Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Great Indian (Thar) Desert in western Rajasthan receives less than 25 cm of rain a year.

1. In Köppen's classification it falls under BWh (hot desert) and BSh (semi-arid steppe) – together 'arid and semi-arid'.
2. Extreme temperature range, scanty rainfall and sandy soils characterise it; it lies in the rain shadow of the Aravallis as the Arabian Sea branch runs parallel to them.

Yaad rakhein: Thar = B (dry) climate; Jaisalmer is India's driest district (about 10 cm rain).

Answer: (B) Arid and semi arid climate

Concept: Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325–1351) is remembered for ambitious experiments that failed in execution.

1. In 1327 he shifted the capital from Delhi to Deogir, renamed Daulatabad, to control the Deccan; the forced march of Delhi's population and distance from the north made him reverse it.
2. His other experiments: token currency (copper/brass coins), Khurasan and Qarachil expeditions, raising taxes in the Doab.
3. Alauddin Khalji raided the Deccan but never moved the capital; Firoz Shah was known for public works.

Yaad rakhein: Muhammad bin Tughlaq = Daulatabad + token currency; Ibn Battuta visited his court.

Answer: (A) Muhammad bin Tughlaq

Concept: The Coromandel coast (Tamil Nadu, south Andhra) gets most of its rain in October–December from the retreating/northeast monsoon.

1. Northeast monsoon winds blow from land to sea but pick up moisture while crossing the Bay of Bengal and strike the Coromandel coast.
2. Southwest monsoon leaves Tamil Nadu dry (rain-shadow of Western Ghats); western disturbances bring winter rain to north-west India, not the south-east coast.

Yaad rakhein: Chennai's rainy season is November – the northeast monsoon; Punjab's winter rain – western disturbances.

Answer: (C) Northeast monsoon winds

Concept: On 25 February 2026 India and Nepal signed an MoU for cooperation in forests, wildlife, environment, biodiversity conservation and climate change.

1. The two countries share the Terai Arc Landscape and trans-boundary protected areas (Valmiki–Chitwan, Dudhwa–Shuklaphanta, Sukla–Bardia), so joint wildlife and forest management is a natural priority.
2. India has similar environment MoUs with other neighbours, but the 25 February 2026 agreement was with Nepal.

Yaad rakhein: India–Nepal: open border, shared tiger and rhino landscapes, 2026 MoU on forests, wildlife, environment and climate change.

Answer: (B) Nepal

Concept: The demographic transition model describes how birth and death rates change as a society develops.

1. Stage I: high birth and high death rates (little growth). Stage II: death rate falls, birth rate stays high (population explosion). Stage III: both fertility and mortality are low, population stabilises.
2. Option (A) 'low fertility and low mortality' is Stage III; 'high mortality and high fertility' describes Stage I.

Yaad rakhein: High–High → High birth/Low death → Low–Low: Stages I, II, III. Developed countries are in Stage III.

Answer: (A) Low fertility and low mortality

Concept: India's first human gene therapy trial for haemophilia A was conducted by BRIC-inStem (Bengaluru) with Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore.

1. The lentiviral-vector gene therapy was given to patients at CMC Vellore's Centre for Stem Cell Research; results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (December 2024) and highlighted by the government in April 2025.
2. Patients showed sustained Factor VIII production with zero bleeding episodes during follow-up.

Yaad rakhein: Haemophilia gene therapy = BRIC-inStem + CMC Vellore; CMC Vellore is also India's pioneer of bone-marrow transplants.

Answer: (B) Christian Medical College, Vellore

Concept: The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, under the Ministry of Education, promotes Classical Languages.

1. CIIL runs the Centres of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia; the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (Chennai) and the Central Sanskrit University handle Tamil and Sanskrit.
2. Sahitya Akademi is under the Ministry of Culture (literature awards); IGNCA and ASI are also Culture Ministry bodies.

Yaad rakhein: CIIL Mysuru (est. 1969) = Indian languages, Classical Language centres, Bhasha Sangam; Sahitya Akademi = awards, Ministry of Culture.

Answer: (D) Central Institute of Indian Languages

Concept: Mauryan society (c. 321–185 BCE) was a complex, organised agrarian-urban society.

1. Megasthenes (Indica) described seven classes – philosophers, farmers, herdsmen, artisans, soldiers, overseers and councillors; Kautilya's Arthashastra mentions the four varnas, guilds (shrenis), slaves and many occupations.
2. Settled agriculture, taxation, trade and a large bureaucracy rule out 'exclusively tribal' or 'completely egalitarian'; guilds existed but did not control society alone.

Yaad rakhein: Megasthenes' seven classes + Arthashastra's varna and guild system = organised, differentiated Mauryan society.

Answer: (A) An organised society with distinct social classes and a wide range of occupational groups

Concept: Acids react with carbonates and hydrogen carbonates to give salt, water and carbon dioxide.

1. ${\text{NaHCO}}_3+\text{HCl}\to \text{NaCl}+{\text{H}}_2\text{O}+{\text{CO}}_2\uparrow$.
2. The gas evolved turns lime water milky – the standard test for CO₂.
3. Hydrogen gas is produced when acids react with active metals (Zn, Mg), not with carbonates.

Yaad rakhein: Acid + metal → H₂; acid + carbonate/bicarbonate → CO₂; acid + base → only salt + water.

Answer: (D) Carbon Dioxide(CO₂)

Concept: 'Operation Nanhe Farishte' is the Railway Protection Force (RPF) drive to rescue children found alone, missing, runaway or trafficked at stations and in trains.

1. Rescued children are handed over to Child Welfare Committees/NGOs through Child Help Desks; under this operation RPF rescued a large number of children, including over 260 trafficked/missing children flagged between January 2024 and April 2025.
2. Mission Vatsalya is a Women & Child Development ministry scheme, not a railway operation; 'Operation AAHT' is RPF's anti-trafficking drive for adults and children.

Yaad rakhein: RPF operations: Nanhe Farishte (children), AAHT (human trafficking), Meri Saheli (women passengers), Amanat (lost luggage), Yatri Suraksha.

Answer: (C) Operation Nanhe Farishte

Concept: Article 235 vests control over district courts and courts subordinate to them in the High Court.

1. This control includes posting, promotion and grant of leave to persons in the judicial service of a State below the rank of district judge.
2. The Governor appoints district judges in consultation with the High Court (Article 233), but day-to-day control is the High Court's – not the Law Ministry, Parliament or the President.

Yaad rakhein: High Court = guardian of the subordinate judiciary (Articles 233–235); this independence is part of the basic structure.

Answer: (C) High Court

Concept: The Rowlatt Act (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, March 1919) allowed detention without trial for up to two years.

1. It was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council despite unanimous opposition of Indian members; Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mazharul Haque resigned in protest.
2. Gandhi called it the 'Black Act' and launched the Rowlatt Satyagraha – a nationwide hartal on 6 April 1919 – his first all-India mass movement.
3. Protests in Punjab led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919).

Yaad rakhein: Rowlatt = 'no dalil, no vakil, no appeal'; Satyagraha Sabha formed in February 1919, hartal 6 April 1919.

Answer: (D) The enactment of laws enabling detention without trial despite resistance.

Concept: Non-volatile memory retains data even when power is switched off.

1. ROM (Read Only Memory) stores the firmware/BIOS permanently; its contents survive power-off.
2. RAM is volatile – data is lost on shutdown. CPU is the processor and PCB (printed circuit board) is hardware, not memory.

Yaad rakhein: Volatile: RAM, cache, registers. Non-volatile: ROM, flash, hard disk, SSD.

Answer: (D) ROM

Concept: Estado da India was the Portuguese state in the East, created in 1505 with Francisco de Almeida as first Viceroy.

1. Its first headquarters was Cochin; after Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultan in 1510, Goa became the capital (formally from 1530) and remained so till 1961.
2. Lisbon was the capital of Portugal itself; Malacca (1511) was a Portuguese possession but not the seat of the Estado.

Yaad rakhein: 1498 Vasco da Gama at Calicut → 1505 Almeida (Cochin) → 1510 Albuquerque takes Goa → 1530 Goa capital of Estado da India.

Answer: (B) Goa

Concept: Article 368 (Part XX) gives Parliament the power to amend the Constitution and lays down the procedure.

1. Amendments need a special majority (two-thirds present and voting plus majority of total membership); federal provisions also need ratification by half the State legislatures.
2. Article 359: suspension of enforcement of Fundamental Rights during Emergency; 360: Financial Emergency; 361: protection of President and Governors.

Yaad rakhein: Part XX has only one article – 368; Kesavananda Bharati (1973) limited it by the basic structure doctrine.

Answer: (B) Article 368

Concept: The skeleton gives shape and protects soft organs; each protective bone group guards a specific organ.

1. The skull (cranium, 8 fused bones) forms a hard box around the brain.
2. Rib cage protects heart and lungs; spine protects the spinal cord; pelvic girdle supports and protects lower abdominal organs.

Yaad rakhein: Skull → brain, Ribs → heart/lungs, Vertebral column → spinal cord.

Answer: (C) Skull

Concept: 3D printers need a file that describes the surface geometry of an object.

1. STL (Stereolithography) stores a 3D model as a mesh of triangles and is the de-facto standard accepted by almost every slicer and 3D printer.
2. PDF is for documents, DOCX for Word files and XLSX for Excel spreadsheets – none describe 3D geometry.

Yaad rakhein: STL = Stereolithography = 3D printing file (also OBJ, 3MF).

Answer: (C) STL

Concept: Primary sector extracts from nature, secondary sector manufactures goods, tertiary sector provides services.

1. Teaching is a service – no physical good is produced – so it is a tertiary activity.
2. Mining and farming are primary (directly from nature); manufacturing is secondary.

Yaad rakhein: Primary = Produce from nature, Secondary = Shape it (factory), Tertiary = Teach/Transport/Trade (services).

Answer: (D) Teaching

Concept: System software runs the computer and lets hardware work with the operating system; application software does user tasks.

1. A device driver is a program that lets the OS communicate with hardware such as a printer – it belongs to system software.
2. It is not a document, not a physical input device and not a game.

Yaad rakhein: Driver, OS, BIOS, utilities → system software; Word, games, browsers → application software.

Answer: (A) System software

Concept: ROM = Read Only Memory (non-volatile, permanent); RAM = Random Access Memory (volatile, temporary working memory).

1. ROM holds permanent start-up instructions (BIOS/firmware) that stay even when power is off.
2. RAM holds data and programs currently in use and is erased when the computer is switched off; RAM is actually faster than ROM, so (A) and (D) are reversed.

Yaad rakhein: RAM = Rough work (temporary, volatile); ROM = Rulebook (permanent, non-volatile).

Answer: (B) ROM stores permanent instructions; RAM stores temporary data.