Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Page-level settings are grouped under the Page Setup group of the Layout tab.

1. Layout tab → Margins, Orientation, Size, Columns, Breaks.
2. Home has font/paragraph formatting; Insert adds objects; Review has spelling and track changes.

Yaad rakhein: Margins–Orientation–Size = Layout (older versions: Page Layout).

Answer: (D) Layout

Concept: Jus soli = citizenship by place of birth; jus sanguinis = citizenship by descent (blood).

1. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 provided that a person born in India on or after 3 December 2004 is a citizen only if both parents are Indian, or one is Indian and the other is not an illegal migrant.
2. Thus birth alone was no longer enough – India moved more strictly towards jus sanguinis.
3. India does not allow dual citizenship (OCI is not citizenship).

Yaad rakhein: Soli = soil (birth place); Sanguinis = blood (parents).

Answer: (D) Jus sanguinis (by blood)

Concept: Harappan sites have yielded many terracotta figurines, toys and seals.

1. A large number of terracotta toys – toy carts, animals with movable heads, whistles and figurines – were found at Mohenjodaro.
2. Lothal is noted for its dockyard and Kalibangan for ploughed field and fire altars, which separates them from this question.

Yaad rakhein: Mohenjodaro: Great Bath, Dancing Girl, priest-king, terracotta toys.

Answer: (A) Mohenjodaro

Concept: Central Banking (London) gives annual awards to central banks of the world.

1. The Reserve Bank of India won the Digital Transformation Award 2025 from Central Banking, London.
2. It was given for RBI's in-house digital initiatives Pravaah (online portal for regulatory applications/approvals) and Sarthi (internal digital workflow system).
3. SBI, PNB and Bandhan Bank are commercial banks; such Central Banking awards go to central banks.

Yaad rakhein: Pravaah + Sarthi = RBI's digital projects → Central Banking award 2025.

Answer: (C) Reserve Bank of India

Concept: Computer architectures differ in how instructions and data are stored and carried to the CPU.

1. von Neumann: one memory and one bus for both instructions and data, so they are fetched one after another (the 'von Neumann bottleneck').
2. Harvard: separate memories and buses for instructions and data, so both can be fetched at the same time – faster.
3. Option (D) is reversed, and (A) is also reversed – Harvard is common in microcontrollers/DSPs, von Neumann in general-purpose PCs.

Trick: Harvard = two roads (separate paths) → simultaneous fetch; von Neumann = one road → one at a time.

Answer: (B) Harvard allows simultaneous fetching of instructions and data; von Neumann fetches them sequentially from the same memory.

Concept: The two strands of the DNA double helix are held together by bonds between complementary bases.

1. Adenine pairs with Thymine through 2 hydrogen bonds; Guanine pairs with Cytosine through 3 hydrogen bonds.
2. Covalent (phosphodiester) bonds join nucleotides within one strand, not the base pairs across strands.
3. Weak hydrogen bonds let the strands separate easily during replication.

Trick: A=T (2), G≡C (3) – the lines are hydrogen bonds.

Answer: (C) Hydrogen bonding

Concept: The Peninsular Plateau is the oldest landmass of India, a triangular tableland south of the Northern Plains.

1. Its outer limits: Delhi Ridge (north-west extension of the Aravallis), Rajmahal Hills (east), Gir Range (west) and the Cardamom Hills (south); the Shillong–Karbi Anglong plateau is its north-east extension.
2. The Himalayas are young fold mountains to the north, separated from the plateau by the Northern Plains.

Yaad rakhein: Plateau boundary: Delhi Ridge (NW) – Rajmahal (E) – Gir (W) – Cardamom (S).

Answer: (D) Himalayas

Concept: NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023 compares NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21).

1. Headcount ratio of multidimensional poverty fell from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-21.
2. About 13.5 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in these five years.
3. 24.58% is a distractor close to the 2015-16 figure.

Yaad rakhein: MPI 2023: 24.85% → 14.96%, 13.5 crore out of poverty.

Answer: (D) 14.96%

Concept: The English (British) East India Company set up its main south-Indian base at Madras.

1. Francis Day obtained the land in 1639 and Fort St George was completed in 1644 – the first English fortress in India.
2. Madras was raised to a Presidency in the 1680s, becoming one of the three British Presidencies with Bombay and Bengal.
3. The Portuguese were based at Goa; Spanish and Genoese companies had no such settlement in India.

Yaad rakhein: Fort St George – Madras; Fort William – Calcutta; Bombay Castle – Bombay (all British).

Answer: (A) British East India Company

Concept: ISRO supports research centres at IITs to solve problems of the space programme.

1. The Shri S Ramakrishnan Centre of Excellence in Fluid and Thermal Science Research was set up at IIT Madras with ISRO support (2025).
2. Its aim is to tackle complex thermal-management challenges of spacecraft and launch vehicles – heat transfer, cooling and thermal protection in space applications.
3. It is named after S. Ramakrishnan, former Director of VSSC.

