RRB NTPC Graduate CBT 1 2025 PYQs

Concept: Eutrophication is the over-enrichment of a water body with nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) which causes algal blooms and oxygen depletion.

1. The largest single source of these nutrients is agricultural runoff – fertilisers and animal manure washed from fields into rivers and lakes.
2. Sewage, industrial effluents and urban stormwater also add nutrients, but worldwide their share is much smaller than the diffuse (non-point) runoff from farmland.

Yaad rakhein: Fertiliser = N + P → runoff → algal bloom → dead zone. Agriculture is the "non-point" culprit.

Answer: (B) Agricultural runoff

Concept: The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, given by the Government of India at the National Film Awards, is the country's highest honour in cinema.

1. Malayalam superstar Mohanlal received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (for the year 2023) from the President at the 71st National Film Awards ceremony on 23 September 2025.
2. Padma Bhushan is a civilian honour, not a cinema award; the Best Actor National Award and Filmfare awards rank below the Phalke award.

Yaad rakhein: Phalke = "Father of Indian cinema" → award named after him = highest film honour (first winner Devika Rani, 1969).

Answer: (C) Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Concept: Fold mountains form when two tectonic plates converge and the sedimentary layers between them are squeezed and folded upwards.

1. The Himalayas rose when the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate (about 50 million years ago), folding the sediments of the Tethys Sea.
2. Volcanic eruptions build volcanic mountains (e.g. Fuji), while wind deposition and river erosion are surface processes – they shape, not create, fold mountains.

Yaad rakhein: Collision → Fold (Himalaya, Alps, Andes); Faulting → Block (Vosges, Vindhya); Eruption → Volcanic.

Answer: (C) Plate collision

Concept: Article 39 (DPSP) lists the principles of policy the State must follow; clause (d) is "equal pay for equal work for both men and women".

1. Article 39 also covers adequate livelihood (a), distribution of material resources (b), prevention of concentration of wealth (c), and health of workers and children (e, f).
2. Article 41: right to work, education and public assistance; Article 43: living wage; Article 44: Uniform Civil Code.

Yaad rakhein: 39 → "Equal pay" (d) and "Equal justice" is 39A (free legal aid).

Answer: (A) Article 39

Concept: Space Summit 2026 was a two-day invitation-only conference on the space economy held on 2–3 February 2026 in Singapore.

1. The summit brought together space agencies, investors and companies from the Asia-Pacific region; Singapore positions itself as a hub for commercial space business.
2. India's own space events in early 2026 were held under ISRO/IN-SPACe banners, not under this title.

Yaad rakhein: Space Summit 2026 (Feb) → Singapore.

Answer: (D) Singapore

Concept: Under Article 239A, Parliament may create a legislature and Council of Ministers for certain UTs; Puducherry got them through the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963.

1. Puducherry has a 30-member (plus 3 nominated) Legislative Assembly and a Chief Minister; Delhi (Art. 239AA) and Jammu & Kashmir are the other UTs with legislatures.
2. Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the merged UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu are administered directly through an Administrator – no assembly.

Yaad rakhein: UTs with legislature = Delhi, Puducherry, J&K ("DPJ"); the rest have only an Administrator/LG.

Answer: (D) Puducherry

Concept: High-grade ores are being exhausted mainly because of selective mining – extracting only the richest, easily accessible deposits while leaving low-grade ore behind (NCERT, Class 10 "Minerals and Energy Resources").

1. Over decades this practice has depleted the best reserves of iron ore, manganese, bauxite and others, forcing miners to work poorer deposits at higher cost.
2. Export of raw minerals and coal dependence affect the economy and environment, but they are not the direct reason the rich ore bodies are gone.

Yaad rakhein: Minerals are finite and non-renewable; "selective mining of rich ores" is the textbook cause of high-grade depletion.

Answer: (B) Selective mining of rich ores

Concept: After the Meerut sepoys rose on 10 May 1857 they marched to Delhi and proclaimed the aged Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader and Emperor of Hindustan.

1. Choosing the Mughal emperor gave the revolt a symbol of legitimacy that all regions could rally behind.
2. Mangal Pandey had already been executed in April 1857 at Barrackpore; Nana Sahib (Kanpur) and Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi) led regional centres, not the overall revolt.

Yaad rakhein: Meerut (10 May) → Delhi (11 May) → Bahadur Shah Zafar declared leader; later exiled to Rangoon.

Answer: (A) Bahadur Shah Zafar

Concept: The Vellore Mutiny of 10 July 1806 was the first large-scale revolt of Indian sepoys against the East India Company, half a century before 1857.

1. It was triggered by new dress regulations (a new turban, ban on caste marks and beards) that hurt religious sentiments; the sepoys seized Vellore Fort for a day before being crushed.
2. 1857 is the Great Revolt; 1799 is the fall of Tipu Sultan; 1817 is the Paika Rebellion of Odisha.

Yaad rakhein: Vellore 1806 → "first sepoy mutiny"; 1857 → "first war of independence".

Answer: (D) 1806 CE

Concept: A wildcard is a character that stands for any string of characters when searching or listing files.

1. The asterisk * matches any number of characters, so *.txt lists every file with the .txt extension.
2. The other common wildcard ? matches exactly one character. The symbols /, − and + have no wildcard meaning in file searches.

