DAY – 49 (InstaTest-49): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2020: Topic – Geography, Subject-wise test 17, Textbook based test 13 & 14, September, October & November 2019 CA Revision

Solution: D

Vaccines are one of the most effective tools to prevent diseases. A vaccine is a substance that resembles the disease-causing agent (also called pathogen) but does not cause the disease.

It trains the body’s immune system to recognise and kill the pathogen, and creates a memory for the future. Vaccines are available to protect us against many life-threatening diseases such as polio, influenza, meningitis, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and certain types of cancers.

Vaccines have also been responsible for eradication (or near eradication) of deadly diseases such as smallpox and polio.

Vaccine development is time consuming and capital intensive process.

https://www.who.int/topics/vaccines/en/

Solution: A

The black soils are generally clayey, deep and impermeable. They swell and become sticky when wet and shrink when dried. So, during the dry season, these soils develop wide cracks. Thus, there occurs a kind of ‘self ploughing’. Because of this character of slow absorption and loss of moisture, the black soil retains the moisture for a very long time, which helps the crops, especially, the rain fed ones, to sustain even during the dry season.

Chemically, the black soils are rich in lime, iron, magnesia and alumina. They also contain potash. But they lack in phosphorous, nitrogen and organic matter. The color of the soil ranges from deep black to grey.

Solution: D

Tropical Evergreen forests are found in the western slope of the Western Ghats, hills of the northeastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are found in warm and humid areas with an annual precipitation of over 200 cm and mean annual temperature above 22oC. Tropical evergreen forests are well stratified, with layers closer to the ground and are covered with shrubs and creepers, with short structured trees followed by tall variety of trees.

In these forests, trees reach great heights up to 60 m or above. There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves, flowering and fruition. As such these forests appear green all the year round. Species found in these forests include rosewood, mahogony, aini, ebony, etc.

Solution:  C

Palkulangara Devi Temple is a Hindu temple in Palkulangara, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

Kanaka Durga Temple is a famous hindu Temple of Goddess Durga located in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The temple is located on the Indrakeeladri hill, on the banks of Krishna River.

The Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shri Ganesh. It is located in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was originally built by Laxman Vithu and Deubai Patil on 19 November 1801.

Solution: B

Solution: B

Solution: D

Réunion is an overseas department and region of the French Republic and an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and 175 km southwest of Mauritius.

Socotra or Soqotra  located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, is the largest of four islands in the Socotra archipelago. The territory is located near major shipping routes and is officially part of Yemen, and had long been a subdivision of the Aden Governorate

Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago.

Solution: D

The Northeastern Plateau

In fact it is an extension of the main Peninsular plateau. It is believed that due to the force exerted by the northeastward movement of the Indian plate at the time of the Himalayan origin, a huge fault was created between the Rajmahal hills and the Meghalaya plateau. Later, this depression got filled up by the deposition activity of the numerous rivers.

Today, the Meghalaya and Karbi Anglong plateau stand detached from the main Peninsular Block. The Meghalaya plateau is further sub-divided into three: (i) The Garo Hills; (ii) The Khasi Hills; (iii) The Jaintia Hills, named after the tribal groups inhabiting this region. An extension of this is also seen in the Karbi Anglong hills of Assam. Similar to the Chotanagpur plateau, the Meghalaya plateau is also rich in mineral resources like coal, iron ore, sillimanite, limestone and uranium. This area receives maximum rainfall from the south west monsoon. As a result, the Meghalaya plateau has a highly eroded surface. Cherrapunji displays a bare rocky surface devoid of any permanent vegetation cover.

Solution: B

The outer-most range of the Himalayas is called the Shiwaliks. They extend over a width of 10-50 Km and have an altitude varying between 900 and 1100 metres. These ranges are composed of unconsolidated sediments brought down by rivers from the main Himalayan ranges located farther north. These valleys are covered with thick gravel and alluvium. The longitudinal valley lying between lesser Himalaya and the Shiwaliks are known as Duns. Dehra Dun,Kotli Dun and Patli Dun are some of thewell-known Duns.

