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SSC Stenographer 2026 10 September 2026 Shift 3 GK Questions – with answers & solutions

All 46 GK / GS questions asked in SSC Stenographer 2026 on 10 September 2026 Shift 3, with correct answers and short solutions, subject-wise: Medieval History, Static GK, Geography, Chemistry, Economics, Modern History.

📚 46 questions🗓️ 10 September 2026⏰ Shift 3
📥 Full paper PDF
Subjects: Medieval History (2) · Static GK (8) · Geography (10) · Chemistry (2) · Economics (8) · Modern History (3) · Ancient History (1) · Current Affairs (3) · Polity (7) · Physics (1) · Biology (1)

Medieval History (2)

Marathas · Maratha administration (Ashtapradhan, chauth, sardeshmukhi)

Q1. Shivaji's Ashtapradhan (Council of Eight Ministers) system is believed to have been inspired by which Deccan administrator known for his military and revenue reforms?

  1. (a) Afzal Khan
  2. (b) Aurangjeb
  3. (c) Shaistakhan
  4. (d) Malik Ambar
Answer & solution

Answer: (d) Malik Ambar

Answer: Option 4 — Malik Ambar
Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian regent-minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, ran a council of ministers and a measured revenue settlement that the Marathas knew at first hand.
Shivaji's father Shahaji Bhonsle served in his army, and the Ashtapradhan is widely held to echo that Deccan model.
Revision note — Malik Ambar and Shivaji's Ashtapradhan
• Malik Ambar (1548-1626) was an Abyssinian (Habshi) slave who rose to be Peshwa, that is regent-minister, of Ahmadnagar, holding off Akbar and Jahangir in the Deccan for over two decades.
• He introduced a revenue settlement on the pattern of Raja Todar Mal, fixing the state's share by measurement instead of farming it out, and he founded Khadki, the city later renamed Aurangabad.
• He perfected guerrilla warfare (ganimi kava) in the Deccan; this is how both the method and the administrative model reached the Marathas.
• Shivaji's Ashtapradhan was a council of eight ministers headed by the Peshwa (Mukhya Pradhan).
• The other seven were Amatya (finance), Sachiv (correspondence), Mantri (royal household), Senapati (army), Sumant (foreign affairs), Nyayadhish (justice) and Panditrao (religious affairs).
• The first six ministers also commanded troops; only the Nyayadhish and Panditrao were purely civil posts, and no office was hereditary.
• Shivaji was crowned at Raigad in 1674; Maratha finance rested on chauth (one-fourth of the land revenue) and sardeshmukhi (a further 9 to 10 per cent).
Do not mix these up
• Malik Ambar vs Afzal Khan — Malik Ambar served Ahmadnagar and died in 1626, before Shivaji's rise; Afzal Khan was the Bijapur general killed by Shivaji at Pratapgarh in 1659.
• Shaista Khan vs Malik Ambar — Shaista Khan was Aurangzeb's Mughal viceroy of the Deccan, raided by Shivaji at the Lal Mahal, Pune, in 1663; he was an opponent, not a model.
• Peshwa of Ahmadnagar vs Peshwa of the Marathas — the same Persian title, but the Maratha Peshwa later became the effective ruler, with Pune as capital.
Also asked from this topic: the name of Shivaji's council of eight ministers (Ashtapradhan); the principal minister of the Maratha kingdom (Peshwa); what chauth and sardeshmukhi were (two Maratha taxes).
Vijayanagara and Bahmani Kingdoms · Vijayanagara administration and architecture

Q2. Which of the following statements best explains the transformation in the role of Palegandru (Palegars) from the Vijayanagara period to the early colonial era?

  1. (a) Originally religious heads during Vijayanagara rule, Palegars later became British-appointed Zamindars with ceremonial roles only
  2. (b) From autonomous local warlords under the Cholas, Palegars became subordinate generals during the Mughal rule in the Deccan
  3. (c) Initially military and administrative chiefs under Vijayanagara, Palegars gained semi-independence after its decline and resisted Mysore and British consolidation efforts
  4. (d) Established by Hyder Ali as military governors, Palegars later turned into revenue collectors under the Maratha Empire
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Initially military and administrative chiefs under Vijayanagara, Palegars gained semi-independence after its decline and resisted Mysore and British consolidation efforts

Answer: Option 3 — Initially military and administrative chiefs under Vijayanagara, Palegars gained semi-independence after its decline and resisted Mysore and British consolidation efforts
The Palegars grew out of the Vijayanagara amara-nayaka system of armed chiefs holding fortified tracts.
When the empire broke up they kept their forts as near-independent lords and fought first Mysore and then the English East India Company.
Revision note — Palegars (Palaiyakkarars or Poligars)
• The word comes from Tamil palaiyam, a camp or fortified settlement; a palaiyakkarar held such a tract in return for tribute and troops.
• The office grew out of Vijayanagara's amara-nayaka arrangement, in which a commander held an amaram (a military fief), collected its revenue and maintained cavalry for the Raya.
• After the defeat at Talikota (1565) the Palegars of the Tamil country and the Deccan became semi-independent.
• They kept mud forts and armed retainers and levied kaval, a protection due, on the villages around them.
• They resisted Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore and then the British; the Poligar Wars (1799-1805) of Tirunelveli and the southern districts were the result.
• Veerapandiya Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi refused tribute and was hanged at Kayathar in 1799; the Marudhu brothers of Sivaganga were executed in 1801.
• The Company then extended the Permanent Settlement to the Madras Presidency, turning the surviving Palegars into zamindars and disarming the rest.
Do not mix these up
• Palegar vs zamindar — a Palegar was first of all a military chief holding a fort and a body of retainers; a zamindar under the Permanent Settlement (1793) was only a revenue intermediary, with no army.
• Amara-nayaka vs iqta vs mansabdari — the amara-nayaka system was Vijayanagara's; iqta belonged to the Delhi Sultanate and mansabdari to the Mughals.
Also asked from this topic: what "amaram" meant (a military fief); who managed its territories under royal authority (nayaka chiefs); the empire that used neither iqta nor mansabdari (Vijayanagara).

