Search results for: “”

Economy 

1. During 2014-2015, in which one of the following industrial sectors, the FDI equity inflow was maximum?
(a) Telecommunications
(b) Services (Financial, Banking and Insurance, Non-Financial/ Business R&D etc.)
(c) Drugs and Pharmaceuticals
(d) Hotel and Tourism

• During CSE analysis, I mentioned sectors receiving maximum FDI are important as are the countries from which maximum FDI arrives.
• It has been in news again and again that despite make in India push, maximum FDI in services

Learning – Descending order of FDI service wise and country wise, FDI and DTAA, India-Singapore DTAA v/s India – Mauritius DTAA
2. Which one of the following is not industrial corridor as per the policy initiatives?
(a) Amritsar – Kolkata
(b) Delhi – Mumbai
(c) Kolkata – Guwahati
(d) Chennai – Bengaluru

• Industrial and freight corridors very important.
• If you don’t know the answer, Kolkata- Guwahati corridor is not possible as B’desh is present in the route. You all know about something called Siliguri corridor.

Learning – Siliguri corridor, North – South corridor , East – West corridor, Diamond quadrilateral, DMIC, CBIC, BCIM, which country is sponsoring which corridor

3. Which of the following are the objectives of the Khadi and Village Industrial commission?
   1. To provide employment in rural areas
   2. To produce saleable articles
   3. To create self reliance amongst people and building up a strong rural community spirit
   Select the correct answer using the code given below:
   (a) 1, 2 and 3
   (b) 1 and 2 only
   (c) 2 and 3 only
   (d) 1 and 3 only

• 1 and 3 are obvious.
• It also produces saleable articles <it’s economic objective, 1st is social objective, 3rd is wider objective>
• Is KVIC statutory?

Learning – Khadi v/s hand loom textile v/s power loom textile, MSME v/s cottage industry
4. Which one of the following cities hosted the Tenth Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organisation Conference of World Trade Organisation during December 2015?
(a) Geneva
(b) Manila
(c) Helsinki
(d) Nairobi

Simple. You must now the location and outcome of meeting of all the important international organisations.

5. Which of the following statements about ‘Nairobi Package’ adopted in the Tenth Miniserial Conference of WTO is / are correct?
   1. No safeguard mechanism for developing country members
   2. Preferential rules of origin for least developed countries
   3. Public stock holding for food security purposes
   Select the correct answer using the code given below:
   (a) 1only
   (b) 1 and 2 only
   (c) 2 and 3 only
   (d) 1, 2 and 3

• You must know salient outcomes of important meetings.
• 1 is definitely wrong as there was some concession on SSM though modalities could not be agreed upon. Eliminate it, you reach the answer

Learning – Nairobi package, SSM, SP, S&D, safeguard duties, AoA, Bali package, trade facilitation

6. Which of the following pairs of Scheme and Target Group, as initiated in the Railway Budget 2016, is / are correctly matched?
Scheme Target Group
1. Antyodaya Express : For the Reserved Passengers
2. Deen Dayalu Coaches: For the Unreserved Passengers
3. Humsafar : For the Reserved Passengers’
4. Tejas : For the Unreserved Passengers
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 , 2 and 3
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 and 4
(d) 2 only

• Antyodaya that is for the last one, obviously poor so obviously unreserved train
• Tejas i.e Tej i.e Fast so obviously reserved super fast
• Deen – Dayalu again for the poor – unreserved
• Humsafar is dicey

Learning – Highlights of Union budget and Rail budget

Environment and Biological Sciences

1. The largest greenhouse gas leakage in the US history took place in February 2016. The gas was :
(a) Carbon dioxide
(b) Methane
(c) Chlorofluorocarbon
(d) Nitrous oxide

• Only natural gas / methane leaks. It is found underground.
• Co2, CFC and N2O won’t leak

Learning – GHGs under Kyoto, Global warming potential of various gases

2. The ‘Paris Agreement’ adopted in Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in December 2015 will be effective provided the document is signed by :
(a) 51 UNFCCC parties accounting for at least 51% of global greenhouse gas emission
(b) 51 UNFCCC parties accounting for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emission
(c) 55 UNFCCC parties accounting for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emission
(d) 75 UNFCCC parties accounting for at least 51% of global greenhouse gas emission

• You have to remember it. Was very much in the news as Donald Trump vowed not to ratify the deal
• Was also there in newscards

3. Ramsar Convention , to which India is a signatory is related to conservation and wise use of :

(a) wetlands b)genetic resources
(c) mines
(d) forest lands

Repeat question – Ramsar wetlands

Learning – Other environmental conventions and treaties <covered in titbits>

4. process of using microbes to treat areas of land or sea that have been contaminated by
pesticides, oil or solvents is known as
(a) Eutrophication
(b) Nitrification
(c) Ammonification (d) Bioremediation

• Nitrification and ammonification is common sense
• Eutrophication has been asked multiple times
• It’s bioremediation

Learning – Eutrophication, algal bloom, phytoremediation, Nitrogen fixing bacteria, denitrification

5. Which one of the following is the correct taxonomic hierarchy?
(a) Kingdom – phylum – order – genus – family – class – species
(b) Kingdom – order – class – phylum – family – genus – species
(c) Kingdom – class – order – phylum – family – species – genus
(d) Kingdom – phylum – class – order – family – genus – species

• Species is the smallest unit, c is eliminated
• Genus related to genes would be just above species, c eliminated
• Phylum just below kingdom,< phylum vertebrata >

