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COMPETITION FOCUSIN October 20176

India Opened First PartitionMuseum 70 years AfterBloody EventIndia’s first Partition museum wasinaugurated in Amritsar tocommemorate 70 years ofIndependence, for both India andPakistan. It is housed in the red-brickTown Hall of Amritsar. The PartitionMuseum opened for public viewing onAugust 17, 2017. The Chief Minister ofPunjab Capt. Amarinder Singhinaugurated the museum.

The events of Partition have beenfoundational in shaping the identity ofboth nations and their people,inspiring countless works of art andliterature, but not any officialresponses of regret or memorialisationfrom either side. The inspiration forthe museum came from the stories ofUrdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto,himself a brutally honest chronicler ofthe event.

About the Museuml It is located barely 32 km from the

border with Pakistan in thelong-neglected red-brick Town Hallbuilding at Katra Ahluwalia near theGolden Temple complex.

l It comes alive after undergoing twoyears of work in preparation for thegrim stories that exhibits in the 14galleries inside unfold.

l Amritsar was the transit point of the massmigration on both sides of the borderwhich displaced nearly 15 million peoplefrom their ancestral homes.

l The museum recounts the painfulexperience of people on both sides throughpoetry, first-person accounts, paintings,installations, donated mementos andartefacts from individuals.

l The exhibition also includes photographs,newspaper clippings and donated personalitems that have been preserved astestimonies to the struggle for freedomfrom colonial rule.

Union Government LaunchedNational Anthem Video inSign LanguageMinistry of Human Resource Development(HRD) launched an Indian National Anthemvideo on August 10, 2017 in sign language,featuring disabled and partially disabledchildren. The video features film star AmitabhBachchan apart from the children who singthe National Anthem in sign language againstthe backdrop of the Red Fort.

The video is directed by veteran filmmakerGovind Nihalani and the music is scored bylate Aadesh Shrivastava. The video has threeminutes playtime. The film is conceptualisedby Satish Kapoor, Founder Director, We CareFilm Festival. We Care Film Festivalproduced the Film under the aegis ofBrotherhood, an NGO. The video is createdas part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

National Scenario

call for the inclusion of‘divyangjan’ in the country’sdevelopment. Prime MinisterModi suggested that the term‘divyang’ (divine body) insteadof 'viklang' be used for personswith disability’’. Governmentalso took decision to increasereservation in governmentvacancies from 3-4% forpersons with benchmarkdisability.

India Celebrated Its71st Independence DayIndia celebrated its 71stIndependence Day onAugust 15, 2017. PrimeMinister Narendra Modihoisted the tricolour flag fromthe historic Red Fort andaddressed the nation fromthere. This was his fourthIndependence Day address.

Brief Notesl Prime Minister Narendra

Modi asserted that hisgovernment is committed torestoring the lost glory ofKashmir and its status as‘heaven on Earth’.

l From Gorakhpur tragedy totriple talaq, Prime MinisterModi had underlined thatIndia will stand united. Healso said that the countrywill fulfill the promise of‘Swaraj’.

l PrimeMinisterModi urgedthe nationto cometogether tolead a ‘newIndia’,wherethere is nocasteism, communalism,corruption and terrorism.

l He stressed on eradicatingcorruption from the countryand he has also paid hisrespects to Mahatma Gandhiat Rajghat in New Delhi.

l President Ram Nath Kovindfollowed by Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Singh Rawat,Chief of Air Staff, Air ChiefMarshal BS Dhanoa andNavy Chief Admiral SunilLamba paid homage at AmarJawan Jyoti on the occasionof 71st Independence Day inNew Delhi.


National Scenario

NITI Aayog Organised anInitiative called‘Champions of Change’NITI Aayog organised an initiativecalled ‘Champions of Change’ atPravasi Bharatiya Kendra. PrimeMinister Modi interacted with YoungEntrepreneurs there on August 17,2017. The event was coordinated byCEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant.

Six groups of Young Entrepreneursmade presentations before the PM onthemes such as-Soft Power : IncredibleIndia 2.0; Education and SkillDevelopment; Health and Nutrition;Energizing a sustainable tomorrow;and Digital India; New India by 2022.

The Prime Minister described the‘Champions of Change’ initiative as oneeffort to bring together diversestrengths for the benefit of the nationand society. This initiative would betaken forward and institutionalized inthe best possible way.

Happenings of the CampaignHe urged the children to learn aboutthe chemicals present in the firecrackers and the impact of thesechemicals on various parts of thehuman body. Children are advised tobuy earthen lamps and other suchenvironment-friendly products.

He administered a Pledge for a Greenand Healthy Diwali to the gathering ofstudents.

The Pledge will be widely circulated tothe schools/colleges and othereducational institutions and the schooladministration will be requested toadminister the said Pledge during theirschool assembly up to Diwali.

Students presented ‘Nukkad Nataks’(street plays) and also sang “PrakritiVandana” on the occasion.

India’s First Online Courseon Infusion TherapyLaunchedInfusion Nurses Society (INS), a globalauthority in infusion therapy, launchedIndia’s first online course on InfusionTherapy for nurses on August 13,2017.

By utilising the reach and ease of thedigital platform, the course will enablemembers to access the various infusiontherapy modules and presentationsthrough its website. Under the course,it aims to train over 3000 nurses in thevital medical procedure.

The initiative will boost nurses evenin rural parts of India. The thinkingbehind such initiatives is to engagehealthcare professionals to intensifythe best safety and quality practicesin infusion management across thecountry.

What is Infusion Therapy?l Infusion therapy means the

administration of a drugintravenously.

l The term also may refer tosituations where drugs areprovided through other non-oralroutes, such as intramuscularinjections and epidural routes.

l Nine of ten patients admitted inhospitals receive infusion therapyduring the course of their stay fortherapeutic or diagnostic purposes.

l Improper infusion practices maylead to complications, causing anincrease in mortality, morbidity,duration of hospital stay andhealthcare costs.

Lok Sabha Passed BillApproving Merger of AssociateBanks with SBIThe Lok Sabha passed a bill on August 10,2017 to repeal the SBI (Subsidiary Banks)Act 1959, State Bank of Hyderabad Act1956 and to further amend the State Bankof India Act, 1955, following the mergerof five associates with the parent SBI.After the acquisition of the subsidiarybanks by SBI, the subsidiary banks haveceased to exist and, therefore, it isnecessary to repeal both the Acts.

Five associates and the Bharatiya MahilaBank became part of SBI beginning onApril 1, catapulting the countrys largestlender to among the top 50 banks in theworld.

The five associates that were merged areSBBJ, SBH, SBM, SBP and SBT.Following the merger, the total customerbase of SBI increased to 37 crore with abranch network of around 24000 andnearly 59000 ATMs across the country.

The merged entity began operation witha deposit base of more than ` 26 lakhcrore and advances level of ` 18.50 lakhcrore. With this merger, the SBI hascome in the list of top 50 banks globallyand is ranked at the 45th position.

Swachh Survey Report ReleasedThe Ministry of Drinking Water andSanitation on August 8, 2017 releasedthe findings of the survey of 1.4 lakhrural households, undertaken by theQuality Council of India (QCI) betweenMay and June 2017 to evaluate theprogress made under the Swachh BharatMission (SBM) in rural India. The surveyfound that Haryana and Kerala had themaximum toilet coverage at 99%.

North-eastern States of Sikkim, Manipurand Nagaland were top performers with95% rural households covered by toilets.And so were the Himalayan States ofHimachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand withover 90% toilet coverage of the ruralhouses. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andJharkhand were among the worstperformers in terms of rural sanitation.

The survey, covering 4626 villagesacross all States and Union Territories,claimed that 62.45% of the householdshad access to a toilet. The survey alsopointed that 91.29% of the people whohad access to a toilet also used it,indicating a change in sanitationbehaviour.

SBM was launched by Prime MinisterModi on October 2, 2014 with the goal ofachieving ODF and Clean India byOctober 2, 2019.

PM

Launched

Website to

Honour

Gallantry

Award

Winners

Narendra Modi, PrimeMinister of India haslaunched a new website onAugust 14, 2017 in

remembrance of heroes who havebeen awarded gallantry awards sinceIndependence.

It is also an honour to all thegallantry award winners sinceIndependence. One can reach theportal by searching theurl “http://gallantryawards.gov.in”.

The website gives details of theChakra Series awardees i.e., ParamVir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, VirChakra, Ashok Chakra, Kirti Chakraand Shaurya Chakra.

The portal will preserve and tell thestories of our bravest men andwomen, civilians as well as armedforces personnel. The portal containsinformation, such as name, unit,year, citations and photographs ofawardees till date.


National Scenario

National CyberCoordination Centre madeOperationalThe first phase of National CyberCoordination Centre (NCCC) Set-upto scan the country’s web traffic todetect cyber security threats hasbeen made operational as Parliamentwas informed on August 9, 2017.The government has also madeoperational botnet and malwarecleaning centre that will detectmalicious software in devices ofcitizens and clean them.

What is NCCC?The government has proposed to setup National Cyber CoordinationCentre (NCCC) earlier. NCCC, amulti-stakeholder body, will beimplemented by Indian ComputerEmergency Response Team(CERT-In) at Ministry of Electronicsand Information Technology.

NCCC scans internet traffic cominginto the country to detect real-timecyber threat and alert variousorganisations as well as internetservice providers for timely action.The Centre derives necessary powersas per provisions of section 69B ofthe Information Technology Act,2000 and the Rules notified thereunder.

Union Government MergedNCRB with BPRDWith an aim to improve efficiency ofdevelopment works related topolicing, the Union Home Ministry onAugust 4, 2017 issued an order tomerge National Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB) with the Bureau ofPolice Research and Development(BPRD).

The merger will boost crime datacollection and research efforts of thetwo organisations. It will improveadministrative efficiency and optimalutilisation of resources. It will giveproper back up of crime collectionwork done by the NCRB to theresearch work done by the BPRD.

The BPRD Director General (DG) willbe the head of the merged newentity, where the NCRB Director, anAdditional DG rank post will report tothe former.

Meeran C. Borwankar is currently theChief of the Bureau of PoliceResearch and Development (BPRD).

Aadhaar made Mandatory forRegistration of Death fromOctober 1The office of the Registrar Generalworking under the aegis of homeministry announced on August 4, 2017that Aadhaar number mandatory for theregistration of death from October 1 toprevent identity fraud.

It would be applicable for the residentsof all the States except Jammu &Kashmir, Assam and Meghalaya, forwhich a date would be notifiedseparately.

Details of the Announcementl Aadhaar number will be required for

the purpose of establishing the identityof the deceased i.e., ensuring accuracyof the details provided by the relativesor dependents or acquaintances of thedeceased.

l It will also help in recording theidentity of the deceased person.Further, it will obviate the need forproducing multiple documents to provethe identity of the deceased person.

l In case the person did not have anAadhaar number, the applicant willhave to give a certificate that the deadperson did not have an Aadhaarnumber ‘to the best of his/herknowledge’.

l The applicant’s Aadhaar number, aswell that of the dead person’s spouseand parents would, however, have tobe provided.

l If a false declaration given by theapplicant relating to the Aadhaar cardwould be treated as an offence.

Lok Sabha Passed Two KeyBills for Implementation ofGST in J&KThe Lok Sabha on August 2, 2017 haspassed the Central Goods and ServicesTax (Extension to Jammu & Kashmir)Bill, 2017 and the Integrated Goods andServices Tax (Extension to Jammu &Kashmir) Bill, 2017 by voice vote. Thetwo bills will replace the ordinancespromulgated earlier in this regard.

The CGST Bill 2017 provides for levy ofthe GST on goods sold and servicesrendered in the State while the IGST Bill,2017 seeks to levy the tax on Inter-Statemovement of goods.

They are passed to give effect to formalamendments required in CGST and IGSTActs by removing the exemption thatwas carved out for Jammu & Kashmir.

Government Launchede-RaKAM Portal for SellingAgricultural ProduceConsumer Affairs, Food & PublicDistribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswanlaunched a portal named e-RaKAM onAugust 1, 2017 to provide a platformto sell agricultural produce.

The portal is a joint initiative bystate-run-auctioneer MSTC and CentralWarehousing Corporation arm CRWC.

E-RaKAM will help in strengtheningthe agriculture-oriented Indianeconomy and farmers, who play a vitalrole in national development.

E-RaKAM is a first of its kind initiativethat leverages technology to connect

No Renewal of Insurance for

Vehicles without Pollution

Certificate

In a bid to curb pollution, theSupreme Court on August 10, 2017issued a directive that insurance ofa vehicle will not be renewed unlessthe owner provides Pollution UnderControl (PUC) certificate. Thebench was headed by JusticeMadan B. Lokur.

The bench also asked the Ministryof Road Transport and Highwaysto ensure that all fuel refillingcentres in the National CapitalRegion (NCR) must have PUCcentres and granted 4 weeks time tothe Centre to ensure that there arefunctional PUC centres in NCR toensure that vehicles plying havePUC certificate. The court gave thisverdict by considering thesuggestions given by EnvironmentPollution Control Authority(EPCA). The bench was hearing aPIL filed by environmentalist MCMehta way back in 1985 dealingwith various aspects of pollution.

COMPETITION FOCUSINOctober 2017

GST Relief for Industrial Unitsin Himalayan and NE RegionThe Cabinet Committee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) gave its nod on August 16,2017 for a new scheme to refund theCentral share of Central GST (CGST) andIntegrated GST (iGST) to 4,284 industrialunits in the North East and HimalayanStates in lieu of the excise exemption lostdue to the onset of GST and scrapping ofexcise laws from July 1, 2017.

The 4284 eligible industrial units weregranted excise duty exemption for the first10 years after commencement ofcommercial production under the NorthEast Industrial and Investment Promotion(NEIIPP) 2007 and package for specialcategory States for Jammu & Kashmir,Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh topromote industrialization.

What will be the Relief?l A budgetary support of ` 27413 crore for

this scheme has been approved for theperiod from July 1, 2017 till March 31,2027.

l The Department of Industrial Policy &Promotion (DIPP) will notify the scheme,including detailed operational guidelinesfor implementation within six weeks.

l Under the scheme, if the Centre collects,say, 100 in the form of CGST and iGST,then the aggregate refund will only be58, that being the Centre’s share underthe devolution formula approved by theFinance Commission.

Aadhaar Must for SubsidisedFarm LoansIn line with the government's policy,Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August16, 2017 said that farmers need to linkAadhaar numbers to their accounts toavail subsidized farm loan.

To ensure hassle-free benefits tofarmers under the Interest SubventionScheme, the banks are advised to makeAadhaar linkage mandatory for availingof short-term crop loans in 2017-18.

