Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Takht-i-Bahi inscription is a Kharosthi record of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares.

1. Takht-i-Bahi is a Buddhist monastery site near Mardan (in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan).
2. This area formed part of ancient Gandhara, famous for Gandhara art and Kharosthi script.
3. Kannauj, Gujarat and Agra are far away in the Gangetic plain or western India, not in the north-west frontier.

Yaad rakhein: Takht-i-Bahi → Gondophares → Gandhara (north-west).

Answer: (A) Gandhara

Concept: Windows system settings such as date, time, region and language are changed from the Control Panel.

1. Control Panel → Clock and Region → Date and Time → Change date and time.
2. Task Manager shows running programs/processes; Device Manager manages hardware drivers; File Explorer browses files and folders.
3. So the tool used for changing system date and time is the Control Panel.

Yaad rakhein: Settings ka ghar = Control Panel; process = Task Manager; driver = Device Manager.

Answer: (C) Control Panel

Concept: Article 338 originally provided a single Special Officer (Commissioner) for SCs and STs.

1. The 65th Amendment Act, 1990 replaced this one-man Special Officer with a multi-member National Commission for SCs and STs with constitutional status.
2. Later, the 89th Amendment (2003) split it into separate commissions: NCSC (Art. 338) and NCST (Art. 338A).
3. A single special officer was the old arrangement, not the new provision.

Yaad rakhein: 65th (1990) → one combined multi-member commission; 89th (2003) → two separate commissions.

Answer: (A) A multi-member National Commission

Concept: The draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024 aims to bring all broadcasters under one modern framework.

1. It proposes to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 with a single unified law (so it is not abolished without replacement).
2. It brings OTT platforms, digital news broadcasters and online content creators under regulation, with mandatory registration/intimation to the government.
3. Hence it is the opposite of exempting OTT or deregulating satellite TV.

Yaad rakhein: New Broadcasting Bill = registration + regulation for OTT, digital news and creators.

Answer: (D) Mandatory registration of digital news broadcasters and content creators

Concept: During October–November the retreating (north-east) monsoon winds pick up moisture over the Bay of Bengal.

1. These winds strike the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu, giving it most of its annual rain in winter.
2. Chennai therefore gets maximum rainfall from the retreating monsoon.
3. Mumbai gets SW monsoon rain; Bhopal and Jaipur are interior cities that are dry in this season.

Yaad rakhein: Tamil Nadu (Chennai) = winter / retreating monsoon rain.

Answer: (B) Chennai

Concept: Article 243U fixes a 5-year term for every municipality and governs elections on dissolution.

1. If a municipality is dissolved before its term ends, an election to constitute it must be completed within six months of dissolution.
2. The new body serves only for the remainder of the original term.
3. The old council is not reinstated and the Centre does not take over.

Yaad rakhein: Panchayat (243E) and Municipality (243U) — both: dissolution → election within 6 months.

Answer: (D) A new election must be held within 6 months.

Concept: The textile and apparel industry is India's second-largest employer after agriculture.

1. It employs about 4.5 crore people directly, many in handloom and powerloom clusters.
2. Government schemes such as PM MITRA parks and cluster development programmes for handloom/handicrafts target this sector.
3. Automobile, pharma and steel are capital-intensive and employ far fewer people.

Yaad rakhein: Agriculture ke baad sabse zyada rozgaar = Textile.

Answer: (B) Textile and apparel

Concept: In April 2025 DRDO tested the Mk-II(A) laser-based Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) at Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.

1. The system was developed by CHESS (Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences), Hyderabad.
2. It shot down fixed-wing drones and swarm drones using a high-power laser beam.
3. ADE works on UAVs, CAIR on AI/robotics and NPOL on naval sonar — not laser weapons.

Yaad rakhein: Laser / high-energy weapon → CHESS, Hyderabad.

Answer: (C) CHESS (Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences)

Concept: Neptunium (Z = 93) and plutonium (Z = 94) are transuranium elements, mostly made artificially in reactors.

1. Tiny natural traces of both occur in uranium ores, mainly pitchblende (uraninite).
2. They form there when uranium-238 captures neutrons and then undergoes beta decay.
3. Coal, seawater and granite do not contain them in any noticeable amount.

Yaad rakhein: Uranium ore = pitchblende → traces of Np and Pu.

Answer: (A) Pitchblende

Concept: Article 23 (Right against Exploitation) prohibits traffic in human beings, begar and other forced labour.

1. Article 23 → trafficking and forced labour banned; punishable by law.
2. Article 24 → no child below 14 in factories, mines or hazardous work.
3. Article 21 → life and personal liberty; Article 19 → six freedoms.

Yaad rakhein: 23 = trafficking + begar; 24 = child labour.

Answer: (D) Article 23

Concept: India's Eastern Coastal Plain is divided (north to south) into the Utkal plain, Andhra plain and Coromandel/Tamil Nadu plain.

