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UPSC Previous Year (Mains) Paper With Solution Subject Wise

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

2021

 

1. Assess the main administrative issues and socio-cultural problems in the integration process of Indian Princely States.

2. How did land reforms in some parts of the country help to improve the socio-economic conditions of the marginal and small farmers?

2018

 

1. Discuss whether formation of new states in recent times is beneficial or not for the economy of India?

2016

 

2. Has the formation of linguistic states strengthened the cause of Indian unity?

2013

 

3. Analyze the circumstances that led to the Tashkent Agreement in 1966. Discuss the highlights of the Agreement.

4. Critically examine the compulsions which prompted India to play a decisive role in the emergence of Bangladesh.

5. Write a critical note on the evolution and significance of the slogan, ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’

6. Discuss the contributions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to

2021

1. Explain the purpose of the Green Grid Initiative launched at the World Leaders Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021. When was this idea first floated in the International Solar Alliance (ISA)?

2. Describe the key points of the revised Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) recently released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). How are these different from its last update in 2005? What changes in India’s National Clean Air Programme are required to achieve these revised standards?

3. Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference?

2019

1. Define the concept of carrying capacity of an ecosystem as relevant to an environment. Explain how understanding this concept is vital while planning for sustainable development of a region.

2. Coastal sand mining, whether legal or illegal, poses one of the biggest threats to our environment.Analyze the impact of sand mining along the Indians coasts, citing specific examples.

 

2018

3. Sikkim is the first ‘Organic State’ in India. What are the ecological and economical benefits of Organic State?

4. How does biodiversity vary in India? How is the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 helpful in conservation of flora and fauna?

5. What are the impediments disposing the huge quantities of discarded solid waste which are continuously being generated? How do we remove safely the toxic wastes that have been accumulated in our habitable environment?

6. What is wetland? Explain the Ramsar concept of ‘wise use’ in the context of wetland conservation. Cite two examples of Ramsar sites from India.

2017

7. ‘Climate change’ is a global problem. How India will be affected by climate change? How Himalayan and coastal states of India will be affected by climate change?

8. Not many years ago, river linking was a concept but it is becoming reality in the country. Discuss the advantages of river linking and its possible impact on the environment.

2016

9. Rehabilitation of human settlements is one of the important environmental impacts which always attracts controversy while planning major projects. Discuss the measures suggested for mitigation of this impact while proposing major developmental projects.

2015

10. Discuss the Namami Gange and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) programmes and causes of mixed results from the previous schemes. What quantum leaps can help preserve the river Ganga better than incremental inputs?

2014

11. Environmental Impact Assessment studies are increasingly undertaken before a project is cleared by the Government. Discuss the environmental impacts of coal-fired thermal plants located at coal pitheads.

2013

12. Enumerate the National Water Policy of India. Taking river Ganges as an example, discuss the strategies which may be adopted for river water pollution control and management. What are the legal provisions of management and handling of hazardous wastes in India?

13. What are the consequences of Illegal mining? Discuss the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ concept of GO AND NO GO zones for coal mining sector.

pre- and post-independent India.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

2021

1. Discuss about the vulnerability of India to earthquake-related hazards. Give examples including the salient features of major disasters caused by earthquakes in different parts of India during the last three decades.

2. Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference?

2019

1. Disaster preparedness is the first step in any disaster management process. Explain how hazard zonation mapping will help disaster mitigation in the case of landslides

2. Vulnerability is an essential element for defining disaster impacts and its threat to people. How and in what ways can vulnerability to disasters be characterized? Discuss different types of vulnerability with reference to disasters.

 

2018

3. Describe various measures taken in India for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) before and after signing ‘Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-30)’. How is this framework different from ‘Hyogo Framework for Action, 2005’?

2017

4. On December 2004, tsunami brought havoc on fourteen countries including India. Discuss the factors responsible for occurrence of tsunami and its effects on life and economy. In the light of guidelines of NDMA (2010) describe the mechanisms for preparedness to reduce the risk during such events.

2016

5. With reference to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines, discuss the measures to be adopted to mitigate the impact of recent incidents of cloudbursts in many places of Uttarakhand.

6. The frequency of urban floods due to high intensity rainfall is increasing over the years. Discussing the reasons for urban floods, highlight the mechanisms for preparedness to reduce the risk during such events.

2015

7. The frequency of earthquakes appears to have increased in the Indian subcontinent. However, India’s preparedness for mitigating their impact has significant gaps. Discuss various aspects.

2014

8. Drought has been recognized as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset and lasting effects on vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), discuss the mechanisms for preparedness to deal with likely El Niño and La Niña fallouts in India.

2013

9. How important are vulnerability and risk assessment for pre-disaster management? As an administrator, what are key areas that you would focus on in a Disaster Management System.

MODERN HISTORY

2021
 

1. Trace the rise and growth of socio-religious reform movements with special reference to Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj.

2. To what extinct did the role of moderates prepare a base for the wider freedom movement? comment

3. Bring out the constructive programmes of Mahatma Gandhi during Non-Cooperation Movement and Civil Disobedience Movement.

2020
 

1. Evaluate the policies of Lord Curzon and their long term implications on the national movement. (Answer in 150 words).

