Ugc Net English Practice Test Contemporay Indian Writing In English

2026-08-09 · Creative Writing · 26 min read

## UGC NET English Practice Test ## Contemporary Indian Writing (2000–2026) ## Based on Essays, Poetry, Plays & Short Stories (Fresh question set designed in strict UGC NET style, covering the last...

UGC NET English Practice Test

Contemporary Indian Writing (2000–2026)

Based on Essays, Poetry, Plays & Short Stories

(Fresh question set designed in strict UGC NET style, covering the last 20 years’ themes and patterns)

Part A: Multiple Choice Questions (1–35) Choose the correct option for each question.

1. The three stories that form the ‘Hema and Kaushik’ sequence in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth are: (A) “A Temporary Matter”, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, “Interpreter of Maladies” (B) “Once in a Lifetime”, “Year’s End”, “Going Ashore” (C) “Hell-Heaven”, “Nobody’s Business”, “A Choice of Accommodations” (D) “The Third and Final Continent”, “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”, “The Blessed House”

2. Arundhati Roy’s essay “The Pandemic is a Portal” appears in which collection? (A) Field Notes on Democracy (B) Capitalism: A Ghost Story (C) Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction. (D) The Algebra of Infinite Justice

4. The novella “Translator Translated” appears in Anita Desai’s collection: (A) Diamond Dust (B) The Artist of Disappearance (C) The Zigzag Way (D) Fasting, Feasting

7. The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh is subtitled: (A) Climate Change and the Unthinkable (B) Parables for a Planet in Crisis (C) A History of the Present (D) Liberals, Race and Empire

8. Which of the following is a verse novel by Sampurna Chattarji? (A) Boats on Land (B) Space Gulliver: Chronicles of an Alien (C) The Adivasi Will Not Dance (D) A Life of Adventure and Delight

9. The epigraph of Unaccustomed Earth is taken from the introductory chapter of which American novel? (A) Moby-Dick (B) The Scarlet Letter (C) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (D) The Great Gatsby

10. Shashi Tharoor’s Bookless in Baghdad (2005) is a collection of: (A) travelogues (B) political manifestos (C) literary essays (D) short stories

11. The poetry collection Leaving Fingerprints (2009) is written by: (A) Arundhathi Subramaniam (B) Imtiaz Dharker (C) Tishani Doshi (D) Meena Kandasamy

12. The play Muktidham (2015) is set in a: (A) left-wing trade union office (B) right-wing Hindu monastery (C) Kashmir children’s ward (D) Tibetan refugee camp

13. Abhishek Majumdar’s Pah-La (2017) deals with the theme of: (A) the Bhopal gas tragedy (B) Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule (C) the Naxalite movement (D) Partition of India

14. Boats on Land (2012), which won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, is set primarily in: (A) Mumbai (B) Shillong (C) Chennai (D) Delhi

15. The anthology The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (2012) was edited by: (A) Jeet Thayil (B) Sudeep Sen (C) Ranjit Hoskote (D) K. Satchidanandan

17. The central argument of The Doctor and the Saint (2017) is built around the conflict between: (A) Gandhi and Nehru (B) Ambedkar and Gandhi (C) Tagore and Gandhi (D) Vivekananda and Ambedkar

18. Mahesh Dattani’s The Big Fat City (2012) satirizes urban greed in: (A) Delhi (B) Mumbai (C) Kolkata (D) Bengaluru

19. The poetry collection Everything Begins Elsewhere (2012) is by: (A) Imtiaz Dharker (B) Tishani Doshi (C) Arundhathi Subramaniam (D) Meena Kandasamy

20. Between the Assassinations (2008) by Aravind Adiga is set in the fictional town of: (A) Malgudi (B) Kittur (C) Mangalore (D) Lumding

21. Agha Shahid Ali’s posthumous collection of English ghazals is titled: (A) Rooms Are Never Finished (B) Call Me Ishmael Tonight (C) The Country Without a Post Office (D) The Half-Inch Himalayas

