DAY – 32 (InstaTest-32): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2020: Topic – Modern India, Subject-wise Test 3, Textbook based Test 24, March 2020 CA

Solution: D

NASA has launched a SnowEx seasonal campaign; it focuses on airborne campaigns and field work, and on comparing the various sensing technologies, from the mature to the more experimental, in globally-representative types of snow.

It aims to address the most important gaps in snow remote sensing knowledge and thus lay the groundwork for a future snow satellite mission.  It is a five year program.

Solution: B

The Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836 by associates of Raja Rammohan Roy.

The East India Association was organised by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London to discuss the Indian question and influence public men in England to promote Indian welfare. Later, branches of the association were started in prominent Indian cities.

The Indian League was started in 1875 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh with the object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and of encouraging political education.

The Indian Association of Calcutta (also known as the Indian National Association) superseded the Indian League and was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose.

Solution: B

Discontent Among Sepoys

The conditions of service in the Company’s Army and cantonments increasingly came into conflict with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. Restrictions on wearing caste and sectarian marks and secret rumours of proselytizing activities of the chaplains (often maintained on the Company’s expenses which meant at Indian expense) were interpreted by Indian sepoys, who were generally conservative by nature, as interference in their religious affairs.

To the religious Hindu of the time, crossing the seas meant loss of caste. In 1856, Lord Canning’s government passed the General Service Enlistment Act which decreed that all future recruits to the Bengal Army would have to give an undertaking to serve anywhere their services might be required by the government. This caused resentment. The Indian sepoy was equally unhappy with his emoluments compared to his British counterpart. A more immediate cause of the sepoys’ dissatisfaction was the order that they would not be given the foreign service allowance (bhatta) when serving in Sindh or in Punjab. The annexation of Awadh, home of many of the sepoys, further inflamed their feelings.

The Indian sepoy was made to feel a subordinate at every step and was discriminated against racially and in matters of promotion and privileges. The discontent of the sepoys was not limited to military matters.

Solution: C

About 1000 spring’s initiative:

• Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has launched “1000 Spring Initiatives” and an online portal on GIS-based Spring Atlas with hydrological and chemical properties of the Springs on the occasion.
• Aim: To improve access to safe and adequate water for the tribal communities living in difficult and inaccessible part of rural areas in the country. It is an integrated solution around natural springs.

Key features:

It includes the provision of infrastructure for piped water supply for drinking; provision of water for irrigation; community-led total sanitation initiatives; and provision for water for backyard nutrition gardens, generating sustainable livelihood opportunities for the tribal people.

Implementation:

Under this initiative, more than 70 young tribal youths from the rural belt of three districts of Odisha namely, Kalahandi, Khandamal and Gajapati have been trained as barefoot hydro geologists by combining traditional and scientific knowledge for identification and mapping of springs, and undertaking rejuvenation and protection measures in their habitations.

Solution: A

Doctrine of Lapse

In simple terms, the doctrine stated that the adopted son could be the heir to his foster father’s private property, but not the state; it was for the paramount power (the British) to decide whether to bestow the state on the adopted son or to annex it.

Though this policy is attributed to Lord Dalhousie (1848-56), he was not its originator. It was a coincidence that during his governor-generalship several important cases arose in which the ‘Doctrine’ could be applied. Dalhousie showed too much zeal in enforcing this policy which had been theoretically enunciated on some previous occasions. His predecessors had acted on the general principle of avoiding annexation if it could be avoided; Dalhousie in turn acted on the general principle of annexing if he could do so legitimately.

Annexed Lapsed States

It was a matter of chance that during Lord Dalhousie’s term many rulers of states died without a male issue and seven states were annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse. The most important of these were Satara (1848), Jhansi and Nagpur (1854). The other small states included Jaitpur (Bundelkhand), Sambhalpur (Orissa), and Baghat (Madhya Pradesh). Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in 1856 after deposing Nawab Wajid Ali Shah on grounds of misgovernment.

Many states were annexed before Satara

Jaintia        1803

Kozhikode   1806

Guler          1813

Kannanur   1819

Kittur          1824

Solution: C

Paika Rebellion (1817)

The Paiks of Odisha were the traditional landed militia (‘foot soldiers’ literally) and enjoyed rent free land tenures for their military service and policing functions on a hereditary basis.

The English Company’s conquest of Odisha in 1803, and the dethronement of the Raja of Khurda had greatly reduced the power and prestige of the Paiks.

Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar had been the military chief of the forces of the Raja of Khurda. In 1814, Jagabandhu’s ancestral estate of Killa Rorang was taken over by the Company, reducing him to penury.

