JKPSC Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test - 1 - JKPSC KAS (Jammu and Kashmir) MCQ

Mahajanapadas - The Mahajanapadas were the set of sixteen kingdoms that existed in ancient India. About 2500 years ago, some janapadas or states became more important than other states and were known as mahajanapadas. Some of the Mahajanapadas were Magadha, Gandhara, Kuru, Kamboja, Kosala, Panchala,

Vajji, Kashi etc.

Most mahajanapadas had a capital city, many of these were fortified. This means that huge

wall of wood, brick or stone were built around them.

Statement 1 is correct. As Sangam Literature can be divided into two groups, Pathinenkilkanakku (narrative) and Patinenkilkanakku (deductive). Patinenmelkannakku is the older set of works from 200 to 100 BC whereas Patinenkilkanakku refers to a collection of 18 works from 100 to 500 AD. The narrative portion consists of heroic poetry, perpetual war and cattle raids. They show that early Tamil people were primarily pastoral. The narrative Sangam texts give some idea of the state formation in which the army, the taxation system and judiciary arose in rudimentary form.

Statement 2 is not correct. Poems included in the Tamil Sangam anthologies often illuminate social and economic relationships, suggesting that while there were differences between rich and poor, those who controlled resources were also expected to share them.

• Statement 1 is correct: The Ajivikas was one of the heterogeneous sects developed in pre-Mauryan times. The followers of the Ajivikas were described as fatalists: those who believe that everything is predetermined.

• Statement 2 is correct: The Lokayatas were usually described as materialists. They rejected the notion of an afterworld, karma, liberation (moksha), the authority of the sacred scriptures, the Vedas, and the immortality of the self.

• Statement 3 is correct: Makkhali Gosala was an Ajivika teacher and Ajita Kesakambalin was a lokayata teacher.

As each new dynasty came to power, kings wanted to emphasize their moral right to be rulers. They took following steps in this regard - Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God, especially important in an age of rapid political change. Temples and mosques were constructed because they were places of worship and were meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.

The largest temples were all constructed by kings. These temples served a miniature model of the world ruled by the king and his allies. As they worshipped their deities together in the royal temples, it seemed as if they brought the just rule of the gods on earth. For instance, in Rajarajeshvara temple, an inscription mentions that it was built by King Rajarajadeva for the worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram. Thus, the king took the god’s name because it was auspicious and he wanted to appear like a god -through the rituals of worship in the temple one god (Rajarajadeva) honoured another (Rajarajeshvaram).

Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”. For instance, an inscription in the Quwwat al-Islam mosque explained that the God chose Alauddin as a king as he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon, the great lawgivers of the past.

Rulers also offered patronage to the learned and pious, and tried to transform their capitals and cities into great cultural centers that brought fame to their rule and their realm.

Kings were expected to care for their subjects, and by making structures for their use and comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise.

Between the eighth and the eighteenth centuries kings and their officers built two kinds of structures:

• The first were forts, palaces, garden residences and tombs – safe, protected and grandiose places of rest in this world and the next;

• The second were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravanserais and bazaars.

• Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan He ruled from 997 to 1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent.
• He raided the subcontinent almost every year – his targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat.
• Sultan Mahmud was also interested in finding out more about the people he conquered, and entrusted a scholar named Al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent.
• Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was a contemporary of Rajendra I. During his campaigns in the subcontinent he attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols.
• The best-known Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

• The archaeological findings at the Indus Valley sites indicate a tradition of burying the dead bodies in pits. The dead bodies in some cases were buried along with the pottery and ornaments indicating a belief that these could be used in the afterlife.
• The Indus Valley people had established trade relations with the contemporary Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamian literature refers to trade with a region called Meluha which is identified with the region occupied by the Indus Valley civilization. These texts mention the products from Meluhha: carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.
• The Indus valley people used a standard system of weights and measures. The lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. up to 12,800), while the higher denominations followed the decimal system. The weights were made of stone called chert.
• The Indus Valley people were aware of gold and gold ornaments have been discovered at the Indus Valley sites. It is believed that the gold was procured from the south. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.
   

