UPSC Civil Services 2023 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, All three. All three statements are correct; microbes called extremophiles live in all these conditions.

Hyperthermophiles, many of them archaea living near deep-sea hydrothermal vents, grow above 100 °C; Methanopyrus kandleri and 'Strain 121' grow at about 120 °C, where high pressure keeps water liquid. Psychrophiles grow below 0 °C in polar ice, permafrost and cold seas, using enzymes that work in the cold and natural antifreeze compounds. Acidophiles thrive at very low pH: Picrophilus can grow near pH 0, and bacteria such as Acidithiobacillus live in acid mine drainage below pH 3. Thermus aquaticus from hot springs gave the Taq polymerase used in PCR.

A is wrong: more than one statement is true.

B is wrong: all three, not just two, are true.

D is wrong: every statement describes a real group of microbes.

Exam tip: thermophile = heat; psychrophile = cold; acidophile = acid; halophile = salt; Taq polymerase comes from Thermus aquaticus.

The correct answer is D, All four. All four statements are correct; mushrooms show every one of these properties.

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi. Several are medicinal: Ganoderma (reishi) and Cordyceps are used in traditional medicine, and the antibiotic penicillin comes from a related fungus. Psilocybe or 'magic mushrooms' contain psilocybin, a psychoactive compound. Some fungi kill insects: Cordyceps and Metarhizium infect insects, and Metarhizium and Beauveria are sold as bio-insecticides. Others such as Mycena and the 'foxfire' fungi glow in the dark through bioluminescence, using the enzyme luciferase, much like fireflies.

A is wrong: more than one property is true of mushrooms.

B is wrong: all four properties, not just two, are found in mushrooms.

C is wrong: none of the four statements is false.

Exam tip: medicinal = Ganoderma; psychoactive = Psilocybe; insect-killing = Cordyceps, Metarhizium; glowing = Mycena.

The correct answer is B, Only two. The Malabar Civet and the Sambar Deer are active after sunset, while the Lion-tailed Macaque is a daytime animal.

The Lion-tailed Macaque, found only in the rainforests of the Western Ghats, is diurnal: it feeds and moves through the canopy by day and sleeps in tall trees at night, like most monkeys. The Malabar Civet (Malabar large-spotted civet), a critically endangered small carnivore of the Western Ghats, is strictly nocturnal, as civets generally are. The Sambar, India's largest deer, is mainly nocturnal or crepuscular, grazing and browsing from dusk to dawn and resting in thick cover during the day.

A is wrong: two animals, not one, are active after sunset.

C is wrong: the Lion-tailed Macaque is active by day.

D is wrong: the civet and the sambar are both night-active.

Exam tip: monkeys and macaques are diurnal; civets, most deer like sambar, and owls are active at night.

The correct answer is C, Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect. India has no native marsupials, but marsupials are not confined to predator-free montane grasslands.

Marsupials are mammals whose young are born at a very early stage and usually grow further in the mother's pouch. Kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums are examples. Living marsupials are native only to Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, and to the Americas. Their distribution goes back to the break-up of the old southern supercontinent Gondwana, and India, which drifted north and joined Asia, has none. Within their range they live in many habitats: deserts, rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, grasslands, swamps and even cities. The Virginia opossum shares North America with foxes, coyotes and owls, and Australian marsupials long lived alongside dingoes and the thylacine.

A and B are wrong: both treat Statement-II as correct.

D is wrong: Statement-I is correct and Statement-II is not.

Exam tip: marsupials are native to Australia, New Guinea and the Americas, not to Asia or India.

The correct answer is D, None. Each statement places the hills in the wrong range.

Statement 1 is wrong: Amarkantak, the source of the Narmada and the Son, lies in the Maikal hills where the Vindhya and Satpura ranges meet. The Sahyadri, or Western Ghats, are far to the south-west.

Statement 2 is wrong: the Biligirirangan (BR) Hills are in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, at the meeting point of the Eastern and Western Ghats. They are home to the BRT Tiger Reserve and have nothing to do with the Satpura range of central India.

Statement 3 is wrong: the Seshachalam Hills, on which Tirumala and Tirupati stand, are part of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh. The southern end of the Western Ghats is formed by ranges such as the Anaimalai, Cardamom and Agasthyamalai hills.

So A, B and C are wrong because not a single statement is correct.

Exam tip: Amarkantak = Vindhya-Satpura junction (Maikal); BR Hills = Eastern and Western Ghats junction; Seshachalam = Eastern Ghats (Tirupati).

