RRB NTPC Undergraduate CBT 1 2025 PYQs

Concept: The Ghaggar is the seasonal river of the Thar region.

1. The Ghaggar rises in the Shivaliks, flows through Haryana and Punjab and disappears in the sands near Hanumangarh–Suratgarh in Rajasthan.
2. Its flood plain forms a fertile belt (identified with the ancient Saraswati) inside the Great Indian Desert.
3. Sabarmati, Narmada and Beas do not enter the Thar.

Yaad rakhein: Ghaggar = Thar's only inland river; Luni is the other desert river (to the Rann of Kutch).

Answer: (D) Ghaggar River

Concept: The Supreme Court's view on the Preamble changed between 1960 and 1973.

1. Berubari Union case (1960): Preamble is not a part of the Constitution.
2. Kesavananda Bharati case (1973): the 13-judge bench held the Preamble is a part of the Constitution and reflects its basic structure.
3. S.R. Bommai (1994) later reaffirmed this.

Yaad rakhein: Berubari – NO, Kesavananda – YES (first), Bommai – again YES.

Answer: (A) Kesavananda Bharati Case, 1973

Concept: Saubhagya targeted the last-mile household connection.

1. Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) was launched on 25 September 2017 for free/cheap electricity connections to all un-electrified rural households and poor urban households.
2. DDUGJY (2014) dealt with rural electrification infrastructure (feeder separation, village electrification), not individual households.

Yaad rakhein: DDUGJY = villages (2014); Saubhagya = households (2017).

Answer: (A) Saubhagya Scheme (Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana)

Concept: Rajatarangini ("River of Kings") is the Sanskrit history of Kashmir.

1. Written by Kalhana in 1148–50 CE; it is regarded as India's first proper historical work.
2. Bilhana wrote Vikramankadevacharita; Somadeva wrote Kathasaritsagara; Kshemendra wrote Brihatkathamanjari.

Yaad rakhein: Kalhana – Kashmir – Rajatarangini (all with K).

Answer: (C) Kalhana

Concept: The 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award went, for the first time, to an Indian organisation.

1. Educate Girls (founded 2007, Rajasthan) was named a 2025 Magsaysay awardee for enrolling out-of-school girls and improving learning outcomes in rural India.
2. Earlier Indian laureates were individuals (Vinoba Bhave 1958 onwards); Educate Girls is the first Indian organisation to win.

Yaad rakhein: Magsaysay 2025 – Educate Girls (India), along with Shaahina Ali (Maldives) and Father Flaviano Villanueva (Philippines).

Answer: (A) Educate Girls

Concept: Lothal in Gujarat is the only Harappan site with an artificial dockyard.

1. Lothal (on the Bhogava river, Gujarat) has a rectangular brick-lined dock connected to the Sabarmati estuary – evidence of maritime trade.
2. Rakhigarhi (largest site, Haryana), Kalibangan (ploughed field, fire altars), Nal (Baluchistan) have no dockyard.

Yaad rakhein: Lothal = dockyard, bead factory, rice husk.

Answer: (C) Lothal

Concept: Paris 2024 medal table.

1. USA topped with 126 medals (40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze); China was second with 91 (40 gold).
2. Australia won 53 medals; India won 6 (1 silver, 5 bronze).

Yaad rakhein: Paris 2024 – USA and China tied at 40 golds, USA ahead on total.

Answer: (D) United States of America

Concept: Thorn forests grow where rainfall is below 70 cm.

1. Tropical thorn forests (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana) have babool, khejri, kikar and cacti with small leaves and deep roots to save water; plants stay leafless most of the year.
2. Evergreen forests never shed all leaves; montane and littoral forests are moist.

Yaad rakhein: Rainfall < 70 cm → thorn forest, leaves tiny or absent.

Answer: (C) Tropical thorn forest

Concept: NITI is an acronym.

1. NITI = National Institution for Transforming India, set up on 1 January 2015 by a Cabinet resolution, replacing the Planning Commission (1950).
2. The Prime Minister is its chairperson; it works as the government's policy think-tank and promotes cooperative federalism.

Yaad rakhein: NITI – National Institution for Transforming India.

Answer: (D) National Institution for Transforming India

Concept: The Extremists (Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal) used popular religious and cultural symbols to reach the masses.

1. Tilak started the Ganapati festival (1893) and the Shivaji festival (1895) in Maharashtra to turn religious/cultural gatherings into platforms of political mobilisation.
2. They did not ban non-Hindus, confine politics to religious gatherings, or replace speeches with rituals — the other options distort the facts.

