(Prelims) IAS General Studies – 2005 (Part 1)

1. According to Census 2001, which one of the following Indian States has the maximum population in India after Uttar Pradesh?

(a) West Bangal (b) Maharashtra

(c) Bihar (d) Tamil Nadu

Ans: b

• As per 2011 Census, UP , Maharashtra, Bihar, WB, MP, Tamilnadu, rajsthan

2. Itaipu Dam built on the River Parana is one of the largest dams in the world. Which one of the following two countries have this as a joint project?

(a) Brazil and Peru (b) Paraguay and Ecuador

(c) Brazil and Paraguay (d) Colombia and Paraguay

Ans: c

• The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

3. Consider the following statements :

1. There are 25 High Courts in India

2. Pujab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh have a common High Court.

3. National Capital Territory of Delhi has a High Court of its own.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 2 and 3 (b) 1 and 2

(c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 3 Only

Ans: a

• There are 24 High Courts at the state and union territory level of India

4. Which one of the following cities is not a former capital of the given country (Country given in the brackets)?

(a) Karachi (Pakistan) (b) Auckland (New Zealand)

(c) Kyoto (Japan) (d) Brisbane (Australia)

Ans: d

• Auckland was officially declared New Zealand’s capital in 1841. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson (later Wellington) was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island, and Wellington became the capital in 1865.
• Karachi was the capital of Pakistan until Islamabad was constructed as a capital
• Kyoto, formerly known in the West as Meaco) is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan.Formerly it was the imperial capital of Japan for more than one thousand years. In Japanese, the city has been called Kyo. In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto (“capital city”). After Edo was renamed Tokyo (meaning “Eastern Capital”) in 1868, Kyoto was known for a short time as Saikyo (meaning “Western Capital”).
• Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed.
• Now capital of Pakistan- Islamabad, capital of new Zealand – Wellington, Capital of Japan – Tokyo, Capital of Austrailia — Canberra

5. Consider the following statements :

1. Total land area of Earth is approximately 1475 lakh square kilometers.

2. Ratio of land area to water area of Earth is approximately 1 : 4

3. Maximum percentage of Earth as water is in the Pacific Ocean.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 (b) 2 and 3

(c) 1 Only (d) 3 Only

Ans: a

• About 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Ninety-seven percent of the water on the earth is salt water.

6. Consider the following statements :

1. Kyoto Protocol came into force in the year 2005

2. Kyoto Protocol deals primarily with the depletion of the Ozone layer.

3. Methane as a greenhouse gas is more harmful than carbon dioxide

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 (b) 1 and 3

(c) 1 Only (d) 3 Only

Ans: b

• The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO₂ emissions have caused it.The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. 
• A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.When ranked by their direct contribution to the greenhouse effect, the most important are:
  

  Compound	Formula	Contribution (%)
  Water vapor and clouds	H 2O	36–72%
  Carbon dioxide	CO2	9–26%
  Methane	CH 4	4–9%
  Ozone	O 3	3–7%

• The Environmental Protection Agency uses a statistic called Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess the threat posed by various greenhouse gases. GWP measures how much heat one molecule of a gas will trap relative to a molecule of carbon dioxide. Methane has a GWP of 21, which means it’s 21 times more effective at preventing infrared radiation from escaping the planet. So, although methane emissions may be relatively small, they’re definitely a cause for concern. (Their one saving grace is an atmospheric lifetime of just 12 years, versus between 50 and 200 years for carbon dioxide.)
• Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are determined by the balance between sources (emissions of the gas from human activities and natural systems) and sinks (the removal of the gas from the atmosphere by conversion to a different chemical compound).^[12] The proportion of an emission remaining in the atmosphere after a specified time is the “airborne fraction” (AF). More precisely, the annual AF is the ratio of the atmospheric increase in a given year to that year’s total emissions. For CO₂ the AF over the last 50 years (1956–2006) has been increasing at 0.25 ± 0.21%/year.

7. Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

(a) Seikan Rail Tunnel   —  China

(b) Petronas Tower    —-   Malaysia

(c) Appalachian Trail — United States of America

(d) Rogun Dam   —- Tajikistan

Ans: a

• The Seikan Tunnel is a 53.85 km railway tunnel in Japan. Seikan is both the longest and the deepest operational main-line rail tunnel in the world (though Line 3 of the Guangzhou Metro’s central tunnel of China has been longer since 2010).
• Rogun Dam is an embankment dam in the preliminary stages of construction on the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan. It is one of the planned hydroelectric power plants of Vakhsh Cascade. Over three decades only preliminary construction has been carried out on the dam. Due to its controversial state, construction was suspended in August 2012 pending World Bank reports. The dam has drawn complaints from Uzbekistan downstream who fears it will negatively impact their lucrative cotton crops.
• The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers, are twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. (Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the tallest man-made structure in the world, standing at 829.8 m)
• The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.The trail is approximately 3,500 km long,

8. Which one of the following is the correct sequence of the given Continents in the decreasing order of their percentage of Earth’s land?