With active support of Mukunda Deva, the last Raja of Khurda, and other zamindars of the region, Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar led a sundry army of Paikas forcing the East India Company forces to retreat for a time.

Jagabandhu, declared an outlaw, along with other rebels, was sheltered by the Raja of Nayagarh. Although Dinabandhu Santra and his group surrendered in November 1818, Jagabandhu evaded British vigilance.

The Paika rebels resorted to guerilla tactics. The rebellion was brutally repressed by 1818. Priests at the Puri temple who had sheltered Jagabandhu were caught and hanged. Paiks on the whole suffered greatly. In 1825 Jagabandhu surrendered under negotiated terms. (Some sources say he was captured and died in captivity in 1829).

The Paik Rebellion succeeded in getting large remissions of arrears, reductions in assessments, suspension of the sale of the estates of defaulters at discretion, a new settlement on fixed tenures and other adjuncts of a liberal governance.

Solution: D

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana:

• Coverage: Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age-related disability/infirmity Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability.
• What assistance is provided? Assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, overcoming the disability/infirmity manifested. They are free-of cost.
• Funding: This is a Central Sector Scheme, fully funded by the Central Government. The expenditure for implementation of the scheme will be met from the “Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund “.
• Under the scheme, the physical aids will be provided only to the senior citizens of the nation.

Other key facts:

• In case of multiple disabilities/infirmities manifested in the same person, the assistive devices will be given in respect of each disability/impairment.
• Beneficiaries in each district will be identified by the State Governments/UT Administrations through a Committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector.
• As far as possible, 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women.

Solution: D

Black Hole Tragedy is associated with The Battle of Plassey.

Siraj-ud-daula is believed to have imprisoned 146 English persons who were lodged in a very tiny room due to which 123 of them died of suffocation. However, historians either do not believe this story, or say that the number of victims must have been much smaller.

Solution: A

India’s trade during Mughal period:

Items of Import

• From Persian Gulf Region— pearls, raw silk, wool, dates, dried fruits, and rose water;
• From Arabia—coffee, gold, drugs, and honey;
• from China—tea, sugar, porcelain, and silk;
• from Tibet—gold, musk, and woollen cloth;
• from Africa—ivory and drugs;
• from Europe—woollen cloth, copper, iron, lead and paper.

Items of Export Cotton textiles, raw silk and silk fabrics, hardware, indigo, saltpetre, opium, rice, wheat, sugar, pepper and other spices, precious stones, and drugs.

Solution: B

National Calamity Contingent Duty:

• The NCCD is tax imposed on pan masala, cigarettes, cellular phones and other tobacco products.
• It was introduced under Finance Act, 2001.

NCCD in the present form has been imposed as a surcharge on Excise Duty. Section 136(1) of the Finance Act, 2001 states that there shall be levied and collected for the purposes of the Union, by surcharge, a duty of excise, to be called the National Calamity Contingent duty.

When the goods are covered under GST, and Excise duty is not levied on those goods; no surcharge can be levied. This no NCCD can be levied on tobacco and tobacco products, which are covered under GST regime.

Solution: A

The founder of the Asaf-Jah house of Hyderabad was Kilich Khan, popularly known as Nizam-ul-Mulk. It was Zulfikar Khan who had first conceived the idea of an independent state in the Deccan. But with his death in 1713 the dream remained unfulfilled. Kilich Khan, disgusted with the Mughal emperor who had appointed Mubariz Khan as a full-fledged viceroy of the Deccan, decided to fight Mubariz Khan. He defeated and later killed Mubariz Khan in the Battle of Shakr-Kheda (1724). He now assumed control of the Deccan. In 1725, he became the viceroy and conferred on himself the title of Asaf-Jah.

Solution: A

Vigyan Jyoti Scheme:

• Vigyan Jyoti Scheme is launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
• It is an initiative that will create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in their higher education.
• The programme will cover girl students from grade 9 to 12.
• It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to help to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.

Solution: A

Melamine is an organic base chemical most commonly found in the form of white crystals rich in nitrogen.

It is added to water adulterated milk to increase the nitrogen content and hence its apparent proteincontent.

Addition of melamine into food is not approved by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius (food standard commission), or by any national authorities.

Health effects of melamine

• Melamine can cause bladder stones in animals.
• When combined with cyanuric acid, which may also be present in melamine powder, melamine can form crystals that can give rise to kidney stones.
• Melamine has also been shown to have carcinogenic effects in animals in certain circumstances.

Solution: A

Farrukhsiyar (1713-1719) After killing Jahandar Shah with the help of Sayyid brothers—Abdulla Khan and Hussain Ali (known as ‘King Makers’), Farrukhsiyar became the new emperor. He followed a policy of religious tolerance by abolishing Jaziya and pilgrimage tax. In 1717, he gave farmans to the British. In 1719, the Sayyid brothers, with the help of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, dethroned Farrukhsiyar. Later, he was blinded and killed. It was the first time in the Mughal history that an emperor was killed by his nobles.

