UPSC CSE Prelims Paper 1 Practice Test - 35 MCQs & solutions - Free

Military Under the British 

• To prevent the recurrence of another revolt was the main reason behind the reorganization of the army. To begin with, domination of the European branch over the Indian branches was ensured. The commissions of 1859 and 1879 insisted on the principle of a one-third white army (as against 14% before 1857). Finally, the proportion of Europeans to Indians was carefully fixed at one to two in the Bengal Army and two to five in the Madras and Bombay Armies. Strict European monopoly over key geographical locations and departments, such as artillery, tanks, and armed corps, was maintained. Even the rifles given to Indians were of an inferior quality till 1900, and Indians were not allowed in these high-tech departments till the Second World War. 
• No Indians were allowed in the officer rank, and the highest rank an Indian could reach till 1914 was that of a subedar (only from 1918 onwards were Indians allowed in the commissioned ranks). As late as 1926, the Indian Sandhurst Committee was visualizing a 50% Indianised officer cadre for 1952. 
• With regard to recruitment to British Indian armed forces, it would be worthwhile to trace the mischief caused by the colonial military policymakers who, in the post-1857 revolt, formulated lists of characteristics, which allegedly separated one community from another, for the purpose of identifying so-called martial races‘ from which Indian soldiers could be recruited. 
• While reorganizing the Indian army in the post-1857 revolt, the Jonathan Peel Commission had the task of identifying social groups and regions from which „loyal‟ soldiers could be recruited. The principle it emphasized was that the native army should be composed of different nationalities and castes and mixed promiscuously through each regiment. Recruiting of soldiers was seen more in terms of the communities to which they belonged rather than as individuals. Caste, religion, and ethnicity, or race became more crucial while enlisting a soldier. Greater Punjab now became a major catchment area for the Bengal Army. By the late 1870s, the Bombay Army and Madras Army began to be looked upon as being definitely inferior to the Bengal Army. 
• The Commission set up in 1879, under the chairmanship of Ashley Eden, reconfirmed the policy enunciated by the Peel Commission. During the 1880s, a novel doctrine was spelt out, which divided Indian society into two broad categories, namely, martial and non-martial. The term race‘ was used in the sense of a well-defined group that had several common physical features. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

The Ramakrishna Mission was conceived by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 (eleven years after the death of Ramakrishna). Swami Vivekananda gave interpretation to the teachings of Ramakrishna and render them in an easily understandable language. Hence statement 1 is correct. Vivekananda emerged as a preacher of neo-Hinduism. He attended the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. The keynote of his opening address was the need for a healthy balance between spiritualism and materialism. He envisaged a new culture for the whole of the world where the materialism of the West and spirituality of the East would be blended into a new harmony to produce happiness for mankind. Hence statement 2 is not correct. He strongly condemned the touch me not the attitude of Hindus in religious matters. He regretted that Hinduism has been confined to Kitchen. Vivekananda emphasized that fundamental postulate of his Master that the best worship of God is through the service of humanity. Hence statement 3 is correct. In this way, he gave a new social purpose to Hinduism.

In Malabar, Kerala, a powerful peasant movement developed as the result of the efforts mainly of Congress Socialist Party activists, who had been working among the peasants since 1934, touring villages and setting up Karshaka Sanghams (peasant associations). The main demands, around which the movement cohered, were for the abolition of feudal levies or akramapirivukal, renewal fees or the practice of policceluthu, advance rent, and the stopping of eviction of tenants by landlords on the ground of personal cultivation. The main forms of mobilization and agitation were the formation of village units of the Karshaka Sanghams, conferences and meetings. But a form that became very popular and effective was the marching of jathas or large groups of peasants to the houses of big jenmies or landlords, placing the demands before them and securing immediate redressal.
The main demand of these jathas was for the abolition of feudal levies such as vasi, nuri, etc. The Karshaka Sanghams also organized a powerful campaign around the demand for amending the Malabar Tenancy Act of 1929. The 6th of November, 1938 was observed as the Malabar Tenancy Act Amendment Day and meetings all over the district passed a uniform resolution pressing the demand. A committee headed by R. Ramachandra Nedumgadi was appointed by the All Malabar Karshaka Sangham to enquire into the tenurial problem and its recommendations were endorsed by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee on 20 November 1938.  
But, by the time the Committee submitted its report in 1940, the Congress Ministries had already resigned and no immediate progress was possible. But the campaign had successfully mobilized the peasantry on the tenancy question and created an awareness that ensured that in later years these demands would inevitably have to be accepted. Meanwhile, the Madras Congress Ministry had passed legislation for debt relief, and this was welcomed by the Karshaka Sanghams. Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

