Prelims GS Paper I 2015

Answer: (c) promoting financial inclusion in the country

PMJDY is the Government of India's National Mission on Financial Inclusion. When launched, it aimed to give every household at least one basic bank account, along with access to credit, insurance and pension. So its purpose is financial inclusion.

• ✗ (a) PMJDY is not a housing-finance scheme. It offers no cheap housing loans. Its aim is basic banking access for every household.
• ✗ (b) Promoting women's Self-Help Groups is the work of the National Rural Livelihood Mission, not PMJDY. PMJDY covers all households, not only women or backward areas.
• ✓ (c) The Finance Ministry describes PMJDY as a National Mission on Financial Inclusion meant to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all households in the country. It does this through universal access to bank accounts, financial literacy, credit, insurance and pension.
• ✗ (d) PMJDY is not a scheme of direct financial help or grants to marginalised groups. It opens bank accounts and gives access to financial services. This option is vague and misses the scheme's stated aim.

Remember · PMJDY (launched August 2014) = National Mission on Financial Inclusion: a bank account for every household, plus access to credit, insurance and pension.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The Fourteenth Finance Commission raised the States' share of the divisible pool from 32% to 42%. It made no recommendation on sector-specific grants, which the Thirteenth Finance Commission had made. So only statement 1 is correct.

• ✓ 1. The Fourteenth Finance Commission (period 2015-20) raised States' share in the divisible pool of central taxes from 32% to 42%. This was the biggest ever increase in vertical tax devolution.
• ✗ 2. The Commission gave grants to rural and urban local bodies, plus disaster relief and revenue deficit grants. It made no recommendation on sector-specific grants, unlike the Thirteenth Finance Commission. The aim was to give States more untied funds.

Remember · 14th Finance Commission (2015-20): States' share 42% (up from 32%), more untied transfers, and no sector-specific grants. Its grants went to local bodies, disaster relief and revenue deficit.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) BRICS

The Fortaleza Declaration was issued at the end of the 6th BRICS Summit, held in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014. It was adopted by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, so it is a BRICS document.

• ✓ (b) The 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil produced the Fortaleza Declaration, dated 15 July 2014. The Declaration records the consensus of the BRICS countries on many issues, including reform of global governance. The same summit signed the agreement setting up the New Development Bank and the treaty for the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.
• ✗ (d) The Declaration discusses global economic governance, including trade, but it is not a WTO document. It was issued by the BRICS leaders at their own summit.
• ✗ (a) ASEAN did not issue the Declaration. It was adopted by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS members, and none of them belongs to ASEAN.
• ✗ (c) The OECD did not issue the Declaration. It was agreed by the five BRICS leaders at their summit in Fortaleza.

Remember · Fortaleza Declaration = 6th BRICS Summit, Fortaleza, Brazil, July 2014. It was the summit that set up the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The tax-to-GDP ratio falls when tax collections grow more slowly than the economy. That typically happens in a slowdown: industrial output, corporate profits and incomes weaken, so tax collections weaken too. The ratio is one aggregate figure, total tax over total output. It does not show how national income is shared among people.

• ✓ 1. When growth slows, firms and households earn less and so pay less tax. The Economic Survey 2013-14 linked India's slower tax collection to weaker industrial output and lower corporate profits. The OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio also fell during the 2008–09 global financial crisis.
• ✗ 2. The ratio only compares total tax revenue with total GDP. It does not show who earns the income, so it cannot measure equity. Inequality is measured with separate tools, such as the share of income going to each group.

Remember · Tax-to-GDP ratio = total tax revenue ÷ GDP. It falls when collections lag behind the economy, as they do in a slowdown. It says nothing about income distribution.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone seldom occurs

The reason is (b): the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone seldom occurs over the South Atlantic and South-Eastern Pacific. Many tropical cyclones grow from disturbances along the ITCZ. In the Atlantic and eastern Pacific sectors the ITCZ stays north of the equator for nearly the whole year, so these southern tropical waters rarely get the seed disturbances cyclones need. For the South Atlantic, NOAA's hurricane researchers name the missing ITCZ, along with very strong vertical wind shear, as the primary reasons for so few cyclones.

• ✗ (a) Cool water from the Humboldt and Benguela currents does keep parts of these seas cool. It is not the reason common to both regions, though. For the South Atlantic, NOAA identifies strong wind shear and the absence of the ITCZ as the primary reasons.
• ✓ (b) The ITCZ supplies the low-level convergence and spin from which many cyclones start. In these sectors it hardly ever shifts south of the equator, so the seed disturbances are missing and cyclones seldom form.
• ✗ (c) Coriolis force is too weak only very close to the equator, roughly within 5° latitude. Elsewhere in tropical latitudes it is strong enough, so it does not explain the absence of cyclones.
• ✗ (d) Cyclones form over warm oceans and do not need land. Land only weakens them after landfall.

Remember · Cyclone genesis needs a warm sea (above 27°C), Coriolis force, low vertical wind shear and a seed disturbance such as one from the ITCZ. The ITCZ rarely reaches the South Atlantic or South-Eastern Pacific, so these seas are nearly cyclone-free.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 9 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat

India's mainland extends from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west. Arunachal Pradesh is therefore the easternmost State and Gujarat the westernmost, which is option (d).

• ✓ (d) NCERT names Arunachal Pradesh as the eastern limit and Gujarat as the western limit of mainland India. Arunachal Pradesh lies at the far north-eastern tip of the country. Gujarat, with its Kachchh region, projects furthest west.
• ✗ (a) Arunachal Pradesh extends further east than Assam, so Assam is not the easternmost State. Rajasthan's western border does not reach as far west as Gujarat's Kachchh, so Rajasthan is not the westernmost State either.
• ✗ (b) Arunachal Pradesh is the correct easternmost State. But Rajasthan is not the westernmost State; that is Gujarat.
• ✗ (c) Gujarat is the correct westernmost State. But Assam is not the easternmost State; that is Arunachal Pradesh.

Remember · Mainland India runs from Kashmir (north) to Kanniyakumari (south), and from Arunachal Pradesh (east) to Gujarat (west).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The Directive Principles set out the social and economic goals a welfare State must work towards, which is the idea of socio-economic democracy. Article 37 also says they cannot be enforced by any court.

• ✓ 1. Part IV sets goals such as an adequate livelihood, equal pay for equal work and equitable distribution of resources. These go beyond political rights and aim at a welfare State with social and economic justice. Taken together, the Directive Principles form a charter of social and economic democracy in India.
• ✓ 2. Article 37 says the provisions of Part IV 'shall not be enforceable by any court'. They are therefore non-justiciable. A citizen cannot go to court to compel the government to implement them.

Remember · Article 37: Directive Principles are non-justiciable but fundamental in governance. They embody social and economic democracy, whereas Fundamental Rights mainly secure political democracy.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Electricity generation

In 2015 the Index of Eight Core Industries used the base year 2004-05. Under that base, electricity generation carried the largest weight, 10.32% of the IIP. Steel was next at 6.68%.

• ✗ (a) Coal production had a weight of only 4.38% in the 2004-05 series.
• ✓ (b) Electricity generation had a weight of 10.32%, the highest of the eight core industries. The next highest, steel, had 6.68%.
• ✗ (c) Fertilizer production had a weight of 1.25%, the lowest in the index.
• ✗ (d) Steel (6.68%) was the second-highest. It still trailed electricity.
• • Since then The index was later rebased to 2011-12. In that series, Refinery Products has the highest weight (28.04%), and electricity (19.85%) is second. The answer for the 2015 exam is unaffected.

Remember · Under the 2004-05 base, Electricity (10.32%) had the largest weight among the eight core industries, then Steel (6.68%). The eight together made up about 38% of the IIP.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Keibul Lamjao National Park

Keibul Lamjao National Park in Manipur lies on Loktak Lake. Its habitat is made of phumdis, which are floating mats of soil, vegetation and organic matter. This makes it the world's only floating national park.

• ✗ (a) Bhitarkanika, in Odisha, is known for its mangrove forests and estuarine crocodiles. It is not a swamp of floating vegetation.
• ✓ (b) The park lies on Loktak Lake, and its habitat consists of floating meadows (phumdis). It shelters the Sangai, or Manipur brow-antlered deer.
• ✗ (c) Keoladeo (Bharatpur) is a wetland in Rajasthan and a World Heritage Site. It is one of the major wintering areas for aquatic birds, but its vegetation is not a floating mat.
• ✗ (d) Sultanpur, in Haryana, is a small protected area known for its birds. It is not a floating swamp.

Remember · Keibul Lamjao (Loktak Lake, Manipur) is the world's only floating national park. Its phumdis support the Sangai, or brow-antlered deer.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, so statement 1 is correct. Its role is to strengthen grassroots technological innovations, not advanced research in premier institutions in collaboration with foreign institutions, so statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. The Government of India describes NIF as an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It was established in March 2000 with DST support.
• ✗ 2. NIF serves as India's national initiative to strengthen grassroots technological innovations. It is not an initiative for highly advanced research in premier scientific institutions in collaboration with foreign scientific institutions.

Remember · NIF, established in March 2000, is a DST autonomous body for grassroots innovation. It is not for elite research or foreign collaboration.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Too much nitrogen fertiliser can acidify the soil and push nitrate down into groundwater, so statements 2 and 3 are correct. It does not encourage nitrogen-fixing microbes. Readily available fertiliser nitrogen actually inhibits biological fixation, so statement 1 is wrong.

• ✗ 1. Adding inorganic nitrogen fertiliser significantly inhibits symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legume–rhizobia systems. When the soil is already supplied with nitrogen, nitrogen fixers gain no advantage, so excess fertiliser does not make them proliferate.
• ✓ 2. Improper, excessive fertilisation speeds up soil acidification, especially with acidic fertilisers such as ammonium sulphate. Nitrification of ammonium releases acid, and nitrate leaching out of the soil carries base cations with it, so acidity rises.
• ✓ 3. Nitrate dissolves easily and moves with water through the soil. Nitrate the crop does not use can leach below the root zone into groundwater. Groundwater is polluted mainly by nitrates.

Remember · Excess nitrogen fertiliser means acidified soil, nitrate in groundwater and eutrophication. It suppresses biological nitrogen fixation instead of encouraging it.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The answer is (b). IUCN is a membership union of governments and civil-society bodies, not a UN organ. It only holds observer status at the UN General Assembly. Statements 2 and 3 match what IUCN and the CITES Secretariat say about themselves.

• ✗ 1. The CITES half is right, since CITES is an agreement between governments. The IUCN half is wrong. IUCN is a membership union of governments and NGOs, and the UN General Assembly gives it only observer status.
• ✓ 2. IUCN describes its work as 'thousands of field projects and activities around the world'.
• ✓ 3. CITES is legally binding on its Parties, which must implement it. It does not take the place of national laws. Each Party has to adopt its own domestic legislation to give it effect.

Remember · IUCN (founded 1948, Gland) is a membership union with UNGA observer status, not a UN organ. CITES (1973) binds its Parties but works through their national laws.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister, gives final approval to the FRP of sugarcane. For example, it approved the FRP payable by sugar mills for the 2015-16 sugar season. The other bodies listed do not approve it.

