General Knowledge: UPSC Previous Year Questions (Prelims)
505 previous year UPSC Prelims General Knowledge questions are on this page, from 1996 to 2010, in 5 chapters. In those years UPSC tested general awareness directly: people, books, institutions, places and events of the time. General Awareness: India is the largest chapter, followed by Contemporary Events: India and General Awareness: World. Every explanation states facts as they stood in the year of the question.
Explanations state facts as of the year each question was asked; words like “recently” refer to that year.
Showing 461–470 of 505 questions
Browse General Knowledge chaptersBrowse by year
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q461. Which of the following pairs are correctly matched? 1. Dow Jones: New York 2. Hang Seng: Seoul 3. FTSE-100: London Select the correct answer using the codes given below: Codes:
Explanation
The Hang Seng Index, or HSI, is a free-float market capitalization-weighted index of the largest companies that trade on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEx). Dow Jones Industrial Average also called Dow Jones: New York (Wall Street). Dow Jones is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 or, informally, the "Footsie" is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Indian Financial market Indexes:
Sensex is meant to denote the most popular market index of 30 companies listed under the Bombay Stock Exchange. Sensex was first introduced on January 1, 1986. NIFTY is a market index introduced by the National Stock Exchange. It showcases the top 50 equity stocks traded in the stock exchange. Nifty 50 Index has an inception date of November 3, 1995.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q462. ‘MERCOSUR’ consists of group of countries of:
Explanation
Mercosur (Southern Common Market) is an economic and political bloc of Latin America established in 1991 through the Treaty of Asuncion to promote economic integration and free trade among member countries. It includes Asunción, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia (approved in July 2024), with Venezuela currently suspended. The Common Market Council serves as the bloc’s highest decision-making body, and its official languages are Spanish and Portuguese. The headquarters is in Montevideo, Uruguay. India and Mercosur concluded negotiations on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2005 to strengthen economic ties.
Additional insight:
Bolivia and Paraguay are the two- landlocked countries in South America. Few other trade Blocs in different continents: ECOWAS (Africa), ASEAN (Asia), European Union(Europe), RCEP (ASEAN countries + China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea).
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · General Awareness: World
Q463. The economist who was associated with the WTO draft document is:
Explanation
Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, is renowned for his contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, and economic justice. He also played a role in the WTO draft document.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q464. The meeting of G-15 countries held in Malaysia in 1997 was attended by:
Explanation
The Group of 15 (G-15) held its Seventh Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from October 28 to November 5, 1997. During this summit, Kenya was admitted as the 16th member of the group. Therefore, the summit was attended by 16 member countries.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q465. According to the World Development Report, low income economics are those for which the per capita GNP in 1994 was:
Explanation
The World Development Report (WDR) 1996, published by the World Bank, classified economies into different income groups based on their Gross National Product (GNP) per capita. According to this report, low-income economies were defined as those with a per capita GNP of $725 or less in 1994. The classification was based on World Bank estimates using the Atlas method, which adjusts for exchange rate fluctuations to provide a more stable measure of income across countries.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q466. The recent Land Mines Conference to sign the historic treaty was held in the Capital city of:
Explanation
The historic treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, known as the Ottawa Treaty or Mine Ban Treaty, was opened for signature in Ottawa, Canada, on December 3, 1997. Representatives from over 120 countries attended this conference to sign the treaty.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q467. Nobel Prize in Economics for the year 1997 was awarded for contribution in the area of:
Explanation
In 1997, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes for their development of a new method to determine the value of derivatives. Their work led to the formulation of the Black-Scholes-Merton model, a foundational tool in financial economics for pricing options and other derivative instruments.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q468. The currency of the proposed European Monetary Union will be:
Explanation
The European Monetary Union (EMU) introduced the Euro () as its official currency. The decision to adopt a single currency was part of the Maastricht Treaty (1992), and the Euro was officially launched on January 1, 1999, for electronic transactions and accounting purposes. Physical Euro banknotes and coins entered circulation on January 1, 2002 in 12 European Union (EU) countries. Today, the Eurozone consists of 20 EU member states that use the Euro as their official currency.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q469. Assertion (A): The United States of America has threatened to ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to apply sanctions against the developing countries for the nonobservance of ILO convention. Reason (R): The United States of America itself has adopted and implemented those ILO conventions.
Explanation
Assertion (A) is true: USA has, in the past, pressured the World Trade Organization (WTO) to impose trade sanctions on developing countries for alleged violations of International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, particularly concerning child labor and labor rights. This aligns with Assertion (A), making it true. Reason (R) is false because the USA itself has not ratified several key ILO conventions, including those related to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and forced labor. The USA has been selective in adopting ILO conventions, often opposing ILO-enforced labor standards through WTO trade measures.
UPSC 1998General Knowledge · Contemporary Events: World
Q470. World Environment Conference to discuss global warming was held in 1997 in:
Explanation
The World Environment Conference to discuss global warming in 1997 was held in Kyoto, Japan. This conference led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.
Answer key for these questions
Q
UPSC year
Correct answer
461
1998
(d) 1 and 3
462
1998
(c) Latin America
463
1998
(a) A.K. Sen
464
1998
(c) 16 member countries
465
1998
(c) US $ 725 or less
466
1998
(a) Canada
467
1998
(b) Financial Economics
468
1998
(b) Euro
469
1998
(c) A is true both R is false
470
1998
(d) Kyoto
What UPSC has tested in General Knowledge
These are single-fact questions: who wrote a book, where an organisation is headquartered, which country hosted an event.
Contemporary-events questions refer to the news of their year, so answers describe the position then, not today.
The chapters split by world and India, and by general awareness and current events, plus sports and games.
Later years’ questions sit under the other subjects on this site and lean toward analytical, statement-based formats.
Frequently asked questions
How many previous year UPSC questions are there on General Knowledge?
This page covers 505 previous year UPSC Prelims GS Paper-I questions on General Knowledge, asked from 1996 to 2010. Each has the correct answer and an explanation.
Which General Knowledge chapters have the most questions?
General Awareness: India has the most with 138 questions, followed by Contemporary Events: India with 118, General Awareness: World with 110, Contemporary Events: World with 99 and Sports and Games with 40.
Are General Knowledge facts still current?
Many remain true, such as authorship and headquarters, but contemporary-events answers describe the position in the year each question was asked. Always check a recent source for the present position before relying on an item.
Why practise these older questions?
They show the style of general-awareness questions UPSC used and the breadth of topics it covered, from literature and institutions to sports. The explanations also build a base of facts that still helps with current affairs.
