UPSC Civil Services 2019 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. Neither statement is correct; both mismatch saints of very different centuries.

Nimbarka was a Vaishnava philosopher of about the twelfth or thirteenth century who taught Dvaitadvaita (dualistic non-dualism) and devotion to Radha and Krishna. Akbar ruled from 1556 to 1605, several centuries later. Kabir lived in the fifteenth century in Varanasi and taught devotion to a formless God, rejecting both Hindu and Muslim rituals. Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi was a Naqshbandi Sufi of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, who opposed Akbar's liberal religious policy, so he could not have influenced Kabir, who died long before him.

A is wrong: Nimbarka lived centuries before Akbar.

B is wrong: Sirhindi came about a century after Kabir.

C is wrong: both statements are false.

Exam tip: Nimbarka = Dvaitadvaita; Ramanuja = Vishishtadvaita; Madhva = Dvaita; Sirhindi = Naqshbandi, time of Akbar and Jahangir.

The correct answer is A, 1 only. Only statement 1 is correct: the Amil was the revenue-collecting officer of the Delhi Sultanate.

The Amil collected land revenue at the local level and sent it up to the provincial and central treasuries. The iqta, an assignment of revenue from a territory in return for military and administrative service, was not an Indian institution: it came from West Asia and was brought to India by the Turkish rulers, with Iltutmish giving it a firm shape. The Mir Bakshi was a Mughal office, created under Akbar's mansabdari system to handle the recruitment, pay and inspection of mansabdars and their troops; under the Sultanate, the army department was run by the Ariz-i-Mumalik.

B is wrong: the iqta was of foreign (West Asian) origin.

C is wrong: the Mir Bakshi belongs to the Mughal period, not the Khaljis.

D is wrong: statements 2 and 3 are false.

Exam tip: Sultanate army chief = Ariz-i-Mumalik (Diwan-i-Arz, Balban); Mughal military paymaster = Mir Bakshi.

The correct answer is D, Vijayanagara. The kalyana mandapa, a pillared hall for the ritual marriage of the deity, is a hallmark of Vijayanagara temple architecture.

Vijayanagara builders added several new structures to the South Indian temple plan: tall gateway towers called rayagopurams, richly carved pillars with rearing horses (yalis), and the kalyana mandapa, an ornate open hall where the annual wedding of the god and goddess was celebrated. Fine examples stand in the Vitthala temple at Hampi and the Varadaraja temple at Kanchipuram. This shows how temple festivals had grown into grand public events under the Vijayanagara rulers.

A is wrong: the Chalukyas of Badami built early Vesara-style temples at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, without such halls.

B is wrong: the Chandelas built the Nagara-style temples of Khajuraho.

C is wrong: the Rashtrakutas are known for the rock-cut Kailasa temple at Ellora.

Exam tip: Vijayanagara temples = rayagopuram + kalyana mandapa + yali pillars (Vitthala temple, Hampi).

The correct answer is B, the Fifth Schedule. Regulations made by the Governor under paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule can prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of Scheduled Tribes, and a transfer made in breach of such a regulation is void. State land transfer regulations framed under this power are what courts rely on when they set aside leases of tribal land to private mining companies in Scheduled Areas. A is wrong because the Third Schedule only contains the forms of oath and affirmation for ministers, legislators, judges and the Comptroller and Auditor General. C is wrong because the Ninth Schedule, added by the First Amendment in 1951, lists laws, mainly land reform laws, placed beyond challenge on the ground of violation of fundamental rights. D is wrong because the Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment, lists the eighteen functions of urban local bodies.

The correct answer is A, it was considered a source of income for the State, a sort of tax paid by the people. Vishti was unpaid labour that subjects owed to the king, so it worked like a tax paid in work instead of money or grain.

Vishti, or forced labour, is mentioned in the Arthashastra and in many inscriptions of the Gupta and post-Gupta age. Villagers could be made to carry goods for the army and officials, build or repair works and serve passing royal officers. Land grants to Brahmanas and temples often listed exemption from vishti among the privileges handed over, which shows that the right to demand it had value to the State. The practice is recorded in central India and western India, including Kathiawar, during this period.

B is wrong: inscriptions from Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar mention vishti, so it was not absent there.

C is wrong: vishti was by nature unpaid; no weekly wage was due.

D is wrong: no rule said the eldest son had to be sent as the labourer.