(a) North America – Africa – South America – Europe

(b) Africa – North America – South America – Europe

(c) North America – Africa – Europe – South America

(d) Africa – North America – Europe – South America

Ans: b

• Asia (30%) – Africa (20.2%) – North America (16.5%) – South America (12%) – Antarctica (8.9%) Europe (6.7%) – Austrailia (5.3%)
  

9. Match items in the List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:

List I (Country)

(A) Netherlands

(B) Ukraine

(C) Poland

(D) Japan

List II (Name of Parliament

1. Diet

2. States General

3. Supreme Council

4. Sejm

A B C D

(a) 4 1 2 3

(b) 2 3 4 1

(c) 4 3 2 1

(d) 2 1 4 3

Ans: b

• Some other important country’s Parliament:

Afghanistan	Shora
Australia	Parliament
Bangladesh	Jatia Parliament
Bhutan	Tasongadu
Canada	Parliament
China	National People Congress
Denmark	Folketing
Egypt	People’s Assembly
France	Parlement
Germany	Bundestag
Great Britain	Parliament
Hungary	Országgyűlés
Iceland	Althing
India	Sansad
Iran	Majilis
Ireland	Oireachtas
Israel	The Knesset
Italy	Parlamento Italiano
Japan	Diet
Kuwait	Majlis-al-Umma
Lativa	Saeima
Malaysia	Majilis
Maldives	Majilis
Magnolia	Khural
Nepal	Rashtriya Panchayat
Netherlands	States General (Staten-Generaal)
Norway	Storting
Oman	Majlis
Pakistan	Majlis-e-Shoora
Poland	Scym
Russia	Duma
Spain	Crotes
Sweden	Riksdag
South Africa	Parliament
Switzerland	Federal Assembly
Taiwan	Yuan
Turkey	Grand National Assembly
USA	Congress
Uzbekistan	Oliy Majlis

10. For which one of the following countries, is Spanish not an official language?

(a) Chile (b) Colombia

(c) Republic of Congo (d) Cuba

Ans: c

• Republic of Congo: French

11. Who among the following is not a recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award?

(a) Ustad Bismillah Khan (b) Satyajit Ray

(c) Lata Mangeshkar (d) Raj Kapoor

Ans: d

• Satyajit Ray: Bharat ratna in 1992
• Bismillah Khan: Bharat Ratna in 2001
• Lata Mangeskar: Bharat Ratna in 2001. She is the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour

12. Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:

List I (National Park/Wild-life Sanctuary)

(A).Bondia Wildlife Sanctuary

(B).Kangerghat National Park

(C).Orang Sanctuary

(D).Ushakothi Wildlife Sanctuary

List II (State)

1. Orrisa

2. Assam

3. Chhattisgarh

4. Goa

5. Tripura

A B C D

(a) 2 1 5 3

(b) 4 3 2 1

(c) 2 3 5 1

(d) 4 1 2 3

Ans: c

• 38 kms from Margao is the smaller of the three wildlife sanctuaries of Goa – the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary. Gaur the state animal is frequently seen. The Sanctuary is just 8 sq. km. in size,
• The Orang National Park ,located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam. It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park on 13 April 1999. It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park (IUCN site) since the two parks have a similar landscape made up of marshes, streams and grasslands. The park has a rich flora and fauna, including great Indian one-horned rhinoceros, pigmy hog, elephants, wild buffalo and tigers. It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.
• Kanger Ghati National Park (also called Kanger Valley National Park) near Jagdalpur, in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh , was declared a National Park in 1982 by the Government of India.
• Ushakothi Wildlife Sanctuary – Ushakothi or Badrama Sanctuary in Yavatmal, Odisha (Orissa) has a population of tigers, leopards, panthers, sloth bears and elephants in addition to the sambal, gaur, chital and nilgai. The dense deciduous forest flanked by the Wardha and Penganga rivers covers 130 sq. km and is one of the smaller sanctuaries of Odisha (Orissa).

13. Which party was founded by Subhash Chandra Bose in the year 1939 after he broke away from the Congress?

(a) Indian Freedom Party (b) Azad Hind Fauj

(c) Revolutionary Front (d) Forward Block

Ans: d

14. Who among the following is the President of the FICCI?

(a) Sunil Mittal (b) Brijmohan Lal Munjal

(c) Onkar S. Kunwar (d) Vivek Burman

• The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business organizations in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India. It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, including SMEs and MNCs.
• Now: Dr Jyotsna Suri is President, FICCI

15. Consider the following statements :

1. During the year 2004, India’s foreign exchange reserves did not exceed the 125 billion U.S. Dollar mark

2. The series of index numbers of wholesale prices introduced from April, 2000 has the year 1993-94 as base year.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2

• old data. not imp

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