Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The Digha Nikaya, which relates to pre Maurya times, mentions nearly two dozen occupations, but the Mahavastu, which relates to this period, catalogues thirty-six kinds of workers living in the town of Rajgir, and the list is not exhaustive. The Milinda Panho, or the Questions of Milinda, enumerates as many as seventy-five occupations, sixty of which are connected with various crafts.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The Romans mainly imported spices, muslin, pearls, jewels, and precious stones from central and southern India. Iron goods, especially cutlery, formed an important item of export to the Roman Empire.

Statement 3 is correct: During this period, a significant economic development was the thriving trade between India and the Eastern Roman Empire. Trade was primarily conducted by sea, and by understanding the monsoon winds, sailors could sail more efficiently from the eastern coast of the Arabian Sea to the western coast. This allowed them to access various ports like Broach and Sopara on the western coast and Arikamedu and Tamralipti on the eastern coast. Among these ports, Broach was the most important and prosperous.

Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is incorrect:  The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been implementing a central sector umbrella scheme called “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)” since 2017-18 across the country.  PMKSY aims to supplement agriculture, modernise processing and decrease agri-waste. It is also helpful in providing better prices to farmers and creating good employment opportunities

Statements 2 and 3 are correct: The basic objective of the scheme is to ensure the overall development of the food processing sector in the country.  The scheme aims to achieve the objective by providing incentives for the creation of preservation & processing infrastructure. The PMKSY has several component schemes. Under the component-scheme Mega Food Park Scheme (MFPS), financial assistance is provided for setting up Mega Food Parks in the country.

Ans: B

Exp:

Operation Green is a new central sector scheme announced in 2018- 19  for the integrated development of tomatoes, onions, and potatoes (TOPS) with a budgetary allocation of 500 crore till 2019-20. Operation Greens is being implemented by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. In the Union Budget 202 1- 22, GOI announced that the scope of Operation Greens to be enlarged to include 22 more perishable products.

Ans: D

Exp:

Option a is incorrect: Agri-Export Zones (AEZs) were introduced in 2001 with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) as its nodal agency.

Option b is incorrect: It works on a cluster approach to identify the potential products. It adopts an end-to-end approach to integrate the entire process, right from the production stage to the market.

Financial assistance is given by the Government for training, extension, R&D, quality upgradation, marketing, etc. A concession on customs duty is also provided for the import of capital machinery.

Option c is incorrect: As of January 2021, there are 60 AEZs in India (Maharashtra has the highest number of AEZs at present, i.e., 8 AEZs).

Option d is correct: An AEZ is a specific geographic region in a country demarcated for setting up agriculture based processing industries, mainly for export.

Ans: D

Exp:

Some of the factors that influence the movement of ocean water-

• Temperature- The heating by solar energy causes the water to expand. Warm water from the equator slowly moves along the surface towards the poles, while cold water from the poles slowly creeps along the bottom of the sea towards the equator. 

• • Wind blowing on the surface of the ocean pushes the water to move.

• Gravity tends to pull the water down the pile, creating gradient variations. 

• The earth’s rotation and Coriolis force-  The Coriolis force intervenes and causes the water to move to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.

The obstruction due to landmass- hinders the direction of flow of the ocean current and divides the ocean current, which in turn flows in a different direction. Example: The south equatorial current in the Atlantic Ocean is obstructed by the South American continent, and the South equatorial current divides to create the Brazilian current, which flows in the south Atlantic Ocean.