UPSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Privileges. Equality means that no person or group enjoys special rights denied to others, so it implies the absence of privileges.

In political theory, equality rests on the idea that all people deserve equal concern and respect. Harold Laski described equality first of all as the absence of special privilege, along with adequate opportunities for all. The Indian Constitution reflects this: Article 14 gives equality before the law, Article 15 bars discrimination, Article 17 abolishes untouchability and Article 18 abolishes titles, all of which remove privileges based on birth, caste or status.

B is wrong because a society of equals still has laws and restraints that apply to everyone alike.

C is wrong because equality of opportunity actually allows fair competition rather than removing it.

D is wrong because equality is itself an ideal and does not require the absence of ideology.

Exam tip: Laski: equality means the absence of special privilege and adequate opportunities for all; Articles 14 to 18 are the Right to Equality.

The correct answer is C, World Economic Forum. The Global Competitiveness Report is the World Economic Forum's assessment of how well countries' institutions, policies and markets support productivity and growth.

The World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based not-for-profit foundation, set up by Klaus Schwab in 1971 and known for its annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Its Global Competitiveness Report, first brought out in 1979, ranks economies on a Global Competitiveness Index built on pillars such as institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, markets and innovation. The WEF also publishes the Global Gender Gap Report and the Global Risks Report.

A is wrong: the IMF publishes the World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report.

B is wrong: UNCTAD publishes the World Investment Report and the Trade and Development Report.

D is wrong: the World Bank published the Doing Business Report and publishes the World Development Report.

Exam tip: WEF = Global Competitiveness, Global Gender Gap and Global Risks reports; IMF = World Economic Outlook.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. Indian bond yields respond to the RBI's policy, to domestic inflation and short-term rates, and also to the US Federal Reserve through global capital flows.

A bond's yield is the return an investor earns on it, and it moves opposite to the bond's price. When the RBI cuts the repo rate or buys government securities through open market operations, yields tend to fall; tightening pushes them up. Higher inflation makes investors demand a higher return, and short-term rates set the base from which longer yields are priced. When the US Federal Reserve raises rates, foreign investors may pull money out of Indian bonds for safer US assets, which lowers bond prices in India and lifts yields.

A is wrong because inflation and short-term rates also matter.

B is wrong because the RBI is only one of several influences.

C is wrong because both central banks also move yields.

Exam tip: bond price and yield move in opposite directions; inflation up, yields up.

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 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 D, All four. A volcanic eruption throws out solid fragments, fine ash and dust, and a mixture of gases that includes nitrogen and sulphur compounds.

Material released by a volcano is of three kinds. Solid matter includes pyroclastic debris, the broken pieces of rock and lava blown out by the explosion, ranging from large volcanic bombs to small lapilli, along with fine ash and dust that can spread across continents. Liquid matter is the lava. Gases are mostly water vapour, followed by carbon dioxide, sulphur compounds such as sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, and nitrogen compounds, with smaller amounts of chlorine, hydrogen and argon. Sulphur dioxide forms sulphate aerosols in the stratosphere that can cool the climate for a year or two.

A is wrong because more than one item is a volcanic product.

B is wrong because the gases, not only the solids, come from eruptions.

C is wrong because none of the four can be left out.

Exam tip: volcanic gases = mostly water vapour, then carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen compounds.

The correct answer is B, plan of action outlined by the countries of the world to combat climate change. INDCs were the climate pledges countries announced before the Paris climate conference of 2015.

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, each country was asked to state what it intended to do to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change after 2020. These Intended Nationally Determined Contributions were submitted before COP21 in Paris in December 2015. Once a country ratified the Paris Agreement, its INDC became its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), to be updated every five years with greater ambition. India's first INDC was submitted in October 2015.

A is wrong because refugee pledges have nothing to do with this term.

C is wrong because capital subscriptions to the AIIB are not called INDCs.

D is wrong because the Sustainable Development Goals are pursued through the 2030 Agenda, not through INDCs.