Solution: D

NATIONAL CAREER SERVICE

It is one of the mission mode projects under the umbrella of E-Governance Plan.

It works towards bridging the gap between job-seekers and employers, candidates seeking training and career guidance and agencies providing training and career counselling by transforming the National Employment Service.

NCS provides a host of career-related services such as dynamic job matching, career counselling, job notifications, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, internships and alike.

It is an initiative of Minsitry of Labour and Employment.

The focus areas for the National Career Service platform are listed below:

1. Enhancing career and employment opportunities.
2. Counselling and guidance for career development.
3. Focusing on decent employment
4. Enhancing female labour force participation.
5. Encouraging entrepreneurial endeavours.

It doesn’t provide unemployment allowance.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/16/ncs-national-career-service/

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/few-takers-for-govts-national-career-service-portal/article10038047.ece

Solution: D

The Yamuna, the western most and the longest tributary of the Ganga, has its source in the Yamunotri glacier on the western slopes of Banderpunch range (6,316 km). It joins the Ganga at Prayag (Allahabad). It is joined by the Chambal, the Sind, the Betwa and the Ken on its right bank which originates from the Peninsular plateau while the Hindan, the Rind, the Sengar, the Varuna, etc. join it on its left bank. Much of its water feeds the western and eastern Yamuna and the Agra canals for irrigation purposes.

Solution: B

Break in the Monsoon

During the south-west monsoon period after having rains for a few days, if rain fails to occur for one or more weeks, it is known as break in the monsoon. These dry spells are quite common during the rainy season. These breaks in the different regions are due to different reasons:

(i) In northern India rains are likely to fail if the rain-bearing storms are not very frequent along the monsoon trough or the ITCZ over this region.

(ii) Over the west coast the dry spells are associated with days when winds blow parallel to the coast.

Solution: D

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as Hidase Dam, is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia that has been under construction since 2011. It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of the border with Sudan.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-dam-of-contention-in-africa/article31075794.ece

Solution: B

The retreating southwest monsoon season is marked by clear skies and rise in temperature. The land is still moist. Owing to the conditions of high temperature and humidity, the weather becomes rather oppressive. This is commonly known as the ‘October heat’. In the second half of October, the mercury begins to fall rapidly, particularly in northern India. The weather in the retreating monsoon is dry in north India but it is associated with rain in the eastern part of the Peninsula. Here, October and November are the rainiest months of the year.

The widespread rain in this season is associated with the passage of cyclonic depressions which originate over the Andaman Sea and manage to cross the eastern coast of the southern Peninsula. These tropical cyclones are very destructive.

Solution: A

Tsunami

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that cause the sea-floor to move abruptly resulting in sudden displacement of ocean water in the form of high vertical waves are called tsunamis (harbour waves) or seismic sea waves.

Normally, the seismic waves cause only one instantaneous vertical wave; but, after the initial disturbance, a series of afterwaves are created in the water that oscillate between high crest and low trough in order to restore the water level.

The speed of wave in the ocean depends upon the depth of water. It is more in the shallow water than in the ocean deep. As a result of this, the impact of tsunami is less over the ocean and more near the coast where they cause large-scale devastations. Therefore, a ship at sea is not much affected by tsunami and it is difficult to detect a tsunami in the deeper parts of sea. It is so because over deep water the tsunami has very long wave-length and limited wave-height. Thus, a tsunami wave raises the ship only a metre or two and each rise and fall takes several minutes. As opposed to this, when a tsunami enters shallow water, its wave-length gets reduced and the period remains unchanged, which increases the waveheight.

Sometimes, this height can be up to 15m or more, which causes large-scale destructions along the shores. Thus, these are also called Shallow Water Waves. Tsunamis are frequently observed along the Pacific ring of fire, particularly along the coast of Alaska, Japan, Philippines, and other islands of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and India etc.

Solution: D

Context: Expanding plantations of exotic species, including tea, in the Nilgiris can wipe out Shola vegetation, according to a report filed by an expert committee formed by the Madras High Court.

