Test Preparation on IAS Prelims Sample Paper -10

The coincidence of wants (often known as double coincidence of wants) lacking amedium of exchange (such as money), which have to rely on barter or other in-kind transactions.Double coincidence of wants means that the both the parties have to agree to sell and buy eachcommodities. The problem is caused by the improbability of the wants, needs, or events that causeor motivate a transaction occurring at the same time and the same place. One example is the bar musicianwho is "paid" with liquor or food, items which his landlord will not accept as rent payment, when themusician would rather have a month's shelter. If, instead, the musician's landlord were to throw a party anddesire music for it, hiring the musician to play it by offering the month's rent in exchange, a coincidence ofwants would exist. In-kind transactions have several limitations, most notably timing constraints. If you wishto trade fruit for wheat, you can only do this when the fruit and wheat are both available at the same timeand place (and, additionally, only if someone wishes to trade wheat for fruit). That may be a very brief time,or it may be never.

SI: Prime Minister also announced significant increase in the honorarium given toAnganwadi workers. Those receiving Rs. 3000 so far, would now receive Rs. 4500. Similarly those receivingRs. 2200, would now get Rs. 3500. The honorarium for Anganwadi helpers has also been increased from Rs.1500 to Rs. 2250. This is despite that they are still considered as contract workers. Prime Minister alsoannounced that Anganwadi workers and helpers using techniques such as Common Application Software(ICDS-CAS), would get additional incentives. The incentives ranging from Rs. 250 to Rs. 500, would be basedon performance.S2: In addition to increase in remuneration, all ASHA workers and their helpers would be provided freeinsurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Prime Minister Suraksha Bima Yojana.The Prime Minister appreciated their efforts to work together, to use innovative means and technology, toimprove the delivery of health and nutrition services and achieve the goal of the P05HAN Abhiyan -reduction of malnutrition in the country.

Statement 1: A high (or low) value of CRR or SLR helps increase (or decrease) thevalue of reserve deposit ratio, thus diminishing (or increasing) the value of the money multiplier and moneysupply in the economy in a similar fashion.Statement 2: A low (or high) bank rate encourages banks to keep smaller (or greater) proportion of theirdeposits as reserves, since borrowing from RBI is now less (or more) costly than before. As a result banks usea greater (or smaller) proportion of their resources for giving out loans to borrowers or investors, therebyenhancing (or depressing) the multiplier process via assisting (or resisting) secondary money creation. Inshort, a low (or high) bank rate reduces (or increases) rdr and hence Increases (or decreases) the value of themoney multiplier, which is (1 + cdr)/(cdr + rdr). Thus, for any given amount of high powered money, H, totalmoney supply goes up.

Statement 1: Launched in 2009, the Kepler mission Is specifically designed to surveyour region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-sized and smaller planets in or near thehabitable zone and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might havesuch planets.Statement 2: The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorersprogram, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method In an area 400 times larger than thatcovered by the Kepler mission. It was launched on April 18, 2018 atop a Falcon 9 rocket. It was led by theMassachusetts Institute of Technology with seed funding from Google. The mission will monitor at least200,000 stars for signs of exoplanets, ranging from Earth-sized rocky worlds to huge gas giant planets. TESS,however, will focus on stars that are 30 to 100 times brighter than those Kepler examined. This will helpastronomers better understand the structure of solar systems outside of our Earth, and provide insights intohow our own solar system formed. Orbit: JESS will occupy a never-before-used orbit high above Earth. Theelliptical orbit, called P/2, is exactly half of the moon's orbital period; this means that TESS will orbit Earthevery 13.7 days. Its closest point to Earth (67,000 miles or 108,000 kilometers) is about triple the distance ofgeosynchronous orbit, where most communications satellites operate.

