Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 lists who is entitled to free legal services under NALSA.

1. Eligible: members of SC/ST (A), victims of trafficking or begar under Article 23 (B), industrial workmen (C), and persons in undeserved want such as victims of mass disaster, ethnic violence, flood, drought, earthquake (D).
2. Statement E is wrong: the income ceiling for free legal aid in Supreme Court cases is not ₹10 lakh (the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee limit is ₹5 lakh).
3. So A, B, C and D only.

Yaad rakhein: Section 12 list: SC/ST, trafficking victims, women & children, disabled, disaster victims, industrial workmen, persons in custody, low-income persons.

Answer: (C) A, B, C and D only

Concept: Privatisation transfers ownership/management of public enterprises to the private sector, mainly to raise efficiency and competition.

1. Selling stakes (disinvestment) gives the government extra revenue — an advantage.
2. Private management faces less political interference and usually improves performance — advantages.
3. Privatisation increases competition; 'reduced competition' is not an advantage of it.

Yaad rakhein: LPG reforms 1991: privatisation → more competition, efficiency, revenue.

Answer: (D) Reduced competition

Concept: The Tattvabodhini Sabha was founded by Debendranath Tagore in 1839; its journal was the Tattvabodhini Patrika (1843).

1. The Patrika was published in Bengali, edited for long by Akshay Kumar Datta.
2. It promoted a systematic study of India's past, Upanishadic thought and science in the Bengali language.
3. It was the mouthpiece of the Brahmo Samaj under Debendranath Tagore.

Yaad rakhein: Tattvabodhini → Debendranath Tagore → Bengali → Brahmo Samaj.

Answer: (B) Bengali

Concept: The Telugu Mahabharata (Andhra Mahabharatam) was written by the 'Kavitrayam' (trinity of poets).

1. Nannaya (Nanniah), court poet of Chalukya king Rajaraja Narendra (11th century), began it and translated the first few portions (Adi, Sabha and part of Aranya Parva).
2. Tikkana and later Errana completed the remaining parvas.
3. Kamban wrote the Tamil Ramayana; Pampa wrote in Kannada (Vikramarjuna Vijaya).

Yaad rakhein: Kavitrayam: Nannaya → Tikkana → Errana (in that order).

Answer: (A) Nanniah

Concept: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was formed in 1927.

1. Sir Dorabji Tata was its founding president; he had also financed India's participation in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
2. Dr. A.G. Noehren (of YMCA) was its first secretary-general — a tempting but wrong option.
3. Jamsetji Tata (Dorabji's father) founded the Tata group; Dadabhai Naoroji was a political leader.

Yaad rakhein: IOA 1927: President Dorabji Tata, Secretary A.G. Noehren.

Answer: (D) Dorabji Tata

Concept: The santoor is a hammered string instrument originally used in the Sufiana music of Kashmir.

1. Pandit Shivkumar Sharma was born in Jammu (1938), in present-day UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. He made the santoor a solo instrument of Hindustani classical music.
3. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2001).

Yaad rakhein: Santoor ↔ Kashmir ↔ Shivkumar Sharma (and son Rahul Sharma).

Answer: (A) Jammu and Kashmir

Concept: M.S. Subbulakshmi was a legendary Carnatic vocalist from Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

1. In 1998 she became the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna.
2. She was also the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1974); Nehru called her the 'Queen of Songs'.
3. Shubha Mudgal, Girija Devi and Gangubai Hangal are Hindustani vocalists.

Yaad rakhein: Musicians with Bharat Ratna: M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998), Ravi Shankar (1999), Lata Mangeshkar & Bismillah Khan (2001), Bhimsen Joshi (2009), Bhupen Hazarika (2019).

Answer: (C) MS Subbulakshmi

Concept: A Flight of Pigeons is a novella set during the Revolt of 1857.

1. It was written by Ruskin Bond (published 1978).
2. It was adapted into Shyam Benegal's film Junoon (1978).
3. Salman Rushdie – Midnight's Children; Khushwant Singh – Train to Pakistan; Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy.

Yaad rakhein: Ruskin Bond: The Room on the Roof, A Flight of Pigeons, The Blue Umbrella, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra.

Answer: (A) Ruskin Bond

Concept: Contaminants in soil or sediment are present in very small amounts, so they are expressed as parts of contaminant per million parts of soil.

1. ppm (parts per million) = mg of contaminant per kg of soil — the standard unit for soil/sediment contamination.
2. TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) refers to water quality, not a unit for soil.
3. DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities) is a quality-control measure; 'PPBB' is not a standard unit.

Yaad rakhein: $1\text{ppm}=1\text{mg/kg}$ (soil) $=1\text{mg/L}$ (water).

Answer: (D) PPM

Concept: The Oath of the Vayuputras (2013) is the third book of the Shiva Trilogy.

1. The Shiva Trilogy is written by Amish Tripathi.
2. The first two books are The Immortals of Meluha (2010) and The Secret of the Nagas (2011).
3. Vikram Chandra wrote Sacred Games; Ravi Subramanian writes banking thrillers.

Yaad rakhein: Shiva Trilogy order: Meluha → Nagas → Vayuputras.

Answer: (C) Amish Tripathi

Concept: Haryali is a Central Government watershed-development initiative (Ministry of Rural Development, 2003).

