UPSC CSE Main Past Year Paper 2015: Compulsory English | UPSC Previous Year Question Papers and Video Analysis PDF Download

 Page 1


r Q r ia iu i
V'4 *
tfrRffdOlS
C-AVZ-O-FOHC
ENGLISH
( COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 300
QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Please read each o f the following instructions carefully before attempting 
questions:
All questions are to be attempted.
The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.
Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be 
clearly struck off.
Ql. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic :
(a) Impact of politics on society
(b) E-commerce : a win-win situation for all
(c) Harassment of women at workplaces
(d) Does the Indian cinema reflect social reality ?
100
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 1
Page 2


r Q r ia iu i
V'4 *
tfrRffdOlS
C-AVZ-O-FOHC
ENGLISH
( COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 300
QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Please read each o f the following instructions carefully before attempting 
questions:
All questions are to be attempted.
The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.
Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be 
clearly struck off.
Ql. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic :
(a) Impact of politics on society
(b) E-commerce : a win-win situation for all
(c) Harassment of women at workplaces
(d) Does the Indian cinema reflect social reality ?
100
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 1
Q2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the
questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : 15x5=75
A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and 
consequently living conditions are threatening for plant and animal life. The 
lack of vegetation exposes the vulnerable surface of the ground to the processes 
of denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or 
semi-arid. Deserts are usually hot and barren places; yet they are also 
beautiful. A few plants, rocks and dusty red-brown soil make up the 
ingredients of most North American deserts where there is sufficient food and 
water for certain animals to survive. Deserts cover more than one-fifth of the 
Earth’s land and they are found on every continent. A place that receives less 
than 10 inches of rain per year is normally considered a desert. They are part 
of a wider classification of regions called “dry land”. These areas exist under a 
moisture deficit, which means they repeatedly lose more moisture through 
evaporation than they receive from annual precipitation.
Deserts are biologically rich habitats with a vast array of animals and 
plants that have adapted to harsh conditions there. Some deserts are among 
the planet’s last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion 
people, one-sixth of the Earth’s population, actually live in the desert regions.
Despite the common notion of deserts as dry and hot, there are cold 
deserts as well. One famous dry and hot place in the world with no visible rock 
or plant and barely any water is the Sahara desert. It is the largest hot desert 
in the world that reaches temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit during 
the day. Some deserts are very cold, like the Gobi desert in Asia and the desert 
on the continent of Antarctica. Only about 10 percent of deserts are covered by 
sand dunes. The driest deserts get less than half an inch of precipitation each 
year and that is from condensed fog.
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 2
Page 3


r Q r ia iu i
V'4 *
tfrRffdOlS
C-AVZ-O-FOHC
ENGLISH
( COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 300
QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Please read each o f the following instructions carefully before attempting 
questions:
All questions are to be attempted.
The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.
Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be 
clearly struck off.
Ql. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic :
(a) Impact of politics on society
(b) E-commerce : a win-win situation for all
(c) Harassment of women at workplaces
(d) Does the Indian cinema reflect social reality ?
100
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 1
Q2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the
questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : 15x5=75
A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and 
consequently living conditions are threatening for plant and animal life. The 
lack of vegetation exposes the vulnerable surface of the ground to the processes 
of denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or 
semi-arid. Deserts are usually hot and barren places; yet they are also 
beautiful. A few plants, rocks and dusty red-brown soil make up the 
ingredients of most North American deserts where there is sufficient food and 
water for certain animals to survive. Deserts cover more than one-fifth of the 
Earth’s land and they are found on every continent. A place that receives less 
than 10 inches of rain per year is normally considered a desert. They are part 
of a wider classification of regions called “dry land”. These areas exist under a 
moisture deficit, which means they repeatedly lose more moisture through 
evaporation than they receive from annual precipitation.
Deserts are biologically rich habitats with a vast array of animals and 
plants that have adapted to harsh conditions there. Some deserts are among 
the planet’s last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion 
people, one-sixth of the Earth’s population, actually live in the desert regions.
Despite the common notion of deserts as dry and hot, there are cold 
deserts as well. One famous dry and hot place in the world with no visible rock 
or plant and barely any water is the Sahara desert. It is the largest hot desert 
in the world that reaches temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit during 
the day. Some deserts are very cold, like the Gobi desert in Asia and the desert 
on the continent of Antarctica. Only about 10 percent of deserts are covered by 
sand dunes. The driest deserts get less than half an inch of precipitation each 
year and that is from condensed fog.