• Iltutmish organized his trusted nobles or officers into a group of "Forty. Iltutmish established the 'Group of Forty' Turkan-i-Chahalgani. These were Turkish amirs (nobles) who advised and helped the Sultan administer the Sultanate. After the death of Iltutmish, this group assumed great power in its hands. For a few years, they decided to select Sultans one after the other. Balban finally eliminated the group. Turkan-i-Chahalgani was is organised by Qutbuddin Aibak. So, Pair 1 is not correct.
• Balban ruled in an autocratic manner and worked hard to elevate the position of the Sultan, and he did not allow any noble to assume great power. He even formulated the theory of kingship. Balban maintained a magnificent court. He refused to laugh and joke in the court and even gave up drinking wine so that no one may see him in a non-serious mood. He also insisted on the court's ceremony of sijada (prostration) and paibos (kissing of the monarch's feet). Hence, Iltutmish has not insisted on the ceremony of sijada. Therefore, Balban insisted on paibos (kissing the monarch's feet) in the court. So, Pair 2 is not correct, and Pair 3 is correct.
• Jalaluddin Khalji laid the foundation of the Khalji dynasty. Alauddin Khalji was Jalaluddin's ambitious nephew and son-in-law. He helped his uncle in his struggle for power and was appointed Amir-i-Tuzuk (Master of Ceremonies). Alauddin Khalji has made an important policy initiative on Market Regulations. Alauddin set up three different markets for different commodities in Delhi. These markets were the grain market (Mandi), cloth market (Sarai Adl) and the market for horses, enslaved people, cattle, etc. And to ensure the implementation, Alauddin appointed a superintendent Shahna-i-Mandi, who an intelligence officer assisted. Apart from Shahna-i-Mandi, Alauddin received daily market reports from two independent sources, braid (intelligence officer) and munhiyans (secret spies). So, Pair 4 is correct.

• Mrichchhakatika is a ten-act Sanskrit drama attributed to Sudraka and is generally thought to have lived sometime between the 2^nd century BC and the 5^th century AD. The play is set in the ancient city of Ujjain during the reign of king Pataka. The main story is that of a noble that a young Brahmin Charudatta falls in love with a wealthy courtesan, vasantasena. So, Pair (1) is not correct.
• Mahakavi Kalidasa is a great Indian poet of the 5^th century AD. He was one of the greatest Sanskrit poets in the world. He belonged to the Gupta period. He had written three plays, i.e., Malavikagnimitra, Abhigyanashakuntalam and Vikramorvasiyam. These three plays became so famous that they made Kalidasa one of the legends. He has also written some epic poems, i.e., Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava. Some of the other poems of Kalidasa are Ritusamhara and Meghaduta. So, Pair (2) is correct.
• Vishakhadatta, the author of a rare semi-historical play called Mudrarakshasa, apparently was a courtier at the Gupta court. Mudrarakshasa is a political drama that narrates the ascent of king Chandragupta Maurya to power in India. His play dramatizes the political principles expounded in the book Arthasastra by Kauᒷilya, who appears as the play's hero. So, Pair (3) is not correct.

• Another step which Muhammad-Bin- Tughlaq took at this time was the introduction of the ‘token currency’. Since money is merely a medium of exchange, all countries in the world today have token currencies - generally paper currency, so that they do not have to depend upon the supply of gold and silver. There was a shortage of silver in the world in the fourteenth century. Moreover, Qublai Khan of China had already successfully experimented with a token currency.

• A Mongol ruler of Iran, Ghazan Khan, had also experimented with it. Muhammad Tughlaq decided to introduce a bronze coin which was to have the same value as the silver tanka. Specimen of this coin has been found in different parts of India, and can be seen in museums. The idea of a token currency was a new one in India and it was difficult to induce the traders, as well as the common man to accept it.

Thirumalapuram caves and Jaina caves at Sittanavasal are some of the surviving examples. However, mural painting as an art did not decline during the reign of the Cholas. In fact, the Cholas were known for their patronage of the arts. They patronised both Hindu and Jain temples and these temples are renowned for their beautiful paintings and sculptures. Hence, statements 1 and 2 are correct.

• Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah was one of the many maulvis who played an important part in the revolt of 1857. In 1856, he was seen moving from village to village preaching Jihad (religious war) against the British and urging people to rebel. He moved in a palanquin, with drumbeaters in front and followers at the rear. He was therefore popularly called Danka Shah – the maulvi with the drum (danka). In 1857, he was jailed in Faizabad. When released, he was elected by the mutinous 22nd Native Infantry as their leader. He fought in the famous Battle of Chinhat in which the British forces under Henry Lawrence were defeated. He came to be known for his courage and power. Many people in fact believed that he was invincible, had magical powers, and could not be killed by the British. It was this belief that partly formed the basis of his authority.

• Shah Mal was a rebel at the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, based out of the village of Bijrol, Uttar Pradesh. He led the Jats of Baraut in rebellion against the East India Company. Maulvi Liaquat Ali was a Muslim religious leader from Prayagraj (Allahabad), in the state of Uttar Pradesh in present-day India. He was one of the leaders in the revolt against the British in 1857. Maulvi captured the Khusro Bagh and declared the independence of India. Khusro Bagh became the headquarters of the sepoys under Maulvi Liaquat Ali who took charge as the Governor of liberated Allahabad. However, the Mutiny was swiftly put down and Khusro Bagh was retaken by the British in two weeks.

• He escaped from Allahabad after the British recaptured the city, but was caught after 14 years in September 1871 at Byculla railway station in Surat. He was tried and sentenced to death, but died in captivity in Rangoon on 17 May 1892.

• Bakht Khan (1797–13 May 1859) was commander-in-chief of the Indian rebel forces in the region of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company.

These comparisons are as follows:

• Statement 1 is correct. The stated objective this time was complete independence and not just remedying two specific wrongs and a vaguely-worded Swaraj. The Civil Disobedience Movement had the objective of Poorna Swaraj.

• The methods involved violation of law from the very beginning and not just non-cooperation with foreign rule.

• There was a decline in forms of protests involving the intelligentsia, such as lawyers giving up practice, students giving up government schools to join national schools and colleges.

• Statement 2 is incorrect. Muslim participation was nowhere near that in the Non-Cooperation Movement level.

• No major labour upsurge coincided with the movement.

• The massive participation of peasants and business groups compensated for the decline of other features.

• The number of those imprisoned was about three times more this time.

• The Congress was organizationally stronger.

• Statement 1 is correct: Historians have observed that the idea of finding an ocean route to India had become an obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, who was nicknamed the ‘Navigator’.

• Statement 2 is correct: In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, due to which merchandise trade from India to the European markets came under Arab Muslim intermediaries. The Red Sea trade route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers earned tremendous revenues.

• Statement 3 is correct: In 15th Century, Europe had made great advances in the art of ship-building and navigation. Hence, there was eagerness all over Europe for adventurous sea voyages to reach the unknown corners of the East.

• The British Government summoned the first Round Table Conference of Indian leaders and spokesmen of the British Government in London in 1930 to discuss Simon Commission Report. The National Congress boycotted the Conference.

• The Government now made attempts to negotiate an agreement with the Congress so that it would attend the Round Table Conference. Finally, the Pact was signed by Gandhiji on behalf of the Congress and by Lord Irwin on behalf of the Government, a procedure that was hardly popular with officialdom as it placed the Congress on an equal footing with the Government.

• The terms of the agreement included:

  • the immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted for violence,

  • the remission of all fines not yet collected,

  • the return of confiscated lands not yet sold to third parties, and

  • lenient treatment for those government employees who had resigned.

• The Government also conceded the right to make salt for consumption to villages along the coast, as also the right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing. The Congress demand for a public inquiry into police excesses was not accepted, but Gandhiji’s insistent request for an inquiry was recorded in the agreement. Congress, on its part, agreed to discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Hence option (b) is not the correct answer.