Key findings:

• This change in vegetation will result in loss of water sources and is already leading to massive landslides.
• Invasive species like eucalyptus, tea plantations and wattle and naturalised alien species like Lantana camara, Opuntia stricta, Chromolaena odorata, Parthenium hysterophorus and Senna spectabilis have had a serious impact on the Shola forest and grasslands.

What are Shola Grasslands?

• The Shola vegetation are tropical montane forests found in the Western Ghats separated by rolling grasslands in high altitudes.
• Shola grasslands consist of dwarf trees growing 25-30 feet.
• It is a stunted forest growths of diverse grass species.
• Vegetation is double layered storey with closed canopy which hardly permits a single ray of sunlight to penetrate in the natural vegetation.
• Nilgiris upper region is classified as southern grassland mountain grassland.
• Between 1973-2014 Shola grasslands area had seen a 66.7% decline.
• These forests are found sheltered in valleys with sufficient moisture and proper drainage, at an altitude of more than 1,500 metres.

Significance:

• The Shola forests and associated grasslands store large quantities of water on the mountain ranges, thus serving as huge `water harvesting and storage structures.
• Many of the rivers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu originate from the Shola grasslands and were perennial. With depletion of Sholas and other forests, the streams that supply water to them dry up in summer.
• They are rich store houses of biodiversity and also home to extremely rich wildlife.

Solution: C

Jute

Jute is used for making coarse cloth, bags, sacks and decorative items. It is a cash crop in West Bengal and adjoining eastern parts of the country. India lost large jute growing areas to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) during partition. At present, India produces about three-fifth of jute production of the world. West Bengal accounts for about three-fourth of the production in the country. Bihar and Assam are other jute growing areas. Being concentrated only in a few states, this crop accounts for only about 0.5 per cent of total cropped area in the country.

It is known as the golden fibre. Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains where soils are renewed every year. High temperature is required during the time of growth.

Climate Required for Jute Cultivation: Jute crop grows well in rainfed, moderate, warm humid atmosphere and sunshine conditions. 25°C to 30°C is ideal for jute cultivation. Jute cultivation requires about 160 cm to 200 cm rainfall. Humid weather will result in good yield.

Soil Requirement for Jute Cultivation:- River basins or alluvial or loamy soils are best for jute cultivation. Jute cultivation in red soils may require high dose of manure and PH range between 4.8 and 5.8 is best for its cultivation.

Solution: B

The Barak is an important river in Manipur and Mizoram.

The physiography of Manipur is unique by the presence of a large lake known as ‘Loktak’ lake at the centre, surrounded by mountains from all sides. Mizoram which is also known as the ‘Molassis basin’ which is made up of soft unconsolidated deposits. Most of the rivers in Nagaland form the tributary of the Brahmaputra. While two rivers of Mizoram and Manipur are the tributaries of the Barak river

Solution: B

World Trade Organization

• It was established on 1 January 1995 and its official languages are English, French and Spanish.
• It is an inter-governmental organization for governments to negotiate global trade agreements and progressively liberalizing trade.
• It operates system of trade rules that apply to all its members.
• It is also a place for Member governments to settle their trade disputes.
• Ministerial Conference is WTO’s top level decision making body. It meets once in two years.
• Its headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland.
• All decisions are made by consensus. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).
• There are no WTO definitions of “developed” and “developing” countries. Members announce for themselves whether they are “developed” or “developing” countries.
• The WTO maintains regular dialogue with non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, other international organizations, the media and the general public on various aspects of the WTO.

Solution: C

The Kaveri rises in Brahmagiri hills (1,341m) of Kogadu district in Karnataka. Its length is 800 km and it drains an area of 81,155 sq. km. Since the upper catchment area receives rainfall during the southwest monsoon season (summer) and the lower part during the northeast monsoon season (winter), the river carries water throughout the year with comparatively less fluctuation than the other Peninsular rivers. About 3 per cent of the Kaveri basin falls in Kerala, 41 per cent in Karnataka and 56 per cent in Tamil Nadu. Its important tributaries are the Kabini, the Bhavani and the Amravati.

