Category: ISC

ISC Business Studies Previous Year Question Paper 2011 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

Part-I
(Answer all questions)

Question 1.
Answer briefly each of the questions (i) to (xv): [15 × 2]
(i) Define recruitment.
(ii) Give two points of distinction between training and development.
(iii) What is the effect of high morale of staff on productivity ?
(iv) Money is not the only motivator for staff. Justify this statement.
(v) Explain two limitations of performance appraisal.
(vi) What is meant by closed system of promotion ?
(vii) Give two points of distinction between retrenchment and layoff.
(viii) Why is communication called a two way process ?
(ix) Explain how attitude and opinion act as a barrier to effective communication.
(x) What is a letter of enquiry ? Give the name of the letter that is received in its response.
(xi) Give two advantages of having an ‘Appendix’ in a report.
(xii) State any two prerequisites for passing a special resolution in a meeting.
(xiii) What is a motion in the context of meetings ? When can it become a counter motion ?
(xiv) What are Phonograms ?
(xv) With reference to monthly remuneration of staff, write the expanded form of:
(a) CCA
(b) DA
Answer:
(i) Recruitment is a process of identification of sources of human forces and motivating them to apply for jobs in the organisation. It is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule. It helps in faster selection of an efficient working force in an organisation. It is a connecting activity bringing together those offering jobs and their waiting jobs. A good plan and managed security initiative will result in better quality jobs seekers. Recruitment brings happiness in an organizations needs and shapes its future. The object of an organisation rely upon how effectively human resources are managed and utilized.

(ii) Two points of distinction between training and development are :

Training	Development
(a) Training means learning expertise and knowledge for doing a specific job. It enlarges job skills. (b) Training is job centered is nature.	(a) Development means the growth of an employee overall. It forms behavior of the employees. (b) Development is career oriented in nature.

(iii) High morale leads to ardent zeal among the workers for good accomplishment. High morale impels employees to make joint efforts filly with the management for achieving organisational aims. It is admitted as the key to higher productivity.

(iv) Money plays an important role in motivation. But money falls to satisfy needs of a higher level or esteem and self actualization to employees money is not the only criteria to work in an organisation. They work for recognition, freedom, status, job satisfaction, stability of employment, opportunity for promotion, participation in management, job enrichment, healthy competition and post retirement benefits.

(v) Two limitations of performance appraisal are :
(a) Inexperience of evaluator : The evaluation might not be trained and experienced to make a right judgement of job performance.
(b) Opposition from trade unions : Trade unions may oppose performance appraisal on the ground that it entails discrimination among its members.

(vi) A sales message offering goods or services to only a specific consumer group e.g. a hotel offers gateway weekend to special to senior over the age of 65. Retrenched employees are promised legally but they will be recalled on job (Last go first come method) when the conditions of business gets better but in Layoff Employees are terminated without any such promise after paying all their legal.

(vii) 2 points of distinction between retrenchment and layoff are: Retrenchment means any termination which is not a disciple may action inflicted on a workmen or VRS or retirement or superannuation or ending of a fixed term contract or termination of service due to continued ill health. Layoff means failing refusal or inability of employer due to shortage of raw material, coal, power, break down of machinery to provide employment.

(viii) Communication is called a two way process because every action has an equal opposite and simultaneous reaction as per Newton Laws of motion. The same logic applies to communication. It is called a two way process because when you communicate there are two subjects involved here one is
(a) the person who is communicating and
(b) the person is listening. Ex. When you talk to your friend – two people are involved when you are talking to a group two sides are involved.

When you are writing one side is you (you are writing your thoughts) the receiving side is – people who read what you have written (that is second subject here). So it is very important that not only you are sure of what you are talking but also people who are listening to you are sine they understood it is the right way.

(ix) Attitude and opinion act as a heavier to effective communication because the influence of „ attitude which is the predisposition to act or not to act in a certain way it is a mental position involving a fact or state. Clearly, if people have made up their minds they cannot objectively listen to what is said.

(x) A Letter of inquiry also known as a prospecting letter of interest is sent to companies that may be hiring but haven’t listed specific job openings. Letter of inquiry should contain information on why the company interest you and why your skills and experience would be an asset to the company. Also provide information on how you will follow up and when you can be reached. Our L.O.E. will receive a prompt response indicating to better or not we are unable to review L.O.E. that are incomplete.

(xi ) (i) (a) It contains statistical data or tables, graph list of persons or witnesses etc.
(b) It helps to explain and support the contents and conditions of the report.
(ii) An amendment may be moved with or without any previous notice. It need not be in writing or seconded. But it should not in whole change the motion, otherwise it will become a counter motion.

(xii) 2 Prerequisites for passing a special resolution in a meeting are :
(a) A notice of intention to move the resolution should be given to the company at last 14 days before the date of the meeting.
(b) On receipt of the notice, the company immediately give notice of such resolution to its worker’s in the same as the notice of any general body is given to the members.

(xii) A motion is a proposal or proposition raised at a meeting and submitted for consideration, debate, vote, discussion and decision.

(xiv) A phonograms is a spelling pattern or word family. There are 37 most frequently used patterns. From these patterns a child carmaster.

(xv) (a) CCA – Compensatory City Allowances
(b) DA-Dearness Allowance

Part-II
(Answer any five questions)

Question 2.
(i) Explain any four important steps that may be adopted by an organization in its staff selection procedure. [8]
(ii) Write a note on advertisement as a source of recruitment. [6]
Answer:
(i) Four Important steps that may be adopted by an organisation in its staff selection procedure are:Preliminary Interview: The preliminary interview is usually brief and it helps in deleting the totally unsuitable candidates. If an applicant is eliminated at this stage the organisation will be saved from the skill of processing him through the remaining steps of selection procedure. It may take place across the counter in the organisation employment office. It may be carried out primarily to determine whether it is worthwhile for the applicant to fill in an application form. However, some organizations follow the practice of holding preliminary interviews after receiving applications from the candidates. The job seekers will be called for the employment tests and interviews only if they get through the preliminary interview.

Receiving Applications: An application form is designed to get a written record of the candidates qualifications, experience and any other specialty. There is a high degree of similarity between the application form of different organisation. The data obtained from the application form is useful is determining the suitability of the candidate.

Group Discussion : Group discussion can also be conducted for selecting candidates. In this method four or five candidates are brought around a conference table and are asked to discuss on a given issue or topic. The candidates discuss and the selection panel observes them carefully and ranks them according to merit.

Reference Check: The persons named in the application form by the candidate are contacted for cross-checking the candidate’s character, behavior, initial background, etc. Some organizations send the details of the candidates to local police station for verifying his character.

(ii) Advertisement as a source of recruitment are as follows :
Mass Reach: Through the medium of advertisement, the information can be sent to a large number of people. The people are made aware by the manufacturer about his product. For example, an advertisement in the newspaper gives information to lakhs of people. Similarly, an advertisement given by the manufacturer in a TV channel gives information about the product in every comer of the country.

Enhancing customer satisfaction and confidence: Advertising creates confidence amongst prospective buyers as they feel more comfortable and assured about the quality of the product and hence feel more satisfied.

Expressiveness: With the development in arts, computer designs advertising has developed into one of the most forceful medium of communication. The information with special effects make it very attractive which stimulates the potential buyer to buy the product.

Economy : Advertising is a very economical means of communication because it reaches a very large number of people. So it is an economical technique as compared to other promotional techniques. Its cost per customer is very low.

Question 3.
(a) Explain any four types of staff training. [8]
(b) ‘Post-training activities are an important part of a training programme’. Explain post training activities. Why are they important ? [6]
Answer:
(a) Four types of staff training are :
On the job training :
This method of training enables workers to be trained under the same working conditions with the same process and devices used to perform the jobs. Here, workers are trained on the job and at their work place. Workers are trained on the same machines while doing the same work expected of them. It is learning practically. Some of the major techniques on the job methods of training are :

• Coaching
• Job rotation
• Temporary promotion
• Special committees
• Assistant to position

Off the Job Training:
This method of training is designed to impact training to personal by providing them the required knowledge and skills away from the job and work place. It provides an opportunity to their employees for meeting people from other departments or organisations. Here, employees are exposed to new ideas and experiences. Some of the major techniques off the job methods of training and listed as follows:

• Lectures
• Conferences
• Seminars and workshops
• Sensitivity training

Orientation Training:
This method of training is designed to help a new extract to adapt himself to the new environment. It consists of familiarizing new employees with their jobs introduction to their colleagues, organisational policies etc. It helps newly recruited staff to adapt themselves with the new work environment. This training creates self confidence among new workers. It promotes a feeling of belongings and loyalty among new employees. Hence employee is given a full description of the job which he is expected to do.

Refresher training:
This method is designed to help existing staff with training in the latest development in their jobs and technology. It has become necessary for the workers to bring back and refresh the knowledge and to take to a higher point of skills in order to manage fast changes in technology. Such training helps in refreshing the memory of employees. It replaces old knowledge with current work aptitudes.

Apprenticeship training:
This method of training is used to prepare employees for a variety of skilled occupation and crafts. Here, a junior worker is attached to an experienced worker. The worker learns while observing his senior and helping him in the task.

Vestibule training:
This training is conducted away from the actual work place. Guidance are provided to workers on special machines in a separate classroom. The working environment of the classroom is artificial but it is just like the actual conditions. In this way the employees recover from their starting nervousness before going into an actual work setting.

(b) Post training :
They are important because the learner is put at ease and he is taught and trained. He is bold of the result of the outcome of the total work, the necessity for each place in the job, the relationship of the job to the total work. The instructions should be clear. The trainee is trained to do the job and even though he might make mistake. Besides this, in the training programme the feedback through followup helps to rectify mistake. This makes the training process effective.

Post training activities include presentation (action plan of training). Performance tryout and follow up. In all these places of training the trainee demonstrates and illustrates each step of job. He is made to do job several times so that his mistakes are corrected. The effectiveness of the training programme is evaluated and wherever necessary correction can be done. Later training programme can be designed.

Question 4.
(a) What is meant by staff transfer in an organisation ? Explain any three types of staff transfers. [8]
(b) Performance appraisal of an employee can be conducted by his immediate superior. Give three advantages of conducting this type of performance appraisal. [6]
Answer:
(a) Staff transfer is the movement of an employee from one job to another (or from one organisation to another) without any increase in pay, status or responsibilities. Usually, transfer takes between jobs (or offices) paying slightly the same salaries. A slight change in responsibilities, duties and pay increasing may also occur. Transfer is an important source for internal recruitment. A transfer may take place at either at the intention of the employer or at the request of the employee concerned. “A transfer involves the shifting of an employee from one job to another without special reference to change in responsibilities (or compensation)” Dale Yoder, “A transfer involves a change of jobs without any significant increase in responsibility or income.”

Three types of staff transfers are :
Production transfer: Production transfer arises when there is need for more workers in one factory (or plant) and surplus workers in another factory (or plant). In such a situation workers are transferred from the over staffed factory to the under staffed factory. It helps to establish the employment in the organisation and pervents layoff of workers.

Replacement transfer: Replacement transfer arises when an employee with a long service is transferred in other department to replace an employee with shorter service. Such a replacement is also known as bumping. This transfer helps to retain the long service employees as long as possible during a period
when there is high pressure of work.

Versatility transfer: Versatility transfer arises for the purpose of preparing the employees for production transfer as well as replacement transfer. This transfer helps to develop all around proficiency among the employees. It is a tool in the hands of management to have a more versatile group of employees. The necessity of such a transfer can be increasingly felt as part of a continued re-training programme.

(b) Performance appraisal of an employee can be conducted by his superior.
Three advantages of conducting this type of performance appraisal are :
A confidential report is prepared by the employees immediate superior. This report covers a range of aspects of an employee (such as strength, weakness, major achievement, failure, personal traits etc.). It is an elaborate appraisal mainly used for promotion and transfer purposes.

This type of performance appraisal is found in most Government organisation.

This appraisal involves a lot of subjectivity because it is based on impressions rather than on data.

Question 5.
(a) Write short notes on :
(i) Dictaphone
(ii) Telefax
(iii) Public address system. [12]
(b) What are cellular phones ? Mention two basic services provided by cellular phones : [2]
Answer:
(a) Dictating machine is a machine which is used to take dictation from the higher authorities. It is used for transmitting oral messages and operates just like a audio tape recorder. There are two parts of a dictating machine namely Dictaphone and Ediphone. Notes are dictated to the Dictaphone through a mouthpiece and the uttered words are transcribed on a moving disc made of wax. The message so recorded is played back by the typist to help him to type the message

Telefax : This is a device for transmitting drawings sketches diagrams from one place to . another. It transmits copies of important documents from one place to another at the speed of a telephone call.

Public Address system : The system of communication is useful for calling staff and give information (or instructions). This system is usually installed in railway stations, airports, factories, offices etc. Under this system a loudspeaker is used to broadcast the appeal intended for the very noisy system and disturbs every employee.

(b) Cellular phones are devices which facilitates transmission of messages while moving the two basic services provided by cellular phones are :

• A person can make a call directly with his mobile phone from any place in the city.
• Calls can be received directly from any place. It is a very convenient system of communication but it is very costly.

Question 6.
(a) Discuss the advantages of written communication. [8]
(b) Explain the following with the help of examples :
(i) Routine and Special Reports.
(ii) Informational and Interpretative Reports. [6]
Answer:
(a) The advantages of written communication are :

• It may be transmitted to various persons simultaneously.
• It provides a permanent record for future references.
• It is more operative than verbal communications.
• It is an ideal way of conveying lengthy messages.
• It is a methodical communication and it carries more weight.
• It can be cited as legal evidence in the case of controversy.

(b) Routine and Special Reports : These reports are required to be prepared and submitted periodically on matters required by the organisation so as to help the management of the organization to take decision in the matters relating to day to day affairs. The main objectives of R/R are to let the management know as to what is happening in the organisation, what is its progress, where the deviation is, what measures have been taken in solving the problems and what to do so that the organisation may run smoothly and efficiently. R/R are generally brief giving facts. Generally forms are prescribed for preparation submission of such report.

Special reports : Such a type of report is specially required to be prepared and submitted on matters of special nature. Due to an accident occurred the foreman has accused in a factory. The factory manager may ask for a detail report from the head foreman. Such a report is classified as special reports.

Informational and Interpretative Reports: An informal report presents the data collected or facts observed an organised form e.g. a report containing only the data on deposits and advances of a branches at the year end.

An interpretative report is a report which not only contains facts but also interpretation or conclusions. It may also contain recommendations for action, e.g. if causes for dissatisfied position of advances and deposits and suggestions for betterment of the position are included in the informational report mentioned above the report would become an interpretative report.

Question 7.
(a) Explain four important powers and four important duties of a Chairman presiding over a meeting. [8]
(b) With reference to a Statutory Meeting, answer the following questions : [6]
(i) When can it be called ?
(ii) Why is it called ?
(iii) What is the frequency of this meeting ?
(iv) List any two contents of statutory report.
(v) Name the two types of companies that need not hold such a meeting.
(vi) Name the two types of companies that ‘must’ hold such a meeting, as per the Indian Companies Act 1956.
Answer:
(a) Four powers of a chairman presiding over a meeting are :

• To conduct the proceeding of the meeting according to the rules and regulations.
• To expel any unruly and adament members and get him ejected.
• To decide on the priority of speakers.
• To decide points of order regarding validity of the procedure and give his ruling which is final.

Four duties of a chairman presiding over a meeting are :

1. He must make it certain that the meeting is summoned and constituted in the right way.
2. He must make it certain that the business done at the meetings are properly managed.
3. He must make it certain that the provision of the Act and Articles are followed.
4. He must ensure that the meeting is not unruly.

(b) A statutory meeting is called after one month but before 6 months from the date of commencement of business. A statutory meeting is called once in the life time of a public company.

It is called to familiarize shareholders with all important matters relating to a new company.

It is held only once in the life time of a public company.

Two contents of statutory reports are :

• The total number of shares alloted, amount paid up thereon and the consideration for which they have been allotted.
• As summary of cash received and paid and the amount in hand.

Two types of companies that need not hold such a meeting are :

• private company
• a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital.

Two types of companies that ‘must’ hold such a meeting as per Indian Companies Act 1956 are

1. Public limited companies limited by shares
2. Public limited companies limited by guarantee and having a share capital.

Question 8.
(a) Draft a letter of appointment for a school teacher offering her the job of an English teacher in a primary school. [8]
(b) What are the advantages of a centralized mailing department in an organization ? [6]
Answer:
(a)

144 AJC Bose Road
Kolkata – 700014
24th April 2011

To,

Mrs Jqnes
166/A Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Load
Kolkata 700016

Dear Madam,
Re : Appointment for the post of school teacher.
This letter is to bring to your attention that is reference to your interview attended on 23rd March 2011 at the Principal’s office in our school. We are pleased to appoint you as an English teacher in our primary school. You shall be informed your scale of pay, leave entitlement, house rent allowance and other perks later on upon the receipt of your confirmation.
Hope you are eager to join us.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully
Alisa Mitra
(Principal)

(b ) The advantages of a centralized mailing department are :
(i) High degree of specialization: It makes certain that specialization in the mailing service is ensured. Specialization enables precision and rapidly in the work.

(ii) Uniformity in standard: It maintains consistency in the standard of quality and approach. This system ensures standardization of all correspondence made by the business hours.

(iii) Better quality of work: It increases efficiency of work in their entails good output. As a consequence the degree of work become better and the organisation attains a good reputation.

(iv) Better supervision and coordination : A well trained and expert supervision may be appointed to lead the dispatching department. Better supervision would ensure an ever and quick performance of mailing operations.

(v) Saving time and money: Mailing operations can be methodical under this system. Proper methods can be set forth and brought into union with mailing operations. This would make for savings in time and money.

(vi) Increase in efficiency: It increases efficiency of employees as they specialize in looking after the correspondence only.

(vii) Keeping away duplication of work: All types of corresponding (inward, outward and inter department are changed to the central mailing department. As a result duplication of endeavor is stopped.

(viii) Use of modern equipment: The mechanization of the mailing dept, is possible under this system. Various labor saving devices (folding and sealing machines, fracking machines can be used in the best way.

ISC Class 12 Business Studies Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Business Studies Previous Year Question Paper 2012 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

Part-I
(Answer all questions)

Question 1.
Answer briefly each of the questions (i) to (xv) [15 × 2]
(i)Recruitment and selection are interdependent. Both are meaningless without each other. Explain.
(ii) Why are employees kept on probation, even when they have successfully cleared the selection procedure?
(iii) Give any two points of distinction between training and development.
(iv) State and explain any one factor that can either act as a morale depressant or a booster, depending on how it is used.
(v) Explain the significance of pay slip.
(vi) Why is money regarded as the biggest motivator of employees ?
(vii) ‘Democratic leadership is ideal for white collar workers.’ Justify the statement.
(viii) Mention any two situations under which circulars would be used as means of office communication.
(ix) Explain any two advantages of using Electronic mail communication.
(x) What is P.S. in the context of business letters ? Explain whether it is advisable to use it or not.
(xi) What is meant by cross-reference in a report ? State its importance in a good report.
(xii) Distinguish between proceedings and ruling in a context of company meetings.
(xiii) What are special tables ? Why are they also called derivative tables ?
(xiv) What is date stamping of incoming mails ? State the purpose of using it.
(xv) With reference to telephone services, write the expanded forms of:
(a) S.T.D.
(b) P.C.O.
Answer:
(i) Recruitment is the first stage which attract a large number of candidates so that the second stage i. e., selection can be done in a proper manner. Both recruitment and selection are interdependent and are meaningless without each other.

(ii) Selection test are just the sample of behavior of the candidate, No selection procedure is fool proof and the best way to judge the candidate is when he is actually placed on the job. This is the reason why employees are kept on probation.

(iii)

Training	Development
(a)    Training is the act of improving the knowledge and skills for doing a specific job. (b)   Improves current job performance.	(a) Development involves growth of a person in all respect. (b) Improves future job performance.

(iv) Nature of work: Meaningful and satisfying job helps to improve employee morale on the other hand morale tends to be low when the job provides no challenge and satisfaction and job standards are considered very high.

(v) Composition of wages is somewhat complicated, so employees require slip showing full details of total wages, deductions made-and the net wages paid.

(vi) Money plays an important role in motivation. It is a means to satisfy physiological and safety needs. It is also used in satisfying social needs as it is considered a symbol of power, prestige and status. It determines the standard of living of the person and gives him self-confidence.

(vii) Democratic leadership is ideal for white collar workers as under this type of leadership, decisions are jointly made by the leader as well as his followers. The leader decentralize authority and allows the group to share his power. The followers take an active participation under this leadership.

(viii) When the same message has to be given to the large number of employees. Ex. Admission, retirement or death of a partner.

(ix) It is the fastest method of transmitting written message. The messages sent through e-mail can be sorted or amended and sent elsewhere.

(x) PS. means postscript when the writer forgets to include something important in the body of the letter he can add the message as P.S. However, writing a postscript is not a good practice and should preferably be avoided in a good business letter.

(xi) Cross-referencing means making a mention at one place in the report about some other point of the report. Cross-referencing helps to save time and space and facilitates the task of the persons who are to read and use the report.

(xii) The discussion and other events which take place in a meeting are known as proceedings. On the other hand, the judgement given by the chairman of the meeting on any controversial point is known as ruling.

(xiii) Special purposes tables are known as special tables. They provide infomation for particular discussion. These tables are called derivative tables because these are often derived from general tables.

(xiv) All incoming letters are stamped with the date of receipt and are numbered. It can be done by hand or machine Date stamping helps us to know the date when the mail was received and the name and designation of the person to whom letter is intended.
(a) S.T.D.-Subscriber’s Trunk Dialling.
(b) P.C.O.-Public Call Office.

PART -II
(Answer any five questions)

Question 2.
(a) Psychological tests help to predict how successful a candidate could be on the job.’ Explain any three types of tests that would help the management judge the capability of a candidate. [6]
(b) Explain the Morale Productivity Matrix. [8]
Answer:
(a) Aptitude Test: These tests measure the ability or potential of a candidate to learn a new job or skill. Defects in a person’s sensory intellectual capacity can be detected through these tests. These type of tests focus attention on a particular type of talent such as reasoning, learning, mechanical bent of mind etc. such as Intelligence Test, Mechanical Aptitude Tests, Psycho motor or skill Test.

Personality Test: These test study the psychological make up of a person. They probe deeply to discover clues to an individual’s value system, emotional reactions and maturity. These tests are used to select supervisors and executives and for counselling people. These are widely used in industry as these provide an all round picture of a candidates’s personality.
Types:

• Objective Tests
• Protective Tests
• Situation Tests

Interest Tests: These tests are inventories of a candidates likes and dislikes in relation to work. These are used to discover a person’s areas of interest and to identify the kind of work that will satisfy him

(b)

High Morale – High Productivity — High morale will lead to High Productivity if proper leadership is provided. This situation is likely to occur when employees are motivated to achieve high performance standards.

High Morale – Low Productivity — The situation arises when employees spend their time and energy in satisfying their personal objectives unrelated to the company’s goals. Faulty machinery, lack of training, ineffective supervision and restrictive norms of informal groups can also lead to low productivity.

Low Morale – High Productivity — Low morale cannot result in high productivity for a long period. This situation occurs for a temporary period due to fear of loss of job, exceptionally good supervision and machine paced Work.

Low Morale – Low productivity — If a person has low morale it will positively lead to low productivity. It is a normal relationship.

Question 3.
(a) Define leadership. Distinguish between leadership and management. [6]
(b) With reference to time rate system of payment, answer the following : [8]
(i) Explain this system of wage payment.
(ii) State two advantages of this system.
(iii) State two disadvantages of this system.
(iv) State two specific conditions, when this system can be used effectively.
Answer:
(a) “Leadership is the process of influencing a group of persons so that they strive willingly to attain the desired objectives.

Leadership	Management
(i) It is possible in both organized and unorganized groups. (ii) A leader derives his authority from his appeal for his followers. (iii) It is mainly a part of direction.	(i)  It is possible in formally organized groups only. (ii) A manager derives his authority mainly from his official position in the organization. (iii) It involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

(b) Time Rate System : Under this system, wages are directly linked with the time spent by workers on the job.
Wages (W) = Time spent (T) × Rate of wages per unit of time (R).

Advantages:
Simplicity : Time rate system is very simple and easy to calculate and understand.
Acceptance by Trade union: Trade union prefer the time-rate system because it facilitates worker’s unity. Under this sy stem there is no distinction made between efficient and inefficient workers.

Disadvantages of Time rate system :
Premium on inefficiency : The time rate system makes no distinction between efficient and inefficient workers. Inefficient workers are protected and they are treated at par with efficient Workers. Therefore, the efficiency of worker is likely to decline.

Lack of incentives: This system provides no inducement to work hard and produce more. Ambitious and hard-working employees do not get more wages, and therefore, they begin to restrict their output to the level which is necessary to keep their jobs.

Suitability of Time-Rate System :

• Where quality’ rather than quantity of output is the main consideration.
• When work is standardized and not repetitive.

Question 4.
(a) ‘Demotion is a serious punishment and humiliation for the employee.’ State and explain any three reasons, when it becomes necessary to implement it in the office. [6]
(b) State and explain any four ways in which an employee’s association with his organization may come to an end. [8]
Answer:
(a) Demotion is a reduction in rank often accompanied by a reduction in pay but did does require of rethinking of Employees job responsibility. 3 reasons when it becomes necessary to implement it is the office are :

• To certain read an to initial disqualifying action to solve problems.
• For improvement Especially when manager’s position is under viewed.
• Realignment of work is division or when an oral waiting is required to install measures to increase productivity.

