Kerala PSC KAS Prelims Paper 1 Mock Test - 6 - Kerala PSC KAS MCQ

In 1780, James Augustus Hickey published the first newspaper in India, The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser. Initially, the press was an outspoken critic of the British administration and its officers' actions. Amrita Bazar Patrika turned overnight into an English newspaper to escape the Vernacular Press Act (VPA). In 1883, Surendranath Banerjee became the first Indian journalist to be imprisoned. For his editorial work in The Bengalee, Banerjea criticised a judge of the Calcutta High Court for being insensitive to the religious sentiments of Bengalis in one of his judgements. So, Statement 1 is not correct.

The idea was to reconstruct the governor-general's executive council pending the preparation of a new constitution. For this purpose, a conference was convened by the viceroy, Lord Wavell, at Shimla in June 1945. The main proposals of the Wavell Plan were as follows,

• Except for the governor-general and the commander-in-chief, all executive council members were to be Indians.
• Caste Hindus and Muslims were to have equal representation.
• The reconstructed council was to function as an interim government within the framework of the 1935 Act. The executive council was not responsible to the Central Assembly.
• The governor-general has veto powers but has to exercise that on the advice of ministers.
• Representatives of different parties were to submit a joint list to the viceroy for nominations to the executive council. If a joint list was not possible, separate lists would be submitted.
• Possibilities were to be kept open for negotiations on a new constitution once the war was finally won. So, Option (c) is correct.

The First World War began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. It was a global conflict involving many of the world's great powers, centered in Europe.

The Central Powers were primarily composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Jutland, fought between the British Royal Navy and the German High Seas Fleet in 1916, was the largest naval battle of the First World War.

Tanks were a new weapon introduced during the First World War, revolutionizing ground warfare and impacting military strategies.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, officially ended the First World War between the Allies and Germany.

According to Roman mythology, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus.

The correct answer is 1 and 2 only.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) is a constitutional body that works for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes in India. Here are the details of the given statements:

1. **Annual report to the president**: The NCSC submits an annual report to the President of India, which includes the measures taken by the Central and State Governments for the development and welfare of the Scheduled Castes. The President then forwards the report to both Houses of Parliament, along with a memorandum explaining the action taken, or proposed to be taken, on the recommendations contained in the report. This statement is correct.

2. **Constitutional body**: The NCSC is a constitutional body established under Article 338 of the Constitution of India. It was initially set up as a Special Officer for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1950, and later converted into a full-fledged commission in 1978. In 2003, the Commission was bifurcated into the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. This statement is correct.

3. **Appointment of members**: The members of the NCSC are appointed by the President of India, not by the Prime Minister. The Commission consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, and three other Members. They are appointed for a term of three years, or until they attain the age of 65, whichever is earlier. This statement is incorrect.Option (c) is the correct answer.

Preamble

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The Preamble has been amended only once so far, in 1976, by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, which has added three new words—Socialist, Secular and Integrity— to the Preamble. This amendment was held to be valid.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) and the LIC of India case (1995), the Supreme Court again held that the Preamble is an integral part of the Constitution.

  The Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Act, 1971, curtailed the right to property, and permitted the acquisition of private property by the government for public use.

Indian Constitution has borrowed from the Weimar Constitution of Germany provisions concerning the suspension of fundamental rights during National Emergency.

• The nominated members of both of Houses of Parliament, the nominated members of the state legislative assemblies, the members (both elected and nominated) of the state legislative councils (in case of the bicameral legislature) and the nominated members of the Legislative Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry do not participate in the election of the President.
• An assembly is dissolved. The members cease to be qualified to vote in the presidential election, even if fresh elections to the dissolved assembly are not held before the presidential election.
• While electing and impeaching Vice- President, nominated members to participate.
• The nominated members of either House of Parliament can participate in the impeachment of the President though they do not participate in his election

3 Prime Ministers of India have been members of the Rajya Sabha: Indira Gandhi (1966), Deve Gowda (1996), Manmohan Singh (2004). But in the UK, the Prime Minister must necessarily be a member of the Lower House (also called as House of Commons) alone.

• It was introduced by Justice P.N. Bhagwati of the Supreme Court.
• It was not mentioned in the constitution of India nor any law enacted by Parliament. It is a result of Judicial activism.
• An individual or group of people directly files public Interest Litigation in the supreme court.
• It was felt that the government undermines its interests. In such a situation, the court directly accepts the public good. It is a new legal horizon in which the court of law can initiate and enforce action to serve and secure significant Public Interest.

As North-West is 135^o clockwise from South in the same were North-East is 135^o clockwise from the West.

As President is the nominal head of a country, similarly Governer is the nominal head of a State.

