Geography: CUET Mock Test - 6 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

Houses, villages, cities, road-rail networks, industries, farms, ports, items of our daily use and all other elements of material culture have been created by human beings using the resources provided by the physical environment. While physical environment has been greatly modified by human beings, it has also, in turn, impacted human lives.

This sea route connects Western Europe and North America with Australia, New Zealand and the scattered Pacific islands via the Panama Canal. This route is also used for reaching Hong Kong, Philippines and Indonesia. The distance covered between Panama and Sydney is 12,000 km. Honolulu is an important port on this route.

Narrow gauge: The distance between the rails in this case is 0.762 metre or 0.610 metre. The total length of the narrow gauge was 1604 km (2019-20). It is generally confined to hilly areas.

Urbanisation refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. Only option 4 specifies an example where there is a shift from rural to urban areas for settlement. Temporary transactions with urban areas, with no intention to settle in such areas, cannot be regarded as urbanisation. Thus, options 2 and 3 are incorrect. Option 1 is also incorrect as there is no movement from rural to urban areas.

The fundamental idea behind collective farming is communal ownership of the means of production and group labour. Collective farming, or the Kolkhoz model, was adopted in the former Soviet Union to improve on the inefficiencies of earlier agricultural practices and to increase agricultural productivity for self-sufficiency.

Different sorts of rural settlements in India are caused by a variety of circumstances and environments. These include:
(i) Physical factors such as topography, height, temperature, and water availability
(ii) Cultural and ethnic elements, including social structure, caste, and religion
(iii) Security factors include defence against thefts and robberies.
Therefore, from the given options, population has no effect on the structure of rural settlements.

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992: In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first International Earth Summit. The Summit was convened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level.

The revolution in transport came about only after the invention of the steam engine in the eighteenth century. Perhaps the first public railway line was opened in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington in northern England and then onwards, railways became the most popular and fastest form of transport in the nineteenth century. It opened up continental interiors for commercial grain farming, mining and manufacturing in the USA.

Ferrous minerals such as iron ore, manganese, chromite, etc., provide a strong base for the development of metallurgical industries. Our country is well placed in respect of ferrous minerals both in reserves and production.

Alluvial soil is the most widely spread and important soil. In fact, the entire northern plains are made of alluvial soils. These have been deposited by three important Himalayan river systems – the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. Alluvial soils also extend in Rajasthan and Gujarat through a narrow corridor. Alluvial soil is also found in the eastern coastal plains particularly in the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri rivers. Apart from the size of their grains or components, these soils are also described on the basis of their age - old alluvial (bangar) and new alluvial (khadar). The bangar soil has higher concentration of kanker nodules than the khadar. It has more fine particles and is more fertile than the bangar.

On the basis of configuration and purposes, satellite system in India can be grouped into two: Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) and Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System (IRS). The INSAT, which was established in 1983, is a multi-purpose satellite system for telecommunication, meteorological observation and for various other data and programmes.

The rural settlements can be classified on the basis of forms or shapes of the settlements. These may be a number of geometrical forms and shapes such as linear, rectangular, circular, star-like, T-shaped village, double village, cross-shaped village, etc.

It is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It aims at achieving global sustainable development. It is an agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, and disease through global cooperation on common interests, mutual needs, and shared responsibilities. One major objective of Agenda 21 is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.

Gathering is practised in high latitude zones which include Northern Canada, Northern Eurasia and Southern Chile, and in low latitude zones such as the Amazon Basin, tropical Africa, Northern fringe of Australia and the interior parts of Southeast Asia.

The Government of India introduced the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Programme to address the issue of decline in child sex ratio. It is a central government scheme for girl child which is applicable throughout the country. The key objective of this scheme is to save the girl child from social ills such as gender-biased abortions and advance the education of girl children all over the country. This scheme was initially targeted at districts that were recognised to have low sex ratio, i.e. fewer female children as compared to male children, but was later expanded to include other parts of the country as well. This is primarily an education-based initiative to help change social attitudes and does not involve direct cash transfer. Key objectives of this social welfare scheme for girl child include preventing gender-biased selective abortions, ensuring survival and protection of girl child in infancy, and ensuring education and participation of the girl child.

Mixed farming is found in the highly developed parts of the world, e.g. North-western Europe, Eastern North America, parts of Eurasia and the temperate latitudes of Southern continents. Mixed farms are moderate in size and usually the crops associated with it are wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, fodder and root crops. Fodder crops are an important component of mixed farming. To maintain soil fertility, varying crops are grown alternatively (crop rotation and intercropping) in these farms. Equal emphasis is laid on crop cultivation and animal husbandry. Animals like cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry provide the main income along with crops.

Some uncultivated lands (excluding fallow land) are:

• Permanent pastures and grazing land
• Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area)
• Culturable waste land (left uncultivated for more than five agricultural years)

Cities in developing nations experience a number of social ills. Due to a lack of funding, it is impossible to build the necessary social infrastructure to meet the needs of the vast population. The urban poor continue to be unable to access the available healthcare and educational facilities. Additionally, health indicators paint a bleak picture of urban areas in developing nations. Lack of employment and education often causes crime rates to rise. The sex ratio in these cities is distorted by male selective migration to urban areas.
Thus, having enough financial resources will enable developing nations to build the social infrastructure necessary to meet the needs of their large populations.

The rural settlements derive their life support or basic economic needs from land based primary economic activities. Cities act as nodes of economic growth, provide goods and services not only to urban dwellers, but also to the people of the rural settlements in their hinterlands in return for food and raw materials. This functional relationship between the urban and rural settlements takes place through transport and communication network. Moreover, rural and urban settlements differ in terms of social relationship, attitude and outlook. Rural people are less mobile and, therefore social relations among them are intimate.