Exam tip: INDC before Paris (COP21, 2015) became NDC after ratification, revised every five years.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. The Rigveda describes armour and the horse as central to Aryan life, while the Harappan remains show neither armour nor clear use of the horse; but the Harappans did not know iron.

Statement 1 is correct: the Rigveda mentions the varman (coat of mail) and helmet, and the Aryans fought from horse-drawn chariots, whereas no defensive armour has been found at Harappan sites. Statement 3 is correct in the sense the question intends: the horse was vital to the Rigvedic people, but it does not appear on Harappan seals and there is no firm evidence that the Harappans used it. Statement 2 is wrong: the Indus people worked gold, silver, copper, bronze and lead, but not iron, which came into use in India only around 1000 BCE.

A is wrong because statement 3 is also correct.

B is wrong because statement 2 is false.

D is wrong because the Harappans knew no iron.

Exam tip: Harappans = Bronze Age, no iron, horse not on seals; Rigvedic Aryans = horse, chariot and armour.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. All three are adaptations of desert plants (xerophytes) that cut down water loss through transpiration.

Plants lose most of their water through the leaves, so desert plants change their leaves to save it. A thick waxy cuticle makes the leaf surface hard and waterproof, as in the oleander and many succulents. Small leaves expose less surface to the hot, dry air, as in acacia and tamarisk. In cacti and some euphorbias the leaves are reduced to spines or thorns, and the green fleshy stem takes over photosynthesis and stores water. Sunken stomata and fewer stomata are other such features.

A is wrong because it leaves out hard, waxy leaves.

B is wrong because tiny leaves are only one of the three adaptations.

C is wrong because thorns are not the only change seen in desert plants.

Exam tip: cactus = leaves turned into spines, stem does photosynthesis; xerophytes = waxy cuticle, small leaves, sunken stomata.

The correct answer is D, Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003. The FRBM Act requires the government to lay this statement before Parliament along with the Budget.

Section 3 of the FRBM Act, 2003 lists the fiscal policy statements that must accompany the annual financial statement: the Macro-economic Framework Statement and the Medium-term Fiscal Policy cum Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement. The Macro-economic Framework Statement assesses the growth prospects of the economy, with GDP growth, the fiscal balance and the external sector balance. The Act aims to bring discipline to government borrowing and deficits.

A is wrong because the document rests on a statute, not on convention.

B is wrong because Article 112 deals with the annual financial statement and Article 110 defines Money Bills; neither requires this statement.

C is wrong because Article 113 covers the procedure for estimates and demands for grants.

Exam tip: Article 112 = Budget; the FRBM Act, 2003 = the fiscal policy statements laid with it.

The correct answer is B, 2 and 3 only. Urban Cooperative Banks are regulated by the RBI, not by local boards, and they may raise capital through equity and preference shares.

Statement 1 is wrong: UCBs are registered under State or Multi-State Cooperative Societies Acts, but their banking functions are regulated and supervised by the Reserve Bank of India; no local boards of State Governments do this. Statement 2 is correct: the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020 lets cooperative banks, with RBI approval, issue equity shares, preference shares and other securities to raise capital. Statement 3 is correct: cooperative banks were brought under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 from 1 March 1966, through an amendment applying the Act to cooperative societies.

A is wrong because statement 1 is false.

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

D is wrong because statement 1 is incorrect.

Exam tip: cooperative banks came under the BR Act in 1966; the 2020 amendment strengthened RBI control over them.

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, 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 A, both statements are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I. The troposphere is thickest over the equator because strong convection there carries heat high into the air.

The troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere where almost all weather occurs, is about 18 km thick at the equator but only about 8 km at the poles. Intense heating of the surface near the equator sets up powerful rising convection currents, which lift warm air and moisture to great heights and push the top of the layer, the tropopause, upward. Over the cold poles convection is weak, so the layer stays shallow. Temperature in the troposphere falls by about 6.5 °C per kilometre of height.

B is wrong because convection is exactly the reason for the greater thickness.

C is wrong because Statement-II is correct.

D is wrong because Statement-I is correct.