Learning: The eight extinctions that have been recorded recently has been the first inthis decade of the 21st century. Five of the eight likely extinctions occurred in South America, the result ofdeforestation. This bucks the trend of small-island birds going extinct due to invasive species or hunting. Asper Stuary Butchart, the chief scientist for BirdLife International, "Historically 90 percent of bird extinctionshave been small populations on remote islands. Our evidence shows there is a growing wave of extinctionswashing over the [South American] continent driven by habitat loss from unsustainable agriculture, drainageand logging." The Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixil) was classified as being extinct in the wild. The bird wasfeatured in the 2011 animated film "Rio." That movie chronicled the story of two fictional macaws, onecaptive and one wild, breeding together in an effort to save the species (but in a family-friendly way).BirdLife has recommended that the remaining birds

An important qualification of the President's office is that he should not hold anyoffice of profit under the Union government or any state government or any local authority or any otherpublic authority. However, a sitting President or Vice-President of the Union, the Governor of any state andaminister of the Union or any state is not deemed to hoid any office of profit and hence qualified as apresidential candidate. So, both A and R are wrong.Learning: An office is called an office of profit if it carries some remuneration, financial advantage, benefitand other advantages. The Constitution of India provides for separation of powers between executive andlegislature, where the executive are responsible for implementing key decisions, policies, law and utilizepublic money, whereas legislature provides the manner in which the executive exercises authority. Theconstitution lays down that legislators would be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member ofthe legislature if they were to hold any office of profit under the government other than an office declaredby the legislature by law not to disqualify its holder. The underlying idea was to obviate a conflict of interestbetween the duties of office and their legislative functions.

Learning: The RBI has been using headline Consumer Price Index (Combined) inflationas the benchmark for all monetary policy stance from April 2014 onwards. It used to be WPl previously. TheBase Year For CPI( Rural,Urban and Combined) is 2012 In the RBI's newly adopted flexible inflation-targeting(FIT) framework, the headline CPl inflation measure is being used as the target rate of inflation as it reflectsthe prices of essential consumption goods. Inflation in these prices hurts people in lower-income groupsmore as they spend a higher proportion of their incomes on these items. Since the objective of monetarypolicy is to maintain price stability so as to protect ordinary citizens from the bouts of inflation, targetingheadline inflation is the appropriate choice.

Statement 1: The speaker can only adjourn the house, not summon or prorogue thehouse which is done by the President. The President cannot arbitrarily summon or prorogue proceedings ofthe house, but based on PM's advice. However, he is not bound to accept the advice of the PM, when he isseeking a vote of confidence.Statement 2: When he recommends dissolution, he should not have been subject to a prior vote ofconfidence.Statement 3: The Prime Minister is the leader of the Lower House. In this capacity, he enjoys these powers.

Statement 1: A biosimilar is a biologic medical product that is almost an identical copyof an original product that is manufactured by a different company. Bioslmilars are officially approvedversions of original "innovator" products and can be manufactured when the original product's patentexpires. Reference to the Innovator product is an integral component of the approval.Statement 2: In case of bioslmilars, biological entities being somewhat different (and not as it is of replica),every organism has to be engineered to produce the same therapeutic effect while in generics, the copies ofAPI can be generated. Bio-similars differ from generics - in complexity, in the manufacturing processes andin the data needed to demonstrate similarity for approval. The structure of Generic Simple and well-definedwhereas for Bio-similar Its Complex with potential structural variations. Regulatory procedure to getapproval for bioslmilars is complex as compared to that of a generic.Learning: Need of Bioslmilars in India: Due to enormous soaring demand for generic drugs, India'spharmaceutical producers emerged as world market leaders in this sector and were a major businesssuccess story in the 2000s. In the process, Indian producers made a valuable contribution to reducing costsand to expanding access to life-saving treatments for patients, both in emerging markets and in developedcountries. Recently there is a wave of consolidation among pharma retailers, stiffer competition fromChinese pharma manufacturers and an uptick in generic drug applications have combined to put downwardpressure on drug prices. It is imperative that India's pharmaceutical manufacturers create new markets torestore market confidence in their growth prospects.

Statement 1: Till this amendment was introduced, the Constitution did not refer tothe existence of political parties, even though the entire system of governance Is based on the party system.Through this amendment, there is a clear constitutional recognition of political parties for the first time. Theamendment brought in the Tenth Schedule provides that an MP/MLA/MLC forfeits his/her membership ofthe legislature if he/she defects from the party on whose symbol he/she was elected.Statement 2: As per the amendment, the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in theCouncil of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.