GS 1

UPSC Mains 2014

25 questions · 250 marks · Indian Heritage & Culture, History, Geography of the World and Society

World Geography 10 Marks

Q1. How does India see its place in the economic space of rising natural resource-rich Africa?

View answer Discuss
Physical Geography 10 Marks

Q2. Critically evaluate the various resources of the oceans that can be harnessed to meet the resource crisis in the world.

View answer Critically Evaluate
World Geography 10 Marks

Q3. Account for the change in the spatial pattern of the Iron and Steel industry in the world.

Indian Geography 10 Marks

Q4. Why did the Green Revolution in India virtually bypass the eastern region despite fertile soil and good availability of water?

View answer Explain
Indian Geography 10 Marks

Q5. Whereas the British planters had developed tea gardens all along the Shivaliks and Lesser Himalayas from Assam to Himachal Pradesh, in effect they did not succeed beyond the Darjeeling area. Explain.

Indian Geography 10 Marks

Q6. Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent.

World Geography 10 Marks

Q7. Tropical cyclones are largely confined to the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mexico. Why?

World Geography 10 Marks

Q8. Explain the formation of thousands of islands in the Indonesian and Philippines archipelagos.

View answer Explain
Physical Geography 10 Marks

Q9. Why are the world’s fold mountain systems located along the margins of continents? Bring out the association between the global distribution of fold mountains and the earthquakes and volcanoes.

View answer Explain
Physical Geography 10 Marks

Q10. Most of the unusual climatic happenings are explained as an outcome of the El-Nino effect. Do you agree?

Indian Society 10 Marks

Q11. How do the Indian debates on secularism differ from the debates in the West?

View answer Discuss
Indian Society 10 Marks

Q12. Discuss the various economic and socio-cultural forces that are driving the increasing feminization of agriculture in India.

View answer Discuss
Indian Society 10 Marks

Q13. The life cycle of a joint family depends on economic factors rather than social values. Discuss.

Indian Society 10 Marks

Q14. Why do some of the most prosperous regions of India have an adverse sex ratio for women? Give your arguments.

View answer Explain
Indian Society 10 Marks

Q15. How does patriarchy impact the position of a middle-class working woman in India?

View answer Discuss
World History 10 Marks

Q16. The New Economic Policy – 1921 of Lenin influenced the policies adopted by India soon after independence. Evaluate.

World History 10 Marks

Q17. What were the events that led to the Suez Crisis in 1956? How did it deal a final blow to Britain’s self-image as a world power?

View answer Explain
Modern History 10 Marks

Q18. What were the major political, economic and social developments in the world which motivated the anti-colonial struggle in India?

View answer Explain
Modern History 10 Marks

Q19. In what ways did the naval mutiny prove to be the last nail in the coffin of British colonial aspirations in India?

Modern History 10 Marks

Q20. Examine critically the various facets of economic policies of the British in India from the mid-eighteenth century till independence.

View answer Examine
Art & Culture 10 Marks

Q21. Sufis and medieval mystic saints failed to modify either the religious ideas and practices or the outward structure of Hindu / Muslim societies to any appreciable extent. Comment.

Modern History 10 Marks

Q22. The third battle of Panipat was fought in 1761. Why were so many empire-shaking battles fought at Panipat?

Art & Culture 10 Marks

Q23. Taxila University was one of the oldest universities in the world with which were associated several renowned learned personalities of different disciplines. Its strategic location caused its fame to flourish, but unlike Nalanda, it is not considered a university in the modern sense. Discuss.

Art & Culture 10 Marks

Q24. Gandhara sculpture owed as much to the Romans as to the Greeks. Explain.

Art & Culture 10 Marks

Q25. To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization provided inputs to present-day urbanisation? Discuss.