Manipur PSC Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test - 10 Free Online Test 2026

A closer look at Asokan edicts illustrates that basic attributes of Dhamma included compassion (daya), charity (dana), truthfulness, purity and gentleness.

• Pillar Edict III asks subjects to control violence, cruelty, anger and envy.
• Rock edict I call for a ban on animal sacrifice and social gatherings like samaj.
• The Rock Edict II declares measures to be taken for the construction of hospitals, roads, inns, wells and planting of shade giving trees.
• Third, Fourth and Twelfth rock edicts ask people to respect parents, relatives, brahmanas and shramanas(monks). He also appointed a special type of officials called dhamma mahamatras. Their main function was to oversee and supervise the peaceful function of the principles of Dhamma. Twelfth rock edict is specially important since it says “ the king Piyadassi, the beloved of the gods, respected all sects whether ascetics or householders, and he honours them with gifts and honours of various kinds...let an alien sect also be respected on every occasion.”

• Pair 1 is incorrectly matched: Varanasi was the capital of Kashi. It is located in the present day Varanasi. Of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, Kashi seems to have been the most powerful in the beginning. But eventually, it succumbed to the power of Koshala.
• Pair 2 is incorrectly matched: Koshala embraced the area occupied by eastern Uttar Pradesh and had its capital at Shravasti. Koshala had an important city called Ayodhya which is associated with the story in the Ramayana.
• Pair 3 is incorrectly matched: Vatsas had its capital at Kausambi near Allahabad. The Vatsas were a Kuru clan who had shifted from Hastinapur and settled at Kausambi.
• Pair 4 is correctly matched: Beginning from the east, we hear of the kingdom of Anga which covered the modern districts of Monghyr and Bhagalpur. It had its capital at Champa, which shows signs of habitation in the fifth century BC, and there is a mud fort dating to that century. Eventually the kingdom of Anga was swallowed by its powerful neighbour Magadha.

The Congress met at Karachi in March, 1931, to endorse the Gandhi- Irwin or the Delhi Pact. The Karachi Session became memorable for its Resolution on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme. Even though the Congress had, from its inception, fought for the economic interests, civil liberties and political rights of the people. This was the first time that the Congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses.

Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji‘s Harijan campaign included a programme of internal reform by the Harijans: promotion of education, cleanliness and hygiene, giving up the eating of carrion and beef, giving up liquor and the abolition of untouchability among themselves. After the Poona Pact, Gandhiji decided to commence an ̳Untouchability Prevention Movement‘

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The earth, after being heated by insolation, transmits the heat to the atmospheric layers near to the earth in the long waveform. The air in contact with the land gets heated slowly, and the upper layers in contact with the lower layers also get heated. This process is called conduction.
  The air in contact with the earth rises vertically on heating in the form of currents and further transmits the heat of the atmosphere. This process of vertical heating of the atmosphere is known as convection. The convective transfer of energy is confined only to the troposphere.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The transfer of heat through the horizontal movement of air is called advection. The horizontal movement of the air is relatively more important than the vertical movement. In middle latitudes, most diurnal (day and night) variations in daily weather are caused by advection alone. In tropical regions, particularly in northern India, during the summer season, local winds called ‘loo’ are the outcome of the advection process.

• Statement 1 is correct: The work of underground water is important in the areas of limestone rocks where it gives rise to distinctive landforms. Like running water, underground water also erodes, transports and deposits.
• Statement 2 is correct: Slow-moving groundwater can dissolve huge quantities of soluble rocks and carry it away in solution. In some areas, it is the dominant agent of erosion and produces Karst topography, which is characterized by sinkholes, solution valleys, and disappearing streams. Initially, water follows surface drainage until a large river cuts a deep valley below the limestone layer. Groundwater then moves through joints and emerges at river banks. With the passage of time the water emerges at the river banks. Finally, the roofs of the caves collapse so numerous sinkholes are produced. This process ultimately develops solution valleys.
  

The “Fujiwhara effect” is when two hurricanes spinning in the same direction pass close enough to each other, they begin an intense dance around their common center. If one hurricane is a lot stronger than the other, the smaller one will orbit it and eventually come crashing into its vortex to be absorbed. Two storms closer in strength can gravitate towards each other until they reach a common point and merge, or merely spin each other around for a while before shooting off on their own paths. In rare occasions, the effect is additive when the hurricanes come together, resulting in one larger storm instead of two smaller ones.