• ✓ (a) The CCEA approves the FRP of sugarcane payable by sugar mills. For the 2015-16 sugar season it approved Rs 230 per quintal, linked to a basic recovery rate of 9.5 per cent.
• ✗ (b) The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) is an expert advisory body. It recommends the FRP, but the Government decides it, with the CCEA giving the approval. This is the most tempting wrong option.
• ✗ (c) The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection works on agricultural marketing, grading and standardisation (Agmark). It does not approve sugarcane prices.
• ✗ (d) An Agricultural Produce Market Committee regulates agricultural markets (mandis) under state law. It does not approve a national price for sugarcane.

Remember · The FRP of sugarcane is approved by the CCEA. The CACP only recommends it.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Convergence of the two equatorial currents

The answer is (b). The trade winds push the North and South Equatorial Currents westward, and together they pile up water in the western part of each ocean basin. Gravity makes this piled-up water flow back east, where the winds are weak along the equator. That return flow is the equatorial counter-current.

• ✓ (b) Both westward equatorial currents carry water to the western side of the ocean basin, where it piles up. Gravity then sends that water back eastward, and this flow is the counter-current.
• ✗ (d) The belt of weak winds near the equator is only the path the return flow takes. The cause of the eastward flow is the water piled up in the west by the two equatorial currents.
• ✗ (a) The Earth's rotation deflects moving water, but it does not explain why this current flows east. The counter-current is water returning east under gravity after the equatorial currents pushed it west.
• ✗ (c) Differences in salinity change the density of water, but they do not drive this current. The eastward flow comes from water piled up in the west by the two equatorial currents.

Remember · Trade winds drive the North and South Equatorial Currents west, and they pile water up in the west. Gravity sends it back east, along the weak-wind belt at the equator, as the equatorial counter-current.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only Srisailam is matched correctly: its temple stands in the Nallamala Hills of Andhra Pradesh. Omkareshwar is on a Narmada river island in Madhya Pradesh, far from the Satmala Hills on the southern edge of the Tapi basin. Pushkar lies in the Aravalli Range of Rajasthan, not the Mahadeo Hills.

• ✓ 1. The Srisailam temple in Andhra Pradesh is set amid the Nallamala Hills, a range of the Eastern Ghats, above the Krishna river.
• ✗ 2. Omkareshwar is on an Om-shaped island in the Narmada in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh. The Satmala Hills lie on the southern edge of the Tapi basin, alongside the Ajanta Range.
• ✗ 3. Pushkar lies in the Aravalli Range, about 10 km northwest of Ajmer in Rajasthan. The Mahadeo Hills are in central India, forming part of the northern edge of the Deccan Plateau and bounding the Tapi basin on the east.

Remember · Srisailam is in the Nallamala Hills (Eastern Ghats), Pushkar is in the Aravallis, and Omkareshwar is on a Narmada island. The Satmala and Mahadeo hills both border the Tapi basin.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only

The Rowlatt Act followed the recommendations of the Sedition Committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt. Gandhiji drew on Home Rulers to launch the Rowlatt Satyagraha. The Simon Commission came in 1928, nine years after the 1919 satyagraha, so statement 3 fails. Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only.

• ✓ 1. The Sedition Committee was chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt. On its recommendation, wartime detention-without-trial powers were continued, which is why the law is called the Rowlatt Act.
• ✓ 2. The meeting that decided to start a passive resistance campaign against the proposed Rowlatt legislation was attended by representative Home Rulers from Bombay. Gandhiji used the Home Rule League's members to launch the satyagraha.
• ✗ 3. The Rowlatt Satyagraha was in March–April 1919. The 'Go back Simon' demonstrations came when the Commission reached India in 1928, so the two did not coincide.

Remember · Rowlatt Act 1919 came from the Sedition (Rowlatt) Committee. Gandhiji drew on Home Rulers for the satyagraha. The Simon Commission came in 1928.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia

The 2014–16 Ebola epidemic was centred in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. These three countries were named in WHO's outbreak reports and in the news in 2014–15.

• ✓ (b) WHO's 2014 outbreak reports tracked the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three worst-hit West African countries.
• ✗ (a) Syria and Jordan are in West Asia. They were in the news for conflict and refugees, not for Ebola.
• ✗ (c) The Philippines and Papua New Guinea have no link to this outbreak. The word 'Guinea' in 'Papua New Guinea' is only a name coincidence and can mislead.
• ✗ (d) Jamaica and Haiti are in the Caribbean and Surinam is in South America. None of them was an Ebola outbreak centre.

Remember · The 2014–16 Ebola epidemic hit Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa. WHO declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in August 2014.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2

Fly ash is a useful building material. It goes into bricks and partly replaces Portland cement in concrete, so statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong for two reasons: fly ash also contains alumina and iron oxide, and it carries trace toxic metals such as arsenic, lead and cadmium.

• ✓ 1. India's Fly Ash notification (1999) mandates the use of fly ash in manufacturing ash-based products such as cement, concrete blocks and bricks. Fly ash bricks are a standard building material.
• ✓ 2. Fly ash is a pozzolan, so it can be used as a partial substitute for Portland cement in concrete.
• ✗ 3. Silica, alumina and iron oxide are the main constituents of fly ash, and lime (CaO) is present in some fly ashes, so it is not made of SiO2 and CaO only. It also carries trace elements such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and selenium, so it is not free of toxic elements.

Remember · Fly ash is used in bricks, cement and concrete, but it is not inert. It contains silica, alumina, iron oxide, lime and toxic trace metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3

The dugong, or 'sea cow', is a plant-eating mammal that lives only in the sea. It is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. In India it occurs only in a few patches of coastal water, not along the whole coast.

• ✓ 1. The dugong is the only herbivorous mammal that lives exclusively in the sea. It grazes on seagrass beds in shallow coastal waters.
• ✗ 2. In India, dugongs occur only in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, the Gulf of Kutch and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where seagrass meadows exist. They are absent from most of the Indian coastline.
• ✓ 3. The dugong is protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. This gives it the highest level of legal protection: hunting it and trading in it are prohibited and punishable.

Remember · Dugong (sea cow): marine herbivore of seagrass beds; in India found only in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Gulf of Kutch and Andaman & Nicobar; Schedule I of WPA 1972.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three were economic critics of British rule. Naoroji and R. C. Dutt used official British figures to show that India's wealth was being drained away. G. Subramania Iyer, the journalist who co-founded The Hindu and founded Swadesamitran, wrote 'Some Economic Aspects of British Rule in India' (1903).

• ✓ 1. Dadabhai Naoroji's book 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India' sharply criticised the economic impact of British rule. In it he used official statistics to estimate the wealth drained from India. He is the best-known author of the drain theory.
• ✓ 2. G. Subramania Iyer (1855–1916) co-founded The Hindu and founded the Tamil paper Swadesamitran. In 1903 he published 'Some Economic Aspects of British Rule in India', an economic critique of colonial rule. Do not confuse him with Sir S. Subramania Iyer, the judge, who was also an early Congress leader.
• ✓ 3. Romesh Chunder Dutt, a historian, did a similar exercise to Naoroji's in his 'Economic History of India'. He showed how colonial policies took wealth out of India.

Remember · Economic critics of colonialism: Naoroji ('Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'), R. C. Dutt ('Economic History of India') and G. Subramania Iyer ('Some Economic Aspects of British Rule in India', 1903).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) The World Bank

Global Economic Prospects is the World Bank's report on the world economy. It is published twice a year, in January and June. It gives growth forecasts for the global economy, for advanced economies and for emerging and developing economies.

• ✗ (a) The Asian Development Bank publishes the Asian Development Outlook, which covers developing Asia. It does not publish Global Economic Prospects.
• ✗ (b) The EBRD publishes the Transition Report, which covers its countries of operation. It does not publish Global Economic Prospects.
• ✗ (c) The US Federal Reserve is the US central bank. It issues US monetary policy reports and projections, not a global growth report of this name.
• ✓ (d) The World Bank publishes Global Economic Prospects. Its official page describes the report as biannual.

Remember · Global Economic Prospects is the World Bank's biannual (January and June) report. The IMF's counterpart is the World Economic Outlook, and the ADB's is the Asian Development Outlook.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Scheduled Commercial Banks may cut their lending rates

SLR is the share of deposits that banks must keep in liquid assets such as cash, gold and government securities. If RBI lowers it, banks can lend a larger part of their deposits. This eases their funds position, so they may cut lending rates. When RBI cut the SLR by 50 bps in August 2014, the Finance Ministry said the cut gave banks greater leeway to lend.

• ✗ (a) A 0.5 percentage point SLR cut only gives banks room to lend more. Any rise in growth is gradual and depends on credit demand, so 'drastically' is wrong.
• ✗ (b) SLR governs how banks hold their assets. It is not a direct driver of foreign portfolio inflows, which depend on returns, risk and exchange rates.
• ✓ (c) Banks have to hold less in government securities and other liquid assets, so more of their deposits are free for loans. This more comfortable funds position lets them reduce lending rates. The Finance Ministry said the cut gave banks greater leeway to lend.
• ✗ (d) This is the reverse of what happens. A lower SLR releases funds, so the liquidity available to banks rises. A higher SLR would reduce it.

Remember · Lower SLR (or CRR) means more lendable funds with banks and easier credit. Higher SLR means less lendable funds and tighter credit. A 50 bps change is modest, not 'drastic'.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. Nanoparticles can carry drugs to the site of disease, which is targeted drug delivery. Nanotechnology is also used in gene therapy, where nanocarriers deliver genetic material into cells.

• ✓ 1. Nanoparticles can be used to deliver drugs specifically at the site of disease. They also improve the uptake of poorly soluble drugs. Anti-cancer drugs such as paclitaxel and doxorubicin have been formulated as nanoparticle-based carriers.
• ✓ 2. Gene therapy needs a safe, efficient way to get genetic material into the right cells, and nanocarriers serve this purpose. Gene therapy is named among the fields where nanotechnology is showing successful and beneficial uses.
• ✓ (c) Both statements hold, so 'Both 1 and 2' is right. Options (a) and (b) each drop one valid application, and (d) wrongly denies both.

Remember · Nanomedicine uses nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, as gene carriers in gene therapy, and for diagnostics and imaging (for example, quantum dots).

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act enacted by States

Agricultural marketing is a State subject. Markets in farm produce are regulated under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts that each State enacts. These Acts set up regulated markets (mandis) where notified produce is bought and sold. The other options deal with supply control, quality grading and food product standards, not with regulating markets.

• ✗ (a) The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 is a Central law. It lets the government control the production, supply and distribution of notified essential goods. It does not set up or regulate agricultural markets.
• ✓ (b) The Economic Survey 2014-15 states that markets in agricultural products are regulated under the APMC Act enacted by State Governments. These State Acts establish regulated markets for notified farm produce. Amending them is up to the States because agricultural marketing is a State subject.
• ✗ (c) The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 provides for grading and quality marking (AGMARK) of produce. It does not regulate markets.
• ✗ (d) These are orders about processed food products and their standards. They are not the laws under which agricultural markets are regulated.

Remember · Agricultural marketing is a State subject. Mandis are regulated under State APMC Acts, not Central laws like the Essential Commodities Act or the AGMARK Act.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Gangetic dolphin

The Gangetic (Ganges river) dolphin is India's national aquatic animal. The decision was taken at the first meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority on 5 October 2009, chaired by the Prime Minister.

• ✓ (c) The river dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal to aid its conservation. It is an endangered freshwater mammal and an indicator of the health of the river. Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 includes it among its protected species.
• ✗ (a) The saltwater crocodile is a reptile of estuaries and coasts. It holds no national symbol status.
• ✗ (b) The olive ridley is a marine turtle known for mass nesting on the Odisha coast. It is not a national symbol.
• ✗ (d) The gharial is a fish-eating crocodilian of rivers in northern India, such as the Chambal. It was not chosen as the national aquatic animal.

