UPSC Prelims 2013 Question Paper (GS Paper I) with Answers

Inflation erodes the real value of money, so debtors repay loans in money worth less than what they borrowed and gain (statement 1). Bondholders receive fixed interest and principal whose real value falls, so they lose (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

The Constitution lays down no procedure for removing a Governor, who holds office during the pleasure of the President (Article 156); so (c) is correct. The same person can be Governor of two or more states (7th Amendment), High Court judges are appointed by the President, and the Chief Minister of a UT is appointed by the President, not the Lt Governor.

None of the three bodies is mentioned in the Constitution: the Planning Commission (1950) and the National Development Council (1952) were created by executive resolutions, and the Zonal Councils are statutory bodies under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

The sea cow (dugong or manatee) and the sea lion are marine mammals that breathe air and suckle their young. The sea horse is a fish of the family Syngnathidae. Hence 1 and 3.

Under Article 253, Parliament can make any law for the whole or any part of India to implement a treaty, agreement or convention with other countries, even on State List subjects, without the consent of any state.

PESA extends the panchayat system to the Fifth Schedule areas to provide tribal self-governance through the gram sabha, recognise traditional rights over natural resources and protect tribal people from exploitation. Autonomous regions in tribal areas are created under the Sixth Schedule, not PESA.

The Public Accounts Committee scrutinises the appropriation and finance accounts of the government (statement 2) and examines the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (statement 3). It has 22 members, 15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha, so statement 1 is incorrect. Hence 2 and 3.

The National Development Council comprised the Prime Minister as chairman, all Union Cabinet ministers, the Chief Ministers of all states and UTs and the members of the Planning Commission. The Chairman of the Finance Commission was not a member. Hence 1, 3 and 4.

In India's parliamentary system ministers are members of Parliament (or must become members within six months) and hold office only while they enjoy the confidence of the Lok Sabha (statements 1 and 2). The Cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister, the head of government, not the President as head of state (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 and 2.

Muscle contraction needs calcium ions to trigger the sliding of actin and myosin filaments, sodium ions for the nerve impulses that excite muscle fibres, and iron in haemoglobin and myoglobin to supply oxygen to muscles. All three are required.

Urea excreted by animals is broken down to ammonia and nitrates in the soil (statement 1), and dead vegetation decomposes to release its nitrogen into the soil (statement 3). Burning coal releases nitrogen oxides into the air, not nitrogen into the soil (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

The Vice-President is ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and is not a member of the House, but the Deputy Chairman is elected from among its members, so statement 1 is incorrect. Nominated members have no vote in the presidential election but do vote for the Vice-President, who is elected by all members of both Houses, so statement 2 is correct.

NALSA, constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, provides free and competent legal services to the weaker sections to ensure equal opportunity for justice (statement 1) and frames policies and guidelines for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement legal aid schemes (statement 2). Both are correct.

Economic justice is promised in the Preamble ('justice, social, economic and political') and is given content by the Directive Principles, notably Articles 38 and 39, which direct the State to minimise inequalities and distribute resources for the common good.

Under Article 109 the Rajya Sabha can only recommend amendments to a Money Bill; the Lok Sabha may accept or reject any or all of them and the Bill is deemed passed by both Houses in the form the Lok Sabha finally adopts. There is no joint sitting for a Money Bill.

Article 37 declares that the Directive Principles of State Policy, though not enforceable by any court, are 'fundamental in the governance of the country' and that it is the duty of the State to apply them in making laws.

Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria break down dead organic matter into simpler inorganic substances, recycling nutrients in the ecosystem. Viruses are not decomposers; they are parasites that reproduce only inside living cells. Hence 2 and 3.

Bagasse, the fibrous residue of crushed cane, is burnt as biomass fuel for cogeneration of power (statement 1), and molasses is fermented to produce ethanol (statement 3). Molasses is not a feedstock for synthetic chemical fertilisers (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

The length of day and night varies with the seasons because the Earth revolves around the Sun with its axis tilted at about 23.5 degrees, so each hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun for part of the year. Rotation causes day and night, not their seasonal variation.

The Narmada flows west because it occupies a linear rift valley formed by faulting between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges (statement 1). Merely flowing between the two ranges does not explain the direction, and the land of central India does not slope west; so statements 2 and 3 are incorrect. Hence 1 only.