22. In Unaccustomed Earth, the character Pranab Chakraborty features in the story: (A) “A Choice of Accommodations” (B) “Hell-Heaven” (C) “Only Goodness” (D) “Nobody’s Business”

23. The essay “The Pandemic is a Portal” argues that the COVID-19 crisis offers: (A) a justification for increased surveillance (B) an opportunity to build a more equitable world (C) a defense of global capitalism (D) a plea for military preparedness

24. Ranjit Hoskote’s Jonahwhale (2018) reimagines the biblical story of: (A) Noah (B) Jonah (C) Job (D) Moses

25. Walking with the Comrades (2011) by Arundhati Roy originally appeared as a long essay in: (A) The Caravan (B) Outlook (C) Granta (D) The New Yorker

26. The play When the Crows Visit (2019) by Anupama Chandrasekhar is a modern reworking of Ibsen’s: (A) A Doll’s House (B) Ghosts (C) Hedda Gabler (D) The Master Builder

27. The protagonist of Where Did I Leave My Purdah? (2016) is: (A) a journalist covering Partition (B) a theatre actor named Nazia (C) a social worker in Kashmir (D) an academic researching gender

28. The Adivasi Will Not Dance (2015) by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar focuses on the: (A) Gond community (B) Santhal community (C) Bhil community (D) Munda community

29. Arundhati Roy’s Capitalism: A Ghost Story (2014) primarily critiques: (A) caste oppression (B) free-market capitalism in India (C) religious fundamentalism (D) patriarchy in popular culture

30. The poetry collection When God Is a Traveller (2014) alludes to the wandering deity: (A) Shiva (B) Kartikeya/Murugan (C) Hanuman (D) Vishnu as Vamana

31. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) is divided into three sections titled: (A) Earth, Water, Fire (B) Stories, History, Politics (C) Science, Literature, Activism (D) Myth, Memory, Migration

32. Imtiaz Dharker’s Over the Moon (2014) is a meditation on: (A) Sufi mysticism (B) grief after her husband’s death (C) climate displacement (D) Partition memories

33. The play Free Outgoing (2007) revolves around: (A) a religious riot (B) a leaked sex video (C) a family’s Partition trauma (D) an environmental protest

35. Pankaj Mishra’s Age of Anger: A History of the Present (2017) traces modern global resentments back to: (A) the Industrial Revolution (B) the Enlightenment and its critics (C) the Cold War (D) World War I

Part B: Match the Following (36–40) Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below.

36. Match the essay collections with their authors.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

37. Match the poet with the poetry collection.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

38. Match the play with its playwright.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 (B) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

39. Match the short story collection with its author.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

40. Match the work with the year of publication.

Codes: (A) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (B) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (C) A-1, B-2, C-1, D-4 (Note: need a unique year per option; The Rivered Earth and Walking with the Comrades both 2011. So adjust list to avoid overlap. Change Walking with the Comrades to The Nutmeg’s Curse (2021) to have distinct years. I'll modify: replace Walking with the Comrades with Azadi (2020) for distinct years.) Let's redo.

Revised list:

Now unique years. Codes: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4. So correct option (A) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

I'll rewrite Q40 accordingly.

Part C: Chronological Order (41–45) Arrange the following works in the correct chronological order of their publication, earliest first.

41. (A) The Algebra of Infinite Justice (B) Capitalism: A Ghost Story (C) Field Notes on Democracy (D) Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.

