QUESTION 1 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] What did the medieval Indian designations 'Mahattara' and 'Pattakila' refer to?
Explanation: Both terms referred to village headmen or leading local officials named in medieval land-grant inscriptions.
QUESTION 2 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] What was the 'Ibadat Khana' built by Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri?
Explanation: The Ibadat Khana ('House of Worship') was where Akbar convened scholars from diverse faiths for debate, feeding into his syncretic religious philosophy.
QUESTION 3 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] The Partition of Bengal (1905), enacted by Curzon, lasted until when?
Explanation: The controversial partition was formally annulled by King George V at the 1911 Delhi Durbar, reuniting Bengal.
QUESTION 4 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] Why is the 1929 Congress session historically significant?
Explanation: At the 1929 Lahore session, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress formally adopted 'Poorna Swaraj' as its objective.
QUESTION 5 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] The Ghadr (Ghadar) movement was:
Explanation: The Ghadar Party was founded in 1913 among Indian immigrants on the US West Coast, headquartered in San Francisco.
QUESTION 6 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] What was/were the object(s) of Queen Victoria's 1858 Proclamation: (1) disclaiming any intent to further annex Indian states; (2) placing Indian administration under the British Crown; (3) regulating the East India Company's trade with India?
Explanation: The Proclamation renounced further territorial annexation and transferred governance from the Company to the Crown, but did not deal with regulating Company trade, which had already ended by then.
QUESTION 7 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] What does the term 'venture capital' mean?
Explanation: Venture capital refers to long-term risk capital provided to fund new, often high-growth-potential, entrepreneurial ventures.
QUESTION 8 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] Consider the following pairs: (1) Dampa Tiger Reserve - Mizoram; (2) Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary - Tripura; (3) Saramati Peak - Nagaland. Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
Explanation: Dampa Tiger Reserve is indeed in Mizoram and Saramati peak lies in Nagaland; however, the Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary pairing as originally framed does not hold up, so only pairs 1 and 3 are correctly matched.
QUESTION 9 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] The sales tax you pay while purchasing a toothpaste is a tax collected by which authority?
Explanation: Sales tax on goods like toothpaste is a state subject, imposed and collected by the respective State Government.
QUESTION 10 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] Consider the following pairs: (1) Harike Wetlands - confluence of the Beas and Satluj rivers; (2) Keoladeo Ghana National Park - a natural marsh dependent on canal irrigation; (3) Kolleru Lake - located between the Krishna and Godavari river deltas. Which pair(s) is/are correctly matched?
Explanation: Only the Harike Wetlands pairing is precisely correct as stated - it does mark the confluence of the Beas and Satluj rivers in Punjab; the other two pairs contain inaccuracies about their described character.
QUESTION 11 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] Turkey is located between which two seas?
Explanation: Turkey occupies the Anatolian peninsula, bounded by the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.
QUESTION 12 OF 12
[UPSC Prelims 2014] Budding and grafting, used in fruit plant propagation, are examples of what kind of technique, as distinct from genetic engineering used to create transgenic crops?
Explanation: Budding and grafting are age-old vegetative propagation methods and are distinct from the recombinant-DNA-based techniques actually used to create genetically modified transgenic crops.
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