Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: In 2025 Diu became India's first district to meet all its daytime power demand through solar energy.

1. Diu is in the UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
2. About 11.88 MW solar capacity (ground-mounted + rooftop) now meets its demand.
3. Earlier it depended largely on power bought from Gujarat.

Trick: Do not confuse with Rewa (MP) – known for its large Rewa Ultra Mega Solar park, not a 100% solar district.

Answer: (B) Diu

Concept: Each vocalist is linked to a gharana (style lineage).

1. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande belongs to the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana.
2. She trained with her mother Manik Bhide and with Ratnakar Pai.
3. The gharana was founded by Ustad Alladiya Khan; Kishori Amonkar is another famous singer of it.

Yaad rakhein: Jaipur-Atrauli = 'complex/rare ragas'; Gwalior = oldest khayal gharana; Mewati = Pt. Jasraj.

Answer: (B) Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana

Concept: Identify the author of the 1992 work.

1. Amitav Ghosh wrote 'In an Antique Land' (1992).
2. It mixes travel, history and anthropology, set partly in an Egyptian village.
3. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy; Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things; Jhumpa Lahiri – Interpreter of Maladies.

Yaad rakhein: Amitav Ghosh also wrote The Shadow Lines and the Ibis trilogy (Sea of Poppies); first English writer to win the Jnanpith (2018).

Answer: (C) Amitav Ghosh

Concept: Identify the columnist-author of this collection.

1. 'Love Is Always Right and Other Musings' – by Vinita Dawra Nangia.
2. It is a collection drawn from her newspaper column 'O-zone'.
3. Other options are authors of different books (e.g. Sudha Murty – Wise and Otherwise).

Yaad rakhein: 'Musings' = collected column pieces → think of a columnist: Vinita Dawra Nangia.

Answer: (B) Vinita Dawra Nangia

Concept: Folk dances are asked with their state and nickname.

1. Suwa (Chhattisgarh) – 'suwa' means parrot, hence 'Parrot Dance'.
2. Women dance in a circle around a basket/pot with a wooden parrot, around Diwali.
3. Giddha – Punjab; Garba – Gujarat; Bihu – Assam.

Trick: Suwa = Sua = Tota (parrot).

Answer: (A) Suwa Dance

Concept: Expand the abbreviation.

1. INCOSPAR = Indian National Committee for Space Research.
2. Formed in 1962 under the Department of Atomic Energy, led by Vikram Sarabhai.
3. It became ISRO in 1969.

Yaad rakhein: Thumba (Kerala), near the magnetic equator, was chosen for India's first rocket launch (1963).

Answer: (A) National

Concept: W = mg, so m = W ÷ g (g = 9.8 m/s²).

1. m = 441 ÷ 9.8.
2. = 4410 ÷ 98 = 45 kg.
3. Mass stays 45 kg everywhere; only weight changes with g.

Trick: 441 = 21² and 9.8 = 98/10 – so 4410 ÷ 98 = 45 quickly.

Answer: (D) 45 kg

Concept: Only the giant planets have ring systems.

1. NASA found Saturn's rings losing material as icy particles fall into the planet ('ring rain').
2. At the worst-case rate the rings could vanish in about 100 million years.
3. Mars, Venus and Mercury have no rings – direct elimination.

Trick: Rings exist only on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; the other three options are rocky inner planets.

Answer: (B) Saturn

Concept: Later Mughal rulers made Rajput chiefs provincial governors (subahdars).

1. Around 1713, emperor Farrukhsiyar made Sawai Jai Singh II governor of Malwa.
2. Malwa was strategic against Maratha advances towards the north.
3. He founded Jaipur and built Jantar Mantar observatories (Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi).

Yaad rakhein: Jai Singh = astronomer-king; Ujjain (one of his observatories) is in Malwa – an easy link.

Answer: (D) Malwa

Concept: A receipt is capital if it creates a liability or reduces an asset.

1. Selling PSU shares reduces government assets → capital receipt (non-debt).
2. It creates no liability, so (D) is wrong.
3. It is one-time money; it does not raise the fiscal deficit permanently (A) and is not revenue (C).

Trick: Test: Liability ↑ or Asset ↓ → Capital receipt. Disinvestment = Asset ↓.

