OPSC OAS Prelims Paper 1 Practice Test - 10 - OPSC OCS (Odisha) MCQ

• The Alvars composed moving hymns addressed to Vishnu. They were compiled in the Nalayira Divyaprabandhanam by Nadamuni, at the end of the ninth century. Bhakti cult, as a religious movement, opened a new chapter in the history of Tamilnadu in the early medieval period.

• A strong wave of Tamil devotionalism swept the country from the sixth through the ninth centuries. The form was in hymns of the Nayanmars and the Alvars. The saints of Saivism and Vaishnavism simplified the use of Tamil language with the application of music. They brought the local and regional ethos into the mainstream.

• Azhwars (totally 12) and Nayanmars (totally 63), came from different strata of the Tamil society, such as artisans and cultivators. There were women saints as well, like Andal, an Alvar saint. The themes are mostly Krishna’s childhood. Krishna is the hero in Andal’s hymns. Her songs convey her abiding love for Krishna. Nammalvar, from Kurugur (Alvar Tirunagari), now in Thoothukudi district, is considered the greatest amongst Alvars. Nammalvar authored four works that include the Tiruvaymoli. Vaishnava devotees believe that his hymns distil the essence of the four Vedas.

Angad Cheema emerged victorious at the Vizag Open, defeating Aman Raj in a playoff. This win showcases Cheema's skill in competitive golf and highlights the growing interest in the sport in India.

Rajkumar Hirani is set to receive the Kishore Kumar Samman, which recognizes his contributions to Indian cinema. This award celebrates not just filmmakers but also the rich musical legacy of Kishore Kumar.

The Adani Group has launched India's Largest Hydrogen Blending Project, marking a significant step towards sustainable energy solutions in the country. Hydrogen blending is key for reducing carbon emissions in various industries.

The stipend scheme launched by the Assam Government aims to encourage girl students' education by providing financial assistance. This initiative is part of broader efforts to promote gender equality in education.

VSHORADS stands for Very Short Range Air Defense System. The recent successful flight tests demonstrate India's advancements in indigenous defense technology, aligning with the country's defense modernization efforts.

PM Modi inaugurated the Banjara Virasat Museum on October 7, 2024. This museum serves to preserve and showcase the rich heritage of the Banjara community, reflecting India's diverse cultural landscape.

Tamil was the first Indian language to receive 'classical' status on October 12, 2004, due to its ancient origins and rich literary tradition. This recognition highlights the importance of preserving linguistic heritage.

As of October 2024, a total of 11 Indian languages have been granted classical status. This classification emphasizes the historical and cultural significance of these languages in India's heritage.

Marathi was added to the classical languages list on October 3, 2024. This inclusion recognizes Marathi's rich literary tradition and historical significance in Indian culture.

The classical language designation allows for government funding and support aimed at preserving and promoting these languages, as well as fostering research and academic pursuits related to their literature and history.

"Hind Swaraj" is one of Gandhi's notable literary works, written in 1909. It outlines his vision for India's self-governance and critiques Western civilization, emphasizing non-violence and self-reliance.

Malayalam is the classical language primarily spoken in Kerala. It has a rich literary tradition and has been designated as a classical language due to its historical significance and extensive body of literature.

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• New kingdoms along the coasts of India Each of the three chiefs of the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas had two centres of power: one inland, and one on the coast. Of the six cities, two were very important: Puhar or Kaveripattinam, the port of the Cholas, and Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas. The chiefs did not collect regular taxes. Instead, they demanded and received gifts from the people. They also went on military expeditions and collected tribute from neighbouring areas. They kept some of the wealth and distributed the rest amongst their supporters, including members of their family, soldiers, and poets.

• Many poets whose compositions are found in the Sangam collection composed poems in praise of chiefs who often rewarded them with precious stones, gold, horses, elephants, chariots, and fine cloth. Around 200 years later a dynasty known as the Satavahanas became powerful in western India. The most important ruler of the Satavahanas was Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni. He and other Satavahana rulers were known as lords of the dakshinapatha, literally the route leading to the south, which was also used as a name for the entire southern region. He sent his army to the eastern, western and southern coasts.

Buddhism no longer received royal patronage in the Gupta period, as Bhagavatism or Vaishnavism over shadowed Mahayana Buddhism by the Gupta times. However, some stupas and viharas (monasteries) were constructed and Nalanda became a centre of Buddhist education. It was founded by the Gupta emperor Kumargupta. During the Gupta period, land taxes increased in number and those on trade and commerce decreased.

• Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) was the most famous and outstanding of the Persian scholars and poets of the Sultanate period. His real name was Abul Hasan. He was one of the few Indian writers of Persian poetry whose works have been read and admired beyond their own country. His works represent the beginning of a new trend in India based Persian literature – the trend of the growing familiarity with the Indian literature and influence of the Indian literature on the Persian writings in India.

• He was the Indian born son of a Turkish immigrant. He began his career as a courtier and poet during the reign of Sultan Balban. He became a disciple of Shaikh Nizammudin Auliya, the famous Sufi saint of the Chisti order. He was the court poet during the reigns of Jalaluddin Khalji and Alauddin Khalji. Later, Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughluq also patronized him. He lived through the reigns of 6 Sultans of Delhi and was connected with their courts. His poetry consisted of a great variety of forms – lyric, ode, epic and elegy. His poetry was essentially Indian in sentiment, though he followed the Persian models in technique. Thus, he created a new style of Persian, which came to be known as Sabaq-i-Hindi or the Indian style.

• Five literary masterpieces composed by him are Mutla-ul Anwar, Shirin Khuswau, Laila Majnun, Ayina-i Sikandari and Hasht Bihist. He dedicated all of them to Alauddin Khalji. His Five Diwans (Collection of compositions called ghazals) include Tuhfat-us Sighar, Wast-ul Hayat, Ghurrat-ul Kamal, Baqiya Naqiya and Nihayat-ul Kamal.

• These compositions show the great lyrical talent of his poetry. Khusrau also wrote historical Masnavis (narrative poems), which have great literary and historical value. He was not a historian in the actual sense of the term, but since he enjoyed the patronage of successive Sultans of Delhi and since he selected historical themes for his Masnavis, the historical content of his writings is of great interest to the students of the history of his times. In Qiran-us Sadain, Khusrau describes the quarrel and reconciliation between Sultan Kaiqubad and his father Bughra Khan.

• Miftah-ul Futuh deals with the military successes of Sultan Jalaluddin Khalji. Ashiqa is the story of romantic love between Khizr Khan, the eldest son of Sultan Alauddin Khalji and Deval Rani, daughter of Rai Karan, the Raja of Gujarat. In Nuh Siphr (the Nine Skies) he gives a poetical description of Sultan Qutubuddin Mubarak Khalji’s reign. This work also contains references to contemporary social and religious conditions. In Tughluq Nama he describes Ghiyasuddin Tughluq’s rise to power.

• In Khazain-ul Futuh, Khusrau gives an account of Alauddin Khalji’s conquests in the South. Amir Khusrau’s Persian poetry often reflected the love for his country. He composed verses in Hindavi (a form of Hindi or Urdu) also and showed the way for the future development of Urdu language.

• In Medieval India, Kashmir was an important centre of education. Many Saiva sects and centres of learning flourished in Kashmir during the period. A number of important maths was set up in south India, for example, at Madurai and Sringeri.

• Various centres of education provided a great impetus to discussions, religion and philosophy being the main topics. The numerous Maths and other centres of education, in various parts of India enabled ideas to flow freely and quickly from one part of the country to another.

• Philosophical education was not considered complete till the philosopher had visited various centres of learning in different parts of the country and held discussions with the scholars there.

• The growth of science in the country slowed down during the period so that, in course of time, it was no longer regarded as a leading country in the field of science. Thus, surgery declined because the dissection of dead bodies was regarded as fit only for the people of low castes.

• In fact, surgery became the profession of barbers. Astronomy was gradually pushed into the background by astrology. However, some advance was made in the field of mathematics.

• The Lilawati of Bhaskar-II, which was written during this period, remained a standard text for a longtime. Some advance was made in the field of medicine by the use of minerals, especially mercury. Many books were written on plant sciences and for the treatment of animals (e.g., horses, elephants, etc.).

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• The spread of Buddhism A Kushana ruler named Kanishka organised a Buddhist council where scholars met and discussed important matters. Ashvaghosha, a poet who lived in Kanishka’s court composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharit. Ashvaghosha and other Buddhist scholars began to write in Sanskrit. A new form of Buddhism, known as Mahayana Buddhism, developed. In Mahayana Buddhism statues of the Buddha were made in Mathura and Taxila and a belief in Bodhisattvas begin. The Boddhisattvas were supposed to be persons who had attained enlightenment. Once they attained enlightenment, they remained in the world to teach and help other people instead of maintaining isolation.

