Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Rotterdam Convention (adopted 1998, in force 2004) deals with the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

1. It works through the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure – an importing country must agree before listed chemicals are shipped.
2. Basel (1989) controls trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes; Stockholm (2001) eliminates Persistent Organic Pollutants; Paris (2015) is on climate change.

Yaad rakhein: Rotterdam = Rasayan trade (PIC); Basel = waste; Stockholm = POPs.

Answer: (C) Rotterdam Convention

Concept: SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) was launched on PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024 with two small satellites, SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target).

1. On 16 January 2025 ISRO docked the two satellites in orbit, making India the 4th country (after USA, Russia, China) to achieve space docking.
2. Gaganyaan is the human-spaceflight programme, Aditya-L1 studies the Sun and Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon – none is a docking mission.

Yaad rakhein: SpaDeX = Space Docking Experiment – the name itself tells the answer.

Answer: (A) SPADEX

Concept: A Local Area Network (LAN) links computers and devices within a small area – a room, home, office or campus.

1. It uses Ethernet cables or Wi-Fi, not satellites.
2. Large geographical areas are covered by a WAN, not a LAN.
3. Sharing printers, files and internet is the main purpose of a LAN, so option (C) is false.

Yaad rakhein: LAN = Local (building), MAN = Metropolitan (city), WAN = Wide (country/world).

Answer: (D) LAN connects computers within a limited area such as a home or office.

Concept: The Invest Kerala Global Summit (IKGS) 2025 was held at Lulu Bolgatty International Convention Centre, Kochi on 21–22 February 2025.

1. It was organised by the Kerala Government (Industries Department & KSIDC) to attract investment in sectors such as IT, tourism, logistics and food processing.
2. It was inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and investment intents worth about ₹1.5 lakh crore were reported.

Yaad rakhein: Kochi (Feb 2025) → Invest Kerala Global Summit.

Answer: (B) Kerala Investment Summit

Concept: BharatGen is India's government-funded multimodal Large Language Model initiative, launched by Dr Jitendra Singh on 2 June 2025 (BharatGen Summit, New Delhi).

1. It is built for Indian languages (22 scheduled languages) and India's cultural and social context – text, speech and images.
2. It is led by IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (DST); it is not a cloud service or a quantum-computing project.

Yaad rakhein: Bharat + Gen(erative AI) → AI that speaks Bharat's languages.

Answer: (C) To advance AI in Indian languages and cultural contexts

Concept: At independence India was an agrarian economy; NCERT (Indian Economic Development) notes that about 85% of the population lived in villages and depended on agriculture directly or indirectly.

1. Agriculture remained stagnant due to the zamindari system and low productivity.
2. Do not confuse with the workforce figure: about 70–75% of the workforce was engaged in agriculture.

Yaad rakhein: Colonial India: 85% lived in villages, 70–75% worked in agriculture.

Answer: (D) About 85%

Concept: Warli is a tribal folk painting of the Warli tribe of the Sahyadri region of Maharashtra (Thane–Palghar).

1. It uses basic geometric shapes – circle, triangle and square – to show people, animals and daily life.
2. The figures are painted in white pigment (rice paste) on a mud/red-ochre background, so bright colours and gold leaf are not its feature (gold leaf belongs to Tanjore painting).

Yaad rakhein: Warli = white stick figures; two triangles joined at the tip make a human body.

Answer: (A) Geometric patterns and white pigment

Concept: In Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala (1973), a 13-judge bench propounded the Basic Structure doctrine.

1. Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution but cannot destroy its basic structure; judicial review was named among the basic features (later reaffirmed in Minerva Mills, 1980).
2. Shankari Prasad (1951) allowed amendment of Fundamental Rights, Golaknath (1967) barred it, and Shah Bano (1985) concerned maintenance to a Muslim woman.

Yaad rakhein: Basic structure ← Kesavananda Bharati, 1973 (24 April).

Answer: (C) Kesavananda Bharati case

Concept: The New Economic Policy of 1991 had three parts – Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG).

1. Globalisation means integrating the domestic economy with the world economy through free flow of trade, capital (FDI), technology and services.
2. Options A, C and D describe the opposite – a closed, inward-looking economy.

Yaad rakhein: Globalisation = whole world as one market.

Answer: (B) Integration of the Indian economy with the world economy

Concept: Under British rule India's occupational structure showed little change – agriculture was the largest occupation.

1. About 70–75% of the workforce was in agriculture, 10% in manufacturing and 15–20% in services.
2. Railways and mining existed but employed only a small share; small-scale industries were declining due to British policies.

Yaad rakhein: Workforce split in colonial India ≈ 75 : 10 : 15 (agriculture : industry : services).