Yaad rakhein: * = many characters, ? = one character (e.g. dir *.docx, ls *.jpg).

Answer: (D) *.[file extension]

Concept: Sopana Sangeetham is the temple music of Kerala, sung on the steps (sopanam) leading to the sanctum, usually with the edakka drum.

1. It is slow, devotional and closely linked with Kathakali music and the Gita Govinda ashtapadis.
2. Khayal, Dhrupad and Thumri are Hindustani (North Indian) forms – Dhrupad is devotional too but belongs to the north, not Kerala temples.

Yaad rakhein: Sopanam = temple steps → Sopana Sangeetham = Kerala temple music.

Answer: (B) Sopana Sangeetham

Concept: Section 9 of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 requires a data fiduciary to obtain verifiable consent of the parent (or lawful guardian) before processing the personal data of a child (below 18 years).

1. The DPDP Rules notified in November 2025 lay down how this parental consent is to be verified, e.g. through identity details or a virtual token.
2. The Act also bars tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children; it has nothing to do with device purchases, exams or school access to medical records.

Yaad rakhein: DPDP: child = under 18, "verifiable parental consent" before processing a child's data.

Answer: (D) To permit processing of a child's personal data by data fiduciaries

Concept: Population density = people per sq. km. South-Central Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asian states) has the highest density among the world's regions.

1. India and Bangladesh alone pack about 1.6 billion people into a relatively small area – Bangladesh exceeds 1,300 persons per sq. km and India about 480.
2. Western Europe is dense but far behind; North America and Central Africa have large, sparsely populated expanses.

Yaad rakhein: Densest regions = South-Central Asia and East Asia; most sparsely populated = Oceania (excluding Australia/NZ) and northern regions.

Answer: (A) South-Central Asia

Concept: Mohiniyattam ("dance of Mohini, the enchantress") is the classical solo dance of Kerala performed by women in graceful, swaying lasya style.

1. The name comes from Mohini, the female form of Vishnu; dancers wear white-and-gold kasavu costume.
2. Kathakali (Kerala) is a male-dominated dance-drama with elaborate make-up; Bharatanatyam is from Tamil Nadu; Thiruvathirakali is a group folk dance of Kerala women.

Yaad rakhein: Kerala: Kathakali = story-drama (men), Mohiniyattam = graceful solo (women).

Answer: (B) Mohiniyaattam

Concept: Ctrl + Tab cycles forward through the open tabs in browsers and tabbed applications (Ctrl + Shift + Tab goes backward).

1. Close a tab = Ctrl + W; Copy = Ctrl + C; Save = Ctrl + S.
2. Alt + Tab, by contrast, switches between open windows/programs.

Yaad rakhein: Ctrl + Tab → tabs; Alt + Tab → windows.

Answer: (D) Switch between open tabs

Concept: According to Arrhenius, an acid is a substance that releases hydrogen ions (H⁺, present in water as H₃O⁺) in aqueous solution.

1. The concentration of H⁺ decides the acidity – more H⁺ means lower pH.
2. OH⁻ ions make a solution basic; Na⁺ and Cl⁻ are neutral spectator ions (NaCl solution is neutral).

Yaad rakhein: Acid → H⁺ (pH < 7); Base → OH⁻ (pH > 7).

Answer: (C) Hydrogen ion (H⁺)

Concept: The most distinctive feature of Harappan town planning was its covered drainage system – every house had drains connected to covered street drains with inspection holes.

1. Other hallmarks: grid-pattern streets, baked-brick houses, the citadel and lower town, and the Great Bath of Mohenjodaro.
2. Trade routes and processions existed in many ancient cultures; the well-planned drainage is what makes Harappan cities unique for their time.

Yaad rakhein: Harappa = "first planned cities" → grid roads + covered drains + standard bricks (ratio 1:2:4).

Answer: (D) Drainage system

Concept: Volatile memory needs continuous power to retain data; when the power goes off its contents are lost.

1. RAM (SRAM, DRAM) and cache are volatile – that is why unsaved work disappears on a power cut.
2. ROM, hard disks, SSDs (flash), optical discs and magnetic tapes are non-volatile and keep data without power.

Yaad rakhein: Volatile = "vanishes" with power (RAM); Non-volatile = stays (ROM, HDD, SSD).

Answer: (B) Volatile memory type

Concept: Article 44 (Part IV, Directive Principles) says the State shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for citizens throughout the territory of India.

1. Goa has had a common civil code since Portuguese times, and Uttarakhand became the first state to enact a UCC in 2024 (in force from 27 January 2025).
2. Article 42: just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief; Article 46: promotion of SC/ST/weaker sections; Article 48: organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry.

Yaad rakhein: "44 = UCC" – think of the Shah Bano case (1985) where the Supreme Court recalled Article 44.

Answer: (B) Article 44

Concept: DNA and RNA are nucleic acids – long polymers of nucleotides (sugar + phosphate + nitrogenous base) that store and transmit genetic information.

1. DNA has deoxyribose sugar and bases A, T, G, C; RNA has ribose sugar and uracil in place of thymine.
2. Proteins are polymers of amino acids, carbohydrates of sugars, and lipids are fats/oils – none carry genetic code.

Yaad rakhein: The four classes of biomolecules: Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids, Nucleic acids (DNA/RNA).

Answer: (A) Nucleic acids