Political Science Mock Test - 1

The correct answer is J.B. Kripalani.

Key Points

• J.B. Kripalani was the Congress President when India became free in 1947.
• J.B. Kripalani was an Indian politician, Gandhian socialist, mystic, and independence activist.  
• Sucheta Kripalani wife of J.B. Kripalani was India's first woman Chief Minister, she served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1963 to 1967.
• In the election of the Congress President in 1950, Kriplani was defeated by Purushottam Das Tandon.

Additional Information

• Clement Attlee was the Prime Minister of Britain at the time of India’s freedom in the year 1947.
• Jawaharlal Nehru was the leader of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, late he became the first Prime Minister of India in 1947.
• Sardar Patel was an Indian politician, he was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress during the country's struggle for independence. He was served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of India.

The correct answer is Assam.

Key Points

• Meghalaya, a mountainous belt in eastern India, was originally a part of Assam.
• Meghalaya was given special protection in the Indian constitution in 1947, along with other tribal areas, and it preserved a large measure of autonomy while being part of the state of Assam.
• When Assamese was made the official language of the state in 1960, demand for autonomy and self-rule grew.
• Unlike many other hill regions in northeastern India, this was a mostly peaceful and constitutional movement.
• In 1970, Meghalaya was established as an autonomous state inside Assam.
• Meghalaya achieved full statehood on January 21, 1972.
• Meghalaya is bounded by:
  • Assam to the north and northeast.
  • Bangladesh to the south and southwest.

Additional Information

• Manipur became a part of India in October 1949.
  • In 1956, it was designated as a Union Territory.
  • The North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act of 1971 made Manipur a full-fledged state in 1972.
• Bengal was partitioned along religious lines after India attained independence in 1947.
  • The western section of the country was given to the Dominion of India and given the name West Bengal.
  • The eastern section became part of Pakistan's Dominion as the province of East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan in 1956),
• In 1975, the Prime Minister of Sikkim petitioned the Indian Parliament to make Sikkim a state.
  • Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union on May 16, 1975, and the monarchy was abolished.

The correct answer is option 1, i.e Jammu and Kashmir.

• Jammu and Kashmir:
  • Article 370 of the Indian constitution deals with the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
  • Article 370 was repealed and the state was reorganized into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
  • R K Mathur is the first Lt Governor of Ladakh.
  • G. C. Murmu is the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Mizoram:
  •  Assam, Tripura, Manipur are the Indian states that share a border with Mizoram.
  • Myanmar and Bangladesh are the International boundaries that share with Mizoram.
  • Zoramthanga is the current CM of Mizoram.
  • P.S Sreedharan Pillai is the current Governor of Mizoram.
• Arunachal Pradesh:
  • I t shares international boundaries with Bhutan, Tibet, China, and Myanmar.
  • The state has boundaries with Assam and Nagaland. 
  • Shri Pema Khandu is the current CM of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • B. D. Mishra is the current Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Haryana:
  • The state is bordered by Punja b, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
  • Manohar Lal Khattar is the current CM of H aryana.
  • Satyadev Narayan Arya is the current Governor of the state.   

The correct answer is Second five Year Plan.

• The Second five-year plan followed the Mahalanobis model. 
• Mahalanobis model is a financial advancement model upheld by the Indian analyst, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the year 1953. 
• Establishment of hydroelectric force ventures and 5 steel factories at Durgapur, Bhilai and Rourkela. 

​Key Points

• The objective of this project is as follows:
  • To enhance a socialistic pattern of society as envisaged at the Avadi summit of India National Congress of India.
  • To increase the Indian economy by 25% expansion in employment and reduction of inequality.
  • To increase the rate of investment from 7% to 11% of GDP.
  • Expansion of industrialization special focus on heavy Industry.
• Achievement:
  • The growth rate during the second plan was 4.2% but it was targeted at 4.5%.
  • Establishment of hydroelectric force ventures and 5 steel factories at Durgapur, Bhilai and Rourkela. 
  • The Nuclear Energy Commission was formed in 1958 under the execution of Homi Bhaba. 
  • Goodbye Institute of Fundamental Research was perceived as an examination organization.
  • In the year 1957, an ability search and grant program was begun to discover youthful gifted understudies to instruct for work in the atomic force.
  • There is an acute shortage of foreign exchange reserves which lead to primary development targets.
  • There are Inflation and low agriculture production during the Second Five Plan.

The correct answer is Increasing production of food grains through high yielding varieties.

Key Points

• The Green Revolution in India was an introduction of High Yielding Varieties(HYV) of seeds.
• HYV seeds are those seeds that produce huge quantities of crops particularly wheat and rice.
• High Yielding Variety Seeds (HYV seeds) are seeds that are of better quality than normal quality seeds.
• The produce from these seeds is a bit more compared to the normal ones.
• These seeds are a better option of seeds in order to obtain a healthy and surplus crop.
• These seeds have a good immune system to fight with insects and other diseases.

