UPPSC APS cheat sheet

Indian Constitution: adopted 26 November 1949, came into force 26 January 1950; originally 395 Articles, 22 Parts, 8 Schedules; the Preamble was amended once, by the 42nd Amendment Act 1976, which added 'socialist', 'secular' and 'integrity'.

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35) are enforceable through writs under Article 32 (Supreme Court) and Article 226 (High Courts); the Right to Education (Article 21A) was inserted by the 86th Amendment Act 2002.

Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are non-justiciable; Article 39A (legal aid), Article 40 (panchayats), Article 44 (uniform civil code) and Article 48A (environment) are frequently tested.

Fundamental Duties: Article 51A, ten duties added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation; the 11th duty (education of children aged 6–14) was added by the 86th Amendment 2002.

Geography: Tropic of Cancer passes through eight Indian states - Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram; the Standard Meridian is 82°30'E passing near Mirzapur.

Economy: GDP = C + I + G + (X − M); repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks against government securities, reverse repo is the absorption rate, and CRR/SLR are reserve ratios that reduce lendable funds.

Indian polity offices: the President is elected by an electoral college of elected MPs and elected MLAs (Article 54); the Vice-President is elected by members of both Houses of Parliament only (Article 66).

Science: Newton's second law F = ma; work W = F·d·cosθ; power P = W/t; Ohm's law V = IR; pH below 7 is acidic, above 7 basic; the SI unit of force is the newton and of pressure the pascal.

History: Harappan sites - Mohenjo-daro (Great Bath), Harappa (granaries), Lothal (dockyard), Kalibangan (ploughed field), Dholavira (water reservoirs); the Indus script remains undeciphered and writing was boustrophedon-style.

Indian Penal Code classifications: a 'public servant' is defined in s.21; theft is s.378, extortion s.383, robbery s.390 (theft or extortion plus hurt or fear), dacoity s.391 (robbery by five or more persons), criminal breach of trust s.405, cheating s.415.

Murder (s.300) is punishable under s.302; culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s.304; the five illustrations and the four clauses of s.300 distinguish murder from culpable homicide, with Exception 1 (grave and sudden provocation) and Exception 4 (sudden fight) most tested.

General Exceptions (ss.76–106): mistake of fact (s.76/79), act of a child under seven (s.82) and between seven and twelve without maturity (s.83), unsound mind (s.84), intoxication (s.85–86), consent (s.87–92), private defence (s.96–106).

Criminal Procedure Code limitation periods for offences punishable with fine only or imprisonment up to one year: six months (s.468); up to three years: three years; offences punishable with more than three years have no limitation.

CrPC investigation stages: FIR under s.154, investigation under s.156, arrest under s.41, production before a magistrate within 24 hours (Article 22(2)), remand under s.167 (maximum 15 days' police custody, 60 or 90 days' total detention depending on the maximum sentence).

Evidence Act: burden of proof lies on the party who asserts (s.101–102); dying declaration is relevant under s.32(1); confessions to police are inadmissible (s.25) and to a magistrate admissible if recorded under s.164 CrPC; s.27 permits recovery pursuant to disclosure.

Contract Act essentials (s.10): free consent, competent parties, lawful consideration and object, not expressly void; consideration may move from a third party (s.2(d)); an agreement without consideration is void save the exceptions in s.25.

Limitation Act 1963: three years for most suits for money and for contracts; twelve years for suits concerning immovable property; the period starts from when the right to sue accrues (s.3 bars time-barred suits).

CPC jurisdiction and remedies: s.9 (civil courts try all civil suits unless barred), s.15 (place of suing), Order XXXIX Rules 1–2 (temporary injunction), Order VII Rule 11 (rejection of plaint), s.151 (inherent powers).

