OPSC OAS Prelims Paper 1 Practice Test - 8 - OPSC OCS (Odisha) MCQ

Archaeologists call the earliest period Palaeolithic. It comes from two Greek words, ‘paleo’ meaning old, and ‘lithos’, meaning stone. This period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. This time period is divided into the lower, middle and the upper Palaeolithic.

This period covers 99% of human history. Some of the most important Palaeolithic sites are Bhimbetka, Hunsgi, Kurnool caves. The period between 12,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago, is called a Mesolithic period. Stone tools found during this age are called microliths. The next age, from about 10,000 years ago, is called a Neolithic age. Daojali heading and Chirand are Neolithic sites. Some other Neolithic sites are Burzahom (Kashmir), Mehrgarh, Koldhihwa, Mahagara, Hallur, Paiyampalli.

The Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) allows the FCI to sell surplus stocks of wheat and rice through e-auction in the open market. This scheme aims to regulate market prices and manage excess inventory before the next procurement cycle. By selling surplus stock, the FCI can stabilize food prices and ensure that food remains accessible to consumers.

Michael Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games, achieving this remarkable feat at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he won 8 gold medals. This accomplishment is a highlight of his illustrious swimming career, which includes a total of 23 Olympic gold medals.

The "Nivahika" Data Management Portal is designed to facilitate efficient data management for various projects. This initiative aims to streamline data handling processes, improve accessibility to information, and support research and educational activities related to technology and data analysis.

The Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) was published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). India's ranking at 39th among 119 countries indicates its performance in various tourism-related metrics, highlighting improvements in safety, security, and health standards.

The installation of the Doppler radar in Lahaul-Spiti aims to improve weather forecasting and disaster management in the region. By providing accurate and timely weather data, this initiative will help mitigate the risks associated with natural disasters and enhance the safety of local communities.

Lt Col Kabilan Sai Ashok made history by becoming India's youngest Olympic boxing referee at the Paris Olympics 2024. His selection not only showcases his expertise in officiating but also represents a significant achievement in promoting youth participation in sports administration.

A record 7.28 crore income tax returns were filed for the financial year 2024-25 by July 31. This represents a 7.5% increase from the previous year, indicating greater compliance and awareness among taxpayers regarding tax filing.

The focus of the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) is on sustainable agri-food systems amid challenges posed by climate change and resource limitations. This conference brings together experts to discuss strategies that can improve food security and sustainability in agriculture.

The MHA launched the applications e-Sakshya, e-Summon, Nyaya Setu, and Nyaya Shruti to facilitate the implementation of various BNS, BNSS, and BSA initiatives. These applications are designed to improve the efficiency and accessibility of justice-related services.

Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) is a type of hydroelectric energy storage system. It utilizes two reservoirs at different elevations to store energy. During low energy demand, excess electricity is used to pump water to the upper reservoir, and during high demand, the water flows back down through turbines to generate power.

India is collaborating with the World Bank on the Green National Highway Project, which aims to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly highway infrastructure. This initiative focuses on reducing carbon footprint and enhancing ecological balance along national highways.

The idiom "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" means that you can only truly evaluate something by experiencing it rather than just observing or theorizing about it. It emphasizes the importance of practical experience in understanding the quality or value of something.

The Attorney General of India serves as the highest legal officer of the Union Government and is appointed by the President. This role involves providing legal advice to the government, representing it in court, and participating in parliamentary proceedings, which is crucial for the functioning of the legal and political system in India.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The manuscripts dealt with all kinds of subjects like religious beliefs and practices, lives of kings, medicine and science, epics, poems, plays, etc.

Statement 2 is correct. They were written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil. Manuscripts are writings on soft surfaces such as palm leaf, or on the specially prepared bark of a tree known as the birch. The word manuscript comes from the Latin word ‘manu’ meaning hand.

Statement 3 is incorrect: Inscriptions are writings on relatively hard surfaces such as stone or metal. Kings used to get their orders inscribed so that people could see, read and obey them. They often kept records of victories in battle through inscriptions. There are other kinds of inscriptions as well, where men and women, including kings and queens, recorded what they did.

