Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Urban livelihood schemes come under the urban ministry.

1. PM SVANidhi (launched June 2020) gives collateral-free working-capital loans to urban street vendors.
2. It is run by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs; the 2025 revamp added UPI-linked credit cards.

Trick: Street vendors = urban livelihood → MoHUA (same ministry as DAY-NULM, Smart Cities, PMAY-Urban).

Answer: (B) Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs

Concept: The index is published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for 180 countries.

1. In 2025, Eritrea ranked last (180th).
2. Norway topped the list; India was 151st.
3. North Korea, Myanmar and Yemen are near the bottom but not last.

Yaad rakhein: RSF index: Norway top, Eritrea bottom – remember the two ends.

Answer: (C) Eritrea

Concept: Current-affairs figure from MNRE data.

1. MNRE data put India's cumulative installed solar capacity at about 119.02 GW by July 2025.
2. 85 GW is an older figure; 140 and 200 GW are beyond the level reached by then.

Yaad rakhein: India's target: 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030 – solar is the largest share of renewables.

Answer: (B) 119.02

Concept: Speedpost is a book of letters by a mother to her children.

1. Speedpost (1999) was written by Shobhaa De as letters to her children.
2. Her other works: Socialite Evenings, Starry Nights, Selective Memory.

Yaad rakhein: Anita Desai – Clear Light of Day; Namita Gokhale – Paro; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – The Palace of Illusions.

Answer: (B) Shobha De

Concept: Structural (free-standing) temples first appear in the Gupta age.

1. Gupta period (c. 4th–6th century CE) gave the basic temple plan – garbhagriha, mandapa, raised platform, early shikhara.
2. Examples: Dashavatara temple, Deogarh; brick temple of Bhitargaon; Temple 17, Sanchi.

Yaad rakhein: Gupta age = 'Golden Age' in art, literature and science too (Kalidasa, Aryabhata).

Answer: (A) Gupta Period

Concept: Match each dance with its state.

1. Shand and Shabu are dances of the Lahaul region of Himachal Pradesh, linked to Buddhist festivals.
2. Bihu – Assam; Garba – Gujarat; Kathakali – Kerala (classical).

Yaad rakhein: Other Himachal dances: Nati, Dangi, Chham (mask dance).

Answer: (D) Shand and Shabu

Concept: Atoms formed once the hot early universe cooled enough for electrons to join nuclei.

1. About 3,00,000 years after the Big Bang, temperature fell to about 4500 K.
2. Electrons combined with nuclei to form atoms; light could now travel freely – the universe became transparent.

Yaad rakhein: The light released then is seen today as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).

Answer: (A) 300,000

Concept: Current affairs on hydrogen rail technology.

1. In January 2025, India (Indian Railways) unveiled a 1,200 HP hydrogen train engine – described as the world's most powerful.
2. It is planned for the Jind–Sonipat route in Haryana under 'Hydrogen for Heritage'.

Yaad rakhein: Hydrogen fuel cells give electricity with only water vapour as emission.

Answer: (A) India

Concept: Uniform = equal distance in equal time; otherwise non-uniform.

1. Different distances in equal time intervals → speed is changing → non-uniform motion.
2. Linear and circular describe only the path shape, not the speed pattern.

Yaad rakhein: Distance–time graph: straight line = uniform; curved line = non-uniform.

Answer: (C) Non-uniform motion

Concept: Match the battle with its year.

1. Third Battle of Panipat – 14 January 1761, Marathas vs Ahmad Shah Abdali; Marathas lost.
2. Plassey – 1757; Buxar – 1764; First Tarain – 1191.

Trick: Panipat years: 1526, 1556, 1761 – gap of 30 years then about 200 years.

Answer: (A) Third Battle of Panipat

Concept: Spending that creates no asset and reduces no liability = revenue expenditure.

1. Salaries, pensions, defence services, interest and subsidies are recurring running costs → revenue expenditure.
2. Capital expenditure builds assets (roads, buildings) or repays loans.
3. Capital receipts and non-tax revenue are incomes, not spending.

Trick: Ask: 'Does the government own something new afterwards?' No → revenue; Yes → capital.

Answer: (A) Revenue expenditure

Concept: Year of the high-level task force on affordable housing.

1. The task force on 'Affordable Housing for All', headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, was set up in 2008.
2. It suggested defining affordable housing by income and dwelling size and easing land supply.

Trick: Link: 2008 global financial crisis year – same year as the Parekh housing task force.

Answer: (A) 2008

Concept: Locate the dam on its river.

1. Hirakud Dam is on the Mahanadi near Sambalpur, Odisha – one of the longest earthen dams in the world.
2. Godavari – Polavaram; Tapi – Ukai; Narmada – Sardar Sarovar.

Trick: Narmada and Tapi flow westward; the main river of Odisha is the Mahanadi.

Answer: (A) Mahanadi

Concept: One state leads in all three dimension stones.

1. Rajasthan has rich deposits of sandstone (Dholpur, Jodhpur), marble (Makrana) and granite (Jalore).
2. Jharkhand – coal, iron ore; Gujarat – petroleum, lignite; Karnataka – iron ore, gold.

Trick: Makrana marble (Taj Mahal) + red sandstone forts → Rajasthan.

Answer: (A) Rajasthan

Concept: First census after Independence.

1. India's literacy rate in 1951 = 18.33%.
2. Census 2011 literacy = 74.04% (male 82.14%, female 65.46%).

Yaad rakhein: 1951 → 18.33%, 2011 → 74.04%: literacy roughly quadrupled in 60 years.

Answer: (D) 18.33%

Concept: Social geography is a branch of human geography.

1. Its sub-fields include behavioural, cultural, gender, historical and medical geography, and geography of social well-being and leisure.
2. So both Gender Geography and Cultural Geography belong to it.

Yaad rakhein: Human geography's main branches: social, economic, political, population & settlement, urban, historical.

Answer: (C) Both I and II

Concept: FRBM fixes legal limits on government deficits.

1. Target: fiscal deficit of the Centre to be brought down to 3% of GDP.
2. It also aimed to eliminate the revenue deficit.

Yaad rakhein: The N.K. Singh committee (2017) kept the 3% fiscal-deficit target and proposed a debt ceiling.

Answer: (C) 3%

Concept: Plants lack an excretory system, so wastes are stored inside cells.

1. The large central vacuole stores waste products (e.g. resins, tannins, crystals) along with water and salts.
2. Gas exchange – stomata; energy – mitochondria; cell division – nucleus/centrosome.

Yaad rakhein: The vacuole's membrane is called the tonoplast; its sap gives turgidity.

Answer: (B) They store waste products

Concept: Bimbisara (Haryanka dynasty, Magadha) expanded power through marriages.

1. He married Kosala Devi, sister of Prasenjit, king of Kosala, and got Kashi as dowry.
2. Other alliances: Chellana (Lichchhavi) and Khema (Madra).
3. Udayin – his grandson; Shuddhodana – Buddha's father (Shakya chief).

Yaad rakhein: Bimbisara: Kosala (Prasenjit's sister) + Lichchhavi + Madra = three marriage alliances.

Answer: (B) Prasenjit

Concept: Identify the dynasty of the greatest Deccan ruler of the 1st–2nd century CE.

1. Gautamiputra Satakarni was the greatest Satavahana king.
2. The Nashik inscription of his mother Gautami Balashri praises him for defeating Shakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas; he overcame the Kshatrapa Nahapana.

Yaad rakhein: Satavahanas: founder Simuka; kings used metronymics (Gautamiputra, Vasishthiputra).

Answer: (B) Satavahana dynasty