TRIUMPH IAS ACADEMY MUMBAI

                                                                                                        SECTION ‘A’   1.(a)  What are the basic principles of public life? Illustrate any three of these with suitable examples. (150 words)   10   1.(b)  What do you understand by the term ‘public servant’? Reflect on the expected role of public servant. (150 words)   10   2.(a)  Effective utilization of public funds is crucial to meet development goals. Critically examine the reasons for under-utilization and mis-utilization of public funds and their implications. (150 words)   10   2.(b)  “Non-performance of duty by a public servant is a form of corruption”. Do you agr...

                                                                                                  (Answer in 150 words) 10mks Highlight the Central Asian and Greco Bactrian elements in the Gandhara art.  The 1857 uprising was the culmination of the recurrent, big and small local rebellions that had occurred in the preceding hundred years of British rule. Elucidate.    Examine the linkages between the nineteenth century’s ‘Indian Renaissance’ and the emergence of national identity .    Assess the impact of global warming on the coral life system with examples.  Discuss the causes of depletion of mangroves and explain their importance in maintaining coastal ecology.  Can the strategy of r...

                         Write two essays from both the sections each (125 x 2) 250 marks                                                            Section A 1) Wisdom finds Truth. 2)Values are not what Humanity is, but what Humanity ought to be. 3) Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society. 4) Courage to accept and dedication to improve are the two keys to success.                                                            Section B 1) South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities. 2) Neglect of primary health care and educat...

In order to make this information more easily accessible in one place, the NARI portal summarizes over 350 government schemes and other important information for the benefit of women, with more being added everyday. It provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal. NARI will provide information to women on issues affecting their lives. There are tips on good nutrition, suggestions for health check ups, information on major diseases, tips for job search and interview, investment and savings advice, information on crimes and against women and reporting procedures, contacts of legal aid cells, simplified adoption procedures and much more. It will endow women with the power of information to build their life skills and facilitates them in taking full advantage of the services provided by the Government for them. Through e-Samvad portal, NGOs and civil society can provide...

 2017 has been a major milestone year for the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. While the period since 2014 to 2016 was utilised for the purposes of reform and course correction, 2017 witnessed consolidation, culmination and the rollout of a new road-map for the Highways sector. Keeping the rapid developments in the sector in mind, RBI  appreciated the highway infrastructure development sector in their Annual Report 2016-17, noting that there is a decline in cost and time overruns to the tune of Rs. 1.5 Billion and an all-time rise in award and construction of highways projects including a peak of daily additions to the roads constructed. Further, it pointed out that stalled projects had declined, both in terms of value and numbers. Another creditworthy development was that f ollowing the upgrade of India's sovereign rating from Baa3 positive to Baa2 stable on 16th November 2017, Moody's Investors Service upgraded the issuer ratings of National Highways Authority of...

National Council on Nutrition under Chairmanship of Vice-Chairman of NITI Ayog to report to Prime Minister every six month T he Government has recently approved the setting up of new National Nutrition Mission (NNM) to address the problem of malnutrition in the country at a total cost of Rs. 9046.17 crore for a period of three years i.e. 2017-18 to 2019-20.  The salient features of the Mission are e nsuring convergence - NNM will ensure convergence with various programmes; incentivizing States/ UTs for achieving goals;   IT enabled Real Time Monitoring (ICT-RTM);  Evaluation;  weighing efficiency   and making nutrition visible; Community mobilisation awareness advocacy; IEC ,  Jan Andolan - to educate the people on nutritional aspects, on-line Course on Nutrition for Children, Nutrition message from folk songs and songs on WASH,   sending messages on nutrition and also creating ring-tones, Yoga for children at AWCs;  s trengthening human reso...

Use of Bio-Diesel in Railways Indian Railways has tested the bio-diesel of different feed stock (Jatropha, Mahua, pongamia, waste cotton seed, Fish Oil, Soyabeen oil, Palm stearin etc.) in the different blending ratio such as B5, B10, B20, B50 and B 100 on its 16 cylinder ALCo and EMD engine test beds. The power performance of engine has been found satisfactory without any adverse impact on engine working. Besides, bio-diesel is found to reduce certain emission parameters which would have otherwise caused pollution in environment. Key Advantages of Bio-Diesel: (i) Renewable Energy source (ii) Derived from Vegetable oil (iii) Non-toxic & Biodegradable (iv) Contains no sulphur that causes acid rain (v) Higher Cetane number, better ignition quality (vi) Used directly in unmodified Diesel engines, neat or blended in any ratio with HSD (vii) Higher Lubricity – Can prolong engine life (viii) Flashpoint higher than HSD-safer to store & transport (ix) Environment...

High Ash content Ash content of coal produced in the country is generally 25 to 45 % whereas average ash content of imported coal varies from 10 to 20 %. Indian Coal has comparatively higher ash content than imported coal due to drift theory of formation of coal deposits in India. Coal seams formed due to drift theory contains higher ash as compared to in-situ theory of formation . As per Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MOEF&CC) stipulation, coal based thermal power plant (situated beyond 500 km from the pit-head) be supplied with, and shall use, raw or blended or beneficiated coal with ash content not exceeding thirty-four percent, on quarterly average basis.  Coal Companies are supplying coal to their customers maintaining ash percentage below 34% on quarterly average basis as per the aforesaid MOEF&CC stipulation. Coal India Limited has taken following steps to adopt international standards in Coal Mining: Deployment of surface miners (du...

Promotion of North East Indian tribal culture As per information available, an amount of Rs.23.50 crore has been sanctioned for construction of a Regional Convention Centre at North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) Complex, Dimapur. Out of an amount of Rs.13.00 crore released to NEZCC, Rs.5.72 crore has been spent towards construction of the Convention Centre. Under Tagore Cultural Complex Scheme, from 2013 till date, an amount of Rs.41.65 crore has been allocated and Rs.22.50 crore spent for construction of Tagore cultural complexes at Chedema, Aboi, and Dimapur in Nagaland and at Raga and Upper Subansiri District in Arunachal Pradesh. Government has set up Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) in Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram during 2016-17 and 2018-19, which,  inter alia , function as a body of knowledge & research and preservation of tribal art and culture. From 2014-15 till date, Rs.86.18 crore have been provided to the TRIs in North East Region to ca...