• Mahatma Gandhi was requested by Rajkumar Shukla, a local man, to look into the problems of the farmers in the context of indigo planters of Champaran in Bihar. Gandhi went to Champaran with Rajkumar early in 1917 accompanied by Rajendra Prasad, Mazhar-ul-Haq, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parekh, and J.B. Kripalani.
• Whereas, Indulal Yajnik assisted Gandhi in Kheda satyagraha. So, Statement 1 is not correct.
• Mahatma Gandhi was assisted in Kheda Satyagraha by Sardar Vallabhai Patel and other local lawyers and advocates such as Indulal Yagnik, Shankarlal Banker, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, and Ravi Shankar Vyas. Anasuya Sarabhai also played a major role in the Kheda satyagraha and was also one of the first signatories of the ‘Satyagraha Pledge’ created by Gandhi to oppose the Rowlatt Bill. So, Statement 2 is correct.
• Gandhi organized the third campaign in Ahmedabad where he intervened in a dispute between the mill owners and workers. Gandhi knew Ambalal Sarabhai, a millowner, as the latter had financially helped Gandhi’s Ashram. Moreover, Ambalal’s sister Anasuya Sarabhai had reverence for Gandhi. He was assisted by Anasuya Sarabhai organized daily mass meetings of workers, in which he delivered lectures and issued a series of leaflets on the situation. So, Statement 3 is correct.

Additional Information:

MAHATMA GANDHI
Champaran Satyagraha

• The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India and is considered a historically important revolt in the Indian Independence Movement.
• It was a farmer's uprising that took place in the Champaran district of Bihar, India, during the British colonial period. The farmers were protesting against having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.
• When Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915 and saw peasants in northern India oppressed by indigo planters, he tried to use the same methods that he had used in South Africa to organize mass uprisings by people to protest against injustice.
• Champaran Satyagraha was the first popular satyagraha movement.
• Other popular leaders associated with Champaran Satyagraha were Brajkishore Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Ramnavmi Prasad, and Shambhusharan Varma.

Kheda Satyagraha

• Because of the drought in 1918, the crops failed in the Kheda district of Gujarat.
• According to the Revenue Code, if the yield was less than one-fourth of the normal
• production, the farmers were entitled to remission.
• The Gujarat Sabha, consisting of the peasants, submitted petitions to the highest governing authorities of the province requesting that the revenue assessment for the year 1919 be suspended.
• The government, however, remained adamant and said that the property of the farmers would be seized if the taxes were not paid.
• Gandhi asked the farmers not to pay taxes.
• Gandhi, however, was mainly the spiritual head of the struggle.
• It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and a group of other devoted Gandhians, namely, Narahari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, and Ravi Shankar Vyas, who went around the villages, organized the villagers and told them what to do, and gave the necessary political leadership.
• Patel, along with his colleagues, organized the tax revolt which the different ethnic and caste communities of Kheda supported.
• The revolt was remarkable in that discipline and unity were maintained.
• Even when, on non-payment of taxes, the government seized the farmers’ personal property, land, and livelihood, a vast majority of Kheda’s farmers did not desert Sardar Patel.
• Those Indians who sought to buy the confiscated lands were socially ostracised.
• Ultimately, the government sought to bring about an agreement with the farmers.
• It agreed to suspend the tax for the year in question, and for the next; reduce the rate increase, and return all the confiscated property.
• The struggle at Kheda brought a new awakening among the peasantry.
• They became aware that they would not be free of injustice and exploitation unless and until their country achieved complete independence.

Ahmedabad mill strike

• In March 1918, Gandhi intervened in a dispute between cotton mill owners of Ahmedabad and the workers over the issue of discontinuation of the plague bonus.
• The mill owners wanted to withdraw the bonus.
• The workers were demanding a rise of 50 percent in their wages so that they could manage in the times of wartime inflation (which doubled the prices of food grains, cloth, and other necessities) caused by Britain’s involvement in World War I.
• The mill owners were ready to give only a 20 percent wage hike.
• The workers went on strike. The relations between the workers and the m ill owners worsened with the striking workers being arbitrarily dismissed and the mill owners deciding to bring in weavers from Bombay.
• The workers of the mill turned to Anusuya Sarabhai for help in fighting for justice.
• Anusuya Sarabhai was a social worker who was also the sister of Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the mill owners and the president of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners Association (founded in 1891 to develop the textile industry in Ahmedabad), for help in fighting for justice.
• Though Gandhi was a friend of Ambalal, he took up the workers’ cause.
• Gandhi asked the workers to go on a strike and demand a 35 percent increase in wages instead of 50 percent.
• Gandhi advised the workers to remain non-violent while on strike.
• When negotiations with mill owners did not progress, he undertook a fast unto death (his first) to strengthen the workers’ resolve.
• But the fast also had the effect of putting pressure on the mill owners who finally agreed to submit the issue to a tribunal.

