UPSC CSE Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test- 5 - UPSC MCQ

The members of the Interim Government were the members of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. The Viceroy continued to be the Head of the Council. Jawaharlal Nehru was designated as the Vice- President of the Council. 

Statement-I correctly highlights the recent concerns regarding the need for public disclosure of judges' assets, triggered by the discovery of cash at Delhi High Court judges' residences. Statement-II accurately mentions the 2019 ruling that made judges' personal assets and liabilities public under the RTI Act. However, while both statements are factually correct, Statement-II does not directly explain or elaborate on the context provided in Statement-I. Hence, option (b) is the most appropriate choice as it acknowledges the accuracy of both statements without implying a direct explanatory relationship between them.

1. Centralization of Education Governance - Incorrectly matched. Centralization of education governance involves increased control by the Union Government, reducing state involvement and decision-making, which undermines federal principles.

2. Commercialization of Education - Incorrectly matched. Commercialization often leads to increased costs and inequality, as seen with the closure of public schools and increased reliance on costly private education for low-income families.

3. Communalization of Curricula - Incorrectly matched. Communalization involves promoting specific ideological narratives, often at the expense of academic integrity and diversity of perspectives.

4. Indian Judicial Service (IJS) Proposal - Correctly matched. The proposal for an Indian Judicial Service aims to introduce a merit-based system to reform judicial appointments, addressing issues of transparency and accountability.

Only the fourth pair is correctly matched, thus making the correct answer Option A: Only one pair.

Statement 1 is correct. Operation Brahma was indeed initiated by India as a humanitarian response to aid Myanmar following a catastrophic earthquake. The operation involved rescue operations, medical assistance, and the distribution of relief supplies, demonstrating India's commitment to providing immediate support and relief to Myanmar.

Statement 2 is incorrect. While the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was involved in the rescue operations, the team deployed consisted of 80 members, not 100. This team was equipped with essential rescue equipment to assist in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Kasampatty Sacred Grove was recently declared a Biodiversity Heritage Site; however, it is not the first such site in Tamil Nadu. The first site recognized under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 in Tamil Nadu was not Kasampatty, as it is the second in the state to receive this designation.

Thus, the correct answer is Option A: 1 Only, as only the first statement accurately reflects the facts provided.

- Statement 1 is correct. The Future Circular Collider (FCC) indeed aims to achieve unprecedented particle collision energies and plans to generate Higgs bosons in large quantities by around 2040. This is one of the primary objectives of the FCC project as it seeks to push the boundaries of particle physics research.
- Statement 2 is correct. The project is estimated to cost $30 billion and will feature a 91 km circular tunnel located beneath the Swiss-French border. These details are part of the core specifications of the FCC as proposed by CERN.
- Statement 3 is incorrect. Plasma wave technology is not a component of the FCC. Instead, it is mentioned as an alternative proposal to the FCC. Plasma wave technology is considered a potential future method for particle acceleration, offering a more compact design, but it is not part of the current FCC project plans.
Thus, only statements 1 and 2 are correct, making Option B the correct choice.

1. Statement 1 is correct: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875, which later evolved into the Aligarh Muslim University. This was a significant step in promoting modern education among Muslims in India and is one of his most notable contributions to educational reform.

2. Statement 2 is incorrect: Contrary to supporting purdah and polygamy, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan actually opposed these practices, advocating for social reforms that included supporting women's education and promoting more progressive views on marriage and divorce within the Muslim community.

3. Statement 3 is correct: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a proponent of integrating Islamic principles with modern scientific thought. He believed in promoting critical thinking and modernity without abandoning Islamic values, which was a central aspect of his reformist agenda.

Thus, only statements 1 and 3 are correct. Therefore, the correct answer is Option C: 1 and 3 Only.

1. Madrasatul Uloom - Established in 1875
This is correctly matched. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded Madrasatul Uloom, which later evolved into the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College.

2. Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College - Founded in 1877
This is correctly matched. The college was indeed founded in 1877 and later became the Aligarh Muslim University.

3. Aligarh Muslim University - Became a university in 1920
This is correctly matched. The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was elevated to university status in 1920, becoming Aligarh Muslim University.