(b) Four Ways in which an employee’s association with his organization may come to an end.
Retrenchment: Means permanent termination of an employee’s service for economic reasons in a going concern. It is termination due to redundancy of workforce. Retrenchment creates a sense of insecurity and resentment among the staff.

Dismissal: Dismissal or discharge refers to terminating the services of an employee by way of punishment for misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. Unsatisfactory performance implies persistent failure of the employee to perform his job to the specified standards. Dismissal is a drastic step and should, therefore, be resorted to with great care. It should be supported by a just and sufficient cause.

Retirement: The contract with an employee specifies the age of retirement. Employees retire from service on attaining the age of super annuation. At the time of retirement, the employee receives his provident fund amount, gratuity and encashment of earned leaves etc.

Resignation : It means an employee takes or is made to take the initiative to leave the job. Resignation may be voluntary or involuntary. In case of voluntary resignation an employee resigns on his own due to dissatisfaction with the organization. Resignation is considered involuntary when the employer advises the employee to resign or face disciplinary action.

Question 5.
(a) Define communication. Discuss the significance of feedback in a sound communication process. [6]
(b) What is meant by semantic barriers ? Explain any three semantic barriers to communication. [8]
Answer:
(a) ‘Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons.” The process of communication is incomplete until the sender receives the feedback. If the feedback is in tune with the message, communication is said to be effective.

Feedback is the key element in communication as it is the only way of judging the effectiveness of the message. Feedback indicates the knowledge about the outcome of communication. It begins when the receiver responds to the message and ends when the response reaches the sender. Feedback enables the sender to know whether his message has been properly understood or not.

Feedback varies from one situation to another. In face-to-face communication there is immediate feedback. The sender can judge the effect of his message from the face of the receiver. While, in case of written messages, the feedback is not available immediately. The writer cannot see the facial expressions of the receiver. Feedback does not become available automatically in all situations. Feedback may also be collected through grapevine or oral communication.

(b) Semantic barrier refers to the study of meanings of words and signs. Semantic barriers arise due to problems in language. Three semantic barriers to communication are :
Words with different Meanings: Communication is mainly carried through spoken or written words. But some words convey different meanings to different people. When the reader or listener assigns a different meaning to a word than what the writer or speaker intended, there occur miscommunication. People interpret the same word differently due to differences in their economic, social, cultural or educational background.

Bad Expression: When the message is not formulated and presented in the proper manner, the receiver fails to comprehend it and misunderstanding occurs.

Badly expressed message lose their impact. A badly expressed message causes loss of valuable time and money as it requires further corrections and clarifications.

Faulty Translation : Each information received should be translated in a suitable form for further transmission. Often people translate words in a literal sense thereby losing the spirit behind the words. Inaccurate translation leads to misunderstanding and confusion.

Question 6.
(a) Name and explain any three staff locating systems that can be used in a modem office. [6]
(b ) Discuss four advantages and four limitations of telephone services in an organization. [8]
Answer:
(a) Three staff locating system that are used in a modern office :
Public Address System : It is the simplest and in some cases the most effective method of locating staff. Under this system a loudspeaker is used to broadcast an appeal from a master station to all the departments requesting the attention of the desired person.

Bells and Buzzers: Bells and Buzzers are commonly used to call a messenger or a subordinate. The person called is given some message through sound. This system is noisy and at times the person fails to hear the bell or buzzer.

Lighted Signals : These are installed to attract the attention of the particular person. Each person on the call list is given a code number. Whenever a particular individual is required, his code number is lighted on the signal and a buzzer is operated.

Advantages of the telephone service :

• It saves time by providing immediate contact. It is a very fast mode of communication.
• It overcomes the distance barrier and avoids the need for face-to-face conversation.
• It provides immediate feedback. The speaker can explain and clarify his message to ensure that it is properly understood.
• It reduces status barriers. There are certain things which people hesitate to say in face-to- face meeting but which can be said over the phone.

Disadvantages of the telephone services :

• In telephone conversation, facial expressions and gestures cannot be used to supplement words.
• The receiver of a telephone call cannot go over the message again and again and there is little time to think.
• It is not possible to judge the mood or temper of the receiver.
• It is not suitable for lengthy messages.

Question 7.
With reference to company meetings, answer the following :
(a) What is meant by casting vote ? [3]
(b) Under what circumstances can a meeting be adjourned ? Explain the term sine die in this connection. [3]
(c) Explain quorum as a pre-requisite of a valid meeting. [4]
(d) Write a short note on proxy. [4]
Answer:
(a) Casting vote is the vote which a chairman can exercise to decide the issue on which members are equally divided or there is a tie.

(b) Adjournment is a motion which is moved to suspend the entire proceedings of a meeting either for a particular period or indefinitely. “Sine die” means for the indefinite period.

(c) A quorum means the specified minimum number of qualified persons whose presence is necessary to transact the legally binding business at a meeting. The members who constitute the quorum must be effective members i.e., entitled to vote at the meeting. The meeting is not legally constituted when the quorum is not present.

(d) A member entitled to attend and vote at a meeting can appoint or nominate another person to attend and vote at the meeting on his behalf. The person so appointed is known as the proxy. The proxy may or may not be a member of the company. Proxies can be appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Association. The proxy cannot speak at the general meeting nor can he cast a vote unless there is a poll. There are two types of proxies namely special proxy and general proxy.

Question 8.
(a) Explain pictogram and histogram with the help of suitable examples. [6]
(b) Draft a letter of order with the following details : [8]
(i) 100 units of 60 watts tube-lights @ 40/- per unit.
(ii) 150 units of 100 watts bulbs @ 15/-per unit.
(iii) 250 units of 40 watts CFL bulbs @ 70 per unit.
Answer:
(a) Pictograms are widely used in presenting statistical data. They are not abstract presentations such as line graphs or bar graphs. Pictogram are attractive and easy to understand. When pictograms are used data are represented through a carefully selected pictorial symbol. Pictograms are more difficult to construct. Pictograms are very popular in fairs and exhibitions etc., where the attention of masses is to be drawn.
The following table gives the military balance between India and Pakistan :


Histogram is the most popular and widely used graphic method of presenting a frequency distribution. A histogram is a set of vertical bars whose areas are proportional to the frequencies represented. The area of the histogram represents the total frequency as distributed throughout the classes. Histogram is most widely used for graphical presentation of a frequency distribution; Histogram can be quite misleading if the frequency distribution has in equal class intervals and suitable adjustments in frequencies are not made.

ISC Class 12 Business Studies Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Biotechnology Previous Year Question Paper 2017 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
• Transactions should be recorded in the answer book.
• All calculations should be shown clearly.
• All working, including rough work, should be done on the same page as, and adjacent to the rest of the answer.

Part -1 (20 Marks)
(Answer all questions)

Question 1.
(a) Mention any one significant difference between each of the following : [5]
(i) Reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar.
(ii) Triploids and haploids.
(iii) Lac operon and Trp operon
(iv) Blunt end and sticky end
(v) Spectroscopy and colorimetry

(b) Answer the following questions : [5]
(i) Who developed the microbe called super bug, which was designed to degrade spilled oil ?
(ii) Name any two growth regulators used in a culture medium.
(iii) What is an apoenzyme ?
(iv) How is the disease albinism caused ?
(v) State any one limitation of gynogenesis.

(c) Write the full form of each of the following : [5]
(i) AFLP
(ii) SSBs
(iii) BAC
(iv) CIMAP
(v) PAGE

(d) Explain briefly : [5]
(i) Polyadenylation
(ii) Lock and key model of enzyme action
(iii) Edible vaccine
(iv) Vascular differentiation
(v) Seedless crops
Answer:
(a) (i) Reducing sugar possess a free aldehyde (–CHO) and ketone (–C = 0) group while non-reducing have no free aldehyde and ketone group.

(ii) Plants produced from pollen grains or egg cells of ovules are called haploid plants. Plants produced from endosperm are called triploid plants.

(iii) Lac-operon is under negative gene control.
Trp-operon is under positive gene control.

(iv) Blunt ends : Some restriction enzymes cut both the strands of a DNA molecule at the same site so that the resulting termini or ends have blunt or flush ends in which the two strands end at the same point.

Sticky ends : Most of the restriction enzymes produce staggered cuts in which the two strands of DNA double helix are cleaved at different locations producing two protuding end (3′ or 5′) called cohesive or sticky ends. They readily pair with each other under annealing conditions. When fragments generated by a single restriction enzyme from different DNA are mixed they join together due to their sticky’ ends.

(v) Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. Colorimetry involves the estimation of the concentration of a colored substance in a solution by comparing the intensity’ or depth of its color with that of a solution having known concentration of the substance while passing visible light of the same intensity through both the solutions.

(b) (i) Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty engineered a new species of Pseudomonas bacteria in 1971. This is the oil spill disester bacteria (super bug).

(ii) Growth regulator hormones : These are Auxin and Cytokinins. Auxins (Indole acetic acid, 1-napthaleneacetic acid), Cytokinins (6-benzylaminopurine, zeatin).

(iii) Apoenzyme: Protein that forms an active enzyme system by combination with a coenzyme and determines the specificity’ of this system for a substrate.

(iv) Albinism: It results from inheritance of recessive alleles due to non-conversion of tyrosine into melanin.

(v) Limitation of Gynogenesis:

• Frequency’ of responding ovules is quite low i.e., 1-5 %
• Successful only is relatively small number of species.

(c) (i) AFLP: Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism.

(ii) SSB’s : Single-Strand Breaks or Single-Strand DNA Binding Proteins.

(iii) BAC : Bacterial Artificial Chromosome.

(iv) CIMAP: Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.

(v) PAGE : Poly Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis

(d) (i) Polyadenylation: It is the addition of a poly (A) tail to a messenger RNA. In eukaryotes, polyadenylation is part of the process that produces mature messenger RNA (mRNA) for translation.

(ii) Lock and key mechanism : This model was proposed by Emil Fisher in 1898. It is also called the template model. According to this model the union of the substrate and the enzyme takes place at the active site, more or less in a manner in which a key fits in a lock and results in the formation of an enzyme substrate complex. As the two molecules are involved, this hypothesis is also known as the concept of inter-molecular fit. The ES complex is highly unstable and almost immediately this complex breaks to produce the end product of the reaction and regenerate the free enzyme. The ES complex results in the release of energy.

(iii) Edible vaccine are the antigenic proteins that induce B-cells to secrete antibodies. Transgenic crop plants can be constructed which produce vaccine to be eaten i.e., edible vaccine on a large scale at low cost. In 1990, first report of production of edible vaccine in tobacco was establish. There are many advantages associated with edible vaccine such as no problem of storage, easy delivery’, low cost of production. These provide similar effects as the recombination vaccines.

(iv) Vascular differentiation : In vascular differentiation, first identify and clone transcripts that are produced in differentiating vascular tissues, then approach gene function by assessing phenotype in plants with loss of function, created by insertion mutagenesis of RNA interference.

(v) A seedless fruit is a fruit developed to possess no mature seeds. As consumption of seedless crops e.g., fruit is generally easier and more convenient, they are considered commercially valuable. Most commercially produced seedless fruits have been developed from plants whose fruits normally contain numerous relatively large hard seeds distributed throughout the flesh of the fruit.

Seedless fruits can develop in one of two ways : either the fruit develops with fertilization (parthenocarpy), or pollination triggers fruit development, but the ovules or embryos abort without producing mature seeds (stenospermocarpy). Seedless banana and watermelon fruits are produced on triploid plants, whose three sets of chromosomes make it very unlikely for meiosis to produce fertile gametes.

One disadvantage of most seedless crops is a significant reduction in the amount of genetic diversity in the species. As genetically identical clones, a pest or disease that affects one individual is likely capable of affecting each of its clones.

Part – II (50 Marks)
(Answer any five questions)

Question 2.
(a) Briefly explain the structure of tRNA. Write its function in protein synthesis.
(b) With reference to lipids, explain its :
(i) Building blocks.
(ii) Any two chemical properties.
(c) What is DNA probe ?
Answer:
(a) Transfer RNA (tRNA) : It is also called soluble or sRNA. There are over 100 types of tRNA’s. Transfer RNA constitutes about 15% of the total RNA. tRNA is the smallest RNA with 70-85 nucleotide’s and sedimentation coefficient of 4S. The nitrogen bases of several of its nucleotide’s get modified e.g., pseudouridine (φ), dihydrouridine (DHU), inosine (I). This causes coiling of the otherwise single- stranded tRNA into L-shaped form (three dimensional, Klug, 1974) or clover-like form (two dimensional, Holley, 1965). About half of the nucleotides are based paired to produce paired stems. Five regions are unpaired of single-stranded —AA-binding site, T φ C loop, DHU loop, extra arm and anticodon loop,

(i) Anticodon. It is made-up of three nitrogen bases for recognizing and attaching to the codon of tRNA.
(ii) AA-Binding site. It lies at the 3′ end opposite to the anticodon and has CCA—OH group (5′ ends bears G). Amino acid or AA-binding site and anticodon are the two recognition sites of tRNA.
(iii) T φ C loop. It contains pseudouridine. The loop is the site for attaching to ribosomes.
(iv) DHU loop. The loop contains dihydrouridine. It is binding site for aminoacyl synthetase enzyme,
(v) Extra arm. It is a variable site arm or loop which lies between T φ C loop and anticodon. The exact role of extra arm is not known.

Functions :
(i) tRNA is adapter molecule which is meant for transferring amino acids to ribosomes for synthesis of polypeptides. There are different tRNAs for different amino acids. Some amino acids can be picked up by 2-6 tRNA’s. tRNA’s carry specific amino acids at particular points during polypeptide synthesis as per codons of wRNA. Codons are recognised by anticodons of tRNA’s. Specific amino acids are recognized by particular activating or aminoacyl synthetase enzymes.

(ii) They hold peptidyl chains over the mRNA’s. The initiator tRNA has the dual function of initiation of protein synthesis as well as bringing in of the first amino acids. There is, however, no tRNA for stop signals.

(b) (i) The building blocks of lipids are the long chain hydrocarbons, glycerol and cholesterol.
They are special group of lipids. Building blocks of lipids show various types of reactivities of ester linkage and the degree of unsaturation of hydrocarbon chain. Simple fatty acids, Sphingosine, Glycerol and Cholesterol these are the building blocks of lipids.

(ii) Chemical properties of Lipids :
Hydrolysis: On hydrolysis with alkali or lipolytic enzyme lipases, fats are broken down into their components fatty acids and glycerols.

Saponification : The hydrolysis of fats by alkali to produce glycerol and soaps (salts of fatty acids) is known as saponification.

(c) DNA Probe : It is a solution of radioactive, single-stranded DNA or oligodeoxy nucleotides (a DNA segment of few to several nucleotide’s). The name probe signifies the fact that this DNA molecule is used to detect and identify the DNA fragment in the gel membrane that has a sequence complementary to the probe. The probe hybridizes with the complementary DNA on the membrane to the greater extent with a low non-specific binding on the membrane. This step is known as hybridization reaction.

Question 3.
(a) Explain the process involved in the transcription of DNA to mRNA. [4]
(b) What are stem cells ? Explain the various types of stem cells. [4]
(c) Name any two chemicals used to determine the amino acid sequence in protein. [2]
Answer:
(a) Transcription is the process of creating a messenger RNA strand from DNA, performed by the enzyme RNA polymerase. Transcription always occurs in a 5’→ 3′ direction, with polymerase moving 3’→ 5′ along the DNA strand.

Transcription Initiation : There are three steps in transcription :
(1) Initiation: RNA synthesis begins after the RNA polymerase attaches to the DNA and unwinds it. RNA synthesis will always occur on the template strand.

(2) Elongation: RNA polymerase unwinds the DNA double helix and moves downstream and elongates the RNA transcript by adding ribonucleotides in a ‘5 →3′ direction. Each ribonucleotide is added to the growing mRNA strand using the base pairing rules (A binds with T, G binds with C). For each C encountered on the DNA strand a G is inserted in the RNA, for each Q a C and for each T, an A is inserted. Since there is no T in RNA, U is inserted whenever an A is encountered. After RNA polymerase has passed, the DNA restores its double stranded structure.

(3) Termination: When the mRNA is complete, the mRNA is released and the RNA polymerase releases from the DNA.
Two post transcriptional changes that occur in the mRNA formed are :
RNA transcripts Eukaryotas are modified or processed, before leaving the nucleus to produce functional mRNA. It is processed in two ways :
(1) 5′ capping: Capping of the pre-mRNA involves the addition of 7-methylguanosine to the 5′ end.,

(2) 3′ poly adenylation : The pre-mRNA processing at the 3′ end of the RNA molecule involves cleavage of its 3′ end and then the addition of about 200 adenine residues to form a poly (A) tail. The cleavage and adenylation reaction occur if a polyadenylation signal sequence (5′ – AAU AAA-3′) is located near the 3′ end of the pre-mRNA molecule, followed by another sequence, which is usually (5′-CCA-3’)

(b) Stem cells are the cell which are capable to divided and renew and also produce progeny. These can differentiate into a variety of different cells types, e.g., tissues continuously renew themselves throughout the life. The stem cells have two properties which increases their importance.
(i) They have potential to form more differentiated cells and
(ii) these are self-renewing because each division of a stem cells creates at least one stem cell.

Various types of stem cells : On the basis of development potential, these are divided into following levels:

• Totipotent Cells : which give rise to entire organism.
• Pluripotent Cells : w hich form totipotent cells and also give rise to most but not all of cell types that are necessary for foetal development.
• Multipotent Cells : cells which are formed after further differentiation of pluripotent cells. These can give rise to a limited number of cells types.
• Unipotent Cells : are also formed from further differentiation of multipotent cells. These give rise to a single cell type.

(c) There are many chemicals which are used to determine the amino acid sequence in protein. Sanger’s reagent.(1-fluoro-2, 4-dinitrobenzene) and dansyl derivatives such as dansyl chloride are used for amino acid sequencing.

Question 4.
(a) Explain the following methods of selection of recombinant cells: [4]
(i) Insertional inactivation.
(ii) Blue white colony.
(b) Enumerate the steps involved in regenerating a plant from a single cell [4]
(c) What is wobble effect ? [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) Insertional inactivation: Harder problem to solve is to determine which of the transformed colonies comprise cells that contain recombinant DNA molecules, and which contain self- ligated vector molecules. Insertional inactivation is the inactivation of a gene by inserting a fragment of DNA into the middle of its coding sequence. Any future products from the inactivated gene will not work because of the extra codes added to it. Recombinants can, therefore, be identified because the characteristic coded by the inactivated gene is no longer visible.

pBR322 contains genes which code for ampicillin resistance and tetracycline resistance. BamHl cuts in the middle of the gene which codes for tetracycline resistance. If a gene is inserted here, the plasmid loses it ability to code for tetracycline resistance. Thus, the plasmid containing the recombinant gene is resistant to ampicillin but sensitive to tetracycline. To screen, we use replica plates.

(ii) The blue-white screen is a molecular technique that allows for the detection of successful ligation’s in vector-based gene cloning. DNA of interest is ligated into a vector. The vector is then transformed into competent cell (bacteria). In this method, a reporter gene lac Z is inserted in the vector. The lac Z encodes for the enzyme β- galactosidase which breaks a synthetic substrate X-gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-indolyl, (β-D-galacto-pyranoside) into insoluble blue colored product. The competent cells are grown in the presence of X-gal. If the ligation was successful, the bacterial colony will be white because p- galactosidase is not synthesized due to the inactivation of lac Z; if not, the colony will be blue. This technique allows for the quick and easy detection of successful ligation, without the need to individually test each colony. An example of such a vector is the artificially reconstructed plasmid pUC 19.

(b) Basic technique of Plant Tissue Culture : The basic technique of plant tissue culture involves the following steps :
Preparation and Sterilization of Suitable Nutrient Medium : Suitable nutrient medium as per objective of culture is prepared and transferred into suitable containers. Culture medium is rich in sucrose, minerals, vitamins, and hormones. Yeast extract, coconut milk, are also added. The culture is completely sterilized in an autoclave.

Selection of explants : Selection of explants such as shoot tip should be done.

Sterilisation of explants : Surface sterilisation of the explants by disinfectants (e.g sodium hypochlorite or mercuric chloride) and then washing the explants with sterile distilled water is essential.

Inoculation : Inoculation (transfer) of the explants into the suitable nutrient medium (which is sterilised by autoclaving to avoid microbial contamination) in culture vessels under sterile conditions is done.

Incubations : Growing the culture in the growth chamber or plant tissue culture room, having the appropriate physical condition (i.e., artificial light; 16 hours of photoperiod), temperature (- 26°C) and relative humidity (50-60%) is required.

Regeneration: An unorganized mass of cells developing from explants is called callus. The callus gives rise to embryoids which can develop into w hole plant if the medium is provided with proper concentration of hormones. This property of developing every somatic cell into a full fledged plant is called totipotency. Regeneration of plants from cultured plant tissues is carried out.

Hardening: Hardening is gradual exposure of plantlets to an environmental conditions.

Plantlet transfer: After hardening, plantlets are transferred to the greenhouse or field conditions following acclimatization (hardening) of regenerated plants.

(c) Wobble effect:
The wobble effect is an effect caused by the redundancy found in the genetic code. Each amino acid is coded by a 3 nucleotide sequence on the wRNA. The triplets are referred to as codons. Though there are only 21 amino acids, 61 of the 64 possible codons found on the mRNA code for amino acids (the other 4 codons signal translation stop and start points). Thus, each amino acid can be coded by more than one codon. For any amino acid, the first 2 nucleotide’s in the codon are always identical. It is the 3rd nucleotide that can change. This is where the wobble comes in.

Question 5.
(a) Discuss the working of PCR technique in detail.
(b) Explain the principle and any two applications of each of the following biochemical techniques:
(i) Iso-electric focusing.
(ii) Centrifugation.
(c) Where do we find the following carbohydrates:
(i) Glycogen
(ii) Chitin
Answer:
(a) Working mechanism of PCR: The action of PCR involves several cycles. However, there are three steps in one amplification cycles, e.g., denaturation (melting), annealing and polymerisation.

Denaturation : The two strands of DNA are separated by applying a high temperature (95°C). After separation each strand acts as template for DNA synthesis.

Primer annealing : Since nucleotide sequence of each oligonucleotide primer is complementary to 3′ end of single stranded template, the primers anneals (hy bridizes) the each template. Annealing is done at low temperature based on length and sequence of the primers. The annealing temperature varies, but the too low temperature favours mispairing. The annealing temperature (°C) can be calculated using the formula T = 2 (AT) + 4(G + C)

Extension (Polymerization): It is the final step of amplification cy cle. In the presence of Mg⁺⁺ and dNTP’s (deoxynucleotide triphosphates, e.g., dATP, dGTP, dCTP, dTTP), Taq DNA, polymerase (at 70°C for 60-90 seconds) synthesis through onward extension of primer in 5′ -» 3′ direction on single DNA template. The concentration of Mg⁺⁺ is maintained between 1 and 4 mM. Thus, in the first step, the target DNA is copied from the primer sites for various distances until the start of second cycle.

The second cycle starts and doubles the DNA molecules synthesized in the first cycle. The second cycle is started with heating of double stranded DNA to result in single DNA. Each single stranded DNA again acts as template;. e., DNA molecules polymerized in first cycle act as template in second cycle. Following the above events all the single stranded DNA molecules of second cycle are converted into the double stranded DNA. The third and onward cycles are repeated in the same ways to get more DNA products. Always after n number of cycles, 2n molecules of DNA are generated using single stranded DNA as template.

(b) (i) Isoelectric focusing (IEF), also known as electrofocusing. is a technique for separating different molecules by their electric charge differences. It is a type of zone electrophoresis usually performed on proteins in a gel.

(ii) Centrifugation: On the basis of physical properties, cells are separated. For example, the larger and smaller cells are separated by centrifugation. Different components of homogenate are separated on the basis of their shape, size and density. For the separation of cell components high speed centrifuges are used .e.g., zonal centrifuge, density gradient centrifuge.

(c) (i) Glycogen is also known as animal starch and it is the reserve of carbohydrates in animals. It occurs in algae, fungi and yeasts. Glycogen is dextro-rotatory and its hydrolysis yield D- glucose.

(ii) Chitin : It is hard,tough substance that occurs widely in nature particulary in the shells of arthropods such as crab, insects and spider. The walls of hyphae are composed of slightly different chitin. Chemically, chitin is a polysaccharide drived from glucose.

Question 6.
(a) Describe the procedure of sequencing of DNA by Sanger’s method. [4]
(b) Explain any two physical and any two chemical methods used to synchronize suspension cultures. [4]
(c) Name any two industrial enzymes and give their uses. [2]
Answer:
(a) DNA sequencing : It is the determination of the precise sequence of nucleotide’s in a sample of DNA.

Sanger dideoxy method: The most popular method for DNA sequencing is called the dideoxy method or Sanger method (named after its inventor, Frederick Sanger, who was awarded the (1980) Nobel prize in chemistry).

Procedure : The DNA to be sequenced is prepared as a single strand.
This template DNA is supplied with

a mixture of all four normal (deoxy) nucleotides in ample quantities

• dATP
• r/GTP
• c/CTP
• dT TP

a mixture of all four dideoxynucleotides, each present in limiting quantities and each labelled with a ” tag that fluoresces a different color:

• ddATP
• ddGTP
• ddc TP
• ddlTP

DNA polymerase I

Because all four normal nucleotides are present, chain elongation proceeds normally until, by chance, DNA polymerase inserts a dideoxy nucleotide (shown as colored letters) instead of the normal deoxynucleotide (shown as vertical lines).

