Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: SOAR = Skilling for AI Readiness, launched July 2025 by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

1. Target: school students of Classes 6–12, with age-appropriate AI modules.
2. A separate module prepares teachers.
3. Linked with the 10-year milestone of Skill India Mission.

Trick: Expand the acronym – 'AI Readiness' points straight to the AI-education option.

Answer: (B) Providing AI education to students of Classes 6 to 12

Concept: NTTM was approved in Feb 2020 (Ministry of Textiles) with ₹1,480 crore.

1. Period: 2020-21 to 2025-26 (later extended).
2. Four components: R&D, market promotion, export promotion, education & skilling.
3. Technical textiles: agrotech, geotech, meditech, protective textiles etc.

Trick: Approved in 2020 → it must start in 2020-21; only (C) begins there.

Answer: (C) 2020-21 to 2025-26

Concept: SMRI is released by the Ministry of Mines to rank States on mining-sector reforms.

1. It uses four indicators: auction, early operationalisation of mines, exploration, and sustainable mining.
2. States are grouped in categories (A, B, C) by mineral endowment for fair comparison.

Yaad rakhein: Many recent indices use 4 pillars – e.g. Export Preparedness Index also has 4.

Answer: (A) 4

Concept: NITI Aayog (with the Institute for Competitiveness) released the first EPI in 2020.

1. It ranks States/UTs on export readiness.
2. Four pillars: Policy, Business Ecosystem, Export Ecosystem, Export Performance.
3. Aim: competitive federalism in exports.

Yaad rakhein: Gujarat topped the first EPI (2020).

Answer: (D) 2020

Concept: NADA, India's anti-doping body, works from New Delhi.

1. Formed in 2005; it functions under the Sports Ministry (MoYAS).
2. Implements anti-doping rules based on the WADA Code.
3. The National Anti-Doping Act, 2022 gave it statutory backing.

Yaad rakhein: WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Answer: (D) New Delhi

Concept: Sakkarakottai and Therthangal are bird sanctuaries in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu.

1. Both are tank-based wetlands that host migratory water birds in winter.
2. Other TN sanctuaries: Vedanthangal, Point Calimere, Koonthankulam, Pulicat.

Trick: Tamil-sounding names ending in '-kottai' (fort) and '-thangal' (as in Vedanthangal) point to Tamil Nadu.

Answer: (C) Tamil Nadu

Concept: The first Senior National Handball Championship was held at Rohtak, Haryana in 1972.

1. Handball Federation of India was also formed in 1972.
2. The championship has been held regularly since then.

Yaad rakhein: Handball is played 7-a-side; India's federation and first nationals share the year 1972.

Answer: (C) 1972

Concept: Midnight's Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie won the Booker Prize in 1981.

1. Hero Saleem Sinai is born at midnight, 15 August 1947.
2. It later won the 'Booker of Bookers' (1993) and 'Best of the Booker' (2008).
3. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy; Amitav Ghosh – The Shadow Lines; Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance.

Yaad rakhein: Other Indian-origin Booker winners: Arundhati Roy (1997), Kiran Desai (2006), Aravind Adiga (2008).

Answer: (B) Salman Rushdie

Concept: Match each fort with its real location.

1. Golconda Fort – Hyderabad, Telangana (Qutb Shahi capital).
2. Bharatpur Fort (Lohagarh) – Rajasthan, built by Jat ruler Suraj Mal.
3. The states are swapped, so both pairs are wrong.

Trick: When two pairs look 'crossed', check if swapping the states fixes them – then neither is correct.

Answer: (C) Neither I nor II

Concept: GSLV is a three-stage launch vehicle; strap-on boosters are not counted as a stage.

1. Stage 1: solid core motor with 4 liquid strap-ons.
2. Stage 2: liquid (Vikas engine).
3. Stage 3: cryogenic upper stage. GSLV-D1 flew on 18 April 2001 with GSAT-1.

Yaad rakhein: PSLV has 4 stages (solid–liquid–solid–liquid); GSLV has 3.

Answer: (B) Three

Concept: Inertia = tendency of a body to resist any change in its state of rest or uniform motion.

