UPSC Prelims 2016 Question Paper (GS Paper I) with Answers

Rajasthan, a landlocked state, explored building an artificial inland port near Jalore connected to the Gulf of Kachchh through a long navigational channel, so that its cargo could reach the sea without passing through Gujarat's ports.

Net metering lets a household with rooftop solar panels feed surplus electricity into the grid and be billed only for its net consumption, with the meter running backwards when it exports. It is a key incentive for promoting household solar power.

The European Stability Mechanism, set up in 2012, is the eurozone's permanent crisis-resolution fund that provides financial assistance to euro-area countries in difficulty, as it did for Greece, Cyprus and Spain's banks.

Bitcoin is a decentralised cryptocurrency not tracked or issued by any central bank, so statement 1 is incorrect. Anyone with a Bitcoin address can send and receive bitcoins (statement 2), and payments are pseudonymous, so the parties need not know each other's identity (statement 3). Hence 2 and 3.

A bodhisattva is a compassionate being on the way to enlightenment who postpones his own nirvana to help all sentient beings attain it (statements 2 and 3). The ideal is central to Mahayana, not Hinayana, Buddhism, so statement 1 is incorrect. Hence 2 and 3.

The Tamil Siddhas (Sittars) were monotheistic mystics who condemned idolatry and caste, and the Lingayats (Virashaivas) of Karnataka, following Basavanna, rejected the caste hierarchy and questioned rebirth and Brahmanical rituals. Both statements are correct.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (2016) was a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries, not all of them; it excluded many besides China and Russia, so statement 1 is incorrect. It was an economic and trade pact, not a maritime-security alliance, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence neither.

In September 2015 Andhra Pradesh linked the Godavari and the Krishna through the Pattiseema lift-irrigation project, diverting Godavari water via the Polavaram right canal into the Krishna at Prakasam barrage, the first river interlinking in the country.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), founded in 1971 and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, is an independent, non-governmental international medical humanitarian organisation; it is not part of the WHO, the EU or the UN.

The Madhesis are the people of Nepal's Terai plains, in the news over Nepal's 2015 constitution, and the Rohingya are the persecuted Muslim minority of Myanmar's Rakhine state; pairs 2 and 3 are correct. The Kurds live in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, not Bangladesh. Hence 2 and 3.

The capital budget covers capital receipts and capital expenditure: spending on acquiring assets such as roads, buildings and machinery is capital expenditure, loans from foreign governments are capital receipts, and loans and advances to states are capital expenditure. All three are included.

Greased Lightning-10 (GL-10) is a battery-powered, ten-engine unmanned aircraft prototype developed and tested by NASA that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly like a plane.

Under Krishnadeva Raya land revenue was fixed according to the quality and productivity of the land, and private workshop owners paid an industries tax, besides taxes on professions, marriages and property. Both statements are correct.

TEEB is a global initiative, hosted by UNEP, that draws attention to the economic benefits of biodiversity (statement 2) and offers an approach to help decision-makers recognise, demonstrate and capture the value of ecosystems (statement 3). It was launched by Germany and the European Commission, not hosted by the IMF and WEF (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 and 3.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep the rise in global average temperature well below 2 degrees C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees C (statement 2). It was adopted by the parties to the UNFCCC and entered into force in November 2016, not signed by all UN members for 2017 (statement 1 incorrect), and the climate-finance goal is USD 100 billion a year, not USD 1,000 billion (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 2 only.

The great Indian hornbill lives in the dense evergreen and moist deciduous forests of the Western Ghats and the north-eastern Himalayan foothills, where it nests in tall trees and feeds on figs; it is the state bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.

Neem oil coating slows the release of nitrogen from urea by inhibiting nitrification, so the fertiliser dissolves more slowly, less is lost through leaching and volatilisation, and crops use it more efficiently; it also stops the diversion of subsidised urea to industry.

In 2016 scientists of the Botanical Survey of India described Musa indandamanensis, a new species of wild banana about 11 metres tall with orange pulp, from the Little Andaman island of the Andaman and Nicobar group.

