This page lists 119 previous year UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination (General Studies Paper-I) questions on the UPSC 2008 Prelims. Choose an option to see the correct answer and the full explanation on the same page.
Explanations state facts as they stood in the year each question was asked, so words like “recently” or “currently” refer to that year, not today. For the present position, check the latest Current Affairs.
Showing 11–20 of 119 questions
A barrel of oil is a standard unit of measurement used in the oil industry worldwide. It represents the volume of crude oil or petroleum products. One barrel of crude oil is equal to approximately 159 litres (42 U.S. gallons). This is the internationally accepted oil barrel volume.
Pair 1 is correctly matched: Francis Collins led the Human Genome Project (HGP), which successfully mapped the entire human DNA sequence. He played a key role in decoding genetic information, impacting medicine and biotechnology.
Pair 2 is correctly matched: Sergey Brin, along with Larry Page, co-founded Google in 1998. They developed PageRank, the algorithm behind Google’s search engine technology.
Pair 3 is correctly matched: Jimmy Wales, co-founded Wikipedia in 2001. Wikipedia became the world’s largest online encyclopedia, offering free knowledge globally.
Option (b) is correct: The First Session of the Indian National Congress (INC) took place in Bombay (now Mumbai) in December 1885. It was chaired by Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee. Other Key Congress Sessions:
Year Place President Highlights 1886(2nd Session) Calcutta Dadabhai Naoroji merger of National Congress and National Conference 1887 Madras Syed Badruddin Tyabji first Muslim President 1888 Allahabad George Yule first British President 1905 Benaras Gopal Krishna Gokhale expressed resentment against the partition of Bengal 1906 Calcutta Dadabhai Naoroji the word ‘swaraj’ mentioned for the first time. 1907 Surat Rash Behari Ghosh split in the Congress into the Moderates and the Extremists.
Statement 1 is correct: The salt-water crocodile, the largest living reptile, is found in coastal regions of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These islands provide a suitable habitat for the species, including mangrove swamps and estuarine areas, which are ideal for the crocodile’s nesting and hunting.
Statement 2 is correct: The shrew is a small mammal found in the forested areas of the Western Ghats, including the Malabar region. The most common is Malabar Shrew. The tapir, specifically the Malayan tapir, is found in the rainforests of the Western Ghats. Tapirs are herbivorous mammals that are adapted to the dense forests and are native to parts of South and Southeast Asia, including the Western Ghats.
Albedo is the measure of a surface’s reflectivity, with higher albedo indicating greater reflection of sunlight, influencing Earth’s temperature and climate.
Statement 1 is correct: Albedo refers to the reflectivity of a surface, or the fraction of light that a surface reflects. A higher albedo means more reflection of light, which causes an object to appear brighter when viewed with reflected light. This is why snowy surfaces (with high albedo) appear brighter than forests or oceans (with low albedo).
Statement 2 is incorrect: Mercury actually has a much lower albedo than Earth. Mercury’s rocky and heavily cratered surface reflects only about 12 to 14% of sunlight, meaning it absorbs the vast majority of incoming sunlight and appears relatively dark. On the other hand, Earth has a higher albedo due to its cloud cover, oceans, and ice caps, which reflect a significant portion of sunlight back into space. Earth’s average albedo is around 0.30 to 0.35.
The albedo scale ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 means a surface absorbs all incoming sunlight (no reflection) and 1 means a surface reflects all incoming sunlight (no absorption). For example, snow and ice have high albedo values of around 0.8-0.9, while forests and oceans have low albedo values, around 0.1-0.2.
Pair 1 is correct: According to the "Press Note on Advance Estimates of National Income, 2008-09" released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the per capita income at current prices during 2008-09 was estimated to be 38,084. Therefore, the figure of 37,000 is approximately correct.
Pair 2 is incorrect: As per the "Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2008" published by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, the production of rice during the 2006-07 crop year was approximately 93.35 million tons. Thus, the figure of 180 million tons is significantly higher than the actual production during that period.
Pair 3 is correct: As per the "Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2008" published by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, wheat production during the 2006-07 crop year was around 75.80 million tons. Therefore, the figure of 75 million tons is approximately correct.
The English East India Company established its first factory in India in 1613 during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627). This historic milestone was achieved when Jahangir granted the Company permission to set up a trading post in Surat, following diplomatic efforts by Sir Thomas Roe. The factory in Surat marked the beginning of a sustained British commercial presence in India and was crucial for accessing the lucrative Indian spice and textile markets. Surat, being a major port city, was central to maritime trade in the Arabian Sea, attracting not only the British but also the Portuguese, Dutch, and other European powers.
The Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919 during the viceroyalty of Lord Chelmsford (1916-1921). Officially known as the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919, it aimed to curb revolutionary activities by allowing imprisonment without trial for up to two years, essentially denying people their basic civil rights.
Statement 1 is Incorrect: The prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour is covered under Article 23, which is part of the Fundamental Rights, not the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
Statement 2 is correct: The prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health, except for medicinal purposes, is included in the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 47, which directs the state to improve public health and to prohibit harmful substances.
The Baudhayan Sulva Sutras contain one of the earliest known statements of the Pythagorean theorem, relating to the lengths of the sides of a right-angled triangle. This ancient Indian text provided a geometric construction method for determining the length of the hypotenuse based on the other sides of the right-angled triangle. It predates the work of Pythagoras. The theorem is significant in the history of Indian mathematics and geometry.
| Q | UPSC year | Correct answer |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | 2008 | (b) 159 litres |
| 12 | 2008 | (d) 1, 2 and 3 |
| 13 | 2008 | (b) Bombay |
| 14 | 2008 | (c) Both 1 and 2 |
| 15 | 2008 | (a) 1 only |
| 16 | 2008 | (d) 1 and 3 only |
| 17 | 2008 | (b) Jahangir |
| 18 | 2008 | (c) Lord Chelmsford |
| 19 | 2008 | (b) 2 only |
| 20 | 2008 | (a) Lengths of sides of a right-angled triangle |
This page covers 119 previous year UPSC Prelims GS Paper-I questions on the UPSC 2008 Prelims, asked between 1995 to 2024. Each has the correct answer and an explanation.
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.
Questions on the UPSC 2008 Prelims are available for 30 years, from 1995 to 2024. Use the Year filter to practise a single paper.
