Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The BBNJ (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction) Agreement, called the High Seas Treaty, protects marine life in ocean areas outside national waters.

1. In December 2025 the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), headquartered in Kochi, hosted the national stakeholder consultation on India's preparedness for the treaty.
2. CMFRI is India's premier marine-fisheries research body, hence the Kochi venue.

Yaad rakhein: Marine / ocean / fisheries event in Kochi → CMFRI.

Answer: (A) Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

Concept: NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) is released by the Ministry of Education every year.

1. NIRF 2025 (released 4 September 2025): IIT Madras topped the Overall category for the 7th consecutive year and the Engineering category for the 10th year.
2. IISc Bengaluru was 2nd overall (1st in Universities); IIT Bombay 3rd; AIIMS Delhi topped Medical.

Yaad rakhein: NIRF Overall No.1 since 2019 = IIT Madras.

Answer: (C) IIT Madras

Concept: Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is the legendary bansuri (flute) maestro of Hindustani classical music.

1. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2000.
2. He was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1984); he never got a separate Padma Shri.

Yaad rakhein: Chaurasia: Bhushan '92 → Vibhushan 2000.

Answer: (B) Padma Bhushan

Concept: ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character-encoding standard.

1. It assigns a 7-bit numeric code (0–127) to each letter, digit and symbol, e.g. A = 65, a = 97.
2. Optical disks (A, D) and LANs (B) have nothing to do with it.

Yaad rakhein: ASCII = Code for Characters; its bigger successor is Unicode.

Answer: (C) ASCII represents characters using numeric codes

Concept: The SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature is the kelvin (K), defined via the Boltzmann constant.

1. Kelvin starts at absolute zero; $0\text{K}=-{273.15}^{\circ }\text{C}$.
2. Celsius and Fahrenheit are derived/relative scales; Rankine is an absolute scale used in the FPS system, not SI.

Yaad rakhein: Seven SI base units: m, kg, s, A, K, mol, cd.

Answer: (A) Kelvin

Concept: Bhimbetka rock shelters (Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Paleolithic to Mesolithic rock paintings.

1. They lie on the Vindhyan foothills in the Narmada valley, south of Bhopal.
2. The Narmada valley also yielded India's oldest human fossil (Hathnora).

Yaad rakhein: Bhimbetka–Bhopal–Narmada all begin in central India (MP).

Answer: (B) Narmada

Concept: Part IXA (Articles 243P–243ZG), added by the 74th Amendment 1992, deals with Municipalities.

1. Article 243V: disqualifications for membership of a Municipality.
2. Its Panchayat counterpart is Article 243F (Part IX, 73rd Amendment).

Yaad rakhein: 243A–O = Panchayats; 243P–ZG = Municipalities; 243ZH onwards = Co-operative societies.

Answer: (D) Municipality

Concept: Intracranial stents are used to open narrowed brain arteries and prevent strokes.

1. In December 2025 AIIMS New Delhi reported successful results of the GRASSROOT trial of the Supernova intracranial stent, an advanced self-expanding brain stent.
2. Vikram-I is a rocket, OncoMark is a cancer-related product and da Vinci is a surgical robot.

Yaad rakhein: GRASSROOT trial → Supernova stent → AIIMS Delhi.

Answer: (B) Supernova stent

Concept: The Jataka tales narrate the previous births (Bodhisattva lives) of the Buddha.

1. They form part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka and were compiled in their present form around the 1st century CE; scenes are carved at Sanchi and Bharhut.
2. Vinaya Pitaka = monastic rules; Dhammapada = verses on ethics.

Yaad rakhein: Jataka = "janma" (birth) stories.

Answer: (C) Jataka Tales

Concept: Bannerghatta National Park lies on the southern edge of Bengaluru, Karnataka.

1. In 2025 the Karnataka government announced a fresh (expanded) eco-sensitive zone around the park to protect its elephant corridors.
2. An ESZ is notified under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 to buffer protected areas from development.

Yaad rakhein: Bannerghatta → Bengaluru → Karnataka.

Answer: (B) Karnataka

Concept: The Akbarnama (with its third volume Ain-i-Akbari) is the official Persian history of Akbar's reign.

1. Author: Abul Fazl, one of Akbar's Navratnas; he was killed in 1602 at the instigation of Prince Salim.
2. Barani and Minhaj-i-Siraj were Sultanate-era historians; Ferishta wrote under the Bijapur Sultans.