The correct answer is A, Cameroon. South-eastern Cameroon lies inside the drainage area of the Congo river, and the country is one of the six nations that share the Congo Basin rainforest.

The Congo Basin is the huge, shallow depression drained by the Congo river and its tributaries in west-central Africa. It holds the second largest tropical rainforest on Earth after the Amazon. The countries usually counted as its core are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The Sangha river, a Congo tributary, rises near the Cameroon border and drains its south-east.

B is wrong: Nigeria is drained by the Niger and Benue rivers, which flow to the Gulf of Guinea, not into the Congo.

C is wrong: South Sudan lies in the basin of the White Nile.

D is wrong: Uganda drains mainly into Lake Victoria and the Nile system.

Exam tip: Congo Basin forest countries are DRC, Republic of Congo, CAR, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea; the Congo river crosses the Equator twice.

The correct answer is C, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC mines roughly three-quarters of the world's cobalt, far ahead of any other country.

Cobalt is used in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries because it keeps them stable and lets them store more energy, which is why demand has risen with electric vehicles and mobile phones. Most of the DRC's cobalt comes from the Copperbelt of Katanga in the south-east, where it is mined as a by-product of copper, around towns such as Kolwezi and Lubumbashi. Much of the ore is refined in China. Concerns about child labour in small-scale "artisanal" mines have made the supply chain a frequent subject of debate.

A is wrong: Argentina is known for lithium in the "lithium triangle" with Bolivia and Chile, not for cobalt.

B is wrong: Botswana is a leading producer of diamonds.

D is wrong: Kazakhstan is the top producer of uranium, not cobalt.

Exam tip: battery metals = cobalt from the DRC, lithium from Australia and the Argentina-Bolivia-Chile triangle, nickel from Indonesia.

The correct answer is D, Rann of Kutch. The Rann was once a shallow arm of the Arabian Sea, and as the sea withdrew from it, aided by the uplift of the land, it was left as the vast salt marsh seen today.

The Great and Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat cover tens of thousands of square kilometres of flat, salty mudflats that are flooded during the monsoon and turn into a white salt desert in the dry season. Geologists explain the landscape by repeated changes in sea level together with tectonic uplift: the former gulf became cut off from the sea and was filled by sediments brought by rivers such as the Luni. Its size and origin make it the classic Indian example of a marsh left behind by a retreating sea.

A is wrong: Bhitarkanika in Odisha is a mangrove forest in the delta of the Brahmani and Baitarani rivers, formed by river and tidal action.

B is wrong: Marakkanam in Tamil Nadu is a coastal salt-making area, not an extensive marshland.

C is wrong: Naupada in Andhra Pradesh is a small coastal swamp and salt-pan area.

Exam tip: Rann of Kutch = former arm of the Arabian Sea, now a seasonal salt marsh; home of the Indian wild ass in the Little Rann.

The correct answer is B, Only two. Mahua and teak shed their leaves in the dry season, while the jackfruit tree is evergreen.

Deciduous trees drop all their leaves for a few weeks in the dry summer to save water; they make up India's tropical moist and dry deciduous forests, the most widespread forest type in the country. Teak is the best-known tree of these forests, found in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Mahua is a deciduous tree of central India whose flowers are eaten and used to make liquor, and whose seeds give oil; it matters greatly to tribal communities. The jackfruit, by contrast, keeps its glossy leaves all year and grows in the humid Western Ghats and coastal regions.

A is wrong because two of the trees, not one, are deciduous.

C is wrong because the jackfruit is evergreen.

D is wrong because teak and mahua are typical deciduous trees.

Exam tip: teak, sal, mahua, sandalwood = deciduous; jackfruit, rosewood, mahogany = evergreen.

The correct answer is B, Only two pairs. Pairs 1 and 2 are correct; Visakhapatnam is not India's largest container port.

Kamarajar Port at Ennore, near Chennai in Tamil Nadu, was the first major port in India to be set up as a corporate entity, registered as a public company (Ennore Port Ltd). Mundra Port in Kutch, Gujarat, run by the Adani group, is the largest privately owned port in India. Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh is a major port known for iron ore and bulk cargo and has a deep natural harbour, but the biggest container traffic is handled on the west coast, at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) and Mundra.

A is wrong because two pairs, not one, are correct.

C is wrong because pair 3 is incorrect.

D is wrong because pairs 1 and 2 are correctly matched.

