SSC CGL 2025 PYQs

Concept: A Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) protects investments already made in the partner country.

1. India and UAE signed the BIT in February 2024; it came into force in August 2024.
2. Following India's Model BIT (2016), it covers the post-establishment stage – national treatment, protection from expropriation, and fair dispute settlement.
3. It does not create sovereign funds, mandate UAE-only arbitration or set GCC tax rules.

Yaad rakhein: Post-establishment = after the investment is made; India's model BIT does not grant pre-entry rights.

Answer: (C) It provides protection for investors post-establishment by guaranteeing equal and national treatment.

Concept: For the first time, the knockout stage of the Santosh Trophy was held outside India.

1. The semi-finals and final of the 76th Santosh Trophy were played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (King Fahd Stadium).
2. Karnataka beat Meghalaya 3-2 in the final (March 2023), winning after 54 years.
3. Sharjah, Ajman and Abu Dhabi are in the UAE – not the host.

Yaad rakhein: Santosh Trophy = India's national football championship for state teams, run by AIFF; started in 1941.

Answer: (C) Riyadh

Concept: Know the genre and subject of the book.

1. Kavitha Iyer is a journalist; the book (2021) is non-fiction based on field reporting.
2. It records how repeated drought, mainly in Marathwada (Maharashtra), affects farmers' lives, migration, women, health and the environment.
3. So it is not fiction, ancient history or a colonial policy study.

Trick: Words like 'story' in a title do not make a book fiction – check the author's profession (journalist → reportage).

Answer: (C) A non-fiction exploration of the human, social and ecological impacts of drought in rural India.

Concept: A large trunk glacier cuts deeper than its small tributary glaciers.

1. Statement 1 ✔: tributary valleys end high above the floor of the main U-shaped valley, so they 'hang' – often with waterfalls.
2. Statement 2 ✔: the main glacier slices off projecting spurs, leaving truncated spurs with triangular facets.

Yaad rakhein: Glacial valley = U-shape; river valley = V-shape.

Answer: (C) Both 1 and 2

Concept: Human-rated rockets carry a rescue system for the astronauts.

1. The Crew Escape System (CES) is a set of fast-acting solid motors fitted on top of the crew module.
2. If the launch goes wrong, it pulls the crew module away from the rocket to a safe distance, after which parachutes bring it down.
3. Orbit insertion, docking and heat shielding are done by other systems.

Yaad rakhein: ISRO tested the CES in the TV-D1 flight (October 2023) from Sriharikota.

Answer: (B) Emergency separation of the crew module from the rocket in case of launch failure.

Concept: Check each statement against the date he took office.

1. 1 ✔: he became the 51st Chief Justice of India.
2. 2 ✔: he succeeded Justice D.Y. Chandrachud (50th CJI).
3. 3 ✘: he took oath on 11 November 2024, not 2023.

Yaad rakhein: His tenure ended in May 2025; Justice B.R. Gavai became the 52nd CJI.

Answer: (A) 1 and 2 only

Concept: NPP 2000 aims to stabilise population, so it seeks lower fertility.

1. 1 ✔ free, compulsory schooling up to 14 years; 3 ✔ IMR below 30 per 1,000 live births; 4 ✔ delayed marriage of girls (not before 18, preferably after 20).
2. 2 ✘ – the policy wants to reduce TFR to replacement level (2.1), not raise it.

Trick: Population policy + 'increase fertility' is a contradiction – eliminate every option containing 2 (A and D), then pick C over B as 4 is clearly a goal.

Answer: (C) 1, 3 and 4 only

Concept: Most ATP is made by oxidative phosphorylation on the inner mitochondrial membrane.

1. Glycolysis: net 2 ATP; Krebs cycle: 2 ATP (per glucose).
2. Electron transport chain: NADH and FADH₂ drive ATP synthase → about 32–34 ATP.
3. Fermentation gives no extra ATP beyond glycolysis.

Yaad rakhein: Total ≈ 36–38 ATP per glucose; ETC alone gives roughly 90% of it.

Answer: (C) Electron transport chain

Concept: A body must be created by law before it can meet.

1. b: States Reorganisation Act, 1956 set up the five Zonal Councils.
2. c: the councils (including Central) held their first meetings soon after, in 1957.
3. a: the Eastern Zonal Council meeting of 2022 is the most recent.

Trick: Law → first meeting → recent meeting: the Act must come first, which leaves only B or D; D puts 2022 before the first meeting – impossible.

Answer: (B) b-c-a

Concept: Property is now a constitutional (legal) right, not a Fundamental Right.

1. The 44th Amendment, 1978 deleted Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 and inserted Article 300A (Part XII).
2. Art. 300A: no person shall be deprived of property save by authority of law.
3. Not a Fundamental Right, so no direct Article 32 remedy; relief lies through Article 226 / civil suits.

