GS Mains IAS Previous Years Question Paper 1 – 2005

1. Answer any one of the following question (in about 250 words): 30

(a) What in your opinion were the positive steps taken by the British to modernize India?

(b) Examine the policy of Subordinate Union towards Princely States. Account for shift from the policy of Subordinate Isolation.

2. Answer any two of the following question (in about 150 words each):    15×2=30

(a) “ In the Montagu-Chelmsford Report communal representation and reservations were not only retained but considerably extended.” Comment.

(b) Evaluate Subhas Chandra Bose’s contribution to India’s freedom.

(c) Why and how did the Congress come to accept the partition of the country?

3. Write about the following 9not exceeding 20 words each):    2×15=30

(a) Yajnavalkya Smriti

(b) Sutta Pitaka

(c) Bhagawati Sutra

(d) Gangaikonda-Cholapuram

(e) Nizamuddin Auliya

(f) Radas

(g) Calcutta Madrasa

(h) Jagat Seth

(i) Bhawani Mandir

(j) Baba Ram Chandra

(k) Pandita Ramabai

(l) Sir Thomas Roe

(m) Moplah Rebellion

(n) Tavernier

(o) Darul-Uloom

4. Answer any two of the following (in about 125 words each):    10×2=20

(a) What are the resource bases available for the economic development of by the newly created States of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal?

(b) Elucidate the factors contributing to the growing need for water harvesting in India, both rural and urban.

(c) “Political boundaries and regional boundaries need to be co-terminus.” Do you agree?

5. Write note on the following (in about 20 words each):    2×5=10

(a) Regurs

(b) Karewas

(c) Negative impacts of shifting cultivation

(d) Cases of droughts in India

(e) Significance of Lake Chilka

6. Answer any one of the following (in about 250 words each)    30

(a) Comment on the financial relation between the Union and the States in India. Has post-1991 liberlization in any way affected it?

(b) Is it possible to distinguish between judicial review and judicial activism in India? Does the recent behavior of the Indian judiciary partake more of judicial activism? Argue with suitable example.

7. Answer any one of the following (in about 250 words):    30

(a) Would you say that the implementation of the Panchayati System in the last ten years has led to a real restructuring of the Indian polity?

(b) Give your views on the right to freedom of religions as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Do they make India a secular State?

8. Answer any two of the following (in about 150 words each) :        15×2 = 30

(a) What are thw constitutional limitations on the free movements of Indians throughout the country?

(b) How has the Indian State tackled the trade-off between environment and development?

(c) What are the steps that the Election Commission may take if a recalcitrant State Government wants to put off Assembly Elections?

9. Answer the following questions (in about 20 words each) :    2×5 = 10

(a) What is meant by ‘double jeopardy’?

(b) What are the protections afforded to Scheduled Tribes in the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution?

(c) In what ways can the President of India ascertain the views of the Supreme Court on a particular bill?

(d) What is the common point between Articles 14 and 226 of the Indian Constitution?

(e) Who and what does the Indian Parliament consist of?

10. Answer any one of the following questions (in about 250 words) :    30

(a) Discuss the impact of globalization on higher education in India.

(b) What is the disaster management? Discuss the steps required to tackle natural disasters.

11. Answer any two of the following questions (in about 125 words each) :        10×2 = 20

(a) Explain the implications of the recent Supreme Court Verdict on reservations in private and minority educational institutions.

(b) What is the energy Independence? Discuss how India can be transformed into an ‘Energy-independent Nation.’

(c) What is eco-tourism? How could it be promoted in India?

12. Write notes on any two of the following (in about 125 words each) :10×2 = 20

(a) Sethusamudram  Project

(b) Causes of soil erosion and its control in India

(c) Use of Information technology in health management in India

13. Write short notes on the following (in about 20 words each) :    2×5 = 10

(a) Equal rights for women in parental property

(b) National knowledge Commission

(c) Genetically modified seeds

(d) Ban on bar dancing

(e) Rehabilitation of Street children in India