4. Viceregal Council - Served as a member in 1883
This is incorrectly matched. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan joined the British judicial service in 1876 but was not a member of the Viceregal Council in 1883. He was, however, involved in various educational reforms and commissions.

Thus, three pairs are correctly matched.

The names of the States and the Union Territories, and their territorial extent are mentioned in the First Schedule to the Constitution.

Article 3 - Parliament may by law –
(a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;
(b) increase the area of any State;
(c) diminish the area of any State;
(d) alter the boundaries of any State;
(e) alter the name of any State.
The term “STATE” includes “UNION TERRITORY” according to the First Explanation of Article 3.

Article 1(3): The territory of India shall comprise –
(a) the territories of the States;
(b) the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and
(c) such other territories as may be acquired. Being a sovereign state, India can acquire foreign territories according to the modes recognized by international law, i.e., cession (following treaty, purchase, gift, lease or plebiscite), occupation (hitherto unoccupied by a recognized ruler), conquest or subjugation.
For example, India acquired several foreign territories, such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Goa, Daman and Diu; Puducherry; and Sikkim since the commencement of the Constitution. 

• Statement 1 is correct: Prohibition is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal, directing them to stop proceedings in a case that falls outside their jurisdiction.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Certiorari is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal, directing them to send the records of a case for review.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: Quo Warranto is issued to inquire into the legality of a person holding a public office, corporation, or position of power.

Writs and their uses

Prohibition:

• Prohibition writ is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal, directing them to stop proceedings in a case that falls outside their jurisdiction or where there is an error of law.
• It prevents inferior courts from exceeding their authority or acting beyond the scope of their powers.
• Certiorari: Certiorari means "to be certified" in Latin. This writ is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal, directing them to send the records of a case for review. It is used to correct errors of law, jurisdictional issues, or to ensure fair proceedings. The writ of certiorari is employed to bring a case from a lower court to a higher court for examination.
• Quo Warrant: Quo warranto means "by what authority" in Latin. This writ is issued to inquire into the legality of a person holding a public office. corporation, or position of power. It challenges the authority or legitimacy of the person in that position and seeks to prevent the usurpation of public offices.

The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution deals with the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and the Scheduled Tribes in all states, OTHER THAN THE STATES OF Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The Tribes Advisory Council: According to the provisions of Paragraph 4, under Article 244(1) of the Fifth Schedule, the Tribes Advisory Councils (TACs) shall be established in each state having Scheduled Areas therein and, if the President so directs, also in any state having Scheduled Tribes, but not Scheduled Areas therein. The TAC shall consist of not more than 20 members of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the State Legislative Assembly, provided that if the number of the representatives of the STs in the State Assembly is less than the number of the seats in the TAC to be filled by such representatives, the remaining seats shall be filled by other members of those tribes. The Powers of the Governor under the Fifth Schedule: The Fifth Schedule finds reference in Article 244 of the Constitution, which deals with the administration of the Scheduled Areas and the Tribal Areas.

Article 244: The provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The purpose of Para 5 of Schedule V is to establish an egalitarian society and to ensure socio-economic empowerment of the Scheduled Tribes. Para 5 of Schedule V - The Governor, by public notification, can direct the following: That any particular Act of the Parliament or of the State Legislature shall not apply to a Scheduled Area or any part of the Scheduled Area in the State; or That any particular Act of the Parliament or of the State Legislature shall apply to a Scheduled Area or any part of the Scheduled Area in the State and the Governor can specify any modification or exception regarding implementation of any law made by the Parliament or the State Legislature. The Governor is empowered to issue notification giving it retrospective effect. 

• The anti-defection law punishes individual Members of Parliament (MPs)/Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) for leaving one party for another. Parliament added it to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985 in order to bring stability to governments by discouraging legislators from changing parties. The Tenth Schedule - popularly known as the Anti-Defection Act - was included in the Constitution via the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985. It sets the provisions for the disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party. However, it allows a group of MP/MLAs to join (i.e., merge with) another political party without inviting the penalty for defection. And it does not penalise political parties for encouraging or accepting defecting legislators. As per the 1985 Act, a 'defection' by one-third of the elected members of a political party was considered a 'merger'. But the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, changed this and now at least two thirds of the members of a party must be in favour of a "merger" for it to have validity in the eyes of the law. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The members disqualified under the law can stand for elections from any political party for a seat in the same House. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The decision on questions as to disqualification on ground of defection are referred to the Chairman or the Speaker of such House, which is subject to ‘Judicial review’. However, the law does not provide a timeframe within which the presiding officer has to decide a defection case.Hence, statement 3 is correct. 

