Kerala PSC KAS Prelims Paper 2 Mock Test - 7 - Kerala PSC KAS MCQ

MRPL was honored with the Greentech Pollution Control Waste Management & Recycling Award in the Circular Economy Leadership category, recognizing its achievements in hazardous waste management and recycling, leading to zero waste disposal to landfills in FY 2023-24.

V. Vedachalam, a noted Tamil epigrapher and historian, received the V Venkayya Epigraphy Award for his significant contributions to the field, including authoring over 25 books on epigraphy, numismatics, and temple art.

CWC was recognized as the Water Department of the Year for its excellence in hydro-meteorological data collection, flood forecasting, and reservoir monitoring, showcasing its pivotal role in water management in India.

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his exemplary work in advancing diabetes care and research, highlighting his dedication to improving public health outcomes.

Historic sites in South Africa linked to the liberation struggle and Nelson Mandela were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, emphasizing the importance of Mandela's legacy in promoting human rights and reconciliation.

Radio Mayur, Bihar was awarded the Thematic Award - First Prize for its innovative program 'Tech Sakhi,' showcasing the station's commitment to community engagement and social development initiatives.

Kashiff Khan, Managing Director of FashionTV, made history as the first Indian to crown Miss FashionTV at the Black Sea Excellence Awards Gala, underlining his significant presence in the fashion industry.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum received the Gandhi Mandela Award 2020 on Nelson Mandela's 106th birth anniversary, honoring her lifelong advocacy for Indigenous rights and social justice.

Shah Rukh Khan is set to receive the Pardo alla Carriera award at the Locarno Film Festival, recognizing his significant contributions to cinema and celebrating his film "Devdas" during the event.

The Indian Institute of Spices Research was awarded for its innovative technology in creating "Instant Soluble Turmeric Enriched Spice Flavored Milk Powder," which has been commercialized, promoting health and wellness.

Madhya Pradesh was acknowledged for its outstanding performance in loan delivery under the PM SVANidhi scheme, highlighting its effective implementation of financial support for street vendors.

• The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to, and facilitate the development of, life-saving medicines for low- and middle- income countries.

• Through its innovative business model, MPP partners with civil society, governments, international organisations, industry, patient groups and other stakeholders, to prioritise and license needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations.

• It has facilitated the development of generic drugs for HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C, allowing them to be sold at an affordable price.

• To date, MPP has signed agreements with ten patent holders for thirteen HIV antiretrovirals, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals and a tuberculosis treatment. MPP was founded by Unitaid, which serves as sole funder for MPP’s activities in HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis.

Hence both the statements are correct.

• The e-National Agriculture Market (NAM) is envisaged as a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) mandis and other market yards to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. NAM is a “virtual” market but it has a physical market (mandi) at the back end. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• NAM will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture will set it up through the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC).

• The Scheme is applicable on All-India basis. There is no State-wise allocation under the Scheme. However, desirous States would be required to meet the pre-requisites in terms of carrying out necessary agri-marketing reforms. For integration with the e-platform, the States/UTs will need to undertake prior reforms in respect of

  • a single license to be valid across the State

  • single point levy of market fee and

  • provision for electronic auction as a mode for price discovery.

• Benefits of NAM:

  • For the farmers, NAM promises more options for sale. It would increase his access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi.

  • The gradual integration of all the major mandis in the States into NAM will ensure common procedures for issue of licences, levy of fee and movement of produce.

  • The farmer may choose to accept either the local offer or the online offer. In either case the transaction will be on the books of the local mandi and they will continue to earn the market fee.

  • For the local trader in the mandi/market, NAM offers the opportunity to access a larger national market for secondary trading.

  • Bulk buyers, processors, exporters etc. benefit from being able to participate directly in trading at the local mandi/market level through the NAM platform, thereby reducing their intermediation costs.

• The process of moving from self-employment and regular salaried employment to casual wage work is called as casualization of the workforce. Casual workers are defined as those who work for others in farm or non-farm enterprises and are paid wages that are daily or periodic in nature. All daily wage-earning employees and some categories of contract employees are casual labourers. Hence, option (b) is correct.

• The wage-paid labour is largely non-unionised due to casual and seasonal nature of employment and the scattered location of enterprises. This sector is marked by low incomes, unstable and irregular employment, and lack of protection either from legislation or trade unions.

• Formalisation of workforce refers to the situation wherein there is a continuous increase in the percentage of the workforce in the formal sector and a simultaneous decline in the percentage of the workforce in the informal sector. Around 90 per cent workforce in India is in the ―unregulated informal sector.

• The feminization of work refers to the processes through which the composition of occupation changes such that the proportion of women exceeds the proportion of men.

