Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Brazil held the BRICS chairship in 2025, so it hosted the BRICS Agriculture Ministers' meeting.

1. The 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting was held in Brasília in April 2025.
2. The 17th BRICS Summit (July 2025) was also in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro).

Yaad rakhein: BRICS 2025 chair = Brazil → all 2025 BRICS ministerials in Brazil.

Answer: (A) Brazil

Concept: The Konark Sun Temple (Odisha) is dedicated to Surya, the Sun god.

1. Built in the 13th century by Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I.
2. Designed as a giant chariot with 24 wheels pulled by 7 horses; a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1984).

Yaad rakhein: Konark = 'Black Pagoda', Surya's chariot.

Answer: (A) Surya

Concept: The 1991 New Economic Policy followed LPG – Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation.

1. Globalisation meant opening the economy to world markets: lower tariffs, foreign investment, trade liberalisation.
2. Strengthening import barriers or public-sector dominance is the opposite of these reforms.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 = LPG; 'opening up' is the keyword.

Answer: (A) Opening up the economy to global markets

Concept: Mid-oceanic ridges are interconnected chains of submerged mountains with a central rift zone of intense volcanic activity.

1. They form at divergent plate boundaries where new oceanic crust is created (e.g., Mid-Atlantic Ridge).
2. Trenches are deep narrow depressions; abyssal plains are flat; continental slope links shelf to deep sea.

Yaad rakhein: Rift + volcanoes + underwater mountain chain = mid-oceanic ridge.

Answer: (C) Mid-oceanic ridges

Concept: Mount Etna is on the east coast of Sicily, Italy.

1. It is the tallest and most active volcano in Europe.
2. In February 2025 a new eruption was recorded from a vent on the west side of its South-East Crater.

Yaad rakhein: Italy's volcanoes: Etna (Sicily), Stromboli, Vesuvius.

Answer: (A) Italy

Concept: Alt + underlined letter opens a menu; F is the access key of the File menu.

1. Alt + F → File menu.
2. Alt + Tab switches windows; Ctrl + Alt + Del opens the security screen; Alt + Insert has no standard menu role.

Yaad rakhein: Alt + F = File, Alt + E = Edit, Alt + V = View.

Answer: (B) Alt + F

Concept: Raja Todar Mal introduced the Zabti (Dahsala) system under Akbar.

1. Land was measured, and revenue fixed in cash on the average produce and prices of the previous 10 years.
2. Mansabdari was a rank system; Ryotwari was a British system (Munro).

Yaad rakhein: Todar Mal → Zabti / Dahsala (1580).

Answer: (B) Zabti system

Concept: Pandit Ravi Shankar was a Hindustani classical sitar maestro, not a Carnatic musician.

1. D. K. Pattammal, Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam and Nithyasree Mahadevan are Carnatic vocalists.
2. Ravi Shankar received the Bharat Ratna (1999).

Yaad rakhein: Sitar → Hindustani; Pattammal family (Nithyasree) → Carnatic.

Answer: (D) Ravi Shankar

Concept: The Santhal Hul (1855–57), led by Sidhu and Kanhu, was against the 'dikus' – outsiders who exploited them.

1. Targets: British officials, zamindars, traders and moneylenders who seized land and charged heavy interest.
2. It was not against their own tribal headmen or missionaries.

Yaad rakhein: Santhal Hul → Sidhu–Kanhu → Damin-i-koh → against dikus.

Answer: (D) British officials, zamindars, traders and local moneylenders

Concept: Beneficiaries of PMAY-Gramin are identified using housing-deprivation data of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011.

1. The list is verified by the Gram Sabha and later updated through Awaas+ surveys.
2. Agricultural income, education or land papers are not the primary criterion.

Yaad rakhein: PMAY-G selection = SECC 2011 + Gram Sabha.

Answer: (C) Socio-Economic and Caste Census, 2011

Concept: The Doctrine of Harmonious Construction reads Fundamental Rights and DPSPs together so that both operate.

1. Courts interpret a DPSP-based law in harmony with FRs instead of striking it down (Minerva Mills, 1980: balance of Parts III and IV).
2. Severability removes only the invalid part; Basic Structure limits amendments.

