राज्यसेवा पूर्व परीक्षा  २०१३ - Paper 2

Question number 1 to 5:
               Following the microlith groupings along the hill, one conclusion is unavoidable. These tools represent the pre- metal and pre-pottery stage when the valley bottom was not cleared of jungle. With herds of animals considerable food - gathering sporadic cultivation to eke out and some hunting, they may be called Mesolithic cultures.
Such a population had to shift constantly from place to place. Permanent settlement could not come before the advent of cheap metal like iron. It is difficult to imagine the use of iron anywhere in the Deccan, earlier to the Mauryan conquest. The deposits of copper in this region are uncommon. Even the Arthashastra does not speak of iron in this area. The natural route of the savages before the swampy or forested valleys were opened for cultivation, must have been along the hillocks. 

                     The groups that moved along these tracks could not have been numerous. There was no question of their possessing land, for land - ownership is not a primitive concept. Fixed plots were meaningless till the plough had conquered the soil. For this, the fertile bottom lands had to be cleared of forest, which was not possible in our monsoon country without iron tools in plenty. Land to the savage is territory, not property. In my opinion the still revered Maharashtrian custom of 'gamva - sai' dates back to the presettlement days. This used to be the propitiation (at such date as the Bhagat might set) of all local deities, spirits and goblins. The characteristic feature was that villages used to get deserted as every human being had to leave the village for seven or nine days. After living in the fields or under trees for the period, and performing the required worship and blood sacrifices, the inhabitants would return with the hope of better crops, eradication of diseases and general well - being. The ceremonial return must be being conceived as resettlement. The fixed cult - spots for pre - agricultural people would necessarily be where their regular paths crossed, places where they met for - barter where the communities performed ceremonies or where they celebrated their periodic fertility cults together. Thus, the crossways were logically the sites for the mother - goddess cults.

Question number 6 to 8 :
  Drought is basically a distress situation caused by the failure of rainfall. This failure may be due to insufficient rains or due to a wide gap between two or more spells of rain. Droughts are of three types. A meteorological drought is a situation when the actual rainfall is significantly less than the climatologically expected rainfall over a wide area. Here the rains do not arrive in time and are inadequate. Such droughts are mainly concentrated in the areas falling between arid and semi-arid zones of the country and are characterised by high variability of rainfall.
  Hydrological droughts are associated with the drying up of surface water such as rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs and fall in ground water levels. Such droughts are augmented by deforestation, mining, road construction, overgrazing and withdrawal of excessive ground water. All these factors contribute to hydrological instability leading to droughts. Agricultural droughts or soil droughts occur when soils lose their effective moisture conserving capacity. This prevents healthy crop growth. Such droughts may occur even when meteorological droughts do not occur and vice versa. Under extreme conditions of such a drought no plant exists and such a condition is called desertification.
  Although all these three forms of drought occur independent of each other the occurrence of meteorological drought is the basic reason for hydrological and agricultural droughts. Prolonged meteorological drought results into hydrological drought, and may, thereafter, lead to agricultural drought. This transition is a very slow process.

Question number 9 to 12:
  The genetic diversity within the handful of crop and livestock species that feed humanityso-called germplasm resources-holds much of the potential for improving agricultural performance. At the same time, great opportunities lie in broadening the base of the species that provide our food and fiber. An agriculture, sufficient to feed the world's population that is expected to double in the next 40 years, will need to use both plant and animal diversities.
  Increasing of harvests rests on a foundation of genetic diversity by bringing about improvement in the crop upto a desired level. Throughout the history, the selection and breeding of superior plants was done by individual farmers working on limited stocks in their fields, augmented by occasional spontaneous crosses with wild relatives nearby. Cultivated crops.
though single species, contained an incredible array of genetic types adapted to local circumstances.
  In industrial countries, few farmers can spare the time or land for plant breeding. The selection of high performance crops today is done by government scientists and by private companies who sell specially bred seed to farmers for planting. Farmers have traded their independence for higher performance and larger harvests, as a result, a few successful varieties are being planted on millions of acres.
  Fifteen years after a devastating epidemic of Southern Corn Leaf Blight cut the U.S. corn harvest by 15 per cent and alerted the nation to the genetic vulnerability of its crops, a visitor to the wheat fields of the Dakotas or the corn fields of lowa can still see row upon row of uniform plants stretching to the horizon. Yet under this uniformity lie forms of diversity not available to most of the world's farmers. The many varieties under study by the private plant breeding industry, the widely available information on pest outbreaks and weather conditions worldwide that constitute an "early warning system," and a seed industry that can transport varieties quickly to areas that need them all protect American farmers from fatal vulnerability. These safeguards have come at a substantial price : U.S. farmers now spend over $ 4 billion each year on seeds, and while the cost per ton of grain harvested has declined in real terms over the past three decades, the cost per harvested acre has doubled.

