GS: Hindi / English · Language questions stay in their original language.
120 questions · 120 marks · 2 hours
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Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
P-waves are longitudinal, not transverse, so the first statement is wrong. The point on the surface right above the focus is the epicentre, and the behaviour of animals has long been read as a sign of a coming earthquake—both of those hold, so more than one statement is correct.
Correct answer: (B) It forms a geographical boundary between Canada and the USA.
Lake Superior is the world's largest body of fresh water, not of salt water, so the first statement is wrong. It does form a geographical boundary between Canada and the United States, which is the correct statement.
Correct answer: (C) Venus
For its likeness to the Earth in shape and size, Venus is called the Earth's twin planet.
Correct answer: (C) Venezuela
Part of Venezuela's land falls within the catchment of the Amazon.
Correct answer: (A) Troposphere → Stratosphere → Mesosphere → Thermosphere → Exosphere
From the Earth's surface the layers run troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.
Correct answer: (C) Ladang—Malaysia
Ladang is the local name of shifting agriculture in Malaysia. Chena belongs to Sri Lanka and milpa to Mexico.
Correct answer: (A) 2 p.m.
Thirty degrees of longitude make a difference of 30 ÷ 15 = 2 hours, and the time is ahead to the east, so it would be 2 p.m. there.
Correct answer: (C) Silica and magnesium
The oceanic crust is made mainly of silica and magnesium, which is why it is also called sima.
Correct answer: (A) Covering the bare ground between crops with a layer of organic matter like straw
Covering the bare soil between crops with organic matter such as straw is called mulching.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Lunej lies in Gujarat and the KG basin in the Bay of Bengal—both pairs are correct, so more than one option is right.
Correct answer: (C) Jagjivan Ram
Jagjivan Ram was the Labour Minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's provisional government.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The month in 1918 in which this movement against the European indigo planters ran is none of the three given—February, May or November—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (C) The Indian Struggle was written by Subhas Chandra Bose.
‘The Indian Struggle’ was written by Subhas Chandra Bose. The other statements are wrong: ‘A Bunch of Old Letters’ is Nehru's work, and the second Satyagrahi of the Individual Satyagraha was Jawaharlal Nehru.
Correct answer: (A) Oraon
It was the Tana Bhagats of the Oraon community of Bihar who attended the Gaya session of the Congress.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
‘Young India’ was indeed brought out by Mahatma Gandhi, so that pair is right. But the ‘Indian Spectator’ was edited by Behramji Malabari, not Surendranath Banerjee (who edited the ‘Bengalee’), and the ‘Advocate of India’ was not Dadabhai Naoroji's (he was associated with ‘Rast Goftar’). So more than one pair is wrongly matched.
Correct answer: (C) Jawaharlal Nehru
The National Planning Committee was set up in 1938 under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Correct answer: (B) Dr. Rajendra Prasad
‘Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar: Some Reminiscences’ was written by Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Correct answer: (B) Civil Disobedience Movement
The refusal to pay the chaukidari tax in Bihar came under the influence of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Correct answer: (A) Aruna Asaf Ali
Aruna Asaf Ali is called the ‘Grand Old Lady’ of the independence movement.
Correct answer: (A) Poona
Tilak organised his Home Rule League at Poona in 1916.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The weekly Hindi journal ‘Hunkar’ was begun by Yamuna Karjee in 1940, and Rahul Sankrityayan and Sahajanand Saraswati came to be associated with it too—it became a leading journal of the peasant movement. So more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (A) Hugh Rose
The English general who praised the courage of the Rani of Jhansi in those words was Hugh Rose.
Correct answer: (B) a–2, b–3, c–1, d–4
The two lists match thus: ‘Garibi Hatao’ was the slogan of Indira's Congress (a–2); ‘Save Democracy’ that of the Janata Party after the Emergency (b–3); ‘Land to the Tiller’ that of the Left Front (c–1); and ‘Protect the Self-respect of Telugus’ was N. T. Rama Rao's call when he founded the Telugu Desam Party (d–4).
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The Communist International was formed under the influence of the Russian Revolution, and the Communist Party of Great Britain was founded as well—so more than one statement is correct.
Correct answer: (A) Deen Dayal Upadhyay
The remark is Deen Dayal Upadhyay's, who held the neglect of national identity to be the root cause of India's problems.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The peasants in the Non-Cooperation Movement had not one demand but several—a reduction of revenue, the end of begar, and free entry into the forests to graze cattle and gather wood. So more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (A) The Spirit of the Laws
Montesquieu set out the division of power between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in ‘The Spirit of the Laws’.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Several causes of deforestation ran together under British rule—sleepers for the railways and timber for the ships, the clearing of land for tea and coffee plantations, and the spread of cultivation to raise revenue. So more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (A) The Research and Analysis Wing
‘Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah’ is the motto of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Correct answer: (C) Bardoli Satyagraha, Gujarat
The Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 ran under Vallabhbhai Patel's leadership and succeeded—the rise in revenue had to be withdrawn. The Kheda and the Ahmedabad mill-workers' movements were led by Gandhiji.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The Great Depression of 1929 brought India's trade down, cut the income of its peasants and exporters, and showed besides how closely the Indian economy was tied to the world market. All three statements hold.
Correct answer: (B) 1992
The Supreme Court decided on the validity of the reservation order of 13 August 1990 in the Indra Sawhney case in 1992.
Correct answer: (A) 32%
By Angus Maddison's historical estimates, India's share of world GDP (PPP) in ancient times was about 32%.
Correct answer: (A) a–2, b–4, c–1, d–3
The Special Marriage Act is of 1954, the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976 and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act of 1986.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Long before the Constituent Assembly met, the leaders of the national movement had agreed on all three—universal adult franchise, the right to freedom and equality, and the protection of the rights of minorities.
Correct answer: (A) Dharampal
‘The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century’ was written by Dharampal.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
In the Preamble, fraternity is said to assure two things—the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. Justice, liberty and equality are separate objects of the Preamble.
Correct answer: (C) N. V. Ramana
The remark about ‘luxurious litigation’ was made by N. V. Ramana, a former Chief Justice of India.
Correct answer: (A) Phosphorus cycle
The phosphorus cycle is chiefly a sedimentary cycle; the oxygen and nitrogen cycles are the gaseous biogeochemical ones.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Autotrophs make organic matter out of inorganic substances with the help of sunlight and chlorophyll, and certain photosynthetic bacteria do the same—so more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (B) Ultraviolet radiation
Ultraviolet radiation has a shorter wavelength than visible or infrared radiation, and so a higher energy.
Correct answer: (A) biological magnification
The rising concentration of non-degradable chemicals at each trophic level is called biological magnification.
Correct answer: (C) limiting resources
It is the limiting resources available in an environment that settle how large a population it can support.
Correct answer: (A) nitrate
Drinking water polluted with nitrate can cause methaemoglobinaemia, also called blue-baby syndrome.
Correct answer: (B) unidirectional
In an ecosystem energy flows from the producers to the consumers and then to the decomposers; the flow is unidirectional.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The living components of an ecosystem include plants, animals and microorganisms alike.
Correct answer: (B) Methane
The anaerobic decay of organic waste in a landfill produces mainly methane gas.
Correct answer: (A) Plants, deer, lion
In this forest food chain the plants are the producers, the deer the herbivorous consumer and the lion the top carnivore.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Plastic is generally non-biodegradable: neither bacteria nor saprophytes nor parasites break it down in the ordinary way, so more than one of the options is correct.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Solar, wind and nuclear sources do not add to carbon emissions while they run, so all three options are correct.