Important Points

• The term green revolution was first used by William Gaud and Norman Borlaug is the Father of the Green Revolution.
• After Independence, Indian policy-makers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.
• In the year 1965, the government of India launched the Green Revolution with the help of a geneticist, now known as the father of the Green revolution (India) M.S. Swaminathan.
• The movement of the green revolution was a great success and changed the country’s status from a food-deficient economy to one of the world’s leading agricultural nations.
• It started in 1967 and lasted till 1978.

Additional Information 

• List of all the important Revolutions in India

The correct answer is Apsara.

Key Points

• Apsara is the first nuclear reactor made in India.
• Apsara reactor was built in August 1956.
• The Apsara reactor was named by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• It was a highly versatile swimming pool type of reactor.
• It was created to conduct basic research in nuclear physics.
• Apsara is Asia's oldest research reactor.
• Apsara was shut down in 2009 for a revamp.
• Apsara-Upgraded(Apsara-U) is the new version of Apasara reactor.

Additional Information

• KAMINI is the world's only thorium-based experimental reactor.
  • KAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini reactor) research reactor is at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam.
• CIRUS (Canada India Reactor Utility Services) was the second nuclear reactor to be built in India.
  • It is located in Trombay near Mumbai.
  • CIRUS was supplied by Canada in 1954, but used heavy water (deuterium oxide) supplied by the United States.
• The Dhruva reactor is the largest nuclear research reactor in India.

The Correct Answer is Option (1) i.e. 1966.

• The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10^th January 1966 that resolved the Indo- Pakistani War of 1965.
• The signatories of the declaration were Lal Bahadur Shastri (PM of India) and Mohammad Ayyub Khan (Pakistan President).
• The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was over control of the resources and population of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The correct answer is 5^th Five-year plan.

Key Points

• The final draft of the fifth plan was prepared and launched by D.P. Dhar in the backdrop of economic crisis arising out of run-away inflation
  fuelled by a hike in oil prices and failure of the Govt. takeover of the
  wholesale trade in wheat.
• It proposed to achieve two main objectives: 'removal of poverty'
  (Garibi Hatao) and 'attainment of self-reliance promotion of high rate of growth, better distribution of income and significant growth in the domestic rate of savings was seen as key instruments
• Due to high inflation, cost calculations for the Plan proved to be
  completely wrong and the original public sector outlay had to be
  revised upwards.
• After the promulgation of the emergency in 1975, the emphasis shifted to the implementation of the Prime Ministers 20 Point Programme. FYP was relegated to the background and when Janta Party came to power in 1978, the Plan was terminated.

The Correct answer is Indra Sawhney vs Union of India.

Key Points

• Indra Sawhney v. union of India- This case is also known as Mandal Commission Case. The court has held that barring any extraordinary situations reservation should not exceed 50 percent. Hence, option A is correct.

Additional Information

• Waman Rao Case (1981):-The SC again reiterated the Basic Structure doctrine. It also drew a line of demarcation as April 24th, 1973 i.e., the date of the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, and held that it should not be applied retrospectively to reopen the validity of any amendment to the Constitution which took place prior to that date.
• Shah Bano Begum case (1985):- Milestone case for Muslim women’s fight for rights. The SC upheld the right to alimony for a Muslim woman and said that the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is applicable to all citizens irrespective of their religion.
• This set off a political controversy and the government of the day overturned this judgment bypassing the Muslim Women (Protection on Divorce Act), 1986, according to which alimony need be given only during the iddat period (in tune with the Muslim personal law).
• Mithu v. State of Punjab-The Supreme Court has always said that the death sentence should be given rarely. In Mithu vs State of Punjab (1983), the Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory death penalty is unconstitutional.
• It struck down Section 303 in the IPC, which entailed a mandatory death sentence for a person who commits murder while serving a life term in another case.

The correct answer is Jayaprakash Narayan.

Key Points

• Program of social transformation termed Sampoorna Kranti, "total revolution" was advocated by Jayaprakash Narayan.
• Jayaprakash Narayan was the main leader of the opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for whose overthrow he had called for a "total revolution".
  • He is popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak.
  • He is also known as the "Hero of Quit India Movement".
  • he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1999.

Additional Information

• Madan Mohan Malaviya was an Indian scholar, educational reformer, and politician notable for his role in the Indian independence movement, as the three times president of Indian National Congress and the founder of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha.
• Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.
• Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy. 

The correct answer is ​Shah Commission.

• The Emergency declared in 1975 (internal emergency) proved to be the most controversial.
• There was widespread criticism of the misuse of Emergency powers.
• In the elections held to the Lok Sabha in 1977 after the Emergency, the Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi lost and the Janta Party came to power.
• This government-appointed the Shah Commission to investigate the circumstances that warranted the declaration of an Emergency in 1975.
• The commission did not justify the declaration of the Emergency.
• Hence, the 44th Amendment Act was enacted in 1978 to introduce a number of safeguards against the misuse of Emergency provisions.