Yaad rakhein: 'Fluid and Thermal Science' in the name → thermal challenges in space.

Answer: (C) To tackle complex thermal challenges in space applications

Concept: Charbagh is a Persian-style garden divided into four equal parts by walkways or water channels.

1. Mughal tombs such as Humayun's Tomb and the Taj Mahal stand in charbagh gardens.
2. Qutub Minar and Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque belong to the Delhi Sultanate; Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur is Adil Shahi architecture – none is built on the charbagh plan.

Yaad rakhein: Charbagh = 'four gardens' – Babur introduced it; Taj Mahal is its finest example.

Answer: (A) Taj Mahal

Concept: Directive Principles of State Policy are in Part IV (Articles 36–51).

1. Article 41: right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement.
2. Art 39: equal livelihood, equal pay etc.; Art 40: village panchayats; Art 42: just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.

Yaad rakhein: 41 – work, education, public assistance; 42 – maternity relief; 43 – living wage.

Answer: (D) Article 41

Concept: Leaders of the 1857 revolt came from different regions and backgrounds.

1. Kunwar Singh, an elderly zamindar of Jagdishpur (Bihar), about 80 years old, joined the rebel sepoys at Arrah and fought the British for months.
2. Bakht Khan led sepoys at Delhi; Tantia Tope was Nana Saheb's general; Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah led at Faizabad/Lucknow.

Yaad rakhein: Bihar – Kunwar Singh (Jagdishpur); Delhi – Bakht Khan; Kanpur – Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope.

Answer: (C) Kunwar Singh

Concept: India's 'coloured revolutions' each target one sector of agriculture.

1. Blue Revolution – fisheries and aquaculture (fish production).
2. Green – food grains; White – milk (Operation Flood); Yellow – oilseeds.

Yaad rakhein: Blue = water = fish; White = milk; Yellow = oilseeds; Pink = onion/prawns; Golden = horticulture/honey.

Answer: (D) Blue Revolution

Concept: The Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 simplifies the legal framework of Indian Railways.

1. It repeals the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 and inserts its provisions into the Railways Act, 1989, so one Act governs the railways.
2. It lets the Central Government constitute the Railway Board and set its members' qualifications; it does not privatise the railways or create a new ministry.

Yaad rakhein: Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 = merger of 1905 Board Act into 1989 Railways Act.

Answer: (A) To merge the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 into the Railways Act, 1989

Concept: Molecular formula $=n\times$ empirical formula, where $n=\frac{\text{molar mass}}{\text{empirical formula mass}}$.

1. Mass of ${\text{CH}}_2=12+2=14$.
2. $n=\frac{56}{14}=4$.
3. Molecular formula $=({\text{CH}}_2{)}_4={\text{C}}_4{\text{H}}_8$ (butene).

Yaad rakhein: CₙH₂ₙ compounds (alkenes) all have the empirical formula CH₂.

Answer: (D) ${\text{C}}_4{\text{H}}_8$

Concept: Judicial review is the power of courts to examine laws and executive actions and strike down those that violate the Constitution.

1. In India it flows from Articles 13, 32 and 226; it is part of the basic structure (Minerva Mills, 1980).
2. Its key purpose is to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and protect fundamental rights.
3. It does not let courts make laws or make Parliament supreme; federal balance is only one area where it is used.

Yaad rakhein: India follows constitutional supremacy, not parliamentary supremacy (as in the UK).

Answer: (D) To protect the supremacy of the Constitution and fundamental rights

Concept: A style in MS Word is a saved set of formatting linked to every text it is applied to.

1. When a character style's definition is modified (Home → Styles → right-click → Modify), every instance using that style updates automatically.
2. Format Painter or manual selection must be repeated for each instance; Find and Replace works but needs more setup and can miss or catch wrong text.

Trick: Change the style once → the whole document follows. That is why styles exist.

Answer: (C) Modifying the definition of the character style

Concept: Tribal revolts were led by tribal communities against colonial rule, outsiders and loss of land.

1. Tamar revolts (1789–1832) – Munda/Oraon tribes of Chotanagpur; Kherwar movement (1870s) – Santhals; Santhal revolt (1855–56) – Sidhu and Kanhu.
2. Farazi movement (Bengal, from 1818) was an Islamic religious-reform and peasant movement started by Haji Shariatullah and led by Dudu Miyan – not a tribal revolt.

Yaad rakhein: Farazi & Wahabi = religious reform/peasant movements; Santhal, Munda, Kol, Tamar, Kherwar = tribal.

Answer: (D) Farazi Movement

Concept: India has 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) across 18 States and one UT.

1. Odisha has the largest number – 13 PVTGs (e.g., Bonda, Dongria Khond, Juang, Lodha, Saora).
2. Andhra Pradesh (12) and Bihar/Jharkhand (9) follow; Madhya Pradesh has 7 and Chhattisgarh 5.

Yaad rakhein: PVTGs: total 75, highest Odisha (13).

Answer: (C) Odisha