Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was founded in 2001.

1. India and Pakistan became full members in June 2017 at the Astana (Kazakhstan) summit.
2. India had been an observer since 2005; the process of admission began at Ufa in 2015 and Tashkent in 2016.
3. Iran joined later in 2023.

Yaad rakhein: SCO: observer 2005 → full member 2017 (Astana, with Pakistan).

Answer: (D) 2017

Concept: FIFA World Cup hosts are frequently asked.

1. The 2022 FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar (November–December 2022) – the first in the Arab world.
2. Argentina won it; 2018 was in Russia and 2026 is in USA, Canada and Mexico.

Yaad rakhein: 2018 Russia → 2022 Qatar → 2026 USA-Canada-Mexico.

Answer: (A) Qatar

Concept: Each ${15}^{\circ }$ of longitude equals 1 hour of time.

1. IST is based on the ${82.5}^{\circ }$ E meridian, passing near Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh).
2. Time difference with GMT $=\frac{82.5}{15}=5.5$ hours, so IST = GMT + 5:30.

Trick: ${82.5}^{\circ }\text{E}÷15=5.5$ h → IST is GMT + 5 h 30 min.

Answer: (B) $82.5$

Concept: The atomic mass unit (amu/u) is defined using the carbon-12 isotope.

1. $1\text{u}=\frac{1}{12}\times$ mass of one C-12 atom $\approx 1.66\times {10}^{-27}\text{kg}$.
2. C-12 was adopted as the standard in 1961 (replacing O-16); H-1 was an earlier standard.

Yaad rakhein: amu = one-twelfth of C-12 – the ‘12’ appears twice.

Answer: (A) C-12

Concept: Lal Bahadur Shastri was India’s second Prime Minister.

1. He took office on 9 June 1964 after Nehru’s death.
2. He died in Tashkent on 11 January 1966, after signing the Tashkent Agreement – so his term was 1964 to 1966.
3. 1977–79 was Morarji Desai; 1980–84 Indira Gandhi.

Yaad rakhein: Shastri: ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, 1965 war, PM 1964–66.

Answer: (C) 1964; 1966

Concept: Sati was abolished by the Bengal Sati Regulation (Regulation XVII) of 4 December 1829.

1. It was passed under Governor-General Lord William Bentinck, supported by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
2. Lord Auckland (1836–42), Ellenborough (1842–44) and Metcalfe (1835–36, acting) came later.

Yaad rakhein: Bentinck 1829 – Sati abolished; also suppression of Thuggee.

Answer: (D) Lord William Bentinck

Concept: ‘Those Days’ is the English translation of the Bengali novel Sei Samay.

1. Sei Samay was written by Sunil Gangopadhyay and won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985.
2. It is set in 19th-century Calcutta (Bengal Renaissance); Aruna Chakravarti translated it into English.
3. Its sequel is Pratham Alo (‘First Light’).

Yaad rakhein: Sei Samay = Those Days = Sunil Gangopadhyay.

Answer: (A) Sunil Gangopadhyay

Concept: India was one of the original (founding) members of the United Nations.

1. India signed the UN Charter at San Francisco on 26 June 1945.
2. India ratified the Charter on 30 October 1945, just after the UN came into being on 24 October 1945.

Yaad rakhein: UN Day 24 Oct 1945 → India ratified 30 Oct 1945.

Answer: (C) October 1945

Concept: Aryabhata was India’s first satellite, built by ISRO.

1. It was launched on 19 April 1975 from Kapustin Yar (USSR) on a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket.
2. It was named after the 5th-century mathematician Aryabhata.
3. Bhaskara-I followed in 1979.

Yaad rakhein: Aryabhata – 1975 – Soviet rocket; Rohini (1980) – first by an Indian rocket (SLV-3).

Answer: (D) 1975

Concept: Tropism is directional growth of a plant part in response to a stimulus.

1. Response to gravity = geotropism (gravitropism): roots grow down (positive), shoots grow up (negative).
2. Phototropism – light; hydrotropism – water; chemotropism – chemicals (e.g. pollen tube).

Yaad rakhein: Geo = Earth → gravity.

Answer: (B) geotropism

Concept: Cathode rays are produced in a discharge tube at low pressure and travel from cathode to anode.

