UPHESC Assistant Professor Urdu 2025 PYQs

Concept: Match each wetland to its actual state.

1. Sakhya Sagar (Shivpuri) – Madhya Pradesh (2022) ✔.
2. Sirpur Wetland (Indore) – Madhya Pradesh, not Tripura ✘.
3. Pala Wetland (Saiha) – Mizoram, not Meghalaya ✘.
4. Sur Sarovar / Keetham Lake (Agra) – Uttar Pradesh (2020) ✔ → 1 and 4.

Short trick: Indore has two Ramsar sites – Sirpur and Yashwant Sagar; Mizoram's only one is Pala.

Concept: The Aihole inscription (634 CE) of Chalukya king Pulakeshin II was composed by the Jain poet Ravikirti.

1. In it Ravikirti claims to have attained the fame of Kalidasa and Bharavi – the earliest dated mention of both poets.
2. Prayag Prashasti (Harishena) praises Samudragupta; Bhitari pillar is of Skandagupta; Ayodhya inscription is of Dhanadeva (Shunga).

Short trick: Aihole → Ravikirti → "Kalidasa-Bharavi"; also records Pulakeshin II defeating Harsha.

Concept: During the Zulu (Bambatha) Rebellion of 1906 in Natal, Gandhi raised an Indian Stretcher-Bearer Corps.

1. For the duration of service he was given the temporary rank of Sergeant Major (his autobiography, Part IV).
2. He and his men mostly nursed wounded Zulus, an experience that pushed him towards brahmacharya and Satyagraha.
3. In the Boer War (1899) he had led the Indian Ambulance Corps.

Short trick: Boer War 1899 – Ambulance Corps; Zulu Revolt 1906 – Sergeant Major.

Concept: Babur wrote his memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Baburi (Baburnama), in his mother tongue Chagatai Turkish.

1. It was translated into Persian by Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan in 1589 at Akbar's order.
2. English translations: Leyden & Erskine (1826), A. S. Beveridge (1922).

Short trick: Babur – Turki original; Rahim – Persian translation.

Concept: Public Interest Litigation originated in the USA in the 1960s (civil-rights and legal-aid movements), where it was used to represent unrepresented interests.

1. In India it was developed in the late 1970s–80s by Justices P. N. Bhagwati and V. R. Krishna Iyer by relaxing locus standi.
2. Landmark Indian cases: Hussainara Khatoon (1979), S. P. Gupta (1981).

Short trick: PIL – born in the USA, popularised in India by Bhagwati & Krishna Iyer.

Concept: The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946 in the Constitution Hall (Central Hall), New Delhi.

1. Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the temporary (oldest) President; Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected President on 11 December 1946.
2. Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru on 13 December 1946; Constitution adopted on 26 November 1949.

Short trick: 9-12-1946 first sitting → 26-11-1949 adoption → 26-1-1950 commencement.

Concept: Article 326: elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies shall be on the basis of adult suffrage.

1. Voting age reduced from 21 to 18 years by the 61st Amendment Act, 1988.
2. Art. 324 – Election Commission; Art. 325 – single general electoral roll, no exclusion on religion, race, caste or sex; Art. 327 – Parliament's power to make election laws.

Short trick: 324 Commission, 325 one roll, 326 adult vote, 327 Parliament's law.

Concept: As per FAO world production statistics available when the paper was set, China was the largest producer of rice (paddy) and India the second.

1. India is, however, the largest exporter of rice (about 40% of world trade).
2. Note for later readers: USDA estimates for 2024-25 placed India's milled-rice output (~150 Mt) above China's (~145 Mt), so later sources call India No. 1.

Short trick: Rice: China 1st producer (FAO), India 2nd producer but No. 1 exporter.

Concept: The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme (2020–21) gives incentives on incremental sales of goods made in India in 14 key sectors.

1. Sectors include large-scale electronics/mobile manufacturing, automobiles & auto components, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom, food processing, textiles, solar modules, ACC batteries, specialty steel, drones, white goods, IT hardware.
2. All three given sectors are covered, so "None of the above".

Short trick: PLI started with mobiles, medical devices and pharma (2020), then expanded to 14 sectors.

Concept: Post-1947 land reforms aimed at social justice and higher productivity by giving land to the tiller.

1. Measures: abolition of zamindari/intermediaries, tenancy reforms, land ceiling and redistribution of surplus land to the landless, consolidation of holdings.
2. Real estate, agro-industries or privatisation were never the primary aim.

Short trick: "Land to the tiller" – abolish zamindari, fix ceiling, redistribute surplus.