1. The Utkal plain is the coastal plain of Odisha, including the Mahanadi delta and Chilika lake.
2. Konkan and Malabar coasts are parts of the Western Coastal Plain (Maharashtra–Goa and Kerala).

Yaad rakhein: East coast: Utkal → Andhra → Coromandel; West coast: Kachchh–Kathiawar → Konkan → Kannad → Malabar.

Answer: (A) Eastern Coastal Plain

Concept: At a chemical synapse, the impulse crosses the gap by neurotransmitters binding to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane.

1. More neurotransmitter released and more receptors available → stronger, more reliable transmission (basis of synaptic strength and learning).
2. Axon diameter and myelin affect conduction speed along the axon, not transfer across the synapse; dendrites are not myelinated.
3. Dendritic length decides how many inputs a neuron gets, not the effectiveness of one synapse.

Yaad rakhein: Synapse = chemical messenger + receptor.

Answer: (C) The concentration of neurotransmitter and the number of receptors in the postsynaptic membrane

Concept: The Undavalli caves near Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), on the Krishna river, are rock-cut caves of about the 4th–7th century CE.

1. Their most famous sculpture is a huge monolithic reclining Lord Vishnu (Anantashayana) carved from a single block of granite.
2. Elephanta is famous for Trimurti Shiva; Ajanta for Buddhist paintings; Ellora for the Kailasa temple.

Yaad rakhein: Undavalli = reclining Vishnu; Elephanta = Trimurti; Ajanta = paintings; Ellora = Kailasa.

Answer: (B) Undavalli caves

Concept: Under the Tonnage Tax Scheme, a shipping company pays tax on the notional income based on the net tonnage of its ships, not on actual profits.

1. It applies to shipping activities of Indian sea-going vessels (Income Tax Act, Chapter XII-G).
2. Union Budget 2025-26 extended the scheme to inland vessels registered under the Indian Vessels Act, 2021, to promote inland water transport.

Yaad rakhein: Tonnage = ship capacity → shipping.

Answer: (D) Shipping activities

Concept: DRDO's Mk-II(A) laser Directed Energy Weapon, tested at Kurnool in April 2025, is a 30 kW system.

1. It can neutralise drones, swarm drones and sensors at ranges up to about 5 km.
2. With this, India joined a small group of countries (USA, Russia, China etc.) having high-power laser weapons; it was built by DRDO's CHESS, Hyderabad.

Yaad rakhein: Mk-II(A) DEW = 30 kW = ~5 km range.

Answer: (C) 30 kilowatts

Concept: In the Union Budget 2024-25, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was allotted about ₹2.78 lakh crore in total.

1. Of this, the capital expenditure component was about ₹2.72 lakh crore, among the largest for any ministry.
2. It funds national highway projects through NHAI and the ministry's own works.

Yaad rakhein: MoRTH 2024-25: total ≈ ₹2.78 lakh crore, capex ≈ ₹2.72 lakh crore.

Answer: (B) ₹2.72 lakh crore

Concept: The Himalayas influence India's climate mainly as a physical barrier.

1. They block the bitterly cold winds from Central Asia, keeping north India warmer in winter.
2. They trap the south-west monsoon winds, forcing them to shed rain in India, and their high ranges receive snowfall.
3. Convection currents are created by local surface heating of air, not by the mountain range — so this is the exception.

Yaad rakhein: Himalaya = barrier (cold winds out, monsoon in) + snow.

Answer: (C) Creating convection currents

Concept: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh is a well-known diabetologist (professor of medicine).

1. In July 2024 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his research in diabetes.
2. Pankaj Chaudhary, Piyush Goyal and Jitin Prasada are politicians/ministers with no medical research background.

Yaad rakhein: Only doctor among the options = Dr. Jitendra Singh.

Answer: (C) Dr. Jitendra Singh

Concept: PowerPoint 2019 offers paste options: Use Destination Theme, Keep Source Formatting, Picture and Keep Text Only.

1. Keep Source Formatting keeps the original fonts, colours and styles of the copied text.
2. Use Destination Theme makes text adopt the slide's theme; the Picture option converts it into an image.

Yaad rakhein: Source = original look; Destination = new slide's look.

Answer: (B) The text retains its original formatting from the source.

Concept: The Koya revolt (Rampa rebellion, 1879–80) took place in the Godavari hills of present Andhra Pradesh.

1. The British forest and excise rules took away the Koyas' traditional rights to tap toddy (palm) trees and to use forests freely; police and moneylenders added to the oppression.
2. Led by Tomma Dora and others, the Koyas rose against these restrictions.
3. The Khasi rebellion (1829) was against a road project; Telanga Kharia (1880) was against British rule and landlords in Chotanagpur.

Yaad rakhein: Toddy rights → Koya (Rampa) revolt, Godavari.

Answer: (D) Koya revolt