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 2
Desert animals have adapted ways to help them keep cool and use less
_ _ _ _ _
water. Camels, for example, can go for days without food and water. The hump 
stores fat, which can be used as both a food and a water source for the animal 
when the going gets tough. Camels also have thick hair in their ears for 
keeping out sand; they also sport closable nostrils, an eye membrane, and wide 
feet that act like snow-shoes in the land.
Desert plants may have to go without fresh water for years at a time. 
Some plants have adapted to the arid climate by growing long roots that tap 
water from deep underground. Other plants, such as cacti, have special means 
of storing and conserving water. Many desert plants can live to be hundreds of 
years old.
Some of the world’s semi-arid regions are turning into deserts at an 
alarming rate. This process, known as “desertification”, is not caused by 
drought, but usually arises from the demands of human population that settles 
on the semi-arid lands to grow crops and graze animals. The pounding of the 
soil by the hooves of livestock may degrade the soil and encourage erosion by 
wind and water. Global warming also threatens to change the ecology of 
deserts. Higher temperature may produce an increasing number of wildfires 
that alter desert landscape by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and 
replacing them with fast-growing grasses.
Questions:
(a) Explain what you understand by ‘barren and dry land’. 15
(b) What do you understand by rich habitats ? 15
(c) How have desert animals and plants in arid climate adapted themselves 
to the use of less water ? 15
(d) Describe the process of desertification. 15
(e) What are the camel’s two most visible features that make it perfect for
deserts ? 15
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 3
Page 4


r Q r ia iu i
V'4 *
tfrRffdOlS
C-AVZ-O-FOHC
ENGLISH
( COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 300
QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Please read each o f the following instructions carefully before attempting 
questions:
All questions are to be attempted.
The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.
Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be 
clearly struck off.
Ql. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic :
(a) Impact of politics on society
(b) E-commerce : a win-win situation for all
(c) Harassment of women at workplaces
(d) Does the Indian cinema reflect social reality ?
100
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 1
Q2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the
questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : 15x5=75
A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and 
consequently living conditions are threatening for plant and animal life. The 
lack of vegetation exposes the vulnerable surface of the ground to the processes 
of denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or 
semi-arid. Deserts are usually hot and barren places; yet they are also 
beautiful. A few plants, rocks and dusty red-brown soil make up the 
ingredients of most North American deserts where there is sufficient food and 
water for certain animals to survive. Deserts cover more than one-fifth of the 
Earth’s land and they are found on every continent. A place that receives less 
than 10 inches of rain per year is normally considered a desert. They are part 
of a wider classification of regions called “dry land”. These areas exist under a 
moisture deficit, which means they repeatedly lose more moisture through 
evaporation than they receive from annual precipitation.
Deserts are biologically rich habitats with a vast array of animals and 
plants that have adapted to harsh conditions there. Some deserts are among 
the planet’s last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion 
people, one-sixth of the Earth’s population, actually live in the desert regions.
Despite the common notion of deserts as dry and hot, there are cold 
deserts as well. One famous dry and hot place in the world with no visible rock 
or plant and barely any water is the Sahara desert. It is the largest hot desert 
in the world that reaches temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit during 
the day. Some deserts are very cold, like the Gobi desert in Asia and the desert 
on the continent of Antarctica. Only about 10 percent of deserts are covered by 
sand dunes. The driest deserts get less than half an inch of precipitation each 
year and that is from condensed fog.
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 2
Desert animals have adapted ways to help them keep cool and use less
_ _ _ _ _
water. Camels, for example, can go for days without food and water. The hump 
stores fat, which can be used as both a food and a water source for the animal 
when the going gets tough. Camels also have thick hair in their ears for 
keeping out sand; they also sport closable nostrils, an eye membrane, and wide 
feet that act like snow-shoes in the land.
Desert plants may have to go without fresh water for years at a time. 
Some plants have adapted to the arid climate by growing long roots that tap 
water from deep underground. Other plants, such as cacti, have special means 
of storing and conserving water. Many desert plants can live to be hundreds of 
years old.
Some of the world’s semi-arid regions are turning into deserts at an 
alarming rate. This process, known as “desertification”, is not caused by 
drought, but usually arises from the demands of human population that settles 
on the semi-arid lands to grow crops and graze animals. The pounding of the 
soil by the hooves of livestock may degrade the soil and encourage erosion by 
wind and water. Global warming also threatens to change the ecology of 
deserts. Higher temperature may produce an increasing number of wildfires 
that alter desert landscape by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and 
replacing them with fast-growing grasses.