Announcement by RBIl Now farmers can avail of short-term

crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh atsubsidised interest rate of 7% thatcould go down to 4% on promptrepayment.

l There will be an interest subvention(subsidy by government) of 2% for thefirst year on loans that have beenrestructured following naturalcalamities.

l In addition to the 2% subsidy, anadditional interest subvention of 3%will be available to those who pay theirdues on time.

l The benefit of subvention will beavailable to small and marginalfarmers with kisan credit cards for afurther period of up to 6 monthspost-harvest at the same rate asavailable to crop loans againstnegotiable warehouse receipts.

23

Economic Scenario

NITI Aayog SelectedSix States forTransformativeChange in Health &Education SectorsNITI Aayog announcespartnership with three Statesnamed Uttar Pradesh, Assam,and Karnataka on August 8,2017 each to radicallytransform their Health andEducation sectors.

In Education, Madhya Pradesh,Odisha, and Jharkhand havebeen selected for support tobetter learning outcomes. Onthorough technical evaluation,the States have committed totime-bound reforms in bothsectors.

A Program Management Unitto push for efficiency andefficacy in governancestructures and service deliverywill now be available in the sixchosen States for a period of30 months.

It is expected that these threeyears of focussed attentionand support from the premierthink tank will lead to amarked transformation andalso provide a model for otherStates to replicate and adapt.

Role of the Statesl States were called to, first,

express intent ofcollaborating with NITIAayog tobetter theirHealth andEducationindices.

l States thenmadepresentations for eachsector which was assessedby a committee comprised ofsenior members of NITIAayog and Health andEducation ministries.

l The States highlighted theinitiatives undertaken bythem thus far, theirwillingness to accelerateimprovement and justifiedwhy they should be selectedfor the institutional supportbeing offered by NITI Aayog.

1


NSDC and Google LaunchedProgramme to ImproveMobile Developer EcosystemThe National Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) and Google Indialaunched Android Skill Developmentprogramme on August 8, 2017 toimpart mobile development trainingon the Android and web platform andimprove the quality of mobile appdevelopment ecosystem in India. The100-hour duration course is designedto be delivered by NSDC's partneragencies.

About the InitiativeThe NSDC would introduce a specificcourse to create applications for themobile platform that can be used onsmartphones and tablets running onthe Android operating system. This isa timely association consideringpromising development in thetelecommunication and IT sectorsand their importance for economicprogression of the country.

The collaboration aims to acceleratemobile skill training and createopportunities for youth in thecountry. NSDC and Google India willalso work together to focus onup-skilling Android trainers under theprogramme.

Government Revised theBase Year of All-IndiaWholesale Price IndexUnion government has revised thebase year of All-India Wholesale PriceIndex (WPI) from 2004-05 to2011-12. Arjun Ram Meghwal,Minister of State for Finance &Corporate Affairs stated it in writtenreply to a question in Lok Sabha onon August 4, 2017.

The base year revision of WPI hasaligned the series with the base yearof other macroeconomic indicators,such as the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) and Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP). The new series ofWPI has improvements over the oldseries. The new series of WPI has thefollowing salient features :l The revised basket of WPI and its

weighting structure conform to thestructure of economy in 2011-12.

l The number of items in the baskethas increased from 676 to 697 andthe number of price quotations hasincreased from 5482 to 8331.

l New series of WPI does not includeindirect taxes. This is inconsonance with internationalpractices and will make the newWPI conceptually closer toProducer Price Index.

l A new ‘Food Index’ is compiled tocapture the inflation in food items.

l Seasonality of fruits andvegetables has been updated toaccount for more months as theyare now available for longerduration.

l Item level aggregates for new WPIare compiled using GeometricMean (GM) instead of ArithmeticMean.

IRCTC Launched‘ePayLater’The Indian Railway Catering andTourism Corporation (IRCTC) hasintroduced a scheme of bookinge-ticket online and make paymentlater through ‘ePaylater’. Under thisscheme, a customer has the optionto pay after 15 days of booking ane-ticket through IRCTC website.‘ePaylater’ is powered byArthashastra Fintech as a pilotproject.

About the Servicel The service charge levied on using

‘ePaylater’ scheme is 3.5% oftransaction amount and applicabletaxes.

l Through this service a passengercan book a ticket five days prior tothe journey. Those who want toopt for this service have to givetheir name, e-mail ID, mobilenumber, their PAN card orAadhaar details.

l Once the customer gets approvalto use the feature, they would besent an OTP (One Time Password)to enable them to use the service.

l ePaylater as a payment option isdisplayed at the payment page ofIRCTC website to make peopleaware of the availability of thispayment method.

The Minister of State for RailwaysRajen Gohain in a written reply inthe Lok Sabha on August 2, 2017.Online ticketing through IRCTCwebsite is gaining popularity and itsshare vis-à-vis counter tickets isincreasing. Further, online ticketbooking is also being promoted as acashless mode of transaction.

RBI Released Third Bi-monthlyPolicy Review of Current FiscalReserve Bank of India (RBI) announced itsthird bi-monthly policy review of currentfiscal on August 2, 2017.

Policy Rates and Reserve Ratiosl Policy Repo Rate reduced by 25 basis

points to 6.00%. Earlier it was 6.25%.l Reverse Repo Rate reduced by 25 basis

points to 5.75%. Earlier it was 6.00%.l Marginal Standing Facility Rate

reduced by 25 basis points to 6.25%.Earlier it was 6.50%.

l Bank Rate reduced by 25 basis points to6.25%. Earlier it was 6.50%.

l Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remained at4.00%.

l Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) remainedat 20.00%.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme2017-18 Series II ReleasedGovernment of India, in consultation withthe Reserve Bank of India, has decided toissue Sovereign Gold Bonds 2017-18 –Series II. The Bonds will be issued onJuly 28, 2017.

The Bonds will be sold through banks,Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited(SHCIL), designated post offices andrecognised stock exchanges viz., NationalStock Exchange of India Limited andBombay Stock Exchange.

The features of the Bond are given below

l Eligibility The Bonds will be restricted forsale to resident Indian entities includingindividuals, HUFs, Trusts, Universitiesand Charitable Institutions.

l Denomination The Bonds will bedenominated in multiples of gram(s) ofgold with a basic unit of 1 gram.

l Tenor The tenor of the Bond will be for aperiod of 8 years with exit option from5th year to be exercised on the interestpayment dates.

l Maximum Limit The maximum amountsubscribed by an entity will not be morethan 500 grams per person per fiscal year(April-March). A self-declaration to thiseffect will be obtained.

l KYC Documentation Know-your-customer (KYC) norms will be the sameas that for purchase of physical gold. KYCdocuments such as Voter ID, Aadhaarcard/PAN or TAN /Passport will berequired.

24

Econimic Scenario

2


US Scientists DevelopedMicropropulsion System Based onLiquid WaterThe engineers at Purdue University in theUSA have designed and tested amicropropulsion system that uses liquid wateras the propellant for orbital maneuvering oftiny satellites called CubeSats. With rapiddevelopments in miniaturisation oftechnologies CubeSats are poised to take overthe sky in the future to carry out tasks likeimaging and remote-sensing.

CubeSats are usually made up of several units,each unit measuring 10 cm on a side. In thePurdue research, a single unit CubeSatprototype integrated with four FEMTA thrustersloaded with about a teaspoon of water whichwas tested in a large vacuum chamber of theuniversity's high vacuum facility.

Scientists Developed NewArtificial Intelligence SoftwareScientists have developed a new ArtificialIntelligence (AI) software named SurfNet thatcan create 3D models from two dimensionalphotographs as on July 27, 2017. Thisinvention is considered as an advance thatcould allow future robots to navigate in the realworld.

Karthik Ramani, professor at PurdueUniversity in the USA said that the ‘magical’capability of AI deep learning is that it is ableto learn abstractly and when fully developed,the method called SurfNet could havesignificant applications in the fields of 3Dsearches on the internet.

Ministry of Health ReleasedOperational GuidelinesMinistry of Health and Family Welfarerecently released OperationalGuidelines on July 29, 2017 forPlanning and Implementation ofFamily Participatory Care (FPC) forimproving newborn health. Theguidelines will serve as a guidingdocument for those intending tointroduce FPC in their facility as anintegral part of facility-basednewborn care. The document alsoprovides details of infrastructure,training, role of health care providersand steps in the operationalisation ofFPC in the newborn care unit.

Dr. Harshvardhan Launched‘Sagar Vani’Minister of Science & Technology Dr.Harshvardhan launched an IntegratedInformation Dissemination System,‘Sagar Vani’ on the occasion ofFoundation Day of Ministry of EarthSciences on July 27, 2017 in NewDelhi. ‘Sagar Vani’ has been launchedto disseminate ocean relatedinformation and alerts (like high wavesand Tsunami early warnings) to theuser community (especially fishermen)in timely manner for their safety.

It is an Integrated IDS and has beendeveloped by ESSO-Indian NationalCentre for Ocean InformationServices (INCOIS).

25

Science & Technology

SPACE

TRAPPIST-1 is Olderthan our Solar SystemAccording to a new studypublished in the AstrophysicalJournal, Researchers said thatthe TRAPPIST-1 star is quiteold i.e., between 5.4 and 9.8billion years. This is up to twiceas old as our own solar system,which formed some 4.5 billionyears ago.

Scientists Burgasser andMamajek measured the age ofTRAPPIST-1 included how fastthe star is moving in its orbitaround the Milky Way(speedier stars tend to beolder), its atmosphere’schemical composition, andhow many flares TRAPPIST-1had during observationalperiods. These variables allpointed to a star that issubstantially older thanour Sun.

Israel LaunchedSatellite to MonitorClimate Change andVegetationIsrael launched two satellitessuccessfully into orbit fromKorou, in French Guiana onAugust 1, 2017. One of themnamed Venusis dedicated tomonitoring theeffects ofclimate changeon vegetation.The othersatellite is on areconnaissancemission forItaly’s defence ministry.l Venus, a Micro Satellite is a

joint effort between France'sNational Centre for SpaceStudies (CNES) and Israel’sspace agency.

l Venus will photograph 110specific sites across theworld every two days fortwo-and-a-half years.

l It will show the impact ofclimate change onecosystems and agricultureas well as study carbonstocks and plant evolution.


Hubble Detected Exoplanetwith Glowing WaterAtmosphereFor the first time, scientists havedetected water molecules ‘glowing’around a planet outside our SolarSystem called WASP-121b.

David Sing, Associate Professor atUniversity of Exeter and a co-authorof the research paper said, this newresearch is the ‘smoking gunevidence’ scientists have beensearching for when studying hotexoplanets.

About the Studyl The stratosphere of WASP-121b is

so hot that it can make watervapour glow.

l To study the exoplanet’sstratosphere, scientists usedspectroscopy to analyse how theplanet's brightness changed atdifferent wavelengths of light.

l Water vapour in the planet'satmosphere, for example, behavesin predictable ways in response tocertain wavelengths of light,depending on the temperature ofthe water.

l At cooler temperatures, watervapour blocks light from beneath it.But at higher temperatures, thewater molecules glow.

Sun’s Core Rotates FourTimes Faster Than itsSurfaceAccording to a ‘surprise’ finding, theSun's core rotates nearly 4 timesfaster than its surface. Roger Ulrich, aprofessor at University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA) in the USA said,this core rotation is left over from theperiod when the Sun formed, some4.6 billion years ago. The studypublished in the journal Astronomyand Astrophysics.

The rotation of the solar core maygive a clue to how the Sun formed.After the Sun formed, the solar windlikely slowed the rotation of the outerpart of the Sun.

The rotation might also impactsunspots, which also rotate. Sunspotscan be enormous; a single sunspotcan even be larger than the Earth.Scientists had assumed earlier thecore was rotating like amerry-go-round at about the samespeed as the surface.

Detection of the Solar Corel The scientist’s took help of

European Space Agency (ESA) andNASA’s Solar and HeliosphericObservatory, or SOHO, whichhelped the solar scientists findevidence of a type of seismic wavein Sun.

l The researchers studied surfaceacoustic waves in the Sun'satmosphere, some of whichpenetrate to its core, where theyinteract with gravity waves thathave a sloshing motion similar tohow water would move in ahalf-filled tanker truck driving ona curvy mountain road.

New Plate Adds Plot Twist toAncient Tectonic TaleA microplate discovered off the west coastof Ecuador adds another piece to Earth’stectonic puzzle. The research by led bygeophysicist Richard Gordon, lead authorTuo Zhang and co-authors Jay Mishra andChengzu Wang, all of Rice, appears inGeophysical Research Letters as onAugust 14, 2017.

The researchers discovered the microplate,which they have named “Malpelo,” whileanalyzing the junction of three other platesin the eastern Pacific Ocean.The MalpeloPlate, named for an island and anunderwater ridge is the 57th plate to bediscovered and the first in nearly a decade.

How do they Discover the Plate?They carefully studied the movements ofother plates and their evolving relationshipsto one another as the plates move at a rateof millimeters to centimeters per year.

One way to judge how plates move is tostudy plate-motion circuits, which quantifyhow the rotation speed of each object in agroup (its angular velocity) affects all theothers.

Rates of seafloor spreading determinedfrom marine magnetic anomalies combinedwith the angles at which the plates slide byeach other over time tells scientists howfast the plates are turning.

By adding up the angular velocities of thesethree plates, they ought to sum to zero. But,in this case, the velocity doesn’t sum tozero at all. It sums to 15 millimeters a year,which is huge.

That made the Pacific-Cocos-Nazca circuit amisfit, which meant at least one other platein the vicinity had to make up thedifference. Misfits are a cause for concernand a clue.

100 Million Year Old DamselflyNamed after Sir DavidAttenboroughA new species of a 100-million- year-olddamselfly discovered in Myanmar has beennamed in honour of famed Britishbroadcaster and naturalist Sir DavidAttenborough. The researchers decided toname the new species after DavidAttenborough because of his long-standingappreciation of dragonflies, and to celebratehis 90th birthday on August 16, 2017.

26


AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT

AND ECOLOGY

Iran

Successfully

Launched

Satellite-

carrying

Rocket

Iran successfully launcheda satellite-carrying rocketinto space at the ImamKhomeini National Space

Station in Semnan, 220 km East ofTehran on July 27, 2017.

The launch involved a ‘Simorgh’rocket that is capable of carrying asatellite weighing 250 km (550pounds). The launch comes as theUSA has criticised Iran’s ballisticmissile tests.

Such tests are allowed under the2015 nuclear deal that Iran struckwith world powers.

The USA said that Iran violated thespirit of the accord, that saw theIslamic Republic limit its uraniumenrichment programme in exchangefor the lifting of economic sanctions.

USA has previously warned thattechnology in this test could be usedto develop long-range missiles.

Defense ministry of Iran has deniedthat the space programme is a coverfor weapons development.



Specialties of the DamselflyThe species, belonging to a groupmore commonly known asshadowdamsels, has been namedMesosticta davidattenboroughi.

