UPSC PRELIMS GS PAPER-2 2013

Direction: Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only. Passage Ecological-research over the last quarter of the century has established the deleterious effects of habitat fragmentation due to mining, highways and such other intrusions on forests. When a large block of forests gets fragmented into smaller bits, the edges of all these bits come into contact with human activities resulting in the degradation of the entire forests. Continuity of forested landscapes and corridors gets disrupted affecting several extinction-prone species of wildlife. Habitat fragmentation, is therefore considered as the most serious threat to biodiversity conservation. Ad hoc grants of forest lands to mining companies coupled with rampant, illegal mining is aggravating this threat.
What is the central focus of this passage?

Direction: Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only. Passage Ecological-research over the last quarter of the century has established the deleterious effects of habitat fragmentation due to mining, highways and such other intrusions on forests. When a large block of forests gets fragmented into smaller bits, the edges of all these bits come into contact with human activities resulting in the degradation of the entire forests. Continuity of forested landscapes and corridors gets disrupted affecting several extinction-prone species of wildlife. Habitat fragmentation, is therefore considered as the most serious threat to biodiversity conservation. Ad hoc grants of forest lands to mining companies coupled with rampant, illegal mining is aggravating this threat.
What is the purpose of maintaining the continuity of forested landscapes and corridors? 1) Preservation of biodiversity. 2) Management of mineral resources. 3) Grant of forest lands for human activities. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

In a rare coin collection, there is one gold coin for every three non-gold coins. 10 more gold coins are added to the collection and the ratio of gold coins to non-gold coins would be 1: 2. Based on the information; the total number of coins in the collection now becomes

A gardener has 1000 plants: He wants to plant them in such a way that the number of rows and the number of columns remains the same. What is the minimum number of plants that he needs more for this purpose?

A sum of Rs. 700 has to be used to give seven cash prizes to the students of a school for their overall academic performance. If each prize is Rs. 20 less than its preceding prize, what is the least value of the prize?

Out of 120 applications for a post, 70 are male and 80 have a driver's license. What is the ratio between the minimum to maximum number of males having driver's license?