Let the distance be x km. Then,
(Time taken to walls x km) + (Time taken to ride x km) = 23/4 hrs
⇒  (Time taken to walls 2x km) + Time taken to ride 2x km  =  23/2 hrs
but time taken to ride 2x km = 15/4 hrs 
Therefore, Time taken to walk 2x km = (23/2 - 15/4) hrs = 31/4 hrs =7 hr 45 min.

► S.P. of 1 kg of mixture = Rs. 9.24, Gain 10%.

By the rule of allilation, we have:

 Ratio of quantities of 1^st and 2^nd kind = 14 : 6 = 7 : 3.

► Let x kg of sugar of 1^st be mixed with 27 kg of 2^nd kind.

Then, 7 : 3 = x : 27

Time taken by one tap to fill half of the tank = 3 hrs.
Part filled by the four taps in 1 hour = 
Remaining part = 

 hours i.e, 45 mins.
So, total time taken = 3 hrs. 45 mins.

CP = $20,000
SP for Harish = CP for Monika = 1.2 × 20,000 = $24,000
SP for Monika = CP for Sonu = 0.95 × 24,000 = $22,800

• Basic Needs Approach: This approach was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Six basic needs i.e.: health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, and housing were identified. The question of human choices is ignored and the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs of defined sections. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• Capability Approach: This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen. Building human capabilities in the areas of health, education, and access to resources is the key to increasing human development. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• Income Approach: This is one of the oldest approaches to human development. Human development is seen as being linked to income. The idea is that the level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys. The higher the level of income, the higher is the level of human development. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• Welfare Approach: This approach looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities. The approach argues for higher government expenditure on education, health, social secondary, and amenities. People are not participants in development but only passive recipients. The government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by maximizing expenditure on welfare.

• The Human Poverty Index (HPI) was an indication of the poverty of a community in a country, developed by the United Nations to complement the Human Development Index (HDI) and was first reported as part of the Human Deprivation Report in 1997. In 2010, it was supplanted by the UN's Multidimensional Poverty Index.

• The Human Poverty Index measures shortfalls in Human Development. It is a non-income measure. Hence option 1 is not correct.

• Parameters that are taken into account while calculating HPI are:

  • The probability of not surviving till the age of 40

  • The adult illiteracy rate

  • The number of people who do not have access to clean water

  • The number of small children who are underweight. Hence option 2 and option 3 are correct.

• Since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been publishing the Human Development Report every year. This report provides a rank-wise list of all member countries according to the level of human development. The Human Development Index and the Human Poverty index are two important indices to measure human development used by the UNDP.

• There are three components of population change – births, deaths, and migration.

• Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is expressed as number of "live" births in a year per thousand of mid-year population. It is calculated as:

  • CBR = (Live births during the year / Mid-year population of the area) * 1000

• Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• Crude Death Rate (CDR) is expressed as the number of deaths in a year per thousand of mid-year population. It is calculated as:

  • CDR = (Number of Deaths / Mid-year population of the area) * 1000

• Natural Growth of Population is the population increased by the difference between births and deaths in a particular region between two points of time. It does not include change due to migration. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• The actual growth of population = Birth - Death + In migration - Out Migration

• The location of urban centres is examined with reference to their function. For example, the sitting requirements of a holiday resort are quite\ different from that of an industrial town, a military centre or a seaport. Strategic towns require sites offering natural defence; mining towns require the presence of economically valuable minerals; industrial towns generally need local energy supplies or raw materials. Hence statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct.

• Locations of the earliest urban settlements were based on the availability of water, building materials and fertile land.

• Some of these functional factors do not necessarily require the urban centre to have any fundamental relationship with its neighbouring rural areas.

• Apart from the site of an urban settlement, the situation plays an important role in the expansion of towns. The urban centres which are located close to an important trade route have experienced rapid development. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• There are various factors and conditions responsible for having different types of rural settlements in India. These include:

  • physical features: nature of terrain, altitude, climate, and availability of water;

  • cultural and ethnic factors: social structure, caste, and religion;

  • security factors: defence against thefts and robberies.

• Rural settlements in India can broadly be put into four types: Clustered; Semi-clustered or fragmented; Hamleted, and Dispersed.

  • Semi-Clustered Settlements: These may result from the tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement. Generally, the land-owning and dominant community occupy the central part of the main village, whereas people of lower strata of society and menial workers settle on the outer flanks of the village. Such settlements are widespread in the Gujarat plain and some parts of Rajasthan. Hence statement 1 is correct.

  • Hamleted Settlements: Sometimes settlement is fragmented into several units physically separated from each other bearing a common name. These units are locally called Panna, para, Palli, nagla, Dhani, etc. in various parts of the country. This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors. Such villages are more frequently found in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh, and lower valleys of the Himalayas. Hence statement 2 is correct.

