheat sown in winter or late autumn, and is then harvested in the summer.

The cool, moist spring stimulates early growth and the light showers in the ripening period help to swell the grains to ensure a good yield. They warm, sunny summer is not only advantageous for harvesting but also enables the straw to be dried for farm use.

It is a hard wheat with a low moisture content, being ripened in the hot, sunny, continental summer. It is best for bread-making and is extensively traded.

Paradwip - It is situated in the Mahanadi delta, about 100 km from Cuttack. It has the deepest harbour specially suited to handle very large vessels. It has been developed mainly to handle large-scale export of iron-ore. Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are the parts of its hinterland,

Vishakhapatnam - situated in Andhra Pradesh is a land-locked harbour, connected to the sea by a channel cut through solid rock and sand. An outer harbour has been developed for handling iron-ore, petroleum and general cargo. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the main hinterland for this port,

Marmagao - It is situated at the entrance of the Zuari estuary, is a natural harbour in Goa. It gained significance after its remodelling in 1961 to handle iron-ore exports to Japan. Construction of Konkan railway has considerably extended the hinterland of this port. Karnataka, Goa, Southern Maharashtra constitute its hinterland,

Hence, option (d) is correct.

Krishnarajasagar Dam built across Kaveri River near Mysore in Karnataka. It is one of the principal and largest dam built on the river Kaveri in Karnataka in, South India. Hence pair 2 is not correctly matched,

Mettur Dam built across Kaveri River at Salem district in Tamil Nadu, It is one the largest and one of the oldest dam built in India. Mettur Dam has biggest and the most power generating capacity dam in Tamil Nadu. Hence pair 3 is correctly matched.

(ii) The agreement came into force in 2006, succeeding the 1993 SAARC Preferential Trading

Arrangement. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

(iii) SAFTA signatory countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Hence statement 3 is correct.

(iv) SAFTA recognizes the need for special and differential treatment for LDCs in its preamble.

This has been translated in the following measures:

(i) Market access: LDCs benefit from smaller sensitive lists in some of the SAFTA members and less stringent rules of origin.

(ii) LDCs were allowed smaller initial tariff reduction and longer implementation periods under trade liberalization programmes.

(iii) LDCs can have a longer list of sensitive products exempted from liberalization commitments than non-LDC signatories

(iv) LDCs were granted greater flexibility in the continuation of quantitative or other restrictions.

(i) Gold - 42 Metric Tons (Mt)

(ii) Silver - 780 Mt

(iii) Tin - 5930 Mt

(iv) Titanium - 2,88,600 Mt

(ii) Physiological density = total population / net cultivated area

(iii) The agricultural density is the number of farmers per unit area of net cultivated area.

(iv) Agricultural density = total agricultural population / net cultivable area

(v) Agricultural population includes cultivators and agricultural labourers and their family members,

Statement 1 is not correct: Physiological density is same in both countries as their population and net cultivated area are same.

Statement 2 is not correct: Agricultural density in country X is lower than country Y as it is highly mechanised and has lesser number of agricultural population for same amount of net cultivable area

Statement 2 is not correct: Majority of the Natural Gas Reserves are concentrated in the Eastern and North-Eastern India.

Onshore drilling refers to drilling deep holes under the earth's surface whereas offshore drilling relates to drilling underneath the seabed. These drilling methods are used in order to extract natural resources - usually oil and gas - from the earth. While extracting oil from below the surface of the ocean used to be much more difficult than the traditional onshore drilling method of making wells on land and drilling holes, offshore drilling has become easier through the innovative methods that have surfaced such as making either floating or fixed platforms on the bed of the ocean to support drilling.

The division of population into rural and urban is based on the residence. This division is necessary because rural and urban life styles differ from each other in terms of their livelihood and social conditions. The age-sex-occupational structure, density of population and level of development vary between rural and urban areas.

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining are classified as primary activities manufacturing as secondary, trade, transport, communication and other services as tertiary and the jobs related to research, information technology and developing ideas as quaternary activities. The proportion of working population engaged in these four sectors is a good indicator of the levels of economic development of a nation. This is because only a developed economy with industries and infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary, tertiary and quaternary sector. If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of people engaged in primary activities world be high as it involves extraction of natural resources.

Hence the correct answer is option (d).

Hence the correct answer is option (d).

