Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

1. The Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured her "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela" and a peaceful transition from dictatorship.
2. Juan Guaidó and Leopoldo López are also Venezuelan opposition figures but did not receive the prize; Bachelet is a former Chilean president.

Trick: 2025 Peace Nobel = Machado (Venezuela); 2024 = Nihon Hidankyo (Japan).

Answer: (A) Maria Corina Machado

Concept: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in men's double trap shooting at Athens 2004 – India's first individual Olympic silver.

1. Earlier individual medals were bronze: K.D. Jadhav (1952), Leander Paes (1996), Karnam Malleswari (2000).
2. Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual gold at Beijing 2008 (10 m air rifle).

Trick: Rathore = first silver (2004); Bindra = first gold (2008).

Answer: (A) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Concept: A curved (spherical) mirror is a smooth, shiny surface that is part of a sphere – it reflects light regularly.

1. The inner side of a shining steel spoon acts as a concave mirror and the outer side as a convex mirror.
2. A wooden spatula and a ladle (unless highly polished) are not reflecting surfaces; a prism refracts light, it is not a mirror.

Trick: Spoon = free curved mirror: inside concave (inverted image), outside convex (erect, small image).

Answer: (C) Shining spoon

Concept: "The Emergency Diaries – Years that Forged a Leader" describes Narendra Modi's experiences during the 1975–77 Emergency.

1. Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the book in New Delhi in June 2025, marking 50 years of the Emergency (25 June 1975).
2. Narendra Modi is the subject of the book, not the person who released it.

Trick: Book about Modi's Emergency years → released by Amit Shah, June 2025 (Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas).

Answer: (B) Amit Shah

Concept: Port Victoria is the capital and main port of Seychelles, an island nation in the western Indian Ocean.

1. Indian Navy's First Training Squadron ships regularly visit Port Victoria as part of outreach to Indian Ocean partners.
2. Capitals of the others: Comoros – Moroni; Mauritius – Port Louis; Madagascar – Antananarivo.

Trick: Port Victoria – Seychelles; Port Louis – Mauritius.

Answer: (B) Seychelles

Concept: As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, India's National Highway network was about 1,46,204 km as on 31 March 2025.

1. It has grown from about 91,287 km in 2014 to over 1.46 lakh km – roughly a 60% increase.
2. 1,20,076 km was the figure around 2017; 1,75,123 km is not an official figure.

Trick: NH length 2014 ≈ 91 thousand km → 2025 ≈ 1.46 lakh km.

Answer: (D) 1,46,204 km

Concept: Photochemical smog forms when nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is split by sunlight, releasing atomic oxygen that makes ozone; NO₂ also reacts with hydrocarbon radicals to form PAN.

1. NO₂ + sunlight → NO + O; O + O₂ → O₃ (ozone).
2. Peroxyacetyl radicals (from hydrocarbons) + NO₂ → peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN).
3. Hydrocarbons help form PAN but ozone formation is started by NO₂; SO₂ belongs to classical (London) smog.

Trick: Los Angeles smog = NO₂ + sunlight → O₃ and PAN; London smog = SO₂ + fog.

Answer: (A) Nitrogen dioxide

Concept: Decomposers (bacteria, fungi) break down dead plants, animals and waste into simple inorganic substances.

1. This recycles nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus back to the soil for producers.
2. Capturing sunlight and producing oxygen are jobs of producers (plants); primary consumers are herbivores.

Trick: Producers make, consumers eat, decomposers recycle.

Answer: (D) Break down organic matter

Concept: The Hitavada is an English daily founded at Nagpur in 1911 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, as the voice of the Servants of India Society.

1. Statements A, B and D are therefore correct.
2. The Ghadar movement's mouthpiece was the weekly Ghadar, published from San Francisco (1913) – so statement C is incorrect.

Trick: Hitavada = Gokhale, Nagpur, 1911; Ghadar paper = San Francisco, 1913.

Answer: (C) It was the mouthpiece of the Ghadar movement

Concept: Alt + F4 closes the currently active window or program in Windows.

1. If no window is open, Alt + F4 on the desktop opens the Shut Down dialog.
2. Alt + Tab switches between applications; Windows + E opens File Explorer; Windows + Down/M minimizes.

Trick: Alt + F4 = Close; Alt + Tab = Switch; Ctrl + W = close a tab.

Answer: (D) To close the active window

Concept: The Khelo India Beach Games 2026 were held at Ghoghla beach, Diu (UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu).

