UPSC 2015 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. BirdLife International is a worldwide partnership of independent national conservation organisations, with its secretariat at Cambridge in the United Kingdom, so statement 1 is correct. It is also the body that identifies and maintains the inventory of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, the sites that hold key populations of birds, which makes statement 3 correct. Statement 2 is the trap: the concept of biodiversity hotspots was proposed by the British ecologist Norman Myers in 1988 and was later developed by Conservation International, not by BirdLife International. Because statement 2 is wrong, option D, which takes all three, falls away, and option B, which keeps statement 2 while dropping the correct statement 1, is doubly wrong. Option A is incomplete because it leaves out statement 3. Remember the pairing: hotspots belong to Myers and Conservation International, Important Bird Areas belong to BirdLife.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 4. The Royal Indian Navy mutiny began on 18 February 1946, when the ratings of HMIS Talwar in Bombay went on a hunger strike against bad food and racial insults. So items 2 and 3 were very much part of it, and the revolt soon spread to dozens of ships and shore establishments, with crowds and mill workers of Bombay coming out in support before Sardar Patel and Jinnah persuaded the ratings to surrender. Item 1 had no part in it: the Indian National Army was Subhas Chandra Bose’s force raised abroad, and although the INA trials of 1945 stirred the same anger, the army itself was already disbanded. Item 4 is also outside it, because the Viceroy in 1946 was Lord Wavell; Lord Irwin had left India in 1931, remembered for the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Options A, B and D are wrong because each of them counts HMIS Talwar or the hunger strike, or leaves out the INA. Exam tip: RIN mutiny, 18 February 1946, HMIS Talwar, Bombay, under Viceroy Wavell.

The correct answer is C, Mizoram. Article 371G sits in Part XXI of the Constitution, which holds temporary, transitional and special provisions, and was inserted by the 53rd Amendment Act, 1986, when Mizoram was made a full state. It protects Mizo customary law and practice, social and religious usage, and the administration of civil and criminal justice based on that customary law: a law of Parliament on these subjects applies to Mizoram only if the Legislative Assembly of the state decides by resolution that it should. The Assembly is also fixed at a minimum of forty members. Option A is wrong because the special provision for Jammu and Kashmir was Article 370, whose operation was withdrawn in August 2019. Option B is wrong because Jharkhand has no such article; it was carved out of Bihar in 2000 by an ordinary reorganisation Act. Option D is wrong because Nagaland is covered by Article 371A, added by the 13th Amendment of 1962. Exam tip: 371A Nagaland, 371B Assam, 371C Manipur, 371F Sikkim, 371G Mizoram, 371H Arunachal Pradesh.

The correct answer is D, Nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up about 78 per cent of the atmosphere, yet it is not a greenhouse gas. A molecule traps heat only if it can absorb outgoing infrared radiation, and that needs vibrations which change the spread of electric charge in the molecule. Nitrogen is a simple molecule of two identical atoms, so it is transparent to infrared; the same is true of oxygen. The gases that do trap heat are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and the halocarbons, and together they keep the earth about 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be. Option A is wrong because water vapour is the most abundant greenhouse gas of all. Option B is wrong because chlorofluorocarbons are powerful greenhouse gases that also destroy the ozone layer, which is why the Montreal Protocol phases them out. Option C is wrong because methane traps far more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. Exam tip: nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases, though they make up most of the air.

The correct answer is D, New Delhi. The National Green Tribunal was set up by the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, and started work on 18 October 2010 with its principal bench at New Delhi. Its four zonal benches sit at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai, and it also holds circuit sittings at other places. India thus became one of the first countries to create a dedicated court for environmental disputes, and the tribunal is required to decide cases within six months of filing. It hears matters under laws such as the Water Act, the Air Act and the Environment (Protection) Act, is headed by a chairperson who has been a judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court Chief Justice, and its orders can be appealed only in the Supreme Court. Option A is wrong because Kolkata holds the eastern zone bench, not the principal seat. Option B is wrong because Hyderabad has no bench of the tribunal. Option C is wrong because Lucknow is not the principal seat either. Exam tip: NGT Act 2010 — principal bench Delhi; zonal benches Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.

The correct answer is C, President of India after an address in both Houses of Parliament. Under Article 148 the Comptroller and Auditor-General is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, but can be removed only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. That means each House must pass an address by a special majority on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, and only then does the President remove him. This difficult procedure, along with a fixed term of six years or age 65, a salary charged on the Consolidated Fund of India and a bar on holding any further office of profit, is what keeps the CAG independent while he audits the accounts of the Union and the states. Option A is wrong because the Council of Ministers cannot advise his removal. Option B is wrong because the Chief Justice has no power to remove him. Option D is wrong because the advice of the Chief Justice is not the route either. Exam tip: Article 148 — CAG is removed exactly like a Supreme Court judge.

The correct answer is C, First Amendment Act. The Ninth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, to shield land reform laws from being struck down by the courts. The same amendment added Article 31B, which says that a law placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be questioned for taking away a fundamental right. The Schedule started with 13 entries, mostly the zamindari abolition laws of the states, and has grown far beyond that. The protection is no longer absolute: in I. R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007) the Supreme Court held that laws added after 24 April 1973 can still be tested against the basic structure of the Constitution. Option A is wrong because the Third Amendment of 1954 reworked the Concurrent List entry on essential commodities. Option B is wrong because the Fourth Amendment of 1955 only put more laws into a Schedule that already existed. Option D is wrong because the Sixth Amendment of 1956 dealt with taxes on the inter-State sale of goods. Exam tip: First Amendment, 1951 — Ninth Schedule along with Article 31B.

The correct answer is D, Fundamental Duties. Upholding and protecting the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India is listed as a duty of every citizen, so the provision sits among the Fundamental Duties and not in any other part. The Fundamental Duties were added as Part IVA, Article 51A, by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee; ten were added then and an eleventh, on the education of children, came with the 86th Amendment of 2002. They are moral obligations and cannot be enforced by a court on their own. A is wrong because the Preamble speaks of the unity and integrity of the nation as an ideal but lays no duty on a citizen. B is wrong because the Directive Principles address the State, not the citizen. C is wrong because Fundamental Rights are claims a citizen holds against the State. Exam tip: Article 51A came with the 42nd Amendment, 1976.