GEOGRAPHY GENERAL STUDIES-I MAINS PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS
SYLLABUS (GS I) – GEOGRAPHY 1.Salient features of world’s physical geography.
2.Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asian and the Indian sub-continent): factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India)
3.Important Geophysical phenomena such as Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity,Cyclone etc.,geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
2019
1.Assess the impact of global warming on the coral life system with examples. 10 marks
2.Discuss the causes of depletion of mangroves and explain their importance in maintaining coastal ecology. 10 marks
3.Can the strategy of regional resource-based manufacturing help in promoting employment in India? 10 marks
4.Discuss the factors for localisation of agro-based food processing industries of North-West India. 10 marks
5. What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India? 15 marks
6. How can the mountain ecosystem be restored from the negative impact of development initiatives and tourism? 15 marks
7. How is efficient and affordable urban mass transport key to the rapid economic development of India? 15 marks
8.How do ocean currents and water masses differ in their impacts on marine life and coastal environment? Give suitable examples. 15 marks.
2018
1.Why is India taking keen interest in resources of Arctic Region? (Answer in 150 words) 10 Marks
2. Define mantle plume and explain its role in plate tectonics. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
3.What are the consequences of spreading of ‘Dead Zones’ on marine ecosystem? (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
4. “The ideal solution of depleting ground water resources in India is water harvesting system”. How can it be made effective in urban areas? (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
5. Defining blue revolution, explain the problems and strategies for pisciculture development in India. (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
6. What is the significance of Industrial Corridors in India? Identifying industrial corridors, explain their main characteristics. (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
2017
1.How does the Juno Mission of NASA help to understand the origin and evolution of the Earth? (150 words) 10 Mark
2.“Inspite of adverse environmental impact, coal mining is still inevitable for development”. Discuss (150 words) 10 Mark
3.How does the cryosphere affect global climate? (150 words) 10 Marks
4. Account for variations in oceanic salinity and discuss its multi-dimensional effects. (250 words) 15 marks
5.Petroleum refineries are not necessarily located nearer to crude oil producing areas, particularly in many of the developing countries. Explain its implications. (250 words) 15 marks
6. In what way can floods be converted into a sustainable source of irrigation and all-weather inland navigation in India? (250 words) 15 marks
7. What characteristics can be assigned to monsoon climate that succeeds in feeding more than 50 percent of the world population residing in Monsoon Asia? (250 words) 15 marks
8. “The growth of cities as I.T. hubs has opened up new avenues of employment, but has also created new problems”. Substantiate this statement with examples (250 words) 15 marks
2016
1. Discuss the concept of air mass and explain its role in macro-climatic changes. 12.5
2. “The Himalayas are highly prone to landslides.” Discuss the causes and suggest suitable measures of mitigation. 12.5
3. The effective management of land and water resources will drastically reduce the human miseries. Explain. 12.5
4. Major cities of India are becoming more vulnerable to flood conditions. Discuss 12.5
5. Enumerate the problems and prospects of inland water transport in ll 12.5
6. In what way micro -watershed development projects help in water conservation in drought-prone and semi-arid regions of India? 12.5
2015
1. Explain the factors responsible for the origin of ocean currents. How do they influence regional climates, fishing and navigation? 12.5
2. How far do you agree that the behaviour of the Indian monsoon has been changing due to humanizing landscapes? Discuss. 12.5
3. India is well endowed with fresh water resources. Critically examine why it still suffers from water scarcity. 12.5
4.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three mega cities of the country but the air pollution is much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so? 12.5
5. Smart cities in India cannot sustain without smart villages. Discuss this statement in the backdrop of rural urban integration. 12.5
6. What are the economic significances of discovery of oil in Arctic Sea and its possible environmental consequences? 12.5
7. The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are reaching the limits of their ecological carrying capacity due to tourism. Critically evaluate. 12.5
2014
1. Most of the unusual climatic happenings are explained as an outcome of the El-Nino effect. Do you agree? 10
2. Why are the world’s fold mountain systems located along the margins of continents? Bring out the association between the global distribution of fold mountains and the earthquakes and volcanoes. 10
3. Explain the formation of thousands of islands in Indonesian and Philippines archipelagos. 10
4. Tropical cyclones are largely confined to South China Sea, Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mexico. Why? 10
5. Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent. 10
6. Why did the Green Revolution in India virtually by-pass the eastern region despite fertile soil and good availability of water? 10
7. Whereas the British planters had developed tea gardens all along the Shivaliks and Lesser Himalayas from Assam to Himachal Pradesh, in effect they did not succeed beyond the Darjeeling area. Explain. 10
8. Account for the change in the spatial pattern of the Iron and Steel industry in the world. 10
9. Critically evaluate the various resources of the oceans which can be harnessed to meet the resource crisis in the world. 10
10. How does India see its place in the economic space of rising natural resource rich Africa? 10
2013
1. (a) What do you understand by the theory of ‘continental drift’? Discuss the prominent evidence in its support. (100 words) 5
(b) The recent cyclone on east coast of India was called ‘Phailin’. How are the tropical cyclones named across the world? Elaborate. (100 words) 5
2. (a) Bring out the causes for the formation of heat islands in the urban habitat of the world. (100 words) 5
(b) What do you understand by the phenomenon of ‘temperature inversion’ in meteorology? How does it affect weather and the habitants of the place? 5 (100 words)
3. Major hot deserts in northern hemisphere are located between 20-300 N latitudes and on the western side of the continent. Why? (200 words) 10
4. (a) Bring out the causes for more frequent occurrence of landslides in the Himalayas than in the Western Ghats. (100 words) 5
(b) There is no formation of deltas by rivers of the Western Ghats. Why? 5
5. (a) Do you agree that there is a growing trend of opening new sugar mills in southern States of India? Discuss with justification. (100 Words) 5
(b) Analyze the factors for the highly decentralized cotton textile industry in India. (100 words) 5
6. With growing scarcity of fossil fuels, the atomic energy is gaining more and more significance in India. Discuss the availability of raw material required for the generation of atomic energy in India and in the world. (200 words) 10
7. It is said that India has substantial reserve of shale oil and gas, which can feed the needs of the country for quarter century. However, tapping of the resource does not appear to be high on the agenda. Discuss critically the availability and issues involved. (200 words)