• The worship of Bodhisattvas became very popular and spread throughout Central Asia, China, and later to Korea and Japan. Buddhism also spread to western and southern India. Caves were made for monks to live in and some for kings, queens and merchants. Roads connecting prosperous ports on the coast with cities in the Deccan ran through the passes of western Ghats and traders used to halt in these cave monasteries. Buddhism also spread south eastwards, to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia including Indonesia. The older form of Buddhism, known as Theravada Buddhism, was more popular in these areas.

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Palaeolithic sites -

• The Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. The Palaeolithic comes from two Greek words, ‘paleo’, meaning old, and ‘lithos’, meaning stone. This long period is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long period covers 99% of human history. The hunter- gatherers hunted wild animals, caught fish and birds, gathered fruits, roots, nuts, seeds, leaves, stalks and eggs. Hunter-gatherers likely made and used tools of stone, wood and bone. Stone tools were used to cut meats, chop fruits and roots and some were attached to make spears and arrows for hunting.

• Places where the stone was found and where people made tools are known as factory sites. Most tools were made from limestone, which was locally available. Wood was also used to make huts and tools. Hunsgi and Kurnool caves are some of the places where the evidences of Palaeolithic age have been found.

Statement 2 is correct. The Belgaum session was concluded with an agreement between Gandhi ji, revolutionaries and Swarajists in which Swarajists were allowed to work in the legislative council as an Integral part of the congress. Towards the end of 1924, there was a massive crackdown on the Revolutionaries and the Swarajists by the colonial Government due to which Gandhiji decided to accept all the demands of Swarajists.

The Incident was followed by the Belgaum session of Congress which was held in December 1924 at Belgaum (Near Goa). An agreement was signed between both the sides which allowed the Swarajists to work in the councils as an Integral part of the congress.

The 28-month Congress rule was also significant for the following reasons:

● The contention that Indian self-government was necessary for radical social transformation got confirmed.

● Congressmen demonstrated that a movement could use state power to further its ends without being co- opted.

● The ministries were able to control communal riots.

● The morale of the bureaucracy came down.

● Council work helped neutralise many erstwhile hostile elements (landlords, etc).

● People were able to perceive the shape of things to come if independence was won.

● Administrative work by Indians further weakened the myth that Indians were not fit to rule. The Congress ministries resigned in October 1939 after the outbreak of the Second World War.

● They adopted a pro-labour stance.

● The ministers paid a lot of attention to primary, technical and higher education, public health and sanitation. The Congress leadership foiled the imperialistic design of using constitutional reforms to weaken the national movement and, instead, demonstrated how the constitutional structure could be used by a movement aiming at capture of state power to further its own aims without getting co-opted.

Resolution on Fundamental Rights guaranteed—

● Free speech and free press

● Right to form associations

● Right to assemble

● Universal adult franchise

● Equal legal rights irrespective of caste, creed and sex

● Neutrality of state in religious matters

● Free and compulsory primary education

● Protection to culture, language, script of minorities and linguistic groups

He had a symbol in salt which had the potential to unite each and every community in India which had been a major shortcoming of the earlier Non-Cooperation Movement. Also, although salt was not the main problem Indians were facing under British rule, it was chosen to symbolise the start of the civil disobedience movement because salt was deemed as something on which each Indian had the basic right. Also, salt could be made free of cost from the ocean instead of paying hefty taxes on its purchase from the British.

Option (b) is the correct answer. Statement 1 is correct. The Communal Award was announced by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, on August 16, 1932. The Communal Award was awarded based on the findings of the Indian Franchise Committee (also called the Lothian Committee). Statement 2 is incorrect. This award accorded separate electorates for Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, depressed classes, and even to the Marathas for some seats in Bombay. The award was perceived by the national leaders of the Congress as another manifestation of the British policy of divide and rule.

Main Provisions of the Communal Award

• Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, Indian Christians, AngloIndians, depressed classes, women, and even the Marathas were to get separate electorates. Such an arrangement for the depressed classes was to be made for a period of 20 years.
• In the provincial legislatures, the seats were to be distributed on communal basis.
• The existing seats of the provincial legislatures were to be doubled.
• The Muslims, wherever they were in the minority, were to be granted a weightage.
• Except in the North West Frontier Province, 3 per cent seats were to be reserved for women in all provinces.
• The depressed classes to be declared/accorded the status of minority.
• The depressed classes were to get ‘double vote’, one to be used through separate electorates and the other to be used in the general electorates.
• Allocations of seats were to be made for labourers, landlords, traders and industrialists.
• In the province of Bombay, 7 seats were to be allocated for the Marathas.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Gandhiji saw the Communal Award as an attack on Indian unity and nationalism. He thought it was harmful to both Hinduism and to the depressed classes since it provided no answer to the socially degraded position of the depressed classes. Gandhiji demanded that the depressed classes be elected through joint and if possible a wider electorate through universal franchise, while expressing no objection to the demand for a larger number of reserved seats. And to press his demands, he went on an indefinite fast on September 20, 1932. Now leaders of various persuasions, including B.R. Ambedkar, M.C. Rajah and Madan Mohan Malaviya got together to hammer out a compromise contained in the Poona Pact.

