UPPCS Prelims 2024: उत्तर सहित प्रश्न

Balaji Vishwanath (1713-20), Balaji Baji Rao (1740-61), Narayan Rao (1772-73), Raghunath Rao (1773-74).

Ancient texts and the Periplus mention many river-ports (Tamralipti, Pratishthana, etc.) and great entrepots handling goods and traffic.

Hemanta Sena (founder), Vijaya Sena, Ballala Sena and Lakshmana Sena.

Akbar conferred the title Khan-i-Khanan on Bairam Khan when appointing him Vakil (regent/chief minister) in 1556, so statement 2 is incorrect.

Census 2011: UP 19.98 crore > Bihar 10.4 crore > West Bengal 9.13 crore > undivided Andhra Pradesh 8.46 crore.

HDR - UNDP; World Economic Outlook - IMF; World Investment Report - UNCTAD; Emissions Gap Report - UNEP.

PMRY (1993), REGP (1995), PMGY (2000-01) and VAMBAY (2001).

Gunnar Myrdal - Economic Theory and Under-developed Regions (1957); Hirschman - The Strategy of Economic Development (1958); Kaldor - Strategic Factors in Economic Development (1967); Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations (1776).

Abundant resources allow more species to coexist, so species number rises rather than falls when resources are sufficient.

Simlipal - Odisha; Nokrek - Meghalaya; Agasthyamalai - Kerala (and TN); Manas - Assam.

Science rests on commitment to ideals such as objectivity and verification, and honesty in reporting data is essential to its credibility.

The taxonomic hierarchy runs Kingdom > Phylum/Division > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species.

The Justice Party (1916, Madras) attacked the Congress as Brahmin-dominated and demanded separate/communal representation for non-Brahmins like that given to Muslims in 1909.

Provincial WPPs of 1925-27 were brought together as an all-India party (1927-28), working within the Congress to radicalise it. (The all-India conference was in December 1928; verify with the official key.)

East India Association (1866), National Indian Association (1870, Mary Carpenter), Indian Society (1872, London), Indian Association (1876, Calcutta).

UK parliamentary delegation (January 1946), RIN revolt (18 February 1946), Cabinet Mission announced (19 February 1946), Interim Government (2 September 1946).

Malabari campaigned for the Act, but Tilak opposed it as interference in Hindu social customs.

Powerful Deshmukhs such as the Mores of Javli preferred to remain Bijapur's vassals, so they opposed Shivaji's independent state.

The 2024 mass bleaching was caused by a marine heatwave that raised sea-surface temperatures about 2 degrees C above normal.

Scholars trace Ashoka's Dhamma to Buddhist texts such as the Rahulovada sutta; Rock Edict V says Dhamma-mahamatras were created 13 years after consecration, i.e. in the 14th year. (Verify with the official key.)

Article 155 deals with the appointment of the Governor, not removal; Article 156 covers term of office.

Article 59(1) bars the President from being a member of either House, and Article 79 says Parliament consists of the President and the two Houses.

Under Article 368 an amendment Bill can be introduced only in either House of Parliament; states and the President cannot initiate it.

Presiding officers are elected by the Houses themselves, and local body polls are run by State Election Commissions; none is an ECI function.

Block-level planning was the Dantwala Committee (1978); G.V.K. Rao (1985) dealt with administrative arrangements for rural development. Dantwala also reviewed RRBs (rural credit) in 1977.

Succession goes nudation, migration, ecesis (establishment), aggregation/competition, reaction and stabilisation (climax).

Warmer air can hold more moisture, so RH falls as temperature rises; more evaporation adds vapour, raising absolute humidity. Both true but unrelated.

A pycnocline is a layer of rapid density change in the ocean; the thermocline relates to water temperature and the halocline to salinity.

Carl Sauer proposed agricultural (planting) hearths; cryophyte steppe is Arctic tundra vegetation; Adolf Engler classified world floral regions; the Puszta is Hungary's grassland.

Muri (Hindalco's alumina refinery) is in Jharkhand, not Chhattisgarh.

Pin Valley National Park is in Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.

The continuing northward push of the Indian plate into Eurasia keeps uplifting the Himalayas.

Hutar - Jharkhand; Ib River - Odisha; Tatapani-Ramkola - Chhattisgarh; Umaria - Madhya Pradesh.

UBDC is fed by the Ravi (Madhopur); Sirhind Canal by the Sutlej (Ropar); Gurgaon Canal by the Yamuna; the Indira Gandhi Canal draws Sutlej-Beas (and Ravi via link) water from Harike.

