Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: National track cycling championships, December 2025.

1. The 77th Senior and 54th Junior National Track Cycling Championships were held from 19 to 24 December 2025 in Uttarakhand.
2. Uttarakhand had built a velodrome for the 38th National Games (2025), which it hosted.

Yaad rakhein: Uttarakhand — host of the 38th National Games 2025 — also hosted the Dec 2025 track cycling nationals.

Answer: (C) Uttarakhand

Concept: Articles 315–323 deal with Public Service Commissions.

1. Chairman and members of a SPSC are appointed by the Governor (Art. 316).
2. They can be removed only by the President (Art. 317), not by the Governor — for misbehaviour, after an inquiry by the Supreme Court.

Yaad rakhein: Appointed by Governor, removed by President — same pattern as State Human Rights Commission members.

Answer: (D) President of India

Concept: The slow growth (about 3.5% per year) of the Indian economy from the 1950s to the 1980s.

1. Economist Raj Krishna coined the term ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’ for this persistently low growth.
2. Industrial growth was sluggish from the mid-1960s to 1980 due to licence raj, wars, droughts and low investment.

Yaad rakhein: Hindu Growth Rate → Raj Krishna → about 3.5% per year.

Answer: (A) Hindu Growth Rate

Concept: Momentum $p=m\times v$ (SI unit kg m/s).

1. $p=10\times 50$
2. $=500\text{kg m/s}$

Trick: Momentum is a vector in the direction of velocity; just multiply mass and velocity.

Answer: (D) 500 kg m/s

Concept: Indian classical instrumentalists.

1. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan of the Senia Bangash gharana is a world-famous sarod maestro (Padma Vibhushan 2001).
2. Bansuri – Hariprasad Chaurasia; Santoor – Shivkumar Sharma; Violin – L. Subramaniam / N. Rajam.

Yaad rakhein: Sarod: Amjad Ali Khan, Ali Akbar Khan; his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash also play sarod.

Answer: (A) Sarod

Concept: Regional folk traditions of Gujarat.

1. Duha, Soratha, Chhand and Beladas are poetic/ballad forms traditionally sung in Saurashtra by Charans and folk singers.
2. Saurashtra (Kathiawar) is known for its rich ‘lok-dayro’ tradition of such recitations.

Yaad rakhein: Doha–Soratha + Dayro → Saurashtra (Kathiawar).

Answer: (B) Saurashtra

Concept: Most sixes in ICC men’s ODI events (ODI World Cup + Champions Trophy combined).

1. During the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 (March 2025), Rohit Sharma overtook Chris Gayle to hold the record for most sixes in ICC men’s ODI events.
2. Chris Gayle was the previous record holder; Rohit also captained India to the 2025 title.

Yaad rakhein: Rohit Sharma = ‘Hitman’ — also holds the record for most sixes in international cricket.

Answer: (A) Rohit Sharma

Concept: Tribal uprisings against British rule.

1. The Munda Ulgulan (‘Great Tumult’) of 1899–1900 in the Ranchi region was led by Birsa Munda.
2. Tilka Majhi led an early Santhal–Paharia revolt (1780s); Budhu Bhagat led the Kol/Larka revolt (1831–32); Jatra Oraon led the Tana Bhagat movement (1914).

Yaad rakhein: Birsa Munda = ‘Dharti Aaba’; his birth anniversary 15 November is Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.

Answer: (A) Birsa Munda

Concept: Part XVII (Articles 343–351) of the Constitution deals with official language.

1. Article 343: Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union.
2. The Official Languages Act, 1963 allows English to continue as an associate official language — so Hindi and English are used for official purposes.
3. Urdu and Marathi are among the 22 scheduled languages (Eighth Schedule), not Union official languages.

Yaad rakhein: Official language ≠ national language; Eighth Schedule lists 22 languages.

Answer: (C) Hindi and English

Concept: Software is broadly of two types: system software and application software.

1. System software (operating system, device drivers, utilities) manages hardware and resources and provides a platform for other programs.
2. Application software (MS Word, browsers, games) performs specific tasks for the user.
3. Option A reverses the roles; B and D are false — licensing and developer size do not define the type.

Yaad rakhein: System = runs the computer; Application = runs the user’s task.

Answer: (C) System software manages core resources; application software performs specific user tasks.

Concept: Australia is the smallest continent and is surrounded entirely by water.

1. It is both a country and a continent, bounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans — hence ‘Island Continent’.
2. Africa, Europe and South America are connected to other landmasses.

