YEAR ASKED IN
New
Practice UPSC New previous year questions on Anantam IAS: 0 Prelims MCQs and 596 Mains Q&A with answer keys, explanations and topic-wise links.
Prelims MCQs 0
No Prelims MCQs from New yet.
Mains Q&A 596
Grammar / usage: Word formation — prefixes and suffixes
Grammar / usage: Punctuation in formal writing
Short essay: Can technology serve human values, or must it shape them?
Short essay: The case for rural revival in an urbanising India
Short essay: Secularism in practice — protection, not preference
Précis: A passage on judicial reform and the right to timely justice
Précis: A passage on data protection and the rights of the digital citizen
Précis: A passage on agricultural distress and farm-sector reform
Précis: A passage on the international order in flux
Comprehension passage: Gender and the Indian labour market
Comprehension passage: Urban infrastructure and the geography of inequality
Comprehension passage: Pluralism and constitutional morality
Comprehension passage: Climate change and the limits of growth-first thinking
Comprehension passage: Education in the age of artificial intelligence
Comprehension passage: Indian democracy and the place of dissent
You are the Chief Executive Officer of a Zila Parishad in a district hit by recurrent drought. Your team has detected that the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA muster rolls in 14 panchayats are inflated by approximately 22 per cent — ghost workers, padded man-days, signature-mismatched payments routed to accounts linked to a Sarpanch federation. The leakage is around ₹38 crore over two years. Many of the inflated workers are landless Dalit families who, due to caste-based hostility, are routinely denied legitimate work and would face violent reprisal if the federation is openly named. The Sarpanch federation is the dominant political force in the district. A confidential complaint from a JE has reached your office. Your DDC asks you to ‘go slow until the panchayat elections’. The Social Audit unit is due to visit in three weeks. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved, ethical theories invoked, and the systemic reforms you will set in motion.
You are the District Magistrate of a district where a private cement plant — the largest local employer — has been releasing fly-ash exceeding CPCB norms. The plant management is influential; the local MLA backs continued production citing 3,000 direct jobs. Your Sub-Divisional Officer’s inspection report confirms the violation; the State Pollution Control Board has issued a closure notice that you must enforce. A delegation of plant workers warns of unrest if the plant closes; environmental NGOs threaten to move the NGT. The Chief Secretary has informally asked you to ‘find a balance’. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health overseeing a public-private tender for a new HPV vaccination rollout. During technical evaluation, you discover that the lowest-bidder firm is owned by the brother-in-law of your Minister. The bid is technically compliant; the price advantage is ₹140 crore over the L2 bidder. The procurement officer has cleared the file. The Minister’s PS has ‘reminded’ you that the file is time-sensitive — every week of delay means 2,00,000 unvaccinated adolescent girls. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are SP of a border district where a senior IPS officer — your batchmate’s husband — is rumoured to be receiving cash from a cattle-smuggling syndicate. A constable from your wing brings a covert recording that strongly suggests the rumour is true, but the recording was made without authorisation under the Telegraph Act. Going public will trigger an inquiry that may end the senior officer’s career, expose your constable to retaliation, and strain your spouse’s friendship. Burying the recording protects your peace but enables ongoing smuggling and the loss of a constable killed last month in a related ambush. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.