UPSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey. All four of these countries sit in the G20, so this is the only group in which no name falls outside the forum. The G20 began in 1999 as a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, and it was raised to the level of a leaders' summit in 2008 after the global financial crisis. It brings together nineteen countries along with the European Union, and the African Union was admitted as a member at the New Delhi summit. Its Asian members include India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. B is wrong because Malaysia and New Zealand are not members, even though Australia and Canada are. C is wrong because Iran and Vietnam stand outside the group, while Brazil and Saudi Arabia are inside it. D is wrong because Singapore is not a member, though it is often invited as a guest. Exam tip: among the Southeast Asian states only Indonesia is a G20 member.

The correct answer is D, Tenth Schedule. The Tenth Schedule carries the anti-defection provisions, so a legislator who deserts the party on whose ticket he or she was elected can be disqualified under it. The schedule was inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985 and applies to members of Parliament and of the state legislatures alike. A member loses the seat for voluntarily giving up party membership or for voting against the party whip, and the presiding officer of the House decides such a case. A merger escapes disqualification only when at least two-thirds of the members of that legislature party agree to it. A is wrong because the Second Schedule fixes the salaries and allowances of the President, Governors, judges and other high offices. B is wrong because the Fifth Schedule deals with the administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes. C is wrong because the Eighth Schedule lists the recognised languages of India. Exam tip: link the pair - Tenth Schedule with the 52nd Amendment of 1985.

The correct answer is A, 1 only. The Harike Wetland in Punjab was created by building a barrage just below the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, so the first pair is correct and it is the only one. Option B is wrong because it accepts the second pair, and Keoladeo Ghana National Park at Bharatpur is a man-made wetland fed by the Gambhir and Banganga through the Ajan Bandh, not a site at the meeting of the Banas and the Chambal. Option C is wrong because it accepts the third pair, and Kolleru Lake in Andhra Pradesh lies between the deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari, drained by the Upputeru, and not at any confluence of the Musi with the Krishna. Option D is wrong because it accepts both of those mismatched pairs. In matching questions of this kind, one certain pair is often enough to reach the answer by elimination.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 2 only. Statement 1 is right because when the United States Federal Reserve tightens, returns there become attractive and portfolio money flows out of emerging markets, which is capital flight. Statement 2 is right because such an outflow weakens the rupee and raises risk premiums, so a firm servicing an external commercial borrowing pays more in rupee terms and finds refinancing dearer. Statement 3 is wrong, and this settles the other options: a fall in the value of the domestic currency raises, not lowers, the currency risk on a loan that must be repaid in dollars, because every dollar of repayment now costs more rupees. Option B is wrong because it accepts the faulty third statement and drops the correct first one, option C is wrong for accepting statement 3 while leaving out statement 2, and option D is wrong because it accepts all three.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. Statement 1 is right because the NEER is a trade weighted index of the rupee against a basket of partner currencies, so a rise in the index means the rupee has appreciated in nominal terms. Statement 3 is right because the REER adjusts the NEER for relative prices, so when domestic inflation runs faster than inflation abroad the two indices move apart. Statement 2 is wrong, and this is why options A, B and D fail: a rise in the REER means the rupee has become expensive in real terms, which makes Indian goods dearer abroad and weakens, not improves, trade competitiveness. Option A is wrong because it accepts statement 2 and leaves out the correct statement 3, option B is wrong because it accepts statement 2 and drops the correct statement 1, and option D is wrong because it accepts all three including the faulty second one.

The correct answer is D, 2 only. The United Nations works in six official languages, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Of the four names in the list, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese are all official, so only German, the second item, is not. Arabic was the last of the six to be added, in 1973. Of the six, English and French are also the working languages of the Secretariat.

Option A is wrong because Arabic is official, having been added in 1973. Option B is wrong for the same reason and because Chinese was official from the beginning as one of the languages of the founding members. Option C again wrongly counts Arabic as not official. Only option D keeps German alone, and German is not a UN language although Germany is a large contributor to the UN budget.