1632: The English obtained the Golden Farman with the right to trade in the kingdom of Golkunda for a fixed customs duty, from the Sultan of Golkunda.

Solution: A

The first Battle of Panipat in 1526 was between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi. The result of the battle laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire by ending the rule of the Delhi Sultanate.

The Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 was between Akbar and Hemu; it decided in favour of the continuation of the Mughal rule.

The Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali put an end to the Maratha ambition of ruling over India.

Solution: C

The National Security Act is a stringent law that allows preventive detention for months, if authorities are satisfied that a person is a threat to national security or law and order.

The person does not need to be charged during this period of detention. The goal is to prevent the individual from committing a crime.

It empowers the Central Government and State Governments on grounds include

• Acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India, its relations with foreign powers, its security.
• Regulating the continued presence of any foreigner in India or with a view to making arrangements for his expulsion from India.
• Acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State or the maintenance of public order/essential supplies and services.
• The act also gives power to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his presence or expel from the country.

Solution: C

The Danish East India Company was established in 1616 and, in 1620, they founded a factory at Tranquebar near Tanjore, on the eastern coast of India. Their principal settlement was at Serampore near Calcutta. The Danish factories, which were not important at any time, were sold to the British government in 1845. The Danes are better known for their missionary activities than for commerce.

Solution: C

Joseph Francis Dupleix, born in 1697, was the son of a wealthy Farmer-General of Taxes and Director-General of the Company of the Indies. He got a high post at Pondicherry in 1720, allegedly on the basis of influence of his father. At Pondicherry he made a lot of money by private trade, which was then permitted to servants of the French company. In 1741, he was appointed as the Director-General of French colonies in India. Later, he was conferred the title of Nawab by the Mughal emperor and the Subahdar of Deccan, Muzzaffar Jang.

Dupleix was the first European to interfere in the internal politics of the Indian rulers.

Dupleix was, in fact, the originator of the practice of subsidiary alliance in India. He placed a French army at Hyderabad at the expense of the subahdar.

Solution: A

The Defence Acquisition Council is the highest decision-making body in the Defence Ministry for deciding on new policies and capital acquisitions for the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) and the Indian Coast Guard.

The Minister of Defence is the Chairman of the Council.

It was formed, after the Group of Ministers recommendations on ‘Reforming the National Security System’, in 2001, post Kargil War (1999).

Nirbhay is a long range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile designed and developed in India by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) which is under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Nirbhay is India’s first indigenously produced cruise missile.

The missile can be launched from multiple platforms and is capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. It is currently under development and undergoing flight trials.

The 12th edition of joint military exercise between India and Singapore, BOLD KURUKSHETRA 2019, culminated on 11 April 2019 after an impressive closing ceremony held at Babina Military Station. The four day long joint training focused on developing interoperability and conduct of joint tactical operations  in mechanised warfare. The troops learnt about each other’s organisations and best practices being followed in combat.

https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1570421

Solution: B

In 1599, a group of English merchants calling themselves the ‘Merchant Adventurers’ formed a company. On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter with rights of exclusive trading to the company named the ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies’. Initially, a monopoly of fifteen years was granted, which in May 1609 was extended indefinitely by a fresh charter.

Captain Hawkins arrived in the court of Jahangir in April 1609 itself. But the mission to establish a factory at Surat didn’t succeed due to opposition from the Portuguese, and Hawkins left Agra in November 1611.

Solution: B

RTS,S/AS01 (trade name Mosquirix) is a recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine.

Approved for use by European regulators in July 2015, it is the world’s first licensed malaria vaccine and also the first vaccine licensed for use against a human parasitic disease of any kind.

The RTS,S vaccine was conceived of and created in the late 1980s by scientists working at SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines) laboratories in Belgium.

The vaccine was further developed through a collaboration between GSK and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and has been funded in part by the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its efficacy ranges from 26 to 50% in infants and young children.

India didn’t play any significant role in developing the vaccine.

Solution: B

Alfonso de Albuquerque

Albuquerque, who succeeded Almeida as the Portuguese governor in India, was the real founder of the Portuguese power in the East, a task he completed before his death. He secured for Portugal the strategic control of the Indian Ocean by establishing bases overlooking all the entrances to the sea. There were Portuguese strongholds in East Africa, off the Red Sea, at Ormuz; in Malabar; and at Malacca. The Portuguese, under Albuquerque bolstered their stranglehold by introducing a permit system for other ships and exercising control over the major ship-building centres in the region. The nonavailability of timber in the Gulf and Red Sea regions for ship-building also helped the Portuguese in their objectives.