Remember · Gangetic (Ganges river) dolphin = national aquatic animal, declared 5 October 2009 by the NGRBA; a nearly blind freshwater mammal that uses echolocation and indicates river health.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

None of the statements is correct. The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was formed within the Congress in 1934 by young leaders who wanted a more radical and egalitarian Congress. Its aim was socialism pursued through the national movement. Boycott of British goods and non-payment of taxes were methods of the Gandhian mass movements, not the CSP's distinctive programme. It did not aim at a dictatorship of the proletariat, and it did not demand separate electorates.

• ✗ 1. Boycott and non-payment of taxes were techniques of the Congress-led mass movements under Gandhi, such as Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience. The CSP was a group inside the Congress that sought to push it in a more radical, egalitarian and socialist direction. These methods were not what defined its programme.
• ✗ 2. The 'dictatorship of the proletariat' is the Marxist-Leninist goal associated with Soviet-style communism. The CSP worked within the Congress for a socialist society, not for proletarian dictatorship. Leaders such as Narendra Deva advocated a democratic socialism distinct from both Marxism and reformist social democracy.
• ✗ 3. As secularists, CSP members hoped to overcome communal divisions through class solidarity. Separate electorates were a colonial device that the Congress opposed and the Constitution later abolished. They were never a CSP demand.

Remember · The CSP was formed in 1934 as a socialist group within the Congress, seeking a more radical and egalitarian Congress. It stood for class solidarity across communities, not separate electorates or a proletarian dictatorship.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only

The Rajya Sabha can only make recommendations on a Money Bill, and the Lok Sabha is free to reject them. It has no vote on Demands for Grants, because Article 113 gives that vote to the Lok Sabha alone. It can still discuss the Annual Financial Statement, which is laid before both Houses.

• ✓ 1. Under Article 109, a Money Bill cannot be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can only return the Bill within 14 days with recommendations, and the Lok Sabha may accept or reject any or all of them. So the Rajya Sabha can neither reject nor amend the Bill.
• ✓ 2. Article 113(2) says demands for grants are submitted to the House of the People. Only that House can assent, refuse to assent, or assent after reducing the amount. The Rajya Sabha has no vote on them.
• ✗ 3. Under Article 112(1), the annual financial statement is laid before both Houses of Parliament. Article 113(1) expressly allows "the discussion in either House" of the estimates for charged expenditure. The Rajya Sabha takes part in the general discussion on the Budget, even though it does not vote on grants.

Remember · The Rajya Sabha can discuss the Budget and recommend changes to a Money Bill (within 14 days). It cannot vote on Demands for Grants, and it cannot reject or amend a Money Bill.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments

The 1919 Act (Montagu–Chelmsford reforms) provided for subjects to be classified as 'central' and 'provincial'. This marked out what the Governor-General in Council and the Indian legislature handled, and what the provincial governments and legislatures handled. So it defined the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments.

• ✗ (a) The Act made no separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature. It dealt with the executive and legislative structure, including dyarchy in the provinces and a bicameral Centre.
• ✓ (b) The Act enabled rules to classify subjects as central and provincial 'for the purpose of distinguishing the functions' of local governments and legislatures from those of the Governor-General in Council and the Indian legislature. The Devolution Rules then drew up the lists.
• ✗ (c) The Act did not lay down a clear definition of the powers of the Secretary of State and the Viceroy. What it clearly marked out was the division of subjects between the Centre and the provinces.
• ✗ (d) Option (b) is correct, so 'None of the above' cannot be right.

Remember · The 1919 Act classified subjects into central and provincial lists (via Devolution Rules) and introduced dyarchy in the provinces. It did not separate the judiciary from the legislature.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The Labour Bureau

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, compiles the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) every month. The RBI, the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Personnel and Training do not compile it.

• ✗ (a) The RBI uses price indices in monetary policy but does not compile CPI-IW. The Labour Bureau does.
• ✗ (b) The Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) does not compile CPI-IW. It is not a data-collection agency for consumer prices.
• ✓ (c) The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, compiles CPI-IW every month from retail prices it collects. In the current series these come from 317 markets.
• ✗ (d) The Department of Personnel and Training deals with civil service personnel matters, not price statistics.

Remember · CPI-IW: Labour Bureau (Ministry of Labour & Employment). CPI-AL/RL: also Labour Bureau. CPI (Combined): NSO/MoSPI.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are correct. IceCube is the world's largest neutrino observatory. Its main detector is a cubic kilometre of instrumented ice at the South Pole, with sensors buried 1,450–2,450 m deep. It works as a neutrino telescope, and the nature of dark matter is one of the questions it addresses.

• ✓ 1. NSF calls it the world's largest neutrino observatory. Its main detector is a cubic kilometre of instrumented ice at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
• ✓ 2. IceCube works as a neutrino telescope, and its scientists address the nature of dark matter. It hunts for dark matter indirectly, by looking for the neutrinos that dark-matter particles could produce.
• ✓ 3. 86 holes were drilled in the Antarctic ice. The 5,160 optical sensors were lowered on strings to depths of 1,450–2,450 m, where the ice is very dark and highly transparent. The detector is therefore buried deep in the ice.

Remember · IceCube is a cubic-kilometre neutrino telescope at the South Pole, with sensors 1,450–2,450 m deep in the ice. It studies cosmic neutrinos and also searches for dark matter.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) World Trade Organization

All three terms belong to the World Trade Organization. The Agreement on Agriculture and the SPS Agreement are WTO agreements negotiated in the Uruguay Round. The 'Peace Clause' was a provision of the Agreement on Agriculture that, during a nine-year implementation period from 1995, protected farm subsidies from legal challenge at the WTO. The term returned to the news when the 2013 Bali WTO Ministerial adopted an interim peace clause for developing countries' public food-stockholding programmes.

• ✗ (a) FAO is the UN agency for food security and agriculture. It does not administer binding trade agreements on farm subsidies or on sanitary and phytosanitary trade measures.
• ✗ (b) The UN climate change framework (UNFCCC) deals with climate change. It has no agreements on farm trade, SPS measures or a Peace Clause.
• ✓ (c) The Agreement on Agriculture and the SPS Agreement were negotiated in the Uruguay Round and are administered by the WTO. The Peace Clause is a WTO concept tied to the Agreement on Agriculture's nine-year implementation period beginning in 1995.
• ✗ (d) UNEP is the UN's environmental programme. It does not administer trade rules or trade dispute settlement.

Remember · Agreement on Agriculture, SPS Agreement and Peace Clause are all WTO matters, products of the Uruguay Round. The Peace Clause shields farm subsidies from WTO challenge.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct, so the answer is (c). NFC is a contactless technology in which inductively coupled devices communicate through a radio-frequency field at 13.56 MHz. It works only when devices are less than about 10 cm apart, nowhere near a metre. It supports secure communication, with sensitive data such as payment credentials protected cryptographically.

• ✓ 1. NFC (ISO/IEC 18092) uses inductively coupled devices operating at 13.56 MHz. They exchange data through a radio-frequency electromagnetic field without any physical contact.
• ✗ 2. NFC is designed for communication between devices less than about 10 cm from each other. A distance of a metre is far beyond its design range.
• ✓ 3. NFC is built for secure wireless communication. Sensitive operations such as payment or access credentials are handled cryptographically inside a hardware-secured element rather than in ordinary application software.

Remember · NFC: contactless, 13.56 MHz, inductive RF field, range of only a few cm (under about 10 cm), and it can use cryptographic protection for sensitive data.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Middle East

The Golan Heights lie on the Israel–Syria frontier in West Asia, a region commonly called the Middle East. Israel and Syria have contested the area for decades. A UN force, UNDOF, was set up in 1974 after Israeli and Syrian forces disengaged there.

• ✓ (b) The Golan is the sector where Israeli and Syrian forces face each other. The UN established UNDOF on 31 May 1974, by Security Council resolution 350, after the agreed disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan. This places the area firmly in the Middle East.
• ✗ (a) Central Asia refers to the former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Golan has no link to them.
• ✗ (c) South-East Asia covers countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. The Golan lies in West Asia, far from that region.
• ✗ (d) Central Africa includes countries such as the DR Congo and the Central African Republic. It is on a different continent from the Golan, which lies between Israel and Syria.

Remember · Golan Heights = Israel–Syria border area in the Middle East. Israel has occupied it since the 1967 war, and UNDOF has been there since 1974.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) freely permitting the conversion of rupee to other currencies and vice versa

Currency convertibility means the freedom to exchange the domestic currency for other internationally accepted currencies, and the reverse, without restrictions. Option (c) states exactly this. The other options describe different things: the gold standard, the exchange-rate regime and the development of forex markets.

• ✗ (a) Converting notes into gold belongs to the gold standard. Rupee convertibility concerns exchange with foreign currencies, not gold.
• ✗ (b) A market-determined exchange rate is a feature of the exchange-rate regime. It is not the meaning of convertibility, which is about freedom from controls on currency transactions. India unified its exchange rate on a market basis in 1993, before it accepted current account convertibility in 1994.
• ✓ (c) Convertibility is the freedom to convert rupees into foreign currencies and foreign currencies into rupees. It is the opposite of controls or restrictions on currency transactions.
• ✗ (d) Building a currency market in India may support convertibility but is not what the term means.

Remember · Convertibility is the freedom to exchange rupees for foreign currency and back. India has had current account convertibility since August 1994 (IMF Article VIII), but not full capital account convertibility.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only pair 2 is correct, so the answer is (b). All three names belong to small hill states of the western Himalayas. Durgara is the Dogra country of the Jammu hills. Champaka is Chamba and Kuluta is Kullu, both in present Himachal Pradesh, not in Central India or Malabar.

• ✗ 1. Champaka is the old Chamba, a hill state on the Ravi in present Himachal Pradesh. The district's own history says the town was named after Princess Champa. It is a Himalayan state, not one in Central India.
• ✓ 2. Durgara survives in the names 'Dugar' and 'Dogra'. The Hindu inhabitants of the Jammu hills call themselves Dogras and their country Dugar. So Durgara corresponds to the Jammu region.
• ✗ 3. Kuluta is the ancient name of the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh. The name 'Kuluta' is inscribed on a coin of the first century A.D. Malabar is the south-west coast of India, so the pair is wrong.

Remember · Early medieval Himalayan hill states: Champaka = Chamba, Kuluta = Kullu (both Himachal Pradesh), Durgara = Jammu (Dogra country), Trigarta = Jalandhar/Kangra.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 2 and 3 only

Only the Pranahita and the Indravati flow into the Godavari, and both are major left-bank tributaries. The Vamsadhara and the Pennar are separate east-flowing rivers that reach the Bay of Bengal on their own.

• ✗ 1. The Vamsadhara rises in Odisha and flows into the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh. It is an independent river with its own basin, not a Godavari tributary.
• ✓ 2. The Indravati rises in Odisha, flows through Chhattisgarh and joins the Godavari. It is an important left-bank tributary.
• ✓ 3. The Pranahita carries the combined waters of the Penganga, Wardha and Wainganga. It is the Godavari's largest tributary, covering about 34.87% of the basin's drainage area.
• ✗ 4. The Pennar rises in the Nandidurg range of Karnataka and flows east into the Bay of Bengal on its own. It is a separate river basin lying south of the Krishna.