The finding, described in the Journalof Systematic Palaeontology, wasmade in the Hukawng Valley ofKachin Province in Myanmar.

The fossil was found in a piece ofmid- Cretaceous Burmese amber. Thefossil itself is extremely wellpreserved as it is encased in yellowtransparent amber and includes acomplete set of wings, researcherssaid.

With the aid of photo technology,researchers were able to digitallyenhance and build a clearthree-dimensional picture of the newspecies, showing that it differed frompreviously described fossils, notablyin the shorter wing length.

Earth’s Largest VolcanicRegion Discovered inAntarticaThe largest volcanic region on Earthhas been discovered 2 km below thesurface of the vast ice sheet in WestAntarctica. Researchers from theUniversity of Edinburgh in Britainfound a staggering 91 previouslyunknown volcanoes, adding to the 47others that had been discovered overthe previous century of exploring theregion.

According to geologists, this hugeregion is likely to dwarf east Africa'svolcanic ridge, currently rated as thedensest concentration of volcanoes inthe world. However, the activity ofthis range could have worryingconsequences. If one of thesevolcanoes were to erupt it couldfurther destabilize west Antarctica'sice sheets.

Features of the Volcano Rangel These newly discovered volcanoes

range that consists nearly 100volcanoes are in height from 100 to3850 m.

l The highest one is almost as tall asSwitzerland's 3970 m Eigermountain.

l These active peaks are concentratedin a region known as the WestAntarctic rift system, whichstretches 3500 km from Antarctica'sRoss ice shelf to the Antarcticpeninsula.

13 Million Year Old Ape SkullDiscoveredScientists uncovered a baby ape’s skull,the best-preserved of its kind everfound, and got an extraordinarilyglimpse into the early stages of apeevolution. More than 13 million yearsago in what’s now northern Kenya, aninfant ape ended up dead in a lushforest, its body blanketed in ashfall froma nearby volcanic eruption.

Isaiah Nengo, the De Anza Collegeanthropologist led the discovery. He issupported by a National GeographicSociety grant and the Stony BrookUniversity-affiliated Turkana BasinInstitute. Nyanzapithecus alesi offersinsight into early apes’ brains, the teamreports in their study, published as onAugust 9, 2017 in Nature.

Roughly the size of a lemon, the skullbelongs to a newly identified species ofearly ape named Nyanzapithecus alesi.

Some of its features resemble those oftoday’s living old World monkeys andapes, and the face bears a strikingresemblance to today’s infant gibbons.

With a volume of about seventablespoons, Nyanzapithecus alesi’s

brain cavity was more than double thatof other old world monkeys from thetime. And the skull’s intact braincase,which has preserved impressions of thebrain’s exterior surface, also containsthe infant ape’s unerupted adult teeth.

Two New Species ofCycas FoundResearch conducted on a tree found inthe Acharya Jagadish Chandra BoseIndian Botanic Garden in West Bengalhas revealed two new species of Cycasto the world. With this discovery as onAugust 5, 2017, the number of Cycasspecies found in the country increasedto 14. Lal Ji Singh, Scientist and Head ofOffice, Botanical Survey of India,Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre,and DR Mishra a professor of Botany atUniversity of Allahabad, published apaper in the international journal‘Bionature in 2017’ on the locations ofthe species in the Andaman and NicobarIslands.

Cycas are one of the most ancient plantswhose fossils date to the Jurassic periodand are often referred to as ‘livingfossils’. Cycas are very slow growingtrees and this particular tree did notcatch much attention before 2001.Initialstudies on the lone tree revealed that itwas Cycas, a gymnosperm.

A Low Cost CO Censor Madeby IISc ResearchersResearchers from the Indian Instituteof Science (IISc) in Bengaluru havedeveloped a highly sensitive, low costnanometre-scale sensor that will behelpful in measuring the carbonmonoxide (CO) level. Because of this, itcan easily become part of theenvironmental pollution monitoring.The nanometre-scale Carbon monoxide(CO) sensor is also able to detect adifference in CO level as low as 500parts per billion (ppb). It can selectivelyrespond to CO even in the presence ofother gases.

27

El Nino Aided in Massive

Carbon Dioxide Release

Scientists announced that themonster El Nino of 2014-16 causedover 3 billion tonnes of carbon toget released into the atmosphere,pushing carbon dioxideconcentration to record levels, afteranalysing data which are collectedby Nasa's Orbiting CarbonObservatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite,that measures level of carbondioxide in the atmosphere.

According to a report published inthe scientific journal ‘Nature’ as onAugust 14, 2017, the El Nino ledto excessive carbon dioxide releasesin three ways.

l Hot weather and droughtcaused extensive wildfires inSouth-East Asia.

l Drought in the Amazon rainforest resulted in stunted plantgrowth and reducing theamount of carbon they absorbwhile growing.

l Besides these, warmer weatherand near normal rainfall inAfrica caused forests to exhalemore CO2.


Sohail MahmoodSohail Mahmood designated asPakistan's High Commissioner toIndia. He has taken charge at the HighCommission at Delhi on August 16,2017. One of the senior-most officersof the Pakistan Foreign Service, hereplaced career diplomat Abdul Basit,who served as Pakistan's envoy for4 years.

Mahmood presented his credentials toPresident Ram Nath Kovind. Prior tothis, Mahmood served as Pakistan'sambassador in Turkey. He has wideexperience in the diplomatic servicehaving served in various Pakistanmissions abroad including Washingtonand New York.

Career of Mahmoodl Mahmood is a career diplomat, who

joined the Foreign Service ofPakistan in 1985. His first postingabroad was in Pakistan EmbassyAnkara where he served as theSecond Secretary from 1991-1994.

l Mahmood served as the Ambassadorof Pakistan to Thailand from2009-2013.

l He holds master's degrees in Historyfrom Quaid-e-Azam University,Islamabad and in InternationalAffairs from Columbia University,New York.

Sankara RaoEmandi Sankara Rao, has been appointed asthe Managing Director & CEO of IFCI Ltd, apublic sector undertaking on August 14,2017. The Appointments Committee ofCabinet had given nod for the Department ofFinancial Services (DFS) proposal to appointhim. He is currently Chief General Managerat India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd(IIFCL) appointed for a period of three years.

IV Subba RaoRetired IAS officer IV Subba Rao wasappointed as secretary to Vice-PresidentM. Venkaiah Naidu on August 11, 2017. ThePrime Minister’s Office cleared theappointment on the same day when Naiduassumed charge as the 15th Vice-Presidentof the country. Rao was a 1979 batch IASofficer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. He retiredfrom service as special chief secretary inAugust 2015. He held several importantposts in Andhra Pradesh and later served theUNESCO.

Santosh SharmaSantosh Sharma was appointed as Chairmanand Managing Director of HCL on August 14,2017. He is at present Director (Operations)in the HCL. The ACC has approved hisappointment to the post for a period offive years. Emandi Sankara Rao has beenappointed as Managing Director and ChiefExecutive Officer of IFCI Limited. He is atpresent working as Director and ChiefExecutive Officer of IIFCL Asset ManagementCompany Limited.

In the News ...

APPOINTMENT

Dilip AsbeNational PaymentsCorporation of India (NPCI)has appointed Dilip Asbe onAugust 11, 2017 to act as itschief executive officer in thewake of the retirement of APHota, its founding ManagingDirector. Hota who hadserved as the MD of NPCIsince its inception retired onAugust 10, 2017.

Asbe currently serves as theorganisations’ chief operatingofficer. He will continue in thesame designation, but will alsoact as the chief executive of theumbrella body for all digitalpayments in the country.

Prasoon JoshiNoted Bollywood lyricist,screenwriter and ad guruPrasoon Joshi appointed asCentral Board of FilmCertification (CBFC)chairperson on August 11,2017. He replaced PahlajNihalani. He will be in thehonorary capacity for a periodof three years or until furtherorders, whichever is earlier.

Prasoon Joshi joined theCensor Board that includesVidya Balan,GautamiTadimalla,NarendraKohli, NareshChandra, NeilHerbert, VivekAgnihotri, TSNagabharana,RameshPatange, VaniTripathi, Jeevitha Rajasekharand Mihir Bhuta amongothers.

Prasoon Joshi has writtenlyrics for songs in Bollywoodfilms, such as Lajja, Fanaa,Rang De Basanti, TaareZameen Par, Black and Delhi 6among others. Prasoon wrotethe dialogues of the cult 2006film Rang De Basanti. Hemade his debut as ascreenwriter with 2014 filmBhaag Milkha Bhaag.

In the News ...

COMPETITION FOCUSINOctober 2017 39

Gaitri Issar KumarMs. Gaitri Issar Kumar has beenaccredited as the Ambassador of Indiaon August 11, 2017 to the GrandDuchy Luxembourg, with residence inBrussels. She is presently serving as anAmbassador of India to Belgium. She isExpected to take up the assignmentshortly.

She is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS)officer of 1986 batch. She was the jointsecretary who headed the Americasdivision between 2006 and 2010, thecrucial years during which the Indo-USnuclear deal was negotiated. She wasappointed as the Ambassador of Indiato Belgium in June 2017 and also tookup the role of Indian ambassador to theEuropean Union.

Reenat SandhuReenat Sandhu has been concurrentlyaccredited as the next Ambassador oflndia to the Republic of San Marino,with residence in Rome. It has beenannounced on August 11, 2017. She isexpected to take up the assignmentshortly.

She is an Indian Foreign Servie (lFS)officer of 1989 batch. She has served invarious capacities in Indian Missionsabroad including Moscow, Kyiv,Washington DC, Colombo, New Yorkand Geneva.

Justice Dipak MisraMinistry of law issued an officialnotification on August 8, 2017 thatJustice Dipak Misra, the senior-mostjudge in the Supreme Court has beenappointed as the 45th Chief Justice ofIndia with effect from August 28,2017. Justice Misra will have a tenureof over 13 months as the CJI. Hesucceeded incumbent JS Khehar. Hehas a sensitive assignment on handi.e., the vexatious title dispute in theRam Mandir and Babri Masjid case.Apart from the Ayodhya title case, hewill be part of benches deciding oncrucial issues such as, the Cauverywaters dispute, SEBI— Saharapayment row, BCCI reforms, thePanama Paper leaks and on privacypolicy.

Justice Misra was enrolled as anadvocate in 1977. He had practised inconstitutional, civil, criminal, revenue,service and sales tax matters in theOrissa High Court and Tribunals beforebeing elevated to the High Courtbench.

Subhash Chandra GargSubhash Chandra Garg, Secretary,Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),Ministry of Finance, government of Indiahas been appointed as India’s AlternateGovernor on the Board of Governors ofthe Asian Development Bank (ADB),Manila, (Philippines).

The Finance Ministry announced thisappointment on July 26, 2017. He hasbeen appointed in place of FormerSecretary, DEA, Shaktikanta Das. He isappointed with effect from July 12, 2017.

Prabhat KumarPrabhat Kumar presently Ambassador ofIndia to Colombia has been appointed asthe next Ambassador of India to theRepublic of Kazakhstan on August 2,2017. He is expected to take up theassignment shortly.

He is an Indian Forign Service Officer(IFS) of 1991 batch. He served in theIndian Embassies of Nepal, Croatia andSpain. He was Director General,in-charge of the Energy Security andInvestment and Technology PromotionDivision in the Ministry of ExternalAffairs, New Delhi from 2010 to 2014.

S. AparnaS. Aparna, an IAS officer from Gujaratcadre has been appointed asExecutive Director, World Bank onAugust 5, 2017. She will representthe constituency of India, Bangladesh,Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years.She replaced Subhash Garg, who wasrecently appointed as EconomicAffairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance.

The Appointments Committee of theCabinet (ACC) headed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi clearedAparna’s name for the position andher appointment order was issued bythe Department of Personnel andTraining (DoPT). A 1988-batch IAS,she is currently Principal Secretary toGujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Air Marshal HemantNarayan BhagwatAir Marshal Hemant Narayan BhagwatAVSM VM took charge as AirOfficer-in-Charge Administration ofIndian Air Force at Air Headquarters(VB), New Delhi on August 1, 2017.He was commissioned inAdministrative branch of the IAF inJune 1981. After serving for 7 yearsas an Air Traffic control Officer in 3different operational bases of the IAF,he qualified as Parachute JumpInstructor and served in instructionalcapacity for 15 years. During hisparatrooping career, he hasundertaken over 2400 live parachutejumps in combat as well as sportprofile from twenty different types ofaircraft.

Lt.General Abhay KrishnaLt. General Abhay Krishna, tookchange as new Chief of the IndianArmy's Eastern Command onAugust 1, 2017.

Hewas currently head of the Army'sJaipur-based South-westernCommand. He succeeded Lt. GeneralPraveen Bakshi who has retired fromservice.

His appointment, comes at a timewhen a stand-off between Indian andChinese troops continues along theSikkim sector.

He has commanded an infantrybattalion in Sikkim, was responsiblefor planning operations as BrigadierGeneral Staff of the Dimapur-based 3Corps and later commanded aninfantry division and a corps in thesame area.

Rajiv Kumar

Union government appointedeconomist Rajiv Kumar as thenew Vice Chairman of theNITI Aayog on August 5,

2017. He replaced Arvind Panagariyawho had resigned on August 1, 2017.Panagariya vacated the position onAugust 31, 2017.

Rajiv Kumar is a DPhil in Economicsfrom Oxford University and an authorof books on economics and nationalsecurity.

He is currently a senior fellow at theCentre for Poicy Research at Delhi. Hehas served as Secretary General of theFICCI, Director and Chief Executive ofthe Indian Council for Research onInternational Economic Relations(ICRIER) and chief economist of theConfederation of Indian Industries(CII).


In the News ...

Gurdeep Singh SappalGurdeep Singh Sappal, the firstEditor-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer ofRajya Sabha TV, resigned from the post onAugust 12, 2017 a day after M. VenkaiahNaidu took over the change as Vice-President.

Sappal had been with former Vice-PresidentHamid Ansari in multiple capacities over thelast decade. He came to lead RSTV when itwas launched in August 2011, duringAnsari’s first term as Vice-President. RajyaSabha TV is owned and operated by theupper house of Parliament and the VicePresident is its chairman.

Arvind PanagariyaNITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariyaannounced on August 1, 2017 that he willleave the government think tank onAugust 31, 2017. After that he will joinColumbia University. With this, he becamethe second high profile academic-economistafter former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajanto quit a top job in India to return to theteaching profession in the USA.

Going by the convention, followed by theerstwhile Planning Commission which wasreplaced by NITI Aayog, the term was to beco-terminus with that of the Prime Minister,who is the Chairperson of the body. Undersimilar circumstances, Rajan had quit thecentral bank after a 3-year term last year torejoin the Chicago University.