• Maize is one of the most versatile emerging crops having wider adaptability under varied agro- climatic conditions. Globally, maize is known as the queen of cereals because it has the highest genetic yield potential among cereals. It is highly valued for its multifarious use as food, feed, fodder and raw material for a large number of industrial products. Among the maize-growing countries, India ranks 4th in area and 7th in production, representing around 4% of the world's maize area and 2% of total production. During 2018-19 in India, the maize area reached to 9.2 million ha.
• In India, maize is principally grown in two seasons, rainy (kharif) and winter (rabi). Kharif maize represents around 83% of the maize area in India, while rabi maize corresponds to 17% maize area. Over 70% of kharif maize area is grown under the rainfed condition with a prevalence of many biotic and abiotic stresses. A temperature of 21°C- 27°C and 50-100cm rainfall is suitable for its cultivation.
• The predominant maize-growing states that contribute more than 80 % of the total maize production are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from these states maize is also grown in Jammu and Kashmir and North-Eastern states.
• Maize can be grown successfully in a variety of soils ranging from loamy sand to clay loam. However, soils with good organic matter content having high water holding capacity with neutral pH are considered good for higher productivity. Being a sensitive crop to moisture stress particularly excess soil moisture and salinity stresses; it is desirable to avoid low-lying fields having poor drainage and also the field having higher salinity. Therefore, fields having provision of proper drainage should be selected for the cultivation of maize.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer. 

• In the 1950s, Simon Kuznets hypothesized that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between inequality and development, or inequality and per capita income. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
• Simon Kuznets’ work on economic growth and income distribution led him to hypothesize that industrializing nations experience a rise and subsequent decline in economic inequality, characterized as an inverted "U"—the “Kuznets curve."
• It is used to demonstrate the hypothesis that economic growth initially leads to greater inequality, followed later by the reduction of inequality. 

• The World Nature Organization (WNO) is the first intergovernmental organization on a global scale dedicated to international environmental protection. It is dedicated to the protection of the environment at the international level. It is not an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The organization is focused on promoting activities, technologies, economies, and renewable energies which are regarded to be environment friendly; and reducing the impact of climate change. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• As a permanent platform, the WNO tries to build bridges between business interests as well as development and environmental protection while, at the same time, making the economic value of nature apparent.
• The organization was established by the intergovernmental WNO-Treaty, which entered into force on May 1, 2014, and India is not a member. Hence statement 3 is correct. 

• More than 10,000 inscriptions engraved on copper and stone form the primary sources for the study of Chola history. Uttarameruru Inscription issued by Pranthaka Chola gives details of election to local self-governance bodies.
• Cholan inscriptions reveals several functionaries who were associated with the central administration:
  • Udaiyan, Velan, and Muvendavelan were used for the landowners who served as important functionaries associated with the court. Hence pair 1 is not correctly matched.
  • Kudimai, Muttaiyal and Vetti meant labour services provided. Hence pair 2 is not correctly matched. o Gavundi is used for village chieftan. Hence pair 3 is correctly matched.

• Amazon Rainforest are large tropical rainforests occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America and covering an area of 6,000,000 square km. The Amazon Basin supports the world’s largest rainforest, which accounts for more than half the total volume of rainforests in the world. Comprising about 40% of Brazil’s total area, Peru, and also parts of Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana, and Venezuela, the Amazon River Basin is the world’s largest drainage system. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian Central Plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Hence, statement 2 is not correct 

The Observers are appointed under Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. 

