Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were added to the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment, 1976.

1. On 25 November 2024, a Supreme Court bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna dismissed petitions (Balram Singh, Subramanian Swamy, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay) challenging this addition.
2. The Court held that Parliament's amending power under Article 368 extends to the Preamble, and the insertion made in 1976 cannot be undone just because it came after adoption in 1949.
3. UCC, EWS quota (Janhit Abhiyan, 2022) and Article 370 (December 2023) were different cases.

Yaad rakhein: Nov 2024 + Preamble = 'socialist' and 'secular' (42nd Amendment) upheld.

Answer: (B) constitutional validity of adding ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ to the Preamble

Concept: Section 8 of the RBI Act, 1934 lays down the composition of the RBI Central Board.

1. The Central Board has one Governor and not more than four Deputy Governors, appointed by the Central Government.
2. Present practice: 4 Deputy Governors (two from inside RBI, one commercial banker, one economist).
3. Others on the Board: 10 nominated directors and 2 government officials.

Yaad rakhein: RBI: 1 Governor + up to 4 Deputy Governors.

Answer: (B) Four Deputy Governors

Concept: Standard Windows/Office shortcuts for clipboard actions.

1. Ctrl + C copies, Ctrl + X cuts and Ctrl + V pastes the clipboard content.
2. Ctrl + P = Print, Ctrl + K = Insert hyperlink, Ctrl + B = Bold.

Trick: C-X-V sit side by side on the keyboard: Copy, Cut, paste (V).

Answer: (B) Ctrl + V

Concept: The 97th Academy Awards were held on 2 March 2025 in Los Angeles.

1. Best Picture: 'Anora', directed by Sean Baker.
2. Sean Baker also won Best Director; Mikey Madison won Best Actress for 'Anora' – it won 5 Oscars in all.
3. 'The Brutalist' won Best Actor (Adrien Brody); 'Conclave' won Best Adapted Screenplay.

Yaad rakhein: 97th Oscars = 'Anora' (5 awards).

Answer: (A) Anora

Concept: Jyotirao Phule (born 11 April 1827) was a social reformer of Maharashtra.

1. In 1848 he and his wife Savitribai Phule started the first girls' school (Bhide Wada, Pune) run by Indians.
2. He founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (1873) and wrote 'Gulamgiri'.
3. The Constitution was drafted under Dr B.R. Ambedkar; Phule had no role in the 1857 revolt.

Yaad rakhein: Phule couple + 1848 + Pune = first girls' school.

Answer: (D) Founding the first girls’ school in India

Concept: Prakriti 2025 was an international conference on carbon markets.

1. It was held on 24–25 February 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
2. It was organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Ministry of Power) to discuss India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme.

Yaad rakhein: Prakriti 2025 → BEE → Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

Answer: (C) New Delhi

Concept: The National Waterways Act, 2016 came into force on 12 April 2016.

1. It declared 106 new national waterways in addition to the 5 existing ones, making a total of 111.
2. NW-1 (Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly, Prayagraj–Haldia) is the longest.
3. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) develops them.

Yaad rakhein: 5 old + 106 new = 111 National Waterways.

Answer: (A) 111

Concept: Excel 2007 onwards uses the Office Open XML format.

1. Default workbook extension: .xlsx (XML-based, compressed).
2. .xls was the default only up to Excel 2003; .csv is plain text; .pdf is a fixed-layout export.

Yaad rakhein: Word .docx, Excel .xlsx, PowerPoint .pptx – the 'x' means XML.

Answer: (C) .xlsx

Concept: Files and folders are kept on secondary (non-volatile) storage.

1. The hard drive (HDD/SSD) stores data permanently, even when power is off.
2. Keyboard is an input device; printer and monitor are output devices – they cannot store files.

Yaad rakhein: Input → Keyboard, Output → Monitor/Printer, Storage → Hard drive.

Answer: (C) Hard drive

Concept: Section 4 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 sets up the selection committee.

1. Members: Prime Minister (Chairperson), Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India (or an SC judge nominated by the CJI).
2. Fifth member: an eminent jurist nominated by the President on the recommendation of the other four.
3. President, CEC, Home Minister, Attorney General and Vice-President are not members.

Yaad rakhein: PM + Speaker + LoP + CJI + Jurist = 5 members.

Answer: (C) Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Justice of India, and an eminent jurist nominated by the President

Concept: Open-source software has freely available source code that anyone can study, modify and share.

1. Ubuntu is a free, open-source Linux distribution for desktops (by Canonical).
2. Windows 11 and macOS are proprietary; Android is open-source (AOSP) but is a mobile, not desktop, OS.

Yaad rakhein: Desktop + open source = Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint).

Answer: (B) Linux Ubuntu

Concept: Article 131 gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in disputes between the Centre and States or between States, with some exclusions.

