OPEC:
i) It is a group of oil producing nations (i.e. Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia).
ii) Its membership is open to any country that exports crude oil.
OPEC'S mission:
i) To co-ordinate oil policies in its member countries.
ii) Help stabilise oil markets.
iii) To secure fair and stable income to petroleum producers.
iv) An efficient, economic and regular supply of oil to consuming nations.
v) A fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.
Helps other countries:
i) It helps finance projects with low interests loans.
ii) It provides grants to social and humanitarian projects.
iii) It has an Information centre with over 20,000 volumes including books, reports map and conference proceedings related to petroleum, energy and the oil market.
iv) It is open to the public and for the rescarchers and students.

Reason:
i) To be an alternative to World Bank and IMF to challenge U.S. supremacy.
ii) To provide self-owned and self managed organisations to carryout developmental and economical plan in its member nations.
Objectives:
i) To achieve regional development.
ii) It acts as a bridge between developed and developing countries.
iii) To contribute extensively to the development of humanity.
iv) To establish a more equitable and fair world.
v) Boost intra BRICS trade in their local currencies to increase trade cooperation and cope with the current international financial crisis.
vi) To promote the technological information exchange among the member states.
vii) To enhance inclusive economic growth that will lead to the creation of jobs, fight against poverty and accelerate the economic transformation of members.

a) There was an increase in the number of educated non-Brahmins.
b) They raised the issue of caste discrimination and unequal opportunities in government employment and representation in elected bodies, which were dominated by Brahmins.
c) Further, the Congress was also overwhelmingly composed of Brahmins.
Madras Dravidian Association:
a) The non-Brahmins organised themselves into political organisations to protect their interests.
b) In 1912 the Madras Dravidian Association was founded. C. Natesanar played an active role as its secretary.
d) On 20 November 1916 a meeting of about thirty non-Brahmins was held under the leadership of P. Thyagarayar, Dr. T.M. Nair and C. Natesanar in Chennai.
The South Indian Liberal Federation:
The South Indian Liberal Federation (SILF) was founded to promote the interests of the non-Brahmins.
Justice Ministry:
a) The Congress boycotted the elections of 1920.
b) The Justice Party won 63 of 98 elected seats in the Legislative Council.
c) A. Subburayalu of the Justice  Party became the first chief minister.
d) After the 1923 elections, Raja of Panagal of the Justice Party formed the ministry.

Partition of Bengal :
a) Partition of Bengal in 1905 was the most unpopular of all.
b) The partition led to wide spread protests all across India, starting a new phase of the Indian national movement.
c) The idea of partition was devised to suppress the political activities against the British rule in Bengal by creating a Hindu-Muslim divide.
d) Instead of dividing the Bengali people along the religious line the partition united them.
Anti-partition movement :
a) The boycott of British goods was one such method.
b) The agenda of Swadeshi Movement was still restricted to secure an annulment of partition.
c) The moderates were very much against utilising the campaign to start a full-fledged passive resistance.
d) But the militant nationalists were in favour of extending the movement beyond Bengal and to initiate a full-scale mass struggle.
e) The day Bengal was officially partitioned, 16 October 1905 was declared as a day of mourning.
f) Thousands of people took bath in the Ganga and marched on the streets of Calcutta singing 'Vande Mataram'.
Boycott and Swadeshi Movement in Bengal (1905-1911)
a) Boycott and swadeshi were always interlinked to each other and part of the wider plan to make India self-sufficient.
b) Four major trends can be discerned during the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.
i) The Moderate Trend
ii) Militant Nationalism
iii) Constructive Swadeshi
iv) Revolutionary terrorism

