Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: In 2025, IIT Madras announced two new B.Tech programmes to be offered from the academic year 2025-26.

1. The programmes are B.Tech in Computational Engineering and Mechanics, and B.Tech in Instrumentation and Biomedical Engineering.
2. They are offered through its Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, blending engineering with computation and healthcare technology.
3. IIT Madras (Chennai) has been ranked No. 1 in the NIRF overall category for several years.

Yaad rakhein: Applied Mechanics + Biomedical = IIT Madras – link the two new branches to its Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering.

Answer: (D) Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Concept: The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population.

1. It was launched on 12 April 2005 by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
2. It introduced ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and Janani Suraksha Yojana support in villages.
3. In 2013 it became a sub-mission of the National Health Mission (NHM), along with the National Urban Health Mission.

Yaad rakhein: NRHM = 2005 (with ASHA); NUHM = 2013; both now under NHM.

Answer: (C) 12 April 2005

Concept: The Dutch East India Company (VOC, formed 1602) set up its earliest Indian factories on the Andhra (Coromandel) coast.

1. The Dutch established their first factory at Masulipatnam in 1605; Petapuli (Nizampatnam) was set up at the same time on the same coast, and among the options given, only Petapuli is a Dutch factory.
2. Later Dutch factories: Pulicat (1610), Surat (1616), Chinsurah (1653), Cochin, Nagapattinam.
3. Calicut is linked with the Portuguese (Vasco da Gama, 1498), Goa was the Portuguese capital and Pondicherry was French.

Yaad rakhein: Dutch = Andhra coast first (Masulipatnam/Petapuli), then Pulicat as their main base.

Answer: (C) Petapuli

Concept: A compound has a fixed composition and new properties; a mixture keeps the properties of its components and its composition can vary.

1. An alloy (e.g. brass = copper + zinc) can be made in different proportions – variable composition.
2. It shows the properties of its constituent metals (brass conducts like copper, etc.), so it is a homogeneous mixture (solid solution).
3. It cannot be separated by simple physical methods only because the metals are uniformly dissolved, not because they are chemically combined.

Trick: Variable composition + properties of components = mixture; fixed ratio + new properties = compound.

Answer: (B) It shows the properties of its constituents and can have variable composition.

Concept: The Seven Summits challenge means climbing the highest peak of each of the seven continents.

1. In 2025, Vishwanath Karthikey Padakanti (Hyderabad, Telangana) summited Mt. Everest and completed the Seven Summits.
2. He became the youngest Indian to complete the Seven Summits challenge.
3. Malavath Purna is famous as the youngest girl to climb Everest (2014, age 13); Arjun Vajpai is known for 8,000 m peaks.

Yaad rakhein: 2025 Seven Summits = Vishwanath; youngest girl on Everest (2014) = Malavath Purna.

Answer: (A) Vishwanath Padakanti

Concept: The Indira Gandhi Canal (earlier Rajasthan Canal) carries water to the Thar desert of western Rajasthan.

1. It starts from the Harike Barrage near the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas in Punjab.
2. It irrigates desert districts such as Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer – one of India's longest canals.
3. Hirakud is on the Mahanadi (Odisha), Kosi is in Bihar, and the Chambal project serves MP–Rajasthan's eastern plateau, not the desert.

Yaad rakhein: Desert + canal = Indira Gandhi Canal (Harike barrage → Thar).

Answer: (A) Indira Gandhi Canal

Concept: Ctrl + S is the Save command. Once a file has a name and location, Save simply writes the latest changes to that same file.

1. The first Ctrl + S on a new file opens the Save As dialog to name it.
2. Every later Ctrl + S overwrites/updates the same file with current changes – no new copy is made.
3. A new copy needs Save As (F12 in MS Office); reverting needs Undo (Ctrl + Z) or reopening the file.

Trick: Save = update the same file; Save As = make a new copy.

Answer: (A) Updates the saved file without creating a new one

Concept: The Delhi Sultanate had separate departments (diwans) for different functions.

1. Diwan-i-Insha – department of royal correspondence, headed by the Dabir-i-Khas; it drafted the Sultan's letters and farmans.
2. Diwan-i-Arz – military department (Ariz-i-Mumalik), created by Balban.
3. Barid-i-Mumalik was the head of the intelligence/postal department; Diwan-i-Riyasat (Alauddin Khalji) controlled markets.

Trick: Insha = writing (Insha-pardazi = composition) → letters → Dabir-i-Khas.

Answer: (C) Diwan-i-Insha

Concept: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) organised India's first International Research Conference on Pension (IRCP).

1. The conference was inaugurated in New Delhi in April 2025.
2. It discussed pension coverage, old-age income security and research on pension systems (NPS, APY).
3. Uttar Pradesh and Kerala are states, not cities, so they cannot be the venue city.

Yaad rakhein: PFRDA HQ is in New Delhi – its first pension research conference was also in New Delhi.

Answer: (A) New Delhi

Concept: Western disturbances are extra-tropical cyclones carried eastward by the westerly jet stream in winter.

1. They originate over the Mediterranean Sea region and travel across Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to north-west India.
2. They bring winter rain to Punjab–Haryana–Delhi and snowfall to the western Himalayas.
3. This winter rain (called 'mahawat') is very useful for the rabi crop, especially wheat.

