Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Systems are classified by what crosses the boundary: open (energy + matter), closed (energy only), isolated (neither).

1. Open system: both matter and energy are exchanged with the surroundings, e.g. water boiling in an open pan.
2. Closed system: only energy (heat/work) crosses, e.g. gas in a sealed cylinder with a piston. Isolated: nothing crosses, e.g. an ideal thermos.

Trick: Open = Everything Out & in; Closed = Only Energy; Isolated = Isolated from all.

Answer: (A) Exchange of energy and matter between system and surroundings.

Concept: Part II (Articles 5–11) deals with citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution and empowers Parliament for the future.

1. Article 11: Parliament may make any provision regarding acquisition and termination of citizenship – under this the Citizenship Act, 1955 was enacted.
2. Article 5 – citizenship at commencement; Article 6 – migrants from Pakistan; Article 8 – persons of Indian origin living abroad.

Trick: 5 to 10 = who was a citizen in 1950; 11 = Parliament decides the rest.

Answer: (B) Article 11

Concept: The FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA/FRA) 2025, released in October 2025, reports country-wise forest area change for 2015–2025.

1. India ranked 3rd in the world in net annual gain of forest area, after China and Russia.
2. In FRA 2020 too India stood 3rd (after China and Australia), so "3rd" is India's consistent position in this ranking.

Trick: India in forest-gain ranking: "third" in both FRA 2020 and FRA 2025.

Answer: (A) 3rd

Concept: ICAR fisheries institutes are spread along the coasts and inland; each has a distinct headquarters.

1. ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), a deemed university, is headquartered at Versova, Mumbai (est. 1961).
2. Do not confuse: CMFRI – Kochi, CIFT – Kochi, CIFRI – Barrackpore, CIBA – Chennai, CIFA – Bhubaneswar, NBFGR – Lucknow.

Trick: Fisheries "Education" → Mumbai; "Marine Research" → Kochi; "Inland Research" → Barrackpore.

Answer: (B) Mumbai

Concept: Natyanjali is a classical dance festival dedicated to Lord Nataraja at the Chidambaram temple, Tamil Nadu.

1. It is held every year during Maha Shivaratri and runs for 5 days, with Bharatanatyam and other classical dancers performing in the temple's Prakara.
2. It began in 1981 and is organised by the Natyanjali Trust with the Tamil Nadu Tourism Department.

Trick: Natyanjali = "offering of dance" to Nataraja, 5 days from Maha Shivaratri at Chidambaram.

Answer: (C) 5

Concept: Economic activities are primary (extraction), secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (services), quaternary and quinary (knowledge/decision-making).

1. In developed countries the tertiary (service) sector – trade, transport, banking, education, health – contributes the largest share of GDP and employment.
2. Quinary activities (top-level decision making) are important but tiny in volume; primary activities dominate only in less developed economies.

Trick: Development path: Primary → Secondary → Tertiary dominance; services win in rich countries.

Answer: (A) Tertiary Activity

Concept: The 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 provided up to 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among classes not covered by existing reservations.

1. It inserted clause (6) in Article 15 (educational institutions) and clause (6) in Article 16 (public employment).
2. Articles 15(4)/16(4) are the older provisions for socially and educationally backward classes; 15(5) was added by the 93rd Amendment (2005) for private institutions.

Trick: EWS = 103rd Amendment = 15(6) & 16(6) = 10%. Upheld by the Supreme Court in Janhit Abhiyan (2022).

Answer: (A) Articles 15(6) and 16(6)

Concept: The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) is the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

1. The 68th CPC was held in Bridgetown, Barbados, in October 2025, hosted by the Parliament of Barbados.
2. The 67th CPC (2024) was held in Sydney, Australia; India hosted the 53rd CPC in New Delhi in 2007.

Trick: 67th – Sydney (2024), 68th – Barbados (2025).

Answer: (C) Barbados

Concept: UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme maintains the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).

1. In September 2025 the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve of Himachal Pradesh (Lahaul-Spiti region, including Pin Valley National Park and Chandratal) was added to the WNBR.
2. It became India's 13th biosphere reserve in the UNESCO network; Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand) and Khangchendzonga (Sikkim) were already listed.

Trick: Cold Desert BR = Himachal (Spiti); Nanda Devi = Uttarakhand; Khangchendzonga = Sikkim.

Answer: (D) Himachal Pradesh in the Western Himalayan region

Concept: Small island states have used striking events to draw global attention to ocean warming and sea-level rise.

1. In 2025 President Surangel Whipps Jr. of Palau gave a live underwater interview while scuba-diving on a coral reef, to highlight ocean conservation and climate risk ahead of the UN Ocean Conference.
2. Earlier, in 2009, the Maldives cabinet had held an underwater meeting – a different, older event.

Trick: Underwater cabinet meeting (2009) = Maldives; underwater interview (2025) = Palau.

Answer: (B) Palau

Concept: Chandragupta Maurya (c. 321–297 BCE) built the first pan-Indian empire with a highly centralised administration described in Kautilya's Arthashastra.

1. The king was assisted by a council of ministers (Mantriparishad) and a large salaried bureaucracy of adhyakshas (superintendents) overseeing agriculture, mines, trade, weights, etc. – a centralised bureaucracy guided by the Arthashastra.
2. Feudal land grants and hereditary governors are features of later (post-Gupta) polity; revenue was collected by state officials, not religious bodies.

