UPSC Prelims PYQs with explanations
Real questions from official papers, mapped to syllabus topics. Attempt each one; the answer and the reason appear instantly.
Recently, India's first 'National Investment and Manufacturing Zone' was proposed to be set up in
Answer (a) & explanation
Andhra Pradesh is the answer (a). National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) come from the National Manufacturing Policy, 2011. The policy aimed to raise manufacturing to 25% of GDP and create 100 million jobs. NIMZs are large integrated industrial townships of at least 5,000 hectares, with world-class infrastructure and simpler rules. At the time of the question, a NIMZ in Prakasam district was in the news as India's first proposed one. Gujarat (b), Maharashtra (c) and Uttar Pradesh (d) had other zones, such as those on the DMIC corridor, but not this "first" one.
Notice the difference between NIMZs, SEZs (export-focused, with duty benefits) and the newer industrial smart cities being built under the National Industrial Corridor programme.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The plan of Sir Stafford Cripps envisaged that after the Second World War
Answer (d) & explanation
Cripps promised Dominion status after the war (d). The Cripps Mission (March 1942) came when Japan was advancing in Asia. It offered Dominion status after the war, with the right to leave the Commonwealth. It also offered an elected constitution-making body, with provinces and princely states free to stay out. It did not offer complete independence (a). It did not propose partition outright (b), though the opt-out idea pointed that way. It did not offer a republic tied to the Commonwealth (c).
Gandhi called it a "post-dated cheque". Congress rejected it because defence stayed with the British and the opt-out threatened unity, and the League rejected it too. Notice what came next: the Quit India resolution, five months later in August 1942.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Read the passage
Biomass as fuel for power, heat, and transport has the highest mitigation potential of all renewable sources. It comes from agriculture and forest residues as well as from energy crops. The biggest challenge in using biomass residues is a long-term reliable supply delivered to the power plant at reasonable costs; the key problems are logistical constraints and the costs of fuel collection. Energy crops, if not managed properly, compete with food production and may have undesirable impacts on food prices. Biomass production is also sensitive to the physical impacts of a changing climate.
Projections of the future role of biomass are probably overestimated, given the limits to the sustainable biomass supply, unless breakthrough technologies substantially increase productivity. Climate-energy models project that biomass use could increase nearly four-fold to around 150 — 200 exajoules, almost a quarter of world primary energy in 2050. However the maximum sustainable technical potential of biomass resources (both residues and energy crops) without disruption of food and forest resources ranges from 80 — 170 exajoules a year by 2050, and only part of this is realistically and economically feasible. In addition, some climate models rely on biomass-based carbon capture and storage, an unproven technology, to achieve negative emissions and to buy some time during the first half of the century.
Some liquid biofuels such as corn-based ethanol, mainly for transport, may aggravate rather than ameliorate carbon emissions on a life-cycle basis. Second generation biofuels, based on ligno-cellulosic feedstocks — such as straw, bagasse, grass and wood — hold the promise of sustainable production that is high-yielding and emit low levels of greenhouse gases, but these are still in the R & D stage.
In the context of using biomass, which of the following is/are the characteristic/characteristics of the sustainable production of biofuel ?
- 1. Biomass as a fuel for power generation could meet all the primary energy requirements of the world by 2050
- 2. Biomass as a fuel for power generation does not necessarily disrupt food and forest resources
- 3. Biomass as a fuel for power generation could help in achieving negative emissions, given certain nascent technologies
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements 2 and 3 are right (c). Step 1: the passage says 80 to 170 exajoules a year could come from biomass "without disruption of food and forest resources". So statement 2 holds. Step 2: biomass with carbon capture can give "negative emissions", using nascent technologies. So statement 3 holds. Step 3: statement 1 says biomass could meet all the world's primary energy needs by 2050. The passage gives it about a quarter. So statement 1 is wrong, and options (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Tip: numbers are a common trap. When a statement says "all" and the passage gives a fraction, reject it.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
(Same information as the question above.)
What is the colour of the tie ?
