2025 Prelims Paper 2 UPSC Question Paper

Directions for the following 4 (four) items:
Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage - 1
Maintaining an ecosystem just to conserve biodiversity will affect its commercial potential as well as the livelihoods dependent on the ecosystem. There is also a conflict between using an ecosystem only for livelihoods, for commercial exploitation, or strictly for conservation. Deforestation caused due to commercial exploitation will lead to indirect harm like floods, siltation problems and microclimatic instability, apart from adversely affecting livelihoods dependent on forests. These conflicts are particularly acute in developing countries where the dependence of people on the ecosystem is significant, and commercial exploitation has the potential to boost national income.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message conveyed by the author of the passage?

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. No country needs to depend on ecosystems to boost national income.
II. Resource-rich countries need to share their resources with those of scant resources so as to prevent the degradation of ecosystems.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage – 2
The history of renewable energy suggests there is a steep learning curve, meaning that, as more is produced, costs fall rapidly because of economies of scale and learning by doing. The firms’ green innovation is path-dependent: the more a firm does, the more it is likely to do in the future. The strongest evidence for this is the collapse in the price of solar energy, which became about 90% cheaper during the 2010s, repeatedly beating forecasts. Moving early and gradually gives economies more time to adjust, allowing them to reap the benefits of path-dependent green investment without much disruption. A late, more chaotic transition is costlier.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage?

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. Path-dependent green investments will eventually most likely benefit growth as well as public finances in a country like India.
II. If other green technologies follow the same pattern as that of solar energy, there will most likely be an easy green transition.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

A natural number N is such that it can be expressed as N = p + q + r, where p, q, and r are distinct factors of N. How many numbers below 50 have this property?

Three prime numbers p, q, and r, each less than 20, are such that p – q = q – r. How many distinct possible values can we get for (p + q + r)?

How many possible values of (p + q + r) are there satisfying 1/p + 1/q + 1/r = 1, where p, q, and r are natural numbers (not necessarily distinct)?

What comes at X and Y respectively in the following sequence?
January, January, December, October, X, March, October, Y, September

Team X scored a total of N runs in 20 overs. Team Y tied the score in 10% less overs. Had Team Y's average run rate (runs per over) been 50% higher, the scores would have been tied in 12 overs. How many runs were scored by Team X?

The price (p) of a commodity is first increased by k%, then decreased by k%; again increased by k%, and again decreased by k%. If the new price is q, then what is the relation between p and q?