UPSC 2021 History PYQs with Answers

Halbi, Ho and Kui are tribal languages spoken by tribal communities in India.

In the Punjab river system, Jhelum, Ravi and Chenab ultimately drain into the Chenab/Panjnad system, which joins the Sutlej; Sutlej then joins the Indus directly. Hence Sutlej is the direct joining river among the options.

Oil palm is native to West Africa, not Southeast Asia. Palm oil and derivatives are used in cosmetics such as lipstick/perfume ingredients and can be used to produce biodiesel.

The Ajanta caves are rock-cut Buddhist caves carved into the horseshoe-shaped gorge of the Waghora river near Aurangabad, Maharashtra. They date from about the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE and are celebrated for murals such as the Bodhisattva Padmapani.

Mysore emerged from the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire. Arcot did not simply emerge from Hyderabad State in this framing, and Rohilkhand was not formed from territories occupied by Ahmad Shah Durrani.

Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were INA officers tried in the famous Red Fort trials.

In Mughal administration, pargana was below sarkar, and sarkar below suba; ascending order is Pargana-Sarkar-Suba.

Songs from Prison, an English rendering of devotional lyrics, is associated with Mahatma Gandhi.

On 8 August 1942, the AICC adopted the Quit India Resolution in Bombay.

The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms did not grant voting rights to all women above 21. The Government of India Act, 1935 provided reserved seats for women in legislatures.

Bhavabhuti, Hastimalla and Kshemeshvara are known as playwrights/dramatists in classical and medieval Indian literary traditions.

Mitakshara and Dayabhaga are schools of Hindu inheritance law, not caste-based civil laws. Under Mitakshara sons acquire rights by birth/during father's lifetime, while under Dayabhaga rights arise after the father's death.

Chengiz Khan reached the Indus during Iltutmish's reign. Timur invaded during Nasiruddin Mahmud Tughluq's reign, not Muhammad bin Tughluq, and Vasco da Gama arrived after Deva Raya II.

Nuniz noted women in Vijayanagara involved/expert in activities including wrestling, astrology, accounting and soothsaying.

Between Gupta decline and Harsha, power in north/west India included later Guptas of Magadha, Pushyabhutis of Thanesar, Maukharis of Kanauj and Maitrakas of Valabhi. Paramaras and Yadavas are later dynasties.

In the early seventeenth century, the English East India Company had a factory at Broach/Bharuch. Chicacole and Trichinopoly were not EIC factories in that period.

Dholavira is famous for sophisticated water harvesting, dams, channels and reservoirs in the Harappan context.

Lemongrass contains citronella/citral-type aromatic compounds and is commonly used in natural mosquito repellents.

Furnace oil is a refinery product, used by industries for power/heat, and its combustion releases sulphur emissions. All three statements are correct.

Lender of last resort means RBI provides liquidity to banks facing temporary liquidity crisis, not ordinary lending to industry or routine budget-deficit financing.

Casual workers are entitled to regular working hours/overtime where labour laws apply, and government can notify establishments to pay wages through bank accounts. Universal EPF coverage for all casual workers is not correct.