Nawaz SharifSupreme Court of Pakistan disqualifiedPakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif fromoffice on July 28, 2017. The ruling came aftera probe into his family's wealth following the2015 Panama Papers dump linking NawazSharif's children to offshore companies.Following the verdict, Nawaz Sharif hasdivested himself of his responsibility as primeminister of Pakistan.

Israel KristalIsrael Kristal, world's oldest man, who livedthrough both world wars and survived theHolocaust, has died on August 11, 2017 atthe age of 113. He died a month short of his114th birthday. Kristal survived the war, theonly survivor of his large Jewish family. Heremarried and moved to Israel in 1950,where he built a family and a confectionerybusiness. He was survived by two children,9 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.Guinness World Records awarded Kristal acertificate as the world's oldest man in 2016.

Sitaram PanchalBollywood actor Sitaram Panchal died onAugust 10, 2017 at the age of 54. Sitaram,who made his Bollywood debut in 1994with Bandit Queen, is best known for hisperformance in Irrfan Khan’s Paan SinghTomar.

Panchal worked with Akshay Kumar (JollyLLB 2), Irrfan Khan (Paan Singh Tomar) andseveral other A-listers of the industry.Sitaram has also worked in Bandit Queen,Slumdog Millionnaire, Peepli Live and TheLegend of Bhagat Singh.

Robert HardyRobert Hardy, a veteran British stage andscreen actor who played Minister for MagicCornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies,has died on August 3, 2017 at the age of91. His career in theater, television and filmspans for more than 70 years. He alsoserved in the Royal Air Force during WorldWar II.

Hardy played the eccentric veterinarianSiegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great andSmall, a popular TV series based on JamesHerriot’s books about rural life in theYorkshire Dales.

Ustad Sayeeduddin DagarUstad Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar, maestroand custodian of the venerable Dhrupadtradition of Hindustani classical music and amember of the eminent Dagar family,passed away on July 30, 2017 at the age of78 in Pune.

Dhrupad a Sanskrit portmanteau of Dhruva(immovable) and Pad (verse) has its rootssince ancient times, mentioned as early asthe 3rd Century BC in the Natyashastra.Dagar family contributed to the Dhrupadtradition through 20 generations ofexponents.

KE MammenFreedom fighter KE Mammen, who hadparticipated in the Quit India movement,passed away on July 26, 2017 at the age of96. Mammen had always followed Gandhianprinciples. In recent years, Mammen hadbeen active in anti-liquor struggles in thestate.

He became active in the freedom movementas a college student. He was first jailed fortaking an open stand against C.PRamaswamy Iyer, the then Dewan of theerstwhile Travancore state. After beingdenied an opportunity at continued studieshere, he shifted to Madras Christian Collegein 1940. He was ousted from there too,following his participation in the Quit IndiaStruggle.

PERSON DIED

Dr Ruth Pfau

Dr Ruth Pfau, a Germandoctor popularly knownas Pakistan’s ‘MotherTeresa’ for dedicatingher life to eradicate

leprosy in the country,died on August 10, 2017

in Karachi at the ageof 87.

She was a devotedChristian nun and a

member of the society ofDaughters of the Heart

of Mary.

She was rooted fromGermany joined the

Society of Daughters ofthe Heart of Mary andwas assigned to go toIndia but landed in

Karachi for a brief staydue to some visa

problems.

Dr Pfau first visitedPakistan in 1960 at the

age of 29 and was sotouched by the plight ofleprosy victims that she

decided to stay forever inthe country to treat

them. The nun foundedthe Marie AdelaideLeprosy Centre in

Karachi in 1962 andlater set up its branches

in all provinces ofPakistan.

She was awarded theHilal-e- Imtiaz;

Pakistan’s secondhighest civilian award

in 1979 and theHilal-e-Pakistan in1989. She was alsoawarded the StauferMedal at the German

consulate Karachiin 2015.

Resignations

QUIT INDIA

MOVEMENTThe Final Call to End the British Raj

Celebrating 75 years of India’s spirit of “Do or Die”

Historical BackgroundThe Quit India movement wasthe most popular and powerfulmass movement in the series ofagitations led by Gandhiji in thecourse of freedom struggle.

In the month of May 1942,Mahatma Gandhi called onBritain to ‘Leave India to God. Ifthis is too much then leave herto anarchy’.

It was a bigger paradigm shiftfrom Gandhi’s methodologyfrom ‘Satyagraha’ to ‘Do or Die’.

It was a civil disobediencemovement launched at theBombay session of the All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC) byMahatma Gandhi on August 8,1942, demanding an end toBritish rule in India.

The movement cannot be termedas a sudden outburst rather adirect consequence of followingfactors.

Britain’s Involvement in theSecond World WarOn September 1, 1939, Hitler invadedPoland and with that World War II beganas France and Britain declared war onGermany.

Indian nationalist leaders were angry

because British Governor-General of India,Lord Linlithgow, had without consultationwith them brought India into the war.

Following this declaration, the CongressWorking Committee at its meeting onOctober 10, 1939, passed a resolution andstated that India could not associate herselfwith war unless it was consulted first.

Their arguments werel If Britain was fighting for democracy and

freedom, it should prove it by endingimperialism in its colonies andestablishing full democracy in India.

l The government should declare its waraims soon and, also, as to how theprinciples of democracy were to beapplied to India.

The nation is celebrating 75years of ‘Quit India’ movement,which delivered a severe blowto the British rule over India.

The movement is also known as‘Bharat Chhodo Andolan’ or the‘August Kranti of 1942’ wasvirtually a farewell of Britishrule in the history ofIndependence Struggle.

Prime Minister Narendra Modiduring the special session ofLok Sabha called that,

‘‘Citizens should rise above thedifferences they have with eachother.

And also unite in a joint effortto establish an India that thecountry’s freedom fighters haddreamt of in the next five yearsto 2022, the 75th anniversary ofIndia’s Independence.’’

This five-year period, from

2017-22, gives us a uniqueopportunity of ‘Sankalp’ to‘Siddhi’ towards a new India.

Janmenjay Sahani

Gandhiji was invited tomeet Viceroy LordLinlithgow and the latterask for India’s support inthe World War II. Gandhipledged his personalsupport to Britain and theallies because he wantedto give a chance to theViceroy and the Britishgovernment.

Nehru, however, was lessexcited by the idea ofaiding the Empire's wareffort, and along with theother Congress leaders,he drafted a manifestothat essentially asked forcomplete independence inreturn for Indian supportagainst the Nazis.

However, thegovernment’s responsewas entirely negative.Linlithgow, in hisstatement (October 17,1939), tried to use the

Muslim League and theprinces against theCongress. Churchill wasnow in command ofBritain, and he had nointention of allowingIndian independence,

certainly not in war-time,and not with the issue ofminorities stillunresolved.

Gandhi's reaction to thisstatement was; "the oldpolicy of divide and ruleis to continue. TheCongress has asked forbread and it has gotstone." According to theinstructions issued byHigh Command, theCongress ministers weredirected to resignimmediately.

Congress ministers fromeight provinces resignedfollowing theinstructions.

The resignation of the ministers was an occasion of great joyand rejoicing for leader of the Muslim League, Mohammad AliJinnah. He called the day of December 22, 1939 'The Day ofDeliverance'.

August Offer 1940The fall of France by German forces temporarily softened theattitude of Congress in India. Britain was in immediate dangerof Nazi occupation led by Hitler. As the war was taking aworsening turn from the Allied forces’ point of view, thenCongress offered to cooperate in the war if transfer of authorityin India is done to an interim government.

The British government’s response was a statement of theViceroy on August 8, 1940, known as the ‘August Offer’.

The following proposals were put inl The establishment of an Advisory War Council.

l After the war a representative Indian body would be set-up toframe a Constitution for India.

l Viceroy’s Executive Council would be expanded withoutdelay.

l The minorities were assured that the government would nottransfer power ‘to any system of government whose authorityis directly denied by large and powerful elements in Indiannational life.’

The Congress rejected the ‘August Offer’. Nehru said,“Dominion status concept is dead as a door nail.” Gandhi saidthat the declaration had widened the gulf between thenationalists and the British rulers.

The Muslim League welcomed the veto assurance given to theLeague, and reiterated its position that partition was the onlysolution to the deadlock.

In the context of widespread dissatisfaction that prevailed overthe rejection of the demands made by the Congress, Gandhi jiat the meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Wardharevealed his plan to launch Individual Civil Disobedience, whichdemanded, “The British Rule in India must end immediately.”

Cripps Mission 1942To secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts inWorld War II, because of the reverses suffered by Britain in

South-East Asia, the Japanese threat to invade India seemed realnow ‘and Indian support became crucial for Britain.

Indian nationalists had agreed to support the Allied, ifsubstantial power was transferred immediately and completeindependence given after the war.

The Congress was divided upon its response to India’s entryinto World War II. Angry over the decision made by theViceroy, some Congress leaders favoured launching a revoltagainst the British despite the gravity of the war, whichthreatened Britain’s own freedom.

Individual Satyagraha 1940-41T he Congress was in di lemma again after the ‘August Offer ’. T heradicals and left ists leaders wanted to launch a mass ‘Civi lDisobedience’ movement, but here Gandhi insisted on IndividualSatyagraha. T he Individual Satyagraha was not to seekindependence but to affi rm the r ight of speech.

The aims were

To show that national ist patience was not due to weakness.

To express people’s feel ing that they were not interested in the

war and that they made no dist inction between Nazism and the

double autocracy that ruled India.

To give another oppor tuni ty to the government to accept

Congress’ demands peaceful ly.

T he fi r st Satyagrahi selected was Achar ya Vinoba Bhave, who was

sent to Jai l when he spoke against the war.


71st Independence Day Special

Others, such as ChakravartiRajagopalachari, advocated offeringan olive branch to the British,supporting them in this crucial timein the hope that the gesture wouldbe reciprocated with independenceafter the war.

The Mission’s main proposals werel In Indian Union with a dominion

status; would be set-up; it wouldbe free to decide its relationswith the Commonwealth and freeto participate in the UnitedNations and other internationalbodies.

l After the end of the war, aConstituent Assembly would beconvened to frame a newConstitution. Members of thisassembly would be partly electedby the provincial assembliesthrough proportionalrepresentation and partlynominated by the princes.

l The British government wouldaccept the new Constitutionsubject to two conditions : (i) anyprovince not willing to join theUnion could have a separateConstitution and form a separateUnion, and (ii) the new

Constitution-making body andthe British government wouldnegotiate a treaty to effect thetransfer of power and tosafeguard racial and religiousminorities.

l In the meantime, defence of Indiawould remain in British hands

and the Governor-General’spowers would remain intact.

Failure of Cripps MissionThe Congress objected the offer of‘Dominion Status’ instead of aprovision for ‘CompleteIndependence’ and Representationof the States by nominees and notby elected representatives.

Absence of any plan forimmediate transfer of power andabsence of any real share indefence.

The Governor- General’ssupremacy had been retained,and the demand for

Governor-General being only theConstitutional Head had notbeen accepted.

Gandhi described the scheme as

‘a postdated cheque drawn on acrashing bank’. In fact Gandhijiwho met Cripps on March 27told him bluntly that, ‘If his offerwas no more than what wascontained in the draft declarationthen he need not stay in Indiabut better take the first planeback to England’. The mainobjection was that there was nota single time mention of thecomplete independence for Indiaeither in the immediate presentor in the future.

The incapacity of Cripps to gobeyond the Draft Declaration andthe adoption of a rigid ‘take it orleave it’ attitude added to thedeadlock.

Role of GandhijiGandhi was determined to strikethe British empire with adefinitive blow that would securetheir exit from India. Thishappened when the Britishstarted recruiting Indians for thewar. Gandhi protested stronglyand said that the Indians cannotbe involved in a war that is infavour of democratic purposeswhen India itself is not a freecountry.

Gandhi used his weapons of

Satyagraha and non-violenceagainst the British and chose hisfollower Vinoba Bhave to startthe movement. Satyagrahi’sacross the country madepassionate speeches urging

Beginning of ‘Quit India’Movement

Cripps failure had made Indian leaders too

desperate to gain the independence for India.

From this period the nationalist movement of

India had acquired a new dimension which

finally made the path to independence. That’s

why it has been rightly said that, ‘the Cripps

offer was the point at which the British

departure after the war became inevitable’.

In the working committee meeting held at

Wardha on July 14, 1942 the Congress first

accepted the idea of a struggle. The All India

Congress Committee that met in Bombay in

August ratified this decision to go in for

struggle. In his speech Gandhi made it very

clear, “I am not going to be satisfied with

anything short of complete freedom.

May be, the Viceroy will propose the abolition of

salt tax, the drink evil. But I will say nothing

less than freedom”. Gandhi then followed up

with the now famous exhortation ‘Do or Die’.

Congress Passed the Resolution forImmediate IndependenceThe Congress Working Committee meeting at

Wardha on July 14, 1942 passed a resolution

demanding complete independence from the

British government. The draft proposed

massive civil disobedience if the British did

not accede to the demands.

Many prominent Congress leaders Jawaharlal

Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Anugraha

Narayan Sinha, Asoka Mehta and Jaya

Prakash Narayan openly supported such a

disobedience movement.

Agriculture & Technology

Future of Indian Market

GENETICALLY MODIFIED(GM) CROPS

GM Crops were first introduced in the USA for insect resistance or herbicide

tolerance in mid 1990s. To produce GM Crops new DNA is transferred into

plant cells.

Yashwant Rana


The massive challenge what Indiafaces today is to feed its growingpopulation, particularly in the absenceof sustainable agriculture solutions.The situation may only worsen as theUnited Nations estimates that thecountry’s population will reach 1.8billion by 2050.

For this Scientists already have asolution : Genetically Modified (GM)crops that can withstand pests anddroughts and it mean a huge boost toproductivity and overall food supply.But it has some negative implicationsas well, which can be discussed.

The debate on safety and need forGM crops, particularly GM food hasbeen constant since 1990s. TheBiotech firms as well as scientistshave spent a lot of time and money toconvince the people that there isreally nothing to worry about it.

Non-food Bt Crops were introducedwith relatively lesser resistance butfood crops have faced stiff resistancearound the world. Thus, globally thecountries are divided in the use ofGM Crops.

What is Genetic Modificationof Crops?Genetically Modified Foods are foodsderived from genetically modifiedorganisms. Genetically modified organisms(GMOs) are those whose genetic material(DNA) has been altered throughtechniques of ‘recombinant DNAtechnology’ or ‘genetic engineering’ todevelop certain desired traits like pestresistance, higher nutritional value, longershelf life etc.

Genetically Modified Plant CellIn the process selected individual geneswhich have been identified to beresponsible for a certain desired trait maybe transferred from one organism into

another, even between non-relatedspecies. Alternatively, there can also bedeletion of identified genes from thegenetic material of an organism.