Static GK (8)

Dances · Folk dances by state

Q3. In the context of Bhootha Aradhane, a ritualistic dance tradition of coastal Karnataka, which of the following aspects most accurately captures its sociocultural function, ritual process, and theological basis, distinguishing it from other regional spirit worship practices?

  1. (a) It is a form of tribal trance dance performed during harvest, where animal sacrifices are mandatory, and no verbal interaction with the audience takes place.
  2. (b) It is a highly structured theatrical performance representing celestial deities, where actors recite epic verses in Sanskrit and perform before temple sanctums.
  3. (c) It is a ritualistic trance performance involving dramatic costumes, possession of impersonators (Patris) by local spirits (Daivas or Bhoothas), where the possessed intermediary delivers oracles, resolves community disputes, and reinforces social order through divine justice.
  4. (d) It is a monastic dance performed by Shaiva ascetics in caves and forests to invoke Lord Shiva through silent gestures and symbolic mudras.
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) It is a ritualistic trance performance involving dramatic costumes, possession of impersonators (Patris) by local spirits (Daivas or Bhoothas), where the possessed intermediary delivers oracles, resolves community disputes, and reinforces social order through divine justice.

Answer: Option 3 — A ritualistic trance performance in which impersonators (Patris) are possessed by local spirits (Daivas or Bhoothas) and deliver oracles and divine justice
Bhootha Aradhane, better known as Bhuta Kola, is worship, not theatre.
The Patri is believed to be entered by the daiva, speaks in its voice and settles the village's disputes there and then.
Revision note — Bhootha Aradhane (Bhuta Kola) of Tulu Nadu
• It belongs to Tulu Nadu — the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of coastal Karnataka and Kasaragod in Kerala; the invocation songs, called paddana, are sung in Tulu.
• The performer who is possessed is the Patri or Darshana Patri, drawn from communities such as the Nalike, Pambada and Parava; the annual village performance is a Kola or Nema.
• Spirits worshipped include Panjurli (the boar daiva), Guliga, Kalkuda and Kallurti, and the hero-twins Koti and Chennayya.
• The possessed Patri gives oracles (nudi), hears complaints and pronounces judgement — the shrine works in effect as a village court, which is the "divine justice" of the option.
• The costume is elaborate: the ani, a tall halo of palm fronds, heavy anklets, red-and-black face paint and torchlight, with tase and dolu drums.
• The tradition reached a national audience through the Kannada film Kantara (2022).
Do not mix these up
• Bhuta Kola vs Theyyam — both are possession rituals with an oracle, but Theyyam belongs to north Kerala (Malabar) while Bhuta Kola belongs to Tulu Nadu.
• Bhuta Kola vs Yakshagana — Yakshagana is dance-theatre, with actors narrating epics in role; in Bhuta Kola the performer is believed to be actually possessed, and it is an act of worship.
Also asked from this topic: the state of origin of Yakshagana (Karnataka); the deity linked with Dollu Kunitha (Lord Shiva); the state of Bayalata and of Veeragase (Karnataka for both).
Personalities and Nicknames · Nicknames and titles of persons

Q4. Often called the “Missile Woman of India”, this female scientist led many DRDO missile projects and became a symbol of female leadership in STEM. Who is she?

  1. (a) Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
  2. (b) Nandini Harinath
  3. (c) Tessy Thomas
  4. (d) Ritu Karidhal
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Tessy Thomas

Answer: Option 3 — Tessy Thomas
Dr Tessy Thomas was Project Director for Agni-IV and Agni-V at DRDO, the first woman in India to head a missile project.
That work earned her the titles Missile Woman of India and Agni Putri.
Revision note — Tessy Thomas and India's missile programme
• Born in 1963 at Alappuzha, Kerala; she joined DRDO in 1988 and spent her career on the Agni series.
• Project Director of Agni-IV (first flight 2011) and of Agni-V (first flight 2012), India's longest-range missile, with a reach of over 5,000 km.
• She later rose to Director General (Aeronautical Systems) at DRDO.
• Her title echoes Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the Missile Man of India, who led the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), launched in 1983.
• IGMDP produced five missiles — Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul and Nag.
• DRDO was set up in 1958 under the Ministry of Defence, with headquarters at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi.
Do not mix these up
• Tessy Thomas vs Ritu Karidhal — Ritu Karidhal is the Rocket Woman of India, an ISRO scientist who was Mission Director of Chandrayaan-2 (2019).
• Tessy Thomas vs Nandini Harinath — Nandini Harinath is an ISRO scientist known for Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter Mission.
• Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the biotechnology entrepreneur who founded Biocon, not a defence scientist at all.
Also asked from this topic: who is known as the Missile Woman of India (Dr Tessy Thomas); who is called Agni Putri (Tessy Thomas); the missiles she directed at DRDO (Agni-IV and Agni-V).
Organisations and Headquarters · India's foreign relations and connectivity projects

Q5. With increasing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean through its “String of Pearls” strategy, India's Indo-Pacific policy emphasizes alliances, military logistics pacts, and island diplomacy. How does India's cooperation with Indian Ocean island nations like Seychelles, Mauritius, and Maldives support its maritime strategy?

