UPSSSC PET 2023 28 October Shift 1 Question Paper and Answer Key

As per NCERT (Class 7, Eighteenth-Century Political Formations), under the Peshwas Poona (Pune) became the capital of the Maratha kingdom. Satara was Shahu's seat, but the Peshwas moved real power to Poona; Nagpur was the Bhonsle centre and Nashik only a town.

In Jainism ‘Jina’ means the Conqueror, one who has conquered the senses, attachment and hatred. The word ‘Jain’ comes from it; Mahavir was called Jina for this reason, while ‘great soul’ or ‘non-violent’ is not its literal meaning.

Asokan inscriptions name four provincial centres besides the capital Pataliputra: Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvarnagiri. Indraprastha was not one of these provincial capitals, so it is the centre that does not belong in the list.

A hymn in the third book of the Rigveda is a dialogue between the sage Vishvamitra and two rivers, Vipash (Beas) and Shutudri (Sutlej). The sage requests the rivers to let his chariots and people cross.

In 1722 Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber was made subadar of Agra and led the campaign against the Jat chief Churaman. He held the Malwa governorship at other times, and Amber was his own kingdom, not a subadari.

As per NCERT (Class 12, Framing the Constitution), the Communist member Somnath Lahiri warned that the Assembly was British-made and was ‘working the British plans as the British liked’. Patel, Rajagopalachari and Nishtar made no such charge.

After the Non-Cooperation Movement was withdrawn, C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party in 1923 within the Congress to contest council elections and oppose from inside. The HSRA was a revolutionary body.

At the special Calcutta session of September 1920 Gandhiji convinced other leaders to start non-cooperation in support of Khilafat and swaraj. The Nagpur session of December 1920 only gave the programme its final approval, so Nagpur is the trap.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan founded the Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts) in the North-West Frontier Province in 1929 and is called Badshah Khan or Frontier Gandhi. Syed Ahmed Khan is linked with the Aligarh Movement instead.

The Ghadar Party was founded in the USA in 1913 with its headquarters, the Yugantar Ashram, at San Francisco. Lala Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna led it, so Delhi, Lahore and Calcutta are wrong.

The Shirui lily grows only on the Shirui hills of Ukhrul district in Manipur and is the state flower of Manipur. The Shirui Lily Festival is held there every year; it is not found in Assam, Bengal or Tripura.

The Oriya (Uria) plateau lies in Rajasthan near Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu and is the highest plateau of the state. Linking the name with Odisha or Madhya Pradesh is the common slip students make here.

At the start of winter (October to December) the retreating North-East monsoon picks up moisture over the Bay of Bengal and rains on the Tamil Nadu coast. During the South-West monsoon this coast lies in a rain shadow, so option D is wrong.

Jalore district of Rajasthan is known as the granite city and is famous for its Rosy Pink granite. Varieties such as Rakhee Green are linked with other areas, so for exams Jalore pairs with the pink granite.

Bandel Church (Basilica of the Holy Rosary) stands in Hooghly district of West Bengal and was built by the Portuguese around 1599. It is one of the oldest Christian churches in Bengal, not a Goa church.

The Fair and Remunerative Price of sugarcane is approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on the recommendation of the CACP. The CACP only recommends the price, so option D is the trap.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 gives a legal ‘right to work’ by guaranteeing at least 100 days of wage employment to rural households in a year. The other Acts do not guarantee any work.

The Golden Revolution (1991-2003) refers to rapid growth in horticulture, especially fruits, vegetables and honey. Potato is the Round Revolution, oilseeds the Yellow Revolution and petroleum the Black Revolution, so the others do not fit.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, set up under the IRDA Act 1999, has its head office in Hyderabad, Telangana. Mumbai hosts SEBI and RBI, which is why students often pick it wrongly.

Depository institutions accept deposits from the public, such as commercial banks, loan associations and credit co-operative societies. NABARD is an apex development finance institution that does not take public deposits, so it is not one.