Remember · Godavari's major tributaries are the Pravara, Purna, Manjira, Pranahita (largest; carries Wardha–Wainganga–Penganga), Indravati and Sabari. The Pennar and Vamsadhara are independent east-flowing rivers.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) a simple majority of members present and voting

Article 108(4) says a bill at a joint sitting is passed by a majority of the total number of members of both Houses present and voting. That is a simple majority of those present and voting. No special majority is needed.

• ✓ (a) Article 108(4) requires a majority of the total number of members of both Houses present and voting. Article 100(1) adds that all questions at a joint sitting are decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting.
• ✗ (b) The Constitution prescribes no three-fourths majority for passing a bill at a joint sitting.
• ✗ (c) A two-thirds majority is part of the special majority for constitutional amendments under Article 368. That requires a majority of the total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting, in each House separately. Amendment bills never go to a joint sitting.
• ✗ (d) An absolute majority means more than half of the total membership of the Houses. Article 108(4) does not require this, only a majority of those present and voting.

Remember · Joint sitting (Article 108) passes a bill by a simple majority of members present and voting. It is not available for Money Bills or constitutional amendment bills.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have all three forest types together. Forest Survey of India places their forests in the Tropical Wet Evergreen, Tropical Semi-Evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous and Littoral & Swamp groups. Mangroves grow along their coasts, creeks and mud flats. None of the other three regions has the evergreen component.

• ✓ (d) Forest Survey of India classifies the islands' forests into four type groups: Tropical Wet Evergreen, Tropical Semi-Evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous, and Littoral & Swamp. The last group includes mangroves along salt marshes, tidal creeks and estuaries. So evergreen, deciduous and mangrove forests all occur here.
• ✗ (a) North Coastal Andhra Pradesh is mainly deciduous forest country. It lacks the tropical evergreen forest needed for this combination.
• ✗ (b) South-West Bengal has deciduous forest on its plateau fringe and some coastal mangrove. It has no tropical evergreen forest.
• ✗ (c) Southern Saurashtra is semi-arid, with dry deciduous and thorn forest. It has no evergreen forest.

Remember · The Andaman and Nicobar Islands combine tropical wet evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous and littoral/swamp (mangrove) forests. This makes them the classic example of all three types in one region.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) is the treaty that controls and phases out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs, halons and carbon tetrachloride. The other three deal with money, greenhouse gases and biodiversity.

• ✗ (a) The Bretton Woods Conference (1944) set up the post-war monetary system and led to the IMF and the World Bank. It had nothing to do with the environment.
• ✓ (b) The Montreal Protocol phases out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals. Its target substances include CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform.
• ✗ (c) The Kyoto Protocol deals with cutting greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 (climate change), not with ozone-depleting substances. Like the later Paris Agreement, it is an emissions-reduction agreement.
• ✗ (d) The Nagoya Protocol is under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It deals with access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits, not with ozone.

Remember · Montreal Protocol (1987) = phase-out of ozone-depleting substances like CFCs. Kyoto = greenhouse gases. Nagoya = access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. Bretton Woods = IMF and World Bank.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Exploration, Ch 13 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 only

Babur founded the Timurid (Mughal) line in India after 1526. Gunpowder had reached India earlier and arches and domes came with the Delhi Sultanate.

• ✗ 1. NCERT says gunpowder weapons had 'recently been introduced' by 1526; they predate Babur, so he did not introduce them.
• ✗ 2. The arch and dome came with Turkish builders in the thirteenth century.
• ✓ 3. Babur, a descendant of Timur, founded the dynasty.

Remember · Babur: Timurid dynasty. Arch and dome: Delhi Sultanate.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Planning Commission

NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) was set up on 1 January 2015 and replaced the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission had been created by a Cabinet Resolution in 1950 to draw up Five Year Plans.

• ✓ (d) The Planning Commission, set up on 15 March 1950 by Cabinet Resolution, was replaced by NITI Aayog, which acts as the Government's policy 'think tank'.
• ✗ (b) The Finance Commission is a constitutional body under Article 280. It is appointed every five years to recommend how taxes are shared between the Centre and the States. It continues to exist.
• ✗ (a) The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. It was not affected by NITI Aayog.
• ✗ (c) The Law Commission is an advisory body on legal reform. It has no connection with economic planning, and NITI Aayog did not replace it.

Remember · NITI Aayog came into being on 1 January 2015 by Cabinet resolution, replacing the Planning Commission (set up 1950). It is a policy think tank and has no power to allocate funds.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) It is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

Rio+20 is the popular name for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro on 20–22 June 2012. It was held twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in the same city, which explains the name.

• ✓ (a) The UN describes the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio as 'also known as Rio+20'. It was held twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit. Member States decided there to launch a process to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• ✗ (b) WTO Ministerial Conferences are separate meetings of trade ministers. They have no link to the Rio conferences.
• ✗ (c) The IPCC is a scientific body that prepares assessment reports on climate change. Rio+20 was a UN conference of Member States, not an IPCC meeting.
• ✗ (d) The CBD Conference of the Parties is a different meeting. The CBD was itself opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, but Rio+20 was a wider UN conference on sustainable development.

Remember · Rio+20 = UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 2012, 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit. It launched the process that led to the SDGs.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The Constitution vests the Union's executive power formally in the President, not the Prime Minister. The ex officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board is the Cabinet Secretary, not the Prime Minister. Both statements are therefore wrong.

• ✗ 1. The executive power of the Union is vested in the President (Article 53). The President exercises it through the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. The PM is the real head of government but does not constitutionally hold the executive power.
• ✗ 2. The Cabinet Secretariat functions under the Prime Minister. Its administrative head, the Cabinet Secretary, is the ex officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board. The Prime Minister does not hold this post.

Remember · Executive power of the Union is vested in the President (Art. 53) and exercised through the PM-led Council of Ministers. The Cabinet Secretary is ex officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) search for the Earth-like planets in outer space

The 'Goldilocks Zone' is another name for a star's habitable zone. This is the band of distances where a planet's surface can hold liquid water. It features in news about the search for Earth-like planets around other stars. Kepler-452b, announced in July 2015, is an example.

• ✓ (c) Astronomers look for rocky planets orbiting inside a star's Goldilocks zone, where it is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water. NASA's Kepler-452b announcement in July 2015 was exactly this kind of news.
• ✗ (a) The zone is measured as a distance from a star, not a layer of the Earth's atmosphere. It has nothing to do with a habitable limit above the Earth's surface.
• ✗ (b) Shale gas lies in rock formations underground. It has no connection to the Goldilocks zone, which is an astronomical concept.
• ✗ (d) The term does not refer to meteorites or precious metals. It refers to conditions suitable for liquid water on a planet.

Remember · Goldilocks zone = habitable zone: the orbital distance from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. It is used when searching for Earth-like exoplanets.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Curiosity, Ch 13 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) C. Rajagopalachari

C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was the Congress leader who organised the Salt Satyagraha in Tamil Nadu. In April 1930 his march went from Tiruchirappalli (Trichinopoly) to Vedaranyam on the Tanjore coast. It was the southern counterpart of Gandhi's Dandi March.

• ✗ (a) V. O. Chidambaram Pillai was a Swadeshi-era leader in Tamil Nadu, best known for the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company. He did not organise the 1930 salt march.
• ✓ (b) Rajagopalachari organised and led the Vedaranyam march. It started at Tiruchirappalli in April 1930 and reached the Tanjore-district coast, where the salt law was broken.
• ✗ (c) K. Kamaraj was a Congress worker in Tamil Nadu at the time. He was not the organiser of the Tanjore coast march, which Rajagopalachari led.
• ✗ (d) Annie Besant is linked with the Home Rule League (1916). She was not involved in organising the 1930 Civil Disobedience salt marches.

Remember · Dandi (Gujarat) was Gandhi's salt march. Rajagopalachari's Tiruchirappalli-to-Vedaranyam march in April 1930 was the Tamil Nadu counterpart on the Tanjore coast.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Harihara I

The city is Vijayanagara, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Krishna. Harihara I founded it with his brother Bukka in 1336. Its kings claimed to rule on behalf of the god Virupaksha. The other three rulers belonged to different, earlier dynasties.

• ✓ (c) Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. Its capital lies in the Tungabhadra basin, on the river's south bank. The Vijayanagara kings claimed to rule on behalf of the god Virupaksha, and all royal orders were signed "Shri Virupaksha".
• ✗ (a) Amoghavarsha I was a 9th-century Rashtrakuta king. He has nothing to do with founding Vijayanagara or ruling as Virupaksha's agent.
• ✗ (b) Ballala II was a Hoysala king of Karnataka. Vijayanagara was founded later, by Harihara and Bukka.
• ✗ (d) Prataparudra II was a Kakatiya ruler of Warangal. He did not found a city on the Tungabhadra or rule as Virupaksha's agent.

Remember · Harihara I and Bukka founded Vijayanagara (1336) on the Tungabhadra, a Krishna tributary. Its kings ruled on behalf of god Virupaksha and signed orders "Shri Virupaksha".

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is (b). Annie Besant, not Sarojini Naidu, was the first woman to preside over the Congress, at Calcutta in 1917. Sarojini Naidu followed in 1925 as the first Indian woman President. Badruddin Tyabji presided over the third session at Madras in 1887 and was the first Muslim President.

• ✗ 1. Annie Besant presided over the Calcutta session in 1917. Sarojini Naidu presided at Kanpur in 1925. She was the second woman, and the first Indian woman, to be President.
• ✓ 2. Badruddin Tyabji was elected President of the third Congress session at Madras in 1887. The first two Presidents were W.C. Bonnerjee (1885) and Dadabhai Naoroji (1886), so Tyabji was the first Muslim to hold the post.

Remember · First woman INC President: Annie Besant (Calcutta, 1917). First Indian woman: Sarojini Naidu (Kanpur, 1925). First Muslim: Badruddin Tyabji (Madras, 1887). First non-Indian: George Yule (Allahabad, 1888).

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) funds climate mitigation and adaptation projects in developing countries. It was set up by the Parties to the UNFCCC at COP 16 (Cancun, 2010), not under UNEP, OECD, the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank.

• ✓ 1. COP 16 decided that the GCF would support projects, programmes and policies in developing country Parties. It funds both mitigation and adaptation, aiming for a balance between the two.
• ✗ 2. The GCF was established by decision 1/CP.16 as an operating entity of the UNFCCC's financial mechanism, and it works under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties. UNEP, OECD and the Asian Development Bank had no founding role. The World Bank was only invited to serve as the Fund's interim trustee.

Remember · The GCF was created at COP 16, Cancun (2010), as an operating entity of the UNFCCC financial mechanism. It finances mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Indian Space Research Organization

The 2014 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development went to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The jury, headed by Vice President M. Hamid Ansari, recognised ISRO's path-breaking achievements, which culminated in the Mars Orbiter Mission.

• ✓ (c) ISRO was the 2014 awardee, recognised for path-breaking achievements culminating in the Mars Orbiter Mission.
• ✗ (a) BARC is India's nuclear research centre. It was not the 2014 awardee, although disarmament is part of the prize's name.
• ✗ (b) The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, did not receive the 2014 prize.
• ✗ (d) The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research did not receive the 2014 prize.
• • Since then The prize for 2014 was announced that year by a jury headed by Vice President M. Hamid Ansari. ISRO formally received it at a later ceremony. (ISRO)

Remember · Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development 2014: ISRO, for achievements culminating in the Mars Orbiter Mission.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The Cabinet Mission's statement of 16 May 1946 proposed a Union of India with only a few central subjects. All other powers would vest in the provinces, and provinces could form groups. This is a federal scheme, so only statement 1 is correct. The statement says nothing about widening the powers of Indian courts or about recruiting more Indians to the ICS.

