PYQ Drill 2

The correct answer is 1, 2, and 3.

Key Points

There are some plants that grow in extremely dry conditions throughout the year.

Structural adaptations are important to plant survival in the desert.

For this purpose, they undergo some morphological adaptations in the xerophyte stem. These are as follows –

The stems of woody xerophytes are comparatively stunted, hard, and rigid. They may be covered with thick bark. e.g. Acacia arabica.

Wax coatings on leaves prevent water loss through evaporation because the loss of water from both the surface and the inside of leaves occurs in the hot desert.

The stem is covered by hairs or waxy coating.

Hence, statement 1 is correct.

The main stem and branches may occur thick, fleshy, flattened, and have a green modified structure called phylloclade.

Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Leaves are also smaller on desert plants, further reducing the possibility of water loss.

Phylloclades are found in succulent xerophytes. They do photosynthesis. e.g. Opuntia, Cacti etc.

Usually, in phylloclade bearing xerophytes, leaves are modified into spines that are known to check the rate of transpiration.

They have hard, thick coatings and some are covered in prickly spines to prevent water loss.

Hence, statement 3 is correct.

It is to protect them from animals who might try to chew through them to get to their moisture.

The stem may occur as an underground modified structure to store food and takes part in reproduction. e.g. Saccharum.

The correct answer is Lala Lajpat Rai.

Key Points

Lala Lajpat Rai was gifted with a perceptive mind, he was a prolific writer and authored several works like – “Unhappy India”, “Young India: An Interpretation”, “History of Arya Samaj”, “England’s Debt to India” and a series of popular biographies.

His biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Shivaji were published in 1896 and those of Dayanand and Shri Krishna in 1898.

His purpose in selecting Mazzini and Garibaldi was to infuse patriotic sentiment in the youth of Punjab, who had no access to books in English.

He wanted his countrymen to become acquainted with the teachings of Italian leaders who had so impressed his own mind.

He traveled to the US in 1907 and noted sociological similarities between the notion of ‘color-caste’ there and within castes in India.

He joined the Swaraj Party in 1926 and was elected as its Deputy Leader in the Central Legislative Assembly.

He later resigned from the Swaraj Party in August 1926.

The correct answer is Yemen and South Sudan.

Yemen and South Sudan are two countries in which lakhs of people suffered from acute famine/ malnutrition and died due to starvation caused by war or conflicts.

These countries are facing a humanitarian crisis due to famine and civil war.

Yemen is now on the brink of “the world’s largest famine”, according to the United Nations.

Already, 17 million people are dependent on external aid for food and medicine, while the country is fighting a massive cholera outbreak.

The breakdown of government services, lack of drinking water and a crumbling health sector, besides the miseries of civil war and aerial bombardment, are fast turning Yemen into a failed state, and a breeding ground for extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

One year after South Sudan briefly declared a famine, more than half of the people in the world’s youngest nation face extreme hunger amid civil war. A new report by the United Nations and South Sudan’s government says more than six million people are at threat without aid, up about 40% from a year ago.

The correct answer is WTO.

Geographical Indications (GI) are one of the eight intellectual property items coming under WTO’s TRIPs (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights).

India enacted the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came into force with effect from September 15, 2003, to comply with India’s obligations under the TRIPS agreement.

The correct answer is the World Justice Project.

The World Justice Project (WJP) releases the WJP Rule of Law Index.

This index measures how the rule of law is experienced and perceived worldwide based on household and expert surveys in 128 countries and jurisdictions.

The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index is a quantitative assessment tool designed to offer a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.

The Index provides data on eight dimensions of the rule of law: limited government powers; absence of corruption; order and security; fundamental rights; open government; regulatory enforcement; civil justice; and criminal justice.

These factors are further disaggregated into forty-four indicators. Together, they provide a comprehensive picture of the rule of law compliance. The index is typically published annually.

The Rule of Law Index is an annual report based on national surveys of more than 130,000 households and 4,000 legal practitioners and experts around the world.

It is the world’s leading source for original, independent data on the rule of law.