• Option (d) is the correct answer: Ricardian equivalence was a theory put forward by David Ricardo in the early 19th century and later was elaborated upon by Harvard professor Robert Barro. For this reason, Ricardian equivalence is also known as the Barro-Ricardo equivalence proposition.

• It is an economic theory that argues that attempts to stimulate an economy by increasing debt- financed government spending are doomed to fail because the demand remains unchanged.

• This is because consumers anticipate the future so if they receive a tax cut financed by government borrowing they anticipate future taxes will rise. Therefore, their lifetime income remains unchanged and so consumer spending remains unchanged.

• It is called ‘equivalence’ because it argues that taxation and borrowing are equivalent means of financing expenditure. When the government increases spending by borrowing today, which will be repaid by taxes in the future, it will have the same impact on the economy as an increase in government expenditure that is financed by a tax increase today.

• The paradox of thrift: It is an economic theory which stipulates that personal savings are a net drag on the economy during a recession. It assumes that an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will, in turn, lower total saving.

• The Solow Growth Model is an exogenous model of economic growth that analyzes changes in the level of output in an economy over time as a result of changes in the population growth rate, the savings rate, and the rate of technological progress.

• Kuznets' inverted-U hypothesis implies that economic growth worsens income inequality first and improves it later at a higher stage of economic development.

• The content moderation-driven approach to disinformation by all major social media platforms is a red herring designed to distract from the far larger problem of amplified distribution of disinformation as part of business models. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• Social media platforms are increasingly becoming the primary ground for public discourse over which a handful of individuals have inordinate control. The Election Commission does not regulate the media. It has, however, the responsibility to enforce the provisions of law or Court directions, which might have linkages with media or certain aspects of media functioning. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) is a new policy adopted for the award of hydrocarbon acreages towards exploration and production (E&P). It was done to enhance domestic oil and gas production, enhance transparency, bring substantial investment and to reduce administrative discretion.

• HELP replaces the present policy regime for the exploration and production of oil and gas, known as the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), which has been in existence for 18 years.

• Four main aspects of HELP are:

  • Uniform License: It provides for a uniform licensing system to cover all hydrocarbons such as oil, gas, coal bed methane etc. under a single licensing framework, instead of the present system of issuing separate licenses for each kind of hydrocarbons. Hence option 1 is not correct.

  • Open Acreages: It gives the option to a hydrocarbon company to select the exploration blocks throughout the year without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government. Hence option 3 is correct.

  • Revenue Sharing Model: Present fiscal system of production sharing contract (PSC) is replaced by an easy to administer “revenue sharing model”. The earlier contracts were based on the concept of profit sharing where profits are shared between the Government and the contractor after recovery of cost. Under the new regime, the Government will not be concerned with the cost incurred and will receive a share of the gross revenue from the sale of oil, gas etc.

  • Bidders will be required to quote revenue share in their bids and this will be a key parameter for selecting the winning bid. They will quote a different share at two levels of revenue called “lower revenue point” and “higher revenue point”. Revenue share for intermediate points will be calculated by linear interpolation. The bidder giving the highest net present value of revenue share to the Government, as per transparent methodology, will get the maximum marks under this parameter. Hence option 2 is not correct.

    • Marketing and Pricing Freedom has been granted, subject to a ceiling price limit, for new gas production from Deepwater, Ultra-Deepwater and High Pressure-High Temperature Areas.

• In macroeconomics and finance, a transfer payment is a redistribution of income and wealth by means of the government making a payment, without goods or services being received in return. These payments are considered to be non-exhaustive because they do not directly absorb resources or create output.

• Transfer payments are receipts which the residents of a country receive ‘for free’, without having to make any present or future payments in return. They consist of remittances, gifts and grants. They could be official or private. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

• Allowances, pensions etc to people such as pensioners, widows, sick or unemployed people are examples of transfer payments.

• India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) is a Trust established in 1996 by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India as an Investment Promotion Agency for creating the “brand India”.

• IBEF's primary objective is to promote and create international awareness about the Made in India label in overseas markets and to facilitate dissemination of knowledge of Indian products and services. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• IBEF is fully funded, owned, and controlled by the Union Government, unlike Invest India which is a private company. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• IBEF collects, collates, and disseminates comprehensive information on India. It has been developed as a single-window resource for in-depth information and insight on India. It also produces a wide range of well-researched publications focused on India's economic and business advantages.

• Thus it is basically a knowledge center for global investors, international policy-makers, and world media who seek updated, accurate and comprehensive information on the Indian economy, states, and sectors. IBEF regularly tracks government announcements in policy, foreign investment, macroeconomic indicators, and business trends.