स्वर 11 होते हैं - ह्रस्व (अ, इ, उ, ऋ), दीर्घ (आ, ई, ऊ), प्लुत (ए, ऐ, ओ, औ) तथा अयोगवाह (अं, अः); व्यंजन 33 माने जाते हैं।

वर्ण-विच्छेद में 'क् + ष' से 'क्ष', 'ज् + ञ' से 'ज्ञ', 'श् + र' से 'श्र' और 'त् + र' से 'त्र' संयुक्त व्यंजन बनते हैं।

संधि: स्वर संधि (देव + इंद्र = देवेंद्र), व्यंजन संधि (सत् + जन = सज्जन), विसर्ग संधि (निः + चय = निश्चय); 'अ + आ = आ' दीर्घ संधि कहलाती है।

समास: तत्पुरुष में उत्तर पद प्रधान (राजपुत्र), द्वंद्व में दोनों पद प्रधान (राजा-रानी), बहुव्रीहि में अन्य पद प्रधान (दशानन), अव्ययीभाव में पूर्व पद अव्यय (प्रतिदिन)।

उपसर्ग अर्थ बदलते हैं - 'अनु' (पीछे/समान), 'अप' (बुरा), 'नि' (निषेध/नीचे), 'प्र' (उत्कर्ष); प्रत्यय दो प्रकार के हैं - कृत् (कृदंत) और तद्धित।

कारक आठ हैं - कर्ता, कर्म, करण, संप्रदान, अपादान, संबंध, अधिकरण और संबोधन; विभक्ति चिह्न 'ने, को, से, के लिए, से (अलग), का/की/के, में/पर, हे/अरे' हैं।

वाच्य तीन प्रकार के हैं - कर्तृवाच्य, कर्मवाच्य और भाववाच्य; कर्मवाच्य में क्रिया कर्म के लिंग-वचन के अनुसार होती है।

शब्द-शुद्धि: 'परमात्मा', 'विद्यार्थी', 'पुस्तकालय', 'अनुच्छेद' और 'उज्ज्वल' शुद्ध रूप हैं; 'द्वंद्व', 'संन्यास' तथा 'पूर्ण' में अनुस्वार/अनुनासिक का प्रयोग ध्यान रखें।

मुहावरे अर्थ सहित: 'अंधे की लाठी' - एकमात्र सहारा; 'आँख का तारा' - अत्यंत प्रिय; 'गागर में सागर' - थोड़े में बहुत; 'नौ-दो ग्यारह होना' - भाग जाना।

Subject–verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; 'each, every, either, neither, everyone, somebody' are singular; 'none' and 'either...or' agree with the nearer subject.

Tense sequencing: after 'since' or 'for' with a present perfect main clause use the past simple ('He has lived here since 2010'); after 'if' in a first conditional use the present simple, not 'will'.

Articles: 'a' before consonant sounds (a university, a one-rupee coin), 'an' before vowel sounds (an hour, an MLA); the definite article is used with superlatives, unique objects and rivers.

Prepositions: 'differ from' (things) but 'differ with' (persons); 'comprise' takes no 'of'; 'superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior' take 'to', not 'than'.

Voice change: shift the object to subject position and use the past participle with the correct form of 'be'; in passive voice the agent is introduced by 'by' and omitted when unknown.

Direct to indirect speech: change the reporting verb, shift tense back one step, and change pronouns by person (first person to speaker, second to listener, third unchanged); 'this/here/now' become 'that/there/then'.

Common error pairs: 'advice' (noun) / 'advise' (verb), 'affect' (verb) / 'effect' (noun), 'principal' (head/main) / 'principle' (rule), 'stationary' (still) / 'stationery' (writing material).

Idioms: 'to beat about the bush' - to avoid the main point; 'a bolt from the blue' - a sudden shock; 'to burn the midnight oil' - to study late; 'once in a blue moon' - very rarely.

One-word substitutions: 'altruist' (one who lives for others), 'misanthrope' (hater of mankind), 'epitaph' (words on a tomb), 'obituary' (notice of a death), 'polyglot' (one who knows many languages).