(Paper) IAS Mains Previous Year Paper History (2007)

IAS Mains Previous Year Paper History (2007)

SECTION – A

Q1. Mark any fifteen of the following places on the map supplied to you and write short descriptive notes on the places marked.4×15=60
(i) Kot digi
(ii) Kalibangan
(iii) Ahicchatra
(iv) Bhimbaitka
(v) Kanauj
(vi) Siddapura
(vii) Udayagiri
(viii) Kaveripoompattinam
(ix) Tiruchirapalli
(x) Sisupalgarh
(xi) Anuradhapura
(xii) Hampi
(xiii) Srirangapatnam
(xiv) Puri
(xv) Kolhapur
(xvi) Haldighati
(xvii) Golconda
(xviii) Chittagong
(xix) Chitore
(xx) Calicut

Q2. ”Reconstruction of Early Indian history is hardly possible without the help of inscriptions and coins.” Discuss.60

Q3. Write what you know of the rise and spread of Buddhism before the first century A.D.60

4. Throw light on the condition of common man in the Gupta period.60

SECTION – B

5. Write short essays in not more than 200 words each on any three of the following: 3×20=60
(a) Alberuni on science in India
(b) The Bahamani Kingdom
(c) Mughal painting
(d) Chauth and Sardeshmukhi of the Maratha rulers

6. Show that the administrative system in India reached a very high level during the Chola period.60

7. ”The tenets of Hindu and Muslim mystics were similar enough that the ground was ripe for syncretic movements involving adherents of both the religions.” Elucidate.60

8. ”Akbar built the Mughal Empire by enlisting the support of the Rajputs; Aurangzeb destroyed it by alienating the Rajputs.” Discuss critically.60

2007-Paper II

HISTORY

Paper II

SECTION – A (Modern India)

Q1. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:3×20=60
(a) “The Revolt of 1857 seemed to call the very presence of the British into question. What it did not do was reverse these change”.
(b) “Of the evils which corroded Indian society in the nineteenth century were probably those which stunted its womanhood.”
(c) “At Karachi in 1931 , the congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses”.
(d) “There is no other instance in the history of mankind of a poet and philosopher working such as a miracle in shaping the destiny of his people” (A Tribute to M. Iqbal)

Q2.Examine the major factors shaping the British land-revenue policy in India. How It affected Indian society?60

Q3. Explain the circumstances leading to the alliance between the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements. Was it a politically wise step on the part of the Congress?60

4. “With great skill and masterful diplomacy and using both persuasion and pressure, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel succeeded in integrating the hundreds of princely states with the Indian Union.” Discuss.60

SECTION – B (World History)

5. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each: 3×20=60
(a) “No event as encompassing as the French Revolution occurs in an intellectual vacuum.”
(b) “New imperialism was a nationalistic, not an economic phenomena.”
(c) “The War’s (First World War’s) most permanent contribution to the spirit or the post-War years was disillusion.”
(d) “NATO in many ways symbolized the key role that the United States had come to play in Europe”

6. Give reasons for the origin of the Renaissance in Italy.60

7. Discuss the main characteristics of Fascism.60

8. ”By the 1980s, the Communist system of the Soviet Union was incapable of maintaining the country’s role as a Superpower.” Explain this statement.60