The sensational news came into limelightwhen USA approved GM variant of tomatoFlavrSavr produced by the CalifornianCompany Calgene for sale in 1994.

It had a longer shelf life, becauseit took longer to soften afterripening. Some food varietieswhose genetically modifiedversions have been developed inthe world include tobacco,tomato,soyabean, corn, cotton, brinjal,rice, canola, sugar beet etc.

Urgency of GeneticModificationWith conventional plant breeding,however, there is little or noguarantee of obtaining anyparticular gene combination fromthe millions of crosses generated.

Conventional Breedingl Limited to exchanges between

the same or very closely relatedspecies.

l Little or no guarantee of anyparticular gene combinationfrom the million of crossesgenerated.

l Undesirable genes can betransferred along with desirablegenes.

l Takes a long time to achievedesired results.

Genetic Engineeringl Allows the direct transfer of one

or just a few genes, betweeneither closely or distantly relatedorganisms.

l Crop improvement can beachieved in a shorter timecompared to conventionalbreeding.

l Allows plants to be modified byremoving or switching offparticular genes.

Different Types ofGenetically ModifiedCropsThere are three different types ofGM crops which are

TransgenicA transgenic GM crop is definedto be a crop that contains a geneor multiple genes that artificiallyinserted using recombinant DNA(DNA) technology. The genes thatwere inserted into the host plantare now called transgenes and cancome from different species. Anexample of a transgenic crop is BtCorn.


l In the Vedic society, which was the termused to denote a group of families? Grama

l What was the script used in the earliestTamil inscriptions? Brahmi

l Rigveda is divided into 10 Mandals.Which Mandals are the oldest?Second and Seventh

l Which ports handled the North Indiantrade during the Gupta period? Broach

l Saint Tukaram was a contemporary ofwhich Mughal emperor? Jahangir

l Which Tomar ruler is credited to haveestablished Delhi? Anangpal

l Who was called Zinda Pir (living saint) inMughal India? Aurangzeb

l Who was the Sultan of Delhi who isreputed to have built the biggest network ofcanals in India?Feroze Shah Tughlaq

l Who was the last ruler of the Tughlaqdynasty of the Delhi Sultanate?Nasir-ud-din-Mahmud

l Which Englishmen was a fellow ofGandhiji in South Africa? Polak

l Who Commented that Cripps Missionwas a postdated cheque on a crashing bank?

Mahatma Gandhi

l During India’s freedom Struggle, which ledto the first ‘All India Hartal’? Protest

against Rowlatt Act

l At which place did Mahatma Gandhi firststart his Satyagraha in India?Champaran

l “The best and bravest of the military leaderof the rebels” about whom was this said bySir Hugh Rose?Rani of Jhansi

l In which period nomadic man startedsettling? Neolithic Age

l Sirajuddaulah was defeated by Lord Clivein which battle? Battle of Plassey

l Under the leadership of which Guru didthe Sikh become a political and militaryforce? Guru Gobind Singh

l By whom was Island of Bombay was givento the English Prince Charles II as dowry?

Portuguese

l The ruler of which State was removedfrom power by the British on the protext ofmisgovernance? Awadh

l Who was impeached in England for hisactions in India? Warren Hastings

l Which planet looks reddish in the nightsky? Mars

l Which celestial body besides earth bear‘The Sea of Tranquility’ and ‘The Oceanof Storms’? Moon

l The latitude of a place expresses its angularposition relative to the which place?

Equator

l After how many years does Halley’s cometappear once in a period?76 Years

l What is the term as the drainage patterndeveloped on folded sedimentary rocks?

Trellis

l Photochemical smog occurs in whichclimate? Warm, Dry and Sunny Climate

l In which type of coal deposit recognisabletraces of the original plant materialcontains? Peat

l India is the seventh largest country in theworld and how much does it covers area intotal?Approximately 3200000 sq km

l Which country situated in the East of theAndaman and Nicobar Islands?Indonesia

l Which is the longest inland waterways inthe world? Mississippi River System

l Which tree is not a soft wood variety?Mahogany

l The Vindhyas belong to which class ofmountains? Block Mountains

l Where is the thermal equator found?North of Equator

l Which latitude passes through India?Tropic of Cancer

l Mumbai receives more rainfall than PunebecauseMumbai is on the Windward Side

l Cyclonic rainfall largely occurs in whichcountry? India

l Which National Highways pass throughMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha?

NH 6

l Which is the largest island in the IndianOcean? Madagascar

l Which industry in India was worst affectedbecause of the partition?Jute and Cotton

l India’s neighbour country with minimumarea is Bhutan

l Where was the first session of theConstituent Assembly held? New Delhi

l How many subjects are in the Union List?97

l Which Act made the Indian Legislaturebicameral?Government of India Act, 1919

l Which is not the concern of the localgovernment? Public Utility Services

l Who has the power to form a new Statewithin the Union of India?President

l Who decides about the reasonableness ofthe restrictions placed on FundamentalRights? Courts

l How any subjects are in the ConcurrentList? 47

l The Centre-State financial distributiontakes place on the recommendation bywhich ministry? Finance Ministry

l What is the age of retirement of the Judgesof the High Court? 62 years

l With which Amendment Act hasPanchayati Raj received constitutionalstatus? 73rd Amendment

64

INDIAN HISTORY

GEOGRAPHY

GENERAL STUDIES

Crackers

INDIAN POLITY


Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant

Commandants) Exam 2017, Conducted by Union

Public Service Commission (UPSC), was held on

July 23, 2017. This exam comprised two papers

(Paper I and II). Paper I had 125 objective type

questions (250 marks), for which 2 hours time was

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)Assistant Commandant (Paper I) Exam

1

Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has conducted

exam for recruitment of Sub-Inspector in Delhi

Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)

and Asst. Sub-Inspector in (CISF) from June 30 to

July 7, 2017. The question paper had 200

questions, and exam duration was 2 hours. The

exam was held in online mode.

2

SOLVEDPAPERS

SSCSub-Inspector and AssistantSub-Inspector Recruitment Exam 2017


Directions (Q. Nos. 1-7) The following itemsconsists of two statements, statement I andstatement II. Examine these two statementscarefully and select the correct using the codegiven below.

Code

a. Both the statements are individually true

and statement II is the correct explanation

of statement I.

b. Both the statements are individually true,

but statement II is not the correct

explanation of statement I.

c. Statement I is true, but statement II is false.

d. Statement I is false, but statement II is true.

1. Statement I Plantation farming has

mostly been practiced in humid tropics.

Statement II The soil of humid tropics is

highly fertile.

3 (a) Both the statements are correct andstatement II is the correct explanation of the Istatement. Countries that have plantationagriculture usually experience high annualtemperatures and receive high annual rainfall.Plantations are mainly found in countries that havea tropical climate.

The soils found in the humid regions are variedand diverse and are usually high on fertility.

2. Statement I Chameleon changes its skin

colour to match with the colour of the

surroundings.

Statement II The skin of chameleon

emits light of the colour of the

surroundings through fluorescence.

3 (c) Both the statements are correct andstatement II is the correct explanation of thestatement I. Chameleons are famous for theirquick colour-changing abilities. It's a commonmisconception that they do this to camouflagethemselves against a background. In fact,chameleons mostly change colour to regulatetheir temperatures or to signal their intentionsto other chameleons through specialised cellscalled chromatophores.

3. Statement I Occsionally we see two

rainbows together, the primary rainbow

with another less intense secondary

rainbow about10° away.

Statement II The secondary rainbow

appears due to refraction after a reflection of

sunlight from the water droplets.

3 (a)

4. Statement I Nationalism in India,

which was assigned a privileged position

by its western educated political

leadership, was ‘different’, but a

‘derivative discourse’ from the West.

Statement II Indian nationalism as a

response to western imperialism was

‘like all such responses, shaped by what

it was respondings to’.

Union Public Service Commission

AssistantCommandant

(BSF/CRPF/ITBP/SSB/CISF)

Examination 2017

July 23, 2017

Paper General Ability andIntelligence

I


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3 (b) Both the statements are correct, butstatement II is not the correct explanationof statement I. Statement I talks aboutstatus of nationalism in india and itsIndianised version that took shape in india.while second statement is india’s responseto western nationalism.

5. Statement I The British legal

scholars relied on Indian Pandits and

Maulavis for understanding of canons

of authoritative texts.

Statement II British codified the

Hindu Laws in 1783 and the Muslim

Laws in 1785.

3 (a)

6. Statement I Dadabhai Naoroji

argued that what was being drained

out was ‘potential surplus’ that could

generate more economic development

in India if invested in India.

Statement II Imperialists believed

that India was brought into the large

capitalist world market and that was in

itself a progress towards modernisation.

3 (b)

7. Statement I The man Booker

International Prize is now unlikely to

be won by an English author.

Statement II The Booker Prize

Foundation announced that the Man

Booker International Prize was to

evolve from 2016 onwards into a prize

for fiction in translation.

3 (d)

8. Which one of the following

statements about Pradhan Mantri

Ujjwala Yojana is not correct?

a. It is a social welfare scheme to provide

LPG connections in BPL households

b. The scheme was launched in the year

2015

c. The government has set a target of 5

crores LPG connections under the

Yojana

d. The objective of the scheme is to

safeguard the health of women and

children by providing them with

clean cooking fuel

3 (b) Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana waslaunched in the year 2016 not in 2015. It isan ambitious social welfare scheme whichaims to provide free LPG connections toBPL households in the country. Thescheme is aimed at replacing the uncleancooking fuels mostly used in the rural Indiawith the clean and more efficient LPG.

9. Which one of the following portals

was launched on the 250th

anniversary of Survey of India?a. Service Plus b. DigiMap

c. Udaan d. Nakshe

3 (d) The topographic maps or OpenSeries Maps (OSM) containing natural andman-made geographical featuresincluding terrain or topography areprepared by Survey of india. These OSMmaps have been made available for freedownload from ‘Nakshe’.


countries has been ranked as the

least corrupt country in the

Corruption Perception Index 2016

released by Transparency

International?a. Denmark b. Sweden

c. Switzerland d. Norway

3 (a) Denmark has maintained thenumber 1 position in the category of leastcorrupt countries. This index employs avariety of methods to gauge the corruptionlevel of a country like surveys and blackmoney flows.

11. The Central Vigilance

Commission was set-up on the

recommendation of

a. First Administrative Reforms

Commission

b. Gorwala Committee

c. Kripalani Committee

d. Santhanam Committee

3 (d) Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) is an apex Indian governmentalbody created in 1964 to addressgovernmental corruption. It has the statusof an autonomous body.. It was set-up bythe government of India in February,1964on the recommendations of SanthanamCommittee. The present Chairman of CVCis KV Chaudhary.

12. The Ninth Schedule was added

to the Constitution of India by thea. Fourteenth Amendment

b. First Amendment

c. Ninety-Third Amendment

d. Ninety-Ninth Amendment

3 (b) Ninth Schedule of the IndianConstitution that majorly deals with landreforms was added through though theFirst Amendment Act of the IndianConstitution in 1951.

13. Which one of the following cases

in the Supreme Court of India dealt

with the issue of ‘creamy layer’

among the backward classes?a. KM Nanavati Vs State of Bombay

b. Indra Sawhney Vs Union of India

c. Madhu Limaye Vs Ved Murti

d. Sajjan Singh Vs State of Punjab

3 (b) The 27% reservation quota forbackward classes and the governmentnotification reserving 10% governmentjobs for economically backward classesamong the higher castes was challengedin the Supreme Court in the IndraSawhney Case of 1992.


statements about Cripps Mission is

not correct?

a. In March, 1942, Cripps persuaded War

Cabinet to agree to a draft declaration

b. Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel

represented Congress to negotiate

with the mission

c. The mission offered Dominiton status

after the war

d. The mission offered formation of Cons-

titution making body after the war

3 (a) The Cripps Mission was an attempt inlate March, 1942 by the British governmentto secure full Indian cooperation andsupport for their efforts in World War II. Themission was headed by Sir Stafford Cripps.It never persuaded any the war cabinet toagree to draft declaration.


statements about the Treaty of

Allahabad is not correct?a. It was signed in the year 1765.

b. The Mughal Emperor by a farman

formally granted the Diwani of

Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East

India Company.

c. Awadh was restored to its Nawab on

payment of ` 50 lakhs

d. Banaras and the Surrounding tracts

were detached from Awadh and

handed over to Shah Alam II.

3 (d) The Treaty of Allahabad was signedon August 12, 1765, between the MughalEmperor Shah Alam II, son of the lateEmperor Alamgir II, and Robert, Lord Clive,of the East India Company, as a result ofthe Battle of Buxar of October 22, 1764. Thetreaty marks the political and constitutionalinvolvement and the beginning of Britishrule in India. Based on the terms of theagreement, Shah Alam granted the EastIndia Company’ Diwani rights, or the right tocollect taxes on behalf of the Emperor fromthe eastern province of Bengal- Bihar-Orissa.

16. Which among the following was

not the provision of the Gandhi-Irwin

pact?

a. Immediate release of all political

prisoners of the Civil Disobedience

Movement

b. Clause 2 of the March, 1931 pact

defined ‘reservations and safeguards’

to cover financial credit of India

c. The return of confiscated land already

gold to third parties

d. Reservation of 18% seats for depressed

classes

3 (d) The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a politicalagreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi andthe then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin onMarch 5, 1931 before the second RoundTable Conference in London. The list ofprovisions include


l Discontinuation of the ‘CivilDisobedience’ movement by the IndianNational Congress.

l Participation by the Indian NationalCongress in the Round TableConference.

l Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by theBritish government imposing curbs on theactivities of the Indian National Congress.

l Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating toseveral types of offenses except thoseinvolving violence.

l Release of prisoners arrested forparticipating in the ‘Civil Disobedience’movement.

l Removal of the tax on salt, which allowedthe Indians to produce, trade, and sellsalt legally and for their own private use.

17. Which one of the following novels

won the Pulitzer Prize for the year

2017 in the Fiction category?a. The Goldfinch

b. All the Light We Cannot See

c. The Sympathizer

d. The Underground Railroad

3 (d) ‘The Underground Railroad’ is thesixth novel by American author ColsonWhitehead. It is the winner of the 2017Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 2016 NationalBook Award for Fiction, the Arthur C.Clarke Award and the 2017 AndrewCarnegie Medal for Excellence.l The novel tells the story of Cora and

Caesar, two slaves who make a bid forfreedom from their Georgia plantations byfollowing the Underground Railroad,which in the novel is an actual subway asopposed to a series of safe houses andsecret routes.