• ✓ 1. The Mission proposed a Union of India covering foreign affairs, defence and communications. All other subjects and residuary powers would go to the provinces, and provinces could form groups. The plan was a federal system meant to keep India together while giving the provinces a degree of autonomy.
• ✗ 2. The 16 May 1946 statement has no proposal to enlarge the powers of Indian courts. It mentions the Federal Court only in a procedural role: the Chairman of the Assembly could consult it on whether a resolution raised a major communal issue.
• ✗ 3. The Mission dealt with the constitution-making machinery, the Union–group–province structure and an interim government. It made no provision for more Indians in the ICS.

Remember · Cabinet Mission (May 1946): a three-tier scheme of Union (foreign affairs, defence, communications), groups and provinces, with residuary powers to the provinces. It did not deal with the ICS or the courts.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Namdapha National Park

Namdapha, in Arunachal Pradesh, rises from low hills in the south to snow-covered Himalayan peaks in the north. Its landscape runs from tropical lowland rainforest to alpine zones above 4,500 m. That gives it the full tropical-to-subtropical-to-temperate-to-arctic (snow) range the question describes.

• ✓ (d) Namdapha stretches from tropical lowland rainforests to alpine zones rising beyond 4,500 m within a single landscape. Lower hills flank its southern side, and snow-covered peaks of the main Himalayan range lie to the north. This range of altitude carries it through tropical, subtropical, temperate and arctic-type conditions.
• ✗ (a) Khangchendzonga (Sikkim) is a high Himalayan park. It lacks a tropical lowland belt, so its range does not begin in the tropical zone.
• ✗ (b) Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand) is a high-altitude park. Its conditions are temperate to alpine, with no tropical belt.
• ✗ (c) Neora Valley (West Bengal) is a smaller park of the lower and middle hills. It does not reach the high snow zone, so it lacks the arctic end of the range.

Remember · Namdapha National Park (Arunachal Pradesh) runs from tropical lowland rainforest to alpine and snow zones above 4,500 m, the widest climatic range among these parks.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) a global Human Rights Movement

Amnesty International is a non-governmental body that campaigns for human rights worldwide. It describes itself as a global movement of people working for human rights. It is not a UN agency, not a poverty-relief charity and not a medical-emergency agency.

• ✗ (a) Amnesty is not a UN agency. It is an independent NGO. Refugee relief in civil wars is the work of UNHCR, a UN body.
• ✓ (b) Amnesty calls itself a global movement of millions of people committed to a future where human rights are enjoyed by everyone. NCERT also describes it as an NGO that campaigns for the protection of human rights all over the world.
• ✗ (c) Amnesty is a non-governmental organisation, but its work is human rights campaigning, not help for very poor people.
• ✗ (d) Amnesty is not inter-governmental; it is an NGO. Medical help in war zones is the work of bodies such as Médecins Sans Frontières or the Red Cross.

Remember · Amnesty International is an NGO, not a UN agency. It campaigns for human rights worldwide, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Médecins Sans Frontières does medical aid.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Contemporary World Politics, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Rock-cut Elephant at Dhauli

The Dhauli elephant is Mauryan (Ashokan, third century BCE). The Udayagiri Varaha is Gupta (fifth century CE), Mahabalipuram is Pallava (seventh century) and Lingaraja is eleventh century.

• ✓ (b) Dhauli elephant is Mauryan, third century BCE.
• ✗ (d) Varaha at Udayagiri is Gupta era.
• ✗ (c) Mahabalipuram monuments are Pallava.
• ✗ (a) Lingaraja is c. eleventh century.

Remember · Order: Dhauli (Mauryan) < Udayagiri Varaha (Gupta) < Mahabalipuram (Pallava) < Lingaraja.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Feudalism rests on land control and lord-vassal bonds, with power dispersed to local lords; a strong centre with weak local authority is the opposite.

• ✗ 1. Feudalism means weak central authority and powerful local lords.
• ✓ 2. Administration rested on control and possession of land.
• ✓ 3. Lord-vassal relationship is central.

Remember · Feudalism: land-based control plus lord-vassal bonds, weak centre.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Themes in World History, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) World Bank

The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) is a multilateral fund. Donor governments support it, and the World Bank manages it. It promotes reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector, including REDD+, climate-smart agriculture and better land-use planning.

• ✓ (d) The World Bank's own ISFL flyer describes the facility as 'supported by donor governments and managed by the World Bank'. The ISFL website says the same.
• ✗ (a) The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank for Asia and the Pacific. It does not manage ISFL.
• ✗ (b) The IMF deals with macroeconomic and balance-of-payments stability. It does not run forest-carbon funds.
• ✗ (c) UNEP is a tempting choice because the topic is environmental. But ISFL sits within the World Bank's carbon-finance family, which also includes the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.

Remember · ISFL, the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes, is a World Bank-managed multilateral fund for REDD+, sustainable agriculture and better land-use planning.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 only

India belongs only to the East Asia Summit, which it has been part of since its launch in December 2005. It is not a member of APEC. It is not a member of ASEAN either; it is a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN.

• ✗ 1. APEC is made up of 21 Pacific Rim member economies, including Australia, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. India is not on the list and is not a member.
• ✗ 2. ASEAN had 10 members, all in South-East Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. India is not among them. It is a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, not a member.
• ✓ 3. The East Asia Summit is a leaders-led forum launched in December 2005. It is made up of the 10 ASEAN countries plus India, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
• • Since then ASEAN has since grown: Timor-Leste was admitted as its 11th member in 2025. India's position is unchanged. It is an East Asia Summit participant, but a member of neither APEC nor ASEAN.

Remember · India is in the East Asia Summit (since 2005) but not in APEC or ASEAN. With ASEAN it is only a Dialogue Partner.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) coking coal

Steel made by the blast-furnace route needs coking coal. India's domestic coking coal is high in ash and limited in quantity, so the steel industry imports a large share of it. Rock phosphate is imported too, but it is a fertiliser raw material, not a steelmaking input.

• ✗ (a) Saltpetre is not a raw material of the steel industry, so steelmaking does not create a need to import it.
• ✗ (b) India is about 90% dependent on imports for rock phosphate. However, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers identifies it as the key raw material for DAP and NPK fertilisers, not for steel.
• ✓ (c) The Ministry of Coal's inter-ministerial committee report records that the Indian steel industry meets about 70% of its coking coal requirements through imports. Australia is the main supplier.
• ✗ (d) Among the options, only coking coal is an import need of the steel industry, so 'All of the above' fails.

Remember · Coking coal is the steel industry's main imported input, mostly from Australia. Rock phosphate is imported for fertilisers (DAP, NPK), not for steel.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes

The Fifth and Sixth Schedules exist to protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes. Article 244, read with these two Schedules, makes special arrangements for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribes. The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule covers the tribal areas of those four States.

• ✓ (a) Under Article 244(1), the Fifth Schedule governs how Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes are administered and controlled in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Article 244(2) applies the Sixth Schedule to the administration of tribal areas in those four States. Both are special arrangements for tribal areas.
• ✗ (b) State boundaries are dealt with in Article 3. Under it, Parliament may by law form new States or alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing States. The States and Union Territories are listed in the First Schedule, not the Fifth or Sixth.
• ✗ (c) The powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats are covered by Article 243G and the Eleventh Schedule. The Fifth and Sixth Schedules do not deal with this.
• ✗ (d) The Constitution has no Schedule for 'border States' as a class. The Sixth Schedule applies to tribal areas of four named north-eastern States. The Fifth Schedule applies to Scheduled Areas in other States, including States that are not on any border.

Remember · Article 244 brings in two tribal Schedules. The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule covers tribal areas of those four States. Panchayats belong to the Eleventh Schedule.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. Article 114(3) bars any withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund of India except under an appropriation made by a law passed by Parliament. The Budget is prepared by the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs, not the Department of Revenue. Payments from the Public Account do not need Parliament's authorisation.

• ✗ 1. The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) prepares the Union Budget and submits it to Parliament. The Department of Revenue deals with taxation and revenue collection, not Budget preparation.
• ✓ 2. Under Article 114(3), no money can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except under an appropriation made by law. This means Parliament must pass an Appropriation Act. That Act covers both the grants voted by the Lok Sabha and the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund.
• ✗ 3. The Public Account (Article 266(2)) holds money the government receives as a banker or trustee, such as deposits and provident funds. These are not normal government receipts, so payments from the Public Account do not require Parliament's authorisation.

Remember · Consolidated Fund: withdrawal only under an Appropriation Act (Art. 114(3)). Public Account: no parliamentary authorisation needed for payments. The Budget is prepared by the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) The Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the Constitution. It can strike down laws and executive actions that violate it, and it enforces Fundamental Rights. For these reasons the judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court, is called the guardian or custodian of the Constitution.

• ✓ (d) The Supreme Court is the highest court and the final interpreter of the Constitution. Through judicial review it checks whether laws and government actions are valid. This is why the judiciary is described as the guardian of the Constitution.
• ✗ (a) The President is the constitutional head of the Union executive. The power to interpret the Constitution and to invalidate laws that violate it rests with the courts, not with the President.
• ✗ (b) The Prime Minister heads the Council of Ministers and is part of the executive. The executive is itself checked by the judiciary, so it cannot be the guardian of the Constitution.
• ✗ (c) The Lok Sabha Secretariat is only the administrative staff that supports the Lok Sabha. It has no role in interpreting or protecting the Constitution.

Remember · Supreme Court = guardian and final interpreter of the Constitution, and protector of Fundamental Rights (Article 32). Judicial review is the tool it uses.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. AIBP did begin in 1996-97, but its loans went to State Governments to complete irrigation projects, not to poor farmers. The Command Area Development Programme did start in 1974-75 with the aim of enhancing water-use efficiency.

• ✗ 1. The year 1996-97 is right. Under AIBP, however, the Centre gave additional central assistance by way of loans to the States for early completion of selected large irrigation and multipurpose projects. Individual poor farmers were not the beneficiaries.
• ✓ 2. The Centrally Sponsored CAD Programme was launched in 1974-75. It develops an adequate delivery system of irrigation water up to farmers' fields, with the objective of enhancing water-use efficiency.

Remember · AIBP (1996-97) = central loan assistance to States for completing irrigation projects. CAD Programme (1974-75) = delivering irrigation water up to farmers' fields and better water-use efficiency, bridging the gap between irrigation potential created and utilised.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is set up under the 1989 Rules for hazardous micro-organisms and genetically engineered organisms. Those Rules were framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It works in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

• ✓ (c) The 1989 Rules on genetically engineered organisms were made under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The GEAC is the statutory committee created by these Rules to appraise GM organisms from the environmental angle.
• ✗ (a) The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 set up the FSSAI and food-safety standards. It does not create the GEAC.
• ✗ (b) The Geographical Indications Act, 1999 deals with registration and protection of GI tags such as Darjeeling Tea. It has nothing to do with GM organisms.
• ✗ (d) The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 covers wildlife and protected areas. It is not the parent law for the GEAC.

Remember · GEAC is a statutory body of the Environment Ministry, set up under the 1989 Rules framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It appraises proposals for the release of GM organisms into the environment.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3

The answer is (c). The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation has six members: India, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Bangladesh and China are not among them, so the non-participants are items 1 and 3.

