Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: NITI Aayog's report 'Fast Tracking Freight in India' (2021, with RMI and RMI India) analysed India's freight movement.

1. Roads carried about 71% of freight traffic, railways about 17%, the rest by waterways, pipelines and air.
2. The report suggests shifting freight to rail and cleaner trucks to cut logistics cost and emissions.

Yaad rakhein: Freight share: Road ≈ 71%, Rail ≈ 17%.

Answer: (C) 71%

Concept: Liquidity operations such as forex swaps are conducted by India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India.

1. In February 2025 the RBI announced a $10 billion, three-year USD/INR buy/sell swap auction (held on 28 February 2025).
2. It injected long-term rupee liquidity into the banking system; SBI, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda are commercial banks.

Yaad rakhein: Swap auctions, OMOs, repo = RBI tools.

Answer: (B) Reserve Bank of India

Concept: The walls of the stomach and intestines contain smooth (unstriated, involuntary) muscle.

1. Smooth muscle fibres are spindle-shaped, unstriated and not under conscious control.
2. They contract slowly and can stay contracted for long – producing peristalsis that pushes food along.
3. Cardiac muscle is only in the heart; skeletal muscle is voluntary and attached to bones.

Yaad rakhein: Gut, blood vessels, iris, uterus → smooth muscle.

Answer: (B) Smooth muscle fibres; slow and sustained involuntary contraction

Concept: Article 236(b) of the Constitution defines 'judicial service'.

1. It means a service consisting exclusively of persons intended to fill the post of district judge and other civil judicial posts inferior to the post of district judge.
2. Executive magistrates are not part of it; 'district judge' itself includes sessions judges, additional sessions judges etc. (Art. 236(a)).

Yaad rakhein: Art. 233 – appointment of district judges; Art. 236 – definitions; Art. 237 – applies to magistrates by notification.

Answer: (D) District judges and civil judicial posts below them

Concept: A Varnam is a Carnatic composition that shows the full form of a raga and is usually sung at the start of a concert.

1. It has two halves: Purvanga (pallavi, anupallavi, muktayi swaram) and Uttaranga (charanam and chittaswarams).
2. Anu Pallavi and Charanam are only parts of a song; Ragamalika is a garland of ragas.

Yaad rakhein: Varnam = Purvanga + Uttaranga (the 'warm-up' piece of a kutcheri).

Answer: (A) Varnam

Concept: An existing file opens fastest by double-clicking it directly in File Explorer – this launches PowerPoint and loads the file in one step.

1. Ctrl + O works only after PowerPoint is already open and then needs browsing.
2. Alt + F4 closes a window; Blank Presentation creates a new file.

Yaad rakhein: Double-click the .pptx file = open app + file in one action.

Answer: (B) Double-click the .pptx file in File Explorer

Concept: After the magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar on 28 March 2025, India launched Operation Brahma.

1. India sent relief material, NDRF search-and-rescue teams and an Army field hospital.
2. Operation Dost (2023) was for Türkiye and Syria; Operation Maitri (2015) was for Nepal.

Yaad rakhein: Myanmar 2025 → Brahma; Türkiye 2023 → Dost; Nepal 2015 → Maitri.

Answer: (B) Operation Brahma

Concept: Representative (main-group) elements are the s-block (groups 1–2) and p-block (groups 13–18) elements.

1. They include metals, non-metals and metalloids, so 'only metals' is wrong.
2. Transuranium elements are those beyond uranium (Z $>$ 92), mostly f-block.

Yaad rakhein: Representative = s + p block; transition = d block; inner transition = f block.

Answer: (B) They consist of both s- and p-block elements.

Concept: The Thar (Great Indian) Desert lies near the Tropic of Cancer under the subtropical high-pressure belt, where sinking dry air prevents rain.

1. Hot subtropical deserts lie around ${15}^{\circ }$–${30}^{\circ }$ latitude: Sahara, Arabian, Thar, Kalahari.
2. Polar/tundra deserts are cold; Thar is a hot, dry subtropical desert.

Yaad rakhein: Hot desert near the tropics = subtropical desert.

Answer: (C) Subtropical Desert

Concept: Under Nehru's planning model (from the Industrial Policy Resolution 1948 and 1956), India adopted a mixed economy.

1. Public sector controlled heavy and strategic industries; private sector worked in other areas.
2. So a mixed economy means coexistence of public and private sectors – not a mix of socialism and communism.

Yaad rakhein: Mixed economy = Public sector + Private sector working together.

Answer: (D) Coexistence of public and private sectors

Concept: The Nicobar Islands lie in the south-eastern Bay of Bengal / Andaman Sea region.