The Supreme Court, however, held that the Preamble is a part of the Constitution. The Court stated that the opinion tendered by it in the Berubari Union (1960) in this regard was wrong, and held that the Preamble can be amended, subject to the condition that no amendment is done to the ‘basic features’. In other words, the Court held that the basic elements or the fundamental features of the Constitution as contained in the Preamble cannot be altered by an amendment under Article 368.
Correct option is A.

As originally enacted the preamble described the state as a "sovereign democratic republic", to which the terms "Secular" and "Socialist" were later passed by the Parliament during The Emergency in the 42nd Amendment. The preamble was amended only once on 18 December 1976.

Privatization

• Privatization describes the proce ss by which a piece of property or business goes from being owned by the government to being privately owned.
• It generally helps governments save money and increase efficiency, where private companies can move goods quicker and more efficiently.
• The term ‘privatization’ has different connotations. These are:
• De-nationalization is the transfer of the state ownership of the assets to the private sector to the tune of 100 per cent. It is privatization in its purest sense. This form of privatization is motivated by efforts to save government money and increase efficiency, where private companies are thought to be able to move goods and capital quicker and more efficiently.
• If an asset has been sold out by the government to the tune of only 49 per cent the ownership remains with the state though it is considered Privatisation It is also called disinvestment through minority stake sale.
• If the sale of shares of the state-owned assets has been to the tune of 11 per cent, the ownership is really transferred to the private sector even then it is termed as privatisation. This is disinvestment through majority stake sale.
• Strategic disinvestment would imply the sale of substantial portion of the Government shareholding of a central public sector enterprise (CPSE) of up to 50%, or such higher percentage as the competent authority may determine, along with transfer of management control.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: In a monetisation transaction, the government is basically transferring revenue rights to privateparties for a specified transaction period in return for upfront money, a revenue share, and commitment of investments in the assets. As such, the NMP aims to unlock value in brownfield projects by engaging the private sector, transferring to them revenue rights and not ownership in the projects, and using the funds so generated for infrastructure creation across the country.

National Monetization Pipeline (NMP)

• The government unveiled a four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) worth an estimated Rs 6 lakh crore.
• Under the NMP, the government has identified 13 sectors — including airports, railways, roads, shipping, gas pipeline among others— which wid be privatized as the government aims to monetize its brownfield infrastructure assets.
• It aims to unlock value in brownfield pro ject s by engaging the private sector, transferring to them revenue rights and not ownership in the projects, and using the funds so generated for infrastructure creation across the country.
• The objective of NMP is to provide a clear framework for monetisation and give potential investors a ready hst of assets to generate investment interest.
• In a monetisation transaction, the governmentisbasicallytransferringrevenue rights to private parties for a specified transaction period in return for upfront money, a revenue share, and commitment of investments in the assets.
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), for instance, are the key structures used to monetise assets in the roads and power sectors.
• The entire (NMP) talks about brownfield projects where investments have already been made, where there is a completed asset which is either languishing or it is not fully monetised or is under-utdized.
• Roads, railways and power sector assets wdl comprise over 66% of the total estimated value of the assets to be monetised, with the remaining upcoming sectors including telecom, mining, aviation, ports, natural gas and petroleum product pipelines, warehouses and stadiums.
• Among the key challenges that may affect the NMP roadmap are: lack of identifiable revenues streams in various assets, level of capacity utdization in gas and petroleum pipehne networks, dispute resolution mechanism, regulated tariffs in power sector assets, and low interest among investors in national highways below four lanes.

Unicorn

• In the venture capital industry, the term unicorn refers to any startup that reaches the valuation of $1 billion.
• Only a privately held startup can he a unicorn.
• The term initially was used to lay emphasis on the rarity of such startups.
• Disruptive Innovation, high on technology, new ideas, consumer focus are some of the common features of unicorns.
• As of 27th January 2022, India is home to 84 unicorns with a total valuation of $ 286.27 Bn. Sequoia has been the most active investor in Inchan Unicorns, followed by Tiger Global Management, Accel, and Softbank.
• A clecacorn is company that has attained a valuation of more than $ 10 Bn. As of January 2022, 46 companies world over have achieved the clecacorn status. India has four startups namely, Flipkart, BYJUs, Paytm and Swiggy, added in clecacorn cohort.
• Recently, an Inchan startup founder quipped on Twitter that the definition of a ‘Unicorn’ as used in the venture capital industry should now change to $1 billion of funchng raised. The term currently refers to a startup that reaches a valuation of $1 billion.
• He was commenting on the flurry of unicorns that have been created globally. The term was originally coined by US venture capit ali st Aileen Lee in 2013 when there were just 39 startups globally that fit the definition, which has not changed since then.

