UPHESC Assistant Professor Sociology 2025, 2026 PYQs

Concept: Among the options, only NDLI is a digital-learning resource for higher education promoted through UGC/the Ministry of Education.

1. NDLI (developed by IIT Kharagpur under NMEICT) is a single-window portal of e-books, theses and lectures for learners.
2. Swachh Bharat is a sanitation campaign; Digital India is a whole-of-government programme, not a UGC initiative.
3. IGNOU is a university, not an initiative.

Short trick: Digital library for learners → NDLI (with SWAYAM, e-PG Pathshala, Shodhganga).

Concept: Convert by repeated division by 2, reading remainders bottom-up.

1. 10 ÷ 2 = 5 r 0; 5 ÷ 2 = 2 r 1; 2 ÷ 2 = 1 r 0; 1 ÷ 2 = 0 r 1.
2. Reading upward: 1010.
3. Check: 8 + 2 = 10. (0110 = 6, 1001 = 9, 1100 = 12.)

Short trick: Place values 8-4-2-1: 10 = 8 + 2 → 1 0 1 0.

Concept: Memory units go up in steps of 1024 (2¹⁰).

1. 1 KB = 1024 bytes; 1 MB = 1024 KB.
2. 1 GB = 1024 MB; 1 TB = 1024 GB.
3. So 1024 kilobytes = 1 MB and 1024 gigabytes = 1 TB.

Short trick: B → KB → MB → GB → TB, each ×1024.

Concept: Calculations on data (formulas, functions, charts) are done in spreadsheet software – MS Excel.

1. MS Access = database management.
2. Google Docs = word processing.
3. MS PowerPoint = presentations.

Short trick: Excel = cells + formulas → calculation.

Concept: An input device sends data into the computer; an output device presents data from it.

1. Bar code reader scans the code and feeds it to the computer – input.
2. Monitor and projector display output.
3. A Braille reader/display shows computer text as raised dots for the visually impaired – output.

Short trick: Reader that SCANS into the PC = input; screen/projector/Braille display = output.

Concept: Phenology studies the timing of periodic life-cycle events (flowering, leaf fall, migration) in relation to climate.

1. Flowering, leaf flush and fruiting dates track temperature and day length – this is phenology.
2. Ecology = organism–environment interactions in general; climatology = study of climate; forestry = managing forests.

Short trick: Pheno = 'appear' – WHEN things appear each season.

Concept: The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000, in force 2003) under the CBD regulates the safe transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs).

1. Wetlands → Ramsar Convention (1971).
2. Ozone layer → Vienna Convention (1985) and Montreal Protocol (1987).
3. Heritage sites → UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972).

Short trick: Cartagena = GMO biosafety; Nagoya = access & benefit sharing (both under CBD).

Concept: Carbon trading (cap-and-trade) lets firms buy and sell permits/credits to emit CO₂.

1. A cap is set; firms emitting less can sell surplus permits to those emitting more (Kyoto Protocol mechanism; India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023).
2. Carbon sequestration = capturing and storing CO₂; carbon sink = forest/ocean that absorbs CO₂.
3. Carbon space = the share of the remaining carbon budget – not a market.

Short trick: Trading = buying & selling → market.

Concept: Dry air by volume: N₂ ≈ 78.08%, O₂ ≈ 20.95%, Ar ≈ 0.93%, CO₂ ≈ 0.04%.

1. Nitrogen (II) > Oxygen (III) > Argon (IV) > Carbon dioxide (I).
2. So the order is II, III, IV, I.

Short trick: 78 – 21 – 0.93 – 0.04: N, O, Ar, CO₂.

Concept: The farther a planet is from the Sun, the longer its orbital period (Kepler's third law, T² ∝ a³).

1. Uranus ≈ 84 years, Saturn ≈ 29.5 years, Jupiter ≈ 11.9 years, Mars ≈ 1.88 years.
2. Descending: Uranus (4), Saturn (1), Jupiter (3), Mars (2) → 4, 1, 3, 2.

Short trick: Distance order outward = Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus; reverse it for 'descending period'.

Concept: A floating body displaces its own weight of liquid (law of flotation).

1. Sea water (≈1.025 g/cm³, due to dissolved salts) is denser than river water (≈1.000 g/cm³).
2. The ship's weight is unchanged, so it needs a smaller displaced volume in sea water – it floats higher (rises a little).
3. Thus R is true and directly explains A.

