Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The RBI numbers its Governors serially; the recent order must be remembered carefully.

1. Recent order: YV Reddy (21st), D Subbarao (22nd), Raghuram Rajan (23rd).
2. Urjit Patel (Sept 2016 – Dec 2018) is the 24th Governor; Shaktikanta Das is the 25th.
3. C Rangarajan (19th) and Bimal Jalan (20th) served much earlier.

Yaad rakhein: Rajan 23 → Patel 24 → Das 25 → Sanjay Malhotra 26.

Answer: (C) Urjit Patel

Concept: The time between two successive new moons is the synodic month.

1. Synodic month ≈ 29.5 days (29 days 12 h 44 min).
2. It is longer than the sidereal month (≈ 27.3 days) because the Earth moves along its orbit, so the Moon must travel a little extra to line up with the Sun again.
3. 14.5–15.5 days is only half the cycle (new moon to full moon).

Trick: New moon → full moon ≈ 15 days (a paksha); new moon → new moon ≈ 29.5 days.

Answer: (C) 29.5

Concept: Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) live on land but need water for fertilisation.

1. Their male gametes (antherozoids) must swim through water to reach the egg, so they grow in moist, shady places.
2. Like amphibians among animals, they live on land yet depend on water – hence 'amphibians of the plant kingdom'.
3. Liverworts are only one class of bryophytes; pteridophytes are the first vascular land plants; gymnosperms have naked seeds.

Yaad rakhein: Bryophytes = amphibians; Pteridophytes = first vascular plants (vascular cryptogams).

Answer: (C) Bryophytes

Concept: The Index of Economic Freedom is an annual ranking of countries on rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and open markets.

1. It is published by the Heritage Foundation (a US think-tank), launched in 1995 with The Wall Street Journal.
2. The Fraser Institute (Canada) publishes a different report – 'Economic Freedom of the World'.
3. The World Bank and IMF do not release this index.

Yaad rakhein: Index of Economic Freedom → Heritage; Economic Freedom of the World → Fraser.

Answer: (D) Heritage Foundation

Concept: The UN adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) in 2015.

1. SDG 10 = Reduced Inequalities (within and among countries).
2. SDG 2 = Zero Hunger, SDG 8 = Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 13 = Climate Action.
3. Hence option D.

Yaad rakhein: 1 Poverty, 2 Hunger, 3 Health, 4 Education, 5 Gender, 6 Water … 8 Work, 10 Inequalities, 13 Climate, 17 Partnerships.

Answer: (D) Reduced inequalities

Concept: Articles 23–24 form the Right against Exploitation.

1. Article 24: no child below 14 years shall be employed in any factory, mine or other hazardous employment.
2. Article 17 abolishes untouchability; Article 21 protects life and personal liberty; Article 31 (right to property) was repealed in 1978.
3. So the answer is 24.

Yaad rakhein: 23 – no trafficking/begar; 24 – no child labour (under 14).

Answer: (D) 24

Concept: India's highest sporting honour is given by the Government of India.

1. The Khel Ratna (instituted 1991–92) is conferred annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt. of India, along with the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards.
2. In 2021 it was renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
3. It is not given by a trust, a political party or the HRD Ministry.

Yaad rakhein: Sports awards → Sports Ministry (MYAS); first recipient – Viswanathan Anand.

Answer: (B) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt. of India

Concept: In a pipe closed at one end there is always a node at the closed end and an antinode at the open end.

1. So the length can only be $L=\frac{\lambda }{4},\frac{3\lambda }{4},\frac{5\lambda }{4},\dots$
2. Frequencies: $f_n=\frac{nv}{4L}$ with $n=1,3,5,\dots$ – only odd harmonics.
3. Open pipe and a string (or rod) fixed at both ends have the same type of end at both sides, giving $f_n=\frac{nv}{2L}$, $n=1,2,3,\dots$ – all harmonics.

Trick: Closed = odd only ($f:3f:5f$); Open/both-ends-same = all ($f:2f:3f$).

Answer: (C) An air column in a closed organ pipe

Concept: The Rig Veda is the oldest Veda, a collection of hymns to deities like Indra, Agni and Varuna.

1. It has 10 mandalas (books) with 1028 hymns (suktas).
2. Mandalas II–VII are the oldest 'family books'; Mandala IX is devoted to Soma; Mandala X contains the Purusha Sukta and Nasadiya Sukta.
3. The Gayatri Mantra is in Mandala III.

Yaad rakhein: Rig Veda: 10 mandalas, 1028 suktas; Gayatri – 3rd mandala.

Answer: (B) 10

Concept: Calcium bicarbonate is formed from ${\text{Ca}}^{2+}$ and two bicarbonate ions ${\text{HCO}}_3^{-}$.

