UPSC Main Exam 2024 Compulsory Subjects ENGLISH Previous Year Question Paper PDF Download
1. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one of the following topics : 100
(a) Paper books are more attractive than their electronic formats.
(b) Ethics in sports.
(c) War as a policy instrument for nations today.
(d) There is no place like home.
2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : \(15 \times 5 = 75\)
British rule in India was a relationship of economic and political domination between an imperial power and its colony. It was based on conquest, consolidated after several wars and followed economic policies designed to serve British interests. Both the parties knew it was unequal, exploitative and based on force. As such it raised moral questions and needed justification. Their self- respect, sense of morality and morale required the British to convince themselves that they were right to rule over India. In order to ensure its orderly and continued existence and secure the co- operation and support of the Indians without whom they simply could not run the country, they also needed to convince their subjects that British rule was in their 'real' interest. It was, of course, possible for them to justify it to themselves in one way and to their subjects in another. However, they knew that such a strategy was open to the charge of inconsistency, even hypocrisy, and inherently precarious.
In order to achieve the dual objective of justifying their rule to themselves and their subjects in a single and consistent language, the British needed to show that they had something to give to the Indians which the latter badly needed, were unable to acquire unaided and was so precious as to compensate for whatever economic and political price they were required to pay. The logic of justification required a perfect match between British gifts and Indian needs, the British strength and the Indian deficiency. Following the fashion of the time the British wrapped their gifts in the language of civilisation, which had latterly replaced Christianity as the unifying principle in Europe, taken over its universalist and proselytising mission and built up an ambiguous and uneasy relationship with it. Although modern civilisation was a co- operative European product, the British role in its creation and dissemination was considerable. They were one of the first to industrialise themselves, more or less to recast their religion, ways of life and thought and major political, economic and other institutions in the light of the dominant liberal culture and to roam all over the world as if possessed by its inherently restless and universal spirit. They claimed to 'represent' or 'embody' it to a greater degree than any other country and saw themselves as its transcendentally or historically accredited 'vehicle'.
Since their civilisation had in their view attained the highest possible level of human existence and cultivated capacities which all men qua men ought to develop, they had no doubt that it was universally desirable. All societies had a common destiny and destination, namely to become civilised in the British way and were to achieve this destiny by the same route. Hence the more 'advanced' among them, that is, those whose journey had brought them closer to the universal destination, provided the models for and had the moral duty to guide those who had not yet started, became stuck, were proceeding in a wrong direction or at an extremely slow pace. The British could not show that they represented the highest level of civilisation without so defining it that it broadly corresponded to their own ways of life and thought. Like all ideological systems they abstracted, reified and absolutised the distinctive features of their ways of life and thought and presented them as a universal norm for evaluating all societies, including their own. Their facts became values for others, an illicit logical move lying at the heart of every ideology. Other societies were therefore always deficient whereas the British was necessarily more or less perfect.
The British argued that they had brought to India the unique and most precious gift of civilisation. Since this civilisation was deemed to be universally desirable, India obviously needed it. All they had to do was show that India lacked it and was unable to acquire it unaided. Unlike some of the other British colonies India had a well- developed literati tradition, a long history of civic life and considerable philosophical, artistic, scientific and other achievements. Since these were supposed to be some of the indices of civilisation, obviously it could not be contemptuously dismissed as uncivilised. Some British writers and leaders did so dismiss it; most, however, acknowledged its great achievements, but contended that they were all in the past and did not redeem its contemporary degeneration. Its social structure and practices were oppressive, unjust and sometimes inhuman; its religions were incomprehensible, replete with meaningless rituals, polytheist, lacking a single authoritative text, and not really religions in the 'proper' sense of the term; its modes of thought were 'mystical and mythological' and largely irrational; and its people were emotional, excitable, undisciplined, unambitious, lacking in self- control, unreliable and very like women and children. The British view of India did, of course, change over time, largely as a result of their increased knowledge of its past and the changes in their conceptions of themselves and the yardsticks they employed. Throughout their rule, however, they continued to think of it as neither wholly uncivilised nor fully civilised but 'semi- civilised' or 'only half- civilised', and of the Indians as a moderately talented people who needed to be disciplined, guided and trained in the ways of civilisation.
