Literature, philosophy & religion

Answer: (a) the final goal of a stateless society

Both thinkers saw the State as something the ideal society would do without. Marx expected a classless communist society with no government, while Gandhi described an 'enlightened anarchy' in which each person rules himself; they differed sharply on the means.

• ✓ (a) Gandhi wrote (Young India, 1931) that in the ideal state there is no political power because there is no State; IGNOU notes that socialism and communism likewise aim at a classless and stateless society.
• ✗ (b) Class struggle is central to Marxist and communist ideology, but Gandhi rejected class conflict and violence, seeking change through non-violence and a change of heart (IGNOU).
• ✗ (c) Marx held that private ownership of important economic resources is the root cause of entrenched inequality, so Marxism seeks public control of them (NCERT); Gandhi instead proposed trusteeship, in which the wealthy hold their wealth in trust for the community.
• ✗ (d) Economic determinism, the idea that the economic base shapes society, is Marxist; Gandhi held that material considerations had only a limited role in human life and gave primacy to moral and spiritual forces (IGNOU).

Remember · Gandhism and Marxism share only the end-goal of a stateless society. Means differ: non-violence and trusteeship (Gandhi) versus class struggle and revolution (Marx).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) A bill of exchange

A hundi was a written instrument of credit and exchange — a bill of exchange — that let merchants transfer money and trade over long distances without carrying cash. References to hundika appear in post-Harsha texts such as the Lekhapaddhati.

• ✓ (c) The hundi was a written order to pay a named person, used by merchants as a bill of exchange and credit note across regions.
• ✗ (a) Royal orders to officials were issued as edicts or grants recorded in inscriptions and copper plates, not as hundis.
• ✗ (d) The hundi was a commercial instrument used by traders and bankers, not a command in the feudal chain of authority.

Remember · Hundi = indigenous bill of exchange/credit note used by merchants for long-distance trade and remittance without moving cash.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct and statement 3 is not. Desher Katha (1904) was a hugely popular Bengali book that spread the economic critique of colonial rule during the swadeshi movement, and its 'desh' was the country as a whole, not Bengal alone.

• ✓ 1. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book was an exposition in Bengali of the Naoroji-Digby-Dutt critique of colonial economic rule (the drain of wealth and the devastation of Indian industry), which it spread widely.
• ✓ 2. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book ran to four editions and 10,000 copies between 1904 and 1907, and the themes of economic drain, swadeshi and boycott it carried were then being heard in songs, plays and jatras.
• ✗ 3. 'Desh' in the title means 'the country' (Story of the Country), and its subject was the economic condition of India as a whole. Deuskar was himself a Maharashtrian settled in Bengal who also promoted Shivaji and Tilak's ideas among Bengalis, so 'desh' was not limited to Bengal.

Remember · Desher Katha (1904), by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar, popularised the drain-of-wealth critique in Bengali during the swadeshi movement; its 'desh' meant India, not just Bengal.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

UPSC's key counts only statement 3 as correct. NCERT places Kalidasa in the Gupta age, Panini lived several centuries before the Shungas, and Harsha's seventh-century court is known for Banabhatta.

• ✗ 1. Panini, author of the Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi, is dated to about 500 BCE. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty around 185 BCE, more than three centuries later.
• ✗ 2. Harshavardhana ruled Kanauj from about 606 to 647 CE, and NCERT names Banabhatta as his court poet. UPSC's official key treats this statement as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 3. NCERT places Kalidasa's works in the Gupta age and describes Chandragupta II as surrounding himself with learned men, poets and artists. UPSC's key counts this statement correct.

Remember · Panini c. 500 BCE (grammar); Kalidasa in the Gupta age; Harsha's court poet was Banabhatta.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error