UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper Analysis & Answer Key Discussion | GS Paper 1 | BYJU'S IAS

hello good evening and welcome to byju's exam prep prelims 2023 is over those of you who have done well best of luck best wishes for the upcoming Mains examination those who haven't done well I won't say best of luck better luck next time and assure you with such statements I would urge you to introspect because this is the time for interest action what exactly went wrong were you able to not solve the entire set of 100 questions did you make some incorrect marks on the omr sheet did you lack preparation or revision whatever it is please introspect because once you introspect you will not commit the same mistakes or blunders in the next year's examination what is the general perception of this examination of today's examination if you ask students the general perception is that the difficulty level of this year's question paper was slightly higher than last year considering the number of vacancies since the vacancies are approximately 1105 considering the difficult level of the question paper considering it was relatively difficult than last year we expect the cutoff to be relatively lesser than what it was last year if last year it was 88.2 this year we expect cutoff to be in the range of 82 to 85. so if you are able to cross 82 don't worry about anything get started with your Mains preparation today we will analyze all the 100 questions one by one we'll start with polity followed by economics and other subjects it's going to be a marathon session but it is worth your time please attend the complete session so that you have an idea where these questions came from how you should have attempted these questions and things like that what is the breakup geography the top performer in this year's prelims examination 16 questions followed by polity environment economy some miscellaneous questions on Sports as well let's get started and look at the 15 questions asked from Indian polity and we will look at set B and for that let's look at question number 11. in a sense what does due process of law mean let's first eliminate is it the pre is it equality before law no because due process of law basically comes under the interpretation is under article 21 of the Constitution the state shall not deprive an individual of his right to life and personal Liberty except according to the procedure established by law but you would know that in 1978 in meneka Gandhi versus Union of India Supreme Court said we followed due process of law so it is not equality before law it is not even procedure established by law so we have eliminated two options now the confusion is on whether it is principle of natural Justice or is it a fair application of Law and if you need the answer the answer is it is a the principle of natural Justice how let me elaborate what is principle of natural Justice number one The Authority shall act Bonafide which means in good faith that means when the legislature is making a law this law has to be fair this law has to be just the procedures mentioned in the law have to be reasonable as well so it is not fair application of law because Fair application of Love would also mean procedure established by law what is procedure established by law first if you are arrested by the police and the matter reaches the court the court will perform three tests whether your arrest is Justified or not first the court has to satisfy itself whether there exists a law there has to be a law which justifies interference with your Liberty second this law should be valid as well third the procedures that are mentioned in this law should be followed as well which means if the procedure is not followed which means if the law has not been applicable applied logically then you will be set free but in 1978 the Supreme Court said we will perform a fourth test and the test is this law has to be just this law has to be fair the procedures mentioned in the law have to be reasonable as well and Supreme Court said apart from that we follow principles of natural Justice one such principle is the authority shall act Bonafide that means in good faith that means when the legislature is making a law it has to be a fair law number two the courts will not decide whether an individual is guilty or not without hearing both sides without hearing both the parties which is what we say the courts cannot give a judgment ex-party without hearing the other side other party to this dispute and you must have heard repeatedly the Supreme Court saying we will follow due process of law we will hear the other party and then we will pronounce the Judgment in this particular case so due process of law means principles of just natural Justice which means that the authority shall act Bonafide which means that nobody shall be sentenced shall be prosecuted shall be convicted without being heard this in essence means due process of law something that is followed in United States something because of judicial interpretation we follow in India as well sir why not fair application of law let's assume that we are following procedure established by law we are not following due process of law even if we follow procedure established by law it means there has to be a law which justifies your arrest and this law should be valid as well and if we say if this is not a valid law which means you are not fairly applying that law It ultimately means you will be set free by the Judiciary so long story short the answer to this question is a principle of natural Justice a is the right answer let's look at question number 12 factual question statement one in India prisons are managed by state governments with their own rules and regulations for the day-to-day administration of prisons and you would know that in the distribution of powers between Center and the state prison comes under State list list two so statement number one is correct in India prisons are governed by the prisons act 1894 which expressly kept the subject of prisons in the control of provincial governments which means the state governments both these statements are correct which means a is the right answer clear let's look at another question question number 13 which one of the following statements best reflects the chief purpose of constitution of a country and this is basically a repeat question we have witnessed number of questions on constitutional government constitutionalism asked by the upsc in the prelims examination so constitutionalism basically means doctrine of limited government which means the powers available with the government are not unlimited there is a limitation on the powers of the government and that limitation is imposed by the Constitution so Constitution is the supreme law of land which enjoys special legal sanctity and the answer to this question is it defines and limits the powers of the government so first this constitution has to give some role and responsibility to the government and at the same time after this responsibility is given to the government the same Constitution has to impose limitations on the powers of the government so that the government does not exceed its powers that is constitutionalism and that is the chief purpose of the Constitution yes the purpose of the Constitution is to define the areas of responsibility of the different organs of the state what should be the role and responsibility of legislature of executive of Judiciary yes but the chief purpose is it defines and limits the powers of the government see is the right answer done let's look at question number 14 in India which one of the following Constitutional Amendments was widely believed to be enacted to overcome the judicial interpretations of fundamental rights is it 86th Amendment no because it is something to do with article 21 capital A where right to primary education was added as a fundamental right another fundamental Duty under article 51 capital A was added another director principle of State policy was added so it is not 86th Amendment it is not even 44th Amendment why because 44th Amendment basically tried to undo the damage cost to the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment so that is 44th Amendment now your confusion would be vis-a-vis A or B first I'll tell you what is the right answer and the right answer is a First Amendment to the Constitution 1951. how land reforms Act was passed zamindari abolition Act was passed partner High Court said this is unconstitutional why because it violates fundamental rights under article 14 19 and 31. clear something else had happened Madras which is today's Tamil Nadu previously Madras Madras government issued an order that we shall reserve seats for the members of the SC and St community in government engineering and medical colleges Mata went to the court the famous case Champion versus state of Madras I will be explaining some questions in more detail than the others because some are clearly factual which you will be able to understand but some conceptual Clarity is required so that you can understand what should have been the right answer for this question the Supreme Court asked Madras government what are you doing and Madras government said we are basically trying to implement directive principles of State policy Supreme Court said no fundamental rights are superior directive principles are inferior and that is why this reservation policy is unconstitutional how did the parliament react to the Patna high court to the supreme court judgment by amending the Constitution adding article 31 capital A adding article 31 capital B which led to the introduction of the ninth schedule to the Constitution 31 capital A basically allows the state to take over the control of companies Estates land even if it violates article 14 19 and 31. 9 schedule any law placed in ninth schedule is beyond judicial review yes 42nd Amendment also tries to limit the role also try to limit the role of the Judiciary when it comes to Constitutional Amendments Constitutional Amendments but here the question is specifically asking for what was widely believed to be enacted to overcome judicial interpretation of the fundamental rights under article 14 19 and 31 specifically and that is why the answer is First Amendment to the Constitution in 1951 which was in the aftermath of the Judgment given by the Patna High Court given in the champagne case and that is half 31 capital a 31 capital B was inserted into the Constitution so that is the First Amendment to the Constitution a is the right answer question number 15 consider the following organizations and bodies in India National commission for backward classes is it a constitutional body yes it is National Human Rights Commission it is basically a statutory body created under the protection of the Human Rights Act 1993 it's a statutory body the national law commission it's basically extra constitutional non-statutary body is basically basically created by the notification issued by the central government so it is not the National Consumer disputes redressal commission also it is not it's basically a quasi-judicial body basically a statutory body created under the consumer protection act so how many of the above are constitutional bodies a only one is the right answer question number 16 consider the following statements if the election of the president of India is declared void by the Supreme Court of India all acts done by him or her in the performance of duties of his or her Office of the President before the date of decision become invalid no they remain in force they don't become invalid election for the post of the president of India can be postponed on the ground that some legislative assemblies have been dissolved and elections are yet to take place this is something that is mentioned in your standard books even if there is a vacancy in the Electoral College previously election was conducted uh to the office of the president when Rajasthan legislative assembly was under suspended animation but a vacancy in the Electoral College does not mean that you postpone the elections to the Office of the President of India when a bill is presented to the president of India the Constitution prescribes time limits within which he or she has to declare his or her ascent and you would know under article 111 the president has some options he can give her a cent to a bill he can withhold a cent to a bill he can send the bill back for reconsideration he may not act on this bill at all but there is no time limit so how many of these statements given above are correct d none of these statements are correct d is the right answer question number 17 with reference to finance bill and money Bill in the Indian Parliament consider the following statements when the Lok Sabha transmits finance bill to the rajya Sabha it can amend or reject the bill correct because when it comes to finance bill it is it can be introduced only in Lok Sabha but passed by simple majority Lok Sabha sent to rajya Sabha rajya Sabha has all the powers on this finance bill it can reject a finance bill it can amend a finance bill it may not act on the finance bill and then when there is a deadlock there can be there can be a joint session of the two houses joint sitting of the two houses but the Lok Sabha transmits money built to the rajya Sabha it cannot amend or reject the bill it can only make recommendations this is correct because when it comes to money Bill rajya Sabha has an inferior role when a money bill passed by simple majority in Lok Sabha because money Bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha then it is sent to rajya Sabha rajya Sabha cannot reject a money Bill rajya Sabha cannot amend a money Bill rajya Sabha can only make recommendations to a money Bill or rajya Sabha may not act on the money Bill for 14 days at the end of the 14-day period it shall be deemed that money Bill has been passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament in the case of disagreement between Lok Sabha and rajya Sabha there is no joint setting for money Bill correct there is no joint setting for money Bill but a joint sitting becomes necessary for a finance bill it doesn't become necessary there may be a joint sitting of the two houses on a finance bill if there is a disagreement between Lok Sabha and rajya Sabha but it is not necessary for the president to notify a joint sitting this is incorrect how many statements given above are correct B only two is the right answer clear let's look at question about 19 with reference to scheduled areas in India consider the following statements the president has the power to establish a scheduled area to increase the area of a scheduled area to abolish a scheduled area within a state the notification of an area as scheduled area takes place through an order of the president this is correct the largest administrative unit forming the scheduled data is the district that is how let's say for example there is a scheduled area under six schedule of the Constitution one District can be created as an autonomous District so the largest administrative unit is district and the lowest is the cluster of villages in a block factual correct the chief minister so the concern states are required to submit annual reports to the Union Home Ministry for the on the administration of the scheduled areas in the state the governor of the concerned state is required to submit Amber reports not to the Union Home Ministry but to the president of India either annually or as may be determined by the president the president may call for an annual report or another report even before the completion of a year and that is what makes statement three as incorrect which of the of our statements are correct B only two is the right answer did question number 20. consider the following statement the Supreme Court of India has held in some judgments that the reservation policies made under article 16 Clause 4 of The Constitution would be limited by article 335 for the maintenance of efficiency in administration correct when OBC reservation was cleared by the VP Singh government better went to the court indrasani judgment a nine judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court upheld the OBC reservation but on the basis that five constitutional requirements are to be met and I'm sure you would know what are these five constitutional requirements and one such requirement is article 335 which is a subjective Clause where the court has said reservation is possible subject to article 335 which means you will have to maintain the efficiency in administration reservation is possible without flirting with the efficiency in administration but what is this efficiency in administration it is not defined in the Constitution Article 335 of constitution defines the term efficiency of administration this is incorrect so statement one is correct but statement two is incorrect so for question number 20 C is the right answer clear let's look at question number 51 with reference to home guards consider the following statements home guards are basically voluntary organizations in various States these are basically auxiliary departments to supplement the police for the maintenance of Law and Order or to prevent communal rights it was established in December 1946 primarily targeting how do we control the communal rights in the country so home guards are raised under the home guards act correct and rules of the central government no rules of the state States and union territories that's why statement one is incorrect the role of Home guards is to serve as an auxiliary Force as a supplementary Force to the police in maintenance of internal security this is correct to prevent infiltration on the international border coastal areas the Border Wing home guards battalions have been raised in some states which is correct states such as Punjab states such as Rajasthan states such as Gujarat some battalions of Home gods have been set up so this is correct how many above statements are correct B only two is the right answer let's look at question number 52 with reference to India consider the following pairs unauthorized wearing of police or military uniform it is a violation of official Secrets act 1923 correct knowingly misleading or otherwise interfering with a police officer or military officer when engaged in their duties it's not violation of Indian Evidence Act but it is the violation of the official Secrets act 1923 celebratory gunfire which can endanger the personal safety of others it comes under the arms act amendment of 2019 correct How many pairs are correctly matched B only two so B is the right answer clear question number 64. factual question may have been difficult for a for a lot of students if it was incorrect for you it was incorrect for the majority of the students so don't worry too much consider the following statements in respect of the national flag of India according to the flag Court of India 2002 statement one one of the standard sizes of the national flag is 600 mm into 400. this is the flag size so you would not see 600 into 400 mm satisfying any criteria so statement one is incorrect the ratio of the length and the height of the flag shall be threes to two this is a factual statement may have been difficult for almost all of you but what is the right answer statement one is incorrect but statement two is correct d is the right answer clear question number 65 consider the following statements in the respect of the Constitution Day statement one the Constitution Day is celebrated on the 26th of November every year to promote constitutional values among citizens and that is when the Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 statement is correct on 26 November 1949 the constituent assembly set up the drafting committee under the chairmanship of Dr ambedkar to prepare a draft draft constitution of India on 26 November 1949 the Constitution was ready and adopted so it could not have been set up a draft committee could not have been set up on this date to draft the constitution of India so this is incorrect so statement one is correct but statement two is incorrect so for 65 questions C is the right answer question number 97 two more questions left from Indian polity according to the Constitution of India the central government has a duty to protect States from internal disturbance that's related to article 355 of the Constitution correct the constitution of India exempts the States from providing legal counsel to a person being held for preventive detention article 22 talks about protection from arrest in certain cases when you are arrested you should be communicated on what grounds you are to be arrested you are being arrested so that you can set up your legal defense but these protections are not available for those who are under preventive detention but Constitution does not exempt the States from providing legal counsel to a person who is held for preventive detention this is incorrect Constitution talks about that the protection under article 22 does not apply to those who are under preventive detention does not apply to those who are enemy aliens it does not exempt the States from allowing them to provide legal counsel to those arrested under the preventive detention according to portal prevention of terrorism act 2002 confession of the accused before the police cannot be used as an Evidence now listen to me carefully this was considered to be one of the most stringent provisions of Pota Pota later on was repealed in fact one of the laws or one of the bills on which joint sitting of the two houses was conducted was on puta prevention of terrorism Act and one provision importer was and which was widely misused as well widely considered to be one of the stringent Provisions under this law is that a statement made a confessional statement made before the police could have been admissible evidence before the court of law although there is a 2010 judgment where the court has said that even this confessional statement given before the police is not admitted as an Evidence but according to Potter yes a confession of the accused before the police can be used as an Evidence so that is why this is incorrect so how many statements given above are correct a only one is the right answer question about 100 again slightly difficult