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Hello Friends, 

ARCHIVES OF 60 DAYS

NOTE: 

Let us pledge to make it a big game-changer (better than last year) in the next 60 days! 

Note- Download the OMR Sheet and attempt the questions exactly like UPSC Prelims. After you are done, please post your OMR in the comment section. Once the solution key is released (around 5 PM), cross-check the answers and, comment the marks (you scored) in the same comment thread. This will keep you accountable, responsible and sincere in days to come. 

You can also take part in the discussion with peers.  

HISTORY [DAY 51] 

Q.1) With reference to Medieval India, consider the following statements?

1. Dantidurga was the first chalukya ruler.
2. Firdausi and Al –Buruni were in the court of Mahmud Ghori.
3. Qutubuddin Aibak established the slave dynasty.

  Which of the above statements are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.2) Which of the following rulers introduced ‘Dagh system’?

1. Illtutmish
2. Qutubuddin Aibek
3. Allauddin Khalji
4. Muhammad Tughlaq

Q.3) In the early Sultanate period, Khalisa refers to?

1. Basic unit of Political organization.
2. Land under direct control of sultan
3. A type of tax on irrigation
4. Head of the cavalry unit

Q.4) Which of the following statements with reference to Medieval India is incorrect?

1. Merchants and migrants first brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century.
2. James Mill divided history of India into three periods: “Hindu”, “Muslim” and “British”.
3. The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin Mackenzie.
4. Muizzuddin Muhammad popularly known as Muhammad Ghazni.

Q.5) Consider the following pairs

Book                                      :           Writer

1. Rihla :           Abdur Razzaq
2. Kitab ul-Hind :           Alburuni
3. Tarikh-i-Firozshahi :           Ziauddin Barani

Which of the above given pairs are correctly matched?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1 and 3 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.6) “He was a European traveller and was a doctor by profession and served as a physician to Dara Sukoh and dedicated his writings to Louis XIV.”  Which traveller is being referred here?

1. Jean Baptiste Tavernier
2. Francis Bernier
3. Duarte Barbosa
4. Jesuit Roberto Nobili

Q.7) In the context Administrative structure during Sultanate period, consider the following pairs

1. Ariz-i- Mumalik :           Head of Military Department
2. Diwani Rasalat :           Department of religious affair
3. Diwani Insha :           Department of commerce

Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.8) Consider the following pairs:

Battle                                      :           Fought between

1. Battle of Waihind :           Anandpala vs Mahmud Ghazni
2. Battle of Tarrain :           Muhammad Ghori Vs Prithiviraj III
3. Battle of Khanua :           Humayun Vs Sher Shah Suri

Which of the above given pairs is/are correctly matched?

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.9) Consider the following statements with reference to Virshaiva tradition of Karnatka?

1. They worship Shiva in his manifestation as a linga.
2. They do not believe in rebirth.
3. They challenged the theory of caste and pollution.
4. They did not support widow remarriage.

Select the correct answer using the code given below

1. 1, 2 and 4 only
2. 1, 2 and 3 only
3. 2, 3 and 4 only
4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q.10) Consider the following statements with reference Jiziya:

1. In the beginning Jiziya was collected as a part of land tax.
2. Alauddin khalji collected Jaziya as a separate tax.

Which of the above given statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.11) Consider the following statement with reference to reforms introduced by Alauddin Khalji

1. He introduced the system of dagh (branding of horses) and prepared huliya (descriptive list of soldiers).
2. Under Alauddin Khalji the state brought the assessment and collection of land revenue under its own control.
3. There were secret agents called ‘munhiyans’ who sent reports to the Sultan regarding the functioning of these markets.

Select the correct code

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.12) Consider the following Pairs:

            Rulers                          :           Kingdom/Region

1. Saadat Khan :           Hyderabad
2. Kilch Khan :           Awadh
3. Ali Muhammad Khan : Rohilakhand
4. Haider Ali :           Mysore

Select the incorrect pairs using the code below:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2, 3 and 4 only
3. 1, 3 and 4 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.13) Consider the following statements

1. Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote the famous Hindi work Padmavat during Sher Shah Suri reign.
2. Paik was a form of forced labour practiced in Ahom kingdom.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. None

Q.14) With reference to Mughal Period, Gomastha was used for?

