UPSC Prelims 2017 — solved PYQs

Question 1

With reference to agriculture in India, how can the technique of 'genome sequencing', often seen in the news, be used in the immediate future?
1. Genome sequencing can be used to identify genetic markers for disease resistance and drought tolerance in various crop plants.
2. This technique helps in reducing the time required to develop new varieties of crop plants.
3. It can be used to decipher the host-pathogen relationships in crops.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 only (B) 2 and 3 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(D) 1, 2 and 3 — Correct. Genome sequencing identifies resistance markers, accelerates variety development through genomic selection, and helps understand crop-pathogen interactions.

Question 2

The Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) was related to: (A) Resolution of stressed corporate loans (B) Direct farm subsidy transfer (C) Licensing of payment banks (D) Setting insurance premiums in agriculture

Accepted Answer

(A) Resolution of stressed corporate loans — Correct. S4A was an RBI-led framework for restructuring and resolving stressed assets.

Question 3

The term 'Domestic Content Requirement' is sometimes seen in the news with reference to: (A) Developing solar power production in our country (B) Granting licences to foreign T.V. channels in our country (C) Exporting our food products to other countries (D) Permitting foreign educational institutions to set up their campuses in our country

Accepted Answer

(A) Developing solar power production in our country — Correct. Domestic Content Requirement was prominent in debates over India's solar-energy procurement and WTO-related trade disputes on local manufacturing rules.

Question 4

Consider the following statements in respect of Trade Related Analysis of Fauna and Flora in Commerce (TRAFFIC):
1. TRAFFIC is a bureau under United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
2. The mission of TRAFFIC is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? (A) 1 only (B) 2 only (C) Both 1 and 2 (D) Neither 1 nor 2

Accepted Answer

(B) 2 only — Correct. TRAFFIC's mission is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to conservation. It is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN, not a UNEP bureau.

Question 5

The object of the Butler Committee of 1927 was to (A) define the jurisdiction of the Central and Provincial Governments (B) define the powers of the Secretary of State for India (C) impose censorship on national press (D) improve the relationship between the Government of India and the Indian States

Accepted Answer

(D) improve the relationship between the Government of India and the Indian States — Correct. The Harcourt Butler Committee examined the relationship between the paramount power (British Crown) and the princely states, and recommended that paramountcy should remain with the Crown, not be transferred to an Indian government.

Question 6

The National Career Service portal was launched primarily to: (A) Provide a digital platform connecting job seekers, employers and career services (B) Replace the Census of India (C) Fix MSP for agricultural labourers (D) Offer universal pension to students

Accepted Answer

(A) Provide a digital platform connecting job seekers, employers and career services — Correct. The NCS platform modernizes employment exchange functions and related services.

Question 7

With reference to GST, which of the following statements is correct?
1. It will create a single national market.
2. It will drastically reduce the compliance burden on taxpayers.
3. It will enormously reduce tax evasion and corruption. (A) 1 only (B) 1 and 2 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(A) 1 only — Correct. While GST creates a single national market, claims of drastically reducing compliance burden and enormously reducing evasion use extreme qualifiers that are not fully accurate in practice.

Question 8

In the context of India, which one of the following is the correct relationship between Rights and Duties? (A) Rights are correlative with Duties (B) Rights are personal and hence independent of society and Duties (C) Rights, not Duties, are important for the advancement of the personality of the citizen (D) Duties, not Rights, are important for the stability of the State

Accepted Answer

(A) Rights are correlative with Duties — Correct. Constitutional thought treats rights and duties as mutually connected: rights require a social and legal framework in which corresponding duties are performed. The enjoyment of rights by one person implies corresponding duties on others.

Question 9

Which of the following are not necessarily the consequences of the proclamation of the President's Rule in a State?
1. Dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly
2. Removal of the Council of Ministers in the State
3. Dissolution of the local bodies
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 and 2 only (B) 1 and 3 only (C) 2 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(B) 1 and 3 only — Correct. The State Legislative Assembly may either be dissolved or kept in suspended animation under Article 356 — dissolution is not automatic. Local bodies (panchayats and municipalities) are not automatically dissolved by President's Rule. However, removal of the Council of Ministers is a necessary consequence.

Question 10

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a standard criterion for: (A) Measuringtheproductivity of a forest ecosystem (B) Assessingtheefficiency of a thermal power plant (C) Measuring thepollution levelinwater bodies (D) Measuring theconcentration ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Accepted Answer

(C) Measuring thepollution levelinwater bodies — Correct. BOD measures the amount of dissolved oxygen consumed by microorganisms to decompose organic matter in water. A higher BOD indicates greater organic pollution in the water body.

Question 11

Which one of the following statements is correct? (A) Rights are claims of the State against the citizens. (B) Rights are privileges which are incorporated in the Constitution of a State. (C) Rights are claims of the citizens against the State. (D) Rights are privileges of a few citizens against the many.

Accepted Answer

(C) Rights are claims of the citizens against the State. — Correct. In liberal constitutional theory, rights are justified claims that individuals can assert against the State. They operate as shields against arbitrary exercise of governmental power.

Question 12

In India, Judicial Review implies: (A) The power of the Judiciary to pronounce upon the constitutionality of laws and executive orders (B) The power of the Judiciary to question the wisdom of the laws enacted by the Legislatures (C) The power of the Judiciary to review all the legislative enactments before they are assented to by the President (D) The power of the Judiciary to review its own judgments given earlier in similar or different cases

Accepted Answer

(A) The power of the Judiciary to pronounce upon the constitutionality of laws and executive orders — Correct. Judicial review means examining laws and executive actions for consistency with the Constitution. It is the power to test legislative and executive actions on the touchstone of the Constitution.