Statement 1 is not correct :Modhera Sun Temple is located in Mehsana, neighbouring Ahmedabad district of Gujarat .Situated on the banks of Pushpavati River. Statement 2 is correct : Built in the 11th century during the Chalukya dynasty in honour of the Sun God, it is one of the major tourist destinations in North Gujarat.

● It is surrounded by a terra-formed garden of flowering trees and songs of birds.

● The remains of the Sun Temples at Modhera are relics of times gone by when reverence of the natural elements fire, air, earth, water and sky were at their peak sharing space with myriad manifestations of Vedic gods.

As the Chola dynasty declined in the thirteenth century, the Vijayanagar dynasty captured and brought under its control the region from Hampi to Trichy.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. In Hampi, the Virupaksha temple has paintings on the ceiling of its mandapa narrating events from dynastic history and episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Among important panels the mural of Vidyaranya, teacher of Bukkaraya Harsha, being carried in a palanquin is very well made.

In Lepakshi, Vijaynagar paintings can be found on the walls of the Shiva temple. In keeping with the tradition the Vijayanagar painters evolved a pictorial language wherein the faces are shown in profile and figures and objects two dimensionally. Lines become still but fluid, compositions appear in rectilinear compartments. These stylistic conventions were adopted by artists in various centres in South India as can be seen in the paintings of the Nayaka period.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Mughal court chronicles were written in Persian though Turkish was their mother tongue. Under the Sultans of Delhi it flourished as a language of the court and of literary writings, alongside other north Indian languages, especially Hindavi(near Delhi) and its regional variants.

Statement 2 is correct. Mughals were Chaghtai Turks by origin, Turkish was their mother tongue. Their first ruler Babur wrote poetry and his memoirs in the Turkish language. KB) Chagatai Turks were descendants of Chagtai Khan the second son of Genghis Khan.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The rules made for the Buddhist sangha were written down in a book called the Vinaya Pitaka. All men, women and children could join the sangha. However, children had to take the permission of their parents and slaves of their masters. Those who worked for the king had to take his permission and debtors that of creditors. Women had to take their husbands’ permission.

Statement 2 is correct. The Puranas contain stories about gods and goddesses, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Durga or Parvati. They also contain details on how they were to be worshipped. Besides, there are accounts about the creation of the world, and about kings. The Puranas were written in simple Sanskrit verse, and were meant to be heard by everybody, including women and shudras, who were not allowed to study the Vedas.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Most Upanishadic thinkers were men, especially brahmins and raja. But there is mention of women thinkers, such as Gargi, who was famous for her learning, and participated in debates held in royal courts.

Statement 1 is incorrect. In the Mughal household a distinction was maintained between wives who came from royal families (begums), and other wives (aghas) who were not of noble birth.

Statement 2 is correct. The beggars, married after receiving huge amounts of cash and valuables as dower (mahr), naturally received a higher status and greater attention from their husbands than did aghas. KB)

● The concubines (aghacha or the lesser agha) occupied the lowest position in the hierarchy of females intimately related to royalty.

● They all received monthly allowances in cash, supplemented with gifts according to their status.

● The lineage-based family structure was not entirely static.

● Agha and the Aghacha could rise to the position of a begam depending on the husband’s will, and provided that he did not already have four wives.

● Love and motherhood played important roles in elevating women to the status of legally wedded wives.

Before the 1920s, statistics analysis was a relatively unknown topic in India. Creating statistics was like venturing into unfamiliar terrain. With his unwavering courage and determination, it took a trailblazer and an explorer-like him to overcome all obstacles, eliminate all impediments, and open up vast pastures of new information for the masses.

● Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49) and annexation of Punjab (1849).

● Annexation of Lower Burma or Pegu (1852).

● Introduction of the Doctrine of Lapse and annexation of Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambalpur (1849), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853), Nagpur (1854) and Awadh (1856).

● Railway Minute of 1853; and laying down of the first railway line connecting Bombay and Thane in 1853.

● Ganges Canal declared open (1854); establishment of a separate public works department in every province.

● “Wood’s (Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control) Educational Despatch” of 1854 and opening ofAnglo-vernacular schools and government colleges.