1. Indian agent of the British east India Company
2. A type of tax on pasture lands
3. Classification of urban lands
4. Head of the village

Q.15) Consider the following and identify the incorrect statement:

1. The founder of the Bahmani kingdom was Mahmud Gawan.
2. The climax of fort-building reached its climax during the reign of Shah Jahan.
3. Krishnadeva Ray was known as Andhrabhoja.
4. Shankaradeva emerged as one of the leading proponents of Vaishnavism in Assam.

Q.16) Consider the following statements with reference to Bhakti movement.

1. Andal is referred as Meera of South.
2. Ramanuja was chief proponent of the Vish-ishtadvaita subschool of Vedanta philosophy.
3. Madhavhacharya was the founder of Krishna-centered Pushti Marg sect of Vaishnavism in North India.

Which of the above statements are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.17) Consider the following statements with reference to Mughal period:

1. Zabt system was introduced by Raja Todarmal
2. Akbar imposed pilgrimage tax and abolished Jiziya tax.
3. Mansab rank was not hereditary.
4. Seth, bohra traders specialized in long distance trade while local traders were called banik.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

1. 1, 2 and 3 only
2. 2, 3 and 4 only
3. 1, 3 and 4 only
4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q.18) Consider the following statements with reference to Vijaynagara empire:

1. It was founded by Harihara and Bukka from Tuluva dynasty.
2. Tuluva dynasty was founded by Krishna Deva Ray.
3. Slavery was absent in the Vijaynagar kindom.

Which of the above statements are incorrect?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.19) With reference to medieval India, Malfuzat, Maktubat and Tazkiras refes to

1. Sufi literary texts
2. Types of painting from medieval India
3. Architectural styles of Vijayanagar empire
4. Types of land grant

Q.20) With reference to Maratha empire, consider the following statements?

1. Shivaji was assisted by a council of ministers called Ashtadiggaja.
2. Chauth and sardeshmukh were taxes collected in the Maratha kingdom.
3. Bajirao I iniatiated a system of confederacy among Maratha chiefs.

Select the correct code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 3 only
4. None

Q.21) ‘Recently UNESCO included ‘Plains of Jars’ into its list of World Heritage Sites, it is located in

1. Nigeria
2. Chile
3. Laos
4. Brazil

Q.22) The term ‘MACS 1407’ was in news, it pertains to –

1. Pest resistant variety of Soybean.
2. Carbon nanotube
3. Missile technology
4. Drug resistant proteins

Q.23) Consider the following statements facts about Human rights watch-

1. It is an international NGO headquartered in New York.
2. It pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human rights abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights.

Which of the above given statement is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. None of the above

Q.24) Open market sale scheme, often seen in news is associated with

1. Sale of government securities by RBI
2. Sale of government stake in PSUs
3. Sale of commercial papers by MNCs
4. Sale of food-grains by Government / Government agencies

Q.25) Consider the following statements about Large area certification Programme

1. LAC is a Quick certification process that is cost-effective for marketing organic products.
2. It is programme under scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY).
3. Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group.

Choose the correct answer from given options below:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. All of the above

Q.26) Which of the following organisation or institution has recently released report titled ‘Global Forest Goals report 2021’?

1. UNCCD
2. UN Environment
3. FAO
4. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Q.27) Consider the following about Ways and Means Advances.

1. It is a credit policy of the RBI.
2. It is provided to States to help them tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments.
3. The interest rate on WMA is the RBI’s repo rate.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. All of the above

Q.28) Consider the following facts about SIPRI which was in news recently.

1. It is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
2. It was established in 2006 at Stockholm (Sweden).

Which of the following statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both
4. None of the above

Q.29) Recently, Russia announced its withdrawal from International Space Station (ISS), consider the following statements about ISS.

1. ISS is a modular space station in low Earth orbit.
2. The ISS circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.

Which of the above statement is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.30) Consider the following statements about National crèche scheme:

1. It is a central centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide day care facilities to children (age group of 6 months to 6 years) of working mothers.
2. There is a provision of User charges to bring in an element of community ownership.

