Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: In transport geography, a node is a point where two or more routes meet (junction, port, airport); the routes are links, and nodes + links form a network.

1. Example: a railway junction like Mughalsarai or a hub airport is a node.
2. ‘Link’ is the connecting route, not the meeting point, so C is the tempting wrong answer.

Yaad rakhein: Node = meeting point, Link = route, Network = nodes + links.

Answer: (D) Node

Concept: Planetary (permanent/prevailing) winds blow throughout the year from permanent high-pressure belts to low-pressure belts.

1. Examples: trade winds (sub-tropical high → equatorial low), westerlies, polar easterlies.
2. Periodic winds (monsoon, land/sea breeze) reverse seasonally or daily; local winds (loo, chinook) are regional – so they are not ‘consistent year-round’.

Yaad rakhein: Planetary = permanent; Periodic = seasonal/daily; Local = regional.

Answer: (C) Planetary winds

Concept: The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 replaces MGNREGA (2005).

1. It raises the guaranteed wage employment per rural household from 100 days to 125 days in a financial year.
2. The Bill was passed by Parliament in the Winter Session (December 2025) and received Presidential assent on 21 December 2025.

Yaad rakhein: MGNREGA = 100 days → VB-G RAM G = 125 days.

Answer: (C) 125 days

Concept: The Taj Mahal stands on the right bank of the Yamuna at Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

1. Built by Shah Jahan (1632–1653) in memory of Mumtaz Mahal; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
2. Agra also has the Agra Fort and nearby Fatehpur Sikri – all three are in UP.

Yaad rakhein: Agra = UP; the three UNESCO sites of Agra: Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri.

Answer: (A) Uttar Pradesh

Concept: The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (Part IX-A, Articles 243P–243ZG) deals with urban local bodies (municipalities).

1. Article 243ZD provides for District Planning Committees and Article 243ZE for Metropolitan Planning Committees.
2. The 73rd Amendment covers Panchayats (rural), so D is the tempting wrong option.

Yaad rakhein: 73rd = Panchayat (Part IX), 74th = Municipality (Part IX-A) – DPC & MPC are in 74th.

Answer: (A) 74th Amendment

Concept: The 8th–10th century contest among the Gurjara-Pratiharas (west), Palas (east) and Rashtrakutas (Deccan) for Kannauj is called the Tripartite Struggle.

1. Kannauj was the symbol of sovereignty over northern India after Harsha.
2. ‘Tripartite’ = three parties; the other options are not historical terms for this conflict.

Yaad rakhein: Tripartite struggle = Pratihara + Pala + Rashtrakuta for Kannauj.

Answer: (A) Tripartite

Concept: The immediate cause of the 1857 revolt was the new Enfield P-53 rifle, whose greased cartridges had to be bitten open.

1. Rumours that the grease contained cow and pig fat offended Hindu and Muslim sepoys.
2. Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI attacked his officers at Barrackpore on 29 March 1857 and was hanged on 8 April 1857.

Yaad rakhein: 1857 – Enfield rifle, greased cartridge, Barrackpore, Mangal Pandey.

Answer: (C) Enfield rifle

Concept: In a longitudinal wave the particles vibrate parallel to the direction of propagation, forming compressions and rarefactions.

1. Sound in air is the classic example.
2. In a transverse wave (light, water surface ripples, string) particles move perpendicular to propagation.

Yaad rakhein: Longitudinal = along (parallel); Transverse = across (perpendicular).

Answer: (A) Longitudinal wave

Concept: Underemployment = a person is working, but below their skill level, for fewer hours than they want, or at lower pay than their qualification warrants.

1. Example: an engineer driving a cab, or a graduate working part-time involuntarily.
2. Part-time or low-wage work is only one form of it; ‘involuntary employment’ is not a standard term.

Yaad rakhein: Unemployed = no job; Underemployed = job below capacity (also called disguised unemployment in agriculture).

Answer: (D) Underemployment

Concept: Banabhatta, court poet of Harshavardhana (606–647 CE), wrote the Sanskrit biography Harshacharita and the romance Kadambari.

1. Ravikirti was the court poet of Chalukya king Pulakeshin II (Aihole inscription); Vishnu Sharma wrote the Panchatantra.

Yaad rakhein: Harsha – Banabhatta (Harshacharita, Kadambari); Harsha himself wrote Nagananda, Ratnavali, Priyadarshika.

Answer: (D) Banabhatta

Concept: Article 131 gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Centre and States or between States.

1. Article 32 is original jurisdiction only for enforcement of Fundamental Rights (writs) – the tempting wrong option.
2. Article 141: law declared by SC binding on all courts; Article 124: establishment of the Supreme Court.

Yaad rakhein: 131 – original (federal disputes); 132–134 – appellate; 143 – advisory.

Answer: (D) Article 131

Concept: In 1622 an Anglo-Persian force captured Hormuz from the Portuguese, breaking their control of Persian Gulf trade and marking the start of their decline in the East.