1. They are streams of negatively charged particles – electrons – as shown by J.J. Thomson (1897).
2. They are deflected towards the positive plate in an electric field, proving negative charge.

Yaad rakhein: Cathode (–) emits negative particles = electrons; anode/canal rays are positive.

Answer: (D) electrons

Concept: Hemis Monastery is the largest Buddhist monastery of Ladakh (Drukpa lineage).

1. It lies about 45 km south-east of Leh, Ladakh.
2. It is famous for the Hemis Festival honouring Guru Padmasambhava.
3. Gangtok (Rumtek), Darjeeling (Ghoom) and Dharamshala have other monasteries.

Yaad rakhein: Hemis – Leh – Ladakh.

Answer: (A) Leh

Concept: B.R. Ambedkar wrote several works on caste and social justice.

1. Annihilation of Caste (1936) is Ambedkar’s undelivered speech, which he published himself.
2. Savitri – Sri Aurobindo; Satyarth Prakash – Swami Dayanand Saraswati; The New Economic Menace of India – Bipin Chandra Pal.

Yaad rakhein: Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste, Who Were the Shudras?, The Problem of the Rupee.

Answer: (D) Annihilation of Caste

Concept: ‘Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within’ (2008) is a history of the Pakistan Army.

1. It was written by Pakistani-American analyst Shuja Nawaz.
2. J.N. Dixit, S.D. Muni and Shashi Tharoor are Indian diplomats/scholars with other works.

Yaad rakhein: Shuja Nawaz – Pakistan Army – Crossed Swords.

Answer: (B) Shuja Nawaz

Concept: Nirad C. Chaudhuri was a Bengali-born writer in English.

1. His works include The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951), The Continent of Circe (1965) and Scholar Extraordinary (1974, on Max Müller).
2. A Passage to India (1924) was written by British novelist E.M. Forster.

Yaad rakhein: Passage to India – Forster; Unknown Indian – Nirad Chaudhuri.

Answer: (A) A Passage to India

Concept: The Kumbh Mela rotates among four sacred river sites.

1. Haridwar (Ganga), Prayagraj (Ganga-Yamuna-Saraswati), Ujjain (Kshipra) and Nashik-Trimbakeshwar (Godavari).
2. Puri (Odisha) is famous for the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, not the Kumbh.

Yaad rakhein: Kumbh = H-P-U-N (Haridwar, Prayagraj, Ujjain, Nashik).

Answer: (D) Puri

Concept: Major Indian dams and their rivers.

1. Nagarjuna Sagar is built across the Krishna on the Telangana–Andhra Pradesh border.
2. Bhakra Nangal – Sutlej; Tehri – Bhagirathi; Hirakud – Mahanadi.

Yaad rakhein: Krishna dams: Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam, Almatti.

Answer: (A) Nagarjuna Sagar

Concept: Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) was India’s first interplanetary mission.

1. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by PSLV-C25 from Sriharikota.
2. It entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014 – India was the first to succeed in its first attempt.
3. PSLV-C38 and C35 were 2017 and 2016 satellite launches.

Yaad rakhein: Mangalyaan: PSLV-C25, 2013 (25 – 2013, 5 Nov).

Answer: (D) PSLV-C25

Concept: The Tropic of Cancer is at about ${23.5}^{\circ }$ N; compare the latitude of each river mouth.

1. Indus enters the Arabian Sea near Karachi at about ${24}^{\circ }$ N – north of the Tropic.
2. Mahanadi (about ${20}^{\circ }$ N), Godavari (about ${16.5}^{\circ }$ N) and Krishna (about ${15.8}^{\circ }$ N) all meet the Bay of Bengal south of it.

Yaad rakhein: Only the Indus (and Rann/Kutch region) lies north of ${23.5}^{\circ }$ N among these – all peninsular rivers end south of the Tropic.

Answer: (C) Indus

Concept: Joule’s mechanical equivalent of heat: $J=\frac{W}{H}$.

1. $1\text{cal}=4.186\text{J}\approx 4.2\text{J}$.
2. Conversely, $1\text{J}\approx 0.24\text{cal}$ – the trap option.

Yaad rakhein: $J\approx 4.2\text{J/cal}$; 1 kcal $\approx 4.2\text{kJ}$.

Answer: (D) $4.2$