UPHESC Assistant Professor Zoology 2025 PYQs

Concept: The Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar is given by the Department of Official Language (Ministry of Home Affairs) to ministries, departments, PSUs, banks and town official language committees for outstanding use of Hindi in official work.

1. It is an institutional award for implementing the Official Language Policy (Art. 343–351).
2. It does not promote English or regional languages, and it is not a literary award for poets.
3. A companion award, the Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar, is for original books/articles written in Hindi.

Short trick: "Rajbhasha" = official language Hindi; "Kirti" award = best Hindi use in offices; given on Hindi Diwas (14 September).

Concept: The Utsav portal (utsav.gov.in) was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2022 to showcase festivals, events and live darshans across India for promoting tourism.

1. It lists festivals and events of all States/UTs on one digital calendar.
2. It also live-streams aartis/darshans of major religious places.
3. It was promoted through Indian missions abroad in mid-2022 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Short trick: Utsav portal = Tourism Ministry + Amrit Mahotsav year 2022.

Concept: All four are Booker Prize winning books by authors of Indian origin.

1. Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger (Booker 2008) → a–III.
2. Kiran Desai – The Inheritance of Loss (Booker 2006) → b–II.
3. Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things (Booker 1997) → c–I.
4. V. S. Naipaul – In a Free State (Booker 1971) → d–IV. Only code (B) fits.

Short trick: Bookers in reverse order: Adiga 2008, Desai 2006, Roy 1997, Naipaul 1971 – "Tiger, Loss, Small Things, Free State".

Concept: Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) became the first Indian company to cross a market capitalisation of ₹20 lakh crore on 13 February 2024.

1. Market cap = share price × number of outstanding shares.
2. RIL has been India's most valuable listed company; TCS is second, followed by HDFC Bank.
3. Adani Enterprises is far smaller by market value.

Short trick: Biggest company, first milestone: RIL – first to ₹10, ₹15 and ₹20 lakh crore.

Concept: Nagaur (Rajasthan) is famous for its highly aromatic fenugreek – "Nagauri Kasuri Methi", known across India.

1. Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) of Nagaur has a special fragrance and is the district's identity crop.
2. Coriander is linked with the Hadoti belt (Kota, Baran, Jhalawar, Ramganj Mandi).
3. Garlic is chiefly from Hadoti/Chittorgarh; cumin from Jalore–Barmer belt.

Short trick: Nagaur = Nagauri Methi (and Nagauri bullocks); Ramganj Mandi = coriander.

Concept: RHUMI-1, India's first reusable hybrid rocket, was launched on 24 August 2024 from Thiruvidandhai (ECR, Chennai) using a mobile launcher.

1. Built by Chennai start-up Space Zone India with the Martin Group.
2. It carried 3 CubeSats and 50 PICO satellites for climate/atmospheric research; parts are recoverable by parachute.
3. Hybrid = solid fuel + liquid oxidiser.

Short trick: RHUMI on 24-8-24 – the day and the year both end in 24.

Concept: Each state open university is located in its state's city.

1. Global Open University – Dimapur, Nagaland → a–IV.
2. Netaji Subhas Open University – Kolkata, West Bengal → b–II.
3. Vardhman Mahaveer Open University – Kota, Rajasthan → c–I.
4. Pt. Sundarlal Sharma (Open) University – Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh → d–III. Code (D).

Short trick: Netaji → Bengal (Kolkata); Mahaveer → Rajasthan (Kota); Sundarlal Sharma → Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur).

Concept: Agencies of education are institutions that educate: formal (school), informal (family, community, religious institutions, state, mass media) and non-formal (open/distance education).

1. Family, community and religious institutions are standard informal agencies listed in educational sociology.
2. "General games" is an activity, not an institution/agency, so it is not counted as an agency of education.

Short trick: Agency = an institution (family, community, church/temple); a game is an activity, not an agency.

Concept: Research moves from "what" to "why" to "how" to "doing".

1. First select and define the research problem (I).
2. Then state the objectives of the study (III).
3. Decide the method/design of research to meet them (II).
4. Finally collect data with the chosen method (IV) → I, III, II, IV.

Short trick: P-O-M-D: Problem → Objectives → Method → Data.

Concept: The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved and launched on 29 September 2015 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (now the Ministry of Education).

1. (A) is true – the framework came in 2015; first rankings were released in April 2016.
2. (R) is true – it ranks institutions on five parameters: Teaching-Learning & Resources, Research & Professional Practice, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach & Inclusivity, and Perception.
3. The ranking system was created precisely for this fair, transparent, parameter-based assessment, so (R) explains (A).

