DAY – 43 (InstaTest-43): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2023: Topic – MODERN INDIA, Subject-wise Test – 7,21, Text Book based Test – 23, 24, 25 ,1st April – 15th April 2023 CA

Solution: A

The first important writer of the period was the Bengali novelist, Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1838-94). His novels are mostly historical, the best known among them being Anandamath (1882), noted for its powerful lyric ‘Vandemataram’ and depiction of the Sanyasi Revolt (1760s). His last novel Rajasimha can be called the grand finale to his remarkable career. Icharam Suryaram Desai (1853-1912) was a fine scholar of medieval Gujarati literary history. His first novel Hind ane Britannia was one of the earliest Indian novels with political overtones. Tamil writers like Girija Devi and Ramatirthammal, who wrote Mohana Rajani (1931) and Dasikalin Mosavalai (1936) respectively, also made the novel an effective vehicle of social experience. G.V. Krishna Rao’s Keelubommalu (The Puppets, 1956) in Telugu was concerned with the moral aspects and behaviour of the rural people. Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (1910- 1994) was one of the eminent writers in Malayalam whose famous novel Balyakalasakhi (The Childhood Friends, 1944) was a tragic tale of love.

Solution: B

The Company Paintings, also referred as ‘Patna Kalam’ emerged under the patronage of the East India Company. They picturise the people and scenes as they existed at the time. Trades, festivals, dances and the attire of people are visible in these works.

In the rise of the Bengal School led by Abanindranath Tagore (nephew of Rabindranath Tagore), E.B. Havell (who joined the art school in Calcutta as principal) and Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (son of an important Tamil political leader in Sri Lanka) played a vital role. Though many of the paintings of this new trend primarily focused on themes of Indian mythology and cultural heritage, they are important sources for studying the modern art movement in India and for the art historians.

Solution: A

Joseph Francis Dupleix

• he was conferred the title of Nawab by the Mughal emperor and the subahdar of Deccan, Muzzaffar Jang.

• In 1741, Dupleix became the Governor-General of Pondicherry.
• Dupleix was the first European to interfere in the internal politics of the Indian rulers. He supported Muzzaffar Jang for
• Hyderabad and Chanda Sahib for Carnatic and his candidates emerged successful and, in return, gave great concessions to Dupleix.
• Dupleix was, in fact, the originator of the practice of subsidiary alliance in India. He placed a French army at Hyderabad at the expense of the subahdar.

Solution: D

After the battle of Buxar, the East India Company became the real masters of Bengal. Robert Clive introduced the dual system of government, i.e., the rule of the two—the Company and the Nawab—in Bengal in which both the diwani, i.e., collecting revenues, and nizamat, i.e., police and judicial functions, came under the control of the Company. The Company exercised diwani rights as the diwan and the nizamat rights through its right to nominate the deputy subahdar. The Company acquired the diwani functions from the emperor and nizamat functions from the subahdar of Bengal. Warren Hastings did away with the dual system in 1772.

Solution: A

The Pagal Panthis

The Pagal Panthi, a semi-religious group mainly constituting the Hajong and Garo tribes of Mymensingh district (earlier in Bengal), was founded by Karam Shah. But the tribal peasants organised themselves under Karam Shah’s son, Tipu, to fight the oppression of the zamindars. From 1825 to 1835, the Pagal Panthis refused to pay rent above a certain limit and attacked the houses of zamindars. The government introduced an equitable arrangement to protect these peasants, but the movement was violently suppressed.

Solution: B

Prarthana Samaj

In 1867, Keshab Chandra Sen helped Atmaram Pandurang found the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay. Earlier, the Brahmo ideas spread in Maharashtra. A precursor of the Prarthana Samaj was the Paramahansa Sabha, something like a secret society to spread liberal ideas and encourage the breakdown of caste and communal barriers. Mahadeo Govind Ranade (1842-1901), joined the samaj in 1870, and much of the popularity of and work done by the society was due to his efforts. His efforts made the samaj gain an all-India character. Other leaders of the samaj were R.G. Bhandarkar (1837- 1925) and N.G. Chandavarkar (1855-1923). The emphasis was on monotheism, but on the whole, the samaj was more concerned with social reforms than with religion. The Prarthana Sabha was very attached to the bhakti cult of Maharashtra. The samaj relied on education and persuasion and not on confrontation with Hindu orthodoxy.

