UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Looking back at the lockdown, lessons in leadership

Q1. The successive nationwide lockdown orders and 'Unlock' guidelines of 2020 were issued and operationalised, as the nodal ministry under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, by which one of the following?

  • A. Ministry of Home Affairs
  • B. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
  • C. Ministry of Defence
  • D. Cabinet Secretariat

Q2. In the context of India's 2020 COVID-19 response, the term 'Unlock 1.0' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. The MHA guidelines, effective from 1 June 2020, providing for phased re-opening of activities outside containment zones
  • B. The voluntary 'Janata Curfew' observed on 22 March 2020
  • C. The first extension of the national lockdown up to 31 May 2020
  • D. The lifting of all Disaster Management Act provisions invoked during the pandemic

Q3. During the 2020 lockdown, the National Migrant Information System (NMIS), a central online repository to facilitate the seamless inter-State movement of migrant workers, was developed by which one of the following?

  • A. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
  • B. Ministry of Labour and Employment
  • C. NITI Aayog
  • D. Ministry of Railways

Q4. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the apex body whose order of 24 March 2020 formed the basis of the nationwide lockdown, is chaired ex officio by which one of the following?

  • A. The Prime Minister
  • B. The Union Home Minister
  • C. The Union Home Secretary
  • D. The Cabinet Secretary

Q5. The Ministry of Home Affairs order of 24 March 2020 imposing the 21-day national lockdown was issued in exercise of powers under which section of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, empowering the National Executive Committee to issue directions?

  • A. Section 10(2)(l)
  • B. Section 6(2)(i)
  • C. Section 35
  • D. Section 22

Q6. Which one of the following was the earliest component of Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 preparedness, activated at state and district levels from January 2020 — ahead of the State's other listed measures?

  • A. Rapid Response Teams (RRTs)
  • B. The ₹1,000 cash support to entitled family cardholders
  • C. The ₹60 crore financial assistance to the health and transport departments
  • D. The declaration of COVID-19 as a notified disease under the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939

Q7. Tamil Nadu declared COVID-19 a 'notified disease' on 13 March 2020 under which one of the following statutes?

  • A. Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939
  • B. Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897
  • C. Disaster Management Act, 2005
  • D. Tamil Nadu COVID-19 Regulations, 2020

Q8. With reference to the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme as a policy response to the migrant crisis, consider the following statements. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Unlike the earlier arrangement that tied a beneficiary to a single 'home' Fair Price Shop, ONORC allows an NFSA beneficiary to lift entitlements from any ePoS-enabled Fair Price Shop in the country.
  2. ONORC has been rolled out across all 36 States/Union Territories of the country.
  3. ONORC replaced the National Food Security Act, 2013, as the new statutory basis for distribution of subsidised foodgrains.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3