Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: First state to link forest ecosystem services with Green GDP.

1. Chhattisgarh (2025) began valuing forest services — biodiversity, carbon capture, soil and water conservation — in its economic planning.
2. Green GDP = GDP adjusted for environmental gains and losses.

Yaad rakhein: Chhattisgarh has about 44% area under forest — a strong reason for this move.

Answer: (C) Chhattisgarh

Concept: Bamboo wind instrument of the Dimasa people of Assam.

1. Dimasa play the Muri, a bamboo pipe, along with the Khram drum.
2. Pepa = buffalo-horn pipe of Bihu; Algoza = double flute of Punjab/Rajasthan; Bansuri = common flute.

Trick: Pepa is the tempting choice (also Assam) — but it belongs to Bihu, not to the Dimasa.

Answer: (B) Muri

Concept: Author of the novel 'The Householder' (2012).

1. Written by Amitabha Bagchi, who teaches computer science at IIT Delhi.
2. His novel 'Half the Night Is Gone' won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

Trick: Others: Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger; Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy; Jhumpa Lahiri – The Namesake.

Answer: (B) Amitabha Bagchi

Concept: Shield dance of an island UT.

1. Parichakali is a martial dance of Lakshadweep performed with sword and shield to drum beats.
2. Other Lakshadweep dances: Kolkali, Lava (Minicoy).

Trick: Lakshadweep dance trio: Parichakali, Kolkali, Lava.

Answer: (B) Lakshadweep

Concept: Stars are self-luminous balls of hot gas.

1. Statement I ✓: stars are mostly hydrogen and helium at very high temperature.
2. Statement II ✗: stars make their own heat and light by nuclear fusion (H → He) in the core.
3. Planets and the Moon only reflect light.

Trick: Star = own light (fusion); planet/moon = borrowed light.

Answer: (A) Only Statement I

Concept: Contact force needs touching; non-contact acts at a distance.

1. Statement I ✗: electrostatic force acts without touch (rubbed comb picks up paper) → non-contact.
2. Statement II ✓: friction acts only between surfaces in contact.

Trick: Non-contact trio: gravitational, magnetic, electrostatic. Contact: friction, muscular, normal force.

Answer: (B) Only Statement II

Concept: Momentum = mass × velocity.

1. p = m × v; SI unit kg·m/s.
2. Sum, difference or ratio of m and v (other options) has no physical meaning.

Yaad rakhein: Unit check: kg·m/s comes only from multiplying kg by m/s.

Answer: (C) $p=m\times v$

Concept: India's first Ayurvedic diagnostic device for pulse reading.

1. Nadi Tarangini digitises Nadi Pariksha using pressure sensors at the wrist.
2. Developed through IIT Bombay-linked start-up research; approved in January 2025.

Yaad rakhein: Name hint: 'Nadi' (pulse) + 'Tarangini' (waves) = pulse-wave reader.

Answer: (B) Nadi Tarangini

Concept: First Indian medical institution with a full AI-in-Healthcare department (Aug 2025).

1. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal (under MAHE) set up the department.
2. Focus: AI for diagnosis, imaging, predictive analytics and training clinicians.

Yaad rakhein: KMC Manipal is a constituent college of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).

Answer: (C) Kasturba Medical College, Manipal

Concept: Constitutional basis of the Union Budget.

1. Art. 112: the President causes the Annual Financial Statement (estimated receipts and expenditure) to be laid before Parliament every year.
2. The word 'Budget' is not used in the Constitution.
3. Economic Survey is not constitutional; Finance Commission → Art. 280/281; Appropriation Bill → Art. 114.

Yaad rakhein: Budget articles: 112 (statement), 113 (demands for grants), 114 (appropriation), 117 (finance bill).

Answer: (C) Annual Financial Statement (Union Budget)

Concept: PLI gives incentives on incremental sales of domestically made goods.

1. Aims: attract investment, boost domestic manufacturing, raise exports, global competitiveness.
2. Increasing government regulation of private firms is not its aim — it works through incentives, not control.

