UPPCS Prelims 2023: questions with answers

Budget 2023-24 announced 30 Skill India International Centres to skill youth for global opportunities.

Khan Bahadur Khan led the revolt at Bareilly; Hazrat Mahal led at Lucknow, Nana Saheb at Kanpur and Kunwar Singh in Bihar.

The Donets Basin (Donbas) around Donetsk is Ukraine's main coal region.

New Zealand's Smokefree 2025 goal aimed to cut smoking prevalence below 5% by 2025. (The generational ban law was later repealed in 2024.)

Tribunals are in Part XIV-A (Arts. 323A-B); Part XI deals with Union-State relations.

Article 343(2) allowed English for official purposes for 15 years from 1950.

Nepenthes (pitcher plant) traps insects; Nelumbo is lotus, Nyctanthes is harsingar and Nicotiana is tobacco.

A watershed (drainage basin) collects precipitation, stores it and releases it through a common outlet.

Gunnar Myrdal wrote 'The Challenge of World Poverty' (1970).

Article 20 protects against ex-post facto laws, double jeopardy and self-incrimination; torture is not expressly mentioned.

Milindapanho records the dialogue between Indo-Greek king Menander (Milinda) and the monk Nagasena.

Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

Mirat-i-Sikandari - Gujarat; Burhan-i-Maasir - Ahmadnagar/Bahmani; Riyaz-us-Salatin - Bengal; Riyaz-ul-Insha - letters of Mahmud Gawan.

The first census in India was conducted between 1865 and 1872 and is dated to 1872 (listed as 1871 in the options); the first synchronous census was in 1881. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Economic activities generate income; voluntary social service is unpaid, so it is non-economic.

India slipped to 132nd of 191 in HDR 2021-22; a lower rank number is better, so going from 130/131 to 132 is a slip.

Meira Kumar became the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 2009.

Under Article 243A the Gram Sabha's powers are conferred by the State Legislature, not the Centre.

The World Social Protection Report is an ILO flagship publication.

NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a joint earth-observation satellite of NASA and ISRO.

Article 243K vests conduct of panchayat elections in the State Election Commission.

Lotic ecosystems have flowing water (rivers, streams); ponds and lakes are lentic.

Moderna's mRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine; Sinovac is inactivated, Sputnik is viral vector, Novavax is protein subunit.

Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (Budshah) abolished jizya and banned cow slaughter as part of his tolerant policy.

INS Vagir, the fifth Kalvari (Scorpene) class submarine, was commissioned on 23 January 2023.

Great Sandy (~285,000 sq km) < Gobi (~1.3 million) < Arabian (~2.3 million) < Sahara (~9 million).

Brown seaweeds (kelp) concentrate iodine and were historically its main source.

The Water Act was passed in 1974 and set up the CPCB and SPCBs.

National parks conserve species in their natural habitat, i.e. in-situ conservation.

The Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission was launched in February 2016, not 2015.

The Reserve Bank of Australia announced the new $5 note would carry an Indigenous design instead of the monarch.

El Nino brings warm water off Peru, but it suppresses upwelling and so reduces plankton and fish catch.

The UP Kisan Sabha (February 1918) was founded by Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narayan Dwivedi with Madan Mohan Malaviya's support.

The 1912 bomb attack on Lord Hardinge was planned by Rash Behari Bose and Basanta Kumar Biswas, who were associated with the Anushilan Samiti. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashed near Pokhara on 15 January 2023.

Anuradha Roy won the 2022 Sahitya Akademi Award (English) for 'All the Lives We Never Lived'.

States were allowed a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of GSDP; total expenditure was Rs 45 lakh crore, the 2025-26 target below 4.5%, and interest-free loans were for 50 years.

The Health Ministry got about Rs 89,155 crore in 2023-24; DHR got about Rs 2,980 crore and PMJAY about Rs 7,200 crore.

Article 71(2): acts done on or before the date of the SC's decision are not invalidated, so acts on the day itself also remain valid.

The revolt at Jhansi broke out on 4-5 June 1857, not 11 May.

Joseph Ratzinger (d. 31 Dec 2022) was German and in 2013 became the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Tappa was refined by Shori Miyan in the court of Muhammad Shah 'Rangila'.

Xylem conducts water and minerals; phloem carries food.

Salinity peaks near the tropics (high evaporation, low rain). Tides recur about every 12h 25m, Benguela is in the Atlantic, and alignment gives spring (high) tides.

India ranked 10th in the GHG emissions category of the Climate Change Performance Index 2022-23 context used by the commission. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Peptic ulcer - bacterium (H. pylori); dengue - virus; elephantiasis - filarial worm; malaria - Plasmodium protozoan.

Bhagadugha was the collector of the king's share (bhaga) of produce, i.e. the revenue officer.

Silk is a protein fibre (fibroin), and proteins contain nitrogen.

Home Rule (1916), Jallianwala Bagh (1919), Khilafat (1919-20), Moplah revolt (1921).

