UPSC Civil Services 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, 2 and 3 only. Statements 2 and 3 are correct; an amendment bill needs no prior recommendation of the President.

Under Article 368, a bill to amend the Constitution can be introduced in either House of Parliament by a minister or a private member, and the President's prior permission is not needed. Each House must pass it separately by a special majority: a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of the members present and voting. If the Houses disagree, there is no joint sitting, unlike for ordinary bills under Article 108. The 24th Amendment, 1971 made it obligatory for the President to give assent to a Constitution Amendment Bill; the President can neither withhold assent nor return it.

A is wrong: statement 1 is false.

C is wrong: statement 1 is false, and it leaves out statement 2.

D is wrong: statement 1 is false.

Exam tip: Article 368 = no prior recommendation, special majority in each House, no joint sitting, assent compulsory (24th Amendment).

The correct answer is B, 2 only. Only statement 2 is correct: the Bar Council of India regulates legal education and recognises law colleges.

Under the Advocates Act, 1961, only an individual enrolled on a State Bar Council's roll is an advocate. A law firm is a business entity, not a person, so it is not recognised as an advocate. A law officer of the government or a lawyer working in a company is also not treated as practising, and a full-time salaried employee cannot practise as an advocate under the Bar Council of India Rules. So statement 1 is wrong. Section 7 of the Act empowers the Bar Council of India to promote legal education, lay down its standards and recognise universities and colleges whose law degree qualifies a person for enrolment.

A is wrong: statement 1 misstates who is recognised as an advocate.

C is wrong: statement 1 is false.

D is wrong: statement 2 is correct.

Exam tip: Advocates Act, 1961 set up the Bar Council of India, which also sets the standards of legal education.

The correct answer is B, 1, 2 and 4. Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct; only statement 3 is wrong.

The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 was passed on the recommendations of the committee headed by H.N. Sanyal. Article 129 makes the Supreme Court a court of record with power to punish for contempt of itself, and Article 215 gives the High Courts the same power. The Constitution does not define civil or criminal contempt; those definitions are in Section 2 of the 1971 Act. Parliament can legislate on contempt: Entry 77 of the Union List covers contempt of the Supreme Court, and Entry 14 of the Concurrent List covers contempt of other courts.

A is wrong: it leaves out statement 4, which is also correct.

C is wrong: statement 3 is incorrect, so it cannot be part of the answer.

D is wrong: statement 3 alone is the one false statement.

Exam tip: Article 129 (SC) and Article 215 (HC) give the power; the 1971 Act (Sanyal Committee) gives the definitions.

The correct answer is A, prevention of transfer of tribal land to non-tribals. Paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule allows the Governor of a State to make regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area, and expressly permits regulations that prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of Scheduled Tribes. Protection of land is therefore the direct legal consequence of a Fifth Schedule declaration. B is wrong because local self-government in Scheduled Areas comes from the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, and not from the declaration itself; the Schedule only sets up an advisory Tribes Advisory Council. C is wrong because a Scheduled Area remains part of the State concerned, whose executive power continues to extend to it, while a Union Territory is created by Parliament under Article 3. D is wrong because Special Category Status was an arrangement of the erstwhile National Development Council for devolution of central assistance and has no connection with the Fifth Schedule.

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. Household savings reach the government through many channels, and dated securities sold in auctions make up the bulk of the Centre's internal debt.

Statement 1 is correct: households keep their financial savings in bank deposits, insurance, provident and pension funds, small savings schemes and so on. Banks, insurers and pension funds invest a large part of these funds in government securities, and small savings collections are lent to the government through the National Small Savings Fund. So a share of household savings ends up financing government borrowing.

Statement 2 is correct: dated securities are long-term government bonds with a fixed maturity, issued by the RBI on behalf of the government through auctions at market-related rates. They form the largest component of the Centre's internal debt, well ahead of treasury bills and other items.

A is wrong: it leaves out the correct statement 2.

B is wrong: it leaves out the correct statement 1.

D is wrong: both statements are correct.