Answer (b) & explanation
The tie is blue (b). Step 1: C wears the tie, and C is Ribeiro. Step 2: white is already A's colour, because A wore the white sweater. Step 3: Ribeiro does not wear black (clue 5). So the only colour left for the tie is blue. B, Singh, then wears the black jacket. Option (a), black, is ruled out by clue 5. Option (c), white, belongs to A. Option (d) fails because the colour is fixed.
Tip: once names and garments are fixed, colours fall into place quickly. Build a small table with rows for A, B and C and columns for surname, garment and colour. Fill it in as each clue settles a box.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following is a purpose of 'UDAY', a scheme of the Government?
Answer (d) & explanation
UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, November 2015) aimed at the financial turnaround and revival of power distribution companies (d). States took over 75% of their DISCOMs' debt and issued bonds for it, while the DISCOMs had to cut losses and revise tariffs. Option (b), electricity for every household, was the goal of Saubhagya (2017). Options (a) and (c), renewable start-ups and replacing coal plants, are not UDAY's purpose.
The later Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (2021) continued this effort. Notice how weak DISCOMs remain the weakest link in India's power sector.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who of the following had first deciphered the edicts of Emperor Ashoka?
Answer (b) & explanation
James Prinsep first deciphered Ashoka's edicts (b). An official of the Calcutta mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he cracked the Brahmi script in 1837 and read the title "Devanampiya Piyadasi". Georg Bühler (a) later studied Indian scripts and edicts in detail, Max Müller (c) was an Indologist of the Vedas, and William Jones (d) founded the Asiatic Society in 1784.
Prinsep did not know who Piyadasi was; the name Ashoka itself was confirmed only by the Maski edict, found in 1915. Notice how deciphering one script opened up the Mauryan age and the later study of Kharosthi too.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
‘Belt and Road Initiative’ is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of
Answer (d) & explanation
The Belt and Road Initiative is China's project (d). Xi Jinping announced it in 2013 in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. It combines the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to build ports, railways and power lines across Asia, Africa and Europe. It is not a project of the African Union (a), Brazil (b), or the EU (c). The EU's answer is its Global Gateway.
India has boycotted BRI because its flagship, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which India sees as a breach of sovereignty. Watch for the term "debt-trap diplomacy", as in Sri Lanka's Hambantota port lease. Italy left BRI in 2023, and India backs alternatives such as IMEC.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Read the passage
Accountability, or the lack of it, in governance generally, and civil services, in particular, is a major factor underlying the deficiencies in governance and public administration. Designing an effective framework for accountability has been a key element of the reform agenda. A fundamental issue is whether civil services should be accountable to the political executive of the day or to society at large. In other words, how should internal and external accountability be reconciled ? Internal accountability is sought to be achieved by internal performance monitoring, official supervision by bodies like the Central Vigilance Commission and Comptroller and Auditor General, and judicial review of executive decisions. Articles 311 and 312 of the Indian Constitution provide job security and safeguards to the civil services, especially the All India Services. The framers of the Constitution had envisaged that provision of these safeguards would result in a civil service that is not totally subservient to the political executive but will have the strength to function in larger public interest. The need to balance internal and external accountability is thus built into the Constitution. The issue is where to draw the line. Over the years, the emphasis seems to have tilted in favour of greater internal accountability of the civil services to the political leaders of the day who in turn are expected to be externally accountable to the society at large through the election process. This system for seeking accountability to society has not worked out, and has led to several adverse consequences for governance.
Some special measures can be considered for improving accountability in civil services. Provisions of articles 311 and 312 should be reviewed and laws and regulations framed to ensure external accountability of civil services. The proposed Civil Services Bill seeks to address some of these requirements. The respective roles of professional civil services and the political executive should be defined so that professional managerial functions and management of civil services are depoliticized. For this purpose, effective statutory civil service boards should be created at the centre and in the states. Decentralization and devolution of authority to bring government and decision making closer to the people also helps to enhance accountability.
With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made :
- 1. Political executive is an obstacle to the accountability of the civil services to the society
- 2. In the present framework of Indian polity, the political executive is no longer accountable to the society
Which of these assumptions is/are valid ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only assumption 1 is valid (a). Step 1: the passage says routing accountability through political leaders "has not worked out", and calls for depoliticising the civil services. So the author treats the political executive as a block between civil servants and society. Assumption 1 holds. Step 2: the passage also says politicians are accountable to society "through the election process". So assumption 2, that they are no longer accountable, goes against the passage. Step 3: so options (b), (c) and (d) fail.