Dardic languages are a subgroup of Indo Aryan languages. It comes into the Indo-European linguistic family. It is spoken in Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern India's Kashmir Valley and Chenab Valley and parts of Eastern Afghanistan.
The Austric languages of India belong to the Austro-Asiatic sub-family. This category is further sub-divided into Munda and Mon-Khmer. The Mon-Khmer branch consists of two groups such as Khasi and Nicobari. The Munda branch is the largest of the Austric languages and consists of 14 tribal language groups.
The Sino-Tibetan group of languages marks its origin in the northeastern part of India and stretches all over sub-Himalayan tracts. The Sino-Tibetan group is further subdivided as follows: Tibeto-Burman, Siamese-Chinese. Tibeto-Burman languages are further classified into four groups; Tibetan, Himalayan, North Assam, and Assam-Burmese.

Energy is the capacity of a physical system to perform work. Energy exists in several forms such as heat, kinetic or mechanical energy, light, potential energy, electrical, or other forms. Energy is the ability to do work. Energy sources could be classified as Renewable and Non-renewable.

The correct answer is option 4, i.e. Mexico.

• In Mexico, Prof. Norman Borlaug and his associates developed new varieties of wheat which were early-maturing, highly productive and disease resistant and these varieties were imported and planted in selected regions of India having adequate irrigation facilities. 
• It was conclusively demonstrated that the yields from the new varieties exceeded 25 to 100 per cent compared to the yields from traditional varieties.
• High Yielding Variety Seeds (HYV seeds) are seeds that are of better quality than normal quality seeds.
• The produce from these seeds is a bit more compared to the normal ones.
• These seeds are a better option of seeds in order to obtain a healthy and surplus crop.
• These seeds have a good immune system to fight with insects and other diseases.

The correct answer is Rice.

Rice crops are grown throughout the year in the southern states of India.

Manganese:

• Manganese is an important raw material for smelting iron ore and is also used for manufacturing ferroalloys.
• Manganese deposits are found in almost all geological formations, however, it is mainly associated with Dharwar system.
• Odisha was the leading producer of Manganese, presently it is holding the third position.
• Madhya Pradesh, the leading manganese ore producing State, accounted for 33% of the total production in 2018-19, followed by Maharashtra (27%) and Odisha (16%) 
• Major mines in Odisha are located in the central part of the iron ore belt of India, particularly in Bonai, Kendujhar, Sundergarh, Gangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi, and Bolangir.
• Karnataka is another major producer and here the mines are located in Dharwar, Ballari, Belagavi, North Canara, Chikkmagaluru, Shivamogga, Chitradurg, and Tumakuru.
• Maharashtra is also an important producer of manganese, which is mined in Nagpur, Bhandara, and Ratnagiri districts.
• The disadvantage to these mines is that they are located far from steel plants.
• The manganese belt of Madhya Pradesh extends in a belt in Balaghat-Chhindwara-Nimar-Mandla and Jhabua districts.
• Telangana, Goa, and Jharkhand are other minor producers of manganese.

Hence, option A is the correct answer.

Oil India Limited (OIL)

• Oil India Limited (OIL) operates under the administrative setup of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Hence, statement A is correct.
• It is engaged in the exploration, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas. Hence, statement B is correct.
• It was incorporated in 1959 as a company. Hence, statement C is not correct.

Functions:

• It constructed Asia’s first cross-country pipeline covering a distance of 1,157 km from Naharkatiya oilfield in Assam to Barauni refinery in Bihar.
• It was further extended up to Kanpur in 1966.
• It has also constructed another pipeline in the western region of India of which Ankleshwar-Koyali, Mumbai High- Koyali and Hazira-Vij aipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) are the most important.
• Recently, a 1256 km long pipeline connecting Salaya (Gujarat) with Mathura (U.P.) has been constructed.
• It supplies crude oil from Gujarat to Punjab (Jalandhar) via Mathura.
• OIL is in the process of constructing of 660 km long pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri

Geo “ Earth” and Graphy “ to describe” the literal meaning of geography is to describe the earth’s surfaces.

• In other words “Geography is largely the study of the interaction of all physical and human phenomena and landscapes created by such interactions.”
• It is about how, why, and where human and natural activities occur and how these activities are interconnected. 

Dry farming:

• Dry farming is the cultivation of crops in regions with an annual rainfall of less than 75 cm.
• Crop failure is most common due to prolonged dry spells during the crop period.
• These are arid regions with a growing season (period of adequate soil moisture) of less than 75 days.
• 68% of the cultivated area in Indian agriculture comes under dryland.
• It contributes about 44% of the total food production and plays a critical role in India's food security. 
• These regions grow hardy and drought-resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram, and guar (fodder crops).

Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Iron and Steel Industry

• It is a feeder industry whose products are used as raw materials for other industries.
• Raw materials include iron ore, coal, and limestone. etc
• lt is considered a heavy industry because all the raw materials, as well as finished goods, are heavy and bulky entailing heavy transportation costs.
• Currently, India is the 2nd largest crude steel producer globally and with a capacity of over 100 million tonnes.
• India is the largest producer of sponge iron in the world.
• Statewise Odisha is the largest producer of steel in India followed by Jharkhand.
• The Government has taken various steps to boost the sector including the introduction of National Steel Policy 2017 and allowing 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the steel sector under the automatic route.

The correct answer is None of the above.

• The culturable waste land is left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years.
• It is a category of uncultivable land. So, options 1, 2, and 3 are NOT correct.

Concept:

• Non-renewable sources of energy are those which are exhaustible and cannot be replaced, once they have been used.
• They are also known as conventional sources of energy.
• For example Oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy.

Explanation:

• Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy. Therefore option C is correct.
• Hydro, the Sun, and wind are renewable sources of energy.