GS Mains Previous Years Question Paper 1 – 1999

GS Mains Previous Years Question Paper 1 – 1999


1. How did Communalism manifest in Indian political scene? Explain the background of the passing of the momentous Pakistan Resolution.   35

(About 250 words)


What were the proposals of the Cabinet Mission ? Analyse there actions of the Congress and the League to the proposals.   35

(About 250 words)

2. Answer any two of the following :

(About 150 words on each)

(a) Trace the formation of the Swaraj Party. What were its demands.

(b) ‘What began as a flight for religion ended as a war of independence, for there is not the slightest doubt that the rebels wanted to get rid of the alien government and restore the old order of which the king of Delhi was the rightful representative.’ Do you support this viewpoint?

(c) How far Curzon’s policy towards Tibet was influenced by strategic consideration.  15×2=30

3. Answer any three of the following :

(About 75 words on each)

(a) Assess the contributions of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar to the making of  modern India.

(b) In what way did Ramakrishna infuse a new vigour and dynamism into Hinduism ?

(c) ‘Tagore’s poetry is a written record of his religious experience.’ Elucidate.

(d) How did Nehru’s plan for modernization make rapid stride during the decade 1951-61?   10×3=30


(About 20 words on each)

(i) Chola  architecture

(ii) Baisakhi

(iii) Neo-art movement

(b) What do you know about the following ?

(iv) Munda Movement

(v) Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science

(vi) Ilbert  Bill

(vii) Sarda Act

(viii) Education Despatch of 1854

(c) Why have the following become famous ?

(ix) Rammanohar Lohia

(x) C. Y. Chintamani

(xi) Henry Cotton

(xii) Tej Bahadur Sapru

(xiii) Veeresalingam P.K.

(xiv) Bhulabhai Desai

(xv) Kamladevi Chattopadhyay    2 x 15 =30

5. What are the highlights of the draft nuclear doctrine formulated by the National Security Advisory Board ? What shortcomings have been pointed out in media reports relating to the same?   35

(About 250 words)


What are the reasons for the recent diplomatic confrontation between the  U.S.E. and China? What specific measures have been taken by the U.S.E. to defuse the tension building up the Taiwan strait?  35

(About 250 words)

6. Attempt any three of the following :

(About 100 words on each)

(a) What new type of satellite is proposed to be inducted for bolstering surveillance on India’s boarder? How does this type of satellite compare with existing IRS satellites?

(b) Explain in brief the observations made by the leaders of the Group of Eight countries in their meeting in Cologne on Kargil intrusion by Pakistan.

(c) What are the major provisions of the New Telecom Policy approved by the Government? What has been the decision of the Delhi High Court in this respect?

(d) Analyse the recent French response to India’s diplomatic efforts for promoting Indo-French friendship.   10 x 3 =30

7. Attempt any five of the following :

(About 50 words on each)

(a) What was the rationale for the recourse to air strikes by the Indian Air Force during Operation Vijay ?

(b) What is Deep-water Oil Exploration? What are its prospects in India?

(c) Has India the capability to make a Neutron Bomb?

(d) What percentage of GDP India spends of defence? To what extent defence expenditure should be increased ?

(e) What is ‘Chandra’ ? For what purpose it has been launched?

(f)  What is the most important provision of the Wye River Accord?

(g) What is Al Khalid ? What are its features?   6 x 5=30


(About 20 words on each)

(i) Dr. Sam Nujoma

(ii) Mahendra Chaudhry

(iii) Colonel Eileen Collins

(iv) Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam

(v) David Ogilvy

(vi) Jyotirmoyee Sikdar

(b) What do you know about the following?

(vii) Martha’svineyard

(viii) Mianmari Creek

(ix) Karabash

(c) Name the authors of the following books ?

(x) Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse

(xi) My Childhood Days

(d) Answer the following :

(xii) Who became the highest wicket taker in the World Cup 1999 ?

(xiii) Which film won the Best film award at the Cannes International Film Festival this year? Name the directors.

(xiv) Which film won the Special Jury Award for Experimental Cinema at the 46th National Film Festival? Name the director.

(xv) Who won the 1999 French open Doubles title?  2 x 15=30



9. Enrolments in different faculties, in the Universities of a state, for the period 1993-94 to 1995-96 are described below :
Enrolment in Arts faculty during the three sessions were 1,20,605; 1,35,100; and 1,50,000 respectively. In Commerce, Science, Law and Education faculties the enrolment in the session 1993-94 were 90,000; 60,500; 50,500 and 45,600 respectively. During the next two sessions the enrolment figures in the Science faculty were 65,210 and 70,300 while in Law and Education faculties the corresponding figures were 55,000; 60,000 and 48,000; 50,000respectively. In Commerce faculty the enrolment during 1994-95 and 1995-96 were 1,15,000 and 1,22,250.

(a) Represent the information in tabular form.  10

(b) From your table calculate the increase in total enrolment from 1993-94 to 1995-96.  2

10. (a) A pie chart is to be constructed to represent the distribution of total budget of a government. The total budget is Rs. 7200 crores. Out of this Rs. 360 crores is budgeted for Agriculture, Rs. 90 crores for irrigation, Rs. 90 crores for Education, Rs. 540 crores for Defence, Rs. 72 crores for Health and Rs. 108 crores for Industry. The remaining amount is budgeted for other (miscellaneous) heads. Provide the percentages and angle measures of all the above heads in a tabular form.  7
(b) In a housing complex there are 20 families. A family having annual income of Rs. 1.8 lacs leaves and another with annual income of Rs. 3.0 lacs moves in. What change is caused to the average monthly income of the housing complex due to this replacement?   5

11. (a) Given below are the percentages of words of different lengths used by an author in his entire work:


Number of letters in a word Percentage
1. 4.5
2. 16.0
3. 21.5
4. 24.0
5. 12.0
6. 7.0
7. 5.0
8. 4.0
9. 3.0
10. 2.5
11. 0.4
12. 0.1

(i)  What is the total percentage of words of length 8 or more?   3

(ii) What is the maximum number of letters contained the shortest 78% of the words?   4

(b) Name the most appropriate diagram to be used for representing the information in each of the following cases :

(i) Scientific manpower in four consecutive years in four different fields of science.

(ii) Distribution of the number of children belonging to a school by their ages.

(iii) The percentages of persons serving in different branches of the army such as infantry, artillary, signals, etc.

(iv) The production of wheat in India in each year from 1955 to 1984.

(v) The heights and weights of the 50 children in a high school class.   5

12. (a) A group of freedom fighters met in 1998 and their average age was 81.7 years. The survivors of this group met again in 1999 and their average age was 81.0 Explain why has the average decreased when everyone in the second group is one year older than what they were in 1998. 4

(b) Below is given the gross corporate sector output in four selected years at current prices and also the inflation factor for these years. Calculate the gross output for these years adjusted for inflation.  6


Year 1980-81 1985-86 1990-91 1995-96
Out put at current prices

(thousands of crores)

28.6 49.1 126.6 305.64
Inflation factor 1.0 1.39 1.98 3.05

(c) In report it is quoted that 65% of the women and 30% of the men in a locality were against the opening of a liquor store in their locality. Thus it is argued that, an overwhelming 95% of the total population is against the opening of the liquor store. Is this argument justifiable? Give reasons.  2

(d) Six lots of twenty guinea-pigs each were administered carcinogenic drugs in an experiment. After 6 weeks the percentage of survivors in the six lots were:


Lot No 1 2 3 4 5 6
Percentage of survivors 53 86 48 27 8 24

Is this data prima facie plausible? Give reasons for your answer.   2


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