question because it requires a lot of factual accuracy let's look at the question consider the following statements in the respect of election to the president of India number one the members nominated to either house of parliament or the legislative Assemblies of the states are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College electoral college for the president consists only of the elected members of the parliament and state legislatures not the nominated members higher the number of elective assembly seats higher is the value of vote of each MLA of the state how do we calculate the value of vote of an MLA we look at total population of the state divided by total number of elected representatives into one by thousand higher the number of elected representatives higher is the value of vote of each MLA it should be converts lower the value of the elected representatives higher would be the value of the vote of an MLA so statement 2 is also incorrect the value of vote of each family of madhya Pradesh is greater than that of Kerala Kerala mla's their values more than that of madhya Pradesh but I'm not sure how you would have remembered this I'll give you the benefit of doubt this is incorrect the value of vote of each family of puduchiri is higher than that of arunachal because the ratio of the total population to total number of elective seats in puduchiri is greater as compared to arunachal Pradesh this is correct the value of vote of an Emily of puduchuri is greater than that of the value of vote of arunachal Pradesh and why because the explanation is right the ratio of total population divided by total number of elected mlas is higher greater in puduchiri as compared to arunachal Pradesh so statement 4 is correct how many statements given about are correct a only one is the right answer these were 15 questions asked from Indian polity but now I will tell you something else I will share something else this was the video which we uploaded 10 months ago this is part of our knowledge series and we have explained principles of natural Justice and due process of law relationship if you would have watched this question watch this video question number 11 first question on Indian polity you would not have committed any mistake prisons comes under State list discuss this on January 3 2020 to 23 when we discussed India Justice report when we discussed prison reforms required here lies the question I'm not saying upsc picked question from these videos I'm only trying to say is that these topics and Concepts we have covered constitutionalism what is the basic purpose of the Constitution what is the chief purpose of the Constitution wherein I have cited the arguments of John Locke political theories and this was part of our live classroom program this I've covered on February 2nd at six o'clock in the morning so if you have attended that lecture you would not have made any mistake Constitution Day is celebrated on 26 November 1949. I've covered this on second February at six o'clock in the morning and this is part of our paid program if some of you are watching the free content obviously that's something that not that's not there joint sitting of the two houses what will happen when a financial bill is amended by rajya Sabha this we have covered in the crash course four weeks ago before the prelims we launched the crash course where we discussed quality economics and various current affairs topics so this is something that we have covered there law Commission of India whether it's a constitutional body that question which of the following are constitutional bodies National commission for backward classes law Commission of India so on and so forth law commission we have covered it's a non-statutary body we have covered this when this is Indian polity lecture three Target films 2023 National Human Rights Commission can be another confusion whether it's a statutory body or a constitutional body it's a statutory body under protection of the Human Rights Act 1993 again covered three weeks ago reservation is Possible only if article 335 is followed covered three weeks ago in Target prelims 2023 it's also important to anticipate questions that can be asked two statements on official Secrets act why because I told you in Indian polity lecture number four that this is the 100th anniversary of official Secrets act which was enacted in 1923 so you should expect a question on official Secrets act this we have covered on YouTube as well as on the app when we discuss the target prelims crash course on the app which was an app exclusive content there I have covered all the details related to official Secrets act and this we have covered on 11th of March 8 o'clock in the evening relationship between fundamental rights and directive principles of State policy where champagne case and the zamindari abolition land reforms act led to the amendment to the Constitution the first constitutional amendment Act 1951. relationship judicial interpretation of fundamental rights covered on 14th February six o'clock in the morning now it is too difficult for you to also look at and understand and remember all the value of votes of an MLA of a state that's something that we have covered on 16th of February six o'clock where we have discussed the value of votes as well article 355 the question it shall be the duty of the center to protect the state from internal disturbance as well as from external aggression covered on 24th of February at six o'clock in the morning scheduled areas act that it shall be the responsibility of the President to establish abolish or alter schedule tribal areas and send report annually or any time as asked by the president but this is the responsibility of the governor not the responsibility of the chief minister more more more but that is something that we will discuss sometime later I Will Not Waste much of your time I would request my colleague shamsa to come and discuss the Indian economy questions and if you have liked this session do not forget to press the like button and if the target prelims crash course whether on YouTube or on the app or our paid programs whether it is the tablet learning program or the live online classroom program has been of some help to you while attempting the 15 questions asked from Indian polity do let me know in the comment section but without failing to press the like button said please join me now and discuss the remaining questions on Indian economy see you hello and welcome to byju's exam prep is we are discussing the prelims question paper already the questions from the Indian polity are over now let's start the discussion on the questions which have appeared from Indian economy now before I start the discussion many of you will keep on asking me sir what do you think is is the level of questions right I'll speak only about Indian economy the questions as far as I'm concerned many of them were difficult and I'm pretty sure all of you or let's say at least most of you will agree with me when I say large number of questions which are asked were difficult out of 14 questions some are straightforward for example questions on Reserve Bank of India which we'll discuss now pretty much straightforward and some new type of questions in Indian economy which you might have not experienced earlier where cause and effect questions have been asked now based on that I can simply say that UPS has veed away has got deviated from the tradition type of questions which are generally as from Indian economy with this caveat let me start the discussion serial number question number 41. consider the following statements statement one interest income from the deposits in infrastructure Investment Trust distributed to their investors is Exempted from tax but the dividend is taxable statement two infrastructure Investment Trust are recognized as borrowers under surface Act of 2002. let me start with the basic idea the infrastructure investment is a trust has been in the discussion for the last let's say three to four years but the reason I hope you understand slightly difficult question the reason that UPC has asked a question on infrastructure investment trustees the idea for infrastructure Investment Trust is gaining Traction in the recent times even the national highways authority of India is using the idea of infrastructure Investment Trust government of India also proposed the idea of national infrastructure pipeline plus National monetization pipeline under the national monetization pipeline again one of the models that the government is using is infrastructure Investment Trust now let me start the statement one year interest income from the deposits in the infrastructure Investment Trust distributed to the investors is Exempted from the tax but the dividend is taxable statement one is wrong why whether it is interest or the dividend both are taxable repeat whether it is the interest or the dividend dividend basically means the returns that you are going to earn on your ownership so both of them are taxable hence a statement one is wrong statement two infrastructure Investment Trust are recognized as a borrowers under the surface Act will simply say based on this so question was very very difficult let me give you a very simple hint now if you have read and you know that in terms of Taxation statement one is wrong you can basically eliminate right option A both are correct so obviously both are not correct both statement one two are correct again this isn't wrong option b is also wrong statement one is correct no statement one is incorrect so statement two infrastructure Investment Trust are recognized as borrowers under surface e this statement is correct in fact the infrastructure Investment Trust have been brought under surfacy in order to hold them more accountable in order to provide investors an Avenue in case something goes wrong when they invest when they give money into the infrastructure Investment Trust so statement two is correct right option for question number 41 will be option D here now let me go to the question number 42. statement one in the post pandemic recent past many central banks worldwide had carried out hike in the interest rates this should not be a very difficult statement for you why in the last one year very repeatedly very repeatedly either you have read in the newspaper that European Central Bank has increased interest rates sir I did not read about ECB forget what about Federal Reserve of USA and even though you have you might simply say sir I did not read the newspapers of USA you are asking me about USA newspaper my dear if you have been reading Hindu only forget about other business newspapers Hindu only very often you would come across one newspaper article at least once every two months the fear of rising interest rates in USA that is Federal Reserve will start increasing interest rates that it has been doing in the last one year and as a result of this the investments will start flowing out of India and that will have a huge impact on the exchange rate in India Forex reserves in India etc etc etc which means the same knowledge can be used to solve statement one which is in fact correct statement two central banks generally assume that they have the ability to counteract the rising consumer prices via monetary policy measures International newspapers not necessarily you tell me what has RBI done in the last one year starting May last year starting of May last year what has rbn been doing RBI consistently or continuously has been increasing reports has been consistently increasing repo rates and what is the reason given by Reserve Bank of India RBA says by increasing repo rates I'll be able to control inflation and is it just that RBA is saying this of course no the same line is stored a same line is used even by European Banks same line is also used or the argument is used by the Federal Reserve so what are you basically looking at the second statement which says that central banks increase the interest rates in order to control inflation that is through monetary policies statement two is also correct now please have a look at it both the statements are correct can I simply say that post pandemic inflation has been increasing during pandemic also inflation rate was very high post pandemic also inflation has remained elevated in the European market in the western markets or even in USA in India and in order to control all of this through the monetary policy central banks are trying to control by increasing interest rates so statement one two are correct both statement one two are correct and statement two is the correct explanation for statement one so question number 42 right option is option area let me go to question number 43 now right 43 again it will be discussed in other subject don't worry question number 44. which one of the following activities of Reserve Bank of India is considered to be part of sterilization which of the following is a part of sterilization statement one conducting open market operations oversight of settlement and payment systems debt and cash management for the Central and state governments regulating the functions of non-banking financial institute institutions now before looking at all of this what is the basic idea for sterilization what is the meaning of the term sterilization Now understand this carefully whenever you talk about foreign investors whenever you talk about foreign investors for example let's say FDI foreign direct investment imagine the foreign direct investment into a particular country increases and when FDI increases which means dollar inflow will also increase naturally right dollar influent or country will increase can you use a dollar to make investment into let's say economy such as India no you need to sell dollars and you need to purchase rupees you need to sell dollars and you have to purchase rupees which also means the rupees Supply in the economy is slightly increasing because of Investments that are coming into India Rupee Supply is increasing and when rupee Supply increases in such a way that it will start causing a trouble to The Reserve Bank of India because too much of money supply in the form of domestic currency is also not good now some of you basically say sorry if dollar is sold rupee is purchased how is that rupees increasing how is that supply of rupees increasing argument is simple here if continuously dollars are sold and rupees are purchased don't you think RBA will start RBI in turn will start supplying the currencies in the market will automatically to stabilize the market will basically on one side sell one currency purchase another currency and how do you think right this money supply will contribute to the economy obviously the money supply will increase daddy is a problem for the Indian economy in this situation imagine there is too much Rupees Supply in the economy there is a danger of inflation what arbia does is through open market operations through open market operations RBI will let's say sell the bonds in the market and take out rupees from the market stabilize the supply of rupees in the market through one of the tools that is available to RBI and by doing this RBA is trying to sterilize RBA is trying to stabilize the currency Supply are we is trying to stabilize the economy and that is the reason have a look at this which one of the following activities of RBI is considered to be part of sterilization right option is conducting open market operations so question number 44 right option is option A question number 45 straightforward question consider the following markets Government Bond Market call Money Market treasury bill market and stock market now let's start right and the question is how many of the above are included in the Capital Market now whenever you talk about financial Market whenever you discuss the idea of a financial Market Financial Market is divided into two parts it is divided into two parts why sir why should we divide it's a basic idea in the financial Market the two divisions are done just to basically find out the company or let's say the issuer of instrument whether they are borrowing for a longer duration or a shorter duration whenever they want to borrow for a very very shorter duration there is a market which is called as a money market on the other hand there is also a market called as a capital Market where the issuer will issue the instrument for a duration more than one year and focus on the capital market now Capital Market is further divided further divided into two parts that is Capital Market is divided into the bond market and the debt Market bond market and Equity Market whereas on the other side money market multiple instruments are used that is let's say call Money Market call Money Market where One bank will borrow from another bank only for overnight purposes right so on one side we have a capital Market where the instruments are there for a longer duration more than one year we also have a money market where instruments are for a shorter duration less than one year please have a look at the instruments now Government Bond Market by virtue when you use the term bond bonds have a maturity build of more than one year so bond market should be part of Capital Market it should be part of Capital Market call Money Market I've already told you one bank will borrow from another bank for a very very short iteration overnight purposes two will be wrong treasury bill Market treasury bills are short duration I hope you understand this treasury bills are a very very short duration up to one year 91 days 182 days 364 days very very short today we should up to one year so treasury bills can it be part of Capital Market no it has to be part of money market stock market right Equity Market basically is nothing but stock market so fourth one is correct so one and four are correct two are correct right option will be 45 option b okay so question number 45 right option is option b here now question number 46 which of the following best describes concept of small farmer large field yes f l f I'll start using the short form s f l f very right non-typical question as by UPC from agriculture sector non-typical or a typical question because generally whenever you talk about agriculture sector UPC restricts the kind of questions which are asked to either concept of MSP or to the concept of let's say irrigation or to the concept of a fertilizer Etc but this time certain model things that have been tried out in various states in India based on that this idea of s f l f has been asked now what is this concept of small farmer and large field I'll explain the idea to you now basically the concept is that in agriculture sector one of the biggest problems that you're facing I repeat in agriculture sector one of the biggest that problem that generally India faces is larger number of farmers in India that is in terms of number of the farmers large number of them are small and marginal are small and marginal and whenever you're let's say a marginal farmer what is the problem if the number of marginal farmers are very high and if you look at the data as per agriculture census the latest agriculture census 2016 you will know that more than 86 percent of the farming in case of India is either small or marginal forming a large chunk of the farming is small and marginal and the problem with having very large number quantity of small and marginal is that the kind of power they have they will have in the market is very less sir what do you mean by this imagine there are one lakh marginal Farmers imagine there are one lakh marginal farmers each one of them cultivating on a piece of land less than one hectare that is less than 2.5 acres the problem with this is because they have very small piece of land to cultivate the demand for let's say seeds the demand for certain irrigation equipment Etc individually individually looked at will be very very low and their bargaining power in the market will also be very very low in order to address this issue faced by the marginal Farmers specifically marginal Farmers we have introduced the concept of small farmer larger field under this what generally happens is large number of these marginal farmers will come together just like a concept of grouping Cooperative again it's not a Cooperative but understand the logic here just like in Cooperative people will come together to pool resources even in case of small farmer large effect large number of these marginal farmers will come together form a group and as a collective as one unit now they'll try to negotiate with the market right this is basically the concept of small Pharma large field now have a look at the options here many marginal farmers in area organizer themselves into the group and synchronize right the synchronize and selected agriculture operations right so the right option for question number 46 will be option b here question number 47 consider the following statements the government of India provides minimum support price for Niger seeds very often if you have seen the UPC Trend very often there is one question on idea of MSP and whenever you discuss or you have come across the idea of EMS either in the classroom or in the book Etc you'll understand the point that there are more than 20 plus crops more than 20 plus crops generally you will come across a list of 23 crops so then more than 20 crops which are covered under the central government's policy of MSP minimum support price and these 20 plus crops are generally divided into different groups how many commercial crops are there how many are cereals how many are millets etc etc and one of them one of these are 20 plus crops is a niger seed so write statement first statement is basically the right statement Niger is cultivated as a kharif crop straight forward question from geography part and this is a beauty of the upsc questioning can you say this is purely an economics question no can you say this is purely a geography question again the argument is no you'll see that it is a mix and match of different concepts that you have come across different subjects in your preparation so Niger is cultivated as a kharif crop yes some tribal people in India use a niger seed oil for cooking even this was there in the discussion so all the three statements are correct question number 47 all the three are correct so right option will be