After the Indian Independence Act 1947, the adapted Government of India Act 1935 served as the interim constitution. Its Section 100 divided federal and provincial legislative subjects, and the Dominion Legislature made laws from 1947 to 1949 under it.

Under Article 75(5), a minister who is not a member of either House of Parliament for six consecutive months ceases to be a minister at the end of that period. So a non-member can stay a minister for at most 6 months.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands come under the Calcutta High Court, which has a circuit bench at Port Blair. The Madras High Court covers Puducherry and the Delhi High Court covers only Delhi, so they are wrong.

Parliament passed the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Bills in December 1992; they came into force on 24 April 1993 and 1 June 1993. The 1973 dates and 1952 (Community Development Programme) are traps.

The Nehru Report of 1928 (Motilal Nehru Committee) proposed dominion status for India along with a list of fundamental rights, that is a Bill of Rights. The Ilbert Bill dates from 1883 and the Criminal Tribes Act from 1871.

The larynx is an organ made of cartilage that connects the pharynx to the trachea, which is the official answer D. Note that statement A (it houses the vocal cords) is also true, so the question has two correct statements; B is wrong as it is cartilage, not bone.

Milk of Magnesia is magnesium hydroxide (solid dispersed phase) in water (liquid medium), so it is a sol. A solid sol has a solid medium and an emulsion has both phases liquid, so those options do not fit.

Methanol is oxidised in the liver to methanal (formaldehyde), and it is methanal that coagulates the protoplasm of cells (NCERT Class 10). The Hindi option was printed as methanol, so it was corrected to match the English Methanal.

Ceres lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System. Pluto, Makemake and Haumea are far beyond Neptune in the Kuiper belt, so they are wrong.

The stinging hairs of nettle leaves inject methanoic (formic) acid, which causes the burning pain; rubbing a dock leaf gives relief. Ethanoic acid is in vinegar, oxalic acid in tomato and ascorbic acid in amla.

‘डाँवाँडोल’ का अर्थ ही अस्थिर (डगमगाता हुआ) है, इसलिए डाँवाँडोल-अस्थिर पर्यायवाची युग्म है, विलोम नहीं। औचक-अकसर, झिड़कना-पुचकारना और ग़ाफ़िल-ख़बरदार उचित विलोम युग्म हैं, अतः सही उत्तर विकल्प B है।

‘होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात’ का अर्थ है कि होनहार व्यक्ति के गुण बचपन में ही दिखाई देने लगते हैं, जैसे अच्छे पौधे के पत्ते आरंभ से ही चिकने होते हैं। दिखावा, दोष निकालना या केवल परिश्रम इसका भाव नहीं है।

प्लेटफार्म, प्राधिकरण और गिरोह तीनों पुल्लिंग हैं (प्लेटफार्म आता है, गिरोह पकड़ा गया)। अन्य विकल्पों में ग्रीवा, बनावट, रौनक, झल्लाहट और अक्षुण्णता स्त्रीलिंग शब्द हैं, इसलिए वे विकल्प गलत हैं।

‘रमा ने अपने भाई से पुस्तक पढ़ने को कहा’ व्याकरण की दृष्टि से शुद्ध है। A में शुद्ध वर्तनी ‘कवयित्री’ है, B में ‘जब भी आप आएँ, मुझसे मिलें’ होना चाहिए और C में आदरसूचक ‘आपके दर्शन पाकर’ शुद्ध रूप है।

रामवृक्ष बेनीपुरी को उनकी सजीव शैली के कारण ‘कलम का जादूगर’ कहा जाता है; ‘माटी की मूरतें’ उनकी प्रसिद्ध कृति है। मुंशी प्रेमचंद को ‘कलम का सिपाही’ कहा जाता है, इसलिए विकल्प D एक आम जाल है।

‘Fastidious’ means very particular and attentive to small details, especially about food or cleanliness. Its opposite is ‘careless’. ‘Careful’ is close to a synonym, and ‘thoughtless’ or ‘indiscreet’ describe other faults, not lack of care in choosing.