Solution: A

Young Bengal Movement and Henry Vivian Derozio

During the late 1820s and early 1830s, there emerged a radical, intellectual trend among the youth in Bengal, which came to be known as the ‘Young Bengal Movement’. A young Anglo-Indian, Henry Vivian Derozio (1809-31), who taught at the Hindu College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of this progressive trend. Drawing inspiration from the great French Revolution, Derozio inspired his pupils to think freely and rationally, question all authority, love liberty, equality and freedom, and oppose decadent customs and traditions. The Derozians also supported women’s rights and education. Also, Derozio was perhaps the first nationalist poet of modern India.

The Derozians, however, failed to have a long-term impact. Derozio was removed from the Hindu College in 1831 because of his radicalism. The main reason for their limited success was the prevailing social conditions at that time, which were not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas. Further, there was no support from any other social group or class. The Derozians lacked any real link with the masses; for instance, they failed to take up the peasants’ cause. In fact, their radicalism was bookish in character.

Solution: D

In 1851, both the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society merged into the British Indian Association. It sent a petition to the British Parliament demanding inclusion of some of its suggestions in the renewed Charter of the Company, such as

(i) establishment of a separate legislature of a popular character;

(ii) separation of executive from judicial functions;

(iii) reduction in salaries of higher officers; and

(iv) abolition of salt duty, abkari and stamp duties.

These were partially accepted when the Charter Act of 1853 provided for the addition of six members to the governor-general’s council for legislative purposes.

Solution: B

Was It a Safety Valve?

There is a theory that Hume formed the Congress with the idea that it would prove to be a ‘safety valve’ for releasing the growing discontent of the Indians. To this end, he convinced Lord Dufferin not to obstruct the formation of the Congress. The extremist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai believed in the ‘safety valve’ theory. Even the Marxist historian’s ‘conspiracy theory’ was an offspring of the ‘safety valve’ notion. For example, R.P. Dutt opined that the Indian National Congress was born out of a conspiracy to abort a popular uprising in India and the bourgeois leaders were a party to it.

Solution: B

Programme of Swadeshi or National Education

Bengal National College, inspired by Tagore’s Shantiniketan, was set up with Aurobindo Ghosh as its principal. Soon national schools and colleges sprang up in various parts of the country. On August 15, 1906, the National Council of Education was set up to organise a system of education— literary, scientific and technical—on national lines and under national control. Education was to be imparted through the vernacular medium. A Bengal Institute of Technology was set up for technical education and funds were raised to send students to Japan for advanced learning.

Solution: B

Shyamji Krishnavarma had started in London in 1905 an Indian Home Rule Society—‘India House’—as a centre for Indian students, a scholarship scheme to bring radical youth from India, and a journal The Indian Sociologist. Revolutionaries such as Savarkar and Hardayal became the members of India House.

The Berlin Committee for Indian Independence was established in 1915 by Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Bhupendranath Dutta, Lala Hardayal and others with the help of the German foreign office under ‘Zimmerman Plan’.

Solution: C

Tilak’s League

Tilak set up his Indian Home Rule League in April 1916. Tilak held his first Home Rule meeting at Belgaum. Poona was the headquarters of his league. His league was restricted to Maharashtra (excluding Bombay city), Karnataka, Central Provinces and Berar. It had six branches and the demands included swarajya, formation of linguistic states and education in the vernacular.

Besant’s League

Annie Besant set up her All-India Home Rule League in September 1916 in Madras (now Chennai) and covered the rest of India (including Bombay city). It had 200 branches, was loosely organised as compared to Tilak’s league and had George Arundale as the organising secretary. Besides Arundale, the main work was done by B.W. Wadia and C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar.

Solution: C

Delhi Pact, also known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, placed the Congress on an equal footing with the government. Irwin on behalf of the government agreed on—

1. immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of violence;
2. remission of all fines not yet collected;
3. return of all lands not yet sold to third parties;
4. lenient treatment to those government servants who had resigned;
5. right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption (not for sale);
6. right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing; and
7. withdrawal of emergency ordinances.

The viceroy, however, turned down two of Gandhi’s demands—

(i) public inquiry into police excesses, and

(ii) commutation of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ death sentence to life sentence.

