Test Preparation on IAS Prelims Sample Paper -33

The entire Biosphere Reserve is hilly. Important rivers and streams of the Garo Hills region rise from the Nokrek Range, of which the river Simsang, known as Someshwari when it emerges into Bangladesh at Baghmara, is the most prominent.Balpakram National Park and the famous Siju Cave is located very close to the Napak Lake near the Simsang River game reserve which is south east to Nokrek National Park. The Garos never kill or hunt the Hoolock Gibbon as it is a traditional belief among them that if a Hoolock Gibbon is killed, a famine or a curse would befall the entire village. UNESCO added this National park to its list of Biosphere Reserves in 2009. Along with Balphakram national park, Nokrek is a hotspot of biodiversity in Meghalaya

Learning: There are only two ways to satisfy the increasing food and other agricultural demands of the country's rising population: either expanding the net area under cultivation or intensifying cropping over the existing area. The net sown area of the country has risen by about 20 per cent since independence and has reached a point where it is not possible to make any appreciable Increase. Thus; raising the cropping intensity is the only viable option left. Cropping intensity refers to raising of a number of crops from the same field during one agriculture year. It can be expressed as Cropping intensity = (Gross cropped area / Net sown area) x lOOln India, this ratio lies around 130%. Thus, higher cropping intensity means that a higher portion of the net area is being cropped more than once during one agricultural year. This also implies higher productivity per unit of arable land during one agricultural year. For instance, suppose a farmer owns five hectares of land, and gets the crop from these five acresduring the kharif season and, again, during the rabi season he raises a crop from three hectares.He, thus, gets the effective produce from eight hectares, although he owns only five hectares physically. Had he raised crop from five hectares totally, his cropping intensity would have been 100 per cent, while now it is 160 per cent.

The Dasara Dibba attracts attention as one of the tallest structures in the Royal Enclosure of Hampi. The stone platform has a height of about 12 metres. The grand platform was used as a stage by the kings to watch the celebration of the nine-day long splendid Mahanavami festival, also known as the Dasara festival. Due to this reason the platform came to be known as Mahanavami Dibba.The ornamental platform is a high structure on which the king used to sit and watch the army march-past, the war games and the royal procession that were held during the festival. Dasara was the annual state festival and it was celebrated in style by the Vijayanagara kings.

Learning: Bajra is sown in hot and dry climatic conditions in north-western and western parts of the country. It is a hardy crop which resists frequent dry spells and drought in this region. It is cultivated alone as well as part of mixed cropping. This coarse cereal occupies about 5.2 per cent of total cropped area in the country. Leading producers of bajra are the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. Being a rainfed crop, the yield level of this crop is low in Rajasthan and fluctuates a lot from yeartoyear. Yield ofthis crop has increased during recent years in Haryana and Gujarat due to introduction of drought resistant varieties and expansion of irrigation under it.

To optimise resource utilisation and enhance the efficiency of the manufacturing sector, DiPP launched the Industrial Information System (ilS), a GiS-enabled database of industrial areas and clusters across the country in May 2017. The portal serves as a one-stop solution to the free and easy accessibility of all industrial information Including availability of raw material - agriculture, horticulture, minerals, natural resources, distance from key logistic nodes, layers of terrain and urban infrastructure. Over the last one year, State Governments and Industrial Development Corporations have actively used the portal and nominated over 200 parks for their assessment along the above parameters. Industrial Park Rating system (IPRS) is proposed to be translated into an annual exercise coveringall the parks across India. Coverage would be widened and updated to bring in deeper qualitative assessment feedback, bring in technological intervention and develop it as a tool that helps effectively for demand driven and need based interventions both by policy makers and investors.

He believed that these rules should be taught to everyone. Apart from the rules mentioned above, he said that a SAtyagrahi must believe in truth and non-violence and have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature which he expects to evoke by suffering in the satyagraha effort must be leading a chaste life, and be willing to die or lose all his possessions must abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants must willingly carry out all the rules of discipline that are issued must obey the jail rules unless they are specially devised to hurt his self-respect

He believed that these rules should be taught to everyone. Apart from the rules mentioned above, he said that a SAtyagrahi must believe in truth and non-violence and have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature which he expects to evoke by suffering in the satyagraha effort must be leading a chaste life, and be willing to die or lose all his possessions must abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants must willingly carry out all the rules of discipline that are issued must obey the jail rules unless they are specially devised to hurt his self-respect

The tradition of building temples and embellishing them with carvings and paintings continued during the reign of the Chola kings who ruled over the region from the ninth to the thirteenthcentury. But it was in the eleventh century, when the Cholas reached their zenith of power, that masterpieces of Chola art and architecture began to appear. The temples of Brihadeswara at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram were built during the reigns of Rajaraja Chola and his son, Rajendra Chola. Though Chola paintings are seen in Nartamalai, the most important are those in Brihadeswara temple. The paintings were executed on the walls of the narrow passage surrounding the shrine.Two layers of paint were found when they were discovered. The upper layer was painted during the Nayak period, in the sixteenth century. Thanks to the cieaning of the surface painting, examples of the great tradition of painting during the Chola Period were unveiled. The paintings show narrations and aspects related to Lord Shiva,Shiva in Kailash, Shiva as Tripurantaka, Shiva as Nataraja, a portrait of the patron Rajaraja and his mentor Kuruvar, dancing figures, etc.

Statement 1: It emphasises on the following: Open Defecation Free (DDF) Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) Water Conservation Ground Water Recharge Modern crematorium Tree plantation Organic and medicinal plant agriculture Statement 2: In 1985, the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) was launched to fund the establishment of sewage treatment plants and other large-scale pollution mitigation technologies. The plan was ultimately extended to other rivers through the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP). Ganga Gram project was launched under the clean Ganga mission-Namami Gange Programme to have an holistic sanitation development in villages on the banks of River Ganga. 'Namami Gange Programme', is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as 'FlagshipProgramme' by the Union Government in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs.20,000 Crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga

Answer Justification : Background: In what has again triggered tax issues, several startups are receiving income tax notices on angel funding they received few years ago. The government has said no coercive actionwili be taken to recover the demand and has set up a corfimittee to review the entire issue. What is Angel tax? Angel tax is a term used to refer to the income tax payable on capital raised by unlisted companiesvia issue of shares where the share price is seen in excess of the fair market value of the shares sold. The excess realisation is treated as income and taxed accordingly. The tax was introduced inthe 2012 Union Budget by then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to arrest laundering of funds, it has come to be called angel tax since it largely impacts angel investments in startups. Is an exemption available from this tax? The government issued a notification in April this year to give exemption to startups under Section 56 of the Income Tax Act in cases where the total investment including funding from angel investorsdid not exceed Rs 10 crore. For the exemption, startups were also required to get approval from an inter-ministerial board and a certificate of valuation by a merchant banker. According to the notification, the exemption would apply only when the angel investor had a minimum net worth of Rs 2 crore or an average returned income of over 25 lakh in the preceding three financial years. Recent Issue: At least 80 startups have received notices to pay angel tax since last year. Many founders have said they have been asked to pay up as much as 30% of their funding as tax. Angels have also received multiple notices asking them to furnish details on their source of income, their bank account statements and other financial data. Procuring valuations from merchant bankers is also a more expensive proposition for startups than going through chartered accountants. For thosewho have been issued notices, charges are piling up for chartered accountant fees for filing anappeal. The government has said no coercive action will be taken to recover the demand and has set up a committee to review the entire issue.