  1. (a) It provides tourism income
  2. (b) It allows India to station nuclear weapons in the region
  3. (c) It helps monitor Sea Lines of Communication and enhances strategic depth
  4. (d) It bypasses international maritime laws
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) It helps monitor Sea Lines of Communication and enhances strategic depth

Answer: Option 3 — It helps monitor Sea Lines of Communication and enhances strategic depth
Radar stations, berthing rights and joint patrols in Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives let India watch the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) that carry its trade and oil.
They also push its naval reach far beyond home waters — that is strategic depth.
Revision note — India's Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific strategy
• China's String of Pearls is the ring of ports around India — Gwadar (Pakistan), Hambantota (Sri Lanka), Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), Chittagong (Bangladesh) and Djibouti.
• Djibouti is China's first overseas military base, opened in 2017.
• India's answer is SAGAR — Security and Growth for All in the Region, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mauritius in March 2015.
• The Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) was launched by India at the East Asia Summit in Bangkok, November 2019.
• The Quad — India, the United States, Japan and Australia — was proposed in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, lapsed, and was revived in 2017.
• India runs coastal radar chains with Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh, and commissioned INS Jatayu at Minicoy, Lakshadweep, in March 2024.
• About 95 per cent of India's trade by volume moves by sea, which is why SLOC security is a core national interest.
Do not mix these up
• String of Pearls vs Necklace of Diamonds — the first is China's ring of ports encircling India; the second is India's counter-network (Chabahar, Duqm, Sabang, Changi).
• SAGAR vs IPOI — SAGAR (2015) is the Indian Ocean vision; the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (2019) is the wider framework built on it.
Also asked from this topic: the region the Quad focuses on (Indo-Pacific); the country that launched the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (India); the year the Quad was first proposed (2007).
Organisations and Headquarters · India's foreign relations and connectivity projects

Q6. Which Indian leader made history in August 2024 by becoming the first Head of State to visit Fiji, New Zealand, and Timor-Leste?

  1. (a) Jagdeep Dhankhar
  2. (b) Minister S. Jaishankar
  3. (c) Droupadi Murmu
  4. (d) Narendra Modi
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Droupadi Murmu

Answer: Option 3 — Droupadi Murmu
President Droupadi Murmu toured Fiji, New Zealand and Timor-Leste in August 2024.
She was the first Indian Head of State ever to visit any of the three countries.
Revision note — President Droupadi Murmu and the August 2024 tour
• In Fiji she was conferred the Companion of the Order of Fiji, that country's highest civilian honour, and addressed its Parliament.
• In Timor-Leste she received the Grand Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste, its highest civilian award.
• Droupadi Murmu took office on 25 July 2022 as the 15th President of India — the first tribal President and the second woman, after Pratibha Patil (2007).
• She belongs to the Santhal tribe of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, and was earlier Governor of Jharkhand (2015–2021).
• The President is the Head of State under Article 52, elected by an electoral college under Article 54; the minimum age is 35 years (Article 58).
• She also visited Botswana in November 2025, where eight cheetahs were gifted to India for the next phase of Project Cheetah.
Do not mix these up
• Head of State vs Head of Government — the President is India's Head of State; the Prime Minister is Head of Government, so a visit by Narendra Modi would not answer this question.
• Droupadi Murmu vs Pratibha Patil — Murmu is the first tribal President (2022); Pratibha Patil was the first woman President (2007).
Also asked from this topic: the Indian given the Grand Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste in August 2024 (Droupadi Murmu); the country that gifted India eight cheetahs in 2025 (Botswana).
Sports · Olympic Games

Q7. Who became India's first Olympic athletics gold medalist and remains a sporting icon in 2025?

  1. (a) Neeraj Chopra
  2. (b) PR Sreejesh
  3. (c) Manu Bhaker
  4. (d) Mirabai Chanu
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Neeraj Chopra

Answer: Option 1 — Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin throw gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021) with a throw of 87.58 m.
That was India's first Olympic gold in athletics.
Revision note — Neeraj Chopra
• Born 24 December 1997 at Khandra village, Panipat, Haryana; he serves in the Indian Army with the 4 Rajputana Rifles and was promoted Subedar Major in 2021.
• Tokyo 2020 — gold, 87.58 m. Paris 2024 — silver, 89.45 m, making him the first athlete of independent India with two individual Olympic medals in track and field (Norman Pritchard's two silvers of 1900 are also credited to India).
• World Athletics Championships — silver at Eugene 2022 and gold at Budapest 2023, India's first ever gold at those championships.
• Asian Games gold at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022 (held 2023); Commonwealth Games gold at Gold Coast 2018; Diamond League champion in 2022.
• His personal best is 90.23 m, thrown at the Doha Diamond League in May 2025 — his first throw beyond 90 metres.
• Awards: Arjuna Award 2018, Vishisht Seva Medal 2020, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna 2021, Padma Shri 2022 and Param Vishisht Seva Medal 2022.
Do not mix these up
• First athletics gold vs first individual gold — the athletics first is Neeraj Chopra (2020); India's first individual Olympic gold was Abhinav Bindra's in shooting at Beijing 2008.
• Neeraj Chopra vs Manu Bhaker — Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in shooting at Paris 2024, the first Indian woman with an Olympic shooting medal.
Also asked from this topic: India's only athletics medal at Tokyo 2020 (Neeraj Chopra, 87.58 m, SSC GD 2026); the city of his 2023 Worlds gold (Budapest, SSC CGL 2025).
Sports · Cricket

Q8. What is the full form of IPL, India’s famous sports league?