Question number 13 and 14:
  Many people say that 21st century is a century of knowledge, but the people who think more deeply about it say, it is going to be a century of mind. If this is the case then India has demographic advantage, India has 55% of its population less than 25 years old. This means that there are 6000 lakh odd minds to shape destiny of India.
  But there is a fundamental difference between the mind and the mindset. Mind represents intellect, mind allows you to make smart observations, smart analysis, smart synthesis etc. but it is the mindset which determines your attitude and your approach to life. In India, there is this huge battle between the Indian mind and Indian mindset. The Indian mind is taking us into 21st century and there is no doubt about it, but it is the Indian mindset which is drawing us back into 14th, 15th, 16th century.
  Centuries ago Indian mind introduced the concept of global village with a slogan, "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam" (Entire world is a family). We say that we are one family but are we practising what we say? We know that when two Japanese come together, how many Japanese they make ? They form a great team and become eleven. Someone in a lighter vein has said that when two Indians come together, they become zero as they neutralize each other. They do not make a team and this is the Indian mindset.
  My basic premise is not that shaping of Indian minds is not required and only changing of the Indian mindset should be attempted. We should start taking up both. We should not only be contented with clever minds, more intelligent minds, more observant minds, more analytical minds, better minds synthesizing in a more clever way, but also mindsets that are positive, constructive, forward looking, mutually reinforcing, - mindsets that will make it possible for us to shape 21st century India.

Question number 15 to 19:
  Preamble to constitution of India starts with "We the people." It does not refer to people of any particular caste or religion, which signifies that the constitution of India places its people at the highest position in democracy. When people of India elect our government, we also have a complete right to get aware of all its aspects and governance. Such awareness gives a chance to actually participate in the process of governance which in turn advances the democracy from being merely representative to become participative. Success of democracy largely depends on participation of its population in making and implementation of government policy. Where common people are not able to actively participate in the process of governance, possibility of protection of rights of select empowered class increases manyfold. This holds the potential of eventually becoming a major obstacle in the path of Social Justice.
  The efforts of creation of knowledge based societies of 'Informed citizenry' are ongoing in various parts of the world. India too, has joined the bandwagon by accepting the Right to Information. 'Informed citizenry' term appears in the RTI Act. Various courts in India have reported that Right to Information is inherent to Freedom of Speech and Expression provided in article 19(1)(a) of constitution of India. Additionally United Nations Organizations stated in its Universal Declaration that Right to Information is fundamental to human rights.
  In the light of this, Right to Information can play a pivotal role in the process of protection and establishment of social justice. Preamble to constitution of India has resolved for "Justice, Freedom, Equality and Fraternity to all its citizens. Deliberately the word 'justice' is placed first in the order. Justice is fundamental, in absence of it, freedom, equality and fraternity cannot be achieved. Absence of justice leads to social inequality. This inequality stems not only out of unequal distribution of natural resources but also out of unequal distribution of information. Ruling class controls information to maintain its hegemony over power and resources. Indian history has witnessed this time and again. Social inequality can be won over by making the socially oppressed classes aware of power of Information' and therefore Right to Information is extremely crucial in the process of achieving justice. It is for this reason that Right to Information has become a matter of utmost interest for numerous civil society organizations and human rights movements.
  Right to Information and Environmental movement are also closely connected. Article 21 of the constitution provides Right to Life and Liberty. In another a words, citizen have a right to know everything that has impact on life and liberty. The same was also reiterated in the earth summit of Rio de Janerio, Brazil held in 1992. This also being the core principle of environmental movement, they have keenly promoted Right to Information.

Question number 20 to 22 :
  In India, economic reforms were initiated in mid 1991 due to problems such as increasing external debt, unmanageable balance of payments situation, high possibility of acceleration in the rate of inflation and the fiscal problems. External factors like Gulf war and collapse of soviet economy also contributed to the crisis. With a view to tide over the economic crisis and ensuring sustainability of growth process, it was considered necessary to introduce certain major policy reforms, on industrial trade and public sector fronts. Measures for stabilization aiming at reduction in fiscal and current account deficit in budget were also necessary. The economic reforms basically aimed at allocation of resources and decision-making to be guided by the market mechanism. ।
  In the post reforms period, there has been a lot of optimism regarding long-term economic growth. In the last two decades, India was among ten to twelve highest growing countries in the world. Some macroeconomic variables performed well during this period. Rate of inflation declined during 1997-2002. Gross domestic savings as a % of GDP increased from 23.1% to 28.2% during 9th and the 10th plan. Gross domestic investment increased and fiscal deficit declined marginally during this period. FDI inflow, FOREX reserves showed promising trends.
  In conclusion, the economy seerms to be on a high growth path of 8% to 9% in the last 4 years. The performance of the other variables also seems to be relatively satisfactory.