• IBEF works with a network of stakeholders – domestic and international – to promote Brand India.

• IBEF is registered as the Investment Promotion Agency of India with the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA).

• However, IBEF functions more like a trade promotion body as it is more focused on the trade side rather than on the investment side. As understood, the actual investment advice and consultancy are provided through Invest India.

• Inflation is the rise in the general level of prices where a unit of currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods. Thus it indicates a decrease in the purchasing power of a nation’s currency.

• As inflation in country A is greater than country B, the purchasing power of the currency of country A is less than that of country B.

• Initially we assumed that the prices of basket is same in both the countries. But as inflation in country A is greater than country B, the price of basket in country A would become greater than country B. Therefore, prices of goods and services of country A tends to be higher than that of country B.

• In this situation, the exports from country B to country A will go up resulting in improvement or surplus trade balance for B. But due to higher price in country A, its imports will increase from country B and it will lead to a deficit in the trade balance for country A.

Hence, option (b) is correct.

• Statement 1 is correct: India’s exchange rate policy has evolved in line with international and domestic developments. Post-independence, in view of the prevailing Bretton Woods system, the Indian rupee was pegged to the pound sterling due to its historic links with Britain. A major development was the devaluation of the rupee by 36.5 per cent in June, 1966. With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, and also the declining share of UK in India’s trade, the rupee was delinked from the pound sterling in September 1975. During the period between 1975 to 1992, the exchange rate of the rupee was officially determined by the Reserve Bank within a nominal band of plus or minus 5 per cent of the weighted basket of currencies of India’s major trading partners.

•  Statement 2 is correct: At present, India follows a managed floating exchange rate system, also known as a dirty floating system, where the central bank allows the exchange rate to be determined by market forces but intervenes occasionally to influence the rate. This system is a combination of a flexible exchange rate (the floating part) and fixed rate elements (the managed part). Under this system, the Reserve Bank of India intervenes in the foreign exchange market to moderate exchange rate fluctuations as deemed necessary. Since 1993, India has been adhering to this managed floating exchange rate system.

• Statement 1 is correct: Fungi are known to form symbiotic associations with plants (mycorrhiza) where the fungi absorbs phosphorus from soil and passes it to the plant. Plants having such associations show other benefits also, such as resistance to root-borne pathogens, tolerance to salinity and drought, and an overall increase in plant growth and development.

• Statement 2 is correct: In addition to nitrogen-fixing bacteria like Rhizobium that live in the plant roots, there are some free-living bacteria in the soil like Azospirillum and Azotobacter that fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. These bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen into organic forms, which is used by the plant as nutrient.

  • Biofertilisers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of the soil. The main sources of biofertilisers are bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria.

  • Cyanobacteria are autotrophic microbes widely distributed in aquatic and terrestrial environments many of which can fix atmospheric nitrogen, e.g. Anabaena, Nostoc, Oscillatoria, etc. In paddy fields, cyanobacteria serve as an important biofertiliser. Blue green algae also add organic matter to the soil and increase its fertility.

  • Currently, in our country, a number of biofertilisers are available commercially in the market and farmers use these regularly in their fields to replenish soil nutrients and to reduce dependence on chemical fertilisers.

Plants rely on their roots for uptake of water and minerals like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, etc. Water and minerals are transported to the leaves by the vessels which run like pipes throughout the root, the stem, the branches and the leaves. They form a continuous path or passage for the nutrients to reach the leaf. They are called vessels. Plants also take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the stomata present in their leaves.

• Plants synthesis carbohydrates and other components of food such as proteins and fats. Carbohydrates are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen through the process of photosynthesis where carbon dioxide reacts with water in the presence of energy absorbed from sunlight by the plants. Carbon dioxide is taken by plants in the gaseous form from the atmosphere, while water is taken up by the roots from the soil.

• Carbohydrates are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These are used to synthesise other components of food such as proteins and fats. But proteins are nitrogenous substances which contain nitrogen. Though nitrogen is present in abundance in gaseous form in the air, plants cannot absorb nitrogen in this form.

• Soil has certain bacteria that convert gaseous nitrogen into a usable form and release it into the soil. These are absorbed by the plants along with water. Also, farmers add fertilisers rich in nitrogen to the soil. In this way the plants fulfil their requirements of nitrogen along with the other constituents. Plants can then synthesise proteins and vitamins.

• "Autosomal" genetic disorder means that the gene in question is located on one of the numbered, or non-sex, chromosomes.

• Statement 1 is correct: Sickle cell Anaemia is an autosomal genetic disorder. Sickle-cell anaemia - This is an autosome linked recessive trait that can be transmitted from parents to the offspring when both the partners are carrier for the gene (or heterozygous).