About 68 per cent of the world's fresh water is locked in ice caps and glaciers; of the rest, about 30 per cent of all fresh water is groundwater, by far the largest share, while lakes, rivers, soil moisture and the atmosphere together hold less than 1 per cent.

The Earth's surface is shaped by exogenic forces powered by solar electromagnetic radiation (weathering, wind, rain), by endogenic forces driven by geothermal energy and plate movements (earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building), and by gravity, rotation (Coriolis, tides) and revolution (seasons). All six contribute.

Thermal power plants are by far the largest industrial consumers of water in India, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of industrial water use, mainly for cooling. Engineering, pulp and paper and textiles use much less.

The demographic dividend, the economic potential of a large working-age population, is realised only if the young are educated, skilled and employed; promoting skill development is therefore the key to obtaining its full benefit.

Land heats and cools much faster than water, so the interiors of continents, far from the moderating influence of the sea, have hot summers and cold winters, i.e. a large annual temperature range. Altitude, winds and rainfall do not explain the continental-coastal difference. Hence 1 only.

Laterite soils are red because of their iron oxides (statement 1) and suit crops such as tapioca and cashew (statement 4). They are poor in nitrogen, potash and lime (statement 2 incorrect) and develop in the heavy-rainfall uplands of the Western Ghats, Odisha and the north-east, not in Rajasthan and UP (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 and 4.

Desert plants reduce water loss through transpiration with hard, waxy leaves, tiny leaves or none at all, and spines or thorns in place of leaves, as in cacti and euphorbias. All three modifications occur.

Koderma in Jharkhand is the centre of India's mica belt (statement 2). Natural gas occurs in Tertiary and Cretaceous basins such as the KG, Cambay and Assam basins, not in the Gondwana coal beds (statement 1 incorrect), and the Dharwar rocks are known for gold, manganese and iron, not petroleum (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 2 only.

Cotton, groundnut and rice are kharif crops sown with the onset of the monsoon and harvested in autumn. Wheat is a rabi crop sown in winter and harvested in spring. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

The Limbu (Limboo) are a tribe of Sikkim and the Dongria Kondh live in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha, so pairs 1 and 3 are correct. The Karbis are a tribe of Assam, not Himachal Pradesh, and the Bondas live in Odisha, not Tamil Nadu. Hence 1 and 3.

Root hairs, the delicate outgrowths of the root that absorb most of a plant's water and minerals, are torn off when a seedling is uprooted; until new ones grow the transplanted seedling cannot absorb enough water and often wilts and dies.

Currency is the most liquid asset, followed by demand (current-account) deposits that can be withdrawn by cheque at once, then savings deposits with some withdrawal restrictions, and finally time (fixed) deposits locked for a term. The decreasing order is 4-1-3-2.

Harvested fruits continue to respire, consuming their sugars and ripening; the low temperature of a cold chamber slows the rate of respiration and ripening, so the fruit stays fresh longer.

Arsenic (in the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin), fluoride (in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere) and uranium (in Punjab and parts of the south) occur naturally in groundwater and contaminate drinking water in many districts. Sorbitol and formaldehyde are not groundwater pollutants. Hence 1, 3 and 5.

The Indian star tortoise, the monitor lizard and the pygmy hog (found only in Assam) are native to India. The spider monkey is a New World monkey of Central and South America. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

Under section 6 of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the Gram Sabha is the authority that initiates the process of determining individual and community forest rights by receiving claims, verifying them and passing resolutions, which are then considered by the sub-divisional and district committees.

Equatorial rainforests are marked by tall, closely spaced trees whose crowns form a continuous canopy, by extraordinary species diversity, and by many epiphytes (orchids, ferns, mosses) growing on the trees. All three are characteristic.

A rainbow forms when sunlight entering a raindrop is refracted, dispersed into its colours (since each wavelength bends differently), reflected internally off the back of the drop, and refracted again on leaving. All three phenomena are involved.

A Constitution Amendment Bill can be introduced in either House of Parliament, so statement 1 is incorrect. Amendments affecting the federal provisions need ratification by the legislatures of at least half the states, not all of them, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence neither.

