DAY – 40 (InstaTest-40): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2020: Topic – Indian Polity, Subject-wise test 7 & 8, Textbook based test 30, August 2019 CA

Solution: C

Basavanna was an Indian 12th-century Statesman, philosopher, poet, Lingayat saint in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement, and social reformer during the reign of the Kalyani Chalukya/Kalachuri dynasty. Basavanna was active during the rule of both dynasties but reached his peak of influence during the rule of King Bijjala II in Karnataka, India.

Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas.

Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and ritualsbut introduced Ishtalinga necklace, with an image of the Shiva Liṅga, to every person regardless of his or her birth, to be a constant reminder of one’s bhakti (devotion) to Shiva.

As the chief minister of his kingdom, he introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, the “hall of spiritual experience”), which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open

Solution: C

Charter Act of 1793

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It extended the overriding power given to Lord Cornwallis over his council, to all future Governor-Generals and Governors of Presidencies.
2. It gave the Governor-General more powers and control over the governments of the subordinate Presidencies of Bombay and Madras.
3. It extended the trade monopoly of the Company in India for another period of twenty years.
4. It provided that the Commander-in-Chief was not to be a member of the Governor-General’s council, unless he was so appointed.
5. It laid down that the members of the Board of Control and their staff were, henceforth, to be paid out of the Indian revenues.

Solution: A

Second Schedule

Provisions relating to the emoluments, allowances, privileges and so on of:

1. The President of India
2. The Governors of States
3. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha
4. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
5. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the states
6. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council in the states
7. The Judges of the Supreme Court
8. The Judges of the High Courts
9. The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India

Solution: A

SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold. They are substitutes for holding physical gold.

Investors have to pay the issue price in cash and the bonds will be redeemed in cash on maturity. The Bond is issued by Reserve Bank on behalf of Government of India.

Benefits of Sovereign Gold Bonds

• Investors are assured of the market value of gold at the time of maturity and periodical interest.
• SGB is free from issues like making charges and purity in the case of gold in jewellery form.
• The bonds are held in the books of the RBI or in demat form eliminating risk of loss of scrip etc.

Solution: C

Republic

A democratic polity can be classified into two categories–monarchy and republic. In a monarchy, the head of the state (usually king or queen) enjoys a hereditary position, that is, he comes into office through succession, e.g., Britain. In a republic, on the other hand, the head of the state is always elected directly or indirectly for a fixed period, e.g., USA.

The term ‘republic’ in our Preamble indicates that India has an elected head called the president. He is elected indirectly for a fixed period of five years.

A republic also means two more things: one, vesting of political sovereignty in the people and not in a single individual like a king; second, the absence of any privileged class and hence all public offices being opened to every citizen without any discrimination.

Solution: A

Article 1 describes India, that is, Bharat as a ‘Union of States’ rather than a ‘Federation of States’. This provision deals with two things: one, name of the country, and two, type of polity

According to Article 1, the territory of India can be classified into three categories:

1. Territories of the states
2. Union territories
3. Territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any time.

Notably, the ‘Territory of India’ is a wider expression than the ‘Union of India’ because the latter includes only states while the former includes not only the states, but also union territories and territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any future time. The states are the members of the federal system and share a distribution of powers with the Centre. The union territories and the acquired territories, on the other hand, are directly administered by the Central government.

Solution: D

Economic Census gives the basic entrepreneurial data for planning and development in the State specially for unorganized sectors of the economy.

It is 100% centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Government of India.

Five Economic Census have been conducted earlier throughout the country during the year 1977, 1980, 1990, 1998 and 2005.

Information collected under Economic Census provides updated frame for conducting detailed follow up surveys.

Coverage of Economic Census

1. Economic Census is the complete count of all entrepreneurial units located within the geographical boundaries of the Country.
2. Information on number of establishments and employment in all type of establishments, unpaid/paid workers, female workers, child workers, ownership of establishments, use of power, registration of establishments, source of finance etc. is collected.
3. Complete address of enterprises having 10 or more workers is recorded.

http://esaharyana.gov.in/en-us/Economic-Census

Solution: D

By Naturalization

The Central Government may, on an application, grant a certificate of naturalization to any person (not being an illegal migrant) if he possesses the following qualifications:

(a) that he is not a subject or citizen of any country where citizens of India are prevented from becoming subjects or citizens of that country by naturalization;

(b) that, if he is a citizen of any country, he undertakes to renounce the citizenship of that country in the event of his application for Indian citizenship being accepted;

(c) that he has either resided in India or been in the service of a Government in India or partly the one and partly the other, throughout the period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of the application;

(d) that during the fourteen years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months, he has either resided in India or been in the service of a Government in India, or partly the one and partly the other, for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than eleven years;

(e) that he is of good character;

(f) that he has an adequate knowledge of a language specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution; and

(g) that in the event of a certificate of naturalization being granted to him, he intends to reside in India, or to enter into or continue in, service under a Government in India or under an international organization of which India is a member or under a society, company or body of persons established in India. However, the Government of India may waive all or any of the above conditions for naturalization in the case of a person who has rendered distinguished service to the science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress. Every naturalized citizen must take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India.