VIPER Mission is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)‘s lunar rover- the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER that will explore the relatively nearby but extreme environment of the Moon in search of water ice and other potential resources. VIPER is a mobile robot that will roam around the Moon‘s south pole looking for water ice. It will provide the surface-level detail of where the water is and how much is available for us to use.
Statement 1 is correct: It is the first-ever resource mapping mission on another celestial body. VIPER will use the data the rover collects to show where the Moon‘s water ice is most likely to be found and easiest to access
Statement 2 is correct: As NASA‘s first mobile robotic mission to the Moon, it will directly analyze water ice on the surface and subsurface of the Moon at varying depths and temperature conditions within four main soil environments. The data which will be transmitted back to Earth will be used to create resource maps, helping scientists determine the location and concentration of water ice on the Moon and the forms it‘s in, such as ice crystals or molecules chemically bound to other materials.

Britain's special interest in the Persian Gulf dates from the seventeenth century when she occupied important stations in the area. British Residents in the gulf acted as arbiters in the quarrels of the chiefs on the Arabian coasts. Although England did not aim at any colonial empire in this area she would not tolerate the territorial interests of any other great power in that area.

• In the last quarter of the nineteenth century European nations were competing with one another in the race for more and more colonies and 'spheres of influence'. Russia was thrusting southward and looked for a port in the Persian Gulf, France was looking for a coaling station in the area, Germany was working on a plan to extend her Berlin-Bagadad Railway project to the Gulf and even Turkey was keen to re-establish her suzerainty over Kuwait. 
• France refused to recognise Britain as a sovereign arbiter of all disputes between the Arab, Persian and Turkish chiefs. 
• England thwarted all attempts of Russia, Germany and Turkey to gain vantage positions in the Gulf. 
• Curzon's personal visit to the Gulf escorted by a naval flotilla in 1903 demonstrated to the world England's position of importance in the Gulf. 
• Curzon also thwarted Russian intrigues in the Perso-Afghan dispute about Seistan. On the strength of an old treaty of 1857, whereby both Persia and Afghanistan had agreed to settle their differences through the good offices of the British Government, Curzon despatched in 1902 Sir Henry MacMahon who arbitrated to the satisfaction of both the parties. At the time of Curzon's arrival in India the relations with Tibet had reached the point of deadlock. The Chinese suzerainty over Tibet was ineffective. The Russian influence at Lhasa was increasing and alarmed Curzon. A Russian national, Dorjieff had won the confidence of the Dalai Lama and brought to Tibet Russian arms and ammunition. Curzon who had tried to forestall Russian influence towards the North-West in Afghanistan and Persia could not remain indifferent to the Russian advances in Tibet. 
• In 1903, with the permission of Home authorities, Curzon sent Colonel Younghusband with a small Gorkha contingent on a special mission to Tibet to "oblige Tibetans to come to an agreement". The Tibetans refused to negotiate and offered non-violent resistance Under Curzon the frontier policy was revised and a new system came into operation. 
• He followed 'realistic and common sense' policy towards the tribesmen of the north-west frontier. Hence option (c) is the correct answer. 
• He said: "Let our new frontier policy be called by any name that men choose. Only let it be based not upon obsolete political formulas, but upon up-to-date common sense." 
• In the light of past experience Curzon hoped "to draft a code of frontier policy which could with consistency, and without violent interruptions, be applied to the whole line of North-Western frontier from the Pamirs to Baluchistan." 
• Curzon's policy for north-west frontier may be summed up as a policy of 'military concentration as against diffusion, and of tribal conciliation in place of exasperation.