• ✓ 1. Bangladesh is not one of the six MGC countries, which are India plus Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. So it is a non-participant.
• ✗ 2. Cambodia is one of the five ASEAN members of the MGC, so it is a participant.
• ✓ 3. China is not an MGC member, even though the Mekong flows through it. The MGC is made up of India and five ASEAN countries only, so China is a non-participant.
• ✗ 4. Myanmar is one of the five ASEAN members of the MGC, so it is a participant.
• ✗ 5. Thailand is one of the five ASEAN members of the MGC, so it is a participant.

Remember · MGC (2000, Vientiane): India plus Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Neither China nor Bangladesh is a member, though the Mekong passes through China.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) improve banking sector's ability to deal with financial and economic stress and improve risk management

Basel III is a set of global banking rules from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. It was framed after the 2007-09 financial crisis. It makes banks hold more and better capital and liquidity, so they can withstand stress, and it strengthens their risk management.

• ✓ (b) Basel III raises the quality and level of bank capital so banks can absorb losses in times of stress. It also adds liquidity standards and a leverage ratio, and it strengthens supervision and risk management.
• ✗ (a) National strategies for conserving biological diversity come under the Convention on Biological Diversity, not a banking accord.
• ✗ (c) Cutting greenhouse gas emissions, with a heavier burden on developed countries, describes the Kyoto Protocol under the UNFCCC. Basel III has nothing to do with it.
• ✗ (d) Technology transfer to replace CFCs in refrigeration relates to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances. It is not a banking standard.

Remember · Basel norms come from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BIS). Basel III was the response to the 2007-09 crisis and covers capital, leverage, liquidity and risk management of banks.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Westerlies are a mid-latitude wind belt in each hemisphere, roughly 30°–60° N and 30°–60° S. A belt running from 30° N to 60° S would cross the equator and the trade-wind zone, so statement 1 is wrong. The winter rain in north-west India comes from western disturbances. These travel in the westerly wind regime, so statement 2 is correct.

• ✗ 1. Westerlies occupy about 30°–60° in each hemisphere, that is 30° N–60° N and 30° S–60° S. The stated span of 30° N to 60° S would include the equatorial and trade-wind regions, where surface winds are not westerly.
• ✓ 2. Western disturbances are low-pressure troughs or weak temperate cyclones in the westerly wind regime. They originate over the Mediterranean region and move east. They bring winter rain to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh. The amount is small, but it is highly beneficial for rabi crops.

Remember · Westerlies blow in mid-latitudes, about 30°–60° in both hemispheres. Western disturbances ride on them and bring winter rain to north-west India. This rain is good for rabi crops such as wheat.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. IOR-ARC (now the Indian Ocean Rim Association, IORA) is an inter-governmental organisation set up on 7 March 1997 to promote regional, chiefly economic, cooperation. It was not created in response to piracy or oil spills, and it is not a maritime-security-only alliance.

• ✗ 1. IORA was established on 7 March 1997, nearly two decades before 2015, so it was not created 'very recently'. It was set up as a regional cooperation forum among Indian Ocean rim countries, not as a response to piracy or oil spills.
• ✗ 2. IORA is an inter-governmental organisation for regional cooperation, not a security alliance. It works across six Priority Areas and two Cross-Cutting Issues, so maritime safety and security is only one of several themes.

Remember · IOR-ARC was renamed IORA in 2013. It was founded on 7 March 1997, has its secretariat in Mauritius, and promotes broad regional (especially economic) cooperation across the Indian Ocean rim. It is not a security alliance.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Swadeshi Movement

The Swadeshi Movement (1905–07) is the one that led to the split. In 1906 the Calcutta Congress endorsed Swaraj, Swadeshi and Boycott. At Surat in December 1907 the Moderates tried to step back from that stand, and the Congress split into Moderates and Extremists (Nationalists).

• ✓ (a) The Swadeshi Movement arose in response to the 1905 partition of Bengal. The Calcutta Congress of 1906 backed Swaraj, Swadeshi and Boycott, which alarmed the British, who pressured the moderate leaders. At Surat in 1907 the Moderates tried to retreat from this stand, and the Congress split.
• ✗ (b) The Quit India Movement came in 1942. That was decades after the 1907 Surat split, and the two groups had already reunited at Lucknow in 1916, so it cannot explain this split.
• ✗ (c) Non-Cooperation (1920–22) was launched under Gandhi, about 13 years after the Surat split. It did not create the Moderate–Extremist division.
• ✗ (d) Civil Disobedience began in 1930. The Moderate–Extremist divide dates from 1907, so this movement could not have caused it.

Remember · Swadeshi Movement (1905–07) → Calcutta 1906 endorsed Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott → Surat Split, December 1907, between Moderates and Extremists (Nationalists like Tilak).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Meghalaya

Living root bridges are a feature of Meghalaya. The Khasi and Jaintia tribes of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills guide the roots of Ficus trees across streams. The roots thicken and strengthen as the years pass.

• ✓ (a) Meghalaya's living root bridges are crafted by the indigenous Khasi and Jaintia tribes. They train the roots of Ficus trees across streams, weaving them over many years. Well-known examples are found near Mawlynnong and Cherrapunji.
• ✗ (b) Himachal Pradesh is a western Himalayan state. It is not known for bridges grown from living tree roots.
• ✗ (c) Jharkhand is on the Chotanagpur plateau. It is not known for living root bridges.
• ✗ (d) Tamil Nadu is not associated with this practice. Living root bridges belong to the very wet hills of Meghalaya.

Remember · Living root bridges are made from Ficus elastica roots trained by the Khasi and Jaintia tribes. They are found in Meghalaya's Khasi and Jaintia Hills, near Cherrapunji and Mawlynnong.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

The answer is (a). IRS satellites are earth-observation satellites, and their data serve agriculture, water resources and mineral prospecting, so items 1, 2 and 3 fit. Telecommunication is handled by the INSAT/GSAT communication satellites, so item 4 is wrong. That rules out both (b) and (d), the only options containing item 5. Item 3 being correct then picks (a) over (c).

• ✓ 1. ISRO says IRS data are used for agriculture. Crop-area and crop-condition assessment is a core use of remote sensing.
• ✓ 2. IRS data feed water-resources applications. ISRO's earth-observation services include groundwater prospects and groundwater quality information.
• ✓ 3. ISRO explicitly lists mineral prospecting among the applications of IRS data.
• ✗ 4. Telecommunication is the job of the INSAT/GSAT geostationary communication satellites, not of the sun-synchronous IRS series.
• ✗ 5. Traffic studies are not among the applications ISRO lists for IRS data. Both options that include this item, (b) and (d), also include item 4, which is wrong, so item 5 cannot be part of the answer.
• ✗ (d) This option is the tempting one because it looks all-inclusive. It fails because it includes telecommunications.

Remember · IRS series = earth observation (agriculture, water, minerals, forestry, urban planning, disasters). INSAT/GSAT series = telecom, broadcasting and weather.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Tropical wet evergreen forests need very heavy rainfall and warmth. In India they occur in the Western Ghats, the north-eastern hills and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram both have them. Himachal Pradesh has none: its forests run from Sal and dry deciduous types in the foothills through Chir pine, oak and deodar forests up to alpine forests.

• ✓ 1. Forest Survey of India lists Assam Valley Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest (Dipterocarpus), type 1B/C1, among the forest types of Arunachal Pradesh.
• ✗ 2. Himachal Pradesh's forest-type table begins with Group 3 types: Bhabar-Dun Sal Forest, then Khair-sissu Forest and dry deciduous scrub. It goes on through pine and temperate forests to alpine types. It has no Group 1 (Tropical Wet Evergreen) entry, so the state has none.
• ✓ 3. Forest Survey of India's report on Mizoram describes the state's tropical wet-evergreen forests, with Dipterocarpus turbinatus and Mesua ferrea in the top canopy.
• ✓ (c) Only 1 and 3 are right. Option (d) is the tempting wrong choice. Himachal Pradesh has plenty of forest, but none of it is the tropical wet evergreen type, which needs over 200 cm of rain and constant warmth.

Remember · Tropical wet evergreen forests (over 200 cm rain, mean temperature above 22°C) occur in the Western Ghats, the north-eastern hills (including Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram) and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, not in Himachal Pradesh.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) India's underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region

IndARC is India's first multi-sensor moored (sub-surface) ocean observatory, deployed in 2014 in the Kongsfjorden fjord of the Arctic. It is an underwater platform for studying the Arctic, not a radar, a satellite or an Antarctic station.

• ✗ (a) IndARC has nothing to do with defence radar. It is an ocean-observation platform developed by Ministry of Earth Sciences institutions.
• ✗ (b) It is not a satellite. It is a set of sensors moored in the sea in an Arctic fjord.
• ✗ (c) India's establishments in Antarctica are research stations such as Maitri and Bharati. IndARC is in the Arctic, in the Kongsfjorden fjord of Svalbard, Norway.
• ✓ (d) IndARC, deployed in July 2014, is India's first multi-sensor moored observatory in the Arctic. It sits in the Kongsfjorden fjord, roughly halfway between Norway and the North Pole.

Remember · IndARC (2014) is India's first moored underwater observatory in the Arctic, in Kongsfjorden. It was developed by NIOT and NCAOR (now NCPOR).

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The answer is (c): statements 1 and 3 are correct. The FCPF is a World Bank-hosted global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society and Indigenous Peoples. Its first strategic objective is to help countries in their REDD+ efforts with financial and technical assistance. It does not fund scientific forestry research by universities or individual scientists, so statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. The FCPF describes itself as a global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society and Indigenous Peoples. It focuses on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
• ✗ 2. None of the FCPF's four strategic objectives involves research grants to universities, scientists or research institutions. Its money goes to REDD+ readiness and to performance-based payments for emission reductions in participating developing countries.
• ✓ 3. The FCPF's first strategic objective is to assist countries in their REDD+ efforts by giving them financial and technical assistance. This builds their capacity to benefit from possible future systems of positive incentives for REDD+.

Remember · FCPF (World Bank-hosted, launched 2007) = Readiness Fund + Carbon Fund. It helps developing countries prepare for REDD+ and get paid for results. It does not fund academic forestry research.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Odia

Odia was declared a classical language in 2014. Assamese got the status only in October 2024.

• ✓ (a) Odia was recognised in 2014.
• • Since then Since then Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were added on 3 October 2024; Assamese is now classical (PIB). Konkani and Bhojpuri are not.

Remember · Odia: classical in 2014.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

BirdLife International is a worldwide partnership of national conservation organisations, and it identifies Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs). So statements 1 and 3 are correct. The hotspot concept came from the ecologist Norman Myers and was then adopted by Conservation International, not BirdLife. The answer is (c).

• ✓ 1. BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations. Today it is made up of 125 such organisations worldwide.
• ✗ 2. The British ecologist Norman Myers introduced the idea in a 1988 paper that identified 10 tropical forest hotspots. Conservation International adopted the concept in 1989. BirdLife did not originate it.
• ✓ 3. The BirdLife Partnership identifies IBAs. These are the most important sites for bird conservation, chosen using standard scientific criteria.

Remember · BirdLife International = global partnership that identifies IBAs. Biodiversity hotspots = Norman Myers (1988), adopted by Conservation International.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Jordan

Jordan has no Mediterranean coast. Its only sea outlet is the short Gulf of Aqaba shoreline in the south, on the Red Sea. Syria, Lebanon and Israel all lie on the eastern Mediterranean coast.