Solution: B

The Trade Union Act, 1926

The Trade Union Act, 1926

• recognised trade unions as legal associations;
• laid down conditions for registration and regulation of trade union activities;
• secured immunity, both civil and criminal, for trade unions from prosecution for legitimate activities, but put some restrictions on their political activities.

Alarmed at the increasing strength of the trade union movement under extremist influence, the government resorted to legislative restrictions. It passed the Public Safety Ordinance (1929) and the Trade Disputes Act (TDA), 1929. The TDA, 1929

• made compulsory the appointment of Courts of Inquiry and Consultation Boards for settling industrial disputes;
• made illegal the strikes in public utility services like posts, railways, water and electricity, unless each individual worker planning to go on strike gave an advance notice of one month to the administration;
• forbade trade union activity of coercive or purely political nature and even sympathetic strikes.

Solution: A

The CR Formula

1944. Rajagopalachari (CR), the veteran Congress leader, prepared a formula for Congress-League cooperation in 1944. It was a tacit acceptance of the League’s demand for Pakistan. Gandhi supported the formula. The main points in the CR Plan were:

• Muslim League to endorse Congress demand for independence.
• League to cooperate with Congress in forming a provisional government at centre.
• After the end of the war, the entire population of Muslim majority areas in the North-West and North-East India to decide by a plebiscite, whether or not to form a separate sovereign state.
• In case of acceptance of partition, agreement to be made jointly for safeguarding defence, commerce, communications, etc.
• The above terms to be operative only if England transferred full powers to India.

Desai-Liaqat Pact

Efforts continued to end the deadlock. Bhulabhai Desai, leader of the Congress Party in the Central Legislative Assembly, met Liaqat Ali Khan, deputy leader of the Muslim League in that Assembly, and both of them came up with the draft proposal for the formation of an interim government at the centre, consisting of—

• an equal number of persons nominated by the Congress and the League in the central legislature.
• 20% reserved seats for minorities.

No settlement could be reached between the Congress and the League on these lines, but the fact that a sort of parity between the Congress and the League was decided upon had far-reaching consequences.

Solution: B

Operation Garuda

Source: LiveMint

Context: The Central Bureau of Investigation has launched a multi-phase ‘Operation Garuda’ against illicit drug trafficking network, registering 127 new cases, arresting 175 people and seizing huge quantities of narcotic drugs.

A CBI release said the operation seeks to disrupt, degrade and dismantle drug networks with international linkages through rapid exchange of criminal intelligence on drug trafficking and coordinated law enforcement actions across international jurisdiction through Interpol.

This global operation was initiated in close coordination with Interpol and Narcotics Control Bureau, for combating the smuggling of illicit drugs and psychotropic substances, with special focus on Indian Ocean region.

Solution: C

Solution: D

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

What is NDMA?

• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is India’s apex statutory body for disaster management.
• The Prime Minister is its chairperson and it has nine other members. One of the nine members is designated as Vice-Chairperson.
• The primary responsibility for the management of disaster rests with the State Government concerned. However, the National Policy on Disaster Management puts in place an enabling environment for all i.e., the Centre, state and district.
• India is also a signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) that sets targets for disaster management.

Solution: A

Global Innovation Index 2022

India rose to 40th among 132 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2022, jumping six places from a year ago, according to the rankings released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Reasons: Improvement in information and communication technologies (ICT) services exports, venture capital recipients’ value as well as finance for start-ups.

Switzerland, the US, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands are the world’s most innovative economies, with China on the threshold of the top 10.

Solution: B

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) cabinet approved the notification of the state’s fourth tiger reserve in the Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS) in Chitrakoot district, the state government stated in a statement.

RWS has no tigers of its own. But pugmarks of the animals are frequently seen there as tigers from nearby Panna frequent it. The two protected areas are just 150 km from each other.

There are 50 Tiger Reserves in India spread across an area of 72,749 sq km, which is 2.21 percent of India’s geographical area. There were 2,967 tigers in India according to the NTCA’s estimation in 2018. Uttar Pradesh had 173 tigers, with 107 in Dudhwa National Park and 65 in Pilibhit.

Solution: A

Kunming Declaration was adopted by over 100 countries at the ongoing 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in China. Hence, option (a) is correct.