The correct answer is Jute.

Key Points

• Globalization is a huge term. It has come to be used in every industry and in every geographical location.
• It has influenced trade and commerce of all types.
• It has brought countries together.
• There were no way warring countries could be united except by trade.
• Globalization has had many advantages. But it also has this drawback.
• It has led to the emergence of sweatshops. A new kind of exploitation has been given birth to.
• Corporate giants are cashing in on the poverty of the developing countries and making the already developed countries poorer.
• Textile manufacturers should outsource their work to other countries, but not after denying even the basic wages to the overseas employees.
• Agro-based traditional industries play a vital role in industrialization in an underdeveloped economy.
• The Indian jute industry has been globally significant since colonial times and enjoyed a "major industry" status. 
• Under globalization, it is found that the key structural ratios like labour productivity, capital intensity, and total factor productivity have been increasing. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
• But the falling trend of capital productivity with low growth of capital-output ratio signifies the general deterioration of the quality of investment and its improper utilization over time.
• The lower ratio of value-added to output also indicates the use of cost-ineffective technology by the industry.
• At the organizational level, this low value-added to output also signifies smaller factory sizes and increasing horizontal integration within the sector.

The correct answer is Crises during the Cold War.

Key Points

• The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II.
• It started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and it was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and lasted until 1991.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.
• The crisis was unique in several ways, featuring calculations and miscalculations as well as direct and secret communications and miscommunications between the two sides.

Additional Information

• Option 2 is the wrong statement because America and USSR were not engaged in direct wars.
• As both, the countries were not in a state to handle the destructions caused by nuclear weapons therefore the intense form of rivalry between great powers remained cold.

The correct answer is A set of free-market economic policies.

• The Washington Consensus refers to a set of free-market economic policies.

Key Points

• These policies are supported by prominent financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the U.S. Treasury.
• A British economist named John Williamson coined the term Washington Consensus in 1989.
• The ideas were intended to help developing countries that faced economic crises. 
• The Washington Consensus recommended structural reforms that increased the role of market forces in exchange for immediate financial help.
• Some examples include free-floating exchange rates and free trade.

Additional Information

• The Original Principles of The Washington Consensus :
  • Low government borrowing. The idea was to discourage developing economies from having high fiscal deficits relative to their GDP.
  • Diversion of public spending from subsidies to important long-term growth supporting sectors like primary education, primary healthcare, and infrastructure.
  • Implementing tax reform policies to broaden the tax base and adopt moderate marginal tax rates.
  • Selecting interest rates that are determined by the market. These interest rates should be positive after taking inflation into account (real interest rate).
  • Encouraging competitive exchange rates through freely-floating currency exchange.
  • Adoption of free trade policies. This would result in the liberalization of imports, removing trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas.
  • Relaxing rules on foreign direct investment.
  • The privatization of state enterprises. Typically, in developing countries, these industries include railway, oil, and gas.
  • The eradication of regulations and policies that restrict competition or add unnecessary barriers to entry.
  • Development of property rights.

The correct answer is Option 2 i.e. USA.

• This deal was signed between India and US in 2005.
• It is called 123 Treaty because it was signed under the Section 123 of the United States Atomic Energy Act 1954.
• Under this deal, India agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear activities.
• India also agreed to open up the civilian part to be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• The US offered to resume full nuclear trade i.e selling of reactors, Transfer of Technology, Uranium sale with India.
• The deal was signed by the then Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh and the then US president George Bush.
• The agreement accorded to India a status same as signatories of the Non- Prolification Treaty(NPT), although India was not a signatory of NPT.

Note: IAEA is an international body that promotes peaceful use of nuclear weapons. Its HQs are at Vienna, Austria.

• The People's Republic of China came into existence on 1^st October 1949 after the Communist Revolution in the country. 
• This was led by Mao Zedong. 
• The revolution started in 1946 after the Second Sino-Japanese War. 

The correct answer is Turkey.

• Turkey is not a European Union (EU) country.

Key Points

• Countries in European Union are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. 
• Hence, Turkey is not a European Union (EU) country.

Additional Information

• The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of 4,233,255.3 km² and an estimated total population of about 447 million.
  • Founded: 1 November 1993, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • Founders: Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
  • Member states: 27 states

The correct answer is the International Monetary Fund.

• The IMF was conceived at the United Nations Conference in July 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States.
• The IMF was formally formed on 27 December 1945.
• The member nation of the World Bank automatically becomes a member of the IMF.
• The IMF is an international financial institution that monitors the global economic situation of its member countries.

Key Points

The correct answer is Five.