1. Karnataka finished as overall champions, topping the medal tally with 11 medals.
2. Diu also hosted the first edition in May 2025, which Manipur had topped.

Trick: KIBG 2025 → Manipur; KIBG 2026 → Karnataka (both at Diu).

Answer: (D) Karnataka

Concept: The 74th Amendment (1992) added Part IX-A and the Twelfth Schedule, listing 18 functional items for Municipalities.

1. These include urban planning, water supply, public health, slum improvement, roads, etc.
2. The 73rd Amendment's Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects for Panchayats – a common confusion.

Trick: 73rd → 11th Schedule → 29 items (Panchayat); 74th → 12th Schedule → 18 items (Municipality).

Answer: (A) 18

Concept: Metals conduct electricity because of their free electrons; copper is one of the best conductors.

1. Copper is used in household wiring and cables for this reason (only silver conducts better).
2. Rubber, glass and wood lack free electrons – they are insulators.

Trick: Best conductors in order: silver > copper > gold > aluminium.

Answer: (C) Copper

Concept: The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed on 5 March 1931, ending the first phase of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

1. Champaran (1917), Kheda (1918) and Bardoli (1928, led by Sardar Patel) are correctly matched.
2. 1929 is the year of the Lahore Congress session (Purna Swaraj resolution), not the pact.

Trick: Sequence: Champaran 17 → Kheda 18 → Bardoli 28 → Dandi 30 → Gandhi–Irwin 31.

Answer: (B) 1929 – Gandhi–Irwin Pact

Concept: The Louvre Museum is in Paris, France – the world's most visited museum.

1. On 19 October 2025 thieves used a lift-truck ladder to enter the Apollo Gallery in daylight and stole French crown jewels worth about €88 million.
2. The museum was closed for the day and the case became a global news story on museum security.

Trick: Louvre = Paris = France (home of the Mona Lisa).

Answer: (D) France

Concept: Mayilattam ("peacock dance") is a religious folk dance of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, performed by women dressed as peacocks in temples of Lord Murugan (Subramanya).

1. Dancers wear peacock feathers and a beak that can be moved by a thread.
2. It belongs to the Kummi/Attam family of Tamil folk dances.

Trick: Mayil = peacock (Tamil) → Murugan's vehicle → Tamil Nadu + Kerala.

Answer: (A) Tamil Nadu

Concept: Black (regur) soil is clayey and holds moisture for a long time, which is why it supports a second (rabi) crop even without irrigation.

1. High moisture retention lets farmers grow kharif cotton/soybean and then rabi wheat, gram or jowar – raising cropping intensity.
2. Waterlogging and stickiness are problems in heavy rain, but they do not restrict black soil to a single season; the statement in option (C) contradicts how regur actually behaves.

Trick: Regur = "self-ploughing" soil: cracks when dry, holds water when wet → good for dry-land double cropping.

Answer: (A) It supports multiple cropping cycles by sustaining moisture across seasons

Concept: East-flowing rivers (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri) form large deltas on the eastern coastal plains.

1. The Godavari delta in Andhra Pradesh is one of India's largest, formed near Rajahmundry.
2. Tapi, Narmada and Mahi flow west through rift valleys and form estuaries, not deltas.

Trick: West-flowing = estuary (Narmada, Tapi, Mahi); east-flowing = delta.

Answer: (B) Godavari

Concept: Indian temple styles – Nagara (North), Dravida (South) and Vesara (Deccan).

1. Meenakshi Temple, Madurai is a classic Dravidian temple: towering gopurams (gateways), pillared mandapas and a temple tank.
2. Kandariya Mahadeva (Khajuraho), Lingaraja (Bhubaneswar) and Konark Sun Temple are all Nagara-style temples with curvilinear shikharas.

Trick: Gopuram + Tamil Nadu = Dravida; Shikhara + North/Odisha = Nagara.

Answer: (A) Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

Concept: The Junagadh (Girnar) rock inscription – the first long Sanskrit inscription – records the deeds of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman I.

1. Rudradaman I (c. 150 CE), the Western Kshatrapa ruler, repaired the Sudarshana Lake (originally built under Chandragupta Maurya) after it burst in a storm.
2. The inscription proudly states that he did it from his own treasury, without levying any tax or forced labour (vishti) on the people.
3. Kanishka was a Kushana, Harsha a Vardhana ruler; Nahapana was an earlier Kshaharata Shaka not linked to the lake.

Yaad rakhein: Sudarshana Lake = Junagadh inscription = Rudradaman (repaired without tax).

Answer: (A) Rudradaman