Solution: B

The Supreme Court has reaffirmed its judgement in the Menaka case in the subsequent cases. It has declared the following rights as part of Article 21:

(1) Right to live with human dignity.

(2) Right to decent environment including pollution free water and air and protection against hazardous industries.

(3) Right to livelihood.

(4) Right to privacy.

(5) Right to shelter.

(6) Right to health.

(7) Right to free education up to 14 years of age.

(8) Right to free legal aid.

(9) Right against solitary confinement.

(10) Right to speedy trial.

(11) Right against handcuffing.

(12) Right against inhuman treatment.

(13) Right against delayed execution.

(14) Right to travel abroad.

(15) Right against bonded labour.

(16) Right against custodial harassment.

Freedom of Speech and Expression

It implies that every citizen has the right to express his views, opinions, belief and convictions freely by word of mouth, writing, printing, picturing or in any other manner. The Supreme Court held that the freedom of speech and expression includes the following:

(a) Right to propagate one’s views as well as views of others.

(b) Freedom of the press.

(c) Freedom of commercial advertisements.

(d) Right against tapping of telephonic conversation.

(e) Right to telecast, that is, government has no monopoly on electronic media.

(f) Right against bundh called by a political party or organization.

(g) Right to know about government activities.

(h) Freedom of silence.

(i) Right against imposition of pre-censorship on a newspaper.

(j) Right to demonstration or picketing but not right to strike.

Solution: C

Prepaid payment instruments (PPIs)

PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., against the value stored on such instruments.

It comes with a pre-loaded value and in some cases a pre-defined purpose of payment.

They facilitate the purchase of goods and services as well as inter-personal remittance transactions such as sending money to a friend or a family member.

These payment instruments are licensed and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

Solution: A

Protection of Interests of Minorities

Article 29 provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same. Further, no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, or language.

The first provision protects the right of a group while the second provision guarantees the right of a citizen as an individual irrespective of the community to which he belongs.

Article 29 grants protection to both religious minorities as well as linguistic minorities. However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as it is commonly assumed to be. This is because of the use of words ‘section of citizens’ in the Article that include minorities as well as majority.

The Supreme Court also held that the right to conserve the language includes the right to agitate for the protection of the language. Hence, the political speeches or promises made for the conservation of the language of a section of the citizens does not amount to corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Solution: B

Quo-Warranto

In the literal sense, it means ‘by what authority or warrant’. It is issued by the court to enquire into the legality of claim of a person to a public office. Hence, it prevents illegal usurpation of public office by a person.

The writ can be issued only in case of a substantive public office of a permanent character created by a statute or by the Constitution. It cannot be issued in cases of ministerial office or private office. Unlike the other four writs, this can be sought by any interested person and not necessarily by the aggrieved person.

Solution: B

Voluntary Retention Route is a scheme to encourage Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to undertake long-term investments in Indian debt markets.

The minimum retention period would be three years. During this period, FPIs shall maintain a minimum of 75 per cent of the allocated amount in India.

FPIs registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are eligible to voluntarily invest through the route in government and corporate bonds.

Allocation of investment amount to FPIs under this route shall be made on tap or through auctions.

Solution: D

Apart from the Directives included in Part IV, there are some other Directives contained in other Parts of the Constitution. They are:

1. Claims of SCs and STs to Services: The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or a State (Article 335 in Part XVI).
2. Instruction in mother tongue: It shall be the endeavor of every state and every local authority within the state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups (Article 350-A in Part XVII).

3. Development of the Hindi Language: It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language and to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India (Article 351 in Part XVII).

The above Directives are also non-justiciable in nature. However, they are also given equal importance and attention by the judiciary on the ground that all parts of the constitution must be read together.

Solution: B

Following points can be noted with regard to the characteristics of the Fundamental Duties:

1. Some of them are moral duties while others are civic duties. For instance, cherishing noble ideals of freedom struggle is a moral precept and respecting the Constitution, National Flag and National Anthem is a civic duty.
2. They refer to such values which have been a part of the Indian tradition, mythology, religions and practices. In other words, they essentially contain just a codification of tasks integral to the Indian way of life.
3. Unlike some of the Fundamental Rights which extend to all persons whether citizens or foreigners, the Fundamental Duties are confined to citizens only and do not extend to foreigners.
4. Like the Directive Principles, the fundamental duties are also non-justiciable. The Constitution does not provide for their direct enforcement by the courts. Moreover, there is not legal sanction against their violation. However, the Parliament is free to enforce them by suitable legislation.

