Day 35- 21 Dec - UPSC Prelim English Quiz Solution

Day 35- 21 Dec - UPSC Prelim English Quiz Solution

Based on UPSC Syllabus and Current Affairs

                      Next Quiz will be uploaded tomorrow @10:00 AM . Join us on https://t.me/kk_upsc for all important notifications

Q 1. Battle of Haifa, recently in news, is related to which of the following?

a) Gulf War
b) World War I
c) World War II
d) RIN Mutiny

Solution:   b Explaination   

Embassy of India held a ceremony in Haifa to mark the Centenary of the Battle of Haifa that took place in 1918 on 23 Sep 1918. It was part of a series of battles fought during World War I between the allied powers and the Ottoman empire along with Germany, called the Sinai and Palestine campaign.

In this battle Indian soldiers from the Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad Lancers liberated the city of Haifa. However, unlike most British battles in the region, the one at Haifa was fought by cavalry regiments of the Indian Maharajas and not the British army.

These soldiers of Indian royalty is believed to have fought out of choice, and not because they were forced by the British. The Indian cavalry brigades fighting under the leadership of British General Edmund Allenby helped liberate Haifa from the clutches of the Turkish-German forces in 1918. Haifa is third largest city in Israel.

Q 2. With reference to the Financial Inclusion Index, recently seen in news, consider the following statements:

1. It aims to measure access and usage of financial products in states.

2. It was released by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.

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
Solution:   c Explaination   

The government has announced a financial inclusion index, which would be released by the end of this year and would rate states on their performance on last-mile banking services availability.The index will be a measure of access and usage of a basket of formal financial products and services that includes savings, remittances, credit, insurance and pension products. It has three measurement dimensions - Access to financial services, Usage of financial services and Quality. The index will have three measurement dimensions; (i) Access to financial services (ii) Usage of financial services and (3) Quality. Hence statement 1 is correct.

The annual Financial Inclusion Index is released by Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance. The single composite index gives a snapshot of level of financial inclusion that would guide macro policy perspective. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Q 3. Recently, the Supreme Court has upheld the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar scheme. As per that judgment, which of the following are correct about Aadhaar scheme?

1. Aadhaar card is mandatory for opening bank accounts.

2. Data collected through Aadhaar cannot be shared on the grounds of national security.

3. No private company can seek Aadhaar identification from individuals.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

a) 1, 2 and 3 only
b) 1 and 2 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 2 and 3 only
Solution:   d Explaination   
The Supreme Court has recently held that Aadhaar scheme is constitutionally valid. However, it has struck down certain provisions of the Act.

Aadhaar card is not mandatory to open bank accounts or to fulfil KYC norms in scheduled banks, payment banks etc. It is also not mandatory for getting a new SIM card or a phone connection. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

The court has also struck down the provision in Aadhaar law allowing sharing of data on the ground of national security. Hence statement 2 is correct.

The apex court has struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act as "unconstitutional". This means that no company or private entity can seek Aadhaar identification from an individual. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 4. Which of the following events took place during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie?

1. Annexation of Punjab by East India Company.

2. Enactment of the Widow's Remarriage Act.

3. Revolt of 1857.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

a) 2 only
b) 1 and 2 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
Solution:   b   
Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of India from 1848 to 1856. During his tenure, the following events took place:

Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49) and annexation of Punjab by East India Company (1849).

Annexation of Lower Burma or Pegu (1852).

Introduction of the Doctrine of Lapse and annexation of Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambhalpur(1849), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853), Nagpur (1854) and Awadh (1856).

"Wood's (Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control) Educational Despatch" of 1854 and opening of Anglo-vernacular schools and government colleges.

Railway Minute of 1853; and laying down of the first railway line connecting Bombay and Thane in 1853.

Telegraph (4000 miles of telegraph 'fines to connect Calcutta with Bombay, Madras, and Peshawar) and postal (Post Office Act, 1854) reforms.

Ganges Canal declared open (1854); establishment of separate public works department in every province.

Enactment of the Widow Remarriage Act (1856).

The Revolt of 1857 took place when Lord Canning was acting as the Governor General of India. Hence option 3 is not correct.

Q 5. Which of the following was the main reason behind Deccan Riots of 1875?

a) caste violence among the peasants and moneylenders in the Deccan.
b) lack of law and order in the Deccan.
c) problems due to Ryotwari system.
d) communal riots in the Deccan.
Solution:   c Explaination   

Deccan riots occurred in Deccan region of western India which were under Ryotwari system of taxation. It took place because of a "redistribution of social power in the villages of Maharashtra". The roots of discontent lay in the changing relationship between the Maratha Kunbi peasants and the sahukar moneylenders. The sahukars used to lend money to the Kunbi peasants in the past, but were never interested to take more intimate control of the village economy. The introduction of the ryotwari system, however, changed the situation, as each peasant individually needed more credit, and the creation of property right in land and the courts protecting such rights created a land market and hence there was now more demand for land. The moneylenders now lent money by mortgaging the peasants' land at a high interest rate and in case of failure to repay, he took possession of the land through a decree of the court. Caste prejudices prevented the moneylenders from touching the plough; so the same land was now leased out to their former owner-cultivators, who thus became tenants in their own land.

A situation for open conflict was soon created when the government increased the revenue rates in 1867 on grounds of extension of cultivation and rise in agricultural prices. In the taluka of Indapur, the increase in revenue demands was on the average of 50 per cent, but in some villages it was as high as 200 per cent. The cotton boom in Deccan, created by the artificial demand generated by the American Civil War, had just crashed after the end of the war. The peasants were impoverished and became hopelessly indebted; the rise in revenue in such a situation inevitably increased the panic.

Government of India appointed the Deccan Riots Commission to investigate into the causes of the uprising. The Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act of 1879 passed several measures for the betterment of the Deccan peasants. The Act put restrictions on the alienation of the peasants land and imposed some restrictions on the Civil Procedure Code. As a result the Peasant could not be arrested and sent to the civil debtors jail owing to the failure of paying debts.