The 2016 Codex
Questions 41 to 50 (Set A)
With reference to the 'Trans-Pacific Partnership', consider the following statements:
1. It is an agreement among all the Pacific Rim countries except China and Russia.
2. It is a strategic alliance for the purpose of maritime security only.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Statement 1 is False: The word "all" is a massive absolute trap. The TPP was a proposed trade agreement initially signed by 12 Pacific Rim countries. It absolutely did not include all the countries on the Pacific Rim (for example, Colombia, South Korea, and the Philippines were not original signatories).
Statement 2 is False: The TPP had nothing to do with "maritime security only." It was one of the largest free trade agreements (economic alliances) ever negotiated, focusing on slashing tariffs, promoting economic growth, and standardizing intellectual property rights across member nations.
Route: [REALM 194: Global Trade Agreements (TPP/CPTPP)]The Pacific Ledger
The Continental Bridge
Consider the following statements:
1. The India-Africa Summit held in 2015 was the third such Summit.
2. It was actually initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (a) 1 only
The India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) is the official platform for the African-Indian relations.
Statement 1 is True: The 2015 summit held in New Delhi was indeed the third edition. (The first was in New Delhi in 2008, and the second in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2011).
Statement 2 is False: The UPSC examiner is trying to confuse you with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) or the Asian Relations Conference. The India-Africa Forum Summit is a modern geopolitical initiative that was launched in 2008. It had absolutely nothing to do with Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951.
Route: [REALM 115: India-Africa Relations]What is/are the purpose/purposes of the 'Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR)' announced by RBI?
1. These guidelines help improve the transparency in the methodology followed by banks for determining the interest rates on advances.
2. These guidelines help ensure availability of bank credit at interest rates which are fair to the borrowers as well as the banks.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (c) Both 1 and 2
Introduced by the RBI in 2016, the MCLR replaced the older, opaque "Base Rate" system. Before MCLR, when the RBI cut repo rates, banks would delay passing on the benefits to borrowers.
Statement 1 is True: MCLR established a strict, mathematical formula based on the marginal (incremental) cost of funds, operating costs, and tenor premiums, drastically improving the transparency of how banks calculate their lending rates.
Statement 2 is True: By linking the lending rate to current funding costs, the MCLR ensures that interest rates move efficiently with RBI policy, making credit fair to both borrowers (who get faster rate cuts) and banks (who cover their marginal costs).
Route: [REALM 115: Monetary Policy Transmission (MCLR)]The Transparent Transmission
The Swimming Herds
What is/are unique about 'Kharai camel', a breed found in India?
1. It is capable of swimming up to three kilometres in seawater.
2. It survives by grazing on mangroves.
3. It lives in the wild and cannot be domesticated.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (a) 1 and 2 only
The Kharai camel is a unique, endangered breed of camel found exclusively in the coastal region of Kutch, Gujarat.
Statements 1 and 2 are True: They are famous for being "swimming camels". They have adapted to the harsh coastal ecology by swimming up to 3 km across seawater to reach the estuarine islands where they graze heavily on mangroves.
Statement 3 is False: They are absolutely not completely wild or undomesticable. They have been bred, herded, and domesticated for centuries by local pastoral communities, specifically the Jat and Rabari (Maldhari) communities of Kutch.
Route: [REALM 67: Endemic Species (Fauna)]Recently, our scientists have discovered a new and distinct species of banana plant which attains a height of about 11 metres and has orange-coloured fruit pulp. In which part of India has it been discovered?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (a) Andaman Islands
In 2015, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) discovered a massive, distinct new species of wild banana in the Krishna Nalah tropical rainforest on Little Andaman Island. Named Musa indandamanensis, it grows over 11 meters high (three times taller than a regular banana tree) and bears distinctive fruits with sweet, orange-colored pulp. Its discovery was globally significant for crop breeding due to its potential hardiness.