• The adoption of the declaration will create momentum for a new global biodiversity pact.
• In a previous agreement, Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, signed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, governments agreed on 20 targets to try to slow biodiversity loss and protect habitats by 2020.

Key Points

• It calls for urgent and integrated action to reflect biodiversity considerations in all sectors of the global economy but crucial issues – like funding conservation in poorer countries and committing to biodiversity-friendly supply chains have been left to discuss later.
  • It is not a binding international agreement.
• It calls upon the parties to mainstream biodiversity protection in decision-making and recognise the importance of conservation in protecting human health.
  • The theme of the declaration is Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.

By adopting this, the nations have committed themselves to support the development, adoption and implementation of an effective post-2020 implementation plan, a capacity building action plan for the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety.

Solution: D

The Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project seeks to explore the defence mechanism through deflection.

• It is a joint mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• It is an ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in space.
• Target of AIDA
  • Didymos is a near-Earth asteroid system.
  • Its main body measures about 780 m across; the smaller body is a “moonlet” about 160 m in diameter.
  • The project aims to deflect the orbit of one of the two Didymos asteroids between Earth and Mars.

Solution: C

Rare Earth Elements

• They are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
• These minerals have unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties and thus are used in many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, health care, national defense, etc.
• Even futuristic technologies need these REEs (For example high-temperature superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a post-hydrocarbon economy, environmental global warming and energy efficiency issues).
• They are called ‘rare earth’ because earlier it was difficult to extract them from their oxides forms technologically.
• They occur in many minerals but typically in low concentrations to be refined in an economical manner.

Solution: B

Dara Shikoh

• He (1615-59) was the eldest son of Shah Jahan. He is described as a “liberal Muslim” who tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
• He is known as a pioneer of the academic movement for interfaith understanding in India. He had a deep understanding and knowledge of major religions, particularly Islam and Hinduism.
  • He was inclined towards philosophy and mysticism over military pursuits in comparison to Aurangzeb.
• In 1655, his father declared him the Crown Prince, but was defeated by Aurangzeb, his younger brother, in 1657 after Shah Jahan fell ill.
• He was assassinated by Aurangzeb, in a bitter struggle for the throne on 30^th August, 1659 when he was 44.

His most important works, Majma-ul-Bahrain (Mingling of Two Oceans) and Sirr-i-Akbar (Great Mystery), are devoted to the cause of establishing connections between Hinduism and Islam.

• • He acquired proficiency in Sanskrit and Persian, which enabled him to play a key role in popularising Indian culture and Hindu religious thought.
  • He translated the Upanishads and other important sources of Hindu religion and spirituality from Sanskrit to Persian.
  • Through these translations, he was responsible for taking the Hindu culture and spiritual traditions to Europe and the West.

Solution: B

• A hot spot is fed by a region deep within the Earth’s mantle from which heat rises through the process of convection.
• This heat facilitates the melting of rock at the base of the lithosphere, where the brittle, upper portion of the mantle meets the Earth’s crust.
• The melted rock, known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcanoes.
• Hot spot volcanism is unique because it does not occur at the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates, where all other volcanism occurs.
• Instead, it occurs at abnormally hot centers known as mantle plumes.
• Volcanic activity at hot spots can create submarine mountains known as seamounts.
• Hot spot seamounts that reach the surface of the water can create entire chains of islands, such as the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

In this case, we are told that there is no reliable relationship between the median income and average level of education for the middle class and the increase/decrease in income levels does not have an impact on education levels. This sentiment is highlighted by option 3.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

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

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

Correct Option: D

12 + 15 = 27,

15 + 11 = 26,

11 + 18 = 29,

18 + 12 = 30

Hence, option D is correct.

Answer: C) 75

Explanation:

The given series follows the pattern that

explanation

So the missing number is  37 + 38 = 75

75 + 66 = 141

Answer: B) 700

Explanation:

Here the given number series 625, 625, 600, ?, 475, 875 follows a pattern that

625

625 + (0 x 0) = 625

625 – (5 x 5) = 625 – 25 = 600

600 + (10 x 10) = 600 + 100 = 700

700 – (15 x 15) = 700 – 225 = 475

475 + (20 x 20) = 475 + 400 = 875