Which of the above given statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. None of the above

Directions for the following 4 (four) questions:

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow each passage. Your answer to these questions should be based on passage only.

The power perspective sees democracy as an effort to balance social power. History is a chronicle of societies where social power has been concentrated in a few hands. Democracy proposes that social power be distributed as widely and evenly as possible and, where it must be concentrated, it is made constitutionally answerable to those over whom it is exercised. Not surprisingly, the power perspective on democracy is concerned with institutions, constitutions, and other formal arrangements that impose structure and balance on social power relationships. It sees power as an essentially competitive phenomenon: we all seek more power to pursue our own interests.

The participation perspective sees democracy as an activity through which citizens participate in their community. Participation is considered a basic human need, a natural outgrowth of our social nature. Public life in general and political activity in particular, allows us to partake in and shape a larger world beyond ourselves. Furthermore, democratic activity enables us to better understand and develop (or “actualize”) ourselves through active relationships with other people. Power is seen as a cooperative, rather than competitive phenomenon – something we get by working together. From this participatory perspective, democracy is something we do and live, not something we have or make. Improving our “living democracy” is a matter of developing and using democratic forums and learning democratic skills.

The intelligence perspective sees democracy as a factor that supports the exercise of collective intelligence. By collective Intelligence I mean a group’s or society’s capacity to respond, collectively, to its changing circumstances; to make creative use of opportunities; to articulate and pursue visions and purposes; and to evolve as a culture. Authoritarian groups can be no more intelligent than their leaders. Such groups tend to be less intelligent than democratic groups because excess power tends to distort the power holders’ ability to think and feel clearly and appropriately. Furthermore, authoritarian systems tend to neglect or suppress the potential contributions of non-leaders.

While the power perspective on democracy focuses on institutions – and the participation perspective focuses on the democratic arts – the intelligence perspective focuses on collective dynamics and learning in groups, communities and whole societies. All three perspectives combined can provide us with an in-depth, 3-D, vibrantly alive sense of what democracy is all about.

Q.31) Democratic institutions provide scope to collective intelligence. An example of this would be

1. Involvement of various think tanks in policy making
2. Existence of authoritarian power centres
3. Power struggle between various social groups
4. Free and fair elections

Q.32) Choose the correct statement among the following options.

1. In a democracy, power must be distributed as widely as possible, but wherever concentrated must be made answerable to those over whom it is exercised
2. Constitution is both necessary and sufficient feature for any democracy
3. Only intelligent people can make the intelligence perspective of democracy a meaningful proposition
4. Power perspective is the most important perspective on democracy

Q.33) With reference to the passage, consider the following statements.

1. Historically, power has been distributed rather than concentrated
2. Collective Intelligence predominates over individual intelligence

Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.34) The existence of Legislature, Judiciary and Executive in Indian democracy supports which of the perspectives of democracy mentioned in the passage?

1. Power perspective
2. Participation perspective
3. Intelligence perspective
4. None of these

Q.35) In March 2019, IAS BABA Library purchased a total of 15 new books published in the year 2015 with a total expenditure of Rs 4,500. Of these books, 13 books were purchased from AB distributors, while the remaining two were purchased from XY Publishers. It is observed that one-sixth of the average price of all the 15 books purchased is equal to one-fifth of the average price of the 13 books obtained from AB Distributors. Of the two books obtained from XY Publishers, if one-third of the price of one volume is equal to one-half of the price of the other, then the price of the two books are:

1. Rs 900 and Rs 600
2. Rs 600 and Rs 400
3. Rs 750 and Rs 500
4. None of the above

NOTE- Follow this for Comments

1. Mention- Time Taken after solving the Test

2. After the release of Solution, Edit your Comment to Mention-  Correct/Incorrect and Score

3. 2 Marks for Correct/0.66 minus for Incorrect.

