Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The International Booker Prize is given to a work of fiction translated into English; the prize is shared equally by author and translator.

1. The 2025 International Booker Prize went to Heart Lamp, a collection of Kannada short stories by Banu Mushtaq.
2. It was translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, the translator, not the author.
3. It was the first short-story collection, and the first Kannada work, to win the prize.

Yaad rakhein: Heart Lamp: author Banu Mushtaq (Karnataka), translator Deepa Bhasthi.

Answer: (C) Banu Mushtaq

Concept: The magnetic (Lorentz) force $\overrightarrow{F}=q(\overrightarrow{v}\times \overrightarrow{B})$ is always perpendicular to the velocity.

1. Since $\overrightarrow{F}⟂\overrightarrow{v}$, work done $W=Fs\cos {90}^{\circ }=0$.
2. No work means no change in kinetic energy, so speed stays constant.
3. The direction of velocity and momentum keeps changing (circular/helical path), so options A and C are wrong.

Trick: Magnetic force changes only direction, never speed: KE constant.

Answer: (B) Kinetic energy

Concept: The Windows Shell is the graphical user interface layer of Windows.

1. It manages the desktop, taskbar, Start menu, icons and shortcut (.lnk) links and their layout.
2. File Explorer is the program that hosts much of the shell, but the component responsible is the Shell itself.
3. Command Prompt is a text interface; Task Scheduler runs tasks at set times.

Yaad rakhein: Desktop + shortcuts + taskbar = Windows Shell.

Answer: (A) Windows Shell

Concept: The National Electricity Plan (Transmission) lays out India's grid expansion up to 2032.

1. It involves an investment of about ₹9.15 lakh crore in transmission.
2. It aims to meet a projected peak demand of 458 GW by 2032.
3. It also adds about 1.91 lakh circuit km of transmission lines.

Yaad rakhein: Plan numbers: ₹9.15 lakh crore, 458 GW, year 2032.

Answer: (C) 2032

Concept: The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (GoI Act 1919) introduced dyarchy in the provinces.

1. Provincial subjects were split into "reserved" and "transferred".
2. Transferred subjects (education, health, local self-government, agriculture) went to Indian ministers.
3. Reserved subjects such as police, revenue, law and order stayed with the Governor and his council, so option A is wrong.

Yaad rakhein: Dyarchy: welfare subjects transferred, power subjects reserved.

Answer: (C) Education and Health

Concept: Ox-bow lakes form in the middle/lower course of a river where it flows in meanders (loops).

1. Water flows faster on the outer bank, causing lateral erosion; it is slower on the inner bank, causing deposition.
2. The loop grows until its neck narrows; in a flood the river cuts straight across.
3. The abandoned loop is sealed by deposits and becomes a horseshoe-shaped ox-bow lake.

Yaad rakhein: Outer bank erodes, inner bank deposits, then the meander gets cut off.

Answer: (D) Lateral erosion on the outer banks and deposition on the inner banks

Concept: India has consistently blamed Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

1. In early 2025 India accused Pakistan of backing infiltration bids across the Line of Control (LoC).
2. The LoC separates Indian J&K from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; no other listed country borders J&K.
3. After the Pahalgam attack (April 2025) India launched Operation Sindoor.

Yaad rakhein: J&K infiltration across LoC means Pakistan.

Answer: (A) Pakistan

Concept: Mount Everest (8,849 m) lies on the Nepal–China (Tibet) border; most expeditions get permits from Nepal.

1. In 2025 Nepal proposed that Everest permits be issued only to climbers who have already summited a peak of at least 7,000 m in Nepal.
2. The aim is to cut overcrowding, accidents and deaths caused by inexperienced climbers.

Yaad rakhein: Everest permit = Nepal; new rule = prior 7,000 m climb.

Answer: (D) Nepal

Concept: The Contact Process manufactures sulphuric acid (${\text{H}}_2{\text{SO}}_4$).

1. $2{\text{SO}}_2+{\text{O}}_2\rightleftharpoons 2{\text{SO}}_3$ over a vanadium pentoxide (${\text{V}}_2{\text{O}}_5$) catalyst at about ${450}^{\circ }\text{C}$.
2. ${\text{SO}}_3$ is absorbed in ${\text{H}}_2{\text{SO}}_4$ to give oleum, which is diluted to sulphuric acid.
3. Ammonia: Haber process; nitric acid: Ostwald process.

Yaad rakhein: Haber → ${\text{NH}}_3$, Ostwald → ${\text{HNO}}_3$, Contact → ${\text{H}}_2{\text{SO}}_4$.