Recently 124th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi was commemorated.  The Battle of Saragarhi was a last-stand battle fought before the Tirah Campaign between the British Raj and Afghan tribesmen. The Battle of Saragarhi is considered one of the finest last stands in the military history of the world. Twenty-one soldiers were pitted against over 8,000 Afridi and Orakzai tribals but they managed to hold the fort for seven hours.
Though heavily outnumbered, the soldiers of 36th Sikhs (now 4 Sikh), led by Havildar Ishar Singh, fought till their last breath, killing 200 tribals and injuring 600. Hence, statement 1 is correct.  The Battle of Saragarhi took place on 12 September 1897. The Governor General of India during this period is Lord Elgin II. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Lord Lansdowne served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1893. During his tenure, the Indo-Afghan border {Durand Line} was demarcated. The Indian Council Act, 1892 was enacted and a system of indirect elections started in India. Events during his tenure are as follows:  Factory Act (1891) or Second Factory Act  Indian Councils Act (1892).  Setting up of Durand Commission (1893) Categorization of civil services into imperial, provisional, and subordinate  Opium Commission (1893) Hence option 3 and 4 are correct.
The Ilbert Bill was a legislative act introduced in 1883 during the tenure of Viceroy Ripon and written by Sir Courtenay Pergine Ilbert. The act stipulated that Indian judges could try Europeans. Hence option 1 is not correct  In 1878-80 during the tenure of Lord Lytton, British-Indian forces fought a war (2nd Afghan War) to ensure that Afghanistan remained free from Russian interference. Although the campaign was eventually brought to a successful conclusion, the British suffered several setbacks in their struggle to control the volatile country. Hence option 5 is correct.  
The Indian National Congress conducted its first session in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885 at the initiative of retired Civil Service officer Allan Octavian Hume. Its aim was to obtain a greater share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic and political dialogue between them and the British Raj. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 a notice convening the first meeting of the Indian National Union to be held in Poona the following December was issued. Due to a cholera outbreak there, it was moved to Bombay. Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Hence option 2 is not correct.

Suppression of the Revolt of 1857 

• The revolt was finally suppressed. The British captured Delhi on September 20, 1857, after prolonged and bitter fighting. John Nicholson, the leader of the siege, was badly wounded and later succumbed to his injuries. Bahadur Shah was taken, prisoner. The royal princes were captured and butchered on the spot, publicly shot at point-blank range by Lieutenant Hudson himself. The emperor was exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862. Thus the great House of Mughals was finally and completely extinguished. A terrible vengeance was wreaked on the inhabitants of Delhi. With the fall of Delhi, the focal point of the revolt disappeared. 
• One by one, all the great leaders of the revolt fell. Military operations for the recapture of Kanpur were closely associated with the recovery of Lucknow. Sir Colin Campbell occupied Kanpur on December 6, 1857. Nana Saheb, defeated at Kanpur, escaped to Nepal in early 1859, never to be heard of again. His close associate Tantia Tope escaped into the jungles of central India but was captured while asleep in April 1859 and put to death. The Rani of Jhansi had died on the battlefield earlier in June 1858. Jhansi was recaptured by Sir Hugh Rose. By 1859, Kunwar Singh, Bakht Khan, Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly, Rao Sahib (brother of Nana Saheb), and Maulvi Ahmadullah were all dead, while the Begum of Awadh was compelled to hide in Nepal. At Benaras, a rebellion had been organized which was mercilessly suppressed by Colonel Neill, who put to death all suspected rebels and even disorderly sepoys. Hence option (c) is the correct answer. 
• By the end of 1859, British authority over India was fully re-established. The British government had to pour immense supplies of men, money, and arms into the country, though the Indians had to later repay the entire cost through their own suppression.

The first important parliamentary act regarding the Company's affairs was the Regulating Act of 1773. The Regulating Act of 1773 opened a new chapter in the constitutional history of the Company.  
Provisions of the Act:

• This Act made changes in the constitution of the Court of Directors of the Company and subjected their actions to the supervision of the British Government. The Directors were to lay before the Ministry all correspondence dealing with the civil and military affairs and the revenues of India. 
• A council of four 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 had a casting vote in case of a tie. Hence, option (b) is not correct. 
• In India, the Government of Bengal was to be carried on by a Governor-General and his Council who were given the power to superintend and control the Bombay and Madras Presidencies in matters of war and peace. 
• The Act also provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court of Justice at Calcutta to administer justice to Europeans, their employees, and the citizens of Calcutta. 
• This Act prevented the servants of the Company including the Governor-General, members of his council and the judges of the Supreme Court from receiving directly or indirectly any gifts in kind or cash. The significance of the Regulating Act is that it brought the affairs of the Company under the control of the Parliament. The greatest merit of this Act is that it put an end to the arbitrary rule of the Company and provided a framework for all future enactments relating to the governing of India.

