Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: All National Pension System products are regulated by PFRDA.

1. NPS Vatsalya (Sept 2024) lets parents open a pension account for a minor child; it becomes a normal NPS account at 18.
2. It is run under PFRDA (set up 2003; statutory by PFRDA Act, 2013).
3. SEBI regulates securities, RBI regulates banks – not pensions.

Trick: Pension → PFRDA; Insurance → IRDAI; Shares → SEBI; Banks → RBI.

Answer: (B) Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

Concept: This ranking (by Emerging, published with Times Higher Education) is based on employers' views of graduates.

1. In the 2025 edition, IIT Delhi was India's top institution (28th globally).
2. IIT Bombay, IISc Bengaluru and IIT Kharagpur were placed lower.

Yaad rakhein: Employability ranking → IIT Delhi tops India; MIT leads the world.

Answer: (C) IIT Delhi

Concept: Tulika Maan is an Indian judoka (women's +78 kg).

1. She won silver in judo at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
2. She represented India in judo at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Yaad rakhein: Judo is a Japanese martial art; points are scored as ippon / waza-ari.

Answer: (C) Judo

Concept: A June 2025 camera-trap study put Bengaluru ahead of Mumbai in urban leopard numbers.

1. Around 80+ leopards were recorded in and around Bannerghatta National Park, Bengaluru.
2. Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park has about 54 – so Bengaluru took the 'leopard capital' tag.

Yaad rakhein: Bengaluru ↔ Bannerghatta NP; Mumbai ↔ Sanjay Gandhi NP.

Answer: (B) Bengaluru

Concept: Dhrupad gharanas are named after the royal courts that patronised them.

1. The Darbhanga gayaki developed under the Darbhanga Raj in Mithila, Bihar.
2. Other Dhrupad gharanas: Dagar (Dagarvani), Bettiah (also Bihar), Talwandi (Punjab).

Trick: Darbhanga is a district of north Bihar – the gharana name itself gives the state.

Answer: (C) Bihar

Concept: R.K. Narayan created the fictional town of Malgudi.

1. 'Swami and Friends' (1935) was his first novel and opens the Malgudi trilogy.
2. The other two: 'The Bachelor of Arts' and 'The English Teacher'.
3. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for 'The Guide'.

Trick: Malgudi = R.K. Narayan (Malgudi Days TV series too).

Answer: (A) R.K. Narayan

Concept: Doongri (Dhungri) fair is held in May at Manali (Kullu), Himachal Pradesh.

1. It honours Hidimba Devi, wife of Bhima and mother of Ghatotkacha in the Mahabharata.
2. Her pagoda-style wooden temple (1553) stands in the Dhungri cedar forest.
3. Tibetan New Year = Losar – a different festival.

Trick: Dhungri forest → Hidimba temple → Doongri fair.

Answer: (A) Hidimba Devi, linked with the Mahabharata (wife of Bhima)

Concept: Victoria Memorial is in Kolkata, West Bengal.

1. Proposed by Lord Curzon after Queen Victoria's death (1901); built 1906–1921.
2. Designed by Sir William Emerson in Indo-Saracenic style using white Makrana marble.
3. Gateway of India is in Mumbai; India Gate in Delhi – common confusions.

Trick: Curzon + Calcutta (then capital) = Victoria Memorial.

Answer: (B) Kolkata

Concept: Sattriya is the classical dance of Assam.

1. Introduced by Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankardeva (15th–16th century).
2. Preserved in the 'sattras' (monasteries) – hence the name.
3. Recognised as a classical dance by Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2000. Manipur's classical dance is Manipuri.

Trick: Sattra → Sattriya → Assam (Sankardeva).

Answer: (A) Assam

Concept: SpaDeX = Space Docking Experiment.

1. Launched on PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024 with two satellites – SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target).
2. Docking was achieved in January 2025; India became the 4th country (after USA, Russia, China) to do it.
3. It is key for Chandrayaan-4 and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

Trick: Spa-De-X → Docking.

