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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    [pib] Project RE-HAB

    | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Buoyed by the success of its innovative Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant-Human Attacks using Bees) in Karnataka, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has now replicated the project in Assam.

    Project RE-HAB

    • Project RE-HAB is a sub-mission of KVIC’s National Honey Mission.
    • Under the project, “Bee-fences” are created by setting up bee boxes in the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories.
    • The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further.
    • It is a cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals.

    How does it work?

    • It is scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed by the honey bees.
    • Elephants also fear that the bee swarms can bite the sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes.
    • The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return.

     

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    The NIRF’s ranking of education institutions on a common scale is problematic

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Context

    The ranking of State-run higher education institutions (HEIs) together with centrally funded institutions using the National Institutional Ranking Framework, or the NIRF, is akin to comparing apples and oranges.

    Institute data

    • According to an All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20 report, there are 1,043 HEIs.
    • Of these, 48 are central universities.
    • 135 are institutions of national importance,
    • 1 is a central open university,
    • 386 are State public universities,
    • 5 are institutions under the State legislature act,
    • 14 are State open universities,
    • 327 are State private universities,
    • 1 is a State private open university,
    • 36 are government deemed universities,
    • 10 are government aided deemed universities.
    • 80 are private deemed universities.

    Comparison of financial health of State HEI with Central HEIs

    • A close study of the above data shows that 184 are centrally funded institutions (out of 1,043 HEIs in the country) to which the Government of India generously allocates its financial resources in contrast to inadequate financial support provided by State governments to their respective State public universities and colleges.
    • The Central government earmarked the sums, ₹7,686 crore and ₹7,643.26 crore to the IITs and central universities, respectively, in the Union Budget 2021.
    • Ironically, out of the total student enrolment, the number of undergraduate students is the largest (13,97,527) in State public universities followed by State open universities (9,22,944).

    How NIRF ranks the education institutions?

    • Parameters set by the core committee of experts: The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank HEIs across the country, which is based on a set of metrics for the ranking of HEIs as agreed upon by a core committee of experts set up by the then Ministry of Human Resources Development (now the Ministry of Education), Government of India
    • The NIRF ranks HEIs on five parameters: teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity, and perception.

    Where do State HEIs lag on NIRF parameters?

    • Teaching, learning and resources include metrics viz. student strength including doctoral students, the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty, a combined metric for faculty with the qualification of PhD (or equivalent) and experience, and financial resources and their utilisation.
    • Low faculty strength in State HEIs: In the absence of adequate faculty strength, most State HEIs lag behind in this crucial NIRF parameter for ranking.
    • The depleting strength of teachers has further weakened the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty in HEIs.
    • Research and professional practise encompasses a combined metric for publications, a combined metric for quality of publications, intellectual property rights/patents and the footprint of projects, professional practice and executive development programmes.
    • Need for modernisation of laboratories: As most laboratories need drastic modernisation in keeping pace with today’s market demand, it is no wonder that State HEIs fare miserably in this parameter as well while pitted against central institutions.

    Issues with comparing State HEIs with Central HEIs

    • The difference in financial allocations diregarded: The financial health of State-sponsored HEIs is an open secret with salary and pension liabilities barely being managed.
    • Hence, rating such institutions vis-à-vis centrally funded institutions does not make any sense.
    • No cost-benefit analysis carried out: No agency carries out a cost-benefit analysis of State versus centrally funded HEIs on economic indicators such as return on investment the Government made into them vis-à-vis the contribution of their students in nation building parameters such as the number of students who passed out serving in rural areas, and bringing relief to common man.
    • While students who pass out of elite institutions generally prefer to move abroad in search of higher studies and better career prospects, a majority of State HEIs contribute immensely in building the local economy.
    • Issues in embracing technologies: State HEIs are struggling to embrace emerging technologies involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chains, smart boards, handheld computing devices, adaptive computer testing for student development.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in the ranking of Higher Education Institutions in India? What are the issues faced by State HEI?”

    Conclusion

    Ranking HEIs on a common scale purely based on strengths without taking note of the challenges and the weaknesses they face is not justified. It is time the NIRF plans an appropriate mechanism to rate the output and the performance of institutes in light of their constraints and the resources available to them.

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  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    A white touch to a refreshed green revolution

    op-ed snap | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues,Inclusive Growth & Issues

    Context

    November 26, 2021 was celebrated in Anand, Gujarat as the 100th birth anniversary of Verghese Kurien, the leader of India’s ‘white revolution’.