Concept: Grierson (Linguistic Survey of India) divides Western Hindi into five dialects.

1. Khari Boli (Hindustani/Kauravi), Bangaru (Haryanvi), Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and Bundeli.
2. Urdu grew out of Khari Boli, one of these five.
3. Awadhi, Bagheli and Chhattisgarhi belong to Eastern Hindi, not Western Hindi.

Short trick: Western Hindi = 5 dialects: Khari-Bangaru-Braj-Kannauji-Bundeli ("KBBKB").

Concept: Urdu is a composite language: Indo-Aryan base with Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit and English vocabulary.

1. Assertion: Urdu is widely regarded as an important and sweet (shireen) language — true.
2. Reason: its vocabulary includes words carrying sounds of many languages (e.g. q, kh, gh, z from Arabic-Persian; retroflex t, d, r from Indic) — true.
3. Both statements are correct.

Short trick: Urdu = "lashkari" mixed language — many languages, many sounds.

Concept: Delhi College was established in 1825 from the old Madrasa Ghaziuddin (Ajmeri Gate).

1. The East India Company reorganised the madrasa as Delhi College in 1825.
2. An English section was added in 1828; the Vernacular Translation Society came in 1841–43.
3. Teachers/students: Master Ramchandra, Nazir Ahmad, Muhammad Husain Azad, Zakaullah.

Short trick: Delhi College 1825 — 25 years after Fort William College (1800).

Concept: Hafiz Mahmood Sherani, in "Punjab Mein Urdu" (1928), argued that Urdu was born in Punjab.

1. He held that Muslims who lived in Punjab for about two centuries (Ghaznavid period) carried the language to Delhi.
2. Muhammad Husain Azad derived Urdu from Braj Bhasha; Masood Husain Khan from Haryanvi; Nasiruddin Hashmi from the Deccan.
3. Jamil Jalibi wrote the history of Urdu literature, not this theory.

Short trick: "Punjab Mein Urdu" = Sherani.

Concept: Kannauji is one of the five dialects of Western Hindi.

1. Western Hindi: Khari Boli, Bangaru, Braj, Kannauji, Bundeli.
2. Awadhi is Eastern Hindi; Magadhi is a Bihari/Eastern language; Paishachi is an old Prakrit.

Short trick: Kannauj lies between Braj and Awadh — still on the Western side.

Concept: Nasiruddin Hashmi, in "Dakan Mein Urdu" (1923), called the Deccan the birthplace of Urdu.

1. He pointed to the early literary use of Urdu (Dakhni) in the Bahmani, Qutb Shahi and Adil Shahi courts.
2. Punjab = Sherani; Sindh = Sulaiman Nadvi; Delhi/Haryana region = Masood Husain Khan and others.

Short trick: "Dakan Mein Urdu" = Hashmi.

Concept: Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (Nuqoosh-e-Sulaimani) linked the beginning of Urdu to Sindh.

1. Arabs reached Sindh in 712 CE (Muhammad bin Qasim); Nadvi argued the mixing of Arabic with the local speech began there.
2. Sherani = Punjab; Masood Husain Khan = Haryanvi/Delhi region; Azad = Braj Bhasha.

Short trick: Sindh — first Arab contact (712) — Sulaiman Nadvi.

Concept: Gulzar-e-Naseem (1838) is the masnavi of Pandit Daya Shankar Kaul Naseem of Lucknow.

1. Sehr-ul-Bayan is by Mir Hasan, not Hashmi.
2. Zahr-e-Ishq is by Nawab Mirza Shauq, not Muqimi.
3. Nusrati wrote Gulshan-e-Ishq (and Ali Nama), not "Gulzar-e-Ishq".

Short trick: Gulzar-e-Naseem → Naseem (title carries the poet's takhallus).

Concept: Kadam Rao Padam Rao by Fakhruddin Nizami is the earliest known Dakhni masnavi, written in the Bahmani period.

1. Composed during the reign of Ahmad Shah Wali Bahmani (1421–1435).
2. Adil Shahi (Bijapur) and Qutb Shahi (Golconda) periods came later.

Short trick: Oldest Dakhni masnavi → oldest Deccan dynasty (Bahmani).

Concept: Nusrati, the poet-laureate of Bijapur, was brought up and educated in the royal palace along with Ali Adil Shah II.

1. He wrote Gulshan-e-Ishq, Ali Nama and Tarikh-e-Iskandari.
2. Hasan Shauqi was an earlier Bijapur poet; Bajan belonged to Gujarat; Bahri was a later Deccani Sufi poet.

Short trick: Ali Adil Shah II + childhood companion = Nusrati (who later wrote "Ali Nama").