  1. (a) Indian Polo League
  2. (b) Indian Premier League
  3. (c) International Pro League
  4. (d) Indoor Premier League
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Indian Premier League

Answer: Option 2 — Indian Premier League
IPL stands for the Indian Premier League, the Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament run by the BCCI.
Revision note — The Indian Premier League
• Founded by the BCCI in 2007; the first season was played in 2008 and the first commissioner was Lalit Modi.
• The 2008 final was held at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, where Rajasthan Royals, captained by Shane Warne, beat Chennai Super Kings.
• The format is Twenty20 — 20 overs a side, played on a home-and-away league basis followed by playoffs.
• Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are the most successful franchises, with five titles each up to the 2025 season.
• The Orange Cap goes to the season's leading run-scorer and the Purple Cap to the leading wicket-taker.
• The women's counterpart, the Women's Premier League (WPL), began in 2023 and was won by Mumbai Indians.
Do not mix these up
• IPL vs ISL — the Indian Premier League is cricket; the Indian Super League, started in 2014, is football.
• IPL vs WPL — the Women's Premier League (2023) is a separate women's T20 league, not a division of the IPL.
Also asked from this topic: the year of the first IPL season (2008); the venue of the first IPL final (DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai); the season Mumbai Indians won their first WPL title (2023).
Sports · Sports terminology

Q9. "All Square" is a term for a tie specifically found in which sport?

  1. (a) Archery
  2. (b) Tennis
  3. (c) Golf/Match Play
  4. (d) Volleyball
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Golf/Match Play

Answer: Option 3 — Golf/Match Play
In golf's match play format the result is counted hole by hole, and when the two sides have won the same number of holes the match is all square (AS).
Revision note — Golf terms and basics
• Match play is scored hole by hole; stroke play (medal play) counts the total strokes for the round.
• A player ahead by two holes is two up, the opponent two down, and dormie means the leader is up by as many holes as are left to play.
• Scoring against par: birdie is one under, eagle two under, albatross three under, bogey one over; a hole-in-one is an ace.
• A player may carry a maximum of 14 clubs in the bag during a stipulated round, a limit in force since 1938.
• The four majors are the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and The Open Championship; the Ryder Cup (USA against Europe) is played in match play.
• Golf returned to the Olympics at Rio 2016 after more than a century away, its last previous appearance being 1904.
• The first Indian Open golf tournament was played in 1964 at the Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi; the world body is the International Golf Federation.
Do not mix these up
• Match play vs stroke play — all square and dormie exist only in match play; in stroke play the total score decides.
• Birdie vs eagle vs bogey — one under, two under and one over par respectively.
Also asked from this topic: the sport in which Eagle is a scoring term (golf); the maximum clubs allowed in a round (14); the city and year of the first Indian Open (New Delhi, 1964).
Sports · Asian Games and Commonwealth Games

Q10. India won how many medals at the 2023 Asian Games?

  1. (a) 88
  2. (b) 43
  3. (c) 107
  4. (d) 77
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) 107

Answer: Option 3 — 107
India closed the 19th Asian Games at Hangzhou (2023) with 107 medals — 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze.
It was India's first three-figure haul at any Asian Games.
Revision note — Asian Games 2023, Hangzhou
• The 19th Asian Games were held at Hangzhou, China, from 23 September to 8 October 2023; they were the 2022 edition, postponed by a year because of COVID-19.
• India's 107 medals beat its previous best of 70 at Jakarta 2018, and India finished fourth on the table behind China, Japan and South Korea.
• Athletics gave the largest share — 29 medals (6 gold, 14 silver, 9 bronze); shooting gave 22 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze), India's best shooting haul.
• Avinash Sable won India's first Asian Games gold in the men's 3000 m steeplechase, and Neeraj Chopra retained the javelin throw gold.
• The first Asian Games were held at New Delhi in 1951, where Sachin Nag won India's first gold, in the 100 m freestyle swimming.
• India has hosted the Games twice — New Delhi, 1951 and New Delhi, 1982.
• The 20th Asian Games go to Aichi-Nagoya, Japan (2026) and the 21st to Doha, Qatar (2030); the organiser is the Olympic Council of Asia.
Do not mix these up
• Asian Games 2022 vs Asian Games 2023 — the same event: the 19th Games kept the name 2022 but were held in 2023.
• Asian Games vs Commonwealth Games — the Asian Games are run by the Olympic Council of Asia; the Commonwealth Games are for Commonwealth nations and run by the CGF.
Also asked from this topic: India's shooting medals at Hangzhou 2023 (22); the event of Avinash Sable's gold (3000 m steeplechase); India's first Asian Games gold medallist (Sachin Nag).

Geography (10)

Universe and Solar System · Universe, galaxies and Big Bang

Q11. Which of the following statements about the ΛCDM (Lambda Cold Dark Matter) cosmological model is incorrect?

  1. (a) The ΛCDM model incorporates the cosmological constant (Λ) to explain the observed accelerated expansion of the universe.
  2. (b) It assumes that dark matter is composed of hot, relativistic particles that decouple early in the universe's evolution.
  3. (c) The model successfully explains the large-scale structure formation and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies observed by missions like Planck.
  4. (d) Ordinary baryonic matter constitutes only about 5% of the total energy density of the universe according to the ΛCDM model.
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) It assumes that dark matter is composed of hot, relativistic particles that decouple early in the universe's evolution.