The Pitt‘s India Act, 1784 also called the East India Company Act, 1784 was passed by the British Parliament to correct the defects of the Regulating Act of 1773.
Main Provisions

• This act gave the British government supreme control over the Indian administration. For the first time, the term British possessions in India‘ was used. 
• A Board of Control consisting of six members was created. They were appointed by the Crown. The Board of Control was to guide and supervise the work of the Court of Directors and the Government of India. Hence, statement 1 is correct. 
• This act resulted in dual control of British possessions in India by the British government and the Company with the final authority resting with the government. In this dual system of control, the company was represented by the Court of Directors and the British government by the Board of Control. 
• The Act also introduced significant changes in the Indian administration. It reduced the number of members of the Governor General‟s Council from four to three including the Commander-inChief. Hence, statement 2 is not correct. 
• The company monopoly of Indian and Chinese trade remained intact. The right to appoint and transfer British officials was retained by the company. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

A  Niti Aayog in collaboration with US-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India, has launched a campaign named Shoonya. Hence statement 2 is not correct. Shoonya—an initiative to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry. The campaign aims to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the benefits of zero-pollution delivery. Hence statement 1 is correct. As part of the campaign, a corporate branding and certification programme is being launched to recognise and promote industry‘s efforts towards transitioning to EVs for final-mile deliveries. Shoonya campaign will promote awareness about health, environmental and economic benefits of electric vehicles.

The Madras Labour Union was formed on the initiative taken by two traders, Selvapathi Chettiyar and Ramanujulu Naidu, after they were moved by the stories of exploitation and hardships endured by Buckingham and Carnatic Mill workers who patronized their shops in Perambur.
They began to record the grievances of workers who visited his shop and prepare individual petitions to the mill authorities. Small benefits were obtained in this manner. Encouraged by the response, the two friends held a small group meeting consisting of about 30 workers on Vijayadasami Day in 1917 under the auspices of the Sabha. Kannabiran Mudaliar gave a discourse on the Mahabharata and explained the need for starting a labor union.
With the help of Keshav Pillai, Selvapathi Chettiar and Ramanjulu Naidu met Bahman Pestonji Wadia who later became the first president of Madras Labour Union. From April 1918, Wadia addressed the mill workers every Saturday. At the third meeting held on April 27, 1918, the Madras Labour Union was formally set up. Thus Madras Labour Union became the first organized Trade Union in India in 1918.  Hence, both statements 1 and 2 are correct.

Azamgarh Proclamation (Azamgarh Ishtahār) was issued during the revolt of 1857.  It was issued (most probably) by Firoz Shah, a grandson of the Mughal Emperor who fought in Awadh, and aims to set out a manifesto for what the rebels were fighting for. Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.  It had several sections which laid down the conditions and guidelines for the different categories of the rebels. 

• Section I – Regarding Zamindars 
• Section II – Regarding Merchants 
• Section III – Regarding Public Servants 
• Section IV – Regarding Artisans 
• Section V – Regarding Pundits, Fakirs and Other Learned Persons.

The proclamations completely rejected everything associated with British rule or firangi raj as they called it. They condemned the British for the annexations they had carried out and the treaties they had broken.  The proclamations expressed the widespread fear that the British were bent on destroying the caste and religions of Hindus and Muslims and converting them to Christianity – a fear that led people to believe many of the rumors that circulated at the time.  People were urged to come together and fight to save their livelihood, their faith, their honor, their identity – a fight which was for the ―greater public good.