Key Points

• The World Bank Group consists of five organizations:
  • ​The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries.
  • The International Development Association (IDA) provides interest-free loans — called credits — and grants to governments of the poorest countries.
  • The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector.
  • The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was created in 1988 to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives.
  • The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) provides international facilities for conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes.
• It founded in 1944, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development—soon called the World Bank.
• Originally, its loans helped rebuild countries devastated by World War II. In time, the focus shifted from reconstruction to development, with a heavy emphasis on infrastructure such as dams, electrical grids, irrigation systems, and roads. 
• Today the World Bank Group’s work touches nearly every sector that is important to fighting poverty, supporting economic growth, and ensuring sustainable gains in the quality of people’s lives in developing countries.
• The World Bank's mission to end extreme poverty by reducing the share of the global population that lives in extreme poverty to 3 percent by 2030 and to promote shared prosperity by increasing the incomes of the poorest 40% of people in every country.
• Ease of Doing Business reports published by IBRD or the World Bank.
• David R. Malpass was selected as 13th President of the World Bank Group

Option 1 is correct, i.e. The overall promotion of world trade.

• The IMF’s primary objective is the overall promotion of world trade. The IMF meets its primary objective by overseeing the balance of payments, acting as a forum of world negotiation, and regulating world exchange rates.

International Monetary Fund:

• IMF Headquarters- Washington, D.C.
• IMF Member Countries - 189
• Christine Lagarde was the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), till September 2019.
• Lagarde is currently the President of the European Central Bank.
• The current Managing Director is Ms. Kristalina Georgieva.

The correct answer is To establish peace and security.

• The main aim of Human Rights is to establish peace and security.

Key Points

Human Rights:

• These are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.
• These include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.
• Nelson Mandela had stated ‘To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. 

Additional Information

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) is the leading UN entity on human rights.
• It was established in 1993 and is a part of the United Nations Secretariat.
• OHCHR is headquartered in Geneva.
• UN Human Rights plays a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of the three interconnected pillars of the United Nations – peace and security, human rights and development.
• It also provides assistance in the form of technical expertise and capacity development in order to support the implementation of international human rights standards on the ground.

Option 1 is NOT correct.

• International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is the UN Migration Agency.
  • ​Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration (and NOT non-governmental organization). Hence, Option 1 is NOT correct and Option 3 is correct.
  • IOM works to ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems, and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.
  • In 2016, IOM entered into an agreement with the United Nations, becoming one of its specialized agencies.
• The SDGs’ central reference to migration is made in target 10.7: to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. Hence, Option 2 is correct.
• In 2019, the number of international migrants worldwide – people residing in a country other than their country of birth – reached 272 million (from 258 million in 2017). Hence, Option 4 is correct.
  • Female migrants constituted 48 percent of this international migrant stock.

• The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead.
• This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts.
• Parties will take stock of the collective efforts in relation to progress towards the goal set in the Paris Agreement.
• There will also be a global stock taken every 5 years to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and to inform further individual actions by Parties.
• The key vision of the Paris Agreement is to keep global temperatures “well below” 2.0°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial times and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5°C.
• The Paris Accord talks about limiting the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100.
• It also mentions the need to review each country’s contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge.
• Rich countries should help poorer nations by providing “climate finance” to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.
• The Paris Agreement has a ‘bottom up’ structure in contrast to most international environmental law treaties which are ‘top down.
• The agreement is binding in some elements like reporting requirements, while leaving other aspects of the deal such as the setting of emissions targets for any individual country as non-binding.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Berlin Wall was a barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany during the period from 1961 to 1989. hence it depicted the division of Germany and its eventual fall symbolized the Unification of Germany.
• In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including steadily rising numbers of skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals.
• Their loss threatened to destroy the economic viability of the East German state. In response, East Germany built a barrier to close off East Germans’ access to West Berlin and hence West Germany.
• That barrier, the Berlin Wall, was first erected on the night of August 12–13, 1961, as the result of a decree passed on August 12 by the East German Volkskammer. Hence option 2 is incorrect.
• The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the Cold War’s division of East from West Germany and of the socialist world led by USSR and the Capitalist world led by European powers and US.
• As the East Germen Government fell from favour in late 1989, people tore down the wall on the 9th of November 1989.

The correct answer is option 4.

Key Points

• Shock Therapy as propounded by Naomi Klein is the Neoliberal economic approach adopted by many post-cold war-ravaged economies like Russia.
• In economics, shock therapy is the sudden release of price and currency controls (economic liberalization), withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large-scale privatization of previously public-owned assets.
• As per prominent economist Joseph Stiglitz there were certain reasons which led to the failure of shock therapy in Russia of 1990s.
• He has blamed this phenomenon on the presence of severe corruption, a lack of institutionalized law and order, and artificially depressed exchange rates, the free market created by shock therapy in Russia created a race to the bottom to asset strip the country and remove the capital abroad, rather than the mutually beneficial race to control the market in commodities that would otherwise happen. 
• This process led to a huge scale downgrade of the Russian currency (Rubel) and massive outflows from the country to greener pastures overseas. 