Tip: an assumption must fit what the author already believes. If the passage says the opposite of a statement, as here with elections, reject that statement at once.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Six boxes A, B, C, D, E and F have been painted with six different colours viz., violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow and orange and arranged from left to right (not necessarily either kept or painted with the colours in the same order). Each box contains a ball of any one of the following six games: cricket, hockey, tennis, golf, football and volleyball (not necessarily in the same order). The golf ball is in violet box and is not in the box D. The box A which contains tennis ball is orange in colour and is at the extreme right. The hockey ball is neither in box D nor in box E. The box C having cricket ball is painted green. The hockey ball is neither in the box painted blue nor in the box painted yellow. The box C is fifth from right and next to box B. The box B contains volleyball. The box containing the hockey ball is between the boxes containing golf ball and volleyball.
Which one of the following boxes contains the golf ball ?
Answer (b) & explanation
The golf ball is in box E (b). Step 1: box A has tennis and is orange, at the far right. Box C has cricket and is green, fifth from the right. Box B, next to C, has volleyball. Step 2: that leaves golf, hockey and football for D, E and F. Golf is not in D. Hockey is in neither D nor E, so hockey is in F. Step 3: golf cannot go in D, so golf is in E, and football is in D. The violet box is E. Option (a) F has hockey. Option (c) D has football. Option (d) fails because E works.
Tip: in box puzzles, place the fixed facts first. Then use "not" clues to fill the last few gaps.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Read the passage
“The conceptual difficulties in National Income comparisons between underdeveloped and industrialised countries are particularly serious because a part of the national output in various underdeveloped countries is produced without passing through the commercial channels.”
In the above statement, the author implies that :
Answer (b) & explanation
The author implies that a non-commercial sector makes income comparisons between countries difficult (b). Step 1: the passage says comparisons are hard "because a part of the national output… is produced without passing through the commercial channels". In poor countries, people grow and consume much of their own output. Step 2: so option (b) captures the point. Step 3: option (a) says the entire output in rich countries passes through markets, which is too extreme. Option (c) tells us what should happen, a prescription the author never makes. Option (d) calls it a sign of underdevelopment, which is not claimed.
Tip: GDP counts mostly market transactions, so unpaid home work and own-farm food are often missed.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which of the following best describes the term 'import cover', sometimes seen in the news?
Answer (d) & explanation
Import cover is the number of months of imports a country could pay for with its international reserves (d). It is not the ratio of imports to GDP (a), the total value of imports (b) or an export–import ratio between two countries (c).
In 1991 India's reserves covered barely two weeks of imports, which led to the balance-of-payments crisis. In recent years they have covered about 10–11 months. A cover of at least three months is usually seen as safe. Notice how this indicator links trade, the rupee and economic stability.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
‘Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)’, often in the news, is
Answer (b) & explanation
MSF is an independent international NGO (b). Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in France in 1971 by doctors and journalists. It gives emergency medical care in wars, epidemics and disasters, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. It is not a division of the WHO (a), it is not run by the European Union (c), and it is not a UN specialised agency (d). In fact, it guards its independence by taking most of its money from private donors.
It was in the news in 2015 after a US airstrike hit its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Notice the trap: famous humanitarian names tempt you towards "UN" options, but bodies like MSF, Amnesty and the ICRC (a private Swiss association with a special mandate) are not UN agencies.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which of the following is/are the advantage/advantages of practising drip irrigation?
- 1. Reduction in weed
- 2. Reduction in soil salinity
- 3. Reduction in soil erosion
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements 1 and 3 are correct (c). Drip irrigation sends water slowly through pipes and emitters straight to the root zone. The spaces between plants stay dry, so fewer weeds grow (1). The gentle flow does not wash soil away, so there is no erosion (3). It also saves 30–70% water and allows fertigation, where fertiliser is mixed into the water. Statement 2 is wrong because drip does not lower existing soil salinity. Salts can build up at the edges of the wetted zone, so the soil needs flushing now and then.