Questions:
(a) Explain what you understand by ‘barren and dry land’. 15
(b) What do you understand by rich habitats ? 15
(c) How have desert animals and plants in arid climate adapted themselves 
to the use of less water ? 15
(d) Describe the process of desertification. 15
(e) What are the camel’s two most visible features that make it perfect for
deserts ? 15
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 3
Q3. Make a precis of the following passage in about one-third of its length.
Do not give a title to it. The precis should be written in your own 
language. 75
The means may be equated to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just 
the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is 
between the seed and the tree. I am not likely to obtain the result flowing from 
the worship of God by laying myself prostrate before Satan. If, therefore, 
anyone were to say; ‘I want to worship God; it does not matter that I do so by 
means of Satan’, it would be set down as ignorant folly. We reap exactly as we 
sow.
If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have to fight for 
it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay you for it; and if I want it as 
a gift, I shall have to plead for it; and according to the means I employ, the 
watch is a stolen property, my own property, or a donation. Thus we see three 
different results from three different means. Will you still say that means do 
not matter ?
Let us proceed a little further. A well-armed man has stolen your 
property; you have harboured the thought of his act; you are filled with anger; 
you argue that you want to punish that rogue, not for your own sake, but for 
the good of your neighbours; you have collected a number of armed men, you 
want to take his house by assault; he is duly informed of it, he runs away; he, 
too, is incensed. He collects his brother-robbers, and sends you a defiant 
message that he will commit robbery in broad daylight. You are strong, you do 
not fear him, you are prepared to receive him. Meanwhile, the robber pesters 
your neighbours. They complain before you. You reply that you are doing all for 
their sake, you do not mind that your own goods have been stolen. Your 
neighbours reply that the robber never pestered them before, and that he 
commenced his depredations only after you declared hostilities against him. 
You are between Scylla and Charybdis. You are full of pity for the poor men. 
What they say is true. What are you to do ? You will be disgraced if you now
C -A V Z -O -F O H C 4
Page 5


r Q r ia iu i
V'4 *
tfrRffdOlS
C-AVZ-O-FOHC
ENGLISH
( COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 300
QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Please read each o f the following instructions carefully before attempting 
questions:
All questions are to be attempted.
The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.
Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be 
clearly struck off.
Ql. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic :
(a) Impact of politics on society
(b) E-commerce : a win-win situation for all
(c) Harassment of women at workplaces
(d) Does the Indian cinema reflect social reality ?
100
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 1
Q2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the
questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : 15x5=75
A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and 
consequently living conditions are threatening for plant and animal life. The 
lack of vegetation exposes the vulnerable surface of the ground to the processes 
of denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or 
semi-arid. Deserts are usually hot and barren places; yet they are also 
beautiful. A few plants, rocks and dusty red-brown soil make up the 
ingredients of most North American deserts where there is sufficient food and 
water for certain animals to survive. Deserts cover more than one-fifth of the 
Earth’s land and they are found on every continent. A place that receives less 
than 10 inches of rain per year is normally considered a desert. They are part 
of a wider classification of regions called “dry land”. These areas exist under a 
moisture deficit, which means they repeatedly lose more moisture through 
evaporation than they receive from annual precipitation.
Deserts are biologically rich habitats with a vast array of animals and 
plants that have adapted to harsh conditions there. Some deserts are among 
the planet’s last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion 
people, one-sixth of the Earth’s population, actually live in the desert regions.
Despite the common notion of deserts as dry and hot, there are cold 
deserts as well. One famous dry and hot place in the world with no visible rock 
or plant and barely any water is the Sahara desert. It is the largest hot desert 
in the world that reaches temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit during 
the day. Some deserts are very cold, like the Gobi desert in Asia and the desert 
on the continent of Antarctica. Only about 10 percent of deserts are covered by 
sand dunes. The driest deserts get less than half an inch of precipitation each 
year and that is from condensed fog.
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 2
Desert animals have adapted ways to help them keep cool and use less
_ _ _ _ _
water. Camels, for example, can go for days without food and water. The hump 
stores fat, which can be used as both a food and a water source for the animal 
when the going gets tough. Camels also have thick hair in their ears for 
keeping out sand; they also sport closable nostrils, an eye membrane, and wide 
feet that act like snow-shoes in the land.
Desert plants may have to go without fresh water for years at a time. 