The correct answer is Option d.

Key Points

• The 38th parallel was the popular name given to latitude 38° N that in East Asia roughly demarcates North Korea and South Korea.
• The line was chosen by U.S. military planners at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945) near the end of World War II as an army boundary, north of which the U.S.S.R. was to accept the surrender of the Japanese forces in Korea and south of which the Americans were to accept the Japanese surrender.
• The line was intended as a temporary division of the country, but the onset of the Cold War led to the establishment of a separate U.S.-oriented regime in South Korea under Syngman Rhee and a communist regime in North Korea under Kim Il-sung.

Additional Information

• 17th Parallel: It is the provisional military demarcation line established in Vietnam by the Geneva Accords (1954). It divided North Vietnam from Southern Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

The correct answer is option 3.

Key Points

• The 19 participating ( Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain) EU countries are known as the euro area, euroland, or the Eurozone.
• Euro is the monetary unit and currency of the European Union (EU).
• It was introduced as a noncash monetary unit in 1999, and currency notes and coins appeared in participating countries on January 1, 2002.
• After February 28, 2002, the euro became the sole currency of 12 EU member states, and their national currencies ceased to be legal tender. Other states subsequently adopted the currency.
• The euro is represented by the symbol €.

Additional Information

• European Union: It is a political and economic union consisting of 27 Member States.
• Schengen Area: Visitors to the EU can travel freely between countries in the Schengen Area

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• Tamil Tigers or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was a guerrilla organization that sought to establish an independent Tamil state, Eelam, in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the only terrorist group that once possessed its own ‘Military’- Tigers (infantry), Sea Tigers (sea wing) and Air Tigers (Air Wing), in the world, began its armed campaign in Sri Lanka for a separate Tamil homeland in 1983.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its January 10, 2008 report said that the LTTE is one of the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfits in the world and the world should be concerned about the outfit as they had ‘inspired’ networks worldwide, including the al-Qaeda in Iraq.
• However, with the killing of its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009, and its defeat it in Eelam War IV the outfit has become inactive inside Sri Lanka, though reports indicate that it still attempts to revive itself with the help of Tamil Diaspora.
• The LTTE has been proscribed, designated or banned as a terrorist group by a number of Governments - India, Malaysia, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, European Union - where the LTTE has a significant terrorist infrastructure for disseminating propaganda, raising funds, procuring and shipping supplies to support their terrorist campaign in Sri Lanka.
• While India was the first country to ban LTTE in May, 1992, Sri Lanka itself is the latest in the list banning the organization on January 7, 2009. 

The correct answer is option 2.

Key Points

• Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali leader who became the president (1971–72; 1975) and prime minister (1972–75) of Bangladesh.
• He began his formal political career in 1949 as a co-founder of the Awami League.
• The league advocated political autonomy for East Pakistan, the detached eastern part of Pakistan. Mujib’s arrest in the late 1960s incited mob violence that eroded the Pakistani president’s authority in East Pakistan.
• In the elections of December 1970, Mujib’s Awami League secured a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, and Mujib demanded independence for East Pakistan.
• Troops from West Pakistan were sent to regain control of the eastern province but were defeated with the help of India. East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh, was proclaimed an independent republic in 1971, and in January 1972 Mujib, recently released from prison, became the first prime minister.
• His daughter, Sheikh Hasina, who was out of the country at the time of a coup detat in 1975, later served as prime minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001; 2009–till now).
• Yahya Khan was a Pakistani general who served as President of Pakistan from 25 March 1969 until December 1971. During his rule, He ordered Operation Searchlight in an effort to suppress Bengali nationalism which triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• Ziaur Rahman was a Bangladesh Army officer and later turned politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981.He was also responsible for the coup de tat against Mujib in 1975.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• Suez Crisis War was an international crisis in the Middle East, instigated in July 1956, when Gamal Abdel Nasser the Egyptian President, nationalized the Suez Canal.
• The Suez Crisis was provoked by an American and British decision not to finance Egypt’s construction of the Aswan High Dam, as they had promised, in response to Egypt’s growing ties with communist Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.
• Nasser reacted to the American and British decisions by declaring martial law in the canal zone and seizing control of the Suez Canal Company, predicting that the tolls collected from ships passing through the canal would pay for the dam’s construction within five years.
• Britain and France feared that Nasser might close the canal and cut off shipments of petroleum flowing from the Persian Gulf to western Europe. When diplomatic efforts to settle the crisis failed, Britain and France secretly prepared military action to regain control of the canal and, if possible, to depose it.
• They found a ready ally in Israel, whose hostility toward Egypt had been exacerbated by Nasser’s blockage of the Straits of Tīrān (at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba) and the numerous raids by Egyptian-supported commandos into Israel during 1955–56.
• This was the cause of Suez War which eventually was settled by mediation from the USA and USSR who were the predominant superpowers then. This depicted the decline of UK and France as global powers and the start of the war for spheres of influence underpinned by the Cold war related politics.

