UPHESC Assistant Professor Agricultural Engineering PYQs

Concept: Dharmashastras (Manusmriti) describe eight forms of marriage.

1. Approved: Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya.
2. Disapproved: Gandharva, Asura, Rakshasa, Paishacha.

Short trick: 4 approved + 4 disapproved = 8.

Concept: Subhas Chandra Bose compared Gandhi's Dandi March (1930) with Napoleon's march to Paris on his return from Elba.

1. Lajpat Rai had died in 1928, before the march.
2. Bose's comparison stressed its electrifying mass effect.

Short trick: Bose – soldier's mind – military comparison (Napoleon).

Concept: Monazite is a rare-earth phosphate mineral and the chief ore of thorium.

1. Kerala (Chavara, Manavalakurichi) beach sands are rich in monazite.
2. India's 3-stage nuclear programme banks on this thorium.

Short trick: Monazite → Thorium (Kerala sands).

Concept: The Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle replaced the old 'Brown Bess' musket.

1. Its greased cartridges (believed to use cow and pig fat) had to be bitten open.
2. This became the immediate cause of the 1857 revolt.

Short trick: Old = Brown Bess, New = Enfield → greased cartridge.

Concept: In the standard textbook account of the Delhi Sultanate, Firoz Shah Tughlaq is the ruler under whom Sanskrit works (many taken from the Jwalamukhi temple library at Nagarkot) were translated into Persian, and the music work 'Ragdarpan' is listed among them.

1. The astronomy work 'Dalail-i-Firozshahi' was prepared in the same way in his reign.
2. Alauddin Khilji, Akbar and Jahangir are not linked with this translation in that account, so among the options Firoz Shah Tughlaq fits.
3. (A later Persian treatise also called 'Rag Darpan' was written by Faqirullah in Aurangzeb's time — Aurangzeb is not among the options.)

Short trick: Firoz Tughlaq = Persian translations of Nagarkot Sanskrit texts (Dalail-i-Firozshahi, Ragdarpan).

Concept: R. C. Dutt wrote 'The Economic History of India' in two volumes (1902 and 1904).

1. Vol. I – Under Early British Rule; Vol. II – In the Victorian Age.
2. Dadabhai Naoroji wrote 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India' (drain theory).

Short trick: Dutt = Economic History; Naoroji = Poverty & Drain.

Concept: Part XV (Articles 324–329A) deals with elections.

1. Art. 324 – Election Commission; Art. 326 – adult suffrage.
2. Part IV – DPSP; Part VIII – Union Territories; Part IX – Panchayats.

Short trick: Part 15 = Elections (Art. 324).

Concept: The first RRB, Prathama Bank (Moradabad, UP), was set up on 2 October 1975, sponsored by Syndicate Bank.

1. RRBs were created on the Narasimham Working Group recommendation; RRB Act came in 1976.

Short trick: 2 Oct 1975 – Prathama (first) Bank, Moradabad.

Concept: A 'zombie' firm is one whose operating profit cannot even cover its interest, i.e. interest coverage ratio (ICR = EBIT ÷ interest) < 1; fresh lending to such firms is called zombie lending.

1. The ICR < 1 test is the usual working definition used in Indian policy discussion (RBI and Economic Survey analyses of stressed corporate loans).
2. 'Verge of default' (A) and 'evergreening' (C) are related ideas but not the defining test; (D) describes a group, not the lending.

Short trick: Zombie = alive on paper, dead in earnings → ICR < 1.

Concept: Article 21A (86th Amendment, 2002) makes free and compulsory education for children aged 6–14 years a fundamental right.

1. Art. 21 – life and personal liberty; Arts. 23–24 – against exploitation; Arts. 29–30 – minorities.
2. RTE Act 2009 implements Art. 21A.

Short trick: 21 = life, 21A = education (6–14).