UPSC Civil Services 2016 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, It is the number of months of imports that could be paid for by a country's international reserves. Import cover is the number of months of imports a country could pay for with its foreign exchange reserves.

It is worked out by dividing a country's total international reserves by its average monthly import bill. The figure shows how long a country could keep buying essential goods such as oil if its export earnings and capital inflows suddenly stopped, so it is a key measure of external safety. As a rule of thumb, at least three months of cover is seen as the minimum. India's reserves fell to about three weeks of imports in the 1991 balance of payments crisis.

A is wrong: the ratio of imports to GDP measures openness to imports, not import cover.

B is wrong: the total import bill for a year is just the value of imports.

C is wrong: the ratio of exports to imports between two countries describes bilateral trade, not reserve adequacy.

Exam tip: import cover = forex reserves ÷ monthly imports; 1991 crisis = about three weeks of cover.

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. Both statements are correct: the Siddhas rejected idol worship, and the Lingayats rejected caste and rebirth.

The Siddhas or Sittars were Tamil mystics and poets who believed in one formless God, mocked idol worship, temple rituals and caste, and wrote in simple Tamil verse; Sivavakkiyar is a well-known name among them. The Lingayat or Virashaiva movement began in twelfth-century Karnataka under Basavanna, a minister of the Kalachuri king Bijjala. Lingayats worship Shiva in the form of a small linga worn on the body, questioned the theory of rebirth, rejected caste and Brahmanical rituals, and encouraged practices such as widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage.

A is wrong: it leaves out statement 2, which is also correct.

B is wrong: it leaves out statement 1, which is also correct.

D is wrong: both statements are true.

Exam tip: Lingayats = Basavanna, 12th century, Karnataka, vachanas; Siddhas = Tamil mystics against idols and caste.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. The UNCCD works through national action programmes, international partnership and local participation, but its special focus is Africa, not South Asia and North Africa.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted in Paris in 1994 and came into force in 1996. It is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Countries draw up national action programmes, supported by international cooperation and partnership, which makes statement 1 correct. The convention stresses a bottom-up approach in which local communities take part in designing and carrying out programmes, which makes statement 3 correct. 17 June is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, and India hosted COP14 in New Delhi in 2019.

Statement 2 is wrong: the convention's full name refers to countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa, and it has regional annexes for Africa, Asia, Latin America, the northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe.

So A leaves out statement 3, while B and D include the false statement 2.

Exam tip: UNCCD = 1994, Paris; focus on Africa; bottom-up approach; India hosted COP14 in 2019.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. The capital budget records capital receipts and capital expenditure, and all three items fall in it.

The Union Budget has two parts. The revenue budget holds revenue receipts, such as taxes and dividends, and revenue expenditure, such as salaries, interest and subsidies. The capital budget holds items that either create assets or create or reduce liabilities. On the receipts side it includes market borrowings, loans received from foreign governments and bodies, recovery of loans and disinvestment proceeds. On the expenditure side it includes spending on assets like roads, buildings and machinery, and loans and advances given to States, Union Territories and public enterprises.

A is wrong: it leaves out foreign loans received and loans granted to States, both capital items.

B is wrong: it leaves out expenditure on acquiring assets, the main form of capital spending.

C is wrong: it leaves out loans received from foreign governments, which are capital receipts.

Exam tip: capital budget = items that create assets or change liabilities; loans taken and loans given both belong here.

The correct answer is A, WTO affairs. Amber, blue and green boxes are the categories in which the WTO Agreement on Agriculture classifies farm subsidies.

The Agreement on Agriculture came out of the Uruguay Round and took effect with the WTO in 1995. Amber box subsidies, such as price support and input subsidies, distort production and trade, so they are capped; for developing countries like India the de minimis limit is 10% of the value of production. Blue box payments are tied to programmes that limit production and are allowed without a cap. Green box support, such as research, extension, environmental programmes and direct income support not linked to output, causes little or no distortion and is freely allowed. India's MSP and food stockholding debates turn on these rules.

B is wrong: SAARC deals with regional cooperation in South Asia, not farm subsidy boxes.

C is wrong: the UNFCCC deals with climate change.

D is wrong: the terms belong to the multilateral WTO framework, not a bilateral FTA.

Exam tip: amber = trade-distorting and capped; blue = production-limiting; green = minimal distortion; the de minimis limit for India is 10%.

The correct answer is B, Malavikagnimitra. This play by Kalidasa tells the love story of Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra Sunga, and Malavika, a maid in the queen's household.

Pushyamitra Sunga founded the Sunga dynasty around 185 BCE after killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler. His son Agnimitra governed from Vidisha, and Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra, his first play, shows Agnimitra falling in love with Malavika, a skilled dancer who turns out to be a princess. The play also refers to a war with the kingdom of Vidarbha and to a clash between Pushyamitra's grandson Vasumitra and the Yavanas (Greeks) on the Sindhu river, which makes it a useful historical source for the Sunga period.

A is wrong: Swapnavasavadatta is a play by Bhasa about King Udayana of Vatsa and Queen Vasavadatta.

C is wrong: Meghadoota is Kalidasa's lyric poem in which an exiled yaksha sends a message to his wife through a cloud.

D is wrong: Ratnavali is a play by King Harshavardhana about Udayana and Ratnavali.

Exam tip: Kalidasa's three plays = Malavikagnimitra (Sunga king Agnimitra), Vikramorvashiyam, Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

The correct answer is B, plan of action outlined by the countries of the world to combat climate change. INDCs were the climate pledges countries announced before the Paris climate conference of 2015.

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, each country was asked to state what it intended to do to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change after 2020. These Intended Nationally Determined Contributions were submitted before COP21 in Paris in December 2015. Once a country ratified the Paris Agreement, its INDC became its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), to be updated every five years with greater ambition. India's first INDC was submitted in October 2015.

A is wrong because refugee pledges have nothing to do with this term.

C is wrong because capital subscriptions to the AIIB are not called INDCs.

D is wrong because the Sustainable Development Goals are pursued through the 2030 Agenda, not through INDCs.

Exam tip: INDC before Paris (COP21, 2015) became NDC after ratification, revised every five years.

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. LiFi (Light Fidelity) sends data wirelessly by switching LED light on and off far too fast for the eye to notice, and it can be many times faster than WiFi.

The idea was popularised by Professor Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh in 2011. A LiFi bulb flickers at very high frequency, and a photodetector reads these changes as binary data. Because visible light has a far wider spectrum than the radio waves used by WiFi, laboratory tests have reached speeds many times higher than WiFi. Light cannot pass through walls, which limits range but makes the signal harder to intercept and free of radio interference, useful in hospitals and aircraft.

A is wrong because statement 2 is also correct.

B is wrong because statement 1, the use of light, is the very basis of LiFi.

D is wrong because both statements describe LiFi correctly.

Exam tip: WiFi uses radio waves; LiFi uses visible light from LEDs and cannot pass through walls.