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.

Group	countries	Objectives
IBSA	India, Brazil South Africa	To focus on agriculture, energy, trade, culture and defence.
BCIM	Bangladesh,China, India,Myanmar	To respond to threats such as natural disasters and protect business interests.
MGC (Mekong Ganga Cooperation)	India, Cambodia,Laos, PDR Myanmar, Thailand,Vietnam	To create necessary infrastructural facilities in the Ganga-Mekong basin
BBIN	Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal	For energy development.
EAS (East Asia Summit)	10 ASEAN nations + 8 strategic partners including US, China, India, Japan	To promote peace and stability

a) Swadeshi Movement:
i) The partition of Bengal (1905) led to the Swadeshi Movement.
ii) The Swadeshi movement made a deep impact in Tamil Nadu.
iii) The Calcutta Congress which called upon the nation to promote Swadeshi enterprise, boycott foreign goods and promote, national education.
b) Response in Tamil Nadu:
i) V.O. Chidambaranar, V. Chakkaraiyar, Subramania Bharati and Surendranath Arya were some of the prominent leaders in Tamil Nadu.
ii) Public meetings were organised in various parts of Tamil Nadu.
iii) Tamil was used on the public platform for the first time to mobilise the people.
iv) Subaramania Bharati's patriotic songs stirred patriotic emotions.
v) Many journals were started to propagate Swadeshi ideals. Swadesamitran and India were prominent journals.
c) Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company
i) One of the most enterprising acts was the launching of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company at Thoothukudi by V.O. Chidambaranar.
ii) He purchased two ships Gallia and Lavo and plied them between Thoothukudi and
Colombo.
d) Tirunelveli Uprising:
i) V.O.C and Subramania Siva organised the mill workers in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.
ii) In 1908, he led a strike in the Coral Mills.
iii) V.O.C and Subramania Siva organized a public meeting to celebrate the release of Bipin, So they were arrested.
iv) The news of the arrest sparked riots in Tirunelveli, leading down to burning of police station , court building and municipal office .
v) It led to the death of four people in police firing.
vi) V.O.C was treated harshly in prison and was made to pull the heavy oil press.
vii) To avoid imprisonment Subramania Bharati moved to Pondicherry which was under French rule.

Causes
a) Annexation policy of British India
In the 1840s and 1850s more territories were annexed through two major policies.
The Doctrine of Paramountcy
a) British claimed themselves as paramount, exercising supreme authority.
b) New territories were annexed on the grounds that the native rulers were corrupt and inept.
The Doctrine of Lapse:
a) If a native ruler did not have a male heir to the throne, the territory was to 'lapse' into British India upon the death of the ruler.
b) Satara, Sambalpur, parts of the Punjab, Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed by the British through this policy.
b) Insensitivity to Indian cultural sentiments 
a) In 1806 the sepoys at Vellore mutinied against the new dress code, which prohibited Indians from wearing religious marks on their foreheads and having whiskers on their chin. They had to replace their turbans with a round hat.
b) It was feared that the dress code was part of their effort to convert soldiers to Christianity.
c) Similarly in 1824, the sepoys at Barrackpur near Calcutta refused to go to Burma by sea since crossing the sea meant the loss of their caste.
d) The sepoys were also upset with discrimination in salary and promotion.
e) Indian sepoys were paid much less than their European counterparts.
f) They felt humiliated and racially abused by their seniors.
c) Immediate cause:
a)The precursor to the revolt was the circulation of rumors about the cartridges of the new Enfield rifle.
b)There was strong suspicion that the new cartridges had been greased with cow and pig fat.
c)The cartridge had to be bitten off before loading (pork is forbidden to the Muslims and the cow is sacred to a large section of Hindus).