• Statement 2 is incorrect: Colour blindness is sex-linked genetic disorder. Colour blindness - It is a sex-linked recessive disorder due to defect in either red or green cone of eye resulting in failure to discriminate between red and green colour. This defect is due to mutation in certain genes present in the X chromosome. It occurs in about 8 per cent of males and only about 0.4 per cent of females.

• Statement 3 is correct: Thalassemia is an autosomal genetic disorder. Thalassemia - This is an autosome-linked recessive blood disease transmitted from parents to the offspring when both the partners are unaffected carrier for the gene (or heterozygous).

• Statement 4 is incorrect: Haemophilia is sex-linked genetic disorder. Haemophilia - It is a sex-linked recessive disease, which shows its transmission from unaffected carrier female to some of the male progeny. In this disease, a single protein that is a part of the cascade of proteins involved in the clotting of blood is affected. Due to this, in an affected individual a simple cut will result in non-stop bleeding. The heterozygous female (carrier) for haemophilia may transmit the disease to sons. The possibility of a female becoming a haemophilic is extremely rare because mother of such a female has to be at least carrier and the father should be haemophilic (unviable in the later stage of life).

• Statement 1 is correct: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are the two types of nucleic acids found in living organisms.

• Statement 2 is correct: DNA acts as the genetic material in most of the organisms. RNA acts as a genetic material in some viruses (for example, Tobacco Mosaic viruses, etc.).

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Both DNA and RNA are able to mutate. RNA is unstable and mutate at a faster rate than DNA. Consequently, viruses having RNA genome and having shorter life span mutate and evolve faster.

• Chronologically, the following organisms evolved in the sequence given below:

1) Corals

2) Fishes

3) Birds

4) Flowering plants

• Evolution of life on Earth:

  • Unicellular and multicellular organisms

  • Age of Marine Invertebrates (early shelled organisms, Corals, first land plants, etc.)

  • Fishes (First forests, first amphibians, etc.)

  • Age of Amphibians (First reptiles, sharks, coal forming swamps, etc.)

  • Age of Reptiles (Dinosaurs abundant, early flowering plants, placental mammals, etc.)

  • Age of Mammals (spread of grassy ecosystems, modern humans, extinction of large mammals and birds during Ice age glaciations, glacial outburst floods, etc.)

• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB): CPCB is a statutory organisation which was constituted in September, 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Hence, statement 1 is not correct. It was also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• Principal Functions of the CPCB: To promote cleanliness of streams and wells in different areas of the States by prevention, control and abatement of water pollution. Hence, statement 2 is correct. To improve the quality of air and to prevent, control or abate air pollution in the country.

• State Pollution Control Board (SPCB): They supplement the CPCB as they are a statutory organization entrusted to implement Environmental Laws and rules within the jurisdiction of a state.

• Pollution control committees (PCC): They perform similar functions to SPCB. The difference between the two is that PCC belongs to Union territories.

• Statement 1 is correct: Bleaching powder is used as a disinfectant and germicide. It liberates Chlorine on exposure to the atmosphere which destroys the germs.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: Bleaching powder is chemically calcium oxychloride (CaOCl2). Bleaching powder is manufactured using Backmann’s plant. Slaked lime and Chlorine are used in this process to produce bleaching Powder. Hence, it is also known as chlorinated lime. Baking soda is the common name of sodium bicarbonate. The chemical formula of baking soda is NaHCO3.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Bleaching powder is little acidic and also produces oxygen when it is added. Thus, it acts as an oxidizing (not reducing) and a bleaching agent in many chemical industries.

• Statement 1 is correct: Chromosomal disorders are caused due to absence or excess or abnormal arrangement of one or more chromosomes.

• Statement 2 is correct: Chromosomal Disorders - Sometimes, either an additional copy of a chromosome may be included in an individual or an individual may lack one of any one pair of chromosomes. These situations are known as trisomy or monosomy of a chromosome, respectively. Down’s syndrome, Turner’s syndrome, Klinefelter’s syndrome are common examples of chromosomal disorders. In the Down’s syndrome, a person has an additional copy of chromosome number 21. In the Turner’s syndrome, a person has an absence of one of the X chromosomes. In Klinefelter’s syndrome, a person has an additional copy of X chromosome.

• Many types of chromosomal abnormalities exist, but they can be categorized as either numerical or structural. Numerical abnormalities are whole chromosomes either missing from or extra to the normal pair. Structural abnormalities are when part of an individual chromosome is missing, extra, switched to another chromosome, or turned upside down.