Notice the policy angle: drip and sprinkler come under "Per Drop More Crop" (PMKSY). Sugarcane in Maharashtra and orchards in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are standard cases, since water-hungry crops gain the most.
statement 2 sounds plausible because drip saves water. Removing salts needs leaching, which drip does not do.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
There are five hobby clubs in a college — photography, yachting, chess, electronics and gardening. The gardening group meets every second day, the electronics group meets every third day, the chess group meets every fourth day, the yachting group meets every fifth day and the photography group meets every sixth day. How many times do all the five groups meet on the same day within 180 days?
Answer (d) & explanation
All five groups meet together 3 times (d). Step 1: the groups meet every 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days. They all meet on the same day only on days that are multiples of every one of these numbers. Step 2: find the LCM of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. 4 = 2 × 2 and 6 = 2 × 3, so LCM = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 = 60. They all meet every 60 days. Step 3: within 180 days that is days 60, 120 and 180, so 180 ÷ 60 = 3 times. Option (b), 18, comes from dividing by 10 by mistake. Options (a) and (c) do not fit.
Tip: "when do things happen together again" is almost always an LCM question.
2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 = 720 is not the LCM. Use the LCM.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Read the passage
Safe and sustainable sanitation in slums has immeasurable benefits to women and girls in terms of their health, safety, privacy and dignity. However, women do not feature in most of the schemes and policies on urban sanitation. The fact that even now the manual scavenging exists, only goes to show that not enough has been done to promote pour-flush toilets and discontinue the use of dry latrines. A more sustained and rigorous campaign needs to be launched towards the right to sanitation on a very large scale. This should primarily focus on the abolition of manual scavenging.
With reference to the above passage, consider the following statements :
- 1. Urban sanitation problems can be fully solved by the abolition of manual scavenging only
- 2. There is a need to promote greater awareness on safe sanitation practices in urban areas
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Step 1: the passage calls for a "sustained and rigorous campaign" on sanitation. So more awareness about safe sanitation is needed, and statement 2 holds. Step 2: statement 1 says sanitation problems can be "fully solved" by abolishing manual scavenging "only". The passage makes abolition the main focus, but never says it alone fixes everything. Step 3: so statement 1 goes too far, and options (a), (c) and (d) fail.
Tip: strong words like "fully" and "only" turn a reasonable idea into a false statement. Manual scavenging is banned by a 2013 Act, but sanitation needs much more than one ban.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The average monthly income of a person in a certain family of 5 is Rs. 10,000. What will be the average monthly income of a person in the same family if the income of one person increased by Rs. 1,20,000 per year?
Answer (a) & explanation
The new average is Rs 12,000 (a). Step 1: the family's total monthly income = 5 × 10,000 = Rs 50,000. Step 2: one person's income rises by Rs 1,20,000 a year. That is 1,20,000 ÷ 12 = Rs 10,000 a month. Step 3: new total = 50,000 + 10,000 = 60,000. New average = 60,000 ÷ 5 = Rs 12,000. Option (d), Rs 34,000, wrongly adds the yearly figure to the monthly one. Options (b) and (c) do not fit.
Tip: watch the time units. Convert yearly to monthly (divide by 12) before mixing figures. An increase shared over 5 people raises the average by one-fifth of it.
Rs. 34,000 adds the yearly figure to a monthly average.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The term 'Core Banking Solutions' is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following statements best describes/describe this term?
- 1. It is a networking of a bank's branches which enables customers to operate their accounts from any branch of the bank on its network regardless of where they open their accounts.
- 2. It is an effort to increase RBI's control over commercial banks through computerization.
- 3. It is a detailed procedure by which a bank with huge non-performing assets is taken over by another bank.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Only statement 1 is correct (a). Core Banking Solutions link all of a bank's branches to one central server, so a customer can deposit, withdraw or transfer from any branch on the network, not just the "home branch". Statement 2 is wrong: CBS is a technology for customer service, not a tool for the RBI to control banks. Statement 3 is wrong: taking over a bank with heavy NPAs is a merger or resolution process, unrelated to CBS.