If the ratio of normal nucleotide to the dideoxy versions is high enough, some DNA strands will succeed in adding several hundred nucleotides before insertion of the dideoxy version halts the process.

At the end of the incubation period, the fragments are separated by length from longest to shortest. The resolution is so good that a difference of one nucleotide is enough to separate that strand from the next shorter and next longer strand. Each of the four dideoxynucleotides fluoresces a different color when illuminated by a laser beam and an automatic scanner provides a printout of the sequence.

(b) Cells in. suspension cultures vary greatly in size, shape of DNA and nuclear content. Moreover, the cell cycle time varies considerably within individual cells. Therefore, cell cultures are mostly asynchronous. This variation complicates studies of biochemical, genetic physiological and other aspects of cell metabolism. A synchronous culture is one in which the majority of cells proceed through each cell cycle phase (G, S,G₂ and M) simultaneously.

(A) Physical Methods:
Selection by Volume: Synchronization may be achieved on the basis of selecting the size of cell aggregates present even in the finest possible suspension cultures. Cell fractionation is employed for selection.

Temperature Shock: Low temperature shocks combined with nutrient starvation are reported to induce — synchronization of suspension culture.

(B) Chemical Methods:
Starvation : The principle of starvation is based on depriving suspension cultures of an essential growth compound leading to a stationary growth phase. Resupplying the missing compounds is expected to induce resumption of cell growth synchronously. Growth hormone starvation is also reported to induce synchronization of cell cultures.

Inhibition : Synchronization is achieved by temporarily blocking the progression of events in the cell cycle and accumulating cells in a specific stage using a biochemical inhibitor. On release the block cells with synchronously enter the next stage. Inhibitors of DNA synthesis (5-aminourail, 5-fluorodexypunne. hydroxyurea or excess thymidine) in cell cultures accumulate cells at the G₁/S boundary.

(c) Tw o industrial enzymes with uses :
Amylases (from fungi and plants) : Production of sugars from starch, such as in making high fructose corns syrup.
Rennin (derived from the stomach of young ruminant animals): Manufacture cheese used to hydrolyze protein.

Question 7.
(a) Briefly explain the essential features of a vector. [4]
(b) What is the principle of cryopreservation? Mention the steps of cryopreservation. [4]
(c) What is the importance of pH and solidifying agents in cell cultures ? [2]
Answer:
(a) Vectors are the DNA molecules that serve as vehicle to carry a foreign DNA sequence into a host.
Features:
A vector should have the following features :

• origin for replication (ori)
• have a selectable marker such as antibiotic resistance
• should be small in size.
• It must contain at least a unique recognition site for restriction enzyme.

Examples are : Plasmids, Viral DNA, Cosmids, YAC vector, BAC vector, etc.

(b) Cryopreservation involves cooling and storing cells in a frozen state at an extremely low temperature that allows them a higher chances of surviving when thawed. Orthodox seeds have a natural dormancy feature, which allows for their long term storage with little damage to DNA, provided they are kept in a cool, dry environment.

Steps of cryopreservation : Following are the steps of cryopreservation :
Freezing: Freezing generally requires a low molarity of cryoprotectants which are reletively less toxic for a wide range of plant cells. This can be used on a large number of samples which are processed simultaneously. In this technique we can use computerized freezer.

Vitrification : This step does not require an expensive controlled-freezing system. This is more suitable for plant cells which are sensitive to chilling.

(c) Importance of solidifying agents and pH in cell cultures : For preparing a cell culture or media we should always follow the criteria. Every nutrient and condition are important. Depending on the type of the plant cell or tissue used for culture, the composition of nutrient media vary. A cell culture generally require these constituents : Inorganic nutrients, carbon and energy sources, organic supplements, growth regulators, solidifying agents and pH.

Solidifying agents play important role to solidify the culture media properly. Mostly we use Agar for solidify the culture. Agar is a polysaccharide obtained from seaweed. Agar gel do not react with constituents of media and it does not digested by the plant enzymes.

pH affects the uptake of ions. Always optimum pH of the medium should be maintained before sterilization of the medium. pH between 5.0 to 6.0 is an optimum pH which is required for growth and development of cultured tissues.

Question 8.
(a) Explain how DNA technology has been used to create the following: [4]
(i) Tomatoes with delayed ripening
(ii) Bt crops
(iii) Virus free crops
(iv) Biodegradable plastic.
(b) List the functions of the following bioinformatics tools: [4]
(i) GENSCAN
(ii) ENTREZ
(iii) FASTA
(iv) PIR
(c) Name any two media used in plant tissue culture. [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) Flaw Save tomato is a plant having delayed fruit ripening. This was genetically modified by introducing the genes from a fish to reduce the freezer damage of the tomatoes. This gives a long life to tomatoes.

(ii) Bt crops : Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, these are insect-resistant plants which are produced by introducing a cry gene of Bacillus thuringiensis that encode Cry protein.

(iii) Virus free crops : Transgenic papaya, peeper, tobacco and tomatoes; these are virus free plants. By using tissue culture method we can produce disease-resistant plants.

(iv) Biodegradable plastic : The biodegradable plastic is made from lactic acid which is produced at the time of bacterial fermentation of plant materials like discarded stalks of corn. In the process, molecules of lactic acid are chemically grouped to form the biodegradable plastic. In fact, the biodegradable plastic is a material which has most of the properties of plastic except the property of being non-biodegradable. The biodegradable plastic polyhydroxyalkanates eg., polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) are obtained commercially by fermentation with bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus. The genetically engineered Arabidopsis plants produced polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) globules in their chloroplasts without effecting plant growth and development. The large scale of polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) can be extracted from leaves as well as from transgenic plants.

(b) (i) GENSCAN: Genscan is a notable example of eukaryotic ab initio gene finders. It is one of the best gene finding algorithms for sequence alignment and gene prediction.

(ii) ENTREZ : This is an integrated information database retrieval system of NCBI. It is mainly used for accessing literature, sequences (both proteins and nucleotides) and structure (3D).

(iii) FASTA: It is a widely used programme for database similarity search. It performs optimised search for local alignment using a substituion matrix. FASTA format is used in a variety of molecular biology software suits.

(iv) PIR : PIR is a non-redundant annotated protein sequence database and analytical tools.

(c) There are different types of culture media which are used in plant tissue culture. We use tham as root culture medium, organogenesis medium, cell and callus medium initially.
Following are the medias :
1. Ms medium
2. White medium
3. B5 medium
Ms medium is mostly used in the tissue culture.

Question 9.
(a) What are restriction enzymes? How do they work? What are the different types of restriction enzymes? [4]
(b) Define the term proteomics. Explain the various types of proteomics. [4]
(c) Differentiate between the following: [2]
(i) Local alignment and Global alignment.
(ii) FST and STS.
Answer:
(a) The restriction enzymes are called ‘molecular scissors’. Restriction enzymes are DNA-cutting enzymes present in bacteria. They are obtained from them for use in genetic engineering-rDN A technology. As sequence are cut within the DNA molecule, they are often called restriction endonucleases.

A restriction enzyme recognizes and cuts DNA only at a particular sequence of nucleotides. For example, the bacterium Hemophilus aegypticus produces an enzyme named Hae III that cuts DNA whenever it identifies the recognition sequence.

A cut is made between the adjacent G and C. Hae III cleaves both the strands of DNA at the . same base pairs producing “blunt” ends.
Examples : EcoRI, Hind III and Bam HI.

(b) Proteomics : It is the identification, analysis and large scale production of total protein components of an organism.
Types of Proteomics : Generally, proteomics have so many types but we will only discuss its following three types :

1. Expression proteomics
2. Structural proteomics
3. Functional proteomics

Expression proteomics is the quantitative study of protein expression between the samples which differ by some variables.

Structural proteomics generally deals with the study of the structure and nature of protein complexes which are present in a particular cell organelles.

Functional proteomics generally embraces all proteomics approaches related to devising its functions. In this we use proteomics methods for analysis of properties of molecular networks that are formed in a living cell. This is a complex process.

(b) Global vs local alignments: Illustration of global and local alignments demonstrating the ‘gappy’ quality of global alignments that can occur if sequences are insufficiently similar.

Global alignments, which attempt to align every residue in every sequence, are most useful when the sequences in the query set are similar and of roughly equal size (This does not mean global alignments cannot end in gaps). A general global alignment technique is the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm, which is based on dynamic programming.

Local alignments are more useful for dissimilar sequences that are suspected to contain regions of similarity or similar sequence motifs within their larger sequence context. The Smith-Waterman algorithm is a general local alignment method also based on dynamic programming. With sufficiently similar sequences, there is no difference between local and global alignments.

EST is known as Expressed Sequence Tag. It is a unique stretch of DNA within a coding region of a gene that is useful for identifying full length genes and serves as a landmark for mapping. EST is a sequence tagged site derived form cDNA. STS is a short segment of DNA which occurs but once in the genome and whose location and base sequence are known. STS’s are detectable by PCR.

ISC Class 12 Biotechnology Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Geography Previous Year Question Paper 2014 Solved for Class 12

PART-I (30 Marks)
Answer all questions.
SECTION-A

Question 1. [20]
(i) Mention the latitudinal and the longitudinal extent of India.
(ii) What is a subcontinent? Why is India referred to as an Indian subcontinent?
(iii) Explain the term braided river. Give an example.
(iv) What is meant by Break in Monsoons? Why does it occur?
(v) Mention any two problems caused due to the growth of large cities.
(vi) Why is watershed management important? Name the water harvesting programme implemented in Andhra Pradesh.
(vii) Name any two narrow gauge railway lines present in the Himalayan region.
(viii) Name any two important means of mass communication.
(ix) Name the largest coalfield of Chhattisgarh. State its importance.
(x) Study the Temperature-Rainfall graph of station X below and answer the questions that follow :

(a) Is the location of station X Inland or coastal ? Give a reason for your answer.
(b) Which branch of the South West Monsoon brings, rain from the month of June to September ?
Answer:
(i) 6° 45′ North – 37° 6′ North Latitude.
68° 7′ East to 97° 25′ East Longitude.

(ii) A landmass which is separated from the rest of the continent by water bodies or mountains is called a subcontinent.

India is called a subcontinent because of its : (a) Vast size, (b) diversity, (c) the ice covered lofty Himalayas in the North, (d) the vast Indo-Ganga plain to its south, (e) the Thar desert, (f) the uneven Deccan plateau, (g) the high temperature and heavy rainfall . from the tropical monsoon climate.

(iii) The river carries a heavy load some of which is deposited on its bed. This may produce mounds which divide the river into several channels. When this happens, the river is said to be braided, e.g., the river Kosi or the lower course of river Ganga.

(iv) When the south-west monsoon fails to bring rainfall for two or more weeks and there is a dry spell in the rainy season, it is called the break in the monsoon. This break is caused due to :
1. Failure of the tropical depressions,
2. Continuous rainfall L.P. trough changes to H.P. monsoon trough is dislocated and rain becoming winds change their direction.

(v) The essential problems caused due to the growth of large cities are :
Unemployment: When people migrate to the cities, they do not find appropriate jobs and add to the problems of unemployment in the cities. The rural folks are generally unskilled, illiterate, hardly willing to work in the agricultural fields. They are often thrown out . of the villages as surplus labour force due to mechanisation of agriculture.

Pollution : The haphazard and uncontrolled growth of cities had led to the unprecedented environmental pollution including pollution of air, water and land within the cities and in areas surrounding them.
Growth of Slums and Squatter Settlement: Unplanned and haphazard growth of urban areas is the cause of spread of slums and squatter settlements.

Urban Sprawl : As the cities grow in size, they encroach upon the surrounding areas and areal expansion takes place. Almost all the cities are grown at the expense of surrounding agricultural land thus reducing the scope of agricultural activities.

(vi) Watershed management is a very important means to conserve water resources which help to increase agricultural production and stop ecological degradation. The scheme also helps the rural people to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation and allied activities like horticultural, agroforestry and silviculture. The name of the water harvesting program implemented in Andhra Pradesh is Neeru Meeru (Water and You).

(vii) Two narrow gauge railway lines present in the Himalayan region are :

1. Kalka to Simla
2. Siliguri to Darjeeling.

(viii) Two important means of mass communication are:

1. radio and television
2. print media like newspaper and periodicals.

(ix) Korba Coal-field: It supplies coal to Korba thermal power station and Bhilai steel plant.

(x) (a) Yes, it is Coastal: The annual range of temperature is only 6°C. The area is influe- need by the moderating influence of the sea.
(b) The Arabian sea branch of south-west monsoon.

SECTION-B

Question 2. [10]
On the outline map of India provided :
(a) Mark the Cardamom Hills.
(b) Mark the Bomdi La Pass.
(c) Shade a drought-prone area in Western India.
(d) Shade a region along the Eastern coast where deltaic forests are found.
(e) Mark and name a coalfield in Jharkhand.
(f) Mark and name the city where Hindalco is located.
(g) Trace the course and name the river on which Bhakra-Nangal Hydroelectric power station is set up.
(h) Shade and name the state where Tank irrigation is mainly practised.
(i) Mark the port ofMarmagao.
(j) Trace the route of National Highway 2. Name any one of its terminal towns.
Note: All the map work, including legend (Index) should be done on the map sheet only.
Answer:

PART-II (40 Marks)
Answer any four questions.

Question 3.
(a) Explain the formation of Himalayas with reference to the theory of Plate Tectonics. [3]
(b) State two differences between Himalayan and Peninsular river systems. [2]
(c) List three measures undertaken by the . government to conserve and develop forestry in India. [3]
(d) Write any two objectives of urban forestry. [2]
Answer:
(a) According to the plate tectonic theory, the Himalayan ranges were formed when the Indian plate was driven northwards and pushed beneath the Eurasian plate. With the advance of the Indian plate towards the north, the Tethys started contracting about 65 to 70 million years ago. About 30 to 60 million years ago, the two plates came closer and Tethys sea crust began to fracture into thrust edges. About 20 to 30 million years ago, the Himalayan ranges started emerging.

(b)

Rivers of Peninsular Region	Himalayan Rivers
1. The rivers depend entirely upon rain water and are seasonal.	The rivers originate from the glaciers and receive water from the rainfall.

(c) The measures undertaken by the Govt, to conserve and develop forestry in India are :

1. The Govt, has allocated funds in the Five Years Plans to enhance forest conservation and its sustain ability. These investment ensures sustainable supply of goods and services for the huge sector of population dependent on the forest.
2. The Govt, has enacted a Forest Conservation Act to check indiscriminate deforestation. The Act has been amended to make it more stringent by prescribing punishment for violation.
3. The Govt, has also adopted an integrated forest protection scheme to control forest fire, strengthening of infrastructure, protection and conservation of sacred groves and conservation and restoration of unique vegetation.

(d) The two objectives of Urban Forestry are :

1. Reduction of environmental pollution;
2. Recreation and improving aesthetic values.

Question 4.
(a) State any two factors responsible for isolated settlement in the Northeastern States of India. [2]
(b) Give three reasons for the large-scale migration from rural to urban areas. [3]
(c) Define the term sex ratio. Mention any two reasons for the low sex ratio in India. [3]
(d) What are the two negative impacts of the high percentage of non-working population on the Indian economy ? [2]
Answer 4.
(a) The two factors are :

1. The rugged and inaccessible mountain in the north restrict the availability of land for agriculture, development of transport, industries and other economic activities.
2. The excessive heavy rainfall followed by soil erosion tend to discourage concentration of population in the northeastern region of India.

(b) Three reasons for largescale migration are:

1. Employment – people migrate in large number from rural to urban areas as the urban areas provide vast scope of employment in industries, trade, transport and other services.
2. Education – rural areas lack educational facilities especially higher education so the rural people have to migrate to the urban centres for this purpose. Many of them settle down in the cities for earning their livelihood.
3. Marriage – every girl has to move to her in-laws place of residence once married. A large number of girls move to the cities as well.

(c) The sex ratio is defined as the number of females per thousand males in the population. Male child receives a preferential treatment while the female child is neglected. With small family norms, many young couples do not go in for a second child if the first child happens to be a male.

(d) The two negative impacts are :

1. Low Economic Progress: Due to a large number of people being unemployed, there is poverty and low standard of living.
2. Poor Social Welfare: It corresponds to a high burden of youth dependency on Indian economy.

Question 5.
(a) (i) State two reasons for the rapid reduction in area irrigated by tanks in India. [4]
(ii) Mention any two geographical conditions required for the setting up of tanks.
(b) (i) What is meant by Net sown area? [4]
(ii) State the significance of Net sown area in India.
(iii) What are the two adverse effects of small and fragmented farm holdings on the agricultural productivity ?
(c) Enumerate any two important aspects of environmental management. [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) The first reason is that the tanks cover large areas of cultivable land which could be used for cultivation. The second reason is that the tanks dry up during the dry seasons and fail to provide irrigation when it is needed the most.
(ii) The two geographical conditions are :

1. The region must have impermeable hard rocks which will not allow percolation of water easily.
2. The region must receive sufficient rainfall.

(b) (i) The total area of land used for cultivation at least once in a year.
(ii) The net sown area is the means to meet the food and other requirements of the rapidly increasing population in India.
(iii) The two adverse effects are :

1. Low agricultural productivity and backward state of our agriculture.
2. A lot of time and labour is wasted in moving seeds, manure, implements and cattle from one piece of land to another.

(c) The important aspects are :

1. Encouraging watershed development, rainwater harvesting, water recycling and reuse and conjunctive use of water for sustaining water supply in the long run.
2. To analyse the impact of developmental plans on environment and to formulate national and regional environmental policies.

Question 6.
(a) What are the two climatic conditions required for the cultivation of ground-nuts in India? [2]
(b) Give three reasons for the high Jute production in India and Bangladesh. [3]
(c) Discuss any three problems associated with the use of thermal power. [3]
(d) Name any two river valleys responsible for the bulk production of coal in India. [2]
Answer:
(a) Two climatic conditions are :

1. Temperature 20° C to 30° C.
2. Rainfall 50 to 70 cm, groundnut is highly susceptible to frost, prolong draught, continuous rain and stagnant water. Dry winter is needed at the time of ripening.

(b) 1. Jute requires hot and humid climate with temperature between 24°C and 35° C, rainfall over 150 cm.
2. The relative humidity should be nearly 90%.
3. Well-drained alluvial soil, which are frequently renewed by foods are best suited for the cultivation of jute. Since India and Bangladesh provide these ideal conditions, jute is best grown in these regions.

(c) The three problems are :

1. Thermal electricity is produced from coal, petroleum and natural gas which are exhaustible and non-renewable. It involves recurring cost.
2. The process of generating electricity involves burning of fuel. This causes water pollution.
3. Burning of coal leaves a lot of waste in the form of fly ash, disposal of which adds to the cost of production.

(d) The river valleys are :

• Damodar
• Mahanadi
• Godavari, and
• Wardha.

Question 7.
(a) Briefly explain the three advantages of using roadways in comparison to railways. [3]
(b) Mention any two products which are transported through a pipeline. State any one advantage of this method of transportation. [3]
(c) Name any two major ports located on the Western Coast of India. [2]
(d) Discuss the role of communication as an infrastructural resource in the country’s development. [2]
Answer:
(a) 1. Road transport is more flexible than rail as buses, trucks and cars may be stopped anywhere and at any time for passengers and goods whereas trains stop at stations only.
2. Roads can negotiate high gradients and sharp turns to reach at almost all areas whereas trains cannot do the same. Roads can be constructed at hilly areas also.
3. Road transport provides door to door service, can connect farms, fields, factories and market very easily.

(b) Petroleum/milk /water /gas /petroleum products, etc.
Advantage —can be constructed even across water or difficult terrains and needs very little maintenance.

(c) Mumbai, Marmagao, Mangalore, /Kochi, etc.

(d) The communication system contributes to the development of the economy, social relationship and also helps in promoting cultural unity. In the event of any calamity, accident or emergency, instant means of communication flash the news across the globe so that relief can be rushed to the spot immediately.

Question 8.
(a) Discuss the two ways in which cement industry is important for the growth of a country. [2]
(b) State any two factors that determine the location of the readymade garment industry in India. [2]
(c) State any three advantages of setting up Mini steel plants. [3]
(d) Name the following : [3]
(i) A pilgrimage centre in Himachal Pradesh.
(ii) A historic place in Rajasthan.
(iii) An important hill resort of West Bengal.
Answer:
(a) (i) Cement is indispensable for building and construction works and hence cement industry is considered to be an important infrastructure core industry.
(ii) It can play a significant role in the overall economic growth as India has emerged as a major exporter of cement.

(b) (i) Presence of market for ethnic designs and colors combinations.
(ii) Power/energy.

(c) The three advantages are :

1. It is easy to construct such a plant as its gestation period is short.
2. It needs less capital investment.
3. It uses electric furnace for processing which is eco-friendly.

(d) (i) Shimla / Kangra /Kullu /Manikaran.
(ii) Bikaner /Jaipur /Jodhpur /Udaipur.
(iii) Darjeeling /Kalimpong.

Question 9,
(a) With reference to Haldia Port, answer the following questions : [3]
(i) At the confluence of which two rivers is it located ?
(ii) Why was the port developed ?
(b) What is a micro region ? Give an example of it. [2]
(c) Which river drains into the Chhattisgarh basin ? What is the predominant crop of this region ? [2]
(d) Why does the need for the development of a region arise ? Give any three points in support of your answer. [3]
Answer 9.
(a) (i) Haldia port is located at the confluence of Hugh and Haldia.
(ii) Haldia port was developed to release congestion at the Kolkata port and to enable docking of larger vessels which cannot enter Kolkata port.

(b) The micro regions are the smallest of all planning regions and have the potential for development of at least one specialisation of production cycle of great significance. Example: agriculture in Punjab, tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.

(c) Mahanadi, Godavari and Indrawati. The predominant crop is rice.

(d) The development of a region is required to improve economic, social, political and environmental conditions of the society present in the region. The development helps to increase general productivity level, per capita income, efficiency of a worker, elimination of poverty and improvement in quality of life.

ISC Class 12 Geography Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Biotechnology Previous Year Question Paper 2018 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
• Transactions should be recorded in the answer book.
• All calculations should be shown clearly.
• All working, including rough work, should be done on the same page as, and adjacent to the rest of the answer.

Part-I (20 Marks)
(Answer all questions)

Question 1.
(a) Mention any one significant difference between each of the following : [5]
(i) Plasmids and cosmids
(ii) Nucleotide and Nucleoside
(iii) Lagging strand and leading strand
(iv) Multipotent cells and unipotent cells
(v) Microinjection and biolistic
(b) Answer the following questions : [5]
(i) Who coined the term vitamin ? Write the chemical name of vitamin D.
(ii) Why is amino acid said to be amphoteric ?
(iii) What is Bioremediation ?
(iv) What is a primer ?
(v) What are cryoprotectants ?
(c) Write the full form of each of the following : [5]
(i) NBPGR
(ii) ARS
(iii) RELP
(iv) HEPA
(v) SCP
(d) Explain briefly : [5]
(i) Gene splicing
(ii) Supramolecular assembly
(iii) Interferon
(iv) Gene scan
(v) Saponification
Answer:
(a) (i) Plasmids and Cosmids
Plasmids: These are the extra-chromosomal, independent, self replicating, circular double stranded DNA molecules naturally found in all bacteria and some fungi.

Cosmids : These are predominantly plasmids with a bacterialori, an antibiotic selection marker and a cloning site, but they carry one or more recently two ‘cos’ sites derived from bacteriophage lambda.

(ii) Nucleotide and Nucleoside:
Nucleotide:
Nucleotide is a condensation product of heterocyclic nitrogen base, a pentose sugar like ribose or deoxyribose, and a phosphate or polyphosphate group.

Nucleoside:
Nucleoside consisting of a pentose sugar, usually ribose or deoxyribose, and a nitrogen base purine or pyrimidine.

(iii)Lagging strand and Leading strand
Lagging strand:

1. Lagging strand is a replicated strand of DNA which is formed in short segments called Okazaki fragments. Its growth is discontinuous.
2. DNA-ligase is required for joining Okazaki fragments.

Leading strand:

1. It is a replicated strand of DNA which grows continuously without any gap.
2. It does not require DNA ligase for its growth.

(iv) Multipotent cells and Unipotent cells
Multipotent Cells:
Multi potent cells have the ability to differentiate into many of the various types of specialized cell types and can develop into any cell of a particular group or type,
e.g., Umbilical cord stem cell

Unipotent Cells:
Uni potent cells can undergo unlimited reproductive divisions, but can only differentiate into a single type of cell or tissue.
e.g., Skin cells.

(v)Microinjection and biolistic
Microinjection:
In this technique foreign DNA is directly and forcibly injected into the nucleus of animal and plant cells through a glass micropipette containing very fine tip of about 0.5 mm diameter. It resembles with injection needle.

Biolistic:
In this technique macroscopic gold or tungsten particles are coated with desired DNA. The particles are bombarded onto target cells by the bombardment apparatus. Consequently foreign DNA is forcibly delivered into the host cells.

(b) (i) The term Vitamin was coined by Funk.
Chemical name of Vitamin D: Cholecalciferol (D3), Ergocalciferol (D2)

(ii) Amino acids are amphoteric, which means they have acidic and basic tendencies. The carboxyl group is able to lose a proton and the amine group is able to accept a proton.
Or
In neutral amino acid solution, the (– COOH) loses a proton and the – NH₂ of the same molecule picks up the one. The resulting ion is dipolar charged but overall electrically neutral. Due to this reason amino acids are amphoteric in nature i.e., they donate or accept proton.