Exam tip: dated securities = long-term G-secs and the main part of internal debt; treasury bills = short-term, with 91, 182 and 364 day maturities.

The correct answer is A, 1 only. Buying new technology creates a lasting asset, so it is capital expenditure; debt and equity are ways of raising money, not kinds of expenditure.

Capital expenditure is money spent to acquire or improve long-term assets such as land, buildings, machinery, patents and technology, which serve the business for many years. Revenue expenditure covers the running costs of a single period, such as wages, rent, repairs and interest. Debt financing (loans, bonds) and equity financing (issuing shares) are both sources of funds that appear on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. Either source can pay for capital or revenue spending, so calling one capital expenditure and the other revenue expenditure mixes up two different ideas.

B is wrong: statement 2 confuses sources of finance with types of expenditure.

C is wrong: it includes the false statement 2.

D is wrong: statement 1 is correct.

Exam tip: capital expenditure creates assets for years; revenue expenditure meets day-to-day costs; debt and equity are sources of funds.

The correct answer is D, a foreign company transfers shares and such shares derive their substantial value from assets located in India. That is exactly what an indirect transfer means in Indian tax law.

In an indirect transfer, no Indian asset changes hands directly. Instead, shares of a foreign company are sold abroad, but those shares are valuable mainly because the company owns assets in India. The issue became famous with the Vodafone case, in which the Supreme Court held in 2012 that such a sale was not taxable in India. Parliament then amended the Income Tax Act retrospectively the same year to tax it, and the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 withdrew that retrospective demand for transfers made before 28 May 2012.

A is wrong: it describes ordinary taxation of an Indian company's foreign profits.

B is wrong: it describes where a foreign investor pays tax, not a transfer of shares.

C is wrong: buying and selling tangible assets abroad is a direct transaction, not an indirect transfer.

Exam tip: indirect transfer = offshore share sale deriving value from Indian assets; linked with Vodafone (2012) and the 2021 repeal of the retrospective tax.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 2 only. The real sector produces actual goods and services, so harvesting crops and making cloth belong to it, while lending and issuing bonds belong to the financial sector.

Economists divide an economy into the real sector and the financial sector. The real sector covers the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services: agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction and trade. Its output is measured in physical terms and adds directly to GDP. The financial sector deals with money and claims on money, such as bank loans, shares, bonds and insurance, and its job is to move savings to those who invest in the real sector. Rupee-denominated bonds sold abroad, popularly called "masala bonds", are a financial instrument used to raise funds.

B is wrong: it includes activities 3 and 4, which are financial, and leaves out farming.

C is wrong: it includes the two financial activities and leaves out textile manufacturing.

D is wrong: bank lending and bond issues are not real-sector activities.

Exam tip: real sector = goods and services produced (farm, factory, trade); financial sector = money, credit, bonds and shares.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 2 only. IIBs protect investors from inflation, and because of that protection the government can borrow at a lower coupon; they carry no special tax exemption.

In an inflation-indexed bond the principal, and so the interest paid on it, is linked to a price index, so the investor's real return stays intact whatever inflation turns out to be (statement 2). Since the investor no longer needs an extra inflation premium in the coupon, the government can offer a lower coupon rate than on an ordinary bond (statement 1). The RBI issued such bonds linked to the Wholesale Price Index in 2013 and Consumer Price Index-linked bonds for retail investors later that year.

B is wrong: it includes statement 3, but interest and capital gains on IIBs are taxed under normal income tax rules.

C is wrong: it leaves out statement 2, the main purpose of IIBs, and includes the false statement 3.

D is wrong: statement 3 is false, so all three cannot be correct.

Exam tip: IIB = principal indexed to inflation, lower coupon for government, real-return safety for investor, but no tax exemption.

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. The Common Framework for Debt Treatments was agreed by the G20 and the Paris Club in November 2020 to help low-income countries with unsustainable debt.

During the COVID-19 crisis many poor countries could not service their loans. The G20 first offered the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which only postponed payments. The Common Framework went further: it lets eligible countries (those eligible for the DSSI) seek a full restructuring of their official bilateral debt, with all G20 creditors, including newer lenders outside the Paris Club such as China and India, negotiating together on comparable terms. The Paris Club is an informal group of major creditor countries that coordinates solutions for debtor nations.