Short trick: NIRF = 2015 launch, 2016 first list, 5 parameters (TLR, RP, GO, OI, PR).

Concept: In governance, big data analytics is used for public-service delivery and policy: health surveillance, security and revenue administration.

1. a – disease surveillance (e.g., IDSP, CoWIN/Arogya Setu data) is a key governance use.
2. c – analysing large log/traffic data to detect threats strengthens cyber security (CERT-In).
3. d – tax departments use analytics (e.g., Project Insight, GST network) to detect evasion and raise revenue.
4. b – forecasting election results is done by media/pollsters, not a function of governance.

Short trick: Governance = Health + Security + Revenue; elections forecasting is politics/media.

Concept: Bloom's (1956) cognitive domain has six levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation.

1. Comprehension, Application and Analysis are all cognitive levels.
2. "Organization" belongs to the affective domain (Krathwohl): Receiving, Responding, Valuing, Organization, Characterization.

Short trick: Cognitive: K-C-A-A-S-E; Affective: R-R-V-O-C – "Organization" is affective.

Concept: The standard components of an ICT system are hardware, software, data/information, communication (network), procedures and people.

1. Hardware, software and information are core components of every ICT system.
2. A biometric sensor is only a particular input device – optional, not a basic component of an ICT system.

Short trick: ICT components: H-S-D-P-P-N (Hardware, Software, Data, People, Procedures, Network).

Concept: ROM (Read Only Memory; mask ROM) has its contents written by the manufacturer during fabrication and cannot be changed by the user.

1. RAM is volatile read–write memory, empty until used.
2. PROM is blank when made and is programmed once later by the user (PROM programmer).
3. EPROM can be erased by UV light and reprogrammed.

Short trick: Factory-written = ROM; user-written once = PROM; erasable = EPROM/EEPROM.

Concept: Gemini (Google), Claude (Anthropic) and ChatGPT (OpenAI) are generative-AI chatbots based on large language models.

1. Google Play Store is an app distribution marketplace for Android – a digital store, not an AI tool.

Short trick: Chatbots that talk back = AI; a store that sells apps = not AI.

Concept: Acid rain (pH below 5.6, from SO₂ and NOₓ) falls on land and acidifies the soil, leaching nutrients (Ca, Mg) and releasing toxic aluminium/heavy metals.

1. Ozone, aerosols and smog are air pollutants acting in the atmosphere.
2. Only acid rain directly deposits pollutants into soil and water bodies.

Short trick: Acid rain = air pollution that ends as soil + water pollution.

Concept: The limbic system is a group of brain structures (hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, cingulate gyrus, thalamic nuclei) of the forebrain.

1. It controls emotions, motivation, memory formation and behaviour like hunger, thirst and sexual drive.
2. Being part of the brain, it belongs to the (central) nervous system.

Short trick: Limbic = "emotional brain" → nervous system.

Concept: Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (1971); India had 85 sites by December 2024.

1. a. Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary (Sant Kabir Nagar, UP) – Ramsar site since 2021.
2. b. Ramgarh Lake (Gorakhpur) – not a Ramsar site.
3. c. Sundarban Wetland (West Bengal) – Ramsar site since 2019, India's largest.
4. d. Sultanpur National Park (Gurugram, Haryana) – Ramsar site since 2021.
5. So the correct set is a, c and d. Option (D) "a and c only" leaves out d, and the other options include b, so no option is correct as printed.

Short trick: Haryana's two Ramsar sites: Sultanpur and Bhindawas (both 2021).

Concept: Barren Island, India's (and South Asia's) only active volcano, lies in the Andaman Sea about 135 km north-east of Port Blair, in the Andaman group.

1. Narcondam, a dormant volcano, is also in the Andaman group.
2. Nicobar is south of the 10° Channel; Lakshadweep and Minicoy are coral islands in the Arabian Sea with no volcano.

Short trick: Barren = active volcano; Narcondam = dormant – both Andaman.

Concept: The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) was set up on 3 January 1954 under Dr. Homi J. Bhabha.

1. 1948 – Atomic Energy Commission formed; 1954 – AEET and Department of Atomic Energy (August).
2. In 1967 AEET was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) after Bhabha's death (1966).

Short trick: AEC 1948 → AEET/DAE 1954 → BARC 1967.