• In 1534 AD the Portuguese gained possession of Bombay, after the Treaty of Bassein was signed between them and Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate. In 1612, a battle was fought between the British and the Portuguese at Surat for the possession of Bombay, which ended the Portuguese monopoly over trade in India. 
• In 1661, under the Treaty of Whitehall, Bombay changed hands as it was presented to King Charles II as part of the dowry, when he married Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Treaty included a secret provision that it would be used to protect the Portuguese settlements in India. It involved a mutual defence pact against the aggressive and expanding Dutch East India Company. 
• The French East India Company was founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English and Dutch trading companies in the East Indies. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• Rural indebtedness and large-scale alienation of agricultural land to non-cultivating classes was a countrywide phenomenon in rural India during the last quarter of the 19th century. Faced with peasant uprisings in Bengal and Maharashtra the Government could not wait for a similar rebellion in Punjab before it would act. The communal complexion of the Punjab rural situation and the martial character of the Sikhs called for early effective action.
  • Following its annexation by the British in 1847, Punjab province witnessed several significant developments—individualization of property rights in land, fixation and rigorous collection of land revenue in cash, the introduction of a new legal-administrative system, construction of a road and railway network, canal-building activities and a colonization program, commercialization of agriculture and increased monetization of economic transactions.
  • These developments created a situation which, in turn, gave rise to two related problems –agricultural indebtedness and land transfer.
• As early as 1895 the Government addressed a circular to the provincial governments suggesting the advisability of imposing restrictions on the alienation of agricultural land. The famines of 1896-97 and 1899-1900 resulted in large-scale distress and brought the matter into sharp focus. The Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 was passed "as an experimental measure " to be extended to the rest of the country if it worked successfully in Punjab.
  • The Act divided the Punjab population under three heads viz., the agricultural classes, the statutory agriculturist class (those who though not belonging to the agricultural class long settled interests in the land) and the rest of the population including the moneylenders.
  • Restrictions were imposed on the sale and mortgage of the land from the first category to the other two categories, though members of the second and third category could sell or mortgage land as they pleased.
  • The Punjab peasant was also given partial relief against the oppressive incidence of land revenue demand by the Government whereby the state land revenue demand was not to exceed 50% of the annual rental value of the land.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

• In 1882, the Government appointed a commission under the chairmanship of W.W. Hunter to review the progress of education in the country since the Despatch of 1854. The Hunter Commission mostly confined its recommendations to primary and secondary education.
  • It emphasized that state’s special care is required for the extension and improvement of primary education and that primary education should be imparted through vernacular.
  • It recommended the transfer of control of primary education to newly set up district and municipal boards.
  • It recommended that secondary (High School) education should have two divisions— literary—leading up to university and vocational—for commercial careers.
  • It drew attention to inadequate facilities for female education, especially outside presidency towns and made recommendations for its spread.
• The Sadler commission was set up in 1917 to study and report on problems of Calcutta University but its recommendations were applicable more or less to other universities also. It reviewed the entire field from school education to university education. It held the view that, for the improvement of university education, the improvement of secondary education was a necessary pre-condition. Its observations were as follows:
  • School course should cover 12 years. Students should enter university after an intermediate stage (rather than matric) for a three-year degree course in university.
  • A separate board of secondary and intermediate education should be set up for the administration and control of secondary and intermediate education.
  • There should be less rigidity in framing university regulations.
  • A university should function as centralized, unitary residential-teaching autonomous body, rather than as scattered, affiliated colleges.
  • Female education, applied scientific and technological education, teachers’ training including those for professional and vocational colleges should be extended
• The Hartog Committee was set up in 1929 to report on the development of education. Its main recommendations were as follows.
  • Emphasis should be given to primary education but there need be no hasty expansion or compulsion in education.
  • Only deserving students should go in for high school and intermediate stage, while average students should be diverted to vocational courses after VIII standard.
  • For improvements in the standards of university education, admissions should be restricted.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

The great Gujarati poet, Zaverchand Kalidas Meghani, in a famous poem gave expression to the nationalist misgivings regarding the 2nd Round Table Conference. Addressing Gandhiji on the eve of his departure for London, he sang in the first line : ̳Chchello Katoro Jerno Aa : Pi Jayo Bapu!‘ (Even this last cup of poison, you must drink, Bapu!) Mahatma Gandhi spontaneously gave him the title of Raashtreeya Shaayar.