(iii) Bio-remediation : Nowadays, microbial preparations are used for degradation of these pollutants. The waste organic materials treated with selected potential strains of microorganisms are rendered into less or non-toxic forms. This process of remedying pollution is called bio-remediation.

(iv) Primer: A primer is a short strand of RNA that serves as a starting point for DNA synthesis. They are required for DNA replication because DNA polymerases can only add new nucleotide’s to an existing strand of DNA.

(v) Cryoprotectants: These are basically antifreeze that is added to the solutions in which the cells are being stored to protect them from membrane damage and ice crystal damage. Examples are DMSO, Polyethylene glycol.

(c) (i) NBPGR: National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources.
(ii) ARS: Agricultural Research Service.
(iii) RFLP: Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism
(iv) HEPA: High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter
(v) SCP: Single Cell Protein

(d) (i) Gene splicing: In molecular biology, splicing is a post transcriptional modification of an hnRNA, in which introns are removed and exons are joined.

(ii) Supra molecular assembly: It is based on weak bonds as supposed to covalent bonds. As mentioned weak bond, though harder to control have the advantage of possible reopening. Relying on weak bond in surface organisation, can lead to molecular assemblies and raise the probability of reorganization processes.

(iii) Interferon: They are natural anti-viral proteins produced by the cells of the system of most vertebrates in response to attack of foreign agents such as viruses, parasites and tumor cells. These belong to the large class of glycoprotein known as cytokine. Today interferon’s are used for the treatment of Hepatitis-C diseases.

(iv) Gene scan: It is a notable example of eukaryotic ab initio gene finders. Gene scan is one of the best gene finding algorithms for sequence alignment and gene prediction.

(v) Saponification : The hydrolysis of triacvlghcerol in the presence of sufficient sodium hydroxide is called saponification.

Part-II (50 Marks)
(Answer any five questions)

Question 2.
(a) Explain in detail, how Dolly, the sheep was created. [4]
(b) Mention any two chemical properties of each of the following: [4]
(i) Proteins
(ii) Carbohydrates
(c) What are Okazaki fragments ? How are they joined ? [2]
Answer:
(a) Dolly, was the first mammal to be cloned by Wilmut et. al (1977). Dolly was the end result oi a long research program founded by the British government at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. They used the technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the cell nucleus from an adult udder cell is transferred into an unfertilized oocyte that has had its nucleus removed. The hybrid cell is then stimulated to divide by an electric shock, and the blastocyst that is eventually produced’is implanted in a surrogate mother. Dolly was the first clone produced from a cell taken from an adult animal.

The following steps are involved in creation of Dolly:
Isolate donor nucleus : Isolate the nucleus from a somatic (non-reproductive) cell of a udder of adult donor sheep. The nucleus contains all the complete genetic material of the organism. A very small needle and syringe (suction device) is used to penetrate through the cell membrane to hold the nucleus and remove it from the cell.

Get unfertilized eggs: Retrieve some unfertilized egg cells (reproductive) from a female sheep. Many eggs are needed since not all of them will survive the various steps of cloning.

Remove the egg’s nucleus : Remove the egg cell’s nucleus, which contains only one-half of the sheep’s genetic material.

Insert donor nucleus : Insert the nucleus, with all its complete genetic material, isolated from the donor sheep mammal in Step 1 into the cytoplasm of egg cell that has no nuclear material. The egg’s genetic material now contains all traits from the donor adult. This egg is genetically identical to the donor adult cells.

Transfer the egg into womb : Transfer the egg into a receptive female sheep’s womb. Those eggs that survive and implant will continue to develop into embryos. When the off spring is born, it is a clone (genetically identical) of the donor sheep. After cloning was successfully demonstrated through the production of Dolly, many other large mammals have been cloned, including horses and bulls.


(b) Chemical properties of proteins:

1. Proteins when hydrolyzed by acidic agents, like cone. HCl yield amino acids in the form of their hydrochlorides.
2. Sanger’s reaction : Proteins react with FDNB reagent to produce yellow coloured derivative, DNB amino acid.
3. Xanthoproteic test: On boiling proteins with cone. HNO₃, yellow colour develops due to presence of benzene ring.
4. Folin’s test: This is a specific test for tyrosine amino acid, where blue colour develops with phosphomolybdotungstic acid in alkaline solution due to presence of phenol group.

Chemical properties of carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates with free hemiacetals form (having anomeric carbon) are called reducing sugars such as glucose, fructose, maltose, etc., They can reduce alkaline solution of copper salts giving rise to yellow to red precipitate of cuprous oxides.

\(\begin{array}{l}{\text { Reducing sugar }+2 \mathrm{Cu}^{++} \longrightarrow \text { Oxidised sugar }+2 \mathrm{Cu}^{+}} \\ {\qquad \begin{array}{r}{\text { (Blue) }} \\ {2 \mathrm{Cu}^{+}+2 \mathrm{HO}^{-} \longrightarrow 2 \mathrm{CuOH} \longrightarrow \mathrm{Cu}_{2} \mathrm{O}+\mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}} \\ {\text { (Yellow) (Red) }}\end{array}}\end{array}\)

The reducing sugars give positive test for Fehling’s test, Benedict’s test and Barfoed s test. For the detection of sugars in blood/urine, these tests are carried out in a routine way in the pathology laboratory.

(c) Okazaki fragments are short, newly synthesized DNA fragments produced discontinuously in pieces during DNA replication. They are formed on the lagging template strand and are complementary to the lagging template strand. Okazaki fragments are joined together by DNA ligase enzyme.

Question 3.
(a) Describe the effect of each of the following factors on enzyme activity. [4]
(i) pH
(ii) Temperature
(iii) Enzyme concentration
(iv) Concentration of products
(b) With reference to suspension culture, explain the following : [4]
(i) A chemostat
(ii) A turbidostat
(c) What is genomics ? What are its different types ? [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) Optimum pH : Every enzyme has an optimum pH when it is most effective. A rise or fall in pH reduces enzyme activity 7 by changing the degree of ionization of its side chains. A change in pH may also start reverse reaction. Fumarase catalyses fumarate → malate at 6.2 pH and reverse at 7.5 pH. Most of the intracellular enzymes function near neutral pH with the exception of several digestive enzymes which work either in acidic range of pH or alkaline, e.g., 2.0 pH for pepsin, 8.5 for trypsin.

(ii) Temperature: Higher temperature generally causes more collisions among the molecules and therefore, increases the rate of a reaction. More collisions increase the likelihood that substrate will collide with the active site of the enzyme, thus increasing the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. Above a certain temperature, activity begins to decline because the enzyme begins to denature. The rate of chemical reactions, therefore, increases with temperature but then decreases as enzymes denature.

(iii) Enzyme Concentration: If there is insufficient enzyme present, the reaction will not proceed as fast as it otherwise would because all of the active sites are occupied with the reaction. Additional active sites could speed up the reaction. As the amount of enzyme is increased, the rate of reaction increases. This is so because when more enzyme molecules are present, more substrate molecules can be acted upon at the same time. This means that the total substrate molecules are broken down quickly. If there are more enzyme molecules than are needed, adding additional enzyme will not increase the rate. Reaction rate therefore increases as enzyme concentration increases but then its levels off.

(iv) Effect of Product Concentration: The accumulation of reaction products generally decreases the enzyme velocity. For certain enzymes, the products combine with the active site of enzyme and form a loose complex and thus, inhibit the enzyme activity. In the living system, this type of inhibition is generally prevented by a quick removal of products formed.

(b) (i) Chemostat : A type of cell culture; a component of medium is in a growth limiting concentration; fresh medium is added at regular intervals and equal volume of culture is withdrawn. But in a chemostat, a chosen nutrient is kept in a concentration so. that it is depleted very rapidly to become growth limiting, while other nutrients are still in concentrations higher than required. In such a situation, any addition of the growth- limiting nutrient is reflected in cell growth. Chemostats are ideal for the determination of effects of individual nutrients on cell growth and metabolism

(ii) Turbidostat : A type of suspension culture; when culture reaches a predetermined cell density, a volume of culture is replaced by fresh medium; works well at growth rates close to the maximum. A continuous culturing method where the turbidity of the culture is kept constant by manipulating the rate at which medium is fed. If the turbidity falls, the feed rate is lowered so that growth can restore the turbidity to its start point. If the turbidity rise • the feed rate is increased to dilute the turbidity back to its start point.

(c) Genomics: Genomics is an area within genetics that concerns the sequencing and analysis of an organism’s genome. The genome is the entire DNA content that is present within and cell of an organism. Experts in genomics strive to determine complete DNA sequences and perform genetic mapping to help understand disease.

Genome refers to the basic set of chromosomes. In a genome, each type of chromosome is represented only once. Now genomics is being developed as a sub discipline of genetics which is devoted to the mapping, sequencing and functional analysis of genomes.

Types of Genomics:
The discipline of genomics consists of two parts, viz. structural genomics and functional genomics.
Structural Genomics : It deals with the study of the structure of entire genome of a living organism. In other words, it deals with the study of the genetic structure of each chromosome of the genome. It determines the size of the genome of a species in mega-bases [Mb] and also the genes present in the entire genome of a species.

Functional Genomics: The study of function of all genes present in the entire in the genome is known as functional genomics. It deals with transcriptome and proteome. The transcriptome refers to complete set of RNA’s transcribed from a genome and proteome refers to complete set of proteins encoded by a genome.

Question 4.
(a) What are the basic facilities that should be available for tissue culture in a biotechnology laboratory ? [4]
(b) Explain the experiment which proves the semi-conservative mode of replication. [4]
(c) What is cDNA ? [2]
Answer:
(a) A biotechnology laboratory is a place for working with a variety of chemicals and desired organisms since several culture media are prepared and organic materials are present, their exists chance for the presence of high spectrum of microbial community.

Facilities and Tools for Tissue culture in a Biotechnology’ Laboratory:
A biotechnology laboratory should be well-equipped with the instruments. Plant tissue culture can be defined as a collection of techniques/methodologies that are employed to grow or maintain plant cells, tissues or organs on a nutrient culture medium under aseptic growth conditions. Micro propagation is a technique which is widely used for the mass production of clones of a plant. Due to its diverse applications in reviving/ maintaining plants this technique has immensely benefited our society. Therefore, it becomes important to understand the requirements to start tissue culture laboratory.

Some of the prerequisite basic facilities for any laboratory, which actively practices the plant tissue culture methods to grow plants, are :

• Washing area
• Glassware
• Autoclave
• Areas for media preparation, sterilization, and storage
• Area for transfer of cultures/medium in aseptic conditions.
• Environmentally controlled incubators or culture rooms.

Biotechnology equipment available for all major research laboratory’ techniques, including:

• Electrophoresis and blotting.
• Imaging and quantitation.
• Real-time PCR and digital PCR.
• Transfection.
• Flow cytometry, cell sorting, and cell counting.
• Preparative and analytical chromatography.
• Spectrophotometry and fluorometry.

(b) In 1958, for the first time M.S. Messelson and F. W. Stahl put experimental evidences for replication of DNA in a semi-conservative way as proposed by Waston and Crick (Fig). They grew the cells of Escherichia coli in the medium containing heavy’ isotopic nitrogen (¹⁵N) for about 14 cell generations. This was done with the objective that all light isotope nitrogen (¹⁴N) of purine and pyrimidine could be replaced by the isotopic heavier nitrogen i.e., ¹⁵N. The cells were taken out the DNA of cells was removed. The cells grown on ¹⁵N containing medium were filtered and properly w’ashed. Density of ¹⁵N – DNA w as heavier (1.772 g/cc) as compared to normal DNA (1.708 g/cc).

Again the cells grown on ¹⁵N containing medium were taken out, washed properly and grown on medium containing light isotopic nitrogen (¹⁴N) for one to two generations. The generation time of E.coli is 30 minutes. Therefore, it was possible to remove cells after 30 minutes or 60 minutes. Density of ¹⁴N-DNA of such cells was measured by following density gradient centrifugation. Explanation of the result obtained by Messelson and Stahl can be summarized as below:

After 14 generation all the ¹⁴N of bases were replaced by ¹⁵N. This is why the density of ¹⁵N DNAwas higher.

DNA sample analysed after one cell generation transferred to ¹⁴N – containing medium showed only one density band when observed under ultra violet light. The DNA contained 50% each of ¹⁵N and ¹⁴N and, therefore, the density 7 was intermediate between the density of heavy DNA and light DNA.

DNA analysed after two generations of E. coli cells showed the presence of two bands due to types of DNA helix. One type consisted of ¹⁵N – ¹⁵N hybrid and the second were made- up of only ¹⁵N/.e., ¹⁴N- ¹⁴N. The ratio of heavy and light DNAwas 3 : 1. Moreover, the ratio of heavy DNA is subsequent generations gradually decreased and that of light DNA increased. This experiment shows that DNA replicates by semi-conservative method. Thereafter, several evidences for semi-conservative way of DNA replication were given by many scientists such as J. Cairns (1962) and J.HTylor (1957) using auto radigraphic techniques is E. coli and Vicia fab a. respectively

(c) cDNA : The double stranded molecules prepared by using mRNA as template and reverse transcriptase are called cDNA. These are expressed genes of the genomic DNA. By using cDNA molecules, substantial number of sequences have been determined and deposited in database.

Question 5.
(a) Explain any four methods employed to induce haploid production. [4]
(b) Describe the automated method of DNA sequencing. [4]
(c) What is the difference between gel electrophoresis and gel permeation? [2]
Answer:
(a) In vitro culture of haploid cells of plants {e.g., pollen grains from anther and ovules from ovary) is possible. In vivo technique of haploid production includes the following :

• Androgenesis: Production of haploid plants by development of an egg cell containing male nucleus. The female nucleus is eliminated before fertilisation.
• Gymnogenesis: Production of haploid plant by the development of an unfertilised egg cells because of delayed pollination (through use of abortive pollen pre-exposed to ionising irradiation or using an alien pollen). It is found in interspecific crosses of potato.
• Chemical Treatment: Some chemicals like chloramphenicol and parafluorophenylalanin may induce chromosome elimination in somatic cells or tissues giving rise to haploid.

In 1953, Tulecke successfully produced callus from isolated pollen culture of gymnosperms. This made a hope to raise haploid plants through pollen culture. For the first time Hameya and Hinata (1970) produced tissues from the isolated pollen grains of an angiosperm.

For the first time S.Guha and P.Maheshwari (1964) produced haploid embryos in vitro from isolated anthers of Datura innoxia. Haploid production has immense use in plant breeding and improvement of crop plants. Haploids provide an easier system for induction of mutation. They can be employed for rapid selection of mutants having traits for disease resistance. The Institute of Crop Breeding and Cultivation (China) has developed the high yielding and blast resistant varieties of rice zhonghua No. 8 and zhonghua No. 9 through transfer of desired alien gene.

(b) Automatic DNA Sequencers: Automatic sequencing machines were developed during 1990’s. It is an improvement of Sanger’s method. In this new method, a different fluorescent dye is tagged to the aWNTPs. Using this technique, a DNA sequence containing thousands of nucleotide’s can be determined in a few horns. Each dideoxynucleotide is linked with a fluorescent dye that imparts different colours to all the fragments terminating in that nucleotide. All four labelled ddNTP’s are added to a single capillary tube. It is a refinement of gel electrophoresis which separates fastly. DNA fragments of different colours are separated by their size in a single electrophoretic gel.

A current is applied to the gel. The negatively charged DNA strands migrate through the pores of gel towards the positive end. The small sized DNA fragments migrate faster and vice-versa. All fragments of a given length migrate in a single peak. The DNA fragments are illuminated with a laser beam. Then the fluorescent dyes are excited and emit light of specific wavelengths which is recorded by a special ‘recorder’. The DNA sequences are read by determining the sequence of the colours emitted from specific peaks as they pass the detector. This information is fed directly to a computer which determines the sequence. A tracing electrogram of emitted light of the four dyes is generated by the computer. Colour of each dya represents the different nucleotides. Computer converts the data of emitted light in the nucleotide sequences.

(c) Gel electrophoresis is a technique by which negatively charged DNA fragments are separated by forcing them to move towards the anode under an electric field through a medium/matrix. Gel permeation or filtration involves that molecules of different sizes can be separated from each other on the basis of their ability to enter the pores within the beaded gel, followed by passing down a column containing the gel. The technique is used in protein purification.

Question 6.
(a) What is in vitro pollination ? Why is it done ? Write the steps involved in this process. [4]
(b) Why is Agrobacterium called a natural genetic engineer ? How does it help in creating transgenic plants ? [4]
(c) Write a short note on site directed mutagenesis. [2]
Answer:
(a) In vitro Pollination : Cultivation of plant tissue or other organs on artificial media in a test tube or conical flask is called in vitro technique. The process of seed formation following stigmatic pollination of cultured pistil has been referred to as in vitro pollination.

Need of Invitro Pollination:

• For the production of homozygous plant
• For the conservation of extinct plant species
• Hybrid production
• Reducing the breeding cycle
• Overcome the dormant period
• Production of haploid plant
• Conservation of germplasm

(b) The bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens contains inside it s cell, a plasmid, i.e., an extrachromosomal self-replicating small DNA, known as Ti plasmid (tumour including plasmid) that induce overproduction of growth factors in the host cells iventually leading to cell proliferation and tumour formation. This bacterium establishes contact with suitable root cells of plants by recognising chemical signals and then prepares it’s plasmid ready to be delivered through t-pilus developed by type IV secretion system. Then it transfers this DNA (also known as t-DNA) into the plant host cell. This delivery requires assistance of several virproteins.

The t-DNA is transferred and stably integrated into the host chromosome which later wards leads in tumour development in the host. The whole process of successful DNA transfer and integration is performed and monitored by the bacteria itself (which in vivo is done by genetic engineers in laboratories). That’s -why Agrobacterium tumefaciens is called the Natural genetic engineers of plants.

Role of Agrobacterium tumefaciens in the production of Transgenic Plants:
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) are organisms which are formed when the gene of interest is specifically inserted into the host organisms in order to alter its genome and produce an organism with the required desirable traits.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a bacterium which naturally causes tumors in plants which is caused by the transfer of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) from the bacterium to the plant it infects.

Therefore, in the production of transgenic plants by A. tumefaciens, plants do not acquire different traits as A. tumefaciens is used to transfer genes so that the plants acquire the traits. Also, neither resistance is given to plants by this bacterium nor plant genes are incorporated into the genome of this bacterium in the production of transgenic plants.

(c) Site – Directed Mutagenesis: In nature, mutations arise spontaneously but they are rare such as sickle cell anemia. The most powerful method of introducing point mutation into a gene is known as Oligonucleotide or site-directed mutagenesis.

Change in a single nucleotide base pair is called “point mutation”. Site-directed mutagenesis is a molecular biology technique in which a mutation is created at a specific site in the DNA molecule. Using this technique specific point of a gene can be mutated. Therefore, this method has been used to understand the function of many genes. Moreover, this technique can only be used when nucleotide sequence of gene is known.

Question 7.
(a) What is HGP ? Name any two scientists involved in this. Write any two achievements of HGP. [4] (h) List the functions of the following in Bioinformatics [4]
(i) ENTREZ
(ii) PDB
(iii) FASTA
(iv) MGD
(c) Mention two differences between the organisation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) HGP: HGP means Human Genome Project. It was officially started on October. 1990 in the USA. This is an International Scientific Research Project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make-up DNA and to identify approximately 25000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.

Significance of genomics was substantially increased when the Human Genome Project was conceived. Research work on Human Genome Project was successfully completed only due to international collaboration involving 60 countries, 20 Genome Research Centers and more than 1000 scientists.

The US side of the Human Genome Project was initially led by James Watson (one half of Crick and Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA), and later by Francis Collins. John Sulston, who was the director here at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute (at that time called the Sanger Center), was principal leader of the UK side of the project.

Achievements of HGP:
The main objective of this project was to find the full structure of human genes. After that the human genome project kept the target in front of it to know about the protein made by human genes. As a result it would be possible to find out the presence, decreasing number and faults of genes and likewise it would be possible to develop the process of treatment of the diseases like cancer, diabetes, AIDS etc. Along with this, the progress in the treatment technique is also and objective of this project.

The greatest achievement of this project is that scientists can find out the structure of human genes and successfully trace the structure of genes. It has been possible to develop the technique regarding the treatment of defective genes only because of the human genome project.

The treatment of the hereditary’ diseases has been easier because of this project. DNA interference is recently developed technique regarding treatment by which it would be possible to treat many uncureable diseases. Along with this, the development of human, phy sical and mental structure etc., are the main achievements of human genome project.

(b) (i) ENTREZ: Integrated information database retrieval system of NCBI. Using Entrez system we can access literature, sequences (both proteins and nucleotides) and structures (3D).

(ii) PDB: (Protein Data Bank): This database has sequence of those protein whose 3-D structures are known Sources: NCBI – USA; EBI, U.K.

(iii) FASTA:

• FASTA is a DNA and protein sequence alignment software package.
• The current FASTA package contains programs for protein: protein, DNA: DNA, protein: translated DNA (with frame shifts), and ordered or unordered peptide searches. Recent versions of the FASTA package include special translated search algorithms that correctly handle frame shift errors (which six-frame-translated searches do not handle very well) when comparing nucleotide to protein sequence data.

(iv) Mouse Genome Database:
MGD strives to provide an extensively integrated information resource with experimental details annotated from both literature and on-line genomic data sources.

MGD collaborates with other bioinformatics groups to curate a definitive set of information about the laboratory mouse.

(c)

Prokaryotic Genome	Eukaryotic Genome
(i) Genome are much smaller and simpler.	(i) Genome are larger and complex.
(ii) Highly repetitive DNA is not found.	(ii) Occurrence of highly repetitive DNA is found.
(iii) It is without a limiting membrane.	(iii) It is bounded by nuclear membrane.
(iv) It is a naked double strand of DNA.	(iv) Double strand of DNA is associated with histone proteins

Question 8.
(a) Briefly describe the steps involved in the Southern blotting technique. [4]
(b) What is the need of germplasm conservation ? Give an account of the in-situ and ex-situ conservation of germplasm. [4]
(c) What is peptidoglycan ? Where is it found ? [2]
Answer:
(a) Southern blotting is a technique for transfer of DNA molecules from an electrophoresis gel to a nitrocellulose or nylon membrane, and is carried out prior to detection of specific molecules by hybridization probing.

In this technique, DNA is usually converted into conveniently sized fragments by restriction digestion and separated by gel electrophoresis, usually on an agarose gel. The DNA is denatured into single strands by incubation by alkali treatment.

The DNA is transferred to a nitrocellulose filter membrane which is a sheet of special blotting paper. The DNA fragments retain the same pattern of separation they had on the gel. This process is called blotting.

The nitrocellulose membrane is how removed from the blotting stack.

The blot is incubated with many copies of a radioactive probe which is single-stranded DNA. This probe detect and identify base pairs with its complementary DNA sequence and bind to form a double-stranded DNA molecule. The probe cannot be seen but it is either radioactive or has an enzyme bound to it (e.g., alkaline phosphatase or horseradish peroxidase). This step is known as hybridisation reaction.

The location of the probe is revealed by incubating it with a colourless substrate that the attached enzyme converts to a coloured product that can be seen or gives off light which will expose X-ray film. If the probe was labelled with radioactivity, it can expose X-ray filmdirectly. The images of radioactive probe are revealed as distinct bands on the developed X-ray film.

(b) Germplasm Conservation: The sum total of all the genes present in a crop plant and its related species is called germplasm . The wild and traditional species must be preserved through germplasm conservation.

Importance or Need of Germplasm Conservation:
Due to rapidly growing human population, plant and agriculture scientists have produced many new varieties to feed the population. Because the traditional and wild varieties cannot meet the demand of increasing population. But the traditional varieties need to be preserved because they are important for future breeding programmes. However, there is danger of erosion of genetic resources due to extensive use of newly introduced varieties.

In 1972, conservation of habitats rich in genetic diversity was recommended in the UN conference. Then an International Board for Plant Genetic Resource (IBPGR) was established. This board has objectives to provide necessary support for collection, conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources from anywhere in the world. Germplasm preservation using cell and tissue cultures is done with the following objectives :

• Conservation of somaclonal and gametoclonal variation in cultures,
• Maintenance of recalcitrant seeds,
• Conservation of cell lines producing medicines,
• Storage of pollen for enchancing longevity,
• Conservation of rate germplasm arising through somatic hybridisation.
• Delaying the process of ageing,
• Storage of meristem culture for micropropagation, micrografting and production of disease- free plants,
• Conservation of plant materials from endangered species,
• Establishment of germplasm bank, and
• Exchange of information and germplasm at international level.

Modes of Conservation : It has been estimated that about 9,000 wild plant species are threatened. Global climatic changes also affect the natural plant habitats, thereby contributing to rapid changes in agricultural strategies. There are two modes of conservation of plant species as given below:

(a) In situ Conservation : Since 1980, in situ conservation has received high priority in the world conservation strategy. The method of conservation is to preserve land races with wild relatives in which genetic diversity exists.

(b) Ex situ Conservation: It is the chief mode of conservation of genetic resources including both cultivated and wild ones. Under suitable conditions genetic resources are conserved for a long term as gene bank.

(c) Peptidoglycan : Peptidoglycan, also called murein, is a polymer that makes up the cell wall of most bacteria. It is made-up of sugars and amino acids, and when many molecules of peptidoglycan joined together, they form an orderly cry stal lattice structure. Peptidoglycan is the main component of the Cell wall in most bacteria. Cross-linking between amino acids in the layer of peptidoglycan forms a strong meshlike structure that provides structure to the cell. Peptidoglycan provides a very important role in bacteria because bacteria are unicellular; it gives strength to the outer structure of the organism.

