Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Pankaj Advani won the Asian Snooker Championship 2025 held in Doha, Qatar.

1. In the final he defeated Amir Sarkosh of Iran.
2. It added another continental title to Advani's long list of cue-sport crowns (he holds 28 world titles in billiards and snooker).

Yaad rakhein: Advani – Asian Snooker 2025 – Doha – beat Iran's Amir Sarkosh.

Answer: (A) Amir Sarkosh

Concept: SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) was launched on 24 April 2020 (National Panchayati Raj Day).

1. Inhabited (abadi) village land is mapped using drone surveying to create precise maps.
2. Owners get a property card (record of rights), helping them take bank loans.
3. It is run by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj with Survey of India.

Yaad rakhein: SVAMITVA = "Swamitva" (ownership) + drones over villages.

Answer: (D) Drone Surveying

Concept: A death sentence passed by a Court of Session cannot be executed unless it is confirmed by the High Court.

1. This is provided in Section 366 of the CrPC (now Section 407 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).
2. The Sessions Court must submit the proceedings to the High Court for confirmation.
3. Life imprisonment or long jail terms do not need such confirmation; they can only be challenged in appeal.

Yaad rakhein: Only "death" needs a High Court "confirmation" – everything else goes by appeal.

Answer: (D) Capital punishment

Concept: Input Tax Credit (ITC) lets a business subtract the tax already paid on inputs from the tax due on its output.

1. Under GST (from 1 July 2017), ITC flows seamlessly from manufacturer to retailer, so tax is levied only on value addition.
2. This removes the "tax on tax" (cascading effect) seen in the older system of separate central and state taxes.
3. Angel tax, equalisation levy and countervailing duty have no ITC chain.

Yaad rakhein: GST = one nation, one tax, "tax on value addition" via ITC.

Answer: (D) GST

Concept: At Aero India 2025 (Bengaluru, February 2025), DRDO showcased an indigenous Electro-Magnetic Launch System (EMLS).

1. EMLS uses linear electromagnetic motors instead of steam catapults to launch aircraft from carrier decks.
2. It gives smoother acceleration, less stress on airframes and suits future Indian Navy aircraft carriers.
3. The other names are not actual DRDO systems.

Yaad rakhein: EMLS = "electric catapult" – the same idea as the US carrier Gerald R. Ford's EMALS.

Answer: (A) Electro-Magnetic Launch System (EMLS)

Concept: Subsidiary (accessory) cells are specialised epidermal cells lying next to the guard cells of a stoma.

1. Together, guard cells and subsidiary cells form the stomatal apparatus.
2. Subsidiary cells exchange water and ions (K⁺) with guard cells and support their swelling and shrinking, helping stomata open and close.
3. Food transport is done by sieve tubes and companion cells of phloem, not subsidiary cells.

Yaad rakhein: Stomatal apparatus = stomatal pore + guard cells + subsidiary cells.

Answer: (C) Support of guard cells in stomatal function

Concept: Privy purses were annual payments guaranteed to the rulers of princely states when they merged their states with India.

1. They were fixed under the Instruments of Accession/merger agreements, along with certain privileges.
2. Indira Gandhi's government abolished them through the 26th Constitutional Amendment, 1971.
3. They were neither taxes nor British loans.

Yaad rakhein: Privy purse = "pension" to ex-princes; ended by 26th Amendment (1971).

Answer: (D) Pensions paid to the princes after integration

Concept: The Thar (Great Indian) Desert lies in north-western India and extends into Pakistan.

1. About 85% of it is in India, mostly in Rajasthan.
2. It also covers parts of Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.
3. Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are not part of the Thar.

Yaad rakhein: Thar states: R-G-P-H – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana.

Answer: (B) Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana

Concept: Task View (button on the taskbar, or Windows + Tab) shows all open windows as thumbnails.

1. It also lets users create, switch and close virtual desktops.
2. Start Menu launches apps; Control Panel changes settings; File Explorer manages files and folders.

Yaad rakhein: Win + Tab = Task View; Win + Ctrl + D = new virtual desktop.

Answer: (D) Task View

Concept: Clock speed (in GHz) is the number of cycles a CPU completes per second.

1. Each cycle lets the CPU execute (part of) an instruction, so higher clock speed means more instructions per second.
2. Cache size and registers affect how quickly data is reached; power consumption is a result, not a measure of speed.

Yaad rakhein: 1 GHz = 10⁹ cycles per second.

Answer: (D) Clock speed

Concept: Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma is one of the top ODI all-rounders in women's cricket.

