SSC CGL 2015:- GEOGRAPHY QUIZ

1. High mean temperature, high relative humidity and heavy rainfall (well distributed all over the year) are the characteristic features of the
(a) Monsoon region
(b) Mediterranean region
(c) Equatorial region
(d) Savanna region
 
2. Mild and rainy winters, warm and dry summers are the characteristic features of fl-E.S. 1994)
(a) Monsoon Region
(b) Mediterranean Region
(c) Tropical Grasslands
(d) Temperate Grasslands
 
3. The most advanced Tundra inhabitants are
(a) Eskimos
(b) Lapps
(c) Yakuts
(d) Samoyeds
 
4. Match the following:
A. Prairies 1. Equatorial regions
B. Savannas 2. Temperate Grasslands
C. Selva 3. Coniferous forests
D. Taiga 4. Tropical grasslands
ABCD ABCD
(a) 2 1 4 3
(b) 2 4 1 3
(c) 3 1 4 2
(d) 3 4 1 2
 
5. The polar regions of the earth cannot support forest growth because
(a) The rainfall is very low
(b) The growing season is short in these areas
(c) The ground is often frozen or snow or ice-covered
(d) All the above factors
 
6. Which of the following regions specialises in the cultivation of citrus fruits? (Income Tax & Central Excise, 1994)
(a) Equatorial region
(b) Mediterranean region
(c) Polar region
(d) Tundra region
 
7. The hot deserts of the world are generally found near (CJD.S. 1991) 
(a) The equator 
(b) The doldrums
(c) The horse latitude
(d) The Tundras
 
8. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?
(a) The Mediterranean Region - summer rain
(b) The Equatorial Region - Heavy convectional shower
(c) The Monsoon Region - Heavy rain throughout the year
(d) The Desert Region - winter rain
 
9. The climate characteristics of which of the following natural regions are dry summers and moist winters?
(a) China type region
(b) Coniferous forest region
(c) Mediterranean region
(d) Monsoon region
 
10. 'Mahogany' is the name of the tree found in the
(a) Tropical monsoon forests
(b) Mediterranean forests
(c) Coniferous forests
(d) Tropical evergreen forests
 
11. What are 'Igloos'? (N.D.A. 1994)
(a) A kind of animal hunted by Kalahari Bushmen
(b) A kind of animal domesticated by aboriginal inhabitants of Australia
(c) Mammoth mammals found in the Pacific Ocean
(d) A dome-shaped house or a hut, built of blocks of hard snow, in which the Eskimos live
 
12. Wood pulp comes from
(a) Equatorial region
(b) Temperate region
(c) Mediterranean region
(d) Coniferous forest region
 
13. The collective farms in the Steppes of Eurasia are termed as
(a) Campos
(b) Estancias
(c) Kolkhoz '
(d) Corals
 
14. Trees with hardwood and dense canopy are generally found in
(Stenographers' Exam, 93)
(a) Deciduous forests
(b) Evergreen forests
(c) Tidal forests
(d) Alpine forests
 
15. Which of the following groups represent Karst regions?
(a) Causses & Pennines
(b) Inselberg & Demoiselles
(c) Lapies. & Polje
(d) Uvala & Zeugen
 
16. The tropical grasslands of Africa are known as
(a) Steppes
(b) Savannas
(c) Pampas
(d) Downs
 
17. Sunderbans is the name of
(a) Tropical fores),
(b) Tidal forest
(c) Semievergreen
(d) Deciduous forest

18. Which of the following animals is caught for fur by the nomadic Eskimos of Polar Tundra?
(a) Bear
(b) Caribou
(c) Mink
(d) Walrus
 
19. Which one of the following is found on the western coast of continents betweeh 30° and 40° latitudes? (C.D.S. 1991)
(a) Tropical Grassland Region
(b) Hot Desert Climate Region
(c) Mediterranean Climate Region
(d) Temperate Climate Region
 
20. Which of the following environment supports the growth of Mangrove Swamp? (N.D.A. 1995)
(a) Tidal flat
(b) Monsoon
(c) Equatorial
(d) Mixed
 
21. Which of the following characterises the desert forests?
(a) Pointed leaves
(b) Dense leaves
(c) Canopy leaves
(d) Broad leaves
 
22. Which of the following types of forests mostly grow in the belt lying between 50°N and 70°N?
(a) Temperate hardwood forests
(b) Temperate coniferous forests
(c) Temperate deciduous forests
(d) Tropical evergreen forests
 
23. Mosses and Lichens are the characteristic vegetation of
(a) Hot desert region
(b) Mediterranean region
(c) Temperate region
(d) Tundra region
 