Route: [REALM 66: Biodiversity Hotspots (Andaman)]The Giant of the Isles
The Ocean's Retriever
Which one of the following is the best description of 'INS Astradharini', that was in the news recently?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (c) Torpedo launch and recovery vessel
Commissioned into the Indian Navy in October 2015, INS Astradharini (meaning "she who holds weapons") is an indigenously designed and built Torpedo Launch and Recovery Vessel (TLRV). Featuring a unique twin-hull catamaran design, it is used primarily by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) to carry out advanced technical sea trials of underwater weapons (torpedoes) and mines before they are inducted into the fleet.
Route: [REALM 423: Indian Naval Fleet & Submarines]What is 'Greased Lightning-10 (GL-10)', recently in the news?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (a) Electric plane tested by NASA
The Greased Lightning (GL-10) is an experimental, battery-powered electric aircraft developed and tested by NASA. Its defining feature is a "tilt-wing" design housing 10 electric motors (hence the '10'). The wing points upward to allow the drone to take off and land vertically like a helicopter (VTOL), and then tilts forward in mid-air to fly efficiently like a conventional airplane.
Note: It is an unmanned UAV prototype, not a space observatory or a reusable rocket.
Route: [REALM 417: Drone Tech & Aviation]The Tilt-Wing Prototype
The Nutri-Cereal Drive
With reference to 'Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion', which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. This initiative aims to demonstrate the improved production and post-harvest technologies, and to demonstrate value addition techniques, in an integrated manner, with cluster approach.
2. Poor, small, marginal and tribal farmers have larger stake in this scheme.
3. An important objective of the scheme is to encourage farmers of commercial crops to shift to millet cultivation by offering them free kits of critical inputs of nutrients and microirrigation equipment.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (c) 1 and 2 only
Statement 1 is True: INSIMP (launched under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) was a comprehensive scheme designed to boost millet production by providing technology, processing units, and value-addition using a highly localized cluster approach.
Statement 2 is True: Millets are "orphan crops" largely grown in rainfed, arid, and hilly regions. Consequently, the primary beneficiaries and stakeholders of this scheme are the poorest, small, marginal, and tribal farmers who cultivate these harsh lands.
Statement 3 is False: This is a fabricated policy trap. The scheme aimed to enhance productivity in areas already growing millets or lying fallow. It never had an "important objective" to incentivize wealthy commercial/cash crop farmers (like sugarcane or cotton growers) to abandon their lucrative cash crops to shift to millets using free micro-irrigation kits.
Route: [REALM 116: Agricultural Schemes & Millets]The 'Swadeshi' and 'Boycott' were adopted as methods of struggle for the first time during the
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (a) agitation against the Partition of Bengal
When Lord Curzon announced the devastating Partition of Bengal in 1905, the Indian National Congress and the broader public reacted with absolute fury. On August 7, 1905, at the Calcutta Town Hall, the Swadeshi Movement was formally proclaimed. For the very first time on a mass political scale, the strategies of "Swadeshi" (using indigenous goods) and "Boycott" (burning and rejecting British-manufactured cloth and goods) were adopted as primary weapons of the Indian freedom struggle, long before Gandhi arrived on the scene for the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Route: [REALM 26: Swadeshi & Anti-Partition Movement]The Curzon Spark
The Compassionate Pause
With reference to the religious history of India, consider the following statements:
1. The concept of Bodhisattva is central to Hinayana sect of Buddhism.
2. Bodhisattva is a compassionate one on his way to enlightenment.
3. Bodhisattva delays achieving his own salvation to help all sentient beings on their path to it.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Secret Whisper
Official Key: (b) 2 and 3 only
Statement 1 is False: The concept of the Bodhisattva (and the worship of celestial Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara) is the absolute central pillar of Mahayana Buddhism (the "Great Vehicle"). The orthodox Hinayana (Theravada) sect focuses on the individual pursuit of liberation to become an Arhat.
Statements 2 and 3 are True: A Bodhisattva is an enlightened being driven by massive, boundless compassion. Instead of stepping through the final door into Nirvana (salvation) for themselves, they deliberately delay their own ultimate release, choosing to remain in the cycle of samsara to guide and help all other suffering sentient beings achieve enlightenment first.
Route: [REALM 16: Jainism & Buddhism]