Choose the correct order: (1) (A), (C), (B), (D) (2) (C), (A), (D), (B) (3) (A), (B), (C), (D) (4) (B), (A), (D), (C)

42. (A) Rooms Are Never Finished (B) These Errors Are Correct (C) When God Is a Traveller (D) A God at the Door

Choose the correct order: (1) (A), (B), (C), (D) (2) (B), (A), (D), (C) (3) (A), (C), (B), (D) (4) (D), (C), (B), (A)

43. (A) Unaccustomed Earth (B) Between the Assassinations (C) Real Time (D) The Adivasi Will Not Dance

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (B), (D) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (B), (C), (A), (D) (4) (C), (B), (A), (D)

44. (A) The Great Derangement (B) The Nutmeg’s Curse (C) Age of Anger (D) From the Ruins of Empire

Choose the correct order: (1) (D), (C), (A), (B) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (A), (D), (B) (4) (D), (A), (C), (B)

45. (A) Muktidham (B) Pah-La (C) The Djinns of Eidgah (D) When the Crows Visit

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (B), (D) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (B), (A), (D) (4) (B), (C), (A), (D)

Part D: Assertion and Reason (46–50) Directions: In each of the following questions, two statements are given – an Assertion (A) and a Reason (R). Choose the correct answer from the codes below. (A) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). (B) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). (C) (A) is true, but (R) is false. (D) (A) is false, but (R) is true.

Assertion (A): Unaccustomed Earth carries an epigraph from Nathaniel Hawthorne. Reason (R): The epigraph is taken from Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and sets the tone for themes of displacement and concealment.
Assertion (A): Arundhati Roy’s Walking with the Comrades is an expanded version of an essay first published in Outlook magazine. Reason (R): The work is a journalistic account of the Maoist insurgency in central India.
Assertion (A): The poetry collection The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets (2008) was edited by Jeet Thayil. Reason (R): Thayil intended the anthology to be a definitive representation of post-1990s Indian poetry in English.
Assertion (A): Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse argues that the climate crisis is deeply connected to colonial violence. Reason (R): Ghosh traces the origin of planetary exploitation to the Dutch nutmeg trade and the genocide in the Banda Islands.
Assertion (A): Mahesh Dattani’s Where Did I Leave My Purdah? is set against the backdrop of the Partition of India. Reason (R): The play’s protagonist, Nazia, is a Kashmiri social worker dealing with communal violence.

Part E: Additional Multiple Choice Questions (51–65) Choose the correct option.

51. Which poetry collection by Imtiaz Dharker deals explicitly with women’s voices and experiences? (A) Leaving Fingerprints (B) I Speak for the Devil (C) The Terrorist at My Table (D) Over the Moon

53. Sunil Khilnani’s Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (2016) presents Indian history through: (A) fifty decisive battles (B) fifty biographies of notable figures (C) fifty historical monuments (D) fifty religious texts

54. The libretti in Vikram Seth’s The Rivered Earth are set to music by: (A) Philip Glass (B) Alec Roth (C) A. R. Rahman (D) John Zorn

55. In Unaccustomed Earth, the story “A Choice of Accommodations” revolves around: (A) a couple attending a wedding in India (B) a man revisiting his school reunion at a boarding school (C) a Bengali family in London (D) a scientist in Antarctica

56. Which of the following poems appears in Meena Kandasamy’s Ms Militancy? (A) “Becoming a Brahmin” (B) “Militancy” (C) “Touch” (D) “One-Eyed”

57. Aravind Adiga’s Between the Assassinations (2008) is a collection of: (A) essays (B) short stories (C) novellas (D) travel sketches

58. Shashi Tharoor’s The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone (2007) primarily examines: (A) Indian wildlife conservation (B) the history of Indian technology (C) contemporary India’s transformations (D) Indian philosophy

59. The short story collection A Life of Adventure and Delight (2017) largely depicts: (A) Anglo-Indian communities in Kolkata (B) Indian-American immigrant experiences (C) rural life in Punjab (D) the IT boom in Bengaluru

60. Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement (2016) was inspired by the author’s experience of: (A) the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (B) a cyclone in the Sundarbans (C) extreme air pollution in Delhi (D) the 2013 Uttarakhand floods