Answer: (B) Proceeds from the sale of shares form part of capital receipts

Concept: Liberalisation (LPG reforms) began with the New Industrial Policy, 1991.

1. The 1991 policy opened India to FDI and ended most industrial licensing.
2. FIPB was set up under it to clear FDI proposals needing approval.
3. FIPB was abolished in 2017; its work moved to ministries/DPIIT.

Trick: Anything about FDI opening, delicensing or LPG → 1991.

Answer: (D) 1991

Concept: Know the end-dates of major 1857 leaders.

1. After losing Jhansi, the Rani joined Tatya Tope and captured Gwalior.
2. She died fighting near Gwalior (Kotah-ki-Serai) in June 1858 (17–18 June).
3. The British officer against her was Hugh Rose.

Yaad rakhein: Revolt began May 1857 – the Rani's last stand came a year later, June 1858; Tatya Tope was executed in April 1859.

Answer: (A) June 1858

Concept: Excise reforms around 2000–02 merged multiple rates into one CENVAT rate.

1. Excise duty was rationalised to a single CENVAT rate of 16%.
2. CENVAT allowed credit for duty paid on inputs, so tax fell only on value added.
3. This input-credit idea was carried forward into GST.

Yaad rakhein: CENVAT = Central VAT: one rate (16%) + input credit, removing 'tax on tax'.

Answer: (A) 16

Concept: Contingency Fund is at the disposal of the executive head.

1. Art. 267(2): State Contingency Fund is placed at the disposal of the Governor.
2. The Governor gives advances for unforeseen expenses, later approved by the legislature.
3. At the Union level, the President holds the Contingency Fund of India (Art. 267(1)).

Trick: President ↔ Union fund, Governor ↔ State fund – same article 267.

Answer: (C) Governor

Concept: A riverine port far upstream suffers from silt brought by the river.

1. Kolkata Port (Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port) lies on the Hugli, about 128 km from the sea.
2. Heavy silt reduces channel depth, so constant dredging is needed.
3. Haldia was built downstream as a deep-water support port to reduce this problem.

Trick: Kolkata is India's only major riverine port – silt question → Kolkata.

Answer: (D) Kolkata Port

Concept: Planning Commission (1950) was India's plan-making body.

1. Its main job: formulate Five-Year Plans and oversee their implementation.
2. Set up by a Cabinet resolution (March 1950), chaired by the Prime Minister – non-constitutional, non-statutory.
3. Expenditure and public debt belong to the Finance Ministry; banking policy to RBI.

Yaad rakhein: Replaced by NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015.

Answer: (C) To formulate and implement Five-Year Plans

Concept: India's current youth policy came out in 2014.

1. NYP-2014 took the place of the older 2003 policy.
2. Under it a 'youth' is anyone aged 15 to 29 years.
3. It names five priority areas such as education, skills and employment, and entrepreneurship.

Yaad rakhein: NYP 2014 → youth = 15–29 years (the 2003 policy used 13–35).

Answer: (C) 2014

Concept: Fat is first emulsified by bile, then digested by lipase.

1. Bile (from liver) has no enzyme – it only breaks fat into tiny droplets.
2. The pancreas secretes pancreatic lipase into the duodenum.
3. Lipase converts fats into fatty acids and glycerol.

Trick: Liver emulsifies, pancreas digests – the liver option is the classic trap.

Answer: (C) Pancreas

Concept: Check each statement against the function of blood components.

1. I ✔ – haemoglobin (iron-containing pigment in RBCs) carries oxygen → respiratory pigment.
2. II ✘ – clotting is done by platelets and factors like fibrinogen, prothrombin, vitamin K.
3. So only statement I is correct.

Trick: RBC → oxygen (haemoglobin), WBC → defence, Platelets → clotting.

Answer: (C) Only I

Concept: 'Samhita' literally means a collection or compilation.

1. Compiled/summarised collections were called Samhitas – e.g. the Rigveda Samhita.
2. Samhitas are the oldest layer of each Veda (followed by Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads).
3. Upanishads = philosophical texts; Agamas = texts of temple worship; 'Vedas' is the whole body, not a summary.

Yaad rakhein: Samhita = 'sam' (together) + 'hita' (placed) → put together.

Answer: (D) Samhitas