DAY – 17 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: A

The earliest references of Census in India can be traced back to the Mauryan period in Kautilaya’s ‘Arthashastra’ (321-296 BC) and later during the Mughal period in the writings of Abul Fazl (1595-96) in the ‘Ain-e-Akbari’. Census, in its present scientific form was conducted non synchronously between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country. This effort culminating in 1872 has been popularly labelled as the first Census of India. However, the first synchronous Census in India was carried out in 1881. An unbroken chain of censuses since then gives the Indian Census a unique historical legacy unparalleled in the world. Census 2011 is the fifteenth Census in this continuous series from 1872 and the seventh since Independence.

Solution: A

In India, the population census is a Union subject (Article 246) and is listed at serial number 69 of the seventh schedule of the constitution. The Census Act 1948 forms the legal basis for conduct of census in independent India. Although the Census Act is an instrument of Central legislation, in the scheme of its execution, state hierarchy is setup at all levels by State Governments for the purpose of carrying out census. The Census Organisation under the Union Home Ministry has been functioning on permanent footing ever since 1961 and provides a vital continuity to conceive, plan and implement the programme of census taking in country. The Organisation headed by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India has field offices in thirty three States and Union territories. These are permanent Directorates headed by the Directors of Census Operations, who are mainly responsible for the conduct of census in their respective jurisdiction.

NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER

Canvassing for National Population Register (NPR) was done alongwith the first phase of Housing Census. NPR has legal provisions under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. NPR is based on Local Register of Usual Residents (LRUR) for every village and ward and is designed to include every usual resident of the country with the help of fifteen fields of information, along-with photographs, bio-metric prints of ten fingers and iris scan of both eyes, to be captured as per UID standards. Based on this data, the residents would be issued an MNIC (Multi-purpose National Identity Card) with UID number (issued by the UID authority). The MNIC would also contain 5-10 other official numbers like driving license, PAN card, NREG job cards, ration cards etc.

Solution: D

National Crisis Management Committee is a temporary committee set up by the Government of India in the wake of a natural calamity for effective coordination and implementation of relief measures and operations.

It is headed by Cabinet Secretary. The Agriculture Secretary shall provide all necessary information to and seek directions on the constitution of such a committee.

In the absence of such a Cabinet Committee, all matter relating to relief shall be reported to the Cabinet Secretary.

Solution: A

Statutory town is a notified urban area.

Census Town is a village with minimum population of 5000; population density of at least 400 persons/sq km; and where at least 75% of male main workers are engaged in non-agricultural activities.

Outgrowth (OG) is an adjoining rural area to a statutory town with urban characteristics.

Urban agglomeration (UA) is a continuum of a town and its adjoining OG; or two or more contiguous towns together and any adjoining OGs of such towns; or a continuous spread of a city with one or more adjoining towns and their OGs. Minimum total population of UA should be 20,000 with at least one statutory town in it.

Solution: C

The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is a public health, nutrition and translational research center located in Hyderabad. It is one of the oldest research centers in India. It is the largest center under the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Objectives

• To identify various dietary and nutrition problems prevalent among different segments of the population in the country.
• Conducts research in obesity, diabetes, food chemistry, dietetics, clinical toxicology, and micronutrient deficiency in collaboration with various centres.
• To continuously monitor diet and nutrition situation of the country.
• To evolve effective methods of management and prevention of nutritional problems.
• To conduct operational research connected with planning and implementation of national nutrition programmes.
• To disseminate nutrition information.
• To advise governments and other organisations on issues relating to nutrition

Solution: B

Population: As per Census 2011, Uttar Pradesh has the largest rural population of 155.3 million(18.6% of the country’s rural population) whereas Maharashtra has the highest urban population of 50.8 million (13.5% of country’s urban population) in the country.

Proportion of Population: In percentage terms, the rural population constitutes 68.8% and Urban population 31.2% of the total population. There has been an increase of 3.4% in the proportion of urban population in the last decade. Himachal Pradesh (90.0%) has the largest proportion of rural population. Delhi (97.5%) has the largest proportion of urban population.