18. Which one of the following does

not pass through the Kaziranga

National Park?a. The Brahmputra river

b. The Diphlu river

c. National Highway No. 37

d. Railway Track of Indian Railway

3 (d)

19. The US President in 2017 has signed

an executive order for US withdrawal

from a trade organisation of the Pacific

region. Identify the organisation from

among the following.

a. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

(APEC)

b. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

c. Free-Trade Agreement of the

Asia-Pacific (FTAAP)

d. Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership (RCEP)

3 (b) Trump Administration boycotted fromboth Trans Pacific Partnership and theParis Peace Climate deal recently. TheTrans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is a tradeagreement between Australia, Brunei,

Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico,New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the UnitedStates (until January 23, 2017) and Vietnam.

The agreement aimed to ‘promote economicgrowth; support the creation and retention ofjobs; enhance innovation, productivity andcompetitiveness; raise living standards;reduce poverty in the signatories' countries;and promote transparency, goodgovernance, and enhanced labour andenvironmental protections.


judgements declared that the

Parliament has not power to amend

any of the provisions of Part III of the

Constitution of India?

a. Kesavananda Bharati Vs State of

Kerala

b. Golak Nath Vs State of Punjab

c. Champakam Dorairajan Vs State of

Madras

d. Minerva Mills Limited Vs

Government of India

3 (b) Golak Nath Vs State of Punjab was a1967 Indian Supreme Court case, in whichthe Court ruled that Parliament could notcurtail any of the Fundamental Rights in theConstitution.

The judgment reversed the SupremeCourt's earlier decision which had upheldParliament's power to amend all parts ofthe Constitution, including Part III related toFundamental Rights. The judgement leftParliament with no power to curtailFundamental Rights.

21. Who among the following leaders

is associated with the concept of

partyless democracy?a. JB Kripalani

b. Jay Prakash Narayan

c. Acharya Narendra Dev

d. Vinoba Bhave

3 (b) Party Less democracy was a conceptdeveloped by many scholars like MN Royand Mahatma Gandhi, but was followed byJai Prakash Narayan. He advocated that allcommunities would be organicallyintegrated through the processes. whichhave been described and all their councilswould be linked to the most organic of allsocial units after the family, namely thevillage, district and so on.

22. Who among the following is

empowered to establish Inter-State

Council under Article-263 of the

Constitution of India?a. Parliament

b. Council of Ministers

c. President of India

d. Chief Justice of India

3 (c) The President of India underArticle-263 of the Constitution of india isempowered to establish an Inter-StateCouncil. It is based on therecommendation of Sarkaria Commission

and seeks to establish an institutionalmechanism to facilitate coordination ofpolicies and their implementation betweenthe Union and the State governments.

23. Which among the following was

not the recommendation of the Nehru

Report?a. Dominion Status

b. Separate Electorate

c. Unitary and Democratic Centre

d. Adult Suffrage

3 (b) The Nehru Report of August 28-30,1928 was a memorandum outlining aproposed new dominion status Constitutionfor India. It was prepared by a committeeof the All Parties Conference chaired byMotilal Nehru with his son JawaharlalNehru acting as secretary.The mainrecommendations of this report wasl Unlike the eventual Government of India

Act 1935 it contained a Bill of Rights.l All power of government and all

authority-legislative, executive and judicial- were derived from the people and thesame shall be exercised throughorganisations established by, or under,and in accord with this Constitution.

l There shall be no State religion; men andwomen shall have equal rights ascitizens.

l There should be federal form ofgovernment with residuary powers vestedin the Centre.

l It included a description of the machineryof government including a proposal forthe creation of a Supreme Court and asuggestion that the provinces should belinguistically determined.

l It did not provide for separate electoratesfor any community or weightage forminorities. However, it did allow for thereservation of minority seats in provinceshaving a minorities of at least ten%, butthis was to be in strict proportion to thesize of the community.


statements about the Indigo Revolt of

1859 is correct?

a. It broke out at Poona and

Ahmadnagar.

b. It was directed against moneylenders.

c. It was supported by the intelligentsia

of Bengal.

d. It was directed against the petty

Zamindars and ex-employees of the

planters.

3 (d) The Indigo revolt that arose inBengal, was directed against Britishplanters who forced peasants to takeadvances and sign fraudulent contractswhich forced the peasants to grow Indigounder terms which were the least profitableto them. Revolt was directed against thepetty Zamindars and ex-employees of theplanters.

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25. Which of the following active

step(s) was/were taken by the

Congress in 1823 to eradicate

untouchability from India?

1. Effort to educate and mobiliseopinion among caste Hindus.

2. Efforts to educate the ‘avarnas’about the evils of untouchability.

3. Forcibly open the doors oftemples for ‘avarnas’.

4. Petition the government to passlaws that would declareuntouchability unlawful.

Select the correct answer using the code

given below:

a. Only 1 b. 1 and 2

c. 2, 3 and 4 d. Only 4

3 (d) In 1823, the Congress petitioned thegovernment to pass laws that declareduntouchability unlawful in a bid to put anend to this practice.

26. Which one of the following is not

a river covered under the Indus Water

Treaty 1960?a. Ravi b. Chenab

c. Teesta d. Beas

3 (c) The Indus Waters Treaty is awater-distribution treaty between India andPakistan that is brokered by the WorldBank. The treaty was signed in Karachi onSeptember 19, 1960 by Prime Minister ofIndia Jawaharlal Nehru and President ofPakistan Ayub Khan.l According to this agreement, control over

the three ‘eastern’ rivers, the Beas, theRavi and the Sutlej, was given to India,while control over the three ‘western’rivers, the Indus, the Chenab and theJhelum, to Pakistan. Since Pakistan'srivers flow through India, the treatyallowed India to use them for irrigation,transport and power generation, whilelaying down precise regulations for Indianbuilding projects along the way.

l Teesta is a river in North-East india andforms one of the important tributaries ofBrahmaputra. It is not covered under theIndus Water Treaty.

27. Who among the following are

awarded with the Special

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental

Physics for the year 2017?

a. Stephan W. Hawking and Roger

Penrose

b. Ronald Drever, Kip S. Thorne and

Rainer West

c. Joseph Polchinski, Andrew

Strominger and Cumrun Vafa

d. J. Michael Kosterlitz, Duncan

Haldane and David J. Thouless

3 (c) The Breakthrough Prize inFundamental Physics recognisesindividuals who have made profoundcontributions to human knowledge. It is

open to all physicists – theoretical,mathematical and experimental – workingon the deepest mysteries of the Universe.The prize can be shared among anynumber of scientists.

28. Who among the following

Mathematician is the recipient of the

Abel Prize for the year 2017?a. John F. Nash

b. Yves Meyer

c. SR Srinivasa Varadhan

d. Andrew Wiles

3 (b) The Abel Prize is a Norwegian prizeawarded annually by the government ofNorway to one or more outstandingmathematicians. Yves Meyer received the2017 Abel Prize for his pivotal role in thedevelopment of the mathematical theory ofwavelets.

29. Who among the following

scholars has conceptualised the

Constitution of India as a ‘seamless

web’?a. MV Pylee b. DD Basu

c. Granville Austin d. Subhas Kashyap

3 (c) Granville Austin has conceptualisedthe Constitution of India as a ‘seamlessweb’ as he perceptively saw three distinctstrands: one, protecting and enhancingnational unity and integrity;two-establishing the institution and spirit ofdemocracy; and three-fostering socialreform.

30. Which of the following

statements is/are correct?

1. Article-15 of the Constitution ofIndia is available to both citizensof India and the foreigners.

2. Article-16 of the Constitution ofIndia is available to the citizens ofIndia only.

3. Article-21 of the Constitution ofIndia is available to both citizensof India and the foreigners alikewithin the territory of India.


given below.a. Only 1 b. 2 and 3

c. Only 3 d. All of these

3 (b) Article-15 of the Constitution of Indiais not available to the foreigners. It is onlyfor the citizens of India. It says that theState shall not discriminate against anycitizen on grounds only of religion, race,caste, sex or place of birth.l Article-16 provides for equality of

opportunity for all citizens in matters ofemployment or appointment to any officeunder the State.

l Article-21 declares that no person shallbe deprived of his life and personal libertyexcept according to procedureestablished by law. This right is avalilableto both citizens and foreigners.

31. Who among the following are

entitled to get the benefits of equality

before the law and the equal protection

of the laws as enshrined under

Article-14 of the Constitution of

India?

1. All Indian citizens living in India.2. All Indian citizens living abroad.3. Foreigners living within the

territory of India.4. All citizens born in India.


given below :a. 1 and 2 b. 1, 2 and 3

c. 1 and 3 d. Only 4

3 (b) Article-14 says that the State shallnot deny to any person equality before thelaw or equal protection of the laws withinthe territory of India. However it is notavailable to all citizens who are born inIndia. It is only available to Indian citizenswhether living in India or living abroad. Alsoit is available to the foreigners living withinthe territory of India.


statements about the English

Education Act of 1835 is not correct?

a. It was proposed by Governor General

William Bentinck on the advice of

Macaulay.

b. It made English the language of

instruction in Indian education system

c. With the formal institutionalisation

of English as the language of

instruction, the stage was set for a

new direction of Indian education.

d. To the existing Oriental Institutions

fresh awards of stipends to students

and the publication of classical texts

were to continue.

3 (d) The English Education Act was alegislative Act of the Council of India in1835 giving effect to a decision in 1835 byLord William Bentinck to reallocate fundsthe East India Company was required bythe British Parliament to spend oneducation and literature in India. It madeEnglish the language of Indian educationsystem. Also it became the language ofadministration and of the higher law courts(replacing Persian). This led eventually toEnglish becoming one of the languages ofIndia, rather than simply the native tongueof its foreign rulers.


dynasties ruled under the suzerainty

of Kingdom of Vijaynagar?

a. Sangamas, Saluvas, Tuluvas and

Aravidus

b. Sangamas, Hoysalas, Aravidus and

Tuluvas

c. Hoysalas, Saluvas, Poligars and

Sangamas

d. Yadavas of Devagiri, Hoysalas,

Saluvas and Aravidus

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MODEL PAPERS

3IB Assistant Central Intelligence

Officer (T ier 1) Exam 2017

The Ministry of Home Affairs

(Government of India) has invited Indian

nationals for direct recruitment to the post

of Assistant Central Intelligence Officer

(Grade II/ Executive) in Intelligence

Bureau (IB). The Tier I Exam will be held

on October 15, 2017. There will be

negative marking of 1/4 mark for each

worng answer in Tier I.

IBPS PO (Phase 1) Exam 2017

1

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection

(IBPS) will conduct PO/MT (Phase 1)

Exam 2017 between October 7/8 and

14/15, 2017. This Exam held Online every

year. This is the 7th Edition of this Exam.

UP PSCCombined State/Upper Subordinate Pre. Exam

2

Combined State/Upper Subordinate (Pre.)

Exam 2017 will be held by Uttar Pradesh

Public Service Commission (UPPSC) on

September 24, 2017. In this Exam, there

are two paper; each of 2 hours time limit

must conducted as General Studies Paper

I and Paper II.


Directions (Q.Nos. 1-10) Read thefollowing passage carefully and answerthe questions given below it. Certainwords have been printed in bold to helpyou to locate them while answering someof the questions.

Today, with a Nobel Prize to its credit,Grameen is one of the largest microfinanceorganisations in the world. It started outlending small sums to poor entrepreneursin Bangladesh to help them grow from asubsistence living to a livelihood. The greatdiscovery its founders made, was that evenwith few assets, these entrepreneurs repaidon time. Grameen and microfinance havesince become financial staples of thedeveloping world. Grameen’s approach,unlike other microfinancers uses thegroup-lending model. Costs are kept downby having borrowers vet one another,tying together their financial fates andeliminating expensive loan officersentirely.

The ultimate promise of Grameen is to usebusiness lending as a way for people to liftthemselves out of poverty.

Recently, Grameen has taken on a differentchallenge—by setting up operations in theUSA. Money may be tight in the waningrecession, but it is still a nation of 100000bank branches. Globally, the workingmicrofinance equation consists ofborrowing funds cheaply and keeping loandefaults and overhead expenses sufficientlylow. Microlenders, including Grameen, dothis by charging colossal interest rates ashigh as 60% or 70% which is necessary tocompensate for the risk and attract bankfunding. But, loans at rates much above thestandard 15% would most likely beattacked as usurious in America.

So, the question is whether there is a role for aThird World lender in the world’s largesteconomy ? Grameen American believes, thatin a few years it will be successful and turn aprofit, thanks to 9 million US householdsuntouched by mainstream banks and 21million using the likes of payday loans andpawn shops for financing. But, enticing theunbanked won’t be easy. After all, profit haslong eluded US microfinanciers and if it is notlucrative, it is not microlending but charity.When, Grameen first went to the USA, in thelate 1980s, it tripped up. Under Grameen’stutelage, banks started micro loans toentrepreneurs with a shocking 30% loss.

But, Grameen America says that this timeresults will be different because Grameenemployees themselves will be making theloans, not training an American bank to doit. More often than not, the borrowers,Grameen finds in the US already have jobs(as factory workers for example) or sidebusinesses— selling toys, cleaning houses etc.The loans from Grameen, by and large,provide a steadier source of funding, but theydon’t create businesses out of nothing.

But money isn’t everything. More importantlyfor many entrepreneurs, group members aretremendous sources of support to one another.So, even if studies are yet to determine ifGrameen is a clear-cut pathway out ofpoverty, it still achieves something useful.

1. What has adversely affected the

success of microfinance institutions in

the USA?

a. The focus of these institutions is onmaking a profit at any cost instead ofbeing charitable to the needy.

b. American banks engaged inmicrolending were the most severely hitduring the recession.

c. Widespread perception amongbankers that these institutions arebetter suited to developing countries.

d. Their failure to attract those outsidethe formal banking system ascustomers.

e. Americans are too proud to accept aidfrom third world countries.

2. Why has Grameen made a second

attempt to launch itself in the USA?

a. The willingness of US banks to providethe necessary staff and funds tofacilitate the spread of microfinance.

b. The rates of interest on loans in theUSA are exorbitant making it easier torecover capital.

c. The realisation that a large percentageof the American population notreached by mainstream banks can betapped.

d. Recognition of the fact that disbursingcredit in developing countries duringthe recession is too risky.

e. None of the above

3. Which of the following can be

inferred from the passage?

a. Microfinance has been successful onlyin Asian countries.

b. Microfinance makes individualborrowers dependent rather thanindependent.

c. America has the largest number ofbanks in the world.

d. There is scope for microfinanceinstitutions to be profitable indeveloped countries.

e. There are no informal sources of creditin developed countries.

110

IBPS PO/MTThe exam has 100 questions, out of which 30 questions are from English Language and 35 each

from quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability. The time allotted to answer these questions in 1

hour. 0.25 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer.

(PHASE 1) EXAM

7/8 & 14/15 September 2017

Exam Date

Part English Language1

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4. According to the author, what has

enhanced the likelihood of success

for Grameen America at present?

a. Its success in Bangladesh and otherdeveloping countries.

b. Absence of other microfinanceinstitutions for competition.

c. The fact that America is currently inthe midst of recession.

d. It provides loans at nominal rates ofinterest i.e., below 15%.

e. None of the above

5. Which of the following can be said

about Grameen?

