UPHESC Assistant Professor History 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: Al-Qamus al-Muhit (‘the surrounding ocean’), the most famous classical Arabic dictionary, was compiled by Majd al-Din Muhammad al-Firuzabadi (d. 1415).

1. Firdausi wrote the Persian Shahnama; Badayuni wrote Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh; Barani wrote Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi; Ali Kufi wrote Chachnama.
2. None of them compiled an Arabic dictionary, so only b is correct.

Short trick: Qamus = ‘dictionary’ in Arabic/Urdu itself, named after Firuzabadi’s work.

Concept: Fakhr-i-Mudabbir’s Adab-ul-Harb wa-al-Shuja‘at is a treatise on the art of war and statecraft, dedicated to Sultan Iltutmish.

1. Fakhr-i-Mudabbir also wrote Shajara-i-Ansab (genealogies), presented to Qutbuddin Aibak.
2. His war-manual, written later, was dedicated to Iltutmish.

Short trick: Fakhr-i-Mudabbir: genealogy → Aibak, warfare (Adab-ul-Harb) → Iltutmish.

Concept: The Nalayira Divya Prabandham (‘4000 divine verses’) is the collection of hymns of the 12 Vaishnava Alvars, composed in Tamil (6th–9th c.).

1. It was compiled by Nathamuni in the 9th–10th century.
2. Called the ‘Dravida Veda’ or Tamil Veda; Bhakti began in the Tamil country.

Short trick: Nalayiram = 4000 in Tamil – the clue is in the name.

Concept: Niccolao Manucci, a Venetian who served Dara Shikoh and lived in India c. 1656–1717, wrote Storia do Mogor (History of the Mughals).

1. Rihla – Ibn Battuta.
2. Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga – Portuguese chronicles of Vijayanagara (Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz).
3. A Forgotten Empire – Robert Sewell (1900) on Vijayanagara.

Short trick: Manucci → Mogor (Mughal); Bisnaga/Forgotten Empire → Vijayanagara.

Concept: Travellers to 15th–16th century South India came from different lands.

1. Nicolo de Conti – Venetian, visited Vijayanagara c. 1420 (Devaraya I).
2. Domingo Paes – Portuguese, c. 1520 (Krishnadevaraya).
3. Athanasius Nikitin – Russian merchant from Tver, in the Bahmani kingdom 1469–72.
4. Abdur Razzaq – Persian envoy of Shahrukh (Timurid), at Vijayanagara 1443 (Devaraya II).

Short trick: C-V (Conti-Venice), P-P (Paes-Portugal), N-R (Nikitin-Russia), R-P (Razzaq-Persia).

Concept: R. P. Tripathi (Some Aspects of Muslim Administration) wrote that the history of Muslim sovereignty in India begins with Iltutmish.

1. Iltutmish received the investiture (manshur) from the Abbasid Caliph in 1229, giving the Sultanate legal sovereignty.
2. He freed Delhi from dependence on Ghazni/Ghur and organised iqta, coinage (tanka, jital) and the Chahalgani.

Short trick: Real founder/consolidator of the Sultanate = Iltutmish (Tripathi).

Concept: Humayun (as described by Khwandamir in Qanun-i-Humayuni) divided his courtiers into three classes; the officials and nobles were styled Ahl-i-Daulat (‘people of the State’).

1. The three classes: Ahl-i-Daulat (nobles, officials, soldiers), Ahl-i-Sa‘adat (religious men, scholars), Ahl-i-Murad (artists, musicians).
2. Thus the ‘Daulat’ designation as a court rank was Humayun’s creation; Sher Shah was not a Mughal and Dara never ruled.

Short trick: Humayun’s astrologically ordered court: Daulat – Sa‘adat – Murad.

Concept: The dang was a small unit of currency (a fraction of the copper/billon jital) used in Sultanate price lists.

1. Barani, describing Alauddin Khalji’s market control, quotes cheap prices in jitals and dangs.
2. So ‘dang’ is a money unit, not a tax, art form or officer.

Short trick: Tanka (silver) → jital (copper) → dang (smaller fraction).

Concept: Ghaibana (from Arabic ghaib = absent) meant conferring an honour – robe (khil‘at), title or mansab increase – on a noble who was away from court.

1. The farman and khil‘at were sent to him; he received them with prescribed ceremony (taslim towards the capital).
2. Nothing to do with wives, princes or the army chief as such.

Short trick: Ghaib = absent → honour sent ‘in absentia’.

Concept: Nabud (‘non-existent’) denoted crop failure; under the zabti system remission (deduction from assessment) was granted for such losses caused by drought, flood, hail etc.

1. Revenue was assessed only on the area actually harvested; the failed area was entered as nabud and excluded.
2. Royal correspondence was handled by the munshi/waqia-navis, not ‘nabud’.

Short trick: Nabud = ‘nothing there’ → no crop → no revenue.