UPPSC 2021 (Mains General Studies Paper-1)

Ans. In Vedic literature, there are different geographical observations made. The Aryans used the term Sapta Saindhavas as the region where they settled down.

The Sapta Saindhavas country of the Rig Vedic period was bounded by the Himalayas and Tibet in the east, Turkistan in the north, Afghanistan, in the west and the Aravallis in the south. The Ganga and the mountains of the Vindhya were the barriers not easy to cross in those days. The hills referred to are Arjika, Mujavant, Silament (Suleman range), etc., which were all ridges of the Himalayas.

The Nadi-sukta hymn of the Rig Veda mentions 21 rivers, which include the Ganga in the east and the Kubha (Kabul) in the west. The Ocean i.e. ‘Samudra’ is mentioned in connection with rivers Sindhu and the river Saraswati had been falling into the ocean.

Ans. The contribution of revolutionaries of Uttar Pradesh in the Indian freedom struggle had been significant.

The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was established in October 1924 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh by revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandra Shekhar Azad, and Sachindra Nath Sanyal. The party aimed to organise an armed revolution to end colonial rule and establish the Federal Republic of the United States of India. Ram Prasad Bismil was an Indian revolutionary who participated in the Mainpuri conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori conspiracy of 1925.

Nonetheless, rebels like Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandrasekhar Azad, and thousands of all others won unrivalled reputation among the people as a result of their noble and heroic sacrifice. Though some might criticize their methods for achieving national liberation, but no one can question or criticize their aims.

Ans. The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban.

During the industrial revolution, acceleration in the processes of technological innovation brought about an array of new tools and machines. Steam engines and railways became important features of the industrial revolution during the 19th century.

A lot of socio-economic change took place during the Industrial Revolution. It changed the character and culture of people in the whole world. Development of Banking and Finance System, Status of Women, Rising of Middle Class, Urbanisation and the exploitation of resources all are the consequences of industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was a revolutionary experience. It also increased material wealth, extended life, and was a powerful force for social change.

Ans. Science and technology have been an integral part of Indian culture and tradition. The Samhitas and the Atharva Veda, respectively, are the repositories of important treatises on medicine and mathematics.

Ancient India was known for rich scientific contributions right from the use of zero, precise calculation of eclipses, the concept of atom, to “Shushruta Samhita” involving complex surgery and “Charak” explicitly describing diseases, their causes and modes of treatment.

Fundamentals of mathematics, astronomy, geometry, algebra, and numbers formed an intrinsic part of Indian life thousands of years ago. Some of the most basic discoveries in these areas were made in the fields of medicine, surgery, metallurgy and shipbuilding.

With such a varied and distinguished background in science and technology, India enjoyed a position of prestige in the past.

Ans. Despite marked improvements for millions of slum-dwellers worldwide over the last decade, the number of people living in urban squalor is still rising and must be addressed through global action.

The formation of slums need not be inevitable with rapid urbanization. The evidence shows that city authority faced with rapid urban development lack the capacity to cope with the diverse demands for infrastructural provision to meet economic and social needs. Not only are strategic planning and intervention major issues to manage rapid urbanization, but city governments are not effectively linking the economic development trajectory to implications for urban growth and, hence, housing needs.

The governments have to first recognize and then act to establish the link that is crucial between economic development, urban growth, and housing.

Ans. National integration is dependent upon structural, cultural and ideological congruity and harmony among different sections of Indian society. Regionalism means a strong feeling of people in favour of the local area in which they live.

> Regionalism puts an extra emphasis on a particular regional identity, which can create obstacles in the way of national unity.

> Regionalist tendencies often stir inter-state hostility as its spillover effect.

> Regional movements often result in violent agitations, disturb not only the law and order situation but also have negative implications on the economy of the state as well as the nation.

> Regionalism can become a shield for militancy, extremism to create an internal security threat. Kashmir militancy is an example of this type of regionalism.

Thus, the accommodation of multiple aspirations of a diverse population is necessary.

Ans. Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a rapid growth of industrialization after economic liberalization of 1991. The industries of Uttar Pradesh are based on agriculture, forest and minerals. Handloom industry is one of the largest industries of the state.