A. Its success in developing countrieswill ensure its success in developedcountries.

B. It ensures that the poor indeveloping countries enjoy asubsistence standard of living.

C. It has demonstrated that the poorare far more likely to repay loansthan the affluent.

a. None b. Only A c. A and C

d. Only B e. Only C

6. What is the central theme of the

passage?

a. The contention that Grameen isdoomed to fail in developed countries.

b. A comprehensive evaluation of thecurrent status of the Americaneconomy.

c. A discussion about the prospects ofGrameen and microfinance in theUS.

d. The role of banks in facilitatingmicrolending efforts in developednations.

e. Microfinance efforts are useful indeveloping countries but are futile indeveloped ones.

7. Why was Grameen America’s

initial US initiative a flop?

A. Lack of proper training to GrameenAmerica personnel.

B. Grameen’s refusal to adapt theirsystem to meet the needs of theAmerican poor.

C. It ended up giving loans at halftheir customary rates of interest.

a. None b. Only A c. A and C

d. Only B e. Only C

8. Which of the following is a benefit

of the Grameen system of

microfinance?

a. If a single member is unable to repaya loan other group members willrepay it.

b. Dispensing with the expense oftechnology networks to monitoradvances.

c. It utilises the vast bank networkalready existing in a country.

d. Group members can sanction loansand verify if borrowers have sufficientcollateral.

e. Backing that borrowers receive fromother group members.

9. Which of the following is most

similar in meaning to the word

‘Eluded’ as used in the passage?a. Avoided b. Duped

c. Abandoned d. Intangible

e. Betrayed

10. Which of the following is most

opposite in meaning to the word

‘Colossal’ as used in the passage?a. Short b. Lavish c. Minority

d. Frugal e. Insignificant

Directions (Q.Nos. 11-15) Which ofthe phrases (a), (b), (c) and (d) givenbelow should replace the phrase given inbold in the following sentence to make itmeaningful and grammatically correct. Ifthe sentences is correct as it is and ‘Nocorrection is required’, mark (e) as the

answer.

11. We have accepted over two billion

dollars from them yet it is been

used to build hospitals in the area.a. that is yet to use

b. although it has been used

c. not yet being used

d. which will be used

e. No correction required

12. People have respond in favour

the government’s efforts to resolve

the budget crisis.a. favourably responded

b. response in favour of

c. responded favourably to

d. been responding favourably


13. Striking this deal will enable

the company to expand its operations

in Europe.a. Strike this deal that

b. To strike off this deal

c. By striking this deal to

d. This deal was struck which


14. We admire they are taking this

step despite the numerous risks

involveda. them to take

b. them for taking

c. that they have taken over

d. how their taking of


15. The management has been left

with no option else to change the

branch timings to avoid losing

business.

a. but to change

b. except the change of

c. unless it changes with

d. other than the changing


Directions (Q.Nos. 16-20) Rearrangethe following six sentences A, B, C, D, Eand F in the proper sequence to form ameaningful paragraph; then answer thequestions given below them.

A. Voluntary measures, such as codes ofconduct have failed to address theseissues and deliver change.

B. However they can also cause seriousproblems with their irresponsiblebehaviour.

C. Companies are a powerful force forgood.

D. There are several instances ofcompanies undermining worker'srights and damaging the environment.

E. The Companies Bill 2009 is thus ameans to address issues of corporategovernance and ensure companies areaccountable for their financialperformance and social impact.

F. They provide jobs, boost economiesand aid social and environmentaldevelopment.

16. Which of the following should be

the FIRST sentence after

rearrangement?

a. A b. B c. C d. D e. E


the SECOND sentence after

rearrangement?a. A b. B c. C d. D e. F


the THIRD sentence after

rearrangement?a. B b. C c. D d. E e. F


the FIFTH sentence after

rearrangement ?a. A b. B c. C d. D e. E


the SIXTH (LAST) sentence after

rearrangement ?a. B b. C c. D d. E e. F

Directions (Q.Nos. 21-25) Read eachsentence to find out whether there is anygrammatical error in it. The error if anywill be in one part of the sentence, thenumber of that part will be the answer. Ifthere is no error, mark (e) as the answer.(Ignore errors of punctuation, if any).

21. Sheela had to travel all the way

back/(a) when she remembered that/

(b) she had forgot to take/(c)

important document with her. (d) No

error (e)

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22. The party is holding a

meeting/(a) in order to begin

the/(b) painful and difficult

process/(c) of rethink its political

strategy. (d) No error (e)

23. The only bad thing about/(a)

these flowers are the/(b)

pollen which causes/(c) allergy in

many people. (d) No error (e)

24. Nobody in the bus/(a) offered

to give their seat/(b) to the elderly

lady who had to/(c) travel a long

distance. (d) No error (e)

25. This is the only

organization/(a) which could

somehow continue/(b) to making

profits/(c) in the face of recession.

(d) No error (e)

Directions (Q.Nos. 26-30) In thefollowing passage there are blanks, eachof which is numbered. These numbersare printed below the passage andagainst each five words/phrases aresuggested, one of which fits the blanksappropriately. Find out the appropriate

word/phrase in each case.

Since independence and from thebeginning of our planned development, wehave (26) increased production as (27) toimproved distribution of income. A highrate of growth of the gross nationalproduct by itself does not serve ourpurpose (28) it is more equitably shared,benefiting all sections of the population.To be effective, increased production withbetter distribution depends largely (29) toassess the productivity of the small man,whether he is (30) in agriculture orindustry.

26. a. regarded b. thought

c. observed d. attained

e. ordered

27. a. supplementary

b. complementary

c. contradicting

d. originally

e. compliment

28. a. if b. until c. till

d. either e. unless

29. a. on our capacity

b. to be able

c. on our capability

d. our capability on

e. our ability on

30. a. engaged b. involved c. buried

d. attracted to e. busy

112

Directions (Q.Nos. 31-33) In each ofthese questions a number series is given.In each series only one number is wrong.Find out the wrong number.

31. 5531, 5506, 5425, 5304, 5135,

4910, 4621a. 5531 b. 5425 c. 4621

d. 5135 e. 5506

32. 6, 7, 9, 13, 26, 37, 69a. 7 b. 26 c. 69 d. 37 e. 9

33. 1, 3, 10, 36, 152, 760, 4632a. 3 b. 36 c. 4632

d. 760 e. 152

Directions (Q.Nos. 34-36) What willcome in place of the question marks inthe following questions?

34. 4003 77 21015 116× − = ×?

a. 2477 b. 2478 c. 2467

d. 2476 e. None of these

35. [(5 7 7) (4 7 8 7)] (19)2+ × + −= ?a. 143 b. 72 7 c. 134

d. 70 7 e. None of these

36. (4444 ÷ 40) + ( )645 25÷+ ÷ =( ) ?3991 26

a. 280.4 b. 290.4 c. 295.4

d. 285.4 e. None of these

Directions (Q.Nos. 37-39) Whatapproximate value should come in placeof the question marks in the followingquestions? (You are not expected tocalculate the exact value.)

37. 54821 303 83 × ÷ =( ) ?2

a. 48 b. 38 c. 28

d. 18 e. 58

38. 5/8 of 4011.33 + 7/10 of 3411.22

= ?

a. 4810 b. 4980 c. 4890

d. 4930 e. 4850

39. 23 31% ?of 6783+57% of 84 =a. 6460 b. 6420 c. 6320

d. 6630 e. 6360

Directions (Q.Nos. 40-42) In thefollowing questions two equations I and IIare given. You have to solve both theequations and

Give answera. if x y> b. if x y≥c. if x y< d. if x y≤e. if x y= or the relationship cannot be

established

40. I. 1225 4900 0x + =II. ( ) ( )

/ /81 343 0

1 4 1 3y + =

41. I.( ) ( )2 11

6

5 33+ = x

II. 4 589 4 53 3

y y= − ÷ +( )

42. I. ( )/ /

x x7 5 3 5

9 169÷ = ÷II. y y y

1 4 1 4 1 27 273

/ / /× × = ÷

43. The cost of five chairs and three

tables is ` 3110. Cost of one chair is

` 210 less than cost of one table. What

is the cost of two tables and two

chairs?a. ` 1660 b. ` 1860

c. ` 2600 d. Cannot be determined

e. None of these

44. The sum of 8 consecutive odd

numbers is 656. Also average of four

consecutive even number is 87. What

is the sum of the smallest odd number

and second largest even number?a. 165 b. 175

c. 163 d. Cannot be determined

e. None of these

45. A 320 m long train moving with

an average speed of 120 km/h crosses

a platform in 24 seconds. A man

crosses the same platform in 4

minutes. What is the speed of man ?a. 2.4 m/s b. 1.5 m/s c. 1.6 m/s

d. 2.0 m/s e. None of these

46. The total area of a circle and a

rectangle is equal to 1166 sq cm. The

diameter of the circle is 28 cm. What

is the sum of the circumference of the

circle and the perimeter of the

rectangle if the length of the

rectangle is 25 cm?a. 186 cm b. 182 cm

c. 184 cm d. Cannot be determined

e. None of these

47. Raman scored 456 marks in an

exam and Seeta got 54% marks in the

same exam which is 24 marks less

than Raman. If the minimum passing

marks in the exam is 34%, then how

much more marks did Raman score

than the minimum passing marks?a. 184 b. 196 c. 190

d. 180 e. None of these

48. The respective ratio between the

present ages of Ram, Rohan and Raj

is 3 : 4 : 5. If the average of their

present ages is 28 years, then what

would be the sum of the ages of Ram

and Rohan together after 5 years?

Part Quantitative Aptitude2

EDUCATIONAL SCHEMESThe Ultimate Goal of Human Resources

Schemes

Education is in Concurrent List and so Centre, State and Local Bodies are equally

responsible to implement programmes and schemes related to education.

The Indian schooleducation system is oneof the largest and mostcomplex in the world.The best thing about isthat it prepares thefoundation of a child’seducation very neatlyby giving equalimportance to the basicsof all subjects in theearly stage of children.

The education policiesand programmes in the

post-IndependenceIndia was in the StateList. The 42ndConstitutionalAmendment, 1976brought about afundamental change bytransferring educationfrom the State List tothe Concurrent List.

This amendment provided Centralgovernment’s higher responsibility to provideequitable access to quality education to all,across all levels from primary to universitylevel, for which reforms are undertaken in theeducation sector.

Presently, various policies and schemes areinitiated by the Union government and this canbe categorised as

Schemes for Elementary EducationIt has four components1. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

2. Mid-Day Meal Scheme3. Mahila Samakhya Programme4. Scheme for Providing Quality Education in

Madrassas (SPQEM)

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

SSA has been operational since 2000-01 toprovide for a variety of interventions foruniversal access and retention, bridging ofgender and social category gaps inelementary education and improving thequality of learning.

With the passage of the Right toEducation (RTE) Act 2009, changeshave been incorporated into the SSAapproach, strategies and norms.

l Holistic view of education, asinterpreted in the NationalCurriculum Framework 2005,with implications for asystemic revamp of theentire content andprocess of education.

l Bring Equality to meannot only equalopportunity, but alsocreation of conditionsin which thedisadvantagedsections of thesociety can avail ofthe opportunity.

l An effort to enable girls to keep pace withboys and to bring about a basic change inthe status of women as well.

l Centrality of teacher, to motivate them toinnovate and create a culture in theclassroom, and beyond the classroom.

l Moral compulsion is imposed throughthe RTE Act on parents, teachers,educational administrators and otherstakeholders.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)With a view to enhancing enrolment,retention and attendance andsimultaneously improving nutritional levels

among children the cooked Mid-Day Mealscheme was started in 2001 in every

government and government-aided primaryschool.

Every student to be served a prepared

Mid-Day Meal with a minimum content of

300 calories of energy and 8-12 gram proteinper day for a minimum of 200 days.

It was further extended in 2002 to childrenstudying in Education Guarantee Scheme(EGS) and Alternative and InnovativeEducation (AIE) centres.

In October 2007, the Scheme was extendedto cover children of upper primary classes(i.e. class VI to VIII) and the name of theScheme was changed to ‘NationalProgramme of Mid Day Meal in Schools’.

Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Rules, 2015under the Food Security Act, 2013Salient features are as followsl Temporary utilisation of other funds

available with the school for MDM, incase school exhausts funds meant for mealfor any reason.

l To check meal quality provided in therules, it will be tested on randomly onmonthly basis by accredited Labs.

l Every child between the age group of6 to 14 years old studying in classesfrom I to VIII standard will be providedhot cooked meal having nutritionalstandards.

Schemes for Elementary Education

Schemes for Secondary Education

Schemes for HIgher Education

1

Schemes


Mahila SamakhyaProgramme (MSP)Mahila Samakhya, meaning educationfor women’s equality, was launched in1989 by the government of India inthe States of Uttar Pradesh, Gujaratand Karnataka.l Mahila Samakhya has been

particularly successful in targetingout of school girls by working withthe community to create learningopportunities in alternative centres,residential camps and earlychildhood development centres.

l The guiding principle of theprogramme is the centrality ofeducation in empowering women toachieve basic equality.

Scheme to Provide QualityEducation in Madrasas(SPQEM)It was started on February 26, 2009. Itseeks to bring about qualitativeimprovement in madrasas to enableMuslim children attain standards of

the national education system informal education subjects.l To strengthen capacities in

Madrasas for teaching with subjectslike Science, Mathematics,Language, Social Studies etc.through enhanced payment ofteachers.

l Providing Science labs, Computerlabs with annual maintenance costsin the secondary and highersecondary stage madrasas.

Schemes for SecondaryEducationIt has four components1. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha

Abhiyan2. Girls Hostel Scheme3. National Scheme of Incentives to

Girls for Secondary Education

4. National Meritcum MeansScholarship Scheme

Rashtriya MadhyamikShiksha AbhiyanThis scheme was launched inMarch, 2009 with the objectiveto make all secondary schoolsconform to prescribed norms,removing gender,

socio-economic and disabilitybarriers.

Important physical facilitiesprovided under the scheme are :l Additional class rooms,l Laboratories and libraries,l More toilet blocks andl Residential hostels for

teachers in remote areas.

Girls Hostel SchemeThis is a centrally sponsored

scheme launched in 2008-09 to

setup a 100-bedded Girls’Hostel in each of 3479Educationally Backward Blocks(EBBs) in the country.

The main objective of theScheme is to retain the girlchild in secondary school sothat girl students are not deniedthe opportunity to continuetheir study due to distance toschool and other connectedsocietal factors.

The girl students in the age

group of 14-18 years. studyingin classes IX and XII belongingto SC/ST/ OBC minoritycommunities and BPL familieswill form the target group of theScheme.