option C all three are correct now let me go to question number 48. consider the investments in the following asset asset now before I go forward sir in which right book this was asked from where it has been picked up etc etc I'll be very Frank in saying that this kind of a statement let's say kind of companies investing in tangible intangible Etc generally you will not find it any of the books even in ncert books a small information is being discussed in details generally you will not find these kind of discussions given in the book but anyways what is this idea of investments in assets whenever you talk about Investments are done by the companies within the assets you can divide them into two parts one is tangible and the second one is intangible one is a tangible and second one is intangible and the question which has been asked here is intangible investment please understand it is on intangible Investments now what is the basic difference between a tangible investment or a tangible asset and intangible asset let me start with a very simple idea can everybody see the marker in my hand simple question can everybody see the marker which is there in my hand of course yes that is anything that has a physical form which is visible to you can be referred as a tangible asset for example let's say right in this right question itself there is a term called as inventory inventory means what anything that is there with the company to begin with for example imagine you start a company you'll purchase a certain intermediary Goods you will produce a Goods you will keep them with you inventories right so inventory can you see those products of course yes are they visible to you of course yes tangible asset on the other side intangible simple example imagine you invest in research and development and you have a patent you have a copyright you have an industrial design is it visible to you right it's a technology is it visible to you of course no so in that situation these are referred to as intangible Assets Now come back to the question here consider the investments in the following assets brand recognition it's an asset for the company in fact it's an asset is it tangible no it is intangible first one is correct inventory is a tangible intellectual property it is intangible mailing list of the clients customers right if you acquire a mailing list of customers it is an asset for you can you use it to increase your sales can you use it to increase your profit of course yes but is it tangible no it is intangible so one three and four are correct right option for question number 48 will be option C only three are correct question number 49 consider the following this if you have made a mistake in this because this is a very very straightforward static question very very straightforward static question if you have been following the discussions that you have been having you will realize that I discussed a finance commission multiple times multiple times and everywhere I've told you please do not worry anything about calculation in the finance commission I'll repeat the statement again you don't have to be worried about calculations in the finance commission formula all you need needed to do was simply by heart and what is the weightage how much is the weight is given to all of them and based on that itself a question has been asked here now the question is about horizontal tax Evolution what is the basic idea for horizontal tax evolution under article 280 you have a finance commission which is established Finance commission is established and finance commission will give you a vertical devolution a formula for vertical Devolution also a formula for horizontal devolution what's the basic idea here the central government will impose and collect the taxes now how much part of the taxes will go to all the states and how much will be left with the center and once all the taxes which will go to state how much of these taxes will go to state 1 2 3 etc etc the first one that will give recommendation between the center and the state it is called as vertical devolution and once a vertical Devolution is done the money will go to the stage now how much of this will go to state one two three that is called as horizontal devolution in case of 15th Finance Commission in case of 15 the FC 15th Finance Commission the vertical Devolution is adjusted to 41 percent and based on various parameters horizontal Devolution formula has been provided and the question is on these six plus or six parameters within the horizontal devolution demographic performance yes forest and ecology F and E because until very recently that is until 14th Finance commission it was not forest and ecology it was only Forest now in the 15th episode it has been changed to Forest and ecology governance reforms no it is not part of it stable government no tax and fiscal efforts yes income distance population Etc these are the parameters which are covered in the 15th Finance commission horizontal Devolution formula so one two and three these are the three parameters which are covered in the horizontal Devolution question number 49 the right option will be option b here question number 50. consider the following infrastructure sectors affordable housing mass or rapid transport Health Care renewable energy and how many of the about us unops sustainable investment in infrastructure and Innovation that is a S3 I it is given here initiative Focus for its Investments now again you you'd simply had to buy heart how many types of sectors are covered under s3i factual question straightforward factual question right so within s3i what kind of sectors are covered affordable housing yes it is covered Mass rapid transport MRT no Health Care is covered fourth one renewable energy is also covered in fact within India related to these that is s3i many Investments have been taken have been taking place especially in many states related to renewable energy lot of Investments have been done under s3i initiative itself and the whole idea of s3i is to promote many countries or let's say the global economies achieving the concept of sustainable development goals so one three four are correct so right option will be three that is option C will be correct so question number 50 option C is the correct one question number 68. consider the following statements statement one India accounts for 3.2 percent of global exports of goods now this is a very tricky statement tricky in the sense nothing to analyze right and nothing very technical here it's simply factual 3.2 that is what they have thrown at you is it correct is it wrong now the reason is simple reason is very recently government of India has announced a new foreign trade policy under the new foreign trade policy various objectives goals have been set up by the government and earlier foreign trade policy the FTP 2015 the whole object under the FTP 2015 was to ensure that India will be able to export 900 billion dollar worth of goods by 2020. that was a Target under the earlier FTP and if we have achieved that if we would have achieved the 900 billion dollar then India's exports would be accounting for somewhere around 3.5 percent now someone will say sir no none of the books this is given none of the magazines it is given etc etc but just understand this carefully last year that is I'm talking about financial aid of course the total exports are done by Indian economy under the merchandise was over 450 billion dollars somewhere 447 448 billion dollars don't worry it is over for for 440 billion dollars for the first time ever India's merchandise exports crossed 400 billion dollars in the full Financial year even if you talk about the total total exports in the global market of merchandise the number will be more than 20 plus trillion dollars now you do the math you simply do the math the total exports in the international market is more than 22 trillion dollars and India's exports are 440 billion dollars do you think we'll be able to reach that Target of 3.2 or 3.5 percent of course no India has been less than two percent or around 2 percent statement one is wrong statement two many local companies straight forward question and some foreign companies operating in India have taken advantage of India as a pli schemes production linked incentive scheme very much straightforward statement because under pli more than 10 sectors are covered and the whole idea of pli is what promoting Investments either it is a domestic company or a foreign company it doesn't matter promote investments in all these are 10 plus sectors thereby increasing the investment Capital formation employment generation imported dependence will come down we'll be able to export more and more Etc same objective is asked in the form of a questionnaire or a statement so statement two it is correct many local companies and some foreign companies operating in India have taken advantage of India's production linked incentive scheme right so statement two is correct statement one is wrong so in this case statement one is incorrect but statement two is correct will be the right option question number 68 D will be the right option now question number 91 consider the following statements with reference to India according to msme act of 2006 the medium Enterprises are those with investments in plant and Machinery between 15 crore and 25 crore at very often I've told the students simply by heart the definition given for msme earlier as per the MSM Act of 2006 earlier definition was it was a different different definition was given for manufacturing Enterprises that is manufacturing MSM is and service sector MSM is it used to start from 25 lakh for manufacturing but again not required over a period of time very recently government of India has changed the definition there is no different definition for msms in manufacturing as well as Services now it is only same one and the same that is basically it will start from one crore and five crore 10 crore 50 crore 50 crore and 250 crore right this is the definition which has been given for micro small medium Enterprises and this is investment in plant and machinery and this is the turnover now please look at the statement the medium Enterprises are those with investments in plant and Machinery between 15 crore and 25 crore right statement of one is wrong either you take word definition or the new definition doesn't matter statement one is wrong now some will say but sir old definition my dear if you take the old definition then don't you think the number for manufacturing will be different services will be different and that difference is not given in the statement one I hope you understand whether is this medium Enterprises is it for services sector or manufacturing sector that is not given so of course the statement one will become automatically wrong all bank loans to micro small and medium Enterprises qualify under PSL as per RBA website and this has been discussed even under let's say various initiatives or various classes the loans which are given to msma sectors are classified under the concept of priority sector loans right so second is statement is correct right option will be option b right so only two is current so question number 91 right option will be option b question number 92 with the reference to Central Bank digital currencies consider the following statements it is possible to make payments in digital currency without using us a dollar or Swift system now again the question is it is possible right is it possible of course yes couple of months ago Swift system or the Swift that is a Cooperative itself stated that we are trying out a new system wherein many countries are coming together and right they are able to have a have basically across a border transaction a seamless cross a border transaction so is it possible without using dollar can we do this yes statement one is correct statement one is correct second statement a digital currency can be distributed with a condition programmed into such a time frame for spending it meaning is what and in fact again this was there in the discussion China is trying to do this the whole idea is we will give you a digital currency but we will decide an expiry date for the digital currency if you do not use that within the expiry date automatically the digital currency will expire that's a whole idea can it be distributed can we have such a condition again the statement is yes we can do that so 1 and 2 are correct right option for question number 92 will be option C here question number 93 in the context of Finance the term beta refers to very unlikely question very unlikely right most of you would have read the newspapers right without covering this concept of a beta Finance or beta in the financing right very very unlikely question but again that is the unpredictable nature of upsc if you have seen in the last couple of months what is happening in the market the shares of some of the companies are dropping are basically the price are declining or increasing by very faster Pace compared to the whole Market behavior that is imagine if the NSE National Stock Exchange you take on one side and the stock price of one company will take on the other side if there is a huge variation between the whole NSC compared to the stock that is let's say if I say beta of a stock is a two or let's say 1.5 what does it mean if I say 1.5 whatever is the movement in the NSE the movement in the market prices of the stock is 50 percent more than that which means volatility is very very high right so the beta term in the context of financing again I'll admit to this point very unlikely question right and this is what UPC does you cannot complain about upsc this is what UPC does for example the cause and effect questions until now in Gs paper they did not ask it but this year they are asking even in economics until now only one is correct only two statements are correct three statements correct these were very few now they become many compared to few they have become many and there will be some questions on which you will there will be a question there will be a term used in the question which you'd have never heard of it in any any kind of a preparation that is a tendency of upsc right nothing nothing surprising that's a unpredictable nature of the upsc so that is a basic idea of a beta within the context of Finance so a type of a systemic risk that arises where perfect edging is not possible no and investment strategy of a portfolio manager to balance a risk versus a reward no the process of simultaneously buying and selling of a different platform assets no a numeric value that measures the fluctuations of a stock to changes in the overall stock market so question 93 the right option is option D here so these are the 14 questions which have appeared from various static searches as well as the dynamic sources from the Indian economy and before I wind up and hand over the discussion to my colleague hershmit sir this is a very important point I'll agree to the fact that these are unlikely questions generally UPC doesn't pick up these kind of questions from Indian economy but having said so you should be aware UPS is unpredictable one and second upsc at least has stuck to one tradition that is asking a large number of questions from the banking sector if you do the analysis you will realize that just like every year even this year the questions from the banking are higher the number of questions which have come from the banking sector are higher and some of them are very very straightforward whatever you have read in the classroom whatever you have read in the book that should be more than sufficient to answer at least right let's say 50 percent of the questions which have appeared from the banking sector so with this caveat let me handle the discussion to Hashmi sir thank you have a great day foreign I hope all of you are doing good and I hope all of you have been getting a lot of your questions correctly in economy and Indian polity Now we move on to the next subject the Science and Technology as the teachers have told you earlier we are looking at questions from set B so make sure if you have some other set just identify the question and you will be able to see that question in your set as well the first question from Science and Technology was question number 28 consider the following statements number one some microorganisms can grow in environments with temperature above the boiling point of water second some microorganisms can grow in environments with temperature below the freezing point of water and third some microorganisms can grow in highly acidic environment with a pH below three now these kind of questions are usually expected from science when you talk about signs the problem is a lot of students focus on the technology part a lot of students only focus on defense space biotechnology but if you see general science questions are also as important and are as frequently asked if you look at this question number 28 all these statements are absolutely true as you would have been told earlier many many times whenever you see a statement which goes into extreme that is usually wrong similarly when there's a statement that says that there can be a chance of at least certain microorganisms that can grow above the boiling point or that can grow in extreme conditions that is hugely correct there are not many of these examples but yes there are a few examples that do come into mind when you talk about all these kind of microorganisms all of these are absolutely true there are certain microorganisms that are able to sustain even in the most extreme conditions the boiling point of water or below the freezing point of water as well the correct answer here would we see all three are correct next question number 30 consider the following first aerosols second form agents then fire retardants and fourth lubricants in the making of how many of these are hydrofluorocarbons used now again the reason why all of us are calling this year's paper much tougher as compared to the last year or the last few years is mainly because of the way the options have been formed like in these kind of questions you can just not eliminate even if you know one or two you need to know all of these if you look at all these one by one in the making procedure of all of these hydrofluorocarbons are used and that is why these usually if you see are kept away from children these usually have to be kept away from very sensitive audience was very sensitive users the correct answer here would be D all these four have one of the ingredients as hydrofluorocarbons next we jump on to question 59. consider the following heavy Industries fertilizer plants oil refined these steel plants green hydrogen is expected to play a significant role in decarbonizing how many of the above Industries now again all of us were very well aware that green hydrogen will be a part of this year's paper in some form or the other it has been Us in the prelims exam and now there are a lot of expectation that this kind of a question may be asked in the means exam as well because of the government's laser focus on green hydrogen as a renewable form of energy as renewable form of fuel if you see all these industries will be positively impacted by Green hydrogen since green hydrogen can lead to decreasing carbon emissions in all of these industries and the answer does would be C we the fertilizer plants we all refine these are the steel plants which are all very very energy intensive Industries all of these will be positively impacted by Green hydrogen next question 77 one of those questions which you might have heard of and only then you can answer there's no point guessing the question was volvakia method is sometimes talked about with reference to which of the following is it controlling the viral diseases spread by mosquitoes is it converting crop residues into packaging material is it producing biodegradable Plastics or is it producing biochar from thermal chemical conversion of a biomass now this actually is a naturally occurring bacteria that is found in a lot of insects but it is not found in adeptide that's a mosquito that is known to spread a lot of viral diseases so the scientists have been discussing this method so that if this kind of a bacteria can be inserted into the mosquito it will make the mosquito much much less susceptible to spreading this viral disease among the humans and that is why this is considered as a cruelty free method of controlling Wireless diseases spread by mosquitoes thus the answer here would be a for 77. next is question 79. aerial metagenomics best refers to which one of the following situations number one is it collecting DNA samples from air in a habitat at one go is it understanding the genetic makeup of avian species of habitat is it using Airborne devices to collect blood samples from moving animals or is it sending drones to inaccessible areas to collect plant and animal samples from Land surfaces and of water bodies now what exactly is this technique see around us wherever you are present there will always be a lot of invisible microorganisms those microorganisms that you cannot detect from your naked eye and you require special instruments for that the technique that allows you to know in your surrounding what are the different microorganisms what are the different germs that are present that technique is called aerial metagenomics and the answer here would be so what it does is it collects DNA samples from the air where you are present so in the nearby area whatever DNA samples are present it can give you a pretty good indication of what are different microorganisms that are in your habitat right now that is why the answer here would be a next question number 80 again one of those questions that you might not really have an idea about if you have specifically not read this micro satellite DNA is used in the case of which one of the following number one studying The evolutionary relationships among species of fauna stimulating stem cells to transform into diverse functional tissues promoting clonal propagation of Horticultural plants or assessing the efficacy of drugs by conducting series of drug trials in our population now usually the word microsatellite can be a big destruction because you might assume micro satellite might have some connection