Solution: D

The National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 ( Act No. 20 of 1990 of Govt.of India ) to :

• review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women ;
• recommend remedial legislative measures ;
• facilitate redressal of grievances and
• advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.

The Central Government shall constitute a body to be known as the National Commission for Women to exercise the powers conferred on and to perform the functions assigned to, it under this Act.

The Commission shall consist of :-

1. 1. A Chairperson, committed to the cause of women, to be nominated by the Central Government.
   2. five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing who have had experience in law or legislation, trade unionism, management of an industry potential of women, women’s voluntary organisations (including women activist), administration, economic development, health, education or social welfare;
      Provided that at least one Member each shall be from amongst persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively;
   3. a Member-Secretary to be nominated by the Central Government who shall be :-
      1. an expert in the field of management, organisational structure or sociological movement, or
      2. an officer who is a member of a civil service of the Union or of an all-India service or holds a civil post under the Union with appropriate experience

Solution:  D

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), stablished under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by the Government of India, conducted India’s First Floating Financial Literacy Camp with an initiative called ‘Niveshak Didi’ to promote Financial Literacy ‘By the women, for the women’, in Srinagar, J&K.

To take the Financial Literacy drive ahead, IPPB, in collaboration with Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the aegis of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), launched the initiative called ‘Niveshak Didi’ to promote Financial Literacy “By the women, for the women” concept. ‘Niveshak Didi’ initiative is based on the ideology of women for women as rural area women feel more comfortable to share their queries with a female itself.

Solution: D

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that affect hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the body. The condition affects more than 100,000 people in the United States and 20 million people worldwide.

Causes

Sickle cell anemia is caused by a change in the gene that tells the body to make the iron-rich compound in red blood cells called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin enables red blood cells to carry oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. The hemoglobin associated with sickle cell anemia causes red blood cells to become rigid, sticky and misshapen.

Normally, red blood cells are disc-shaped and flexible enough to move easily through the blood vessels. If you have sickle cell disease, your red blood cells are crescent- or “sickle”-shaped. These cells do not bend or move easily and can block blood flow to the rest of your body.

The blocked blood flow through the body can lead to serious problems, including stroke, eye problems, infections, and episodes of pain called pain crises.

Solution: C

Annual Status of Education Report 2022

Annual Status of Education Report is a household survey conducted across 616 rural districts and covers 6.9 lakh children in the age group of 3 to 16 years to record their schooling status and assess their basic reading and arithmetic skills.

As schools reopened after nearly two years of closure due to COVID-19, student enrolments increased to more than pre-pandemic levels but the learning gap widened for foundational skills in reading and arithmetic, reversing several years of improvement, finds the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022, released by the NGO Pratham.

Annual Status of Education Report 2022 report shows that government schools saw a sharp rise in enrolment for the first time in 16 years; basic literacy levels of children have taken a big hit, with their reading ability as compared to numeracy skills worsening much more sharply and dropping to pre-2012 levels.

Solution: C

National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) is a not-for-profit Organization under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, and was registered on 19th June, 2003. NIXI was set up for peering of ISPs among themselves for the purpose of routing the domestic traffic within the country, instead of taking it all the way to US/Abroad, thereby resulting in better quality of service (reduced latency) and reduced bandwidth charges for ISPs by saving on International Bandwidth. NIXI is managed and operated on a Neutral basis, in line with the best practices for such initiatives globally.

.IN is India’s Country Code Top Level domain (ccTLD). The Govt. of India delegated the operations of INRegistry to NIXI in 2004. The INRegistry operates and manages India’s .IN ccTLD.

Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) in India that provides allocation and registration services of IP addresses and AS numbers, and contributes to the society by providing Internet-related information as a non-profit, affiliation-based organisation, and performing research, education and enlightenment activities.

Solution: D

What Is Transfer Pricing?

Transfer pricing is an accounting practice that represents the price that one division in a company charges another division for goods and services provided.

Transfer pricing allows for the establishment of prices for the goods and services exchanged between subsidiaries, affiliates, or commonly controlled companies that are part of the same larger enterprise. Transfer pricing can lead to tax savings for corporations, though tax authorities may contest their claims.

