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UPSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

General knowledge questions asked in the official papers of UPSC exams, UPSC Civil Services and UPSC CAPF, in one place. Each comes with the correct answer, an explanation and the exam, year and shift it was asked in.

Pick a year below to see that year's questions, or open an exam's own page for its papers alone. Questions from one exam are often asked again in another, so revising the whole UPSC family together is a quick way to cover what the papers test.

Previous Year Questions

Q181.Indian PolityAsked in: UPSC Civil Services · Prelims GS Paper I, 10 Oct 2021Easy

'Right to Privacy' is protected under which Article of the Constitution of India?

  1. A.Article 15
  2. B.Article 19
  3. C.Article 21
  4. D.Article 29
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 21

Explanation

The correct answer is C, Article 21. The Supreme Court has read privacy into the right to life and personal liberty. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), a nine-judge bench unanimously held that privacy is a fundamental right, protected mainly as part of Article 21 and also by the other freedoms in Part III. The same bench overruled the older rulings in M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962), which had said the Constitution gives no right to privacy. The case began as a challenge to the Aadhaar scheme, which makes it easy to remember. Option A is wrong because Article 15 bars discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Option B is wrong because Article 19 lists six freedoms such as speech and movement, and privacy is not one of them. Option D is wrong because Article 29 protects the language, script and culture of minorities. Exam tip: privacy, like shelter, health and a speedy trial, is a right the courts have read into Article 21.

Q182.Indian PolityAsked in: UPSC Civil Services 2017Hard

Which principle among the following was added to the Directive Principles of State Policy by the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution?

  1. A.Equal pay for equal work for both men and women
  2. B.Participation of workers in the management of industries
  3. C.Right to work, education and public assistance
  4. D.Securing living wage and human condition of work to workers
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Participation of workers in the management of industries

Explanation

The correct answer is Participation of workers in the management of industries. The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted Article 43A, which asks the State to take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings and industrial establishments. The same amendment added Article 39A (free legal aid) and Article 48A (environment) and rewrote Article 39(f) on the healthy development of children.

The three other options are Directive Principles that were in the Constitution from the start, in 1950, which is exactly what makes the question hard. Equal pay for equal work for men and women is Article 39(d). The right to work, to education and to public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement is Article 41. A living wage and humane conditions of work are Articles 43 and 42. The quickest check is the letter: the Directive Principles added later carry a letter after the number (39A, 43A, 43B, 48A), while the original ones do not.