DAY – 51 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 51)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2021

Solution: A

Justification:

Article 360 empowers the president to proclaim a Financial Emergency if he
is satisfied that a situation has arisen due to which the financial stability or
credit of India or any part of its territory is threatened.
Once approved by both the Houses of Parliament, the Financial Emergency
continues indefinitely till it is revoked. This implies two things:
1. there is no maximum period prescribed for its operation; and
2. repeated parliamentary approval is not required for its continuation.

The consequences of the proclamation of a Financial Emergency are as
follows:
1. The executive authority of the Centre extends (a) to directing any state to
observe such canons of financial propriety as are specified by it; and (b)
to directions as the President may deem necessary and adequate for the
purpose.
2. Any such direction may include a provision requiring (a) the reduction of
salaries and allowances of all or any class of persons serving in the state;
and (b) the reservation of all money bills or other financial bills for the
consideration of the President after they are passed by the legislature of
the state.
3. The President may issue directions for the reduction of salaries and
allowances of (a) all or any class of persons serving the Union; and (b)
the judges of the Supreme Court and the high court

Solution: B

Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. Later, the States Reorganisation Commission (1953-55) made a recommendation in this regard. Accordingly, the Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 inserted a new Article 350-B in Part XVII of the Constitution.

This article contains the following provisions:
1. There should be a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. He is to be
appointed by the President of India.
2. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters
relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the
Constitution. He would report to the President upon those matters at such
intervals as the President may direct. The President should place all such
reports before each House of Parliament and send to the governments of
the states concerned

Solution: B

Seventh Schedule: Division of powers between the Union and the States
in terms of List I (Union List), List II (State List) and List III (Concurrent List). Presently, the Union List contains 100 subjects (originally 97), the state list
contains 61 subjects (originally 66) and the concurrent list contains 52 subjects (originally 47).

Agriculture, including agricultural education and research is a state subject under schedule VII.

Solution: D

A mere declaration of fundamental rights in the Constitution is meaningless,
useless and worthless without providing an effective machinery for their enforcement, if and when they are violated. Hence, Article 32 confers the
right to remedies for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of an aggrieved citizen. In other words, the right to get the Fundamental Rights protected is in itself a fundamental right. This makes the fundamental rights real. That is why Dr Ambedkar called Article 32 as the most important article of the Constitution—‘an Article without which this constitution would be a nullity. It is the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it’. The Supreme Court has ruled that Article 32 is a basic feature of the Constitution. Hence, it cannot be abridged or taken away even by way of an amendment to the Constitution.

Solution: B

The representatives of states in the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of state legislative assemblies. The election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The seats are allotted to the states in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of population. Hence, the number of representatives varies from state to state.

The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the allocation of seats
in the Rajya Sabha to the states and union territories.

Solution: A

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society and to organize Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.

The Chief Justice of India is patron-in-chief of NALSA while second seniormost judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive-Chairman.

In every State, State Legal Services Authority has been constituted to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to give free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State.  The State Legal Services Authority is headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of the respective High Court who is the Patron-in-Chief of the State Legal Services Authority.

In every District, District Legal Services Authority has been constituted to implement Legal Services Programmes in the District. The District Legal Services Authority is situated in the District Courts Complex in every District and chaired by the District Judge of the respective district.

Solution: C

The Constitution does not provide for the mechanism of joint sitting of two Houses of the state legislature to resolve a deadlock between them over the passage of an ordinary bill. However, the Constitution provides for the mechanism of joint sitting of two Houses of the Parliament to resolve a deadlock between them over the passage of a bill.

Solution: D

FR available to both citizens and foreigners (except enemy aliens):

1. Equality before law and equal protection of laws (Article 14)
2. Protection in respect of conviction for offences (Article 20)
3. Protection of life and personal liberty (Article 21)
4. Right to elementary education (Article 21A)
5. Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases (Article 22)
6. Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour (Article 23)
7. Prohibition of employment of children in factories etc., (Article 24)
8. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (Article 25)
9. Freedom to manage religious affairs (Article 26)
10. Freedom from payment of taxes for promotion of any religion (Article 27)
11. Freedom from attending religious instruction or worship in certain
    educational institutions (Article 28)

Solution: B

Earthquake waves get recorded in seismographs located at far off locations. However, there exist some specific areas where the waves are not reported. Such a zone is called the ‘shadow zone’.

It was observed that seismographs located at any distance within 105° from the epicentre, recorded the arrival of both P and S-waves. However, the seismographs located beyond 145° from epicentre, record the arrival
of P-waves, but not that of S-waves. Thus, a zone between 105° and 145° from epicentre was identified as the shadow zone for both the types of waves. The entire zone beyond 105° does not receive S-waves. The shadow zone of S-wave is much larger than that of the P-waves.

