Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The 2025 NATO Summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands, on 24–25 June 2025 — the first NATO summit hosted by the Netherlands.

1. Allies agreed on a new defence-spending target of 5% of GDP by 2035
2. NATO headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium

Yaad rakhein: NATO founded 1949; 32 members (Sweden joined in 2024).

Answer: (D) NATO Summit

Concept: The 44th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1978 replaced 'internal disturbance' with 'armed rebellion' in Article 352.

1. National Emergency can now be declared only on grounds of war, external aggression or armed rebellion
2. This was done to prevent misuse like the 1975 Emergency (declared on 'internal disturbance')

Yaad rakhein: 42nd Amendment (1976) = mini-Constitution; 44th (1978) undid many of its changes.

Answer: (B) Armed rebellion

Concept: Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316) introduced dagh (branding of horses) and chehra (descriptive roll of soldiers).

1. Purpose: stop fraud of substandard horses and proxy soldiers at musters
2. He also kept a large standing army paid in cash and introduced market control

Yaad rakhein: Dagh–Chehra = Alauddin Khalji; later revived by Sher Shah and Akbar.

Answer: (B) Alauddin Khalji

Concept: Computers are accurate only if input and instructions are correct (GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out), and they have no intelligence (No IQ).

1. (i) False — flawed input gives flawed output (GIGO)
2. (ii) True — a computer cannot think; it works only on given instructions

Yaad rakhein: GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Answer: (C) (i) False, (ii) True

Concept: On 8 November 2016, ₹500 and ₹1000 notes were withdrawn as legal tender.

1. Stated aims: curb black money and corruption, eliminate counterfeit notes and terror financing, promote digital/cashless economy
2. Increasing reliance on cash was the opposite of its aim

Yaad rakhein: NOT-type question: pick the option that contradicts the goal.

Answer: (A) Increasing reliance on cash transactions

Concept: Ohm's law: $R=\frac{V}{I}$, so volt per ampere is the unit of resistance — the ohm ($\Omega$).

1. Coulomb = ampere × second (charge)
2. Watt = volt × ampere (power); Joule = unit of energy

Yaad rakhein: $1\Omega =1\text{V/A}$; $1\text{W}=1\text{V}\times 1\text{A}$.

Answer: (A) Ohm

Concept: Metro rail projects are Joint Ventures of the Centre and States, handled by the Ministry of Urban Development (now Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs).

1. E.g., DMRC is a 50:50 JV of Government of India (MoHUA) and Delhi Government
2. The Ministry of Railways runs Indian Railways, not urban metros (except Kolkata Metro)

Yaad rakhein: Metro Rail Policy 2017 was issued by MoHUA.

Answer: (A) Ministry of Urban Development

Concept: Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (1938–2022) of Jammu brought the Santoor, a Kashmiri folk instrument, to classical concert stages worldwide.

1. Pt Ravi Shankar — Sitar; Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia — Flute (bansuri)
2. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan — Sarod

Yaad rakhein: Shiv–Hari duo (Shivkumar + Hariprasad) also composed Bollywood music.

Answer: (C) Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

Concept: The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), set up in 1986 under the IWAI Act 1985, develops and regulates inland waterways (rivers, canals) for navigation.

1. Headquarters: Noida; works under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
2. Central Water Commission deals with water resources, not navigation

Yaad rakhein: NW-1: Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly (Prayagraj–Haldia), the longest national waterway.

Answer: (D) Inland Waterways Authority of India

Concept: The Fifth Schedule deals with Scheduled Areas; its definition of 'State' excludes Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

1. These four states have tribal areas governed by the Sixth Schedule (Autonomous District Councils)
2. Hence Fifth Schedule provisions do not apply to them

Yaad rakhein: Sixth Schedule states = AMTM: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram.

Answer: (C) Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram

Concept: The Rangarajan Expert Group (2014) recommended that the poverty line be updated in future using the Fisher Index, based on NSSO data.

1. It estimated 29.5% poverty in 2011-12 (₹972 rural, ₹1407 urban per month)
2. It kept an absolute poverty line, not a relative one

Yaad rakhein: Tendulkar (2009) → 21.9%; Rangarajan (2014) → 29.5% for 2011-12.

Answer: (B) By using the Fisher Index with data from NSSO

Concept: Brazil has moved to a late stage of demographic transition since the 1980s, with both birth and death rates falling.