Answer: Option 2 — It assumes that dark matter is composed of hot, relativistic particles that decouple early in the universe's evolution
The CDM in ΛCDM stands for cold dark matter — slow-moving, non-relativistic particles.
Hot dark matter is the rival idea the observations rejected, so this is the statement that is incorrect.
Revision note — The ΛCDM (Lambda Cold Dark Matter) model
• ΛCDM is the standard model of cosmology: Λ is the cosmological constant, that is dark energy, and CDM is cold dark matter.
• Its energy budget is roughly 68 to 69 per cent dark energy, 26 to 27 per cent dark matter and only about 5 per cent ordinary baryonic matter, so option 4 is a correct statement.
• Cold means the particles were already non-relativistic when they decoupled, so small clumps formed first and merged upward — bottom-up structure formation.
• Hot dark matter, made of fast light particles such as neutrinos, would have streamed out of small clumps and wiped them out, which the observed galaxy distribution rules out.
• Λ was introduced by Einstein in 1917, dropped, then revived after 1998, when distant supernovae showed the expansion is accelerating (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2011).
• The Planck satellite (ESA, 2009-2013) mapped the CMB anisotropies and fixed the age of the universe at about 13.8 billion years.
Do not mix these up
• Dark matter vs dark energy — dark matter attracts and holds galaxies and clusters together; dark energy acts as a repulsion that accelerates the expansion of space.
• Cold vs hot dark matter — cold is slow and heavy and gives bottom-up structure; hot is relativistic and light, gives top-down, and is ruled out by the data.
Also asked from this topic: the accepted account of the origin of the universe (Big Bang theory); the evidence for it (redshift of galaxies); the project studying dark matter (Square Kilometre Array).
Universe and Solar System · Universe, galaxies and Big Bang

Q12. What does the discovery of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation primarily support?

  1. (a) The existence of black holes in all galaxies.
  2. (b) The Big Bang theory of the universe's origin.
  3. (c) The Steady-State theory of constant cosmic density.
  4. (d) That space is completely cold and inert.
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) The Big Bang theory of the universe's origin.

Answer: Option 2 — The Big Bang theory of the universe's origin
The cosmic microwave background is the relic heat of a hot, dense early universe.
That is precisely what the Big Bang predicts, and it is something the rival Steady-State theory cannot produce at all.
Revision note — Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
• The CMB was discovered accidentally in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Laboratories, using a horn antenna at Holmdel; they shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.
• It had been predicted in the late 1940s by George Gamow, Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman as the leftover radiation of a hot beginning.
• Its temperature today is about 2.725 K, it fills the whole sky almost uniformly, and it peaks in the microwave part of the spectrum.
• It was released when the universe first cooled enough for atoms to form and became transparent to light — about 3,80,000 years after the Big Bang, which NCERT rounds to about 3,00,000 years.
• The tiny ripples in it, the anisotropies, were mapped by COBE (1989), WMAP (2001) and Planck (2009), and are the seeds from which galaxies grew.
• It is the single strongest piece of evidence against the Steady-State theory of Hoyle, Bondi and Gold, which held that the universe has no beginning and a constant density.
Do not mix these up
• CMB vs redshift — the redshift of galaxies (Hubble, 1929) shows the universe is expanding; the CMB shows it was once hot and dense. Both support the Big Bang, by different routes.
• Big Bang vs Steady-State — the Big Bang has a definite beginning about 13.8 billion years ago; Steady-State claims continuous creation of matter and no beginning at all.
Also asked from this topic: the accepted explanation of the origin of the universe (Big Bang theory); the evidence for it (redshift of galaxies); when the universe became transparent (about 3,00,000 years).
India - Transport and Communication · Ports and shipping

Q13. Which Indian port is known as the 'Gateway of Eastern India'?

  1. (a) Paradip
  2. (b) Kolkata
  3. (c) Haldia
  4. (d) Visakhapatnam
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Kolkata

Answer: Option 2 — Kolkata
Kolkata Port, renamed Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in 2020, is India's only major riverine port.
It is called the Gateway of Eastern India for the vast eastern and north-eastern hinterland it serves.
Revision note — Kolkata Port and the eastern coast
• Kolkata Port stands on the Hooghly (Hugli) river, about 128 km upstream from the Bay of Bengal — an inland riverine port, not a sea port.
• Opened in 1870, it is India's oldest operating major port and runs two dock systems — the Kolkata Dock System and the Haldia Dock Complex.
• Its chronic problem is silt accumulation in the Hooghly, which forces constant dredging and limits the draught of the ships it can take.
• Haldia, about 105 km downstream on the Hooghly, was built as a subsidiary deep-draught dock to relieve that congestion.
• Other east-coast major ports: Paradip (Odisha), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) — the deepest, Chennai, Kamarajar (Ennore) and V. O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin).
• The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project runs from Kolkata port by sea to Sittwe in Myanmar, then up the Kaladan river and by road into Mizoram.
Do not mix these up
• Kolkata vs Haldia — both lie on the Hooghly under the same port authority, but Haldia is the downstream deep-water dock built for ships Kolkata cannot take.
• Riverine port vs sea port — Kolkata sits inland on a river; Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Paradip stand on the coast itself.
Also asked from this topic: the port troubled by silt in the Hooghly (Kolkata); the inland riverine port of India (Kolkata); the port 105 km downstream that relieves Kolkata (Haldia).
Lithosphere - Earth's Interior and Landforms · Earthquakes and seismic waves

Q14. Which of the following regions of India is most susceptible to earthquakes due to its tectonic activity and convergence of the Indian and Eurasian plates?