Yaad rakhein: Tilak – Ganapati 1893, Shivaji 1895 – mass politics through festivals.

Answer: (A) Cultural symbols like Shivaji and Ganapati were used for political mobilisation.

Concept: The Upper Palaeolithic (c. 40,000–10,000 years ago) is the age of modern humans.

1. Anatomically modern Homo sapiens spread across Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia in this phase, making blade tools, bone tools and cave art.
2. Homo erectus belongs to the Lower Palaeolithic; Neanderthals mainly to the Middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian).

Yaad rakhein: Lower – erectus; Middle – Neanderthal; Upper – Homo sapiens.

Answer: (C) Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens across the Old World

Concept: A physical change alters state or form without forming a new substance.

1. Crystallization only separates a solid from its solution — the substance remains the same (e.g. sugar crystals from syrup); it is reversible.
2. Oxidation, combustion and reduction all form new substances — chemical changes.

Yaad rakhein: Melting, boiling, dissolving, crystallizing = physical; burning, rusting = chemical.

Answer: (A) Crystallization

Concept: Part I (Articles 1–4) deals with the Union and its territory.

1. Article 3 empowers Parliament to form a new state, increase/diminish the area, alter boundaries or change the name of any state by a simple-majority law, after the President refers the bill to the state legislature for its views.
2. Article 2 is for admitting/establishing new states from outside; Articles 5–6 are about citizenship.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 2 – new state from outside; Art. 3 – reorganising existing states.

Answer: (B) Article 3

Concept: Guardianship of the Constitution comes from the power to test laws against it.

1. Judicial review lets the Supreme Court and High Courts strike down any law or executive action that violates the Constitution (Articles 13, 32, 226).
2. Independence and service conditions only enable judges to act freely; judicial overreach is a criticism, not a power.

Yaad rakhein: Judicial review = guardian of the Constitution; it is part of the basic structure.

Answer: (A) Judicial review

Concept: Sound must return after at least $0.1$ s (persistence of hearing) for an echo to be distinct.

1. Total path in $0.1$ s $=344\times 0.1=34.4$ m (speed of sound in air $\approx 344$ m/s at ${22}^{\circ }$C).
2. Sound goes and comes back, so distance to the surface $=\frac{34.4}{2}=17.2$ m.

Yaad rakhein: Echo: $0.1$ s, $34.4$ m round trip, $17.2$ m one way.

Answer: (B) 17.2 m

Concept: The Sustainable Development Report is published annually by the UN SDSN.

1. In the Sustainable Development Report 2025, India ranked 99th out of 167 countries with a score of about 67 — entering the top 100 for the first time (109th in 2024).
2. Finland, Sweden and Denmark topped the index.

Yaad rakhein: SDG Index 2025 – India 99th of 167 (up from 109th).

Answer: (A) 99th

Concept: The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was for metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).

1. Susumu Kitagawa (Japan), Richard Robson (Australia) and Omar M. Yaghi (USA) shared the 2025 Chemistry Nobel for developing MOFs — porous crystalline materials that can capture gases, store hydrogen and harvest water from air.
2. Physics 2025 went to Clarke, Devoret and Martinis (quantum tunnelling in circuits).

Yaad rakhein: Chemistry 2025 = MOFs = Kitagawa, Robson, Yaghi.

Answer: (A) Chemistry

Concept: The Bill extended women's reservation (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) to UT legislatures.

1. The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 amends the Government of Union Territories Act 1963 (Puducherry), the GNCTD Act 1991 (Delhi) and the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 to reserve one-third seats for women in their assemblies.
2. The Representation of the People Act, 1951 is not touched by this Bill.

Yaad rakhein: Three UTs with assemblies → three Acts amended; RPA 1951 is a general election law.

Answer: (C) Representation of the People Act, 1951

Concept: Economic activities are classified as primary, secondary, tertiary (and quaternary/quinary).

1. Tertiary activities are services — transport, banking, trade, teaching, health — which produce intangible output rather than physical goods.
2. Extraction of resources and agriculture are primary; transforming raw materials is secondary (manufacturing).

Yaad rakhein: Primary – nature; Secondary – factory; Tertiary – service.

Answer: (D) Production of intangible goods

Concept: Indian secularism means the State has no religion of its own and treats all religions equally.

1. The word "Secular" was added to the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment (1976); Articles 25–28 guarantee freedom of religion to all.
2. The State neither bans religion nor promotes any one; citizens are free to practise, profess and propagate any faith.

Yaad rakhein: Indian secularism = sarva dharma sambhava (equal respect to all religions), not separation or hostility.

Answer: (A) State protects all religions equally