Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Awards and credits of the RRR song 'Naatu Naatu'.

1. The song was sung by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava; music by M. M. Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose.
2. It won Best Original Song at the 80th Golden Globes (January 2023) and later the Oscar (95th Academy Awards, 2023).
3. Anirudh, Vijay, Silambarasan etc. are unrelated to this track.

Yaad rakhein: Naatu Naatu was the first song from an Indian film to win both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Answer: (C) Rahul Sipligunj and Kalabhairava

Concept: Fundamental Duties are in Part IV-A, Article 51A.

1. The 42nd Amendment (1976), on the Swaran Singh Committee's advice, added 10 duties.
2. The 86th Amendment (2002) added the 11th: parents/guardians to give education to children aged 6–14.
3. Total today = 11.

Trick: '42 gave 10, 86 made it 11' – remember the two amendment numbers and the count follows.

Answer: (D) 11

Concept: Standard height of a basketball ring.

1. Under NBA (and FIBA) rules, the top of the ring is 10 feet (≈ 3.05 m) above the floor.
2. It must be level (parallel to the court) and placed midway between the two side edges of the board; the hoop's inside diameter is 18 inches.

Yaad rakhein: Basketball was invented by James Naismith (1891, USA); the rim height of 10 ft has never changed.

Answer: (B) 10'

Concept: British press-control laws in India.

1. The Indian Press Act was passed in 1910 under Viceroy Lord Minto II.
2. Presses had to deposit security, which could be forfeited for 'objectionable' writing – aimed at nationalist papers after the Partition of Bengal.
3. 1911 is the year of the Delhi Durbar; not linked to this Act.

Yaad rakhein: Vernacular Press Act = 1878 (Lytton), repealed 1882 (Ripon); Indian Press Act = 1910 (Minto II).

Answer: (A) 1910

Concept: Ayurvedic texts and their authors.

1. Charaka, author of the Charaka Samhita, stated that the human body has 360 bones (teeth and cartilages were also counted).
2. Patanjali – Yoga Sutras; Chanakya – Arthashastra; Shudraka – the play Mrichchhakatika.

Yaad rakhein: Charaka = medicine (Kayachikitsa); Sushruta = surgery ('Father of Surgery'). Modern anatomy counts 206 bones.

Answer: (A) Charaka

Concept: Microfinance = small financial services for the poor.

1. MFIs give small, mostly collateral-free loans, plus savings and insurance, to low-income people – small farmers, vendors, women's SHGs.
2. The goal is to bring the unbanked poor into the system and help them start small livelihoods – not to serve the rich, foreigners or other lenders.

Trick: 'Micro' = small ⇒ small loans to small earners. Any option with 'high-income' is ruled out at once.

Answer: (D) Offering financial services to the low-income group

Concept: Current affairs – Election Commission of India.

1. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (retd. IAS) and Gyanesh Kumar took charge as Election Commissioners on 15 March 2024.
2. They were the first picked under the 2023 Act, by a panel of the PM, a Union Minister and the Leader of Opposition.

Yaad rakhein: Election Commission – Article 324; Gyanesh Kumar later became the Chief Election Commissioner (Feb 2025).

Answer: (A) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu

Concept: Long-term goals of Indian planning.

1. Planning had four broad aims: growth, modernisation, equity and self-reliance.
2. Self-reliance = cut imports of whatever India could make at home (food grains, heavy industry).
3. The other options are look-alike words, not planning goals.

Trick: Mnemonic 'GMSE' – Growth, Modernisation, Self-reliance, Equity.

Answer: (B) Self-reliance

Concept: Judicial review and the role of the Supreme Court.

1. The Supreme Court is the guardian and final interpreter of the Constitution; its rulings bind all courts (Art. 141).
2. Parliament can amend the Constitution, but amendments are tested against the 'basic structure' (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973).

Trick: 'Interpret' = court's job; 'make law' = Parliament's job. Lok Sabha and Parliament both fall in the law-making group – eliminate them.

Answer: (B) Supreme Court

Concept: A bond between atoms of different electronegativity is polar.

1. Alcohols carry the hydroxyl group –OH.
2. O is far more electronegative than H, so O gets δ− and H gets δ+ – an unequal charge spread.
3. Because of this polarity, alcohols H-bond with water – so ethanol dissolves in water easily.

