2013

Aflatoxins are poisonous carcinogens that are produced by certain moulds (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus), which grow in soil, decaying vegetation, hay, and grain.

Pair 1 is incorrect: Ramganga River (not the Ganga River) passes through Jim Corbett National Park, located in Uttarakhand state, which is the oldest national park of India.

Pair 2 is incorrect: Kaziranga in Assam is a vast stretch of tall elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests crisscrossed by four main rivers Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri and has numerous small water bodies.

Pair 3 is incorrect: The Kunthipuzha River passes through the Silent Valley National Park, located in the Kerala state.

Thus, no pair is correctly matched.

Creating new money to finance a budget deficit will be the most inflationary effect. Because it increases the money supply without any increase in the production of goods and services.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Yuan Chwang himself was robbed, and the thugs had decided to sacrifice him, but he was saved by a hurricane.

Statement 2 is correct: The narrative proceeds to describe the four ordeals by which the innocence or guilt of an accused person is determined. These are by water, by fire, by weighing, and by poison.

Statement 3 is correct: Under the Revenue and taxation system, Yuan Chwang notes that Tradesmen go to and fro bartering their merchandise after paying light duties at ferries and barrier stations.

* Internally capital formation takes place when a country does not spend all its current income on consumption, but saves a part of it and uses it for investment to increase further production. This act of saving and investment is described as capital accumulation or capital formation.

* Capital formation refers to investments in physical and human capital, such as building new factories, improving infrastructure, and educating the workforce. Increased capital allows for greater production and innovation.

Statement 1 is correct: A food chain shows the linear sequence of organisms through which energy and nutrients pass, from producer → herbivore → carnivore → decomposer.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Food chains are not found within the populations of a species, because technically, the food chain is the sequence of organisms through which the energy flows.

Statement 3 is incorrect: A food chain does not show the number of organisms, it only shows the feeding relationship and energy flow.

National income refers to the aggregate monetary value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a given period, usually one year. The term "final goods and services" is important because it excludes intermediate goods in order to avoid double counting in national income estimation.

From the expenditure approach, the total value of final goods and services produced in an economy is measured as: National Income = C + I + G + (X – M) where C is consumption expenditure, I is investment expenditure, G is government expenditure, and (X – M) represents net exports.

Evaluating the options: - Option (a) is not correct because it refers to production by nationals, which corresponds more closely to Gross National Product (GNP) rather than the general production within the country.

- Option (b) is incorrect because consumption + investment alone does not represent the full value of output, as it excludes government expenditure and net exports.

- Option (c) is incorrect because national income is not simply the sum of personal incomes, since it includes all factor incomes generated in production, including corporate and undistributed incomes.

- Option (d) correctly reflects the money value of final goods and services produced, which aligns with the broad definition used in national income accounting.

Therefore, the correct answer is (d) Money value of final goods and services produced.

Statement 1 is correct: Annie Besant started the Home Rule Movement in 1916 in India, around the same time as Bal Gangadhar Tilak started his own Home Rule League. The movement sought self-government for India within the British Empire.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 in New York by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott. Annie Besant later became its prominent leader after it moved to Adyar (Madras), but she was not the founder.

Statement 3 is correct: Annie Besant was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1917 (Calcutta Session).

Mural is a painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling.

The term may properly include painting on fired tiles but ordinarily does not refer to mosaic decoration unless the mosaic forms part of the overall scheme of the painting.

Ajanta Caves: It is well known that the Ajanta caves have mural paintings. These paintings have Buddhist religious themes and depict the Jatakales.

Lepakshi temple: The Lepakshi temple also has mural paintings of Vijayanagara kings.

Sanchi Stupa: The Sanchi stupa does not have mural paintings.

With an increase in demand for money, people will deposit less money in banks. Hence, banks will increase the rate of interest to attract people to deposit money in the bank.

Alternatively, Supply remains the same, and an increase in demand for money will lead to more options to lend money for the banks. Thus, banks will lend money at a greater rate of interest to earn more money as there are more customers for the same amount of money.

In India, Open Market Operations involve the Reserve Bank of India buying or selling government securities to regulate liquidity and interest rates.

When the RBI buys securities, it injects money into the market, lowering interest rates and stimulating the economy.

Conversely, selling securities absorbs money from the market, raising interest rates, and managing inflation. OMOs are a vital tool for the RBI to achieve monetary policy goals and foster economic growth.

Statement 1 is incorrect: The Sankhya school accepts: - Existence of the soul (Purusha) - Rebirth and transmigration caused by ignorance (avidya) and attachment (prakriti–purusha entanglement)

Thus, Sankhya does accept rebirth.

