SSC CGL 2025 PYQs

Concept: India–US tri-service amphibious exercise.

1. Tiger Triumph started in 2019; the 2025 edition centred on Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR).
2. It also stressed logistics interoperability, enabled by LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, 2016).
3. It is a multi-service drill – not cyber-only, naval-blockade-only or an airshow.

Yaad rakhein: India–US foundational pacts: LEMOA (2016), COMCASA (2018), BECA (2020).

Answer: (D) HADR plus logistics interoperability under LEMOA

Concept: Know the author's genre and what the book is noted for.

1. Natasha Sharma is a well-known Indian children's author.
2. Bonkers! is noted for its experimental, unusual narrative style while touching social themes.
3. It is not an autobiography, a colonial epic or space science fiction.

Trick: For author–book questions, first rule out options that clash with the author's genre (children's fiction here).

Answer: (C) It is known for its experimental style and social themes

Concept: Sports announcements come from the Union Sports Minister.

1. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya is the Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports.
2. He announced Rajasthan as host of KIUG 2025.
3. Rajnath Singh – Defence; Piyush Goyal – Commerce; Anurag Thakur – former Sports Minister.

Yaad rakhein: The first Khelo India University Games were held in 2020 at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Answer: (D) Mansukh Mandaviya

Concept: Basic facts of the 1951 New Delhi Asian Games.

1. Venue: National Stadium, New Delhi (now Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium).
2. 11 nations took part; Japan topped the medal table, India came second – B correct.
3. A is wrong: JLN Stadium was built later (for 1982) and the count was 11, not 12.

Yaad rakhein: India hosted the Asian Games twice – 1951 and 1982 (the 1982 Games were held at JLN Stadium).

Answer: (A) Only B

Concept: Article 246 + Schedule VII divide law-making subjects into three lists.

1. Union List (List I): defence, foreign affairs, railways, currency, atomic energy etc.
2. Only Parliament can make laws on these.
3. State List covers police, public health etc.; Concurrent List covers education, forests etc.

Yaad rakhein: Original numbers: Union 97, State 66, Concurrent 47 subjects.

Answer: (C) Union

Concept: Software that auto-generates optimised shapes for given loads.

1. The engineer sets loads, material and limits; the software tries many shapes and keeps the lightest strong one.
2. For a launch vehicle, less structural mass means more payload or less fuel.
3. Increasing weight or cost is the opposite of the goal.

Trick: Rocket design keyword = 'high strength-to-weight ratio' – any option that adds weight or cost is out.

Answer: (A) To reduce structural weight without losing strength

Concept: Constitution provides Consolidated, Public and Contingency Funds for the Union and each State.

1. Article 266 creates a Consolidated Fund for the Union and one for every State – so 1 is right.
2. Article 267(2): Contingency Fund of the State, placed at the Governor's disposal, set up by a law of the State Legislature – statement 2 correct.
3. Money spent from it is later recovered by legislative approval.

Trick: 266 = Consolidated & Public Accounts; 267 = Contingency Fund (Union: President; State: Governor).

Answer: (C) Both 1 and 2

Concept: We move forward because the ground pushes back on our foot (reaction).

1. On concrete the surface stays firm, so the full reaction acts on the foot.
2. Sand slips/shifts under the foot, so the reaction force is smaller.
3. Hence more effort is needed to walk on sand.

Yaad rakhein: Same reason a swimmer pushes water back and moves forward – action and reaction are equal and opposite.

Answer: (B) Sand moves when stepped on, giving less reaction force.

Concept: Tribal thanksgiving dances of the North-East.

1. Shad Suk Mynsiem ('dance of joyful hearts') is the spring thanksgiving festival-dance of the Khasi people of Meghalaya, held in Shillong in April.
2. Nyishi and Monpa are tribes of Arunachal Pradesh; Bhutia live mainly in Sikkim.

Yaad rakhein: Other Meghalaya festivals: Wangala (Garo, 100 drums) and Behdienkhlam (Jaintia/Pnar).

Answer: (B) Khasi

Concept: HDI = composite of health (life expectancy), education (schooling) and income (GNI per capita).

1. Income is only one of three parts, so a fall in income can be offset – A true.
2. Better health and education scores push the index up – R true.
3. R gives exactly why A can happen – R explains A.

Yaad rakhein: HDI is published by UNDP since 1990; concept by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen.

Answer: (A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A.

Concept: Macro models assume one 'representative good' to make totals easy to handle.

1. Treating all output as one good simplifies aggregate relations – A true.
2. In reality goods react very differently to price changes (different elasticities) – R false.
3. The assumption is for convenience, not because goods behave alike.