National Scheme ofIncentives to Girls forSecondary EducationThe centrally sponsored schemewas launched in May, 2008 topromote enrolment of girl child

in the age group of 14-18 atsecondary stage, especiallythose who passed Class VIII andto encourage the secondaryeducation of such girls.l All SC/ST girls who pass

class VIII andl All Girls, who pass class VIII

examination from KastrurbaGandhi Balika Vidyalayasand enroll for class IX inState/UT government,

government-aided or localbody schools.

l Girls should be below 16 years of age (ason March 31) on joining class IX.

National Merit-cum-MeansScholarship SchemeThe Centrally Sponsored Scheme National

Means-cum Merit Scholarship Scheme(NMMSS) was launched in May, 2008.l The objective of the scheme is to award

scholarships to meritorious students ofeconomically weaker sections to arrest theirdrop out at class VIII and encourage themto continue the study at secondary stage.

l Scholarship of ` 500 per month perstudent is awarded to selected studentsevery year for study in classes from IX toXII in State government, governmentaided and local body schools.

Schemes for Higher EducationIt has three components1. Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan2. Udaan Scheme3. Swami Vivekananda Single Girl Child

Scholarship for Research in SocialSciences

Rashtriya Uchchatar ShikshaAbhiyan (RUSA)RCSS, launched in 2013 aims at providingstrategic funding to eligible State highereducational institutions.l Improve the overall quality of State

institutions by ensuring conformity toprescribed norms and standards.

l Create an enabling atmosphere in thehigher educational institutions to devotethemselves to research and innovations.

Udaan SchemeUdaan is a project launched by CentralBoard of Secondary Education (CBSE) underguidance of Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment (MHRD) in November 2014.Free of cost support to Girl students ofClasses XI and XII to prepare forengineering entrance examination

Swami Vivekananda Single Girl ChildScholarship for Research in SocialSciencesUGC has introduced Swami VivekanandaFellowship for Single Girl Child for researchin Social Sciences with an aim tocompensate direct costs of higher educationespecially for such girls who happen to bethe only girl child in their family.l To recognise the value of observance of

small family norm.

2


Schemes

l To recognise the norm of single girlchild in society.

Adult Education SchemesScheme of Support to NGOs for AdultEducation and Skill Development Topromote Adult Education, particularlyin 15-35 age groups, throughvoluntary sector, Ministry of HumanResource Development, governmentof India, has been providing supportto Voluntary Agencies (VA) throughtwo separate schemes, namelyobjectives are as follows

l Achieving self-reliance in literacyand numeracy.

l Becoming aware of the causes oftheir deprivation and movingtowards the process ofdevelopment.

National Literacy MissionThe government of India initiated theNational Literacy Mission (NLM) in1988. The mission aims at impartingfunctional literacy to millions ofIndians, especially those in the age

bracket of 15-35 years.

The goals of the National LiteracyMission are to attain full literacy, i.e.,a sustainable threshold level of 75%by 2007. The most important aspect

was Self-reliance in 3 R's (Reading,Writing and Arithmetic)

Saakshar BharatSaakshar Bharat Programme goesbeyond ‘3’ as it also seeks to create‘awareness’ of social disparities and aperson’s deprivation and general wellbeing due to illiteracy.

This programme was formulated in2009 with the objective of achieving80% literacy level at national level, byfocusing on adult women literacy

seeking-to reduce the gap betweenmale and female literacy.

Shala Darpan SchemeThe Shaala Darpan initiative launchedin the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) witheffect from June 5, 2015 is intended toserve as a single integrated platformto address various stake holders suchas students, teachers, schoolmanagement and parents.

Teacher Education in IndiaTeacher Education SchemeThe Teacher Education Policy inIndia has evolved over time and TheRight of Children to Free andCompulsory Education (RTE) Act,2009, which became operational fromApril 1, 2010, has important

implications for teachereducation in the country.1. The Central government shall

develop and enforce standardsfor training of teachers;

2. Persons possessing minimumqualifications, as prescribedby an academic authorityauthorise by the Centralgovernment, shall be eligibleto be employed as teachers.

National CurriculumFramework on TeacherEducation (NCFTE)It was circulated in March 2009with the vision of high level ofteacher education.

Some important dimensions areas followsl Reflective practice to be the

central aim of teachereducation;

l Student-teachers should beprovided opportunities for

self-learning, reflection andarticulation of new ideas.

Pandit Madan MohanMalaviya NationalMission on Teachers andTeaching (PMMMNMTT)Government of India launchesthe Scheme in 2015 with anoutlay of ` 900 crores duringTwelfth Five Year Plan.

The Mission will provide anintegrated platform for buildingsynergies among all theexisting initiatives, providingoversight to the existingactivities aimed at gap fillingso that a comprehensivevehicle for Teacher/Facultyrelated programmes.

Scheme of Restructuringand Re-organisation ofTeachers EducationThis scheme was started in1987. The aim of this schemewas to create a soundinstitutional infrastructure forpre-service and in-servicetraining of elementary andsecondary school teachers andfor provision of academicresource support to elementaryand secondary schools. Thescheme had the followingcomponentsl Setting up District Institutes

of Education and Trainingl Strengthening of State

Councils of EducationalResearch and Training.

Various New Schemes/ Initiativesby Government of India

Pragati Scholarship for GirlsTo provide encouragement and support to GirlChild to pursue technical education PragatiScholarship has been launched by the governmentfrom the year 2014 15. One Girl per family whosefamily income is less than ` 6 lakhs per annum.

Rashtriya Avishkar AbhiyanThe scheme was launched on July 9, 2015. Thisprogramme is directed towards creating interestamong school going students from classes I to XIIin Science. Model labs would be created all overthe country for this purpose.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao ProgrammeLaunched on January 20, 2015 has ushered in toencourage education among girl children. Theprogramme is a joint initiative of Ministry ofWomen and Child Development, Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare and Ministry of HRD.

Padhe Bharat Badhe BharatIt is a sub programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyanlaunched in August, 2014 with special focus onimproving language development and to createinterest in Mathematics. The two tracks of PadheBharat Badhe Bharat are : Early reading andwriting with comprehension (ERWC) and EarlyMathematics (EM).

SaranshThe CBSE Board has launched an online facilitytitled ‘Saransh’ for affiliated and CBSE schoolson November 2, 2014. It helps the schools to lookat their performance at an aggregate level and atthe level of each student. It is an onlineself review tool for schools affiliated to CBSE.

Study Webs of Active-Learning for YoungAspiring Minds (Swayam)It is a Web portal where Massive Open OnlineCourses (MOOCs) will be available on all kinds ofsubjects. SWAYAM is the Indian electronice education platform which proposes to offercourses from the high school stage toPost Graduate stage in an interactive electronicplatform. The IT platform for SWAYAM wasoperationalised by March 31, 2016 with acapacity to host nearly 2,000 courses.

Right to EducationThe Right of Children to Free and CompulsoryEducation Act, 2009, popularly known as theRight to Education Act (RTE Act), is a Centrallegislation that ensures theaspects of the right ofchildren of age six tofourteen years to free andcompulsory elementaryeducation (Classes I toVIII). This is now aFundamental Right underIndia’s Constitution(Article 21A).

3

Know Your State

The Land of Hidden ParadiseClean, green and 'all organic' since 2016, Sikkim is mostly amaze of plunging, super-steepvalleys thick with lush subtropical woodlands and rhododendron groves, rising in theNorth to the spectacular white-top peaks of the eastern Himalaya.

SIKKIM

Sikkim is sheer magic.If once the charms ofthe State were limitedto mists, mountainsand colorful butterflies,they are nowcomplimented bytangible developmentand progress. Sikkimhas become India’sfirst fully ‘OrganicState’ by implementingorganic practices onaround 75000 hectaresof agricultural land.With its uniqueculture and naturallandscape, Sikkim isan epitome ofperfection and pristinepurity. Nestled in theHimalayas andendowed withexceptional naturalresources, Sikkim is ahotspot of biodiversityand development.

Geographical LocationSikkim is located in the North-East part ofIndia with China in its North and East, Bhutanin its East, Nepal in its West and the IndianState of West Bengal in its South. It extendsapproximately 114 km from North to South and64 km from East to West. Sikkim, in the West

is bounded by the North-South spur of theGreat Himalayan Range which includes theworld's third highest peak, Kanchenjunga (8585m) and down to its South is Singalila ridge. Inthe North, it is bounded by Dongkia range andalso partly includes the Tibetan plateau. In theEast it is bound by the Chola range.

Along with Kanchenjunga, the best knownpeaks are Pauhunri (7125 m), Pandim (6691 m),Talung (6147 m), Tent Peak (7365 m), Jongsang(7459 m), Rathong (6679 m), Koktang (6147 m)and Sinioulchu (6887 m) regarded by themountaineers as the most beautiful peaks inthe world.

Glaciers like Zemu, Changsang, Teesta andChangme add to the beauty of Sikkim. The

most important passes are Jelep-la, Nathu-la,

Cho-la and Thanka-la in the East; Donkiua,Kongralamu and Naku in the North andKanglanangma and Chia Bhanjyang in the

West. The lower altitudes are sub-tropical andabound in some of Sikkim's more than sixhundred orchid varieties, sprays of cardamomfruit orchards and terraced rice paddies.

To the Lepchas- this was ‘Nye-mae-el’(Paradise), to the Bhutias it is ‘BeymulDenzong’ (The Hidden valley of rice). Sikkim iscommonly attributed to the Tsong's wordSukhim meaning (New or Happy Home).

Sikkim is the main catchment area for thebeautiful river Teesta, which has its mainsource from Chho Lhamo lake in the North andis further strengthened by many streams andrivers of which Tholung, Lachung, great

rangeet and Rangpo are importantdrainers.

It also has about 180 perennial lakes, amongwhich Khachoedpalri, Gurudongmar, ChhoLhamo and Men Moi Tso are some of themost scenic and spectacular. Sikkim has four

districts-East Sikkim, West Sikkim, NorthSikkim and South Sikkim. The districtcapitals are Gangtok, Gyalshing, Manganand Namchi respectively.

The climate of the State has been roughlydivided into the tropical, temperate andalpine zones. For most of the period in ayear, the climate is cold and humid asrainfall occurs in each month. The areaexperience a heavy rainfall due to itsproximity to the Bay of Bengal. The rainfallin North district is comparatively less thanthat of the other districts.

Sikkim Fact File

Governor Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

Chief Minister Pawan Chamling

Capital Gangtok

Total Area 7096 sq km

State Animal Red Panda

State Bird Blood Pheasant

State Flower Nobile Orchid

State Tree Rhododendron

State Assembly Seat 32

Lok Sabha Seat 01

Rajya Sabha Seat 01

Area Rank 28th

Population 6.10 lac (approx)

Population Rank 29th

Sex Ratio 890

Density 86 persons sq km

Literacy 81.42%

Rural Population 74.85%

Urban Population 25.15%

Official Langauge Nepali

þ Judicial HeadsDesignation Person

Chief Justice, Supreme Court Dipak Misra

Attorney General KK Venugopal

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar

Chairperson, National GreenTribunal

Justice SwatantraKumar

Chairperson, Intellectual PropertyAppellate Tribunal

KN Basha

Chairperson, Armed Forces Tribunal Virender Singh

þ Heads of Armed ForcesDesignation Person

Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal BSDhanoa

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat

þ Heads of Intelligence OrganisationsDesignation Person

Director, CBI Alok Kumar Verma

Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Rajiv Jain

Director, Research & Analysis Wing(RAW)

Anil Dhasmana

Director, NTRO Alok Joshi

Chairperson, National InvestigationAgency (NIA)

Sharad Kumar

þ Chief Justices of High Courts

High Court Chief Justice

Allahabad DB Bhosale

Mumbai Manjula Chellur

Calcutta NN Mahatre (Acting)

Chhattisgarh TB Radha Krishnan

Delhi Gita Mittal (Acting)

Gujarat R. Subhash Reddy

Gauhati Ajeet Singh

Himachal Pradesh Mansoor Ahmad Mir

Hyderabad Ramesh Rangnathan (Acting)

Jammu & Kashmir Badar Durrez Ahmed

Jharkhand DN Patel (Acting)

Karnataka SK Mukherjee

Kerala Navniti Prakash Singh

Madhya Pradesh Hemant Gupta

Madras Kumari Indra Banerjee

Manipur Rakesh Ranjan Prasad

Meghalaya Dinesh Maheshwari

Orissa Vineet Saran

Patna Rajendra Menon

Punjab & Haryana SJ Wazifdar

Rajasthan Pradeep Nandrojog

Sikkim Satish Kumar Agnihotri

Tripura T. Vaiphai

Uttarakhand KM Joseph

þ Heads of Various Boards

Designation Person

Chairperson, Railway Board Ashwini Lonani

Chairperson, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board SA Bhardwaj

Chairperson, CBDT Sushil Chandra

Chairperson, Company Law Board Mahesh Mittal Kumar

Chairperson, SEBI Ajay Tyagi

Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification Pahlaj Nihalani

Chairperson, Central Social Welfare Board Durgabai Deshmukh

Chairperson, PNGRB S. Krishnan

Director, NCERT Hrushikesh Senapathy

Chairperson, CBSE Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi

Chairman, CBEC Vanaja N. Sarana

þ Election CommissionDesignation Person

Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti

Election Commissioner I Om Prakash Rawat

þ Constitutional HeadsDesignation Person

Speaker, Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan

Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha M. Thambidurai

Comptroller and Auditor General Shashikant Sharma

Chairperson, 14th Finance Commission YV Reddy

Chairperson, National Commission forWoman

Lalitha Kumarmanglam

Chairperson, National Commission forScheduled Castes

Ramshankar Katheria

Chairperson, National Commission forScheduled Tribes

Nand Kumar Sai

Chairperson, National Human RightsCommission

HL Dattu

Chairperson, Union Public ServiceCommission

David R. Syiemlieh

þ Heads of Financial Institutes/Organisations

Person Designation

Rajeev Kumar Vice President, NITI Aayog

Urjit Patel Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Pankaj Patel Chairperson, FICCI

SB Mathur Chairperson, Unit Trust of India

Harsha Kumar Bhanwala Chairperson, NABARD

Chhatrapati Shivaji CMD, SIDBI

Sriram Kalyanaraman Chairperson, National Housing Bank

Sandeep Jojodia Chairperson, ASSOCHAM

Rajan Bharati Mittal Chairperson, International Chamber of Commerce

Mrugank Parajapey Chairperson, Multi Commodities Exchange

Rajiv Rishi Chairperson, Indian Banks Association

Sujay Bannerjee CMD, Oriental Insurance Company

Deepak Kumar Director General, Employees’ State InsuranceCorporation

Shyam Agrawal Chairperson, Institute of Company Secretary of India

Heads ofNATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

ORGANISATIONS

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