Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Directive Principles (Part IV) include a duty of the State towards environment.

1. Article 48A: the State shall try to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife.
2. Added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976.
3. Articles '46D', '47B', '49A' do not exist in the Constitution.

Yaad rakhein: 48A = State's duty; 51A(g) = citizen's Fundamental Duty to protect nature. Both came in 1976.

Answer: (B) Article 48A

Concept: Natural compounds give fruits their typical smell and taste.

1. Limonene is a terpene that forms the major part of orange/lemon peel oil.
2. It is used as a citrus flavour in drinks, candies and chewing gum, and in perfumes and cleaners.
3. Ethylvanillin = vanilla flavour; menthone = from mint; lutidine = lab chemical.

Trick: Limonene ↔ lime/lemon – the name itself points to citrus.

Answer: (D) Limonene

Concept: Order of early Magadha rulers of the Haryanka dynasty.

1. Bimbisara → his son Ajatashatru → Udayin.
2. Ajatashatru took the throne after Bimbisara (he is said to have imprisoned his father).
3. Udayin came after Ajatashatru; Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka belong to the later Mauryan dynasty.

Trick: Haryanka order 'B-A-U': Bimbisara, Ajatashatru, Udayin (who founded Pataliputra).

Answer: (D) Ajatashatru

Concept: Population density = population ÷ area.

1. Bhutan: under 10 lakh people on a mountainous area of about 38,000 km² → roughly 20 persons/km², the lowest.
2. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries (over 1,000/km²).
3. Pakistan and Nepal lie in between.

Trick: Small population + hilly terrain = low density; Bhutan fits both.

Answer: (A) Bhutan

Concept: The hydrological cycle moves water through all three major stores of the Earth.

1. Evaporation from oceans → vapour in the atmosphere → condensation into clouds.
2. Precipitation on land and sea → runoff and groundwater flow back to the oceans.
3. So the cycle links oceans, atmosphere and land; the other options name only part of it.

Trick: In 'which among' questions, choose the option covering the whole cycle, not one stage.

Answer: (D) oceans, atmosphere and land

Concept: Match each artist with his dance form.

1. Kelucharan Mohapatra was a legendary guru of Odissi (Odisha).
2. Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Gopi and Kalamandalam Rajan are Kathakali exponents from Kerala.
3. 'Kalamandalam' in a name = trained at Kerala Kalamandalam, the Kathakali institution.

Trick: Spot the odd surname: 'Mohapatra' is an Odia name, the rest are Malayali – the Odia name is Odissi.

Answer: (A) Kelucharan Mohapatra

Concept: The Muslim League (Dhaka, 30 Dec 1906) arose in the background of the 1905 Bengal partition.

1. Curzon's partition (1905) created a Muslim-majority East Bengal and Assam province.
2. The anti-partition Swadeshi movement made a section of Muslim elites seek their own political body.
3. Led by Nawab Salimullah of Dhaka, the League was formed in 1906. Montagu-Chelmsford (1919) and the Councils Act of 1909 came later.

Yaad rakhein: Sequence: Partition 1905 → Simla Deputation Oct 1906 → Muslim League Dec 1906 → Morley-Minto 1909.

Answer: (B) Partition of Bengal

Concept: Periyar (E.V. Ramasamy), the Tamil rationalist, was born in 1879; his birthday falls on 17 September.

1. 1879 + 146 = 2025 → 17 Sept 2024 was his 146th birth anniversary.
2. He started the Self-Respect Movement (1925) and fought caste and superstition – a rationalist reformer.
3. Radhakrishnan and Gandhi were not Tamil rationalists; M.K. Stalin is the present CM.

Yaad rakhein: Tamil Nadu observes Periyar's birthday (17 Sept) as Social Justice Day.

Answer: (B) Periyar EV Ramasamy

Concept: Primary sector = activities that use natural resources directly.

1. Agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry, mining → primary.
2. Construction → secondary (makes a product from materials).
3. Broadcasting and real estate → tertiary (services).

Trick: Nature gives it → primary; factory/site makes it → secondary; only a service is sold → tertiary.

Answer: (D) Animal husbandry

Concept: K.D. (Khashaba Dadasaheb) Jadhav won India's first individual Olympic medal.

1. Event: freestyle wrestling (bantamweight), bronze medal.
2. Games: 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
3. He was from Satara, Maharashtra.

