UPHESC Assistant Professor Drawing & Painting 2025 PYQs

Concept: Tamil Nadu gets most of its rain in Oct–Dec (retreating/north-east monsoon) from depressions and cyclones formed over the Bay of Bengal.

1. The NE winds pick up moisture over the Bay; tropical depressions and cyclones crossing the Coromandel coast give heavy rain → cyclonic rainfall.
2. Anticyclones bring dry, stable weather, not rain; convectional rain is typical of hot summer afternoons/equatorial areas.

Short trick: Coromandel coast winter rain = Bay of Bengal cyclones.

Concept: Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta in 1815 (forerunner of the Brahmo Sabha, 1828).

1. Vivekananda – Ramakrishna Mission (1897); Dayananda – Arya Samaj (1875).
2. Radha Kant Dev – orthodox leader of the Dharma Sabha (1830), which opposed Roy.

Short trick: Roy: Atmiya Sabha 1815 → Brahmo Sabha 1828.

Concept: Bose was elected Congress President at Haripura (1938), re-elected at Tripuri (1939) defeating Pattabhi Sitaramayya, and resigned in April 1939 after differences with Gandhi; Dr. Rajendra Prasad was then elected President.

1. Bose did not resign in 1938, so the event the question asks about (an election after a 1938 resignation) never happened.
2. Dr. Rajendra Prasad (option D) fits only if the printed year is changed to 1939; Patel, Nehru and Annie Besant do not fit at all.
3. As printed, therefore, no option is correct and the question is treated as a bonus. The fact to remember: Bose resigned in April 1939 → Rajendra Prasad became President.

Short trick: Haripura 1938 (Bose elected) → Tripuri 1939 (re-elected, then resigned) → Rajendra Prasad.

Concept: Match each leader with the movement he led.

1. Tilak – a leader of the Swadeshi movement (1905–07) → III.
2. Shaukat Ali – with Mohammad Ali, led the Khilafat movement → I.
3. Gandhi – Non-Cooperation movement (1920–22) → IV; Bahadur Shah Zafar – nominal leader of the 1857 revolt → II.

Short trick: Tilak-Swadeshi, Ali-Khilafat, Gandhi-NCM, Zafar-1857 → III-I-IV-II.

Concept: The Election Commission of India (Art. 324) is a permanent, independent constitutional body set up on 25 January 1950.

1. (B) Wrong – CEC and ECs are appointed by the President (on the recommendation of a selection committee under the 2023 Act).
2. (C) Wrong as a general power – disqualification of members is decided by the President/Governor on the EC’s opinion; the EC only advises (Art. 103/192).
3. (D) Wrong – it functions all the time (rolls, party recognition, symbols, etc.).

Short trick: ECI = permanent constitutional body (Art. 324), not a seasonal one.

Concept: The core feature of the parliamentary system is the collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature.

1. In India, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Art. 75(3)) and stays in office only while it enjoys its confidence.
2. The judiciary is independent and not responsible to either organ.

Short trick: Parliamentary = executive answerable to Parliament; Presidential = fixed-term executive.

Concept: The Estimates Committee has 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha, elected by proportional representation.

1. Rajya Sabha has no representation on it (unlike the PAC: 15 LS + 7 RS, and the CoPU: 15 LS + 7 RS).
2. A minister cannot be a member; it is called the ‘continuous economy committee’.

Short trick: Estimates = 30, all Lok Sabha.

Concept: Classic economics books and their authors.

1. Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations (1776) → I.
2. Thomas Malthus – An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) → IV.
3. W. Arthur Lewis – The Theory of Economic Growth (1955) → II; Samir Amin – Imperialism and Unequal Development (1977) → III.

Short trick: Smith-Wealth, Malthus-Population, Lewis-Growth, Amin-Imperialism → I-IV-II-III.

Concept: Budget 2025-26 (1 Feb 2025) announced a Makhana Board in Bihar to improve production, processing, value addition and marketing of makhana (fox nut).

1. Bihar (Mithilanchal – Darbhanga, Madhubani, Purnia) produces about 85–90% of India’s makhana.
2. Mithila Makhana has a GI tag (2022).