Contribution of different sectors GD P in India:
i) Gross Value Added (GVA) at current prices for services sector is estimated at 92.6 lakh crore in 2018 - 19.
ii) Services sector accounts for 54.40% of total India's (GVA) of 169.61 lakh crore Indian Rupees.
iii) With GVA of Rs. 50.43 lakh crore, Industry sector contributes 29.73%.
iv) Agriculture and allied sector shares 15.87%.
v) At 2011-12 prices, composition of Agriculture &allied, Industry and services sectors are 14.39%, 31.46% and 54.15% respectively.
vi) The share of primary like agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining and quarrying.
vii) Secondary (Industry) like, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water supply, utility services and construction, tertiary (services) like, trade, hotels, transport, communication etc. have been estimated as 18.57%, 27.03%, 54.40%.
viii) According to sector wise India GDP composition in 2017 are Agriculture (15.4%), Industry (23%) and services (61.5%).
ix) India is 2nd largest producer of agriculture product.
x) India accounts for 7.39% of total global agricultural output.
xi) In Industry sector, India world rank is 6.
xii) In service sector, India world rank is 8.
xiii) Contribution of Agriculture sector in Indian economy is much higher than world's average 6.4%.
xiv) Contribution of Industry and services sector is lower than world's average 30% for Industry sector and 63% for services sector.
xv) At previous methodology, composition of Agriculture & allied, Industry and services sector was 51.81%, 14.16% and 33.25% respectively at current prices in 1950-51.
(xvi) Share of Agriculture & allied sector has declined at 18.20% in 2013 - 14.
xvii) Share of services sector has improved to 57.03%.
xviii) Share of Industry sector has also increased to 24.77%.

(i) The plateau region lies to the south of the Great Northern Plains. This is the largest physiographic division of our country.
(ii) It covers an area of about 16 lakh sq.km (about half of the total area of the country). It is an old rocky plateau region.
(iii) Aravalli hills mark the north-western boundary of the plateau region.
(iv) Its northern and north-eastern boundaries are marked by the Bundelkhand upland, Kaimur and Rajmahal hills.
(v) The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats mark the western and eastern boundaries respectively.
(vi) The peak of Anaimudi is the highest point in the plateau. Its height is 2,695 m and is located in Anaimalai.
(vii) River Narmada divides the plateau region of India broadly into 2 parts.
(viii) The region lying to the north of the Narmada is called the Central Highlands and the region lying to the south of Narmada is called the Deccan Plateau.
(ix) All the major rivers (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, etc.) lying to the south of the Vindhyas flow eastwards and fall into the Bay of Bengal.
(x) Narmada and Tapti are the two rivers situated to the south of the Vindhyas flow westward.
(xi) Their movement towards west is due to the presence of a rift valley in the region.

Communist Victory:
(i) With the surrender of the Japanese (1945), both the Kuomintang and the communists sought to occupy the Japanese areas.
(ii) In this race the Kuomintang was successful. The cities and railways soon fell into their hands.
(iii) Even the area around Peking was soon controlled by Chiang Kai-shek's forces, largely because of the military aid given by the USA.
(iv) With the massive support provided by the USA, Kuomintang government controlled the administration, ports and communication system.
(v) But the soldiers, mainly drawn from the peasants, were disillusioned and discontented.
(vi) Mao was keen on obtaining the support of the middle class.
(vii) Mao continued the use of guerrilla tactics but also ordered large-scale military movements.
(viii) Cities fell one by one and Chiang Kai-shek's army began to disintegrate quickly.
(ix) In the summer of 1948, Communist control had been established over most parts of China.

(i) Even on 23 February 1917, when the socialists celebrated International Working Women's Day on that day, the Tsar seemed unchallengeable. But he had to abdicate on the morning of 2 March.
(ii) Though none called for strikes fearing that the time was not ripe for militant action, the bread shortages among women textile workers, many with husbands in the army, forced them to go on strike anyway and march through the factory areas of Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire.
(iii) Masses of women workers in a militant frame of mind demanding "Bread for workers" waved their arms towards factory workers and shouted, "Come out!" "Stop work!"
(iv) The city's 400,000 workers joined the movement the next day (24 February).

Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32):
A writ is an order or command issued by a court in writing under its seal. It is in the nature of a command or prohibition from performing certain acts that are specified in the orders of the court. Both the Supreme Court and the High Courts are empowered to issue five kinds of writs such as Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Quo Warranto and Certiorari.
i) Habeas Corpus: Safeguards people from illegal arrests.
ii) Mandamus: It protects the petitioner who requires legal help to get his work done by respective public authorities
iii) Prohibition: It prohibits a subordinate court from acting beyond its jurisdiction.
iv) Certiorari: It quashes an order issued by a subordinate court by overstepping its jurisdiction.
v) Quo Warranto: It prevents usurpation of public office through illegal manner.

On the basis of climate, soil and land form characteristics the natural vegetation of India can be divided into the following types.
Tropical Evergreen Forest:
i) These forest are found in areas with 200 cm or more annual rainfall.
ii) Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andaman Nicobar Islands, Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya states have this type of forests.
iii) The most important trees are rubber, mahogany, ebony, rosewood, coconut, bamboo, cinchona, candes, palm, iron wood and cedar.
Tropical Deciduous Forest:
i) These forests are found in the areas with 100 to 200 cm annual rainfall.
ii) These are called 'Monsoon Forests'.
iii) The trees of these forests drop their leaves during the spring and early summer.
iv) These forests are found in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
v) Teak and Sal are the most important trees. Sandal wood, rose wood, Kusum, Mahua, Palas haldu, amla, padank, bamboo and tendu are the other trees of economic importance.
vi) These forests also provide fragrant oil, varnish, sandal oil and perfumes.
Tropical Dry Forest:
i) These forests are found in the areas with 50 to 100 cm annual rainfall.
ii) They represent a transitional type of forests.
iii) These are found in east Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Maharashtra, Telangana, West Karnataka and East Tamil Nadu.
iv) The important species are mahua, banyan, amaltas, palas, haldu, kikar, bamboo, babool, khair, etc.
Tropical Thorn Forest:
i) These are found in the areas having annual rainfall of less than 50 cm.
ii) They have low humidity and high temperature.
iii) These forests are found in north - west India, which includes west Rajasthan, South west
iv) Haryana, North Gujarat, South  - west Punjab, parts of the Deccan plateau in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
v) Babul, Kikar and Wild palms are common trees found here.
Mountain or Montane Forest:
On the basis of altitude and amount of rainfall, these forests are classified into two.
i) Eastern Himalayan Forest,
ii) Western Himalayan Forest.
Alpine Forest:
i) It occurs all along the Himalayas with above 2400 m altitude.
ii) These are purely having coniferous trees.
iii) Oak, silver fir, pine and juniper are the main trees of these forests.
iv) The eastern parts of Himalayas have large extent of these forests.
Mangrove Forest:
i) These forests occur in and around the deltas, estuaries, creeks, prone to tidal influences and as such are also known as delta or swamp forests.
ii) The delta of the Ganga, Brahmaputra has the largest tidal forest.
iii) These are also known as Sundarbans forest.
iv) The deltas of Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna rivers are also known for tidal forests.
v) These are also known as tidal forests.

The reform movements of nineteenth century in the realm of religion fall under two broad categories.
Reformist Movement
i) Brahmo Samaj
ii) Prarthana Samaj
iii) Aligarh movement.
Revivalist movements
i) Arya Samaj
ii) The Ramakrishna Mission
iii) Deoband movement

Administrative Structure:
i) The executive wing of the United Nations is the UN Secretariat.
ii) It is headed by Secretary General. He is elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
iii) The Secretary General along with his cabinet and other officials runs the United Nations.
iv) The International Court of Justice, headquartered at the Hague in Holland. It is the judicial wing of the United Nations.
v) The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is responsible for coordinating all economic and social work of the United Nations
Other Important Organs of the UN:
i) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
ii) World Health Organisation (WHO),
iii) UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
iv) UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
v) UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
Activities of the UN:
i) The United Nations has expanded its activities in response to the changing problems facing the world.
ii) Thus, in the 1960s, decolonization was an important issue.
iii) Human rights, the problem of refugees, climate changes, gender equality are all now within the ambit of the activities of the United Nations.
iv) The UN peace keeping force has acted many areas of conflict all over the world. The Indian army has an important part in the peace keeping force. It has served in many parts of the world
v) Poor countries and developing countries are given financial assistance by the UNO.