● Telegraph (4000 miles of telegraph lines to connect Calcutta with Bombay, Madras and Peshawar) and postal (Post Office Act, 1854) reforms.

● Lord Canning (not Lord Dalhousie) 1856-1857 established three universities at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay in 1857.

● Widow Remarriage Act (1856). Lord Canning 1856-1857

● Establishment of three universities at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay in 1857.

● Revolt of 1857.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (not Subhash Chandra Bose) in the INA trials; 1945 at Red Fort, Delhi. KB) There were three major upsurges 1) November 21, 1945—in Calcutta over the INA trials. 2) February 11, 1946—in Calcutta against the seven-year sentence to INA officer Rashid Ali. 3) February 18, 1946—in Bombay, strike by the Royal Indian Navy ratings.

They wanted to enter into the council and bring change or disrupt the working of the British council from Inside. Another group was led by C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Ansari. They opposed the entry into the legislative council and rather wanted to continue the Boycott and NCM. They argued that What if a leader after coming into council started supporting colonial rule.

Statement 3 is correct. The government formed a committee of inquiry to investigate the Jallianwala Bagh shootings. On October 14, 1919, the Government of India announced the formation of the Disorder Inquiry Committee. The committee unanimously condemned Dyer’s actions.

December 1920 At the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress

● The programme of non-cooperation was endorsed.

● Statement 2 is correct. An important change was made in the Congress creed: now, instead of having the attainment of self-government through constitutional means as its goal, the Congress decided to have the attainment of swaraj through peaceful and legitimate means, thus committing itself to an extra- constitutional mass struggle.

● Statement 1 is correct. Some important organisational changes were made: a congress working committee (CWC) of 15 members was set up to lead the Congress from now onwards; provincial congress committees on linguistic basis were organised;ward committees were organised; and entry fee was reduced to four annas.

● Gandhi declared that if the non-cooperation programme was implemented completely, swaraj would be ushered in within a year.

● Remittances to England by Europeans for the support of families and the education of children—a feature of the colonial system of government.

● Remittances of savings by employees of the Company, since most employees prefer to invest at home.

● Remittances for purchase of British goods for the consumption of British employees as well as purchases by them of British goods in India.

● Government purchase of stores manufactured in Britain.

● Interest charges on public debt held in Britain (excluding interest payments on railway loans and debts incurred for productive work). ‘Home Charges’ included:

● Interest on public debt raised in England at comparatively higher rates;

● Annuities on account of railway and irrigation works;

● Payments in connection with civil departments where Englishmen were employed;

● India Office expenses include pensions to retired officials who had worked in India or who had worked for India in England and retired there, pensions to army and naval personnel, and their furlough allowances.

• The Northern Atlantic Sea Route links North-eastern U.S.A. and North-western Europe, the two industrially developed regions of the world. The foreign trade over this route is greater than that of the rest of the world combined. One-fourth of the world's foreign trade moves on this route. It is, therefore, the busiest in the world and otherwise, called the Big Trunk Route. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

• Both the coasts have highly advanced ports and harbor facilities. Rich agricultural, commercial, and industrial regions of Europe export large quantities of manufactured items-textiles, chemicals, machinery, fertilizers, steel, and wine to the United States and Canada. Bulky and large quantities of food grains and raw materials, like wheat, wood pulp, copper as well as iron and steel, transport, copper as well as iron and steel, transport, copper as well as iron and steel. Transport equipment etc. is sent to Western Europe through this route.

• The reasons for migration can be put into two broad categories:

  • push factor, these cause people to leave their place of residence or origin; and

  • pull factors, which attract people from different places.

• In India, people migrate from rural to urban areas mainly due to poverty, high population pressure on the land, lack of basic infrastructural facilities like health care, education, etc. Apart from these factors, natural disasters such as floods, drought, cyclonic storms, earthquakes, tsunami, wars, and local conflicts also give an extra push to migrate. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

• The most important pull factor for a majority of the rural migrants to urban areas is the better opportunities, availability of regular work, and relatively higher wages. Better opportunities for education, better health facilities and sources of entertainment, etc., are also quite important pull factors.