Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Eighth Schedule lists the official languages of India (now 22).

1. The 71st Amendment Act, 1992 added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali.
2. The 21st Amendment (1967) added Sindhi; the 92nd Amendment (2003) added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali.
3. The 42nd Amendment (1976) is the 'mini-Constitution' and has nothing to do with languages.

Yaad rakhein: Languages: 21 → Sindhi, 71 → KMN (Konkani-Manipuri-Nepali), 92 → BDMS.

Answer: (B) 71^st Amendment

Concept: Article 74 deals with the Council of Ministers headed by the PM to aid and advise the President.

1. Article 74(2): the question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the President shall not be inquired into in any court.
2. Art. 78 – duties of PM to inform the President; Art. 76 – Attorney General; Art. 72 – pardoning power.

Yaad rakhein: 74 = Advice of Ministers (and its secrecy from courts).

Answer: (D) Article 74

Concept: The Delhi Sultanate's lowest administrative unit was the village.

1. Khut and Muqaddam were village headmen/landholders who collected land revenue for the state.
2. The Patwari was the village accountant who kept land and revenue records.
3. So all three were village-level functionaries, not court, town or provincial officers.

Yaad rakhein: Patwari still exists today in villages – so this whole group is village level.

Answer: (A) village functionaries

Concept: EXCON is South Asia's largest construction-equipment trade fair, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

1. The 13th edition, EXCON 2025, was held in December 2025 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru.
2. EXCON is traditionally hosted in Bengaluru every two years.

Yaad rakhein: EXCON = construction-equipment expo → Bengaluru (BIEC).

Answer: (D) Bengaluru

Concept: Push factors force people to leave their origin; pull factors attract them to the destination.

1. Better jobs, peace and stability, and security of life are attractions of the destination → pull factors.
2. Socio-economic backwardness (poverty, unemployment, poor facilities) drives people out of a place → it is a push factor.

Yaad rakhein: Push = problems at home; Pull = attractions elsewhere.

Answer: (A) Socio-economic backwardness

Concept: The Parliament Digital Library (PDL) is the online repository of the Parliament Library, Lok Sabha Secretariat.

1. It holds digitised debates of Indian legislatures starting from the Legislative Council debates of 1854, through the Central Legislative Assembly, Constituent Assembly and Lok Sabha.
2. 1947 and 1953 are later points within this archive, not its starting year.

Yaad rakhein: PDL debates start from 1854 – the first Legislative Council under the 1853 Charter Act.

Answer: (C) 1854

Concept: Classical-language status is granted by the Government of India to languages with a long, rich and original literary tradition.

1. Odia was declared a classical language in 2014 (sixth one).
2. Earlier: Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu and Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013). In 2024 five more (Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali) were added.

Yaad rakhein: Order: Tamil 04, Sanskrit 05, Telugu-Kannada 08, Malayalam 13, Odia 14.

Answer: (A) 2014

Concept: Alt + F4 closes the active window; when the desktop itself is active, there is no window to close.

1. With all windows closed (desktop focused), Alt + F4 opens the 'Shut Down Windows' dialog, offering Shut down, Restart, Sleep, Sign out, Switch user.
2. Task Manager opens with Ctrl + Shift + Esc; File Explorer with Win + E.

Yaad rakhein: Alt + F4 twice-thrice quickly → apps close, then shutdown box appears.

Answer: (C) Shows the system shutdown dialog

Concept: Nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) are polymers whose monomer units are nucleotides.

1. Each nucleotide = a pentose sugar (deoxyribose/ribose) + a phosphate group + a nitrogenous base.
2. Amino acids build proteins; monosaccharides build carbohydrates; fatty acids form lipids.

Yaad rakhein: Protein ← amino acids; Carbohydrate ← monosaccharides; DNA/RNA ← nucleotides.

Answer: (D) Nucleotides

Concept: The Dutch were a strong trading power in India in the 17th century, but their position declined in the 18th century.

1. In the Battle of Chinsurah (Bedara), 1759, the English East India Company decisively defeated the Dutch in Bengal.
2. After this, the Dutch focused on the Malay Archipelago (Indonesia) and their influence in India ended.
3. The French were defeated by the British too (Wandiwash, 1760), but the French did not defeat the Dutch.

Yaad rakhein: Bedara 1759 → Dutch out; Wandiwash 1760 → French out – both by the British.