Albuquerque acquired Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510 with ease; the principal port of the Sultan of Bijapur became “the first bit of Indian territory to be under the Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great”. An interesting feature of his rule was the abolition of sati.

Solution: B

The World Food Programme[a] (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. According to the WFP, it provides food assistance to an average of 91.4 million people in 83 countries each year.

From its headquarters in Rome and from more than 80 country offices around the world, the WFP works to help people who cannot produce or obtain enough food for themselves and their families. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and part of its executive committee

WFP was established in 1961 after the 1960 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern, director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. The WFP was formally established in 1963 by the FAO and the United Nations General Assembly on a three-year experimental basis. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

Solution: B

Commercial enterprise led the Dutch to undertake voyages to the East. Cornelis de Houtman was the first Dutchman to reach Sumatra and Bantam in 1596. In 1602, the States-General of the Netherlands amalgamated many trading companies into the East India Company of the Netherlands.

This company was also empowered to carry on war, to conclude treaties, to take possession of territory and to erect fortresses.

Dutch Settlements

After their arrival in India, the Dutch founded their first factory in Masulipatnam (in Andhra) in 1605. They went on to establish trading centres at different parts of India and thus became a threat to the Portuguese. They captured Nagapatam near Madras (Chennai) from the Portuguese and made it their main stronghold in South India.

The Dutch got drawn into the trade of the Malay Archipelago. Further, in the third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74), communications between Surat and the new English settlement of Bombay got cut due to which three homebound English ships were captured in the Bay of Bengal by the Dutch forces. The retaliation by the English resulted in the defeat of the Dutch, in the battle of Hooghly (November 1759), which dealt a crushing blow to Dutch ambitions in India.

Solution: C

Context: Launch of ExoMars rover delayed to 2022.

About the rover:

• The European-built Rosalind Franklin rover, named for the famed British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work contributed to DNA research, recently passed final pre-launch thermal and vacuum tests at an Airbus facility in Toulouse, France.
• Rosalind Franklin is the first European Mars rover.

About ExoMars:

• It is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
• The primary goal of the ExoMars programme is to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

Components of the mission:

The programme comprises two missions.

• The first launched in March 2016 and consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.
• TGO’s main objectives are to search for evidence of methane and other trace atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes. The Schiaparelli probe crashed during its attempt to land on Mars.
• The second, comprising a rover and surface platform, is planned for 2022. Together they will address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

Solution: B

In the word, “MATERIAL” there is three vowels A, I, E.

If all the vowels are together, the arrangement is MTRL’AAEI’.

Consider AAEI as one unit. The arrangement is as follows.

M T R L A A E I

The above 5 items can be arranged in 5! ways and AAEI can be arranged among themselves in 4!/2! ways.

Number of required ways of arranging the above letters = 5! * 4!/2!

= (120 * 24)/2 = 1440 ways.

Solution: C

To be an even number, the units digit has to even number, in this case only 8 should come in the unit’s place.

Thus, remaining places can be filled by remaining three numbers in 3! Ways or 6 ways.

Solution: A

Probability of a bullet not striking the target = 1/4
Probability that none of the four bullets will strike the target

= (1/4)⁴

= (1/256)

Probability that the target will strike at least once:

= 1- (1/256)

= (255/256)

Solution: D

Probability that a student will pass in Physics = 3/5
Therefore, Probability that a student will fail in Physics = 1 – (3/5) = 2/5
Probability that a student will pass in Chemistry = 1/3
Therefore, Probability that a student will fail in Chemistry = 1 – (1/3) = 2/3
It is given to find the probability that he will pass in at least one subject. Hence, there will be 3 cases:

The student will pass in Physics and fail in Chemistry OR

The student will pass in Chemistry and fail in Physics OR

The student will pass in both Physics and Chemistry
Probability that a student will pass in Physics and failed in Chemistry = P(P) =(3/5) * (2/3) = 2/5 (since, AND = Multiplication)
Probability that a student will pass in Chemistry and failed in Physics = P(C)
= (1/3) * (2/5) = 2/15
Probability that a student will pass in both Physics and Chemistry = P(P ∩ C)
= 1/8
Required Probability = P(P) + P(C) + P(P ∩ C) (Since, OR = Addition)
= (2/5) + (2/15) + (1/8)
= (48 + 16 + 15)/120
= 79/120

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

A is the extreme statement and all the problems cannot be solved by using digital technologies.

Digital technologies are just part of our life and living and there are other ways to express our creativity and imagination without digital media.