RRB NTPC Undergraduate CBT 1 2024 PYQs

Concept: BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) has 7 members and the chair rotates among them.

1. The 6th BIMSTEC Summit was hosted by Thailand in Bangkok (chair: Thailand), on 4 April 2025.
2. PM Narendra Modi attended; the Bangkok Vision 2030 was adopted and the chair passed to Bangladesh.
3. India hosted none of the recent summits; the 5th Summit (2022) was hosted virtually by Sri Lanka.

Yaad rakhein: BIMSTEC Summits: 4th Kathmandu (2018), 5th Colombo (2022), 6th Bangkok (2025).

Answer: (C) Thailand

Concept: A water pollutant is a substance that contaminates water and harms living beings.

1. Lead is a toxic heavy metal; it enters water from old pipes, batteries and industrial waste and damages the nervous system and kidneys.
2. Oxygen and nitrogen are natural dissolved gases; dissolved oxygen is in fact essential for aquatic life.
3. Carbon dioxide is mainly discussed as an air/greenhouse gas, not a classic water pollutant.

Yaad rakhein: Heavy metals in water: Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg – Minamata disease), Cadmium (Cd – Itai-itai disease), Arsenic (As).

Answer: (B) Lead

Concept: Dadabhai Naoroji is honoured as the 'Grand Old Man of India'.

1. He propounded the Drain Theory in 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'.
2. As INC President at the Calcutta session (1906), he declared Swaraj as the goal of the Congress – the first formal demand for Swaraj.
3. Gokhale was Gandhi's political guru; Tilak is famous for 'Swaraj is my birthright', but the title 'Grand Old Man' belongs to Naoroji.

Yaad rakhein: Naoroji = Grand Old Man + Drain Theory + first Indian in British Parliament (1892).

Answer: (D) Dadabhai Naoroji

Concept: Rani-ki-Vav is an 11th-century stepwell at Patan, Gujarat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2014).

1. It was built in memory of King Bhimdev I of the Solanki (Chalukya) dynasty by his queen Udayamati.
2. It stands on the banks of the Saraswati river, which later silted the well up until excavation.
3. It appears on the back of the ₹100 note.

Yaad rakhein: Patan – Saraswati river – Rani-ki-Vav – ₹100 note.

Answer: (C) Saraswati

Concept: Privy purses were annual payments guaranteed to former princely rulers who merged their states with India.

1. After the 1971 victory, the 26th Amendment Act, 1971 inserted Article 363A and deleted Articles 291 and 362, abolishing privy purses and privileges.
2. The earlier 1970 attempt by presidential order had been struck down in the Madhav Rao Scindia case.
3. Zamindari was abolished in the early 1950s (1st Amendment protected those laws).

Yaad rakhein: 26th Amendment (1971) = end of privy purses.

Answer: (C) Privy purses of former princely rulers

Concept: Nagorno-Karabakh is a region inside Azerbaijan that was long held by ethnic Armenians, causing decades of conflict.

1. On 13 March 2025, Armenia and Azerbaijan announced they had agreed the full text of a peace treaty.
2. The deal aims to end the conflict that began in the late 1980s (nearly four decades).
3. Georgia, Turkey and Russia were not the two parties of this dispute.

Yaad rakhein: Nagorno-Karabakh dispute = Armenia vs Azerbaijan (South Caucasus).

Answer: (D) Armenia and Azerbaijan

Concept: Gram Sabha is defined in Article 243(b) of the Constitution.

1. It consists of all persons registered in the electoral rolls of the village (Panchayat area) – i.e. all adult voters.
2. Article 243A says the Gram Sabha exercises such powers and functions as the State Legislature provides by law.
3. It is not only elected members, and it meets regularly (usually 2–4 times a year), not once in five years.

Yaad rakhein: Gram Sabha = all adult voters of the village; powers given by state law (Art. 243A).

Answer: (D) It comprises all adult voters in the Panchayat area; its role is defined by state law.

Concept: The Green Revolution (from the mid-1960s) used HYV seeds, fertilisers and assured irrigation.

1. Its benefits went mainly to Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh – northern India – which had good irrigation.
2. It was largely limited to wheat at first, so wheat-growing northern states gained the most.
3. Eastern and dry regions gained much less, increasing regional inequality.

Yaad rakhein: Green Revolution = Wheat + Punjab–Haryana–Western UP.

Answer: (C) Northern India

Concept: Volatile memory needs continuous power to keep its data.

1. RAM (Random Access Memory) is the computer's working memory; its contents are lost when power is switched off.
2. ROM, hard disk and pen drive are non-volatile – they retain data without power.
3. Cache memory and registers are also volatile.

Yaad rakhein: RAM = Remove power, All data Missing.

Answer: (D) RAM

Concept: Khelo India Youth Games 2025 (7th edition) were held in Bihar in May 2025.

1. The official mascot was 'Gajsimha' – a figure combining an elephant and a lion, inspired by Bihar's heritage (Nalanda).
2. 'Appu' was the mascot of the 1982 Asian Games, Delhi.
3. The games were opened by PM Narendra Modi at Patliputra Sports Complex, Patna.

Yaad rakhein: Bihar KIYG 2025 → Gajsimha (Gaj = elephant + Simha = lion).

Answer: (D) Gajsimha

Concept: India's (and Asia's) first cross-country oil pipeline was laid by Oil India Limited.