Statement 2 is correct: Sankhya is a dualistic atheistic system. Liberation (kaivalya) comes from true knowledge of the distinction between Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (matter). No god or external agent is needed for liberation.

The most important fishing grounds of the world are located where warm and cold oceanic currents meet. The convergence of these currents leads to the mixing of waters, which creates an ideal temperature and environment for the rapid growth of phytoplankton (microscopic plants). Since phytoplankton is the primary food source for fish, these regions support a massive and diverse marine population.

Key Examples: 1. The Grand Banks (Newfoundland): This is one of the world's richest fishing grounds, formed where the cold Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream. 2. North West Pacific (Near Japan): A highly productive zone where the cold Oyashio Current meets the warm Kuroshio Current.

While regions with coastal upwelling (like the Humboldt Current) are also significant fishing grounds, the specific phenomenon of warm and cold current convergence is the primary reason for the productivity in the Grand Banks and the seas around Japan.

Statement 1 is correct: Viruses do not have metabolic machinery of their own. They lack enzymes needed for ATP generation and therefore must depend entirely on a host cell.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Viruses cannot be grown on artificial or synthetic media. They need living host cells (bacteria, plants, animals, or cell cultures) to replicate.

Statement 3 is incorrect: Transmission can occur through: - Physical contact, respiratory droplets - Contaminated water/food - Airborne routes - Fomites (inanimate objects) - Biological vectors (mosquitoes, ticks, etc.)

Hence, vectors are not the only mode of transmission.

* Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease that cannot be spread through tattooing.

* Hepatitis B is a liver infection that can lead to liver failure and cancer. It's spread through contact with the blood, open sores, or body fluids of an infected person.

* HIV is a virus that destroys the white blood cells responsible for fighting infections. It can result in AIDS, the final stage of infection. It spreads mainly through unprotected sex, sharing drug needles, or contact with infected blood.

Disguised unemployment, means that more people are engaged in a job that can be done with fewer people, normally seen in agriculture where the whole family is involved. It means extra people can be removed without affecting the productivity, i.e. their marginal productivity is zero.

1. Foreign Loans – These are borrowings from abroad by the government or private sector. They are capital inflows and part of the Capital Account.

2. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – Investment by foreign entities in domestic companies, creating a long-term interest in the economy, is part of the Capital Account.

3. Private Remittances – These are funds sent by individuals (like migrant workers) to their home country. They are part of the Current Account, not the Capital Account.

4. Portfolio Investment – Investments in stocks, bonds, and other financial assets by foreigners in the domestic market are capital inflows, part of the Capital Account.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulates commercial banks in all of the following matters

Liquidity of assets: The RBI uses various tools like Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) to ensure banks maintain a certain level of liquid assets to meet withdrawal demands and facilitate smooth functioning of the financial system.

Branch expansion: The RBI grants licenses to banks for opening new branches to ensure wider access to banking services across the country, particularly in underserved areas.

Merger of banks: Mergers can be a way to strengthen the banking sector. The RBI carefully evaluates proposed mergers to ensure financial stability and protect depositors' interests.

Winding-up of banks: In case a bank experiences severe financial difficulties and poses a risk to the system, the RBI, in consultation with the government, can initiate the process of winding up the bank to protect depositors and maintain financial stability.

Banks have to lend a minimum of 40% to the priority sector, which includes all of the given sectors.

Priority Sector Lending is an important role given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the banks for providing a specified portion of the bank lending to a few specific sectors, like: - Agriculture and allied activities, - Micro and small enterprises, - Poor people for housing, - Students for education, and - Other low-income groups and weaker sections.

This is essentially meant for all-round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector.

In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem.

More formally, the niche includes how a population responds to the abundance of its resources and enemies (e.g., by growing when resources are abundant, and predators, parasites, and pathogens are scarce) and how it affects those same factors (e.g., by reducing the abundance of resources through consumption and contributing to the population growth of enemies by falling prey to them).

Gause's competitive exclusion principle says that those species having identical requirements cannot occupy the same niche indefinitely.

Statement 1 is correct: The most significant characteristic of Indian coal is its high ash content, which varies from 35 to 45 per cent, compared with that of coal in other parts of the world, which is around 15 per cent.

Statement 2 is correct: Indian coal's sulphur content is low, about 0.5 per cent.

Statement 3 is incorrect: Besides high ash content, another reason for entrained gasifiers (that operate at higher temperatures than fluidised bed gasifiers), commonly used in IGCC plants abroad, being not suitable for Indian coal has a high ash fusion temperature of about 1,500.

