UPHESC Assistant Professor Military Science 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: Elements of national power (Morgenthau) are tangible (geography, territory, natural resources, population, industrial and military capacity) or intangible (national character, morale, quality of diplomacy/government, leadership).

1. Leadership, quality of government and national character/morale cannot be measured physically – they are intangible.
2. Extent of territory is a geographical, measurable factor – a tangible element.

Short trick: Can you measure it on a map or in numbers? Then it is tangible – territory.

Concept: Deterrence means preventing an adversary from acting by threatening unacceptable punishment – the threat itself does the work.

1. Schelling called it the "exploitation of potential force" – the threat is used, not executed.
2. If the threat has to be carried out, deterrence has already failed; first strike and annihilation are actions, not deterrence.

Short trick: Deterrence = threat used, force unused.

Concept: This classic definition of national security is by Walter Lippmann (U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic, 1943).

1. It has two parts: no need to sacrifice legitimate interests to avoid war, and the ability to defend them by war if challenged.
2. Arnold Wolfers later built on it ("absence of threats to acquired values").

Short trick: Lippmann = "sacrifice / maintain by war" definition.

Concept: Military power rests on manpower, organised armed forces, natural resources, industry and technology.

1. Manpower, armed forces and natural resources directly add to military strength.
2. Inflation is an economic malaise that erodes defence budgets – it does not build military power.

Short trick: Inflation weakens, it never builds.

Concept: National security is comprehensive – economic, social, internal-security and energy policies at home shape the security choices of a state.

1. Budget priorities, industrial and technology policy, internal stability and social cohesion all feed into security decisions.
2. Options A and B deny any link; D is merely administrative and does not describe the relationship.

Short trick: Strong at home = secure abroad.

Concept: Here W.T.O. = Warsaw Treaty Organisation (Warsaw Pact), the Soviet-bloc reply to NATO.

1. NATO – 4 April 1949.
2. SEATO – Manila Pact, September 1954.
3. CENTO – began as the Baghdad Pact, 24 February 1955.
4. Warsaw Pact – 14 May 1955. Order: I, II, IV, III.

Short trick: N-S-C-W: 1949, 1954, Feb 1955, May 1955.

Concept: Collective defence = an alliance of states pledging to defend each other against an external attacker (UN Charter Art. 51).

1. NATO's Article 5: an attack on one is an attack on all – the classic collective-defence pact.
2. League of Nations was a collective-security system (all members against any aggressor, including a member).
3. BRICS and SAARC are economic/regional cooperation bodies, not military alliances.

Short trick: Collective defence = alliance against outsiders (NATO); collective security = all against any aggressor (League/UN).

Concept: The principles of war (Indian/British list) include selection and maintenance of aim, maintenance of morale, offensive action, surprise, concentration of force, economy of effort, security, flexibility, cooperation and administration.

1. Surprise, maintenance of morale and cooperation are all listed principles.
2. The principle is "Offensive action", not defensive action.

Short trick: Wars are won by offensive action – "defensive action" is the odd one out.

Concept: Major-General J.F.C. Fuller was the sharpest critic of the conservative, tradition-bound officer corps, whom he mocked as ‘military monks’; in military-thought texts this line about writing ‘not for military monks but for civilians’ is ascribed to him.

1. Fuller held that war had become the business of the whole nation, so its reform needed an informed civilian public – hence he addressed civilians, not the closed military caste.
2. Mahan wrote on sea power for statesmen and navies, Douhet on air power for military planners; Liddell Hart is linked with the ‘indirect approach’, not this phrase.

Short trick: Fuller vs ‘military monks’ – the reformer writing for civilians.

Concept: The moral condemnation of war belongs to the idealist philosophers, not to military writers. In defence-studies texts the view ‘war is a moral scandal (blot) of man’ is ascribed to Rousseau, for whom man is naturally good and war is the product of corrupt society and the state (The State of War).

1. Jomini and D.K. Palit wrote on the conduct and principles of war, not on its moral condemnation.
2. Quincy Wright (A Study of War) gave a legal/sociological analysis and definition of war.

Short trick: Moralist philosopher = Rousseau; military practitioners = Jomini, Palit.