24. The Llanoz and Campos of South America are examples of
(a) Coniferous forest regions
(b) Deciduous regions
(c) Equatorial regions
(d) Savanna regions
 
25. Long treeless grassy palms are characteristics of (C.D.S.1992)
(a) Campos
(b) Llanos
(c).,Pampas
(d) Prairies

Answer
1. (C) 2. (b) 3.(b) 4.(b) 5(d) 6. (b) 7. (c) 8. (b) 9. (c) 10.(d)
11. (d) 12. (d) 13.(c) 14.(b) 15.(a) 16.(b) 17.(b) 18(b) 19.(c) 20.(a)
21.(b) 22.(b) 23.(d) 24.(d) 25.(d)

SSC CGL 2015: HISTORY

  PART-1

The Mughal Age

1.Babur (1526-1530)

·         He was the founder of Mughal dynasty in India.

·         He was a direct descendant of Timur, and believed himself to be a descendant also of chengiz khan through his mother.

·         He was invited to attack India by Daulat Khan lodi (Subedar of Punjab), Ibrahim Lodi’s uncle alam Khan Lodi and Rana Sanga.

·         He was Successful in his fifth expedition to India, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat on April 21, 1526.

·         He was the first one to entitle himself as ‘Padshah’.

·         He took keen interest in the development of gardens.

·         He wrote Tuzuk-i-Baburi or Baburnama in Turkish. It was translated into Persian by Abdul-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.

·         He died in 1530 and was buried first at Arambagh in Agra. Roughly nine years later his body was taken to Kabul and buried there.

·         The battle of Ghaghra was the 1^st battle which was fought on Land and water simultaneously in medieval India.

Battles fought by Babur

Battle	Year	Outcome
First Battle of Panipat	1526	Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi
Battle of Khanwa	1527	Babur defeated Rana sanga
Battle of Chanderi	1528	Babur defeated Medini Rai
Battle of Ghaghra	1529	Babur defeated joint forces of Afghans and the Sultan of Bengal

2. Humayun (1530-1540 and 1555-1556)

·         Humayun succeeded his father Babur, but as per the Timurid tradition he was forced to share power with his brothers. Thus Sulaiman was given Badakshan, kamran inherited Kabul and Qandhar, while Askari and Hindal received Sind.

·         He built Dinpanah at Delhi as his second capital .

·         He faced a formidable opponent in the Afghan, Sher Shah Suri.

·         He was defeated in the Battle of Chausa by Sher Shah Suri in 1539.

·         He was again defeated in the Battle of Bilgram (Kannauj) by Sher Shah Suri in 1540.

·         Defeat at Kanauj compelled Humayun to leave India. He field to the refuge of Safavid empire in Persia, where the Persian King Shah Tahmasp welcomed the Mughal and treated him like a royal visitor.

·         After the death of Sher Shah Suri in 1545, Humayun conquered Qandhar and re-established his control over Kabul with the help of Shah tahmasp.

·         He defeated the forces of Sikandar Sur and occupied Agra and Delhi in 1555.

·         His sister, Gulbadan begum wrote his biography, Humayunama.

·         His wife Hamida banu Begum built his tomb at Delhi, which is known as Humayun’s tomb.

·         He died in 1556, when he fell from the stairs of his library (Sher Mandal).

3. Akbar (1556-1605)

·         Akbar was 14 years old when he was crowned at Kalanaur in 1556.

·         He defeated Hemu, Wazir of Adil Shah Suri in Second Battle of Panipat in 1556.

·         Between 1556-1560, Akbar ruled under the regency of Bairam Khan.

·         On Maham Anga’s advice, who was his foster mother, Akbar took control of the empire from Bairam Khan.

·         Akbar married Hira Kunwari, who was a Kachhwaha princess. She took the name Jodha Bai and was the mother of Prince Salim, who later became the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

·         Akbar sent Raja Man Singh of Amber to confront Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar in the historic Battle of Haldighati in 1576. In this battle Rana Pratap Singh was defeated.

·         At the time of Akbar, there were five leading States of the deccan viz. Khandesh (farruqis), Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahs), Berar (Imad Shahs), Bijapur (Adil Shahs) and Golconda (Qutab Shahs).

·         Akbar faced a rebellion in Gujarat in 1572, which was crushed.

·         He built Buland Darwaza in Fatehpur Sikri in memory of Victory over Gujarat.

·         In 1579, he issued a decree called ‘ Mazharnama’ and took control of the law in his own hands.

·         In 1585, he transferred his capital to Lahore in order to effect a greater integration of the north west into the Mughal empire.

·         His last compaign was against Asirgarh (Khandesh) in 1601.

