General Awareness: World: UPSC Previous Year Questions (General Knowledge)
4 previous year UPSC Prelims questions on General Awareness: World (General Knowledge). Choose an option to see the answer and explanation.
Explanations state facts as of the year each question was asked; words like “recently” refer to that year.
Showing 1–4 of 4 questions
UPSC 2003General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q1. Which one of the following statements is correct?
Explanation
East Timor (Timor-Leste), a Southeast Asian nation with Dili as its capital, was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years before Indonesia occupied it in 1975. Following a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999, where the majority voted for independence, violent clashes erupted. The UN Transitional Administration (UNTAET) took control to restore peace and oversee governance, leading to East Timor’s full independence in 2002. Portugal did not "hand over" the territory to Indonesia in 1975 - instead, Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor following a power vacuum created by the impending withdrawal of Portugal, leading to a civil war within East Timor between political factions. East Timor declared its independence on May 20, 2002.
UPSC 2003General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q2. In which one of the following countries is the rupee its currency?
Explanation
Seychelles is the country where Rupee is used as its currency. Bhutan uses the Ngulturn, Malaysia uses the Malaysian Ringgit and Maldives uses the Maldivian Rufiyaa.
UPSC 2003General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q3. Which one among the following languages has the largest number of speakers in the world?
Explanation
With respect to the year when this was asked, Bengali has largest number of speakers in the world i.e. 207 million, French - 79 million speakers, Japanese - 125 million speakers, Portuguese - 176 milion speakers.
UPSC 2003General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q4. Which among the following countries was the earliest to give women the right to vote?
Explanation
New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1893. The USA gave women full voting rights at the federal level in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. India granted women voting rights in 1950 when India adopted its constitution. Iceland gave women full voting rights in 1915, though initially limited to women over 40.
Answer key for these questions
Q
UPSC year
Correct answer
1
2003
(c) The United Nations took over East Timor in 1999 to prepare it for independence
2
2003
(d) Seychelles
3
2003
(a) Bengali
4
2003
(c) New Zealand
Frequently asked questions
How many previous year UPSC questions are there on General Awareness: World?
This page covers 4 previous year UPSC Prelims GS Paper-I questions on General Awareness: World (General Knowledge), asked from 1996 to 2010. Each has the correct answer and an explanation.
How should I use previous year UPSC questions for Prelims?
Attempt each question first, then open the answer and read the explanation for every option. Repeat by chapter, and track which statements UPSC reuses across years. Previous year questions show the exam pattern and difficulty level.
Which years are covered for General Awareness: World?
Questions on General Awareness: World (General Knowledge) are available for 14 years, from 1996 to 2010. Use the Year filter to practise a single paper.