Acid rain is caused mainly by sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by burning fossil fuels, which react with water in the atmosphere to form sulphuric and nitric acids. Of the options, (d) listing nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide is the one intended.

The Simon Commission (1927), appointed to review the working of the Government of India Act, 1919, had seven British members and not a single Indian; this exclusion of Indians from deciding their own constitutional future led to nationwide protests with the slogan 'Simon go back'.

The Atlas Mountains stretch across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in north-western Africa. The Abyssinian plateau is in Ethiopia, the Guiana Highlands are in north-eastern South America and the Okavango basin is in Botswana, southern Africa.

Deficit financing, the creation of new money or borrowing from the RBI to cover the gap between expenditure and revenue, was used in India from the Second Plan onwards to raise resources for economic development.

Mycorrhizal fungi living in symbiosis with plant roots greatly extend the root system, helping plants absorb water and nutrients and resist drought (statement 1), tolerate extreme pH and poor soils (statement 2) and resist root diseases (statement 3). They are therefore used to revegetate mine spoils and degraded land. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

Discarded computers release toxic metals used in their components: beryllium (connectors), cadmium (batteries and screens), chromium (metal housings), mercury (switches and lamps) and lead (solder and CRT glass). Heptachlor is a pesticide and plutonium a nuclear material, neither found in computers. Hence 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

The Ilbert Bill (1883), introduced under Lord Ripon, sought to allow Indian district magistrates and sessions judges to try European British subjects, removing a racial disqualification. The furious opposition of Europeans forced a compromise and taught Indians the value of organised agitation.

The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the rainforests of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (the Nilgiris, Anamalai and Silent Valley). It is not found in Andhra Pradesh. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

Tribhanga ('three bends') is a standing pose in which the body is bent in opposite directions at the neck, waist and knee, producing a graceful S-shaped curve; it is seen in Odissi dance and in sculptures of deities from the Mauryan period onwards.

The gharial is critically endangered, the leatherback turtle is listed as vulnerable globally with critically endangered Indian Ocean populations, and the swamp deer (barasingha) is vulnerable; all three are endangered species protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

In natural grasslands trees fail to establish because rainfall is limited and seasonal, so tree seedlings cannot survive the dry season, and because recurrent fires kill woody seedlings while grasses regrow from their roots. Hence water limits and fire.

An ecological niche is the role an organism plays in its community, its feeding relationships, habitat and interactions, not merely the place it lives. A habitat is only the physical space, an ecotone is a transition zone, and a home range is the area an animal moves over.

Indian coal has a high ash content of 30-45 per cent (statement 1) and a low sulphur content (statement 2), which makes it less polluting in sulphur but poor in calorific value. Its ash fusion temperature is high, not low, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 2.

Priority sector lending, of which banks must earmark 40 per cent of their adjusted net bank credit, covers agriculture, micro and small enterprises, weaker sections, education, housing, export credit and renewable energy. Hence all of the above.

Under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 the RBI regulates commercial banks' liquidity (through CRR and SLR), licenses branch expansion, approves amalgamations and mergers, and can apply for the winding up of a bank. Hence 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The capital account of the balance of payments records foreign loans, foreign direct investment and portfolio investment, which create assets or liabilities. Private remittances are unilateral transfers recorded in the current account. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

Hepatitis B and HIV are blood-borne viruses that can be transmitted through tattooing with unsterilised needles. Chikungunya is spread only by Aedes mosquitoes. Hence 2 and 3.

Disguised unemployment exists when more people are engaged in an activity than are needed, so that withdrawing some of them would not reduce output; the marginal productivity of such labour is zero. It is common in Indian agriculture.

Viruses have no metabolic machinery and lack the enzymes needed to generate energy, so they depend on host cells (statement 1). They can be grown only in living cells, not in synthetic media (statement 2 incorrect), and they spread by air, water, contact and body fluids as well as by vectors (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

The richest fishing grounds, such as the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the seas off Japan, lie where warm and cold ocean currents meet: the mixing stirs up nutrients and supports abundant plankton on which fish feed.

Sankhya accepts the existence of the soul (purusha) and its rebirth, so statement 1 is incorrect. It holds that liberation comes from the knowledge that discriminates purusha from prakriti, i.e. self-knowledge, without any external agent or deity, so statement 2 is correct.