Trick: In 'NOT an objective' questions, pick the option that contradicts the scheme's spirit (incentive ≠ control).

Answer: (C) Increasing government regulation in private sector operations

Concept: Peasant community that supplied most early Maratha soldiers.

1. Kunbis — cultivators of Maharashtra — formed the backbone of Shivaji's army (incl. the hill Mavalas).
2. They farmed in the monsoon and fought in the dry season.
3. Kolis (fishers/hill folk), Bhandaris (toddy-tappers), Ramoshis (watchmen) were smaller groups.

Yaad rakhein: 'Agrarian' in the question = Kunbi (the Maratha farming caste).

Answer: (B) Kunbis

Concept: Purpose of the Service Exports from India Scheme.

1. SEIS rewarded service exporters with duty credit scrips based on net foreign-exchange earnings.
2. It replaced 'Served From India Scheme'; goods exports were covered by MEIS (later RoDTEP).

Trick: SEIS = Services, MEIS = Merchandise — the first letter tells the sector.

Answer: (B) Service exports

Concept: Constitutional provision on summoning, prorogation and dissolution.

1. Art. 85: President summons each House; gap between two sessions must not exceed six months.
2. President may prorogue either House and dissolve Lok Sabha.
3. Impeachment → Art. 61; MP qualifications → Art. 84; Speaker → Art. 93–96.

Trick: 84 = who can sit (qualification), 85 = when they sit (sessions).

Answer: (B) Sessions of Parliament, including summoning and prorogation

Concept: Location and role of Deendayal Port.

1. Statement 1 ✗: it lies on the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat — west coast.
2. Statement 2 ✓: it is a Major Port under the Centre.
3. Statement 3 ✓: handles large petroleum, chemical and other bulk cargo.

Trick: Kandla was built after Partition to replace Karachi — so it must be on the west coast.

Answer: (B) 2 and 3 only

Concept: Shift from state-led to private-led growth in planning.

1. 1991 reforms → Eighth Plan made planning indicative.
2. Ninth Plan (1997–2002) treated the private sector as the main growth engine; disinvestment and private entry into infrastructure grew.
3. After it, the public sector's share in plan outlay kept declining.

Yaad rakhein: Ninth Plan = 50th year of Independence (1997) — the 'private sector as engine' plan.

Answer: (C) Ninth Five Year Plan

Concept: The Prime Minister was the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission.

1. Tenth Plan (2002–07) was approved in Dec 2002, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM.
2. Manmohan Singh became PM in 2004 (mid-plan), but the plan was framed under Vajpayee.

Trick: Find the PM in office when the plan began — that is the Chairman.

Answer: (C) Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Concept: Long-term goal of NPP 2000.

1. Long-term target: stable population by 2045.
2. Medium-term: bring TFR to replacement level 2.1 by 2010.
3. Immediate: meet unmet need for contraception and health services.

Trick: Three goals: immediate → medium (TFR 2.1 by 2010) → long (stabilise by 2045).

Answer: (D) 2045

Concept: Arteries carry blood away from the heart at high pressure.

1. Thick walls bear the high pressure of pumped blood; elastic walls stretch and recoil to keep flow steady.
2. Valves to stop backflow (option B) are a feature of veins, which carry low-pressure blood.

Trick: Artery = Away from heart, high pressure, thick wall; Vein = back to heart, valves, thin wall.

Answer: (C) To withstand and maintain the high pressure of blood pumped from the heart

Concept: Venue of the Fourth Buddhist Council under Kanishka.

1. Held at Kundalavana, Kashmir; presided by Vasumitra, deputy Ashvaghosha.
2. Buddhism split into Hinayana and Mahayana after it.
3. Rajagriha (1st), Vaishali (2nd), Pataliputra (3rd) hosted earlier councils.

Trick: Order of venues: Rajagriha → Vaishali → Pataliputra → Kashmir ('R-V-P-K').

Answer: (C) Kundalavana