A is wrong because statement 2, its purpose, is also correct.

B is wrong because the framework was indeed endorsed by the G20 together with the Paris Club.

D is wrong because both statements describe the framework correctly.

Exam tip: DSSI postponed debt payments; the Common Framework (2020) restructures debt of low-income countries.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. A rise in NEER means the rupee has gained against a basket of currencies, and higher domestic inflation makes REER drift away from NEER.

NEER is a weighted average of the rupee's exchange rate against the currencies of India's trading partners; in the RBI's indices a rise means the rupee has appreciated, so statement 1 is correct. REER is NEER adjusted for the gap between Indian prices and partner-country prices. A rising REER means Indian goods are becoming dearer abroad, which hurts trade competitiveness, so statement 2 is wrong. Because REER includes relative prices and NEER does not, faster inflation in India than abroad widens the gap between the two, so statement 3 is correct.

A is wrong because statement 2 is false.

B is wrong because it drops statement 1 and keeps the false statement 2.

D is wrong because statement 2 reverses the effect of a rising REER.

Exam tip: REER = NEER adjusted for relative inflation; REER up means exports lose competitiveness.

The correct answer is B, International Monetary Fund. Both are IMF windows for quick emergency financing to member countries facing an urgent balance of payments need.

The Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) is open to all IMF members and gives fast, low-access financial help without a full-fledged programme. The Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) does the same for low-income countries but at concessional terms, through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. Both were used widely during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many countries needed money quickly after sudden shocks such as natural disasters or a collapse in exports.

A is wrong: the Asian Development Bank funds development projects in Asia and the Pacific; it does not run these IMF facilities.

C is wrong: the UNEP Finance Initiative is a partnership with banks and insurers on sustainable finance, not a lender.

D is wrong: the World Bank gives long-term development loans, while short-term balance of payments support is the IMF's role.

Exam tip: RFI is for all IMF members; RCF is the concessional version for low-income countries.

The correct answer is C, 1, 3 and 4. Under dyarchy the Governor kept the reserved subjects, which were those touching revenue and coercive power: administration of justice, land revenue, police, irrigation, famine relief, forests and labour relations. Local self-government, along with education, public health, agriculture, industries and excise, belonged to the transferred list, run by Indian ministers answerable to the legislative council. Option A is wrong because it includes local self-government, a transferred subject. Option B is wrong for the same reason, as it too carries local self-government. Option D is wrong because it drops land revenue, the most jealously guarded of the reserved subjects, and adds local self-government. The simple rule for the examination hall is that whatever earned money or kept order was reserved, and whatever spent money on people was transferred.

The correct answer is C, only two pairs. Dignaga and Nathamuni are matched rightly while Aryadeva is not, so exactly two pairs are correct. Aryadeva, who lived about the third century, was a Buddhist monk of the Madhyamaka school and the chief disciple of Nagarjuna; his Chatuhshataka defends the doctrine of emptiness, so calling him a Jaina scholar is wrong. Dignaga, of the fifth or sixth century, founded the Buddhist school of logic and wrote the Pramanasamuchchaya, which shaped debate on perception and inference for centuries. Nathamuni, of about the tenth century, was the first acharya of the Srivaishnava tradition at Srirangam; he gathered the Tamil hymns of the Alvars into the Nalayira Divya Prabandham and was the grandfather in the line that led to Ramanuja. A is wrong because two pairs do match. B understates the count and D overstates it. Exam tip: Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita and Chandrakirti all belong to the Madhyamaka line.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 2 only. Statement 1 is right because when the United States Federal Reserve tightens, returns there become attractive and portfolio money flows out of emerging markets, which is capital flight. Statement 2 is right because such an outflow weakens the rupee and raises risk premiums, so a firm servicing an external commercial borrowing pays more in rupee terms and finds refinancing dearer. Statement 3 is wrong, and this settles the other options: a fall in the value of the domestic currency raises, not lowers, the currency risk on a loan that must be repaid in dollars, because every dollar of repayment now costs more rupees. Option B is wrong because it accepts the faulty third statement and drops the correct first one, option C is wrong for accepting statement 3 while leaving out statement 2, and option D is wrong because it accepts all three.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. Statement 1 is right because the NEER is a trade weighted index of the rupee against a basket of partner currencies, so a rise in the index means the rupee has appreciated in nominal terms. Statement 3 is right because the REER adjusts the NEER for relative prices, so when domestic inflation runs faster than inflation abroad the two indices move apart. Statement 2 is wrong, and this is why options A, B and D fail: a rise in the REER means the rupee has become expensive in real terms, which makes Indian goods dearer abroad and weakens, not improves, trade competitiveness. Option A is wrong because it accepts statement 2 and leaves out the correct statement 3, option B is wrong because it accepts statement 2 and drops the correct statement 1, and option D is wrong because it accepts all three including the faulty second one.