The Government helped these planters by passing laws such as those which made it virtually impossible for a labourer to refuse to work once a contract was entered into. A breach of contract was a criminal offence, with a planter having the right to get the defaulting labourer arrested.

• Venus is wrapped in a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide that traps in heat.

• The temperature of Venus is too high, and its atmosphere is highly acidic, just two of the things that would make life impossible.

• Surface temperatures reach a scorching 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.

• It has no moons and no rings.

• It spins from east to west, the opposite direction from all other planets in our solar system but the same as Uranus.

• Venus’ solid surface is a volcanic landscape covered with extensive plains featuring high volcanic mountains and vast ridges.

Left hand tributaries of Indus River:

• The Zaskar river, Suru river, Soan river, Jhelum river, Chenab river, Ravi river, Beas river, Satluj river, Panjnad river are its major left-bank tributaries.

Right hand tributaries of Indus river:

• The Shyok river, Gilgit river, Hunza river, Swat river, Kunnar river, Kurram river and Kabulriver are its major right-bank tributaries.

• Statue of Prosperity is the statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda. He was the chieftain under the Vijayanagara Empire of the 16th century. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• As per the ‘World Book of Records’, it is the first and the tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city. Renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar has designed the statue. Hence, statement 2 is correct. Sutar had built the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat and the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Bengaluru’s ‘Vidhana Soudha’.

• The double village settlements spread on both sides of a river where there is bridge or a ferry.

• It is a group of two settlement unit grown up simultaneously or one after another at a place. In this village pattern nallah, stream, river act as a boundary between the two settlements. These villages occupy similar geographic conditions but their revenue and administration dealt separately.

Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• As the monsoon winds approach the Indian subcontinent, their southwesterly direction is modified by the relief and thermal low pressure over northwest India. The monsoon approaches the landmass in two branches: the Arabian Sea branch and the Bay of Bengal branch.
•  The monsoon winds originating over the Arabian Sea splits into three branches.
  • Its one branch is obstructed by the Western Ghats. They bring heavy rainfall in the windward side of the Sahyadris and western coastal plains.
  • Another branch of the Arabian sea monsoon strikes the coast north of Mumbai. Moving along the Narmada and Tapi river valleys, these winds cause rainfall in extensive areas of central India.
  • A third branch of this monsoon wind strikes the Saurashtra Peninsula and the Kachchh. It then passes over west Rajasthan and along the Aravalis, causing only a scanty rainfall. In Punjab and Haryana, it too joins the Bay of Bengal branch. These two branches, reinforced by each other, cause rains in the western Himalayas. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Bay of Bengal branch strikes the coast of Myanmar and part of southeast Bangladesh. But the Arakan Hills along the coast of Myanmar deflect a big portion of this branch toward the Indian subcontinent. The monsoon, therefore, enters West Bengal and Bangladesh from the south and southeast instead of from the south-westerly direction. Hence, statement 2 is correct. 

• Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics. These columns of vapor move with the weather, carrying an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. When the atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
• Not all atmospheric rivers cause damage; most are weak systems that often provide beneficial rain or snow that is crucial to the water supply. Atmospheric rivers are a key feature in the global water cycle and are closely tied to both water supply and flood risks

• India follows a single standard time knows as ‘Indian Standard Time’ which is GMT+30. The 82.5’E longitude which passes through Mirzapur near Allahabad is used for its measurement. India does not observe daylight savings time. They were briefly used during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pak Wars of 1965 and 1971. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• CSIR-NPL monitors the Indian Standard Time along with maintaining other standards. It’s suggestion for a different time zone for the north eastern states was recently denied by the government. Statement 2 is correct. Bagaan time or Chai Bagaan time is used by tea gardens in Assam to save their daylight working hours. It is one hour ahead of the IST.