to space but that is not true micro satellite DNA means a very very very small or very short part of the DNA so it's a very short part of the DNA that is used especially to study the relationship between the different species of fauna means if you want to trace back certain fauna if you want to see their lineage how they evolved over time what is a relationship with the other species have they been in touch with them or these species are just unknown to each other all of that is done through a study of microsatellite DNA that is a very very small version a very minute version of the DNA so the answer to question number 80 here would be a next question 83 consider the following statements number one carbon fibers are used in the manufacture of components used in automobiles and aircrafts absolutely correct second the carbon fibers once used cannot be recycled this is wrong one of the best parts about carbon fibers apart from the fact that they're extremely strong extremely versatile and have a million applications is that they can also be recycled and used multiple times that is why the second statement here is wrong first statement is correct this was a pretty easy question to answer the correct answer here for question number 83 would be a next is question 84 consider the following statements first detection of car crash or Collision which results in the deployment of airbags almost instantaneously second detection of accidental free fall of a laptop towards the ground which results in the immediate turning off of the hard drive and third reduction of the tilt of the smartphone which results in the rotation of display between portray and the landscape mode which of these actions is a function of accelerometer now accelerometer is a very very important device that has a lot of application on day-to-day life this device as the name suggests actually detects the acceleration in the speed of any specific device where you are using it and this application is used in all of these examples this is the key component which makes sure that your airbags are deployed instantaneously as soon as and unfortunately your car meets a collision second is also true so when you have very important data stored on your hard drive there are a lot of computers which make sure that even if the computer falls down even if there is an accident the hard drive will be preserved that is your information will be preserved that also is because the hard drive is logged as soon as the accelerometer detects an increase in the speed similarly your smartphone also when it tails of when it automatically changes from landscape to the portrait mode that also is an application of accelerometer only all these three are absolutely correct the answer here thus would be C next question from science would be question number 86 it's a question based on space consider the following statements there are certain objects in space that is cephites nebula and pulses you have to tell whether they are currently matched or not so fights giant clouds of dust and gas in space even if you have read very basic science about solar system even if you have read very basic signs about the life of stars you would be able to know that it is nebula that is actually the giant cloud of dust and gas in space second one that is cephids this is those Stars which bright and dim periodically so whose brightness keeps on changing When You observe them from far away one and two are not correctly matched they are opposite to each other while pulses are correct these are neutron stars which are formed usually when the massive stars are not of fuel and then they collapse at the end stage of their life so only one of them is correct the answer here would be a only one first and second would be opposite to each other next is question 87 probably the easiest question of science if you have been keeping a track of current affairs which one of the following countries has its own satellite navigation system so just like America owns the GPS there are many other countries that have their own Satellite Systems India also as you know is working on navik or irnss which of these countries have their own navigation system the answer here would be Japan only Japan amongst these have their own navigation system the difference between India's navic and these countries would be that while other navigation systems present with various countries around the world they give Global coverage so their system covers the entire world in India we are focusing mostly on India and 1500 kilometer radius from India rather than giving it a global coverage the answer here does would be deep next question 88 again a pretty easy question to answer consider the following statements number one ballistic missiles are jet propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights while cruise missiles are rocket powered only in the initial phase of the flight this is actually wrong because these are opposite to each other so ballistic missiles usually take this kind of a route they travel under Gravity that is why they are only powered during the initial phase so that they can exit the other atmosphere and then they can travel under Gravity so the ballistic missiles they would be the one that are only powered during initial phases while the cruise missiles that have a much straighter trajectory that fly much lesser altitude they are the ones that have to be propelled throughout their flight till the time that they meet the Target that is why cruise missiles are usually more difficult to detect they fly at a much lesser altitude and they are much much more accurate as well Agni 5 is a medium range supersonic cruise missile while brahmos is an intercontinental ballistic missile this again would be wrong if you see Agni 5 is not really a cruise missile Agni 5 is actually intercontinental ballistic missile while brahmos on the other hand is a cruise missile and not just any cruise missile brahmosis or the worlds fastest growing cruise missiles so brahmos would be Cruz while Agni 5 would be ballistic both the given statements are wrong again a pretty easy question from the part of Science and Tech the answer here would be D moving on to the last question from the part of Science and Technology was question number 90. again as you can see there are a couple of questions from Green hydrogen again indicates how important green hydrogen was as a topic it can be used directly as a fuel for internal combustion second it can be blended with natural gas and used as a fuel for heat or power generation third it can be used in the hydrogen fuel cell to run Vehicles again just like the previous question about green hydrogen here also all these given statements are absolutely correct as we have discussed earlier as well green hydrogen has a lot of applications and that is why it has made the center of the government's attention for a long long time we also have a green hydrogen Mission the government of India is trying to give a push to the production and also making it easier for transportation of green hydrogen as well all of these are True Green hydrogen can be used as com internal combustion fuel it can also be blood driven with natural gas and it can also be used in hydrogen fuel cell to run the vehicles the correct answer here would be C all these three given statements are absolutely correct this brings us to the end of our discussion from Science and Technology about 12 questions from Science and Technology a lot of them based on current affairs at the same time a lot of them are from the static part as well but I would say out of these 12 if you have prepared fairly well you should have a good chance of solving seven to eight questions pretty easily if your preparation was even better you can go up to 9 or 10 but I don't think that less than seven questions in this part would be a fair attempt you should have gone at least seven questions right however since the kind of option that we got this time around were a bit tricky you can give yourself a bit of leeway and maybe even the sixth attempt would count as a fine attempt now I'll hand over to mukesha who will come here and start a discussion on geography and environment thank you so much stay tuned we'll just be taking a very very short break and mukesha will be joining us thank you hello a very warm good evening to all of you and welcome to the discussion of the questions which have appeared from the portion of geography and environment now in the portion of geography we had a set of 16 questions which were asked and let us take a look at those questions and let us try to find out what the relevant answers are going to be so without further Ado let us initiate the discussion so the first question for geography that is a statement based question so India despite having uranium deposits depends on coal for most of its electricity production and then the statement too is uranium enriched to the extent of at least 60 percent is required for the production of electricity now here when we analyze the first statement here we do know that India's electricity and energy requirement is mostly fulfilled by the coal-based thermal power plants we do have the presence of uranium in different parts of the country but it is not significantly adequate enough to produce a reliable amount of electrical energy in majority we do produce electrical energy by the nuclear power plants but not in majority so here the first statement is going to be correct now the second statement uranium enriched to the extent of at least 60 percent now for the production of electricity generation of electricity around an enrichment range of 3.5 to 5 percent at Max around 5.5 percent is required nowhere close to 60 percent when you enrich the uranium to the extent of 60 you are nearing the grade of weapons grade uranium enrichment so that is not required for electricity generation so the second statement is going to be incorrect here so here if you analyze the options in this case so the correct answer will be statement one is correct but statement two is incorrect because around 3.5 percent to five percent of enrichment is required so that is going to be the correct answer for this case then the next question consider the following statements now this is about the reverse and the Associated Water bodies which have been created by them so jhelam river passes through the Fuller Lake this is correct wular Lake exists across the fourth line in the region of Jammu Kashmir so the first statement is going to be correct the second statement Krishna River directly feeds koleru Lake now when we talk about kuleru Lake it is situated to the north of river Krishna in between the Krishna godavari Basin it is situated in Andhra Pradesh so as the river godavari meets Bay of Bengal and then further south you have River Krishna meeting Bay of Bengal the koleru lake is situated in between so the second statement is going to be incorrect because the river does not feed into kolerule the third Meandering of gundak river formed cover Lake Now cover lake is a large oxbow lake which is present in the state of Bihar it is also a designated Wetland and is a wetland of particular importance where you have lot of various migratory species particularly this is a wetland which lies in the Central Asian Flyway Central Asian Flyway so this is a basically an oxbow lake which is formed by river gundak and due to the excessive Meandering now when the rainy season comes many of the times water from River Gunda does enter into cover Lake but here for most of the year it is cut off from River conduct so this is basically again going to be the correct statement so here we have to find out how many of the above given statements are correct so the correct answer is going to be B that is going to be only two of the statements are correct then moving on to the next question consider the following pairs here we have to match the ports and what they are well known for so kamraj airport or the NR Port which is situated to the north of Chennai Port now first major port in India registered as a company that is correct this is one of the first ports to be registered under the company's act and it is also where you have had many different private entities playing a significant role not only in development but also handling of the port so this is going to be the correct statement because it is matched correctly then Mundra Port largest privately owned port in India this is correct Mundra Port is situated in Gujarat and that has been owned by the adani group and it is the largest privately owned port in India the third statement vishakapatnam Port largest container port in India this is incorrect because when we talk about largest container port in India it is going to be jnpt in Mumbai now this question has been asked because significantly the various different ports across the country have been in use after the virinium port controversy which erupted in Kerala so that is where all the various different ports had been in significant amount of news discussion that is why this question has been asked so here you will also get the same answer that is how many of the above pairs are correctly matched the correct answer is going to be B that is only two pairs then moving on to the next question consider the following trees Jackfruit Mawa and teak how many of the above are deciduous trees now deciduous trees basically are the ones which shed their leaves during the dry season they shed their leaves during the dry season okay in order to sustain themselves now that is why these are also referred to as the monsoonal trees or in general deciduous forests are also referred to as monsoonal forests now here if you take a look at it Jackfruit basically belongs to the category of Evergreen and there in the case of Jackfruit you will find that the canopy is significantly enlarged as is the characteristic of evergreen trees so other than Jackfruit both of them you have other varieties also Sal shisham Sandalwood all of these are in the category of deciduous tree so here two and three basically come into the category of deciduous trees whereas Jackfruit comes into the category of Evergreen so here which of them are correct or how many of them are correct here also you will get the answer B that is two of them are correct then moving on to the next question which one of the following is the best example of repeated false in sea level giving rise to present day extensive Marshland now across both the coastline of the country there has been subsequent rise and fall in the sea level which has happened over a period of time since the last ice age and even before that for example that is why we refer to significant portion of the western coast as a submergent coast it has gone underneath the water eastern coast is referred to as an emergent Coast it has emerged above sea water now there when we consider the coastline we do know that the region of Gujarat initially was when the land was getting created initially was in the form of an island now subsequent fall off the sea level and also the deposits carried out by the seasonal rivers and the streams moving through the region of Rajasthan and Gujarat all of them they have filled up that region and that has created a Marshland after the subsequent fall in the region of runoff cutch so here the correct answer is going to be D that is run of catch it is run of Kutch which has also experienced a significant amount of drop in sea level since the last couple of centuries and this has also been exaggerated by the last major earthquake that happened almost 200 years ago in that region which uplifted a bit of land in that area so the correct answer is going to be D runoff Kutch then after that the next question illmanite and rutile abundantly available in certain Coastal tracks of India are rich sources of which of the following so both of these are basically the oars of titanium now this had been in use for the past four months because India had been forced to import titanium and that is where a report was published that despite having very rich sources of titanium India is forced to import it so that is illuminite and rutile a kind of a direct question based upon the portion of current affairs the correct answer is D titanium then moving on to the next question about three-fourths of the world's Cobalt a metal required for the manufacture of batteries for electric motor vehicles is produced by Argentina Botswana the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kazakhstan so here where is it that you have almost three-fourths of the world's Cobalt so this again is to be found in the region of Democratic Republic of Congo it is again a kind of a direct question which has been asked from this area and Congo overall houses close to around 70 to 80 percent of the global reserve and that is why various different countries are rushing in to sign a deal with Congo in order to secure the supply of cobalt because very much Essential for electric vehicles moving on to the next question which one of the following is a part of the Congo Basin so you have the river Congo moving through almost the central part of Africa and eventually drains into the region of Atlantic Ocean it is around that area where you have a very dense rainforest which is present so which of the following is a part of that so if you take a look at the option statements Cameroon Nigeria South Sudan and Uganda Nigeria basically is significantly to the northwest of the Congo Basin and South Sudan significantly North and to the northeast of the Congo Basin so here the correct answer is going to be a that is Cameroon Cameroon is basically the country which is situated in the Congo basin then after that moving on to the next question consider the following statements Hills are at the Confluence of vindhya and sahyadri ranges sahyadris basically is the name associated with Western hearts Western ghats is present in the central part of India and it is very famous for indicating a radial drainage pattern it is from the amarkantak hills where you have origin of river narmada which drains to the West into Arabian Sea and River soon which drains to the north and ends up meeting with River ganga so this amarkantakhil is situated to the eastern part of vendya so if you think about the vindhyas and the satpura like this amarkantak region and the entire Highland area is situated to the east of vindhya ranges and you have the sahyadris in this portion so here the statement Confluence of vindhya and sahyadri will take you to the western part of the country rather than amarkantak so this is going to be incorrect then after that you have Billy girarangan Hills constitute the eastern most part of satpura range now these Hills are actually present in the southern part of western hearts in the state of Karnataka more particularly so in the chamaraj nagar district of Karnataka that is where you find these Hills so it is very popular in terms of the forest landscape that it has and it is one of those areas which lies slightly to the east of Western ghats but it's still very densely populated because of the gaps which are prevalent in the western ghats you have moist winds which come here and they bring significant amount of rainfall so this statement is basically again going to be incorrect the southernmost part of the western hearts this is straightforward incorrect because present in the Eastern stretches of the country and within the Eastern Hearts region of the country so here how many of the upper statements is or are correct here you will have none of them so the answer is going to be D that is none of them are going to be the correct answer then moving on to the next question consider the following statements statement one Switzerland is one of the leading exporters of gold in terms of value not in terms of volume in terms of value this is correct Switzerland over a period of time it has been if you take an average then it has been found that it is one of the leading producers or rather leading exporters of gold in the entirety of the world the largest amount of gold Reserve is typically to be found in the region of United States so that brings us to the second statement it has the second largest gold Reserve in the world this is incorrect right now here you will find in fact Germany also has got larger gold reserves than Switzerland so the second statement is going to be incorrect so here we have to understand that statement one is correct statement two is incorrect so the correct answer in this case is going to be C data statement one is correct but statement two is incorrect then moving on to the next question consider the following countries Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Latvia Lithuania and Romania how many of the above mentioned countries share a land border with Ukraine now this question has been asked straightforward because Russia Ukraine crisis has been in use for more than a year now so you have a couple of questions which have been framed around the region of Ukraine for example donbass for example the boundaries of Ukraine so here basically you will find that Hungary and Romania these are the countries which share their border with Ukraine so the correct answer in this case is going to be a that is only two two of them are correct now when we talk about Latvia Lithuania basically therefore the north where you will have the presence of the Baltic Sea and then the other ones are also to the south of this bordering area so that that is where the correct answer is going to be a only two now question number 72 with reference to Earth's atmosphere which one of the following statements is correct the total amount of insulation received at the equator is roughly about 10 times that which is received at the poles now this is incorrect first of all on various different technical reasons first of all it is not exactly the 10 times and even when we talk about the region of the poles if you take a long term average in many of the cases the amount of insulation received can be further less as well then infrared Rays constitute roughly two-thirds of insulation infrared waves are largely absorbed by water vapor that is concentrated in the lower atmosphere infrared waves are a part of visible spectrum of electromagnetic waves of solar radiation so the three statements which talk about