Yaad rakhein: Akbarnama + Ain-i-Akbari = Abul Fazl; Badauni was Akbar's critic.

Answer: (C) Abul Fazl

Concept: System software manages hardware and provides a platform for programs; application software performs user tasks.

1. A compiler translates source code into machine code that the OS can run – a supporting, platform-level job, so it is system software (language processor).
2. Options A/B describe application software; a compiler is not a hardware abstraction layer (that is the OS kernel/drivers).

Yaad rakhein: OS, compiler, assembler, interpreter, utilities = system software.

Answer: (D) System software because it converts code for OS execution

Concept: Malaysia chaired ASEAN in 2025 under the theme "Inclusivity and Sustainability".

1. The 47th ASEAN Summit (Kuala Lumpur, 26–28 October 2025) centred on this theme and adopted the ASEAN Community Vision 2045; Timor-Leste was admitted as the 11th member.
2. Trade tariffs and digital issues were discussed, but the summit's primary focus was the chair's theme.

Yaad rakhein: ASEAN 2025 = Malaysia = "Inclusivity & Sustainability"; 2026 chair = Philippines.

Answer: (B) Inclusivity & Sustainability

Concept: The World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) published "Our Common Future" in 1987.

1. It defined sustainable development as development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
2. Silent Spring (1962) is Rachel Carson's book; Limits to Growth (1972) is the Club of Rome report; Agenda 21 came from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Yaad rakhein: Brundtland 1987 = "Our Common Future" = sustainable development.

Answer: (B) Our Common Future

Concept: Latex is a milky, sticky fluid stored in laticifers of plants such as rubber tree, papaya, Calotropis (aak) and Euphorbia.

1. When tissue is injured, latex oozes out, clogs the wound and deters insects/herbivores – a defence mechanism.
2. Cell sap is the vacuolar liquid; enzymes and hormones are not milky secretions.

Yaad rakhein: Milky fluid from a broken stem/leaf = latex (natural rubber comes from it).

Answer: (C) latex

Concept: Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope.

1. He landed at Kappad near Calicut (Kozhikode), Kerala, on 20 May 1498 and was received by the Zamorin.
2. Goa was taken by Albuquerque in 1510; Diu and Surat came later.

Yaad rakhein: 1498 – Calicut – Zamorin – Vasco da Gama.

Answer: (A) Calicut

Concept: UN80 was launched by Secretary-General António Guterres in March 2025, the UN's 80th anniversary year.

1. Its aim: make the UN more efficient and cost-effective – streamlining mandates, merging overlapping bodies and cutting the budget amid a funding crisis.
2. It has three workstreams: efficiencies, mandate review, and structural reform.

Yaad rakhein: UN80 = 80 years = reform for efficiency, not a new currency or army.

Answer: (C) To improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness within the UN

Concept: The monsoon trough is a low-pressure belt over the Indo-Gangetic plain; low pressure is created by heating.

1. By late May the north Indian plains and the Thar region are scorching (45°C+), so the surface air heats, expands and rises.
2. This intense heating deepens the low pressure, i.e. the monsoon trough intensifies and starts pulling in moist winds from the sea.
3. Rising pressure or falling humidity (options B, D) would weaken, not strengthen, the trough.

Yaad rakhein: Heat → Low pressure → Trough. Monsoon is basically a giant land–sea breeze.

Answer: (C) High temperature in the region

Concept: In the Rig Vedic (pastoral) economy, cattle were the main wealth, so many titles were built on the word go (cow).

1. Gopati = 'lord/protector of cows' – a term used for the tribal chief (rajan), whose main duty was to protect the herds.
2. Similar words: gavishti (search for cows = war), godhuli (dusk), duhitri (daughter = one who milks).
3. The head of the family was kulapa, the priest purohita.

Yaad rakhein: go = cow; gopati = cow-protector chief, gavishti = cow-raid war.

Answer: (D) Chief who protects cows

Concept: 'The Emergency Diaries – Years That Forged a Leader' (2025, Bluekraft/Penguin) recounts Narendra Modi's experiences as a young RSS pracharak during the Emergency.

1. The Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi on 25 June 1975 and lifted on 21 March 1977 – the 1975–1977 period.
2. The book was released around the 50th anniversary of the Emergency (June 2025), which the government observes as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' (25 June).

Yaad rakhein: Emergency = 1975–77 (21 months), Article 352, 'internal disturbance'.

Answer: (B) 1975–1977