UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — India Hosts 61st Meeting of International Committee of Legal Metrology in New Delhi

Q1. With reference to the international acceptance of conformity-assessment results for products such as measuring instruments, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Under a mutual recognition arrangement, an importing country accepts testing results produced in the exporting country, and this rests on its confidence in the testing bodies there.
  2. Under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, a technical regulation based on a relevant international standard is presumed not to create an unnecessary obstacle to trade.
  3. Mutual acceptance of test results is possible only where the countries concerned have first adopted identical conformity-assessment procedures.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1 only
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q2. In the context of decriminalising offences under regulatory laws such as the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A criminal fine is imposed by a court after a trial, while a civil penalty is imposed by a designated executive authority without criminal prosecution.
  2. Replacing imprisonment with a criminal fine is by itself enough to end litigation, because a fine is a milder punishment than jail.
  3. A law that moves to civil penalties should itself name the adjudicating authority and provide for an appeal against its orders.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q3. Consider the following features of a reformed penalty scheme in a weights-and-measures law. The first offence attracts only a notice directing the trader to correct the defect within a time limit. A second offence attracts a fine up to a stated ceiling, and later offences attract much higher fines. All fines rise by 10% of the minimum amount every three years, and some base amounts in related laws were fixed several decades ago. Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the above?

  1. The scheme can work as intended only if the enforcing authority is able to tell whether an offender has been caught before.
  2. At the first detection the trader bears no monetary penalty, so the expected cost of cheating until that point is low.
  3. The periodic 10% rise will restore the real value of fines that were fixed several decades ago.
  4. Because the rise is expressed as a percentage, fines in different laws will converge to a common level over time.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1, 3 and 4 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q4. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. A Select Committee on a Bill may include members drawn from both Houses of Parliament.
  2. A motion to refer a Bill to a Joint Committee requires the concurrence of the other House.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q5. With reference to the dissemination of Indian Standard Time (IST) under the 'One Nation, One Time' initiative, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Satellite-based dissemination of IST through NavIC makes a ground-based national time standard unnecessary, because the satellites themselves define IST.
  2. Banking systems and legal records need timestamps traceable to a single national reference so that the order of transactions and events can be established and proved.
  3. Telecom networks and power grids need their equipment synchronised to a common precise time reference in order to operate in coordination.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q6. With reference to measurement governance in India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Legal metrology deals with the accuracy of weights, measures and measuring instruments used in trade and consumer transactions.
  2. The national atomic time scale from which IST is derived is maintained by CSIR-National Physical Laboratory rather than by the legal metrology authorities.
  3. Rules making Indian Standard Time the reference for commercial and legal purposes have been framed under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q7. With reference to a parliamentary committee to which a Bill is referred for detailed examination, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. It considers the Bill clause by clause and may take evidence from associations, public bodies or experts.
  2. It continues to function as a permanent committee of the House after it has submitted its report on the Bill.
  3. After it reports, the House takes up the Bill in the form in which the committee has reported it.
  • A. 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only