UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 125 of 150

Correct — A, A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2. One documented pairing decides this entire match, and it is D-2, Shakti at Almora. The record on Almora is explicit: 'In 1918, Badri Datt Pandey, alongside some associates, founded the Deshbhakta press and launched Shakti' — the paper ran until 1942, when government restrictions forced it to close, and was revived in 1946 through the efforts of Gobind Ballabh Pant. Pandey, who had taken over the editorship of the older Almora Akhbar in 1913, is the central figure of Kumaoni nationalist journalism, and Shakti is his paper. Now look at where each option puts Shakti: option (b) sends it to Gorakhpur, option (c) also to Gorakhpur, and option (d) to Agra. Only option (a) places Shakti at Almora, so that single verified pair eliminates all three alternatives outright and pins the answer without your having to adjudicate anything else. Be clear about what the rest of this card can and cannot claim. The remaining three assignments in the key are Swadesh to Gorakhpur, Bharat Bandhu to Hathras and Satyawadi to Agra. Those are what the commission's key implies, and this card argues them because the key is what decides marks — but none of the three could be confirmed against a citable source, so treat them as the key's attribution rather than as established fact. Nothing here depends on them: the elimination above is complete on Shakti alone. That is also the honest way to attack a four-row match in the hall — find the one pair you actually know and see how many options it kills before you spend time on the pairs you only half-remember.

• (b)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 — It moves Shakti to Gorakhpur and puts Bharat Bandhu at Almora. Shakti was launched at Almora in 1918 from Badri Datt Pandey's Deshbhakta press, so D-4 is wrong and the whole option falls with it.
• (c)A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4 — The near-miss designed to catch a candidate who gets Satyawadi right and stops checking. It agrees with the key on C-1 but again sends Shakti to Gorakhpur and Bharat Bandhu to Almora. Almora belongs to Shakti, so this option cannot stand.
• (d)A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1 — It agrees with the key only on Bharat Bandhu at Hathras, and then puts Shakti at Agra while giving Almora to Swadesh. Since Shakti is the Almora paper, D-1 is wrong here too.

The Hindi press of the United Provinces was one of the engines of nationalist politics in the region, and its papers were rooted in particular towns rather than in a single metropolitan centre — which is exactly why UPPSC likes to test them as a paper-to-place match. Almora in the Kumaon hills is the clearest documented case in this list. Badri Datt Pandey took charge of the Almora Akhbar in 1913 and expanded its readership; in 1918 he and some associates set up the Deshbhakta press and launched Shakti. The paper carried on until 1942, when government restrictions shut it down, and was revived in 1946 through the efforts of Gobind Ballabh Pant. A point of geography worth carrying: Almora lay in the United Provinces and then in Uttar Pradesh through the whole period of this history, and has been in Uttarakhand only since that State was carved out in 2000 — which is why a Kumaon town appears in a Uttar Pradesh commission's paper at all.

Approach any four-row match by ranking your own certainty rather than by working top to bottom. Here, exactly one pair is solidly documented, and it happens to be enough: Shakti sits at a different place in every one of the four options, so knowing that one pair collapses the question to a single survivor. Get into the habit of scanning a match for the item that varies most across the options — that item carries the most eliminating power. The reverse habit, starting at row A and trying to settle Swadesh first, wastes time on the pair you are least likely to know and leaves you guessing. Two cautions for revision. First, these are small-town papers whose details are thinly documented in accessible sources, so do not over-invest in memorising editors and founding years for all four. Second, several nationalist-era titles were reused in different towns, which is precisely the ambiguity this question type feeds on.

• Shakti was launched at Almora in 1918 by Badri Datt Pandey and associates, who founded the Deshbhakta press for it; this is the one pairing in the question that is independently documented.
• Shakti ran until 1942, when government restrictions forced its closure, and was revived in 1946 through the efforts of Gobind Ballabh Pant.
• Badri Datt Pandey had taken over the editorship of the older Almora Akhbar in 1913, significantly expanding its readership before founding Shakti.
• Almora, in the Kumaon region, was founded in 1568 by King Kalyan Chand; it lay in the United Provinces and then Uttar Pradesh until the creation of Uttarakhand in 2000.
• The other three pairings implied by the official key — Swadesh to Gorakhpur, Bharat Bandhu to Hathras, Satyawadi to Agra — could not be confirmed against a citable source and are stated here as the key's attribution, not as verified fact.

• Trying to settle a four-row match in list order. Find the row whose pairing differs across all four options and test that one first — here Shakti alone decides the question.
• Assuming that every pairing printed in a match is equally well documented. In this item only Shakti-Almora is verifiable in accessible sources; the rest rest on the commission's key.
• Placing Almora in Uttarakhand when reading colonial-period history. It was part of the United Provinces and then Uttar Pradesh until 2000, which is why it appears in a UPPSC paper.

UPPSC asks the nationalist press either as a title-to-place match, as here, or as a title-to-founder match, and it draws on regional Hindi papers that national-level books rarely cover. UPSC stays with the better-known titles and usually pairs a journal with the person who ran it. For both, the reliable preparation is to fix a handful of certain pairs firmly rather than to half-learn a long list.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The newspaper 'Shakti', launched in 1918 from the Deshbhakta press, was associated with which of the following leaders?

  • (a)Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi
  • (b)Badri Datt Pandey
  • (c)Madan Mohan Malaviya
  • (d)Purushottam Das Tandon

  Answer(b) Badri Datt Pandey — he and his associates founded the Deshbhakta press at Almora and launched Shakti in 1918, five years after he took over the Almora Akhbar.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The publication of the newspaper 'Shakti' was stopped in 1942 and revived in 1946 through the efforts of

  • (a)Gobind Ballabh Pant
  • (b)Purushottam Das Tandon
  • (c)Sampurnanand
  • (d)Hargovind Pant

  Answer(a) Gobind Ballabh Pant — government restrictions closed the paper in 1942 and it returned in 1946 at his initiative.