DAY – 54 (InstaTest-54): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2023: Topic – Polity, PREVIOUS YEAR UPSC PAPER 2001, September 2022 CA

Solution: A

The Constitution contains the following provisions to secure cooperation and co-ordination between the Centre and the states:

• The Parliament can provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution and control of waters of any inter-state river and river valley.
• The President can establish (under Article 263) an Inter-State Council to investigate anddiscuss subject of common interest between the Centre and the states. Such a council was setup in 1990.

During the operation of a national emergency (under Article 352), the Centre becomes entitled to give executive directions to a state on ‘any’ matter. Thus, the state governments are brought under the complete control of the Centre, though they are not suspended.

Solution: A

The state legislature has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the State List. Both the Parliament and the state legislature can levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the Concurrent List.

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

Both the statements are correct.

In the Minerva Mills case (1980), the Supreme Court held that ‘the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance between the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles’.

The Constitution itself declares that DPSP are fundamental in the governance of the country, and it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws.

Solution: C

The original constitution did not provide for the fundamental duties of the citizens. These were added during the operation of internal emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.

Rights and duties of the citizens are co-relative and inseparable

The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002 added one more fundamental duty.

Solution: A

Appointment of The Prime Minister

The Constitution does not contain any specific procedure for the selection and appointment of the Prime Minister. Article 75 says only that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the president.

However, this does not imply that the president is free to appoint any one as the Prime Minister. In accordance with the conventions of the parliamentary system of government, the President has to appoint the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister.

The term of the Prime Minister is not fixed and he holds office during the pleasure of the president. However, this does not mean that the president can dismiss the Prime Minister at any time. So long as the Prime Minister enjoys the majority support in the Lok Sabha, he cannot be dismissed by the President.

Solution: A

The fundamental principle underlying the working of parliamentary system of government is the principle of collective responsibility. Article 75 clearly states that the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

The principle of collective responsibility also means that the Cabinet decisions bind all cabinet ministers (and other ministers) even if they differed in the cabinet meeting. It is the duty of every minister to stand by cabinet decisions and support them both within and outside the Parliament. If any minister disagrees with a cabinet decision and is not prepared to defend it, he must resign.

Article 75 also contains the principle of individual responsibility. It states that the ministers hold office during the pleasure of the president, which means that the President can remove a minister even at a time when the council of ministers enjoys the confidence of the Lok Sabha. However, the President removes a minister only on the advice of the Prime Minister. In case of a difference of opinion or dissatisfaction with the performance of a minister, the Prime Minister can ask him to resign or advice the President to dismiss him.

In India, there is no provision in the Constitution for the system of legal responsibility of a minister. It is not required that an order of the President for a public act should be countersigned by a minister. Moreover, the courts are barred from enquiring into the nature of advice rendered by the ministers to the president.

Solution: D

A Member of Parliament (MP) who is not a Minister in the Union Cabinet is called a Private Member. Bills introduced by such members are called Private Member’s Bills. Bills introduced by ministers are called Government Bills.

It can be introduced in either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

Solution: B

LISA’s Size and Precision are Out of this World

LISA consists of three spacecraft that are separated by millions of miles and trailing tens of millions of miles, more than one hundred times the distance to the Moon, behind the Earth as we orbit the Sun. These three spacecraft relay laser beams back and forth between the different spacecraft and the signals are combined to search for gravitational wave signatures that come from distortions of spacetime. We need a giant detector bigger than the size of Earth to catch gravitational waves from orbiting black holes millions of times more massive than our sun. NASA is a major collaborator in the European Space Agency (ESA)-led mission, which is scheduled to launch in the early 2030s and we are getting ready for it now. Hence Statement 1 is incorrect.

LISA is Extremely High Precision

These signals are extremely small and require a very sensitive instrument to detect. For example, LISA aims to measure relative shifts in position that are less than the diameter of a helium nucleus over a distance of a million miles, or in technical terms: a strain of 1 part in 10²⁰ at frequencies of about a millihertz.

The LISA Pathfinder Mission was a proof-of-concept mission to test and prove the technology needed for LISA’s success.

https://lisa.nasa.gov/

Solution: C

All the above statements are correct.

73RD AMENDMENT ACT OF 1992

Significance of the Act

This act has added a new Part-IX to the Constitution of India. This part is entitled as ‘The Panchayats’ and consists of provisions from Articles 243 to 243 O. In addition, the act has also added a new Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution. This schedule contains 29 functional items of the panchayats. It deals with Article 243-G.

The act has given a practical shape to Article 40 of the Constitution which says that, “The State shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.”

This article forms a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy.

The act gives a constitutional status to the Panchayati raj institutions. It has brought them under the purview of the justiciable part of the Constitution.