a) Several important goods are services left out of the GDP:
i) The GDP includes only the goods and services sold in the market.
ii) The services provided by the parents to their children is very important but it is not included in the GDP because it is not sold in the market.
iii) Likewise clean air, which is vital for a healthy life, has no market value and is left out of the GDP.
b) GDP measures only quantity but not quality :
i) In the 1970s schools and banks did not permit the use of ballpoint pens.
ii) This is because, the ones available in India were of very poor quality.
iii) Since then, not only has there been a substantial increase in the quantity of ballpoint pens produced in India but their quality has also improved a lot.
iv) The improvement in quality of goods is very important but it is not captured by the GDP.
c) GDP does not tell us about the way income is described in the country:
The GDP of a country may be growing rapidly but income may be distributed so unequally that only a small percentage of people may be benefitting from it.
d) The GDP does not tell us about the kind of life people are living:
A high level of per capita real GDP can go hand - in - hand with very low health condition of people, an undemocratic political system, high pollution and high suicide rate.

(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.

(i) By the end of Second World War Viet Minh controlled the northern half of Vietnam. Viet Minh formed a government led by Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi.
(ii) This Viet Minh government quickly occupied the southern half of Vietnam. However, the Allied Powers decided at Potsdam that the British in the south and the Chinese in the north should defend Indo-China from the Japanese.
(iii) In March the two governments (French and Viet Minh) reached an agreement by which North Vietnam was to be a free state, within an Indo-Chinese Federation. But the new French constitution included all overseas colonies in a French Union.
(iv) In 1949 the French attempted to secure the support of the population by declaring Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia independent within the French Union, retaining only foreign affairs and defense under French control. However, the problem of Indo- China soon became involved in the Cold War.
(v) While the French were receiving considerable financial aid from America, the Viet Minh were helped by the new Chinese communist government. The French troops were eventually defeated.
(vi) South Vietnam, approximately of the same size and population, was ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem.
(vii) Diem refused to hold the elections to decide on a united Vietnam.
(viii) However, by 1962, it was clear that Diem was incapable of controlling the situation. This led to the posting of more US armed forces in the area.
(ix) The US bombed both North and South in the hope that it could force the liberation forces to abandon the struggle.
(x) The fighters of North Vietnam, trained in guerilla warfare, had grown out of spontaneous struggles against a repressive regime.
(xi) The American troops also used bacteriological weapons.
(xii) Incendiary bombs such as napalm and Agent Orange (to defoliate the forest cover) were used.
(xiii) Escalation of the total military outlay caused the US big business to protest. The youths rebelled against the conscription and the horrors of war.
(xiv) Anti-Vietnam War protests rocked universities and colleges across the US and in Europe and became part of the 1960s counterculture.
(xv) No other single issue united millions of people all over the world as the war of Vietnam.

(i) The First World War left a deep impact on European society and polity.
(ii) The outcome, in all countries, was imbalance between the sexes-a shortage of men.
(iii) Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
(iv) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere.
(v) Popular support grew in favour of dictatorship in state governance.
(vi) The most striking of all has been the rise and consolidation of the Soviet Union. 
(vii) The most notable advances made there was in the fields of education and industry.
(viii) Another outstanding event of this period was the full awakening of the colonies and their aggressive attempts to gain freedom.
(ix) All the struggles for freedom in Asia and Africa illustrated how the new spirit abroad was affecting the minds of men and women in distant countries of the East simultaneously.

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.

English education:
i) English education introduced with the objective of producing clerks also produced a new English educated middle class.
ii) This class came under the influence of western ideas and thoughts.
Role of Christianity:
i) Christianity also had its effect on the newly emerging middle class.
ii) The educated middle class began to take a lead in political as well as in reform movements.
Western ideas:
i) The Indian reformers were quite hesitant to subject their old notions and habits to critical scrutiny. Instead they attempted to harmonize both Indian and western cultures.
ii)Their ideas and their actions helped to mitigate social evils such as sati, female infanticide and child marriage and various superstitious beliefs.
Role of scholars and writers:
i) The scholars and writers were an inspiration for the people towards the reform movements.
ii) As the society was having a number of evil practices like sati, child marriage and polygamy there was an urgent need for reform in the society.
iii) These were the circumstances that led to the reform movement in the 19^th century.