The Financial Stability and Development Council, set up in 2010, is chaired by the Union Finance Minister with the heads of all financial regulators as members (statement 2), and it monitors macro-prudential supervision and financial stability (statement 3). It is an apex body under the Finance Ministry, not an organ of NITI Aayog (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 and 3.

The Ease of Doing Business rankings were declared annually by the World Bank in its Doing Business report (discontinued in 2021); India climbed to 63rd place in the 2020 report.

The Dibang, the Kameng (Jia Bharali) and the Lohit all rise in Arunachal Pradesh and join the Brahmaputra on its north bank; the Lohit and Dibang meet the Siang near Sadiya to form the Brahmaputra proper. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

DigiLocker, launched in 2015 under the Digital India programme, is a cloud-based digital locker in which citizens can store and access documents such as driving licences, mark-sheets and certificates from anywhere. Both statements are correct.

Kalidasa's play Malavikagnimitram tells the love story of Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra, the founder of the Shunga dynasty, and Malavika, a maid in his queen's household.

Mangalyaan is the Mars Orbiter Mission (statement 1), and India became the first country to place a spacecraft in Mars orbit on its first attempt (statement 3). It was not the second after the USA; the Soviet Union, the USA and Europe had orbited Mars earlier, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 3.

The Cripps proposals of 1942 offered India Dominion status after the war, with a constituent assembly to frame a constitution and the right of provinces to opt out, but no immediate transfer of power. Congress rejected it as a 'post-dated cheque'.

India's first National Investment and Manufacturing Zone outside the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor was approved in 2016 at Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, under the National Manufacturing Policy of 2011.

In November 2015 the IMF decided to add the Chinese renminbi to the basket of currencies that make up the Special Drawing Right, alongside the US dollar, euro, yen and pound; the inclusion took effect in October 2016.

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions were the climate-action plans that each country submitted ahead of the Paris conference of 2015, setting out its intended emission cuts and adaptation measures; they became NDCs once the agreement was ratified.

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (2015) provides collateral-free loans of up to Rs 10 lakh (now Rs 20 lakh) to micro and small non-farm enterprises through banks and NBFCs, bringing small entrepreneurs into the formal financial system.

The Chief Secretary is chosen by the Chief Minister from among senior IAS officers, not appointed by the Governor, so statement 1 is incorrect. There is no fixed tenure for the post, though the Supreme Court has recommended a minimum of two years, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence neither.

Viruses infect every form of cellular life: bacteriophages infect bacteria, mycoviruses infect fungi, and plant viruses such as the tobacco mosaic virus infect plants. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

The MCLR system introduced by the RBI in 2016 replaced the base rate to make banks' lending-rate calculations transparent and linked to their marginal cost of funds, so that rate cuts are passed on fairly to borrowers while remaining viable for banks. Both statements are correct.

James Prinsep, an officer of the Calcutta mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and read Ashoka's edicts, identifying 'Devanampiya Piyadasi' with Ashoka.

Both Ajanta (Maharashtra) and Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu) have rock-cut monuments, so statement 3 is correct. Ajanta's Buddhist caves date from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, while the Hindu monuments of Mahabalipuram were built by the Pallavas in the 7th-8th centuries, so statements 1 and 2 are incorrect. Hence 3 only.

UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, 2015) was a scheme for the financial turnaround of state power distribution companies: states took over 75 per cent of discom debt and the discoms committed to cutting losses and improving efficiency.

Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) is an endemic tree of the dry deciduous forests of the Seshachalam hills in Andhra Pradesh (statement 1); it is not a rainforest tree (statement 2 incorrect). Its valuable timber is heavily smuggled. Hence 1 only.

The FAO's GIAHS programme identifies and safeguards traditional agricultural systems of global importance, together with their landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and local knowledge, such as the Koraput and Kuttanad systems in India. It is not about modern technology or GI tags. Hence 2 only.

The Belt and Road Initiative, launched by China in 2013, is its programme of building ports, railways, roads and pipelines across Asia, Europe and Africa (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road).

The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises six Arab monarchies: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Iran, a non-Arab republic on the other shore of the Gulf, is not a member.