  1. (a) Eastern Ghats
  2. (b) Deccan Plateau
  3. (c) Indo-Gangetic Plain
  4. (d) Himalayan Belt
Answer & solution

Answer: (d) Himalayan Belt

Answer: Option 4 — Himalayan Belt
The Himalayas sit on the collision boundary of the Indian and Eurasian plates, where the Indian plate is still pushing north.
That continuing convergence gives the belt India's strongest and most frequent earthquakes.
Revision note — Earthquakes and India's seismic zones
• The Himalayas are fold mountains raised by the collision of the Indian (Indo-Australian) plate with the Eurasian plate, which folded the sediments of the Tethys Sea.
• India is divided into four seismic zones, II to V (under IS 1893:2016; a 2025 revision that added a Zone VI was withdrawn in early 2026); Zone V is the highest risk.
• Zone V covers the entire North-East, Kashmir, parts of Himachal and Uttarakhand, the Rann of Kachchh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The Deccan Plateau and most of peninsular India lie in the stable Zone II, the lowest-risk band.
• Magnitude is measured on the Richter scale (Charles F. Richter, 1935), a logarithmic scale; intensity is measured on the Mercalli scale; a seismograph records the waves.
• P waves are fastest and pass through solids and liquids; S waves travel only through solids, which is how the liquid outer core was found; surface waves are slowest but most destructive.
Do not mix these up
• Richter scale vs Mercalli scale — Richter measures the energy released at the source; Mercalli measures the damage felt at a place.
• Focus vs epicentre — the focus (hypocentre) is the point of origin inside the Earth; the epicentre is the point on the surface directly above it.
Also asked from this topic: the plates whose collision formed the Himalayas (Indian, Eurasian); what the Richter scale measures (magnitude); the zone where no S-waves are detected (shadow zone).
Environment and Protected Areas · Elephant reserves and other conservation projects

Q15. Which of the following places is NOT a vulture conservation breeding centre under the Bombay Natural History Society?

  1. (a) Pinjore (Haryana)
  2. (b) Buxa (West Bengal)
  3. (c) Rani, Guwahati (Assam)
  4. (d) Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh)
Answer & solution

Answer: (d) Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh)

Answer: Option 4 — Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh)
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) runs its Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres at Pinjore (Haryana), Rajabhatkhawa near Buxa (West Bengal) and Rani, Guwahati (Assam).
Pachmarhi is a hill station and biosphere reserve in the Satpuras, not a vulture breeding centre.
Revision note — Vulture conservation in India
• The BNHS, founded in 1883 and based in Mumbai, is India's oldest wildlife research body; its vulture recovery programme began in the late 1990s.
• Its three breeding centres are Pinjore, Haryana (2001) — the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre — Rajabhatkhawa in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal (2005) and Rani, Guwahati, Assam (2007).
• The crash was caused by the veterinary painkiller diclofenac, which causes kidney failure in vultures that feed on treated cattle carcasses. India banned its veterinary use in 2006.
• The White-rumped, Indian (long-billed) and Slender-billed vultures fell by over 97 per cent between the 1990s and 2007 and are all Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
• The Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020–2025 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change created Vulture Safe Zones and more breeding centres.
• India has nine vulture species, among them the Egyptian, Red-headed, Cinereous and Bearded (Lammergeier) vultures.
Do not mix these up
• Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore vs Jatayu Earth's Centre, Kerala — the first breeds vultures; the second is a tourism rock sculpture in Kollam district.
• Pachmarhi vs Panna — Pachmarhi is a biosphere reserve in Madhya Pradesh; Panna is the tiger reserve famous for tiger reintroduction.
Also asked from this topic: the bird called nature's scavenger or sanitation worker (vulture, SSC GD 2026).
Lithosphere - Earth's Interior and Landforms · Minerals (geological)

Q16. Which mineral is most abundant in the Earth's continental crust?

  1. (a) Olivine
  2. (b) Amphibole
  3. (c) Feldspar
  4. (d) Mica
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Feldspar

Answer: Option 3 — Feldspar
Feldspar is the most abundant mineral group in the Earth's crust, making up roughly half of the continental crust.
Granite, the typical continental rock, is largely feldspar with quartz and mica.
Revision note — Minerals and the Earth's crust
• By element the crust is oxygen (about 46.6 per cent), silicon (about 27.7 per cent), aluminium (8.1 per cent), iron (5.0 per cent), then calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.
• By mineral the order is feldspar (about 50 per cent), then quartz, then pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas and olivine.
• The continental crust is called sial (silica + alumina); the oceanic crust is sima (silica + magnesium) and the core is nife (nickel + iron).
• Continental crust is about 30–70 km thick with density near 2.7; oceanic crust is only about 5–10 km thick and denser, near 3.0.
• The Mohorovicic (Moho) discontinuity, identified by Andrija Mohorovicic in 1909, separates crust from mantle; the Conrad discontinuity lies inside the crust.
• Olivine and pyroxene are rich in iron and magnesium and dominate the mantle and oceanic crust, which is why they are not the continental answer.
Do not mix these up
• Most abundant element vs most abundant mineral — the element is oxygen; the mineral is feldspar.
• Sial vs sima — sial is the lighter continental crust; sima is the denser oceanic crust.
Also asked from this topic: the main mineral constituents of the continental mass (silica and alumina, i.e. sial, SSC MTS 2026); the discontinuity separating crust and mantle (Moho, SSC GD 2026).
World Geography · Countries and international boundaries

Q17. Which of the following is a TRUE statement about Indian Ocean states as of 2025?