1. Under Article 262, Parliament passed the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, which bars the Supreme Court and other courts from such disputes; they go to tribunals.
2. So a Karnataka–Tamil Nadu water-sharing (Cauvery) dispute is expressly excluded.
3. Centre–State and State–State boundary disputes on legal rights fall under Article 131.

Yaad rakhein: River water dispute → Article 262 → tribunal, not the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction.

Answer: (B) A dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over water sharing

Concept: Harshavardhana of Kannauj tried to extend his empire into the Deccan.

1. Pulakesin II, the Chalukya king of Badami (Vatapi), defeated him on the banks of the Narmada around 618–619 CE.
2. The Aihole inscription, composed by Ravikirti, records this victory.
3. Narasimhavarman I (Pallava) later defeated Pulakesin II; Rajaraja Chola belongs to a much later period.

Yaad rakhein: Narmada stopped Harsha – Aihole inscription – Pulakesin II.

Answer: (B) Pulakesin II

Concept: After 1991 India liberalised agricultural trade under WTO commitments.

1. Statement 1 is correct: all quantitative restrictions on agricultural imports were removed from April 2001.
2. Statement 2 is wrong: import duties on farm products were reduced, not hugely increased.
3. Statement 3 is correct: export orientation shifted production towards cash crops rather than food grains.

Yaad rakhein: Reform = removal of QRs and lower duties – any 'increase in duties' statement is false.

Answer: (C) Only 1 and 3

Concept: Vidarbha won the Ranji Trophy 2024–25 (final in March 2025).

1. In the final at Nagpur, Vidarbha drew with Kerala and took the title on first-innings lead – their third Ranji title (after 2017–18 and 2018–19).
2. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024–25, Vidarbha lost the final to Karnataka.

Yaad rakhein: Vidarbha 2025 = Ranji champion; Vijay Hazare runner-up.

Answer: (A) Ranji Trophy

Concept: Maand is a classical-style folk singing form of Rajasthan.

1. It developed in the royal courts of Rajasthan and sings of the glory of Rajput rulers and folk romances.
2. 'Kesariya Balam' is its best-known song; Allah Jilai Bai of Bikaner was its famous exponent.

Yaad rakhein: Maand → 'Kesariya Balam padharo mhare desh' → Rajasthan.

Answer: (A) Rajasthan

Concept: British policy aimed to make India a supplier of raw materials and a market for British goods.

1. Indian textiles exported to Britain faced heavy import duties there, making them uncompetitive.
2. At the same time, British machine-made cloth entered India almost duty-free (one-way free trade).
3. This deindustrialisation ruined Indian handloom weavers.

Yaad rakhein: Heavy duty on Indian goods in Britain + no duty on British goods in India = ruin of Indian textiles.

Answer: (C) Imposition of heavy duties on Indian exports to Britain

Concept: Use $(1-\sin A)(1+\sin A)={\cos }^{2}A$ and ${\sec }^{2}A-1={\tan }^{2}A$.

1. $\frac{2\cos A}{1-\sin A}+\frac{2\cos A}{1+\sin A}=\frac{2\cos A(1+\sin A+1-\sin A)}{1-{\sin }^{2}A}=\frac{4\cos A}{{\cos }^{2}A}=4\sec A$
2. $3\sqrt{{\sec }^{2}A-1}=3\sqrt{{\tan }^{2}A}=3\tan A$
3. Product $=4\sec A\times 3\tan A=12\sec A\tan A$

Trick: Put $A=0^{\circ }$: bracket $=4$, root part $=0$ → value 0; only $12\sec A\tan A$ (and $12\tan A$) give 0, and at $A={45}^{\circ }$ the value is $12\sqrt{2}$, which fits $12\sec A\tan A$.

Answer: (A) $12\sec A\tan A$

Concept: Work backwards: $\text{CP}=\frac{\text{SP}\times 100}{100\pm \text{P/L}\%}$. Anand's total cost includes the repair.

1. Bharath's CP $=\frac{4788\times 100}{56}=8550$ (44% loss).
2. This is Anand's SP at 52% profit: Anand's total cost $=\frac{8550\times 100}{152}=5625$
3. Original cost $=5625-127=5498$

Trick: Chain: $4788÷0.56÷1.52-127$; check $5498+127=5625$, $5625\times 1.52=8550$, $8550\times 0.56=4788$ ✔

Answer: (A) ₹$5498$

Concept: Expenditure $\%=100\%-\text{Savings}\%$.

1. Expenditure $=100\%-46\%=54\%$ of salary
2. $=\frac{54}{100}\times 6150=3321$

Trick: $6150\times 0.5=3075$, $6150\times 0.04=246$; $3075+246=3321$.

Answer: (A) ₹$3321$