Exam tip: Kamarajar (Ennore) = first corporatised major port; Mundra = largest private port; container giants are on the west coast.

The correct answer is D, Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct. Rainforest soil is actually poor in nutrients, even though the forest above it is the richest on land. Heat and heavy rain make dead leaves decompose within weeks, and the released nutrients are taken up almost at once by the dense roots and fungi of the trees. So most nutrients are stored in the living biomass, not in the soil, and only a thin layer of humus lies on the surface. Constant rain also washes minerals down through leaching, leaving red, acidic, laterite-type soils rich mainly in iron and aluminium oxides. This is why cleared rainforest land loses its fertility after a few harvests. Statement-II is right because fast decomposition is exactly what this hot, wet climate causes. Options A and B are wrong because Statement-I is false. Option C is wrong because it reverses which statement is true. Exam tip: in a rainforest the nutrients sit in the trees, not the soil; cool forests keep more in the soil because decay is slow.

The correct answer is A, The International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is one of the expert groups of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission, and it manages the Global Invasive Species Database. The ISSG is a network of scientists and policy experts that gathers information on alien species that spread and harm native wildlife, and it also compiled the well-known list of '100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species'. The IUCN, founded in 1948 and based at Gland in Switzerland, also publishes the Red List of Threatened Species. Invasive plants such as Lantana, water hyacinth and Prosopis juliflora are a major threat to Indian forests and wetlands. Option B is wrong because UNEP runs environmental programmes and conventions but not this specialist group. Option C is wrong because the World Commission on Environment and Development, the Brundtland Commission, is known for its 1987 report 'Our Common Future'. Option D is wrong because WWF is a separate conservation NGO. Exam tip: IUCN means the Red List, the Species Survival Commission and the invasive species database.

The correct answer is B, Only two. The government bond market and the stock market deal in long-term funds, so they are capital markets; call money and treasury bills belong to the money market. The dividing line is maturity: the capital market handles funds for more than one year, and the money market handles funds for up to one year. Government bonds, or dated securities, run for 5 to 40 years, and shares have no maturity at all. Call money is overnight lending between banks, with notice money for 2 to 14 days, and treasury bills are short-term government borrowing for 91, 182 or 364 days. The capital market is regulated by SEBI, while the money market is regulated mainly by the RBI. Option A is wrong because both bonds and shares are capital market segments. Option C is wrong because it would add one short-term market. Option D is wrong because call money and treasury bills are money market segments. Exam tip: over one year is capital market, up to one year is money market; T-bills are 91, 182 and 364 days.

The correct answer is A, Conducting 'Open Market Operations'. Sterilization means cancelling out the effect of foreign exchange operations on the domestic money supply, and the RBI does it mainly through open market operations. When dollars flow in and the RBI buys them to stop the rupee rising too fast, it releases rupees into the system, which can push up inflation. To neutralise this, it sells government securities and pulls the same amount of rupees back. When it sells dollars, it can buy securities to put rupees back in. Other tools used for this are the Market Stabilisation Scheme (from 2004), reverse repo and the Standing Deposit Facility. Option B is wrong because oversight of payment and settlement systems is about safe transactions, not the money supply. Option C is wrong because debt and cash management is the RBI's role as banker to the governments. Option D is wrong because regulating NBFCs is a supervisory function. Exam tip: buying dollars adds rupees, an OMO sale takes them back, and together that is sterilization.

The correct answer is D, Titanium. Ilmenite (FeTiO3) and rutile (TiO2) are the main ores of titanium, and India has large deposits of them in its beach sands. These heavy mineral sands occur mainly along the coasts of Kerala (Chavara), Tamil Nadu (Manavalakurichi) and Odisha (Chhatrapur), often together with monazite, zircon and garnet. Titanium is light, strong and does not rust, so it is used in aircraft, spacecraft and medical implants, while titanium dioxide is the white pigment in paints, paper and toothpaste. Option A is wrong because aluminium comes from bauxite, found mainly in Odisha and Jharkhand. Option B is wrong because copper comes from ores like chalcopyrite, mined at Khetri in Rajasthan and Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Option C is wrong because iron is taken from haematite and magnetite; ilmenite does contain iron, but it is mined for its titanium. Exam tip: ilmenite and rutile give titanium, monazite gives thorium and rare earths, and all three come from the black sands of the south-west and east coasts.