Open market operations are the purchase and sale of government securities by the RBI in the open market to inject or absorb liquidity and thereby control money supply and interest rates.

The Ajanta caves are famous for their Buddhist murals and the Lepakshi temple in Andhra Pradesh for its Vijayanagara-period mural paintings on the ceilings, so 1 and 2 are correct. Sanchi is known for its stupa and carved gateways, not murals. Hence 1 and 2.

If the demand for money rises while its supply is fixed, people try to hold more money by selling bonds and borrowing, pushing bond prices down and the rate of interest up until the money market clears.

Annie Besant launched the Home Rule League in 1916 (statement 1) and became the first woman President of the Indian National Congress at Calcutta in 1917 (statement 3). The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott; Besant joined it later and became its president in 1907 (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

National income is the money value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a year (net of depreciation and including net factor income from abroad). Counting intermediate goods or only consumption and investment would not give the correct measure.

Economic growth requires an increase in a country's productive capacity, which comes from capital formation, the net addition to its stock of machines, buildings and infrastructure. Population growth or world trade and technology do not by themselves guarantee growth in X.

A food chain shows the sequence in which organisms feed on one another, transferring energy from producers to consumers (statement 1). It operates between different species, not within a single population (statement 2 incorrect), and it does not show the numbers of organisms eaten, which is the purpose of a pyramid of numbers (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

Creating new money (monetising the deficit) adds directly to the money supply without withdrawing purchasing power from anyone, so it is the most inflationary way of financing a deficit; borrowing from the public or banks transfers existing money, and repaying debt returns money already lent.

Hiuen Tsang recorded that trial by ordeal with fire, water, poison or weighing was used to establish guilt (statement 2) and that merchants paid duties at ferries and barrier stations (statement 3). He himself was robbed more than once, so the roads were not immune from robbery (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 and 3.

The Ramganga, not the Ganga, flows through Corbett National Park; the Brahmaputra, not the Manas, borders Kaziranga; and the Kunthipuzha, a tributary of the Bharathapuzha, not the Kaveri, flows through Silent Valley. None of the pairs is correct.

India's foreign-exchange reserves comprise foreign-currency assets (the bulk), the gold held by the RBI, Special Drawing Rights and the reserve tranche position in the IMF. Loans from foreign countries or the World Bank are liabilities, not reserves.

Aflatoxins are produced by moulds of the genus Aspergillus (A. flavus and A. parasiticus) that grow on badly stored groundnuts, maize and other grains; they are potent carcinogens that survive ordinary cooking.

The Harappans worshipped a mother goddess and a male deity (the proto-Shiva seal), so statement 2 is correct. No palaces or temples have been found in Harappan cities (statement 1 incorrect), and there is no clear evidence of the horse or of horse-drawn chariots in warfare (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 2 only.

Ball bearings replace sliding friction between the wheel and the axle with rolling friction: the balls touch the surfaces at points, so the effective area of contact is greatly reduced and friction is minimised.

Under Article 75, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, not to Parliament as a whole, so statement 1 is incorrect. Ministers hold office during the pleasure of the President (statement 2), and under Article 78 the Prime Minister must communicate to the President all proposals for legislation (statement 3). Hence 2 and 3.

Gravity is by far the weakest of the four fundamental forces at the scale of particles, though it dominates over large distances because it is always attractive; so statement (a) is incorrect. Electromagnetism acts only on charged particles, the weak force governs radioactive beta decay, and the strong force binds protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

The Nokrek Biosphere Reserve lies in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, so pair 1 is correct. Loktak Lake is in the Manipur valley, not the Barail range, and Namdapha National Park is in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, not the Dafla hills. Hence 1 only.

At Ellora, caves were cut for Buddhists, Hindus and Jains between the 6th and 10th centuries, so statement 3 is correct. The oldest surviving rock-cut caves are the Barabar caves of the Mauryan period, not Badami (statement 1 incorrect), and the Barabar caves were dedicated to the Ajivikas by Ashoka, not Chandragupta Maurya (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 3 only.

Net primary productivity is highest in mangroves and other wetlands (comparable to rainforests), followed by grasslands, then lakes, with the open oceans, despite their vast area, having the lowest productivity per unit area. The decreasing order is mangroves, grasslands, lakes, oceans.

