Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Western Ghats carry different local names along their length: Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiris at the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu junction, and Anaimalai/Cardamom Hills in Kerala.

1. Sahyadri – Maharashtra (and Karnataka): correct.
2. Nilgiri Hills – meeting point of Western and Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu–Karnataka–Kerala; Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is accepted as correct.
3. Anaimalai Hills – Kerala–Tamil Nadu border; Anamudi (2,695 m), the highest peak of South India, is in Kerala. Hence all three pairs are correct.

Trick: North to south: Sahyadri → Nilgiri → Anaimalai → Cardamom Hills.

Answer: (A) उ

Concept: The RBI controls liquidity (money supply) through monetary-policy tools; the repo rate – the rate at which banks borrow from the RBI – is the most commonly used one.

1. Raising the repo rate makes borrowing costlier and sucks out liquidity; cutting it injects liquidity. The MPC reviews it every two months.
2. Fiscal stimulus, subsidies and tariffs are tools of the Government (fiscal/trade policy), not of the RBI.

Trick: RBI = monetary tools (repo, reverse repo, CRR, SLR, OMO); Government = fiscal tools (tax, subsidy, spending).

Answer: (A) R

Concept: The Rampa Rebellion (1922–24) of the Godavari agency hill tribes against British forest laws was led by Alluri Sitarama Raju, called “Manyam Veerudu”.

1. Raju organised the Koya and other tribals in guerrilla raids on police stations; he was captured and shot in May 1924.
2. Chittu Pandey led the 1942 Ballia uprising (UP); Durgawati Devi was a revolutionary associated with Bhagat Singh.

Trick: Rampa = Alluri Sitarama Raju (Andhra); Munda Ulgulan = Birsa Munda; Santhal = Sidhu–Kanhu.

Answer: (B) र

Concept: An operating system such as Windows is system software: it manages hardware, memory, processes and the file system, and gives a user interface.

1. Managing files and folders (through File Explorer) is a core OS function.
2. Editing audio, designing presentations and playing games are done by application software that merely runs on top of Windows.

Trick: OS = manager (files, memory, devices, users); apps = workers (Word, Photoshop, games).

Answer: (A) O

Concept: The pH scale runs 0–14: below 7 is acidic, exactly 7 is neutral, above 7 is basic. Pure water at ${25}^{\circ }\text{C}$ has $\text{pH}=7$.

1. Pure water: $[{\text{H}}^{+}]=[{\text{OH}}^{-}]={10}^{-7}\text{mol/L}$, so pH $=7$ – neutral.
2. Stomach acid (HCl) pH ≈ 1–2 and lime juice pH ≈ 2–3 are acidic; sea water pH ≈ 8.1 is slightly alkaline.

Trick: Neutral = pure water only; sea water is slightly basic because of dissolved salts.

Answer: (B) उ

Concept: The Kensington Treaty is a bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty signed on 17 July 2025 in London by UK PM Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

1. It is the first such UK–Germany treaty since World War II, covering defence, migration, trade and mutual assistance.
2. It is named after Kensington (London) where it was signed; UK–France ties were separately reset by Macron’s state visit the same month.

Trick: Kensington (London) + Merz (Germany) = UK–Germany; the UK–France pact is the Lancaster House treaty.

Answer: (B) क

Concept: A window can be minimised (hidden to the taskbar), restored (partial size) or maximised/full-screen (covers the whole screen).

1. When a window fills the entire screen so that the desktop is not visible, it is in full-screen (maximised) mode – e.g. pressing F11 in a browser.
2. Minimised = shrunk to the taskbar; restored = floating window of smaller size.

Trick: F11 = full screen; Win + Down = minimise/restore; Win + Up = maximise.

Answer: (C) F

Concept: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recognises four seasons: Winter (Jan–Feb), Pre-monsoon/Summer (Mar–May), South-west Monsoon/Rainy (Jun–Sep) and Post-monsoon/Retreating monsoon (Oct–Dec).

1. Spring (Vasant) is one of the six traditional Indian ritus (Hindu calendar) but is not a separate official meteorological season.
2. Winter, summer and rainy seasons are all part of the IMD scheme.

Trick: IMD 4 = Winter, Summer, Monsoon, Post-monsoon; the “6 ritus” (with Vasant, Sharad, Hemant, Shishir) are cultural, not meteorological.

Answer: (C) I

Concept: National Unity Day (Rashtriya Ekta Diwas), 31 October, marks the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (born 31 Oct 1875), the “Iron Man” who integrated the princely states.

1. It has been observed since 2014; 31 October 2025 was Patel’s 150th birth anniversary, celebrated with the Run for Unity and events at the Statue of Unity, Kevadia.
2. Nehru – 14 Nov (Children’s Day); Gandhi and Shastri – 2 Oct.

Trick: 31 Oct = Patel = Unity (Ekta); 2 Oct = Gandhi + Shastri; 14 Nov = Nehru.

Answer: (B) 3

Concept: In 2025 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it would commit USD 10 billion over five years (2025–2030) for urban infrastructure in India.

1. The support (announced in September 2025) targets metro rail, regional rapid transit, urban services and the Urban Challenge Fund, with half coming via sovereign lending.
2. The other figures (5, 8, 12 billion) do not match the announced commitment.

Trick: ADB → India urban infra → USD 10 billion in 5 years (≈ USD 2 billion a year).