Many industries have been developed in the state such as cement plants in Mirzapur, a bauxite-based aluminium plant in Banda and Sonbhadra regions, sugarcane industry and handloom industry in many regions of the state.

Uttar Pradesh has several locally specialised business clusters such as sports items in Meerut, brassware in Moradabad, perfumes in Kannuaj, leather in Kanpur, shoes in Agra, embroidered sarees in Varanasi, carpet in Bhadohi, chikan work in Lucknow etc.

Thus, there are many industries in Uttar Pradesh that are contributing to the development of the country.

Ans. The Tourism industry in Uttar Pradesh has a significant contribution to the state’s economic growth. Ecotourism spots in Uttar Pradesh are divided in 09 circuits.

While the Eastern Wildlife Circuit covers trips to Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Kashi Wildlife Division and Parvati Agra Bird Sanctuary, the Western Circuit covers Amangarh (Bijnor), Shivalik (Saharanpur) and Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, which allows tourists to traverse through hills, undertake wild safari rides, and take nature walks while sighting tiger, elephants, sloth bear and wild boar as well as about 300 species of birds.

The Terai Tiger Circuit covers Chuka Tiger Reserve (Pilibhit), Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhwa National Park and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary. The Vindhya Mountain Circuit covers a trip to Fossil Park, Ancient Cave paintings etc in Kaimoor Wildlife Sanctuary.

Ans. Water crisis is the lack of freshwater resources to meet the standard water demand. Two types of water scarcity have been defined: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands. On the other hand, economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources.

> Measures for water resource management :

> Water conservation and rainwater harvesting

> Renovation of traditional and other water bodies

> Watershed development

> Intensive afforestation

> Block and District water conservation plans

> Promotion of efficient water use for irrigation

Decentralised approach, with a key focus on water conservation, source sustainability, storage and reuse wherever possible. A participatory approach is needed in water governance.

Ans. In India compact or clustered village of a few hundred houses is a rather universal feature, particularly in the northern plains.

Over the Upper Ganga Plain, almost 55 per cent of the population lives in medium-sized vil-lages. In the Rohilkhand Tarai areas, settlements are unevenly distributed due to the high percentage of forests, marshy lands and seasonal floods. Here vil-lages are mostly helmeted located at river bluffs and river embankments.

On the Middle Ganga Plain, the distribution and pattern of rural settlements are largely influenced by alluvial morphology. Areas of east Uttar Pradesh and west Bihar are marked by small-sized but closely spaced villages. Hamleted settlements are typical of the Ganga-Ghaghara doab.

In the Lower Ganga plains, scattered villages are very common in the Rahr plain, Duars and Sundarbans.

Ans. In the Gupta period, remarkable progress was observed in various branches of science and technology. Mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, Ayurveda, surgery etc. progressed in a major way.

> Aryabhatta was the legendary mathematician of the Gupta Era. He wrote Aryabhattiya at the age of 23 years and later, Arya-Siddhanta. He worked on the approximation for pi to 3.1416. He also worked on the motions of the solar system and calculated the length of the solar year to 365.8586805 days. Aryabhata explained various principles of geometry, an area of a triangle, the area of a circle and the theorem relating to rectangles.

> Bhaskara I wrote ‘Bhasya’ and commentaries on Aryabhatta’s Dashagitik formulas and ‘Aryashta Shataka’.

> Varahamihira lived in Ujjain and was one of the nine jewels (Navaratnas) of the court of Chandragupta II. He wrote Panchasiddhantaka, the five treatises on astronomy.

> Brahmagupta wrote ‘Brahmaphuta Siddhanta’, ‘Khanda Khadaka’ etc. and also propounded the principle of gravity. He began to apply Algebra to astronomical problems.

> Kanad rishi propounded Vaisheshik Darshan’ and the theory of atom in the Gupta period. Nagarjuna was a scholar of chemistry and metallurgical science.

The Gupta period may rightly be called the peak of the Golden Age of science in India.

Ans. The beginning of modernity was heralded by the onset of the social and religious reforms, which is popularly called the renaissance, following the European experience. Its beginning is traced to the efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Bengal to ameliorate the conditions of the life of women and to reform religious practices.

> In spite of the opposition from the orthodox sections of the society, these movements contributed to liberating people from the exploitation of priests.