Exam tip: troposphere about 18 km at the equator, about 8 km at the poles, because of convection.

The correct answer is C, Both 1 and 2. LiFi (Light Fidelity) sends data wirelessly by switching LED light on and off far too fast for the eye to notice, and it can be many times faster than WiFi.

The idea was popularised by Professor Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh in 2011. A LiFi bulb flickers at very high frequency, and a photodetector reads these changes as binary data. Because visible light has a far wider spectrum than the radio waves used by WiFi, laboratory tests have reached speeds many times higher than WiFi. Light cannot pass through walls, which limits range but makes the signal harder to intercept and free of radio interference, useful in hospitals and aircraft.

A is wrong because statement 2 is also correct.

B is wrong because statement 1, the use of light, is the very basis of LiFi.

D is wrong because both statements describe LiFi correctly.

Exam tip: WiFi uses radio waves; LiFi uses visible light from LEDs and cannot pass through walls.

The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. A private member's bill is one introduced by any MP who is not a minister, whether elected or nominated, and such bills have become law in the past.

Statement 1 is wrong: the test is not election or nomination but whether the member is a minister. A bill moved by a minister is a government bill; a bill moved by any other member is a private member's bill, and it needs a month's notice before introduction. Statement 2 is wrong: fourteen private members' bills have been passed by both Houses and received assent, the last of them in 1970. The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2015, was notable only as the first such bill passed by that House in decades; it never became law in that form.

A is wrong because nominated status has nothing to do with it.

B is wrong because private members' bills had become law long before.

C is wrong because both statements are false.

Exam tip: private member = any MP who is not a minister; 14 such bills have become law, the last in 1970.

The correct answer is B, 2 only. The first Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was recognised in 1969, when Ram Subhag Singh of the Congress (O) was given the post.

Statement 1 is wrong: the Swatantra Party was founded only in 1959, years after the first Lok Sabha (1952–57); the largest opposition party then was the Communist Party of India. Statement 3 is wrong: the practice, based on the Speaker's direction, is that a party needs at least one-tenth of the House's strength, that is 55 members, not 75. The Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 later gave the post statutory recognition.

A is wrong because both statements 1 and 3 are false.

C is wrong because the minimum is one-tenth of the House (55), not 75.

D is wrong because only statement 2 is true.

Exam tip: first LoP recognised in 1969; the one-tenth rule means 55 seats in a 543-member Lok Sabha.

The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. A jagir was a temporary, transferable revenue assignment given mainly in lieu of salary for military service, while zamindari rights were hereditary.

Under the mansabdari system, a mansabdar was paid either in cash or through a jagir, the right to collect revenue from a tract of land equal to his salary. The jagir was tied to his military rank, was transferred every few years and was not hereditary, so statement 1 is wrong about judicial and police duties being its basis. Zamindars held hereditary rights over a share of the produce and also had duties beyond revenue collection, such as keeping order and supplying troops to the state. So statement 2 has the hereditary part reversed.

A is wrong because statement 1 misstates both the jagir and the zamindar's role.

B is wrong because jagirs, not zamindari rights, were non-hereditary.

C is wrong because both statements are incorrect.

Exam tip: jagir = salary for military rank, transferable; zamindari = hereditary local right.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 4 only. A dearer substitute pushes buyers towards this good, and a fall in its own price leads them to buy more of it.

Statement 1 is correct: if tea becomes costlier, people buy more coffee, so demand for coffee rises. Statement 4 is correct: by the law of demand, a lower price raises the quantity buyers want. Statement 2 is wrong: if the price of a complement rises (petrol for cars), demand for the good falls. Statement 3 is wrong: for an inferior good, demand falls when income rises, because consumers shift to better goods.

B is wrong because it includes statements 2 and 3, both of which reduce demand.

C is wrong because statement 3 describes a fall, not a rise, in demand for an inferior good.

D is wrong because it includes 2 and 3 and leaves out 4, the plainest case of the law of demand.

Exam tip: substitute price up, demand up; complement price up, demand down; inferior good, income up, demand down.

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.