UPHESC Assistant Professor Commerce 2025, 2026 PYQs

Concept: PURA = Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, proposed by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

1. It rests on four connectivities: physical, electronic, knowledge and economic.
2. It was outlined in his book "Target 3 Billion"; the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (2016) carries the idea forward.

Short trick: PURA = Kalam's "cities in villages".

Concept: Locate each park.

1. Keoladeo (Bharatpur) – Rajasthan → a-IV.
2. Indravati (Bijapur) – Chhattisgarh → b-III.
3. Manas – Assam (on the Bhutan border) → c-I.
4. Pin Valley (Spiti, cold desert) – Himachal Pradesh → d-II.

Short trick: Only option B has c-I and d-II together.

Concept: Rio+20 = UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio de Janeiro, June 2012 – 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit.

1. Its outcome document "The Future We Want" launched the process that produced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2. Its themes were the green economy and an institutional framework for sustainable development.

Short trick: Rio 1992 (Earth Summit) + 20 = 2012 → SDGs.

Concept: ANPR = Automatic Number Plate Recognition.

1. Cameras capture vehicle images and optical character recognition (OCR) reads the registration plate.
2. Used for traffic e-challans, toll collection (FASTag-free tolling trials), parking and security.

Short trick: ANPR reads the NUMBER plate automatically.

Concept: In the standard textbook view, the idea of 'sustainable development' was first put forward internationally in the World Conservation Strategy (1980) of IUCN, UNEP and WWF.

1. 1972 (Stockholm Conference) put the environment on the global agenda but did not frame sustainable development as a concept.
2. 1987 – the Brundtland Report 'Our Common Future' popularised it with the classic definition: development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This defined an existing idea; it did not originate it.
3. So among the options the year of origin is 1980; 2007 is irrelevant.

Short trick: 1972 Stockholm (environment) → 1980 WCS (idea put forward) → 1987 Brundtland (definition) → 1992 Rio.

Concept: Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit infrared radiation; the Kyoto basket is ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$, ${\mathrm{CH}}_4$, ${\mathrm{N}}_2\mathrm{O}$, HFCs, PFCs and ${\mathrm{SF}}_6$.

1. Methane is a direct GHG, about 28 times as potent as ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ over 100 years.
2. Helium and hydrogen do not absorb infrared appreciably; carbon monoxide is only an indirect influence, not a recognised GHG.

Short trick: Kyoto six: CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, HFC, PFC, SF₆.

Concept: The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese organisation of atomic-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1. Cited for efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
2. Mother Teresa won in 1979, Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991, Malala Yousafzai in 2014 (with Kailash Satyarthi).

Short trick: 2024 Peace = Hibakusha = Nihon Hidankyo.

Concept: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Congress President in 1946, led the Congress talks with the Cabinet Mission and wholeheartedly backed its plan for a united India with a weak Centre and provincial groupings.

1. In "India Wins Freedom" he called the plan the best solution and blamed Nehru's press statement of July 1946 (Congress "not bound" by the groupings) for its collapse.
2. Gandhi, Nehru and Patel accepted it only with reservations, especially on grouping of provinces.

Short trick: Azad = negotiator + full supporter of the Cabinet Mission.

Concept: The Kyoto Protocol (adopted 1997 under UNFCCC, in force 16 Feb 2005) set binding greenhouse-gas reduction targets for developed (Annex I) countries.

1. First commitment period 2008–12: about 5% average cut below 1990 levels.
2. Carbon trading, CDM and Joint Implementation were only mechanisms to achieve this goal, not the purpose itself.

Short trick: Kyoto = binding GHG cuts; Montreal = ozone.

Concept: Mir Nisar Ali is Titu Mir, leader of the Barasat (Wahabi-influenced peasant) uprising in Bengal, killed in 1831 at his bamboo fort (Narkelberia).

1. Rani Laxmibai led at Jhansi/Gwalior, Mangal Pandey fired the first shots at Barrackpore (29 March 1857), Bahadur Shah Zafar was proclaimed leader at Delhi.
2. So only a, b, c are leaders of 1857; every option with d is wrong.

Short trick: Titu Mir (Mir Nisar Ali) = 1831, not 1857.

Concept: Check each statement.