Question 9.
(a) How are biomolecules separated by the following techniques : [4]
(i) Ion exchange chromatography
(ii) Partition chromatography.
(b) What is the cause and the symptoms of the following diseases : [4]
(i) Sickle cell anaemia
(ii) Alkaptonuiria
(c) What is the difference between peptide bond and phosphodiester bond ? [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) Ion Exchange Chromatography: It is based on reversible exchange of ions in solution with ions electrostatically bound to some sort of insoluble support medium. Separation is obtained since different molecules have different degree of interaction with ion exchanger due to difference in their charges, charge densities and distribution of charge on their surface.

(ii) Partition Chromatography: Partition chromatography is the process of separation whereby the components of the mixture get distributed into two liquid phases due to differences in partition coefficients during the flow of mobile phase in the chromatography column. Here, the molecules get preferential separation in between two phases, i.e., both stationary phase and mobile phase are liquid in nature. So molecules get dispersed into either phases preferentially. Polar molecules get partitioned into polar phase and vice-versa. This mode of partition chromatography applies to liquid-liquid, liquid-gas chromatography and not to solid-gas chromatography. Because partition is the phenomenon in between a liquid and liquid or liquid and gas or gas and gas. But not in solid involvement.

(b) (i) Sickle cell anaemia : It is an autosomal hereditary disorder due to a mutation of single nitrogen base. It results in the formation of an abnormal haemoglobin called haemoglobin S (Hb^s). In this, only one amino acid-6th amino acid of β-chain glutamic acid is replaced by valine. The erythrocytes become sickle shaped under oxygen deficiency as during strenous exercise and at high altitudes. They cannot pass through narrow capillaries. They clog blood capillaries. Blood circulation and oxygen supply is disturbed. Spleen and brain get damaged. Patient feels acute weakness. Homozygotes (Hb^s / Hb^s) usually die before reaching maturity.

(ii) Alkaptonuria: This was one of the first metabolic diseases described by Garrod in 1908. It is an inherited metabolic disorder produced due to deficiency of an oxidase enzyme required for breakdown of homogentisic acid (acid called alcapton, hence, alkaptonuria is also written as alcaptonuria.) Lack of the enzyme is due to the absence of the normal form of gene that controls the synthesis of the enzyme. Hence, homogentisic acid then accumulates in the tissues and is also excreted in the urine. The most commonly affected tissues are cartilages, capsules of joints, ligaments and tendons. The urine of these patients if allowed to stand for some hours in air, turns black due to oxidation of homogentisic acid.

(iii) Peptide bond:
A peptide bond is a covalent bond formed between two amino acids. Living organisms use peptide bonds to form long chains of amino acids, known as proteins. Proteins are used in many roles including structural support, catalyzing important reactions, and recognizing molecules in the environment. A peptide bond is therefore the basis of most biological reactions.

Phosphodiester bond:
A phosphodiester bond occurs when exactly two of the hydroxyl groups in phosphoric acid react with hydroxyl groups on other molecules to form two ester bonds. Phosphodiester bonds are central to all life on Earth, as they make up the backbone of the strands of nucleic acid.

ISC Class 12 Biotechnology Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Accounts Previous Year Question Paper 2018 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
• Transactions should be recorded in the answer book.
• All calculations should be shown clearly.
• All working, including rough work, should be done on the same page as, and adjacent to the rest of the answer.

Section – A
Part – I (12 Marks)
Answer all questions.

Question 1. [6 × 2]
Answer briefly each of the following questions :
(i) Give any two differences between Revaluation Account and Realization Account.
(ii) Mention whether the following Trade Parables are current liabilities or non-current liabilities :
Operating Cycle — Expected Period of Payment
(a) 12 months — 14 months
(b) 15 months — 12 months
(iii) What is the minimum price at which a company can reissue its forfeited shares which were originally issued at par ?
(iv) Give the adjusting entry and closing entry for interest on loan taken by a partner from the firm, when the firm follows the Fluctuating Capital Method.
(v) State two reasons for a company to purchase its own debentures from the open market.
(vi) Give the formula for valuation of goodwill by the Capitalisation of Average Profit Method.
Answer:
(i) Difference between the Revaluation and Realization Account.

(ii) (a) Non-Current Liability
(b) Current Liability

(iii) Price cannot be less than amount unpaid on forfeited shares.

(iv) Interest on Loan A/c Dr.
To Cash A/c
Profit and Loss A/c Dr.
To Interest on Loan A/c

(v) A company may purchase its own debentures from the open market either :
(a) as an investment or
(b) for immediate cancellation

(vi) Capitalised Value of Average Profits :
\(\frac{\text { Average Future Maintainable Profits }}{\text { Normal Rate of Return }} \times 100\)

Part – II (48 Marks)
Answer any four questions.

Question 2. [12]
Saturn Ltd. was registered with an authorized capital of ₹ 12,00.000, divided into 1.20,000 equity- shares ₹10 each. It issued 40.000 equip shares to the public at a premium of ₹ 5 per share, payable as follows:
On application ₹ 6
On allotment ₹ 9 (including premium of ₹ 5)
All the shares were applied for and allotted. One shareholder holding 500 shares did not pay the allotment money and his shares were forfeited. Out of the forfeited shares, the company reissued 400 shares at ₹ 7 per share fully called up.
You are required to :
(a) Pass journal entries in the books of the company.
(b) Prepare:
(i) Securities Premium Reserve Account
(ii) Share Capital Account.
Answer:

Question 3.
(A) On 1st April, 2013, Rayon Ltd. issued 2,000, 9% Debentures of? 100 each at a discount of 10%. redeemable at par on 31st March, 2017. The issue was fully subscribed. To meet the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, the Board of Directors decided to transfer ? 30,000 to Debenture Redemption Reserve on 31st March, 2014 and the balance on 31st March, 2015. On 1st April 2016, the company made the required investment in government securities.

The investments were encased and the debentures were redeemed on the due date. It is the policy of the company to wTite off capital losses in the year in which they occur.

You are required to pass journal entries for issue and redemption of debentures (ignore interest on debentures). [8]
B. On 1st April, 2016. Krayon Ltd. issued 8,000, 12% Debentures of ? 100 each, redeemable at par after 5 years. The issue was fully subscribed. According to the terms of issue, interest on debentures is payable annually on 31st March. Tax deducted at source is 20%.

You are required to pass journal entries for the year 2016-17, regarding issue of debentures and interest on debentures. [4]
Answer:

Question 4.
(A) Asif and Ravi are partners in a firm, sharing profits and losses in the ratio of 3:2. Their fixed capitals as on 1st April, 2016, were ₹6,00,000 and ₹ 4,00,000 respectively.
Their partnership deed provides for the following :
(a) Partners are to be allowed interest on their capital @ 10% per annum.
(b) They are to be charged interest on drawings @ 4% per annum.
(c) Asif is entitled to a salary of ₹ 2.000 per month.
(d) Ravi is entitled to a commission of 5% of the correct net profit of the firm before charging such commission.
(e) Asif is entitled to a rent of ₹ 3,000 per month for the use of his premises by the firm.
The net profit of the firm for the year ended 31 st March, 2017, before providing for any of the above clauses was ₹ 4,00,000. Both partners withdrew ₹ 5,000 at the beginning of every month for the entire year.
You are required to prepare a Profit and Loss Appropriation Account for the year ended 31st March, 2017. [8]

(B) Rita, Nina and Mita are partners in a firm sharing profits and losses in the ratio of 3 :2 : 1. Mita dies on 1st April, 2017. On the date of her death, it was decided to value goodwill on the basis of two years’ purchase of weighted average profits of the firm for the last three years.
The profits of the last three years and weights assigned were :

You are required to :
(i) Calculate the firm’s goodwill on the date of Mita’s death (show the working with the formula).
(ii) Pass the necessary journal entry to credit Mita’s Capital Account with her share of goodwill. [4]
Answer:

Question 5.
Annie and Bonnie are partners in a firm, sharing profits and losses equally. Their Balance Sheet as at 31 st March, 2017. was as follow :

Carl was to be taken as a partner for 1/4 share in the profits of the firm, with effect from 1st April, 2017, on the following terms :
(a) Bad debts amounting to ₹ 1,500 to be written off.
(b) Stock to be taken over by Annie at ₹ 12.000.
(t) Plant and Machinery to be valued at ₹ 50.000.
(d) Goodwill of the firm to be valued at ₹ 20.000.
(e) Carl to bring in ₹ 50.000 as his capital. He was unable to bring in cash, his share of goodwill.
(f) General Reserve not to be distributed. For this, it was decided that Carl would compensate the old partners through his current account.
You are required to :
(i) Pass journal entries on the date of Carl’s admission.
(ii) Prepare the Balance Sheet of the reconstituted firm.
Answer:

Question 6.
(A) Harish. Parcsh and Mahesh were three partners sharing profits and losses in the ratio of 5:4:1. Paresh retired on 31st March, 2017. His capital as on 1st April. 2016 was ₹ 80.000. During the year 2016-17. he made drawings of ₹ 5,000. He was to be charged interest on drawings of ₹ 100.
The partnership deed provides that on the retirement of a partner, he will be entitled to :
(i) His share of capital.
(ii) Interest on capital @ 10% per annum.
(iii) His share of profit in the year of retirement.
(iv) His share of goodwill of the firm.
(v) His share in the profit/loss on revaluation of assets and liabilities.
Additional Information:
(a) Paresh’s share in the profits of the firm for the year 2016-17 was ₹ 20.000.
(b) Goodwill of the firm was valued at ₹ 24,000.
(c) The firm suffered a loss of ₹ 12,000 on the revaluation of assets and liabilities.
(d) It was decided to transfer the amount due to Paresh to his loan account bearing interest @ 6% per annum. The loan was to be repaid in two equal annual installments, the first installment to be paid on 31st March. 2018.
You are required to prepare :
(i) Paresh’s Capital Account.
(ii) Paresh’s Loan Account till it is finally closed. [8]

(B) Parth, Angad and Leesha are partners in a firm sharing profits and losses in the ratio of 3:2:1 respectively. Angad retires and his claim, including his capital and entitlements from the firm including his share of Goodwill of the firm, is ₹ 50.000. After this amount was determined, it was found that there was an unrecorded piece of furniture valued at ₹ 12,000 which had to be recorded. Upon recording this piece of furniture, the revised amount due to Angad was determined and settled by giving him this piece of furniture and the balance in cash.
You are required to give the journal entries for recording the payment to Angad in the books of the firm. [4]
Answer:

Question 7.
The following balances have been extracted from the books of Vanity Ltd. as at 31st March, 2017 :


You are required to prepare as at 31st March, 2017 :
(i) The Balance Sheet of Vanity Ltd. as per Schedule III of the Companies Act, 2013.
(ii) Notes to Accounts.
Answer:

Question 8.
(A) Susan, Geeta and Rashi are partners sharing profits and losses in the ratio of 5 : 3: 2. Their Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 2017, is as under :

The partners decided to dissolve their partnership on 31st March, 2017.
The following transactions took place at the time of dissolution :
(a) Realization expenses of ?20,000 were paid by Susan on behalf of the firm.
(b) Geeta took over the goodwill for her own business at ₹ 40,000.
(c) Building was taken over by Rashi at ₹ 3,00.000.
(d) Only 80% of the debtors paid their dues.
(e) Furniture was sold by ₹ 97,000.
(f) Bank Loan was settled along with interest of ₹ 5,000.
You are required to Prepare the Realization Account. [8]
(B) The Capital accounts of Amar and Harsh stood at ₹ 20,000 and ₹ 30,000 respectively after the nesessary adjustments in respect of drawings and net profit for the year ended 31st March, 2017. It was subsequently ascertained that interest on capital @ 12% per annum was not taken into account while arriving at the divisible profits for the year.
During the year 2016-17, Amar had withdraw in ₹ 2,000 and Harsh’s drawings were ₹ 1,000. The net profit for the year amounted to ₹ 15,000.
The partners shared profits and losses in the ratio of 3:2.
You are required to pass the necessary journal entries to rectify the error in accounting. [4]
Answer:

Section – B
(20 Marks)
Answer any two questions

Question 9. [8]
(A) You are required to prepare a Cash Flow Statement (as per AS-3) for the year 2016-17 from the following Balance Sheets.



Additional information:
During the year 2016-17 :
(i) A part of the machine, costing ₹ 50.000. accumulated depreciation thereon being ₹ 20,000. was sold for ₹ 18,000.
(ii) Tax of ₹ 20,000.
(iii) Interest of ₹ 50,000 paid on Debentures.
(B) State whether the following would result in inflow, outflow or no flow of cash : [2]
(i) Bill Receivable endorsed to Creditors.
(ii) Old vehicle written off.
Answer:




B) (i) No flow of Cash
(ii) No flow of Cash

Question 10.
A. Give any two differences between horizontal analysis and vertical analysis of financial statements. [2]
B. The Quick Ratio of a company is 0.8:1. State whether the Quick Ratio will improve, decline or will not change in the following cases :
(i) Cash collected from Debtors ₹ 50.000.
(ii) Creditors of ₹ 20,000 paid off. [2]
C. From the following information, prepare a Common Size Statement of Profit and Loss of Prudence Ltd. for the year ending 31st March. 2017. [6]

Answer:
A. Difference between Horizontal and Vertical Analysis

B. (i) No Change
(ii) Improve

Question 11.
(A) Calculate the Net Profit Ratio (up to two decimal places) from the following information : [2]

Particulars
Gross Profit ₹ 80,000
Salary and rent ₹ 30,000
Interest on Debentures ₹ 5,000
Gain on sale of furniture ₹ 2,000
Revenue from Operations ₹ 4,00,000
(B) From the following information calculate the following ratios (up to two decimal places): [8]
(i) Earning per share
(ii) Price Earning Ratio
(iii) Return on Investment
(iv) Working Capital Turnover Ratio

Particulars
Net Profit after interest and tax ₹ 2,40,000
Tax ₹ 1,60,000
Net Fixed Assets ₹ 10,00,000
Non-current Investments (Non-Trade) ₹ 1,00,000
Equity Share Capital (face value ?10 per share) ₹ 5,00,000
15% Preference Share Capital ₹ 1,00,000
Reserves and Surplus (including surplus of the year under consideration) ₹ 2,00,000
10% Debentures ₹ 4,00,000
Revenue from Operations ₹ 10,00,000
Working Capital ₹ 1,00,000
Note : The market value of an equity share is ₹ 40.
Answer:

ISC Class 12 Accounts Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Geography Previous Year Question Paper 2015 Solved for Class 12

PART-I (30 Marks)
Answer all questions.
SECTION-A

Question 1. [10 x 2]
(i) Mention the land area of India and Australia in kilometres.
(ii) The figure below represents a section from the Aravalis to the Peninsular region.

Identify any two of the relief features marked, A, B, C and D.
(iii) Briefly discuss the role of El Nino in Indian climate.
(iv) Mention two objectives of the Indian Forest Policy.
(v) What is the index of concentration of population ? Which state in India has the maximum index of concentration according to the 2011 census?
(vi) State any two problems faced by the fishing industry in Bangladesh.
(vii) Give one difference between natural harbours and artificial harbours.
(viii) Name two centres of integrated iron and steel industry in India.
(ix) Write two factors which have facilitated the setting up of cotton textile industry in Mumbai.
(x) Mention any two positive impacts of tourism in India.
Answer:
(i) India : 32-87 Lakh sq. km /3287263/3-28 million sq. km.
Australia: 7686848 sq. km.

(ii) A – Malwa Plateau
B – Vindhya
C – Satpura
D – Deccan Plateau

(iii) El Nino is a narrow warm current which sometimes appear off the Coast of Peru in South America during December. It increases the surface water temperature of the sea by 10°C. This warming of Tropical Pacific water affects the global pattern of pressure and wind system including the Monsoon winds in the Indian Ocean causing severe drought and flood.

(iv) The two objectives are :
(a) To maintain environmental stability through preservation and restoring of ecological balance.
(b) To check on soil erosion and denudation of catchment area of rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

(v) Index of concentration is defined as the proportion of population living in each State or Union territory to the total population of India and is expressed in %.
According to 2011 census, Uttar Pradesh has the highest index of concentration (19.5%)

(vi) The two problems are :
(a) Severe tropical cyclones which frequently originate in the Bay of Bengal pose serious threats to the fishermen in Bangladesh.
(b) Tropical climate poses a great problem for preservation and transportation of fish.

(vii) The natural harbours generally occur along a fairly indented coastal line. If an inlet or a backwater bay penetrates inland for longer distance, it facilitates the transportation of large cargo to the further inland from the open sea.
Artificial harbours are constructed by dredging and erecting a wall against the sea along the coastline.

(viii) The integrated iron and steel industries are:
(a) Tata Iron and Steel Company, Jamshedpur.
(b) The Hindustan Steel Limited, Bhilai.

(ix) The two factors are :
(a) The black soil in the hinterland of Mumbai works as the basic raw materials for cotton.
(b) Mumbai enjoys humid climate which is essential for this industry because the thread does not break so frequently in such climate.

(x) The two positive impacts of tourism in India are:
(a) It creates employment opportunities.
(b) It helps to earn foreign exchange.

SECTION-B

Question 2. [10]
On the outline map of India provided :
(a) Mark and name the 23-5 °N latitude.
(b) Mark and name the Anaimudi peak.
(c) Trace the course of River Kaveri.
(d) Mark with an arrow the direction of winter jet stream over India.
(e) Mark and name the state with the lowest level of urbanisation.
(f) Shade the state with the highest cropping intensity.
(g) Shade and name the leading state for rice production.
(h) Mark and name a centre for manganese production.
(i) Mark Kochi seaport.
(j) Mark and name the Pune centre of sugar industry in Maharashtra.
Note: All the map work, including legend (Index)
should be done on the map sheet only.
Answer:

PART-II (40 Marks)
Answer any four questions.

Question 3.
(a) (i) Briefly explain the geological evolution of the peninsular plateau. [4]
(ii) Define the terms Lagoon and Delta with an example of each from the Indian region.
(b) Name the two rivers that make the easternmost and the westernmost limits of Kumaon Himalayas. [2]
(c) Distinguish between the terms Flora and Forest. [2]
(d) Study the climatic graph of station A given below and answer the questions that follow :[2]

(i) Give a reason as to why extreme low temperature is indicated for station A.
(ii) Name the month when the highest amount of rainfall is received.
Answer:
(a) (i) During the pre Cambrian era, there was a large depression in which the sediment was deposited and a block of crystal rock known as the Peninsula Plateau came out of this depression and never submerged again. This stable land has behaved as a rigid and inflexible block throughout its geological history and is often compared to a horst.
(ii) Lagoons are saltwater ’lakes, separated from the main sea by sand bars and spits, ex : Chilka lake.
Delta: In the lower course of the river, the river divides itself into several channels known as distributaries and in between these distributaries, sediments are deposited forming a triangular shaped feature which is known as Delta, ex: Ganga Brahmaputra delta.

(b) River Satluj and River Kali

(c)

Flora	Forest
(i) It refers to plants of a particular region or period listed by species and considered as a group.	(i) This term is generally used to denote a large area covered by trees and shrubs.
(ii) Different flora can be found in different types of environment.	(ii) Forests are thick with growth of trees.
(iii) Flora can be put in category, e.g. Indian species brought from Indo-Tibet are known as Boreal.	(iii) Forests provide us just one land-scape.

(d) (i) Station A is at a high altitude and is surrounded by lofty mountains. It is out of influence of the monsoon.
(ii) The months of July and August receive the highest rainfall.

Question 4.
(a) Define an urban area according to the latest census. [2]
(b) (i) What is the present population of India?[2]
(ii) With reference to the percentage of world population, state India’s position in the world.
(c) What is the difference between arithmetic density of population and physiological density of population? [2]
(d) Study the given types of rural settlements and answer the questions that follow : [4]

(i) Identify the two types of settlements A and B. State one characteristic feature each of the two settlements.
(ii) What is the main economic function performed in a rural settlement?
Answer:
(a) An urban area, according to the latest census, is defined as follows :
(i) All places with a Municipality, Corporation, Cantonment Board or Notified Town, Committee, etc., are included as Urban areas.
(ii) All other places which satisfy the following criteria : A minimum population of 5000. At least 75% of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits. A density of population of at least 400 persons per square km.

(b) (i) According to the census 2011, the population of India was 1.21 billion and it can be estimated that the present population of India will be more than 1.21 billion.
(ii) India’s position in the world is second with reference to the world population.

(c)

Arithmetic Density of Population	Physiological Density of Population
Total population/total area	Total population/net cultivated area

(d)
(i)

Disperse	Compact
Cattle rearing or lumbering are the main occupation.	Agriculture is the main occupation.

(ii) The main economic functions performed in a rural settlement are :
Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Fishing and Lumbering.

Question 5.
(a) What is meant by environmental management? Why is there a need for environmental management in India ? [2]
(b) What is the percentage of net sown area and net forest area of India in present times ? [2]
(c) Mention any three advantages of well irrigation in India. [3]
(d) Name one perennial canal in each of the following states: [3]
(i) Uttar Pradesh
(ii) Punjab
(iii) Tamil Nadu
Answer:
(a) Environmental management is a process of planning, review, assessment, decision making and the like which is essential in real life situation of limited sources and changing priorities.

The need of management of environment has emerged as a major concern before the world community and this need is felt more urgently in developing countries like India. New innovations such as sustainable/clean technologies, environmental auditing, eco-friendly products etc., have been developed to save our environmental from degradation.

(b) The Net shown area of India is 46.5%. Net Forest area of India is 69.78 million hectares or 22.86%.

(c) Three advantages of well irrigation are :
(i) Well is the simplest and the cheapest source of irrigation as the farmer has to pay regularly for canal irrigation which is not the case with well irrigation.
(ii) Well is an independent source of irrigation and can be used as and when the necessity arises. It is not controlled by other agencies.
(iii) Several chemicals such as Nitrates, Chlorides, Sulphates are mixed in well water naturally which add to the fertility of the soil.

(d) (i) Uttar Pradesh – Upper Ganga Canal
(ii) Punjab – Upper Bari Doab Canal
(iii) Mettur Canal System

Question 6.
(a) State a difference between wet farming and dry farming. [1]
(b) (i) Mention the climatic conditions required for growing coconut in India. [3]
(ii) Name two areas of coconut production in Sri Lanka.
(c) Suggest any two methods for fish conservation. [2]
(d) (i) Name a major state for the development of each of the following : [4]
(1) Thermal Power
(2) Hydroelectric Power.
(ii) State two advantages of using biogas as a source of energy.
Answer:
(a)

Wet Farming	Dry Farming
Farming practised in regions receiving more than 75 cms of annual rainfall is called Wet farming. For e.g. Rice.	Farming practised in regions with less than 75 cms of annual rainfall is called Dry farming. For e.g. Millets.

(b) (i) Climatic conditions required for growing coconut:
Temperature – 25° C to 30° C.
Rainfall – 125 to 130 cm well distributed.
Frost and draught are very harmful to coconut.
(ii) Two areas of coconut production in Sri Lanka are :

1. Nigombo
2. Kurunegala

(c) Two methods of fish conservation are :
(i) Restocking of Overfished Waters :
Restocking of such areas are necessary to avoid the complete disappearance of fishes from these areas.
(ii) Checking Indiscriminate Fishing :
Indiscriminate killing of immature fish should be stopped immediately.

(d) (i) 1. Thermal Power: Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal
2. Hydel Power: Himachal Pradesh, U.P., Tamil Nadu
(ii) Two advantages of using Biogas are :
1. As a by-product, biogas plant produces enriched fertilizers.
2. The use of biogas improves sanitation and provides smokeless and efficient cooking fuel. It can also be used for lighting and power generation.

Question 7.
(a) Give any three reasons to explain why railways are well developed in the Northern plains of India.[3]
(b) Give one point of difference between Golden Quadrilateral Highways and National Highways. [2]
(c) Explain the relationship between transport and industrial development. [3]
(d) What are the two ways in which Radio can be considered as a powerful means of communication ? [2]
Answer:
(a) Railways are well developed in the Northern plains of India because; the North Indian plain is densely populated and has a highly developed agriculture and industry.

Large scale urbanization has also helped in the development of Railways. The North Indian plain is a plain lavelled land which is the most favourable condition for the development of railways.

Railways developed more in the economically advanced areas where the need for the railway network is felt more. The huge agriculture produce from the grain market of the North Indian plain are transported by railways to different parts of the country.

(b) The main roads which connect the state capitals, big cities and important ports are constructed and maintained by the Central Public Works Dept, and are known as Highways.

Golden Quadrilateral Super Highway connecting Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata – Delhi by six lane super highways is being implemented by National Highway Authority of India.

(c) Transport and Industry are closely related to each other. Cheap and efficient transport is essential for localization and growth of industries. Transporting facilities are required for carrying raw materials and labour force to the manufacturing site and for carrying

manufactured goods to the market. No industrial growth is possible without transport; for e.g. iron & steel industry uses coal, iron ore and manganese as the basic raw material. These are heavy raw materials which require cheap transport because they cannot bear higher transport cost. Earlier growth of industries took place near the major ports like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai because these ports were connected with their surrounding areas by a close network of roads and railways,

(d) Radio is a powerful medium which provides all sorts of useful information, news and variety of entertainment. AIR broadcasts in 24 languages and 146 dialects with a total network of 225 broadcasting centres covering 91.4% of the area, almost reaching the entire population in a linguistically diverse country like India.

