Test Preparation on IAS Prelims Sample Paper -38

I Learning: The Supreme Court gave an important decision regarding the rights of slum-dwellers in Bombay inresponse toja Public Interest Litigation filed by a social activist, Olga Tellis against Bombay MunicipalCorporation in 1985. The petition claimed the right to live on pavements or in slums because there was noalternative accommodation available close to their place of work. If they were forced to move they would losetheir livelihood as well. The Supreme Court said, "Article 21 of the Constitution which guaranteed the right tolife included the right to livelihood. Therefore if pavement dwellers were to be evicted they should first beprovided alternative accommodation under the right to shelter.

Learning: The Supreme Court gave an important decision regarding the rights of slum-dwellers in Bombay inresponse to a Public Interest Litigation filed by a social activist, Olga Tellis against Bombay MunicipalCorporation in 1985. The petition claimed.the right to live on pavements or in slums because there was noalternative accommodation available close to their place of work. If they were forced to move they would losetheir livelihood as well. The Supreme Court said, "Article 21 of the Constitution which guaranteed the right todife included the right to livelihood. Therefore if pavement dwellers were to be evicted they should first beprovided alternative accommodation under the right to shelter.

Justification: In the east, the Indian plate extends through Rakinyoma Mountains of Myanmar towards theisland arc along the Java Trench. The Western margin follows Kirthar Mountain of Pakistan. The subductionzone along the Himalayas forms the northern plate boundary in the form of continent

Justification: Statement 1: Indian constitution cannot give a right to self-determination because by virtue ofthis right people can freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social andcultural development. If that was the case, J&K and some other NE secessionist movement would not havebeen opposed by the government. This is a nice article from EPW on India's position on self-determinationhttp://164.100.47.193/fiieuplo3d/current/Where%20Does%20lndia%20Stand.DdfStatement 2: UN Charter clearly recognizes this right.Statement 3: In accordance with the wishes of the UNGA expressed in 1952, both the ICCPR and the iCESCR(adopted by the GA in 1966) included the right of self-determination in their Common Article 1. Since thedecisions of the GA are of recommendatory nature, and therefore deprived of any binding value; the inclusionof the right to self-determination to two multilateral covenants meant that from then on this right wouldenjoy a higher ranking in the hierarchy of legal norms.

Learning: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has commissioned two very high resolution (12 km gridscale) state-of-the-art global Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS) for generating operational 10-daysprobabilistic forecasts of weather. The EPS involves the generation of multiple forecasts using slightly varyinginitial conditions. Ensemble forecasting provides localised predictions of a 12 km resolution compared to 23kilometers in the earlier system. The new model has been developed jointly by Indian Institute of TropicalMeteorology and National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting. With this new model, India joinsthe US with a model that predicts with a 12 km resolution. Only the'European Center for Medium RangeWeather Forecast' has a, better, nine-kilometer resolution. Better forecasts lead to better managementagriculture and water resources, it also helps promote tourism, solar and wind energy.

Justification: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KViC) is a statutory body established by an Act ofParliament {Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956). In April 1957, it took over the work offormer All India Khadi and Village Industries Board. It is an apex organization under the Ministry of MicroSmall and Medium Enterprises, with regard to khadi and village industries within India, which seeks to - "plan- promote, facilitate, organise and disist in the establishment and development of khadi and village industries inthe rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary " TheKhadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched its, in-house developed, singleumbrella emarketingsystem named Khadi Institution Management and Information System (KIMIS). The system can beaccessed from anywhere in the country for the sale and purchase of Khadi and Village Industries products TheCommission has three main objectives which guide its functioning. These are: The Social Objective - Providingemployment in rural areas. The Economic Objective - Providing salable articles. The Wider Objective -Creating self-reliance amongst people and building up a strong rural community spirit.

Justification: Statement 1: The South African Constitution was Inaugurated in December 1996. Its creationand promulgation took place at a time when South Africa still faced the threat of a civil war after thedissolution of the Apartheid government.statement 2 and 3: It grants perhaps the most extensive range of rights to the citizens. A special constitutionalcourt enforces the rights enshrined in the constitution. Some of the Rights included in the constitution ofSouth Africa include: Right to Dignity Right to Privacy Right to fair labour practices RightTo healthyenvironment and right to protection of environment Right to adequate housing Right to health care foodwater and social security ' '

Justification; Statement 2; It was prepared by an All Parties Conference chaired by Motilal Nehru with his sonJawaharlal Nehru acting as secretary. There were nine other members in this committee. The final report wassigned by Motilal Nehru, Ah Imam, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Madhav Shrihari Aney, Manga! Singh, Shuaib Qureshi,Subhas Chandra Bose, and G. R. Pradhan. Qureshi disagreed with some of the recommendationsSome of the important elements of the report Unlike the eventual Government of India Act 1935 it containeda Bit! of Rights. All power of government and all authority - legislative, executive and judicial - are derivedfrom the people and the same shall be exercised through organisations established by, or under, and In accordwith, this Constitution. There shall be no state religion; men and womertshal) have equal rights as citizens.There should be federal form of government with residuary powers vested in the centre.(Some scholars, suchas Moore 1988 considered the Nehru Report proposal as essentially unitary rather than federal)- It included adescription of the machinery of government Including a proposal for the creation of a Supreme Court and asuggestion that the provinces should be linguistically determined. It did not provide for separate electoratesfor any community or weightage for minorities. Both of these were liberally provided in the eventualGovernment of India Act 1935. However, it did allow for the reservation of minority seats in provinces havinga minorities of at least ten percent, but this was to be in strict proportion to the size ofthe community. The language of the Union shall be Indian, which may be written either in Devanagari(Hindi/Sanskrit), Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarat!, Bengali or Tamil in character. The use of the Englishlanguage shall be permitted. The Nehru-Report, along with that of the Simon Commission was available toparticipants in the three Indian Round Table Conferences {1930-1932).

Justificatiori: Methanol is a promising fuel as it is clean, cheaper than fossil fuels and a good substitute forheavy fuels. India imports methanol from Saudi Arabia and Iran at present. Across the world, methanol isemerging as a clean, sustainable transportation fuel of the future. Methanol can be used as an energyproducing fuel, transportation fuel and cooking fuel, cutting down India's oil import bill by an estimated 20%over the next few years. Unlike CN6, using methanol as a transportation fuel would require minimal alterationin the vehicles. Methanol Is a clean-burning fuel that produces fewer smog-causing emissions

Learning: This is Article 16(4) of the constitution which ensures equality of opportunity in public employment,in fact Article 16(4) of the constitution explicitly clarifies that a policy like reservation will not be seen as aviolation of right to equality. If you see the spirit of the Constitution, this is required for the fulfilment of theright to equality of opportunity.