61. Agha Shahid Ali’s Call Me Ishmael Tonight (2003) is a book of: (A) free-verse elegies (B) English ghazals (C) prose poems (D) sonnets

62. The play Free Outgoing (2007) was written by: (A) Manjula Padmanabhan (B) Anupama Chandrasekhar (C) Mahesh Dattani (D) Abhishek Majumdar

63. Ramachandra Guha’s Democrats and Dissenters (2016) is primarily a book of: (A) political fiction (B) essays on Indian intellectuals and debates (C) travel writing (D) autobiographical memoirs

64. The Djinns of Eidgah (2014) is set in a children’s ward in: (A) Delhi (B) Kashmir (C) Gujarat (D) Punjab

Part F: Additional Match the Following (66–69) Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes.

66. Match the essayist with the work.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

67. Match the poet with the collection.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 (B) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

68. Match the play with its central concern.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

69. Match the short story collection with its author.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

Part G: Additional Chronological Order (70–72) Arrange the following works in the correct chronological order of publication, earliest first.

70. (A) The Rivered Earth (B) Capitalism: A Ghost Story (C) The Nutmeg’s Curse (D) Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.

Choose the correct order: (1) (A), (B), (C), (D) (2) (A), (B), (D), (C) (3) (B), (A), (D), (C) (4) (B), (D), (A), (C)

71. (A) The Big Fat City (B) Where Did I Leave My Purdah? (C) Free Outgoing (D) Muktidham

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (D), (B) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (D), (A), (B) (4) (B), (C), (A), (D)

72. (A) Boats on Land (B) The Artist of Disappearance (C) Real Time (D) Space Gulliver: Chronicles of an Alien

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (B), (D) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (B), (A), (D) (4) (B), (A), (C), (D)

Part H: Additional Assertion and Reason (73–75) Directions: As before. (A) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). (B) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). (C) (A) is true, but (R) is false. (D) (A) is false, but (R) is true.

Assertion (A): Agha Shahid Ali’s Rooms Are Never Finished was a finalist for the National Book Award in the United States. Reason (R): The collection is a book-length elegy for his mother.
Assertion (A): Sudeep Sen edited The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (2012). Reason (R): The anthology aimed to showcase the best Indian English poetry of the previous five decades.
Assertion (A): In Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, the story “Nobody’s Business” deals with a character named Pranab Chakraborty. Reason (R): “Nobody’s Business” is a story from the “Hema and Kaushik” trilogy.

Answer Key for Questions 51–75

Part E:

B

B (a man revisiting his school reunion at a boarding school)

B (the title poem “Militancy” is in Ms Militancy)

B (it is a collection of short stories)

C

B

B (Ghosh’s experience in the Sundarbans during a cyclone was a key catalyst)

B

B (2013)

Part F:

A (A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3)

A (A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4)

A (A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3)

Part G:

(1) Free Outgoing 2007, The Big Fat City 2012, Muktidham 2015, Where Did I Leave My Purdah? 2016. So (C), (A), (D), (B).

(1) Real Time 2002, Boats on Land 2012, The Artist of Disappearance 2011? Wait, The Artist of Disappearance is 2011, Boats on Land 2012, Space Gulliver 2015. So chronological: Real Time (2002), The Artist of Disappearance (2011), Boats on Land (2012), Space Gulliver (2015). That would be (C) 2002, (B) 2011, (A) 2012, (D) 2015. The option (3) says (C), (B), (A), (D). Yes. So (3) is correct. I'll adjust the answer. The original set had The Artist of Disappearance as 2011, Boats on Land 2012. So (C) Real Time 2002, (B) The Artist of Disappearance 2011, (A) Boats on Land 2012, (D) Space Gulliver 2015. That matches option (3). I'll correct the answer key for Q72 to (3). I'll provide the corrected answer.

Part H:

(A) Both true, and the elegy theme is the reason for the National Book Award finalist status. (Correct, the collection was a finalist, and it's an elegy for his mother; the elegiac nature contributed to its acclaim.) So (A).