Bihar's share of national rice output is only about 5-6%, not 15.7%. West Bengal grows aus, aman and boro; UP has the largest rice area in recent years; the 100 cm isohyet marks rice's western limit.

Cotton is sown in the kharif season and grows best with 50-75 cm (up to ~100 cm) rainfall, high temperature and frost-free days.

Red soils cover about 18% of India, second after alluvial soils, and fringe the black-soil region on the south, east and north. Both true, but R does not explain A.

Kanchipuram is ancient, Jaisalmer medieval (1156), Kodaikanal a colonial hill station and Bhilai a post-independence steel town.

Mango showers occur along the Kerala-Karnataka coast, blossom (coffee) showers in Kerala/Karnataka, Norwesters (Kalbaisakhi) in West Bengal and Loo over the northern plains from Punjab to Bihar.

Khartoum is the capital of Sudan; Ethiopia's capital is Addis Ababa.

Planning Commission's Upper Gangetic Plains region covers central and western UP, with irrigation intensity of about 131% and cropping intensity of about 144%.

Debsa ~5360 m, Rohtang ~3978 m, Bara-lacha La ~4850 m, Banihal ~2832 m.

Jute is native to the Indian subcontinent (Bengal delta), and is sown in spring (Feb-June) and harvested July-October. Both true, but R does not explain A.

Devanabhatta - Smriti Chandrika; Hemadri - Chaturvarga Chintamani; Madhavacharya - Parashara Madhaviya; Ballala Sena - Dana Sagara.

Political fragmentation among Rajput kingdoms prevented a united defence, a key reason for Turkish success.

India hosted the 2nd VOGSS in November 2023 (a 3rd followed in August 2024). 'Global South' refers to developing countries, so statement 2 is wrong.

IPCC AR6 stresses deep, rapid and sustained emission cuts to limit warming to 1.5-2 degrees C.

Yield is output per unit area (e.g. kg per hectare), not total production.

PLFS quarterly urban unemployment fell from about 8.4% (Jul-Sep 2019) to 7.2% (Jul-Sep 2022).

The global MPI is published jointly by OPHI and UNDP.

The Brundtland Report (1987) is 'Our Common Future'; 'The Limits to Growth' (1972) was a Club of Rome report.

World Heritage Day 18 April, International Day of Light 16 May, World Thyroid Day 25 May, World No Tobacco Day 31 May.

Gopi Thotakura flew on Blue Origin NS-25 (first Indian space tourist); Dipa Karmakar won vault gold at the 2024 Asian Championships; Aroh Barjatya led NASA's APEP eclipse study; Dev Patel directed Monkey Man.

Singapore was the top FDI source in 2023-24. The 2016 amendment to the India-Mauritius DTAA removed capital-gains benefits and shifted routing to Singapore. (Verify with the official key.)

R21/Matrix-M is a WHO-recommended malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India.

Anasuya Sengupta won best actress in Un Certain Regard for 'The Shameless', the first Indian to do so.

RudraM-II is an air-to-surface missile, test-fired from a Su-30MKI off the Odisha coast on 29 May 2024.

Nauseda - Lithuania; Luong Cuong - Vietnam; Halla Tomasdottir - Iceland; Jose Raul Mulino - Panama.

Intertrappean beds are freshwater lake deposits with fossils of freshwater plants and animals, not marine ones.

Jet streams (noticed by WWII pilots) are mainly high-altitude westerlies, so A is false; they can reach speeds of about 300-500 km/h.

Pyrenees separate Spain and France; the Alps are in Switzerland; the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria; the Apennines in Italy.

Organisms living on land are terrestrial.

The atlas-axis joint is a pivot joint that allows the head to rotate.

'Pathogen' is the general term for any disease-causing microorganism; bacteria, protozoa and archaea include many harmless forms.

Milk is an emulsion of fat droplets dispersed in water.

Baking soda is sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO3.

CPR = Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Pulmonary veins bring oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium.

Diabetes mellitus results from inadequate insulin from the pancreatic beta cells or resistance to it.

COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Average speed = total distance / total time = 2d / (d/v1 + d/v2) = 2v1v2/(v1 + v2), the harmonic mean.

The Ramganga (Kalagarh) dam is about 625.8 m long, not 825.8 m. It generates 198 MW and is in Pauri Garhwal.

India's net sown area (~140 million ha, over half its land) is among the world's largest, and its tropical monsoon climate allows cropping in all seasons. (US arable area is comparable; verify with the official key.)