The correct answer is option 1

Key Points

• United Nations Security Council, United Nations (UN) organ whose primary responsibility is the maintenance of international peace and security
• The permanent five members of the UNSC are- the USA, Russia, China, UK and France. While the total strength of the council is 15 members its number has changed with successive reforms in its structuring.
• As of 2022, India is a non Permanent Member of the UNSC with no veto powers. 
• The composition of the Security Council has been a contentious matter, particularly since the end of the Cold War. Critics have argued that the Security Council and its five permanent members reflect the power structure that existed at the end of World War II, when much of the world was under colonial rule.
• Reform efforts have remained elusive but have centered on efforts to make the work of the Security Council more transparent and on demands by important non-permanent members, such as Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan (the so-called G-4), to obtain permanent membership—or at least have special status within the Security Council.
• One proposal put forward by the G-4 countries was to increase the membership of the Security Council to 25 seats by adding six new permanent members, including one each for themselves and two for Africa.

The correct answer is Sukumar Sen.

Key Points

• Sukumar Sen was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. Under his leadership, the Election Commission successfully administered and oversaw independent India's first two general elections, in 1951–52 and in 1957.
• V. Narahari Rao was an Indian civil servant who served the Indian Audit and Accounts Service in the post-independence India. He served as the first Comptroller and Auditor General of India from 1948 to 1954.
• M.C. Setalvad was India’s first and longest-serving Attorney General. My Life Law and Other Things is an autobiography on the legal luminary. He assumed the charge of the Attorney General of India when the post was created through the Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26th January 1950. His tenure was from 1950-1963.
• G.V.Mavlankar  was the Speaker of the Bombay Legislative Assembly (1937-46) and the President of the Central Legislative Assembly (1946-47).  Subsequently, he was the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly (Legislative) and the Provisional Parliament (1947-52) and the First Lok Sabha (1952-56).  Acknowledged as the "Father of Lok Sabha", he occupies a very distinguished and honoured place in the history of parliamentary democracy and evolution of parliamentary institutions and procedures in the country

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• NITI Aayog is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India, providing directional and policy inputs.
• Apart from designing strategic and long-term policies and programs for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre, States, and Union Territories.
• The Government of India constituted NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission, which had been instituted in 1950.
• Its structure includes Chairperson (Prime Minister), Vice-Chairperson, Full-time members, ex-officio members, and special invitees.
• The Planning Commission was an institution in the Government, which formulated India's Five-Year Plans. It was a non-constitutional and non-statutory body.
• In his first Independence Day speech in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his intention to dissolve the Planning Commission.

Additional Information

• Inter state Council: The Inter-State Council is a non-permanent constitutional body enshrined in Article 263 of the Constitution of India. It functions as a temporary recommendatory body to advise on issues arising between states and Union.
• National development council: It is the non-constitutional and non-statutory apex body to take decisions on matters related to approval of five year plans of the country. Prime minister is the ex-officio chairman of the NDC.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• The Non-aligned Movement was a movement opposed to the bloc politics prevalent during The Cold War period.
• It stood on the remains of the Colonial World Order present before World war 2, it was a collective effort of the post-colonial countries of mostly Asia, Africa, and South America to reclaim their foreign policy without following the dictates of either of the blocs present then.
• While some meetings with a third-world perspective were held before 1955, historians consider that the Bandung Asian-African Conference is the most immediate antecedent to the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement. This Conference was held in Bandung in April 1955, and gathered 29 Heads of States of post-colonial leaders.
• Six years after Bandung, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries was founded on a wider geographical basis at the First Summit Conference of Belgrade, which was held in September 1961. 

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• Bandung Conference was a meeting of Asian and African states organized by Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, and Pakistan
• It took place April 18–24, 1955, in Bandung, Indonesia. In all, 29 countries representing more than half the world’s population sent delegates.
• The conference reflected the five sponsors’ dissatisfaction with what they regarded as a reluctance by the Western powers to consult with them on decisions affecting Asia; their concern over tension between the People’s Republic of China and the United States; their desire to lay firmer foundations for China’s peaceful relations with themselves and the West; their opposition to colonialism, especially French influence in North Africa; and Indonesia’s desire to promote its case in the dispute with the Netherlands over western New Guinea (Irian Jaya).
• The Bandung Conference led to the formation of the Panchsheel Principles which formed the basis for mutual understanding amongst Asian powers including India and China.
• It also laid the foundation for the Non Aligned Movement whose first session would later be arranged in belgrade.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• Tibet’s was incorporated into the People’s Republic of China in 1950 and this has remained a highly charged and controversial issue, both within Tibet and worldwide. 
• As the Part of 'Reunification of Motherland' Mao Zedong tried to unite supposed Chinese areas as under the Qing dynasty. 
• It was in 1954 that India signed an agreement with China, agreeing to recognize Tibet as “Tibet region of China”.
• It was In 1959 that following the Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama (spiritual leader of Tibetan people) and many of his followers fled to India.
• Former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru gave him and Tibetan refugees shelter, and helped in setting up the Tibetan government in exile.