Exam tip: vishti = forced, unpaid labour for the State; exemption from it was a common privilege in Gupta-period land grants.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. All three are marks of Mahayana Buddhism, the 'Great Vehicle' that grew from around the beginning of the Common Era.

Mahayana treated the Buddha as a divine saviour rather than only a human teacher, so he came to be worshipped as a god. It placed the bodhisattva ideal at its centre: a bodhisattva is a being who has earned enlightenment but delays nirvana to help others reach it, and followers aim to tread that path. Images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya, along with rituals and devotion, became central, which helped the growth of the Gandhara and Mathura schools of sculpture. The Fourth Buddhist Council under Kanishka is linked with the rise of Mahayana, and Nagarjuna was its leading thinker.

A is wrong: it leaves out statements 2 and 3.

B is wrong: it leaves out image worship.

C is wrong: it leaves out the deification of the Buddha.

Exam tip: Mahayana = Buddha as god, bodhisattva ideal, image worship, Sanskrit texts; Hinayana or Theravada = Buddha as teacher, Pali texts.

The correct answer is A, Kanganahalli. A relief panel from the stupa at Kanganahalli in Karnataka shows a king with his queens and carries the label 'Raya Asoko' (Ranyo Ashoka), making it the only known portrait of Ashoka named in an inscription.

Kanganahalli lies near Sannati in Kalaburagi district, on the bank of the Bhima river. Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India in the 1990s uncovered a large stupa (Adholoka Maha Chaitya) of the 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE. Among its carved slabs is the panel of Ashoka, labelled in Brahmi. Sannati itself has also yielded copies of Ashoka's edicts.

B is wrong: Sanchi has Ashokan pillars and a stupa, but no named portrait of the emperor.

C is wrong: Shahbazgarhi in Pakistan has a major rock edict written in Kharosthi, with no sculpture of Ashoka.

D is wrong: Sohgaura in Uttar Pradesh is known for a copper plate inscription about famine relief.

Exam tip: Kanganahalli (Karnataka) = Ashoka's portrait labelled 'Raya Asoko'; Maski and Gujarra edicts = his personal name Ashoka.

The correct answer is C, Sohgaura. Sohgaura, in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, is known for a Mauryan-period copper plate inscription, not for Harappan remains.

The Sohgaura copper plate, written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, is one of the earliest copper plate records of India and is usually dated to the Mauryan age. It records an order about storehouses (koshthagaras) to be used for relief in times of famine, which shows early state concern for famine relief. The Harappan sites in the list are spread over Sindh and Gujarat: Chanhudaro and Kot Diji in Sindh, and Desalpur in Kutch.

A is wrong: Chanhudaro in Sindh is a Harappan town known for bead-making workshops; it had no citadel.

B is wrong: Kot Diji in Sindh shows a pre-Harappan phase followed by a mature Harappan settlement.

D is wrong: Desalpur in Kutch, Gujarat, is a fortified Harappan site.

Exam tip: Sohgaura (Gorakhpur) and Mahasthan (Bangladesh) = Mauryan inscriptions on famine relief; Chanhudaro = bead factory without citadel.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. All three organisations are correctly paired with the leaders who founded or led them.

Mahatma Gandhi founded the All India Anti-Untouchability League in September 1932, soon after the Poona Pact; it was renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh in 1933. The All India Kisan Sabha was formed at the Lucknow session in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati as its first president and N.G. Ranga as general secretary. The Self-Respect Movement was started in 1925 in Tamil Nadu by E.V. Ramaswami Naicker, known as Periyar, to fight caste discrimination and Brahmin dominance and to promote rational thought.

A is wrong: it leaves out pairs 2 and 3, which are also correct.

B is wrong: it leaves out pair 3, Periyar and the Self-Respect Movement.

C is wrong: it leaves out pair 1, Gandhi and the Anti-Untouchability League.

Exam tip: 1925 Self-Respect (Periyar); 1932 Anti-Untouchability League, later Harijan Sevak Sangh (Gandhi); 1936 AIKS, Lucknow (Sahajanand).

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. The Swadeshi Movement against the Partition of Bengal both revived Indian crafts and industry and set up national education.