1. a – correct: the Ganga basin is India's largest (about a quarter of the country's area).
2. b – correct: the Bhagirathi rises at Gaumukh (Gangotri glacier) in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand.
3. c – wrong: Satluj and Jhelum belong to the Indus system.
4. d – correct: the Son is the main right-bank tributary (others: Yamuna, Tons… ).

Short trick: Punjab rivers (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj) → Indus; drop c.

Concept: The Khyber Pass, in the Spin Ghar (Safed Koh) range, is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

1. It links Peshawar (Pakistan) with Jalalabad/Kabul (Afghanistan) via Torkham border.
2. It was the historic invasion and trade route into the Indian subcontinent.

Short trick: Khyber → Khyber Pakhtunkhwa → Pakistan.

Concept: The Coriolis effect is the apparent deflection of moving objects caused by the Earth's rotation.

1. Deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern; it is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles.
2. Pressure differences drive winds, and the Coriolis effect deflects them; ocean currents are deflected by it, not its cause; the Moon causes tides.

Short trick: Rotation → Coriolis; Moon → tides.

Concept: Kirsty Coventry, a Zimbabwean former swimmer, was elected IOC President on 20 March 2025 (Costa Navarino, Greece).

1. She is the 10th IOC President, the first woman and the first African; she succeeded Thomas Bach (Germany) in June 2025.
2. She won 7 Olympic medals, including 200 m backstroke gold in 2004 and 2008, and was Zimbabwe's sports minister.

Short trick: First woman + first African IOC chief = Coventry of Zimbabwe.

Concept: NPP 2000 has immediate (unmet contraception needs), medium-term (TFR to replacement level 2.1 by 2010) and long-term objectives.

1. Long-term objective: a stable population by 2045, consistent with economic growth and environment protection → 1 correct.
2. National socio-demographic goals include reducing MMR to below 100 per 100,000 live births (and IMR below 30 per 1000) → 2 correct.

Short trick: NPP 2000: TFR 2.1 by 2010, stable population by 2045, MMR < 100, IMR < 30.

Concept: The capital market deals in long-term funds – equity and debt; the best-known capital markets are the stock market and the bond markets.

1. Stock (share) market → equity capital; bond market → long-term debt capital.
2. A depository account (with NSDL/CDSL) only holds securities in electronic (demat) form – it is a facility, not a market.

Short trick: Capital market = shares + bonds; demat = locker, not market.

Concept: FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) was founded in 1927 on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by G. D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas.

1. It is India's oldest and largest apex business organisation, headquartered in New Delhi.
2. Gandhi only advised; J. R. D. Tata was a co-author of the 1944 Bombay Plan with them, not a FICCI founder.

Short trick: FICCI 1927 = Birla + Thakurdas (Gandhi's advice).

Concept: Right to Equality = Articles 14–18 of the Constitution (the English List-II gives Articles; the Hindi version prints 'अनुसूची' (Schedule), but the numbers 14–17 can only be Articles – the Constitution has just 12 Schedules).

1. Art 14 – equality before law and equal protection of laws → a-I.
2. Art 15 – no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth → b-II.
3. Art 16 – equality of opportunity in public employment → c-III.
4. Art 17 – abolition of untouchability → d-IV (Art 18 – abolition of titles).

Short trick: The rights follow the article order 14-15-16-17 → straight I-II-III-IV.

Concept: Article 81 caps the Lok Sabha at 530 members from the States + 20 from the Union Territories = 550.

1. Earlier, Article 331 allowed the President to nominate 2 Anglo-Indians, which made the maximum 552.
2. The 104th Amendment (2019, effective 25 Jan 2020) ended Anglo-Indian nomination, so the maximum now fixed by the Constitution is 550.
3. 545 was the actual strength (543 elected + 2 nominated) up to the 16th Lok Sabha; 543 elected seats today.

Short trick: Max now 530 + 20 = 550 (552 only before 2020).

Concept: Recall each Article.

1. Art 50 (DPSP) – separation of judiciary from executive → a-II.
2. Art 143 – President may seek the Supreme Court's advisory opinion → b-IV.
3. Art 61 – procedure for impeachment of the President → c-I.
4. Art 320 – functions of Public Service Commissions → d-III.

Short trick: Only option A has a-II and b-IV.