• ✗ (a) Syria has a western coastline on the Mediterranean, with ports such as Latakia and Tartus. It is a party to the Barcelona Convention for protecting the Mediterranean.
• ✓ (b) Jordan's only coast is about 26.5 km along the Gulf of Aqaba, where its only port is located. The Gulf is an arm of the Red Sea, and Jordan is not a Mediterranean state.
• ✗ (c) Lebanon lies along the eastern Mediterranean shore, with Beirut and Tripoli as ports. It is a Barcelona Convention party.
• ✗ (d) Israel has a Mediterranean coast, with coastal cities such as Haifa, Ashdod and Tel Aviv. It also has a small outlet at Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba, but it does open out to the Mediterranean. It is a Barcelona Convention party.

Remember · Jordan is the only one of the four with no Mediterranean coast. Its sole outlet is Aqaba on the Red Sea. Syria, Lebanon and Israel front the eastern Mediterranean.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Tropical moist deciduous forest

Teak is a dominant species of the tropical moist deciduous (monsoon) forests. These forests grow where annual rainfall is about 100–200 cm: in the north-eastern states along the Himalayan foothills, on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats and in Odisha. Teak is not characteristic of rain forest, thorn forest or temperate forest.

• ✓ (a) Teak heads the list of main species of the moist deciduous forests, along with sal, shisham, hurra, mahua, amla, semul, kusum and sandalwood. These forests receive 100–200 cm of rainfall a year.
• ✗ (b) Tropical rain (evergreen) forests grow where rainfall exceeds 200 cm. They are dense, multi-layered and always green. Their typical trees are rosewood, mahogany and ebony, not teak.
• ✗ (c) Tropical thorn forests occur where rainfall is below about 50 cm. They have scrub species such as acacias (babool), ber, khejri and euphorbias. Teak needs far more moisture.
• ✗ (d) Temperate forest-with-grassland vegetation occurs at higher altitudes in the hills, where cool conditions favour temperate species. Teak is a tropical tree and is not dominant there.

Remember · Teak and sal are the key species of the tropical moist deciduous (monsoon) forests of the 100–200 cm rainfall belt. Dry deciduous forests get 70–100 cm.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) an agenda for women's empowerment, an outcome of a World Conference convened by the United Nations

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action came out of the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995. It is a global agenda for women's empowerment and gender equality. It has nothing to do with terrorism, Asia-Pacific economic growth or wildlife trafficking.

• ✗ (a) The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation largely focuses on regional security, including counter-terrorism. The Beijing document is not an SCO counter-terrorism strategy.
• ✗ (b) Asia-Pacific economic cooperation (APEC) works on trade and growth in the region. The Beijing Platform came from a UN conference on women, not from any Asia-Pacific economic forum.
• ✓ (c) It was adopted unanimously by 189 countries at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, convened by the United Nations in Beijing. It is an agenda for women's empowerment and is considered the key global policy document on gender equality.
• ✗ (d) The East Asia Summit did not issue it. The document is about women's advancement, not wildlife trafficking.

Remember · Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995): outcome of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. It is the global agenda for women's empowerment and gender equality.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Equatorial

The passage describes the equatorial (tropical wet) climate. It gives a daily cycle: a clear morning, strong heating as the Sun rises, convectional clouds, a short thunderstorm, and the same pattern again the next day. This climate is found near the equator, for example in the Amazon Basin, western equatorial Africa and the East Indies. Rain falls in every month, mostly as afternoon thundershowers.

• ✓ (b) Near the equator, strong heating drives convection every day. Convectional rain comes with thunder and lightning, is heavy, and does not last long. Rain falls in every month as afternoon thundershowers, and the temperature stays uniformly high, so each day is much like the last.
• ✗ (a) The savannah (tropical wet and dry) climate has a distinct dry season and wet season, so its days do not repeat the same way all year.
• ✗ (c) The monsoon type is marked by a seasonal reversal of winds and a distinct rainy season. It does not have a thunderstorm every afternoon all year round.
• ✗ (d) The Mediterranean climate lies on west coasts between about 30° and 40° latitude. It has dry, sunny summers and rain in winter, so daily thunderstorms do not fit.

Remember · Equatorial climate: the same weather every day, with afternoon convectional thunderstorms, rain in all months, uniformly high temperature and a negligible annual range.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 11 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 10 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. Real GDP growth did not rise steadily: it was 6.7% in 2008-09, 8.6% in 2009-10 and 8.9% in 2010-11, then fell to 6.7% in 2011-12 and 4.5% in 2012-13. GDP in rupees at current prices kept rising every year, because it captures both output growth and price rise.

• ✗ 1. The official series for real GDP growth at factor cost reads 6.7, 8.6, 8.9, 6.7 and 4.5% for 2008-09 to 2012-13. A steady increase would need the rate to rise every year. Instead it rose and then fell sharply, so the statement is wrong.
• ✓ 2. GDP at current prices kept rising every year. GDP at factor cost at current prices went from ₹83.92 lakh crore in 2011-12 to ₹93.89 lakh crore in 2012-13 and ₹104.73 lakh crore in 2013-14. GDP at market prices is this figure plus net indirect taxes, and it also rose every year. Even when real growth slowed, rising prices kept the rupee value climbing.

Remember · Real GDP growth is a rate, and a rate can fall while GDP in rupees keeps rising. India's real growth went 8.9% (2010-11) → 6.7% → 4.5% (2012-13), yet nominal GDP rose every year.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. Under Article 171(1), a Legislative Council can have at most one-third of the Assembly's total strength, so it cannot be larger than half of the Assembly. Under Article 182, the Council itself chooses its Chairman from among its members. The Governor does not nominate the Chairman.

• ✗ 1. Article 171(1) states that the Council's total membership shall not exceed one-third of the total members of the Legislative Assembly. It also sets a minimum of forty members. A Council capped at one-third of the Assembly cannot be larger than half of it.
• ✗ 2. Article 182 requires the Council to choose two of its own members to be its Chairman and Deputy Chairman. The Governor nominates about one-sixth of the Council's members, under Article 171(3)(e) and 171(5). He does not appoint the Council's presiding officer.

Remember · Legislative Council: at most one-third of the Assembly's strength and at least 40 members. Its Chairman and Deputy Chairman are chosen by the Council from among its own members.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Fundamental Duties

These words are clause (c) of Article 51A, which lists the Fundamental Duties of every citizen in Part IVA of the Constitution. The provision is a duty placed on citizens. It is not part of the Preamble, the Directive Principles or the Fundamental Rights.

• ✓ (d) Under Article 51A(c), it is the duty of every citizen of India to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Article 51A was inserted by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.
• ✗ (a) The Preamble states the ideals and aims of the Constitution. It does not list duties of citizens.
• ✗ (b) Directive Principles in Part IV are guidelines for the State. This wording is addressed to citizens and sits in Part IVA.
• ✗ (c) Fundamental Rights in Part III are guarantees given to people. This provision places a duty on citizens, so it is not a right.

Remember · Article 51A lists the Fundamental Duties. It is in Part IVA and was added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Upholding and protecting India's sovereignty, unity and integrity is clause (c).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) A community of organisms together with the environment in which they live

An ecosystem has two parts: the living organisms of an area (biotic) and the non-living physical surroundings (abiotic). It is the whole system formed when these interact. Only option (c) includes both the community and its environment.

• ✗ (a) This describes only a biotic community. It leaves out the non-living environment (soil, water, air, temperature, light), which is an essential part of an ecosystem.
• ✗ (b) This is the idea of the biosphere, the whole zone of the Earth where life exists. An ecosystem is a functional unit in a particular area, not the entire inhabited part of the planet.
• ✓ (c) This matches the standard definition. Living organisms together with the non-living constituents of their surroundings, interacting with each other, form an ecosystem.
• ✗ (d) Flora and fauna are only the plants and animals of a region. The term leaves out the non-living physical environment and the interactions between living and non-living components.

Remember · Ecosystem = biotic community + abiotic environment, interacting as one unit. Community alone is not an ecosystem, and the biosphere is the sum of all ecosystems.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Science, Ch 13 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Panchayati Raj moves power from the Centre and States to elected village bodies (democratic decentralisation). It also aims to involve villagers in planning and carrying out development. Political accountability and money-raising are by-products or tools, not the core purpose. So the answer is (c).

• ✓ 1. The Community Development Programme (1952) sought to promote people's participation in local development. The three-tier Panchayati Raj system was later recommended by the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee to carry this aim forward.
• ✗ 2. Accountability of elected representatives to villagers is a benefit of having elected local bodies. It is not the fundamental object of the system.
• ✓ 3. The system rests on the principle of decentralisation. Power passes from the Centre and States to elected representatives at the village level.
• ✗ 4. Raising finance is a means that Panchayats use, not the purpose for which the system was created. Including it makes options (b) and (d) wrong.
• ✓ (c) Only statements 1 and 3 state the fundamental object. Option (a) wrongly adds accountability. Option (b) leaves out both core objects. Option (d) adds accountability and finance.

Remember · Panchayati Raj = democratic decentralisation plus people's participation in development. Accountability and finance are supporting features, not its fundamental object.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 2

The answer is (c), 1 and 2. Monetary policy is the RBI's control of money supply and credit, and its quantitative tools include the bank rate and open market operations. Public debt and public revenue belong to the government's budget, so they are part of fiscal policy.

• ✓ 1. The bank rate is the rate at which the RBI is ready to buy or rediscount bills of exchange or other commercial papers. It is a quantitative tool for controlling money supply.
• ✓ 2. Open market operations are the RBI's buying and selling of government securities. Along with the CRR and the bank rate, they are a quantitative tool for controlling money supply.
• ✗ 3. Public debt is government borrowing. It is part of the government's budget and fiscal operations, not a tool of the central bank's monetary policy.
• ✗ 4. Public revenue comes mainly from taxes and is a fiscal policy matter. The government's taxation and public expenditure policies are together known as its fiscal policy.

Remember · Monetary policy (RBI) works through tools such as bank rate, repo, CRR, SLR and OMOs. Taxation, public expenditure, public revenue and public debt belong to fiscal policy (Government).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Decreased money circulation helps in controlling the inflation

Option (c) is correct because reducing the money in circulation eases price pressure. Inflation is a general rise in prices, and it is pushed up when too much money chases the available goods. The RBI reduces money supply through its monetary policy tools.

• ✗ (a) Inflation control is shared. The Government acts through fiscal and supply-side measures, and the RBI acts through monetary policy. It is not the Government's responsibility alone.
• ✗ (b) The RBI is the central bank and controls the country's money supply through the bank rate, open market operations and changes in reserve ratios. Maintaining price stability is the primary objective of its monetary policy.
• ✓ (c) Limiting monetary expansion is a standard way to control inflation. The RBI has explicitly pursued the objective of controlling inflation by limiting monetary expansion, using money supply measures as its targets.
• ✗ (d) More money in circulation without a matching rise in output adds to demand and raises prices. It worsens inflation and does not control it.
• • Since then Since the 2016 amendment to the RBI Act, 1934, flexible inflation targeting has had a statutory basis. The Central Government, in consultation with the RBI, sets the CPI inflation target, and the RBI works to meet it. This does not change the answer.

Remember · Inflation control is a joint task of the Government (fiscal policy) and the RBI (monetary policy). Tightening money supply, for example by raising the CRR or the repo rate, curbs inflation.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

The NPT recognises as a nuclear-weapon State only a country that manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon before 1 January 1967. That gives five States: the US, USSR (now Russia), UK, France and China. Of the countries listed, only China and France qualify, so the answer is (a).