Akbar’s Campaign

Year                                             Against

1561…………………………………………… Baz Bahadur of Malwa

1564………………………………………….. Rani Durgawati of Garh Katanga

1567………………………………………….. Chittor (Mewar)

1572………………………………………….. Gujarat

1574………………………………………….. Bengal

1576………………………………………….. Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar

1581…………………………………………. Kabul

1586…………………………………………. Kashmir

1593…………………………………………. Chandbiwi of Ahmadnagar

1601………………………………………… Khandesh (Asirgarh)

SSC CGL 2015:- INDIAN POLITY

PART-1

Constitution of     India:                                                                    

Historical Background

Framing of Constitution of India

·         The constituent Assembly was set up in November 1946 as per the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946

·         The members were elected indirectly by the Provincial Assemblies in the ratio of one member per million populations.

·         There were a total of 389 members in the constituent Assembly, of which 296 were elected by the members of the Provincial Assemblies and the rest were nominated by the Princely States.

·         Its first meeting was held on 9^th December 1946 with Sachidanand Sinha as the Interim President. He was the oldest member of the assembly and was elected as interim President following the French practice. Later, on December 11, 1946 Rajender Prasad and H.C Mukherjee were elected as the President and Vice- President of the Assembly respectively. Sir B.N Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor to the Assembly.

·         Jawaharlal Nehru moved the objectives resolution in the Assembly on December 13, 1946. It was adopted by the Assembly on January 22, 1947.

·         The constituent Assembly formed committees for framing the constitution. Chairman of some important committees are given below.

Committee                                                                         Chairman

Drafting Committee……………………………………………………………..  B.R. Ambedkar

Union Constitution Committee…………….………………………………………. J. L Nehru

Committee for State Negotiation………………………………………  Rajender Prasad

Provincial Constitution Committee…………………………………………..  Sardar Patel

Union Powers Committee…………………………………………………………….  J. L Nehru

Committee on Fundamental Rights & Minorities ………………………Sardar Patel

The Steering Committee………………………………………………………….  K. M Munshi

Rules of Procedure Committee………………………………………..  Rajender Prasaed

Do You Know? Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly was the most important committee among all the committees. It was set up on 29th August 1947. It consisted total 7 members including chairman. 1. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman)                    4. K.M. Munshi 2. N. Gopalswami Ayyangar                       5. Syed Mohammed Saadullah 3. Alladi Krishna Swami Ayyar                   6. B.L. Mittar (replaced by N. Madhav Rao due to ill health) 7. D.P. khaitan (died in 1948 and was replaced by T.T. Krishnamachari)

 

BANK PO/CLERK 2015:- ECONOMICS

National Income

National Statistical Commission (NSC)

The government of India ordered the setting up of a permanent National Statistic commission? (NSC) on 1^st June, 2005 on the recommendation of the C. Rangarajan Commission. The national Statically Commission assumed charge on 12^th July, 2006. Prof.Suresh tendulkar became the first chairperson of the NSC

Constitution of NSC

1.       A part- time chairperson who will be an eminent statistician or social scientist.

2.       Four part- time members, one each from the following fields of specialization and experience in

(i)                  Economics statistics in such areas as agriculture industry, infrastructure, trade or infancies.

(ii)                Social and environment statistics in such areas as population, health education, labour and employment or environment.

(iii)               Statistical operations in such areas as censuses, survey statistical information system or information technology.

(iv)              National accounts, statistical modeling or state statistical systems.

3.       The Secretary, Planning Commission as ex-officio member.

Concept in the National Income

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

It is the sum total of the value of all final commodities and service produce within the geographical boundary of a country during a given period of time the sum total is to be calculated by counting the values without duplication.

Gross National Product (GNP)

GNP= GDP +Net Factor Income Abroad (NFIA)

        = GDP + export – Import

Note: Since India has more imports than exports, its GNP figure is less than that of GDP.

Net National Product (NNP)

NNP = GNP - Depreciation

         = GNP - capital Consumption Allowance

         = GDP +NFIA – Depreciation

         = NDP+NFIA

Net Domestic product (NDP)

                      NDP= GDP – Depreciation.

Note: Depreciation is also known as capital Consumption allowance.

Calculation of National income Aggregates at Market Price and factor Cost.

1.       GDP at market price ( ) ( Contribution of all sectors at market price)

2.       GDP at factor Cost ( ) =  - net indirect taxes +subsidy

3.       NDP at market price ) =  – depreciation

4.        =  - net indirect taxes + subsidy

5.        = + net factor income from abroad

6.        = - net indirect taxes + subsidy

 Per Capita Income

In India,  is taken as national income of India. But  coneals the population effect over the economy, hence concept of per capita income is evolved.