Short trick: Makhana = Mithila = Bihar.

Concept: ‘Rupee comes from’ (BE 2025-26): borrowings & other liabilities 24 paise, income tax 22, GST 18, corporation tax 17, non-tax revenue 9, union excise 5, customs 4, non-debt capital receipts 1.

1. Among the given options income tax (22 paise) is the largest.
2. GST is 18 paise; excise (5) and customs (4) are much smaller.

Short trick: 2025-26 order: Borrowing 24 > Income tax 22 > GST 18 > Corporate 17.

Concept: Isaac Newton passed white sunlight through a glass prism and showed it splits into seven colours – Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red (VIBGYOR).

1. His prism experiments (1660s) laid the basis of the colour wheel used by painters.
2. Thomas Young (c.1802) and George Palmer (1777) worked on the three-receptor theory of colour vision, not the spectrum.
3. John Joly made an early colour photography screen process (1890s).

Short trick: Prism + 7 colours = Newton.

Concept: Visual arts are perceived through the eye – painting, sculpture, architecture, printmaking etc.

1. Painting, sculpture and architecture are seen – visual (spatial) arts.
2. Poetry is a literary art received through words/sound, not a visual art.

Short trick: Eye = visual art; ear/words = poetry, music.

Concept: A pattern is a motif (unit) repeated regularly to build a new overall design.

1. Proportion = size relation of parts.
2. Harmony = agreement/unity of elements.
3. Texture = surface quality (feel).
4. Only pattern is defined by repetition of a unit.

Short trick: Repeat a motif → Pattern.

Concept: The six limbs (Shadanga) of painting are listed in Yashodhar Pandit’s ‘Jayamangala’ commentary (c. 11th–12th cent.) on Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra.

1. The verse: Rupabheda, Pramanani, Bhava, Lavanya-yojanam, Sadrishyam, Varnikabhanga.
2. Bharat Muni wrote Natyashastra; Mammat – Kavyaprakash; Bhavabhuti – dramatist (Uttararamacharita).

Short trick: Shadanga ← Jayamangala ← Yashodhar.

Concept: Chiaroscuro (Italian: chiaro = light, scuro = dark) is the modelling of form through strong contrast of light and shade on a flat surface.

1. It is a drawing and painting term – Leonardo, Caravaggio, Rembrandt are famous masters.
2. Sculpture and architecture get light-shade from real relief, not from this pictorial device.

Short trick: Chiaro-light + Scuro-dark → painting.

Concept: Traditionally the fine arts are five: architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry.

1. Hegel and the classical scheme rank them from most material (architecture) to least material (poetry).
2. Indian texts also count the same five lalit kalas.

Short trick: ASPMP – Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Poetry = 5.

Concept: Link each text with its author/source.

1. Jayamangala – commentary by Yashodhar Pandit (4).
2. Kamasutra – Vatsyayana (3).
3. Chitrasutram – the painting section of Vishnudharmottara Purana (1).
4. Sadrishyam (likeness) – one of the Shadanga (2).
5. So a-4, b-3, c-1, d-2.

Short trick: Jayamangala → Yashodhar first; only option A starts with 4.

Concept: Lithography reached India through the British in Calcutta in the early 1820s (Government Lithographic Press, c.1822–23).

1. Calcutta was the capital of British India and the first centre of lithographic printing.
2. Goa had India’s first letterpress (1556) – do not confuse it with lithography.
3. Bombay and Madras presses came later.

Short trick: Goa = first printing press; Calcutta = first litho press.

Concept: Collage (French coller = to glue) is picture-making by pasting assorted materials – paper, cloth, photos, objects – on a surface.

1. Popularised by Picasso and Braque (Synthetic Cubism, 1912).
2. Mosaic uses only small tesserae of glass/stone; embossing is raised relief; plastic art means 3-D modelled art.

Short trick: Coller = glue → many materials glued = Collage.

Concept: Performing arts are presented live by performers through the body/voice in time – theatre, dance, music.

1. Installation is a visual (contemporary) art – objects arranged in a space for viewers to experience.
2. So installation is not a performing art.

Short trick: Performer needed → performing art; objects in space → installation.