infrared Rays here you have to understand that they do not nowhere close to do they constitute two-thirds of the solar insulation solar insulation is considered to be a white light which has got the entire Spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared but a majority portion of it is basically the photosynthetically active radiation which consists a portion of the visible Rays yes infrared rays are present but are present in very minute quantities and whatever is present is actually absorbed by the water vapor and that is what leads to some amount of warming in certain areas that is why water vapor is able to retain heat by absorption of these infrared Rays also so here the correct answer is going to be see that they are largely absorbed by water vapor mostly concentrated in the lower layers because beyond the particular height in the atmosphere that you go concentration of all the dust particles as well as the water vapor starts to reduce quite sufficiently majority of the mass of the atmosphere restricted to the lower portion of atmosphere itself so the correct answer for 72 is going to be C moving ahead to the next question to the following statements soil in tropical rainforest is rich in nutrients the second statement the height temperature and moisture of tropical rainforest calls dead organic matter in the soil to decompose quickly now here you have to understand when we talk about the soil of tropical rainforest it is very poor in nutrients and why is that that is because the rate of decomposition in the region of the rainforest is very high so when we talk about decomposition decomposition in itself is actually contributed and is managed in various different stages you have five stages of decomposition which is achieved now when you have the availability of air moisture air means availability of oxygen moisture and warm temperature that is when the rate of decomposition is going to be very very high and when the decomposition of organic materials take place at the end of it the inorganic components are returned to the soil there is no presence of organic matter once the decomposition is completed so that is why in the region of the tropical rainforest all of these are present so the rate of decomposition is very very fast and that is why eventually none of the organic matter is left in the soil that is why in comparison to the tropical rainforest you end up finding greater amount of nutrients in the temperate regions and the temperate grasslands so the first statement is going to be incorrect the second statement however high temperature and moisture of rainforest cause dead organic matter to decompose quickly leaving nothing back to the soil so this statement is going to be correct so the correct answer in this case is going to be D that is statement one is incorrect and statement two is correct so that is going to be the correct answer case moving ahead to the next question so here consider the following statements the temperature contrast between continents and oceans is greater during summer than in winter what does this mean that means the difference in temperature between land and water that is much more exaggerated during summer as compared to winter so when we talk about land and water and the heating of land and water which happens you have to understand that when the solar insulation is received all that solar insulation is restricted to the topmost layer of the land itself around three to five inches of the land is where all that solar insulation is restricted so that is where the temperature increases quite significantly and very fast whereas in the case of water that sunlight will be penetrating significantly into the deeper depths and water will also have its own circulation so that is why water will take much more time to gain some heat so in the summer season you will always come across a scenario where water is comparatively cooler land is much more hotter and that has got to do with the fact water takes greater amount of energy greater amount of time to indicate a rise of temperature by 1 degree Celsius and that is what we refer to as specific heat so the temperature contrast between continents and oceans is greater during the summer than in Winter that is basically going to be correct and then the specific heat of water is more than that of land surface that is also correct that is why water takes much more amount of time and energy to get heated up as compared to the land surface so here if you take a look at it the answer will be a that is both statement 1 and statement two are correct and statement two is the correct explanation for statement one now then moving on to the next question in a seismograph p waves are recorded earlier than S waves now when we have the earthquake which happens from the region of the focus you have Body Waves which are emitted now they consist of both p as well as s reefs in general p waves and their speed is roughly 1.7 times faster as compared to S waves so p waves basically 1.7 times faster than S waves so obviously they will be recorded by the seismograph much earlier they are received much earlier so that is going to be the correct statement second in p waves the individual particles vibrate to and fro in the direction of the wave propagation whereas in s waves particles vibrate up and down at right angles to the direction of wave propagation this basically exhibits a scenario where let's say you have these particles right now when the P wave occurs there is a kind of a compression expansion and redifaction which occurs as the wave propagates that is why P wave is able to move at such faster speed because the direction of wave propagation and the direction of particle oscillation that is the same that is why they move at a much faster velocity and that is also the reason why p waves are able to move through solid liquid or gases but when we talk about the S waves here if you have the particles each of these will indicate a movement like this and the wave propagates in the perpendicular direction that is why the particles they end up exhibiting a kind of a motion somewhat like this so that is why the waves are slower and also they get dissipated when they are moving through liquids or gases and they are not to be found in those liquid or molten portions of the Interior so this is basically again going to be the correct statement because it talks about the direction of the particle and the wave propagation so here the correct answer is going to be C that is both 1 and 2. moving on to the next question with reference to Coal based thermal power plants in India consider the following statements none of them uses sea water now when we have the generation of electricity or energy from coal based thermal power plants basically you will have the usage of a demineralization plant as well because the usage of water there that requires significant amount of cleaner level of water no ionic presence should be there otherwise the turbine said that starts to corrode in general so yes none of them uses sea water because sea water is very saline and sea water is very corrosive it can significantly damage the entire Machinery of the thermal power plant especially the turbine generator set as it is referred to so here this is basically going to be correct none of them uses sea water then none of them is set up in water stress District that is water scars areas this is going to be incorrect because the report indicates that close to around 40 percent of the power plants which are present they are in water scars area and also think about it many of the regions across the country they already face a significant level of water scarcity so it is absolutely impossible that none of them will be present in scarce area so that is going to be incorrect none of them is privately owned this is also incorrect you have multiple different private parties which operate the power plants for example you have Tata power you have adani group all of them they operate coal-based thermal power plants and that is where the production is generated so this is also going to be incorrect because you do have the privately owned power plants in existence so how many of the bus statements are correct the correct answer is going to be a that is only one so that is basically the 16 questions which had been asked in the portion of geography overall if you would see the distribution of the questions in the entirety of geography you'll come across the basic realization that many of the questions they were directly chosen from the simplest of the static Concepts that you have to study from maybe the ncrt or from the class notes anyway you will come across those basic set of questions and the remaining portion of the factual questions if you can turn them like that they will also be mentioned quite prominently not in a hidden manner quite prominently they have been found to be discussed in current affairs as well so overall as compared to last year if you think about the subject of geography it is slightly easier to moderate as compared to last year it is just that options are a bit confusing but that is the trend for this year in general across the paper but still I would pick geography to be at the same level if not slightly easier as compared to last year where it was very very factual this year you had the scope to do something if you have the basic concept now then we come to the portion of environment inequology where again you had a set of 14 questions which were asked now let us take a look at the questions and let us try to understand what the answers would be consider the following statements once the central government notifies an area as Community Reserve the chief Wildlife Warden of the state becomes the governing authority of such a forest hunting is not allowed in such area people of such area are allowed to collect non-timber Forest produce people of such area are allowed traditional agricultural practices so when we talk about it here in the case of the community Reserve Community reserves are declared as per Wildlife protection act 1972. Wildlife protection act 1972. now here once that is declared then all the various anthropogenic activities they are brought in inhibition to they are brought to a stop so obviously hunting won't be allowed and you also won't be allowed any other activities in the region of the community reserve it also ends up placing the if Wildlife Warden of the state as as the governing Authority so the first statement is going to be correct here the second statement that you have hunting is not allowed in such area is also going to be correct because obviously such things are put a ban on and then people in such area are allowed to collect non-timber Forest produce incorrect no anthropogenic activities are allowed and similarly traditional agricultural practices are also not allowed in those results so here we have basically two of them which is correct that is the answer is going to be B moving on to the next statement consider the following statements marsupials are not naturally found in India marsupials can Thrive only in mundane grasslands with no predators now here when we take a look at the first statement marsupials what are these for example kangaroos kangaroos they come under the category of marsupials marsupials have the ability to carry their child or the young one in a pouch so basically the first statement is going to be correct they are not naturally to be found in India they are largely concentrated around the region of Oceania in Australia and some of them are also to be found some species are also to be found in the Americas so here the first statement is going to be correct the second statement they can Thrive only in Mountain grasslands with no Predators only is an extreme statement basically they can thrive in those regions in any kind of terrestrial landscape you will find you will come across you will find the marsupials to be able to thrive there so this is going to be incorrect so we have statement one which is correct and statement two is going to be incorrect okay moving on to the next question invasive species Specialist Group that develops global invasive species database belongs to which one of the following organizations so you have the iucn the international Union for conservation of nature United Nation environment program United Nation World commission for environment and development and World Wildlife Fund for nature so this is a particular group which is monitored and which has been established basically by the iucn iucn is the parent body for this because invasive alien species are one of the biggest threats which have been identified for the loss of biodiversity experience across the globe and this year you had a lot of these invasive alien species particularly in India which had been in news and India had picked up this matter even in the conference of parties for convention on biological diversity which was held even there India had picked up the matter for invasive alien species and even for that matter the recent changes which have been brought into the wildlife act also targets these invasive alien species so this is something which has been in use quite prominently so here the answer is going to be a then consider the following fauna lion-tailed macaque Malabar civit sambadir how many of the above are generally nocturnal or most active after Sunset nocturnal means active during the night now when we talk about lion-tailed Macabre now this is basically a diurnal specie active during the day right that is where it is active Malabar civit on the other hand is nocturnal it is active during the night now when we talk about somber deer now sambadir is active either during the night or during the later part of Twilight right so it is not active during the day either active only or during the night or during the Twilight Zone so this will also be counted because it is asked generally right had this been a kind of an absolute statement then somebody here could not have been counted but here you have the mention of the term generally so here you will find both 2 and 3 can be put under the category of the nocturnal species so the correct answer here will be B that is two of them are nocturnal moving ahead to the next question which of the following organisms they perform vagal dance for others of their kin to indicate the direction and distance to a source of their food now this was a kind of a very factual question as factual as it can get either you know it or you don't know it you cannot uh come to the conclusion of it purely by application of logic now various documentaries have featured this but nonetheless here the correct answer is going to be C that is honeybees they basically they end up performing that vocal dance and that dance is quite popular also because that gives them the distance to the food quite prominently then after that consider the following statements some mushrooms have medicinal properties some mushrooms have psychoactive properties some mushrooms have insecticidal properties and some mushrooms have bioluminescent properties here how many of the above statement are correct so here basically if you take a look at it they do have medicinal properties by the way what is the category of species in which we have mushrooms mushrooms are placed in the category of decomposers and generally you will find them growing in damp areas now they also carry out significant amount of decomposition so they do have medicinal properties in certain cases and so is the case where they are used as psychoactive substances so that is also going to be correct in fact all four of them are in application and utility of mushrooms that you will come across so here the correct answer in that case is going to be D that is all four are correct all four basically exhibit a property indicated by the mushroom species then moving on to the next question consider the following statements regarding Indian squirrels now this was a very simple question if ever you have observed a squirrel around your backyard or anywhere else they build Nest by making Burrows in the ground they don't dig burrows in the ground generally the Indian squirrel that you find they collect the grasses the Twigs Etc and they climb up at an elevated portion and there is where they build their nest so this is incorrect they store their food materials like nuts and seeds in the ground this is again going to be incorrect they store it obviously in their nest which is above a tree now they are omnivorous this is going to be the correct statement right they are omnivorous they consume evens in certain cases small insects that you will find and obviously nuts Etc they consume in large proportion so here we have only one that is correct so the correct answer in this case is going to be a only okay now after this moving to the next question which one of the following makes a tool with a stick to scrape insects from a hole in a tree or a log of wood now makes a tool with a stick so basically they use a stick to scrape out the insects just like how we use a steak for let's say like a toothpick Etc that is how they will scrape out the insects from the trees and the box and the trunks of the trees and that is basically done by orangutan so orangutans are one of those smart species which use that stick and then they use it as a feeding material so the correct answer in this will be P okay now then after that the next question consider the following statements carbon markets are likely to be one of the most widespread tools in the fight against climate change now what do we understand by these carbon markets carbon markets basically are the ones where you are allowed to trade the carbon credit so let's suppose you have an emitter let's suppose and they have exceeded their target now another emitter or another organization or another complaint let's say they have underachieved the Target or in a way they have overachieved the Target and they have emitted less as was the target so they will be given some amount of carbon credits now these credits can be bought by the another organization they will pay some money and in return they will get the carbon credits for whatever amount they want but generally that is used to fulfill their targets now what is the benefit of it the benefit is basically you are able to reduce the overall amount of emission observed and at the same time the good practices are promoted by the financial incentive provided so that is going to be the correct statement now carbon markets across the world they have been introduced since the Kyoto Protocol so that is basically correct carbon markets transfer resources from private sector to the state now here you don't have an absolute statement that carbon Market will always transfer or will only transfer so it is a kind of a generic statement now please understand here we can have the transfer from one state to another state that is one country to another country one organization or entity to another organization or an entity or an Enterprise to a state also that kind of transaction can also happen so this is also going to be the correct statement so it is only after this carbon Market will be able to transfer the resources only in that case will the private sector be also able to meet their own emission targets which has been set for them and that is when overall emissions will be reduced and targets will be met so here the correct answer is a where both are correct and b or the statement two is the correct exploration for statement one now after that moving on to the next question consider the following activities spreading finely ground basalt rock on farmlands extensively increasing the alkalinity of Oceans by adding lime capturing carbon dioxide released by various Industries and pumping it into abandoned Subterranean mines in the form of carbonated waters how many of the above activities are considered and discussed for carbon capture and sequestration carbon capture and sequestration means capturing the carbon from atmosphere absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the underground region so spreading finely ground basal drops on the farmlands what it does is it ensures the formation of carbonate and that is where the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere that readily reacts with the soil and the granite particles and materials which are spread out and it will readily form carbonate so this will remove excess carbon from the atmosphere so this is going to be correct increasing the alkalinity of Oceans by adding line so once you do that once the oceanic water is alkaline we have to understand that almost 25 to 30 percent of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide are directly absorbed by the ocean surface from the air water interface now if you make it alkaline the absorption power increases it is only when they turn acidic that they start releasing the carbon dioxide which is present in the ocean as as long as it is alkaline it will absorb more because it will end up forming carbonate ions rather than the carbonic acid which is formed in the acidification of ocean so this is also going to be correct capturing carbon dioxide released by various Industries and pumping it into the abandoned Subterranean mines in the form of carbonated waters now the geological carbon sequestration that you have there the carbon which is captured from the atmosphere is either stored into an unminable coal bed or an exhausted cool bed a depleted oil Reserve or Subterranean mines in general deep saline formations as well upsc had asked about this statement earlier so if you analyze the previous year question you'll be able to get this statement very correct so this is also going to be the correct statement so here how many of the activities are discussed in carbon capture and sequestration the correct answer is going to be C that is all three moving on it with the next question with reference to the role of biofilters in recirculating aquaculture system it is almost self-explanatory isn't it when you have small tankages or ponds which are present then how is it that you end up utilizing the biofilters so biofilters obviously make that ecospace much more livable for The Aquatic species that you are rearing or growing in that area that is why biofilters are used so they provide