  1. (a) Only Asian and African states border the Indian Ocean
  2. (b) Indian Ocean sovereign states include countries from Africa, Asia, and Oceania; France and UK have territories
  3. (c) Only 10 countries are in the region
  4. (d) Russia borders the Indian Ocean
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Indian Ocean sovereign states include countries from Africa, Asia, and Oceania; France and UK have territories

Answer: Option 2 — Indian Ocean sovereign states include countries from Africa, Asia, and Oceania; France and UK have territories
The Indian Ocean is ringed by states of Africa, Asia and Oceania (Australia), and both France and the United Kingdom hold territories in it.
That makes the other three statements false.
Revision note — The Indian Ocean and its states
• It is the third largest ocean (about 70.6 million sq km) and the only ocean named after a country; its deepest point is the Sunda (Java) Trench, about 7,290 m.
• Rim states span three continents — Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia), Asia (India, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia) and Oceania (Australia).
• Island nations in it are Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros and Madagascar; the Maldives (about 300 sq km) is the smallest by area.
• France holds Reunion and Mayotte, and the United Kingdom holds the British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garcia) — so European powers are present without being rim states.
• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) was set up in 1997 in Mauritius, with its secretariat at Ebene; India is a founding member.
• Russia does not touch the Indian Ocean — its coasts lie on the Arctic and Pacific oceans and on the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas.
Do not mix these up
• Indian Ocean rim states vs Indian Ocean island nations — the rim includes mainland countries such as Australia and South Africa; the island nations number only six.
• IORA vs IONS — IORA (1997) is the economic grouping of rim states; the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (2008) is the naval forum.
Also asked from this topic: the year IORA was established (1997, SSC CHSL 2025); the smallest Indian Ocean island nation (Maldives, SSC CGL 2025).
Environment and Protected Areas · Environmental organisations and laws

Q18. Which is the primary legal act for air pollution control in India?

  1. (a) Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
  2. (b) Environment Protection Act
  3. (c) Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
  4. (d) Forest Rights Act
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act

Answer: Option 1 — Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 is the dedicated central law for preventing and controlling air pollution.
It is enforced through the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards.
Revision note — India's major environmental laws
• Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 — the first of the series; it created the CPCB and the State Pollution Control Boards.
• Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 — passed to give effect to the Stockholm Conference of 1972; noise was added as an air pollutant by the 1987 amendment.
• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 — the umbrella law, enacted after the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 1984; later rules, such as the Environment Audit Rules, 2025, are issued under it.
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006 deal with species, diversion of forest land, and the rights of forest dwellers.
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were notified for 12 pollutants in 2009; the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched in 2019.
• The National Green Tribunal was set up under the NGT Act, 2010, with its principal bench at New Delhi.
Do not mix these up
• Air Act, 1981 vs Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 — the Air Act is specific to air; the 1986 Act is the general umbrella law covering air, water, soil and noise together.
• Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 vs Forest Rights Act, 2006 — the 1980 Act restricts diversion of forest land; the 2006 Act recognises the rights of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
Also asked from this topic: the Act dealing specifically with air pollution (Air Act, 1981); the year NAAQS covered 12 pollutants (2009); the parent Act of the Environment Audit Rules, 2025 (EPA, 1986).
India - Population and Census · Urbanisation and migration

Q19. Which is the main urban demographic trend highlighted in India between 2011 and 2025?

  1. (a) Urban population shrank
  2. (b) Urban population stable at 30%
  3. (c) Rapid urbanization to 37% with mega cities growing
  4. (d) Only rural population grew
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Rapid urbanization to 37% with mega cities growing

Answer: Option 3 — Rapid urbanization to 37% with mega cities growing
India's urban share has risen from 31.16 per cent at Census 2011 to roughly 36-37 per cent by 2025 on UN projections, and the sharpest growth has come in the million-plus and mega cities.
No census has been held since 2011, so the 2025 figure is an estimate, not a counted number.
Revision note — Urbanisation in India
• Census 2011: urban population 37.7 crore, i.e. 31.16 per cent of the total, up from 27.81 per cent in 2001.
• The urban share was about 10.8 per cent in 1901 and about 17.3 per cent in 1951 — the climb has been steady but slow.
• 2011 was the first census in which the absolute increase in urban population exceeded the increase in rural population.
• Census size classes: a million-plus (metropolitan) city has 10 lakh or more people; a mega city has more than 1 crore (10 million).
• India's mega cities at Census 2011 were Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata; Delhi is now the country's largest urban agglomeration.
• Maharashtra has the largest urban population in absolute numbers; Goa (62.2 per cent) is the most urbanised state and Himachal Pradesh (about 10 per cent) the least.
• Urbanisation is not a component of population change — the three components are births, deaths and migration.
Do not mix these up
• Statutory town vs census town — a statutory town has a municipality or corporation; a census town has no urban local body but meets the population, density and non-agricultural-work tests.
• Million-plus city vs mega city — 10 lakh and above for the first, over 1 crore for the second.
Also asked from this topic: the level of urbanisation in Census 2011 (31.16 per cent); India's urban share in 1951 (17.3 per cent); the Census term for a city of over 10 million people (mega city).
India - Location, Physiography and Neighbours · Neighbouring countries and border states

Q20. What is the total length of the land border shared between India and Bangladesh?

  1. (a) 4,960 km
  2. (b) 4,096 km
  3. (c) 4,906 km
  4. (d) 4,609 km
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) 4,096 km

Answer: Option 2 — 4,096 km
India and Bangladesh share a land boundary of about 4,096.7 km, the longest land border India has with any neighbour.
Revision note — India's land borders
• India's total land boundary is about 15,106.7 km; the coastline, including the islands, is 11,098.81 km as re-assessed by the National Hydrographic Office (NHO) with the Survey of India (as of 2025; the older figure was 7,516.6 km).
• Border lengths in order: Bangladesh 4,096.7 km, China 3,488 km, Pakistan 3,323 km, Nepal 1,751 km, Myanmar 1,643 km, Bhutan 699 km, Afghanistan 106 km.
• Five Indian states touch Bangladesh — West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; West Bengal has the longest stretch, about 2,217 km.
• The line follows the Radcliffe Line of 1947; the Land Boundary Agreement exchanging enclaves was ratified in 2015 by the 100th Constitutional Amendment.
• Below Farakka the Ganga (Padma) runs along part of this border; the Border Security Force (BSF) guards it.
• India shares land borders with seven countries; Tripura is almost surrounded by Bangladesh.
• Other boundary lines: the McMahon Line with China, the Line of Control with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Durand Line between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Do not mix these up
• Radcliffe Line vs McMahon Line — Radcliffe (1947) separates India from Pakistan and Bangladesh; McMahon (1914) marks the India-China boundary in the east.
• Longest land border vs longest border state — India's longest land border is with Bangladesh; among states, Rajasthan has the longest border with Pakistan, about 1,070 km.
Also asked from this topic: the country with India's longest land border (Bangladesh, about 4,097 km); the state that does NOT border Bangladesh (Odisha).