Short trick: Denser liquid → less sinking (ships carry 'Plimsoll' load lines for fresh vs salt water).

Concept: The AICC met in Delhi on 14–15 June 1947 to ratify the Mountbatten (3 June) Plan.

1. 3 June 1947: Mountbatten announced the partition plan.
2. 14 June 1947: at the AICC meeting Gandhiji, though opposed to partition, advised Congressmen to accept it as the only way out.
3. The AICC then passed the resolution accepting the plan (157 for, 29 against).

Short trick: 3 June = Plan announced; 14 June = AICC (Gandhi) accepts.

Concept: Public health and sanitation is Entry 6 of the State List.

1. The 42nd Amendment (1976) moved five subjects from State to Concurrent List: education (Entry 25), forests, weights and measures (33A), protection of wild animals & birds, and administration of justice (11A).
2. Public health stayed in the State List.

Short trick: 42nd Amendment's five: Education, Forests, Wildlife, Weights & measures, Justice – health is NOT among them.

Concept: Megasthenes was sent by Seleucus Nicator to the court of Chandragupta Maurya at Pataliputra (c. 302 BCE).

1. He wrote 'Indica', describing Mauryan society and administration.
2. Deimachus came to Bindusara's court; Dionysius was sent by Ptolemy II (to Bindusara/Ashoka).
3. Brihadratha was the last Mauryan, killed by Pushyamitra Shunga.

Short trick: Seleucus → Megasthenes → Chandragupta; Antiochus → Deimachus → Bindusara.

Concept: Dyarchy in the provinces was introduced by the Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms), in force from 1921.

1. Provincial subjects were split into 'transferred' (ministers responsible to legislature) and 'reserved' (Governor and executive council).
2. 1909 = Morley–Minto Reforms (separate electorates); 1935 Act abolished provincial dyarchy and introduced it at the Centre; 1937 = provincial elections/ministries.

Short trick: 1919 = dyarchy in provinces; 1935 = provincial autonomy + dyarchy at Centre.

Concept: Article 21A (inserted by the 86th Amendment, 2002) guarantees free and compulsory education to children aged 6–14 years.

1. Implemented through the RTE Act, 2009 (in force 1 April 2010).
2. Article 45 (DPSP) now covers early childhood care and education below 6 years.
3. Article 19 = six freedoms; Article 32 = right to constitutional remedies.

Short trick: 21A = 'A' for Akshar (education); 86th Amendment, 6–14 years.

Concept: The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 gave constitutional status to co-operative societies.

1. It added 'co-operative societies' to Art. 19(1)(c), inserted Art. 43B (DPSP) and Part IXB (Arts. 243ZH–243ZT).
2. 96th (2011) = 'Oriya' → 'Odia'; 99th (2014) = NJAC; 101st (2016) = GST.

Short trick: 97 → Co-operatives (Part IXB); 101 → GST.

Concept: In 2020-21 India's real GVA contracted; the contact-intensive services sector was hit hardest and agriculture was the only sector to grow.

1. Provisional estimates (May 2021): services ≈ −8.4%, industry ≈ −7.0%, agriculture ≈ +3.6%.
2. Trade, hotels, transport and communication alone shrank by about 18%.
3. Worst to least affected: Service, Industry, Agriculture.

Short trick: Lockdown hit 'contact' jobs most; the farm sector was the 'silver lining'.

Concept: Disguised (hidden) unemployment: more people are engaged than needed, so the marginal productivity of the extra workers is zero.

1. Typical case: five family members working on a farm that needs only three – removing two does not reduce output.
2. Underemployment = working below capacity/hours; seasonal = jobless in the off-season; 'formal unemployment' is not a standard category.

Short trick: Disguised = 'looks employed, adds nothing' (MP = 0).

Concept: Budget 2025-26 announced a social security scheme for the welfare of online platform (gig) workers.

1. Platform workers will get identity cards, registration on the e-Shram portal and health care under PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
2. About 1 crore gig workers were expected to benefit.
3. Farm, factory and women workers already had schemes; the 'first time' scheme was for platform workers.

Short trick: Gig workers (delivery/cab apps) → e-Shram + PM-JAY, Budget 2025-26.