waste treatment by removing uneaten fish food now that is very much required because that uneaten fish food slowly grows in size and there's decomposition which starts to happen it attracts parasites and that will be infecting the fishes also fishes population due to which many of them they start dying or suffering from diseases so they do provide that waste treatment they consume or they remove that and they take in that amount of waste they convert ammonia present in the fish waste to nitrate right so the ammonia ions which are present in the waste they are converted so biofilters play that role as well now they increase phosphorus as a nutrient now these are filters these are not mineral providers so they just by application of logic also if you think about it any filter how is it that naturally will it be able to increase the amount of phosphorus as a nutrient in the water so this is going to be the incorrect statement here so here it doesn't increase the phosphorus quantity so how many of the statements are correct so you have B that is two of the statements are going to be correct in this case moving ahead with the next question consider the following statements regarding Mercury pollution now Mercury pollution it ends up causing a disease referred to as minamata disease so let us take a look at the statement so gold mining activity is a source of mercury pollution in the world any kind of mining activity that you carry out in majority of them Mercury and methyl Mercury is to be found so these are basically supplied along with the Run of water and they keep on getting accumulated into the nearby water body and that is how by bio accumulation and magnification we humans they we also get impacted by that so this is basically correct coal-based thermal power plant cause Mercury pollution and this is basically caused when the pulverized coal is combusted at that point of time the fly ash which is produced that consists significant proportion of mercury selenium titanium silicates alumina and all the various different type of contaminants that you can think of so that is again correct because it causes Mercury pollution not only in the nearby farmlands where that fly ash settles if it is not treated or also in the nearby water body then there is no known safe level for exposure to Mercury generally it is advisable that the amount of mercury contamination in the body should be kept at a straight lower than or at a level lower than 10 microgram per liter but that also is a general prescription but here also you have to understand that in case of infants in case of older individuals and even in case of many of the situations you will find that normal healthy adults even if they get slightest amount of mercury poisoning or Mercury contamination in the body it has got long-term impact so that is correct that there is no known safe level it is still our research is being carried out as per the center of Disease Control this is still an area of research where a lot of research is being carried out that whether we can have a safe level but till now we have seen that even the slightest amount can end up influencing a large population that is why it is famously said that even a tablespoon full of mercury is enough to end up polluting the entire large pond and cause biomagnification for a significant section of population so this is also going to be correct so the correct answer in this case is is going to be C that is all three moving ahead with the next question now consider the following statements now this is about the water development report now this has been in discussion through the month of March and April so according to the United Nations World water development report 2022 India extracts more than a quarter of world's groundwater withdrawal each year and that is basically purely for the purpose of Agriculture this report has also highlighted that the agricultural requirements across the world they are responsible for almost 70 percent of the groundwater extraction which is carried out so here the first statement is correct this report was stabled in New York around the time of the world water day and that is why this was in much of news throughout the later part of March and the first week of April as well India needs to extract more than a quarter of the world's groundwater each year to satisfy the drinking water and sanitation needs of almost 18 percent of the world's population living in its territory majority of the regions across the country they end up facing water scarcity and that water scarcity is exaggerated by the water which is pumped out by the tube Wells now widespread so that is why the drinking water which is now being extracted that drinking water is mostly contaminated with arsenic fluoride in certain cases like Punjab that groundwater also has the contamination of cadmium selenium and even uranium so this is also going to be the correct statement that India basically ends up needing a large amount of water to be extracted for the large population so here the correct answer is going to be a that both statement 1 and 2 are correct and statement two is the correct explanation then moving on to the final question consider the following statements in India biodiversity management committees are key to the realization of objective of the Nagoya protocol now biodiversity management committees they have been established as per the biodiversity Act 2002. biodiversity Act 2002. and this called for the establishment of a three-day tier establishment of biodiversity management which could be carried out at the national level at the state level as well as at the district level now this biodiversity act in itself was framed to adhere to the requirements as per the convention on biological diversity the CBD and Nagoya protocol is very much a part of that CBD now CBD had got two protocols Cartagena protocol for sustainable usage of the biodiversity and the products of biodiversity in particular lmos or living modified organisms and the Nagoya protocol for fair and Equitable access and benefit sharing arising out of biodiversity for the local population so Nagoya protocol deals with that fair and Equitable access and benefit sharing and that is where the BMC that plays its role then the B EMC have important functions in determining access and benefit sharing including the power to Levy collection fees on the axis of biological resources within its jurisdiction this is also correct because BMC or the biological biodiversity management committees that you have they are responsible for ensuring that the local population that is not alienated from the benefit and the local population is actually made a larger stakeholder in the entire process of conservation that is why and that is the purpose where it also Levy's collection fee to help the local population and the indigenous population of that area so here the correct answer is going to be see that both of them are going to be correct so that basically summarizes in brief in very brief the questions around 30 questions which appear from the portion of geography as well as from the portion of environment and ecology overall if you analyze the set of questions which have appeared they are particularly in comparison to last year if you consider them the topics of the question are very significantly simpler to handle but the option statements are complicated and that is where the confusion arises but that is a trend across all the subjects this year and across all the various different parts of the question paper overall I would like to give it a kind of a standardization to moderate as compared to last year so that will be all from my side now I would invite abhisheksa to discuss the questions which have appeared from various different portions of History thank you foreign questions which came out of history but one thing is very clear by looking at the 14 questions which came that 2022 was an anomaly when it came to history itself you have close to four questions our three questions out of ancient two questions out of medieval thereafter four and four close to five questions out of art and culture and Modern India but if you look at the 14 questions which have come generally they have been easy to moderate this is unlike what happened last year wherein there was a proper tough optional level questions which had come in history and out of the 14 questions which are there 10 to 11 are easily manageable three to four questions are difficult which I will discuss with you in the end of this discussion of History I will also show you that if you've been following our platform or any of our programs in that sense 10 to 11 questions you can easily manage and the 20 marks out of History was guaranteed this time so with this let's look at the first question this is out of the three questions the difficult one because it deals with a very specific term and it talks about which flourished as a prominent Buddhist center under the mahasanghika is located where so the problem here is that dhanakataka is actually a stupa it is in amravati and then kataka is also the old name of amravati and it is related to the kalpa Sutra and the kala Sutra the concept of negative energy within vajrayanic Buddhism so the mahasanthika reference goes to vasyanik Buddhism wherein there is a proper amravati stupa named and it is an obscure terminology the answer becomes a which is the Andhra region this is the only difficult question out of ancient because it is referring to us we don't discuss or you will not find it in the news also very obscure article in 2006 related to this question so that ways this is the only question out of ancient which is a little bit tricky after this everything else can be managed easily but as I said reference Buddhism therefore this Tupa and the nekataka stupa itself is the old name itself so this is the difficult question thereafter thank you one of the easiest art and culture very easy stupa standard thing which you do under Maria post Moria architecture with reference to ancient India consider the following statements the concept of stupa is Buddhist in origin stupa was generally a repository of relics stupa was a vertic and commemorative structure in Buddhist tradition which of these statements is our correct standard this time every question every subject has this one only two only all three none last time they had one pair two pair thing now hair outrightly the second and the third statement is totally correct which is it is a reperility of relics we have relics inside it initial stupas used to have something which Buddha used himself and it is a commemorative structure it's a pilgrimage site for Buddhism these two are totally clear now comes the confusion wherein the concept of Tupa is Buddhist in origin this statement is technically incorrect if you go by optional level knowledge or upinder Singh because as we know stupa is a burial Mount burial Mount tradition goes back to The Vedic period also and there are references to the concept of burial mounts in The Vedic period so the concept is not unique however this two-powered is very specific to Buddhism therefore if we go by the basic interpretation the answer should be only two this should be an incorrect statement that the concept of a stupa is Buddhism no it goes back to The Vedic period in Jainism also we have something related to it however if the examiner interprets the word stupa then the answer becomes c b or c but most probably we have to wait for the official key for that b should be the answer which is that the concept of stupa is not Buddhist in origin it has an origin before Buddhism itself not a heterodox X 16th century thing it's before that so here first statement is the confusing one if you've gone with b or c it's not totally on the examiner how he interprets it but most probably 90 percent of you are gone with B so it should be B in that sense easy question art and culture very very manageable if you have basic understanding of tupas after we move to another very easy question of the easiest questions from ancient India with reference to ancient South India and muchiri were known as Capital Cities ports centers of Iron and Steel making or shrines of Jain kirtan if you have any idea of sangam polity if you have any idea of indo-roman trade during the postmodern period if you have any idea of the maps which are given in ncrt even any discussion in class you would know that korkai and muchiri don't configure it is also an important port but these are ports which are in the chora chera pandya period therefore the answer is sports Capital Cities we don't know of them iron is still making nothing and these are all distracting Concepts given ports is the right answer again an easy question out of ancient India manageable because there are multiple references to this across different sources in that regard with this this is the second difficult question if you left it good if you didn't then I hope that you've answered the right which is the last option so it is talking about a sangam term sangam came last time also but last time there was a very tricky question this is difficult but not tricky it talks about a practice called in sangam poems refers to what Kings employing women bodyguards which they did but it is not the word for it learned person assembling in Royal courts to discuss religious and philosophical matters young girls keeping watch over agricultural field driving away birds and animals or a king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death now the answer here is D and I don't blame you if you left it or got it wrong but I hope that you left it because this is a tricky one three questions are tricky this is the second tricky first one was the problematic and this one is the problematic one very specific reference to a term out of sangam polities yes it is related to the concept that the Kings did not used to show their back to the battlefield so if they did if they did lose they used to perform ritualistic suicide which is something related to Jain tradition also which is but the basic point of the matter is it's a very specific thing in sangam age wherein once the king is defeated ritualistic suicide in that regard but again tricky because again I don't expect you to know this question because it's a difficult question so 11 questions can be managed easily this is the three second one out of the three which is difficult in that sense thereafter one of the easiest if you have ever paid attention to timelines if you have any idea of early modern or early medieval in that regard and specifically a very easy question discussing what is the basic placement of dynasties consider following dynasties this is a question out of medieval India's which of them were established in the early 8th Century so early 8th Century would mean that you have to be close to 900 or between 900 to 1000. now here actually all of them have been established after 1000 in basically the 10th 11th century so here the answer is none but to just to give you a very specific reference and we discussed this in class also and I'll show you the discussion also you have one zero five zero for this CE thereafter one zero eight nine one one six three and one one eight seven as their establishment date none of them fall under 900 basically they are not considered post Gupta but they're considered early medieval dynasties which itself should give you a flag that it is after 900. so this question can be tricky for someone who just has given very specific reference to political history has not paid attention to timelines or basic understanding of how degradation of dynasties is there if you have paid for it this is a good easy question easy to moderate based on your preparation in that sense thereafter so none is the answer none of them fall under the early 8th century 80. thereafter the third moderate question which can be difficult for people but the Saving Grace was that two texts are actually easy so with reference to ancient Indian history consider the following phase literary work author Devi chandragupta bilhana you have hamira mahakavya Suri milind and you have Suri now here are basically if you know milinda which is a very important into Greek text you would know that it is not nag Arjuna but it's nagsena so this is incorrect thereafter Devi chandragupta is written by a very important person who is written also which is vishaka this is also Incorrect and ironically these are the only two incorrect because and the fourth one are totally correctly matched so the answer becomes only two are correctly matched this is foreign and this is not nagarjuna so very simply the two statements here are incorrect and simple Point second and fourth are the correct options difficult moderately difficult but the point is the ones which are incorrect are standard text but the problem is this you cannot eliminate therefore it becomes difficult in that sense thereafter very easy question heterodox sect standard souls are not only property of animal and plant life but also rocks running water many other natural objects not looked as living by other religious sects this core belief belongs to which now if you know anything about Jainism you would know that they were the first to wear vataka mupatis or what we call as masks because they believe everything has a soul so Jen is a simple Jainism believes that everything has a soul everything has senses and therefore their monks need to practice certain form of austerity and they also have to make sure that they don't inhale them that that is violence on them ahimsa is very very important and therefore the concept of protecting the people the objects or even particles which have Souls soul everything standard gen this is not a difficult question very easy question out of ancient India very easy question Buddhism Jainism standard areas Buddhism has seen a comeback also in that sense two to three questions are there but this is a very easy question examiner has been very very kind to us in that sense do you have any given any statement related to God concept of Life Energy then this good equation would have been difficult in that sense so I hope that you for this question correct you can just close your eyes and put in Jainism totally correct thereafter something again which we covered in our mock we had even in class proper reference to it who among the following rulers of vijayanagar Empire constructed a large Dam across the tungabhadra river and a canal come Aqueduct several kilometers long from the river to the capital city so hampi and vijayanagara sector generally is a water scarce sector and therefore it was devarayavan devrayawan who actually built a dam which still exists which cuts the tumbata river and brings it towards hampi in that sense and there's a very known out of devra one we already know that he was defeated by the Bahamas very badly and this is the second major achievement two major achievements he has or two major things you need to remember David DeVry 2 which is inducting the mounted archers DeVry one is basically related to Major Dam and defeat to the Bahamas so this again is a very easy question related to Medieval India two questions were there this is again medieval easy nothing like very easy that way question number eight standard question out of vijayanagar Empire do not ignore these topics if you did get this correct perfect your preparation has been great now you need to go for your Mains preparation thereafter this is modern also this is early mid early modern whatever you want to call it Advent of Europeans who among the following rulers of medieval Gujarat surrendered due to Portuguese now please understand one thing in standard text you will find a reference to battle of dew Battle of due is basically Almeida 1508 1509 period that is him taking revenge for his son's death Duo has an interesting story because when bahadur Shah which is the answer itself was actually ruling Gujarat there was two pressures he saw one from the Portuguese and the second was from Mayu and therefore there was an agreement which was there between bahadusha and Portuguese that in return for giving them due and Dew Fort the Portuguese would help bahadusha in protecting the Gujarat sector from humayun and once the conflict got over babusha wanted to take back due but the Portuguese did not give it to them but the basic point is the person who voluntarily surrendered you to the Portuguese is actually bahadur bahadusha last minute rule of Gujarat in that sense but it was the agreement which in turn led to the Dew Fort which still stands today as a very important Portuguese structure in this area so again question number nine is a very easy question out of modern if you want to call it modern very easy question in that sense thereafter the easiest question you don't even need to look at the options by which of the following acts was the governor general of Bengal designated governor of India don't even need to look at regulating pits chat tract of reading 33 major development that ways bentik very easy this is the easiest of them that ways history has been quite easy to moderate lot of questions which only need basic base knowledge in that sense if you were set B first 10 questions for history itself I hope that you got the confidence to go forward and do more questions out of other subjects also because the first question questions are not demoralizing last time history was properly demoralizing because the questions were difficult in that sense here it has been very straightforward very simple that way so Charter Act of 18 33 is the answer very simple okay now Awards art and culture all of them have been in the news so there's no specific thing that they were static but they're static plus current affairs means basically encouragement and there's nothing related to retirees here it's about proper contribution and encouragement of the sports and if you do that you get this is for people or for sportsmen who have actually performed outstanding in the past four years this is totally correct because this was the only thing which they could have actually manipulated but four years is totally correct thereafter you have Arjuna award for the lifetime achievement by a sportsman this is again incorrect because Arjuna is not given for Lifetime Achievement it's given for outstanding achievement