Goa PCS Screening Mock Test- 10 - GPSC (Goa) MCQ

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The roots of the poligars or Palayakkars date back to 14th century to the beginning of Vijayanagar empire in south India who established a unique three tier administrative system thereby creating an administrative class called the ‘ Palayakkars’.

• This three-tier set up consisted of the emperor at Vijayanagar at the top of pyramid; the Nayakas or viceroys forming the second tier and the Palayakkars or polygars comprising the grassroot leaders in the hierarchy. This system allowed for an efficient revenue administration as well as created a mechanism to help raise an army, besides keeping generals, warriors, courtiers etc.

• Statement 2 and 3 are correct: By the 18th century While the Northern Polygars fell under the kingdom of Mysore, those in southern Tamil Nadu had to deal with the revenue demands of the British East India company. Between 1803 and 1805, the poligars of North Arcot rose in rebellion against the company as they were deprived of their right to collect the kawal fees(Kawal or ‘watch’ was an ancient institution of Tamil Nadu. It was a hereditary village police office with specified rights and responsibilities.

• After the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation movement, disintegration set in Congress. A group of leaders led by Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das) and Motilal Nehru advocated the end of the boycott of Legislative Councils. Sardar Patel, Dr. Ansari, Rajendra Prasad, and others are known as 'no changers opposed Council entry.

• In 1922, in the Gaya session of the Congress, C R Das (who was presiding over the session) moved a proposal to enter the legislatures but it was defeated. Das and other leaders broke away from Congress and formed the Swaraj Party on 1 January 1923. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress Khilafat Swaraj Party with Das as president and Motilal Nehru as one of the secretaries. The new party was to function as a group within the Congress. It accepted the Congress programme except in one respect - it would take part in Council elections. Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct.

• The Swarajists and the no-changers engaged in fierce political controversy. On Gandhiji's advice, the two groups agreed to remain in the Congress though they would work in separate ways.

• Swarajists won 42 seats out of the 101 elected seats in the Central Legislative Assembly. With the cooperation of other Indian groups, they repeatedly outvoted the Government in the Central Assembly. In March 1925, they succeeded in electing Vithalbhai J. Patel, a leading nationalist leader, as the speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

• Wellesley did not invent the Subsidiary System. The System existed long before him and was of an evolutionary growth. Dupleix (French) was perhaps the first who had lent European troops to the Indian princes at the expense of the latter. The English also adopted this System. Ever since the governorship of Clive, the System had been applied with more or less insight by almost every Governor and Governor-General of India.
• Wellesley's special contribution was that he greatly developed and elaborated the System and applied it in the case of almost every Indian state A typical Subsidiary Treaty was negotiated on the following terms and conditions: The Indian state was to surrender its external relations to the care of the Company and was to make no wars. It was to conduct negotiations with other states through the Company.
• A bigger state was to maintain an army within its territories commanded by the British officers for the 'preservation of public peace' and the ruler was to cede territory in full sovereignty for the upkeep of that force; a smaller state was required to pay tribute in cash to the Company. The state was to accept a British Resident at its head-quarters. The state was not to employ Europeans in its service without the consultation of the Company. The Company was not to interfere in the internal affairs of the state. The Company was to protect the Indian state against foreign enemies of 'every sort or kind'.

• The All India Muslim League, annoyed with the Congress for not sharing power with them,  established the Pirpur Committee in 1938 to prepare a detailed report on the atrocities supposedly committed by the Congress ministries.
• In the report, the committee charged the Congress with interference in the religious rites, suppression of Urdu in favor of Hindi, denial of proper representation, and oppression of Muslims in the economic sphere. So, Option (a) is correct.