Solution: C

Astra Missile

• It is the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air that enables the fighter-pilots to shoot precisely at the enemy targets which are beyond their visual range.
• It is an all-weather, state-of-the-art missile developed by DRDO and can engage and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed (1.2 Mach to 1.4 Mach) in head-on (up to 80 km) and tail-chase (up to 20 km) modes.
• The 3.8 metre tall Astra is a radar homing missile and the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles and can be launched from different altitudes.
• It can be launched from different altitudes and is capable of engaging targets at varying range and altitudes at both short-range targets (up to 20 km) in tail-chase mode and long-range targets (up to 80 km) in head-on mode.

Solution: D

Tropical Thorn Forests

Tropical thorn forests occur in the areas which receive rainfall less than 50 cm. These consist of a variety of grasses and shrubs. It includes semi-arid areas of south west Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In these forests, plants remain leafless for most part of the year and give an expression of scrub vegetation.

Important species found are babool, ber, and wild date palm, khair, neem, khejri, palas, etc.

Tussocky grass grows upto a height of 2 m as the under growth.

Solution: A

Universal Postal Union (UPU):

• A specialized agency of United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to worldwide postal system.
• Established in 1874 and is second oldest international organization worldwide after International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which was established in 1865.
• Headquartered in Berne, Switzerland.
• Has 192 member countries.
• It is primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players among member countries.
• UPU has four units: the Congress, the Council of Administration, the International Bureau, and the Postal Operations Council.
• Regulates40 lakh postal outlets worldwide.
• India joined the UPU on July 1, 1876 and Pakistan on November 10, 1947.

Solution: B

Solution: C

The World Energy Outlook series is a leading source of strategic insight on the future of energy and energy-related emissions, providing detailed scenarios that map out the consequences of different energy policy and investment choices. It has been released by International Energy Agency. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected a rapid increase in installed capacity of solar power by 2040, from 495 GW now to 3,142 GW. IEA projects a ‘profound shift’ in global energy systems, with rapid increase in the installed solar capacity by 2040, flattening of coal-based power generation and a decline in reliance of oil.

Solution: C

As per the given pattern in question figure , we can find the similar next position of given dice .
It is clear from the two views of the same dice that from first figure to second figure, the dice has been rotated downward.
Therefore, the number 2 lies opposite the number 4.

Solution: A

As per the given pattern in question figure , we can find the similar next position of given dice .
The numbers 1, 2, 4 and 6 are on the adjacent faces of number 5.
Therefore, number 3 will lie opposite 5.
The numbers 2, 5 and 6 are on the adjacent faces of number 1.
Therefore, 4 lies opposite to 1.

Solution: C

Conclusion I: All liquids being tree is a possibility is True. It is given that All trees are solid, all solids are gas and all gases are liquid that means all trees being liquid is true but all liquid being tree is a possibility when all four are equal. So, conclusion 1 is true.
Conclusion II: Some liquid are definitely solid is True. It is given that the shaded area of liquid are definitely solid. So, conclusion 2 is true.
Conclusion III: All gases are solid is False. It is given that All solids are gas but all gases cannot be solid. So, conclusion 3 is false.
Hence I and II follows.

Solution: C

According to the given statements:
Conclusion I) False —> In the diagram, it is clear that, Some taller are class. So, -ve statement regarding taller and class is false.
Conclusion II) False –> In the diagram, it is clear that, Only Some taller are class. Hence, All taller are class – is not correct.
But, both the given conclusions contain same elements ie., ‘taller and class.’
‘Some …. not + All’ conclusion is observed in the conclusions I and II.
So the answer will be Either conclusion I or II follows.

Answer. D.

III is wrong as the passage states that focussing solely on economic growth is problematic. The corollary of this is not that the focus should only be on human development. I is wrong as there are structural and political constraints as well that need to be taken into account.

Hence D is the most accurate answer.