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UPSC (PYQ)

UPSC 2010 Prelim 

1. A cuboid has six sides of different colours. The red side is opposite to black. The blue side is adjacent to white. The brown side is adjacent to blue. The red side is face down. Which one of the following would be the opposite of brown?

A.      Red

B.       Black

C.      White

D.      Blue

ANSWER: C

2. By a regulation in 1793, the District Collector was deprived of his judicial powers and made the collecting agent only. What was the reason for such regulation?

A.      Lord Cornwallis felt that the District Collector's efficiency of revenue collection would enormously increase without the burden of other work

B.       Lord Cornwallis felt that judicial power should compulsorily be in the hands of Europeans while Indians can be given the job of revenue collection in the districts

C.      Lord Cornwallis was alarmed at the extent of power concentrated in the District Collector and felt that such absolute power was undesirable in one person.

D.      The judicial work demanded a deep knowledge of India and a good training in law and' Lord Cornwallis felt that District Collector should be only a revenue collector

ANSWER: C

The judicial reforms undertaken by Lord Cornwallis laid a strong foundation in the British Indian administrative system in the year 1793. The judicial reforms of Cornwallis were documented in the famous Cornwallis Code.

However the new judicial reforms of Lord Cornwallis were based on the principle of Separation of Powers. Cornwallis at first sought to separate the revenue administration from the administration of justice. The collector used to be the head of the Revenue Department in a district and also enjoyed extensive judicial and magisterial powers.

However Cornwallis wanted Separation of Power and the Cornwallis Code divested the collector of all the judicial and the magisterial powers. Thus the Collectors were given only the power of the revenue administration according to the Cornwallis Code. A new class of officer called the District Judge was created to preside over the district Civil Court. The district judge was also given the magisterial and the police function. 

3. What is the principle by which a cooling system (Radiator) in a motor car works?

A.      Conduction only

B.       Convection

C.      Radiation only

D.      Both conduction & radiation

ANSWER: B

4. In a group of five persons A, B, C, D and E, there is a professor, a doctor and lawyer. A and D are unmarried ladies, and do not work. Of the married couple in the Group, E is the husband. B is the brother of A and is neither a doctor nor a lawyer. Who is the professor?

A.      B

B.       C

C.      A

      D. None of these

ANSWER: A

5. Half of the villagers of a certain village have their own houses. One - fifth of the villagers cultivate paddy. One-third of the villagers are literate. Four- fifth of the villagers are below twenty five. Then, which one of the following is certainly true?

A.      All the villagers who have their own houses are literate

B.       Some villagers under twenty five are literate

C.      A quarter of the villagers who have their own houses cultivate paddy

D.      Half of the villagers who cultivate paddy are literate

ANSWER: B

The Decline of the Mughal Empire

The Decline of the Mughal Empire

The great Mughal Empire, the envy of its contemporaries, for almost two centuries, declined and disintegrated during the first half of the 18th century. The Mughal Emperors lost their power and glory and their empire shrank to a few square miles around Delhi. In the end, in 1803, Delhi itself was occupied by the British array and the proud Mughal Emperor was reduced to the status of a mere pensioner of a foreign power. A study of the process of decline of this great Empire is most instructive. It reveals some of the defects and weaknesses of India’s medieval social, economic and political structure which were responsible for the eventual subjugation of the country by the English East India Company.

SESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT

SESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT

Summoning

The president from time to time sumons each House of Parliament to meet. But, the maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months. Parliament should meet at least twice a year.

Maurya Court Art

Mauryan Sculpture

The Maurya period is marked by an impressive progress in the Indian sculpture. Dr. Ananda Coomarswamy differentiates the Mauryan sculptures into Court art and the Popular Art. The Court art includes the pillars and their capitals while the popular art includes the works of sculptors such as the Yakshas and Yakshinis. The Yaksha image from Parkam and Yakshini Image from Besnagar are examples of popular art.

CLASSICAL LANGUAGE

According to Article 343, the official language of the India should be Hindi in Devanagari script. As per Eight schedules of the Indian constitution, we have 22 languages. In 2004 it was decided by the Indian Government to proclaim Indian Languages meeting certain requirements as “Classical Language”. 