By 1947, the number of mills in India went up to 423 but the scenario changed after partition, and this industry suffered a major recession. This was due to the fact that most of the good quality cotton-growing areas had gone to West Pakistan and India was left with 409 mills and only 29 percent of the cotton- producing area.

Tamil Nadu has the largest number of mills and most of them produce yarn rather than cloth. Coimbatore

has emerged as the most important center with nearly half the mills located there. Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Thanjavur, Ramanathapuram and Salem are the other important centers. The total number of operational textile mills in Tamil Nadu is 752 (the figure has increased). While Tamil Nadu accounts for less than 2% of the country 's total raw cotton production, it has almost half of cotton spinning capacity in the country. Hence statement 2 is correct

Crude oil is typically obtained through drilling, where it is usually found alongside other resources, such as natural gas (which is lighter and therefore sits above the crude oil) and saline water (which is denser and sinks below).

Crude oil is classified into two types, Sweet crude and Sour Crude depending on the content of Sulphur present in it.

Statement 2 is not correct: Crude oil may be referred to as sweet if it contains relatively little sulphur (0.5%) or sour if it contains substantial amounts of sulphur.

Sweet crude requires less energy to be extracted and once extracted, yields higher quality gasoline as well as larger quantities of it.

Statement 3 is not correct: Iraq is one of the leading producers of sweet crude.

Major locations where sweet crude is found include the Appalachian Basin in Eastern North America, Western Texas, the Bakken Formation of North Dakota and Saskatchewan, the North Sea of Europe, North Africa, Australia, and the Far East including Indonesia.

Sour crude, on the other hand, has a high level of impurities in it, namely sulphur, which must first be removed before being processed into gas and other petroleum-based products.

Venezuela is a leading producer of sour crude oil. Sour crude is more common in the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, South America, and Canada.

Crude produced by OPEC member nations also tends to be relatively sour, with an average sulphur content of 1.77%.

Male Population/Female Population x 1000 or the number of males per thousand females,

In India, the sex ratio is worked out using the formula: Female Population/Male Population x 1000 or the number of females per thousand males,

On average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 102 males per 100 females, o As per the latest figures (2018) according to the United Nations, the Sex ratio of the world in 2018 is 101.783. It means that the World has 101783 males for every 100000 females or 98248 females for every 100000 males. Hence statement 1 is net correct

The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia where there arc 85 males per 100 females. In contrast, in Qatar, there are 311 males per 100 females. The world pattern of sex ratio does not exhibit variations in the developed regions of the world. The sex ratio is favorable for females in 139 countries of the world and unfavorable for them in the remaining 72 countries listed by the United Nations,

In general, Asia has a low sex ratio. Countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan have a lower sex ratio. According to the latest UN statistics, Eastern Europe has the highest ratio of the female population while Western Asia has the lowest. Among the top 20 countries having a greater proportion of females, 16 belongs to Europe and North America continent. Among the top 20 countries having a greater proportion of males, 14 belongs to Asia and 3 each from Africa and Oceania continent. Hence statement 2 is not correct,

On the other extreme is a greater part of Europe (including Russia) where males are in minority. A deficit of males in the populations of many European countries is attributed to a better status of women, and an excessively male-dominated out-migration to different parts of the world in the past.

(i) Increases water availability,

(ii) Checks the declining groundwater table,

(iii) Improves the quality of groundwater through dilution of contaminants like fluoride and nitrates,

(iv) Prevents soil erosion and flooding and

(v) Arrests saltwater intrusion in coastal areas if used to recharge aquifers.

Rainwater harvesting has been practiced through various methods by different communities in the country for a long time. There is a wide scope to use rainwater harvesting technique to conserve precious water resource. It can be done by harvesting rainwater on rooftops and open spaces.

Statement 2 is correct: Famous Bauxite mines in India are Katni, Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur and Maikala Hills in Chhattisgarh, Koraput in Odisha.

According to the United Nation’s World Urbanisation Prospects 2018, Tokyo is the world‘s largest city with an agglomeration of 37 million inhabitants, followed by New Delhi with 29 million, Shanghai with 26 million, and Mexico City and Sao Paulo, each with around 22 million inhabitants. Today, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing and Dhaka all have close to 20 million inhabitants.

By 2020, Tokyo‘s population is projected to begin to decline, while Delhi is projected to continue growing and to become the most populous city in the world around 2028.