Solution: C

About World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF):

• It is an international non-governmental organization
• Founded in 1961
• Headquarter — Gland (Switzerland).
• Aim : wilderness preservation & the reduction of human impact on the environment
• It is the world’s largest conservation organization

Objectives:

• Conserving the world’s biological diversity
• Ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• Promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

Reports & programmes:

• Living Planet Report— published every two years by WWF since 1998; it is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation
• Earth hour
• Debt-for-nature swaps–financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.
• Marine Stewardship Council(MSC) — independent non-profit organization which sets a standard for sustainable fishing
• Healthy Grown Potato — eco-brand that provides high-quality, sustainably grown, packaged, and shipped potatoes to consumers by leveraging integrated pest management(IPM) farming practices on large scale farms

Solution: A

A waterspout is a spinning column of air and mist that forms on lakes, rivers, and at sea. Waterspouts fall into two categories: fair weather and tornadic. Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They are associated with severe thunderstorms and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and dangerous lightning. The tornadic variety are more dangerous than fair weather waterspouts, which generally are not associated with thunderstorms, and usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds. While tornadic waterspouts develop downward in a thunderstorm, a fair-weather waterspout develops on the surface of the water and works its way upward. Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little.

Solution: D

Bhoj Wetland located in Madhya Pradesh.  Two contiguous human-made reservoirs – the “Upper Lake” was created in the 11th century by construction of an earthen dam across the Kolans River, and the lower was constructed nearly 200 years ago, largely from leakage from the Upper, and is surrounded by the city of Bhopal. The lakes are very rich in biodiversity, particularly for macrophytes, phytoplankton, zooplankton, both natural and cultured fish species, both resident and migratory birds, insects, and reptiles and amphibians.

Nalbana Bird Sanctuary or Nalbana Island is the core area of the Ramsar designated wetlands of Chilika Lake. It was declared a bird sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972. In the heart of the park, one can see thousands of birds descending during the migratory season.

Ropar Wetland, also named Ropar Lake, is a man-made freshwater riverine and lacustrine wetland. The area has at least 9 mammal, 154 bird, 35 fish, 9 arthropod, 11 rotifer, 9 crustacean and 10 protozoan species, making it biologically diverse.

Bhoj wetland of Bhopal is also human made wetland.

Solution: D

If a sitting member of one House is also elected to the other House, his seat in the first House becomes vacant.

A member may resign his seat by writing to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha or Speaker of Lok Sabha, as the case may be. The seat falls vacant when the resignation is accepted.

However, the Chairman/Speaker may not accept the resignation if he is satisfied that it is not voluntary or genuine.

A House can declare the seat of a member vacant if he is absent from all its meetings for a period of sixty days without its permission. In computing the period of sixty days, no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days.

Solution: D

The Giant Magellan Telescope will be one member of the next generation of giant ground-based telescopes that promises to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe. It will be constructed in the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Commissioning of the telescope is scheduled to begin in 2029.

The GMT has a unique design that offers several advantages. It is a segmented mirror telescope that employs seven of today’s largest stiff monolith mirrors as segments. Six off-axis 8.4 meter or 27-foot segments surround a central on-axis segment, forming a single optical surface 24.5 meters, or 80 feet, in diameter with a total collecting area of 368 square meters. The GMT will have a resolving power 10 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT project is the work of a distinguished international consortium of leading universities and science institutions

Solution: c)

Antarctica is a global common and so no one nation exercises sovereignty over the territory and thus bars countries from owning or exploiting its land.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on 1 December 1959 by the twelve countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58. It entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded to by many other nations. The total number of Parties to the Treaty is now 54.

Some important provisions of the Treaty:

• Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only
  Art. I
• Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end… shall continue
  Art. II
• Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available
  Art. III

Among the signatories of the Treaty were seven countries – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom – with territorial claims , sometimes overlapping. Other countries do not recognize any claims. The US and Russia maintain a “basis of claim”.

Solution: b)

Justification: Statement 1:  The Nuclear Command Authority comprises a Political Council and an Executive Council. The Political Council is chaired by the Prime Minister. It is the sole body which can authorise the use of nuclear weapons.

Statement 2:  The Executive Council is chaired by the National Security Advisor. Moreover, NSA is the chief executive of NSC. NSC is an executive government agency tasked with advising the Prime Minister’s office on matters of national security and strategic interest.