Key Takeaways

• Transfer pricing accounting occurs when goods or services are exchanged between divisions of the same company.
• A transfer price is based on market prices in charging another division, subsidiary, or holding company for services rendered.
• Companies use transfer pricing to reduce the overall tax burden of the parent company.
• Companies charge a higher price to divisions in high-tax countries (reducing profit) while charging a lower price (increasing profits) for divisions in low-tax countries.

Solution: C

Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics. While atmospheric rivers can vary greatly in size and strength, the average atmospheric river carries an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Exceptionally strong atmospheric rivers can transport up to 15 times that amount. When the atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow.

Although atmospheric rivers come in many shapes and sizes, those that contain the largest amounts of water vapor and the strongest winds can create extreme rainfall and floods, often by stalling over watersheds vulnerable to flooding. These events can disrupt travel, induce mudslides and cause catastrophic damage to life and property. A well-known example is the “Pineapple Express,” a strong atmospheric river that is capable of bringing moisture from the tropics near Hawaii over to the U.S. West Coast.

Solution: C

The CAMPA funds are utilized for compensating the loss of forest land and ecosystem services by raising of compensatory afforestation, improving quality of forests through assisted natural regeneration, enrichment of biodiversity, improvement of wildlife habitat, control of forest fire, forest protection and soil and water conservation measures. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF Act), 2016 and Rules, 2018 provide elaborate guidelines and activities for utilization of CAMPA Fund. CAMPA also supports creation of nurseries for multiplication of quality planting material of locally suitable plant species. The monitoring and evaluation of CAMPA activities is provided in the CAF Act, 2016. The monitoring of CAMPA activities in States/UTs are carried out through Internal and Third Party monitoring and e-Green watch web portal.

CAMPA activities are implemented by engaging local communities in afforestation, nursery raising, soil-water conservation and forest protection activities. The National Authority does not maintain any information related to job creation under various Projects/Schemes funded under National Fund, CAMPA.

Solution: B

Barda Wildlife Sanctuary

 Context: The Gujarat government has planned to translocate 40 adult and sub-adult lions to the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary in the state.

Barda sanctuary, about 100 kilometres away from Gir National Park, has been identified as a potential site to accommodate the Asiatic Lions.

Need:

• A second home would protect the lion population from extinction in case of diseases, Natural disasters etc

Other initiatives:

• Members of the Maldhari community will also have to be relocated along with the big cats as it is important to restore around 1,000 km of ‘exclusive lion habitat’ under Project Lion through incentivised voluntary relocation of forest villages.
• Maldharis are local pastoral communities settled within Gir Protected Areasand the Barda WLS.

Solution: B

Rhododendron, meaning “red tree,” refers to the red flowers and woody growth of some species, but rhododendrons range in habit from evergreen to deciduous and from low-growing ground covers to tall trees.

Rhododendron, (genus Rhododendron), diverse genus of about 1,000 species of woody flowering plants in the heath family (Ericaceae), notable for their attractive flowers and handsome foliage. Rhododendrons are native chiefly in the north temperate zone, especially in the moist acidic soil of the Himalayas and into Southeast Asia to the mountains of New Guinea. A number of species are cultivated as ornamentals.

Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas are home to more than one-third of all types of rhododendrons found in India, reveals the latest publication of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI). The publication titled ‘ Rhododendrons of Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalaya- An Illustrated Account’  lists 45 taxa of rhododendrons (36 species, 1 subspecies, 1 variety, and 7 natural hybrids).

There are 132 taxa (80 species, 25 subspecies and 27 varieties) of rhododendrons found in India. Of the 45 taxa recorded in the publication, 24 are found in the Darjeeling Himalayas and 44 in the Sikkim Himalayas.

Solution: D

‘Least Developed Country’ status

Context: Bhutan will become the seventh nation to graduate from the United Nations (UN) list of Least Developed Countries (LDC).

What is a Least Developed Country (LDC)?