    Analysing the Green revolution

    • Purpose of green revolution: The purpose of the green revolution was to increase the output of agriculture to prevent shortages of food.
    • Technocratic enterprise: The green revolution was largely a technocratic enterprise driven by science and the principles of efficiency.
    • It required inputs, like chemical fertilizers, to be produced on scale and at low cost.
    • Therefore, large fertilizer factories were set up for the green revolution. And large dams and irrigation systems were also required to feed water on a large scale.
    • Monocropping on fields was necessary to apply all appropriate inputs — seeds, fertilizer, water, etc., on scale.
    •  Monocropping increased the efficiency in application of inputs.
    • Thus, farms became like large, dedicated engineering factories designed to produce large volumes efficiently.
    •  Diversity in the products and processes of large factories creates complexity.
    • Therefore, diversity is weeded out to keep the factories well-focused on the outputs they are designed for.

    The contrast between White and Green revolution

    • The contrast between the two revolutions provides valuable insights. Their purposes were different.
    • Purpose of white revolution: The purpose of the white revolution was to increase the incomes of small farmers in Gujarat, not the output of milk.
    • The white revolution was a socio-economic enterprise driven by political leaders and principles of equity.

    Understanding the success of Amul

    • Amul has become one of India’s most loved brands, and is respected internationally too for the quality of its products and the efficiency of its management.
    • The fledgling, farmer-owned, Indian enterprise had many technological problems to solve.
    • That is why they enrolled Kurien, who had studied engineering in the United States.
    • Indigenous solutions: Kurien and his engineering compatriots in the organisation were compelled to develop solutions indigenously when Indian policy makers, influenced by foreign experts, said Indians could not make it.
    • The enterprise achieved its outcome of empowering farmers because the governance of the enterprise to achieve equity was always kept in the foreground, with the efficiency of its production processes in the background as a means to the outcome.

    Increasing productivity and issues with it

    • ‘Productivity’, when defined as output per worker, can be increased by eliminating workers.
    • This may be an acceptable way to measure and increase productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to increase profits of investors in the enterprise.
    • It is a wrong approach to productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to enable more workers to increase their incomes, which must be the aim of any policy to increase small farmers’ incomes.
    • The need for new solutions to increase farmers’ incomes has become imperative.
    • Moreover, fundamental changes in economics and management sciences are necessary to reverse the degradation of the planet’s natural environment that has taken place with the application of modern technological solutions and management methods for the pursuit of economic growth.

    Suggestions to increase inclusion and improve environmental sustainability

    • Ensure inclusion and equity: Increase in the incomes and wealth of the workers and small asset owners in the enterprise must be the purpose of the enterprise, rather than production of better returns for investors.
    • Social side: The ‘social’ side of the enterprise is as important as its ‘business’ side.
    • Therefore, new metrics of performance must be used, and many ‘non-corporate’ methods of management learned and applied to strengthen its social fabric.
    • Local solution: Solutions must be ‘local systems’ solutions, rather than ‘global (or national) scale’ solutions.
    • The resources in the local environment (including local workers) must be the principal resources of the enterprise.
    • Practical use of science: Science must be practical and useable by the people on the ground rather than a science developed by experts to convince other experts.
    • Moreover, people on the ground are often better scientists from whom scientists in universities can learn useful science.
    • Sustainable solution through evolution: Sustainable transformations are brought about by a steady process of evolution, not by drastic revolution.
    • Large-scale transformations imposed from the top can have strong side-effects.

    Consider the question “Contrast the differences between the White Revolution and Green Revolution in India. What lessons can be applied to Indian agriculture from the success of the White Revolution in India?”

    Conclusion

    The essence of democratic economic governance is that an enterprise must be of the people, for the people, and governed by the people too.

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  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    How MPs’ Questions are allowed, disallowed

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

    Over the last few sessions of Parliament, MPs mainly from the Opposition have often alleged that their questions have been intentionally disallowed.

    What are the categories of Questions?

    (1) Starred Question

    • The member desires an oral answer from the minister.
    • Such a question is distinguished by the MP with an asterisk.
    • The answer can also be followed by supplementary questions from members.

    (2) Unstarred Question

    • The MP seeks a written answer, which is deemed to be laid on the table of the House by the concerned minister.