Answer: (D) A

Concept: Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta in 1815 to campaign against idolatry and ritualism and to propagate monotheism based on a rational reading of the Vedanta/Upanishads.

1. Its discussions on philosophical and social questions led in 1828 to the Brahmo Sabha (later Brahmo Samaj).
2. Options A, C and D describe the opposite – support for ritual, polytheism and occultism – which Roy opposed.

Trick: Rammohan Roy: Atmiya Sabha 1815 → Brahmo Sabha 1828 → Sati abolished 1829.

Answer: (B) र

Concept: The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 lets a Maintenance Tribunal order maintenance and, under Section 23, declare a transfer of property void and evict children who fail to care for the senior citizen.

1. In September 2025 the Supreme Court reiterated that Tribunals under the 2007 Act can order eviction of a child from a parent’s property when maintenance obligations are not met.
2. There is no Act of 2006, 2008 or 2009 by this name – only the year 2007 is correct.

Trick: Senior citizens’ maintenance law = 2007 (same year as the National Policy push); Section 23 = property transfer void.

Answer: (B) व

Concept: The Atal Tunnel (9.02 km, inaugurated 3 Oct 2020) runs under the Rohtang Pass in the Pir Panjal range of Himachal Pradesh, connecting Manali with the Lahaul–Spiti valley.

1. Pir Panjal is the longest range of the Lesser (Middle) Himalaya; Rohtang Pass (3,978 m) lies on it.
2. Karakoram and Zaskar are Trans-Himalayan ranges; Dhauladhar is the range near Dharamshala.

Trick: Atal Tunnel = Rohtang = Pir Panjal; longest highway tunnel above 10,000 ft.

Answer: (B) अ

Concept: Rajaraja I (985–1014 CE) built the Chola navy into a powerful force and conquered northern Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura), the Maldives and Lakshadweep islands.

1. He also built the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur (1010 CE).
2. Rajendra I, his son, completed the conquest of Sri Lanka and sent the famous naval expedition to Srivijaya; Vijayalaya was the dynasty’s founder.

Trick: Rajaraja I = navy + Sri Lanka/Maldives + Thanjavur temple; Rajendra I = Ganga (Gangaikonda Cholapuram) + Srivijaya.

Answer: (A) र

Concept: Telugu and Kannada were declared classical languages of India together in 2008 (notified 31 Oct 2008).

1. Order of classical status: Tamil 2004, Sanskrit 2005, Telugu & Kannada 2008, Malayalam 2013, Odia 2014; five more (Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali) in 2024.
2. 2005 is Sanskrit’s year; 2006 and 2007 saw no such declaration.

Trick: Remember “T-S-TK-M-O”: 2004, 2005, 2008 (two), 2013, 2014.

Answer: (C) य

Concept: Simple interest is directly proportional to time: $SI=\frac{P\times R\times T}{100}$.

1. SI for 5 years $-$ SI for 3 years $=$ SI for 2 years $=$ ₹784.
2. SI for 1 year $=\frac{784}{2}=$ ₹392.
3. SI for 8 years $=392\times 8=$ ₹3136.

Trick: In SI, the interest for each year is the same, so the difference for two periods is just the interest for the difference of years. No need to find the principal!

Answer: (A) 3136

Concept: In a trapezium, the segment joining the mid-points of the diagonals is parallel to the parallel sides and equals half their difference: $EF=\frac{1}{2}(AB-DC)$.

1. Here $AB\parallel DC$, $AB=60$ cm, $DC=18$ cm.
2. $EF=\frac{1}{2}(60-18)=\frac{42}{2}=21$ cm.
3. The lengths $BC=65$ and $AD=10$ are extra information and are not needed.

Yaad rakhein: Mid-points of the non-parallel sides → half the sum (median); mid-points of the diagonals → half the difference.

Answer: (B) 21

Concept: Evaluate powers and square roots first, then add/subtract left to right (BODMAS).

1. $9^2=81$, $\sqrt{4^2}=4$, $\sqrt{16}=4$ so $7\sqrt{16}=28$.
2. $81+4-28-7=85-35=50$.

Trick: $\sqrt{a^2}=a$ for positive $a$ – do not expand $4^2=16$ and then take the root; just cancel.

Answer: (C) 50

Concept: Take total work = LCM of the days and convert to units/day.

1. Total work $=\text{LCM}(10,12,15)=60$ units. A $=6$, B $=5$, C $=4$ units/day.
2. A and B for 3 days: $(6+5)\times 3=33$ units. Remaining $=60-33=27$.
3. B and C do $5+4=9$ units/day $\Rightarrow \frac{27}{9}=3$ days.

Trick: LCM method turns every work problem into simple whole-number counting.

Answer: (B) 3 days

Concept: Volume of a spherical shell $=\frac{4}{3}\pi (R^3-r^3)$; mass $=$ density $\times$ volume.

1. $R^3-r^3={13}^3-{12}^3=2197-1728=469$.
2. Volume $=\frac{4}{3}\times \frac{22}{7}\times 469=\frac{88\times 67}{3}=\frac{5896}{3}{\text{cm}}^3$ (since $469=7\times 67$).
3. Mass $=39\times \frac{5896}{3}=13\times 5896=76648$ g $=76.648$ kg.

Trick: Cancel before multiplying: $\frac{39}{3}=13$ and $\frac{469}{7}=67$ – the whole thing reduces to $88\times 67\times 13$.

Answer: (A) 76.648