According to the UN, an LDC is defined as “a country that exhibits the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with low levels of income, human capital and economic diversification, high levels of economic vulnerability, and a population that is disproportionately reliant on agriculture, natural resources, and primary commodities.”

The UN identifies three criteria for a country to be classified as an LDC:

1. It must have a gross national income (GNI) per capita below the threshold of USD 1,230 over a three-year average.
2. It must perform poorly on a composite human assets index based on indicators including nutrition, health and education.
3. The country must demonstrate economic vulnerability such as being prone to natural disasters and possessing structural economic constraints.

How does a country get off the LDC list?

• A nation must have a GNI per capita of at least USD 1,242 for two consecutive triennial reviews in order to meet the income requirement.
• By using measures like education, health, and nutrition, a nation must show that it has improved its human capital in order to achieve the human assets requirement.
• A nation also must show that it has improved its ability to withstand external economic shocks like natural catastrophes or shifts in commodity prices in order to pass the economic vulnerability test.

Advantages of being an LDC

• Being an LDC confers certain economic benefits to the listed country.
• LDCs also enjoy duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to the markets of developed countries.

Solution: C

Four Buddhist Councils:

Solution: C

The Ministry of Rural Development’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) launched “Sangathan Se Samridhhi– Leaving no Rural Woman Behind”, a national campaign under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Samaveshi Vikaas, aimed at mobilizing 10 crore women from eligible rural households. This special drive will go on till June 30^th 2023 and aspires to bring all the vulnerable and marginalized rural households under the Self-Help Group (SHG) fold to enable them to draw benefits provided under the programme.

The campaign’s primary objective is to mobilize disadvantaged rural communities unaware of the benefits of the DAY-NRLM program. The campaign will be organized in all states, with the expectation of forming more than 1.1 lakh SHGs during the period through interventions like organizing General Body Meetings of Village Organizationsand experience sharing by SHG champions to motivate left out households to join SHGs, conducting Community Resource Persondrives, mobilizing eligible women from PMAY-G beneficiary households, training new SHG members, reviving defunct SHGs, opening SHG bank accounts and creation of a common database of SHGs promoted by other stakeholders.

Solution: A

The Royal Bengal Tiger of India

Royal Bengal Tiger, is the largest, fiercest, and most powerful member of the Big Cat family in India.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) considers the Bengal tiger to be an endangered subspecies (see endangered species).

Royal Bengal Tigers are also known as Indian Tiger and Bengal Tiger. They constitute a large population of tiger families in the world.  The Bengal tiger is the National animal of India and is found mostly in India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma.

The biological name of this Big Cat is Panthera Tigris, which comes under the Felidae family under the Mammalia category.

It is mainly found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and some parts of Tibet.

Tigers are currently found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia and Thailand. There are five extent sub-species of tigers in the wild today. The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) occurs only in captivity. The Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most numerous of all the sub-species and inhabits Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Of the approximately 2,500 Royal Bengal tigers in the world, around 103 individuals live in Bhutan today. The Royal Bengal tigers mainly inhabit the tropical forests of the Indian sub-continent, but in Bhutan, they have been recorded as high as 4,500 meters above sea level.

Solution: D

Child Welfare Committee

The Child Welfare Committee is an autonomous body declared as a competent authority to deal with children in need of care and protection. Section 27 of Chapter V of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 talks about the Child Welfare Committee.

It is mandatory to form one or more Child Welfare Committees in every district for exercising power and to discharge the duties conferred in relation to children in need of care and protection. This committee consists of a Chairperson and other four members who according to the State Government are fit to be appointed, at least one of whom should be a woman and the other should preferably be an expert on matters that are concerning the children.

The Child Welfare Committee functions as a bench guided by the powers that are conferred in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Anyone connected to the child is allowed to file a petition to the Magistrate of that District, who considers and passes appropriate orders.