In other words, the state governments are under constitutional obligation to adopt the new Panchayati raj system in accordance with the provisions of the act. Consequently, neither the formation of panchayats nor the holding of elections at regular intervals depend on the will of the state government any more.

Solution: D

All the above statements are correct.

The CAG submits three audit reports to the President–audit report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance accounts, and audit report on public undertakings. The President lays these reports before both the Houses of Parliament. After this, the Public Accounts Committee examines them and reports its findings to the Parliament.

The duties and functions of the CAG as laid down by the Parliament and the Constitution are:

1. He audits the accounts related to all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India, consolidated fund of each state and consolidated fund of each union territory having a Legislative Assembly.
2. He audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of India and the Public Account of India as well as the contingency fund of each state and the public account of each state.
3. He audits all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts kept by any department of the Central Government and state governments.
4. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the Centre and each state to satisfy himself that the rules and procedures in that behalf are designed to secure an effective check on the assessment, collection and proper allocation of revenue.
5. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the following:

(a) All bodies and authorities substantially financed from the Central or state revenues;

(b) Government companies; and

(c) Other corporations and bodies, when so required by related laws.

Solution: C

All the above statements are correct.

IndiGen Program:

The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

IndiGen programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.

Results from the extensive computation analysis of the 1029 sequenced genomes from India were published recently.

• This analysis was carried out under IndiGen Program.

Key findings:

• The analysis led to the identification of 55,898,122 single nucleotide variants in the India genome dataset.
• Comparisons with the global genome datasets revealed that 18,016,257 (32.23%) variants were unique and found only in the samples sequenced from India. This emphasizes the need for an India centric population genomic initiative.

Why this genome data is significant? What can it be used for?

• It helps to classify variants involved in mendelian disorders and improve precision medicine outcomes.
• The resource can also enable the identification of markers for carrier screening, variations causing genetic diseases, prevention of adverse events and provide better diagnosis and optimal therapy through mining data of clinically actionable pharmacogenetic variants.
• The data will allow researchers to build Indian-specific reference genome dataset and efficiently impute haplotype information. This resource can provide useful insights for clinicians and researchers in comprehending genetics not only at the population level but at the individual level.

Solution: B

The following are the drawbacks (shortcomings) of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013:

1. Lokpal cannot suo motu proceed against any public servant. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
2. Emphasis on form of complaint rather than substance.
3. Heavy punishment for false and frivolous complaints against public servants may deter complaints being filed to Lokpal.
4. Anonymous complaints not allowed -Can’t just make a complaint on plain paper and drop it in a box with supporting documents.
5. Legal assistance to public servant against whom complaint is filed.
6. Limitation period of 7 years to file complaints.
7. Very non-transparent procedure for dealing with complaints against the PM.

The Prime Minister has been brought under the purview of the Lokpal with subject matter exclusions and specific process for handling complaints against the Prime Minister.

Solution: A

What are monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)?

Why in News?

Serum Institute of India (SII) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) have announced an agreement with pharmaceutical major Merck to develop SARS-CoV-2 neutralising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

What are monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)?

They are man-made proteins that act like human antibodies in the immune system.

These antibodies are co-invented by IAVI and Scripps Research as ‘innovative interventions’ to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Solution: B

The Constitution deals with the citizenship from Articles 5 to 11 under Part II. However, it contains neither any permanent nor any elaborate provisions in this regard.

It only identifies the persons who became citizens of India at its commencement (i.e., on January 26, 1950). It does not deal with the
problem of acquisition or loss of citizenship subsequent to its commencement. It empowers the Parliament to enact a law to provide for such matters and any other matter relating to citizenship

A person who migrated to Pakistan from India after March 1, 1947, but later returned to India for resettlement could become an Indian citizen. For this, he had to be resident in India for six months preceding the date of his application for registration2 (Article 7).

Solution: A

The Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), established in 1977 under the auspices of UNESCO, is a unique regional inter-governmental organisation servicing countries of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in the field of electronic media development. It is hosted by the Government of Malaysia and the secretariat is located in Kuala Lumpur.

The 26 full members of AIBD are the governments of the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are founding organizations of the Institute and they are non-voting members of the General Conference

Solution: D

The Fourth Buddhist Council we held at Kundalvana, Kashmir in 72 AD under the patronage of Kushan king kanishka and the president of this council was Vasumitra, with Asvaghosa as his dupty.

This council distinctly divided the Buddhism into 2 sects Mahayan & Hinayan

Solution: A

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, and mRNA decay.

Solution: A

Solution: B

Rajaraja I, considered the most powerful Chola ruler, became king in 985 AD. Rajaraja invaded Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 993 AD. The Thiruvalangadu copper-plate inscriptions mention that Rajaraja’s army crossed the ocean by ships and destroyed Anuradhapura, the 1400-year-old capital of Sinhalas.

