Who among the following is known as 'Encyclopaedia of the forest' ?
This MPSC previous-year question is drawn from MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English). It belongs to the General Knowledge section and is reproduced here in English exactly as it appeared in the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission paper, along with the four options, the official Set A answer key and a compact explanation of why the correct option is correct.
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The examiner has marked option D. Tulsi Gowda, the Karnataka environmentalist with an astonishing memory of trees and plants, is called the 'Encyclopaedia of the Forest'. The nickname flags her deep, self-taught botanical knowledge.
Why this question matters
Repeat-frequency analysis of the last decade of MPSC papers shows that general knowledge accounts for a stable 10–15 percent of every prelim. Aspirants who master this segment early free up preparation time for the more volatile subjects (Current Affairs, Environment) that require weekly refresh. That is why our editorial team places general knowledge PYQs prominently in the topic-wise practice flow.
How to attempt this in the exam
Read every option twice before committing to a choice. Once you commit, jot down in one line why each of the other three options is wrong — that elimination habit is what turns a 60-percentile score into a 90-percentile score. MPSC's favourite trap on general knowledge questions is to swap a single anchor word (a date, a place, a body, a ratio) so a mostly-right option becomes wrong.
Subject-specific tip
Tip: revise this question with the rest of the section on our subject-wise practice mode and pair the review with the relevant study guide to lock the concept into long-term memory.
MPSC prelims — the four-subject balance
The MPSC combined preliminary paper allots roughly equal weightage to Polity, Geography, History, Science, Economics, Current Affairs, Environment, Marathi grammar / English grammar and Aptitude. No single subject dominates, which means the optimal preparation strategy is to hit a floor of 60-percent accuracy across every subject before pushing any one to 90 percent. Aspirants who ignore Aptitude or Marathi grammar because they 'know the subject' consistently lose two to three marks on those sections and slip below the cut-off.
For every question you encounter on MPSC PYQ QUIZ, the recommended review loop is: attempt without looking at the answer; check the correct option; read the explanation; then read the 'Why this question matters' and 'How to attempt' sections below. That three-minute loop turns each PYQ into a mini-lesson and is why the majority of our top-percentile users solve every PYQ at least twice.
The strongest signal that you are ready for MPSC prelims is not the number of PYQs solved but the accuracy on unseen mock questions. Practise unseen items from our topic-wise section between full-length mocks to stress-test whether the concepts have really moved into long-term memory.
Source and editorial process
Source: MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English). This question, its four options and the marked correct answer are transcribed verbatim from the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission Set A paper. Our editorial team cross-checks each question against the original PDF released on mpsc.gov.in and against the corresponding official answer key.
We never paraphrase the wording. Where MPSC has issued a revised key after an objection round, the answer highlighted above reflects the revised key and the revision is logged in our internal change-log. If you spot a discrepancy, please email us at dontknowacademy@gmail.com — we acknowledge every report within 24 hours and push a fix within 48 hours.
Related study material
Deepen your preparation on this topic with our long-form MPSC study guides. Every guide is written specifically for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission preliminary syllabus and takes twelve to sixteen minutes to read in full.
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About MPSC PYQ QUIZ
MPSC PYQ QUIZ is a free educational platform by Don't know Academy that helps Maharashtra Public Service Commission aspirants practise with the complete archive of previous-year questions. Every paper on the site is sourced from the official MPSC release, tagged by subject and topic, and paired with the official Set A answer key. The platform is independent and not affiliated with MPSC, the Government of Maharashtra or any government body — please read our Disclaimer for the full statement.