    (3) Short Notice Question

    • These are on an urgent matter of public importance, and an oral answer is sought.
    • A notice of less than 10 days is prescribed as the minimum period for asking such a question.

    (4) Question to a Private Member

    • A question can be addressed to a private member under Rule 40 of Lok Sabha’s Rules of Procedure, or under Rule 48 of Rajya Sabha’s Rules.
    • Such question deals with a subject relating to some Bill, resolution or other matter for which that member is responsible.

    When are the questions asked?

    Ans. Question Hour

    • In both Houses, the first hour of every sitting is usually devoted to asking and answering of questions, and this is referred to as the ‘Question Hour’.
    • The total number of questions for any day is limited to 175.
    • These includes 15 questions for oral answers, questions postponed from one list to another for written answers, and 15 questions pertaining to states under President’s Rule.

    How are questions admitted?

    • In both Houses, elected members enjoy the right to seek information from various ministries and departments in the form of questions.
    • The Rajya Sabha Chairman or the Lok Sabha Speaker has the authority to decide whether a question or a part is or is not admissible under the norms of the House, and disallow any question or a part.
    • Usually, MPs’ questions form a long list, which then go through a rigorous process of clearance.
    • Once a question that fulfils the conditions of admissibility is received, the Secretariat sends it to the ministry concerned.
    • Once the facts are received from the ministry, the question is further examined for admissibility.
    • A final list of questions is circulated to ministers, on the basis of which they frame their answers.

    Answering the Questions

    • For answering the questions, ministries and departments have been divided into five groups (I to V) that have been allotted Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays respectively.
    • The grouping has been done in such a way that each minister has one fixed day in the week for answering questions in Rajya Sabha and another fixed day for answering questions in Lok Sabha.

    What kind of questions can be asked?

    (A) Rajya Sabha

    • The question shall be pointed, specific and confined to one issue only
    • It shall not bring in any name or statement not strictly necessary to make the question intelligible
    • If it contains a statement the member shall make himself responsible for the accuracy of the statement
    • It shall not contain arguments, inferences, ironical expressions, imputations, epithets or defamatory statements

    (B) Lok Sabha

    Questions that are not admitted include:

    • Those that are repetitive or have been answered previously and
    • Matters that are pending for judgment before any court of law or under consideration before a Parliamentary Committee

     

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  • North-East India – Security and Developmental Issues

    Demand for Greater Tipraland in Tripura

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    Several tribal outfits in Tripura have joined hands to push their demand for a separate state called Greater Tipraland for indigenous communities in the region.

    Demand for Greater Tipraland

    • The Protestants are demanding a separate state of ‘Greater Tipraland’ for the indigenous communities of the north-eastern state.
    • They want the Centre to carve out a separate state under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
    • Greater Tipraland envisages a situation in which the entire Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) area will be a separate state.
    • It also proposes dedicated bodies to secure the rights of the Tripuris and other aboriginal communities living outside Tripura.

    What does the Constitution say?

    • Article 2 of the Indian Constitution deals with the admission or establishment of new states.
    • Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions, as it thinks fit,” it states.
    • Article 3 comes into play in the case of “formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States” by the Parliament.

    How did the demand originate?

    • Accessed state: Tripura was a kingdom ruled by the Manikya dynasty from the late 13th century until the signing of the Instrument of Accession with the Indian government on October 15, 1949.
    • Demographic changes: There is an anxiety among the indigenous communities in connection with the change in the demographics of the state due to the displacements from the erstwhile East Pakistan.
    • Existential threats: From 63.77 per cent in 1881, the population of the tribals in Tripura was down to 31.80 per cent by 2011.
    • Ethnic conflicts: In the intervening decades, ethnic conflict and insurgency gripped the state, which shares a nearly 860-km long boundary with Bangladesh.

    What has been done to address the grievances of indigenous communities?

    • The TTADC was formed under the sixth schedule to ensure development and secure the rights and cultural heritage of the tribal communities.
    • The TTADC, which has legislative and executive powers, covers nearly two-third of the state’s geographical area.

    Back2Basics: Autonomous District Council

    • The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India allows for the formation of autonomous administrative divisions which have been given autonomy within their respective states.
    • Most of these autonomous district councils are located in North East India but two are in Ladakh, a region administered by India as a union territory.
    • Presently, 10 Autonomous Councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura are formed by virtue of the Sixth Schedule with the rest being formed as a result of other legislation.