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• Indira Gandhi, daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is the only woman who served as the Prime Minister of India.
• After the demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri ji in 1966, she became Prime Minister of the country.
• In 1967, Indira Gandhi authorised the development of nuclear weapons,Thiswas in response to Test No. 6 by the People's Republic of China. Gandhi saw this test as Chinese nuclear intimidation and promoted Nehru's views to establish India's stability and security interests independent from those of the nuclear superpowers
• In 1969, Indira Gandhi moved to nationalize fourteen major commercial banks. After this, public sector bank branch deposits increased by approximately 800 percent; advances took a huge jump by 11,000 percent.
• The Privy Purses was an arrangement for payment for the erstwhile rulers of princely states. it came into being after an agreement between Government and the rulers during their accession to the Union.
• The privy purses continued to be paid to the royal families until the 26th Amendment in 1971, by which all their privileges and allowances from the central government ceased to exist, which was implemented after a two-year legal battle.
• From 1966 to 1977, she was able to retain the position but lost after an emergency was imposed by her in 1975 leading to a national discontent and countrywide protests. She returned to power in 1980 and during this time she ordered storming of Sikh Holy Shrine Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar and was assasinated on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. 
• Hence, The fourth Option is incorrect.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• CN Annadurai, was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, from 1967 to 1969.
• He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold that post.
• He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to use Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda. Born in a middle-class family, he first worked as a school teacher, then moved into the political scene of the Madras Presidency as a journalist. He edited several political journals and enrolled as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam.
• As an ardent follower of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party.
• With differences looming with Periyar, on issues of the separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and on inclusion in the Indian Union, he crossed swords with his political mentor.
• The friction between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than him. Angered by this action of Periyar, Annadurai with his supporters parted from Dravidar Kazhagam and launched his own party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
• The DMK initially followed ideologies the same as the mother party, Dravidar Kazhagam. But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian war in 1962, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu.

The Correct Answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• The Emergency Provisions are contained in part XVIII of the Indian constitution from article 352(National Emergency) to 360(Financial Emergency).
• These provisions enable the central government to satisfy any abnormal situation effectively. The central government becomes all-powerful during the emergency period and the states go under the control of the union.
• The rationality behind the incorporation of these provisions of the Indian constitution is to protect the Sovereignty, Unity, Integrity and Security of the nation, the democratic political system, and the constitution.
• As per article 352, This emergency provides that if the president is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the safety of India or any part of India is threatened, either by war or external aggression or armed rebellion,he may make a Proclamation of Emergency in respect of the whole of India or any part of it as may be specified in the proclamation.

Additional Information

• Art 368:Power of Parliament to amend the Constitution
• Art 226: provides the High Courts with the power to issue writs

The correct answer is option 3.

Key Points

• The 'Save Democracy' slogan was given by the party founded by Jayaprakash Narayan and the party had strongly opposed the 1975 National Emergency imposed during Indira Gandhi's rule.
• The 1977 election became a referendum on the collective experience of the emergency imposed, the slogan 'save democracy' channelized this frustration in north India where the frustration against the emergency was the highest. compared to other regions.
• The Congress Party's famous slogan was 'Garibi Hatao' which was framed by the then PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1971.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• The Dalit Panther Movement was formed in 1972, when the Dalit youths came forward and took up the task of bringing all the Dalits on to one single platform and mobilizes them for the struggle for their civil rights and justice.
• It demonstrated that the lower castes were not willing to accept indignities and their worst conditions without protest.
• The ideals for the movement were Marxist ideologies mixed with Buddhist values.
• Rifts grew among the two leaders Namdev Dhasal and Raja Dhale. While one inclined towards more Marxism-Buddhism ideals, the other aimed for a Buddhism-led movement.
• These political differences led to the dissolution of the Movement in 1977.
• Although short-lived, the movement brought impactful changes for Dalits in India. It opened a world of Dalit literature, poetry, and stories to showcase their talent and get their problem to the front. The movement that began in Maharashtra soon spread to over 15 states.