a) There were two main political parties: The Unionist Party which was mainly British and the South Africa Party which had largely Afrikaners (Boers).
b) The first Prime Minister, Botha belonged to the South Africa Party ruled in cooperation with the British.
c) But a militant section of the South Africa Party formed the National Party under Herzog.
d) In 1920 elections, the National Party got 44 seats and the South Africa Party secured 41 seats.
e) At this juncture the British-dominated Unionist Party merged with the South Africa Party.
f) This gave Smuts a majority over the militant Afrikaner controlled National Party.

Cropping seasons:
i) Sornavari(Chittirai pattam)
ii) Samba (Adipattam)
iii) Navarai (Karthigai pattam)

i) Rajaji introduced Hindi as a compulsory subject in schools.
ii) This was considered to be a form of Aryan and North Indian imposition detrimental to Tamil language and culture, and therefore caused much public resentment.
iii) E.V.R organised an anti-Hindi Conference at Salem.
iv) The Scheduled Castes Federation and the Muslim League extended its support to the anti- Hindi agitation.
v) Natarajan and Thalamuthu, two of the enthusiastic agitators died in prison.
vi) A rally was organised from Tiruchirappalli to Madras.
vii) More than 1200 protestors including EVR were arrested.
viii) After the resignation of the Congress Ministry, Hindi was removed as compulsory subject.

(i) Economic growth is the quantitative measure which considers the rise in the output produced in an economy or nation in a particular period in its monetary value.
(ii) GDP and GNP which helps in measuring the actual size of an economy.

All the decisions and decrees issued by the High Court are printed and are kept as a record for future references by the Court as well as by the lawyers, is such a need arises. Thus, it also acts as a Court of Record.

The word 'Citizen' is derived from the Latin term 'Civis' It means resident of a City State.

Natural vegetation can be classified as tropical evergreen forests, tropical deciduous forests, tropical dry forests, desert and semi desert vegetation, mountain forests, Alpine forests, Tidal forests, coastal forests, and Riverine forest.

(i) Ramalinga bore witness to hunger and poverty in the country: "I saw poor people, emaciated with hunger and terribly weary, going to every house, yet their hunger was not removed, and my heart suffered intensely.
(ii) Those who suffer with relentless disease, I saw them in front of me and my heart trembled.
(iii) I saw those people, poor and of unmatched honor, their hearts weary, and I grew weak:'

Russia, France, Britain, Italy, the United States, Belgium, Serbia, Romania and Greece are the nine states that opposed the central powers.

i) Globalization is the integration of a country with the world economy.
ii) Globalization signifies a process of internationalization plus liberalization.

(i) The Lok Sabha is presided over by the 'speaker'. He is elected by its members.
(ii) The office of the Speaker occupies an essential position in our Parliamentary democracy.
(iii) The Speaker continues to be in the office even in the houses dissolved, till a new Speaker is elected by the new Lok Sabha.
(iv) The Speaker presides over a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
(v) He has the power to decide whether a Bill is Money Bill or an ordinary one.

a) As Chiang Kai-sheik had built a circle of fortified ports around the communist positions, Mao wanted to move out of Hunan for safer territory.
b) By 1933 Mao had gained full control of the Chinese Communist party.
c) In 1934, the Communist army of about 100,000 set out on the Long March.
d) This march has become legendary.
e) Out of 1,00,000, only 20,000 finally reached Sheni after crossing 6,000 miles.

i) Mussolini of Italy,
ii) Adolf Hitler of Germany
iii) Franco of Spain

a) The interior of Africa was unknown to the outside world until the last quarter of nineteenth century. European colonisation began after about 1875.
b) The Berlin Colonial Conference of 1884-85 had resolved that Africa should be divided into spheres of influence of various colonial powers.
c) However the war between the British and Boers in South Africa was in defiance of this resolution.