• Kadambini Ganguly was one of the first Indian female doctors who practiced with a degree in modern medicine. She was the first Indian woman to practice medicine in India. Ganguly was the first woman to gain admission to Calcutta Medical College in 1884, and thus the first woman to graduate from Calcutta University. She subsequently trained in Scotland and established a successful medical practice in India. She was instrumental in the fight that sought to improve the conditions of female coal miners in Eastern India. She was also a part of the Indian National Congress‟ first-ever female delegation (women who were selected to vote) in its 5th session. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.  
• Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist. She was most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement; for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India; and for the upliftment of the socio-economic standard of Indian women by pioneering the cooperation. She is the first lady in India to stand in elections from Madras Constituency although she lost in the elections she pioneered the path for women in India. Sarojini Naidu was an Indian political activist and poet. 
• A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important figure in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule. Naidu's work as a poet earned her the sobriquet 'the Nightingale of India', or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi because of the color, imagery, and lyrical quality of her poetry. Annie Besant was a British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator, educationist, and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit. As an educationist, her contributions included being one of the founders of the Banaras Hindu University.

• National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is an independent regulator to oversee the auditing profession and accounting standards in India under the Companies Act 2013. NFRA was constituted in 2018 by the Government of India under Sub Section (1) of section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013. Hence, statements 1 and 2 are correct.
• NFRA is responsible for recommending accounting and auditing policies and standards in the country, undertaking investigations and imposing sanctions against defaulting auditors and audit firms in the form of monetary penalties and debarments from practice for up to 10 years.
• The NFRA may take action against auditors for professional misconduct but when it came to other functionaries of a company who have the responsibility for financial reporting, penal powers continue to be vested with the Centre. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• NFRA operates under a single section of the Companies Act. The section does not provide comprehensive coverage of all the functions and powers that are required to constitute the authority as a corporate financial reporting regulator‘.

• The Battle of Padmanabha occurred in Padmanabham, Visakhapatnam district (modern Andhra Pradesh, India), on 10 July 1794. This battle occurred between Vijayaramaraju, the provincial raja of Vijayanagar, and the British. Hence, statement 1 is correct. 
• When the British attempted to increase payment of peskash(Revenue) from Vizianagaram Raja to reduce the strength of his army, he refused to pay it deeming it as illegal. He later went to Padmanabham where the British troops defeated and killed Vijayaramaraju in the battle. Hence, statement 2 is not correct. 
• After the death of Vijayaramaraju, his son Narayanababu found shelter in search of Makkuva village. The tribal konda doras supported him. In the end, he compromised with the British, and agreed to pay arrears of peskash. 
• Finally in the year 1802 the permanent settlement was introduced in the Vizianagaram kingdom.

• Recently the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered remains of an ancient temple dating back to the Gupta period (5th century) in a village in Uttar Pradesh‘s Etah district. The stairs of the temple had shankhalipi‘ inscriptions, which were deciphered by the archaeologists as saying, Sri Mahendraditya‘, the title of Kumaragupta I of the Gupta dynasty.  Shankhalipi or shell-script‖ is a term used by scholars to describe ornate spiral characters assumed to be Brahmi derivatives that look like conch shells or shankhas. 
• They are found in inscriptions across north-central India and date to between the 4th and 8th centuries. A similar inscription was found on the back of a stone horse sculpture from that period that is at present in the State Museum at Lucknow. Hence option (d) is not correct.  Both Shankhalipi and Brahmi are stylised scripts used primarily for names and signatures. 
• The inscriptions consist of a small number of characters, suggesting that the shell inscriptions are names or auspicious symbols or a combination of the two.