1. It aims to help villagers conserve rainwater for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation, executed through Gram Panchayats.
2. Neeru-Meeru ('water and you') is a programme of the Andhra Pradesh state government, not the Centre.
3. Arvary Pani Sansad is a community effort in Alwar (Rajasthan); Chipko is a forest-protection movement.

Yaad rakhein: Central = Haryali; Andhra = Neeru-Meeru; Rajasthan (Alwar) = Arvary Pani Sansad.

Answer: (B) Haryali

Concept: Ashoka's edicts refer to the king by his titles rather than by name.

1. The titles are Devanampiya ('beloved of the gods') and Piyadasi ('of pleasing appearance').
2. The name 'Ashoka' itself appears in the Maski and Gujarra minor rock edicts, confirming the identification.
3. Bindusara was Ashoka's father; Samprati and Shatadhanvan were later Mauryas.

Yaad rakhein: Maski edict = first edict where the name 'Ashoka' was found.

Answer: (B) Ashoka

Concept: Animals with a long, soft body divided into ring-like segments (metameric segmentation) belong to phylum Annelida.

1. The leech (Hirudinaria) is a segmented, blood-sucking ectoparasite — phylum Annelida (with earthworm and Nereis).
2. It secretes hirudin, an anticoagulant that keeps blood from clotting.
3. Platyhelminthes = flatworms (tapeworm, liver fluke); Cnidaria = Hydra, jellyfish; Aschelminthes = roundworms (Ascaris).

Yaad rakhein: Annelida = 'annulus' (little ring): earthworm, leech, Nereis.

Answer: (D) Annelida

Concept: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch lens-maker, built powerful single-lens microscopes.

1. In 1674 he observed and described the green alga Spirogyra in lake water.
2. He called the tiny moving organisms he saw 'animalcules' (little animals); he also first saw bacteria and sperm cells.
3. He is called the 'Father of Microbiology'. Robert Remak worked on cell division; Maurice Wilkins on DNA X-ray work.

Yaad rakhein: Robert Hooke – 'cell' (1665, cork); Leeuwenhoek – first living cells/animalcules (1674).

Answer: (B) Anton Van Leeuwenhoek

Concept: Tea and coffee need warm, humid climate, heavy rainfall and well-drained hill slopes.

1. The Nilgiri hills (Tamil Nadu, meeting point of Western and Eastern Ghats) are famous for tea estates (Ooty, Coonoor) and coffee.
2. The South Indian hills (Nilgiri with Karnataka's Chikmagalur–Kodagu) are the main coffee belt of India.
3. Aravali and Vindhyachal are dry/old ranges not known for tea–coffee; the Himalaya (Darjeeling) is known for tea, not coffee.

Yaad rakhein: Coffee in India = South only (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu – Nilgiri).

Answer: (D) Nilgiri

Concept: Articles 153–167 of Part VI deal with the Governor of a State.

1. Article 153: there shall be a Governor for each State.
2. Its proviso (added by the 7th Amendment, 1956) says nothing prevents the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States.
3. Article 155 – appointment by the President; Article 156 – term; Articles 150–152 are about audit/definition (CAG accounts form, CAG reports, definition of 'State').

Yaad rakhein: 153 = Governor exists (one person may hold two States); 154 = executive power; 155 = appointment; 156 = term.

Answer: (A) Article 153

Concept: 'Loo' is a hot, dry, dusty local wind of the north-western plains of India.

1. It blows in the afternoons during the summer season (May–June) over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
2. Temperatures may reach ${45}^{\circ }\text{C}$ to ${50}^{\circ }\text{C}$; exposure can cause heatstroke.
3. It does not blow in winter or in the rainy (monsoon) season.

Yaad rakhein: Summer local winds: Loo (north India), Mango showers (Kerala–Karnataka), Kalbaisakhi/Nor'westers (Bengal), Cherry blossom (Karnataka coffee).

Answer: (B) They blow in the summer season.

Concept: A bifocal lens is used when a person has both myopia and hypermetropia (often due to presbyopia in old age).

1. The upper part is a concave lens — it corrects distant vision (myopia), since we look up/straight for far objects.
2. The lower part is a convex lens — it corrects near vision, since we look down while reading.
3. So near vision is facilitated by the lower part with a convex lens.

Yaad rakhein: Reading = looking down = lower part = convex (converging) lens.

Answer: (C) Lower part with convex lens

Concept: Shovana Narayan is a leading Kathak dancer of India.

1. She was trained under Kundanlal Gangani and Birju Maharaj's tradition and is known for innovative Kathak choreography.
2. She received the Padma Shri in 1992 for her contribution to Kathak.
3. Kathakali (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh) and Odissi (Odisha) are different classical forms.

Yaad rakhein: Kathak names: Birju Maharaj, Sitara Devi, Shovana Narayan, Kumudini Lakhia, Uma Sharma.

Answer: (B) Kathak

Concept: Dalkhai is a folk dance of western Odisha (Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir regions).

1. It is performed mainly by young women during Dussehra and other festivals, addressing the goddess Dalkhai.
2. It is accompanied by instruments like dhol, nisan, tasa and mahuri.
3. Other Odisha folk dances: Ghumura, Chhau (Mayurbhanj), Gotipua; Punjab – Bhangra/Giddha; Bihar – Jat-Jatin; UP – Charkula.

Yaad rakhein: Sambalpur (Odisha) folk set: Dalkhai, Rasarkeli, Maelajada, Sambalpuri.

Answer: (C) Odisha