Per capita income = national income/ total population

Ø Do you know?

A committee was set up under the chairmanship of C.Rangarajan to improve Statistical database of India.

Methods to estimate National Income

(i)                  Production Method: net value of final goods and service produced in country during a year is taken into consideration

(ii)                Income Method:  total of net income earned by working people in different sectors and commercial enterprises

Total income = total rent + total wages +total interest =total profit

(iii)             Consumption method: also called as expenditure method. It is the addition of total consumption and total savings.

POVERTY

·         The Planning Commission is a nodal agency in the Government of India for estimation of poverty at national and state levels.

·         Since, March 1997 it has been using the Expert Group Method (expert group on estimation of proportion and number of poor ) to estimate poverty.

·         According to this method the estimates of poverty are made from the large sample survey on household consumer expenditure conducted by the national Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) of the ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

·         Using this methodology the Planning Commission, in the past, has released poverty estimates for the year 1973-74, 1977-78, 1983, 1987-88, 1993-94

·         And 1999- 2000. While releasing the estimates of poverty for 1999-2000, it had been noted that these estimates were not strictly comparable with the estimates for the previous years.

Tendulkar Committee Report

·         SD Tendulkar, the former chairman of prime minister’s economic advisory council has prepared a report, according to which India has 37.2% population below poverty line (BPL).

·         According to the Tendulkar committee, 41.8% of people in rural area live below the poverty line as against 25.7% of urban residents.

·         The committee as also revised the poverty line in terms of money spends per person per month.

·         From Rs. 356.30 a month, this has increase to Rs. 446.68 in rural areas.

·         In urban areas it has risen from Rs. 538.60 to 578.80.

·         As per the record the most poor state are Orisha (57.2% ) Bihar  (54.4%) Chhattisgarh (49.4%), Madhya Pradesh (48.6%), Jharkhand 45.3% and Uttar Pradesh (40.9%) 

·         According to planning commission of India 27.5% of the population is under BPL as per the poverty estimates for the year 2004-05.

Human Development Resource (HDR)

·         HDR is brought up by the UNDP at every calendar year whereas the world development report is broad by the World Bank at every financial year.

·         HDR is based on human development index which was for the first time given by Mahbub –ul-haq of Pakistan in 1990. In partnership with Indian economist Amartiya Sen. the first HDR was published in 1990.

            HDR brings various indices:

1.       HDI (Human Development Index) – introduce in HDR 1990.

2.       GDI (General Related Development Index) - introduce in HDR 1995.

3.       GEM (General Empowerment Measures) – introduce in HDR in 1995.

4.       HPI (Human Poverty Index) - introduce in 1997.

5.       TAI (Technology Achievement Index) - introduce in HDR in1997.

HDR Indices

The HDI measures average achievement in a country in three basic dimension of human development.

1.       A long and healthy life as measures by life expectancy at birth

2.       Knowledge, as measures by the adult literacy rate (with two-third weight) and combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio.

3.       A decent standard of living, as measures by Gross Domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity  (PPP) in USD (US Dollar)

·         Human poverty is primarily a denial of choices and opportunities for living in a life once have reason to value. Lake of income is therefore far to narrow to serve as a holistic indicator

HPI-1 –human poverty index for developing countries

                                        HPI-2 – human poverty index for development countries (in addition to three                                                                   dimension in HPI-1, it also include social exclusion

·         GDI is a composite index that measures human development in same dimension as the HDI while adjusting for gender in equality in that basic dimension.

                                              

                    HDR Themes /Titles

HDR-2010	20th Anniversary Edition
HDR-2009	Overcoming barriers: Human Mobility & Development
HDR-2007/08	Fighting climate change: Human solidity in divided world.
HDR-2006	Beyond Scarcity: Power Poverty and the global water crisis
HDR-2005	International co-operation at a cross roads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal world
HDR-2004	Culture liberty in today’s diverse world
HDR-1990	Concept and measurement of human development

Important Rankings in HDR 2012

Rank	Country	HDI 2012
1	Norway
2	Australia
3	US
4	Netherlands
5	Ireland
6	Germany
7	New Zealand
8	Ireland
9	Switzerland
10	Japan
11	Canada
136	India

Salient features of HDR 2009

All countries included in the HDI are classified in to one of four clusters of achievement in human development.

1.       Very high human development (HDI of 0.9 and above )

2.       High human development (HDI of 0.8 and 0.899)

3.       Medium human development (HDI of 0.5 and 0.799)

4.       Low human development (HDI of less than 0.5)

In HDR 2009, the HDI for India is 0.612 which gives the country 134 out of 182 countries. Thus India falls under the category of medium human development.