Statement 3:  The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) reviews the progress in the operationalising of India’s nuclear doctrine. It consists of PM, MoHA, MoEA (external affairs), Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence and Minister of Corporate affairs.

Solution: a)

Learning: It springs from the Indo-China Treaty on Tibet, 1954.

The five principles of Panchsheel are: mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; non-aggression; non-interference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful co-existence.

“India perceived the ‘Panchsheel’ as productive of peaceful cooperation of sovereign nations instead of the balance of terror and the degrading cold war tensions, being brought about by the rival great power pacts and alliances. India explained it as based on the concept of universalism as against the concept of the balance of power”.

Panchsheel became very popular and many countries of the world like Burma, Yugoslavia, Indonesia and so on adopted it.

Panchsheel and non-alignment are the greatest contributions of India to the theory and practice of international relations

Q Source: Chapter 70: Indian Polity: M Laxmikanth

Solution: B

Justification: Statement 1: NAM did not advocate joining either the NATO or Warsaw pact, as has been explained in another question on NAM.

Statement 2:The policy of staying away from alliances should not be considered isolationism or neutrality.

• Non-alignment is not isolationism since isolationism means remaining aloof from world affairs. Isolationism sums up the foreign policy of the US from the American War of Independence in 1787 up to the beginning of the First World War.
• In comparison, the non-aligned countries, including India, played an active role in mediating between the two rival alliances in the cause of peace and stability. Their strength was based on their unity and their resolve to remain non-aligned despite the attempt by the two superpowers to bring them into their alliances. Non-alignment is also not neutrality.

Statement 3:Neutrality refers principally to a policy of staying out of war. States practising neutrality are not required to help end a war.

They do not get involved in wars and do not take any position on the appropriateness or morality of a war. Non-aligned states, including India, were actually involved in wars for various reasons.

They also worked to prevent war between others and tried to end wars that had broken out.

Solution: b)

Justification: Statement 1:  The OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of 14 oil-exporting developing nations.

According to current estimates, more than 80% of the world’s proven crude oil reserves are located in OPEC Member Countries.

Statement 2:  Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela are present members.

Statement 3:  OPEC had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. This was moved to Vienna, Austria, in 1965. Since Austria is located outside of West Asia, 3 is correct.

Statement 4: OPEC’s objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries (to ensure a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry). It does not fix the price of oil. It only influences the price by reducing the supply (or output) of oil.

Learning: Any country with a substantial net export of crude petroleum, which has fundamentally similar interests to those of Member Countries, may become a Full Member of the Organization, if accepted by a majority of three-fourths of Full Members, including the concurring votes of all Founder Members.

Solution: a)

Justification: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, formally Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles) is a 1987 arms control agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• Under the INF Treaty, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. agreed to eliminate within three years all ground-launched-missiles of 500-5,500 km range and not to develop, produce or deploy these in future.
• The U.S. destroyed 846 Pershing IIs and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCMs) and the U.S.S.R., 1,846 missiles (SS-4s, SS-5s and SS-20s), along with its support facilities.

The U.S has withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

What’s the issue?

US in early December last year announced that it would suspend its obligations under the INF treaty by Feb. 2, citing Russian “cheating,” unless Moscow comes into compliance with the terms of the pact.

The U.S. government says the new Russian missile violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 310 to 3,400 miles.

What would happen in the absence of treaty?

1. It is unclear what INF-prohibited systems the United States could deploy to Europe or Asia in the near term. The U.S. military has not developed any land-based missiles within the prohibited ranges for decades and has only just started funding a new ground-launched cruise missile to match the 9M729.
2. Moscow is in a very different position and could rapidly expand deployment. The number of operational 9M729 missiles has been quite limited, but released from its official obligations under the treaty, Moscow could deploy more units rapidly.
3. Russia could also effectively reclassify the RS-26 Rubezh, an experimental system that has been tested just above the INF Treaty’s 5,500-kilometer limit. To avoid violating the INF, Russian officials previously described the RS-26 as an intercontinental ballistic missile. However, it could form the basis for a missile of a slightly shorter range if Moscow wished to boost its INF forces — without counting it under the U.S.-Russian New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, governing longer-range systems.

This move is also likely to undermine the 2010 New START treaty governing U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear systems. The INF Treaty’s demise will undercut New START by reopening questions on the relationship between intermediate and strategic systems that have been resolved for 30 years by the elimination of ground-based, intermediate-range missiles

Solution: c)

Justification: It is a mammoth infrastructure project unveiled by China in 2017, which plans to connect the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa.