Yaad rakhein: First individual Olympic medal → Jadhav (1952, wrestling); first individual gold → Abhinav Bindra (2008, shooting).

Answer: (A) Wrestling

Concept: The Sangeetha Kala Vibhushan is given by Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai.

1. For 2020 it was shared by a husband–wife Bharatanatyam pair – the Dhananjayans (V.P. and Shanta).
2. The couple, called 'The Dhananjayans', run Bharata Kalanjali in Chennai.
3. The other pairs are noted artists but not the 2020 recipients.

Trick: Husband-wife dancers in one option is the clue: 'Dhananjayan and Dhananjayan' – the same surname.

Answer: (A) Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan

Concept: The FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 was held in Odisha (Bhubaneswar & Rourkela).

1. Its mascot was Olly, an Olive Ridley turtle.
2. Olive Ridley turtles nest in large numbers on the Odisha coast, so the mascot represented the host state.
3. Germany won the title.

Trick: Olly ↔ Olive Ridley ↔ Odisha – all start with 'O'.

Answer: (D) Olly

Concept: Each country has its own national fruit, flower, animal etc.

1. National fruit of Bangladesh: jackfruit (kanthal).
2. Mango is the national fruit of India and Pakistan – the common trap.
3. Bangladesh's national tree, however, is the mango tree.

Yaad rakhein: Bangladesh: fruit – jackfruit, flower – water lily (shapla), animal – Royal Bengal tiger.

Answer: (A) Jackfruit

Concept: Industries are classified by what they do with resources.

1. Manufacturing converts raw materials into finished goods (cotton → cloth, ore → steel).
2. Primary industry only extracts raw materials; genetic industry breeds plants/animals; service industry gives services.
3. Key word 'transforming' → manufacturing (secondary sector).

Trick: Manufacture = 'manu' (hand) + 'facture' (making): making goods from raw material.

Answer: (D) Manufacturing industry

Concept: Elements in one group have the same outer electron arrangement.

1. Dubnium (Db, Z = 105) is a d-block element of period 7.
2. It lies below vanadium, niobium and tantalum → Group 5.
3. It is synthetic and highly unstable.

Trick: In period 7, from Rf (104) onward: 104 → group 4, 105 → group 5, 106 → group 6 – group number = Z − 100.

Answer: (C) Group 5

Concept: Planning started with the Planning Commission (1950) and the First Plan (1951–56).

1. Seventh Plan period: 1985–1990.
2. So the first seven plans ended in 1990.
3. Annual plans of 1966–69 and 1979–80 broke the sequence, which is why seven plans took till 1990.

Yaad rakhein: After the 7th Plan came another break (1990–92 annual plans) before the 8th Plan began in 1992.

Answer: (B) 1990

Concept: Composition of the State Legislative Council is given in Article 171.

1. About 1/6 of members are nominated by the Governor.
2. They are persons with special knowledge in literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social service.
3. The President nominates to the Rajya Sabha (12), not to state councils.

Yaad rakhein: Council strength: at most 1/3 of the Assembly and at least 40 members.

Answer: (C) Governor

Concept: Hindustani vocal artists are identified by their gharana (school).

1. Rashid Khan sang in the Rampur-Sahaswan style of khayal.
2. He came from the family that started this gharana and learnt from his grand-uncle Nissar Hussain Khan.
3. He received the Padma Shri (2006) and the Padma Bhushan (2022).

Yaad rakhein: Rampur-Sahaswan gharana is an offshoot of the Gwalior gharana – that's why Gwalior is the trap option.

Answer: (C) Rampur - Sahaswan

Concept: Two Election Commissioners were appointed in March 2024.

1. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (IAS 1988, Uttarakhand cadre) and Gyanesh Kumar joined the Election Commission of India.
2. They were the first appointments under the 2023 Act on CEC/EC appointments.
3. Rajiv Kumar was the Chief Election Commissioner then.

Yaad rakhein: ECI is a three-member body: one CEC + two ECs (Article 324).

Answer: (D) Election Commission of India (ECI)

Concept: Match each festival with the community that observes it.

1. Good Friday: Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Friday before Easter).
2. Mahavir Jayanti → Jains.
3. Muharram and Milad-un-Nabi → Muslims.

Yaad rakhein: Good Friday (crucifixion) → Easter Sunday (resurrection) two days later.

Answer: (D) Good Friday