Swami Viveknanda – 

• Born in Kolkata in 1863, he was known as Narendra Nath Datta in his pre-monastic life. He was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Parmahansa and a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India. He pushed for national integration in colonial India, and his famous speech remains as the one that he gave in Chicago in 1893 (Parliament of the World Religions). 
• He established a new monastic order in Baranagar in Kolkata and went to explore India. During his travels, he was deeply moved by appalling poverty and backwardness of the masses. He was the first religious leader who highlighted that real cause of India’s downfall was the neglect of masses and highlighted the immediate need to provide food and other necessities. He emphasised on improved methods of agriculture, village industries etc. 
• According to him, the crux of problem of poverty in India was because of centuries of oppression, downtrodden masses had lost faith in their capacity to improve their lot. Therefore, it was necessary to infuse faith in their own capacities. 
• Vivekanand believed that principle of Atman i.e. doctrine of potential divinity of soul, taught in Vedanta could ameliorate the condition of the poor people. Thus, the masses needed two kinds of knowledge: secular knowledge to improve their economic condition and spiritual knowledge to infuse in them faith in themselves. He formed the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 “to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.” 
• In 1899, he established the Belur Math, which became his permanent abode. He also wrote books like Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Raja Yoga etc.

Correct option is C. Both 1 and 2 are correct.
1. The President can make such provision as he thinks fit for the discharge of the functions of the governor in any contingency not provided for in the Constitution, for example, the death of a sitting governor.
2. The Chief Justice of the concerned state high court may be appointed temporarily to discharge the functions of the governor if the President thinks. The idea is that there must be Governor in the state and it can not be vacant.

• Bureaucracy is the executive arm of the government. In traditional classical literature on organs of government, one studied the legislature, the executive and the judiciary with bureaucracy being subsumed under the executive (which comprises the political establishment and the bureaucracy). Now, one finds that bureaucracy is being treated separately and this is indicative of its growing importance.

• Bureaucracy refers to an administrative policy-implementation group, which is a body of non-elected government officials. The major objective of bureaucracy in India has not been Parliamentary democracy’s expansion but rather the implementation of the decisions taken by the executive. With All India Services at the helm of major bureaucratic structure, it cannot be said that strengthening of federal structure is its main characteristic.

• India’s bureaucratic system’s most important function since independence has been implementation of public policy, making the decisions of the government reach a conclusion on the ground level. Parliamentary democracy results often in change at the helm of executive, the static and permanent bureaucracy provides continuity of policies and execution rather than political stability.

In England, the Cabinet system is based on conventions. The framers of our Constitution considered it fit to incorporate the system in the Constitution. The principle of collective responsibility finds place in Art. 75(3) where it is stated that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. In other words, this provision means that a Ministry which loses confidence of the Lok Sabha is obliged to resign.

The loss of confidence is expressed by rejecting a Money Bill or Finance Bill or any other important policy measure or by passing a motion of no-confidence or rejecting a motion expressing confidence in the Ministry.

When a Minister loses confidence of the Lok Sabha the whole of the Ministry has to resign including those Ministers who are from the Rajya Sabha. The Ministers fall and stand together. In certain cases, the Ministry may advise the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha and call for fresh elections.

• Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained. Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive. Punitive detention is to punish a person for an offense committed by him after trial and conviction in a court.

• Preventive detention, on the other hand, means the detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court. Its purpose is not to punish a person for a past offense but to prevent him from committing an offense in the near future.

• Article 22 has two parts–the first part (clauses 1 & 2) deals with the cases of ordinary law and the second part (4, 5, 6, and 7) deals with the cases of preventive detention law.

• The second part of Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained under a preventive detention law. This protection is available to both citizens as well as aliens and includes the following:

  • The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless the advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention. The board is to consist of judges of a high court.

  • The grounds of detention should be communicated as soon as possible to the detained or arrested person. However, the facts considered to be against the public interest need not be disclosed. There is no time limit of 24 hours to disclose the reason for his arrest. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

  • The detained person should be afforded an opportunity to make representation against the detention order.

• Article 22 also authorizes the Parliament to prescribe

  • the circumstances and the classes of cases in which a person can be detained for more than three months under a preventive detention law without obtaining the opinion of an advisory board

  • the maximum period for which a person can be detained in any classes of cases under a preventive detention law the procedure to be followed by an advisory board in an inquiry.

• The Constitution has divided the legislative power with regard to preventive detention between the Parliament and the state legislatures.

• The Parliament has exclusive authority to make a law of preventive detention for reasons connected with defense, foreign affairs, and the security of India.