• The establishing of Fort William College and a Persian Secretariat under Wellesley made it clear that the Company’s primary interest was no longer commercial. Fort William College was meant to foster the teaching of the oriental languages and infuse the public servants with new energy by training them to administer without depending on the Indian intermediaries.
• The young servants were also distanced from the commercial character of the Company – the old designations of writers, factors and merchants were discarded and private trade was strictly forbidden. Gambling and drunkenness, as well as open concubinage with the Indian women were censured.
• The Persian Secretariat, on the other hand, was designed to gain better knowledge of the Indian affairs. Lord Wellesley furthered the process of separation between the executive and the judiciary. Continuing with the trend of restricting administrative interference, by separating the executive and the judiciary,
• Wellesley made the Sadar Diwani and the Nizamat Adalat independent of the supervision of the Governor-General and Council. He also vigorously applied the regulations of the Company, codified by Cornwallis, in settling the newly annexed territories. The ‘anglicization’ of the bureaucracy and the judiciary was complete. 

• Ram Mohan Roy had mastery over Persian and Arabic, and great familiarity with the Hindu and the Islamic trends of logic and reason. Consequently, he found it difficult to accept both the missionary claim of the superiority of Christianity and the liberal proclamation of the absence of rational thought in India. Vedantic monism and the ideas of the Quran had great appeal for him, as did unitarianism, which he came in contact with after his move to Calcutta. Together, they confirmed his belief in the superiority of the rational faith over the prevailing popular religions, which impaired human beings’ freedom by tying them to mechanical rituals, irrational myths and superstitions.
• The unity of civilizations advocated by the Orientalist scholars and the ‘unity of Godhead’ proclaimed in Colebrook’s essay on the Vedas consolidated Ram Mohan’s conviction that monotheism was the basis of Hinduism and that practices that differed from ancient textual prescriptions were all aberrations that had to be done away with. Sati was only one such practice. He also condemned polytheism, idol worship and priestcraft, and translated the Upanishads into Bengali to substantiate his claim that monotheism was the basis of Hindu thought. Ideas similar to that propagated by the Brahmo Samaj were echoed in other Presidencies. In Maharashtra, in particular, Atmaram Pandurang took the initiative in establishing the Prarthana Samaj (The Prayer Society) in Bombay in 1867. In 1868, M. G. Ranade and R. G. Bhandarkar joined the Prarthana Samaj and infused it with new vigour.
• The Samaj took a two-pronged stand – it proclaimed the unity of God and argued against the ‘existing corruption of the Hindu religion’. Individual members of the Samaj laid stress on social reforms and sought to gain support for abandoning caste, introducing widow remarriage, abolishing Purdah and child marriage, and encouraging female education. Ranade also attempted to give the Samaj a comprehensive philosophic basis through his essay, ‘Theists Confession of Faith’. Dayanand Saraswati internalized the Orientalist privileging of the texts as the basis of religion and affirmed that the Vedas were the most authentic religious texts of the Hindus.
• All post-Vedic developments, according to him, were accretions to be purged. He refused to recognize the hereditary basis of the caste system as an organic division of society, sought to create an ‘open social system’, where women and the Shudras received a measure of learning and made education, and not birth, the determinant of status. He denounced the worship of gods and goddesses, and advocated the worship of the Supreme Being. Encouraging inter-caste marriages followed upon Dayanand’s understanding that the caste was not defined by heredity, but by the character and achievements of each individual. Dayanand’s reformed society was equally ‘an organically structured social body’, where different castes performed functions suitable to their status, determined by merit. 