Question 13

India was negotiating the Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) with: (A) European Union (B) China (C) Japan (D) United States of America

Accepted Answer

(A) European Union — Correct. BTIA is a comprehensive trade and investment agreement that India has been negotiating with the European Union since 2007.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is/are true of the Fundamental Duties of an Indian citizen?
1. A legislative process has been provided to enforce these duties.
2. They are correlative to legal duties.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 only (B) 2 only (C) Both 1 and 2 (D) Neither 1 nor 2

Accepted Answer

(D) Neither 1 nor 2 — Correct. The Constitution does not lay down a specific legislative machinery for enforcing Fundamental Duties, and the duties in Article 51A are not generally framed as correlative legal duties enforceable through a dedicated constitutional process.

Question 15

The term 'M-STrIPES' is sometimes seen in the news in the context of: (A) Captive breeding of Wild Fauna (B) Maintenance of Tiger Reserves (C) Indigenous Satellite Navigation System (D) Security of National Highways

Accepted Answer

(B) Maintenance of Tiger Reserves — Correct. M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers — Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is a software-based patrolling and ecological monitoring system used by NTCA for tiger reserve management.

Question 16

The National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) seeks mainly to: (A) Integrate learning outcomes from formal, non-formal and vocational channels into a common qualification framework (B) Replace all universities with industrial training institutes (C) Fix a single national wage for all occupations (D) Ban private participation in skill training

Accepted Answer

(A) Integrate learning outcomes from formal, non-formal and vocational channels into a common qualification framework — Correct. NSQF provides level-based pathways and recognition across different modes of learning and skill acquisition.

Question 17

With reference to the Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events:
1. Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy
2. Quit India Movement launched
3. Second Round Table Conference
What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events? (A) 1-2-3 (B) 2-1-3 (C) 3-2-1 (D) 3-1-2

Accepted Answer

(C) 3-2-1 — Correct. The Second Round Table Conference was held in 1931, the Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942, and the Mutiny in the Royal Indian Navy took place in February 1946.

Question 18

The electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) was launched with the primary objective of: (A) Replacing irrigation in all districts with digital monitoring (B) Integrating agricultural produce markets through an electronic trading portal to improve price discovery and market access (C) Nationalizing all private warehouses (D) Providing free farm machinery to all cultivators

Accepted Answer

(B) Integrating agricultural produce markets through an electronic trading portal to improve price discovery and market access — Correct. e-NAM seeks to create a unified national agricultural market through electronic trading and better price discovery.

Question 19

With reference to 'Global Climate Change Alliance', which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. It is an initiative of the European Union.
2. It provides technical and financial support to targeted developing countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets.
Select the correct answer using the code given below. (A) 1 and 2 (B) 2 only (C) 1 only (D) Neither 1 nor 2

Accepted Answer

(A) 1 and 2 — Correct. GCCA was launched by the European Commission in 2007 to support least developed and small island developing countries in integrating climate change into development strategies, providing both technical and financial support.

Question 20

The Global Gender Gap Report, which ranks countries on gender parity, is published by: (A) World Economic Forum (B) UN Women (C) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (D) World Bank

Accepted Answer

(A) World Economic Forum — Correct. The Global Gender Gap Report has been published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2006. It benchmarks 146 countries on gender parity across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. It should not be confused with UNDP's Gender Inequality Index (GII) or Gender Development Index (GDI).

Question 21

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act is primarily aimed at: (A) Regulating foreign direct investment flows (B) Prohibiting transactions where property is held in a fictitious name or by a person who has not paid for it (C) Taxing agricultural income (D) Regulating cryptocurrency transactions

Accepted Answer

(B) Prohibiting transactions where property is held in a fictitious name or by a person who has not paid for it — Correct. The Act prohibits benami transactions and provides for confiscation of benami property where the real owner is different from the recorded owner.

Question 22

The Quality Council of India (QCI) was set up as a: (A) Joint initiative of Government and Indian industry to establish an accreditation structure (B) Wholly Government-owned regulatory body under the RBI Act (C) Subsidiary of the Competition Commission of India (D) Division of the Ministry of Defence

Accepted Answer

(A) Joint initiative of Government and Indian industry to establish an accreditation structure — Correct. QCI was established jointly by the Government and Indian industry associations (FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM) to promote quality standards and accreditation.

Question 23

Consider the following statements:
1. In tropical regions, Zika virus disease is transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue.
2. Sexual transmission of Zika virus disease is possible.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (A) 1 only (B) 2 only (C) Both 1 and 2 (D) Neither 1 nor 2

Accepted Answer

(C) Both 1 and 2 — Correct. Aedes aegypti is the primary vector for both Zika and dengue in the tropics, and Zika can also spread through sexual contact.

Question 24

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Smart India Hackathon 2017?
1. It is a centrally sponsored scheme for developing every city of our country into Smart Cities in a decade.
2. It is an initiative to identify new digital technology innovations for solving the many problems faced by our country.
3. It is a programme aimed at making all the financial transactions in our country completely digital in a decade.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 and 3 only (B) 2 only (C) 3 only (D) 2 and 3 only

Accepted Answer

(B) 2 only — Correct. Smart India Hackathon was an innovation challenge to build digital and engineering solutions to real problems, not a Smart Cities scheme or a cashless initiative.

Question 25

In the context of mitigating the impending global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, which of the following can be the potential sites for carbon sequestration?
1. Abandoned and uneconomic coal seams
2. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs
3. Subterranean deep saline formations
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 and 2 only (B) 3 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(D) 1, 2 and 3 — Correct. All three are recognized geological carbon sequestration sites: unmineable coal seams can adsorb CO₂, depleted reservoirs have proven seal integrity, and deep saline aquifers offer the largest long-term storage potential.

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