> The movement gave the upcoming middle-class cultural roots and reduced the sense of humiliation that the British powers had created.

> Abolition of Sati and legalisation of widow-marriage were achieved during the nineteenth century which empowered women in India.

> Modern, rational, secular, and scientific outlook was promoted realizing the need of the modern era. A favourable social climate was created to end India’s cultural and intellectual isolation from the world.

The ideas and activities of the intellectuals were directly or indirectly related to the task of nation-building and national reconstruction. The social reform movement was not an isolated phenomenon; it was loaded with wider national political and economic considerations. In a way, the social reform movemen was a prelude to nationalism.

Ans. The Balkan region comprises modern-day countries such as Romania. Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The Balkan Wars consisted of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War. In the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria fought against all four original combatants of the first war. It also faced an attack from Romania from the north. The Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Although not involved as a combatant, Austria-Hungary became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for the union of the South Slavic peoples. Most of Balkan parts were under the control of Ottoman Empire. In Balkan, Slavic Nationalities were in search of their identity and independence made the situation worse. The Balkan states wanted to capture more territories no matter how; this made Balkans a big power rivalry. During this time, the European powers conflicted on trade, colonies, naval and military. European powers were conflicted as other countries such as England, Russia, Germany, and Austro-Hungary wanted to capture Balkan. All these were the examples that made Balkan issues as the major factor responsible for the First World War.

Ans. Over the past few decades, we can see India’s development model as a work in progress. Slowly if not always surely, we have improved some parameters of inclusive development. However, deep-rooted systemic challenges remain unaddressed. Inclusive and equitable growth still eludes us. The empowerment of women is still challenging issue and necessary for inclusive development. Women are undoubtedly the foundation of the basic unit of society-the family. Even in traditional roles, they demonstrate immense innovation, skill and intelligence in addition to hard work and commitment. Harnessing

these attributes, India can effectively roll out a virtuous cycle of inclusive and equitable growth.

When we educate and empower one woman, we set off a chain reaction that transforms the life of her family and the community she lives in. An exemplary model is the network of ASHA workers created under the National Rural Health Mission. As trained female community health activists who engage with villagers, they have played a crucial role in improving the health of women and children across India.

The goal of inclusive development must involve the health, education and empowerment of women who form almost 50 per cent of the Indian population. By neglecting the development of women, we will compromise the future of the nation.

Ans. Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.

> Impacts of globalization on rural social structure in India:

> Since ancient times, the joint family system has been one of the chief characteristics of the Indian social system in general and tribal social structure in particular. Recently the joint mily pattern throughout India has been showing a declining tendency.

> Globalization has led to large scale migration and urbanization since it becomes difficult to maintain a joint family system because of the high cost of living.

> Labour migration to cities from rural areas in search of employment is a common phenomenon.

> Globalization has caused intermingling of cultures. Though it has curtailed narrow mindedness of humans, it has caused cultural degradation also.

> Tribals are being forcefully integrated into the society leading to them losing their unique cultural features and their habitat threatened.

> Caste conscious in rural areas has been declining over past few years due to new economic opportunities.

Thus, impact of globalization, mass media and education directly or indirectly encourage the current generation to abandon traditional social conservative norms and taboos. Thus social stratification is being impacted.

Ans. The National Population Policy (NPP), 2000 states its immediate objective as addressing the unmet needs for contraception, healthcare infrastructure, and health personnel, and providing integrated service delivery for basic reproductive and child healthcare.

> Making school education free and compulsory up to the age of 14 years and also reducing the dropout rates of

both boys and girls.

> Decreasing the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to under 30 per 1000 live births in the country.

> Reducing the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to under 100 per 1 lakh live births.

> Achieving universal immunization for all children.

> Encouraging delayed marriage for girls.

> The state needs a women-centric approach wherein they incentivize later marriages and childbirths, make contraception easy for women and promote women’s labour force participation.

> fertility decline in the five southern states was achieved because southern governments proactively urged families to have only two children, followed by sterilization immediately after that. The northern states need to adopt this approach.

> The over-reliance on traditional methods of contraception needs to be swiftly replaced with reliable and easy alternatives.

The stabilizing population is an essential requirement for promoting sustainable development.