Yaad rakhein: Australia — smallest continent, largest island-continent; Greenland is the largest island.

Answer: (D) Australia

Concept: The Right to Property was originally a Fundamental Right under Articles 19(1)(f) and 31.

1. The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 deleted both and removed it from Part III (Fundamental Rights).
2. It was made a constitutional/legal right under the new Article 300A (Part XII).

Yaad rakhein: 44th Amendment → property right → Article 300A (legal right).

Answer: (A) It was removed from Fundamental Rights

Concept: Conduction: heat flows through a solid from particle to particle without the particles moving from their places.

1. The spoon’s end in the tea gets hot; heat travels along the metal to the handle.
2. Metals are good conductors (free electrons), so this is conduction. Convection needs a moving fluid; radiation needs no medium; insulation is not a mode.

Yaad rakhein: Solids → conduction; liquids/gases → convection; vacuum → radiation.

Answer: (B) Conduction

Concept: In deserts, mountain fronts retreat parallel to themselves by backwasting (erosion of the slope face), leaving a gently sloping rock surface behind.

1. The rock surface left at the foot of the retreating slope is a pediment.
2. With continued parallel retreat, pediments extend and coalesce to form a low featureless plain — the pediplain.
3. Playa is a shallow lake basin; blowout is a wind-deflation hollow; stalagmite is a cave (limestone) feature.

Yaad rakhein: Backwasting → pediment → pediplain (inselbergs remain as residual hills).

Answer: (D) Pediplain

Concept: INDRA is the bilateral military exercise series between India and Russia.

1. Exercise INDRA (Navy) 2025 between the Indian Navy and the Russian Navy aimed to improve interoperability and understanding of each other’s procedures against maritime threats.
2. It included harbour and sea phases with joint manoeuvres; tourism, aircraft manufacturing or submarine repair were not its aim.

Yaad rakhein: INDRA = INDia + RussiA.

Answer: (A) To improve interoperability against maritime threats

Concept: In his 79th Independence Day speech (15 August 2025) from the Red Fort, PM Narendra Modi announced a mission to tap India's offshore oil and gas.

1. The mission announced is the National Deepwater Exploration Mission, aimed at exploring oil and gas reserves in deep-sea areas.
2. Its goal is to cut import dependence and move towards energy self-reliance (Aatmanirbhar Bharat in energy).
3. The other names (Blue Energy Development Mission etc.) are not missions announced in that speech.

Yaad rakhein: Offshore + deep sea oil and gas → Deepwater Exploration Mission.

Answer: (B) National Deepwater Exploration Mission

Concept: Under Article 111, the President can use a suspensive veto on an ordinary (non-money) bill.

1. The President may return the bill to Parliament for reconsideration only once.
2. If Parliament passes it again, with or without amendments, the President must give assent.
3. A Money Bill cannot be returned at all, since it is introduced with the President's prior recommendation.

Yaad rakhein: Ordinary bill → returned once; Money Bill → never; Constitutional Amendment Bill → must sign (24th Amendment, 1971).

Answer: (C) Once only

Concept: The Capability Approach judges development by what people are actually able to do and be (their freedoms), not just by income.

1. It was first proposed by Indian economist Amartya Sen (Tanner Lecture “Equality of What?”, 1979; later Development as Freedom, 1999).
2. Martha Nussbaum later developed it further with a list of central capabilities, but she did not originate it.
3. Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 for welfare economics; his ideas shaped the UNDP Human Development Index.

Yaad rakhein: Development as Freedom = Amartya Sen.

Answer: (A) Amartya Sen

Concept: Large cancer treatment trials in India are usually led by specialised cancer centres.

1. The bladder cancer radiation therapy trial reported in November 2025 was led by Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai.
2. TMC is India's premier cancer treatment and research centre, working under the Department of Atomic Energy.
3. NIMHANS is a mental-health institute; PGIMER and AIIMS are general medical institutes.

Yaad rakhein: Cancer trial in India → think Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai first.

Answer: (C) Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai

Concept: Tarikh-i-Rashidi is a Persian history of the Mughals of Central Asia (Moghulistan) and the early Mughals in India.

1. It was written by Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, a cousin of Babur, who later ruled Kashmir.
2. Ziauddin Barani wrote Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi; Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote Tabaqat-i-Nasiri; Abul Fazl wrote Akbarnama.

Yaad rakhein: Rashidi → named after Abdur Rashid Khan, patron of Haidar Dughlat.

Answer: (A) Mirza Haidar Dughlat