Trick: Winter rain in north India = Mediterranean western disturbance → good for wheat.

Answer: (A) Mediterranean Sea

Concept: The Padma Vibhushan 2025 list (announced on the eve of Republic Day) included violin maestro Dr L. Subramaniam under Art, from Karnataka.

1. L. Subramaniam is a world-famous Carnatic and fusion violinist, based in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
2. Anant Nag (actor, Karnataka) received the Padma Bhushan in 2025; Ricky Kej is a Grammy-winning composer, not a violinist.
3. Gangubai Hangal was a Hindustani vocalist (died 2009).

Yaad rakhein: Violin + Padma Vibhushan 2025 = L. Subramaniam.

Answer: (B) Lakshminarayana Subramaniam

Concept: The Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) is the second-highest post in the Indian Air Force.

1. Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari took charge as VCAS on 2 May 2025.
2. He succeeded Air Marshal SP Dharkar, who retired on 30 April 2025 – so Dharkar is the predecessor, not the answer.
3. R.K.S. Bhadauria was Chief of the Air Staff (2019–21).

Yaad rakhein: VCAS May 2025 = N. Tiwari (after S.P. Dharkar).

Answer: (D) Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari

Concept: A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is the 'fifth state of matter', formed when bosonic atoms are cooled to near absolute zero and occupy the lowest quantum state.

1. In 1995, Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman (JILA, Colorado) made the first BEC using a dilute gas of rubidium-87 atoms at about 170 nK.
2. Wolfgang Ketterle soon made a BEC with sodium-23; all three shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.
3. So sodium-23 is Ketterle's atom, not Cornell–Wieman's.

Yaad rakhein: Cornell–Wieman = Rb-87; Ketterle = Na-23; idea from S.N. Bose (1924) and Einstein.

Answer: (C) Rubidium-87

Concept: The right to property was removed from the list of Fundamental Rights by the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1978.

1. It was made a constitutional (legal) right under Article 300A in Part XII.
2. Article 300A says: 'No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.'
3. Article 368 deals with amendment of the Constitution; Article 2 with admission of new states; Article 111 with assent to Bills.

Yaad rakhein: 44th Amendment: property moved from Art. 31 (FR) to Art. 300A (legal right).

Answer: (C) Article 300A

Concept: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj released the first Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) baseline report (2022-23) in April 2025, grading about 2.16 lakh gram panchayats.

1. No panchayat reached the top 'Achiever' grade; 699 panchayats were 'Front Runners'.
2. Gujarat (346) and Telangana (270) had the most Front Runner panchayats.
3. Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh had many panchayats in the lower 'Aspirant' grade.

Trick: PAI 2025 front runners: Gujarat + Telangana – 'GT'.

Answer: (C) Gujarat and Telangana

Concept: Different instruments are used to examine different parts of the body.

1. A stethoscope (invented by René Laennec, 1816) is used to listen to internal sounds of the heart, lungs and intestines.
2. An endoscope/colonoscope is a camera tube used to look inside organs (colonoscope – large intestine).
3. A barometer measures atmospheric pressure – not a medical instrument.

Trick: Stetho = chest, scope = examine → listening to the chest.

Answer: (C) Stethoscope

Concept: Since May 2023, Manipur has seen ethnic violence between the Meitei (valley) and Kuki-Zo (hill) communities.

1. Security forces created 'buffer zones' between the valley and hill areas to keep the two groups apart.
2. In 2025, Kuki groups demanded that these buffer zones be maintained, opposing moves to allow free movement on highways.
3. Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam were not the centre of this Meitei–Kuki conflict.

Trick: Kuki–Meitei + buffer zones = Manipur.

Answer: (D) Manipur

Concept: After the Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Security took several measures against Pakistan.

1. On 23 April 2025 India announced that the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) would be held 'in abeyance' with immediate effect.
2. The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, divides the Indus system: eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India and western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan.
3. The Simla Agreement (1972) and Tashkent Declaration (1966) were not suspended by India's announcement.

Trick: Pahalgam attack → 'Blood and water can't flow together' → Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.

Answer: (A) Indus Waters Treaty

Concept: The Army Commanders' Conference is the apex-level biannual meeting of the Indian Army's top leadership.

1. The first edition of 2025 was held in New Delhi in April 2025 (1–4 April).
2. It reviewed operational preparedness, modernisation and the theme of the 'Year of Reforms'.
3. The second edition of the year is usually held in October, also generally in New Delhi.

Trick: Apex Army meetings (Army HQ) → New Delhi.

Answer: (A) New Delhi

Concept: The Extremists (Lal–Bal–Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh) rejected the Moderates' petitions and prayers, and wanted mass action against British rule.

1. They tried to arouse indignation – righteous anger at injustice and humiliation by the British.
2. This anger was channelled into Swadeshi, boycott, national education and passive resistance (especially after the 1905 partition of Bengal).
3. Loyalty and sympathy reflect the Moderate approach; fear was not their goal.

Trick: Moderates = prayer, petition, protest; Extremists = anger (indignation) + self-reliance.

Answer: (D) Indignation