The correct answer is C, Ratnavali. Harshavardhana was a dramatist as well as a king, and three Sanskrit plays are credited to him: Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda. Ratnavali is a court comedy about the love of King Udayana for Ratnavali, and it is the work most often named in question papers.

Option A, the Harshacharita, is about Harsha but was not written by him; it is the biography composed by his court poet Banabhatta. Option B, Kadambari, is also by Banabhatta, a Sanskrit prose romance left unfinished at his death and completed by his son. Option D, the Gitagovinda, is much later: it was written by Jayadeva in the twelfth century at the court of the Sena king Lakshmanasena of Bengal, and it celebrates Radha and Krishna. Only Ratnavali is the king's own composition.

The correct answer is A, Ajanta. The Bodhisattva Padmapani, holding a blue lotus, is painted on the left wall of the antechamber of Cave 1 at Ajanta in Maharashtra, with the Bodhisattva Vajrapani facing him. The figure belongs to the Vakataka period of the fifth century, and its downcast eyes and relaxed body are held up as the finest example of Indian mural painting. Ajanta was painted in tempera on a ground of mud, cow dung and rice husk, and the caves stand above the Waghora river.

Option B, Badami in Karnataka, has Chalukyan royal portraits in Cave 3. Option C, Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, has Buddhist murals very close to Ajanta in style, which makes it the strongest distractor, but not this painting. Option D, Ellora, is chiefly a site of rock cut sculpture and architecture, with surviving painting mainly in the Kailasa temple.

The correct answer is D, Kishangarh school. Bani Thani was painted by Nihal Chand in the eighteenth century at Kishangarh in Rajasthan, under Raja Savant Singh, who wrote devotional poetry under the name Nagari Das. The figure has an elongated face, a long neck, a sharply arched eyebrow and a curving eye, and this stylised female type became the mark of the school. The painting is often called the Mona Lisa of India, and Kishangarh work usually sets its lovers beside lotus filled lakes.

Option A, the Bundi school, is recognised by dense blue green vegetation, water and animal life, not by this female type. Option B, the Jaipur or Amber school, worked under strong Mughal influence on large portraits. Option C, the Kangra school, is a Pahari style from the hills, delicate and lyrical, famous for the Gita Govinda series, and geographically far from Rajasthan.

The correct answer is A. The Polar Code is the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, adopted by the International Maritime Organization and in force since the beginning of 2017. It is mandatory under the conventions on safety of life at sea and on prevention of pollution from ships, and it covers ship design, equipment, crew training and operation in ice-covered waters, as well as discharges of oil, sewage and garbage in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Option B is wrong because territorial claims in the Arctic are dealt with under the law of the sea and the continental shelf procedure, not by this code. Option C describes what the Antarctic Treaty system and its environmental protocol do for scientific activity. Option D is wrong because the Arctic Council is a forum for cooperation on environment and sustainable development and does not conclude trade or security agreements.

The correct answer is They may not be used for determining constitutionality of laws, because this statement is false. The Supreme Court has held that when a court tests whether a law is constitutional, and finds that the law gives effect to a Fundamental Duty, it may treat the law as "reasonable" under Article 14 or Article 19 and uphold it. So the duties can indeed help determine the constitutionality of laws, even though they cannot themselves be enforced.

The other three statements are correct, which is what makes the question hard. The Fundamental Duties were not part of the original Constitution of 1950; they were added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Safeguarding public property and abjuring violence is a Fundamental Duty, clause (i) of Article 51A. And the duties are not enforceable through writs, because they are non-justiciable: no court can order a citizen to perform them, though Parliament can enforce them through ordinary laws. In a "NOT correct" question, test each statement separately before choosing.