• Africa, the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth. The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

• It is the only continent through which all the three important latitudes pass, the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The tropic of Cancer passes through Egypt, Libya, Niger, Algeria, Mali, Western Sahara, Mauritania. Hence option (d) is not correct.

• Africa is also the only continent through which both the Equator and the Prime Meridian pass.

• The enormous Sahara Desert spans 11 countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. Hence option (b) is not correct.

• Only four African countries namely, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti share border with the Red Sea. Hence option (a) is not correct.

• In addition to Egypt, the Nile runs through or along the border of 10 other African countries, namely, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

• Five basic factors control the formation of soils: (i) parent material; (ii) topography; (iii) climate; (iv) biological activity; (v) time.

• Topography like parent materials is another passive control factor. The influence of topography is felt through the amount of exposure of a surface covered by parent materials to sunlight and the amount of surface and sub-surface drainage over and through the parent materials. Soils will be thin on steep slopes and thick over flat upland areas. Over gentle slopes where erosion is slow and percolation of water is good, soil formation is very favourable. Soils over flat areas may develop a thick layer of clay with a good accumulation of organic matter giving the soil dark colour. Hence the statement 1 is correct.

• Temperature acts in two ways — increasing or reducing chemical and biological activity. Chemical activity is increased in higher temperatures, reduced in cooler temperatures (with an exception of carbonation) and stops in freezing conditions. That is why tropical soils with higher temperatures show deeper profiles and in the frozen tundra regions soils contain largely mechanically broken materials. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• Forest and mountain soils occur not only at higher elevations but also at lower elevations that have sufficient rainfall. They are formed by the deposition of organic matter derived from forest growth and are heterogeneous in nature, depending on parent rocks, ground configuration, and climate. They are generally infertile for the production of field crops but useful for supplying forest products, such as timber and fuel. They are rich in humus, but are deficient in potash, phosphorus, and lime; thus, they require a large number of fertilizers for plantations of tea, coffee, spices, and tropical fruits. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

The correct answer is 3) 1 and 2 only.

Explanation:

1. It is a rapidly rotating column of air that is in contact with the ground. This statement is correct. Tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that is in contact with the ground and forms a visible funnel.

2. It forms from the energy released in a thunderstorm. This statement is also correct. Tornadoes usually form from thunderstorms, where warm and humid air rises rapidly and meets with cooler, drier air. This creates instability in the atmosphere, leading to the formation of a rotating column of air.

3. Tornadoes more frequently occur in equatorial regions. This statement is incorrect. Tornadoes are more common in the United States, particularly in the central and southern regions, commonly known as Tornado Alley. They can also occur in other parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, and Asia, but they are less frequent in equatorial regions.

• During the south-west monsoon period after having rained for a few days, if rain fails to occur for one or more weeks, it is known as break in the monsoon.

• These breaks in the different regions are due to different reasons:

  • In northern India, rains are likely to break if the rain-bearing storms are not very frequent along the monsoon trough or the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone over this region.

  • Over the west coast, the dry spells are associated with days when winds blow parallel to the coast. Hence, statement 1 and 2 are correct.

• The occurrence of El-Nino leads to delay or complete failure of monsoon and not break in the monsoon. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

• Coal is a one of the important minerals which is mainly used in the generation of thermal power and smelting of iron ore. Coal occurs in rock sequences mainly of two geological ages, namely Gondwana and tertiary deposits.

• The older Gondwana formations of peninsular plateau makes up to 98% of the total reserves in India. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• It contains superior quality coal which is free from moisture. The most important Gondwana coal fields of India are located in Damodar Valley.

• The coal occurrences in India are mainly distributed along the present day river valleys. Over 97 per cent of coal reserves occur in the valleys of Damodar, Sone, Mahanadi and Godavari. Hence statement 1 is correct.

• Jharia (Jharkhand) is the largest coal field followed by Raniganj (West Bengal). Hence statement 3 is not correct.

• Other Major coal producing states of India are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

• Tertiary coals occur in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

• The Brown coal or lignite occur in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.