Covenanted civil service was thrown open to the Indians also in the charter act of 1853. Accordingly, the Macaulay Committee (the Committee on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in 1854.

Communal Award In August 1932, Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, announced a scheme of representation of the minorities, which came to be known as the Communal Award. The award not only continued separate electorates for the Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo- Indians and Europeans but also extended it to the depressed classes (scheduled castes).

Features of the Act

1. It ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state
2. It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.
3. It abolished the office of the viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor-general, who was to be appointed by the British King on the advice of the dominion cabinet. His Majesty’s Government in Britain was to have no responsibility with respect to the Government of India or Pakistan.

GOI Act 1935 provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. The Act divided the powers between the Centre and units in terms of three lists—Federal List (for Centre, with 59 items), Provincial List (for provinces, with 54items) and the Concurrent List (for both, with 36 items). Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy. However, the Federation never came into being as the princely states did not join it.

All three options are correctly matched.

The Aligarh Movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) for the social and educational advancement of the Muslims in India. He fought against the medieval backwardness and advocated a rational approach towards religion. In 1866, he started the Mohammadan Educational Conference as a general forum for spreading liberal ideas among the Muslims. The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the Deoband Movement. It was a revivalist movement whose twin objectives were : (i) to propagate among the Muslims the pure teachings of the Koran and the Hadis and (ii) to keep alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers. 

The government of India act 1919  introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country. Thus, the Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly).

Pallava art and architecture represent an early stage of Dravidian art and architecture which blossomed to its fullest extent under the Chola Dynasty. The first stone and mortar temples of South India were constructed during Pallava rule and were based on earlier brick and timber prototypes. Starting with rrock-cuttemples, Pallava sculptors later graduated to free-standing structural shrines which inspired Chola temples of a later age. Some of the best examples of Pallava art and architecture are the Kailasanathar Temple at Kanchipuram, the Shore Temple and the Pancha Rathas of Mahabalipuram. Akshara was the greatest sculptor of their time.

•  First stage – Mahindra group – Rock-cut temples
•  Second stage – Narasimha group – Ratha temples
• Third stage – Rajasimha group – Real structural temples
•  Fourth Stage  – Nandivarman group – Dravidian style.

Regulating Act of 1773

This act is of great constitutional importance as:

(a) it was the first step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India.

(b) it recognised, for the first time, the political and administrative functions of the Company.

Madhubani – Mithila Painting is practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar, India and Nepal. Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by eye-catching geometrical patterns.

All are correct

The AQI will consider eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3, and Pb) for which short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. In the latest 22nd CoP of the UNFCCC held at Marrakesh, Morocco more than 190 countries negotiated to prepare the fine print for Paris deal. It sought to make the rules that would help in the implementation of the law i.e. Paris Agreement. The countries have agreed to complete the rule book by 2018 as the Agreement would come into force from 2020.

Manamadurai–Rameswaram stretch of Southern Railway became India’s first ‘Green corridor’. All the trains in this route will have bio-toilets and there would be zero discharge of human waste on tracks in the section. Rameswaram railway station had already been developed as a ‘Green Station’ to handle the bio-toilets in the coaches.

The Sangai is an endemic and rare subspecies of brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur. It is also the state animal of Manipur.

The 11th edition of the Earth Hour was observed across the world on 25 March 2017 to take a global call on climate change. Environmental activists this year have focused to raise awareness on another problem that gets far less attention that is Light Pollution. 

China has launched TanSat, a global carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring satellite to understand the effects of climate change. China became third country after Japan and United States to have its own satellite to monitor greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Supermoon is a phenomenon that occurs when a full moon coincides with the moon being the closest to the Earth on its orbit. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth–Moon–Sun system.

670 million years

Raut Nacha is a ceremonial dance performed mainly by the tribal community of Chhattisgarh. It is performed during the “dev udhni ekadashi”, after the Diwali festival. It is mainly performed by Yaduvanshis. The dance form carries with itself sacred mythological and religious traditions.

Shaphee Lanphee is a traditional textile fabric woven and embroidered by Meitei women of Manipur. The fabric was, in the past, presented as a gift of honour (Mana Phee) to the soldiers for their bravery in a successful war, and to the praise-worthy chiefs of the Nagas of Manipur by the king of Manipur.