Devprayag - Alaknanda + Bhagirathi; Rudraprayag - Alaknanda + Mandakini; Karnaprayag - Alaknanda + Pindar; Tehri - Bhagirathi + Bhilangna.

The West European (marine west coast) climate lies in the westerly belt and gets rain throughout the year.

Pontic (northern Turkey) lies furthest west, then Zagros (Iran), Hindu Kush (Afghanistan) and Karakoram.

The Mekong flows generally south/south-east to the South China Sea.

Kashagan is a giant Caspian oilfield in Kazakhstan; Kuwait's major field is Burgan.

In the northern winter the pressure belts shift south, bringing westerlies and winter rain to Mediterranean lands.

The 16 April 2024 encounter (29 Maoists killed) was in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, carried out by the BSF and DRG.

VSSC developed PraVaHa, a CFD tool to simulate airflow and evaluate the many configurations needed in aerodynamic design.

The first BrahMos batteries reached the Philippines in April 2024, but the export variant's range is about 290 km.

The conclave was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, organised by Niti Anusandhan Pratisthan with Indian support.

LUPEX (Chandrayaan-5) is an ISRO-JAXA mission. JAXA provides the rover and H3 launch vehicle, while ISRO builds the lander.

Tamil Nadu's School Education Department issued the GECP in April 2024 to protect students' physical and mental well-being.

Goa-based regional airline FLY91 began operations on 18 March 2024 from Manohar International Airport (Mopa) to Bengaluru.

PMAY-G: 20 Nov 2016; JJM: 15 Aug 2019; SBM-G: 2 Oct 2014; PMUY: 1 May 2016.

HDI combines life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling) and GNI per capita.

SBM (Oct 2014), PMKVY (July 2015), PM Garib Kalyan Yojana (Dec 2016) and Mahila Shakti Kendra (Nov 2017).

Malthus (1798): population grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8...) and food arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4...).

The government cut excise duty on petrol/diesel and customs duties on some imports, and raised (not cut) food and fertiliser subsidies.

PM-SYM: Rs 55-200/month by age; PMJJBY: Rs 436/year; PMSBY: Rs 20/year; APY: contribution depends on the pension amount chosen.

Because income growth alone ignores health, education and welfare, development is defined more broadly as improved living standards.

SDG 4 (quality education) calls for free universal schooling and better, digitally enabled school infrastructure.

Article 19(1)(f) on property was deleted by the 44th Amendment (1978); property is now a legal right under Article 300A.

The 7th Amendment (1956) added a proviso to Article 153 allowing one person to be Governor of two or more states; so A is false.

Under Article 3, Parliament (not the state legislature) alters a state's name; the state legislature only gives its views.

Consolidated Fund - Art. 266; Finance Commission - Art. 280; Financial Emergency - Art. 360; CAG - Art. 148.

Articles 23 (trafficking, forced labour) and 24 (child labour in hazardous work) form the Right against Exploitation; untouchability is Art. 17 and minorities Art. 29-30.

Mouse, keyboard and scanner are input devices; printers, projectors and monitors are output devices.

ROM retains data without power; RAM is volatile.

F = (9/5)C + 32; for example 100 C = 212 F.

The nucleus carries the genetic material and directs cell division, so it is central to cellular reproduction.

Both statements are true; R describes air pollution in general but does not explain the chemistry of acid formation stated in A. (Some keys accept 'a'; verify.)

The 7th JDCC meeting was held in New Delhi in May 2024 and agreed to deepen cooperation in defence industry, maritime security and multilateral fora.

Flying Wedge Defence's FWD-200B, unveiled in 2024, is billed as India's first indigenous bomber UAV with about 100 kg payload.

The first Ind-Aus ECTA Joint Committee meeting (2024), attended by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, was described as a first-of-its-kind review mechanism. (Verify with the official key.)

DUSTLIK: 15-28 April 2024; SHAKTI: 13-26 May 2024; Tiger Triumph harbour phase: 18-25 March 2024; MILAN: 19-27 February 2024.

The Shaksgam (Trans-Karakoram) tract was ceded illegally by Pakistan to China in 1963 and is under Chinese control, not PoK; India protested China's road building there in 2024.

IRDP (1978-80), SGSY (1999), NREGA (2005), PMJDY (2014).

India is a mixed, developing economy; Adam Smith is the father of economics (Keynes is father of modern macroeconomics).

Under a flexible regime, market forces set the rate. The central bank only intervenes; it does not determine demand and supply.

Bank nationalisation (1969), RRBs (1975) and village adoption / service area approach all extended banking to the unbanked.

