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 District Magistrate of a hill district where a 60-km road through reserved forest is the only motorable link to 14 tribal villages with 9,200 PVTG residents. A pregnant woman died last month en route to the district hospital because the road was washed out in a cloudburst. The State government has cleared widening of the road from 5.5 m to 10 m to allow ambulances. The Forest Department’s report says the widening will fell 3,700 trees including 280 century-old oaks, and put two springs feeding three villages at risk. Local tribal gram sabhas under FRA 2006 are split — six want the road, eight oppose because the springs are sacred. An environmental NGO has filed an NGT petition. The state Minister is pushing for immediate work to begin before monsoon. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved, ethical theories you draw on, and the institutional mechanisms you will use.
You are the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, in a metropolitan city. A respected social activist has been arrested under provisions invoking the UAPA based on intelligence inputs that you privately believe are thin. Her bail has been denied twice. She is 67, diabetic, and in detention for nine months without trial commencing. The Supreme Court has, in recent judgments, reiterated that ‘bail is the rule, jail the exception’ even under UAPA when trial is unduly delayed. Your political superiors have indicated that any ‘softness’ will end your career; the investigating team has built its identity around the case. An internal whistle from a junior officer hints at fabricated witness statements. International human-rights bodies have flagged the case. The Bar Council has called for her release. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved, the ethical theories you draw on, and the procedural reforms you will recommend.
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.