Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: PMKVY is the flagship short-term skill-certification scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

1. It was launched on 15 July 2015 (World Youth Skills Day), the same year MSDE and the Skill India Mission started.
2. Later phases: PMKVY 2.0 (2016–20), 3.0 (2021), 4.0 (2023) – but the launch year remains 2015.

Yaad rakhein: 15 July 2015 = Skill India + PMKVY (World Youth Skills Day).

Answer: (C) 2015

Concept: Abiotic factors are the non-living components of an ecosystem – soil, water, air, sunlight, temperature, minerals.

1. Soil is non-living, so it is abiotic.
2. Insects, trees and bacteria are living organisms – biotic components (consumers, producers, decomposers).

Yaad rakhein: "A-biotic" = without life; anything that breathes, grows or reproduces is biotic.

Answer: (C) Soil

Concept: The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach India by sea and set up trading posts.

1. Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498; the Portuguese built factories at Cochin (1503) and Cannanore (1505) and took Goa in 1510.
2. The Dutch (1605), English (1608–1613, Surat) and French (1668) came a century later.

Yaad rakhein: Order of arrival: Portuguese → Dutch → English → Danes → French; Portuguese were also the last to leave (1961).

Answer: (C) Portuguese

Concept: Article 105(3) says the powers, privileges and immunities of each House, its members and committees shall be such as may be defined by Parliament by law.

1. Until Parliament defines them, the privileges that existed before the 44th Amendment (1978) continue.
2. The Speaker enforces privileges in the House and courts interpret them, but only Parliament can define them by law.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 105 – Parliament; Art. 194 – State Legislatures (same wording).

Answer: (D) Parliament itself

Concept: The famous "Dancing Girl" of Mohenjo-daro (c. 2500 BCE) is a bronze statuette made by the lost-wax (cire perdue) technique.

1. Harappans cast bronze figures of humans and animals (dancing girl, buffalo, bull) – evidence of advanced metallurgy.
2. Stone sculptures like the Priest-King are steatite, not granite or marble; silver was used for ornaments, not statues.

Yaad rakhein: Dancing Girl = bronze, Mohenjo-daro; Priest-King = steatite, Mohenjo-daro.

Answer: (C) Bronze

Concept: Primary pollutants are emitted directly from a source; secondary pollutants form in the atmosphere by reactions among primary ones.

1. Ground-level ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react in sunlight – it is a secondary pollutant (part of photochemical smog).
2. CO, NO_x and SO₂ come straight out of vehicles, furnaces and power plants – primary.

Yaad rakhein: Ozone, PAN, smog, acid rain = secondary; CO, SO₂, NO_x, dust = primary.

Answer: (A) Ozone

Concept: Laman is a folk song form of the Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh.

1. Girls sing a stanza and boys answer from a distance – a sung dialogue that can go on for hours, often during fairs.
2. Gujarat is known for Garba/Dayro, Rajasthan for Maand/Panihari, Haryana for Ragini.

Yaad rakhein: Himachal folk songs: Laman (Kullu), Jhoori, Nati; "Laman" ≈ Kullu valley love songs.

Answer: (D) Himachal Pradesh

Concept: Make in India was launched by PM Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014 to make India a global manufacturing hub.

1. It identified 25 sectors (later more) and eased FDI norms; its logo is the striding lion.
2. 2015 saw Skill India, Digital India and Start-up India (Jan 2016) – a common confusion.

Yaad rakhein: 2014 – Make in India, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan; 2015 – Digital India, Skill India.

Answer: (D) 2014

Concept: Citizenship by descent (Section 4, Citizenship Act 1955) depends on the parents' citizenship, not on residence in India.

1. For a child born outside India on or after 3 December 2004, citizenship by descent requires Indian citizenship of the parent(s) and registration of the birth at an Indian consulate within one year, with a declaration that the child holds no foreign passport.
2. Options B and D describe residence conditions (for registration/naturalisation), and C (renouncing other nationality) is a declaration, not the basic condition – so among the choices, the parents being Indian citizens is the condition asked.

Yaad rakhein: Birth (Art/Sec 3) → where; Descent (Sec 4) → parents; Registration/Naturalisation → residence.

Answer: (A) Both parents must be Indian citizens.

Concept: The Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment (1992), lists the functions of Municipalities (Article 243W).

1. It contains 18 items – urban planning, land-use regulation, roads and bridges, water supply, public health, slum improvement, urban forestry, etc.
2. The Eleventh Schedule (Panchayats, 73rd Amendment) has 29 items – the usual point of confusion.

Yaad rakhein: 11th Schedule = 29 (Panchayat); 12th Schedule = 18 (Municipality).

Answer: (D) 18

Concept: Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510 and made it the capital of Portuguese India.

1. Goa remained the Portuguese headquarters until 1961, when India liberated it.
2. Calicut was Vasco da Gama's landing site (1498), Surat the first English factory, and Bombay passed to the English in 1661 as dowry.

Yaad rakhein: 1498 Calicut (arrival) → 1510 Goa (capital) → 1961 Goa (liberation).

Answer: (B) Goa

Concept: Assamese is an Indo-Aryan language (Indo-European family), descended from Magadhi Prakrit, like Bengali and Odia.

1. Lepcha (Sikkim), Garo (Meghalaya) and Bodo (Assam) are Tibeto-Burman languages of the Sino-Tibetan family.
2. Assamese is written in a script close to Bengali and is an Eighth Schedule language.

Yaad rakhein: In the North-East, the plains language (Assamese) is Indo-Aryan; most hill-tribe languages are Tibeto-Burman; Khasi is Austro-Asiatic.

Answer: (B) Assamese

Concept: Chilika, Asia's largest brackish-water lagoon, lies on Odisha's coast spread over three districts.

1. It covers parts of Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts; its mouth opens into the Bay of Bengal near Satapada.
2. Cuttack, Kendrapara and Balasore are further north (Kendrapara has Bhitarkanika, not Chilika).

Yaad rakhein: Chilika = P-K-G (Puri, Khurda, Ganjam); Ramsar site since 1981; Irrawaddy dolphins.

Answer: (C) Puri, Khurda and Ganjam

Concept: A phyllode is a petiole (leaf stalk) flattened into a leaf-like blade that performs photosynthesis.

1. In Australian Acacia species the true leaflets fall off early and the flattened petiole – the phyllode – takes over the leaf's work, reducing water loss.
2. Spines (Opuntia) and tendrils (pea) are other leaf modifications; bracts are leaves that bear flowers.

Yaad rakhein: Phyllode = "phyll" (leaf) + petiole – Acacia (Australian babool).

Answer: (B) phyllode

Concept: The Human Development approach and the first Human Development Report (UNDP, 1990) were pioneered by Pakistani economist Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq.

1. He designed the Human Development Index (HDI) combining health, education and income.
2. Amartya Sen's "capability approach" provided the philosophical base and he collaborated, but the framework and HDR were Haq's initiative; Semple was a geographer, Salam a physicist.

Yaad rakhein: HDI = Haq (architect) + Sen (capability idea); first HDR 1990.

Answer: (C) Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq

Concept: In almost every application, Ctrl+S saves the current file (S = Save).

1. Ctrl+P prints, Ctrl+R refreshes a page (or right-aligns text in Word), Ctrl+L focuses the address bar in browsers (left-align in Word).
2. Ctrl+Shift+S or F12 opens "Save As" in MS Office.

Yaad rakhein: S–Save, P–Print, O–Open, N–New, Z–Undo.

Answer: (D) Ctrl+S

Concept: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, finances vaccines for low-income countries and works with UNICEF, which procures them.

1. In November 2025, Gavi and UNICEF announced new agreements with manufacturers that cut the price of malaria vaccines by more than half, to about US$3 per dose, so more African children can be protected.
2. Oxfam, Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders are humanitarian bodies, not vaccine-financing alliances.

Yaad rakhein: Vaccine price deals = Gavi + UNICEF; malaria vaccines = RTS,S and R21.

Answer: (A) Gavi

Concept: If a sum becomes $n$ times itself on simple interest, the interest earned is $(n-1)$ times the principal, so $R=\frac{(n-1)\times 100}{T}$.

1. Amount $=5P$, so $\text{SI}=5P-P=4P$.
2. $R=\frac{\text{SI}\times 100}{P\times T}=\frac{4P\times 100}{P\times 18}=\frac{400}{18}$.
3. $R=22.22\%$ (to two decimal places).

Trick: "$n$ times in $T$ years" on SI $\Rightarrow R\times T=(n-1)\times 100$. Here $R\times 18=400$.

Answer: (C) 22.22

Concept: Profit is shared in the ratio of (capital $\times$ time). When capital changes mid-year, add the products for each period.

1. Ratio $6:3:5$ and Z $=$ ₹12,000 $\Rightarrow$ 1 unit $=$ ₹2,400. So X $=$ ₹14,400, Y $=$ ₹7,200 (we only need the ratio units).
2. X: $6\times 6+3\times 6=54$; Y: $3\times 12=36$; Z: $5\times 12=60$. Total $=150$ units.
3. 1 unit of profit $=\frac{69000}{150}=$ ₹460.
4. X $-$ Y $=(54-36)\times 460=18\times 460=$ ₹8,280.

Trick: Z's actual amount is a distraction – only the ratio units matter. Difference $=18$ units straight away.

Answer: (D) ₹8280

Concept: Natural numbers $1$ to $n$ form an AP, and the average of an AP is $\frac{\text{first}+\text{last}}{2}$.

1. Average $=\frac{1+64}{2}=\frac{65}{2}=32.5$.
2. Check: sum $=\frac{64\times 65}{2}=2080$; $\frac{2080}{64}=32.5$.

Trick: Average of $1$ to $n$ $=\frac{n+1}{2}$ – no need to add anything.

Answer: (D) 32.5