Some plants have adapted to the arid climate by growing long roots that tap 
water from deep underground. Other plants, such as cacti, have special means 
of storing and conserving water. Many desert plants can live to be hundreds of 
years old.
Some of the world’s semi-arid regions are turning into deserts at an 
alarming rate. This process, known as “desertification”, is not caused by 
drought, but usually arises from the demands of human population that settles 
on the semi-arid lands to grow crops and graze animals. The pounding of the 
soil by the hooves of livestock may degrade the soil and encourage erosion by 
wind and water. Global warming also threatens to change the ecology of 
deserts. Higher temperature may produce an increasing number of wildfires 
that alter desert landscape by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and 
replacing them with fast-growing grasses.
Questions:
(a) Explain what you understand by ‘barren and dry land’. 15
(b) What do you understand by rich habitats ? 15
(c) How have desert animals and plants in arid climate adapted themselves 
to the use of less water ? 15
(d) Describe the process of desertification. 15
(e) What are the camel’s two most visible features that make it perfect for
deserts ? 15
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 3
Q3. Make a precis of the following passage in about one-third of its length.
Do not give a title to it. The precis should be written in your own 
language. 75
The means may be equated to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just 
the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is 
between the seed and the tree. I am not likely to obtain the result flowing from 
the worship of God by laying myself prostrate before Satan. If, therefore, 
anyone were to say; ‘I want to worship God; it does not matter that I do so by 
means of Satan’, it would be set down as ignorant folly. We reap exactly as we 
sow.
If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have to fight for 
it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay you for it; and if I want it as 
a gift, I shall have to plead for it; and according to the means I employ, the 
watch is a stolen property, my own property, or a donation. Thus we see three 
different results from three different means. Will you still say that means do 
not matter ?
Let us proceed a little further. A well-armed man has stolen your 
property; you have harboured the thought of his act; you are filled with anger; 
you argue that you want to punish that rogue, not for your own sake, but for 
the good of your neighbours; you have collected a number of armed men, you 
want to take his house by assault; he is duly informed of it, he runs away; he, 
too, is incensed. He collects his brother-robbers, and sends you a defiant 
message that he will commit robbery in broad daylight. You are strong, you do 
not fear him, you are prepared to receive him. Meanwhile, the robber pesters 
your neighbours. They complain before you. You reply that you are doing all for 
their sake, you do not mind that your own goods have been stolen. Your 
neighbours reply that the robber never pestered them before, and that he 
commenced his depredations only after you declared hostilities against him. 
You are between Scylla and Charybdis. You are full of pity for the poor men. 
What they say is true. What are you to do ? You will be disgraced if you now
C -A V Z -O -F O H C 4
leave the robber alone. You, therefore, tell the poor men: ‘Never mind. Come, 
my wealth is yours. I will give you arms. I will train you how to use them; you 
should belabour the rogue; don’t you leave him alone.’ And so the battle grows. 
The robbers increase in numbers; your neighbours have deliberately put 
themselves to inconvenience. Thus the result of wanting to take revenge upon 
the robber is that you have disturbed your own peace; you are in perpetual fear 
of being robbed and assaulted; your courage has given place to cowardice. If 
you patiently examine the argument, you will see that I have not overdrawn 
the picture. This is one of the means.
Now let us examine the other. You set this armed robber down as an 
ignorant brother, you intend to reason with him at a suitable opportunity; you 
argue that he is, after all, a fellow man; you do not know what prompted him to 
steal. You, therefore, decide that when you can, you will destroy the man’s 
motive for stealing. Whilst you are thus reasoning with yourself, the man 
comes again to steal. Instead of being angry with him, you take pity on him. 
Henceforth, you keep your doors and windows open, you change your sleeping 
place, and you keep your things in a manner most accessible to him. The 
robber comes again and is confused as all this is new to him; nevertheless, he 
takes away your things. But his mind is agitated. He enquires about you in the 
village, he comes to learn about your broad and loving heart; he repents, he 
begs your pardon, returns you your things, and leaves off the stealing habit. He 
becomes your servant, and you find for him honourable employment. This is 
the second method.
Thus, you see, different means have brought about totally different 
results. I do not wish to deduce from this that robbers will act in the above 
manner or that all will have the same pity and love like you. I only wish to 
show that fair means alone can produce fair results, and that, at least in the 
majority of cases, if not indeed in all, the force of love and pity is infinitely 
greater than the force of arms. There is harm in the exercise of force, never in 
that of pity. (766 words)
C-A VZ-O -FO H C 5