• Both the Parliament as well as the state legislatures can concurrently make a law of preventive detention for reasons connected with the security of a state, the maintenance of public order, and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Statement 2 is correct. Article 20 provides for - No double jeopardy that is no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offense more than once. The protection against double jeopardy is available only in proceedings before a court of law or a judicial tribunal. In other words, it is not available in proceedings before departmental or administrative authorities as they are not of judicial nature.

Article 35 and its uses

• Article 35 provides the power to the Parliament or the state legislature to enact laws that determine the scope and applicability of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Indian Constitution.
• This means that the Parliament or the state legislature can modify, restrict, or extend the fundamental rights as they see fit, subject to the overall framework of the Constitution.
• The purpose of Article 35 is to allow the legislative bodies to adapt the fundamental rights to the evolving needs of the society and the nation.
• It enables them to balance the rights and interests of individuals with the larger goals of governance, public welfare, and national security. It is important to note that while these articles allow for certain limitations on fundamental rights, they are subject to the overarching principles of reasonableness, proportionality, and fairness.
• Any restrictions imposed under these articles must be justifi able and necessary in a democratic society.

It is said that the high court is the primary court of appeal i.e. it has power to hear the appeals against the judgment of the subordinate courts within its territories. This power can be classified into 2 categories-Civil jurisdiction and Criminal jurisdiction In civil cases its jurisdiction includes the orders and judgments of the district courts, additional district courts and other subordinate courts. In criminal cases its jurisdiction includes judgments relating to sessions courts and additional sessions courts.

The fundamental principle underlying the working of the parliamentary system of government is the principle of collective responsibility. Article 164 clearly states that the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the legislative assembly of the state. This means that all the ministers own joint responsibility to the legislative assembly for all their acts of omission and commission.

It shall be the duty of the chief minister to communicate to the governor of the state all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the affairs of the state - it comes under Article 167.

The salary and allowances of the chief minister are determined by the state legislature.
As long as the CM enjoys the majority support in the legislative assembly, he cannot be dismissed by the Governor. However, if he loses the confidence of the legislative assembly, he must resign or the Governor can dismiss him.

Global Stocktake

• Established under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, the Global Stocktake is designed “to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of [the Paris] Agreement and its long-term goals. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake process is designed to assess the global response to the climate crisis every five years. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• It evaluates the world’s progress on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience to climate impacts, and securing finance and support to address the climate crisis.
• 2023 is the first Global Stocktake year since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.  Hence statement 3 is correct

Biodiversity Cold Spots

• Cold spots are areas where the fitness of at least one of the two species is determined by interactions with the other. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• They support critical global and local ecosystem processes, contain unique evolutionary lineages and rare species, encompass the last major wilderness landscapes, support a diverse range of animal species. All cold spots would benefit from increased protection, conservation management, and restoration.
• While coldspots are relatively empty, they are also dry and unstable environments. This is why once new species emerge and evolve, they move to more comfortable environments — like the tropical biodiversity hotspots. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• A new study published in Science calls this the ‘paradox of diversity’. It concludes that extreme environments like deserts, mountains or other ‘coldspots’ would be better equipped to handle rapid diversification of species than tropical regions, which are already crowded with existing species. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Intense competition can lead to resource partitioning, where species evolve to occupy different ecological niches to reduce competition.
• Statement 2 is correct: Predation is a relationship in which one species (the predator) captures and feeds on another species (the prey).