Criteria 

ü  Extraordinary antiquity of its early transcripts or verified history over a period of 1500-2000 years.

ü  A body of ancient literature or texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.

ü  The literary tradition should be unique and not hired from another language community.

The classical language and literature being diverse from modern, there may also be a discontinuity among the classical language and its later forms or its sprouts

Classical Languages

ü  In 2004, Government of India declared Tamil as the Classical Language of India.

ü  In 2005, right after Tamil, the government declared Sanskrit as Classical Language of India. These two languages are undeniably parental sources for several languages belonging to the Indo-European family and the Dravidian family of language groups.

ü  The government gave the classical language status to Kannada and Telugu in 2008.

ü  Malayalam was declared as a classical language in 2013 and in 2014, Odiya was also given the status of the Classical language.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

• Established in 1945 with the objective of eliminating hunger and improving nutrition and standards of living by increasing agricultural productivity.
• Secretariat is located in Rome, Italy.
• Key programmes==> Food Security Programmes, Codex Alimentarius, & International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) etc.

Codex Alimentarius – International Food Standards==> established by FAO and WHO develops harmonized international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair trade practices in the food trade. CAC has recently adopted three Codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and thyme owing to India‘s efforts to benchmark global spices trade.
International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) ==>it aims to protect cultivated and wild plants by preventing the introduction and spread of pests.
Globefish

• Globefish is an unit within the FAO, responsible for information and analysis on international fish trade and markets.

Flagship Publications Every year, FAO publishes a number of major ‘State of the World’ reports related to food, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and natural resources. 1.      State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2.      State of Food and Agriculture 3.      State of Food Insecurity in the World 4.      State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 5.      State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources 6.      State of the World’s Forests 7.      State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 8.      State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 9.      State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 10.    Status of the World’s Soil Resources

Globefish‘s flagship reports cover over 14 of the most major traded seafood commodities, including shrimp, tuna, salmon, small pelagics and other species with detailed statistics

NITI Aayog: The Institutional Structure

NITI Aayog: The Institutional Structure

NITI Aayog (Policy Commission) or National Institution for Transforming India was established via a Union Cabinet resolution on January 1, 2015 as a premier Policy Think Tank of the Union Government. It’s an extra-constitutional, non-statutory and advisory body.

Warren Hastings

Warren Hastings

From 1772, Warren Hastings served as Governor General of Fort Williams and the regulating act was passed after his arrival. Important events under his rule include Trial of Nandkumar and Raja Chait Singh of Banaras; codification of Hindu and Muslim laws; First and second Anglo-Maratha wars, Second Anglo-Mysore war, Abolition of Dual System and quinquennial settlement of land revenue, foundation of Madarasa Aaliya  (1781) and Asiatic Society (1784). He implemented several reforms in all walks of administration. The Regulating Act 1773 and Pitts India Act, 1784 were important acts passed during his tenure.

First Anglo Mysore War

First Anglo Mysore War

From 1734 to 1766, Mysore was under Krishnaraja Wodeyar II. His commander in chiefs dominated his reign and among them; Hyder Ali came to prominence from 1760 onwards. When Krishnaraja died, Hyder Ali became the de facto ruler of Mysore in 1763, though Nanjaraja was placed on the throne of Mysore as nominal head.

Robert Clive

Rovert Clive

Robert Clive (born 1725) was appointed as Clerk in the service of the East India Company in 1743. The Seize of Arcot (1761) during Second Carnatic War gave a major boost to his career and he became deputy governor of Fort St. David at Cuddalore in 1755. From 1758 to 1760 and then 1765 to 1767, he remained Governor of the Presidency of Fort William.

During his tenure, British East India Company won battle of Plassey, Battle of Chinsura and Battle of Buxar. These battles paved the way for British conquest of Northern India. Clive also imposed Dual system of administration in Bengal which ruined its economy.