  • Dispersed Settlements: Dispersed or isolated settlement pattern in India appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes. Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by the extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas. Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala have this type of settlement. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• The ratio between the numbers of people to the size of the land is the density of population. It is usually measured in persons per sq km.

  • Density of Population = Population / Area

• For example, area of Region X is 100 sq km and the population is 1,50,000 persons. The density of population is calculated as:

  • Density = 1,50,000 / 100 = 1,500 person/sq km

• The densely populated parts of the world with more than 200 persons on every sq km are the North- Eastern part of U.S.A., North-Western part of Europe, South, South-East and East Asia. For example, England- 432, China - 153 persons per sq km.

• Other areas like those near the North and South Poles, the hot and the cold deserts and high rainfall zones near the Equator have a very low density of population. These are the sparsely populated regions of the world with less than 01 person per sq km. For example, Canada- 4 persons per square km.

• In between these two types are the areas of medium density. There are 11 to 50 persons per sq km in these areas. Norway, Sweden in Europe, South Africa (48 persons per sq km) are some examples.

Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

• Crude oil may be referred to as sweet crude if it contains relatively little sulfur (0.5%) or sour crude if it contains substantial amounts of sulfur.

• Iraq is one of the leading producers of sweet crude.

• Major locations where sweet crude is found include the Appalachian Basin in Eastern North America, Western Texas, the Bakken Formation of North Dakota and Saskatchewan, the North Sea of Europe, North Africa, Australia, and the Far East including Indonesia.

• Sour crude, on the other hand, has a high level of impurities in it, namely sulfur, which must first be removed before being processed into gas and other petroleum-based products.

• Venezuela is a leading producer of sour crude oil. Sour crude is more common in the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, South America, and Canada.

• Crude produced by OPEC Member Nations also tends to be relatively sour, with an average sulfur content of 1.77%.

Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

• India has done reasonably well in some of the health indicators like the decline in the death rate from 25.1 per thousand in 1951 to 6.5 per thousand in 2015 and infant mortality from 148 per thousand to 37 during the same period. Similarly, it also succeeded in increasing life expectancy at birth from 37.1 years to 66.9 years for males and 36.2 to 70 years for females from 1951 to 2015. Though these are great achievements, a lot needs to be done. Similarly, it has also done reasonably well in bringing down the birth rate from 40.8 to 20.8 during the same years, but it still is much higher than many developed countries. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• The situation is more alarming when seen in the context of gender-specific and rural and urban health indicators. India has recorded a declining female sex ratio. The findings of the 2011 Census of India are very disturbing particularly in the case of the child sex ratio (919) in the age group of 0-6 years. The other significant features of the report are, with the exception of Kerala, the child sex ratio has declined in all the states and it is the most alarming in the developed state of Haryana (834) and Punjab (846) where it is below 850 female children per thousand male children. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• There are various factors and conditions responsible for having different types of rural settlements in India.

  • Physical features: nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water

  • Cultural and ethnic factors: social structure, caste and religion

  • Security factors: defence against thefts and robberies.

• Rural settlements in India can broadly be put into four types:

  • Clustered Settlements:

    • The clustered rural settlement is a compact or closely built up area of houses.

    • The general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures.

    • The closely built-up area and its intervening streets present some recognisable pattern or geometric shape, such as rectangular, radial, linear, etc.

    • Such settlements are generally found in fertile alluvial plains and in the northeastern states.

      • Sometimes, people live in the compact village for security or defence reasons, such as in the Bundelkhand region of central India and in Nagaland.

      • In Rajasthan, scarcity of water has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of available water resources.

  • Semi-Clustered Settlements:

    • Semi-clustered or fragmented settlements may result from the tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement.

    • More often such a pattern may also result from segregation or fragmentation of a large compact village. In this case, one or more sections of the village society choose or is forced to live a little away from the main cluster or village. In such cases, generally, the land-owning and dominant community occupies the central part of the main village, whereas people of lower strata of society and menial workers settle on the outer flanks of the village.

    • Such settlements are widespread in the Gujarat plain and some parts of Rajasthan.

  • Hamleted Settlements:

    • Sometimes a settlement is fragmented into several units physically separated from each other bearing a common name.

    • These units are locally called panna, para, palli, nagla, dhani, etc. in various parts of the country.

    • This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors.

    • Such villages are more frequently found in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and lower valleys of the Himalayas.

    • Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

  • Dispersed Settlements:

    • The dispersed or isolated settlement pattern in India appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes.

    • Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by the extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas.

    • Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have this type of settlement.