Yaad rakhein: 'Harmoniously interpreted' in the question = Harmonious Construction.

Answer: (C) Doctrine of Harmonious Construction

Concept: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) recognises character shapes in printed text and converts them to editable machine text.

1. MICR reads magnetic-ink digits on cheques; OMR detects marks/bubbles; a barcode reader reads bar patterns.
2. Only OCR turns printed letters into text.

Yaad rakhein: OCR = Characters, OMR = Marks, MICR = Magnetic ink.

Answer: (D) OCR scanner

Concept: Baryi and Nyioga are folk music forms of Arunachal Pradesh.

1. Baryi is sung by the Galo/Minyong (Adi) people during festivals; Nyioga is a Galo song sung at the end of marriage ceremonies.
2. Other folk forms of the state include Ponung (Adi).

Yaad rakhein: Adi/Galo tribes → Arunachal Pradesh folk songs.

Answer: (B) Arunachal Pradesh

Concept: A separate Department of Disinvestment was created in December 1999.

1. It became a full Ministry of Disinvestment in September 2001.
2. Later it became a department under the Finance Ministry, renamed DIPAM in 2016.

Yaad rakhein: 1999 Department → 2001 Ministry → 2016 DIPAM.

Answer: (C) 1999

Concept: Shells fill as K (max 2), L (max 8), then M; phosphorus has atomic number 15.

1. $15=2+8+5$ → K = 2, L = 8, M = 5.
2. Options with L = 5, 6 or 7 are wrong because L must fill up to 8 before M starts.
3. 5 valence electrons → valency 3 or 5.

Yaad rakhein: Group 15 element → 5 electrons in the outermost shell.

Answer: (D) K=2, L=8, M=5

Concept: Supercomputers are the fastest computers, built to perform trillions of calculations per second (measured in FLOPS).

1. They are used for weather forecasting, climate modelling, nuclear research, space science and molecular simulation – all heavy mathematical computation.
2. Word processing, browsing and office automation need very little power and run on ordinary PCs.

Yaad rakhein: Supercomputer speed is measured in FLOPS; India's examples: PARAM, Pratyush, Mihir.

Answer: (A) Complex mathematical calculations

Concept: India's census has been held every ten years without a break since 1872 (first synchronous census 1881).

1. Counting the series from 1872: 1872, 1881, 1891 … 2001 makes 14 censuses.
2. So the 2011 Census was the 15th national census and the 7th after Independence.

Yaad rakhein: 2011 = 15th census overall, 7th after Independence (first after Independence: 1951).

Answer: (D) 15th National Census

Concept: The Sun Temple at Konark (Odisha) was built by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty in the 13th century.

1. It is designed as the gigantic chariot of Surya with 24 carved stone wheels pulled by seven horses.
2. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; its wheel appears on the ₹10 note.
3. Virupaksha (Hampi), Mahabodhi (Bodh Gaya) and Airavatesvara (Darasuram) are not chariot-shaped temples.

Yaad rakhein: Konark = 'Black Pagoda', 24 wheels, 7 horses.

Answer: (A) Sun Temple, Konark

Concept: Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize 1997 for The God of Small Things) released her first memoir in 2025.

1. Mother Mary Comes To Me (2025) is about her relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, an educationist from Kerala.
2. The other titles are not her books.

Yaad rakhein: Roy's novels: The God of Small Things, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness; memoir: Mother Mary Comes To Me.

Answer: (C) Mother Mary Comes To Me

Concept: Work $=$ Force $\times$ displacement; energy has the same unit and dimensions as work.

1. SI unit: $1\text{J}=1\text{N}\times 1\text{m}$ (joule).
2. Dimensions: $[ML{T}^{-2}]\times [L]=[M{L}^2{T}^{-2}]$.
3. Pascal is pressure ($M{L}^{-1}{T}^{-2}$), watt is power ($M{L}^2{T}^{-3}$), newton is force ($ML{T}^{-2}$).

Trick: Power $=\frac{\text{Work}}{\text{time}}$, so watt has one extra $T^{-1}$ compared with joule.

Answer: (D) Joule and $M{L}^2{T}^{-2}$