The correct answer is Option 4

Key Points

• A pressure group is an organization that seeks to influence elected officials to take action or make a change on a specific issue. These groups include trade unions, Farmers associations, caste, and religious or ethnic associations.
• Trade unions cater to the demand of workers and labourers of the industries. Alternatively, they are also known as labour groups. In India, different trade unions represent different political parties. Examples- The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), All India Trade Union Congress (Communist Party of India)
• Agrarian Groups represent the farmer community of India and work for their well-being. Example- Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Hind Kisan Panchayat (control of socialist).
• Caste-based Pressure groups have been one of the salient features of Indian Polity. 
• The caste factor is always prevalent in elections in India. Examples of caste groups are Marwari Association, Harijan Sewak Sangh.

the correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• The Naga National Council (NNC) is a political organization of Naga people, active from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
• It evolved out the Naga Hills District Tribal Council, an organization established in 1945 by the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills district.
• The group was reorganized to form NNC in 1946 at Sanis (in present-day Wokha district), with Eno T. Aliba Imti Ao as the President, and other democratically elected Naga representatives as its members. Later, NNC declared Independence one day ahead of India ie on 14th August 1947.
• Under the leadership of A.Z.Phizo, the NNC resisted the Indian occupational forces. It was during this period that the controversial AFSPA  act was brought into affect to deal with the insurgency in Naga areas.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• The Mizo National Front (MNF) is a regional political party in Mizoram.
• MNF emerged from the Mizo National Famine Front, which was formed by Pu Laldenga in opposition to the inaction of the Indian government towards the famine-induced situation in the Mizo areas of the Assam state in 1959.
• It staged a major uprising in 1966 which later culminated into years of underground activities.
• In 1986, it signed the Mizoram Accord with the Government of India, renouncing secession and violence.
• The MNF then began contesting elections and formed the state government in Mizoram three times. It is currently the state's ruling party, with its president, Zoramthanga, as the Chief Minister of Mizoram.
• Zoramthanga had been a militant prior to the accord but since the accord has governed the state and has also acted as a mediator for conflicts in northeast.

The Correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Master Tara Singh was a Sikh leader known majorly for his support for a Punjabi-speaking autonomous Sikh nation in Punjab.
• He was a champion of Sikh rights against the dominant Hindus, Muslims, and British.
• In 1930 he became deeply involved with the civil disobedience (satyagraha) movement of Gandhiji and was a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD; Supreme Akali Party), predominantly Sikh Party, and of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (Supreme Committee of Temple Management), which oversees the gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship).
• He was best known as an agitator for a Punjabi-speaking state as a means of keeping Sikh religious and political traditions intact.

Additional Information

•  All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is the farmer union of the Communist Party of India. it was founded by Swami Sahjanand Saraswati in 1936.
• Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) is a political party founded by Mufti Mohammad Sayyed in 19999. the party is currently headed by his daughter Mehbooba Mufti.
•  

The correct answer is option 1.

Key Points

• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a regional political party that is in power currently in the state of Tamil Nadu.
• The party traces its origins to the pro-Tamil activities of E.V. Ramaswami Naicker and others in the first half of the 20th century.
• The DMK itself was founded in 1949 in Madras (now Chennai) under the leadership of C.N. Annadurai following a split in the Dravidian Federation (Dravida Kazhagam) party.
• The DMK also voiced strident opposition to the imposition of Hindi, on the Tamil-speaking population.
• It also participated in anti-Hindi movements in Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• The Assam Accord (1985) was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between officials of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement (AASU and AGP) in New Delhi on 15 August 1985.
• It brought an end to the Assam Agitation and paved the way for its leaders to form a political party and form a government in the State of Assam soon after.
• The Assam Movement (or Assam Agitation) was a popular movement between 1979 and 1985 against undocumented immigrants in Assam.
• The movement was led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the 'All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad' (AAGSP). The agitation leaders formed a political party, Asom Gana Parishad, which came to power in 1985 and 1996.
• The group came into the news recently because of agitations related to 'Clause 6' of the Assam Accord during the 2020 agitations against the CAA-NRC legislations.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
• SAARC comprises eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
• The Secretariat of the Association was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987.
• Its functioning has stagnated since 2016 after a spate of terrorist attacks on India instigated by Pakistani-backed terrorists.

Additional Information

The correct answer is option 4.

Key Points

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an organization that provides financing for development projects to the member countries.
• The bank also provides technical assistance for projects and programs, and it promotes the investment of capital for development.
• It was established in August 1966 under the aegis of the United Nations organization now known as ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and is headquartered in Manila.
• Each shareholder is given a seat on the Board of Governors, in which all of ADB's powers are vested.
• As of 2020, ADB's five largest shareholders are Japan and the United States (each with 15.6% of total shares), the People's Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8%).

Additional Information

• SCO: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001 to maintain security in Eurasian and central Asian region.
• CSTO: The Collective Security Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia. CSTO consists of select post-Soviet states.
• WHO: The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.