The correct answer is B, Abhaya Mudra. Early Mathura Buddhas show the right hand raised with the palm facing out, the gesture that says "fear not". The Mathura School flourished under the Kushanas in the first centuries CE, at the same time as the Gandhara school of the north-west. Mathura sculptors worked in the local spotted red sandstone and gave the Buddha a round smiling face, a shaven head with a spiral top-knot and a strong, fleshy body, a style that was wholly Indian. The seated Buddha from the Katra mound, now in the Mathura Museum, is a well-known example with the right hand in abhaya. Option A is wrong because the dhyana mudra of meditation, with hands resting in the lap, is typical of Gandhara images. Option C is wrong because the dharmachakra mudra of teaching became famous later, as in the Gupta-period Buddha of Sarnath. Option D is wrong because the varada mudra of giving, with the palm lowered, is seen more often in later images. Exam tip: Mathura means red sandstone and abhaya; Gandhara means grey schist and dhyana.

The correct answer is A, Baiju Bawra. Baiju, also called Baiju Nayak, was the leading singer at the court of Raja Man Singh Tomar in Gwalior and later served Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Raja Man Singh Tomar ruled Gwalior from 1486 to 1516 and is credited with shaping dhrupad, the oldest surviving style of Hindustani classical music. Baiju was a master of dhrupad, and legend makes him a rival of Tansen, a story retold in the 1952 film "Baiju Bawra". Gwalior's link with music continues today through the Tansen Samaroh held there every year. Option B is wrong because Tansen sang at the court of Raja Ramchandra of Rewa and then became one of the nine jewels of Akbar's court. Option C is wrong because Lal Kalawant was a disciple of Tansen who served at the Mughal court. Option D is wrong because Rang Khan Kalawant is not recorded at the courts of Man Singh Tomar or Bahadur Shah. Exam tip: Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior made dhrupad famous; Baiju sang there, and Tansen later shone at Akbar's court.

The correct answer is D, Forest Act 1878. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 created the three classes of reserved, protected and village forests. British interest in Indian forests grew as the railways and shipbuilding needed huge amounts of timber. The Imperial Forest Department was set up in 1864 with Dietrich Brandis as the first Inspector General of Forests, and the first Indian Forest Act followed in 1865. That Act was soon found too weak, so the 1878 Act replaced it, giving the state firm control over forest land and sharply cutting down villagers' customary rights, above all in reserved forests. Its successor, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, kept the same three classes and is still the main forest law. Option A is wrong because 1864 is the year the Forest Department was created, not a classification law. Option B is wrong because the 1865 Act only began state control and did not create the three classes. Option C is wrong because 1866 is not linked with this classification at all. Exam tip: 1864 department, 1865 first Act, 1878 three classes, 1927 Act still in use.

The correct answer is C, Protection of ozone layer. Both treaties were made to save the ozone layer in the stratosphere, which screens out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1985 as a framework agreement. The Montreal Protocol of 1987 put it into action by fixing deadlines to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. In 2009 these became the first UN treaties ratified by every country, and 16 September, the day the Protocol was signed, is observed as World Ozone Day. The Kigali Amendment of 2016 extended the Protocol to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Option A is wrong because desertification is handled by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification of 1994. Option B is wrong because the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 as part of Agenda 2030. Option D is wrong because climate change falls under the UNFCCC of 1992, with its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. Exam tip: Vienna 1985 and Montreal 1987 for ozone; Kigali 2016 added HFCs.

The correct answer is C, Anabaena. Anabaena is a cyanobacterium, a prokaryote with no true nucleus, and all prokaryotes are placed in Monera. In R.H. Whittaker's five-kingdom classification (1969), Monera holds the bacteria and the cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, whose cells have no nuclear membrane and no membrane-bound organelles. Anabaena grows as chains of cells and has special thick-walled cells called heterocysts that fix nitrogen from the air. It lives inside the small water fern Azolla, which is why Azolla is used as a biofertiliser in paddy fields. Option A is wrong because diatoms are single-celled eukaryotes with glass-like silica walls, placed in Protista; their deposits form diatomaceous earth. Option B is wrong because Euglena is a protist that makes its own food in light but feeds like an animal in the dark. Option D is wrong because Ulothrix is a filamentous green alga with a true nucleus, grouped with plants. Exam tip: no true nucleus means Monera; Anabaena and Nostoc are the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria to remember.

