Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Tropical evergreen (rain) forests grow where annual rainfall exceeds 200 cm with a short dry season.

1. The Western Ghats and the north-eastern hills receive very heavy rainfall, so they carry tropical evergreen forests.
2. Typical trees: ebony, mahogany, rosewood, rubber, cinchona; the forests stay green all year.
3. Deciduous forests need 70–200 cm rain; thorn forests less than 70 cm.

Trick: Rain >200 cm → evergreen; 70–200 cm → deciduous; <70 cm → thorn.

Answer: (A) Tropical Evergreen Forests

Concept: ISRO's SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) docked two satellites, SDX01 and SDX02, in orbit on 16 January 2025.

1. India thus became the fourth country to achieve space docking.
2. The earlier three were the US, Russia (Soviet Union) and China – so they cannot be "fourth".
3. Docking technology is needed for Chandrayaan-4 and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

Trick: Docking order: USA → Russia → China → India (SpaDeX, 2025).

Answer: (D) India

Concept: Kirti Chakra is India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award.

1. At the Defence Investiture Ceremony in May 2025, President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Kirti Chakra on Major Malla Rama Gopal Naidu of the Maratha Light Infantry.
2. He received it in person for a counter-terror operation in Jammu & Kashmir, so it was not posthumous.
3. Shaurya Chakra is the third-highest peacetime gallantry award.

Trick: Peacetime order: Ashoka Chakra > Kirti Chakra > Shaurya Chakra.

Answer: (B) Kirti Chakra

Concept: Popular revolts before 1857 arose mainly from economic exploitation under Company rule.

1. Heavy colonial land-revenue settlements (Permanent, Ryotwari, Mahalwari) ruined peasants.
2. Corrupt revenue and police officials, moneylenders and courts exploited rural society.
3. Cheap British goods destroyed indigenous handicrafts. Missionary conversion caused some suspicion, but it was not a major cause of these revolts.

Trick: Pre-1857 revolts = land revenue + exploitation + ruin of crafts (economic causes).

Answer: (C) Conversion of people to Christianity.

Concept: The Honorary Palme d'Or is given at the Cannes Film Festival for lifetime contribution to cinema.

1. At the 78th Cannes Film Festival (May 2025) the Honorary Palme d'Or went to American actor Robert De Niro.
2. It was presented to him by Leonardo DiCaprio at the opening ceremony.
3. Denzel Washington also received a surprise honorary Palme d'Or later at the same festival, but he is not the lifetime honour announced for the opening.

Yaad rakhein: Cannes 2025 opening → Robert De Niro, presented by DiCaprio.

Answer: (B) Robert De Niro

Concept: The Ripon Building (completed 1913) in Chennai is the seat of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

1. It is a white Indo-Saracenic/neo-classical building named after Lord Ripon, the "father of local self-government" in India.
2. Chennai Corporation (1688) is the oldest municipal body in India.
3. Fort St. George houses the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and Secretariat, not the Corporation.

Trick: Local self-government → Lord Ripon → Ripon Building houses the city corporation.

Answer: (B) Ripon Building

Concept: Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaigns are run by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

1. In February 2025 Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda launched the nationwide MDA campaign against Lymphatic Filariasis.
2. Under it, anti-filarial drugs are given door-to-door in endemic districts to meet the elimination goal.
3. Chirag Paswan (Food Processing), Amit Shah (Home) and Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Agriculture) head other ministries.

Trick: Disease campaign → Health Minister → J.P. Nadda.

Answer: (D) Jagat Prakash Nadda

Concept: The Fifth Schedule deals with administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (outside the North-East).

1. The Governor can direct that any Act of Parliament or the State Legislature shall not apply, or apply with changes, to a Scheduled Area.
2. The Governor may make regulations for peace and good government – restricting transfer of tribal land, regulating allotment of land and money-lending.
3. Dissolving the Assembly, amending the Constitution or appointing MPs are not Fifth-Schedule powers.

Trick: 5th Schedule = Governor + Tribes Advisory Council protect tribal land and customs.

Answer: (B) Power to regulate land, forests and social customs in Scheduled Areas

Concept: The Pala dynasty of Bengal–Bihar was founded by Gopala around 750 CE.

1. Gopala was elected king by the people/chiefs to end the anarchy called "Matsyanyaya".
2. His son Dharmapala founded Vikramashila University; Devapala extended the empire.
3. Bhoja was a Pratihara king; Dhruva was a Rashtrakuta king (the other two powers of the tripartite struggle).

Trick: Pala order: Gopala (founder) → Dharmapala → Devapala.

Answer: (C) Gopala

Concept: Alpine (mountain) climate occurs at high altitudes, where temperature falls about ${6.5}^{\circ }\text{C}$ per km of height.

1. The Himalayan region has very cold, snowy winters and short, cool summers.
2. The Thar has a hot desert climate; Northern Plains have extreme continental climate; the Western Ghats are hot and very wet.
3. Hence only the Himalayas fit "snowy winters and cool summers".