Astrosat (2015) is India's first multi-wavelength space observatory, but several countries and agencies, including Europe and Japan, have launched space observatories, so statement 1 is incorrect. It weighs about 1,500 kg and orbits at about 650 km, not 2,000 kg at 1,650 km, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence neither.

The Satya Shodhak Samaj, founded by Jyotirao Phule at Pune in 1873, organised an anti-caste movement in Maharashtra for the rights of the lower castes, women and peasants against Brahmanical domination.

INS Astradharini, commissioned in 2015, is an indigenously designed torpedo launch and recovery vessel used by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory to test underwater weapons.

Under Article 249 the Rajya Sabha can, by a resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting, declare that it is necessary in the national interest for Parliament to legislate on a State List matter; the resolution lasts a year and can be renewed.

The 2011 labelling regulations require the label to show the list of ingredients including additives, nutritional information and the vegetarian or non-vegetarian mark, along with the name of the food, net quantity, dates and so on. Medical advice on allergies is not a mandatory item. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

The UNCCD (1994) promotes action through national action programmes supported by international partnerships (statement 1) and is committed to a bottom-up approach that involves local people (statement 3). It focuses on Africa in particular, not South Asia and North Africa, and its secretariat does not allocate funds (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

'The Man Who Knew Infinity' (2015), based on Robert Kanigel's biography, tells the story of the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and his collaboration with G.H. Hardy at Cambridge.

The transcriptome is the complete set of messenger RNA (and other RNA) molecules transcribed from the genome in a cell or organism at a given time; studying it shows which genes are being expressed.

Drip irrigation wets only the root zone, so weeds between rows get little water and are reduced, and the gentle application avoids runoff and soil erosion. It does not by itself reduce soil salinity; salts can accumulate at the edge of the wetted zone. Hence 1 and 3.

Annex-I countries, Certified Emission Reductions and the Clean Development Mechanism all originate in the Kyoto Protocol (1997) to the UNFCCC; the Cartagena Protocol deals with biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol with access and benefit-sharing under the CBD. Hence 3 only.

Import cover is the number of months of imports that a country's foreign-exchange reserves could pay for; it is a standard measure of the adequacy of reserves, with India's cover at over ten months in recent years.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency's star-labelling programme covers ceiling fans, electric storage water heaters (geysers) and tubular fluorescent lamps, along with air-conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and other appliances. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

The Green India Mission, one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, aims to increase and restore forest and tree cover and to respond to climate change through a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures. Green accounting and a second green revolution are not its aims. Hence 3 only.

India's Air Quality Index is based on eight pollutants: PM10, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, ammonia and lead. Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases, not AQI pollutants. Hence 2, 3 and 4.

The Kharai camel of Kachchh in Gujarat can swim up to three kilometres into the sea to reach the mangrove islands on which it grazes. It is a domesticated breed reared by the Rabari and Jat communities, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 2.

The NGRBA (2009-16) treated the river basin as the unit of planning and management and spearheaded Ganga conservation at the national level. It was chaired by the Prime Minister, not by Chief Ministers in rotation, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 2.

The OPCW, based in The Hague, is the independent body implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention; it is not an EU organisation. It verifies the destruction of chemical weapons, monitors the chemical industry to prevent new weapons (statement 2) and provides assistance and protection to member states against chemical threats (statement 3). Hence 2 and 3.

A budget deficit is reduced by cutting expenditure or raising revenue: reducing revenue expenditure and rationalising subsidies both lower spending. New welfare schemes increase expenditure and cutting import duty reduces revenue, so they would widen the deficit. Hence 1 and 3.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is the most widely used international standard for governments and businesses to measure, quantify and manage their greenhouse-gas emissions.

The third India-Africa Forum Summit was held in New Delhi in October 2015, attended by all 54 African countries (statement 1). The IAFS mechanism began with the first summit in 2008, not under Nehru in 1951 (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

Shale gas resources in India have been identified in the Cambay basin (Gujarat), the Cauvery basin (Tamil Nadu), the Krishna-Godavari basin (Andhra Pradesh), the Assam-Arakan basin and the Gondwana basin. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

The Global Hunger Index, published by IFPRI with Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, is computed from four indicators: undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality. All three listed indicators are used.