Solution: B

Sex Ratio (Number of females per 1,000 males) : The Sex Ratio in the country which was 933 in 2001 has increased by 10 points to 943 in 2011. In rural areas the sex ratio has increased from 946 to 949. The corresponding increase in urban areas has been of 29 points from 900 to 929. Kerala has recorded high sex ration in total population (1084). The lowest sex ratio in rural areas has been recorded in Chandigarh (690). The corresponding value in urban areas has been returned in Daman & Diu (551). Seven States namely Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and one Union Territory (UT) Lakshadweep show fall in the sex ratio in rural areas. Two UTs, namely, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have shown a similar trend in urban areas.

Solution: D

A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court is a special bench constituted by the Chief Justice of India for hearing matters during summer vacation or winter holidays.

The Chief Justice may appoint one or more Judges to hear all matters of an urgent nature which under these rules may be heard by a Judge sitting singly.

The Chief Justice may likewise appoint a Division Court for the hearing of urgent cases during the vacation which require to be heard by a Bench of Judges.

The High Courts and trial courts too have Vacation Benches to hear urgent matters under their jurisdiction.

Solution: D

Scheduled Tribe Population

The total Scheduled Tribe population returned in Census 2011 is 104.3 million. Of this, 93.8 million are in rural areas and 10.5 million in urban areas.

8. In terms of proportion, the Scheduled Tribe population constitutes 8.6 % of the total population. The proportion during the last Census was 8.2%. There has thus been an increase of 0.4% during the last decade. The highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes has been recorded in Lakshadweep (94.8 %) and the lowest in Uttar Pradesh (0.6%).

b. The highest number of Scheduled Tribes has been recorded in Madhya Pradesh (15.3 million) and the lowest in Daman & Diu (15,363).

Solution: A

The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the gold industry. Its purpose is to stimulate and sustain demand for gold, provide industry leadership, and be the global authority on the gold market.

It works across all parts of the industry, from gold mining to investment. Its members are the world’s largest and most forward-thinking gold mining companies.

It was not established under the aegis of United Nations

It is based in the UK, with operations in India, China, Singapore and the US.

Solution: A

Solution: B

Groundnut

India produces about 15 per cent of the total groundnut production in the world (2015). It is largely a rainfed kharif crop of drylands. But in southern India, it is cultivated during rabi season as well. It covers about 3.6 per cent of total cropped area in the country. Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra are the leading producers. Yield of groundnut is comparatively high in Tamil Nadu where it is partly irrigated. But its yield is low in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Solution: C

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is an international organization. It will be established upon the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, a Convention that outlaws nuclear test explosions.

Its seat will be Vienna, Austria. The Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO, and its Provisional Technical Secretariat, were established in 1997 and are headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

What they do?

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground.

The organization will be tasked with verifying the ban on nuclear tests and will operate therefore a worldwide monitoring system and may conduct onsite inspections.

Solution: C

In India, spatial and temporal variation of precipitation has been boundless varying from 11000 mm to 90 mm. The average annual per capita water availability has declined from 5000 cubic meter in year 1950 to 1545 cubic meter in year 2011 and estimated to reduce further to 1341 and 1140 cubic meter in year2025 and 2050, respectively. Agriculture sector, which provide 54.6% of total employment to growing population, alone consumes more than 90% of total groundwater draft in irrigation. Over the years, groundwater has become dominant source of irrigation due to its independent access and timely availability of water. This outrageous dependency on groundwater has led to depletion of water table in64% district of the country between TE2002 and TE2016. With collective efforts of government at various levels, utilized irrigated potential including both surface and ground water has increased to 87 Mha while ultimate irrigation potential touched 140 Mha. In context of rapid depletion of water resources, there is need to increase water use efficiency. Efficient method, like micro irrigation, can play pivotal role in management of irrigation water demand. Properly designed and managed drip and sprinkler irrigation system have irrigation efficiency about 90% and 70%, respectively contrast to surface irrigation method which have just about 40%.