1. Formula: ${\text{Ca(HCO}}_3{)}_2$.
2. Each ${\text{HCO}}_3^{-}$ has 1 H atom; there are 2 such ions.
3. H atoms $=1\times 2=2$ (also Ca = 1, C = 2, O = 6).

Trick: Multiply the subscript inside the bracket by the number outside: $({\text{HCO}}_3{)}_2\Rightarrow {\text{H}}_2{\text{C}}_2{\text{O}}_6$.

Answer: (C) 2

Concept: Summer Olympic host cities around the year 2000.

1. The 2000 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXVII Olympiad) were held in Sydney, Australia.
2. Seoul hosted 1988, Athens 2004, Paris 1900, 1924 and 2024.
3. Karnam Malleswari won India's bronze in weightlifting at Sydney 2000 – the first Olympic medal by an Indian woman.

Yaad rakhein: 1988 Seoul → 1992 Barcelona → 1996 Atlanta → 2000 Sydney → 2004 Athens.

Answer: (D) Sydney

Concept: LTTE was the militant group that fought for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

1. LTTE = Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
2. So the first 'T' = Tigers, the second 'T' = Tamil.
3. It was founded by V. Prabhakaran (1976) and defeated in 2009.

Trick: L-T-T-E: Liberation → Tigers → Tamil → Eelam (order matters).

Answer: (A) Tigers

Concept: GST is a destination-based indirect tax introduced by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016.

1. It was launched at a midnight session of Parliament and came into effect on 1 July 2017.
2. It subsumed VAT, central excise, service tax and other indirect taxes.
3. 1 July is now observed as GST Day.

Yaad rakhein: GST Day = 1 July; 101st Amendment; Art. 279A = GST Council.

Answer: (A) 1 July 2017

Concept: The Infosys Prize is given by the Infosys Science Foundation; it began in 2009.

1. The first Infosys Prize in Social Sciences – History (2009) went to historian Upinder Singh of Delhi University.
2. She is known for 'A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India'.
3. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Yaad rakhein: Infosys Prize 2009 History → Upinder Singh (ancient India).

Answer: (C) Upinder Singh

Concept: A true solution is a homogeneous mixture with solute particles smaller than about 1 nm.

1. Particles are too small to be seen, do not scatter light (no Tyndall effect) and pass through filter paper.
2. A solution is stable: the solute particles do not settle on standing.
3. Settling on standing is a property of a suspension, so statement C is NOT true.

Trick: Settles down → suspension; scatters light but does not settle → colloid; neither → true solution.

Answer: (C) The particles of the solute settle down at the bottom when the solution is kept undisturbed.

Concept: The Silent Valley Movement opposed a hydroelectric dam on the Kunthipuzha river.

1. Silent Valley is in Palakkad district of Kerala, an evergreen tropical forest home to the lion-tailed macaque.
2. The movement (from 1973) was led by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad and others; the project was dropped and Silent Valley National Park was declared in 1984.
3. Chipko (1973) was in Uttarakhand, Appiko (1983) in Karnataka.

Yaad rakhein: Silent Valley – Kerala – lion-tailed macaque – Kunthipuzha.

Answer: (B) Kerala

Concept: Sathish Kumar Sivalingam is an Indian athlete from Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

1. He is a weightlifter in the 77 kg category.
2. He won gold at the 2014 Glasgow and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
3. He received the Arjuna Award in 2017.

Yaad rakhein: CWG weightlifting golds 2018: Mirabai Chanu, Sanjita Chanu, Sathish Sivalingam, Venkat Rahul, Punam Yadav.

Answer: (A) Weightlifting

Concept: The Global March Against Child Labour (1998) was a worldwide movement against child labour.

1. It was founded and led by Kailash Satyarthi, who also founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (1980).
2. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 with Malala Yousafzai.
3. Anna Hazare – anti-corruption; Kiran Bedi – police reforms; Baba Amte – leprosy patients (Anandwan).

Yaad rakhein: Satyarthi = children: Bachpan Bachao Andolan + Global March + Nobel 2014.

Answer: (C) Kailash Satyarthi

Concept: Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood-forming tissue (bone marrow).

1. The bone marrow produces a huge number of abnormal white blood cells (leukocytes).
2. These crowd out normal blood cells, leading to anaemia, infections and bleeding.
3. Lung, uterus and skin cancers are carcinomas/melanomas, not leukaemia.

Trick: Leuko = white, haima = blood → 'white blood' → blood cancer.

Answer: (D) blood

Concept: Algae are classified into three main classes by their pigments.

1. Phaeophyceae = brown algae, with the brown pigment fucoxanthin (e.g. Laminaria, Sargassum, Fucus).
2. Chlorophyceae = green algae (chlorophyll a, b); Rhodophyceae = red algae (r-phycoerythrin).
3. There is no class called 'white algae'.

Trick: Phaeo = dusky/brown; Rhodo = red; Chloro = green.

Answer: (C) brown algae