Trick: The question names only O and H – the group made of just O–H is the hydroxyl group of alcohols. Ethers (C–O–C) and esters have no O–H; acids have C=O as well.

Answer: (B) Alcohols

Concept: Launch date of Swachh Bharat Mission.

1. Launched by PM Narendra Modi on 2 October 2014 – Gandhi Jayanti.
2. Its logo is Gandhiji's spectacles; target – an open-defecation-free India by 2 October 2019 (150th birth anniversary).

Yaad rakhein: 2 October is also observed as the International Day of Non-Violence (UN).

Answer: (D) Gandhi Jayanti

Concept: Event list of Olympic badminton.

1. Men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles = 5 events.
2. There is no team event at the Olympics.

Trick: 2 genders × (singles + doubles) = 4, plus 1 mixed doubles = 5.

Answer: (A) 5

Concept: Online cultural events of the COVID period.

1. Films Division (Ministry of I&B) held Part 1 of 'Nrityanjali' in 2020.
2. Documentaries on Indian classical dances and their maestros were streamed free online because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Trick: 'Online festival' + government body ⇒ think of the lockdown year 2020.

Answer: (D) 2020

Concept: IUCN awards – current affairs.

1. The Harry Messel Award for Conservation Leadership is given by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC).
2. In October 2024 it went to Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar of Assam, rhino expert and head of Aaranyak.

Yaad rakhein: IUCN Red List is also prepared with the help of the Species Survival Commission; IUCN HQ – Gland, Switzerland.

Answer: (A) Species Survival Commission

Concept: Link each Plan period with major events.

1. Fourth Plan = 1969–74.
2. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War brought about 1 crore refugees to India and diverted plan funds to relief and war.
3. Fifth Plan began in 1974, Sixth in 1980 – both after 1971.

Trick: Place the year 1971 in plan dates: 1969–74 ⇒ Fourth Plan.

Answer: (D) Fourth Plan

Concept: Sex ratio = females per 1000 males.

1. Daman (UT of Daman & Diu) had the lowest district sex ratio in Census 2011 – 533.
2. Reason: a large male migrant workforce in its industries.
3. Surat and Chandigarh are also low, but much higher than Daman.

Yaad rakhein: Highest district sex ratio (2011) – Mahe (Puducherry); national average 943.

Answer: (D) Daman

Concept: Law that makes employment a legal right.

1. MGNREGA (2005; in force from Feb 2006) guarantees at least 100 days of wage work a year to every rural household that asks for unskilled manual work.
2. If work is not given within 15 days, an unemployment allowance is payable.
3. EPF Act deals with provident fund; Citizenship and IIM Acts are unrelated.

Trick: Look for the word 'Guarantee' in the option – 'right' needs a guarantee.

Answer: (B) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Concept: Classical dancers and their dance forms.

1. Sarayu Sai is a Bharatanatyam dancer; she received the Natya Kalajyoti Award in 2006.
2. Bharatanatyam is the classical dance of Tamil Nadu, based on Bharata's Natya Shastra.

Yaad rakhein: Kuchipudi – Andhra Pradesh, Kathak – North India (UP), Odissi – Odisha; Bharatanatyam's half-sitting posture is called 'Aramandi'.

Answer: (C) Bharatanatyam

Concept: Germ layers in diploblastic animals (Cnidaria).

1. Two true layers: outer ectoderm and inner endoderm.
2. Between them lies a jelly-like, undifferentiated layer – the mesoglea (e.g. Hydra, jellyfish).
3. Protoderm is a plant meristem layer – a distractor.

Trick: 'Gloea/glea' = glue/jelly ⇒ mesoglea = jelly in the middle. Ecto- and endoderm are the two embryonic layers themselves, so they cannot be the 'third' one.

Answer: (A) mesoglea

Concept: Classification of rocks by origin.

1. Limestone is a sedimentary rock made mainly of CaCO₃ as calcite and aragonite, often from shells and corals.
2. Marble has the same chemistry but is metamorphic (formed from limestone by heat and pressure).
3. Feldspar and garnet are minerals, not carbonate rocks.

Yaad rakhein: Limestone → Marble, Sandstone → Quartzite, Shale → Slate, Granite → Gneiss (metamorphism pairs).

Answer: (A) Limestone