• In the British territories in south India new system of land revenue known as the ryotwar (or ryotwari) was introduced. It was tried on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read in some of the areas that were taken over by the Company after the wars with Tipu Sultan. Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, this system was gradually extended all over south India.  Read and Munro felt that in the south there were no traditional zamindars. 
• The settlement, they argued, had to be made directly with the cultivators (ryots) who had tilled the land for generations. Their fields had to be carefully and separately surveyed before the revenue assessment was made. Munro thought that the British should act as paternal father figures protecting the ryots under their charge.  Under this system, every 'registered' holder of land is recognized as a proprietor of land is held responsible for direct payment of land revenue to the State. He has the right to sublet his land holding, to transfer, mortgage or sell it. He is not evicted from his holding by the Government so long as he pays the State demand of land revenue. 
• After the introduction of the ryotwari system, each peasant individually needed more credit, and the creation of property rights in land and the courts protecting such rights created a land market and hence there was now more demand for land. The moneylenders now lent money by mortgaging the peasants' land at a high-interest rate and in case of failure to repay, he took possession of the land through a decree of the court. Caste prejudices prevented the moneylenders from touching the plough; so the same land was now leased out to their former owner-cultivators, who thus became tenants in their own land.  Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• The government is pushing to complete the massive Zojila tunnel infra project in Kashmir and Ladakh, before Republic Day, 2024. 
• The Zojila tunnel between Baltal and Minamarg on the Srinagar-Leh section will provide all-year connectivity between Kargil and Srinagar. The Z-Morh tunnel between Gagangir and Sonmarg will provide connectivity in all weather conditions between Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Kargil in Ladakh. Hence option (b) is the correct answer. 
• Additional Information: Sela Tunnel is an under-construction road tunnel at 3,000 metres which will ensure all-weather connectivity between Guwahati in Assam and Tawang in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Recently International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released the World Social Protection Report 2020- 22. As per report, more than half of the world population are not getting any form of social protection. This trend is continuing even after expansion of social protections amidst the global outbreak of COVID19. Hence option (a) is the correct answer. 

It provides a global overview of recent developments in social protection systems and examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on new and robust data, it offers a broad range of global, regional and country statistics on social protection coverage, the benefits provided, and related public expenditure. It also identifies the protection gaps that must be closed, and sets out key policy recommendations for achieving the goal of universal social protection for all by 2030.

• The Citizenship Act of 1955 prescribes five ways of acquiring citizenship, that is birth, descent, registration, naturalization and incorporation of territory. 
• The Central Government may, on an application, register as a citizen of India any person (not being an illegal migrant) if is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration. Hence statement 1 is not correct. 
• The Central Government may, on an application, grant a certificate of naturalization to any person (not being an illegal migrant) if he has either resided in India or been in the service of a Government in India or partly the one and partly the other, throughout the period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of the application. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• Trade Unions are voluntary organization of Workers as well as Employers formed to protect and promote  the interest of their members. The first organized Trade Union in India named as the Madras Labour  Union was formed in the year 1918.
• From the beginning itself, Trade Unions were not confined to workers alone. From 19th Century itself  there were Employer's associations in the form of Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Associations etc. to  protect and promote the interests of their members in a concerted manner.
• The earliest known trade unions in India were the Bombay Millhand's Association formed in 1890,  the Amalgamated Society of railway servants of India and Burma formed in 1897,
• Printers' Union formed in Calcutta in 1905, the Bombay Postal Union which was formed in 1907,  the Kamgar Hitwardhak Sabha Bombay formed in 1910.
• Trade Union movement began in India after the end of First World War. After a decade following the end  of First World War the pressing need for the coordination of the activities of the individual unions was  recognised.
• Thus, the All India Trade Union Congress was formed in 1920 on a National Basis, the Central Labour Board, Bombay and the Bengal Trades Union Federation was formed in 1922.
• The All India Railwaymen's Federation is the largest trade union of Indian Railways workers with a membership of 1.4 million. It is affiliated with the socialist trade union centre, Hind Mazdoor Sabha. All India Railwaymen’s Federation(AIRF) was formed in 1924.
• Prior to that several unions of the Railwaymen had been formed on various Railways and had conducted several agitations and strikes for the rights of the working class – since later part of the 19th Century (starting from 1862) and thereafter – including those from 1919 to 1922, 1925 to 1927 as well as in 1930s and 1940s.
• The native place of Narayan Meghaji Lokhande was Kanhesar near Saswad in Pune district. He formed the mill workers union known as Bombay Mill Hands Association in1890.
• This workers union is believed to be the beginning of organised movement in India. He was also the chairman of Mumbai branch of Satyashodhak Samaj founded by Mahatma Phule.
• Kamgar Hitwardhak Sabha or the 'Workers Welfare Society 'was formed in the year 1910 by N. A. Talcherkar, S K Bole, B R Nare, S W Patil and others.
• The constituted the mill workers as well as other employees and representatives from general public and occupations like law and medicine. It supported the reduction of working hours to 12 per day and urged the claims of workers for industrial compensation and education.
• In 1917 Anasuya Sarabhai had led the Ahmedabad textile workers’ strike and in 1920 under her leadership the Majoor Mahajan, the Ahmedabad textile mill workers union was established.
• The Madras Labour Union was formed in April 1918. B.P Wadia was its first President. It has been claimed that this was the first trade union in India. This claim is perhaps in the context that it is still in existence, its name unchanged, and was formed as an organisation in rather formal circumstances.
• AITUC, the union federation in India was set up in 1920. It was founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, Joseph Baptista, N.M Joshi and Diwan Chaman Lall. Lajpat Rai was elected the first president of AITUC.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