(a) Enumerate the agenda of the British rule in India.
(b) Comment on the role of the British in spreading the idea of modern civilization.
(c) Explain the statement "... their civilization, in their view attained the highest possible level of human existence ...."
UPSC Main Exam 2024 Compulsory Subjects ENGLISH Previous Year Question Paper PDF Download
3. Make a précis of the following passage in about one- third of its length. Do not give or suggest a title to it. The précis should be written in your own words: 75
The mad rat race among nations over the globe for development jeopardised the health of man itself. Progress in agriculture and industry is taken a general criterion of development of any country. This craze resulted into unlimited exploitation of every bit of natural resource. The splendid plentifulness of nature is a heritage that should be conserved for future generations and not be spoiled.
Such activities of man had adverse effect on all forms of living organisms in the biosphere. The earth planet alongwith the atmosphere (air, land, water) that sustains life is called the biosphere. Biosphere extends into about \(7\mathrm{km}\) of the earth surface itself, downward into the ocean to depths of about \(10 - 67\mathrm{km}\) and vertically into the air to about \(10\mathrm{km}\) , where life is found to exist.
Unlimited exploitation of nature by man disturbed the delicate ecological balance between living and non- living component of the biosphere. The unfavorable conditions created by man himself threatened the survival not only of man himself but also other living organisms. The number of the species likely to become rare, threatened, endangered or near extinction in the Red Data Book of the IUCN is increasing with time. It is very common to find warnings at public places, reading as "Air unfit for breathing", "Water unfit for drinking", "Do not eat fish caught here" and so on.
India today is one of the first ten industrialised countries of the world. Today we have a good industrial infrastructure in core industries like metals, chemicals, fertilisers, petroleum, food etc. What has come out of these? Pesticides, detergents, plastics, solvents, fuels, paints, dyes, food additives etc. are some examples. Due to progress in atomic energy, there has also been an increase in radioactivity in the biosphere. Besides these, there are a number of industrial effluents and emissions particularly poisonous gases in the atmosphere. Mining activities also added to this problem particularly as solid waste.
Thus, pollution is a necessary evil of all development. Due to lack of development of a culture of pollution control, there has resulted a heavy backlog of gaseous, liquid and solid pollution in our country. It is to be cleaned. Thus pollution control in our country is a recent environmental concern. Not only in India, but in developed Western World also, pollution is a scare- word. Pollution is a man- made problem, mainly of effluent countries. The developed countries have been in a mad race to exploit every bit of natural resource to convert them into goods for their comfort, and to export them to needy developing world. In doing so, the industrialised countries dump lot of materials in their environment which becomes polluted. In one way pollution has been in fact "exported" to developing countries.
What is pollution ? Pollution is an undesirable change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of air, water and soil that may harmfully affect the life or create a potential health hazard of any living organism. Pollution is thus direct or indirect change in any component of the biosphere that is harmful to the living component(s), and in particular undesirable for man, affecting adversely the industrial progress, cultural and natural assets or general environment.
What are pollutants ? Any substance which causes pollution is called a pollutant. A pollutant may thus include any chemical or geochemical (dust, sediment, grit etc.) substance, biotic component or its product, or physical factor (heat) that is released intentionally by man into the environment in such a concentration that may have adverse harmful or unpleasant effects. A pollutant has also been defined as "any solid, liquid or gaseous substance present in such concentration as may be or tend to be injurious to the environment". Pollutants are the residues of things we make, use and throw away. There are many sources of such pollutants. The lakes and rivers are polluted by wastes from chemical and other factories, and the air by gases of automobile exhausts, industries, thermal power plants etc.
There has grown up a serious concern all over the world about the rivers turning murky, fish rotting on sea shores, trees withering, cities choking with foul air, toxic chemicals being cycled into food stuffs and disease epidemics appearing so frequently. (697 words approximately)
4. (a) Rewrite the following sentences after making necessary corrections. Do not make unnecessary changes in the original sentence. 1×10=10
4. (a)(i) Little learning is dangerous thing.