Answer: (D) agricultural activities

Concept: Deeps are the deepest parts of the ocean floor; NCERT (Fundamentals of Physical Geography) records their number ocean-wise.

1. Pacific Ocean has the most deeps (about 32), the Atlantic about 19 and the Indian Ocean only 6.
2. The deepest point of the Indian Ocean is the Java (Sunda) Trench, about 7,450 m.

Yaad rakhein: Deeps: Pacific 32 – Atlantic 19 – Indian 6.

Answer: (D) Six

Concept: The Asia Arts Game Changer Awards are presented by Asia Society (Hong Kong) during Art Basel week each March.

1. In 2025 Mumbai-based contemporary artist Shilpa Gupta was given the Asia Arts Pathbreaker Award.
2. Her installations (e.g. 'For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit') explore borders, censorship and identity.

Yaad rakhein: Shilpa Gupta – Pathbreaker 2025 (Asia Society, Hong Kong).

Answer: (B) Shilpa Gupta

Concept: Polymers are natural (made by living things) or synthetic (man-made in industry).

1. Nylon-6,6 is a synthetic polyamide made by condensation of hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid; it is used for fibres, ropes and tyre cords.
2. Starch and cellulose are natural polymers of glucose; rubber is a natural polymer (cis-polyisoprene) from latex.

Yaad rakhein: Nylon-6,6: both monomers have 6 carbon atoms.

Answer: (B) Nylon-6,6

Concept: On 1 September 2024 Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw unveiled the prototype car-body of the first Vande Bharat Sleeper train at the BEML facility in Bengaluru.

1. The train was designed by ICF Chennai and manufactured by BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Ltd).
2. It has 16 coaches (AC first, 2-tier and 3-tier) designed for an operating speed of 160 km/h.

Yaad rakhein: Sleeper body by BEML Bengaluru, design by ICF Chennai.

Answer: (A) BEML Complex, Bengaluru

Concept: In Lassaigne's test the organic compound is fused with sodium; nitrogen present forms sodium cyanide (NaCN).

1. The sodium fusion extract is boiled with FeSO₄, then acidified with H₂SO₄.
2. Cyanide forms ferrocyanide, which reacts with Fe³⁺ to give Prussian blue – iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II).
3. Sulphur gives violet colour with sodium nitroprusside; halogens give precipitates with AgNO₃.

Yaad rakhein: Prussian blue = Nitrogen (think 'blue Navy').

Answer: (D) Nitrogen

Concept: Infrastructure is the support system – energy, transport, communication, water, health, education – on which economic activity depends.

1. Economic infrastructure (power, roads, railways, ports, telecom) directly raises production in agriculture and industry.
2. Social infrastructure (schools, hospitals) improves the quality of human resources; neither exists mainly for politics or luxury.

Yaad rakhein: Infrastructure = backbone/support system of the economy.

Answer: (A) Supporting industrial and economic functioning

Concept: Diseases are grouped by their causative agent – virus, bacterium, protozoan, fungus.

1. Measles is caused by the measles (rubeola) virus, a paramyxovirus; it spreads through respiratory droplets.
2. Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and cholera (Vibrio cholerae) are bacterial; malaria is caused by the protozoan Plasmodium.

Yaad rakhein: Viral diseases: Measles, Mumps, Polio, Rabies, Dengue, AIDS, Chickenpox.

Answer: (A) Measles

Concept: A statutory corporation is a public enterprise created by a special Act of Parliament or a State Legislature – e.g. LIC, RBI, Air India (earlier), FCI.

1. The Act defines its powers and functions; it is a body corporate with separate legal entity – it can own property, make contracts, sue and be sued.
2. It is owned by the government (not private shareholders), and its employees are not civil servants governed by general government service rules.

Yaad rakhein: Statutory = made by a Statute (Act) → separate legal person.

Answer: (C) It is created by a special Act, has an independent legal status and can sue and be sued.

Concept: The 2025 World Aquatics Women's Water Polo World Cup was held in 2025 (final stage in China).

1. Greece beat Hungary in the final to win their first-ever World Cup title (gold).
2. Russia was not in the competition, as Russian teams are suspended from World Aquatics events.

Yaad rakhein: Water polo World Cup 2025 (women): Greece gold – Hungary silver.

Answer: (A) Hungary

Concept: MNRE's Year-End Review 2024 reported record capacity addition in renewables.

1. About 24.5 GW of solar and 3.4 GW of wind capacity were added in 2024 – more than double the solar addition of 2023.
2. Nuclear is not counted as renewable energy; tidal and geothermal capacity in India is negligible.

Yaad rakhein: Big number (24.5) = Solar, small number (3.4) = Wind.

Answer: (C) Solar and wind