• The ‘Belt’ part refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt, consisting of three overland routes.
• A link between China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe.
• A link through Central Asia and West Asia linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
• A connection from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Indian Ocean.
• The ‘Road’ part refers to the 21st century Maritime Silk Road, creating maritime trade channels from China through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific.
• The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an important part of the BRI, passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Solution: d)

Justification: Statement 1:  Formed in 1923, the Council is the UN-accredited (not under the UN) global energy body, representing the entire energy spectrum.

Composed of more than 3,000 member organisations located in over 90 countries and drawn from governments, private and state corporations, academia, NGOs and energy-related stakeholders.

Roles: Informs global, regional and national energy strategies by hosting high-level events, publishing authoritative studies, and working through its extensive member network to facilitate the world’s energy policy dialogue. It does not approve policies, since it is an advisory body.

Learning: The World Energy Council has developed an interactive tool – The World Energy Issues Monitor. The Monitor is an annual reality check of 2,000+ leaders worldwide focusing on the challenges of energy transition.

The maps present the key energy issues, regional and local variances, and how these have changed over time. The tool allows the preparation of different maps for comparison. One can manipulate data by geography, time or by highlighting specific energy issues.

https://www.worldenergy.org/about-us

Solution: d)

Justification: Statement 1:  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the UNGA in 1948 itself, whereas the Amnesty International was found in 1961. So, 1 must clearly be wrong.

Statement 2:  In the field of international human rights organisations, Amnesty has the second longest history, after the International Federation for Human Rights and broadest name recognition, and is believed by many to set standards for the movement as a whole.

Solution: d)

Justification: Statement 1:  The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems.

Statement 2:  It is separate from EU. It is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Paris.

Statement 3:  India is an enhanced engagement partner of OCED. It is neither a member non-accession candidate to the OECD.

Solution: a)

Justification: The IONS is a regional forum of Indian Ocean littoral states, represented by their Navy chiefs, launched by India in 2008. It presently has 23 members and nine observers including Australia, some SE Asian states, India, Bangladesh, Maldives etc (and even UK) with China and Japan as observers.

It is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues and, in the process, endeavors to generate a flow of information between naval professionals that would lead to common understanding and possibly agreements on the way ahead.

Solution: C

Let total men be ‘X’ and Total women be ‘Y’

As no man marries more than a woman, and vice versa, there will be eual number of men and women who are married.

Therefore, (52/100) * X = (28/100) * Y

⇒ X/Y = 28/52= 7/13

Therefore, required percentage = [(7 * 0.52 + 13 * 0.28)*100] /20 = 36.4%

Solution: A

Total number of balls in the bag = 4 (Red) + 5 (Yellow) + 6 (Black) = 15

Total possible outcomes = selection of 2 balls out of 15 balls

⇒10C2 = (15 *14)/(2 * 1) = 210/2 = 105.

⇒Total favourable outcomes when no yellow ball is picked = Selection of 2 balls out of 4 red and 6 black balls = 2 balls out of 10 balls

⇒10C2= (10 * 9)/(2 * 1) = 90/2 = 45

⇒Therefore, required probability = 45/105 = 3/7

Solution: D

Let’s assume, Cost Price (C.P.) of each onion be Rs. 100.

Therefore, number of onions 1200/100 = 12.

According to the given data, Selling Price of 12 onions with overall profit of 10%=  (1200 * 110)/100 = 1320.

It is also given that 1/3 rd onions were sold at 20% loss. Thus, 4 onions are sold on 20% loss.

Thus, their selling price of those onions = (400 * 80)/100 = Rs. 320.

Therefore, required selling price of remaining onions to get the overall profit of 10 % = 1320 – 320 = Rs 1000.

Therefore, Each of the 8 remaining onions were sold at 1000/8 = Rs 125

Therefore, each of the onion got the profit of Rs. 25 or 25 % of assumed cost price (Rs. 100).

Solution: A

Let initial milk = x

Therefore, 100 (1 – 5/ x ) ^2 = 81

Thus taking square root to simplify we get, 10(1 − 5 /x) = 9

So, 1- 5/x =9/10

⇒10x – 50 = 9x

⇒x= 50

Hence, option (a) is correct.

Solution: B

Let the money got by Bhuvan is ‘x’.

Money spent for dinner by Bhuvan = (30/100) * x = 3x/10

Remaining amount = 7x/10.

In the remaining amount , money spent for buying book = (2/7) * 7x/10

⇒2x/10 = 460

⇒x/5 = 460 or x = 2300

Hence, initial amount got by Bhuvan = 2300.

However, he got only 25 % of Amit’s money.

Therefore, total money that Amit had = 4 * 2300 = 9200.