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Colonial land revenue and economy — UPSC Prelims PYQs

22 questions in this bank come from Colonial land revenue and economy, spanning UPSC Prelims papers from 2011 to 2025. Every question here carries all four options, the correct answer and a full explanation.

It has appeared in 11 of the last 16 papers, most heavily in 2018 with 4 questions. That is a steady presence rather than a guaranteed one.

The themes examined most often within it are Economic impact of British colonial rule in India (4), Ryotwari Settlement in British India (4), Reforms and Revolts in Early Nationalism (3), British colonial agricultural policies in India (2) and East India Company agents in India (2). Those counts are of questions in which the theme is examined, not merely mentioned.

Questions here are spread across History (19), Economy (2) and Geography (1). Between them they draw on 30 distinct themes, so this is a broader area than a single revision note can cover. That is 1.5% of the 1433 questions in the bank — useful for deciding how much revision time it deserves.

It has been asked less often lately — roughly 1.0 questions a year across the last five papers, against 1.7 before that.

It was not examined in 5 of those papers. Each question below links to its full explanation and to related questions on the same theme from other years, so a weak area can be worked through in one pass rather than hunted for paper by paper.

UPSC Prelims 20251 question

UPSC Prelims 20222 questions

UPSC Prelims 20212 questions

UPSC Prelims 20202 questions

UPSC Prelims 20191 question

UPSC Prelims 20184 questions

UPSC Prelims 20172 questions

UPSC Prelims 20151 question

UPSC Prelims 20141 question

UPSC Prelims 20123 questions

UPSC Prelims 20113 questions

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