Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Organic compounds are acyclic (open chain) or cyclic. Cyclic compounds whose ring behaves like an aliphatic compound (not aromatic) are called alicyclic.

1. Cyclopropane, ${\text{C}}_3{\text{H}}_6$, is a closed ring of three carbons with no aromatic character – alicyclic.
2. Isobutane and ethane are open-chain alkanes; acetic acid is an open-chain carboxylic acid.

Trick: 'Cyclo-' in the name + no benzene ring = alicyclic (cyclopropane, cyclohexane).

Answer: (A) Cyclopropane

Concept: After the Revolt of 1857 the British Parliament ended East India Company rule.

1. The Government of India Act, 1858 transferred power from the Company to the British Crown.
2. It created the post of Secretary of State for India; the Governor-General became the Viceroy (Lord Canning the first).
3. The Charter Act 1813 ended the Company's trade monopoly; the 1818 Regulation dealt with detention; the 1872 Act is a contract law.

Yaad rakhein: 1857 revolt → 1858 Act → Crown rule (Queen's Proclamation).

Answer: (D) Government of India Act 1858

Concept: Padma awards are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day.

1. R. Muthukannammal of Viralimalai (Tamil Nadu), one of the last Sadir (devadasi temple dance) artistes, received the Padma Shri in 2022 for art.
2. Sadir is the temple-dance tradition from which Bharatanatyam was reconstructed.

Yaad rakhein: Folk and traditional artists honoured at grassroots level usually get the Padma Shri.

Answer: (B) Padma Shri Award

Concept: NCERT classifies energy as conventional (in use for a long time: firewood, cattle dung cake, coal, petroleum, natural gas, electricity) and non-conventional (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biogas, atomic energy).

1. Cattle dung cakes have been used as fuel in rural India for centuries – a conventional source.
2. Solar power, atomic (nuclear) energy and geothermal energy are listed as non-conventional sources.

Yaad rakhein: Conventional = traditional village fuels + fossil fuels.

Answer: (A) Cattle dung

Concept: Kirana gharana is a khayal gharana named after Kirana (Kairana) in Uttar Pradesh.

1. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (1872–1937) is regarded as its pioneer and founder (with Abdul Wahid Khan as a major figure).
2. Sawai Gandharva was his disciple, Bhimsen Joshi was Sawai Gandharva's disciple, and Firoz Dastur was another disciple – they carried the gharana forward.

Yaad rakhein: Kirana chain: Abdul Karim Khan → Sawai Gandharva → Bhimsen Joshi.

Answer: (B) Abdul Karim Khan

Concept: An IUPAC name has three parts: Prefix + Word root + Suffix.

1. The word root gives the number of carbon atoms in the longest chain: meth (1), eth (2), prop (3), but (4), pent (5)…
2. The suffix shows the functional group or saturation (-ane, -ol, -oic acid); the prefix shows substituents (chloro-, methyl-).
3. Example: propan-1-ol → root 'prop' = 3 carbons.

Yaad rakhein: Root = Roots count the carbons.

Answer: (C) Root

Concept: The IOC session in Tokyo on 21 July 2021 elected the host of the 2032 Summer Olympics.

1. Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) was chosen for 2032 – the third Australian Olympics after Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000.
2. Upcoming hosts: Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028, Brisbane 2032.

Yaad rakhein: P–L–B: Paris 24, LA 28, Brisbane 32.

Answer: (C) Brisbane

Concept: Populations of one species living in different habitats can develop genetically fixed adaptations to local conditions.

1. Such a locally adapted population (subspecies/race) is called an ecotype (term by Göte Turesson).
2. Biome – a large regional community (e.g. desert); niche – the functional role of a species; prototype – an original model.

Yaad rakhein: Eco + type = 'type' of a species shaped by its local environment.

Answer: (C) Ecotype

Concept: PMEGP is a credit-linked subsidy scheme of the Ministry of MSME for setting up micro-enterprises, implemented by KVIC.

1. It was launched in August 2008 (2008-09) by merging the Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana (PMRY, 1993) and the Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP).

Yaad rakhein: PMRY + REGP → PMEGP (2008).

Answer: (D) 2008

Concept: Area-development programmes for backward regions were started in the 1970s.

1. The Hill Area Development Programme (HADP) began in the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974–79).
2. It covered hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal (Darjeeling), Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris) and the Western Ghats.
3. The Drought Prone Areas Programme started earlier, in the Fourth Plan.

Yaad rakhein: Fifth Plan = 'Garibi Hatao' + area programmes like HADP and Minimum Needs Programme.

Answer: (C) Fifth Five Year Plan

Concept: The Rowlatt Act (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act), March 1919, was based on the Sedition Committee report of Justice Sidney Rowlatt.

