Which newspaper was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa in 1903?

The correct answer is D, Steatite. Most Harappan seals were carved from steatite, a soft soapstone that hardens when fired.

Steatite is easy to cut, so craftsmen could carve fine animal figures and signs of the Harappan script on it. After carving, the seals were usually coated and heated, which turned the surface hard and white. Thousands of such square seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Lothal; the best known shows a seated figure surrounded by animals, often called the Pashupati seal, and many carry a unicorn-like bull. The seals were probably used to mark goods in trade.

A is wrong: sandstone was used for some sculptures, such as the Harappa torso, not for seals.

B is wrong: lapis lazuli, brought from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, was used for beads and ornaments.

C is wrong: jasper was another bead stone, not the standard seal material.

Exam tip: Harappan seals = steatite; Dancing Girl = bronze; Priest-King = steatite.

The correct answer is B, both statements are true but Statement II does not explain Statement I. The Act provided dyarchy at the Centre and autonomy in the provinces, two separate reforms.

The Government of India Act, 1935 abolished dyarchy in the provinces, which the 1919 Act had begun, and replaced it with provincial autonomy: provinces got responsible governments with ministers answerable to elected legislatures. At the same time it moved dyarchy to the Centre, dividing federal subjects into reserved subjects (defence, foreign affairs) under the Governor-General and transferred subjects under ministers. The central part depended on the All-India Federation, which never came into being. Provincial autonomy was a reform for the provinces; it is not the reason dyarchy was set up at the Centre.

A is wrong: the two reforms stand side by side; one does not cause or explain the other.

C is wrong: provincial autonomy was granted and took effect in 1937, so Statement II is true.

D is wrong: the Act did provide for dyarchy at the Centre, so Statement I is true.

Exam tip: 1919 Act = dyarchy in provinces; 1935 Act = provincial autonomy plus dyarchy at the Centre.

The correct answer is B, Prayaga Prashasti of Samudragupta. Harishena was the court poet and minister of the Gupta ruler Samudragupta and wrote this praise-poem in his honour.

The Prayaga Prashasti, also called the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is in elegant Sanskrit and is engraved on the same pillar that carries an edict of Ashoka. It lists Samudragupta's campaigns in north India, his southern expedition against the kings of the Deccan, and the frontier rulers who paid him tribute. Because of these conquests, historian V. A. Smith called him the "Napoleon of India". The inscription is the main source for his reign.

A is wrong: the Nashik inscription was issued by Gautami Balashri, mother of the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni.

C is wrong: the Deopara Prashasti praises the Sena king Vijayasena of Bengal and was composed by the poet Umapatidhara.

D is wrong: the Hathigumpha inscription near Bhubaneswar records the deeds of Kharavela, the Jain king of Kalinga.

Exam tip: Harishena = Samudragupta; Ravikirti = Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is C, Chemical and electrical. The second industrial revolution, from about 1850 to 1914, was driven by steel, chemicals, electricity and oil.

The first industrial revolution began in Britain around 1760 and rested on cotton textiles, coal, iron and the steam engine. The second wave, led by Germany and the United States as well as Britain, brought new science-based industries. Chemical firms made synthetic dyes, fertilisers and explosives, while electrical industries grew from the dynamo, the electric light bulb and power stations. Cheap steel from the Bessemer process and the internal combustion engine belong to this phase too.

A is wrong: coal and iron were the backbone of the first industrial revolution.

B is wrong: mechanised cotton spinning and weaving (spinning jenny, water frame, power loom) started the first revolution.

D is wrong: James Watt's improved steam engine also belongs to the first revolution, in the late 18th century.

Exam tip: first revolution = cotton, coal, iron, steam; second revolution = steel, chemicals, electricity, oil.

The correct answer is C, 1, 4, 3, 2. The events fall in 1972, 1974, 1985 and 2001 in that order, which is also UPSC's official key.

The Simla Agreement was signed on 2 July 1972 by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 war; it turned the ceasefire line in Kashmir into the Line of Control. India's first nuclear test, code-named Smiling Buddha, was held at Pokhran on 18 May 1974. The SAARC Charter was signed at the first summit in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. The Agra Summit between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf took place in July 2001 and ended without a joint declaration.

A is wrong: it puts the 1985 SAARC Charter before the 1974 test.

B is wrong: it starts with the 1974 test, but the Simla Agreement came two years earlier.

D is wrong: it begins with the test and also places the 2001 Agra Summit before the 1985 SAARC Charter.

Exam tip: Simla 1972, Pokhran-I 1974, SAARC Dhaka 1985, Lahore bus 1999, Agra 2001.