Solution: B

Land revenue systems

• Lord Cornwallis introduced Permanent Settlement with the hope that the rule of law and private property rights would liberate individual enterprise from the shackles of custom and tradition, and would bring in modernisation to the economy and society. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
• But Thomas Munro in Madras, and his followers in western and northern India, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, John Malcolm and Charles Metcalfe, thought that the Cornwallis system did not consider Indian tradition and experience.
• Further, they held that some aspects of the Indian tradition of personal government needed to be maintained.
  • Munro therefore, proceeded to introduce his Ryotwari Settlement, with the objective of preserving India’s village communities.
  • But ultimately, his aim was to strengthen the Company’s state in the south by expanding its revenue base, where land taxes would be collected directly from the peasants by a large number of British officers, an idea he had derived from the revenue administration of Tipu Sultan’s Mysore.

Solution: B

Manav dharma sabha

• Durgaram Manchharam (1809–78) was a leading figure among the small group of educated Gujaratis who in the 1830s became strong critics of contemporary society.
• Participants in this group were Dadoba Panderung, Dinmani Shankar, Dalpatram Bhagubai, and Damodar Das.
• They founded the Manav Dharma Sabha at Surat in 1844 and held meetings every Sunday that were open to anyone who wished to attend.
  • As part of its programme, the Manav Dharma Sabha challenged magicians and the reciters of incantations to demonstrate their skills.
  • They also criticised caste, but took no direct action against this institution.
• The Manav Dharma Sabha had only a short career as an active organisation.
  • Although its life was severely limited, this Sabha was directly linked to later developments in Maharashtra and Gujarat as its members carried with them the ideals of the movement and became leaders in similar organisations.

Solution: A

Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905)

• He established the Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839) at Calcutta to propagate Rammohun Roy’s ideas. Formally he joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1843 and reorganised it.
• He promoted the systematic study of India’s past through the Tattvabodhini Patrika, a Bengali monthly.
• He remained the undisputed leader of the Brahmo Samaj till 1866 and carried on the socioreligious reform work initiated by Roy.

Keshab Chandra Sen (1838–84)

He formed the ‘Indian Reform Association’ (1870) and persuaded the British government to enact the Native Marriage Act of 1872 (popularly known as the Civil Marriage Act) which legalised the Brahmo marriages and fixed the minimum age for the groom and the bride at 18 and 14 respectively.

Solution: B

Lord Ripon (1880–84)

• First Factory Act of 1881.
• First Census taken in India (1881)—254 millions.
• Introduction of Local Self-Government in 1882.
• Repeal of the Vernacular Press Act in 1882.
• Division of the finances of the centre in 1882.
• Appointment of an Educational Commission under Sir William Hunter in 1882.
• The lIbert Bill Controversy (1883).
• Coming into existence of the Famine Code in 1883.

Lord Dufferin (1884–88)

• Third Burmese war (1885–86).
• Foundation of the Indian National Congress (Lord Cross was the Secretary of State at that time).

Solution: C

Charter Act of 1813

• Throwing open the Indian trade to all British subjects, though the company’s monopoly of trade in tea and trade with China was not disturbed. Providing an annual sum of Rs. 1,00,000 for the spread of education.
• It required the company’s servants to undergo some training in England before entering service.

Charter Act of 1833

• Completion of the introduction of free trade in India by abolishing the company’s monopoly of trade in tea and trade with China.
• Renaming the Governor General of Fort William as the Governor General of India (William Bentinck was the first Governor General of India as well as the Governor of Bengal Presidency).
• Inclusion of a Law Member in the Council of the Governor General (Macaulay—the first Law Member).
• Abolition of the legislative decentralisation (i.e. the power of different Presidencies to make law for themselves) and giving the governor general in council the power to make laws for all British India.

Solution: A

Sir William Wedderburn and W. S. Caine set up the Indian Parliamentary Committee in 1893 with the purpose of agitating for Indian political reforms in the House of Commons. The committee was made up of British MPs and Indian nationalists, and it worked to raise awareness of Indian issues in the British Parliament. The committee also lobbied for reforms such as increased Indian representation in government and a more equitable system of taxation. The Indian Parliamentary Committee played an important role in the Indian independence movement, and it helped to lay the groundwork for the eventual granting of self-government to India.

Here are some of the specific goals of the Indian Parliamentary Committee:

To increase Indian representation in the British Parliament.

To improve the system of taxation in India.