(A) Both true, R explains why Sen edited the anthology.

(D) (A) is false – “Nobody’s Business” is not about Pranab Chakraborty; that character appears in “Hell-Heaven”. (R) is false, “Nobody’s Business” is not part of “Hema and Kaushik.” So both false? Actually, (R) says it's from the trilogy, which is false. (A) is false because the character is in “Hell-Heaven”. So (D) would be (A) false, (R) false – but the options only have (A) false, (R) true. That doesn't fit. I'll rephrase: (A) is false (Pranab is not in “Nobody’s Business”), (R) is also false (the story is not in that trilogy). So according to the instruction, "codes below" only allow (A) Both true..., (B) Both true but not correct explanation..., (C) A true, R false, (D) A false, R true. I need to ensure the question fits. I'll change the question to something where (A) false, (R) true. For example, "Assertion (A): In Unaccustomed Earth, the story 'Hell-Heaven' features the character Pranab Chakraborty. Reason (R): 'Hell-Heaven' is the opening story of the collection." Actually, "Hell-Heaven" does feature Pranab Chakraborty (true). "Hell-Heaven" is the opening story? No, "Unaccustomed Earth" is the first story. So (A) true, (R) false. That would be (C). Too easy. I'll keep as originally written? Let's revise the question to avoid ambiguity. I'll craft new assertion-reason:

Assertion (A): The protagonist of Where Did I Leave My Purdah? is a theatre actor named Nazia. Reason (R): The play is set against the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots. (A) true, (R) false (actually set against Partition). So (C). That's clean. I'll change Q75 to that. So new Q75:

Assertion (A): The protagonist of Mahesh Dattani’s Where Did I Leave My Purdah? is a theatre actor named Nazia. Reason (R): The play is set against the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Answer: (C) (A) true, (R) false (the backdrop is Partition). That's perfect. I'll update answer key accordingly.

I'll present the full set of 25 questions with answer key, then a combined note.Here are 25 additional questions (51–75) that maintain the exact UGC NET English question pattern. They test fresh material from the study guide and can be appended directly to the earlier 50-question set to form a complete 75-question practice test. A combined answer key for all 75 questions follows.

Additional Practice Questions (51–75)

Part E: Multiple Choice Questions (51–65)

Choose the correct option.

51. Which poetry collection by Imtiaz Dharker explicitly foregrounds women’s voices and experiences? (A) Leaving Fingerprints (B) I Speak for the Devil (C) The Terrorist at My Table (D) Over the Moon

54. The four libretti in Vikram Seth’s The Rivered Earth were set to music by: (A) Philip Glass (B) Alec Roth (C) A. R. Rahman (D) John Zorn

56. The poem “Militancy” appears in Meena Kandasamy’s: (A) Touch (B) Ms Militancy (C) A God at the Door (D) When God Is a Traveller

57. Aravind Adiga’s Between the Assassinations (2008) is a collection of: (A) essays (B) short stories (C) novellas (D) travel sketches

59. Akhil Sharma’s A Life of Adventure and Delight (2017) largely depicts: (A) Anglo-Indian communities in Kolkata (B) Indian-American immigrant experiences (C) rural life in Punjab (D) the IT boom in Bengaluru

60. Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement (2016) was partly inspired by the author’s experience of: (A) the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (B) a cyclone in the Sundarbans (C) extreme air pollution in Delhi (D) the 2013 Uttarakhand floods

61. Agha Shahid Ali’s posthumous collection Call Me Ishmael Tonight (2003) is a book of: (A) free-verse elegies (B) English ghazals (C) prose poems (D) sonnets

62. The play Free Outgoing (2007) was written by: (A) Manjula Padmanabhan (B) Anupama Chandrasekhar (C) Mahesh Dattani (D) Abhishek Majumdar

63. Ramachandra Guha’s Democrats and Dissenters (2016) is primarily a book of: (A) political fiction (B) essays on Indian intellectuals and debates (C) travel writing (D) autobiographical memoirs

64. Abhishek Majumdar’s The Djinns of Eidgah (2014) is set in a children’s ward in: (A) Delhi (B) Kashmir (C) Gujarat (D) Punjab

Part F: Match the Following (66–69)

Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below.