4. (a)(ii) You are requested to kindly grant me leave.
4. (a)(iii) Could you please advised me what I should do.
4. (a)(iv) I envied he his success.
4. (a)(v) If people feel good of coming to work, they will work better.
4. (a)(vi) How terribly sad ?
4. (a)(vii) Spanish is more widely used outside of Europe. (Add a question tag)
4. (a)(viii) He played the piano one night in the village hall.
4. (a)(ix) Many a men has succumbed to this temptation.
4. (a)(x) If she gets the right grades, she'd go to university.
4. (b) Supply the missing words : 1x5=5 4. (b)(i) Don't walk the grass. 4. (b)(ii) I lived in Uttarakhand five years. 4. (b)(iii) He stood tall all his friends in the college. 4. (b)(iv) The cat jumped the well to escape from the dog. 4. (b)(v) She walked the forest to reach her village. 4. (c) Use the correct form of the verb given in brackets : 1x5=5 4. (c)(i) Two plus two four. (make) 4. (c)(ii) We need rain, the garden so dry. (be) 4. (c)(iii) She with a baby girl last week. (bless, passive voice) 4. (c)(iv) I just even talking to him. (bear) 4. (c)(v) you just shut up for a minute! (can) 4. (d) Write the antonyms of the following : 1x5=5 4. (d)(i) Optimist 4. (d)(ii) Gall 4. (d)(iii) Zest 4. (d)(iv) Profit 4. (d)(v) Quick 5. (a) Rewrite the following sentences as directed without changing the meaning : 1x10=10 5. (a)(i) The mangoes are too cheap to be good. (Remove 'too') 5. (a)(ii) The French surrendered Quebec to the English in 1759. (Change the Voice) 5. (a)(iii) Mumbai is richer than most other cities in India. (Use superlative degree) 5. (a)(iv) What though we happen to be late? (Change to Assertive) 5. (a)(v) He betrayed his country, and this was to his eternal disgrace. (Change to simple sentence)
5. (a)(vi) I spent two days in Cox's Bazar. It is one of the most attractive spots in Bangladesh. (Combine by using a phrase in opposition)
5. (a)(vii) The soldiers arrived. The mob dispersed. (Combine by using a Nominative Absolute Construction)
5. (a)(viii) Newton discovered that the force of gravitation made apples fall. (Sequences of Tenses)
5. (a)(ix) Rama said to Arjuna, 'Go away'. (Use indirect speech)
5. (a)(x) Everyone should do his duty. (Concord)
5. (b) Use the following words to make sentences that bring out the meaning clearly. Do not change the form of the words. (No marks will be given for vague and ambiguous sentences)
5. (b)(i) Speculate
5. (b)(ii) Inquisitive
5. (b)(iii) Forbearance
5. (b)(iv) Nocturnal
5. (b)(v) Ineffectually
5. (c) Choose the appropriate word to fill in the blanks :
5. (c)(i) The terrorists made it known that tourists would be ______. (target/targeted)
5. (c)(ii) I'll see you ______ six. (round/around)
5. (c)(iii) How much would it cost to re- lay the lawns? It'll cost ______. (thousand/thousands)
5. (c)(iv) She was forced to have her baby ______. (adopted/adapted)
5. (c)(v) My responsibilities were to organise the campaign, co- ordinate the regional branches, ______ for volunteers, and raise funds. (canvas/canvass)
5. (d) Use the following idioms/phrases in sentences of your own to bring out their meaning clearly. 1×5=5
5. (d)(i) knock off
5. (d)(ii) bite off more than one can chew
5. (d)(iii) fair and square
5. (d)(iv) by the skin of your teeth
5. (d)(v) easier said than done
UPSC MAIN Compulsory Subjects Free PDF Download-ENGLISH
OTHER QUESTION PAPER
UPSC Main Exam 2024 Compulsory Subjects BODO Previous Year Question Paper PDF Download
UPSC Main Exam 2024 Compulsory Subjects Bengali Previous Year Question Paper PDF Download
UPSC Main Exam 2024 Compulsory Subjects ASSAMESE Previous Year Question Paper PDF Download