Carnatic Wars

Carnatic Wars

In the 18th century, three Carnatic Wars were fought between various Indian rulers and British and French East India Company on either side. These wars resulted in establishment of political supremacy of British East India Company. The French company was reduced in the areas around Pondicherry only. Commercial and maritime rivalry between France and England was the primary reason behind these wars. The entire south India was divided into minor Rajas, Nawabs and petty chieftains who fought with each other for supremacy. British and French took opposite sides to support these rivals and increase their own dominance.

East India Company

East India Company

British East India Company was the First among various East India Companies formed and it was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name “Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies” by Queen Elizabeth-I on 31 December 1600.

It was a joint stock company and initially had 125 shareholders with capital of 68,373 Pounds Sterling. The capital was raised to 429,000 Pounds Sterling when voyages were undertaken on the first joint-stock account.

The first governor of the company was Thomas Smith and commander of first voyage to India was James Lancaster {he commanded the ship called Red Dragon}.

The East India Company was also known as John Company in its initial days. It was established at a time when Portuguese had already monopolized the commercial activities in East Indies. Further, the Portuguese had also shifted the cradle of commerce from Mediterranean to Atlantics.

Dutch Empire and Colonies of India

Dutch Empire and Colonies of India

Dutch were the first to break through the Portuguese monopoly in the east. Netherland had got independence from Spanish Empire in 1581. Due to war of independence, the ports in Spain for Dutch were closed. This forced them to find out a route to India and east to enable direct trade. In 1565, they had opened up trade with Russia and tried to explore the land routes towards China and India, however, not much success came their way.

The Arrival of French East India Company

The Arrival of French East India Company

Among the Dutch, Danish, Portuguese and French, the French East India Company was the last to be formed. Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded the French East India Company in 1664. The initial attempts of the company to found a successful colony on Madagascar got failed. In 1667, under Francis Caron, the company established first factory at Surat and second factory was established at Masulipattanam a year later.

Portuguese Empire of India

Portuguese Empire of India

From 1505 to 1961, some territories of India remained under Portuguese State of India {Estado da India} or Portuguese India {Índia Portuguesa}. The Indian empire of Portuguese was mainly confined in isolated colonies on both East and West Coast of India and was part of Portuguese possessions in Asia, East Africa and Pacific.

Third Battle of Panipat

Third Battle of Panipat

Facts about the Third Battle of Panipat

ü  Fought between: Maratha Empire and Durrani Empire (Afghanistan)

ü  People involved: Sadashivrao Bhau (Commander-in-chief of the Maratha Army), Vishwasrao, Malharrao Holkar, Ahmad Shah Durrani (also called Ahmad Shah Abdali).

ü  When: 14th January 1761

ü  Where: Panipat (97 km north of Delhi) in modern day Haryana.

ü  Result: Victory for the Afghans.

ü  Durrani got support from the Rohillas of the Doab and Shuja-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Awadh.

ü  The Marathas failed to get support from the Rajputs, Jats or the Sikhs.

Battle of Plassey

Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757. The battle consolidated the Company's presence in Bengal, which later expanded to cover much of India over the next hundred years.

Religion in Gupta Era

Religion in Gupta Era

Buddhism was generally prevalent in Northern India including Kashmir, Afghanistan and Swat Valley two centuries prior to Christian era and 2 centuries after it. Jainism was prevailing but did not attain much popularity. Hinduism never ceased to exist and retained the large share of both the popular as well as Royal Favor.  It is evident from the coins of Kadphises II {the Kushana emperor who adopted Hinduism} with such a great deal that he repeatedly put images of Shiva on his coins and described himself as a devotee of Shiva.

Caste System in Gupta Era

Caste System in Gupta Era

One of the most notable features of Indian society till date has been caste system. So was it during Gupta era also. There were three notable features of caste system in Gupta era as follows:

ü  Firstly, upper castes although managed their respective position in the caste hierarchy, yet there was an indication mobility and fluidity, which allowed other castes (than Brahmins) to make some progress.

ü  Secondly, condition of Shudras improved mainly because the link between occupation and birth got loose for some time. As the shudras entered into farming, they upgraded themselves into sharecroppers.

ü  Thirdly, the condition of lowest strata of society, untouchables reached to nadir. They were forced to live away from population and engaged in most demeaning occupations.