1. Newton's first law describes exactly this property.
2. A heavier body has more inertia – mass measures it.
3. (A) is the opposite; (C) is a force; (D) is gravity.

Trick: Inertia = 'laziness' of matter – it doesn't want to change what it is doing.

Answer: (B) Resistance offered by a body to any change in its motion or rest

Concept: In a planetary parade, planets line up along the ecliptic in order of their distance from the Sun.

1. Early 2025: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (plus Uranus, Neptune by telescope) appeared together.
2. All planets orbit in nearly one plane, so they appear on one arc (the ecliptic).
3. Their sequence follows their orbital distance from the Sun.

Yaad rakhein: Order from the Sun: 'My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles'.

Answer: (D) Distance from the Sun

Concept: Nagaur lies in the Marwar region, the domain of the Rathores of Jodhpur.

1. As Mughal power weakened in the 18th century, Nagaur came under Bakht Singh (a Rathore) and was merged into Jodhpur (Marwar).
2. Sisodias – Mewar (Udaipur); Kachwahas – Amber (Jaipur); Bhatis – Jaisalmer.

Trick: Match region to clan: Marwar = Rathore, Mewar = Sisodia, Dhundhar (Jaipur) = Kachwaha.

Answer: (D) Rathores of Jodhpur

Concept: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board was set up in 1991 to clear FDI proposals outside the automatic route.

1. Initially it sat in the PMO, chaired by the Principal Secretary to the PM.
2. Later it moved to the Ministry of Finance (DEA), chaired by the Economic Affairs Secretary.
3. FIPB was abolished in 2017; its role passed to the concerned ministries.

Yaad rakhein: FIPB was replaced by the Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIFP) in 2017.

Answer: (A) Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister

Concept: BCSBI came into being on 18 February 2006 as an autonomous society.

1. RBI created it following the Tarapore Committee's suggestion on customer service.
2. Its job: write codes of fair practice for banks and watch whether banks follow them.

Yaad rakhein: BCSBI's model was the UK's Banking Code Standards Board.

Answer: (C) 2006

Concept: The Extremist trio Lal-Bal-Pal mocked the Moderates' method of petitions as 'political mendicancy' / politics of prayer.

1. Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal all led the Extremist wing.
2. They preferred swadeshi, boycott, national education and passive resistance.
3. The split became formal at the Surat session, 1907.

Trick: 'Lal-Bal-Pal' always come as a set – if all three are listed, pick 'all'.

Answer: (D) I, II and III

Concept: Art. 355: the Union must protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.

1. It also requires that every State government runs as per the Constitution.
2. This duty forms the basis for Art. 356 (President's Rule).
3. Art. 348 – language of courts/laws; Art. 358 – suspension of Art. 19 during emergency; Art. 365 – failure to follow Union directions.

Trick: Emergency block in order: 352 (national), 355 (duty), 356 (State), 360 (financial).

Answer: (C) Article 355

Concept: 1911–1921 is the only census decade in which India's population fell.

1. Causes: influenza pandemic (1918–19), famines, plague and other epidemics.
2. After 1921, deaths fell and population grew every decade.
3. Hence 1921 is called the 'Year of the Great Divide'.

Yaad rakhein: 1951 is another landmark – after it India's population grew rapidly ('population explosion').

Answer: (B) Decline in population size

Concept: Before GST, entertainment tax and entry tax were both State/local taxes, not Central.

1. Entertainment tax – levied by States/local bodies on cinema, shows, amusements.
2. Entry tax (incl. octroi) – levied by States/municipalities on goods entering a local area.
3. Central indirect taxes then: excise duty, service tax, CVD/SAD.

Trick: Taxes linked to a 'local area' or 'local entertainment' are State subjects – neither is Central.

Answer: (C) Neither I nor II

Concept: Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador of Seleucus I Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya's court.

1. He stayed at Pataliputra and wrote Indica.
2. Al-Biruni (11th c., with Mahmud of Ghazni), Nicolo Conti (15th c., Italian), Bernier (17th c., French) came much later.

Trick: Mauryan period + Greek = Megasthenes; the others belong to the medieval era.

Answer: (D) Megasthenes