UPSC Prelims 2018 — solved PYQs

Question 1

In which of the following areas can GPS technology be used?
1. Mobile phone operations
2. Banking operations
3. Controlling the power grids
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. GPS is used for location services in mobiles, precise time-stamping in banking transactions, and synchronisation of power grid frequencies across networks.

Question 2

ATMs of different banks in India are able to interoperate primarily because of the switching network managed by: (A) National Payments Corporation of India (B) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (C) Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (D) Department of Economic Affairs

Accepted Answer

(A) National Payments Corporation of India — Correct. NPCI operates shared retail payment infrastructure including interbank ATM and card networks.

Question 3

The merger of associate banks with the State Bank of India was primarily aimed at: (A) Creating a larger and more efficient banking entity with economies of scale (B) Converting SBI into a private bank (C) Eliminating all cooperative banks from the system (D) Transferring RBI's monetary policy powers to SBI

Accepted Answer

(A) Creating a larger and more efficient banking entity with economies of scale — Correct. The merger consolidated SBI and its associate banks to achieve greater scale, operational efficiency and competitive strength.

Question 4

With references to organic farming in India, consider the following statements:
1. 'The National Programme for Organic Production' (NPOP) is operated under the guidelines and directions of the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
2. 'The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority' (APEDA) functions as the Secretariat for the implementation of NPOP.
3. Sikkim has become India's first fully organic State.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (A) 1 and 2 only (B) 2 and 3 only (C) 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(B) 2 and 3 only — Correct. APEDA serves as the NPOP secretariat under the Ministry of Commerce, and Sikkim was declared India's first fully organic state in 2016.

Question 5

The staple commodities of export by the English East India Company from Bengal in the middle of the 18th century were: (A) Raw cotton, oil-seeds and opium (B) Sugar, salt, zinc and lead (C) Copper, silver, gold, spices and tea (D) Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium

Accepted Answer

(D) Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium — Correct. In the mid-eighteenth century, Bengal's main exports through the East India Company were cotton textiles, silk, saltpetre (used in gunpowder), and opium, which formed the backbone of the Company's profitable Bengal trade.

Question 6

Merchant Discount Rate in digital payments refers to: (A) The charge paid by a merchant to the payment service provider or bank for accepting digital payments (B) A subsidy paid by RBI to shopkeepers for accepting cash (C) The discount rate used by RBI in open market operations (D) The interest rate on warehouse receipts

Accepted Answer

(A) The charge paid by a merchant to the payment service provider or bank for accepting digital payments — Correct. MDR is the fee linked to processing card or digital payment transactions for merchants.

Question 7

Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely or dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
1. Aral Sea
2. Black Sea
3. Lake Baikal
Select the correct answer using the code given below. (A) 1 only (B) 2 and 3 (C) 2 only (D) 1 and 3

Accepted Answer

(A) 1 only — Correct. The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake, has shrunk drastically since the 1960s because the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya were diverted for Soviet irrigation projects.

Question 8

Who among the following were the founders of the "Hind Mazdoor Sabha" established in 1948? (A) B. Krishna Pillai, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and K.C. George (B) Jayaprakash Narayan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and M.N. Roy (C) C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, K. Kamaraj and Veeresalingam Pantulu (D) Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta

Accepted Answer

(D) Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta — Correct. Hind Mazdoor Sabha was founded in 1948 by socialist and independent trade-union leaders including Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta as an alternative to the Communist-led AITUC.

Question 9

Which of the following items are GST-exempt?
1. Cereal grains hulled
2. Chicken eggs cooked
3. Fish processed and canned
4. Newspapers containing advertising supplement (A) 1, 2 and 4 only (B) 2 only (C) 1, 3 and 4 only (D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Accepted Answer

(A) 1, 2 and 4 only — Correct. Hulled cereal grains, cooked eggs and newspapers with supplements are exempt under GST, but processed and canned fish attracts GST.

Question 10

In which of the following States is Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary located? (A) Arunachal Pradesh (B) Manipur (C) Meghalaya (D) Nagaland

Accepted Answer

(A) Arunachal Pradesh — Correct. Pakhui (Pakke) Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is known for its hornbill conservation efforts.

Question 11

With reference to Indian history, who among the following is a future Buddha, yet to come to save the world? (A) Avalokiteshvara (B) Lokesvara (C) Maitreya (D) Padmapani

Accepted Answer

(C) Maitreya — Correct. Maitreya is identified in Buddhist tradition as the future Buddha who will appear on earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma when the current teachings have been forgotten.

Question 12

Consider the following statements about edible oil imports in India:
1. The quantity of imported edible oils is more than the domestic production of edible oils in recent years.
2. The Government of India does not impose any customs duty on all imported edible oils.
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

(A) 1 only — Correct. India imports a large quantity of edible oil that exceeds domestic production. However, the government does impose customs duties on imported edible oils, making statement 2 incorrect.

