UPSC 2013 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, marginal productivity of labour is zero. Disguised unemployment, also called hidden unemployment, exists where more persons are engaged in a job than are actually needed, so withdrawing one of them would not reduce output at all; that worker's marginal contribution is therefore zero. Indian agriculture is the classic illustration, where a whole family works on a holding that two members could manage. Option A is wrong because open unemployment, where people are visibly without work, is a different category altogether. Option B is wrong because the absence of alternative employment is a cause of the condition, not its definition. Option D is wrong because low productivity may arise from poor tools, poor soil or poor skills, which is a matter of degree, whereas disguised unemployment refers specifically to the zero marginal product of the surplus worker.

The correct answer is B, 1 and 2 only. Ajanta and Lepakshi both carry painting on their walls and ceilings, while Sanchi does not, so the first two alone fit. The Ajanta caves in Maharashtra hold the finest surviving Buddhist murals in India, painted in the tempera technique between the second century BCE and the fifth century CE, with the Bodhisattva Padmapani and the Jataka scenes among the best known. The Veerabhadra temple at Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh is covered with Vijayanagara murals of the sixteenth century, including the large ceiling panels of Shiva and the vividly painted Nataraja. A is wrong because Lepakshi is left out of it. C is wrong because Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh is famed for its stupas and for the carved gateways of its toranas, which is sculpture, not painting. D is wrong because two of the three places do have murals. Exam tip: Ajanta stands for painting, Sanchi for sculpture on stupa railings and gateways.