• ✓ 1. China tested its first nuclear weapon in October 1964, before the 1 January 1967 cut-off. It is therefore one of the five recognised nuclear-weapon States.
• ✓ 2. France is one of the five recognised nuclear-weapon States, along with the US, USSR/Russia, UK and China. These five are also the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.
• ✗ 3. India's first test was in 1974 and its series of tests came in May 1998, both after the 1 January 1967 cut-off. India never signed the NPT, calling it discriminatory, and says it cannot join as a non-nuclear-weapon State.
• ✗ 4. Israel is not among the five States recognised as nuclear-weapon States under the NPT. It is not a party to the treaty either.
• ✗ 5. Pakistan conducted its tests in 1998, soon after India's May 1998 tests. That is far beyond the 1967 cut-off, so it cannot be a recognised nuclear-weapon State.

Remember · NPT nuclear-weapon States are only five: US, Russia (earlier USSR), UK, France and China. Each tested before 1 January 1967. India, Israel and Pakistan are outside this list.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Directive Principles of State Policy

The welfare-state ideal is enshrined in Part IV, the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 38 directs the State to promote the welfare of the people through a just social order. Other Articles in the same Part direct the State to secure an adequate means of livelihood, equal pay for equal work and a fair distribution of material resources.

• ✗ (a) The Preamble states broad ideals such as justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. It does not set out the State's welfare duties, which the Directive Principles spell out in detail.
• ✓ (b) Article 38 in Part IV requires the State to strive to promote the welfare of the people. It does so by securing a social order in which social, economic and political justice informs all institutions of national life. The Constitution sets out these welfare goals in the Directive Principles.
• ✗ (c) Fundamental Rights largely protect individuals by limiting what the State may do. The welfare goals for society as a whole are placed in the Directive Principles.
• ✗ (d) The Seventh Schedule only distributes legislative subjects through the Union List, State List and Concurrent List. It does not lay down any ideal.

Remember · Welfare State = Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51). Article 38 is the key provision: the State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) capital-augmenting technological progress

A plough is a capital good, because it is a tool used to produce output. Replacing a wooden plough with a steel one makes the existing capital more productive. In economics, technical progress that raises the efficiency with which capital is used is called capital-augmenting.

• ✗ (a) Labour-augmenting progress raises the efficiency of labour, for example through better skills or training. Changing the material of the plough improves the tool, not the worker.
• ✓ (b) The plough is physical capital. A steel plough is more durable and cuts the soil better than a wooden one, so the same capital input yields more output. That is a rise in the technical efficiency of capital, which is capital-augmenting technical progress.
• ✗ (c) 'Capital-reducing' technological progress is not one of the standard categories. The change here does not cut the amount of capital the farmer uses. It makes the existing capital input more productive.
• ✗ (d) The change fits capital-augmenting technical progress, so 'none of the above' is wrong.

Remember · Technical progress is labour-augmenting if it raises labour's efficiency and capital-augmenting if it raises capital's efficiency. A better tool or machine, such as a steel plough in place of a wooden one, is capital-augmenting.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha

The answer is (d). A parliamentary system is defined by the real executive, the Council of Ministers, staying in office only while it keeps the support of the popular House of the legislature. Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, so the government can be removed by a vote of no confidence.

• ✓ (d) Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). A ministry that loses the Lok Sabha's confidence must resign. This link between executive and legislature is the essence of the parliamentary system.
• ✗ (a) Direct election of the Lok Sabha is a feature of representative democracy. The US House of Representatives is also directly elected, yet the US has a presidential system. Direct election alone does not make a system parliamentary.
• ✗ (b) Parliament's power to amend the Constitution (Article 368) is a constitutional feature. It says nothing about how the executive is held accountable to the legislature.
• ✗ (c) The Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution. This is a feature of the bicameral structure and does not decide whether the system is parliamentary.

Remember · Parliamentary system = executive accountable to the legislature. Under Article 75(3), the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha and falls if it loses that House's confidence.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Swine flu

H1N1 is a subtype of influenza A virus. WHO's April 2009 outbreak notice described the new strain as 'Swine Influenza A/H1N1', and the disease is popularly called swine flu. The other three diseases are caused by different pathogens.

• ✓ (d) WHO's April 2009 outbreak notice described the human cases in Mexico and the USA as Swine Influenza A/H1N1. The disease is therefore known as swine flu.
• ✗ (b) Bird flu (avian influenza) is mainly linked to A(H5N1), and also to A(H7N9) and other H5 subtypes, not H1N1. This is the most tempting wrong option because both are influenza A viruses.
• ✗ (a) AIDS is caused by HIV, a retrovirus, not an influenza virus.
• ✗ (c) Dengue is spread by mosquitoes and is caused by the dengue virus, which is unrelated to influenza viruses.

Remember · H1N1 = swine flu (2009 pandemic strain). H5N1 and H7N9 = bird flu. Influenza subtypes are named by the H (haemagglutinin) and N (neuraminidase) proteins.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. Railway bio-toilets work by anaerobic digestion. A colony of anaerobic bacteria, not a fungus, breaks down the waste, which ends up mainly as water and biogas made up chiefly of methane and carbon dioxide.

• ✗ 1. The IR-DRDO bio-digester tank is charged with anaerobic bacteria to degrade human waste. The inoculum is bacterial, not fungal.
• ✗ 2. The bacteria convert the waste mainly into water and bio-gases, chiefly methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), and these gases escape into the atmosphere. So the products released are not 'only' ammonia and water vapour, and ammonia is not among the named end products.

Remember · Railway (IR-DRDO) bio-toilets use anaerobic bacteria. Human waste is converted mainly into water and biogas (methane and CO2), not into ammonia and water vapour.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) dollars and other hard currencies

International liquidity means the supply of reserve assets that countries can use to settle payments with other countries. Under the Bretton Woods system these were mainly gold and convertible currencies such as the US dollar. A shortage of international liquidity is therefore a shortage of dollars and other hard (freely convertible) currencies.

• ✓ (c) Countries pay foreign obligations from reserves made of gold, dollars and other convertible currencies. When these are too scarce to finance world trade and payments, the result is an international liquidity problem. The SDR was created in 1969 to add to this supply.
• ✗ (b) Gold was one reserve asset, but silver is not a reserve asset. The problem is about the overall shortage of usable reserve assets, led by the dollar, and not about the two metals.
• ✗ (a) Goods and services are what reserves are used to buy. Scarcity of goods is a supply or trade issue, not an international liquidity issue.
• ✗ (d) Exportable surplus affects a country's ability to earn foreign exchange. Liquidity is about the stock of acceptable international means of payment.

Remember · International liquidity means the stock of reserve assets (gold, dollars, other convertible currencies, SDRs). A shortage of dollars and other hard currencies is the classic liquidity problem.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

With pure hydrogen, a fuel cell's only products are electricity, water and heat, so statement 1 is correct. Fuel cells power everything from buildings to laptops, so statement 2 is wrong. A fuel cell produces direct current (DC), not AC, so statement 3 is wrong. The answer is (a) 1 only.

• ✓ 1. Hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as the only by-products when the fuel is pure hydrogen.
• ✗ 2. Fuel cells can power systems as large as a utility power station and as small as a laptop computer, so they are not limited to buildings.
• ✗ 3. A fuel cell produces direct current (DC), in which electrons flow in only one direction. To supply AC, its output must be converted by an inverter.

Remember · A hydrogen fuel cell gives DC electricity, with water and heat as the only by-products. It works at every scale, from laptops to power stations.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) a hand-painted cotton textile in South India

Kalamkari is the hand-painted cotton textile of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India.

• ✓ (a) Kalamkari is the hand-painted (and block-printed) cotton textile of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India.
• ✗ (b) Drawing on bamboo handicrafts is not Kalamkari; the cane and bamboo crafts of the North-East are a separate tradition.
• ✗ (c) Kalamkari is on cotton, not wool, and is not from the Western Himalaya.
• ✗ (d) Kalamkari is not a silk cloth of North-Western India.

Remember · Kalamkari: hand-painted cotton textile, South India.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Involving the farmers for training in quality seed production and thereby to make available quality seeds to others at appropriate time and affordable cost

A seed village is a village where a trained group of farmers produces seed of various crops. They meet the needs of themselves, fellow farmers in the village and farmers of neighbouring villages, at the right time and at an affordable cost. Option (b) states exactly this.

• ✓ (b) Training farmers to produce quality seed is the core of the seed village concept. So is making that seed available to others on time and at an affordable cost. Option (b) captures both.
• ✗ (a) The aim is not simply to make farmers use their own seed and avoid buying from others. The programme aims to upgrade the quality of farmer-saved seed. It also trains farmers to produce quality seed and supply it to fellow farmers and neighbouring villages.
• ✗ (c) The concept is not about setting aside villages exclusively for certified seed production. It is about a trained group of farmers within a village producing quality seed and supplying it locally, on time and at an affordable cost.
• ✗ (d) The concept works through trained groups of farmers who supply seed locally. It does not involve finding village entrepreneurs and financing them to set up seed companies.

Remember · Seed village: trained farmers produce quality seed and supply it to themselves, fellow farmers and neighbouring villages on time at an affordable cost. The Seed Village Programme (Beej Gram Yojana) aims to upgrade farmer-saved seed.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

A deficit falls when the government spends less or earns more. Cutting revenue expenditure and rationalising subsidies both lower spending. New welfare schemes add spending, so they widen the deficit. Expanding industries is not a direct budgetary step to cut the deficit.

• ✓ 1. Government deficit can be reduced by raising taxes or reducing expenditure. Trimming revenue expenditure (salaries, interest, subsidies and similar items) lowers the revenue deficit and the fiscal deficit.
• ✗ 2. New welfare schemes are additional spending. Unless they are matched by new revenue, they raise the deficit.
• ✓ 3. Subsidy delivery can be costly: to transfer Re 1 to the poor, the government spends Rs 3.65 in the form of food subsidy. Rationalising subsidies, for example through cash transfers, saves money and can improve welfare.
• ✗ 4. Expanding industries does not directly raise government receipts or cut government spending. Any extra tax revenue would come only indirectly, in the long run, and is uncertain. The direct routes are higher taxes, other non-debt receipts, or lower expenditure.

Remember · Deficit reduction means raising taxes or other non-debt receipts (such as PSU disinvestment), or cutting expenditure. Rationalising subsidies is a key way to curb spending.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Banaras Brocades and Sarees and the Tirupathi Laddu are registered GIs; Daal-Bati-Churma is not.

• ✓ 1. Banaras Brocades and Sarees are a registered GI.
• ✗ 2. Daal-Bati-Churma has no GI.
• ✓ 3. Tirupathi Laddu is a registered GI.

Remember · GI: Banaras brocades and Tirupati laddu yes; Daal-Bati-Churma no.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

IREDA is a Public Limited Government Company set up in 1987 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It is also registered with the RBI as a Non-Banking Financial Company. Both statements are correct.

• ✓ 1. IREDA is a Public Limited Government Company, established in 1987 as a Non-Banking Financial Institution. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) exercises administrative control over it.
• ✓ 2. IREDA is registered as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with the Reserve Bank of India.
• ✗ (d) Neither statement is false, so 'Neither 1 nor 2' is wrong. The 'only one' options (a, b) are also wrong, because both statements hold.

Remember · IREDA (1987) is a public limited government company under MNRE and an RBI-registered NBFC. It finances renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2015, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error