Trick: Mauryas = centralisation + espionage + salaried officials (Arthashastra); feudalism = post-Gupta.

Answer: (C) Centralised bureaucracy guided by Arthashastra

Concept: Early nationalists critiqued colonial economic exploitation; Dadabhai Naoroji was its foremost exponent.

1. In "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India" (1901) Naoroji systematically presented the Drain of Wealth Theory – that India's wealth was being drained to Britain through home charges, salaries, remittances and trade surplus.
2. He had first spoken of the "drain" in 1867; R.C. Dutt later elaborated it in his Economic History of India. Subsidiary Alliance (Wellesley) and Doctrine of Lapse (Dalhousie) are British policies, not Naoroji's theories.

Trick: Naoroji = "Grand Old Man of India" = Drain Theory = first Indian MP in Britain (1892).

Answer: (D) Drain of Wealth Theory

Concept: NSSO/PLFS measures unemployment by three approaches: Usual Status (reference period one year), Current Weekly Status (one week) and Current Daily Status (each day of the week).

1. Usual Principal Status (UPS) counts a person as unemployed if he/she was without work for the major part of the 365 days – this captures long-term, chronic (open) unemployment.
2. Usual Subsidiary Status adds minor-time work; CWS and CDS capture short-term and seasonal/underemployment respectively.

Trick: Year → Usual (chronic); Week → CWS; Day → CDS (most comprehensive).

Answer: (D) Usual Principal Status Unemployment

Concept: Rancidity is the spoilage of fats and oils in food, giving a bad smell and taste.

1. It is caused by oxidation of fats/oils by atmospheric oxygen (oxidative rancidity), producing aldehydes and ketones.
2. Prevention: antioxidants (BHA, BHT, vitamin E), airtight packaging, flushing chip packets with nitrogen, refrigeration.

Trick: Rancidity = oxidation of oil; nitrogen in chips packets keeps oxygen out.

Answer: (D) Oxidation

Concept: The Eighth Schedule lists the official languages of India (22 at present).

1. The 96th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 substituted "Odia" for "Oriya" in the Eighth Schedule (Orissa had become Odisha by the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act, 2011).
2. 94th (2006) – tribal welfare minister provision for Chhattisgarh/Jharkhand; 95th (2009) – extended SC/ST reservation in legislatures to 2020; 97th (2011) – cooperative societies.

Trick: 92nd = 4 languages added (Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santhali); 96th = Oriya → Odia.

Answer: (A) 96th Amendment

Concept: Ashoka's edicts call him "Devanampiya Piyadasi" (Beloved of the Gods, of pleasing appearance); the Brahmi script in which they were written had been forgotten.

1. James Prinsep, secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered Brahmi in 1837 and read the edicts of Devanampiya Piyadasi.
2. The identification of Piyadasi with Ashoka was later confirmed by the Maski (1915) and Gujarra inscriptions, which use the name Ashoka. Majumdar, Thapar and Bayly are modern historians, not decipherers.

Trick: Prinsep = Brahmi + Kharosthi decipherment (1837); Maski = first edict naming "Asoka".

Answer: (D) James Princep

Concept: Artificial canals and natural straits shorten sea routes and act as choke points of world trade.

1. The Suez Canal (Egypt, opened 1869) links the Mediterranean Sea (Port Said) with the Red Sea (Suez), cutting the Europe–Asia route by thousands of kilometres; about 12% of world trade passes through it.
2. Panama Canal joins the Atlantic and Pacific; Strait of Malacca links the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea; Bosporus joins the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara.

Trick: Suez = Med ↔ Red; Panama = Atlantic ↔ Pacific; Malacca = Indian Ocean ↔ Pacific.

Answer: (C) Suez Canal

Concept: Indian instruments are classified as Tata (string), Sushira (wind), Avanaddha (drum) and Ghana (solid idiophones).

1. Ghatam is a clay pot struck with hands — a Ghana Vadya used in Carnatic music.
2. Pungi and Shehnai are wind (Sushira) instruments; Sarangi is a bowed string (Tata) instrument.

Yaad rakhein: Ghana = Ghatam, Manjira, Jaltarang, Kartal — things you strike, no tuning.

Answer: (C) Ghatam

Concept: The 1991 New Economic Policy (LPG – Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) opened the Indian economy.

1. Industrial licensing was largely abolished, private players were allowed in many reserved sectors and FDI limits were raised.
2. Options (A), (B) and (D) describe the opposite of liberalisation — control was reduced, and both agriculture and industry continued.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 = LPG reforms under PM Narasimha Rao and FM Manmohan Singh.

Answer: (C) More private companies and foreign investments were allowed.

Concept: Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy in India (1505–09), followed the "Blue Water Policy" — control the sea rather than build land forts.

1. Almeida wanted Portuguese power to rest on naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean.
2. Albuquerque (his successor) instead captured Goa (1510) and built territorial bases; Henry the Navigator never came to India.

Yaad rakhein: Almeida = Blue Water; Albuquerque = Goa & real founder of Portuguese power.

Answer: (D) Francisco de Almeida