• The inclusion of the term 'socialist' in the preamble of the Indian constitution was widely debated in the Indian constituent assembly. 
• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (chairman of the drafting committee) argued that it is against the very grain of democracy to decide in the Constitution what kind of society the people of India should live in. 
• He further added that it is perfectly possible today, for the majority people to hold that the socialist organisation of society is better than the capitalist organisation of society. But it would be perfectly possible for thinking people to devise some other form of social organisation which might be better than the socialist organisation of today or of tomorrow. 
• Therefore, it was incorrect for the Constitution to tie down the people to live in a particular form and not leave it to the people themselves to decide it for themselves. Eventually, the final text of the preamble omitted the word 'socialist'. 
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

• World Investment Report is released by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). 
  • The World Investment Report focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. 
  • As per the 2021 report, India received $64 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in 2020, the fifth-largest recipient of inflows in the world. 
• World Competitiveness Index is released by the Sweden-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD). 
  • The World Competitiveness Index is a comprehensive annual report and worldwide reference point on the competitiveness of countries.
  • India maintained 43rd rank in the latest World Competitiveness Index. 
• The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. 
• Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group flagship report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies. 
  • It is issued twice a year, in January and June. The January edition includes in-depth analyses of topical policy challenges while the June edition contains shorter analytical pieces. 
• Hence, option (c) is the correct answer.

• The Directive Principles of State Policy are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution from Articles 36 to 51. The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added four new Directive Principles to the original list.
  They require the State: 
  • to secure opportunities for the healthy development of children (Article 39). 
  • to promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor (Article 39 A). 
  • to take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries (Article 43 A). Fundamental Duties do not have any provision related to this concern. 
  • to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife (Article 48 A). 
• Under Article 51A (g) it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. Hence only option 1 is correct. 
• In addition, Under Article 51A Constitution also provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India 
  • to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; 
  • to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. 
• DPSPs do not have provision which are directly related to the above two concerns. Hence options 2, 3 and 4 are not correct.

• The state monopoly and commercial exploitation of forests brought outside intruders into the tribal territories, many of whom used a considerable amount of coercive power to exploit the tribal peasants. This situation in turn brought stiffer resistance, as it happened in the Gudem and Rampa hill tracts of Andhra Pradesh, inhabited by the Koya and Konda Dora tribes. Hence, statement 1 is correct. 
• The first few rebellions or fituris in this region between 1839 and 1862, were initiated by the local muttadars or estate holders, who found their power curbed and rights denied by the intrusion of the new outside con trol. However, in the late nineteenth century some other changes took place that brought the masses of tribal peasants into the Rampa rebellion of 1879. This tradition of tribal resistance survived upto 1920 in Gudem-Rampa region. 
• The elemental lower-class upsurge unwittingly called forth in many areas by the Non-Cooperation movement did not subside immediately with the Bardoli retreat. But the most striking evidence of continued popular militancy came from the ever-restive semi- tribal ‘Rampa’ region north of the Godavari, scene of a veritable guerilla war between August 1922 and May 1924 led by Alluri Sitarama Raju. Hence, statement 2 is correct. 
• The grievances were basically the old ones of exploitation by moneylenders, and forest laws restricting shifting cultivation and age-old grazing rights. Raju allegedly claimed that he was bulletproof, and a rebel proclamation announced the imminent coming of Kalki-avatar. Yet in meetings with local officials during the rebellion, Sitarama Raju ‘spoke highly of Mr Gandhi’, but considered ‘that violence is necessary'. Raju was captured in 1924 and the resistance was finally stamped out in September 1924.