Recombinant DNA technology can insert a gene from any organism into any other because the genetic code is universal: genes have been moved between plant species (Bt cotton), from animals to plants (antifreeze genes from fish into tomato) and from micro-organisms to higher organisms (Bt genes from bacteria into crops). Hence 1, 2 and 3.

After the Cripps Mission of 1942 failed to offer immediate self-government, the Congress adopted the Quit India Resolution on 8 August 1942, demanding an end to British rule; it was launched in response to the inadequate Cripps proposals.

The balance of payments is a systematic record of all economic transactions, in goods, services, income, transfers and capital, between the residents of a country and the rest of the world during a period, usually a year.

Economic and social planning is entry 20 of the Concurrent List (statement 2), and Article 243G requires panchayats to prepare plans for economic development and social justice (statement 3). The National Development Council was a separate body set up by the Union Cabinet, not an organ of the Planning Commission (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 and 3.

Nirvana in Buddhism literally means 'blowing out', the extinction of the flame of desire (tanha), hatred and ignorance, which ends suffering and the cycle of rebirth. It is not annihilation of the self nor merely a state of bliss.

Jainism holds that every object, even the smallest particle of earth, water, fire and air, possesses a soul (statement 2); that karma, a subtle matter clinging to the soul, is its bane and must be shed (statement 3); and that penance and austerities are the surest way to annihilate accumulated karma (statement 1). Hence 1, 2 and 3.

In the Tebhaga movement of 1946-47 in Bengal, led by the Kisan Sabha, sharecroppers (bargadars) demanded that the landlords' (jotedars') share of the crop be reduced from one-half to one-third, so that the cultivator kept two-thirds (tebhaga), as the Floud Commission had recommended.

The general price level rises when the money supply grows faster than output (demand-pull from excess money), when aggregate output falls so that the same money chases fewer goods, or when effective demand increases ahead of supply. All three can cause inflation.

Nostoc is a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) used as a biofertiliser in paddy fields. Agaricus is the edible mushroom and Spirogyra a green alga; neither fixes nitrogen or is used as a biofertiliser. Hence 2 only.

The bank rate is the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks; raising it makes credit dearer and signals a tight (dear) money policy aimed at curbing inflation, so market interest rates rise.

The members of the Constituent Assembly from the British provinces were elected indirectly by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies (through proportional representation by single transferable vote), while princely states' representatives were nominated by their rulers.

Under Article 88 the Attorney-General has the right to speak in and take part in the proceedings of either House and of any parliamentary committee of which he is named a member, but he has no right to vote. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

Photochemical smog forms when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust react in strong sunlight to produce ozone, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and other oxidants; it is the brown haze of cities such as Los Angeles and Delhi.

A chaitya is a Buddhist prayer hall with a stupa at its apsidal end, used for worship, while a vihara is a monastery with cells around a central hall where monks lived; Karle has a famous chaitya and Ajanta has both.

Thunder is produced by the sudden heating and explosive expansion of air along the path of a lightning stroke, which sends out a shock wave heard as thunder. Clouds colliding, lightning splitting clouds or updraughts of air and water do not produce the sound. Hence none.

The Higgs boson, detected at CERN in 2012, confirms the Higgs field that gives elementary particles their mass, completing the Standard Model (statement 1). It has nothing to do with teleportation of matter or nuclear fuels (statements 2 and 3 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was preaching in Punjab when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526 and even described the invasion in his hymns. Dadu Dayal (1544-1603) and Tyagaraja (1767-1847) lived later. Hence 2 only.

The Central Asian steppe has a harsh continental climate with hot summers, bitter winters and scanty rainfall, and its people, such as the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Mongols, were traditionally nomadic herders of horses, sheep and camels.

The enlarged appearance of the Sun at dusk (the 'Moon illusion' effect), its red colour at dawn (scattering of blue light by the atmosphere) and the twinkling of stars (atmospheric refraction) are optical effects. The Moon being visible at dawn and the Pole Star being visible are real phenomena. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

Contour bunding, building earthen embankments along the contours of a slope to check run-off and hold soil and water, is used on sloping agricultural land in hilly and undulating terrain, not in desert margins, floodplains or scrublands. Hence none of the above.