    Powers and competencies

    Under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule, autonomous district councils can make laws, rules and regulations in the following areas:

    • Land management
    • Forest management
    • Water resources
    • Agriculture and cultivation
    • Formation of village councils
    • Public health
    • Sanitation
    • Village and town level policing
    • Appointment of traditional chiefs and headmen
    • Inheritance of property
    • Marriage and divorce
    • Social customs
    • Money lending and trading
    • Mining and minerals

    Judicial powers

    • Autonomous district councils have powers to form courts to hear cases where both parties are members of Scheduled Tribes and the maximum sentence is less than 5 years in prison.

    Taxation and revenue

    • Autonomous district councils have powers to levy taxes, fees and tolls on; building and land, animals, vehicles, boats, entry of goods into the area, roads, ferries, bridges, employment and income and general taxes for the maintenance of schools and roads.

     

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Who was St. Francis Xavier?

    Prelims Only | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    The Prime Minister has greeted the people of Goa on the day of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier.

    St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

    • Francis Xavier venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Catholic missionary and saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus.
    • He was born in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (in present-day Spain), he was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits.
    • He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work, most notably in India.

    His works

    • He has asked for a special minister to the king of Portugal whose sole office would be to further Christianity in Goa.
    • He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas.
    • In those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India.
    • Xavier was about to extend his missionary preaching to China when he died on Shangchuan Island.
    • Known as the “Apostle of the Indies” and “Apostle of Japan”, he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Paul the Apostle.

    Try this question from CSP 2021

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. Francis Xavier was one of the founding members of the Jesuit Order.
    2. Francis Xavier died in Goa and a church is dedicated to him there.
    3. The Feast of St. Francis Xavier is celebrated in Goa each year.

    Which of the statements given above are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Species in news: Lesser Florican

    Species | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    In a major discovery, the longest in-country migration route of lesser floricans, the endangered birds of the bustard group, has been tracked for the first time from Rajasthan to Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district.

    Lesser Florican

    • The lesser florican (Sypheotides indicus), also known as the likh or kharmore, is the smallest in the bustard family.
    • It is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent where it is found in tall grasslands and is best known for the leaping breeding displays made by the males during the monsoon season.
    • The male has a contrasting black and white breeding plumage and distinctive elongated head feathers that extend behind the neck.
    • These bustards are found mainly in northwestern and central India during the summer but are found more widely distributed across India in winter.
    • The only similar species is the Bengal florican (Houbarobsis bengalensis) which is larger and lacks the white throat, collar and elongated plumes.

    Conservation status

    • The Lesser Florican is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Lesser Florican
    • The bird is listed as “Critically Endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

    Threats

    • It is threatened both by hunting and habitat degradation.
    • The species is highly endangered and has been officially hunted to extinction in some parts of its range such as Pakistan.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

     

    Post your answers here.

     

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    What the latest NFHS data says about the New Welfarism

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Context

    The second and final phase of NFHS-5 was released which covered 11 states (including Uttar Pradesh (UP), Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Jharkhand, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh) and about 49 per cent of the population.

    Major findings

    [1] Success of New Welfarism

    • Figure one plots household access to improved sanitation, cooking gas and bank accounts used by women.
    • The improvements are as striking as they were based on the performance of the phase 1 states.
    • In all cases, access has increased significantly, although claims of India being 100 per cent open defecation-free still remain excessive.

    [2] Child-related outcomes

    • India-wide, stunting has declined although the pace of improvement has slowed down post-2015 compared with the previous decade.
    • For example, stunting improved by 0.7 percentage points per year between 2005 and 2015 compared to 0.3 percentage points between 2015 and 2021.
    • On diarrhoea too, adding the new data reverses the earlier finding.
    • However, on anaemia and acute respiratory illness, there seems to have been deterioration.
    • The new child stunting results are significant but also surprising because of the sharply divergent outcomes between the phase 1 and phase 2 states.
    •  The interesting pattern is that nearly all the phase 2 states show large improvements, whereas most of the phase 1 states exhibited a deterioration in performance.

    [3] Catch up by the laggard states

    • If the new child stunting numbers are right, a different picture of India emerges.
    • Apparently, Madhya Pradesh now has fewer stunted children than Gujarat; Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are almost at par with Gujarat; Chhattisgarh fares better than Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra; and Rajasthan and Odisha fare better than Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh!
    • On child stunting, the old BIMARU states (excepting Bihar) are no longer the laggards; the laggards are Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, and to a lesser extent, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
    • Indeed, the decline in stunting achieved by the poorer states such as UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan would be all the more remarkable given the overall weakness in the economy between 2015 and 2021.