1. It runs from Naharkatiya (Assam) via Nunmati (Guwahati) to Barauni refinery in Bihar.
2. It was commissioned in the early 1960s (about 1962–64), length about 1,157 km.
3. Mathura and Panipat refineries came later and are fed by other pipelines.

Yaad rakhein: Naharkatiya – Nunmati – Barauni: Assam to Bihar.

Answer: (C) Barauni Refinery

Concept: The SAFF U-19 Championship 2025 was held in Arunachal Pradesh in May 2025.

1. Matches were played at the Golden Jubilee (Yupia Outdoor) Stadium, Yupia, near Itanagar.
2. India beat Bangladesh in the final (on penalties after a draw) to retain the title.
3. Salt Lake (Kolkata) and JRD Tata Complex (Jamshedpur) were not the venues.

Yaad rakhein: SAFF U-19 2025 – Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh – India champion.

Answer: (B) Yupia Outdoor Stadium, Arunachal Pradesh

Concept: An echo is heard only if the reflected sound reaches the ear at least $0.1\text{s}$ after the original sound (persistence of hearing).

1. Sound travels to the wall and back: $2d=v\times 0.1$, so $d_{min}=\frac{v\times 0.1}{2}$.
2. Speed of sound in air increases with temperature (about $0.6\text{m/s}$ per $1^{\circ }\text{C}$).
3. Since $d_{min}\propto v$, a larger speed means a larger minimum distance (about $17.2\text{m}$ at ${22}^{\circ }\text{C}$).

Trick: Hotter air → faster sound → wall must be farther for a clear echo.

Answer: (C) Speed increases, minimum distance increases

Concept: The right to property was originally a Fundamental Right under Article 31 (and 19(1)(f)).

1. The 25th Amendment Act, 1971 amended Article 31(2), replacing 'compensation' with 'amount' so that courts could not question adequacy.
2. It also inserted Article 31C, protecting laws giving effect to Directive Principles in Article 39(b) and (c).
3. The 44th Amendment (1978) finally removed Article 31 and made property a legal right under Article 300A.

Yaad rakhein: 25th → Art. 31 & 31C; 44th → property moved to Art. 300A.

Answer: (D) Article 31

Concept: Jatakas are part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka in Pali Buddhist literature.

1. They contain about 550 stories of the previous births (as Bodhisattva) of the Buddha.
2. Panchatantra (Vishnu Sharma) is a book of animal fables, not Buddhist.
3. Arthashastra (Kautilya) is on statecraft; Manusmriti is a Hindu law text.

Yaad rakhein: Jataka = Janma (birth) stories of Buddha; many are carved at Bharhut and Sanchi.

Answer: (B) Jatakas

Concept: Extremists (Lal-Bal-Pal, Aurobindo) believed petitions were useless and favoured 'passive resistance'.

1. Passive resistance meant non-violent refusal to cooperate with the government.
2. Its tools were Boycott of foreign goods and institutions, Swadeshi, national education and non-cooperation – seen in the Swadeshi Movement (1905).
3. Assassinations and armed confrontation belonged to revolutionary terrorists, not the Extremist programme.

Yaad rakhein: Passive resistance = Boycott + Swadeshi + non-cooperation (no violence).

Answer: (A) Boycott, Swadeshi and non-cooperation with rulers

Concept: The equatorial region lies roughly within ${10}^{\circ }$ N and S of the Equator.

1. It is hot and receives heavy rainfall throughout the year (convectional rain almost daily).
2. This supports dense evergreen rainforests (Amazon, Congo basin, Southeast Asia) with the highest biodiversity on land.
3. Tundra is cold and treeless; steppe is grassland; Mediterranean has dry summers with shrubs.

Yaad rakhein: Equatorial = 4 o'clock rain + evergreen forests + max biodiversity.

Answer: (A) Equatorial region

Concept: India adopted a mixed economy after independence (Industrial Policy Resolution 1956, Mahalanobis model).

1. Heavy and core industries – steel, power, mining, railways, defence – were reserved mainly for the public sector, which held the 'commanding heights'.
2. The private sector worked alongside but was controlled through industrial licensing.
3. So 'absence of licensing' and 'full privatisation' are opposite to the actual model.

Yaad rakhein: Mixed economy (India) = public sector in core industries + licence-permit raj for private sector.

Answer: (A) Public sector dominance in core industries

Concept: DRDO's Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRAShM) is a hypersonic missile meant to strike enemy warships at long range.

1. Its successful trials strengthen India's long-range strike and maritime deterrence, especially in the Indian Ocean Region.
2. It does not replace aircraft carriers, and it uses conventional (not solar) propulsion.
3. It was not India's first hypersonic test – the HSTDV had been flight-tested earlier (2020).

Yaad rakhein: Long-range anti-ship missile → stronger deterrence at sea.

Answer: (B) It enhances India's strategic deterrence capabilities

Concept: Common household chemicals have specific chemical names.

1. Baking soda = sodium bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate), ${\text{NaHCO}}_3$.
2. Washing soda = sodium carbonate decahydrate, ${\text{Na}}_2{\text{CO}}_3·10{\text{H}}_2\text{O}$.
3. On heating, $2{\text{NaHCO}}_3\to {\text{Na}}_2{\text{CO}}_3+{\text{H}}_2\text{O}+{\text{CO}}_2$; the ${\text{CO}}_2$ makes cakes rise.

Yaad rakhein: Baking soda → Bicarbonate (both start with B).

Answer: (B) Sodium bicarbonate