Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: In Koeppen's scheme, group E is the polar climate: ET = Tundra, EF = Ice cap.

1. ET (Tundra): warmest month between 0 °C and 10 °C, permanently frozen subsoil (permafrost), and only mosses, lichens and dwarf shrubs grow.
2. Aw is tropical savanna, Cfb is cool temperate oceanic (western Europe), BSh is hot semi-arid steppe – none has permafrost.

Trick: E = "Extremely cold"; T = Tundra, F = Frost (ice cap).

Answer: (C) ET – Tundra climate

Concept: Primary memory (RAM) is fast, volatile and small; secondary memory (HDD, SSD, pen drive, DVD) is non-volatile, slower, cheaper and much larger.

1. Secondary memory retains data even when power is off – it is permanent storage.
2. It is not directly accessed by the CPU; data is first loaded into RAM.
3. Options A, B and D describe properties of primary memory/cache, so they are wrong.

Yaad rakhein: RAM = fast, volatile, costly; Hard disk = slow, permanent, cheap, huge.

Answer: (C) Non-volatile and larger in storage capacity

Concept: Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842–1901), judge of the Bombay High Court, was a leading social reformer of Maharashtra.

1. He founded the Widow Remarriage Association (1861) and the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870), and was a founder of the Prarthana Samaj (1867) and the Deccan Education Society.
2. Arya Samaj – Dayanand Saraswati (1875); Brahmo Samaj – Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1828); Indian National Congress – A.O. Hume (1885).

Yaad rakhein: Ranade = Widow Remarriage Association + Prarthana Samaj + Poona Sarvajanik Sabha; Gokhale was his disciple.

Answer: (C) Widow Remarriage Association

Concept: Software is broadly system software and application software.

1. System software runs the computer itself – it manages hardware and provides a platform/services for applications. The operating system, device drivers, firmware, compilers and utilities are all parts of system software.
2. Application software (MS Word, browsers) is for the user's tasks. Utility and driver software are sub-types of system software, but the general class asked for is "system software".

Yaad rakhein: System software = talks to hardware; Application software = talks to the user.

Answer: (A) System software

Concept: The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) is maintained by NABARD and funded by banks that fall short of their priority-sector lending targets.

1. It was announced in the 1995-96 Union Budget with an initial corpus of ₹2,000 crore (RIDF-I).
2. The corpus has been raised every year; recent tranches are around ₹40,000 crore, used for irrigation, rural roads, bridges, etc.

Yaad rakhein: RIDF → NABARD → 1995-96 → ₹2,000 crore.

Answer: (C) ₹2,000 crore

Concept: Balance the charges: aluminium ion is Al³⁺, sulphate ion is SO₄²⁻.

1. Criss-cross the valencies: 2 Al³⁺ give $+6$, 3 SO₄²⁻ give $-6$ → neutral.
2. Formula: Al₂(SO₄)₃. It is used as "alum" for water purification.

Trick: Al (3+) and SO₄ (2−) → swap numbers → Al₂(SO₄)₃.

Answer: (C) Al₂(SO₄)₃

Concept: The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), published by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and CAN International, ranks about 63 countries plus the EU.

1. It uses 14 indicators in four categories: GHG emissions (40%), renewable energy (20%), energy use (20%) and climate policy (20%).
2. The climate-policy part is based on assessments by national experts/NGOs – hence "expert-reviewed policy data".
3. In CCPI 2025 India ranked 10th; the top three positions were left empty as no country performed well enough.

Yaad rakhein: CCPI = Emissions 40 + Renewables 20 + Energy use 20 + Policy 20.

Answer: (A) By combining emissions, energy use, and expert-reviewed climate policy data

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

1. The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 (Janata government) deleted it from Part III and inserted Article 300A, making it a legal (constitutional) right: "No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law".
2. The 42nd Amendment (1976) is the "Mini-Constitution"; 46th (1982) dealt with sales tax; there is no major property change in the 48th.

Yaad rakhein: 44th Amendment → Article 300A → property = legal right, not fundamental.

Answer: (A) 44th Amendment

Concept: The Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 provided Legislative Assemblies and Councils of Ministers for certain UTs.

1. It covered Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Goa-Daman-Diu and Pondicherry (Puducherry). Of these, only Puducherry is still a UT with a legislature under this Act.
2. Delhi got its Assembly through the 69th Amendment Act, 1991 (Article 239AA); Chandigarh and Andaman & Nicobar have no legislature.

Yaad rakhein: Puducherry → 1963 Act; Delhi → 69th Amendment (1991); J&K → Reorganisation Act 2019.

Answer: (A) Puducherry

Concept: A Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) protects investors of one country in the other.

1. The India–Uzbekistan BIT was signed in Tashkent on 27 September 2024 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the AIIB annual meeting.
2. It entered into force on 28 May 2025; it gives national treatment, protection against expropriation and arbitration after exhausting local remedies for 5 years.
3. India's DTAA with Uzbekistan dates from 1993; no CEPA or MLSA exists between the two.

Yaad rakhein: Recent Indian BITs: UAE (2024), Uzbekistan (signed 2024, in force May 2025).

Answer: (A) Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT)

Concept: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (biotic) interacting with their non-living surroundings (abiotic) as one functional system.

1. Because matter cycles and energy flows within it, the ecosystem is called the structural and functional unit of nature/ecology (term coined by A.G. Tansley, 1935).
2. Ecology is the study, environment is the surroundings, and the cell is the unit of life – not of nature.

Yaad rakhein: Cell → unit of life; Ecosystem → unit of nature; Population → unit of evolution.

Answer: (C) Ecosystem

Concept: India has four kinds of puppetry – string, shadow, rod and glove; each state has its own form.

1. Tholpavakoothu ("leather-puppet play") is the shadow puppetry of Kerala, performed in Bhadrakali temples of Palakkad district, narrating the Kamba Ramayana.
2. Other shadow forms: Ravanachhaya (Odisha), Tholu Bommalata (Andhra Pradesh), Togalu Gombeyatta (Karnataka), Chamadyache Bahulya (Maharashtra).

Yaad rakhein: "Thol" = leather in Malayalam/Tamil → Tholpavakoothu (Kerala), Tholu Bommalata (Andhra).

Answer: (B) Kerala

Concept: Hampi (Karnataka), on the banks of the Tungabhadra, was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.

1. The empire was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka; it reached its peak under Krishnadeva Raya (1509–29) of the Tuluva dynasty.
2. Hampi's Virupaksha temple, Vittala temple with the stone chariot and Lotus Mahal made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The city was sacked after the Battle of Talikota (1565).
3. Maurya capital – Pataliputra; Gupta – Pataliputra; Mughal – Agra/Delhi.

Yaad rakhein: Hampi = Vijayanagara = Tungabhadra = Krishnadeva Raya.

Answer: (A) Vijayanagara Empire

Concept: Part IV (Articles 36–51) contains the Directive Principles; the labour-related ones are Articles 41–43A.

1. Article 43: the State shall secure to all workers a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life, and promote cottage industries.
2. Article 41 – right to work, education and public assistance; Article 42 – just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief; Article 47 – nutrition, public health, prohibition of intoxicants.

Trick: 41 Work, 42 Maternity, 43 Living wage, 43A Workers in management, 47 Health.

Answer: (B) Article 43

Concept: In Koeppen's classification each letter code matches a typical vegetation.

1. Aw – Tropical savanna: wet summer, dry winter → tropical deciduous forests and grasslands dotted with trees (tree-shredded/tree-studded savanna). Correct match.
2. Cfa is humid subtropical (not cold desert); BWh is hot desert (no dense canopy); ET is tundra (mosses, not rainforest). Tropical rainforest is Af.

Yaad rakhein: Af = rainforest, Aw = savanna, BWh = hot desert, Cfa = humid subtropical, ET = tundra.

Answer: (A) Aw – Deciduous forests and tree-shredded grasslands

Concept: Apply BODMAS – brackets first, then "of", then $÷$, $\times$, $+$, $-$.

1. $\frac{16}{36}÷\frac{16}{4}=\frac{4}{9}\times \frac{4}{16}=\frac{1}{9}$
2. $\frac{2}{7}\times \frac{14}{6}+\frac{5}{12}=\frac{2}{3}+\frac{5}{12}=\frac{13}{12}$, so first part $=\frac{1}{9}÷\frac{13}{12}=\frac{1}{9}\times \frac{12}{13}=\frac{4}{39}$
3. $\frac{39}{12}\text{ of }\frac{12}{7}=\frac{39}{7}$, so $\frac{4}{7}÷\frac{39}{7}=\frac{4}{7}\times \frac{7}{39}=\frac{4}{39}$
4. Total $=\frac{4}{39}+\frac{4}{39}=\frac{8}{39}$

Trick: "of" is done before $÷$. Cancel common factors early – both parts come out as $\frac{4}{39}$, so the answer is simply double.

Answer: (B) $\frac{8}{39}$

Concept: Two ratios are equal if they reduce to the same simplest form.

1. $35:25=7:5$, $45:20=9:4$, $60:45=4:3$
2. $120:80$ – divide both by 40: $3:2$ ✓

Trick: Check $\frac{a}{b}=1.5$ quickly: $\frac{120}{80}=1.5$, others give $1.4,2.25,1.33$.

Answer: (D) 120:80

Concept: Effective CI rate for 2 years at $r\%$ $=2r+\frac{r^2}{100}$.

1. At $4\%$: $8+0.16=8.16\%$ of the sum $=$ ₹765
2. Sum $y=\frac{765\times 100}{8.16}=$ ₹9,375
3. Amount $=9375+765=$ ₹10,140

Trick: Amount = Principal + CI, so just add 765 to the principal – no need to recompute $(1.04{)}^2$.

Answer: (C) ₹10,140

Concept: Discounted price $=\text{MP}\times (1-d\%)$; apply the extra offer on this price.

1. Price after $18\%$ discount $=2800\times 0.82=$ ₹2,296
2. 5 pairs: $5\times 2296=$ ₹11,480
3. 2 pairs at half: $2\times 1148=$ ₹2,296
4. Total $=11480+2296=$ ₹13,776

Trick: 2 pairs at $50\%$ off = 1 pair at full discounted price, so total $=6\times 2296$.

Answer: (A) ₹13,776

Concept: If numbers are $3k,7k,2k$ (co-prime ratio terms), HCF $=k$ and LCM $=3\times 7\times 2\times k=42k$.

1. $42k=8820\Rightarrow k=210$
2. HCF $=k=210$

Trick: For co-prime ratio terms, $\text{HCF}=\frac{\text{LCM}}{\text{product of ratio terms}}$.

Answer: (C) 210