The correct answer is A. The Polar Code is the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, adopted by the International Maritime Organization and in force since the beginning of 2017. It is mandatory under the conventions on safety of life at sea and on prevention of pollution from ships, and it covers ship design, equipment, crew training and operation in ice-covered waters, as well as discharges of oil, sewage and garbage in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Option B is wrong because territorial claims in the Arctic are dealt with under the law of the sea and the continental shelf procedure, not by this code. Option C describes what the Antarctic Treaty system and its environmental protocol do for scientific activity. Option D is wrong because the Arctic Council is a forum for cooperation on environment and sustainable development and does not conclude trade or security agreements.

The correct answer is B, Quantum Computing. A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. An ordinary bit can be only 0 or 1, but a qubit can exist in a superposition of 0 and 1 at the same time, and qubits can be entangled, so that the state of one is linked to another. Because of this, a set of qubits can explore many possibilities together, which could let quantum computers solve certain problems, such as simulating molecules or breaking some kinds of encryption, far faster than classical machines. Qubits are built from superconducting circuits, trapped ions or photons, and most must be kept close to absolute zero. India supports this field through its National Quantum Mission, approved in 2023. Option A is wrong because cloud services run on ordinary bits and servers. Option C is wrong because visible light communication, or Li-Fi, sends data using LED light. Option D is wrong because wireless communication uses radio waves, not qubits. Exam tip: a bit is 0 or 1, a qubit means superposition and entanglement.

The correct answer is B, 2 and 3 only. Selling dollars supports a falling rupee and buying dollars absorbs heavy inflows, but to fight inflation the RBI sells, not buys, securities. Buying government securities through open market operations pumps rupees into the system and would add to inflation, so when inflation is too high the RBI sells securities to soak up money. So statement 1 is wrong. When the rupee is falling fast, the RBI sells dollars from its reserves, which raises the supply of dollars and steadies the rupee, so statement 2 is right. When interest rates in the USA or the EU fall, investors move money to India for better returns; the dollar inflow pushes the rupee up, and the RBI buys dollars to prevent sharp appreciation and to add to reserves, so statement 3 is right. Option A is wrong because it includes statement 1. Option C is wrong for the same reason. Option D is wrong because statement 1 is false. Exam tip: high inflation, sell bonds; weak rupee, sell dollars; heavy inflows, buy dollars.

The correct answer is B, Second half of the month of June. The longest day in the northern hemisphere is the summer solstice, which falls on 20, 21 or 22 June, usually 21 June. On that day the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N), because the North Pole is tilted most towards the Sun. Places north of the equator get their longest daylight and shortest night, and north of the Arctic Circle the Sun stays above the horizon for 24 hours. At the same time the southern hemisphere has its shortest day. The other solstice, around 22 December, puts the Sun over the Tropic of Capricorn and gives the north its shortest day. Option A is wrong because in the first half of June the days are still growing longer. Option C is wrong because by early July the days have started getting shorter. Option D is wrong for the same reason, as the days keep shortening through July. Exam tip: 21 June Tropic of Cancer, 22 December Tropic of Capricorn, 21 March and 23 September equinoxes.