Solution: B

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a National Common Mobility Card (NCMC).

National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) – One Nation, One Card for transport mobility is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases.

The Indigenous Automatic Fare Collection System based on One Nation One Card Model is the first of its kind in India.

Key features:

• Dubbed as ‘One Nation One Card’, the inter-operable transport card would allow the holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.
• This card runs on RuPay card. With the advent of this indigenously-developed and one-of-its-kind card, the country is no longer required to be dependent on foreign technology.
• The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stakeholders.
• It is an open loop card, which can be used for all local travel needs in the country.
• The cards can be issued by all public and private banks the same way credit, debit, and prepaid cards are issued.

https://vikaspedia.in/e-governance/online-citizen-services/government-to-citizen-services-g2c/transport-related-services/national-common-mobility-card

Solution: A

The procedure for the amendment of the Constitution as laid down in Article 368 is as follows:

1. An amendment of the Constitution can be initiated only by the introduction of a bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament and not in the state legislatures.
2. The bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private member and does not require prior permission of the president.
3. The bill must be passed in each House by a special majority, that is, a majority of the total membership of the House and a majority of two-thirds of the members of the House present and voting.
4. Each House must pass the bill separately. In case of a disagreement between the two Houses, there is no provision for holding a joint sitting of the two Houses for the purpose of deliberation and passage of the bill.
5. If the bill seeks to amend the federal provisions of the Constitution, it must also be ratified by the legislatures of half of the states by a simple majority, that is, a majority of the members of the House present and voting.
6. After duly passed by both the Houses of Parliament and ratified by the state legislatures, where necessary, the bill is presented to the president for assent.
7. The president must give his assent to the bill. He can neither withhold his assent to the bill nor return the bill for reconsideration of the Parliament.
8. After the president’s assent, the bill becomes an Act (i.e., a constitutional amendment act) and the Constitution stands amended in accordance with the terms of the Act.

Solution: B

The parliamentary system of government in India is largely based on the British parliamentary system. However, it never became a replica of the British system and differs in the following respects:

1. India has a republican system in place of British monarchical system. In other words, the Head of the State in India (that is, President) is elected, while the Head of the State in Britain (that is, King or Queen) enjoys a hereditary position.
2. The British system is based on the doctrine of the sovereignty of Parliament, while the Parliament is not supreme in India and enjoys limited and restricted powers due to a written Constitution, federal system, judicial review and fundamental rights.
3. In Britain, the prime minister should be a member of the Lower House (House of Commons) of the Parliament. In India, the prime minister may be a member of any of the two Houses of Parliament.
4. Usually, the members of Parliament alone are appointed as ministers in Britain. In India, a person who is not a member of Parliament can also be appointed as minister, but for a maximum period of six months.
5. Britain has the system of legal responsibility of the minister while India has no such system. Unlike in Britain, the ministers in India are not required to countersign the official acts of the Head of the State.
6. ‘Shadow cabinet’ is an unique institution of the British cabinet system. It is formed by the opposition party to balance the ruling cabinet and to prepare its members for future ministerial office. There is no such institution in India.

Solution: C

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which helps us understand the growth of various sectors in the Indian economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing. It is a short term indicator of industrial growth.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. IIP is published monthly, with six weeks delay.

It covers 865 (Older series 682) items comprising:

• Manufacturing (809 items, Older series 620 items),
• Mining (55 items, Older Series 61 items) &
• Electricity (1 item).

The weights of the three sectors are:

• Manufacturing – 77.63%,
• Mining – 14.37%,
• Electricity – 7.99%

Solution: A

Allocation of Taxing Powers

The Constitution divides the taxing powers between the Centre and the states in the following way:

• The Parliament has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the Union List (which are 13 in number).
• The state legislature has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the State List (which are 18 in number).
• There are no tax entries in the Concurrent List. In other words, the concurrent jurisdiction is not available with respect to tax legislation. But, the 101st Amendment Act of 2016 has made an exception by making a special provision with respect to goods and services tax. This Amendment has conferred concurrent power upon Parliament and State Legislatures to make laws governing goods and services tax.
• The residuary power of taxation (that is, the power to impose taxes not enumerated in any of the three lists) is vested in the Parliament. Under this provision, the Parliament has imposed gift tax, wealth tax and expenditure tax.

Solution: C

Nal Sarovar is a Bird Sanctuary, spread in the area of 120.82-sq-km Lake, a serene marshland with shallow waters (4-5 ft) which contains 36 small islands. Nalsarovar-Ahmedabad distance is about 60 km located near Sanand Village, in Gujarat. Mainly inhabited by migratory birds as their wintering ground, Nalsarovar wetland is the largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat, and one of the largest in India. Nalsarovar is a Bird Sanctuary since April 1969 and Nalsarovar is a Ramsar site since 24 September 2012.