The movement was formally launched on 7 August 1905 at the Calcutta Town Hall. Its call to boycott British goods created demand for Indian products, so handloom weaving, artisan crafts and new Indian enterprises grew; Swadeshi textile mills, match and soap factories, tanneries, banks and insurance companies were started, and P.C. Ray founded the Bengal Chemicals works. In education, the National Council of Education was set up in 1906 to run schools and colleges on national lines, and Bengal National College opened with Aurobindo Ghosh as its principal. The Bengal Technical Institute also came out of this effort.

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 describe real outcomes of the movement.

Exam tip: Swadeshi 1905 = boycott + Swadeshi industry + National Council of Education (1906).

The correct answer is C, World Economic Forum. The Global Competitiveness Report is the World Economic Forum's assessment of how well countries' institutions, policies and markets support productivity and growth.

The World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based not-for-profit foundation, set up by Klaus Schwab in 1971 and known for its annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Its Global Competitiveness Report, first brought out in 1979, ranks economies on a Global Competitiveness Index built on pillars such as institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, markets and innovation. The WEF also publishes the Global Gender Gap Report and the Global Risks Report.

A is wrong: the IMF publishes the World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report.

B is wrong: UNCTAD publishes the World Investment Report and the Trade and Development Report.

D is wrong: the World Bank published the Doing Business Report and publishes the World Development Report.

Exam tip: WEF = Global Competitiveness, Global Gender Gap and Global Risks reports; IMF = World Economic Outlook.

The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. A jagir was a temporary, transferable revenue assignment given mainly in lieu of salary for military service, while zamindari rights were hereditary.

Under the mansabdari system, a mansabdar was paid either in cash or through a jagir, the right to collect revenue from a tract of land equal to his salary. The jagir was tied to his military rank, was transferred every few years and was not hereditary, so statement 1 is wrong about judicial and police duties being its basis. Zamindars held hereditary rights over a share of the produce and also had duties beyond revenue collection, such as keeping order and supplying troops to the state. So statement 2 has the hereditary part reversed.

A is wrong because statement 1 misstates both the jagir and the zamindar's role.

B is wrong because jagirs, not zamindari rights, were non-hereditary.

C is wrong because both statements are incorrect.

Exam tip: jagir = salary for military rank, transferable; zamindari = hereditary local right.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 2 only. The Act of 1813 broke the Company's trade monopoly and asserted the Crown's sovereignty, but left the revenues where they were, so the first two statements stand and the third does not. The Act came at the height of the free trade campaign in Britain: it threw the India trade open to all British merchants, keeping the monopoly only in tea and in the China trade, which was ended by the Charter Act of 1833. It also declared in plain words that the Crown held sovereignty over the Indian territories the Company governed, and it set aside one lakh rupees a year for education and allowed missionaries into India. Statement 3 is wrong because the Company continued to control and spend Indian revenues; Parliament supervised through the Board of Control rather than taking the purse. B and D are wrong because each includes statement 3. C is wrong for the same reason and also drops statement 2. Exam tip: 1813 opened trade except tea and China; 1833 ended the monopoly altogether.

The correct answer is D, neither 1 nor 2. Both statements describe the two offices wrongly, so neither can be accepted. A jagir was an assignment of the land revenue of a tract, given to a mansabdar in place of a cash salary for military and administrative service, not for judicial and police duty; the holder collected the revenue due and kept troops from it. Jagirs were transferable and were shifted every three or four years so that no noble struck roots in one district, and they lapsed to the emperor on the holder's death, so statement 1 is wrong. A zamindar, by contrast, held a hereditary right in the soil of his locality, collected revenue from the peasants and passed on the state's share while keeping a commission called nankar, so the hereditary part of statement 2 is exactly reversed. A, B and C are wrong because each accepts at least one of these two flawed statements. Exam tip: jagir was transferable and not hereditary, zamindari was hereditary and rooted in the locality.

The correct answer is D, the level of mutual trust and harmony in the society. Social capital means the networks, shared norms and trust that let people in a society work together, so it is measured by relationships rather than by things or numbers of people. The idea was popularised by Robert Putnam, who argued that a community rich in trust and civic association gets better government and faster growth because agreements are kept without costly enforcement. Self-help groups, cooperatives and village committees are the everyday form it takes in India. A is wrong because literacy is part of human capital, the skill and knowledge embodied in people. B is wrong because buildings, infrastructure and machines are physical or produced capital. C is wrong because the size of the working age group is the demographic dividend, a matter of population structure. Exam tip: physical capital is what you build, human capital is what you learn, social capital is whom you trust.