The precipitation is so erratic that drought and fire prevent large forests from growing.

- Grasses can survive fires because they grow from the bottom instead of the top.

- Their stems can grow again after being burned off.

- The soil of most grasslands is also too thin and dry for trees to survive.

Tribhanga or Tribunga is a (tri-bent pose) standing body position or stance used in traditional Indian sculpture, art, and Indian classical dance forms like Odissi.

As compared with the contrapposto pose, Tribhanga, literally meaning three parts break, consists of three bends in the body; at the neck, waist, and knee, hence the body is oppositely curved at the waist and neck which gives it a gentle "S" shape and is considered the most graceful and sensual of the Odissi positions.

It has been closely associated with the Hindu deity Krishna who is often portrayed in this posture.

Statement 1 is Correct: The Gharial (*Gavialis gangeticus*) is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It has faced a drastic population decline due to habitat loss, prey depletion, and entanglement in fishing nets.

Statement 2 is Correct: The Leatherback turtle (*Dermochelys coriacea*) is categorized as Vulnerable globally on the IUCN Red List. In India, it is a high-priority conservation species found primarily in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Statement 3 is Correct: The Swamp deer (*Rucervus duvaucelii*), or Barasingha, is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It faces threats from habitat fragmentation and conversion of grasslands to agricultural land.

In the context of this UPSC question, the term "endangered" is used as a general descriptor for species facing a significant threat of extinction. Under the IUCN Red List, the categories of Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) are collectively referred to as 'Threatened' species. Since all three animals fall into these high-risk categories and are protected under Schedule I of India's Wildlife Protection Act, they are all considered endangered in the broader sense of the term.

Statement 1 is Correct: The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the Western Ghats, and its natural habitat includes the evergreen forests of Tamil Nadu, such as the Anaimalai Hills. Statement 2 is Correct: Kerala hosts a significant portion of the population, particularly in the Silent Valley National Park, which is known for having the largest contiguous population of this species. Statement 3 is Correct: The species is found in the rainforests of the Western Ghats within Karnataka, specifically in regions like the Sirsi-Honnavara and Kudremukh ranges. Statement 4 is Incorrect: The lion-tailed macaque is strictly endemic to the Western Ghats of South India; it is not found in Andhra Pradesh, as the state's geography primarily consists of the Eastern Ghats and coastal plains where this species does not occur naturally.

Out of the listed elements, the following are released into the environment due to improper e-waste disposal:

1. Beryllium 2. Cadmium 3. Chromium 5. Mercury 6. Lead

Here's why these elements are found in e-waste and why the others are not:

Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury, and Lead: These are all heavy metals commonly used in various electronic components like circuit boards, batteries, and monitors. Improper disposal of e-waste can cause these toxic materials to leach into the soil and water, posing environmental and health risks.

Heptachlor: This is an organic compound historically used as an insecticide. While it may have been present in some older electronic equipment, it's not a typical component of modern electronics and wouldn't be a major concern in e-waste disposal.

Plutonium: This is a radioactive element primarily used in nuclear weapons and reactors. It's not a component of electronic devices and wouldn't be present in e-waste.

So, the answer should not contain 4 and 7.

- The Ilbert Bill (1883) of Lord Ripon sought to empower the Indian district Magistrates and sessions judges to try Europeans in criminal cases.

- Under the existing laws, the Indian members of ICS were not authorized to try Europeans in their courts.

- This move was aimed at eliminating the racial discrimination prevalent in the judiciary system, marking a significant step towards equality in colonial India.

Statement 1 is correct: Mycorrhizae: - Greatly increase the effective root surface area - Improve water absorption - Help plants withstand drought stress

Statement 2 is correct: Mycorrhizal fungi help plants: - Grow in acidic or alkaline soils - Access nutrients even when pH reduces their availability

Statement 3 is correct: Mycorrhizae offer bioprotection: - Compete with soil pathogens - Produce antibiotics - Strengthen plant immune responses

Option A is incorrect: The Abyssinian plateau is in Ethiopia (in Africa).

Option B is correct: The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb. It stretches around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The range's highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,167 metres (13,671 ft) in southwestern Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.

Option C is incorrect: Guiana Highland is in South America.

Option D is incorrect: Okavango basin/swamp in the Southern part of Africa.

In India, deficit financing is used to raise resources for meeting the government's expenditure requirements when its revenue or receipts fall short of its planned expenditures. In other words, deficit financing is a way for the government to finance its budget deficit to stimulate economic growth.