GSI reported 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium in Reasi (Feb 2023), and India imports almost all its lithium, nickel and cobalt.

Using resources with minimum degradation so future generations are not harmed is sustainable development.

Under Article 124(2)(a) an SC judge resigns by writing to the President.

Hamida Banu Begum was Humayun's wife and Akbar's mother.

Environment protection appears in Article 48A (DPSP) and Article 51A(g) (Fundamental Duty).

MGNREGS fell about 33% from 2022-23 RE. The biggest percentage rise among major schemes was PM Awas Yojana (about 66%), not Jal Jeevan Mission. (Verify with the official key.)

Optimum population - Edwin Cannan; social mal-adjustment - Henry George; demographic transition - W. S. Thompson; population-food - Malthus.

Pranhita is a major tributary of the Godavari, not the Mahanadi.

The commission treats both statements as correct: recorded forest area is about 12.8% of UP's area, and Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ballia have no forest land. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Laterite forms under intense leaching in hot, wet climates and is rich, not poor, in iron and aluminium oxides.

Charaka Samhita has 120 chapters (adhyayas) in 8 sections (sthanas).

The Economic Survey did not claim that fashion, grocery and general merchandise would capture two-thirds of the e-commerce market by 2030. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Rapid population growth disturbs, not maintains, environmental balance, so R is false while A is true.

Deakin University (Australia) is the first foreign university to set up an independent campus in India, at GIFT City, Gujarat.

Allocation of Rajya Sabha seats is in the Fourth Schedule; the Ninth Schedule protects certain laws.

The Cabinet approved PM POSHAN in September 2021, replacing the Mid-Day Meal scheme.

Many pesticides (e.g. DDT) persist and bioaccumulate; human waste and domestic organic waste break down biologically.

The Chamber of Princes was set up in 1921 under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (Government of India Act 1919).

Plantation agriculture (coconut, sugarcane) in the Philippines grew under Spanish and later American colonial rule.

Shanti Ghosh shot a British magistrate in Comilla in 1931; the others were Quit India heroines.

Igarka is a port on the Yenisei in Siberia, Russia.

The first SCO Film Festival (Mumbai, January 2023) was held under India's SCO chairship and screened films from member states.

Lake Onega is in north-western Russia.

'From Dependence to Self-Reliance: Mapping India's Rise as a Global Superpower' (2022) is credited to Bimal Jalan in most keys. (Low-confidence; verify with the official key.)

Article 32(2) gives the writ power; Article 32(3) lets Parliament empower other courts to exercise it within local limits.

In the 'rupee goes to' chart, subsidies were 7 paise; interest 20, states' share 18 and defence 8 are correct.

Chris Hipkins succeeded Jacinda Ardern as PM on 25 January 2023.

Azolla hosts the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena and is used as a biofertilizer in paddy.

Poverty is classified as absolute, relative and subjective poverty; functional poverty is not a standard type. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Actinium is an actinide metal; radon, krypton and argon are Group 18 noble gases.

Beta cells secrete insulin; alpha cells secrete glucagon.

Sunil Chopra became Mayor of Southwark for the second time in 2022.

Balaji Vishwanath (1713), Bajirao I (1720), Madhav Rao I (1761-72), Narayan Rao (1772-73).

Gangabai is not the author of 'Ganesh Dev Leela'; the other pairs are correct. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

The UNSG issues an annual SDG progress report. The GSDR is produced every four years (quadrennially), not every quarter.

Indo-Greeks (2nd century BCE), Sakas (1st century BCE), then Kushans (1st century CE).

Nevasa - Maharashtra; Isampur - Karnataka; Didwana - Rajasthan; Gudiyam cave - Tamil Nadu.

World Wetlands Day marks the signing of the Ramsar Convention on 2 February 1971.

The Ganga Expressway (Meerut-Prayagraj) is a UP government project under UPEIDA.

The human heart has four chambers: two atria and two ventricles.

Niti and Mana are in Uttarakhand, Aghil is in Ladakh, Diphu is in Arunachal Pradesh.

IBDC is at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, Haryana.

SDG 10 - reduced inequalities; SDG 13 - climate action; SDG 14 - life below water; SDG 15 - life on land.

UP's G20 venues were Varanasi, Agra, Lucknow and Greater Noida; Kanpur was not.

At Devprayag the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi unite to form the Ganga.

Art. 324 - Election Commission; Art. 315 - Public Service Commissions; Art. 280 - Finance Commission; Art. 338 - NCSC.

Yamuna - Yamunotri; Krishna - Mahabaleshwar; Godavari - Trimbakeshwar (Nashik); Mahanadi - Sihawa (Chhattisgarh).

The Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) forms much of the US-Mexico border.

Shivanasamudra on the Kaveri has Asia's first hydroelectric station (1902); Kalpakkam hosts the Madras Atomic Power Station.

PM Modi inaugurated HAL's helicopter factory at Tumakuru, Karnataka on 6 February 2023.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is laughing gas.