Yaad rakhein: Remember 44 → 300A: the Janata government's amendment that 'demoted' property.

Answer: (C) It is a constitutional legal right allowing deprivation of property only by authority of law.

Concept: In a rigid body all particles turn through the same angle in the same time.

1. Angular velocity ω = angle turned ÷ time → equal for every particle.
2. Linear speed v = rω changes with distance r from the axis.
3. So 'proportional to distance' describes v, not ω.

Trick: Clock hand: tip and centre both complete one round in the same time (same ω), but the tip moves faster (bigger v).

Answer: (D) The same for all particles of the body

Concept: BSA 2023 replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 from 1 July 2024.

1. It treats electronic/digital records as documents and allows them as primary evidence.
2. Its technology-focused rules (certificates, hash values, proper custody) aim to prove such digital evidence is genuine and untampered.
3. Material objects, handwritten papers and oral statements follow traditional rules.

Yaad rakhein: Three new criminal laws from 1 July 2024: BNS (replaces IPC), BNSS (replaces CrPC), BSA (replaces Evidence Act).

Answer: (C) Electronic and digital forms of evidence

Concept: Check if R is the actual mechanism behind A.

1. A ✔: ONORC lets NFSA beneficiaries lift subsidised grain from any Fair Price Shop in India (portability).
2. R ✔: shops use ePoS devices with Aadhaar-based biometric authentication to verify the beneficiary.
3. R explains how portability works → R is the correct explanation.

Trick: Ask "A happens because R?" – portability is possible because identity is checked online by Aadhaar, so yes.

Answer: (A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Concept: Cheraw is the best-known traditional dance of Mizoram.

1. Men sit facing each other and clap long bamboo poles together in rhythm.
2. Women dance by stepping in and out between the moving bamboos.

Yaad rakhein: Other Mizo dances: Khuallam, Chheih Lam. Manipur → Thang-Ta, Meghalaya → Wangala/Nongkrem.

Answer: (D) Mizoram

Concept: Global Firepower ranks countries by conventional military strength.

1. Its PowerIndex uses 60+ factors: troops, weapons (air, land, naval), logistics, natural resources and defence budget.
2. Economy, culture or health are not the measure of 'firepower'.

Yaad rakhein: In GFP 2025 the top four were USA, Russia, China and India (4th).

Answer: (C) Defense budget and military power

Concept: Industries can be grouped by ownership: public, private, joint and cooperative.

1. A cooperative industry is owned and run jointly by its members (producers/workers/suppliers).
2. Members share profit and loss together.
3. Govt control = public sector; foreign firms = MNC/private – not cooperative.

Yaad rakhein: Examples: AMUL (dairy, Gujarat), IFFCO (fertiliser), sugar mills of Maharashtra.

Answer: (B) They are owned and managed together by the members who share profits and losses.

Concept: The 42nd Amendment, 1976 shifted some State subjects to the Concurrent List.

1. Education was earlier in the State List.
2. After 1976 it is in the Concurrent List (Entry 25), so both Centre and States can legislate.
3. There is no 'Judicial List' in the Seventh Schedule.

Yaad rakhein: Five subjects moved State → Concurrent in 1976: education, forests, weights & measures, protection of wild animals & birds, administration of justice.

Answer: (A) Concurrent List

Concept: Climate services = turning weather/climate data into useful information for users.

1. NFCS was launched by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on the lines of WMO's Global Framework for Climate Services.
2. Goal: give tailored climate information to sectors like agriculture, water, health, energy and disaster management.
3. It does not set emission limits, test groundwater or force carbon offsets.

Trick: 'Services' in the name = information delivery, not regulation – that removes A and D at once.

Answer: (C) To give climate-based information for different sectors

Concept: Most argon on Earth is radiogenic, i.e. formed by radioactive decay.

1. K-40 in rocks decays partly (≈11%) by electron capture into Ar-40.
2. Ar-40 makes up over 99% of Earth's argon, which is about 0.93% of air – the 3rd most abundant gas.
3. Volcanoes only release gases; photosynthesis gives O₂; cosmic rays make C-14.

Yaad rakhein: This decay is the basis of potassium–argon (K-Ar) dating of rocks.

Answer: (A) By the radioactive decay of Potassium-40 (K-40)

Concept: Justiciable vs non-justiciable provisions.

1. Fundamental Rights (Part III) can be enforced in courts – Art. 32 (SC) and Art. 226 (HC).
2. DPSPs (Part IV): Article 37 says they are not enforceable by any court, though fundamental in governance.
3. So FRs are enforceable, DPSPs are not.

Yaad rakhein: Courts try to harmonise both (Minerva Mills, 1980) – neither is simply 'more powerful'.

Answer: (D) Fundamental Rights can be enforced by courts, but DPSPs cannot.