Question 26: Consider the following statements:

1. The recommendations of the GST Council are not binding on either the Union or the States.
2. Parliament and the Legislature of every State, have the power to make laws with respect to goods and services tax.
3. Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to goods and services tax where the supply of goods, or of services, or both takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce.
4. Article 279A stipulates the creation of the GST Council and its functions.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) 1, 2 and 3

B) 2, 3 and 4

C) 1, 2 and 4

D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

• 246A – (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in articles 246 and 254, Parliament, and, subject to clause (2), the Legislature of every State, have power to make laws with respect to goods and services tax imposed by the Union or by such State. (2) Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to goods and services tax where the supply of goods, or of services, or both takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce.
• The Supreme Court of India has ruled that, the recommendations of the GST Council are not binding on either the Union or the States.
• Article 279A stipulates the creation of the GST Council and its functions. The Council has to function as a platform to bring the Union and State governments together, and as a mark of cooperative federalism, the Council shall, unanimously or through a majority of 75% of weighted votes, decide on all matters pertaining to GST and recommend such decisions to the Union and State governments.

Question 27: Consider the following statements:

1. The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was thus founded by a group of young men who were disillusioned by Gandhi’s tactics.
2. Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan were among the Hindustan Republican Association’s founders.
3. The Hindustan Republican Association’s manifesto was titled Krantikari.
4. The immediate object of the Hindustan Republican Association’s, in the domain of politics, is to establish a federal Republic of United States of India by an organized and armed revolution.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) 1, 2 and 3

B) 2, 3 and 4

C) 1, 2 and 4

D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

• Four revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement were hanged on December 17 (Rajendranath Lahiri) and December 19 (Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh) in 1927.
• This came two years after the Kakori Train Robbery, in which members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) had looted a train transporting money to the British treasury.
• The HRA was thus founded by a group of young men who were disillusioned by Gandhi’s tactics and what they felt was zealous preaching of “non-violence.”
• Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan, both of whom had a flair for poetry, were among the group’s founders. Others included Sachindra Nath Bakshi and trade unionist Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee.
• Figures such as Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh would also join the HRA.
• Their manifesto released on January 1, 1925, was titled Krantikari (Revolutionary). It proclaimed, “The immediate object of the revolutionary party in the domain of politics is to establish a federal Republic of United States of India by an organized and armed” revolution.
• Their envisioned republic would be based on universal suffrage and socialist principles, importantly, the “abolition of all systems which make the exploitation of man by man possible.”
• The train robbery at Kakori was the HRA’s first major action, in August 1925.

Question 28: A ship ‘class’ describes a group of vessels of similar:

1. Tonnage
2. Usage
3. Capabilities
4. Weaponry

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) 1, 2 and 3

B) 2, 3 and 4

C) 1, 2 and 4

D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

• The second of the Project 15B stealth-guided missile destroyers built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), INS Mormugao (Pennant D67), was commissioned into the Indian Navy on Sunday. The ship, named after a key port in Goa, was commissioned a day before the Goa Liberation Day Celebrations.

Project 15B

• Over the last decade, the Indian Navy has commissioned three guided missile destroyers of the Kolkata class — INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, and INS Chennai — under the project codenamed These ships were a step ahead of their precursor Delhi class of ships — INS Delhi, INS Mysore, and INS Mumbai.
• All these ships were built by MDSL, one of the country’s most important Defence PSUs.
• A ship ‘class’ describes a group of vessels of similar tonnage, usage, capabilities, and weaponry.
• The contract for four guided missile destroyers more advanced than the Kolkata class was signed in January This was Project 15B, and the lead ship, INS Visakhapatnam (Pennant D66) was commissioned into the Navy in November 2021. 
• Designed by the Warship Design Bureau, Indian Navy’s in-house warship design body, and built by MDSL in Mumbai, the four ships of Project 15B were to be named after four major cities around the country — Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal, and Surat.
• A ship class is identified by its lead ship, in this case, INS Vishakhapatnam.

Question 29: Consider the following statements:

1. Signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meet every two years.
2. The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aspires to restore 30% of degraded lands and waters by 2030.
3. As per the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Countries committed to identify subsidies that deplete biodiversity by 2025.
4. In 2010, at COP10 in Nagoya, countries had agreed to a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity containing 10 targets.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) 1, 2 and 3

B) 2, 3 and 4

C) 1, 2 and 4

D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: A

Explanation

• Signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a 1993 agreement, meet every two years — not annually like the climate meetings — to work on a global plan to halt biodiversity loss and restore natural ecosystems.
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in Montreal: The Montreal Conference has delivered a new agreement called the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which contains four goals and 23 targets that need to be achieved by 2030.
• Conservation, protection and restoration: Delegates committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, fulfilling the deal’s highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30. Indigenous and traditional territories will also count toward this goal, as many countries and campaigners pushed for during the talks.
• The deal also aspires to restore 30% of degraded lands and waters throughout the decade, up from an earlier aim of 20%.
• Money for nature: Signatories aim to ensure $200 billion per year is channeled to conservation initiatives, from public and private sources. Wealthier countries should contribute at least $20 billions of this every year by 2025, and at least $30 billion a year by 2030.
• Harmful subsidies: Countries committed to identify subsidies that deplete biodiversity by 2025, and then eliminate, phase out or reform them. They agreed to slash those incentives by at least $500 billion a year by 2030 and increase incentives that are positive for conservation.
• Pollution and pesticides: the Kunming-Montreal agreement will focus on reducing the negative impacts of pollution to levels that are not considered harmful to nature, but the text provides no quantifiable target here.
• In 2010, at COP10 in Nagoya, Japan, countries had agreed to a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity containing 20 targets. These used to be called the Aichi targets.
• The GBF is to the 2020-30 decade what the Aichi targets were for the previous one. The challenge will be in their implementation.

Question 30: Identify the states with total prohibition and some more with partial prohibition with regards to alcohol consumption and sale:

1. Bihar
2. Gujarat
3. Lakshadweep
4. Mizoram

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) 1, 2 and 3

B) 2, 3 and 4

C) 1, 2 and 4

D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

All states have some regulations with regards to alcohol consumption and sale (like age requirements or dry days). Currently, there are five states with total prohibition and some more with partial prohibition: Bihar, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland.