Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Absolute poverty is measured against a fixed minimum standard; relative poverty compares a person with others in the same society.

1. Absolute poverty: income/consumption below a fixed poverty line (e.g. minimum calorie or ₹ requirement) – same yardstick for all.
2. Relative poverty: being poor compared with the average or other groups (e.g. income below a share of the median) – linked to inequality.
3. So option (C) reverses the idea and (B) is also wrong; (D) states it correctly.

Yaad rakhein: Absolute = fixed line; Relative = comparison with others.

Answer: (D) Absolute poverty uses a fixed threshold; relative poverty compares individuals within a society.

Concept: The Valley of Flowers National Park is in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.

1. It lies in the West (Garhwal) Himalaya, in the Zanskar range area; together with Nanda Devi NP it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1988 and 2005).
2. Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar are ranges of J&K/Himachal; Karakoram is in Ladakh – none contain this park.

Yaad rakhein: Valley of Flowers + Nanda Devi = Uttarakhand, West Himalaya, UNESCO site.

Answer: (D) West Himalaya

Concept: In March 2025 Axis Bank partnered with J.P. Morgan's blockchain platform Kinexys Digital Payments.

1. Axis Bank became the first Indian bank to offer near-real-time, 24×7 programmable USD clearing for its corporate clients through Kinexys (operating from GIFT City).
2. This lets USD transfers settle even outside US banking hours.

Yaad rakhein: Kinexys (J.P. Morgan) + 24×7 USD clearing = Axis Bank.

Answer: (A) Axis Bank

Concept: Air that is strongly heated expands and rises, creating low pressure at the surface.

1. In May–June the sun is nearly overhead in north-west India; the dry, bare sandy surface of the Thar heats intensely.
2. This forms a thermal low that pulls in the south-west monsoon winds.
3. Western disturbances and frontal cyclones are winter features; coastal humidity is absent in the Thar.

Yaad rakhein: Summer heat → thermal low over Thar → draws monsoon.

Answer: (A) Intense solar heating

Concept: IIT Madras (Avishkar Hyperloop team) built India's first hyperloop test track with the Ministry of Railways at its Discovery Campus, Thaiyur.

1. The test track is 422 m long – described as Asia's longest hyperloop test facility (highlighted by the Railway Minister in 2025).
2. A larger 40–50 km commercial track is planned for the next stage.

Yaad rakhein: Hyperloop IIT Madras → 422 metre track.

Answer: (C) 422 m

Concept: The 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared by Paul Ehrlich and Ilya Metchnikoff 'in recognition of their work on immunity'.

1. Ehrlich gave the side-chain theory of antibody formation – the theoretical basis of immunology.
2. Penicillin = Alexander Fleming (1945); antibacterial sulpha drugs = Gerhard Domagk (1939).

Yaad rakhein: Ehrlich: immunity (1908) and 'magic bullet' Salvarsan for syphilis.

Answer: (C) Theoretical basis for immunology

Concept: A desktop icon is usually a shortcut (.lnk file) that only points to the program's actual location.

1. The real application files stay in folders such as C:\Program Files.
2. Deleting the shortcut removes only the pointer, so the program still runs from the Start menu or its folder.
3. Icons are not system-critical and Windows does not copy applications to the desktop.

Yaad rakhein: Shortcut = address slip, not the house; tearing the slip doesn't demolish the house.

Answer: (C) Desktop icons are only visual shortcuts and not the actual application files.

Concept: India's mainland extends between 8°4′N–37°6′N latitude and 68°7′E–97°25′E longitude.

1. The longitudinal extent is about 29°, which makes a time difference of nearly 2 hours between Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.
2. The Standard Meridian 82°30′E passes through Mirzapur (Prayagraj region).

Yaad rakhein: Latitude 8°4′–37°6′N, Longitude 68°7′–97°25′E: both span ~29–30°.

Answer: (A) 68°7′E to 97°25′E

Concept: Forces are contact forces (friction, tension, spring force, normal force) or non-contact forces (gravitational, magnetic, electrostatic).

1. Gravitational force acts across empty space without any contact.
2. It keeps planets in orbit around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth – it governs celestial motion.
3. Spring force, friction and tension all need physical contact.

Yaad rakhein: Non-contact trio: gravity, magnetic, electrostatic.

Answer: (C) Gravitational force

Concept: Exercise Tarang Shakti 2024 was India's first and largest multinational air exercise, hosted by the Indian Air Force.

1. Held in two phases (August–September 2024) at Sulur (Tamil Nadu) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan) with air forces of countries such as Germany, France, Spain, UK, USA and Australia.
2. Yudh Abhyas = India–USA army exercise; Shakti = India–France army exercise; Vayu Shakti = IAF's own firepower demonstration.

Yaad rakhein: Tarang Shakti = IAF's first multinational air exercise (2024).

Answer: (C) Exercise Tarang Shakti

Concept: Hockey Jharkhand won the 14th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship (2024), so they entered the 15th edition (2025) as defending champions.

1. In the 2024 final Jharkhand beat Hockey Haryana.
2. The defending champion is always the winner of the previous edition.

Yaad rakhein: 14th edition winner (Jharkhand) = defending champion of the 15th.

Answer: (D) Hockey Jharkhand

Concept: Manipuri, the classical dance of Manipur, has two main divisions: Jagoi (soft, graceful, Lasya) and Cholom (vigorous, Tandava).

1. Ras Lila is the most famous Manipuri form; dancers wear the barrel-shaped Potloi costume.
2. Odissi uses Tribhanga; Kuchipudi has Tarangam (dancing on a brass plate); Kathak is known for chakkars.

Yaad rakhein: Jagoi–Cholom → Manipuri.

Answer: (B) Manipuri

Concept: The Rowlatt Act (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, March 1919) gave the government sweeping powers of arrest and trial.

1. Its provisions: arrest without warrant, detention without trial (up to two years), trials in camera by special courts without the right of appeal, and control over the press.
2. It was summed up as 'No vakil, no daleel, no appeal'.
3. A general 'restriction on freedom of expression' was not one of its listed legal provisions – the Act targeted arrest, detention and trial procedure.

Yaad rakhein: Rowlatt = No vakil, no daleel, no appeal → led to Rowlatt Satyagraha and Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919).

Answer: (C) Restrictions on freedom of expression

Concept: The common cold is caused mainly by rhinoviruses.

1. Rhinoviruses multiply best at about 33–35 °C – the cooler temperature of the nose and throat – so they stay in the upper respiratory tract.
2. They do not need a vector; they spread by droplets and contact.
3. Lower tract infections (bronchitis, pneumonia) are usually caused by other microbes.

Yaad rakhein: Rhino = nose: the cold virus loves the cool nose, not the warm lungs.

Answer: (B) Rhinoviruses only infect the upper respiratory tract.

Concept: In dry regions, settlements cluster where water is available.

1. In Rajasthan, villages grow compactly around wells, tanks, ponds (johads) and oases because water is scarce.
2. Such 'wet-point' settlements make the village compact (clustered).
3. Altitude and soil fertility matter more in hilly or fertile plains; salinity only lowers water quality.

Yaad rakhein: Dry area → wet-point → compact settlement; flood area → dry-point settlement.

Answer: (C) Availability of water

Concept: After the Revolt of 1857, the Government of India Act, 1858 (Act for the Better Government of India) ended Company rule.

1. Power passed to the British Crown; the Governor-General became the Viceroy (Lord Canning the first).
2. A Secretary of State for India with a 15-member Council of India was created.
3. Charter Act 1813 ended the Company's trade monopoly; Indian Councils Act 1861 added Indians to councils; Ilbert Bill 1883 was about Indian judges trying Europeans.

Yaad rakhein: 1857 Revolt → 1858 Act → Crown rule + Viceroy.

Answer: (B) Government of India Act, 1858

Concept: Benjamin Nathans won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for 'To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement'.

1. The book traces the people who challenged the Soviet state from the 1950s to the 1980s by demanding that it obey its own laws.
2. Its title echoes a toast used by the dissidents.

Yaad rakhein: 'Hopeless Cause' → Soviet dissidents (Nathans, Pulitzer 2025).

Answer: (D) Soviet dissident movement

Concept: Article 165 provides for the Advocate General of the State, appointed by the Governor.

1. He must be qualified to be a High Court judge and holds office during the pleasure of the Governor.
2. Art 163 = Council of Ministers to aid the Governor; Art 164 = other provisions on ministers; Art 162 = extent of State's executive power.
3. Union counterpart: Attorney General – Article 76.

Yaad rakhein: Attorney General 76 ↔ Advocate General 165.

Answer: (D) Article 165

Concept: At the ISSF World Cup 2025 (Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2025), India's Rudrankksh Patil and Arya Borse reached the 10 m Air Rifle Mixed Team gold-medal match.

1. They lost to the Norwegian pair Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Jon-Hermann Hegg and won silver.
2. This was among India's early medals in the 2025 ISSF World Cup season.

Yaad rakhein: Rudrankksh–Arya: silver, beaten by Norway (Duestad–Hegg).

Answer: (B) A team from Norway

Concept: The decadal growth rate is the percentage increase in population over ten years.

1. Census 2011: India's population was about 121 crore, against about 102.9 crore in 2001.
2. Decadal growth 2001–2011 = about $17.7\%$ (≈ $17.6\%$), the lowest since Independence.
3. $21.5\%$ (close to $21.3\%$) was the growth rate for 1991–2001, not 2001–2011.

Yaad rakhein: 1991–2001 ≈ 21.5%, 2001–2011 ≈ 17.6% – the growth rate fell by about 4 points.

Answer: (B) $17.6\%$