Question 8.
(a) Name a major industrial region of India and state any three factors that are responsible for the growth of this region. [4]
(b) State two significant factors influencing the location of Aluminium industry in India. [2]
(c) Name any one important centre of production for the following : [2]
(i) Ships
(ii) Cement
(iii) Automobiles
(iv) Aircrafts
(d) State any two advantages of tourism in India. [2]
Answer:
(a) Mumbai-Pune Industrial region is a major industrial hub of India.
Three factors responsible for the growth of this industrial region are :
(i) The region is well connected by a network of roads and railways which helps in easy transportation of raw cotton for the cotton textile industry and the finished goods.
(ii) Cheap hydro electricity is readily available from the Western ghats.
(iii) Cheap labour force can be drawn from the surrounding areas.

Mumbai is a very important port which helps in import of machineries and export of finished products. In addition to cotton textile industry, chemicals, engineering goods, oil refineries, petrochemicals, fertilizers, shipbuilding and automobile industries are also developed.

(b) Two significant factors influencing the location of aluminium industry are the availability of bauxite as the production of 1 MT of aluminium requires 6 MT of bauxite and 18573 kwh of electricity. This clearly indicates that the availability of bauxite and electricity are the two most significant factors which influence the localization of this industry.

(c) Any one centre of production :
Ships: The Garden Reach Workshop at Kolkata.
Cement: Kymore in M.P.
Automobiles : Maruti Udyog Ltd. at Gurgaon in Haryana.
Aircraft: Hindusthan Aeronautics Ltd. – Bengaluru.

(d) The two advantages of tourism are :
(i) It helps in improving infrastructure.
(ii) Development of local handicraft and cultural activities.

Question 9.
(a) Explain the meaning of a planning region. [2]
(b) Name two centres each in Chhattisgarh where the following are mined : [2]
(i) iron ore (ii) bauxite
(c) Why was the state of Chhattisgarh created?
Name two of its bordering states. [3]
(d) Mention three factors which have influenced the development of the Electronic City of Bengaluru. [3]
Answers:
(a) A planning region is a self-created living organism having a lifetime which not only supports the life in the region but also radiates unifying forces that enable the region to be a unified regional space so as to facilitate the practice of regional planning.

(b) Two centres each in Chhattisgarh where the following mined are :
(i) Iron Ore : Bailadila in Bastar district and Dali Rajhara in Durg district.
(ii) Bauxite : Surguja & Raigarh.

(c) Chhattisgarh is the 26th state of the Indian Union which was curbed out of M.P. for administrative convenience and social and economic harmony and functional unity.

(d) Three factors which have influenced the development of electronic city of Bengaluru are :

1. The incentives by the state and central governments.
2. The strategic location of the city in the middle of the Indian Peninsula and a close network of roads and railways.
3. A large no. of Indian and foreign multinational companies have invested a huge sum of money to nourish electronic industries in this city.

ISC Class 12 Geography Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Geography Previous Year Question Paper 2012 Solved for Class 12

PART-I (Compulsory)
Answer all questions.

Question 1. [20]
(i) India’s position in the Indian Ocean is paramount. Give two reasons to justify the given statement.
(ii) Study the cross-section given below which represents the basin of the Indo-Gangetic plain.
(a) Name the features B, C and D in the cross-section.
(b) Which layer of sediments among the above features is new and fertile.

(iii) The rivers of North India are Antecedent in nature. Explain with an example.
(iv) Differentiate between Barind and Bhur with reference to the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain.
(v) What is meant by virgin vegetation ? Name any two regions in India where such vegetation occurs.
(vi) How is arithmetic density of population different from physiological density of population ?
(vii) Delhi has a population density of 9,340 persons per sq. km. which is much higher than the national average of 325 persons per sq. km. Explain why.
(viii) Define cultivable waste. Give any one reason for its existence.
(ix) Name any two strategies adopted to usher in the second Green Revolution in India.
(x) India is richly endowed with a variety of minerals. State two reasons in support of this statement.
Answer:
(i) Indian Ocean is the only ocean in the world which has been named after a country (India), this is the biggest proof of the prominence enjoyed by India in early days when oceans were given their names. liven today India’s position in the Indian Ocean is paramount as :
(a) India stands at the head of the Indian Ocean at the very centre of the Eastern Hemisphere commanding trade routes running in all directions.
(b) India commands an important strategic position on the globe with respect to trade as well as social cultural interaction. Economically and culturally India had major contacts with outside world in the last two millennia via Indian Ocean, no other country has as a long a coast line on this ocean as India has.

(ii) (a) ‘B’ is Shivalik hills.
‘C’ is Plains of new fertile alluvial-Khadar.
‘D’ is Plains of older coarse nodules of alluvium-Bhangar.
(b) C is the sediment deposit which is new and fertile.

(iii) Many of the Himalayan rivers which existed even before the Himalayan ranges were uplifted. The gorges of the Indus, the Satluj, the Alakananda clearly indicate that these rivers are older than mountains. During the upliftment of Himalayas, their banks rose steeply while the beds went lower, thus cutting deep gorges in the Himalayas. Thus, the rivers of North India are typical examples of antecedent drainage.

(iv) Indo-Gangetic plain is a flat and featureless plain which has its own diversities of relief. Keeping their diversities in view, the plain can be divided in four divisions: The Bhabar, the Tarai, the Bhangar and the Khadar.

The Bhangar is an area which is composed of old alluvium and forms the alluvial terrace above the level of the flood plains. Bhangar area also has some striking differences in the local relief.

(a) One such difference is found in the deltaic region of Bengal, it has extensive laterite formation in the Bhangar known as “Barind.”.
(b) “Bhur” is another such difference found in upper Ganga-Yamuna doab. Bhur has been formed due to the weathering of soft fine grained topsoil, where only the coarse grained soil is left behind.

(v) Virgin Vegetation are often biodiversity hotspots because these areas are rich in plant and animal species.
The Nilgiris in Western Ghats and Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu are best examples.

(vi) The arithmetic density of population is different from physiological density of population as :
(a) Arithmetic density is the ratio of total population to the total area of the country or a part thereof. For example, the total population of India according to 2001 census is 1028.7 million living on a total area of 3.17 million square kilometres (excluding the area of Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan and China) thus, the arithmetic density of India, according to 2011 census is 372 persons/km². The arithmetic density of population of India in 2001 is :

= \(\frac { 1028.7 }{ 3.17 } \)
= 325 persons per sq.km.
It is most simple and widely used all over the world but it is a ‘crude measure’.

(b) Physiological Density is different to Arithmetic density as physiological density is the ratio of total population to the cultivated area of the country. For example : The physiological density of India, according to 2011 census is 1594 persons/km².
According to 2001 census, the total population of India is 1,02,87,37,436 and the total cultivated area in the country is 14(28,190 sq km, therefore, the physiolo-gical density is :

= \(\frac { 1,02,87,37,436 }{ 14,28,190 } \)
= 720 person per sq km.
This is a very useful measure for an agricultural country like India.

(vii) According to 2011 census, Delhi’s population density is 11,297 persons per  km². The high population density is mainly owing to the large-scale in migration that was taken place. Delhi, being the largest commercial center, attracts huge chunks of population from adjoining areas. Rapid growth and development of key industries such as IT, hotels, banking, media and tourism has absorbed the migrants resulting in high density.

(viii) Cultivable waste is the land available for cultivation but not used for cultivation for one reason or the other. This land has been abandoned for some reasons such as lack of water, salinity or alkalinity of soil, soil erosion, waterlogging, unfavourable physiographic position, human neglect or deficiencies occurred in soil due to the faulty agriculture practices.

(ix) (a) Micro-irrigation system.
(b) Organic farming.

(x) India is richly endowed with a variety of minerals and diverse geological formations. The following two points illustrate this :
(i) Development of Mining : India has huge population and mining can be an important activity to absorb large labour force. India needs to develop efficient technology to avoid waste and to work the mines economically.
(ii) Political Influence : Existence of mineral resources was one of the greatest factors responsible for emergence of imperialism and colonization.

Question 2. [10]
On the outline map of India provided :
(a) Mark and name the Trans-Himalayan range that has the highest peak in India.
(b) Shade and name the peninsula that lies between the Gulf of Kachchh and the Gulf of Khambhat.
(c) Shade and name the coastal plain that is characterized by many estuaries.
(d) Name and trace the course of the river on which the Hirakud dam has been built.
(e) Print LAR over a region that experiences a low annual range of temperature.
(f) Shade and name the state with the lowest Index of Concentration according to 2001 census.
(g) Print T over one important tea growing region to the north of the Tropic of Cancer.
(h) Draw the longest arm of the Golden Quadrilateral and mark and name any one of its terminal towns.
(i) Mark and name the port that was built to replace the Karachi Port which became a port of Pakistan.
(j) Mark and name the public sector oil refinery located in Bihar.
Answer:

(a) Trans-Himalayas range—Great Himalayas with the highest peak, Kanchenjunga.
(b) Kathiawar peninsula.
(c) Konkan coast has many estuaries.
(d) Hirakud dam has been built on Mahanadi.
(e) Coastal plain of west have low annual range of temperature.
(f) Sikkim.
(g) Important tea growing region—Assam.
(h) The longest arm of Golden Quadrilateral is from Chennai to Kolkata with its terminal town Visakhapatnam.
(i) Port Mohd. Bin Qasim, 35 km. east of Karachi city.
(j) “Barauni” in Bihar.

PART-II
Answer any four questions.

Question 3.
(a) The diagram below represents the northwestern part of the Peninsular Plateau :

(i) Identify the dotted region. Name the predominant rock that constitutes the region.
(ii) Label the mountain range shown as X and the rivers RltR2 and R3.

(b) The diagram given below shows the regimes (annual fluctuation in discharge) of two hypothetical rivers X and Y. [4]

(i) Identify which of the two rivers represent the regime of a peninsular river. Give a reason for your answer.
(ii) Name the peninsular river which is an exception to the general pattern. Why is it an exception ?
(c) (i) Why are deciduous forests of India considered economically important? [1]
(ii) Give two reasons to explain the decrease in forest cover in recent years. [2]
Answer:
(a) (i) Dotted region is Malwa Plateau region. Hard rocks like granite are the predominant rocks which constitutes it.
(ii) Mountain range X is Aravali Range.
R₁ is R. Chambal.
R₂ is R. Betwa.
R₃ is R. Yamuna.

(b) (i) River X represents the regime of a peninsular river, because peninsular rivers are seasonal rivers and they have more water in the months of rainy seasons, which lasts from June to November.
(ii) Peninsular rivers flow from west to east originating from the Western Ghats and falling into Bay of Bengal, but Narmada and Tapi are two exceptions. These rivers flow from east to west direction falling into Gulf of Khambhat.

(c) (i) The deciduous forests of India are economically important because :
Though it is a mixed forest but single species of trees grow in patches favouring the exploitation of forest resources. These forests are not too dense and therefore are easily accessible. Moreover, these forests provide valuable wood which is commercially very important such as sal, teak, shisham, sandalwood and khair etc.
(ii) The forest cover in recent years has decreased due to:

1. Thoughtless and rapid exploitation of forest resources as per demand of increasing population.
2. For acquiring land for agriculture, industries and construction purposes, the forests have been cut down recklessly.

Question 4.
(a) Define population growth and population growth rate. [2]
(b) Differentiate between crude literacy rate and literacy rate. [2]
(c) How does census of India differentiate between statutory towns and census towns ?[2]
(d) (i) Explain the term urban sprawl. Why is it considered to be a problem of urbanization ? [2]
(ii) What is a conurbation ? Give two examples. [2]
Answer:
(a) Population growth means the difference between the natural birth rate and death rate of an area/country When the birth rate is higher than the death rate it is called positive growth because the population increases, but when the birth rate is low’er than the death rate, then it is negative growth because ,the population decreases.

But population growth rate is slightly different to the population growth, it is a change in the number of people living in a particular area between two given points of time. The net change between two points of time is expressed in percentage and is described as the growth rate of population.

(b) Crude Literacy Rate : Up to 1981 census, literacy rate was calculated by dividing literate persons by total population and multiplying by hundred. This was ‘crude literacy rate’ and was calculated by using the following formula :

(In this total population means 0 age to the old age).
Literacy Rate : The literacy rate becomes more meaningful if the sub-population in the age group 0-6 is excluded from the total population, so it was decided in 1991 to use the term literacy rate for the total population relating to seven years and above. The same concept has been continued in 2001. It is a better measure of literacy and is calculated by the following formula:

Literacy rate is more meaningful, accurate in finding out the percentage of literate people than the crude literacy rate.

(c) In census of India 2001, two types of towns were identified:
(i) Statutory Towns: All places with a municipality, corporation. Cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc. so declared by a state law, are known as statutory towns.
(ii) Census Towns: Places which satisfy the following criteria :

• A minimum population of 5000.
• At least 75 percent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
• A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq km.

(d) (i) Urban Sprawl: Urban sprawl is unchecked spreading of a city or its suburbs. It often involves the construction of residential and commercial buildings in rural areas or otherwise undeveloped land at the outskirts of the city. Almost all the cities grow at the expense of surrounding agricultural land, thereby reducing the scope for agricultural expansion. Most residents of typical urban sprawl neighbourhood live in single family homes and commute by car to workplaces in the city.

The term Urban Sprawl is generally used with negative connotation because people sprawling in neighbourhoods tend to drive more than those who don’t. Urban Sprawl is sometimes associated with increased air pollution.
Moreover at the initial stage the suburbs grow along the major roads radiating from the town because of their accessibility, but soon the demand for Suburban homes increases and the land between the settlements is also covered by buildings so the new roads are to be constructed for the accessibility.

(ii) Conurbation: A large densely populated Urban Sprawl formed by the growth and coalescence of individual towns and cities. Small towns and villages within the commanding distance of major cities are developed for residential use. In this way towns keep on growing continuously and in some areas the suburbs of a number of neighbouring towns may coalesce to form continuous urban area known as ‘Conurbation’.
Big cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai along with their suburban towns are good examples of Conurbation.

Question 5.
(a) What is rainwater harvesting? State two of its objectives. [3]
(b) How is agriculture responsible for reduction in the availability of surface and ground water ? [2]
(c) What are the two categories of ‘land not available for cultivation’? [2]
(d) Give three reasons to explain the importance of irrigation in Indian agriculture. ‘ [3]
Answer:
(a) Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and storage of rainwater for reuse before it reaches the aquifer. Uses include conserving water for domestic purpose, conserving water for agricultural use and other civil purposes.
The two main objectives of rainwater harvesting are:

1. Collecting and storing of rainwater to make optimum use of it, at the time of no rainfall and to meet the demand of increasing
   population (domestic, agricultural and industrial).
2. Preventing the rainwater from loss by evaporation, surface run off and injecting it to underground to keep the level of water table high.

(b) Agriculture is responsible for reduction in the availability of surface and ground-water as :

• Agriculture leads to indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides which aggravate the problem of the surface and ground water pollution.
• Residual of fertilizers and other chemicals reach water bodies and contaminate them.
• Misuse of over watering.

(c) The two categories of land not available for cultivation are:
1.  Culturable Waste: The ‘culturable waste’ is the land available for cultivation but not used for cultivation for one or the other reasons such as lack of water, salinity or alkalinity of soil, soil erosion, waterlogging, an unfavourable physiographic position or human neglect.
2. Fallow Land: This category includes all that land which was used for cultivation but is temporarily out of cultivation. Fallow land is left uncultivated from 1 to 5 years to regain its fertility in the natural way depending upon the nature of soil and the nature of farming.

There is a need to reduce the extent and frequency of the fallow land in order to increase agricultural production. Fallow land can be improved by proper dose of fertilizers, providing irrigation facilities, crop rotation, etc.

(d) Irrigation is important in Indian agriculture because :
1.  Uncertainity of Rainfall: The rainfall in India is highly irregular in place and time. Sometimes monsoons arrives early and sometimes it comes late. Sometimes rainfall is not regular throughout the rainy season leading to water scarcity and withering of crops. Hence, irrigation in the only support to raise crops.

2. Uneven Distribution of Rainfall : The distribution of rainfall in India is uneven in most part of country receiving 80% of rainfall, in June to Sept. Western Ghats and Eastern India get more than 250 cm, northern plains and Eastern peninsula get 100-200 cm; Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana lie in arid zone.
Therefore this inadequacy of rainfall has to be met by irrigation.

3.  Crop requirements :

1. Three crop seasons, zaid or summer crops depend on irrigation.
2. Rapid growth of population force farmers to grow two or three successive crops in a single year which is possible through irrigation only.
3. High yielding varieties require high quantity of chemical fertilizers which need more water.
4. Commercial crops like sugar cane needs frequent watering which is possible through irrigation only.

Question 6.
(a) (i) What is the importance of Manganese in Iron and Steel Industry ?
(ii) Name the state which is the leading producer of Manganese. Also, name any two areas in this state, where Manganese is mined. [3]
(b) Name the minerals associated with the following locations :
(i) Ankleshwar
(ii) Bailadila
(iii) Korba
(iv) Bilwara [2]
(c) (i) Give two reasons why the rivers of the northern mountains are more important for the generation of hydroelectric power in India.
(ii) Name the area with the highest power generating potential. [3]
(d) State the chief characteristic of Japanese method of rice cultivation. Why is rice not cultivated in the northern parts of China ? [2]
Answer :
(a) (i) (a) Manganese is used to make steel tough and resistant to rusting.
(b) Manganese acts as basic raw material for smelting of iron ore and manufacturing its ferrous alloys.
(c) Nearly 10 kilograms of manganese is required for manufacturing one tonne of steel, (ii) Orissa is the leading producer of manganese. It produces over 36% manganese ore of India. Manganese is mined in Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts of Orissa.

(b) Minerals associated with the following locations are:
(i) Ankleshwar
(ii) Bailadila
(iii) Korba
(iv) Bhilwara

(c) (i) The rivers of the Northern mountain are more important for the generation of hydroelectric power in India because :

• The rivers of Northern India are perennial, as they are snowfed. So the hydroelectric power can be generated throughout the year.
• These rivers are longer and fall from a great height. Falling from a height is a basic requirement for generating hydroelectricity.

Peninsular rivers are rainfed so they have water in rainy season and the height of the Western Ghats are not high as the Himalayas.

(ii) The North-Eastern part of the mountainous region constituting the Brahmaputra basin has the highest power generating potential.

(d) Japanese method of rice cultivation gives some of the highest yields of rice in the world. The chief characteristics of Japanese methods are:

• Rice is first prepared as nursery in the seed beds and the seedlings are transplanted in late spring to the flooded fields.
• Paddle wheels, electric and diesel pumps are used to supply irrigation ditches with water.
• Small tractors are used for preparing the fields.
• Terrace is a common feature of rice cultivation on the margin of the plains.
• The rows of plants are fixed at a distance of 25 cm. Similarly, the distance between the plants is about 15 cm. It makes easy for the farmer to give proper care to the plants by weeding them.
• Manure is used extensively to increase the yield. The plants give a higher yield in this method.

Rice is not cultivated in the northern parts of China because the climate of this region is too cold for rice cultivation.

Question 7.
(a) Give two reasons to explain why transport plays an important part in the development of India. [2]
(b) (i) With reference to railway transport, differentiate between fare and freight. [4]
(ii) Why is there a distinct contrast in the . railway network between the Eastern and the Western coastal plains ?
(c) (i) State two advantages of water transport. [4]
(ii) Mention any two factors that hinder inlandwater transport in India.
Answer:
(a) Transport plays an important part in the development of India as :
(i) Needed to connect remote and inaccessible parts of the country.
(ii) Helps in extending relief during disasters and calamities.

(b) (i) Fare is the amount charged by the railways to carry passengers, while freight is the amount charged by the railways to transport goods and luggage from one place to another.
(ii) There is a distinct contrast in the rail network between the Eastern and Western coastal plains. There exists a long trunk route all along the east coast but such a rail track is missing along the western coast from Mumbai to Kochi. The outcrops of the Western Ghats being very close to the coast, restrict the extent of the coastal plain while the eastern coast is wider and the Ghats lie away from the coast. Now, Konkan Railway Corporation has been constituted to construct west coast rail line, which is one of the most important achievement of Indian Railways and it is considered as an engineering marvel. It crosses 146 rivers, nearly 2000 bridges and 91 tunnels. Asia’s largest tunnel, which is nearly 6.5 km long, also lies on this route. The states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka are partners in this undertaking.

(c) (i) 1. Water transport is the cheapest means of transport and is most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky materials having low specific cost.
2. It is fuel efficient and environment friendly mode of transport.
(ii) The factors that hinder inland water transport in India, are :
1. Inland water transport suffered a great deal at the hands of roads and railways because they could not compete with the speed of road and rail transport.
2. Though efforts are being made to revive the inland waterways, yet this mode of transport is at its initial stage. Waterways provide only one percent of total transport of India as it is greatly under utilized as it is a time consuming transport.

Question 8.
(a) What are industrial clusters ? State any two indices used to identify industrial clusters. [3]
(b) Examine the role played by the availability of raw materials in influencing location of industries. [2]
(c) Where is Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited located ? How has this steel plant overcome the disadvantage of not being located near any coal mining region of India ? [3]
(d) With reference to tourism in’India, explain : [2]
(i) Heritage Hotels
(ii) Eco-tourism.
Answer:
(a) Industrial Cluster : Industries are unevenly distributed in India because the factors affecting industrial location are not same everywhere. Industries tend to be concentrated in a few pockets because of certain favourable factors. The pockets having high concentration of industries are known as industrial clusters. Several indices are used to identify the clustering of industries, important among them are :

1. Average daily factory employment/No. of workers.
2. Quantum of power used for industrial purposes.

(b) Industries which use heavy and bulky raw materials in their primary stage in large quantities, are usually located near the supply of the raw materials. It is true in the case of raw material which lose their weight in the process of manufacture or which cannot bear high transport cost or cannot be transported over long distances because of their perishable nature. The Jute mills in West Bengal, Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, Cotton mills in Maharashtra and Gujarat are concentrated close to the sources of raw materials for this very reason. The industries like iron and steel which use very large quantities of coal and iron ore and lose weight in the process of manufacture are generally located near the sources of coal and iron ore. Thus, availability of raw material plays an important role in influencing the location of an industry.

(c) Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Ltd. is located at Bhadrawati on the banks of river Bhadrawati in Shimoga district of Karnataka. This steel plant has overcome the disadvantage of not being located near any coal mining region of India, by obtaining charcoal from the forest wood and using it for smelting. Now, it uses hydroelectric power obtained from Sharavati Power Project.

(d) (i) Heritage Hotels : Heritage hotels cover running hotels in palaces, castles, forts, havailies, hunting lodges residence or any size built prior to 1950. The facade architect feature and general construction should have the distinctive qualities and ambience in keeping with the traditional way of life of the area.

(ii) Eco-Tourism : Eco-tourism is a form of tourism involving visiting usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small- scale alternatives to commercial (mass) tourism. Its purpose is to educate travellers to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.

Question 9.
(a) What does a geographer’s concept of development comprise ? [2]
(b) Explain what are macro regions, giving at least one example from India. [3]
(c) How was the state of Chhattisgarh created ? State any two features of agriculture practised in Chhattisgarh. [3]
(d) Explain with reference to its location, how Haldia Port has helped release congestion at Kolkata Port. [2]
Answer:
(a) Geography is an integrating discipline and offers a unique synthesis of development of natural and human resources. As such as geographer’s conceptualization of development is much more comprehensive. It considers economic progress, social advancement, political development and environmental preservation.
Development is the use of resources and application of available technology to bring about an increase in the standard of living in a country. The geographer’s view of development is much broader involving social and cultural advancement as well as technological change and economic growth.

(b) A macro-region is a large unit with greatly diversified natural resources capable of being a self contained (not necessarily self-sufficient) region with a self generating economy to support a high quality of life. There are the largest regions in the three-tier system of planning regions. These combine in themselves a number of meso-regions on the basis of their socio-economic bonds, south peninsular region is an example of macro region e.g., Indo-Ganga plain.

(c) Due to its large tribal population Chhattisgarh had not been a part of main stream and thus, remained underdeveloped. This reason lead to a process of questioning and protest hence leading to creation of Chhattisgarh state curved out of Madhya Pradesh.

• About 35% of the total geographical area is under cultivation. Kharif is the main cropping season in Chhattisgarh.
• Rice is the predominant crop of Chhattisgarh, it is known as the ‘Rice Bowl’ of India. Chhattisgarh basin drained by the Mahanadi and its tributaries is the main rice producing region.

(d) Haldia Port has been developed to release congestion at Kolkata Port. This port is located at the confluence of river Hugli about 105 km. downstream from Kolkata.

• It receives larger vessels which otherwise would have gone to Kolkata.
• Some of the large vessels which cannot enter the Kolkata port can easily come up to Haldia.
• The hinterland of port Haldia is more or less the same as that of Kolkata. It covers a vast area which includes almost the whole of eastern and north-eastern parts of the country.

ISC Class 12 Geography Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Biotechnology Previous Year Question Paper 2019 Solved for Class 12

Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Three hours

• Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT start writing during this time.
• Answer Question 1 (Compulsory) from Part I and five questions from Part II, choosing two questions from Section A, two questions from Section B and one question from either Section A or Section B.
• The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
• Transactions should be recorded in the answer book.
• All calculations should be shown clearly.
• All working, including rough work, should be done on the same page as, and adjacent to the rest of the answer.