Ans. Urbanisation in India is taking place at a faster rate with over 34% of India’s current population living in urban areas. Indian urbanisation has proceeded as it has elsewhere in the world as a part and product of economic change. Occupational shift from agriculture to urban-based industry and services is one part of the change. At the same time, increased agricultural performance has also promoted urbanisation. New industrial investments and expansion of the services industry in new location is also a factor.

Currently, India’s population stood at 1210 million in 2011, with an urbanisation level of 31.1%. According to the World Urbanisation Prospects 2018, By 2050, it is projected that India will have added 416 million urban dwellers.

> Rising demands for basic services such as clean water, public transportation, sewage treatment and housing.

> Rising urban poverty, inequality and unemployment.

> Urban Crimes such as human trafficking, sexual assault, child labour etc. are measure problems.

> The proliferation of slums due to policy, planning, and regulatory deficiencies.

> Huge quantities of garbage are generated by the cities, posing a serious

health issue.

New approaches to urban planning and effective governance are the need of the hour. Necessary actions should be taken to build sustainable, robust and inclusive infrastructure.

Ans. A cyclone is any large system of winds that circulates about a centre of low atmospheric pressure in a counterclockwise direction north of the Equator and in a clockwise direction to the south. Cyclones are usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather. The two main types are the tropical cyclone and the extratropical cyclone(also called Temperate cyclones). Extratropical cyclones develop in the mid and high latitudes, beyond the tropics. Tropical cyclones originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans.

The Extra-Tropical Cyclones are storm systems emerging in the mid and high latitudes, away from the tropics. According to Polar Front theory, the warm-humid air masses from the tropics meet the dry-cold air masses from the poles and thus a polar front is formed. The cold air mass is denser and heavier and thus, the warm air mass is pushed up. This interaction of cold and warm air masses creates instability and low pressure is created in the centre of interactions. Consequently, a void is created because of the lessening of pressure. The surrounding air rushed in to occupy this void and coupled with the earth’s rotation, a cyclone is formed. They can originate over the land and sea and cover a larger area.

Ans. Soil erosion refers to the wearing away of soils by the forces of water and wind. It is aggravated due to human interventions through indiscriminate felling of trees, excessive grazing, cultivation without adopting conservation measures etc. The 5.3 per cent area of Uttar Pradesh is affected by severe to very severe erosion problems while 33.4 per cent are is under slight to moderate soil erosion.

The severity of water erosion is found at the peak along the banks of Yamuna, Chambal, Sengar, Kuwari rivers occurring in the parts of districts Agra, Etawah, Kanpur and Fatehpur etc. where terrain has completely deformed into ravines. This type of degradation is due to deforestation coupled with sloppy landscape and overgrazing.

Wind erosion poses problems in the south-western parts of Agra and Mathura districts bordering Rajasthan. In these areas, sand blowing is common in the

summer seasons due to which fertile lands are covered with sand decreasing their soil productivity.

Degradation of soil becomes an important element of environmental degradation causing a serious threat for the economic development in the state. It is not possible to produce more food to fulfill the obligations to leave a better heritage for prosperity. A well-defined integrated land use policy at the implementable level should be developed.

Ans. Irrigation has been one of the most important factors in increasing agricultural production, as the propagation of green revolution technology was entirely dependent upon it.

> Canals constitute an important source of irrigation in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Some important canals are Upper Ganga Canal, Lower Ganga Canal, Sharda Canal, Eastern Yamuna Canal, Agra Canal, Betwa Canal.

> Tube-well irrigation is the most important source of irrigation.

> Irrigation by other sources is provided in crop cultivation where canals and tube wells do not constitute the source of irrigation. Other sources

which provide irrigation are tanks, lakes, ponds, and other wells.

> Irrigation facility encourages the farmers to use better varieties and other biochemical technologies which lead to increased productivity.

> An irrigation facility allows the farmers to use the land more intensively throughout the year with a higher level of cropping intensity, which is not possible under un-irrigated land.

> The risk in getting the assured output from the crops cultivated due to moisture stress is very high under un-irrigated land while it is much less in irrigated land.

The government should introduce some policies and programmes for the proper management and conservation of water resources in weaker districts of Uttar Pradesh.

• Follow on Facebook page – Click Here
• Google News join in – Click Here