2. Since the decade of the 1920s, the national movement acquired various ideological strands and thereby expanded its social base. Discuss. (Answer in 250 words).

2019
 

1. Assess the role of British imperial power in complicating the process of transfer of power during the 1940s.

2. The 1857 Uprising was the culmination of the recurrent big and small local rebellions that had occurred in the preceding hundred years of British rule. Elucidate.

3. Examine the linkages between the nineteenth century's 'Indian Renaissance' and the emergence of national identity

4. Many voices had strengthened and enriched the nationalist movement during the Gandhian phase. Elaborate

2018
 

1. Why indentured labour was taken by British from India to other colonies? Have they been able to preserve their cultural identity over there?

2. Throw light on the significance of thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times.

2017
 

1. Highlight the importance of new objective that got added to the vision of Indian independence since the twenties of the last century

2. The women’s questions arose in modern India as a part of the 19th century social reform movement.What were the major issues and debates concerning women in that period?

3. Clarify how mid-eighteenth century India was beset with the spectre of a fragmented polity?

4. Why did the ‘Moderates’ fail to carry conviction with the nation about their proclaimed ideology and political goals by the end of the nineteenth century?

5. Examine how the decline of traditional artisanal industry in colonial India crippled the rural economy.

2016
 

1. Highlight the difference in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.

2. Explain how the upraising of 1857 constitutes an important watershed in the evolution of British policies towards colonial India.

3. Discuss the role of women in the freedom struggle especially during the Gandhian phase

2015
 

1. It would have been difficult for the Constituent Assembly to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India in just three years but for the experience gained with the Government of India Act, 1935. Discuss

2. How different would have been the achievement of Indian independence without Mahatma Gandhi? Discuss

3. Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, despite having divergent approaches and strategies, had a common goal of amelioration of the downtrodden. Elucidate

2014
 

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

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

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

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

2013
 

1. “In many ways, Lord Dalhousie was the founder of modern India.” Elaborate

2. Critically discuss the objectives of Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave and their success.

3. Defying the barriers of age, gender and religion, the Indian women became the torch-bearer during the struggle for freedom in India. Discuss.

4. Several foreigners made India their homeland and participated in various movements. Analyze their role in the Indian struggle for freedom.

INDIAN SOCIETY

2021

1. How does Indian society maintain continuity in traditional social values? Enumerate the changes taking place in it.

2. Has caste lost its relevance in understanding the multi-cultural Indian society? Elaborate your answer with illustrations.

3. What are the main socio-economic implications arising out of the development of IT industries in major cities of India?

4. Discuss the main objectives of Population Education and point out the measures to achieve them in India in detail.

2019

1. Are we losing our local identity for the global identity? Discuss

2. Empowering women is the key to control population growth”. Discuss

3. What are the continued challenges for women in India against time and space?.

4. What makes Indian society unique in sustaining its culture? Discuss

5. What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism?

6. Do we have cultural pockets of small India all over the nation? Elaborate with examples.

2018

7. ‘Women’s movement in India has not addressed the issues of women of lower social strata.’ Substantiate your view.

8. ‘Globalization is generally said to promote cultural homogenization but due to this cultural specificities appear to be strengthened in the Indian Society.’ Elucidate.

9. ‘Communalism arises either due to power struggle or relative deprivation’. Argue by giving suitable illustrations.

10. “Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence the caste system cannot be eradicated in India.” Comment.

11. ‘Despite the implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India, poverty is still existing’. Explain by giving reasons.

12. How the Indian concept of secularism is different from the western model of secularism? Discuss.

2017

13. The spirit of tolerance and love is not only an interesting feature of Indian society from very early times, but it is also playing an important part at the present. Elaborate.

14. Distinguish between religiousness/religiosity and communalism giving one example of how the former has got transformed into the latter in independent India.

15. In the context of the diversity of India, can it be said that the regions form cultural units rather than the States? Give reasons with examples for your viewpoint.

16. What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs)?

2016

17. What is the basis of regionalism? Is it that unequal distribution of benefits of development on regional basis eventually promotes regionalism? Substantiate your answer.

18. To what extent globalisation has influenced the core of cultural diversity in India? Explain.

19. “An essential condition to eradicate poverty is to liberate the poor from the process of deprivation.” Substantiate this statement with suitable examples.

20. Why are the tribals in India referred to as ‘the Scheduled Tribes’? Indicate the major provisions enshrined in the Constitution of India for their upliftment.

2015

21. Discuss the changes in the trends of labour migration within and outside India in the last four decades.

22. Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalization on women in India.

23. Debate the issue of whether and how contemporary movements for assertion of Dalit identity work towards annihilation of caste

24. Describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building a national identity.

25. Critically examine whether growing population is the cause of poverty OR poverty is the main cause of population increase in India.

26. How do you explain the statistics that show that the sex ratio in Tribes in India is more favourable to women than the sex ratio among Scheduled Castes?

2014

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

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

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

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

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

2013

32. Critically examine the effect of globalization on the aged population in India.

33. Growing feeling of regionalism is an important factor in generation of demand for a separate State.Discuss

34. Discuss the various social problems which originated out of the speedy process of urbanization in India

35. “Male membership needs to be encouraged in order to make women’s organization free from gender bias.” Comment

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