66. Match the essayist with the work.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

67. Match the poet with the poetry collection.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 (B) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

68. Match the play with its central concern.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

69. Match the short story collection with its author.

Codes: (A) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (B) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 (C) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (D) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

Part G: Chronological Order (70–72)

Arrange the following works in the correct chronological order of their publication, earliest first.

70. (A) The Rivered Earth (B) Capitalism: A Ghost Story (C) The Nutmeg’s Curse (D) Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.

Choose the correct order: (1) (A), (B), (C), (D) (2) (A), (B), (D), (C) (3) (B), (A), (D), (C) (4) (B), (D), (A), (C)

71. (A) The Big Fat City (B) Where Did I Leave My Purdah? (C) Free Outgoing (D) Muktidham

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (D), (B) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (D), (A), (B) (4) (B), (C), (A), (D)

72. (A) Boats on Land (B) The Artist of Disappearance (C) Real Time (D) Space Gulliver: Chronicles of an Alien

Choose the correct order: (1) (C), (A), (B), (D) (2) (A), (B), (C), (D) (3) (C), (B), (A), (D) (4) (B), (A), (C), (D)

Part H: Assertion and Reason (73–75)

Directions: Choose the correct answer from the codes below. (A) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). (B) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). (C) (A) is true, but (R) is false. (D) (A) is false, but (R) is true.

Assertion (A): Agha Shahid Ali’s Rooms Are Never Finished was a finalist for the National Book Award in the United States. Reason (R): The collection is a book-length elegy for his mother, and its elegiac quality contributed to its critical acclaim.
Assertion (A): Sudeep Sen edited The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (2012). Reason (R): The anthology aimed to present a comprehensive selection of Indian English poetry from the previous five decades.
Assertion (A): The protagonist of Mahesh Dattani’s Where Did I Leave My Purdah? is a theatre actor named Nazia. Reason (R): The play is set against the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Answer Key for All 75 Questions

You now have a full 75-question UGC NET-style test that comprehensively covers contemporary Indian writing (2000–2026). Use it for timed practice to build accuracy and confidence.

| Q No. | Ans | Q No. | Ans | Q No. | Ans | Q No. | Ans | Q No. | Ans | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | B | 16 | D | 31 | B | 46 | A | 61 | B | | 2 | C | 17 | B | 32 | B | 47 | B | 62 | B | | 3 | B | 18 | B | 33 | B | 48 | A | 63 | B | | 4 | B | 19 | B | 34 | B | 49 | A | 64 | B | | 5 | B | 20 | B | 35 | B | 50 | C | 65 | B | | 6 | B | 21 | B | 36 | A | 51 | B | 66 | A | | 7 | B | 22 | B | 37 | A | 52 | B | 67 | A | | 8 | B | 23 | B | 38 | A | 53 | B | 68 | A | | 9 | B | 24 | B | 39 | A | 54 | B | 69 | A | | 10 | C | 25 | B | 40 | A | 55 | B | 70 | 2 | | 11 | B | 26 | B | 41 | 1 | 56 | B | 71 | 1 | | 12 | B | 27 | B | 42 | 1 | 57 | B | 72 | 3 | | 13 | B | 28 | B | 43 | 1 | 58 | C | 73 | A | | 14 | B | 29 | B | 44 | 4 | 59 | B | 74 | A | | 15 | B | 30 | B | 45 | 1 | 60 | B | 75 | C |

ugc-net contemporary-indian-writing mcq practice-test