Part -1 (20 Marks)
(Answer all questions)

Question 1.
(a) Mention any one significant difference between each of the following : [5]
(i) Anti codon and codon
(ii) Intrinsic fluorescence and extrinsic fluorescence
(iii) Introns and Exons
(iv) Genomic DNA library and cDNA library
(v) RAM and ROM

(b) Answer the following questions: [5]
(i) Which amino acid is optically inactive and why ?
(ii) What is meant by exponential phase 9
(iii) What are designer oils ?
(iv) What is palindromic sequence 9
(v) Which substance is used in diploidization of haploid plants ?

(c) Write the full form of each of the following : [5]
(i) NBRI
(ii) NBTB
(iii) BLAST
(iv) PIR
(v) YAC

(d) Explain briefly the following terms : [5]
(i) Callus
(ii) SNPs
(iii) Lyophilisation
(iv) Gene cloning
(v) Cybrids
Answers:
(a) (i) Anti codon is the corresponding triplet sequence on the transfer RNA (tRNA) which brings in the specific amino acid to the ribosome during translation. The anti codon is complementary to the codon, that is, if the codon is AUU, then the anti codon is UAA.
Codon is the triplet sequence in the messenger RNA (mRNA) transcript which specifies a corresponding amino acid (or a start or stop command).

(ii)

Intrinsic fluorescence	Extrinsic fluorescence
The fluorescence shown by natural compounds is known as intrinsic fluorescence.	There are certain chemical compounds which do not fluorescence. It can be detected after coupling them with a fluorescence probe or flour. This phenomenon is called extrinsic fluorescence.

(iii)

Introns	Exons
Introns are non-coding DNA base sequences, which are found between exons, but are not transcribed part of mature mRNA.	Exons are coding DNA base sequences that are transcribed into w/RNA and finally code for amino acids in the proteins.

(iv)

Genomic DNA Library	cDNA Library
(1) It is a collection of clones that represent the complete genome of an organism. (2) It is the mixture of genomic DNA.	(1) The library made from complementary or copy DNA (cDNA) is called cDNA library. (2) cDNA library consists of cDNA clones prepared by using mRNA.

(v)

RAM	ROM
(1) It stores data and programme temporarily. (2) It contains the data of operating system, software’s and other application programmes.	(1) It provides a non-volatile storage of data. (2) It loads operating system into the memory and starts the computer when switched on.

(b) (i) Glycine is the only amino acid which is optically inactive. It is the first neutral amino acid. In Glycine, the central atom has 2 hydrogen atoms. It does not contain any chiral carbon that’s why it is optically inactive.

(ii) Exponential Phase : It is a growth phase. In the exponential (log) phase, cells divide as fast as possible according to the growth medium, the microorganism itself and environmental conditions. This phase has a limited duration.

(iii) Designer Oil : “Designer oil” that reduces LDL ( bad ) blood cholesterol levels in humans and increases energy expenditure, which may prevent people from gaining weight. The oil incorporates a phytosterol-based functional food ingredient Phytrol (TM) from Forbes into oil using proprietary technology.

(iv) Palindromic sequence are the base pair sequences that are the same when read forward (left to right) or backward (right to left) from a central axis of symmetry. The sequences read the same on the two strands in 5 → 3 direction and this is also true when we read in the 3 → 5 directions.

(v) Colchicine is used in diploidization of haploid plants. There are mainly two approaches for diploidization-colchicine treatment and endometriosis.

(c) NBRI: National Botanical Research Institute
NBTB : National Biotechnology Board
BLAST: Basic Local Alignment Search Tool
PIR : Protein Information Resource
YAC : Yeast Artificial Chromosome

(d) (i) Callus : It is a mass of meristematic undifferentiated unorganized cells produced in a culture.

(ii) SNPs : Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are the variations in a nucleotide at genomic DNA in different individuals at a population which occur due to change even in a single base (e.g., A, G, T or C). In human genome, SNPs occur at 1 n – 3.2 million sites.

(iii) Lyophilisation : In this method the microbial suspension is put in small ampoules and frozen through drying under vacuum. Vaccum drying results in sublimation of cell water. The lyophilised cultures are stored at 4°C. The culture remain viable for about 10 years. By this method a large number of cultures are maintained without variation in the characteristics.

(iv) Gene Cloning : It is a process of copying a specific desired gene/section on DNA and producing in large number/quantities.

(v) Cybrids : A cytoplasmicallv hybrid cell with organelles from both parental sources (obtained through fusion of cytoplast with a whole cell) and a nucleus of only one cell Nucleus of the other cell denatured.

Part – II (50 Marks)
(Answer any Jive questions)

Question 2.
(a) With reference to composition of culture medium, answer the following : [4]
(i) Cytokinins
(ii) Auxin’s
(b) Explain the induced fit hypothesis of enzyme action with the help of suitable illustrations. [4]
(c) Write a note on Quaternary’ structure of proteins. [2]
Answers:
(a) (i) Cytokinins:

• It stimulates the cell division process.
• It helps in the morphogenesis of plant cell, along with auxins.

(ii) Auxin:

• It helps in the formation of callus and in the development of xylem along with the promotion of cambial activity.
• It is used for the elongation and enlargement of plant cell and it inhibits the promotion of growths of apical and lateral buds.

(b) The Induced-fit theory:
The key-lock hypothesis does not fully account for enzymatic action; i.e.. certain properties of enzymes cannot be accounted for by the simple relationship between enzyme and substrate proposed by the key-lock hypothesis. A theory called the induced-fit theory retains the key lock idea of a fit of the substrate at the active site but postulates in addition that the substrate must do more than simply fit into the already preformed shape of an active site.

Rather, the theory 7 states, the binding of the substrate to the enzyme must cause a change in the shape of the enzyme that results in the proper alignment of the catalytic groups on its surface. This concept has been likened to the fit of a hand in a glove, the hand (substrate) inducing a change in the shape of the glove (enzyme). Although some enzymes appear to function according to the older key-lock hypothesis, most apparently function according to the induced-fit theory .

Typically, the substrate approaches the enzyme surface and induces a change in its shape that results in the correct alignment of the catalytic groups. In the case of the digestive enzyme carboxypeptidase.

The induced-fit theory 7 explains a number of anomalous properties of enzymes. An example is “non-competitive inhibition.” in which a compound inhibits the reaction of an enzyme but does not prevent the binding of the substrate. In this case, the inhibitor compound attracts the binding group so that the catalytic group is too far away from the substrate to react. The site at which the inhibitor binds to the enzyme is not the active site and is called an allosteric site. The inhibitor changes the shape of the active site to prevent catalysis without preventing binding of the substrate. An inhibitor also can distort the active site by affecting the essential binding group: as a result, the enzyme can no longer attract the substrate.

(c) Quaternary Structure of proteins (4° Structure) : It is the last or fourth level of protein organisation found in only oligomeric proteins or multimers. The multimeric proteins are formed of two to several poly peptides. The monomers or polypeptide sub units are also called protomers. Protomers maybe similar, e.g., two similar a polypeptides in enzyme phosphorvlase. It is known as homogeneous Quaternary structure. An oligomeric protein having dissimilar sub units shows heterogeneous Quaternary structure, .e.g., tetrameric hemoglobin with two ot (141 amino acids each) and two p (146 amino acids each) polypeptide chains.

Question 3.
(a) Explain the important postulates of central dogma. [4]
(b) Name and explain the method used to sterilize the following : [4]
(i) Vitamins
(ii) Forceps and Scalpels
(iii) Nutrient Media
(iv) Explant
(c) What is the Chargaff’s rule of equivalence ? [2]
Answers:
(a) The ‘Central Dogma’ is the process by which the instructions in DNA are converted into a functional product. It was first proposed in 1958 by Francis Crick, discoverer of the structure of DNA.

1. The central dogma of molecular biology explains the flow of genetic information, from DNA to RNA, to make a functional product, a protein.

2. The central dogma suggests that DNA contains the information needed to make all of our proteins, and that RNA is a messenger that carries this information to the ribosomes .

3. The ribosomes serve as factories in the cell where the information is ‘translated’ from a code into the functional product.

4. The process by which the DNA instructions are converted into the functional product is called gene expression.

5. Gene expression has two key stages – transcription and translation .

6. In transcription, the information in the DNA of every cell is converted into small, portable RNA messages.

7. During translation, these messages travel from where the DNA is in the cell nucleus to the ribosomes where they are ‘read’ to make specific proteins.

8. The central dogma states that the pattern of information that occurs most frequently in our cells is :

• From existing DNA to make new DNA (DNA replication)
• From DNA to make new RNA (transcription)
• From RNA to make new proteins (translation)

9. Reverse transcription is the transfer of information from RNA to make new DNA. this occurs in the case of retroviruses, such as HIV . It is the process by which the genetic information from RNA is assembled into new DNA.

Does the ‘Central Dogma’ always apply?

• With modem research it is becoming clear that some aspects of the central dogma are not entirely accurate.
• Current research is focusing on investigating the function of non-coding RNA.
• Although this does not follow the central dogma it still has a functional role in the cell.

(b) Sterilization methods:
(i) Vitamins : Vitamins can be sterilize by the method of autoclaving. For this a concentrated stock solution is required to be prepared followed by fitration and subsequent addition in sterile medium at the temperature of growth (or room temperature).

(ii) Forceps & Scalpels : The metallic instruments like forceps, scalpels, needles, spatulas can be sterilized by flame sterilization method. For this we have to dip them in 25% ethanol ‘ followed by flaming and cooling. It is called incineration.

(iii) Nutrient media : Culture media are properly dispensed in glass container, plugged with cotton or sealed with plastic closures and sterilized by autoclaving (steam sterilization) at 15 psi for 30 minutes. Minimum temperature required for autoclaving of nutrient media is 15 minutes.

(iv) Explant: The explants are sterilized by disinfectants (e g., sodium, hypochlorite. NaOCl, mercuric chloride-HgCl₂) and washed aseptically for 6-10 times with sterlized distilled water.

(c) Chargaff’s rule of equivalence : Deoxy ribonucleic Acid (DNA), the genetic material is made up of four types of organic nitrogenous bases : adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T) and cytosine (C). Of these, A and G are the purines and T and C are the pyrimidines. Chargaff gave the base pairing rule or the rule of base equivalence which states that only one purine can combine with one pyrimidine. That means A can combine with T and G with C. Two purines or two pyrimidines cannot combine with each other; if they do so, there w ill be a sudden change in the characteristic of an organism. This sudden change is called mutation.

Question 4,
(a) Differentiate between oils and fats. Discuss hydrolysis, rancidity and hardening shown by lipids. [4]
(b) Using tissue culture method one can produce disease free plants. Discuss the method used to produce virus free plants. [4]
(c) Write the main objectives of HGP. [2]
Answer:
(a) Difference between Fats and Oils :

Fats	Oils
1. Solid at room temperature	1. Liquid at room temperature
2. Saturated and trans are its types	2. Unsaturated fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated are its types
3. Mostly derived from animal	3. Mostly derived from plants
4. Increases cholesterol levels	4. Improves cholesterol levels
5. Mainly comes from animal food but also through vegetable oil by process called hydrogenation Example: Butter, beef fat Contains 9 cal/gm	5. Mainly comes from plants or fish Example:Vegetable oil, fish oil Contains 9 cal/gm

Hydrolysis of lipids: Hydrolysis is the breakdown of a substance by the addition of water. Fats and oils are hydrolyzed by moisture to yield glycerol and 3 fatty acids. This leads to hydrolytic rancidity of food product characterized by unpleasant flavor and aroma thereby making it undesirable for consumers. Chemically fats are esters, so they are liable to hydrolysis. This reaction is catalyzed by lipase enzyme or can occur via non-enzymatic hydrolysis. Partial hydrolysis of triglycerides will yield mono- and di- glycerides and free fatty’ acids.

Rancidity: Rancidity is the natural process of decomposition of fats or oils by either hydrolysis or oxidation or by both. The process of degradation converts fatty acids esters of oils into free fatty acids. This gives rise to an unpleasant odour and taste in food. These lipids degrade to the point of becoming either unpalatable or unhealthy to ingest.

Hydrogenation and hardening: Hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids is widely practiced. This treatment affords saturated fatty acids. The extent of hydrogenation is indicated by the iodine number. Hydrogenated fatty- acids are less prone toward rancidification. Since the saturated fatty acids are higher melting than the unsaturated precursors, the process is called hardening.

(b) Production of virus-free plants : Plant viruses are found in nature and propagate inside the cells of living plant. There are many plants that suffer from serious diseases developing a variety of symptoms such as mosaic, chlorosis, necrosis, vein clearing, lead curling, leaf rolling, etc. Sometimes the disease severity is so high that viruses migrate to vascular bundles and also get established inside the seeds.

For the first time G Moral and C. Martin (1952) produced virus-free shoots of Dahlia from virus-infected plants through shoot meristem culture, On 26th November, 2002 a US Patent was granted to H.C. Chaturvedi and co-workers for successfully regenerating and proliferating shoot meristem of Cirus spp.

Using tissue culture method we can produce disease-free plants. Generally, the apical meristem of plants are free from viruses and the other microorganisms. However, if viral particles are present, their number would be quite low.

Methods of virus elimination :
There are two methods that are used to produce virus-free plants.
(i) Heat Treatment of Meristem : Before meristem culture, viruses associated with meristem are eliminated in vitro by heat treatment (thermotherapy) of whole plants. Heat treatment is given through hot water or air at 35-40°C for a varying period (a few minutes to several months). It should be noted that prolonged heat treatment inactivates that host resistance. Percentage of plant survival is also low. Temperature tolerant viruses may survive inside the plant tissue.

(ii) Meristem-tip Culture : Meristem-tip culture is the most widely applicable approach for virus elimination. In most of the cases explant (shoot tip) of 100-1000 pm has been cultured to raise virus-free plants. But the explant of small size (1 mm) i.e., meristem tip is preferred for in-vitro culture. Meristem tip is excised in aseptic conditions and cultured on nutrient medium. If required thermotherapy is given to the mother plant before excision of meristem tip. The inoculated tubes are incubated properly in light and dark regime (Fig.)

There are some chemicals which are used to eliminate viruses from plant tissues and protoplasts. These are malachite green, thiouracil, acetyl salicylic acid, cycloheximide, actinomvcin-D, etc.

(c) Objectives of HGP :
(1) The goals of the original HGP were not only determine all 3 billion base pairs in the human genome with a minimal error rate, but also to identify’ all the genes in this vast amount of data. This part of the project is still ongoing although a preliminary count indicates about 30,000 genes in the human genome, which is far fewer than predicated by most scientists.

(2) Another goal of the HGP was to develop faster and more efficient methods for DNA sequencing and sequence analysis and the transfer of these technologies to industry.

(3) Another goal of the HGP is the study of its ethical, legal, and social implications. It is important to research these issues and find the most appropriate solutions before they become large dilemmas. Otherwise its effect will manifest in the form of major political concerns.

Question 5.
(a) Discuss the mechanism of the lac operon model of regulation of gene expression. [4]
(b) Give four points of difference between southern blotting technique and northern blotting technique. [4]
(c) Give four characteristics of genetic code. [2]
Answers:
(a) The lac Operon Model: The lac operon model is an example of transcriptional regulation of gene expression. The lac operon consists of a promoter, an operator and three structural genes (Fig.). RNA polymerase binds to promoter site of DNA. This result in start of sequential transcription of structural genes (lac Z, lac Y and lac A). The lac Z expresses gene β-galactosidase, lac Y encodes permease and lac A synthesizes transacetylase. The operator site is located between the promoter and first structural gene (lac Z). The repressor protein, expressed by the regulator gene, binds to operator. The structural gene (lac Z. lac Y and lac A) do not express enzymes (A).

The repressor protein expressed by the repressor gene (which is not a part of operon) involves the transcription of structural genes. Transcription of structural genes is stopped when repressor protein is attached on the operator gene. If lactose is supplied, it enters the cell and binds with repressor protein. Then repressor protein is inactivated due to change in conformation of the repressor protein. Therefore, repressor fails to attach on the operator gene, and the structural genes are transcribed into an wRNA which in turn translates the proteins (B).

Here, lactose acts as anti-inducer but not a real inducer. Allolactose (an inducer of lactose) is a natural inducer for the lac operon. In regulation of lac operon, lactose is taken up. Then it is broken by p-galactosidase into glucose and galactose. Galactose is converted into allolactose and lactobiose through a side reaction with lactose. The allolactose induces the operon. Consequently, lactose is utilized enzymatically.

(b) Southern Blotting technique involves separation and identification of a specific DNA fragment. In Northern Blotting technique, the RNA is analysed rather than DNA. During southern blotting NaOH denatures DNA to form single stranded DNA which are transferred from gel to nitrocellulose membrane. In northern blotting, total RNA molecules are extracted and then mRNA molecules are isolated by using oligo (dT) cellulose Chromatography. RNA samples separated are transferred to a nylon membrane.

(c) Characteristics of Genetic Code :
(i) Triplet code : Three adjacent nitrogen bases constitute a codon which specifies the placement of one amino acid in a polypeptide.

(ii) Start signal: Polypeptide synthesis is signaled by AUG or methionine codon and GUG — Valine codon. They have dual function.

(iii) Stop signal: Polypeptide chain termination is signaled by three termination codons — UAA, UAQ and UGA. They do not specify any amino acid and are hence also called non-sense codon.

(iv) Universal code : The genetic code is applicable universally i.e. the codon specifies the same amino acid from a virus to a tree or human being.

(v) Non-ambiguous codon : One codon specifies only one amino acid and not any other.

Question 6.
(a) With reference to vector less methods of gene transfer explain each of the following : [4]
(i) Liposome mediated gene transfer
(ii) Electroporation
(iii) Transfection
(iv) Transformation
(b) With reference to application of tissue culture techniques, explain the following : [4]
(i) Haploid production
(ii) Triploid production
(c) What is meant by DNA probe ? [2]
Answers:
(a) The term direct or vector less transfer of DNA is used when the foreign DNA is directly introduced into the plant genome. Direct DNA transfer methods rely on the delivery of naked DNA into the plant cells. This is in contrast to the Agrobacterium or vector-mediated DNA transfer which may be regarded as indirect methods. Majority of the direct DNA transfer methods are simple and effective. And in fact, several transgenic plants have been developed by this approach.

1. Liposome-Mediated Transformation: Liposomes are artificially created lipid vesicles containing a phospholipid membrane. They are successfully used in mammalian cells for the delivery of proteins, drugs etc. Liposomes carrying genes can be employed to fuse with protoplasts and transfer the genes.The efficiency of transformation increases when the process is carried out in conjunction with polyethylene glycol (PEG). Liposome-mediated transformation involves adhesion of liposomes to the protoplast surface, its fusion at the site of attachment and release of plasmids inside the cell.

2. Electroporation: Electroporation basically involves the use of high field strength electrical impulses to reversibly permeabilize the cell membranes for the uptake of DNA. This technique can be used for the delivery of DNA into intact plant cells and protoplasts. The plant material is incubated in a buffer solution containing the desired foreign/target DNA, and subjected to high voltage electrical impulses. This results in the formation of pores in the plasma membrane through which DNA enters and gets integrated into the host cell genome.

3. Transfection: Transfection is the process of inserting genetic material, such as DNA and double stranded RNA, into mammalian cells. The insertion of DNA into a cell enables the expression, or production of proteins using the cell’s own machinery, whereas insertion of RNA into a cell is used to down-regulate the production of a specific protein by stopping translation. While the site of action for transfected RNA is the cytoplasm, DNA must be transported to the nucleus for effective transfection. Therefore, the DNA can be transiently expressed for a short period of time, or become incorporated into the genomic DNA, where the change is passed on from cell to cell as it divides.

4. Transformation: Transformation is the method of introducing foreign DNA into bacterial cells (e.g. E.coli). The uptake of plasmid DNA by E.coli is carried out in ice-cold CaCl₂ (0-5°C), and a subsequent heat shock (37-45°C for about 90 sec). By this technique, the transformation frequency, which refers to the fraction of cell population that can be transferred, is reasonably good e.g. approximately one cell for 1000 (10-3) cells.The mechanism of the transformation process is not fully understood. It is believed that the CaCl₂ affects the cell wall, breaks at localized regions, and is also responsible for binding of DNA to cell surface. A brief heat shock (i.e. the sudden increase in temperature from 5°C to 40°C) stimulates DNA uptake. In general, large-sized DNAs are less efficient in transforming.

(b) (i) Applications of triploid plants :

• Autotriploidy induces gigas effect i.e., large-sized leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.
• Autotriploids are sterile (with faulty pairing and distribution of chromosomes and abnormal gametes) and reproduce vegetatively only. They are useful for the production of seedless plants.

(ii) Applications of haploid plants :

• Haploid plants have been used in breeding programmes of rice, wheat, barley. Brassica spps., tobacco, potato, etc.
• A doubled haploid strain are produced in only two years a net saving of 4 years for the production of homozygous lines by selfing or close breeding of both self and cross pollinated crops. They may be released directly as a variety if it performs well in yield trials.
• Haploid plants are most suitable for the study of recessive mutations.

(c) DNA Probe : It is a solution of radioactive, single-stranded DNA or oligodeoxy nucleotides (a DNA segment of few to several nucleotide’s). The name probe signifies the fact that this DNA molecule is used to detect and identify’ the DNA fragment in the gel/membrane that has a sequence complementary to the probe. The probe hybridizes with the complementary DNA on the membrane to the greater extent with a low non-specific binding on the membrane. This step is known as hybridization reaction.

Question 7.
(a) Explain how biotechnology helps in developing following traits in crops : [4]
(i) Biodegradable plastic
(ii) Pest resistance
(iii) Drought resistance
(iv) Salinity resistance
(b) Write the principle and applications of the following techniques : [4]
(i) Hydrophobic interaction
(ii) Colorimetry
(c) What are start and stop codoms ? [2]
Answers:
(a) (i) Biodegradable plastic : The biodegradable plastic is made from lactic acid which is produced at the time of bacterial fermentation of plant materials like discarded stalks of com. Biodegradable plastic is a material w hich has most of the properties of plastic except the property of being non-biodegradable. The biodegradable plastic polyhydroxyalkanates e.g., poly hydroxyl butyrate (PHB) are obtained commercially by fermentation with bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus. The genetically engineered Arabidopsis plants produced poly hydroxyl butyrate (PHB) globules in their chloroplasts without effecting plant growth and development. The large scale of poly hydroxybutyrate (PHB) can be extracted from leaves as well as from transgenic plants.

(ii) Pest resistance: To reduce the loss by the way of killing insects, farmers apply insecticides (i.e., synthetic pesticides) on the crop plants. However, the synthetic insecticides pose a serious threat to the health of plants, animals and humans. The alternative and novel ways of rescue from damages of insects are the use of transgenic technology. It is eco-friendly , cost-effective, sustainable and effective way of insect control. Using biotechnological approaches many transgenic crops having cry’ gene i.e., Bi-genes have been developed and commercialized. Some examples of Bt-crops are brinjal, cauliflower, cabbage, canola, com, cotton, egg plant, maize, potato, tobacco, tomato, rice, soyabean, etc.

(iii) Drought resistance : There are some plants that resist drought conditions. The property of resistance against water loss from the surface of plants is naturally checked by the plants. The special feature is controlled by a specific gene called ‘drought resistance (DR) gene’. Plant biotechnology offers the introduction of DR gene from drought resistant plants into the staple crops for the benefit of enhanced crop yield. The promising GM technology includes the use of techniques for increasing drought tolerance. Research works on these aspects are being investigated at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico and individual countries itself.

(iv) Salinity resistance : Irrigation has enabled the transformation of arid regions into some of the w orld’s most productive agricultural areas. Excess salinity, however, is becoming a major problem for agriculture in dry parts of the world. In several cases, scientists have used biotechnology to develop plants with enhanced tolerance to salty conditions.

Another approach to engineering salt tolerance uses a protein that takes excess sodium and diverts it into a cellular compartment w here it does not harm the cell. In the lab. this strategy was used to create test plants that were able to flow er and produce seeds under extreme salt levels. Commercially available crops with such a modification are still several years away.

(b) (i) Hydrophobic Interaction : Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) is a classic purification tool applied in protein and antibody, laboratory and industrial production process. It has been mainly used for the removal of both product-related impurities such as aggregates, as well as process contaminants such as host cell proteins. This review will focus on the recent development of HIC in its applications in the industrial purification processes. The process economy and requirements of high product purity and quality hare driven much of the recent advancement in HIC chromatography in terms of increased throughput and enhanced selectivity or resolution. Meanwhile, high throughput screening (HTS).

design of experiments (DoE) and platform approach for process development hare been applied to shorten the development time. The throughput improvement has been achieved through new resins with increased binding capacity , using dual salts for load conditioning, and operating in the flow-through mode. In addition, hydrophobic interaction membrane filter chromatography technology reduces bed volumes and buffer usage and potentially improves process throughput by reducing cycle time. Selectirity and/or resolution enhancements have been achieved through optimization of operation parameters such as temperature and efforts such as application of solvent additives

(ii) Colorimetry: It is based on the use of interaction of light energy with colored solutions of certain molecules as when light passes through a colored solution, some wavelengths are absorbed more than others. The amount of light absorbed is proportional to the intensity of color and hence to the concentration of the compound.

Applications:

• Quantitative estimation i.e., concentration in solution.
• Detect and identification of bio molecules.

(c) START codons: The codonAUGis called the START codon as it the first codon in the transcribed mRNA that undergoes translation. AUG is the most common START codon and it codes for the amino acid methionine (Met) in eukaryotes and formyl methionine (fMet) in prokaryotes. During protein synthesis, the tRNA recognizes the START codon AUG with the help of some initiation factors and starts translation of mRNA.