    Conclusion

    When commentators speak of two Indias, it is now important to ask: Which ones and on what metrics.

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  • The politics-policy disconnect in India

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary,Government Scheme/Policies

    Context

    Decision-making on virtually all governance issues is disconnected from politics and the mobilisation of public opinion.

    Disconnect between politics and policy

    • The repeal of the farm laws is thus a notable instance of politics and policy coming together, although in conflict.
    • The Opposition speaking in one voice in the Parliament helped, but the heavy lifting of organising in the villages and sustaining the protests was done by the farmers’ groups.
    • This disconnect between politics and policy is not a recent development, though it manifests differently across political divides.
    • Policy-first lens and its implications: The liberal side has a policy-first lens but is unable to articulate its ideas in a manner which makes for good politics, repeatedly couching its ideas in a bureaucratic framework disconnected from political organisation.
    • Bureaucracy is downstream from politics and this approach rather than curbing the state may have instead contributed to undermining the democratic process of political accountability since the political class is, by design, not central to the policy in the first place.
    • A politics-first approach: The right, on its side, has a politics-first lens but it derives its politics largely from its social agenda instead of issues of governance.
    • The policy imperatives, if any, are ad hoc and appear to be driven by the demands of running the political apparatus instead of a clear governance agenda.
    • Despite these differences, what is common across parties is the apolitical harnessing of the state as a disburser of different kinds of economic largesse, especially just before elections, as political parties cast about for simple ideas for easy mass communication.

    Reasons for the breakdown of the process

    • Weakly institutionalised nature of state and politics: Indian politics and the state are weakly institutionalised to begin with, which leads to an all-around fuzziness in the relationship between politics and policy.
    • However, this is as much an effect as it is cause, with the direction of change towards greater deinstitutionalisation instead of the opposite.
    • Lack of consensus-building: Another contributing factor is that traditional sites of consensus-building such as media, civil society, and political parties have developed pathologies which have rendered sustained consensus-building almost impossible. 
    • Centralisation of power: The excessive centralisation of power in party platforms and the head of the government (state and national).
    • This renders the individual elected representative extraneous to governance even in their own constituency, where their function is to provide representation and oversight.

    Way forward

    • There’s too much at stake to allow such a state of affairs to continue.
    •  It is important to rescue public interest from partisanship and cut through at least some of the bad-faith crosstalk across partisan divides.
    • Cross-cutting collaboration: There are many issues which lend themselves to cross-cutting collaboration outside of ideological affiliations.
    • Need for reforms: Institutional reforms are required to create such a space but public-spirited individuals across political divides can lay the foundation for such collaboration through issue-based discipline, moderation and intellectual independence.

    Consider the question “There has been a growing disconnect in India between policy and politics. Examine the factors responsible for this. Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    We need to address the disconnect between policy and politics to make the functioning of democracy more meaningful for us.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Paika Rebellion to be included as ‘case study’ in history textbook

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    The 1817 Paika Rebellion of Odisha would be included as a case study in the Class 8 NCERT history textbook, informed the Union Culture Minister.

    Who were the Paiks?

    • The Paiks of Odisha were the traditional landed militia and enjoyed rent free land tenures for their military service and policing functions on a hereditary basis.

    Paika Rebellion

    • When the British started tinkering with the revenue system in 1803, the farming community of Odisha rose in rebellion.
    • At that critical juncture, Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar — the military chief of the King of Khurda — led his army of Paikas forcing the British East India Company forces to retreat.
    • The rebellion came to be known as Paika Bidroh (Paika rebellion).

    When did it take place?

    • The rebellion, by the landed militia of Khurda called Paiks, predates the first war of independence in 1857 but did not get similar recognition.
    • It took place when the British East India Company wrested the rent-free land that had been given to the Paiks for their military service to the Kingdom of Khurda.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

    Q. With reference to the history of India, ‘ulgulan’ or the great tumult is the description of the which of the following?

    (a) The revolt of 1857

    (b) The Mappila rebellion of 1921

    (c) The Indigo revolt of 1859-1860

    (d) Birsa Munda’s revolt of 1899-1900

     

    Post your answers here.

     

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