Trick: Snow + cool summer → high altitude → Himalayas.

Answer: (C) Himalayan Mountains

Concept: Ocean currents are caused by forces acting on water: wind, density (temperature and salinity) differences, Earth's rotation (Coriolis force) and gravity.

1. Planetary winds drag surface water and create surface currents.
2. Temperature and salinity differences create density currents.
3. The Coriolis effect deflects currents (right in the Northern Hemisphere). Soil type on land has no role.

Trick: Currents = wind + density + Coriolis + coastline shape; soil is irrelevant.

Answer: (A) Soil type

Concept: Infosys is identified with Bengaluru (Electronics City), its headquarters.

1. Infosys was started in 1981 by N.R. Narayana Murthy and six others and shifted to Bengaluru in 1983.
2. Its main campus and global headquarters are at Electronics City, Bengaluru, which helped make Bengaluru the "Silicon Valley of India".
3. Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata are not Infosys headquarters.

Yaad rakhein: Infosys, Wipro, ISRO HQ → Bengaluru.

Answer: (C) Bengaluru

Concept: In February 2025 a tailings dam at the Chinese-owned Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine near Kitwe collapsed.

1. Acidic, metal-laden waste flowed into a stream that joins the Kafue River.
2. The Kafue is a major tributary of the Zambezi and supplies water to millions, including Lusaka.
3. The spill caused large fish deaths and water-supply cuts along the river.

Yaad rakhein: Zambia's Copperbelt (Kitwe) lies on the Kafue → Kafue spill.

Answer: (B) Kafue River

Concept: Settlement patterns depend mainly on physical factors – relief, altitude, water and fertile land.

1. In hilly and forested areas, rugged terrain and high altitude leave only small patches of flat, cultivable land.
2. So houses are built far apart, giving dispersed (scattered) settlements – e.g., in the Himalayas, north-east and Western Ghats.
3. Industry, railways and language are human/cultural factors, not physical ones.

Trick: Plains → compact; hills/forests (difficult terrain) → dispersed.

Answer: (D) Altitude and terrain

Concept: Every file or folder in a file system is identified by its name (and location/path).

1. When you create a new file or folder, the operating system asks for a name (default: "New Folder", "Untitled").
2. Two items in the same folder cannot have the same name.
3. A password, shortcut or email ID is optional and not needed for creation.

Trick: No name = no identity; name is the only must-have.

Answer: (D) A name

Concept: "Mother Mary Comes to Me" (2025) is Arundhati Roy's first memoir.

1. It describes her complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, the educator and women's-rights activist who died in 2022.
2. Mary Roy won the 1986 Supreme Court case giving Syrian Christian women equal inheritance rights.
3. Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize (1997) for The God of Small Things.

Trick: Mother "Mary" → Mary Roy → daughter Arundhati Roy.

Answer: (A) Arundhati Roy

Concept: Para high-jumper Praveen Kumar received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (announced January 2025).

1. He won gold in men's high jump T64 at the Paris 2024 Paralympics with an Asian record of 2.08 m.
2. He shared the Khel Ratna with Manu Bhaker, D. Gukesh and Harmanpreet Singh.
3. Mariyappan Thangavelu had received the Khel Ratna earlier (2020).

Yaad rakhein: Khel Ratna 2024 (given 2025): Manu, Gukesh, Harmanpreet, Praveen.

Answer: (D) Praveen Kumar

Concept: DRDO's Stratospheric Airship Platform is a lighter-than-air craft for long-duration surveillance at about 17 km altitude.

1. Its first flight trial was held on 3 May 2025 from the Sheopur trial site in Madhya Pradesh.
2. It was developed by the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra.
3. It reached about 17 km and carried an instrument payload for sensors.

Trick: SAP flight → Sheopur → Madhya Pradesh.

Answer: (D) Madhya Pradesh

Concept: $\text{Discount}\%=\frac{\text{MP}-\text{SP}}{\text{MP}}\times 100$

1. Discount = ₹$500-425=$ ₹$75$.
2. $\text{Discount}\%=\frac{75}{500}\times 100=15\%$.

Trick: Each ₹100 of MP gives ₹$15$ off, since $425=500\times 0.85$.

Answer: (B) $15\%$

Concept: Working together, the rates (part of the tank per hour) add: $\frac{1}{T}=\frac{1}{15}+\frac{1}{27}+\frac{1}{10}$.

1. Take tank = LCM$(15,27,10)=270$ units.
2. Rates: A $=\frac{270}{15}=18$, B $=\frac{270}{27}=10$, C $=\frac{270}{10}=27$ units/h.
3. Together $=18+10+27=55$ units/h.
4. Time $=\frac{270}{55}=\frac{54}{11}=4\frac{10}{11}$ hours.

Trick: Together time must be less than the fastest pipe alone (10 h): A + B together fill $\frac{1}{15}+\frac{1}{27}>\frac{1}{10}$, so total rate $>\frac{2}{10}$ → time $<5$ h → only (C).

Answer: (C) $4\frac{10}{11}$ hours