Solution: C

MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative:

• It is a project funded by DBT (Ministry of Science and Technology)
• It aims at creating a database network of all tissues in the human body from the available scientific literature.
• It is a project that involves scientific skill development for annotation, science outreach along with handling big data.
• The programme will involve gaining better biological insights through physiological and molecular mapping, develop disease models through predictive computing and have a wholistic analysis and finally drug discovery.

Solution: D

Overview of Migration

Migration is the movement of people away from their usual place of residence, across either internal (within country) or international (across countries) borders.  The latest government data on migration comes from the 2011 Census.  As per the Census, India had 45.6 crore migrants in 2011 (38% of the population) compared to 31.5 crore migrants in 2001 (31% of the population).   Between 2001 and 2011, while population grew by 18%, the number of migrants increased by 45%.  In 2011, 99% of total migration was internal and immigrants (international migrants) comprised 1%.

Patterns of migration

Internal migrant flows can be classified on the basis of origin and destination.  One kind of classification is: i) rural-rural, ii) rural-urban, iii) urban-rural and iv) urban-urban.  As per the 2011 census, there were 21 crore rural-rural migrants which formed 54% of classifiable internal migration (the Census did not classify 5.3 crore people as originating from either rural or urban areas).  Rural-urban and urban-urban movement accounted for around 8 crore migrants each.   There were around 3 crore urban-rural migrants (7% of classifiable internal migration).

Another way to classify migration is: (i) intra-state, and (ii) inter-state.  In 2011, intra-state movement accounted for almost 88% of all internal migration (39.6 crore persons).¹ 

There is variation across states in terms of inter-state migration flows.  According to the 2011 Census, there were 5.4 crore inter-state migrants.  As of 2011, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were the largest source of inter-state migrants while Maharashtra and Delhi were the largest receiver states.  Around 83 lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh and 63 lakh residents of Bihar had moved either temporarily or permanently to other states.  Around 60 lakh people from across India had migrated to Maharashtra by 2011.

Solution: B

Reasons for shifting of sugar industry from North India to Peninsular India:

Over the period, sugarcane industry is gradually shifting from north Indian states to states in Peninsular India.

Some of the important reasons are as follows:

• The production of sugarcane per hectare is higher is Peninsular India. In fact, sugarcane crop grows well in the tropical climate of south India.
• The sucrose contents is higher in the tropical variety of sugarcane grown in the south.
• The crushing season in south India is longer than in north India.
• In south India most of the mills have modern machinery.
• Most of the mills in Peninsular India are in cooperative sector, where profit maximization is not the sole objective.

Solution: D

Social and Labor Convergence Programme (SLCP):

The ‘Social and Labor Convergence Programme (SLCP),’ an initiative to have a standard-neutral, converged assessment framework for the textile and clothing industry, will be launched in India shortly.

Key features of the programme:

• The SLCP is not a code of conduct or compliance programme.
• The converged assessment framework is a tool developed by the SLCP, which provides a data set with no value judgment or scoring.
• It is, however, compatible with existing audit systems and codes of conduct. This means that the same data set can be used by a wide-range of stakeholders. It eliminates the need for repetitive audits to be carried out on the same facility.
• The initiative is led by world’s leading manufacturers, brands, retailers, industry groups, non-governmental organisations and service providers.
• The objective of the initiative Its aim is to improve the working conditions in textile units by allowing resources that were previously designated for compliance audits to be redirected towards the improvement of social and labour conditions.
• This is a voluntary adoption by the textile and clothing makers.

Solution: C

Foot loose industries can be located in a wide variety of places. They are not dependent on any specific raw material, weight losing or otherwise. They largely depend on component parts which can be obtained anywhere. They produce in small quantity and also employ a small labour force. These are generally not polluting industries. The important factor in their location is accessibility by road network.

Solution: A

Economic Census:

The 7th Economic Census -2019 is being conducted by MoSPI to provide disaggregated information on various operational and structural aspects of all establishments in the country.