1. Fertility dropped sharply (now below replacement level, about 1.6)
2. Better health care raised life expectancy and lowered death rates

Yaad rakhein: Demographic transition: high birth & death → falling death → falling birth → low both.

Answer: (C) Falling birth and death rates

Concept: In Mendel's pea plants, tall (T) is dominant over short (t); a recessive trait shows only in homozygous form.

1. TT and Tt are both tall (T masks t)
2. Only tt (homozygous recessive) gives a short plant
3. In Tt × Tt, short appears in $\frac{1}{4}$ of offspring

Yaad rakhein: Phenotype ratio 3 : 1, genotype ratio 1 : 2 : 1 (F2).

Answer: (B) tt

Concept: The 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016 introduced GST and inserted Article 246A, giving both Centre and States concurrent power to levy GST.

1. Article 269A — IGST on inter-state supplies; Article 279A — GST Council
2. GST came into force on 1 July 2017

Yaad rakhein: Bill was the 122nd Amendment Bill; it became the 101st Amendment Act.

Answer: (A) 101st Amendment, 2016

Concept: Under Article 182, the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) chooses two of its own members as Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

1. Not appointed by the President or nominated by the Governor
2. Rajya Sabha differs: the Vice-President is its ex-officio Chairman

Yaad rakhein: Art. 178 — Speaker of Vidhan Sabha; Art. 182 — Chairman of Vidhan Parishad.

Answer: (B) Elected by members of the Vidhan Parishad

Concept: The 1830–31 rising in Mysore (the Nagar revolt) was a peasant uprising against the administration of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, who had been restored by the British in 1799.

1. To pay the heavy subsidy demanded by the British, the state raised land revenue sharply and revenue farmers squeezed the cultivators.
2. The over-burdened ryots of Nagar (Bidanur) region rose in revolt in 1830–31.
3. After suppressing it, the British took over the direct administration of Mysore in 1831.

Trick: Peasant revolts of the 19th century almost always begin with “excess revenue demand” – the protective or relief options are the opposite.

Answer: (D) Increased revenue pressure that ultimately burdened cultivators.

Concept: In the electronic concept, oxidation is the loss of electrons and reduction is the gain of electrons.

1. Example: $\text{Na}\to {\text{Na}}^{+}+e^{-}$ – sodium loses an electron, so it is oxidised.
2. The species that gains those electrons is reduced.
3. Protons are not involved in this definition (they relate to acid–base reactions).

Trick: OIL RIG – Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain (of electrons).

Answer: (B) Electrons lost

Concept: Globalisation means integrating the domestic economy with the world economy through free flow of goods, services, capital and technology.

1. Removal of trade barriers, FDI and privatisation all open the economy – the LPG model of 1991.
2. Subsidies and protectionism shield domestic producers from foreign competition, i.e. they restrict integration.
3. Hence protectionism works against globalisation.

Trick: Globalisation = “open the doors”; protectionism = “close the doors”.

Answer: (A) Subsidies and protectionism in domestic markets

Concept: Cfb (Marine West Coast) climate is found on the western margins of continents in mid-latitudes (about 40°–60°), e.g. NW Europe, British Columbia, New Zealand.

1. Onshore westerlies from the ocean keep summers mild and winters warm – so daily and annual temperature ranges are small.
2. “f” means no dry season: rain falls throughout the year (usually well above 20 cm).
3. A dry summer is the Mediterranean (Cs) type; interiors far from the sea have continental climates.

Trick: Cfb: C = mild, f = always wet, b = warm (not hot) summer – an “ocean-controlled” climate.

Answer: (C) It experiences small daily and annual temperature ranges due to oceanic influence.

Concept: The horizontal (latitudinal) distribution of air pressure is controlled mainly by temperature, Earth’s rotation and the water-vapour content of air.

1. Air temperature: warm air expands and rises → low pressure (equatorial low); cold air sinks → high pressure (polar high).
2. Earth’s rotation: deflection of air piles it up near 30° (subtropical high) and thins it near 60° (subpolar low).
3. Water vapour: moist air is lighter than dry air, so it lowers pressure. Ocean salinity affects sea-water density, not air pressure.

Trick: Pressure belts = thermal (equator, poles) + dynamic (30°, 60° due to rotation); salinity is an ocean property.

Answer: (B) Ocean salinity