Answer: (D) British

Concept: Article 39A is a Directive Principle of State Policy added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976.

1. It directs the State to secure equal justice and to provide free legal aid so that no citizen is denied justice due to economic or other disabilities.
2. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (NALSA) implements it.
3. International peace and security is Article 51; religious freedom is a Fundamental Right (Art. 25–28).

Yaad rakhein: 39A → 'A' for Aid (free legal aid).

Answer: (D) provide free legal aid

Concept: dir lists files and folders; switches change how it searches and displays.

1. /s – searches the current folder and all subfolders (nested folders).
2. /b – 'bare' format: shows only names; combined with /s it prints the full path of each match.
3. So the command lists the full paths of every 'syllabus.pdf' found in all nested folders. It does not open, copy or show size.

Yaad rakhein: /s = subfolders, /b = bare (only path) → a quick file-finder.

Answer: (D) To list full file paths of “syllabus.pdf” from all nested folders

Concept: The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, was set up under the Rome Statute.

1. In April 2025, Hungary announced its withdrawal from the ICC, during Israeli PM Netanyahu's visit to Budapest (the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him).
2. Hungary thus became the first EU member state to begin leaving the ICC.

Yaad rakhein: Hungary (Viktor Orbán) – first EU country to quit the ICC, 2025.

Answer: (B) Hungary

Concept: The 1991 New Economic Policy is summed up as LPG – Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation.

1. Industrial licensing was abolished for most industries and the number of sectors reserved for the public sector was cut sharply.
2. Disinvestment of PSUs and opening to private and foreign firms aimed to promote privatisation and competition.
3. It reduced (not increased) government control and increased (not decreased) foreign investment.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 = LPG; any option opposite to liberalisation is wrong.

Answer: (C) To promote privatization and competition

Concept: Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the number of live births per 1000 people in a year.

1. $\text{CBR}=\frac{B}{P}\times 1000$, where B = live births in the year and P = mid-year population.
2. It is 'crude' because it uses the total population, not only women of child-bearing age.

Yaad rakhein: Birth rate, death rate → always 'per thousand', so $\times 1000$.

Answer: (D) $(\text{Births}÷\text{Population})\times 1000$

Concept: $SI=\frac{P\times R\times T}{100}$. For equal principals, the difference in SI comes only from the difference in rates.

1. Rate difference $=7\%-5\%=2\%$ per annum.
2. For 2 years: $\frac{P\times 2\times 2}{100}=40$
3. $P=\frac{40\times 100}{4}=1000$

Trick: $4\%$ of $P$ = ₹40, so $1\%$ = ₹10 and $P$ = ₹1,000.

Answer: (B) ₹1,000

Concept: Profit share $\propto$ capital $\times$ time.

1. P: $200000\times 8=16$ lakh-months; Q: $150000\times 9=13.5$ lakh-months.
2. R: $1.2m$ lakh-months must lie between 13.5 and 16, so $m=12$ (since $m=11$ gives 13.2) → $14.4$.
3. $P:R=16:14.4=10:9$
4. $P=\frac{10}{9}\times 72000=80000$

Trick: Months can be at most 12 in a year — test $m=12$ first.

Answer: (A) ₹80,000

Concept: Revenue = price $\times$ quantity, so successive percentage changes multiply.

1. New price factor $=0.93$, new quantity factor $=1.20$.
2. Revenue factor $=0.93\times 1.20=1.116$
3. Change $=+11.6\%$

Trick: Net % $=a+b+\frac{ab}{100}=-7+20+\frac{-140}{100}=11.6\%$.

Answer: (D) increase of 11.6%

Concept: Overall profit % = weighted average of the individual profit/loss % (weights = share of goods).

1. Take 100 goods: 50 at $+21\%$.
2. Remaining 50: $30\%$ of 50 $=15$ at $+43\%$; rest $35$ at $-17\%$.
3. $x=\frac{50\times 21+15\times 43-35\times 17}{100}=\frac{1050+645-595}{100}=11$

Trick: Note "30% of the remaining", i.e. 15 goods, not 30.

Answer: (D) 11

Concept: Surface area $=4\pi r^2$, so it varies as $r^2$.

1. New radius $=1.2r$.
2. New area factor $=(1.2{)}^2=1.44$
3. Increase $=44\%$

Trick: For a square law: $2a+\frac{a^2}{100}=40+4=44\%$.

Answer: (C) 44%