The Nal Sarovar Lake is in a lowest-lying area between the Central Gujarat and East Saurashtra. It represents a sea link that once existed between the Little Rann and the Gulf of Khamba.

Solution: D

The Directives also play the following roles:

1. They facilitate stability and continuity in domestic and foreign policies in political, economic and social spheres in spite of the changes of the party in power.
2. They are supplementary to the fundamental rights of the citizens. They are intended to fill in the vacuum in Part III by providing for social and economic rights.
3. Their implementation creates a favorable atmosphere for the full and proper enjoyment of the fundamental rights by the citizens. Political democracy, without economic democracy, has no meaning.
4. They enable the opposition to exercise influence and control over the operations of the government. The Opposition can blame the ruling party on the ground that its activities are opposed to the Directives.
5. They serve as a crucial test for the performance of the government. The people can examine the policies and programmes of the government in the light of these constitutional declarations.
6. They serve as common political manifesto. ‘A ruling party, irrespective of its political ideology, has to recognise the fact that these principles are intended to be its guide, philosopher and friend in its legislative and executive acts

Solution: C

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• It is set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957 within the United Nations family.
• Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
• It is an independent international organization that reports annually to the UN General Assembly. When necessary, the IAEA also reports to the UN Security Council in regards to instances of members’ non-compliance with safeguards and security obligations.

Functions:

• Works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies.
• Seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.

Solution: D

Article 301 declares that trade, commerce and intercourse throughout the territory of India shall be free. The object of this provision is to break down the border barriers between the states and to create one unit with a view to encourage the free flow of trade, commerce and intercourse in the country. The freedom under this provision is not confined to interstate trade, commerce and intercourse but also extends to intra-state trade, commerce and intercourse. Thus, Article 301 will be violated whether restrictions are imposed at the frontier of any state or at any prior or subsequent stage.

The freedom guaranteed by Article 301 is a freedom from all restrictions, except those which are provided for in the other provisions (Articles 302 to 305) of Part XIII of the Constitution itself.

These are explained below:

(i) Parliament can impose restrictions on the freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse between the states or within a state, in public interest. But, the Parliament cannot give preference one state over another or discriminate between the state except in the case of scarcity of goods in any part of India.

(ii) The legislature of a state can imposes reasonable restrictions the freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse with that state or within that state in public interest. But, a bill for this purpose can be introduced in the legislature only with the previous sanction of the president. Further, the state legislature can give preference to one state over another or discriminate between the states.

(iii) The legislature of a state can impose on goods imported from other states or the union territories any tax to which similar goods manufactured in that state are subject. This provision prohibits the imposition of discriminatory taxes by the state.

(iv) The freedom (under Article 301) is subject to the nationalization laws (i.e., laws providing for monopolies in favour of the Center or the states). Thus, the Parliament or the state legislature can make laws for the carrying on by the respective government.

Solution: A

SSLV is a new mini-rocket launcher designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for launching small satellites. SSLV rockets are capable of putting a payload of 500 kg to mid-inclination Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 300 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO), making it ideal for launching small satellites.

SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple micro-satellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs. Unlike the PSLV and GSLV, the SSLV can be assembled both vertically and horizontally. It will be used exclusively for small satellites such as nanosats and cubesats.

Solution: D

The pattern of the series is,
3*2 + 1 = 7
7*2 + 2 = 16
16*2 + 3 = 35
35*2 + 4 = 74
74*2 + 5 = 153
74 is the missing number.

Solution: B

The pattern is,
10 * 2 – 7.5 = 12.5
12.5 * 2 – 7.5 = 17.5
17.5 * 2 – 7.5 = 27.5
27.5 * 2 – 7.5 = 47.5

Or  you can observe difference is doubling in each case i.e 2.5 , 5, 10 and 20.

Thus adding 10 to 17.5 will make the missing term as 27.5

Solution: B

The given series is175, 156, ? ,118
Consecutive numbers decreases by 19

That holds true as difference between 2 nd and 4^th number is 38 (19 * 2)
Following this pattern, the Missing Number should decrease by 19 from the previous number.
When we subtract 19 from 156, we get missing number = 137

Solution: A

2 x 24 = 48
3 x 9 = 27
4 x 10 = 40

Answer. A.

Options B and C are wrong because they are not the key focus of the passage. The passage tells us about the increasing risk of vector borne diseases as a result of climate change and the efforts undertaken by scientists to deal with such threat which doesn’t necessarily lead to the inference that the world is ill prepared, even though it might be the case. Hence A is correct.