Solution: A

Minimum Support Price is the price set by the government to purchase crops from the farmers, whatever may be the market price for the crops. Minimum Support Price is an important part of India’s agricultural price policy as its declaration before the sowing time assures farmers agriculrural income besides providing a clear price signal.

The MSP helps to incentivize the framers and thus ensures adequate food grains production in the country. I gives sufficient remuneration to the farmers, provides food grains supply to buffer stocks and supports the food security programme through PDS and other programmes.

The Public Distribution System (PDS) evolved as a system of management of scarcity through distribution of foodgrains at affordable prices. Over the years, PDS has become an important part of Government’s policy for management of food economy in the country. PDS is supplemental in nature and is not intended to make available the entire requirement of any of the commodities distributed under it to a household or a section of the society.

Solution: A

District Planning Committee

Every state shall constitute at the district level, a district planning committee to consolidate the plans prepared by panchayats and municipalities in the district, and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.

Hence, statement 1 is correct.

The state legislature may make provisions with respect to the following:

1. The composition of such committees;
2. The manner of election of members of such committees;
3. The functions of such committees in relation to district planning; and
4. The manner of the election of the chairpersons of such committees.

Hence, statement 2 is correct.

The act lays down that four-fifths of the members of a district planning committee should be elected by the elected members of the district panchayat and municipalities in the district from amongst themselves. The representation of these members in the committee should be in proportion to the ratio between the rural and urban populations in the district.

Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

Solution: D

Protection in Respect of Conviction for Offences

Article 20 grants protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to an accused person, whether citizen or foreigner or legal person like a company or a corporation. It contains three provisions in that direction:

(a) No ex-post-facto law: No person shall be (i) convicted of any offence
except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the
act, nor (ii) subjected to a penalty greater than that prescribed by the law
in force at the time of the commission of the act.

(b) No double jeopardy: No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the
same offence more than once.

(c) No self-incrimination: No person accused of any offence shall be
compelled to be a witness against himself.

Solution: C

Article 350 B of the Constitution provides for the appointment by President of a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.

It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned

Solution: C

Chang Chenmo River or Changchenmo River is a tributary of the Shyok River, part of the Indus River system. It is at the southern edge of the disputed Aksai Chin region and north of the Pangong Lake basin. The source of Chang Chenmo is near the Lanak Pass in the Chinese-administered region of Kashmir.

Solution: C

Ans. A.

All the three options are correct. The passage states that the sole purpose of education should not be linked to getting gainful employment but should also focus on empowerment, equality and dignity. Hence all three options are correct.

Ans. A.

The line signifies that we should not have preconceived notions about anything, and that we must focus on eradicating the evil and not the agent through which evil is caused. The statement that best corroborates the passage is A as it mentions that evil doer must not be hated. Instead we should try and reform the agent while eradicating the evil.

Answer: Option D) 240⁰

Explanation:

The minute-hand moves 360° in 1 hour.

Hence, in 40 minutes the minute-hand moves

(360°/60°∗40)° = 240°

Correct Option: C

We have,

x = 88  27  12

y = 43  24  28

Now, x = 88  27  12

Reference:

(I) If an even number is followed by an odd number, then 25 is added to the difference of both numbers.

⇒ x = [(88 – 27) + 25] 12

⇒ x = 86 12

(III) If an even number is followed by an even number, then 25 is subtracted from the product of both numbers.

⇒ x = [(86 × 12) – 25]

∴ x = 1007

And, y = 43  24  28

Reference:

(II) If an odd number is followed by an even number, then 20 is subtracted from the sum of both numbers.

⇒ y = [(43 + 24) – 20] 28

⇒ y = 47 28

(II) If an odd number is followed by an even number, then 20 is subtracted from the sum of both numbers.

⇒ y = [(47 + 28) – 20]

∴ y = 55

Required Value = (x – y)

= (1007 – 55)

∴ Required Value = 952

Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Correct Option: B

We have,

p = 36  13  29

q = 73  22  19

Now, p = 36  13  29

Reference:

(I) If an even number is followed by an odd number, then 25 is added to the difference of both numbers.

⇒ p = [(36 – 13) + 25] 29

⇒ p = 48 29

(I) If an even number is followed by an odd number, then 25 is added to the difference of both numbers.

⇒ p = [(48 – 29) + 25]

∴ p = 44

And, q = 73  22  19

Reference:

(II) If an odd number is followed by an even number, then 20 is subtracted from the sum of both numbers.

⇒ q = [(73 + 22) – 20]  19

⇒ q = 75  19

(III) If an odd number is followed by an odd number, then 25 is subtracted from the product of both numbers.

⇒ q = [(75 × 19) – 25]

∴ q = 1400

Required Value = (p + q)1/2

= (1400 + 44)1/2

= (1444)1/2

∴ Required Value = 38

Hence, the correct answer is option B.