• Rabindranath, a key proponent of Atmashakti, played a very active role in the struggle between 1905 and early 1907. From the 1890s, the poet had become increasingly aware of the ‘inhumanity’ of the bureaucracy and the deterioration in the relations between the rulers and the ruled, and had vented a mild protest against the Moderate policy of ‘mendicancy’ in several essays published in the journal Sadhana in 1893–94.
• The poet, for his part, had taken initial steps to promote the indigenous goods, which found greater elaboration in Atmashakti. Atmashakti espoused a move away from the conventional old-style politics in favour of constructive economic and educational work, in order to foster self- reliance. It also addressed the need to build a bridge between the educated classes and the masses, through the use of the vernacular language as a medium of instruction in the schools and the political meetings, promoting folk institutions, such as the Mela and in the work of village reconstruction. The Bengali patriotism of the Swadeshi days brought forth an extremely impressive cultural outcrop.
• The impact was visible not only in the field of literature and theatre, even music and art got revitalized in novel ways. In the field of art, Abanindranath Tagore and his pupils resisted the ‘traps and temptations of the Western education’ and rejuvenated the Mughal paintings, and made a break with the ‘imitations of the Victorian naturalist taste’ of the late nineteenth century, reflected in the works of Raja Ravi Varma. Abanindranath and several other students of the Calcutta School of Art were inspired by the Orientalist enthusiasm of Kakuzo Okakura, the Japanese art critic and historian. This group experimented with earlier Indian traditions, such as Ajanta, Rajput and Mughal paintings, and with the wash technique of Japan.
• The particular context of the Swadeshi Movement and Abanindranath’s involvement in it placed him ‘in the full throes of the new artistic mission’. His personal endeavours expanded into a public role and generated a movement around himself. He and his pupils produced art that invoked both a golden past and a kind of oriental naturalism. Parallels between the works of Abanindranath and the Japanese artists highlight the role of ‘mutual participation’ in creating a new art language. Here, the individual markings of the Indian and the Japanese artists were blurred and recast into a composite unit of a modern ‘Oriental’ style.
• On one hand, there was a turn to extremism and terrorism or militant nationalism, which occasioned a break with the Moderate leaders, and, on the other hand, the increased use of religious symbolism, coercion and social sanction alienated the masses, both the Hindus and the Muslims, of rural Bengal. From 1908–09, when the state carried out the first round of repression, the open Samitis disappeared and ‘terroristic secret societies took their place’. The Movement was constrained by a totally bourgeois base and aspirations. It never managed to incorporate a radical economic programme that could appeal to the peasants and the labourers. Even Aswini Kumar Dutta’s Swadesh Bandhav Samiti had a very minor peasant representation.
• The Bengali elite dominated the affairs of the village societies. Rabindranath’s Swadeshi Samaj address contained the same strain of offering socio-political solutions from the top to filter downwards. Consequently, despite repeated statements about the need for mass awakening, ‘the Swadeshi Movement of 1905–08 seldom got beyond the confines of the Hindu upper caste, i.e., the Bhdralok groups.

• The Government of India Act of 1935, with a long period of gestation and almost no Indian contribution, replaced dyarchy of the 1919 Reforms with responsible self-government in all the departments in the provinces. At the same time, it gave the Provincial Governors enormous ‘discretionary power’ to call the legislature, to not give consent to the Bills passed in the legislatures and, most important and undemocratic of all, to take over the control of a province from its elected majority ministry on the grounds of public order. Dyarchy was introduced at the Centre, under condition of several safeguards and the Viceroy retained full control over the foreign affairs, defence and internal security. The Centre was to have a federal structure, but the federal state could become effective only after half the princes in India agreed to join it by signing the Instrument of Accession.
• This Instrument was to override all the previous treaties of the princes with the British Crown. The Act conceded the long-standing demand of the Government of India for fiscal autonomy by transferring financial control from London to New Delhi. It also expanded the size of the electorate to 30 million, but retained high property qualifications. This meant that only 10% of the Indian population got the right to vote. Rich and middle- class peasants, considered to be the Congress’ main support base in the rural areas, were enfranchised as a ploy to win away their loyalty from the Congress to the colonial government.
• In addition, the princes were given the right to nominate 30% to 40% of the members to the Bicameral Central Legislature, thereby ruling out the possibility of a Congress majority. The Act granted separate electorate to the Muslims and reserved seats to the Scheduled Castes (a new term coined for the ‘untouchables’ or the ‘depressed classes’) in the Provincial and the Central Legislatures. In sum, it sought to protect the British interests in India by means of devolution and sharing of power with the loyalist elements. Interestingly, the Act expanded women’s franchise through preferential or special franchise qualifications.
• It also reserved seats for women in the legislatures, in accordance with the allocation of seats for different communities. This was a direct result of the attention paid to women by the colonial state and the bold declaration, made in the Simon Commission Report of 1930, on the proposed constitutional reforms for India that ‘the women’s movement in India, holds the key to progress’.