• The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India. 
• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country. 
• The Secretariat of the Commission has an independent budget, which is finalized directly in consultation between the Commission and the Finance Ministry of the Union Government. Hence statement 1 is correct. 
• The latter generally accepts the recommendations of the Commission for its budgets. 
• The major expenditure on the actual conduct of elections is, however, reflected in the budgets of the concerned constituent units of the Union - States and Union Territories. 
• If elections are being held only for the Parliament, the expenditure is borne entirely by the Union Government while for the elections being held only for the State Legislature, the expenditure is borne entirely by the concerned State. Hence statement 2 is not correct. 
• In case of simultaneous elections to the Parliament and State Legislature, the expenditure is shared equally between the Union and the State Governments. 
• For Capital equipment, expenditure related to preparation for electoral rolls and the scheme for Electors' Identity Cards too, the expenditure is shared equally. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

• All motions, notice of which is received in the Lok Sabha Secretariat under the rules, shall be classified under the following categories, namely: 
  • Substantive Motions; 
  • Substitute Motions; and 
  • Subsidiary Motions which are further divided into three classes: (a) Ancillary Motions, (b) Superseding Motions, and (c) Amendments. 
• Motions moved in substitution of the original motion for taking into consideration a policy or situation or statement or any other matter are called substitute motions. 
• Such motions, though drafted in such a way as to be capable of expressing an opinion by themselves, are not strictly independent motions as they depend upon the original motion. Hence option (b) is not correct. 
• Amendments to a motion which is in the form that a policy, situation, statement, etc. may be taken into consideration, are not permitted. As such motions are disposed of under rule 342 without being put to the vote of the House, only substitute motions can be tabled to such a motion. Amendments to substitute motions are also not permissible. 
• At the end of the debate, the substitute motion only is put to the vote of the House

• Mahavdev Govind Ranade (1842-1901) devoted his entire life to Prarthana Samaj. 
  • He was the founder or cofounder of the Widow Remarriage Association (1861): It promoted marriage for Hindu widows and acted as native compradors for the colonial government's project of passing a law permitting such marriages, which were forbidden in Hinduism. 
  • Deccan Education Society (1884): It tried to convince the masses to new awakening and salvation and people started believing in education as a means of social transformation. In less than a few months the society established its first institute named as Sir James Fergusson which has achieved iconic status. 
  • Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870): It was a sociopolitical organisation in British India which started with the aim of working as a mediating body between the government and people of India and to popularise the peasants' legal rights. 
  • To Ranade, religious reform was inseparable from social reform. He also believed that if religious ideas were rigid there would be no success in social, economic and political spheres. 
  • MG Ranade was the leader of social reformation and cultural renaissance in Western India. Ranade’s great message to the persons who were involved in social service was “Strength of numbers we cannot command, but we can command earnestness of conviction, singleness of devotion, readiness for selfsacrifice, in all honest workers in the cause.

• Recently, India launched Mission Innovation (MI) - CleanTech Exchange under the Innovation Platform of Mission Innovation. 
  • It was launched virtually at the Innovating to Net Zero Summit hosted by Chile this year. 
• CleanTech Exchange is a global initiative to create a network of incubators across member countries. 
  • The network will provide access to the expertise and market insights needed to support new technologies to access new markets globally. 
• Mission Innovation (MI) is an action-oriented global initiative to pioneer clean energy solutions through domestic innovation and international cooperation. 
• It aims to catalyze a decade of action and investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all. This will accelerate progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and pathways to net zero. 
• Hence, statement 1 is correct. 
• It consists of 24 countries and the EU. India is a founding member of Mission Innovation. 
• Hence, statement 2 is correct 
• The first phase of Mission Innovation was launched along with the Paris Climate Change Agreement at the 2015 UN Climate Conference. 
• It has an Innovation Platform through which member countries can track innovation progress, exchange knowledge and work with investors, innovators and end-users to accelerate technologies to market. 
• Mission Innovation 2.0, the second phase of MI, was launched to catalyze increased investment in clean energy research, development and demonstrations to deliver affordable clean energy solutions by 2030.