as a sportsman it has nothing to do in lifetime you can be given in five years in two years even in 25 years we have different examples for that is given to coaches who have successfully trained perfect one of the greatest coaches one of the greatest gurus in that regard that is why it is named after it so therefore here again only two are correctly matched two are incorrect Arjuna award and kale pron easy again tricky because these topics are not covered by students out of standard books in that sense so moderate too easy in that sense it's totally on your way of approaching art and culture thereafter this is the third tricky question because these officers these people you never hear about in standard books with reference to Indian history Alexander Ray a h Longhurst Robert civil James Burgess and Walter Elliott were associated with archaeological excavations press in colonial India churches in princely States Railways in color india now there's a giveaway here that it's Colonial India basically they are British officers they're actually East India Company officers can be called indologists if you want to call them but they're basically archaeologists they were the ones who excavated initial excavation which happened in a lot of areas from harappa to even related to the later inscriptional evidences South India lot of excavations were done by these officers East India Company officers and this is a very specific reference to something coming out of upinder Singh so it's an optional level question little bit tricky so if you left this question you did the good thing that if you answered it as a totally correct that is the answer for this question thereafter you have a match the following question tricky because of this but other than that it's a current affairs inspired you have site well known for last year also we got a question like this that was also easy this is also easy white cave Shrine bhaja Buddhist caves we covered Even in our Target prelims itself it is a Jain cave Shrine coming out of Tamil Nadu related to the pandas very very important totally correctly matched if you know Carly if you know anything about Buddhist caves you would know that karle and bhaj are very too important Buddhist cave shrines where because that architecture is same because of the vaulted roof which is there now comes base nagar but it is known for a very important inscription which was discovered by Alexander Cunningham it was by a person called heliodorus and Helio Taurus was basically one of the ambassadors of an indo-greek King who had come to India and here he claims to be the fact that he was inspired by the odd by the wealth in India and therefore it is not known for Shea white cave shines but this is the incorrect option so therefore correctly match only two so very simply this is the one wherein you need moderate understanding a little bit in depth it could have been easier if it was one two three and four but the problem is that they've given this so you need to know base nagar straight forward wherein based script very known inscription you will find it in books but I doubt that you would have gone into that much level of detail but if you got this correct perfect as I said four questions are such which need a little bit of cautionary Tale thereafter the last question which comes from history in that sense consider following statements statement one seventh August is declared as National handloom Day second statement it was in 1905 that swadeshi movement was launched on the same day now this is the new pattern very common in net Level examinations assistant professor examinations now has become something which upsc has found fashionable this time statement one statement two is it correctly explaining not correctly explaining correct incorrect that ways again needs an understanding so in economy and all becomes very tricky here 7th August National handloom Day 1905 swadeshi movement now if you know anything about swadeshi you would know that 7th August 1905 the proper swadeshi program was launched launched after the moderate phase of the swadeshi movement was gone so this is totally correct and yes 7th August is national handloom day because swadeshi promoted handloom so therefore the board statements are correct that is the first prerequisite and yes the second statement correctly explains the first statement why is it so significant in that regard and therefore therefore the answer becomes a so if you look at it 10 questions can be easily done in a very simple way if I had to give a basic assessment I will not call it difficult it is an easy to moderate level history has been one of the difficult sections for the past two to three years but this year it has been a very easy ride in that regard and just to give you a feel I'll show you something that the 10 questions everything was covered on different platforms of us for example we very specifically discuss in class this is a live class which was taken on 10th April itself in the evening that devraya one constructed a dam across standard discussed in class this is the only thing which we know about devaraya properly also further Target prelims we discussed it just recently one month back part of our crash course in that sense gen tradition properly given something which we covered on YouTube that was our classroom program bhlp on the app this is our YouTube thereafter governor general 1833 governor general of India from governor of Bengal we discussed the whole structure also how it evolved in class how the charter acts related to the way the Monopoly was also gone again 13 February in the evening thereafter the question related to Due we discussed 29 to 38 how there's a basic relationship between bahadusha and the Portuguese and therefore how do you were subjugated in 1535 discussed in class again this is second February thereafter when we do early medieval last class of medieval I always give you a very important 17 different dynasties 18 to be precise 18 different dynasties I give you sequence and therefore Jose and we specifically discuss yadavs we specifically discuss through Maps wherein we are discussing how ghazni came and therefore if you look at it again 25th January within this year itself you discussed this in the morning batch at 6am and therefore the questions are very easy if you've covered it with us further this is knowledge series we've discussed partition of Bengal swadeshi movement 7th August 1905 formal Declaration of swadeshi then we discuss in class in art and culture the concept of stupa how is related to burial mounts the expression in that sense and we discuss how it is constructed over relics if not that we also discuss the purpose first as an advertisement second as a pilgrimage site so if you look at it if you've been part of any of our programs if you've been following CNA if you're following our vaccine even our bhlb program or even YouTube anything you would be able to get these History questions easily 10 questions directly came from our discussions and I hope that you got them totally correct so before I end this session the history discussion and move to international relations with Chetan sir very simply I hope that you got at least nine to ten questions correct if you left the other four totally correct very simply the question paper with regards to history was easy to moderate I'll not say difficult three questions could have been left aside as it is and generally history has been a good subject for students this time remember 2022 do not follow the pattern that was an anomaly I said that last year also that was one in which they made it very very difficult we are now back to normalcy and I hope that the students who are not clearing or are preparing please make sure that you're going through standard books or at least following our program thank you so much I'll now hand it over to Chetan sir who'll end this session with international relations and miscellaneous topics thank you take care good night hello everyone welcome to the last part of the paper analysis and answer key discussion so we'll start with international relations and will wind up with the miscellaneous questions that have been asked we had 11 questions from IR again upsc has given a high priority for international relations just like last year there are a lot of questions based on places that were in news essentially map based questions were asked there were many questions on important treaties conventions and agreements that were signed recently there were questions on agreements involving India essentially it was very interesting mix of questions from IR but if you ask me the difficulty level I would say it was moderate some questions were straightforward but some of the IR questions were actually a little difficult because upsc has given a lot of factual statements and you need to know whether all the three statements are right or incorrect In order to Mark the right answer so in that regard some IR questions were a little difficult so let's get started and let's looking at the question let's start looking at the questions and the answers question number 34 consider the following statements India has more arable area than China the proportion of irrigated area is more in India as compared to China the average productivity per hectare in Indian agriculture is higher than that in China this question is entirely related to India China economic relations the comparative analysis that we often carry out between the Indian economy and the Chinese economy that will help you in answering this question now this is with regard to Indian Agriculture and Chinese agriculture the first statement given here is absolutely correct because the total arable area which is the cultivable land area is much higher in India as compared to China India has a cultivable area of around close to 160 to 175 million hectares whereas China has just around 120 to 150 million hectares so clearly India has more cultivable land thus statement one is correct the proportion of irrigated area is more in India as compared to China this also is a correct statement because all the available data suggests that the proportion of irrigated area in India is almost 48 percent of the total total cultivable area that we have almost 48 of it is under irrigation whereas in China it's around 41 percent so one and two are correct but the third statement is definitely incorrect upsc has picked this question for this reason despite having lesser cultivable area than India despite having lesser Farm area under irrigation China's agricultural productivity is many times higher than that of India's agricultural productivity it's almost three times higher if you take the total agricultural output China's output stands at around 1300 billion dollars per year whereas India's Agri output is just around 400 billion dollars per year it's almost three times then the the interesting part is how does China achieve this if it has lesser land under agriculture lesser area under irrigation still it is generating three times the productivity how is this possible it's because China gives lot of subsidies it also provides better inputs high quality inputs better seeds better fertilizers and pesticides and more importantly it has also introduced technology in agriculture it has mechanized farming it has introduced smart agriculture as well it has provided very efficient irrigation it manages Water Resources very efficiently and all these topics were actually in news with regard to the india-china comparison the economic comparison these points were in the news over the last one one and a half years that is why such a factual question has been picked but if you're able to apply your basic common knowledge you will be able to get this answer right so you need to check how many statements are correct the correct answer is B two only only two given statements are correct next question number 40. this is related to transported connectivity projects that involve India with reference to India's projects on connectivity consider the following East-West Corridor under golden quadrilateral connects dibrugarh and Surat trilateral Highway connects more in Manipur and Shanghai in Thailand via Myanmar Bangladesh China India Myanmar economic Corridor connects Varanasi in up with Kunming in China so three statements are related to three different connectivity projects the first one is a domestic project of India the golden quadrilateral project under which we have the north south east west corridors or highways if you look at the East West Corridor which you can see here in this map it actually connects porbandar in Gujarat with silchar in the Northeast so clearly first statement is wrong it's not connecting Surat with it does not even connect with Surat and jibrugal it's linking porbandar with silchar so statement one is wrong next look at the trilateral Highway the IMT trilateral highway or the India Myanmar Thailand trilateral Highway this highway connects more which is a important Border Town in Manipur it's a commercial trading town on the India Myanmar border and the highway links with the key commercial centers of Myanmar such as Mandalay and Yangon and further connects with mesot in Thailand but the second given statement is also incorrect some of you might be surprised it is incorrect because upsc has actually given a small trick it is user a very ingenious trick over here see the whole statement actually looks correct but let me tell you where the incorrect part comes up it is Xiang Mai this highway does not connect with Chiang Mai Shanghai is actually the neighboring province of Tak Province where mesot is located method is a city in Thailand over here it's located in the Tak province of Thailand The Province next to it this is Chiang Mai all right so this is where the statement becomes wrong the third one is also incorrect the bcim economic Corridor Bangladesh China India Myanmar economic corridor this was supposed to connect Kolkata via Bangladesh with the kunmeng region of China in its Union Province and it passes through Myanmar through Mandalay this was the proposed Corridor which has been dropped later all right so all the three given statements are wrong so the correct answer is option D none of them are correct is that here so if you're in touch with current affairs if you are good in map Reading if you are familiar with the alignment of such transport connectivity projects you will be able to get these answers right now let's look at question number 53 a map based question based on places that were in news has been matched with war between Armenia and Azerbaijan Nagano karabakh matched with Insurgency in Mozambique Carson and zafrozia match with dispute between Israel and Lebanon again let me take the help of maps so that you can easily understand this question see North Kevo and South kibo they are a source of dispute in the DRC the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC has been going through a civil war since several years and this region has been picked by upsc for a particular reason because of few Indian soldiers who are deployed here as part of U.N peacekeeping forces from the BSF they recently lost their lives when the rebel groups carried out an attack against the U.N peacekeepers that's where India expressed a lot of concern about the well-being and safety of peacekeepers because India is one of the largest troop contributing countries to U.N peacekeeping operations that is why these external conflicts in other countries become important for the exam so these conflict hit areas they are in DRC next nagar no karabakh you can clearly see in the map here it's a dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan both the countries have even fought a limited conflict recently in 2020 2021 that is why upsc has picked this region nagar no karabakh region which is a source of tension and conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan finally the third one Kirsten and zafrozia both are in Ukraine they were in news because of the Russia Ukraine war Russia has mounted crippling attacks against Kirsten and zaphrosia is where the nuclear power plant was located where Russian and Ukrainian forces were fighting against each other and they were threatening the Integrity of the nuclear plant there was a risk of a nuclear accident happening here which invited lot of global alarm and even the international atomic energy agency had deployed its inspectors to monitor the safety at the zephrosia nuclear plant that is why these places were in news now if you go back to the question you can easily say that all the three given pairs are wrongly matched all the three are incorrect North they are in DRC in Democratic Republic of Congo there's a civil war going on that is why it was a news karabakh is ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan so it's an incorrect match Kirsten zafrozia is in Ukraine as as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine so all three are incorrect option D is the right answer all right moving on to question number 54. it's related to West Asian geopolitics it's related to the israel-palestine conflict and the ties between Israel and the Arab states statement one says Israel has established diplomatic relations with some Arab states this statement is definitely correct because Israel established ties with Egypt back in 1980s by signing the Camp David Accords which was mediated by the United States after Egypt lost the Six-Day War and after Egypt's Sinai desert was captured by Israel Egypt was forced to negotiate with Israel under the mediation of the United States and they signed the Camp David Accords through which Egypt recognized Israel and set up ties with Israel it became the first Arab country to recognize Israel because in 1948 when Israel unilaterally declared independence by breaking a two-state solution when it never allowed Palestine to be formed as an independent country all the Arab countries went to war with Israel since then Arab countries had sworn to support the Palestinian movement and not to recognize Israel after many years the first country the first Arab country to recognize Israel was Egypt following this in 1990s Jordan became the second country to recognize Israel Jordan was also defeated later it lost control of the West Bank area and Venezuela took complete control over the West Bank region Jordan finally negotiated with Israel and set up ties with Israel as well but recently there have been some dramatic changes from 2020 the Abraham Accords were signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and the agreement was also signed by Bahrain these two major West Asian Powers signed the Abraham Accords which was mediated by the U.S under President Donald Trump so UAE and Bahrain became the third and fourth Arab countries to set up ties with Israel even other countries in North Africa like Morocco Sudan also recognize Israel following this so statement one is definitely correct Israel has ties with some of the Arab states second statement says the Arab peace initiative mediated by Saudi Arabia was signed by Israel and Arab League this statement is wrong it is incorrect I'll tell you why the Arab peace initiative was proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 as a peace plan to resolve the israel-palestine conflict so this part of the statement is definitely correct under this peace initiative Saudi Arabia proposed that if Israel gives up the occupied territories like Golan highlight Heights of Syria and if it settles the Palestine conflict in line with the U.N resolution and provides for two-state solution where Palestine will be born as a independent country then the Arab countries agreed to recognize Israel and set up ties with Israel to basically bring normalcy and set up peace in the region this was a Saudi proposal that was backed by all the Arab League members from 2002 to 2007 all members of Arab League they would support this initiative but however Israel would never sign this initiative there's no way that Israel would ever give up its claims over the Palestinian territories and the occupied areas so that is what makes the second statement incorrect so right answer would be option C statement one is correct but statement two is incorrect moving on to question number 57 another map based question on the left we have places that were in news because of ongoing conflicts matched with countries donbass has been matched with Syria kachin matched with Ethiopia Tigre matched with North Yemen let me show you the maps again since these are map based questions it's better to understand them with the help of maps donbass is in eastern Ukraine where Russia has sponsored a separatist war in Donetsk and luhansk provinces and it has liberated these areas it has broken these areas away from Ukraine it recently held a so-called referendum where the people have apparently voted for Russia and Russia has claimed sovereignty over the donbass region the Donetsk and luhan's region that is why it was in news next kachin is in Myanmar as you know Myanmar has been going through a crisis in the last couple of years as the military has captured power again the opposition parties and the pro-democracy parties they've all formed a unified front with support of few some insurgent and rebel groups in the kachin region and also in the sagai region where you find the chin ethnic Community which are connected with the cookie tribes and mizor tribes on the Indian side these native indigenous communities of chin and kachin region they have also rebelled against the military of Myanmar so that is why the kachin region was in news as myanmar's military has launched military assaults again scorching and kitchen territories it has launched airstrikes and Military attacks against the indigenous communities which have taken up Insurgency in the region so that is why kachin in Myanmar was in news then finally we have tigray region in Ethiopia Tigre was going through a conflict the Tigre people had rebelled against Ethiopia they also had a dispute with neighboring Eritrea and a civil war had broken out in this region where Tigre people were looking to break this region away from Ethiopia to form a independent country but recently Ethiopia struck a peace agreement with the trigger Rebel groups and this conflict has been settled in a peaceful manner