The concept of stock and flow is mainly used while computing the national income of a country. There are a number of terms related to national income which are classified into stock and flow.

The distinction between a stock and a flow is very significant and the basis of distinction is measurability at a point of time or period of time. It should be noted that both stocks and flows are variables. A variable is a measurable quantity that varies (changes).

• Flow Variables:
  • A flow is a quantity that is measured with reference to a period of time. Thus, flows are defined with reference to a specific period (length of time), e.g., hours, days, weeks, months, or years. It has a time dimension. National income (GDP of a country) is a flow. It describes and measures the flow of goods and services which become available to a country during a year.
  • Similarly, all other economic variables which have a time dimension, i.e., whose magnitude can be measured over a period of time are called flow variables. For instance, the income of a person is a flow that is earned during a week or a month or any other period. Likewise, investment (i.e., adding to the stock of capital) is a flow as it pertains to a period of time.
  • Other examples of flows are expenditure, savings, depreciation, interest, exports, imports, change in inventories (not mere inventories), change in money supply, lending, borrowing, rent, profit, etc. because the magnitude (size) of all these are measured over a period of time.
• Stock Variables:
  • A stock is a quantity that is measurable at a particular point in time. Capital is a stock variable. On a particular date (say, 1st April 2022), a company owns and commands a stock of machines, buildings, accessories, raw materials, etc. It is a stock of capital. Like a balance sheet, a stock has a reference to a particular date on which it shows the stock position. Clearly, a stock has no time dimension (length of time) as against a flow that has a time dimension.
  • Stock indicates the quantity of a variable at a point of time. Thus, wealth is a stock since it can be measured at a point in time, but income is a flow because it can be measured over a period of time. Examples of stocks are wealth, Government debt, loans, inventories (not change in inventories), opening stock, money supply (amount of money), population, etc.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They were to become the Founder Members of the Organization.

• These countries were later joined by Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Congo. x Ecuador suspended and withdrew its membership in OPEC effective 1 January 2020. Indonesia suspended its membership in 2016. Gabon terminated its membership in January 1995. However, it rejoined the Organization in July 2016.
• Qatar terminated its membership on 1 January 2019. Thus, Qatar is no longer a member of OPEC. So, currently, the Organization has a total of 13 member countries. Hence option (c ) is the correct answer.
• The mission of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry. 

• A bond and debenture both are debt instruments issued by the government or companies. Both of these are instruments used for raising money. 
• A bond is a secured investment as it is secured by collaterals. In bonds, an asset is pledged as the security of lending so that if the issuer fails to pay the sum, the bondholders can sell the asset to discharge their debts.
• A debenture is another form of debt fund that is generally unsecured in nature. Both the bonds and debentures are fundraisers but debentures are more specific in nature. Debentures are not backed by any of the assets of the issuer and hence depend only on the faith factors of the investor in the issuer.
• An index-linked bond is such a bond where the interest accrued on the principal amount is linked to a particular price index, usually the consumer price index or CPI. Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs) were issued in the name of Capital Indexed Bonds (CIBs) in 1997. The interest amount is paid at a fixed rate on the adjusted face value of the bond. Hence, the investors of these bonds, on maturity, receive the principal amount, the total coupon payment, adjusted as per the inflation index. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• A corporate bond may offer a fixed or floating rate of interest and accordingly, one may earn a fixed or varying amount of interest periodically.
  • A fixed-rate bond will pay you a fixed amount periodically as per the interest rate set out when the bonds were issued. This interest is determined as a % of the Face Value of the bond. Such fixed interest payments are sometimes also called coupon payments.
  • A floating rate bond has its interest rate pegged to a benchmark rate ie. (Benchmark rate) +/‐ (some %). The benchmark rate may be a Government bond /MIBOR. As the benchmark rate changes, the interest rate on the bond will vary accordingly. Hence, a floating rate bond is considered to be relatively risky since your return is dependent on the movement of the benchmark rate.

Hence statement 2 is not correct. 