Answer: (D) Autonomous spacecraft docking

Concept: Samudrayan is India's crewed deep-sea mission under the Deep Ocean Mission (Ministry of Earth Sciences).

1. NIOT, Chennai is developing the submersible Matsya-6000.
2. It will carry 3 people to a depth of 6,000 m to study deep-sea resources like polymetallic nodules.

Trick: Matsya (fish) + 6000 (depth in metres) – the name tells you the target depth.

Answer: (A) Matsya-6000

Concept: A 'paper tax' is one that exists mostly on paper – high compliance, very little collection.

1. Wealth Tax yielded very little revenue compared to its cost; it was abolished in Budget 2015-16 (replaced by a surcharge on the super-rich).
2. GST (1 July 2017) is a major revenue source – not a paper tax.

Trick: Abolished + low yield = paper tax → Wealth Tax only.

Answer: (B) Only I

Concept: Expenditure that neither creates assets nor reduces liabilities = revenue expenditure.

1. Day-to-day spending (salaries, pensions, interest, office running) is revenue expenditure.
2. Capital expenditure creates assets (roads, buildings) or repays loans.
3. 'Receipts' are money coming in, so (b) and (d) are out.

Trick: Asset or loan-repayment? Yes → capital; No → revenue.

Answer: (A) Revenue expenditure

Concept: FIPB was created in 1991 (economic reforms) to approve FDI proposals outside the automatic route.

1. Initially it functioned under the Prime Minister's Office.
2. Later shifted to the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
3. Abolished in 2017; proposals now go to the concerned ministries.

Yaad rakhein: FIPB timeline: 1991 PMO → later Finance Ministry → 2017 abolished.

Answer: (A) Prime Minister's Office

Concept: RBI launched the Banking Ombudsman Scheme in 1995.

1. Introduced under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, for free redressal of customer complaints.
2. Revised in 2002, 2006; merged into the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme in November 2021 ('One Nation One Ombudsman').

Yaad rakhein: Ombudsman timeline: 1995 → 2006 → 2021 (Integrated).

Answer: (A) 1995

Concept: Article 198: a Money Bill can be introduced only in the State Legislative Assembly.

1. The Council can only recommend changes and must return it within 14 days.
2. An Ordinary Bill (Art. 196) can start in either House.
3. So only the Money Bill is barred in the Council.

Trick: Centre: Money Bill only in Lok Sabha (Art. 109); State: only in Vidhan Sabha (Art. 198).

Answer: (B) Only I

Concept: Konkan Railway runs along the west coast from Roha (Maharashtra) to Thokur near Mangaluru (Karnataka).

1. Length ≈ 741 km through Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.
2. Fully opened in 1998; headquarters at CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai.
3. Kolkata–Cuttack is on the east coast – not Konkan.

Trick: Konkan = western coastal strip → Roha to Mangalore.

Answer: (A) Roha and Mangalore

Concept: The Second Plan ran from 1956 to 1961.

1. Based on the Mahalanobis model – focus on heavy and basic industries.
2. Steel plants at Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur were set up in this period.
3. First Plan: 1951–56; Third Plan: 1961–66.

Trick: Plans 1–3 are back-to-back 5-year blocks from 1951: 51-56, 56-61, 61-66.

Answer: (C) 1961

Concept: MoSPI's 'Women and Men in India 2024' projects population indicators up to 2036.

1. Sex ratio (females per 1000 males) is projected to rise from 943 (Census 2011) to 952 in 2036.
2. Women's share of the population is expected to improve slightly by 2036.

Yaad rakhein: Census 2011 sex ratio = 943; highest state Kerala (1084), lowest Haryana (879).

Answer: (A) 952 females per 1000 males

Concept: Within a neuron, the impulse moves one way: receive → process → send.

1. Dendrites receive the signal and pass it to the cell body (cyton).
2. The axon carries it away to the axon terminals.
3. At the synapse it crosses chemically (neurotransmitters) to the next cell.

Trick: D-C-A: Dendrite → Cell body → Axon (alphabetical order too!).

Answer: (A) Dendrite → cell body → axon