2008 General Studies, all questions

UPSC Prelims 2008 · General Studies

Question 76: Geography

Among the Indian languages, which one is spoken maximum in the world after Hindi?

aTelugu
bTamil
cBengali
dMalayalam

AnswerThe answer is (c).

Bengali is the Indian language spoken by the most people in the world after Hindi. The 2001 Census put Bengali speakers in India at about 83 million, ahead of Telugu, Marathi and Tamil, and Bangladesh adds well over a hundred million more. Telugu is the third most spoken language in India, and Tamil and Malayalam have far fewer speakers in the world.

Why each option is right or wrong
  • (a) Telugu has fewer speakers worldwide than Bengali.
  • (b) Tamil has fewer speakers worldwide than Bengali.
  • (c) Bengali ranks next after Hindi once Bangladesh is counted.
  • (d) Malayalam has far fewer speakers.

Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2008, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.