Trick: Words like 'every', 'all', 'uniformly' in a Reason usually signal an over-statement – check it hard.

Answer: (C) A is true, but R is false.

Concept: Import substitution = make at home what was earlier bought from abroad.

1. Early Plans (esp. 2nd Plan, Mahalanobis model) protected domestic industry with tariffs and quotas.
2. Goal: self-reliance and saving foreign exchange.
3. Export push, inviting MNCs and removing trade curbs came mainly after 1991.

Trick: The phrase is self-explaining: 'substitute imports' = replace imports by domestic production.

Answer: (B) To produce domestically what was earlier imported

Concept: Classification by weight/bulk of raw material and product.

1. Heavy industry uses bulky raw materials and makes heavy goods – e.g., iron & steel, shipbuilding, heavy machinery.
2. Jute/cotton textiles and consumer goods are light industries.
3. Beauty/healthcare products are light consumer industries.

Yaad rakhein: Heavy industries are usually located near raw materials (e.g., steel plants near iron-ore and coal belts) to cut transport cost.

Answer: (B) It uses large and bulky raw materials to make heavy goods.

Concept: Umbrella scheme of the Ministry of Earth Sciences approved in 2024.

1. It merges five ongoing schemes on atmosphere, ocean, polar and solid-earth science – statement 1 correct.
2. It strengthens forecasts and early warnings for cyclones, tsunamis, floods etc. – statement 2 correct.
3. Its nodal body is MoES (Earth Sciences) – the Health Ministry claim in 3 is false.

Trick: Spot the odd ministry: an earth-science mission under the Health Ministry is clearly wrong – removes (A), (C), (D).

Answer: (B) Only 1 and 2 are correct

Concept: India's 1991 balance-of-payments crisis led to the New Economic Policy (LPG).

1. India took emergency loans from the IMF and support from the World Bank.
2. In return it adopted structural adjustment – liberalisation, privatisation, globalisation.
3. WTO came into being only in 1995; UNDP, WHO, FAO are not lending bodies for such reforms.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 reforms: PM P.V. Narasimha Rao, Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh (New Industrial Policy, July 1991).

Answer: (A) World Bank and IMF

Concept: Current affairs: top bureaucratic appointments of 2025.

1. Santosh Kumar Sarangi became Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in April 2025.
2. Before this he headed the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

Yaad rakhein: A Secretary is the administrative head of a ministry; the political head is the Union Minister (MNRE – Pralhad Joshi).

Answer: (A) Santosh Kumar Sarangi

Concept: Each temple style has its own name for the tower over the garbhagriha.

1. Dravida (south): the stepped pyramidal tower over the sanctum = Vimana.
2. Gopuram = the gateway tower in the outer wall — often taller, hence the trap.
3. Shikhara = curvilinear tower of the Nagara (north) style; Chaitya = Buddhist prayer hall.

Trick: 'V' for Vimana = sanctum tower; 'G' for Gopuram = Gate tower.

Answer: (A) Vimana

Concept: Loku is the chief festival of the Nocte tribe of Tirap district, Arunachal Pradesh.

1. It is a three-day festival: Chamkatja, Chamlangja and Thanglangja.
2. Chamkatja features prayers at the Chaatam, the Chamwangbong dance and ceremonial gunshots at dawn — matches (B).
3. The other options mix up names and rituals.

Yaad rakhein: Other Arunachal festivals – Losar (Monpa), Solung (Adi), Nyokum (Nyishi), Dree (Apatani), Mopin (Galo).

Answer: (B) The "Chamkatja" ceremony includes prayers at Chaatam, the Chamwangbong dance, and ceremonial gunshots at dawn.

Concept: Of the 16 Mahajanapadas, one grew into an empire.

1. Magadha expanded under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru (Haryanka), then Shishunaga and the Nandas.
2. Advantages: iron ore, fertile Gangetic soil, war elephants, forts at Rajagriha and Pataliputra.
3. Avanti and Vajji were rivals that Magadha defeated.

Yaad rakhein: Order of Magadhan dynasties – Haryanka → Shishunaga → Nanda → Maurya ('Har Shishu Nanda Mor').

Answer: (B) Magadha

Concept: FIBA fixes exact sizes for the board, ring and net.

1. Backboard: 1.80 m wide × 1.05 m high — (A) swaps/changes the numbers ✗.
2. Ring inner diameter ≈ 45 cm, not 95 cm ✗; net has 12 loops, not 15 ✗.
3. Backboard lines: white, 50 mm wide ✓.

Yaad rakhein: The ring is fixed 3.05 m (10 ft) above the floor.

Answer: (D) The lines on the backboard must be white and 50 mm wide.