Answer: (D) Sulphuric acid

Concept: Sulh-i kul ("universal peace") was the policy of religious tolerance of Akbar, described by Abul Fazl.

1. Under it, all religions were free to worship; people of different sects could pray side by side.
2. Akbar founded the Ibadat Khana (1575) at Fatehpur Sikri for inter-faith debates.
3. Jahangir continued the ideal, but it originated with and is identified with Akbar.

Yaad rakhein: Sulh-i kul, Ibadat Khana, Din-i Ilahi: all Akbar.

Answer: (D) Akbar

Concept: Jagar is a ritual dance-song tradition of the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand.

1. In Jagar, local deities and spirits are invoked with drums (dhol, damau) and songs; a medium dances in trance.
2. Other Uttarakhand dances: Chholiya, Langvir, Barada Nati.
3. Himachal is known for Nati; Bihar for Jat-Jatin; J&K for Rouf.

Yaad rakhein: Jagar = "awakening" of gods in the hills of Uttarakhand.

Answer: (D) Uttarakhand

Concept: The Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761) was fought between Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) and the Marathas.

1. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau; the Peshwa was Balaji Bajirao.
2. Abdali was helped by the Rohilla Najib-ud-Daula and Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh.
3. The Marathas were defeated, which weakened them and helped British expansion.

Yaad rakhein: Panipat: 1526 Babur–Lodi, 1556 Akbar–Hemu, 1761 Abdali–Marathas.

Answer: (D) Marathas

Concept: Kavach is India's indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, developed by RDSO.

1. Kavach 5.0 is a version designed for dense suburban networks.
2. In April 2025 it was taken up for the Mumbai suburban railway, allowing trains to run closer together safely and raising capacity.
3. Kavach applies brakes automatically if the loco pilot fails to respond to signals.

Yaad rakhein: Most crowded suburban network = Mumbai local, so Kavach 5.0 started there.

Answer: (B) Mumbai

Concept: Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are village-level cooperative credit bodies.

1. The Centrally sponsored project for computerisation of PACS (2022, Ministry of Cooperation) aims to digitise about 63,000 functional PACS.
2. It links them to NABARD through a common ERP software for transparency and efficiency.
3. National Digital Agriculture Mission is about farm data (Agri Stack), not PACS.

Yaad rakhein: Digitise PACS = PACS Computerisation/Digitization Project.

Answer: (D) PACS Digitization Project

Concept: Pamban is a town on Pamban (Rameswaram) Island in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu.

1. It lies on the Palk Strait/Gulf of Mannar coast, linked to the mainland by the Pamban rail bridge.
2. India's first vertical-lift sea bridge, the New Pamban Bridge, was opened in April 2025.

Yaad rakhein: Pamban → Rameswaram → Tamil Nadu.

Answer: (A) Tamil Nadu

Concept: Ctrl key combinations are standard shortcuts in most applications.

1. Ctrl + S saves the current document/file.
2. Ctrl + N opens a new document, Ctrl + F finds text, Ctrl + A selects all.

Yaad rakhein: S = Save, N = New, F = Find, A = All.

Answer: (A) Saves the current document

Concept: The Election Commission of India was set up on 25 January 1950 under Article 324.

1. Sukumar Sen was the first Chief Election Commissioner (1950–58).
2. He conducted the first two general elections (1951–52 and 1957).
3. M.C. Setalvad was the first Attorney General of India.

Yaad rakhein: 25 January = National Voters' Day, ECI foundation day.

Answer: (A) Sukumar Sen

Concept: UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

1. Its annual Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (RFSD) reviews progress on the SDGs.
2. The 2025 RFSD was held in Geneva on 2–3 April 2025.

Yaad rakhein: UNECE + RFSD = Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Answer: (B) Geneva

Concept: BrahMos is an India–Russia supersonic cruise missile (rivers Brahmaputra + Moskva).

1. On 11 May 2025 (National Technology Day) the BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility was inaugurated in Lucknow.
2. It is part of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh opened it virtually.

Yaad rakhein: UP Defence Corridor node Lucknow = BrahMos unit.

Answer: (C) Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Concept: The International Booker honours both the author and the translator of a book translated into English.

1. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq was translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi.
2. Deepa Bhasthi became the first Indian translator to win the prize.
3. Meena Kandasamy, Arshia Sattar and Annie Zaidi are other Indian writers, not linked to this book.

Yaad rakhein: Author Banu, translator Deepa: both from Karnataka.

Answer: (A) Deepa Bhasthi