Question 13

Consider the following pairs:
Regions sometimes mentioned in the news — Country
1. Catalonia — Spain
2. Crimea — Hungary
3. Mindanao — Philippines
4. Oromia — Nigeria
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched? (A) 1, 2 and 3 (B) 3 and 4 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 2 and 4 only

Accepted Answer

(C) 1 and 3 only — Correct. Catalonia is an autonomous community in Spain, and Mindanao is the second-largest island in the Philippines. Crimea belongs to Ukraine (not Hungary), and Oromia is in Ethiopia (not Nigeria).

Question 14

Which of the following is a key feature of the National Food Security Act, 2013? (A) Legal entitlement to subsidized food grains for eligible households (B) Universal free supply of all food items (C) Abolition of the Public Distribution System (D) Replacement of nutrition schemes with cash only

Accepted Answer

(A) Legal entitlement to subsidized food grains for eligible households — Correct. NFSA creates statutory food security entitlements through subsidized food grains for specified beneficiaries.

Question 15

With reference to the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), consider the following statements:
1. IRNSS has three satellites in geostationary and four satellites in geosynchronous orbits.
2. IRNSS covers entire India and about 5500 sq km beyond its borders.
3. India will have its own satellite navigation system with full global coverage by the middle of 2019.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (A) 1 only (B) 1 and 2 only (C) 2 and 3 only (D) None

Accepted Answer

(A) 1 only — Correct. IRNSS (NavIC) has 3 geostationary and 4 geosynchronous satellites. The coverage extends 1500 km beyond India's borders, not 5500 sq km, and NavIC is regional, not global.

Question 16

Which of the following items were GST-exempt at the time of the question?
1. Cereal grains hulled
2. Chicken eggs cooked
3. Fish processed and canned
4. Newspapers with advertisements
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1, 2 and 4 only (B) 2 only (C) 1, 3 and 4 only (D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Accepted Answer

(A) 1, 2 and 4 only — Correct. Cereal grains, cooked eggs, and newspapers were among the exempt items, whereas processed and canned fish was not exempt in the way suggested.

Question 17

The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), a UN mechanism to assist countries transition towards greener and more inclusive economies, emerged at: (A) The Earth Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, Johannesburg (B) The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, Rio de Janeiro (C) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2015, Paris (D) The World Sustainable Development Summit 2016, New Delhi

Accepted Answer

(B) The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, Rio de Janeiro — Correct. PAGE emerged from the Rio+20 Conference (2012), where countries called for a green-economy transition, and was launched in response to that mandate by five UN agencies.

Question 18

Consider the following statements:
1. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly shall vacate his or her office if he or she ceases to be a member of the Assembly.
2. Whenever the Legislative Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall vacate his or her office immediately.
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

(A) 1 only — Correct. Under Article 179, the Speaker vacates office if he or she ceases to be a member of the Assembly. However, the Speaker does not vacate immediately on dissolution; the Speaker continues to hold office until just before the first meeting of the newly constituted Assembly.

Question 19

Which among the following events happened earliest? (A) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj (B) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan (C) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath (D) Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination

Accepted Answer

(B) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan — Correct. Neeldarpan was written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858-60, depicting the plight of indigo cultivators in Bengal. This was the earliest of the listed events.

Question 20

With reference to Government securities, consider the following statements:
1. Treasury Bills are issued only by the Government of India.
2. Treasury Bills are sold at a discount and redeemed at face value.
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. Both statements correctly describe Treasury Bills.

Question 21

The term 'sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction' is often mentioned in the news in the context of discussion of: (A) Widespread monoculture practices in agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems (B) Fears of possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65 million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs (C) Large-scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity (D) Mankind's overexploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and world climate change

Accepted Answer

(D) Mankind's overexploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and world climate change — Correct. The sixth mass extinction refers to the current accelerated loss of species driven by the full range of human impacts — habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, invasive species, and climate change.

Question 22

Consider the following phenomena:
1. Light is affected by gravity.
2. The universe is constantly expanding.
3. Matter warps its surrounding space-time.
Which of the above is/are the prediction/predictions of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, often discussed in media? (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 predictions of general relativity: gravitational lensing, cosmic expansion (from the field equations), and the curvature of space-time by mass-energy.

Question 23

The term 'two state solution' is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of: (A) China (B) Israel (C) Iraq (D) Yemen

Accepted Answer

(B) Israel — Correct. The 'two-state solution' refers to creating separate Israeli and Palestinian states to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Question 24

Regarding Wood's Dispatch, which of the following statements are true?
1. Grants-in-Aid system was introduced.
2. Establishment of universities was recommended.
3. English as a medium of instruction at all levels of education was recommended. (A) 1 and 2 only (B) 2 and 3 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(A) 1 and 2 only — Correct. Wood's Dispatch of 1854 introduced the Grants-in-Aid system to support private educational institutions and recommended the establishment of universities in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. It did not recommend English at all levels.

Question 25

With reference to the 'Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA)', which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. GACSA is an outcome of the climate summit held in Paris in 2015.
2. Membership of GACSA does not create any binding obligations.
3. India was instrumental in the creation of GACSA.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (A) 1 and 3 only (B) 2 only (C) 2 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3

Accepted Answer

(B) 2 only — Correct. GACSA is a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform; its membership does not impose any legally binding commitments on participants.

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