The relative pronoun ‘who’ refers to its antecedent ‘the person’, which is third person singular. So the verb must agree with ‘the person’ and take ‘is’: ‘I am the person who is to be blamed’; ‘am’ would wrongly agree with ‘I’.

The correct spelling is ‘Anniversary’, with a double ‘n’, from the Latin ‘annus’ meaning year. ‘Journey’, ‘Amateur’ and ‘Beneficiary’ are all spelt correctly, so the incorrect spelling is option D.

The passage says the northernmost range is the Great Himalaya or Himadri and that the world's highest peaks are located in this range. The Shiwalik is the southernmost range and the Middle Himalaya has hill stations, so they are wrong.

The passage states that the northern plains are formed by the alluvial deposits laid down by the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra and their tributaries. Iron ore, diamonds and copper are not mentioned, so alluvial deposits is the answer.

Golfer Shubhankar Sharma received the Arjuna Award in 2018, the year he won back-to-back titles on the European Tour. In July 2023 he finished tied eighth at The Open at Royal Liverpool, his best major finish.

Power Finance Corporation Limited became the first member from India to join the Asia Transition Finance Study Group in 2023. The group studies financing for the energy transition in Asia, which suits PFC's power-sector lending.

At the Startup20 closing ceremony at Gurugram in 2023, India handed the torch for 2024 to Brazil, the next G20 president. Brazil took over the G20 presidency from 1 December 2023, so France, Canada and Germany are wrong.

CJI D.Y. Chandrachud launched the ‘SuSwagatam’ portal in 2023, letting advocates, litigants and citizens get QR code based e-passes online to enter the Supreme Court. The other names are made-up options.

Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) was launched in August 2023 to give crash-test based star ratings to cars up to 3.5 tonnes. It came into effect on 1 October 2023, so ‘Programme’ is the correct expansion.

The Indo-US task force set up in 2023 aims to raise bilateral trade in electronics to 100 billion US dollars in the next decade. It was formed by IESA and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

England's NHS rolled out in 2023 an under-the-skin injection of the cancer drug atezolizumab that takes about 7 minutes. Earlier the same drug was given by intravenous drip taking around an hour, so England is correct.

Under the Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana, women who have completed 21 years as on 01 January of the year of application and are below 60 years are eligible. The minimum age was first 23 and later reduced to 21.

Northeast Frontier Railway's Intrusion Detection System uses optical fibre sensing to warn of elephants near tracks and prevent collisions with trains. It won the PMI South Asia Micro Project of the Year; the printed word ‘Instruction’ was corrected to ‘Intrusion’.

The Western Air Command of the IAF held its annual training exercise ‘Trishul’ in September 2023, testing fighters and helicopters across the northern sectors. Swastik, Shankh and Tandav are not the name of this exercise.

Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary lies on Maenam hill near Ravangla in South Sikkim and is known for the red panda and Himalayan black bear. It is not in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir or Assam, so Sikkim is correct.

The Ramappa (Rudreshwara) temple was built in 1213 CE by Recherla Rudra, general of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. It is named after its sculptor Ramappa.

Under Article 75 the President appoints the Prime Minister and appoints other ministers on the Prime Minister's advice. Article 72 is about pardons, Article 73 about the executive power of the Union and Article 70 about other contingencies.

Koothu (Chakyar Koothu) is a socio-religious art form of Kerala performed in the temple theatre called the Koothambalam. Koodiyattam is also staged there; the art has no link with Andhra Pradesh, Telangana or Sikkim.

The Central Institute of Indian Languages was set up in 1969 under the Ministry of Education with its headquarters at Mysuru, Karnataka. It coordinates the development of and research on Indian languages, so Mysuru is correct.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has 193 member states and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Figures like 195 or 194 confuse it with counts of countries in the world.

The official language of the Maldives is Divehi (Dhivehi), written in the Thaana script. Dari belongs to Afghanistan, Dzongkha to Bhutan and Malayalam to Kerala, so those options are wrong.

The Pula is the national currency of Botswana in southern Africa; in Setswana ‘pula’ means rain. Cambodia uses the riel, Myanmar the kyat and Poland the zloty, so the other options are wrong.

