January 11 2024 Prelims Practice Questions (PPQs)

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• The Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhuyday Yojana (PM-AJAY) scheme has been operationalised since 2021-22.
• The scheme works with an aim to reduce poverty of the SC communities.
• The scheme works to improve socio-economic developmental indicators by ensuring adequate infrastructure and requisite services in the SC dominated villages.

Statement 2 is correct

• The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Statement 3 is correct

• Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhuyday Yojana (PM-AJAY) is a merged scheme of 03 Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely:
  • Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY),
  • Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCA to SCSP)
  • Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY)

Answer: (c) All; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• All state and UT governments will constitute a Medical Board.
• The Board will decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks only due to substantial foetal abnormalities.
• This means for terminating pregnancies due to rape that have crossed the 24-week limit, there is no change in the process: the only recourse is to get permission through a Writ Petition.
• The medical board is to provide a decision within three days of being approached

Statement 2 is incorrect

• The Transgender Persons (Protections and Rights) Act, 2019, recognises transgender as an additional gender in India.
• There have been cases where persons who identify as transgender can become pregnant even after receiving hormone therapy to transition from female to male.
• Since the Act only provides for the termination of pregnancies in the case of women, it is unclear if transgender persons will be covered under the Bill.

Statement 3 is correct

• Viability implies the period from which a foetus can live outside the womb; as technology improves, this ‘viability’ naturally improves.
• Currently, viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.

Statement 4 is incorrect

• The World Health Organisation does not specify any maximum time limit after which a pregnancy should not be terminated.

Answer: (a) Only one; Difficulty Level: Tough

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south.

Statement 2 is correct

• Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• Lake Chad is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of boundaries of Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon in western and central Africa respectively.

  

• It is also an important wetland ecosystem in West Africa.

Statement 4 is correct

• The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO) in December 2023, has officially suspended the Republic of Niger’s membership until constitutional order is restored in the country.

Answer: (c) Only three; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Panspermia is a hypothesis that simply attributes the origin of life on one planet to a different planet, it doesn’t actually explain how life came to be.
• The hypothesis has prevailed since ancient Greece.
• It was first posited by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (500-428 BC), who coined the term and first articulated life’s potential to travel as ‘seeds’ between planets.
• The idea of panspermia advances 3 stages:
  • Escape from a planet
  • Transit through interplanetary space
  • Landing on another planet

Answer: (d) A Greek hypothesis that attributes the origin of life on one planet to a different planet; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• It is a graphical representation of the distribution of income or wealth within a population.
• A 45-degree, upward-sloping line demonstrates the line of equality.
• In the graph below, it is denoted as the blue line.

  

• The more bowed the curve (Red line) is away from the perfect equality line, the greater the income inequality in the population. A straight line would indicate perfect equality.
• In the case of complete equality of income, the lorenz curve will be a straight line and with greater curvature the inequality rises proportionally–the Gini Coefficient measures this inequality.

Answer: (d) Distribution of Income; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• It is the gap between the line of equality (Red line) and the Lorenz curve (Blue Line).
• It quantifies how much household income distribution deviates from perfect equality.
• The Gini coefficient is calculated as the area between the Lorenz curve and the line of perfect equality, divided by the total area under the line of perfect equality.

  

Statement 2 is incorrect

• The Gini coefficient is expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
  • 0 represents perfect equality (everyone has the same income),
  • 1 represents perfect inequality (one person has all the income, while others have none).

Answer: (a) 1 Only; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• The 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 aimed at strengthening Rural Local Bodies (RLBs)/Panchayati Raj system in rural areas. It added Part IX to the Constitution, which contains provisions related to the functioning of Panchayats.
• The 74th Amendment Act, 1992 aimed at strengthening Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in urban areas, adding Part IXA to the Constitution.

Statement 2 is correct

• PESA,1996, was enacted in response to the Bhuria Committee’s 1995 recommendations for tribal self-rule in India’s scheduled areas.
• This was passed to ensure that the scheduled area’s residents (not covered by the 73rd CAA) had access to self-government through Gram Sabhas.
• This act expands the provisions of Part IX to the Scheduled Areas of India.
• PESA grants the Gram Sabha absolute authority, ensuring their autonomy without higher-level interference.
• State legislature holds an advisory role in the operation of Panchayats and Gram Sabhas.

Statement 3 is correct

• Objectives of PESA
  • To create gram sabha as the centre of all operations by establishing participatory democracy in local governance.
  • To give panchayats the precise power required to address tribal needs adequately.
  • To stop panchayats at the higher level of the Gram Sabha from taking over the functions and power of panchayats at the lower level.
  • To give tribal communities living in the Scheduled areas the traditional rights over natural resources.
  • To affirm the right to self-govern through their forms of self-government.
  • To uphold and protect the ethnic communities’ traditions and customs.

Statement 4 is incorrect

• Article 244 (1)
  • The provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Tribes in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
  • Ten states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Telangana — have notified Fifth Schedule areas that cover (partially or fully) several districts in each of these states.

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium