Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The India Justice Report (IJR) ranks states on their capacity to deliver justice through four pillars – police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid.

1. The IJR was started in 2019 as an initiative of Tata Trusts with partners such as Common Cause, CHRI and DAKSH.
2. The 2025 edition (4th) was released in April 2025; Karnataka topped among large and mid-sized states.

Yaad rakhein: IJR = Tata Trusts – "Justice ki Trust".

Answer: (C) Tata Trusts

Concept: National Waterways (NW) are notified inland water routes developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).

1. NW-1: Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly system from Haldia (Sagar) to Prayagraj, about 1,620 km – the longest NW.
2. NW-2 is the Brahmaputra (Dhubri–Sadiya), NW-3 is the West Coast Canal in Kerala (Kottapuram–Kollam), NW-4 is on the Krishna–Godavari system.

Yaad rakhein: Number order 1-2-3 = Ganga – Brahmaputra – Kerala canal.

Answer: (A) National Waterways 1

Concept: The 26th Asian Athletics Championships were held at Gumi, South Korea, in May 2025.

1. India won silver in the women's 4×100 m relay with a team including Srabani Nanda, Abhinaya Rajarajan, Sneha S S and Nithya Gandhe.
2. For Odisha sprinter Srabani Nanda, a 2016 Rio Olympian, this medal marked a successful comeback after a long gap.

Yaad rakhein: Comeback in Gumi relay – Odisha's Srabani.

Answer: (D) Srabani Nanda

Concept: In 1991 India faced a balance-of-payments crisis with foreign reserves enough for only about two weeks of imports.

1. India took a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (and the World Bank), which came with conditions for structural reform.
2. This led to the LPG policy – Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation.
3. WHO (health), UNICEF (children) and UNESCO (education/culture) do not give balance-of-payments loans.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 crisis → IMF loan → LPG.

Answer: (C) IMF

Concept: Diu, in the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, became the first district in India to meet its entire (daytime) power demand through solar energy.

1. Diu has about 11.9 MW of solar capacity (ground-mounted plus rooftop) against a daytime peak demand of around 7 MW.
2. Silvassa, Kavaratti and Leh have not achieved this status.

Yaad rakhein: Diu = "Din" (day) power fully from the Sun.

Answer: (D) Diu

Concept: In February 2025, researchers at IIT Guwahati developed a self-cleaning, flexible heating fabric.

1. The fabric heats up using sunlight and electricity (photothermal and Joule heating), so it can keep the wearer warm in extreme cold.
2. It is water-repellent and self-cleaning, which makes it useful for soldiers and people in high-altitude regions.

Yaad rakhein: Cold-weather fabric – North-East IIT, Guwahati.

Answer: (C) IIT Guwahati

Concept: After the British recaptured Delhi in September 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar surrendered and was tried by a military commission in 1858.

1. He was found guilty and exiled; in October 1858 he left Delhi with Begum Zinat Mahal and was sent to Rangoon (Burma).
2. He died in Rangoon in 1862, ending the Mughal dynasty.

Yaad rakhein: Revolt 1857 → trial and exile in 1858 → death 1862.

Answer: (B) October 1858

Concept: India's western coastal plain is divided into Kachchh-Kathiawar (Gujarat), Konkan (Maharashtra–Goa), Kannad and Malabar sections.

1. The Malabar coast stretches along Kerala and the southern coast of Karnataka; it is known for backwaters (kayals).
2. Konkan lies in Maharashtra and Goa; Kachchh and Kathiawar are in Gujarat.

Yaad rakhein: North to south: Kachchh → Konkan → Kannad → Malabar.

Answer: (C) Malabar coast

Concept: The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) was first set up in 1993 as a statutory body.

1. The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018 inserted Article 338B and gave NCBC constitutional status.
2. It also inserted Article 342A (list of socially and educationally backward classes).
3. The 101st Amendment (2016) is GST; the 99th (2014) is NJAC.

Yaad rakhein: 102nd → 338B → NCBC.

Answer: (B) 102nd Amendment Act, 2018

Concept: BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) has 7 members: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

1. The 6th BIMSTEC Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 4 April 2025, and PM Narendra Modi attended it.
2. The 5th Summit was held virtually in Colombo (Sri Lanka) in 2022.

Yaad rakhein: Bangkok 2025 = 6th; chairmanship then passed to Bangladesh.

Answer: (A) 6th

Concept: Tamil literature has five great epics (Aimperunkappiyangal).

1. Manimekalai, written by Seethalai Sathanar, is one of them – a Buddhist epic and a sequel to Silappatikaram.
2. Silappatikaram was written by Ilango Adigal. Neither work is an autobiography, treatise or memoir.

Yaad rakhein: Twin epics: Silappatikaram (Kannagi) and Manimekalai (her daughter Manimekalai).

Answer: (A) An Epic

Concept: In dry regions evaporation is higher than rainfall, so groundwater rises through the soil by capillary action.

1. When this water evaporates, salts such as calcium carbonate are left behind and form a hard crust called a hardpan.
2. Pedalfer is a soil of humid regions rich in aluminium and iron; laterite forms by leaching in hot wet climates; granite is a rock, not a soil layer.

Yaad rakhein: Dry area + capillary rise + salts = hard layer = hardpan.

Answer: (A) hardpans

Concept: British economic policies in India were designed to serve the interests of Britain.

1. India was made a supplier of cheap raw materials and a market for British manufactured goods.
2. This led to de-industrialisation, decline of handicrafts and drain of wealth (Dadabhai Naoroji) – the opposite of self-sufficiency or industrialisation of India.

Yaad rakhein: Colonial economy = "raw material out, finished goods in" – for Britain's benefit.

Answer: (C) benefit the British economy

Concept: Kharavela of the Chedi (Mahameghavahana) dynasty ruled Kalinga (Odisha) in the 2nd–1st century BC.

1. His Hathigumpha inscription at Udayagiri (near Bhubaneswar) records his achievements; he was a follower of Jainism.
2. Ashoka (Mauryan) conquered Kalinga and adopted Buddhism; Samprati was a Mauryan patron of Jainism but not a Kalinga king.

Yaad rakhein: Kalinga + Jain + Hathigumpha = Kharavela.

Answer: (A) Kharavela

Concept: Metrology is the science of measurement. A National Metrology Institute (NMI) keeps a country's measurement standards.

1. The NMI maintains national standards of measurement (SI units such as kg, metre, second) and links them to international standards.
2. In India, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi is the NMI and also maintains Indian Standard Time.

Yaad rakhein: Metro-logy = measure-logy; India's NMI = NPL New Delhi.

Answer: (A) To maintain standards of measurements

Concept: Article 312 lets Parliament create All-India Services (IAS, IPS, IFoS).

1. The All-India Services Act, 1951 empowers the Central Government, after consulting state governments, to make rules on recruitment and service conditions.
2. Other options are not real Acts.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 312 → AIS Act 1951 → IAS, IPS, IFoS.

Answer: (C) All-India Services Act, 1951

Concept: Under colonial rule India's foreign trade was shaped to suit British industry.

1. India exported primary products – raw cotton, raw silk, jute, indigo, sugar.
2. It imported finished consumer goods like cotton and woollen cloth and light machinery from British factories.
3. Most of the trade was with Britain, and the export surplus was used to pay for British expenses (drain of wealth).

Yaad rakhein: At independence: raw material OUT, manufactured goods IN.

Answer: (D) Export of raw materials and import of manufactured goods

Concept: British education policy was used to create a class of English-educated Indians loyal to the Raj.

1. Macaulay's Minute (1835) aimed to create "a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste" to act as interpreters between rulers and the ruled.
2. Subsidiary Alliance (Wellesley) was a political-military policy; Divide and Rule was a political strategy.

Yaad rakhein: Macaulay's Minute 1835 + English Education Act 1835 = loyal English-educated class.

Answer: (A) Education Policy

Concept: Tropical thorn forests occur where rainfall is less than about 50 cm – NW India (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana) and semi-arid parts of the Deccan.

1. Trees are scattered, with long roots and thick, small leaves; common plants are babool, ber, khair, cactus and euphorbias.
2. According to NCERT, tussocky grass grows up to about 2 m high as undergrowth in these forests.

Yaad rakhein: Thorn forest = babool, ber, cactus + tussocky grass.

Answer: (A) Tropical Thorn forests

Concept: Greenhouse gases such as ${\text{CO}}_2$ and ${\text{CH}}_4$ come mainly from burning fossil fuels.

1. Tidal energy uses the rise and fall of sea tides to turn turbines – no fuel is burnt, so no greenhouse gases are released while generating power.
2. Natural gas fuel, thermal power plants (coal) and diesel generators all burn fossil fuels and release ${\text{CO}}_2$.

Yaad rakhein: Renewable, non-combustion sources (tidal, solar, wind) = no GHG during operation.

Answer: (A) Tidal energy