To promote economic development in India.

To protect the rights of Indian minorities.

To end discrimination against Indians in the British Empire.

The Indian Parliamentary Committee was a significant step forward in the struggle for Indian independence. It helped to raise awareness of Indian issues in the British Parliament and it lobbied for reforms that would eventually lead to self-government for India. The committee’s work was essential to the eventual success of the Indian independence movement.

Solution: B

Crude Oil pricing:

The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel of benchmark crude oil a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such  as West Texas Intermediate (W T l), Brent crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC Reference  Basket, Tapis Crude, Bonny Light, Urals oil, Isthmus and Western Canadian Select  (WCS).

“Brent crude oil” refers to a specific type of crude oil that is used as a benchmark for pricing other crude oils worldwide. It is named after the Brent oil field in the North Sea, which is one of the major sources of this type of oil. Brent crude is known for its relatively low sulfur content and high quality, making it attractive for refining into gasoline and diesel fuel.

The term “Brent crude oil” is commonly used in the news and financial markets to indicate the price and trends of this particular type of oil. It serves as a reference point for pricing other crude oils, and its price is influenced by factors such as global supply and demand dynamics, geopolitical events, economic indicators, and changes in oil production and inventories.

Factors Affecting the Crude Oil Pricing:

There is a difference in the price of a barrel of oil based on its grade. Discussed below are the factors which are responsible for the increase or decrease in the  crude oil pricing in India:

1. Its specific gravity or API
2. Its sulphur content
3. Its location—for example, its proximity to tidewater and/or refineries.

Heavier, sour crude oils lacking in tidewater access—such as Western Canadian Select are less expensive than lighter, sweeter oil—such as WTI.

Solution: A

The function of heavy water in a nuclear reactor is to Slow down the speed of neutrons.

Heavy water is used in certain types of nuclear reactors, where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons so that they are more likely to react with the fissile uranium-235 than with uranium-238, which captures neutrons without fissioning.

Solution: B

Consolidated Fund of India is formed under the Constitution. The taxes received by government including central tax, income tax, excise tax and certain non tax revenues are credited in Consolidated Fund. All expenditures of the Govt. are incurred from this fund.  Authority of Parliament is required for withdrawing any amount from this fund.

Solution: C

All revenues received by the Union Government by way of taxes and other receipts for the conduct of Government business are credited to the Consolidated Fund of India. Consolidated Fund of India is the most important of all government accounts. This fund was constituted under Article 266 (1) of the Constitution of India. All revenues received by the government by way of direct taxes and indirect taxes, money borrowed and receipts from loans given by the government flow into the Consolidated Fund of India.

Ans. A.

B and C are not correct inferences from the passage. D is wrong as the passage suggests that people would not stay under the influence of a machine, even if that machine provides them with all happiness. This does not essentially imply that they desire to stay in control of their lives. This implies that they don’t desire a machine’s control over their lives. Hence A

Solution: b

Explanation:

Statement I inference: Runs scored: Nehra< ____ < ____ < Ojha < ____

Statement II inference: Wickets taken:          ____ > ____ > _____ > Kohli > ____

Statement V inference: Runs scored:             Nehra< ____ < ____ < Ojha < Lal

Wickets taken:       Lal > ____ > _____ > Kohli > ____

Statement IV inference: Runs scored:            Nehra < Mishra < Kohli < Ojha < Lal

Wickets taken:        Lal > Mishra > _____ > Kohli > ____

Statement II inference:  Runs scored:            Nehra < Mishra < Kohli < Ojha < Lal

Wickets taken:        Lal > Mishra > _____ > Kohli > Ojha

Then, Lal > Mishra > Nehra > Kohli > Ojha

Solution: d

Explanation:

Refer previous answer’s explanation.

Solution: d

Explanation: ‘+’ denotes male and ‘-‘denotes female

Straight line is a direct blood relation

Vertical lines connect two immediate generations; horizontal lines connect the same generation.

From statement i,

Since B’s sex cannot be determined, options a, b and c can’t be concluded.

Solution: d

Explanation:

Refer the explanation of previous question.