• Amensalim is an antagonistic interspecific interaction where one species suffers and the other species remains unaffected. This is commonly the effect when one species produces a chemical compound (as part of its normal metabolic reactions) that is harmful to the other species. It is also called antibiosis. The affected species is called amensal and the affecting species is called inhibitor.
• Allelopathy, in which some plants produce chemical compounds that inhibit the growth of nearby would-be competitors, is one type of amensalistic interaction. For example Black Walnut tree (Juglans nigra), secretes juglone from its roots, it is a chemical that harms or kills some of the surrounding plants species. The other plants are prohibited from growing under or near the trees while the walnut trees do not really get benefit in any way. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.
• The "inhibitory" chemicals are released into the environment and affect the development and growth of nearby plants. These substances influence the growth and development of agricultural and biological systems. Allelopathic chemicals can be present in the leaves, flowers, roots, fruits, or stems and may be released from these parts of the plant. Allelochemicals are introduced by the plants into the environment via root exudation, foliar leaching, volatilization, residue decomposition. They can also be found in the surrounding soil. Target species are affected by these toxins in many different ways. The toxic chemicals may reduce the plant growth by inhibiting the shoot/root growth, by blocking the nutrient uptake, or by disturbing the naturally occurring symbiotic relationship thereby destroying the plant's usable source of a nutrient. Allelochemicals may be involved in plant-plant, plant herbivore or plant insect communication via chemicals.

Thirty Meter Telescope will be the second largest of the existing and announced extremely large telescopes (ELT) which is under construction on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The TMT will enable scientists to study fainter objects far away from earth providing information about early stages of the evolution of the universe. As a founding member of the important international scientific project, India will be a 10 percent partner in the project and 70 percent of its contributions will be "in kind".

Mpemba effect is named after Tanzanian student Erasto Mpemba, who brought attention to this counterintuitive phenomenon in 1969.

• Aristotle, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes had noticed the effect centuries earlier.
• The effect is that hot water can freeze faster than cold water in similar conditions.

Statement Analysis:
Statement 1

• XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) is India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
• The mission helps in comprehending the emission processes from various astronomical sources like black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, and pulsar wind nebulae.
• Space based observatories are also unable to give information about the exact nature of the emission from such sources. Therefore, newer devices can measure specific properties.

Statement 2

• The XPoSAT mission launch also marked the 60th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit. The primary payload POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) will measure the polarimetry parameters.
• The XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload will give spectroscopic information in the energy range of 0.8-15 keV.

Statement 3

• After this launch, India became the second nation after the US to send an observatory to study astronomical sources, such as black holes, and neutron stars, among others.
• XPoSat’s payloads

Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched the PSLV-C58 XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) mission.

The Rock Edicts of Ashoka, the Mauryan emperor, are written in the Brahmi script.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in the city of Amritsar. It occurred on April 13, 1919, during the British colonial rule in India. British troops, led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, opened fire on a crowd of unarmed Indian protesters who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, a public garden, to protest against the repressive Rowlatt Act. The brutal incident resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and left many more injured. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre had a profound impact on the Indian independence movement and further fuelled the calls for freedom from British rule.

Alexander's troops forced him to turn back from India at the Beas river, fearing mutiny if they were made to advance further into the unknown country.

According to the Aihole inscription, Pulakesin II emerged victorious against Harshavardhana in a military campaign.

Shakuntala is not a drama composed by King Harshavardhana.

The writings of these foreigners provide valuable insights into certain aspects of Mughal administration from an outsider's perspective.

Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century.

The Equator experiences relatively constant day and night duration throughout the year because it is perpendicular to the Sun's rays during both equinoxes, resulting in approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

The Koyna Dam is located in the state of Maharashtra, nestled in the Western Ghats.