6. The subunits of DNA are known as :
(a) Nucleotide
(b) Nucleosome (c) Nucleoside
(d) Polypeptide

• 8th class NCERT is enough
• DNA – Deoxy ribo nucleotide so obviously answer would be nucleotide

Learning – DNA v/s RNA, Nucleoside v/s Nucleotide, Protein v/s peptide v/s amino acid

7. Vaccination involves:
(a) injecting the body with materials that stimulate the body to produce antibodies
(b) injecting the body with materials that stimulate the body to produce antigen
(c) the use of monoclonal antibodies cure a disease
(d) use of antibiotics to cure diseases

• Vaccination means providing protective immunity
• Antigen is agent which causes disease so inject attenuated / dead antigen so that antibody is produced in the body
• Was very much in news due to OPV/IPV, new vaccine introduction

Learning – OPV v/s IPV, Switch over day, 4 new vaccines in UIP

8) Which of the following are examples of carnivorous plants?
(a) Sundew Venus fly trap, Pitcher plant
(b) Cuscuta , Rafflesia Mistletoe
(c) Sandalwood tree, Broom rape, Pitcher plant
(d) Cuscuta, Bladderwort, Mistletoe

NCERT botany last 4 chapters ecology

9. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists:
List I List II
(Isotope) (Application)
A. Carbon 1. Treatment of goiter
B. Cobalt 2. Calculation of age of the earth
C. Iodine 3. Treatment of cancer
D. Uranium 4. Fuel in nuclear reactors
Code:
A B C D
(a) 2 3 1 4
(b) 2 1 3 4
(c) 4 1 3 2
(d) 4 3 1 2

• Uranium – nuclear fuel is easy peasy, eliminate c and d
• Iodene – goitre is also very easy so c -1,
• only option is a

Learning – Role of iodine, Cobalt, Gd, Vitamins and diaereses

10. Which one of the following statements regarding Zika virus is not correct?
(a) It was first isolated from a monkey is the Zika forest of Uganda
(b) It is transmitted by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes
(c) It does not cause mother to child infection  (d) Zika virus in pregnant women result in abnormal brain development of the fetus.

• C and D contradict each other, one has to be true
• All the concern is due to abnormal brain development of the fetus – microcephaly and all

Learning – Mode of transmission of Zika, other diseases caused by Aedes, Japanese encephalitis and it’s vaccine

What’s this?

Discussion blog page for those who just attempted FL#1. Discussion is open for any question which you had a doubt about, brainstorming on ways to arrive at a particular answer, any other interesting tit bit that you may share etc.

Where are the prelims mocks held?

Go to the link and start attempting the mocks. Click here. 100 Questions – True to UPSC pattern.

When will the detailed explanations be uploaded?

The detailed explanations will be provided to subscribers only. You can find the explanation pdf uploaded on the Document centre within the portal on the coming Sunday.

Hello Everyone,

How are you doing?

So now that we are 10 Mini Mocks down and cruising towards the last lap of Full Length Tests (FLTs), I just thought of having a word with you. It was wonderful to see good participation by you and even more wonderful to watch you come up with different answer choices. It germinated points and counter-points and reinforced learning. Now I am sure all of you are clear about who can increase the number of judges in HC and most of you shall even remember the Article number ? Thank you for that!

One reason why did not wish to postpone this post till the end of FLTs was that now many of you might just lock yourself to the outside world including the web and might become sporadic or disinterested in reading any more posts till Prelims.

So here is the Antim Gyan:

#1. For past one year or more, you have put in good effort for CSE. Have faith in what you have done.

#2. Getting apprehensive as the Prelims approaches is normal and there is absolutely nothing to get tensed about.

#3. Do not get panic attacks thinking that still so many things need to be revised/tests taken/ new things to be read. Relax. Sab ho jayega if you just plan and do it.

#5. Read questions carefully, a sadist examiner might not want to highlight or italicise a not in “not correct”.

#6. And if you did not notice that I just made a mistake in serial number, then read the above point ten times over again.

#7. You might be better off cutting off your chai-sutta (if you take them that is) engagement for some days now. They just eat away too much time.

#8. Don’t compromise on sleep and, this might sound a puerile suggestion, but take care of your diet.

And now a selfish touch to the post.

I tried to do whatever I could, with whatever resources and time I had, to try to help you in your preparation. And if I could make an iota of difference, I am happy because it means a lot to me. It drives me to work harder and to improve further. Some of you were exasperated with tough tests/questions, my sincere regrets for that. I never made a question tough on purpose but if I found a topic that should be covered for Prelims, I tried to use it in the mocks and in this attempt there might have been certain questions which inadvertently become tough. Whatever may have been your performance in Mocks, you shall certainly reap benefits on the D-Day if you have followed them.

We all make mistakes and I am no exception. Many a times a wrong option was highlight or I misinterpreted a statement and gave wrong answer choices. But depend on it, I never meant to misguide you. I welcome, rather appreciate criticism, but at one point it did went over me and I just could not refrain myself from commenting on it and I regret it.

Over a period it is natural that we interact more with people who comment or ask doubts regularly. And then when you are at the backend analysing results you do tend to look out for these names and check their answer sheet and sometimes exclaim, “arey yar isne ye question kaise galat kar diya” or sometimes “ye to PT phodega”. Happened quite a few times. ?

So that is all from my side for the time and my best wishes with each one of you. See you all at the final FLTs starting 11th July.

Regards,

Unbounded Wisdom