STOP codons : There are 3 STOP codons in the genetic code – UAG UAA, and UGA. These codons signal the end of the polypeptide chain during translation. These codons are also known as nonsense codons or termination codons as they do not code for an amino acid.

The three STOP codons have been named as amber (UAG), opal or umber (UGA) and ochre (UAA). “Amber” or UAG was discovered by Charles Steinberg and Richard Epstein and they named it amber after the German meaning of the last name of their friend Harris Bernstein. The remaining two STOP codons were then named “ochre” and “opal” so as to maintain the “color names” theme.

Question 8.
(a) List any four responsibilities carried out by NCBI. [4]
(b) Give a comparative account of cell differentiation, dedifferentiation, rediffemtiation and vascular differentiation. [4]
(c) What is the difference between dNTP and ddNTP ? [2]
Answers:
(a) Responsibilities carried out by NCBI:
1. It conducts research on fundamental biomedical problems at the molecular level using mathematical and computational methods.
2. It maintains collaborations with several NIH institutes, academia, industry, and other governmental agencies.
3. It fosters scientific communication by sponsoring meetings, workshops, and lecture series.
4. It supports training on basic and applied research in computational biology for postdoctoral fellows through the NIH Intramural Research Program.
5. It engages members of the international scientific community in informatics research and training through the Scientific Visitors Program.
6. It develops, distributes, supports, and coordinates access to a variety of databases and software for the scientific and medical communities.
7. It develops and promotes standards for databases, data deposition and exchange, and biological nomenclature.

(b) Cell Differentiation : The cells derived from root apical meristem (RAM) and shoot apical meristem (SAM) and cambium differentiate, mature to perform specific functions. This act leading to maturation is termed differentiation. They undergo a few or major structural changes both in their cell walls and protoplasm. For example, to form, a trachery element the cells lose its protoplasm but develops a very strong, elastic, lignocellulosic secondary cell wall is best suited to carry water to long distances even under extreme tension. Similarly, cells designated to be mesophyll come to possess many chloroplasts so as to, perform photosynthesis. On one hand, a parenchyma in hydrophytes develop large schizogenous interspaces for mechanical support, buoyancy and aeration, but on the other hand, in a potato tuber (or perennating organs) develops more amyloplasts.

Dedifferentiation : In plants, the living differentiated cells can regain the capacity to divide mitotically under certain conditions. The sum of events, that bestow this capacity to divide once again, are termed dedifferentiation. A dedifferentiated tissue can act as meristem (e.g., interfascicular vascular cambium, wound meristem, cork cambium).

Redifferentiation: The product of dedifferentiated cells/tissue which lose the ability to divide are called redifferentiate cells/tissues and the event, redifferentiation. However, the growth in plants is open, and even differentiation in plants is open, because, e g., the same apical meristem cells give rise to xylem phloem, fibers, etc., cells/tissues arising out of same meristem have different structures at maturity. The final structure at maturity of a cell/ tissue arising out of same meristem is determined by the location of the cell within.

Vascular Differentiation : Vascular tissues, xylem and phloem, are differentiated from meristematic cells, procambium, and vascular cambium. Auxin and cytokinin have been considered essential for vascular tissue differentiation: this is supported by recent molecular and genetic analyses.

(c) dNTP lacks-OH at 2’ position of ribose while ddNTP lack-OH both at 2 and 3’ position of ribose sugar. Using ddNTP’s during sequencing, chain elongation can be terminated at 3’ position of ribose.

Question 9.
(a) Proteins have many important functions in an organism. Justify the statement giving its various
roles with an example of each. [4]
(b) With reference to screening strategies, explain the following : [4]
(i) Insertional Inactivation method
(ii) Blue – White method
(c) How was insulin obtained before the advent of rDNA technology ? [2]
Answers:
(a) Proteins are the most abundant intracellular macro molecules. These constitute more than half of dry weight of most organisms. Some proteins provide structural elements of the body such as hairs, collagens, enzymes are oxygen carriers.

There are 100,000 kinds of proteins in humans. They are most important for cell functions. Proteins are the linear polymers of 20 amino acids. The amino acids differ from each other in having different R-groups. The R-groups may be changed. They may be polar, non-polar, aromatic or hydrophobic. Amino acid sequences in different proteins differ. This difference is due to diversity in R-groups of 20 amino acids. Their specific location and functions are given in Table. Proteins are grouped into different types on the basis of their biological functions.

b) (i) Insertional inactivation: Harder problem to solve is to determine which of the transformed colonies comprise cells that contain recombinant DNA molecules, and which contain self- ligated vector molecules. Insertional inactivation is the inactivation of a gene by inserting a fragment of DNA into the middle of its coding sequence. Any future products from the inactivated gene will not work because of the extra codes added to it. Recombinants can, therefore, be identified because the characteristic coded by the inactivated gene is no longer visible.

pBR322 contains genes which code for ampicillin resistance and tetracycline resistance, BamH1 cuts in the middle of the gene which codes for tetracycline resistance. If a gene is inserted here, the plasmid loses it ability to code for tetracycline resistance. Thus, the plasmid containing the recombinant gene is resistant to ampicillin but sensitive to tetracycline. To screen, we use replica plates.

(ii) The blue-white screen is a molecular technique that allows for the detection of successful ligation’s in vector-based gene cloning. DNA of interest is ligated into a vector. The vector is then transformed into competent cell (bacteria). In this method, a reporter gene lac Z is inserted in the vector. The lac Z encodes for the enzyme β- galactosidase which breaks a synthetic substrate X-gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-indolyl, β-D-galacto-pyranoside) into insoluble blue colored product. The competent cells are grown in the presence of X-gal. If the ligation was successful, the bacterial colony will be white because β- galactosidase is not synthesized due to the inactivation of lac Z; if not, the colony will be blue. This technique allows for the quick and easy detection of successful ligation, without the need to individually test each colony. An example of such a vector is the artificially reconstructed plasmid pUC19.

(c) Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood and is required for the body to function normally. People who do not produce the necessary amount of insulin have diabetes. There are two general types of diabetes. The most severe type, known as Type I or juvenile-onset diabetes, is when the body does not produce any insulin. Type I diabetics usually inject themselves with different types of insulin three to four times daily. Dosage is taken based on the person’s blood glucose reading, taken from a glucose meter. Type II diabetics produce some insulin, but it is either not enough or their cells do not respond normally to insulin.

History : Before researchers discovered how to produce insulin, people who suffered from Type I diabetes had no chance for a healthy life. Then in 1921, Canadian scientists Frederick G Banting and Charles H. Best successfully purified insulin from a dog’s pancreas. Over the years scientists made continual improvements in producing insulin. In 1936. researchers found a way to make insulin with a slower release in the blood. They added a protein found in fish sperm, protamine, which the body breaks down slowly. One injection lasted 36 hours. Another breakthrough came in 1950 when researchers produced a type of insulin that acted slightly faster and does not remain in the bloodstream as long. In the 1970’s, researchers began to try and produce an insulin that more mimicked how the body’s natural insulin worked: releasing a small amount of insulin all day with surges occurring at mealtimes.

Researchers continued to improve insulin but the basic production method remained the same for decades. Insulin was extracted from the pancreas of cattle and pigs and purified. The chemical structure of insulin in these animals is only slightly different than human insulin, which is why it functions so well in the human body. (Although some people had negative immune system or allergic reactions.) Then in the early 1980’s biotechnology revolutionized insulin synthesis. Researchers had already decoded the chemical structure of insulin in the midi 1950’s. They soon determined the exact location of the insulin gene at the top of chromosome 11. By 1977, a research team had spliced a rat insulin gene into a bacterium that then produced insulin.

ISC Class 12 Biotechnology Previous Year Question Papers

ISC Geography Previous Year Question Paper 2011 Solved for Class 12

PART-I (Compulsory)
Answer all questions.

Question 1. [20]
(i) Mention two differences between the Peninsular Plateau and the Himalayas.
(ii) Identify any four of the features marked A-E in the diagram given below

(iii) (a) Mention the typical characteristic feature of Tropical Deciduous forests.
(b) Name two important varieties of trees growing in these forests.
(iv) State two reasons to explain why pruning is important for tea plants.
(v) Discuss two demerits of tube well irrigation.
(vi) (a) What are the climatic conditions required for the cultivation of coffee in India ?
(b) Which state leads in the production of coffee ?
(vii) Give two reasons to explain why the use of renewable power resources is on the rise.
(viii) What is meant by ‘intensity of cropping ’ ? Name the state with the highest index of intensity and the state with the lowest index of intensity.
(ix) The Chhota Nagpur Industrial Region is also known as the ‘Ruhr of India’. Give two reasons to explain why ?
(x) Why is India share international tourism regstering as a slow growth ?
Answer:
(i)

Peninsular plateau	Himalayas
(1) It is a triangular shaped plateau or table land.	It is an arc shaped chain of fold mountains formed due to tectonic uplift.
(2) It is seasonal.	Himalayas are perennial.

(ii) A – Arbian sea
D – Deccan plateau
B – Moist Ascending Winds
E – Eastern Ghats
C – Western Ghats

(iii) (a) Typical characteristic feature of Tropical Deciduous forests are :

1. These forests are found in areas receiving 100 – 200 cm of annual rainfall.
2. These trees shed their leaves in the beginning of summer season due to shortage of water.
3. Although the trees shed their leaves in summer, each species has its own time. As a result, the forests never look absolutely bare at any time. These forests are quite dense with an undergrowth of creepers.

(b) Sal and Teak.

(iv) Regular pruning is done to keep the shrubs at the required height of 1 m to facilitate plucking and the growth of new shoots with softer leaves.

(v) Two demerits of tube well irrigation are :

1. Wells dry up during the dry summers and fail to provide water.
2. As tubewells can draw out larger quantities of water, largescale depletion of ground Water takes place, the groundwater level or the water table goes down.

(vi) (a) Coffee plant requires hot and humid climate with 15°C to 30°C and 150-200 cm rainfall. Frost is injurious to the growth of coffee plants.
(b) Karnataka.

(vii) Use of renewable power resources is on the rise because:

1. Exhaustible resources such as coal, mineral oil, etc., are fund or stock resources with limited to time-span which will not last long.
2. Non-conventional energy resources are cost efficient in the long run as the material cost is nil.

(viii) Intensity of cropping refers to the number of crops raised on a field during an agricultural year.

The total cropped area as a percentage of the net sown area gives a measure of cropping intensity. The state with the highest index of intensity is Punjab and lowest index of intensity is Mizoram.

(ix) The Chota Nagpur industrial region is also known as the ‘Ruhr of India’ because :

• Different types of minerals like coal, iron ore, bauxite, mica, etc., are available in this region.
• The availability of different types of minerals have helped in the development of different types of mineral based industries like iron and steel industry, etc.

(x) The reasons for the slow growth of India’s share in international tourism are as follows:

• The lack of development of an integrated infrastructure consisting of national highway, railways, hotel accommodations, etc.
• Spread of epidemic diseases like swine flue, bird flue etc.

Question 2. [10]
On the outline map of India provided :
(a) Mark and name the oldest mountain range.
(b) Print HP over an area of high pressure in winter.
(c) Trace the course of and name the river which has mineral oil reserves in its basin.
(d) Locate and name a nuclear power station south of the Tropic of Cancer.
(e) Draw the North-South Corridor and mark the terminal towns.
(f) Mark and name the urban center which has registered the largest population growth in recent years.
(g) Mark and name the port which is hit by cyclones in the months of October and November.
(h) Shade and name the Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region.
(i) Shade and name the Chhattisgarh Planning Region.
(j) Mark and name the center which has an oil refinery belonging to the joint sector.
Answer:

PART-II
Answer any four questions

Question 3.
(a) (i) Name the sea, the sediments of which now form the Himalayas. [3]
(ii) During which geological era, were the Deccan Traps formed ?
(iii) The volcanic activity during the era mentioned in (ii) above, led to two great events. Name the events.
(b) Mention two differences between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands. [2]
(c) Mention two reasons for the ‘break’ in monsoons. [2]
(d) Give three reasons why various Social Forestry Programmes were started in India. [3]
Answer:
(a) (i) Tethys
(ii) In the Mesozoic Era (about 70 million . years ago).
(iii) 1. The break up of Gondawana landmass.
2. The uplift of the himalayas out of the Tethys sea

(b)

Andaman and Nicobar	Lakshadweep
(i) Andaman and Nicobar islands are located in Bay of Bengal between 6°- 14° N and 92° – 94° E longitudes.	Lakshadweep is located in Arabian sea and extends from 8° N to 12° 30′ N latitudes and 70°E to 71°E longitude.
(ii) The Andaman and Nicobar islands are cluster of islands quite bigger than Lakshadweeps. Andaman has around 200 Islands and Nicobar has 19.	It is an archipelago comprising twelve atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks with an area of 1-2 sq. km only.

(c) Two reasons for the ‘break’ in monsoon are:

1. Failure of the tropical depression.
2. Dislocation of the monsoon trough (ITCZ) over North India.

(d) Three reasons for starting various social forestry programmes in India are as follows:

1. To reduce pressure on the traditional forests by developing plantations of fuel wood, fodder and grasses.
2. For the afforestation of barren lands, aimed at helping in environmental and social and rural development.
3. Community forestry involves the raising of trees on public or community lands aimed at providing benefit to the community as a whole. The protection of the plantation is primarily the responsibility of the community as a whole.

Question 4.
(a) Explain the following :
(i) The year 1921 is known as the ‘demographic divide’. [4]
(ii) The period during the years 1951-1981 is often referred to as the period of ‘population explosion’.
(b) State three differences between compact settlements and dispersed settlements. [3]
(c) Give three positive consequences of migration. [3]
Answer:
(a) (i) According to the population estimates of India, till 1871, Indian’s population recorded a modest growth. Since then the population has been increasing consistently. However, in 1921, population growth declined to 0.30% caused by large-scale deaths caused by diseases like influenza, plague, cholera etc. This is why 1921 is called the ‘demographic divide’.

(ii) During 1921-1951, the population of India increased from 251 million to 361 million, registering a growth rate 47.3%. During 1951¬1981, the population nearly doubled from 361 million to 683 million, a growth rate of 89.2%. In 2001, the population stood at 1027 million registering a growth rate of about 50%. This is why the period from 1951-1981 is referred to as the period of population explosion.

(b)

Compact Settlement	Dispersed Settlement
(i) It is usually found in fertile plains of river valleys.	It is found in mountainous highlands, ridges, forested areas and deserts and semi­deserts.
(ii) Main occupation is agriculture.	Main occupation is cattle rearing, lumbering, etc.
(iii) The houses are located adjacent to each other and form a compact block.	The houses are located at a distance from each other.

(c) Positive consequences of migration are as follows:

• Economic in Nature : Remittances, both from international and internal migrants, to their families home add to the economic prosperity.
• Social in Nature : Migrants are agents of social change, as they bring with them new ideas. Migrations helps in the intermixing of diverse cultures. It widens the mental horizons of people.
• Rural to urban migration also helps in urban development.

Question 5.
(a) Despite tank irrigation being a simple form of irrigation, it is not used by all farmers. Explain why. [3]
(b) (i) Today, the need to conserve water resources has become greater that ever. Explain. [3]
(ii) Mention two steps that need to be undertaken for the conservation of water resources.
(c) Give two demerits of canal irrigation. [2]
(d) Mention two methods by which the problem of limited agricultural land may be solved.
Answer:
(a) Tank irrigation is not used by all farmers because:

• Only limited area can be irrigated.
• Most tanks dry up in the dry season when water is most needed.
• Tanks cover large areas of cultivable land. In many areas, other sources of irrigation have been adopted and the dry beds of the tanks have been reclaimed for agriculture.

(b) (i) The need to conserve water has become greater in recent times because of growing population pressure which has resulted in the depletion and pollution of the groundwater.
(ii) Developing water saving technologies and encouraging watershed development, rainwater -harvesting, reuse and recycling of water should be undertaken for the conservation of water.

(c) Two demerits of canal irrigation are :

1. Farmers tend to flood their fields with water with the intention of getting a bumper crop. They also wish to get the maximum benefit from the money they have spent to use the facility of canal irrigation.
2. Marshy areas near canals become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

(d) Two methods by which the problem of limited agricultural land may be solved are :

1. By reducing the extent and frequency of fallow land by the use of fertilizers, irrigation, crop rotation and combination.
2. Green revolution / Intensive agricultural method.

Question 6.
(a) Mention three ways in which technology has benefited agriculture. [3]
(b) (i) What geographical conditions are required for the growth of wheat? [4]
(ii) Compare wheat cultivation in India and China-with reference to the varieties grown.
(c) Why is mica used in the electrical and electronic industry? [1]
(d) Mention two problems affecting the fishing industry in Bangladesh. [2]
Answer:
(a) Change in technology in Indian agriculture started in 1960s with the introduction of high yielding variety of seeds, fertilizers and mechanisation. These modern inputs require assured water supply to the crops.
The four modern inputs are as follows :

1. High Yielding Variety of Seeds:
HYV seeds are the product of modem technology. It has increased the yield per hectare tremendously. Now, HYV seeds are used in almost every crop. New HYV of seeds for wheat and rice were brought to India from Mexico and Philippines respectively. HYV seeds for jowar and maize were also introduced. The use of HYV seeds increased the production of crops phenomenally. In 1966 – 67, area under HYV of seeds was only 1.89 million hectares and increased to 71.3 million hectares in 1994 – 95. In 2001, 90.6 percent of total wheat cropped area is under HYVs.

Example of HYV seeds are :
Wheat: Kalyansona, Sonalika.
Rice: IR – 36, IR – 58.

2. Fertilizers:
The use of fertilizers is an important factor of modern technological inputs in the agricultural field. The production and consumption of fertilizers has increased many fold after the independence. The consumption of fertilizers was only 760 thousand tones of nutrients in 1965-66. It rose to an all times high of 18,069 thousand tones nutrients in 1990-2000.

3. Modern Equipment’s of Agriculture:
The modern equipments of agriculture have made the agriculture productive and easy.

4. Irrigation:
The supply of water for irrigation through canals or tube wells has increased the production of crops and has also led to the increase in net cropped area

(b) (i) The cultivation of wheat requires a temperature of 10°C while sowing and 15°C- 20°C during repening. Average annual rainfall of 50-70 cm is also suitable for the cultivation of crops.
(ii) In India, wheat is a Rabi crop-therefore, winter wheat is grown whereas in China both winter and spring wheat are grown.

(c) Mica has insulating properties which can withstand high voltage and has low power loss factor. This has made mica useful in the electrical and electronic industry.

(d) Two problems affecting fishing industry in Bangladesh are :

• The cyclonic storms which originate in the Bay of Bengal pose a serious threat to the fisherman.
• Traditional and inefficient methods used for fishing poses a limitation for the expansion of the fishing industry.

Question 7.
(a) Give three reasons to explain why there is a dense network of railways over the North Indian Plains. [3]
(b) (i) Mention two demerits of road transport. [3]
(ii) Name the terminal towns of:
1. National Highway Number 1.
2. National Highway Number 2.
(c) Pipelines are a very convenient mode of transportation, yet there are difficulties in using them. Enumerate two difficulties in using pipelines as a mode of transport. [2]
(d) What is Telecommunication? What are the main components of Telecommunication? [2]
Answer:
(a) Dense network of railways are found over North Indian plains for the following reasons:

• This is a plain area which is suitable for the construction of railways.
• This densely populated region has highly developed agricultural and industry.
• Large scale urbanisation has also helped in the development of railways.

(b) (i) Two demerits of road transport are :

1. Roadways are not suitable for long distance travel.
2. Heavy commodities like coal and iron cannot be easily transported by roads.

(ii) 1. National Highway 1 links Delhi and Amritsar.
2. National Highway 2 links Delhi and Kolkata.

(c) Two difficulties in using pipelines are as follows:

• Underground pipelines can not be easily repaired and detection of leakage is also difficult.
• Its capacity cannot be increased once it is laid.

(d) Telecommunication is the modem device for the communication at individual and mass level. It has facilitated the communication of messages within a short span of time. It consists of transmission of word messages and ideas.
The main components of telecommunication are telegraph, telephone, fax, radio, television and internet.

Question 8.
(a) Mention two advantages of mini cement plants. [1]
(b) (i) The availability of which two factors, determines the localisation of the aluminium industry? [3]
(ii) Name two products made from aluminium.
(c) (i) What is the difference between foot loose and ‘key’ industries? [3]
(ii) Give one example of each of the industries mentioned in (i) above.
(d) (i) Name the agro-based industry located near the Deccan Trap region. [3]
(ii) Mention two important factors responsible for the location of the industry, in the above mentioned region.
Answer:
(a) Two advantages of mini cement plants are :

• It provides employment to the rural mass.
• It makes cement easily available in remote and inaccessible areas.

(b) (i) Availability of bauxite and coke determines the localisation of the aluminium industry.
(ii) Railway coaches and defence accessories are the two products.

(c) (i) A footloose industry is an industry which can be located anywhere like electronics, garments manufacturing, etc. Proximity to the location of raw material is not required. A key industry is one that can be located in the areas of location of raw materials like iron and steel. A key industry is the mother of all the industries.
(ii) Footloose industry : e.g. computer chips industry.
Key Industry : e.g. Iron and steel industry.

(d) (i) Cotton textile industry.
(ii) 1. Cheap HEP is readily available from the region of western ghats.
2. Humid climate helps prevent the breaking of the yarn/thread.

Question 9.
(a) What is multi-level planning ? What are the advantages of this type of planning ? [3]
(b) (i) What is a planning region ?
(ii) Mention any two characteristics of a planning region. [2]
(c) What factors have led to the emergence of Bengaluru as the ‘Electronic Capital’ of India ? [3]
(d) (i) What is the significance of the coal deposits of Chhattisgarh ?
(ii) Which country import the iron ore deposits of Chhattisgarh ? [2]
Answer:
(a) Multi-level planning as an approach that aims at planning for the development and optimal utilization of resources of the local agencies or units of administration.
The advantages are :

• Optimum utilisation of resources.
• Fulfilment of the basic needs of the people.

(b) (i) A planning region refers to an area which is the main focus of efficient placement of infrastructure and zoning for sustainable growth.
(ii) Two characteristics of a planning region are:

1. It aims to promote environmental, social and economic issues of a region.
2. It aims at optimum utilisation of resources.

(c) Bengaluru is the electronic capital of India because:

• Availability of skilled and trained worker.
• Readily available quality research and development institutions.
• Development of various electronic industries like the Indian Telephone Industries. The Electronics Corporation of India, Bharat Electronics, etc.

(d) (i) They are used in the iron and steel industries of Eastern India and also a major item of export.
(ii) China.

ISC Class 12 Geography Previous Year Question Papers

Download ISC Specimen Papers 2020 Solved for Class 12 Biology and Marking Scheme PDF. Here we have given ISC Biology Question Papers 2020 Solved. Students can view or download the Specimen Papers for ISC 2020 with Answers Class 12 Biology for their upcoming examination.

These ISC Board Sample Papers are useful to understand the pattern of questions asked in the board exam. Know about the important concepts to be prepared for ISC Class 12 Biology board exam and Score More marks.

Board – Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), www.cisce.org
Class – Class 12
Subject – Biology
Year of Examination – 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017.

ISC Class 12 Biology Specimen Papers Solved

www.cisce.org ISC Sample Papers for Class 12 Biology are part of ISC Specimen Papers Solved for Class 12 Here we have given ISC Class 12 Biology Sample Question Papers for Class 12 Biology.

Year of Examination	ISC Biology Question Paper
2018	Download PDF (Theory) Download PDF (Practical)
2017	Download PDF (Theory) Download PDF (Practical)

Last 10 Years ISC Question Papers Class 12 Biology Solved

• ISC Biology Question Paper 2019 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2018 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2017 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2016 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2015 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2014 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2013 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2012 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2011 Solved
• ISC Biology Question Paper 2010 Solved

The above ISC Model Paper for Class 12 Biology is the official sample paper released by ISC Board as per latest syllabus of Class 12 Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, India.

We hope the ISC Specimen Papers for Class 12 Biology, help you. If you have any query regarding ISC Class 12 Biology Question Papers Solved, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

Download ISC Specimen Papers 2020 Solved for Class 12 Political Science and Marking Scheme PDF. Here we have given ISC Political Science Question Papers 2020 Solved. Students can view or download the Specimen Papers for ISC 2020 with Answers Class 12 Political Science for their upcoming examination.

These ISC Board Sample Papers are useful to understand the pattern of questions asked in the board exam. Know about the important concepts to be prepared for ISC Class 12 Political Science board exam and Score More marks.

Board – Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), www.cisce.org
Class – Class 12
Subject – Political Science
Year of Examination – 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017.

ISC Class 12 Political Science Specimen Papers Solved

www.cisce.org ISC Sample Papers for Class 12 Political Science are part of ISC Specimen Papers Solved for Class 12 Here we have given ISC Class 12 Political Science Sample Question Papers for Class 12 Political Science.

Year of Examination	ISC Political Science Question Paper
2020	Download PDF
2017	Download PDF

Last 10 Years ISC Question Papers Class 12 Political Science Solved

• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2019 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2018 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2017 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2016 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2015 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2014 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2013 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2012 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2011 Solved
• ISC Political Science Question Paper 2010 Solved

The above ISC Model Paper for Class 12 Political Science is the official sample paper released by ISC Board as per latest syllabus of Class 12 Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, India.

We hope the ISC Specimen Papers for Class 12 Political Science, help you. If you have any query regarding ISC Class 12 Political Science Question Papers Solved, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.