1. It allowed the government to arrest and detain anyone without trial for up to two years – 'no vakil, no appeal, no daleel'.
2. Gandhi's Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919) followed.
3. The Press Act curbed newspapers; Pitt's India Act (1784) set up the Board of Control; the Slavery Act (1843) abolished slavery.

Yaad rakhein: Rowlatt = 'Black Act' – no vakil, no daleel, no appeal.

Answer: (D) The Rowlatt Act

Concept: Article 210 deals with the language used in the State Legislature; Article 212 bars courts from inquiring into its proceedings.

1. Statement A is the text of Article 210(1) – correct.
2. Statement B: under Article 210, the Speaker/Chairman may permit a member who cannot express himself adequately in those languages to speak in his mother tongue – correct.
3. Statement C is wrong: Article 212 says the validity of proceedings in a State Legislature shall not be called in question by any court on the ground of irregularity of procedure – the Supreme Court is not given such a right.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 122 (Parliament) and Art. 212 (States) – courts cannot question House procedure.

Answer: (C) A and B only

Concept: Earth's water is unevenly distributed between salt water and fresh water.

1. About 97% of all water is in the oceans (saline).
2. Only about 3% is fresh water, and most of that is locked in ice caps and glaciers; rivers and lakes hold a tiny fraction.

Trick: 97 : 3 – oceans : fresh water.

Answer: (A) 97%

Concept: Fold mountains rise from geosynclines – long, shallow seas in which sediments pile up and are later compressed.

1. The Himalayas were uplifted from the sediments of the Tethys Sea (Tethys geosyncline), which lay between Angaraland and Gondwanaland.
2. The northward drift of the Indian plate folded these sediments into the Himalayas.
3. Appalachian and Caledonian are old fold systems of North America and Europe; the Aravallis are far older relict mountains.

Yaad rakhein: Himalaya = child of Tethys.

Answer: (D) Tethys geosynclines

Concept: Krishnadeva Raya (1509–1529) of the Tuluva dynasty was the greatest Vijayanagara ruler.

1. After defeating the Bahmani successor states and restoring the Bahmani sultan, he took the title 'Yavanarajya Sthapanacharya' (establisher of the Yavana kingdom).
2. He also bore titles such as 'Andhra Bhoja' and 'Abhinava Bhoja', and wrote Amuktamalyada in Telugu.

Yaad rakhein: Krishnadeva Raya titles: Yavanarajya Sthapanacharya, Andhra Bhoja, Abhinava Bhoja.

Answer: (A) Krishna Deva Raya

Concept: The Indus receives tributaries both in the Himalayas and in the plains.

1. The Shyok rises near the Karakoram and joins the Indus in Ladakh/Gilgit-Baltistan – a right-bank tributary (others: Gilgit, Hunza, Nubra via Shyok).
2. Lohit and Dibang are tributaries of the Brahmaputra; Betwa is a tributary of the Yamuna.

Yaad rakhein: Indus right bank: Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul; left bank: Zaskar, Panjnad (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej).

Answer: (B) Shyok

Concept: Prokaryotic cells (bacteria) lack membrane-bound organelles; eukaryotic cells have them.

1. Ribosomes are not membrane-bound, so they are present in both – 70S in prokaryotes and 80S in eukaryotic cytoplasm.
2. Mitochondria, lysosomes and endosomes are membrane-bound and occur only in eukaryotes.

Yaad rakhein: Common to all cells: cell membrane, cytoplasm, DNA and ribosomes.

Answer: (A) Ribosomes

Concept: Heat is a form of energy, and a fixed amount of mechanical work always produces the same amount of heat.

1. James Prescott Joule showed this with his paddle-wheel experiment, finding the mechanical equivalent of heat ($J\approx 4.18\text{J/cal}$).
2. The SI unit of energy, the joule, is named after him.
3. Henry gave the gas-solubility law, Dalton the atomic theory; Helmholtz stated energy conservation generally.

Yaad rakhein: $W=JH$ – J stands for Joule.

Answer: (B) James Prescott Joule

Concept: Indian-English novelists and their debut works are frequently asked.

1. 'Grimus' (1975) was the first novel of Salman Rushdie, a fantasy about an immortal Native American, Flapping Eagle.
2. His later works: Midnight's Children (Booker 1981), The Satanic Verses.
3. Amitav Ghosh – The Circle of Reason; Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy; Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger.

Yaad rakhein: Rushdie's first = Grimus; best known = Midnight's Children.

Answer: (D) Salman Rushdie

Concept: Article 164 contains provisions about state ministers.

1. 164(1): Chief Minister appointed by the Governor; other ministers on his advice; they hold office during the Governor's pleasure.
2. 164(2): The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.
3. 164(3): oath of office; 164(4): a non-member minister must get elected within six months.

Yaad rakhein: Centre parallel: Article 75(3) = collective responsibility to Lok Sabha.

Answer: (C) Article 164(2)