• A mass extinction event is when species vanish much faster than they are replaced. This is usually defined as about 75% of the world's species being lost in a 'short' amount of geological time - less than 2.8 million years.
• Five great mass extinctions have changed the face of life on Earth. We know what caused some of them, but others remain a mystery.
  • The Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction occurred 443 million years ago and wiped out approximately 85% of all species. Scientists think it was caused by temperatures plummeting and huge glaciers forming, which caused sea levels to drop dramatically. This was followed by a period of rapid warming. Many small marine creatures died out.
  • The Devonian mass extinction event took place 383 million years ago and killed about three- quarters of the world's species, most of which were marine invertebrates that lived at the bottom of the sea. This was a period of many environmental changes, including global warming and cooling, a rise and fall of sea levels and a reduction in oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We don't know exactly what triggered the extinction event.
  • The Permian - Triassic mass extinction, which happened 250 million years ago, was the largest and most devastating event of the five. Also known as the Great Dying, it eradicated more than 96% of all marine species and about three of every four species on land died out. The world’s forests were wiped out and didn’t come back in force until about 10 million years later. Of the five mass extinctions, the Permian-Triassic is the only one that wiped out large numbers of insect species. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
  • The Triassic mass extinction event took place 200 million years ago, eliminating about 80% of Earth's species, including many types of dinosaurs. This was probably caused by colossal geological activity that increased carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures, as well as ocean acidification.
  • The Cretaceous mass extinction event occurred 65 million years ago, killing 78% of all species, including the remaining non-avian dinosaurs. This was most likely caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth in what is now Mexico, potentially compounded by ongoing flood volcanism in what is now India.

Standing Crop

• Each trophic level has a certain mass of living material at a particular time called as the standing crop.
• The standing crop is measured as the mass of living organisms (biomass) or the number in a unit area.
• The biomass of a species is expressed in terms of fresh or dry weight. Measurement of biomass in terms of dry weight is more accurate.

• The human eye is like a camera. Its lens system forms an image on a light-sensitive screen called the retina. Hence pair 3 is correctly matched.
• Light enters the eye through a thin membrane called the cornea. It forms the transparent bulge on the front surface of the eyeball as shown in fig. The eyeball is approximately spherical in shape with a diameter of about 2.3 cm. Most of the refraction of the light rays entering the eye occurs at the outer surface of the cornea. The crystalline lens merely provides the finer adjustment of the focal length required to focus objects at different distances on the retina. Hence pair 1 is correctly matched.
• The structure behind the cornea is called Iris. Iris is a dark muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil.
• The pupil regulates and controls the amount of light entering eye. Hence pair w is correctly matched.

• Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell.
  • The energy required for various chemical activities needed for life is released by mitochondria in the form of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) molecules. [If Mitochondria is the Power Plant. ATP is the Electricity].
  • ATP is known as the energy currency of the cell. The body uses energy stored in ATP for making new chemical compounds and for mechanical work.
• Lysosomes are a kind of waste disposal system of the cell.
  • Lysosomes help to keep the cell clean by digesting any foreign material as well as worn-out cell organelles.
  • Foreign materials entering the cell, such as bacteria or food, as well as old organelles end up in the lysosomes, which break them up into small pieces.
  • Lysosomes are able to do this because they contain powerful digestive enzymes capable of breaking down all organic material. During the disturbance in cellular metabolism, for example, when the cell gets damaged, lysosomes may burst and the enzymes digest their own cell.
  • Therefore, lysosomes are also known as the ‘suicide bags’ of a cell.
• The golgi apparatus consists of a system of membrane-bound vesicles arranged approximately parallel to each other in stacks called cisterns.
  • These membranes often have connections with the membranes of ER and therefore constitute another portion of a complex cellular membrane system.
  • The material synthesized near the ER is packaged and dispatched to various targets inside and outside the cell through the golgi apparatus. Its functions include the storage, modification and packaging of products in vesicles
• A ribosome is a complex molecular machine found inside the living cells that produce proteins from amino acids during a process called protein synthesis or translation.
  • The process of protein synthesis is a primary function, which is performed by all living cells.
  • Ribosomes are specialized cell organelles and are found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
  • Every living cell requires ribosomes for the production of proteins.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

PRITHvi VIgyan (PRITHVI) Programme: The Union Cabinet cleared ‘PRITHVI Programme for earth observation, satellite projects with Mauritius.

It encompasses five ongoing sub-schemes of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), like:

• Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS);
• Ocean Services, Modelling Application, Resources and Technology (O-SMART);
• Polar Science and Cryosphere Research (PACER);
• Seismology and Geosciences (SAGE); and,
• Research, Education, Training and Outreach (REACHOUT)

Satellite for Mauritius: The Union Cabinet approved an agreement between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) to jointly develop a ‘small satellite’.