Implementing agency: MoSPI has partnered with Common Service Centres, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the MEITY as the implementing agency.

About Economic Censuses:

• Launched in 1976 as a plan scheme.
• Coverage: All entrepreneurial units in the country which are involved in any economic activities of either agricultural or non-agricultural sector which are engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption.
• Objective: It provides detailed information on operational and other characteristics such as number of establishments, number of persons employed, source of finance, type of ownership etc.
• Significance: This information used for micro level/ decentralized planning and to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the gross domestic product (GDP).
• Total Six Economic Censuses (EC) have been conducted till date. First one was conducted in 1977 by CSO.

Solution: A

Coal also called ‘black gold’ contains carbon, volatile matter, moisture and ash [in some cases Sulphur and phosphorous].

Depending upon its grade from highest to lowest, following four varieties of coal are generally recognized.

1. Anthracite Coal: This is the best quality of coal and contains 80 to 95 percent carbon.
2. Bituminous Coal: This is the most widely used coal. It varies greatly in composition in carbon content from 40 to 85 percent.
3. Lignite: Also known as brown coal, is a lower grade coal and contains about 40 to 55 percent carbon.
4. Peat: This is the first stage of transformation of wood into coal and contains less than 40 percent carbon.

Solution: C

Justification:

Major Oilfields in India:

Oilfields in North-East India:

The major oilfields in north-east India are those of the Brahmaputra valley in Assam and its neighbouring areas including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.

Assam: Digboi, Naharkatiya, Moran-Hugrijan, Rudrasagar, Sibsagar etc

Arunachal Pradesh has oil reserves at Manabhum, Kharsang and Charali.

In Tripura, promising oilfields have been discovered at Mamunbhanga, Baramura-Deotamura Subhang, Manu, Ampi Bazar, Amarpur-Dambura areas.

On-Shore Oil Fields of Western India:

Gujarat:

Explorations by Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) have yielded valuable findings of oil bearing rock strata over an area of about 15,360 sq km around the Gulf of Khambhat. The main oil belt extends from Surat to Amreli.

Ankleshwar, Lunej, Kalol, Nawgam, Kosamba, Kathana, Barkol, Mehsana and Sanand are the important oilfields of these regions.

Rajasthan:

One of the largest onland oil discoveries was made in Barner district of Rajasthan.

Western Coast Off-Shore Oilfields:

Extensive surveys have been conducted by ONGC in the offshore areas of Kuchchh, Khambhat, Konkan, Malabar and Coromandal coasts, Krishna-Godavari delta and Sunderbans. Success on commercial scale has been achieved at Mumbai High, Bassein and Aliabet.

Solution: C

Special Category Status:

There is no provision of SCS in the Constitution; the Central government extends financial assistance to states that are at a comparative disadvantage against others. The concept of SCS emerged in 1969 when the Gadgil formula (that determined Central assistance to states) was approved.

Some prominent guidelines for getting SCS status:

• Must be economically backward with poor infrastructure.
• The states must be located in hilly and challenging terrain.
• They should have low population density and significant tribal population.
• Should be strategically situated along the borders of neighboring countries.

Solution: D

Maithon is located on the banks of river Barakar. The Maithon Dam is located about 48 kms from the Coal City of Dhanbad. The dam with an underground power station is one of its kinds in the whole of South East Asia. The lake on which it is built is spread over 65 square kilometers. This was developed by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC Ltd) way back in the year 1948. The dam is about 15712 ft long and about 165 ft long. The underground power station has a capacity to generate around 60,000 KW of electric power.

Solution: B

Zero pendency Court project:

• It is the pilot project of the Delhi High Court.
• It is one of its kind project in India aimed to study the life cycles of cases to come up with optimal timelines for cases.
• The primary goal of the project was to study the flow of cases in the absence of backlog.
• The aim of project is to provide information on the judicial time required to dispose of a case together with the gathering stage wise details in each case.
• It was undertaken in certain subordinate courts of Delhi to identify benchmarks for different types of cases timelines, number of judges required, case flow management rules and a host of other relevant factors.