it was a very big development as far as African geopolitics was concerned so that is why you should know where Tigre region is located so now based on this if you go back and compare all three are again incorrect option D becomes the right answer here donbass is not in Syria it's in Ukraine kachin is in Myanmar not Ethiopia Tigre is in Ethiopia not in North Yemen so all three are incorrect next question number 58 in recent years charred Guinea Mali and Sudan caught the international attention for which one of the following reasons common to all of them is it because there was a discovery of Rich deposits of rare Earth elements or establishment of Chinese military bases Southward expansion of the Sahara Desert or due to successful military coups in these countries the correct answer is option D all these African countries were in the news because of successful military coups that happened in the last one and a half to two years in fact in Africa there have been several military coups in the last two to three years and Sudan charred Mali even Burkina Faso Guinea and few other countries as well in this region in the Sahara samsara region they have witnessed the rise of military dictatorships this was a cause for concern because it affects the stability in the region this is a region where several radical extremists and terrorist groups are thriving including Islamic State so the rise of military autocracies in this region has been a concern and almost every media Outlet in India had covered these developments in detail so upsc has picked a direct question on this the right answer here is option D next question number 60 very simple straightforward question it was a very expected question as well it's on G20 because India is hosting the G20 Summit this year the G20 group was originally established as a platform for finance ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss the international economic and financial issues this statement is absolutely correct when the 1990s financial crisis happened the Asian financial crisis when Asian markets crashed following the.com Bubble Burst that is when the top Global economies came together through their Finance ministers and Central Bank Governors to look at global economic and financial issues that laid the foundation of G20 which took shape by 2008-2009 when the next recession the global recession hit the global economy since then G20 has become a prominent group and digital infrastructure digital public infrastructure is one of India's G20 priorities this is also absolutely correct as India is preparing to host the G20 Summit we are organizing several ministerial meetings and Sherpa level talks between the officials of both the sites and one of the priority areas which is being promoted by India is the digital public infrastructure initiative it is pushing for adoption of digital infrastructure in the financial and economic domain to promote Financial inclusion to provide for economic development to adopt digital Technologies in payments and transactions so that is the focus of digital public infrastructure so both statements are correct option C becomes the correct answer next question number 67 statement one says recently the United States and European Union they have launched the trade and Technology Council or TTC this agreement was actually signed back in 2021 it's actually actually a slightly older topic but as you saw in previous questions upsc this time has picked older topics as well look at the Arab peace initiative it was in 2002 Israel forming ties with other Arab countries started back in 1970s but because of Abraham Accords and the recent changes happening in West Asia that static question was asked by upsc even this question is slightly old actually the development is slightly old but last year India signed a similar agreement with European Union EU they also have signed the trade and Technology Council their setup the trade and Technology Council to promote their trade relations and Technology cooperation so that is why upsc has probably picked this question so statement one is definitely correct statement 2 says USA and EU claim that through this Council they are trying to bring technological progress and physical productivity under their control this statement is derived statement and I would say that this statement is incorrect you can't say that the statement is entirely correct because see if you read about the trade and Technology Council of us and EU its main focus is on improving trade relations between these Atlantic powers right and it's focusing on emerging Technologies it's focusing on promoting technological cooperation also in the field of clean renewable energy as well they are looking to reduce their dependency on aggressive hostile countries like Russia and China they want to create resilient Supply chains there is definitely a geopolitical angle to it no doubt but however it does not say anything about gaining physical control control over physical productivity right yes us and EU they are trying to move away from the dependency on China Russia and other countries which are hostile to them they are trying to create resilient Supply chains to create a pool of resources within their allies so that they don't have to depend on these hostile countries this is definitely a push being given by U.S and EU under Trade and Technology Council they are looking to achieve technological progress no doubt but however it doesn't say anything about physical productivity being brought under their control also it's quite impossible impractical as well to claim that they will bring all productivity under their control right so on these grounds you can say statement two is incorrect and we can go with option C as the correct answer statement one is correct but statement two would be incorrect next question number 69 there's a second question on the European Union it highlights the importance of EU as a regional grouping the stability and growth fact of EU is a treaty that provides for limiting the levels of budgetary deficit of the countries of EU statement one is absolutely correct see this again is an old topic this agreement was signed in 1990s by the members of EU under the stability and growth pact they agree to set a limit for their deficit levels the budgetary deficit in order to keep their monetary policies stable to keep their economy stable prevent volatility in an economic crisis they agree to keep a limit for budgetary deficit limit and if they breach that there will be consequences if a country breaches the deficit cap the limit which has been placed they will invite extra monitoring and scrutiny and even after warnings if a country doesn't correct the deficit it can be penalized by placing that country under sanctions all right so statement one is definitely correct but two and three are wrong it has nothing to do with sharing of infrastructure sharing of Technologies this is absolutely incorrect so option A becomes the right answer one only next question number 70 consider the following statements recently all the countries of un have adopted the first ever compact for international migration known as the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration the objectives and commitments stated in the GCM the global combat for migration are binding on the U.N member countries the GCM addresses internal migration or idps that is internally displaced people or displaced persons also in its objectives and commitments all the three statements are wrong option D is the correct answer see this topic has been picked because Refugee situation migration has become a global problem for example the rohingya crisis caused a huge Refugee problem in South Asia right and similarly across Europe across the Mediterranean from West Asia from North Africa lot of refugees illegal migrants keep crossing over under dangerous hazardous conditions so to provide for the basic protection of refugees and migrants and to Accord them with a set of basic human rights and also to lay a framework a global framework on how countries will deal with migrants this Global compact was brought out by the UN in 2018. is that yeah but it has not been signed by all the countries around 150 plus countries have supported it all U.N country members have not signed this so that is why statement one is wrong all right not all countries have signed it just around 150 countries had supported it and also it's not like a convention it's just an agreement a global level framework agreement that will guide other countries on how they will deal with refugees and migrants so statement two also becomes incorrect for this reason it's not binding it's a non-binding framework being created for protecting and dealing with refugees and migrants third one is also incorrect because it does not deal with internal migration if there is an internal conflict in a country like the Sri Lankan Civil War for example right where the cinema Buddhist majority attacked the Tamil minorities and Tamil minorities got displaced within their own country they are called idps internally displaced people so This Global compact on migration does not cover internal migration so all three are wrong option D is the correct answer coming to the last question from international relations question number 98 which one of the following countries has been suffering from Decades of civil strife and food shortages and was in news in the recent past for its very severe for mine this again if you're in touch with current affairs you've been reading newspapers this will actually be a very simple question see Somalia the East African country of Somalia has been hit by a civil war from at least three decades an extremist terror group called al-shabab which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda has taken control of most parts of Somalia and has even destabilized the government here there are few other radical groups that operate as well in Somalia and because of years of war and conflict the region has been hit by a severe famine and hunger when the recent Russia Ukraine war broke out and food prices increased because of disruption in Food Supplies these East African countries like Somalia Kenya Ethiopia and others all of them were worried about the shooting food prices because as inflation comes up in food commodities essential food commodities it will directly affect such countries where hunger is widely prevalent so in that context Somalia was in news there were many reports brought out highlighting the famine situation and the and the serious hunger malnutrition situation in Somalia all right there were many reports covering this you can see the extent of the famine and malnutrition in this country right and it's the Somalian pirates who take up piracy in the Indian Ocean who are backed by the al-shabab terror outfit they attacked the commercial ships take hostage and try to extract a ransom thus disrupting global Shipping right for all these reasons Somalia was in news that is why upsc expect this question so correct answer is option D so this completes the questions from international relations but now I would like to show you the sources where we had actually discussed and covered most of these topics either through our Target prelims crash course which was free on YouTube we had a Target problems crash course on our app as well and even through our paid online courses through our online class offerings we have covered most of these topics and I just want you guys to take a look at this this one is from Target problems 2023 which was held just few days back right before your prelims some of you might have attended those sessions in the third session on international relations I had discussed the IMT trilateral Highway in detail including the alignment as you can see in this screenshot here same was the case in uh in our online classroom program which was held on the 7th of May the bcim corridor had been covered in the classroom this was only for the paid students then you can see the region of Ethiopia and Somalia being discussed in detail along with al-shabab and piracy where I had explained the problem of famine hunger and malnutrition in these countries this was also in our Target film session where we had a separate session on places in news covering all the important places that were in use then look at this from the same session we had covered the Tigre region from Ethiopia just few days back we had actually covered the same topics the exact same regions and the same questions have appeared in this year's exam so those who attended these sessions I'm sure they would have benefited from this they would have marked the right answer there was a question on Ukraine which was covered under geography the bordering countries of Ukraine we had discussed this in detail in our places in new session which happened on our app as part of the target prelims crash course all right we had marked all the major bordering countries of Ukraine you can clearly see that Hungary and Romania they share these borders with Ukraine all right you can also see zaphrosia does approach a nuclear plant and other key locations in Ukraine being marked in this session which was exclusively on the baijus exam prep app you can also see the Abraham Accords that I had discussed on the 21st of May under Israel's relations in West Asia we had spoken about Israel's diplomatic relations with other countries the Arab peace initiative all these topics had been covered just a few days back right so it's quite useful that the same questions have been picked even the kachin region of Myanmar I had made a mention of this with regard to Rising violence in Myanmar under the international relations this week which was a weekly initiative that we had on YouTube channel for covering key International developments so from all these initiatives direct questions have come in your IR paper all right now coming to the last part of the discussion just four questions left four or five questions left these are questions which fall under the miscellaneous category and upsc as usual keeps on surprising it's an unpredictable Service Commission it has again asked two sports questions very factual questions one was covered under art and culture this is the other question on the 44th chess Olympiad that was hosted by India look at the statements it was the first time that chase Olympiad was held in India it's absolutely correct it was hosted in Chennai in Tamil Nadu this was the first test Olympiad hosted by India and it was also the first Olympiad in Asia after 30 years second statement is also correct official mascot was thambi the trophy for winning team in open section is not Vera Menchie cup it's actually Hamilton Russell cup that is for the open section for the women's team in the women's section it is the Vera Manchester Cup named after the popular Grand Master uh a very popular women chess player Vera menchik these two have been interchanged usually upsc wouldn't ask such trick questions and factual questions but again upsc can always surprise us so it has picked such questions so three and four are incorrect because they've been interchanged whereas one and two are correct so B is the right answer only two statements are correct next question number 81 related to janani suraksha yojana a very important government scheme related to maternal health it is a Safe Motherhood intervention of the State Health Department's wrong statement because it's an initiative of the government of India it's a centrally sponsored scheme where States play a role in implementation and provide part of the funding but it's a central government program it's not an intervention of the State Health Department first one is wrong its objective is to reduce maternal neonatal mortality among poor pregnant women absolutely correct the name itself it's meant to protect pregnant women infants and hence reduce infant and maternal mortality rate it promotes institutional delivery amongst poor pregnant women since in rural areas especially in poor families women prefer home deliveries and informal deliveries in informal institutions that increases the risks when delivering a child and even in postpartum care so this is where the government is pushing pregnant women towards institutional delivery in hospitals all right so two and three are correct four is also incorrect its objective includes providing Public Health to sick infants up to one year there is no such provision under so two and three are correct how many statements only two statements are correct B again is the correct answer next question number 82 consider the following in the context of the interventions of anemia mukt Bharat strategy four interventions have been mentioned you need to know whether it's part of anemia mukt Bharat strategy see anemia is a serious health disorder affecting women and children right the lack of hemoglobin leads to anemic conditions which in turn leads to a number of Health Related Disorders and conditions so to ensure that we eliminate anemia anemiah strategy has been launched and there are six specific interventions under this strategy the government provides prophylactic iron folic acid supplementation deworming for children intensified Behavior change communication through awareness so that delayed core clamping in new bonds can be taken care of testing of anemia using digital methods and point of care treatment mandatory provision of iron folic acid fortified Foods in government-funded health programs and addressing non-nutritional causes of anemia in endemic Pockets with focus on malaria fluorosis Etc these are the six identified interventions under anemia mukt Bharat strategy now it is again factual if you have read about this government scheme you would know about these key points so by looking at that we can say one and two both are incorrect prophylactic treatment is through iron and folic acid supplementation not through calcium supplementation it runs a campaign for delayed cord clamping at the time of childbirth right there is no specific provision in this regard it provides for periodic deworming this is correct IT addresses non-nutritional causes of anemia which focus on malaria fluorosis this is also a correct statement all right but however if you look at the campaign here with regard to delayed cord clamping in new bonds there is a year-round behavioral change campaign that is run under this intervention here it says it runs a campaign for delayed Court clamping at the time of childbirth it's not at the time of childbirth it's run throughout the year all right so B only two of the given statements are correct next question number 94 related to self-help groups or sfgs self-help group program was originally initiated by State Bank of India by providing micro correct to financially deprived this statement is wrong it wasn't started by SBI it was started by nabard to promote Financial inclusion provide micro credit and encourage small groups to promote their entrepreneurial interventions and initiatives to ensure that it creates a livelihood at the local level where groups can come together especially women-led self-help groups to take up entrepreneurial in initiatives in rural areas all right in in a self-help group all members of a group take responsibility for a loan that an individual member takes this is correct that's the whole concept of SSG right Collective responsibility the members who take loans to start their Enterprises right that loan responsibility lies on the entire group the whole group has to ensure that the individual repays the loan so statement two is definitely correct then rrb's Regional rural Banks and scheduled commercial Banks they support ssgs is also correct statement they provide the credit support the financial banking for self-help groups so two and three two statements are correct B would become the correct answer coming to the last question consider the following India's Public Health sector the Healthcare System it largely focuses on Curative Care with limited preventive promotive and rehabilitative care this is very true about India's Healthcare System it's an observation regarding India's Public Health Care sector in India's Public Health Care sector the main focus is on Curative Care treating the disease after it comes up preventive care is being prioritized but it still gets very limited attention preventing the disease from occurring promotive treatment rehabilitative care is a lower priority in India's Public Health sector so statement one is correct under India's decentralized approach to healthcare delivery states are primarily responsible for organizing Health Services this statement is also correct health is a State subject under the Indian constitution so in the decentralized approach of healthcare delivery states are having the primary goal and the responsibility to organize and deliver health services so both statements are correct all right so what would be the right answer the right answer would be option b why it is not the correct exploration statement two does not explain statement one is that clear both statements are correct statement one and two both are correct but statement two is not the correct explanation of statement one so this essentially completes our discussion of all the questions that had appeared in today's films paper I hope the session has been helpful do let us know how it went do let us know how many questions you attempted what is your expected score please post that in the comment section below yes this year's paper was slightly tougher compared to the previous year the cutoff might be in the range of 85 or plus or minus two or three marks here and there so the cutoff is definitely going to be a little lower but those who have scored in the range of 90 plus trust me you have to immediately start your Mains preparation please be confident that you're going to crack the exam if you are getting 90 plus by checking these answer keys all right so this completes my discussion for today do support us by pressing the like button share your comments and do share these videos with other aspirants as well and don't forget to hit the Subscribe button that is it thanks for watching have a good night

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Id: draGe7yUEbQ

Length: 216min 1sec (12961 seconds)

Published: Sun May 28 2023