The correct answer is C, Nitrogen. Nitrogen is an unreactive gas, so it drives the oxygen out of the packet and stops the oil in the chips from getting oxidised. Rancidity is the oxidation of fats and oils in food, which spoils their smell and taste. Chips are fried in oil, so they turn rancid quickly once they meet air. Filling the pack with nitrogen keeps oxygen out and also acts as a cushion that stops the chips from breaking in transport. Other ways to slow rancidity are adding antioxidants, storing food in airtight containers and keeping it in a refrigerator. Option A is wrong because carbon dioxide is used for fizzy drinks and some other foods, but the standard gas for chips is nitrogen, which is cheap and very unreactive. Option B is wrong because hydrogen is highly inflammable and unsafe inside food packs. Option D is wrong because oxygen is the very gas that causes rancidity in the first place. Exam tip: rancidity is oxidation of fats; nitrogen flushing and antioxidants prevent it.

The correct answer is B, violet light. Violet has the shortest wavelength in visible light, so glass slows it the most and bends it the most. White light is a mix of seven colours, remembered as VIBGYOR. The refractive index of glass is slightly different for each colour, highest for violet and lowest for red. So when white light passes through a prism, each colour bends through a different angle and the light spreads into a coloured band called a spectrum. This splitting is called dispersion, and Isaac Newton showed it with a glass prism in his experiments of 1666. A rainbow is the same dispersion happening inside raindrops. Option A is wrong because red has the longest wavelength and is bent the least, so it lies at the other end of the spectrum from violet. Option C is wrong because yellow lies in the middle of the spectrum and deviates less than violet. Option D is wrong because blue bends more than yellow but still a little less than violet. Exam tip: red deviates least and violet most; the shorter the wavelength, the bigger the bend.

The correct answer is A, Bauxite, Magnetite, Malachite and Calamine respectively. Each metal here is paired with one of its best-known ores. Bauxite is hydrated aluminium oxide; alumina is refined from it and then broken down by electrolysis in the Hall-Héroult process. Magnetite (Fe3O4) is the magnetic ore of iron, while haematite (Fe2O3) is India's chief iron ore. Malachite is a green basic copper carbonate, though copper pyrites is the main commercial ore of copper. Calamine is zinc carbonate (ZnCO3), and zinc blende (ZnS) is the other main ore of zinc; the Zawar mines of Rajasthan are famous for it. Option B is wrong because it gives aluminium to magnetite and iron to bauxite. Option C is wrong because it runs the list backwards, pairing aluminium with calamine and zinc with bauxite. Option D is wrong because malachite is an ore of copper, not aluminium, and bauxite is not an ore of copper. Exam tip: "B-M-M-C" in order: Bauxite-Al, Magnetite-Fe, Malachite-Cu, Calamine-Zn.

The correct answer is C, 143. The number 235 is the mass number and uranium's atomic number is 92, so the nucleus holds 235 minus 92, that is 143 neutrons. The mass number (A) counts protons and neutrons together, while the atomic number (Z) counts only protons, so neutrons = A − Z. Every uranium atom has 92 protons; its isotopes differ only in the number of neutrons. Uranium-235 makes up only about 0.7% of natural uranium, the rest being mostly U-238 with 146 neutrons. Yet U-235 is the isotope that splits easily when struck by a slow neutron, which is why reactor fuel is "enriched" in it. Option A is wrong because 235 is the total of protons and neutrons, not the neutrons alone. Option B is wrong because 92 is the number of protons, that is the atomic number. Option D is wrong because 51 has no link with this nucleus and is only a distractor. Exam tip: neutrons = mass number minus atomic number; U-235 has 143 and U-238 has 146.