• In the context of colonial India M.S. Aney, N.R. Sarkar, and H.P. Moddy are remembered as members of the Viceroys executive council who resigned in 1943. These members resigned in 1943 in order to pressurise the British government to release Gandhiji from jail. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.
• Mahatma Gandhi commenced his historic fast in February 1943 as a protest against the British pressure on him to condemn the violence during Quit India Movement. Gandhiji not only refused to condemn the people’s resort to violence but unequivocally held the Government responsible for it. There were widespread protests and hartals in different parts of India demanding the release of Mahatma Gandhi. The global media also exerted pressure on the British government.
• It was under these circumstances M.S. Aney, N.R. Sarkar, and H.P. Moddy the members of the Viceroy's executive council resigned to put pressure on the government. 

The Dacca Anushilan Samiti, which was more tightly organized, carried out revolutionary activities that included robberies in the houses of the wealthy Saha merchants, who had refused to pay heed to the boycott, and in trains as a measure to collect funds. This group, however, concentrated on training the revolutionaries through the use of Hindu religious idiom. They barely had any programme of mass contact. The young revolutionary ‘terrorists’ captured the imagination of many Bengalis. The hanging of Khudiram Bose was immortalized in folk songs and, in general, the spirit of selfless patriotism and sacrifice for the motherland of these young men was valourized and romanticized in literature and songs. 

• The whole plants can be regenerated from the explants, i.e., any part of a plant taken out and grown in a test tube, under sterile conditions, in special nutrient media. This capacity to generate a whole plant from any cell/explant is called ‘totipotency’. The method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called ‘micropropagation’. Each of these plants will be genetically identical to the original plant, from which they were grown, i.e., they are somaclones.
• The scientists have even isolated single cells from the plants and, after digesting their cell walls, have been able to isolate the naked protoplasts (surrounded by plasma membranes). The isolated protoplasts from two different varieties of plants – each having a desirable character – can be fused to get hybrid protoplasts, which can be further grown to form a new plant. These hybrids are called ‘somatic hybrids’, while the process is called ‘somatic hybridisation’

The process of evolution of different species (plants, animals) area, starting in from radiating (habitats), to is other called a a given point areas adaptive geographical and of literally geography radiation. Example is the Australian marsupials. A number of marsupials, each different from the other, evolved from an ancestral stock, but all within the Australian island continent. When more than one adaptive radiation appeared to have occurred in an isolated geographical different habitats), area one (representing can call ‘convergent evolution’. Placental mammals in in Australia also exhibit adaptive radiation evolving into varieties of such placental mammals, each of which appears to be ‘similar’ to a corresponding marsupial (e.g., Placental wolf marsupial).

• Colour blindness is a sex-linked recessive disorder due to defect in either red or green cone of the 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% of males and only about 0.4% of females. This is because the genes that lead to red-green colour blindness are on the X chromosome.
• Males have only one X chromosome and females have two. The son of a woman, who carries the gene, has a 50% chance of being colour blind. The mother is not herself colour blind, because the gene is recessive. That means that its effect is suppressed by her matching dominant normal gene. A daughter will not normally be colour blind, unless her mother is a carrier and her father is colour blind. 

• In angiosperms, the seed is the final product of sexual reproduction. Seeds are formed inside the fruits. A seed typically consists of seed coat(s), cotyledon(s) and an embryo axis. Mature seeds may be non- albuminous or ex-albuminous. Non- albuminous seeds have no residual endosperm, as it is completely consumed during embryo development (e.g., pea, groundnut). Albuminous seeds retain a part of endosperm, as it is not completely used up during embryo development (e.g., wheat, maize, barley, castor). As the seed matures, its water content is reduced and the seeds become relatively dry (10-15% moisture by mass).
• The general metabolic activity of the embryo slows down. The embryo may enter a state of inactivity, called dormancy, or if favourable conditions are available (adequate moisture, oxygen and suitable temperature), they germinate. As ovules mature into seeds, the ovary develops into a fruit, i.e. the transformation of ovules into seeds and ovary into fruit proceeds simultaneously. The wall of the ovary develops into the wall of the fruit, called pericarp. The fruits may be fleshy, as in guava, orange, mango, etc., or may be dry, as in groundnut and mustard, etc.