"CORE" is often expanded as Centralised Online Real-time Exchange. Notice how CBS laid the base for ATMs, internet banking, NEFT and RTGS, and later for the UPI and digital-payments boom.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
What is/are the purpose/purposes of ‘District Mineral Foundations’ in India?
- 1. Promoting mineral exploration activities in mineral-rich districts
- 2. Protecting the interests of the persons affected by mining operations
- 3. Authorizing State Governments to issue licences for mineral exploration
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) were created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 as non-profit trusts in mining districts. Miners pay into them: 10% of royalty for leases after 2015 and 30% for older ones. The money is spent for the benefit of people and areas affected by mining (2) through the PMKKKY, on drinking water, health, education and the environment. Statement 1 is wrong because exploration is funded by the separate National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET). Statement 3 is wrong because licences are issued under the MMDR Act and auction rules, not by DMFs.
PMKKKY was revised in 2024. Notice the idea behind it: people who bear the cost of mining should share in its gains.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Famous place | Region
| 1. Bodhgaya | Baghelkhand
| 2. Khajuraho | Bundelkhand
| 3. Shirdi | Vidarbha
| 4. Nasik (Nashik) | Malwa
| 5. Tirupati | Rayalaseema
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer (c) & explanation
Only pairs 2 and 5 are correct (c). Khajuraho (Chhatarpur, MP) lies in Bundelkhand (2), the land of its Chandela builders. Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) is in Rayalaseema (5), the southern part of Andhra Pradesh. Pair 1 is wrong because Bodhgaya is in Gaya district of Bihar, the ancient Magadha region. Baghelkhand is Rewa–Satna in MP. Pair 3 is wrong because Shirdi is in Ahmednagar (now Ahilyanagar) in western Maharashtra, not Vidarbha (Nagpur–Amravati). Pair 4 is wrong because Nashik is also in western Maharashtra, while Malwa is the plateau around Indore and Ujjain.
Notice how these regional names keep showing up in questions. Learn them with their key districts, since they decide many map-based questions.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Read the passage
Biomass as fuel for power, heat, and transport has the highest mitigation potential of all renewable sources. It comes from agriculture and forest residues as well as from energy crops. The biggest challenge in using biomass residues is a long-term reliable supply delivered to the power plant at reasonable costs; the key problems are logistical constraints and the costs of fuel collection. Energy crops, if not managed properly, compete with food production and may have undesirable impacts on food prices. Biomass production is also sensitive to the physical impacts of a changing climate.
Projections of the future role of biomass are probably overestimated, given the limits to the sustainable biomass supply, unless breakthrough technologies substantially increase productivity. Climate-energy models project that biomass use could increase nearly four-fold to around 150 — 200 exajoules, almost a quarter of world primary energy in 2050. However the maximum sustainable technical potential of biomass resources (both residues and energy crops) without disruption of food and forest resources ranges from 80 — 170 exajoules a year by 2050, and only part of this is realistically and economically feasible. In addition, some climate models rely on biomass-based carbon capture and storage, an unproven technology, to achieve negative emissions and to buy some time during the first half of the century.
Some liquid biofuels such as corn-based ethanol, mainly for transport, may aggravate rather than ameliorate carbon emissions on a life-cycle basis. Second generation biofuels, based on ligno-cellulosic feedstocks — such as straw, bagasse, grass and wood — hold the promise of sustainable production that is high-yielding and emit low levels of greenhouse gases, but these are still in the R & D stage.
With reference to the passage, following assumptions have been made :
- 1. Some climate-energy models suggest that the use of biomass as a fuel for power generation helps in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
- 2. It is not possible to use biomass as a fuel for power generation without disrupting food and forest resources
Which of these assumptions is/are valid ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only assumption 1 is valid (a). Step 1: the passage says climate-energy models rely on biomass for "negative emissions", and that it has "the highest mitigation potential". So some models do see biomass as helping to cut greenhouse gases. Assumption 1 holds. Step 2: assumption 2 says biomass power is impossible without disrupting food and forest. But the passage says a large potential exists "without disruption of food and forest resources". So 2 contradicts the passage. Step 3: so options (b), (c) and (d) fail.
Tip: when an assumption directly clashes with a quoted line, it is never valid. Look for the line that the statement contradicts.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.