District Mineral Foundations, created under the 2015 amendment to the MMDR Act in every mining district, are funded by contributions from mining lease-holders and work for the welfare of persons and areas affected by mining. They do not promote exploration or license it. Hence 2 only.

The Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion (2011-12, under RKVY) demonstrates improved production and post-harvest technologies and value addition in clusters (statement 1), with poor, small, marginal and tribal farmers as the main beneficiaries (statement 2). It does not seek to shift commercial-crop farmers to millets with free kits (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 and 2.

Prorogation ends a session but does not cause pending bills to lapse, so statement 1 is incorrect. A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha that has not been passed by the Lok Sabha does not lapse when the Lok Sabha is dissolved, so statement 2 is correct.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is the free-trade agreement among the ten ASEAN countries and their FTA partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand; it was signed in 2020 after India withdrew in 2019.

Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan is a national campaign led by Dalit organisations, including Jan Sahas, for the eradication of manual scavenging and the dignified rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

The Banjaras of medieval India were nomadic traders and carriers who moved grain, salt and other goods on bullock caravans across the country, supplying armies and markets; Jahangir and others mention them as grain merchants.

Keshab Chandra Sen founded the Indian Reform Association in 1870 and, after his break with the Brahmo Samaj of India, the Nava Vidhan or Church of the New Dispensation in 1880. The Calcutta Unitarian Committee was set up in 1821 by Raja Rammohan Roy with William Adam. Hence 2 and 3.

In 2015 Maharashtra became the first state to declare a state butterfly, choosing the Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor), a large swallowtail found in the Western Ghats.

Khajuraho lies in Bundelkhand and Tirupati in Rayalaseema, so pairs 2 and 5 are correct. Bodh Gaya is in Magadh, not Baghelkhand; Shirdi is in western Maharashtra, not Vidarbha; and Nashik is in Maharashtra, not Malwa. Hence 2 and 5.

The Global Financial Stability Report, assessing risks to the global financial system, is published twice a year by the International Monetary Fund.

Swadeshi (use of Indian goods) and boycott (of British goods) were first adopted as methods of political struggle in the agitation against the partition of Bengal in 1905, launched at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905.

Stand Up India (2016) facilitates bank loans of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore to at least one SC or ST borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch for greenfield enterprises (statement 1), with refinance support through SIDBI (statement 2). Both are correct.

The New Development Bank was established by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) under the 2014 Fortaleza agreement, not by APEC, so statement 1 is incorrect. Its headquarters is in Shanghai, so statement 2 is correct.

The International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, issued the first rupee-denominated 'masala bonds' abroad in 2014 (statement 1); such bonds raise rupee debt for Indian public and private borrowers from foreign investors who bear the currency risk (statement 2). Both are correct.

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is the government's online education platform that offers free courses from Class 9 to post-graduation, taught by the best teachers, to provide affordable, quality education to all.

In ancient India the Magadhas (and Sutas) were bards attached to royal courts whose profession was to memorise and recite chronicles, genealogies, dynastic histories and epic tales. Shramanas were ascetics and agraharikas holders of land grants.

Core Banking Solution is the networking of a bank's branches on a common software platform so that customers can operate their accounts from any branch, ATM or online, regardless of where they opened the account. It is not about RBI control or takeovers. Hence 1 only.

The minimum age for membership of a panchayat is 21 years, not 25, so statement 1 is incorrect. Under Article 243E a panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution serves only for the remainder of the five-year term, so statement 2 is correct.

Project Loon was an initiative of Google's parent Alphabet to provide internet access in remote areas through a network of high-altitude balloons carrying wireless communication equipment in the stratosphere.

The Gadgil Committee (Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, 2011) and the Kasturirangan Committee (2013) were set up to recommend measures for the conservation and sustainable development of the Western Ghats, including the demarcation of ecologically sensitive areas.