Ø  Arunachal Pradesh — issued by the secretary (political) of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh. It is required for entering Arunachal Pradesh through any of the check gates across the interstate border with Assam or Nagaland.

Ø  Mizoram — Issued by the Government of Mizoram. It is required for entering Mizoram through any of the check gates across the inter-State borders.

Ø  Nagaland — Issued by the Government of Nagaland. It is mandatory for Indian citizens of other states entering Nagaland through any of the check gates across the interstate borders. Dimapur, Nagaland’s largest city and port head, is the only place in the state which does not require an ILP, and Indians arriving by air at Dimapur Airport can arrive and stay in the city without one.

India and Russia

Floodplains

• A floodplain or flood plain is an area of land adjacent to a stream or river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge
• When inundated with water, floodplains act as natural filters, removing excess sediment and nutrients, which can degrade water quality and increase treatment costs.
• It can replenish underground water sources (or aquifers), which serve as a primary source of water for many communities and which are critical for irrigation that grows much of the world’s crops.
• Floodplains are home to some of the most biologically rich habitats on Earth. They provide spawning grounds for fish and critical areas of rest and foraging for migrating waterfowl and birds.
• Many outdoor recreational activities – like fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, wildlife watching and boating – are made possible by or greatly enhanced by the natural processes of rivers and healthy floodplains.
• If we conserve and use the floodplain, it can be a self-sustaining aquifer. This ensures that the groundwater level in the floodplains remains steadily above that in the river in the lean non-monsoon months when the river is often polluted.

Kadaknath chicken gets GI tag- Madhya Pradesh

• The protein-rich meat of Kadaknath, chicks and eggs are sold at a much higher rate than other varieties of chicken.
• The breed is native to Jhabua, Alirajpur and parts of Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.

• Assam has an estimated 2,645 rhinos. The 434 sq km Kaziranga National Park has the highest number of the animal in the state.
• The Manas National Park and the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary have around 100 rhinos each while the Orang National Park has around 30 rhinos.

• A concentration margin would be levied on individuals and institutions whose exposure account for a major chunk of the total exposure in that respective equity or commodity derivative contract.
• Incidentally, ‘concentration margin’ is a normal practice in many exchanges globally, including the NASDAQ.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched its latest communication satellite, GSAT-6A, which will provide mobile communication to India through multi beam coverage facility, on board GSLV-F08 from here.
• Isro said the satellite will provide services for defence purposes and will not add any transponder capacity for general uses.
• GSAT-6A’s predecessor GSAT-6 has been in orbit providing communication services since its launch almost three years ago in August 2015.
• Isro’s GSLV-F08 rocket launched the satellite, marking its 12th flight sixth flight with indigenous Cryogenic upper stage.

• Another high point of the launch of GSAT 6 is the induction of high-thrust Vikas engine and electromechanical actuation system.
• The launch is also crucial since Isro will be validating the high-thrust Vikas engine and other systems which would be eventually used in the future missions, including India’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan-II.
• The satellite will also provide a platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6 metre S-Band Unfurlable Antenna for communication purposes, hand-held ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite based mobile communication applications, the space agency said.

• Isro is preparing for the launch of a navigation satellite in the 2018-2019 financial year and is also planning to send its second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-II, in this year.
• GSAT-6A, like its predecessor GSAT-6 is a high-power S-band communication satellite built on I-2K satellite bus with a mission life of about ten years.

2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 only

None of the above

Chief Electoral Officer of the State

Vacancy caused by death or resignation of a legislator is to be filled between general elections

Only 1 is correct

2, 3 and 4 only

Statement 2 is incorrect.

2 is incorrect

Ministry of Home Affairs

All of them

Andhra Pradesh

Vertical farming is a greenhouse method of agriculture where commercially viable crops are cultivated inside multi-storey buildings in cities to simulate natural ecological systems.

Centrifugal force

Flood Basalt volcanoes

Both 1 and 2

Both 1 and 2

Both 1 and 2

All are correct

Both 1 and 2