‘Perungadai’ is a Tamil epic by Kongu Velir based on the story of Udayana. It is counted among the major epic works of Tamil literature, so Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam literature are wrong.

The Ashoka Chakra Class I, II and III awards of 1952 were renamed in 1967 as Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra. So Class III became the Shaurya Chakra, while Class II became the Kirti Chakra.

गद्यांश के अनुसार मलिन बस्तियों, फुटपाथ, सड़क तथा रेलवे लाइन के किनारे झोंपड़ी डालकर रहने वाले अशिक्षित और दुर्बल लोग समाजोपयोगी ऊर्ध्वमुखी योजनाओं से वंचित हैं। विकल्प D में बताए गए लोग तो इन योजनाओं को बाँटने वाले हैं।

लेखक कहता है कि वस्तुओं अथवा सेवाओं का उपयोग करने वाला हर व्यक्ति उपभोक्ता है और इस प्रकार सभी व्यक्ति किसी-न-किसी रूप में शोषण का शिकार होते हैं। इसलिए उपभोक्ता समूह सही उत्तर है।

गद्यांश के अनुसार मध्यम वर्ग किसी तरह अपनी इज़्ज़त-आबरू बचाता है, न वोट बैंक में है न संपन्न, और उसकी परेशानियाँ कोई नहीं समझता। अतः आर्थिक परेशानी से सामाजिक प्रतिष्ठा पर खतरा उसकी समस्या है।

गद्यांश बताता है कि इन योजनाओं को आधुनिक सफ़ेदपोशों, व्यापारियों, नौकरशाहों एवं तथाकथित बुद्धिजीवी वर्ग ने मिलकर बाँट लिया है और शोषण इन्हीं की देन है। विकल्प A इसी समूह को दर्शाता है।

‘शैक्षणिक’ (शिक्षण + इक) और ‘सांस्कृतिक’ (संस्कृति + इक) दोनों विशेषण शब्द हैं, क्योंकि ये संज्ञा की विशेषता बताते हैं। दोनों ‘इक’ प्रत्यय से बने हैं, ‘णिक’ या ‘तिक’ कोई प्रत्यय नहीं है।

गद्यांश के अनुसार कई पढ़े-लिखे और हट्टे-कट्टे लोग भी भीख को व्यवसाय बना रहे हैं और यह ‘कलापूर्ण व्यवसाय’ बनता जा रहा है। इसलिए भिक्षावृत्ति एक ज्वलंत समस्या है; अन्य विकल्प इसे समस्या नहीं मानते।

गद्यांश में स्पष्ट लिखा है कि अपंगता, कुरूपता, अशक्तता, वृद्धावस्था आदि देखकर दाता करुणामय होकर भीख देने के लिए बाध्य हो जाता है। बाकी कारण गद्यांश में भीख देने की बाध्यता के रूप में नहीं दिए गए।

लेखक कहता है कि भीख माँगने वालों को नकद पैसे कभी न दें, बल्कि शिक्षा, दवा और रोजगार की व्यवस्था करें। इसलिए ‘पैसे देकर’ भिखारी की मदद करना सही तरीका नहीं है, जबकि अन्य तीन विकल्प गद्यांश के सुझाव हैं।

‘दान-पुण्य’ का विग्रह ‘दान और पुण्य’ है, इसलिए यह द्वंद्व समास है। ‘जीवन-मुक्ति’ का विग्रह ‘जीवन से मुक्ति’ है, जिसमें कारक चिह्न लुप्त है, इसलिए यह तत्पुरुष समास है; अतः क्रम द्वंद्व और तत्पुरुष है।

गद्यांश के अनुसार खानदानी भिखारी वे हैं जिनके पूर्वज पुश्तों से धर्मस्थानों पर अपना अड्डा जमाए हुए हैं, अर्थात् उनकी भीख माँगने की जगह पुश्तैनी और निश्चित है। विकल्प A, B और D अन्य श्रेणियों के भिखारी हैं।