The Congress split at Surat in 1907 because the Extremists led by Tilak, who had lost faith in the Moderates' method of petitions and negotiation with the British, clashed with the Moderates over the presidency and the Calcutta resolutions on swadeshi, boycott and national education.

The amber, blue and green boxes are the WTO's classification of domestic agricultural subsidies under the Agreement on Agriculture: amber box support distorts trade and is capped, blue box support is tied to production limits, and green box support is permitted without limit.

The Gold Monetisation Scheme lets households deposit idle gold to earn interest, bringing it into the economy, and the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme offers a paper alternative to buying physical gold; both aim to reduce India's dependence on gold imports. Promoting FDI is not their purpose. Hence 1 and 3.

Gram Nyayalayas established under the 2008 Act try both civil and criminal cases of a petty nature, so statement 1 is incorrect. The Act provides for conciliation through panels that may include social workers and activists as mediators, so statement 2 is correct.

In Chola-period inscriptions eripatti was land whose revenue was set apart for maintaining the village tank, and ghatikas were colleges of learning attached to temples; pairs 1 and 3 are correct. Taniyur was a large, self-governing village unit, while villages granted to Brahmins were called brahmadeya. Hence 1 and 3.

The Atal Pension Yojana (2015) guarantees a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 a month to subscribers, mainly unorganised-sector workers (statement 1), and after the subscriber's death the same pension goes to the spouse for life (statement 3). There is no restriction to one member per family (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

Araghatta was the water wheel (Persian wheel) with a chain of pots used in medieval India to lift water from wells for irrigation, an important device in the expansion of cultivation in Rajasthan and the Deccan.

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting refers to tax-planning strategies by which multinational companies shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions and erode the tax base of the countries where they operate; the OECD/G20 BEPS project seeks to curb such tax avoidance.

Under PMFBY farmers pay a premium of 2 per cent for kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for rabi crops and 5 per cent for commercial and horticultural crops, not a uniform 2 per cent, so statement 1 is incorrect. The scheme covers post-harvest losses from cyclones and unseasonal rain for crops lying in the field for up to 14 days after harvest, so statement 2 is correct.

The IMFC, with 24 members representing the IMF's constituencies, advises the IMF's Board of Governors on the management of the international monetary system and the direction of the Fund's work (statement 1); the World Bank and other institutions attend its meetings as observers (statement 2). Both are correct.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda, to be achieved by 2030 (statement 2). The Club of Rome's 1972 report 'Limits to Growth' concerned resource limits and did not propose the SDGs (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 only.

The Montagu-Chelmsford proposals of 1918 recommended constitutional reforms: the gradual introduction of responsible government, dyarchy in the provinces and a bicameral central legislature, enacted as the Government of India Act, 1919.

Li-Fi (light fidelity) transmits data through the rapid modulation of LED light (statement 1); it is a wireless technology that has achieved speeds many times faster than Wi-Fi in tests (statement 2). Both are correct.

Mission Indradhanush, launched in 2014 by the Health Ministry, aims to fully immunise all children under two years and pregnant women against vaccine-preventable diseases, targeting those left out of routine immunisation.

The International Solar Alliance was launched by India and France at the Paris climate conference in November 2015, so statement 1 is correct. Membership was initially open to solar-resource-rich countries between the tropics and later to all UN members, but not all have joined, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 1 only.

Payments banks may be promoted by entities such as mobile telephone companies, supermarket chains and non-bank prepaid instrument issuers owned by residents (statement 1), and they cannot lend (statement 3). They can issue debit cards but not credit cards, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 3.

Agenda 21 is the global action plan for sustainable development adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Janeiro, so statement 1 is correct and statement 2, which attributes it to Johannesburg 2002, is incorrect. Hence 1 only.

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, plus conservation and sustainable management) rewards developing countries for keeping forests standing; well-designed programmes protect biodiversity, make forest ecosystems more resilient and support the livelihoods of forest communities. Hence 1, 2 and 3.

ITER, being built in France with India as one of seven partners, is an experiment to show that nuclear fusion can produce net energy. Its success would let India build fusion reactors for power generation, drawing on its share of the technology.