NFSA 2013 covers up to 75% rural and 50% urban population with special provisions for women and children; it came into force on 5 July 2013, not 2010.

States with higher HDI generally score better on the SDG India Index because both depend heavily on health and education outcomes.

World Bank data for 2022: India (~$111 bn) 1st, Mexico 2nd, China 3rd, Philippines 4th.

Reports on state capex for FY2019-23 placed Uttar Pradesh first, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. (Low-confidence answer; verify with the official key.)

Article 352 covers National Emergency. An emergency situation can arise at any time, but that does not explain what the Article provides.

e-Governance improves transparency, cuts costs and red tape, and increases citizen participation.

Article 320 lists UPSC's functions and Article 321 lets Parliament confer additional functions by law. (Some keys include executive rules; verify.)

Article 340 provides for a commission on backward classes (the NCBC is now under Art. 338B). EC is Art. 324, NCSC Art. 338, FC Art. 280.

Shankari Prasad (1951), Sajjan Singh (1965), Golaknath (1967), Kesavananda Bharati (1973).

42nd - 1976; 52nd (anti-defection) - 1985; 86th (RTE) - 2002; 96th (Odia spelling) - 2011.

Granville Austin - cooperative federalism; Morris-Jones - bargaining federalism; K.C. Wheare - quasi-federal; Ivor Jennings - federation with a strong centralising tendency.

The three tiers were Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad; Nyaya Panchayats are judicial bodies outside the scheme.

The committee is PM, Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, CJI or nominated SC judge, and an eminent jurist; the Rajya Sabha Chairman is not a member.

The CSP was founded in May 1934 at Patna (formally at Bombay in October 1934), and Nehru never formally joined it despite his sympathy.

Sheikh Mubarak died 1593, Faizi 1595, Abul Fazl was murdered 1602 and Prince Daniyal died 1605.

Congress ministries resigned (Oct-Nov 1939), Ramgarh session (March 1940), August Offer (August 1940), Cripps Mission (March 1942).

Hindu Polity - K.P. Jayaswal; The Wonder That Was India - A.L. Basham; An Introduction to the Study of Indian History - D.D. Kosambi; The Early History of India - V.A. Smith.

Moderates believed British rule was providential; so they criticised only its 'un-British' aspects, not the rule itself.

Archbold was Principal of MAO College, Aligarh (1905-09) and later headed Dacca College and Muir Central College; he did not head a Lahore college. (Verify with the official key.)

Nana Fadnavis died 1800, Wellesley was recalled 1805, Vellore Mutiny 1806, Anglo-Nepal War 1814-16.

Paika (1817) - Bakshi Jagabandhu; Bareilly (1816) - Mufti Muhammad Aiwaz; Malabar/Wayanad - Edachena Kunkan; Sylhet (1799) - Radharam.

National Maritime Day 5 April, World Health Day 7 April, World Athletics Day 7 May, World Red Cross Day 8 May.

Aryabhatta Award - Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri; World Literary Prize - Mamta G. Sagar; Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award - Amitabh Bachchan; Goldman Prize - Alok Shukla (Hasdeo forests).

Vitamin A - night blindness; B1 - beriberi; C - scurvy; D - rickets.

Article 350B provides for one Special Officer appointed by the President (not one per state), and it was inserted by the 7th Amendment (1956).

List III has succession (entry 5), adulteration of foodstuffs and other goods (entry 18) and trade and commerce in specified products (entry 33). General trade and commerce is a State subject, so some keys give 'd'; verify.

Justice M. Fathima Beevi (d. Nov 2023) was the first woman SC judge and first Muslim woman in the higher judiciary; she was Governor of Tamil Nadu (1997-2001), not Kerala.

The 2016 National IPR Policy reaffirms commitment to the Doha agenda and TRIPS, and made DIPP (now DPIIT) the nodal agency.

The 73rd (Panchayats) and 74th (Municipalities) Amendments of 1992 constitutionalised local government.

Lallanji Gopal - Economic Life of Northern India; Habib and Nizami - Comprehensive History of India Vol. V; K.S. Lal - History of the Khaljis; Dasharatha Sharma - Early Chauhan Dynasties.

Kunwar Singh led the 1857 revolt in Bihar; Dalhousie refused to recognise Damodar Rao and annexed Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse.

Fa-Hien (c. 399-414), Hiuen Tsang (629-645), I-Tsing (671-695), Al-Biruni (11th century).

Balban's 'blood and iron' centralisation was driven largely by the need for a strong army and state to face Mongol raids.