Rise of Hitler:
(i) Adolf Hitler was able to exploit the general discontent among the Germans.
ii) He founded the Nationalist Socialist party generally known as 'the Nazis'.
iii) The fundamental platform on which Hitler built his support was the notion of the racial superiority of the German as a pure, Aryan' race.
iv) He had a deep hatred for the Jews.
v) He came to power in 1933 and ruled Germany till 1945.
vi) In direct contravention of the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles he rearmed Germany.
vii) It solved the problem of unemployment in Germany.
viii) Soon Germany and Italy came closer and they formed Rome - Berlin Axis. When Japan joined it, it became Rome - Berlin - Tokyo axis.
ix) Hitler invaded the Rhineland
x) Hitler invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia and Sudetenland.
Fall of Hitler:
i) Initially German army had success. But after the entry of America the axis powers were defeated one after another.
ii) The British Royal Air Force inflicted severe losses on Germany.
iii) In 1941 German army invaded Russia. It was also a failure.
iv) In North Africa the German forces were defeated by General Montgomery.
v) The allied forces under the command of Eisenhower invaded Normandy in France. Slowly, the German army was forced back. Hitler committed suicide in April 1945.

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.

A large number of textile mills are concentrated in Coimbatore. Hence Coimbatore is called the 'Manchester of Tamilnadu'.

a) V.O. Chidambaranar joined with Subramania Siva in organising the mill workers in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.
b) In 1908, he led a strike in the European-owned Coral Mills.
c) It coincided with the release of Bipin Chandra Pal.
d) V.O.C and Subramania Siva organised a public meeting to celebrate the release of Bipin, were arrested.
e) The two leaders were charged with sedition and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
f) The news of the arrest sparked riots in Tirunelveli leading to the burning down of the police station, court building and municipal office.
g) It led to the death of four people in police firing.
h) V.O.C was treated harshly in prison and was made to pull the heavy oil press. 

Duties of Palayakkarars:
a) Collect revenue
b) Administer the territory
c) Settle disputes
d) Maintain law and order

An economic indicator is a statistical data used to determine the health of the economy

(i) The speaker may be removed from office by a resolution of the Assembly after giving a 14 days' notice.
(ii) Such a resolution must be passed by a majority of the members present at the time of voting.
(iii) The speaker does not vacate his office, when the Assembly is dissolved.

(i) Under Article 356, the President can declare an emergency in a state if the Governor reports that a situation has arisen under which the government of a State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
(ii) Maximum duration of the emergency can be three years
(iii) After such an announcement state legislature is suspended and the State is governed by the Governor on behalf of the President.

Biosphere reserves are protected areas of a land coastal environment where in people are an integral component of the system.

Contribution of Annie Besant
(i) In India the Theosophical movement became further popular with the election of Annie Besant (1847-1933) as its president after the death of Olcott.
(ii) She played a role in Indian nationalist politics and formed the Home Rule League demanding home rule to India on the lines of Ireland.
(iii) Annie Besant spread Theosophical ideas through her newspapers called New India and Commonweal.

A trust is an industrial organization engaged in the production or distribution of any commodity. The trust would possess adequate control over the supply and price of that commodity to its own advantage.

i) A better economy introduces rapid development of the capital market.
ii) Standard of living has increased.
iii) Globalization rapidly increases better trade so that more people are employed.
iv) Introduced new technologies and new scientific research patterns
v) Globalization increases the GDP of a country.

(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.

(i)  After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of the Kuomintang party
(ii)  As an allowed critic of communists he removed all the communists from important positions in the party.
(iii) In 1928 he captured Peking and once again there was a central government in China.

There are many clauses but the three main clauses are:
i) Germany was forced to give up territories to the west, north and east of the German border.
ii) Germany had to disarm and was allowed to retain only a very restricted armed force
iii)  As reparations for the war, Germany was expected to pay for the military and civilian cost of the war to the Allied nations.

a) In October 1922 in the context of a long ministerial crisis, Mussolini organised the Fascist March on Rome.
b) Impressed by the show of force, the King invited Mussolini to form a government.