1. In the ICC Women's ODI all-rounder rankings of March 2025 she was placed 5th.
2. She also became the first Indian woman to take 100 wickets in T20 internationals (2024).

Yaad rakhein: Deepti – 5th among ICC women's all-rounders (March 2025).

Answer: (A) 5^th

Concept: NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a joint Earth-observation satellite.

1. It carries dual-frequency radar (NASA's L-band and ISRO's S-band) to map the whole Earth every 12 days.
2. It tracks ice sheets, glaciers, forests, crops, earthquakes, landslides and other climate/land changes.
3. It was launched on 30 July 2025 aboard GSLV-F16 from Sriharikota.

Yaad rakhein: NISAR = radar eyes on Earth – not planets, Sun or deep space.

Answer: (C) Earth observation and climate monitoring

Concept: The Jageshwar group (Almora, Uttarakhand) has over 100 stone temples built mainly between the 7th and 12th centuries.

1. They follow the Nagara style of north India, whose hallmark is the tall curvilinear shikhara (rekha-prasada).
2. Pyramidal towers are typical of the Dravidian vimana; stupas are Buddhist structures.

Yaad rakhein: Nagara = curved shikhara (North); Dravida = pyramidal vimana (South).

Answer: (D) Curvilinear shikharas

Concept: Rudradaman I (c. 130–150 CE) was the greatest ruler of the Western Kshatrapas, a Shaka dynasty.

1. His Junagadh (Girnar) rock inscription is the first long inscription in pure Sanskrit; it records the repair of the Sudarshana lake.
2. He defeated the Satavahana ruler (Satakarni) twice; his realm covered Gujarat, Malwa and adjoining areas.

Yaad rakhein: Rudradaman → Shaka → Junagadh inscription → Sudarshana lake.

Answer: (B) Shaka

Concept: Import Substitution Industrialisation protected domestic industry from foreign competition through tariffs, quotas and licensing.

1. With little competition, Indian firms had no pressure to modernise, so by the 1980s they suffered from technological backwardness and low efficiency.
2. Exports actually remained weak (not excessive); this led to the 1991 reforms (LPG).

Yaad rakhein: Protection → no competition → outdated technology and poor quality.

Answer: (B) Technological backwardness

Concept: Ctrl + Tab switches between tabs or document windows inside the active application (e.g. browser tabs).

1. Ctrl + Shift + Tab moves in the reverse direction.
2. Alt + Tab switches between applications; Ctrl + W/Ctrl + F4 closes a tab; Ctrl + T opens a new tab; Win + Down minimises.

Yaad rakhein: Alt + Tab = between apps; Ctrl + Tab = within an app.

Answer: (A) It cycles through the open windows or tabs of the currently active application.

Concept: UNDP's Human Development Report 2025 ("A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI") ranked countries on HDI.

1. Iceland ranked 1st, Norway and Switzerland shared 2nd, and Denmark was 4th.
2. India ranked 130th. Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone are far lower.

Yaad rakhein: HDR 2025 top: Iceland → Norway = Switzerland → Denmark.

Answer: (D) Denmark

Concept: Delhi was the main centre of the Revolt; the sepoys proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as emperor in May 1857.

1. The British recaptured Delhi in September 1857 (assault from 14 September; city taken by about 20 September).
2. Bahadur Shah Zafar was captured and later exiled to Rangoon.
3. Madras, Bombay and Surat were not rebel centres.

Yaad rakhein: Delhi: lost May 1857 → regained September 1857 (John Nicholson died in the assault).

Answer: (B) Delhi

Concept: The rice–wheat system (rice in kharif, wheat in rabi) is India's most important cropping system.

1. It covers about 10 million hectares, mainly in the Indo-Gangetic Plains – Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar and West Bengal.
2. Fertile alluvial soil and canal/tube-well irrigation make this double cropping possible.
3. The Deccan Plateau is better known for cotton, millets and pulses.

Yaad rakhein: Rice–wheat = Indo-Gangetic Plains = Green Revolution belt.

Answer: (B) Indo-Gangetic Plains

Concept: Alt + Spacebar opens the window's system (control) menu – the menu behind the title-bar icon.

1. It contains Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize and Close.
2. Task Manager = Ctrl + Shift + Esc; Run dialog = Win + R; the menu bar is activated with Alt or F10.

Yaad rakhein: Alt + Space = window menu; Alt + Space then N = minimise, X = maximise.

Answer: (C) The system menu for the current window (containing options like Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Close)