Metallic minerals are the sources of metals. Iron ore and copper produce metal and are included in this category. Non-metallic minerals are either organic in origin such as fossil fuels also known as mineral fuels which are derived from the buried animal and plant life such as coal and petroleum. Other type of non-metallic minerals are inorganic in origin such as mica, limestone, and graphite, etc.

Metallic minerals are further divided into ferrous and non-ferrous metallic minerals. Ferrous minerals refers to iron. Thus, all those minerals which have iron content are ferrous such as iron ore itself. For e.g iron, manganese etc. Hence option 1 is correct.

Those metallic minerals which do not have iron content are referred to as non-ferrous such as copper, bauxite, aluminium, brass, lead etc. Hence options 2 and 3 are not correct.

The first population Census in India was conducted in 1872 but its first synchronous decennial Census was conducted only in 1881. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

The census year 1921 registered a negative growth rate of -0.31 per cent which happened only once throughout the demographic history of India. It is because of this decline that the year 1921 is called the ’demographic divide’ in the demographic history of India. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Out of the 121 crore Indians, 83.3 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in urban areas. Census 2011 shows that for the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas than in rural areas. The rural-urban distribution is 68.84% and 31.16% respectively.

In southern states and West Bengal, the climatic conditions allow the cultivation of two or three crops of rice in an agricultural year. In West Bengal farmers grow three crops of rice called „aus", „aman" and „boro". But in Himalayas and northwestern parts of the country, it is grown as a kharif crop during southwest Monsoon season.

With social and cultural development, humans develop better and more efficient technology. They move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom. They create possibilities with the resources obtained from the environment. The human activities create cultural landscape. The imprints of human activities are created everywhere; health resorts on highlands, huge urban sprawls, fields, orchards and pastures in plains and rolling hills, ports on the coasts, oceanic routes on the oceanic surface and satellites in the space. The earlier scholars termed this as possibilism.

A geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced another concept which reflects a middle path (Madhyam Marg) between the two ideas of environmental determinism and possibilism. He termed it as Neodeterminism or stop and go determinism. The concept shows that neither is there a situation of absolute necessity (environmental determinism) nor is there a condition of absolute freedom (possibilism). It means that human beings can conquer nature by obeying it. They have to respond to the red signals and can proceed in their pursuits of development when nature permits the modifications. It means that possibilities can be created within the limits which do not damage the environment and there is no free run without accidents. Hence the correct answer is option (c).

Coking coal is a vital ingredient in the steel making process as iron occurs only as iron oxides in the earth’s crust. Hence, the ores must be converted, or ’reduced’, using carbon. The primary source of this carbon is coking coal.

Limestone is used as a slag former for removing impurities in the extraction of iron ore.

Dolomite is used as a slag former, slag modifier and as a refractory material.

Manganese removes oxygen and sulfur when iron ore (an iron and oxygen compound) is converted into iron. It also is an essential alloy that helps convert iron into steel.

Fire clay is used in the iron and steel industry as it can withstand high temperature and used for making refractories.

An assured supply of soil moisture through irrigation was a basic pre-requisite for the success of this new agricultural technology. This strategy of agricultural development paid dividends instantly and increased foodgrains production at a very fast rate. This spurt of agricultural growth came to be known as =Green Revolution4.

This also gave a fillip to the development of a large number of agro-inputs, agro-processing industries, and small-scale industries. This strategy of agricultural development made the country self-reliant in foodgrain production. Hence statement 3 is correct.

The green revolution was initially confined to irrigated areas only. This led to regional disparities in agricultural development in the country until the seventies, after which the technology spread to the Eastern and Central parts of the country. Hence statement 2 is correct.

(i) Place of birth, if the place of birth is different from the place of enumeration (known as life-time migrant);

(ii) Place of residence, if the place of last residence is different from the place of enumeration (known as migrant by place of last residence).

(iii) As per 2001 census, out of 1,029 million people in the country, 307 million (30 per cent) were reported as migrants by place of birth. However, this figure was 315 million (31 per cent) in case of place of last residence. Over 45.58 crore Indians were found to be “migrants” for various reasons during the enumeration exercises of Census 2011. Census data shows that marriage and employment are the major reasons for migration.

(iv) The Economic Survey 2016-17 used data from Census 2011, rail traffic data and changes in population in different age categories to estimate migration statistics. It estimates that an average of 90 million people migrated annually through railways between Indian statesannually during the last five years.