1. Among the given options, Myanmar (its southern Tanintharyi coast and Mergui islands) is the nearest to the Nicobar group.
2. Sri Lanka lies far to the west across the Bay of Bengal and China is far to the north-east; Indonesia (Sumatra, not in the options) is the nearest country overall to Indira Point.

Yaad rakhein: Andaman & Nicobar neighbours: Myanmar (Coco Islands) to the north, Indonesia to the south, Thailand to the east.

Answer: (B) Myanmar

Concept: Under Article 87, the President addresses both Houses at the first session of each year and after each general election.

1. The address is a statement of the government's policies, so it is drafted by the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) and approved by it.
2. The President only reads it; the Speaker and Leader of Opposition have no role in drafting.

Yaad rakhein: President's address = Government's policy speech written by the Cabinet.

Answer: (A) The Council of Ministers

Concept: Slide Sorter view shows all slides as small thumbnails in a grid, used to rearrange, delete or duplicate slides.

1. Reading View plays the show inside the window; Slide Show View is full-screen presentation.
2. Outline View shows only the text of slides, not thumbnails.

Yaad rakhein: Sort = arrange → Slide Sorter shows all thumbnails.

Answer: (B) Slide Sorter View

Concept: Expo 2025 (World Expo) was held on Yumeshima island, Osaka, Japan.

1. It opened on 13 April 2025 and ran until 13 October 2025.
2. Theme: 'Designing Future Society for Our Lives'; India participated with the 'Bharat' pavilion.

Yaad rakhein: Expo 2025 Osaka: 13 April – 13 October 2025 (six months).

Answer: (C) 13 April 2025

Concept: The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015 introduced the 'Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder' category.

1. It merged the PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card scheme with the OCI scheme; existing PIO cards were treated as OCI cards.
2. India still does not allow dual citizenship; OCI is not citizenship.

Yaad rakhein: 2015: PIO + OCI → single OCI card.

Answer: (B) Merged PIO and OCI card schemes

Concept: The Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 in San Francisco by Indian immigrants in the USA.

1. Lala Har Dayal was its chief founder and ideologue; Sohan Singh Bhakna was its first president.
2. It published the weekly 'Ghadar' and tried an armed uprising in 1915.
3. Savarkar led Abhinav Bharat; Sachindra Nath Sanyal founded the HRA.

Yaad rakhein: Ghadar – Har Dayal (ideologue), Sohan Singh Bhakna (president), headquarters Yugantar Ashram.

Answer: (A) Lala Har Dayal

Concept: For 2 years, $\text{CI}=\text{SI}(1+\frac{r}{200})$.

1. $\text{CI}=280.5,r=4\%$.
2. $\text{SI}=\frac{280.5}{1+\frac{4}{200}}=\frac{280.5}{1.02}=275$.
3. Check: $P=\frac{275}{0.08}=3437.5$; $\text{CI}=3437.5\times 0.0816=280.5$ ✓.

Trick: 2-year CI is SI plus interest on the first year's interest; divide CI by $1.02$ to get SI directly.

Answer: (A) 275

Concept: $\text{Increase}\%=\frac{\text{Increase}}{\text{Original}}\times 100$.

1. Increase $=195382-182590=12792$.
2. $\frac{12792}{182590}\times 100\approx 7.006\%$.
3. Rounded to the nearest integer: 7%.

Trick: $7\%$ of 182590 is about 12781, very close to 12792, so the answer is about 7%.

Answer: (D) $7\%$

Concept: $\text{Mode}=l+\frac{f_1-f_0}{2f_1-f_0-f_2}\times h$, where the modal class has the highest frequency.

1. Highest frequency 39 → modal class 35-45: $l=35,h=10$.
2. $f_1=39,f_0=32,f_2=38$.
3. $\text{Mode}=35+\frac{39-32}{78-32-38}\times 10=35+\frac{7}{8}\times 10$.
4. $=35+8.75=43.75$.

Trick: The mode lies inside the modal class 35-45, and since $f_2$ is close to $f_1$ it is pulled toward 45: only 43.75 fits.

Answer: (C) 43.75

Concept: If $a,b,c,d$ are in proportion, $\frac{a}{b}=\frac{c}{d}$, i.e. $a\times d=b\times c$.

1. $\frac{48}{96}=\frac{20}{y}$.
2. $48y=96\times 20=1920$.
3. $y=\frac{1920}{48}=40$.

Trick: $48:96=1:2$, so $20:y=1:2$ gives $y=40$ at a glance.

Answer: (D) 40