1. Thereafter the Dutch and English steadily displaced the Portuguese; the Dutch took Malacca (1641) and Ceylon (1658).
2. Plassey (1757) and Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) relate to Anglo-French rivalry, much later.

Yaad rakhein: 1622 Hormuz – Portuguese decline begins; 1612 Swally – English naval win over Portuguese.

Answer: (D) Anglo-Persian capture of Hormuz (1622)

Concept: Ctrl + Shift + Esc opens Task Manager directly in Windows (10 and 11).

1. Ctrl + Alt + Del shows a security screen from which Task Manager is one option; Ctrl + Shift + Esc skips that screen.
2. Windows + E opens File Explorer; Windows + I opens Settings.

Yaad rakhein: Win+E = Explorer, Win+I = Settings, Ctrl+Shift+Esc = Task Manager.

Answer: (B) Task Manager

Concept: In State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu (8 April 2025) the Supreme Court held the Governor’s withholding of 10 Bills illegal and laid down timelines for Governors and the President to act on State Bills.

1. President Droupadi Murmu then sought the Court’s opinion under Article 143 (May 2025) on whether such timelines can be imposed – the 16th Presidential Reference.
2. Nabam Rebia (2016) and S.R. Bommai (1994) are earlier Governor-related cases, not the trigger here.

Yaad rakhein: TN Governor case (Apr 2025) → Article 143 reference → SC advisory opinion (Nov 2025): no fixed timelines can be imposed.

Answer: (A) State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu

Concept: Article 43 (a Gandhian principle) directs the State to promote cottage industries on an individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.

1. Other Gandhian DPSPs: Art. 40 village panchayats, Art. 46 SC/ST/weaker sections, Art. 47 prohibition of intoxicants, Art. 48 cow protection.
2. Corporate farming, urban industrialisation and foreign trade are not Gandhian ideals.

Yaad rakhein: Gandhian DPSP = 40, 43, 43B, 46, 47, 48.

Answer: (C) Cottage industries on an individual or cooperative basis in rural areas

Concept: Momentum $p=mv$; unit = unit of mass × unit of velocity.

1. SI unit of mass = kg, SI unit of velocity = ${\text{m s}}^{-1}$.
2. So momentum has the unit ${\text{kg m s}}^{-1}$ (equivalently N s).
3. ${\text{kg m s}}^{-2}$ is the unit of force (newton), so B is wrong.

Yaad rakhein: Momentum = kg m s⁻¹ = N s; Force = kg m s⁻² = N; Impulse = N s.

Answer: (A) ${\text{kg m s}}^{-1}$

Concept: The Greenhouse Gases Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025, notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, operationalise the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme.

1. An obligated entity that fails to meet its GEI target must pay environmental compensation equal to twice the average trading price of carbon credit certificates in that compliance cycle, for the shortfall.
2. The compensation is collected by CPCB, not fixed by SPCBs.

Yaad rakhein: GEI Rules 2025 – shortfall penalty = 2 × average carbon-credit price.

Answer: (C) Twice the average traded price of carbon credit certificates

Concept: Take CP = 100. Marked price is 100% above CP, and the required SP comes from the desired gain; discount is the gap between MP and SP as a % of MP.

1. CP $=100\Rightarrow$ MP $=200$.
2. Required SP for 88% gain $=188$.
3. Discount $=200-188=12$; Discount% $=\frac{12}{200}\times 100=6\%$.

Trick: $(100+\text{markup})(100-\text{discount})=100(100+\text{gain})$ → $200(100-d)=18800\Rightarrow d=6$.

Answer: (B) 6%

Concept: 7 consecutive integers with mean 0 are symmetric about 0: $-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3$. SD $=\sqrt{\frac{\sum (x-\overline{x}{)}^2}{n}}$.

1. Squared deviations: $9+4+1+0+1+4+9=28$.
2. Variance $=\frac{28}{7}=4$.
3. SD $=\sqrt{4}=2$.

Trick: For $n$ consecutive integers, variance $=\frac{n^2-1}{12}$; here $\frac{49-1}{12}=4\Rightarrow$ SD $=2$.

Answer: (D) 2

Concept: For a mixed recurring decimal, fraction $=\frac{\text{(all digits)}-\text{(non-recurring digits)}}{\text{9 for each recurring digit, then 0 for each non-recurring digit}}$.

1. $0.2\bar{6}$: all digits = 26, non-recurring part = 2.
2. $0.2\bar{6}=\frac{26-2}{90}=\frac{24}{90}$.
3. Simplify: $\frac{24}{90}=\frac{4}{15}$. Check: $4÷15=0.2666\dots$

Trick: Algebra check: $x=0.2\bar{6}\Rightarrow 10x=2.\bar{6}$, $100x=26.\bar{6}$, subtract: $90x=24$.

Answer: (B) $\frac{4}{15}$