UP has 31 Rajya Sabha seats and 80 Lok Sabha seats, the most of any state.

Population and development interact both ways: development changes demographic trends, and population growth affects development.

Zero hunger (SDG 2), good health (SDG 3) and gender equality (SDG 5) are SDGs; space research is not.

The Hangul (Kashmir stag) survives mainly in Dachigam National Park, J&K.

India's first National Centre for Marine Biodiversity was set up at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Article 98(1) allows common posts for both Houses, and Article 98(2) lets Parliament regulate recruitment and conditions of service.

India's G20 logo shows Earth on a seven-petalled lotus; the petals represent the seven continents.

The kharitadar handled the kharita (royal letter bag), i.e. despatching royal decrees and letters.

Azizuddin Khani translated the Nagarkot (Jwalamukhi) manuscripts into Persian as Dalail-i-Firozshahi.

BOD measures oxygen needed by microbes to decompose organic matter in water, a key water-pollution index.

The FC has a chairman and four members and reports to the President (Article 281).

The Rani of Jhansi Regiment was led by Captain Lakshmi Sehgal.

The key gives 2070 as the year for population stabilisation (NPP 2000 set 2045, but projections later shifted the stabilisation year). (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

The Coromandel coast lies parallel to the Bay of Bengal branch and in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, so it stays relatively dry in June-September.

The Ramganga joins the Ganga near Kannauj; the Betwa joins the Yamuna near Hamirpur, not Prayagraj.

The SPI for States and Districts (EAC-PM, Dec 2022) placed Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Goa at the top.

Agenda 21 is the Rio action plan for sustainable development in the 21st century.

Each step of a food chain (producers, herbivores, carnivores) is a trophic level.

Zahawi was dismissed as Conservative Party chairman over his undisclosed tax dispute with HMRC.

Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary (1957) is in Chandauli district.

Xericoles are animals adapted to dry (xeric) desert habitats.

Under Article 76 the AG must be qualified to be an SC judge but holds office during the pleasure of the President, so no impeachment-like process applies.

12 cheetahs came from South Africa in February 2023 because restoring the cheetah population is a priority for India under Project Cheetah. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Sudarshan Prahar was conducted by the Sudarshan Chakra Corps in the Rajasthan desert.

Habitat loss and fragmentation is the leading cause of biodiversity loss.

Under Article 3 a Bill needs the President's recommendation after referring it to the state legislature; the state's views are not binding. Both true, but R does not explain A.

First meeting (9 Dec 1946), Drafting Committee (29 Aug 1947), adoption (26 Nov 1949), commencement (26 Jan 1950).

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen announced extending conscription from four months to one year from 2024.

Article 79 makes the President part of Parliament precisely because the legislative process is completed only by his assent (Art. 111).

Hawkins reached India in 1608 (not 1611), and the key treats statement 2 as incorrect too. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Article 171: Council strength cannot exceed one-third of the Assembly's strength and cannot be less than 40.

M.M. Keeravani composed 'Naatu Naatu' (RRR), which won the Golden Globe and the Oscar in 2023.

Only the Anuthee Uphar scheme is a UP scheme among the options. (As per the official UPPSC answer key.)

Joint sittings are under Article 108 (not 109), and the Lok Sabha Speaker presides (Article 118(4)).

Ashok Mehta recommended a two-tier system (Zila Parishad and Mandal Panchayat) with the district, not the block, as the first point of decentralisation.

Alamgirpur (Meerut, UP) marks the easternmost limit; Manda (J&K) marks the northern limit.

The 2022-23 theme (17 October) was 'Dignity for All in Practice'.

Diphtheria (and tetanus) vaccines are toxoids, i.e. inactivated bacterial toxins.

Periyar joined the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Vaikom satyagraha, then left the Congress in 1925 to launch the Self-Respect Movement.

Kilimanjaro - Tanzania; Toubkal - Morocco; Mt Stanley (Rwenzori) - Uganda/DR Congo; Hoggar (Ahaggar) - Algeria.

Non-conventional sources such as solar, wind and biomass are renewable.

149 stations in UP were identified under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, the highest for any state.

The ozone layer lies in the stratosphere, about 15-35 km up.

Earth's rotation produces the Coriolis force, deflecting winds right in the NH and left in the SH (Ferrel's law).

JSY (2005) promotes institutional deliveries to reduce both maternal and neonatal mortality.

PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan was launched on 13 October 2021; Budget 2022-23 described its seven engines and alignment of NIP projects.

The Vishnu Purana is a key source on the Mauryas, and the Vayu Purana describes early Gupta territory and rule.

Nyaya - Gautama. Kapila founded Sankhya, Kanada Vaisheshika, Patanjali Yoga and Jaimini Purva Mimamsa.

Mount Newman in the Pilbara, Western Australia, is a major iron ore mining centre.

'Spare' (January 2023) is Prince Harry's memoir.