The correct answer is B, Jainism. Jainism holds that souls (jiva) live not only in humans, animals and plants but also in earth, water, fire and air. Jain thought ranks living beings by the number of senses they have. The lowest group, the one-sensed beings, includes earth-bodies, water-bodies, fire-bodies, air-bodies and plants, so even a stone or running water has a soul. This is why Jain monks practise ahimsa so strictly, sweeping the path and straining water so that they harm as few beings as possible. Mahavira taught that each jiva is bound by karma and is freed only through right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, the three jewels. Option A is wrong because Buddhism denies a permanent soul through its doctrine of anatta. Option C is wrong because Shaivism centres on devotion to Shiva and does not give souls to rocks. Option D is wrong because Vaishnavism centres on devotion to Vishnu and his avatars. Exam tip: souls in stones and water with the strictest ahimsa means Jainism; no soul (anatta) means Buddhism.

The correct answer is B, Only two. Bhaja is a Buddhist cave site and Sittanavasal a Jain one, but Besnagar has no Shaivite cave shrine. Besnagar, near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, is known for the Heliodorus pillar of about 113 BCE, a Garuda pillar set up by a Greek envoy who called himself a devotee of Vasudeva, so its link is Vaishnava. Bhaja, near Lonavala in Maharashtra, has some of the earliest Buddhist rock-cut chaityas and viharas, from about the second century BCE. Sittanavasal, near Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, is a Jain cave, the Arivar Koil, famous for its paintings of a lotus pond. So pair 1 is wrong and pairs 2 and 3 are right. Option A is wrong because two pairs match, not one. Option C is wrong because Besnagar is not a Shaivite cave site. Option D is wrong because Bhaja and Sittanavasal are correctly matched. Exam tip: Besnagar means Heliodorus and Vasudeva; Bhaja is Buddhist, Sittanavasal is Jain.

The correct answer is C, Bahadur Shah. The Sultan of Gujarat let the Portuguese take Diu in return for their help against the Mughal emperor Humayun. By the Treaty of Bassein (1534) Bahadur Shah handed Bassein to the Portuguese, and in 1535, with Humayun invading Gujarat, he allowed them to build a fort at Diu. Relations soon turned sour, and Bahadur Shah was killed in 1537 on a Portuguese ship off Diu. The Portuguese then held Diu, along with Daman and Goa, until India took them back in December 1961 through Operation Vijay. Option A is wrong because Ahmad Shah I founded Ahmedabad in the fifteenth century, long before the Portuguese arrived. Option B is wrong because Mahmud Begarha fought the Portuguese, joining the Egyptian fleet at Chaul (1508) and losing the Battle of Diu (1509). Option D is wrong because Muhammad Shah is not linked with the grant of Diu. Exam tip: Bahadur Shah, the Humayun threat, Diu fort to the Portuguese in 1535.

The correct answer is D, The Charter Act of 1833. This Act turned the Governor-General of Bengal into the Governor-General of India, with full civil and military powers over all British territory in India. Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor-General of India under it. The Act was the high point of centralisation: it took away the law-making powers of the Bombay and Madras governments, ended the East India Company's commercial activities so that it became a purely administrative body, and added a Law Member, Macaulay, to the Governor-General's Council. Option A is wrong because the Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, first held by Warren Hastings. Option B is wrong because Pitt's India Act of 1784 set up the Board of Control and the system of dual control. Option C is wrong because the Charter Act of 1793 mainly renewed the Company's charter for twenty years. Exam tip: 1773 Governor-General of Bengal (Hastings), 1833 Governor-General of India (Bentinck), 1858 Viceroy (Canning).

The correct answer is A, 1st Amendment. It was passed in 1951 to undo court rulings that had used Fundamental Rights to strike down land reform and other laws. Courts had set aside zamindari abolition laws under the right to property, and in Romesh Thappar (1950) had read free speech very widely. The First Amendment Act, 1951 added the Ninth Schedule and Articles 31A and 31B to shield land reform laws, added 'public order', 'friendly relations with foreign States' and 'incitement to an offence' to Article 19(2), and added Article 15(4) for backward classes after the Champakam Dorairajan case. It was passed by the Provisional Parliament under Nehru. Option B is wrong because the 42nd Amendment of 1976 is known for 'socialist', 'secular' and the Fundamental Duties. Option C is wrong because the 44th Amendment of 1978 mainly undid Emergency excesses and removed property from Part III. Option D is wrong because the 86th Amendment of 2002 added Article 21A, the right to education. Exam tip: 1st Amendment, 1951, Ninth Schedule and Article 15(4).