What IMPACT can the ‘60 Day’ have on the final results? We will explain by taking a small example. Imagine you are sitting in the examination hall, appearing in Prelims Paper I. You have attempted 70 questions already but still unsure about a few. Then you stumble upon a question that was asked in 60 Day (and believe us, it has happened to hundreds of students countless times). You choose the right answer and submit your paper hoping for the best! Eventually, you go on to clear Mains as well as Personality Test and secure a good rank as well. When the cut off gets announced by UPSC, you realize that you have scored just one mark more than the cut off! Yes, that one mark can change your life (and it has done so to many of our students in the past). Now, imagine the kind of impact 60 to 80 marks can have! Isn’t that so fascinating to imagine?  

One’s level of preparedness is always different for different subjects. Even within a subject, one’s comfort level may vary with topics. For example, one might be more comfortable in solving questions of Polity than Economics and within Polity also, one might be at ease with questions on fundamental rights than Parliament. The level of comfort and ease that one has with a subject/ topic gets manifested in the examination. However, there is no conscious effort by aspirants to micro analyze these aspects. Now, coming to the second aspect i.e. the mistakes that one commits in answering MCQs, it can be said that there are mainly four reasons behind incorrect responses in the OMR sheet. They are:

1. Lack of information
2. Lack of analytical ability
3. Silly mistakes
4. Excessive risk-taking

Let’s analyze them one by one:

1. Lack of information: You simply don’t know the information. You are clueless and that’s why you don’t attempt the question. For example, you may have never come across a regime called the ‘Wassenaar Agreement’ during your preparation and you can’t do much about it. The lack of information is pardonable and rectifiable. You can read more and gather more information. That is within your reach.
2. Lack of analytical ability: You know the concept but the question is a twisted one and you are not able to apply the concept. For example, in a question asking you to identify the climate type of a region based on certain given parameters like precipitation, temperature, and air density, you might find it difficult to mark the correct option even if you are aware of all the options given in the question! That is clearly a lack of application and you can overcome it by developing a habit of framing questions in your mind while you study any topic.
3. Silly mistakes: This habit is unpardonable. You know the concept, you become happy, you misread the question, you mark the incorrect answer and you are out of the race! Such mistakes reveal your hurriedness while answering the question. A simple mistake of reading ‘chose the incorrect option’ as ‘chose the correct option’ can destroy your chances. It means that you need to have patience and focus while attempting the paper.
4. Excessive risk-taking: You are confused between the options and just in order to increase your attempts, you make wild guesses and try your luck only to repent eventually. Risk-taking is an art and one must be very careful while doing the guesswork in confusing questions. If you are not lucky enough, it can spoil your chances.

You will realize that these problems will have different meanings for different people. For example, one might find a lack of information as the main culprit in answering wrong the questions on Culture while in Polity, lack of analytical ability is usually the culprit. The point here is that you must analyse your preparation on these yardsticks by applying them on different subjects/ topics. If one is having a headache, he/ she can’t have the same medicine for fever. Isn’t it.

This is where our revamped ’60 Day’ comes into the picture. It will give you an opportunity to micro analyze your preparation and perform better in the examination.

Finally, it is up to you to take advantage of this framework. We are sure of only one thing- if you follow this program, assess yourself on the basis of the given framework and keep improving your weaker areas, success will be yours.

We are providing you with the right platform, the right guidance, and the right competition. Do you have the right motivation to make full use of this initiative? We think you have. Come, be a part of this initiative and take the first step towards SUCCESS!

Importance of self – tracking:

We could have provided all of you with login id and passwords to monitor your daily performance in the 60-day program.

Instead, a simple and most beautiful way which Disqus provides is profile based commenting!

Yes, we have seen the most successful candidates who have taken the maximum benefit from this program monitoring themselves by commenting on their answers in the box given (Disqus comment). And reviewing their performance themselves once in 10 days on the progress meter. 

DOWNLOAD THE 60 DAYS PLAN 2021

SOLUTION- Download Here

ENTER YOUR PERFORMANCE AND GET YOUR RANK- Click Here

Important:

• Ranks and Cut off will be calculated for the entries in the given form only. Cut Off will be released around 10PM and Rank List will be announced soon.
• Top 10 performers will be selected by finding the average ranks of entire 60 Days Programme and they would get FREE GUIDANCE and MENTORSHIP from IASbaba’s Core Team.

All the Best! 

IASbaba