• Statement 3 is incorrect. KB) Daylight saving time (DST), also daylight savings time or daylight time (United States) and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks during the summer months so that evening daylight lasts longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use daylight saving time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring and adjust them backward in the autumn. In effect, DST causes a lost hour of sleep in the spring and an extra hour of sleep in the fall.

Terminal and recessional moraines are of little use for economic activities but fluvio-glacial deposits are very significant for economic activities of Man.

• Eskers and Kames are excavated to provide sand and gravel for highway and building construction.

• The purest sands are excavated to make moulds for metal casting.

• The lake basins of glaciated mountains provides natural reservoirs.

• Streams and waterfalls that plunge down from hanging valleys provides natural condition for hydro power generation.

• Along with all these economic activities Skiing, Mountain climbing, sightseeing etc. contributes to tourism industries allot.

Sands and gravels for highway Construction, Moulds for metal casting, Natural reservoirs, Hydro-electric power generation, Tourism- all contributes to economic activities.

• The amount of insolation received at the earth’s surface varies due to angle of the sun’s radiation, length of the day, the distance between the sun and the earth, sunspots and effects of the atmosphere. Hence, all of the options given above are correct.

• The solar energy radiated from the outer surface of the sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which travels at the speed of 3,00,000 km per second. The solar energy received at the earth’s surface is called insolation or solar radiation. The amount of insolation received at the earth’s surface varies significantly (decreases) from the equator towards poles due to certain astronomical and geographical factors viz.

  • Angle of the sun’s radiation: The angle between the rays of the sun and the tangent to the surface of the earth at a given place largely determines the amount of insolation to be received at that place.

  • Length of day: If all the other conditions are favourable and equal then the longer duration of sunshine and shorter duration of night enables the ground surface to receive a larger amount of insolation. On the other hand, the shorter the duration of sunshine and longer the period of the night, the lesser the amount of insolation received at the earth’s surface. The length of the day varies at all places except at the equator due to inclination of the earth’s axis, it’s parallelism and the earth’s rotation and revolution.

  • Distance between the sun and the earth: As per rule, the earth at the time of perihelion, when it is nearest to the sun, should receive maximum insolation while it should receive minimum insolation at the time of aphelion when the earth is at the greatest distance from the sun.

  • Sunspots: Sunspots are created in the solar outer surface due to periodic disturbances and explosions. The number of sunspots varies from year to year. The energy radiated from the sun increases when the number of sunspots increases and therefore the amount of insolation received at the earth’s surface also increases. On the other hand, the amount of insolation received at the earth’s surface decreases when the number of sunspots decreases.

  • Effects of the atmosphere: The electromagnetic solar radiation or the incoming shortwave solar radiation has to pass through a thick layer of the earth's atmosphere and hence it is partly absorbed, partly reflected and partly scattered by the atmosphere and partly transmitted to the earth’s surface.

• Minerals are usually found in “ores”. The term ore is used to describe an accumulation of any mineral mixed with other elements. The mineral content of the ore must be in sufficient concentration to make its extraction commercially viable.

• Minerals generally occur in these forms:

  • In igneous and metamorphic rocks minerals may occur in the cracks, crevices, faults, or joints. The smaller occurrences are called veins and the larger is called lodes. In most cases, they are formed when minerals in liquid/ molten and gaseous forms are forced upward through cavities towards the earth’s surface. Major metallic minerals like tin, copper, zinc, and lead, etc. are obtained from veins and lodes. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

  • In sedimentary rocks, a number of minerals occur in beds or layers. They have been formed as a result of deposition, accumulation, and concentration in horizontal strata. Coal has been concentrated as a result of long periods under great heat and pressure. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

  • Another mode of formation involves the decomposition of surface rocks, and the removal of soluble constituents, leaving a residual mass of weathered material containing ores. Bauxite is formed this way. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

  • Certain minerals may occur as alluvial deposits in sands of valley floors and the base of hills. These deposits are called ‘placer deposits’ and generally contain minerals, which are not corroded by water. Gold, silver, tin, and platinum are the most important among such minerals.

  • The ocean waters contain vast quantities of minerals, but most of these are too widely diffused to be of economic significance. However, common salt, magnesium, and bromine are largely derived from ocean waters. The ocean beds, too, are rich in manganese nodules.