• India and Mauritius have a history of cooperation since the 1980s when ISRO established a ground station in

The most popular argument regarding the origin of the universe is the Big Bang Theory. It is also called expanding universe hypothesis. The Big Bang Theory considers the following stages in the development of the universe:

• In the beginning, all matter forming the universe existed in one place in the form of a “tiny ball” (singular atom) with an unimaginably small volume, infinite temperature, and infinite density.
• At the Big Bang the “tiny ball” exploded violently. This led to a huge expansion. It is now generally accepted that the event of the big bang took place 13.7 billion years before the present.
• As it grew, some energy was converted into matter. There was particularly rapid expansion within fractions of a second after the bang. Thereafter, the expansion slowed down. Within the first three minutes of the Big Bang event, the first atom began to form.
• As the universe expanded, both the density and temperature dropped. Within 300,000 years from the Big Bang, the temperature dropped to 4,500 K (Kelvin) and gave rise to atomic matter. The universe became transparent. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
• The expansion of the universe means an increase in space between the galaxies. With greater evidence becoming available about the expanding universe, the scientific community at present favors the argument of expanding the universe. The expansion continues even to the present day.

A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops is used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor. Hence statement 1 is correct.

Molten salts share with metals the advantage of low vapour pressure even at high temperatures, and are less chemically reactive than sodium. Salts containing light elements like FLiBe {a molten salt made from a mixture of lithium fluoride (LiF) and beryllium fluoride (BeF2)} can also provide moderation. In the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, it served as a solvent carrying nuclear fuel.

Gases have also been used as a coolant. Helium is extremely inert both chemically and with respect to nuclear reactions but has a low heat capacity. But India‘s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor which will be commissioned in December 2021 at Kalpakkam marking the second of the three-stage nuclear power programme will use liquid sodium as a coolant. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

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.

What is DNA? DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the fundamental building block for an individual's entire genetic makeup. It is a component of virtually every cell in the human body. Further, a person's DNA is the same in every cell. For example, the DNA in a man's blood is the same as the DNA in his skin cells, semen, and saliva.

DNA is a powerful tool because each person's DNA is different from every other individual's, except for identical twins. Because of that difference, DNA collected from a crime scene can either link a suspect to the evidence or eliminate a suspect, similar to the use of fingerprints. It also can identify a victim through DNA from relatives, even when nobody can be found. And when evidence from one crime scene is compared with evidence from another, those crime scenes can be linked to the same perpetrator locally, statewide, and across the Nation.

Where is DNA contained in the Human body?
DNA is contained in blood, semen, skin cells, tissue, organs, muscle, brain cells, bone, teeth, hair, saliva, mucus, perspiration, fingernails, urine, feces, etc. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Statement 1

• It is a new age unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can significantly increase India’s surveillance and monitoring capabilities in the border areas.
• It has the ability to generate solar power.
• It can fly at altitudes of 18-20 km from the ground, almost double the heights attained by commercial airplanes.

Statement 2
The cost of operating HAPS is several times lower than that of a satellite that is usually placed at least 200 km from the earth.
Applications of HAPS

• It can be very useful in disaster situations.
• It can even be used to provide mobile communications networks in remote areas
• Even it can be used in continuous surveillance of border areas to detect changes or movements.

Statement 3

• Depending on their frequency and technology, HAPS could indeed interfere with existing communication systems operating in similar bands. Additionally, their high altitude presence might disrupt the flight paths or habitats of migratory birds, requiring careful evaluation and mitigation strategies.

Recently, NASA’s Earth Observatory posted a detailed analysis of the reason behind Aral Sea’s disappearance.

Phases of soft landing, the 15 minutes of terror:

• The Rough Braking Phase: It includes reducing the lander’s horizontal speed from a range of  1.68 km/sec at a height of 30 km from the lunar surface, to almost zero for a soft landing at  the designated site.
• Attitude Hold Phase: At a height of 7.42 km from the surface, the lander is to go into an ‘attitude  hold phase’ lasting around 10 seconds, during which it should tilt from a horizontal to a vertical position while covering a distance of 3.48 km.
• The “fine braking phase” lasts around 175 seconds, during which the  lander is to move fully into a vertical position. 
• “Terminal descent” is the final stage, when the spacecraft is supposed to descend totally vertically onto the surface