Chemistry (2)

Carbon and its Compounds · Allotropes of carbon

Q21. Which of the following statements correctly describes the unique properties and potential applications of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) in advanced technology?

  1. (a) Carbon Nanotubes are cylindrical allotropes of carbon composed of multiple layers of graphene sheets rolled concentrically, exhibiting excellent electrical conductivity, high tensile strength, and are widely used as catalysts in traditional chemical reactions.
  2. (b) Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess tunable electrical properties that can be either metallic or semiconducting depending on their chirality and diameter, making them promising materials for nanoelectronics and sensor applications.
  3. (c) Carbon Nanotubes inherently have low thermal conductivity but are primarily valued for their magnetic properties in spintronic devices.
  4. (d) Carbon Nanotubes degrade rapidly under atmospheric conditions, limiting their practical use in materials science and requiring constant inert environment for handling.
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess tunable electrical properties that can be either metallic or semiconducting depending on their chirality and diameter, making them promising materials for nanoelectronics and sensor applications.

Answer: Option 2 — Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) have tunable electrical properties, metallic or semiconducting depending on chirality and diameter
A single-walled nanotube is one graphene sheet rolled into a cylinder.
The angle at which it is rolled, its chirality (n, m), decides whether the tube behaves as a metal or as a semiconductor — which is exactly why it suits nanoelectronics.
Revision note — Carbon nanotubes
• A CNT is a rolled graphene sheet; an SWCNT has one wall, an MWCNT several concentric walls. They were characterised by Sumio Iijima in 1991.
• For an (n, m) tube the conduction is metallic when n = m (the armchair type) or when (n − m) is a multiple of 3, and semiconducting otherwise — this is the tunability the answer names.
• Tensile strength is about 100 GPa and Young's modulus about 1 TPa, making a nanotube roughly 100 times stronger than steel at about one-sixth the weight.
• Thermal conductivity along the tube is very high, about 3,000 W/m·K, well above copper — so option 3, which calls it low, is false.
• CNTs are chemically stable in ordinary air, and are used in composites, battery electrodes, field-emission displays and gas sensors.
• The allotropes of carbon to remember are diamond (tetrahedral, non-conducting), graphite (hexagonal layers, conducting), graphene, fullerene (C60, Buckminsterfullerene) and carbon nanotubes.
Do not mix these up
• Diamond vs graphite — in diamond all four valence electrons are locked into bonds, so it does not conduct; graphite leaves one delocalised electron per carbon atom and does conduct.
• Graphene vs carbon nanotube — graphene is a flat sheet one atom thick; a nanotube is that same sheet rolled into a cylinder.
Also asked from this topic: the carbon allotrope with a tetrahedral structure (diamond); why diamond does not conduct while graphite does (all its electrons are used in bonding).
Everyday and Industrial Chemistry · Food chemistry (preservatives, sweeteners, additives)

Q22. Which compound in garlic contributes to its antimicrobial property?

  1. (a) Allicin
  2. (b) Ascorbic acid
  3. (c) Curcumin
  4. (d) Eugenol
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Allicin

Answer: Option 1 — Allicin
Allicin is the organosulphur compound released when a garlic clove is crushed.
It gives garlic both its pungent smell and its antibacterial and antifungal action.
Revision note — Active compounds in common foods
• Garlic (Allium sativum) stores a stable, odourless compound called alliin; crushing releases the enzyme alliinase, which converts it into allicin within seconds.
• Allicin is unstable and breaks down on heating, which is why raw crushed garlic is the form credited with antimicrobial value; it was first isolated by Chester J. Cavallito in 1944.
• Ascorbic acid is vitamin C, found in amla, guava and citrus fruits; its deficiency causes scurvy. It is an antioxidant, not garlic's antimicrobial agent.
• Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric (Curcuma longa), valued as an anti-inflammatory; Lakadong turmeric of Meghalaya is prized for its high curcumin content.
• Eugenol is the chief compound of clove oil, used as a dental analgesic and in the laboratory as an olfactory indicator.
• Other pairs worth memorising: capsaicin (chilli), piperine (black pepper), cinnamaldehyde (cinnamon), allyl isothiocyanate (mustard), lycopene (tomato), zingiberene (ginger).
Do not mix these up
• Alliin vs allicin — alliin is the odourless compound stored inside the intact clove; allicin appears only when the clove is crushed or cut.
• Allicin vs capsaicin — allicin is the pungency of garlic; capsaicin is the compound that makes chillies hot.
Also asked from this topic: the compound giving garlic its sharp taste and smell (allicin); the state whose Lakadong turmeric is high in curcumin (Meghalaya); clove oil's lab use (olfactory indicator).

Economics (8)

Industry and Infrastructure · LPG reforms of 1991

Q23. Which of the following best characterizes the nature and objectives of second-generation economic reforms in India, initiated after the initial 1991 liberalization?

  1. (a) They focused exclusively on reversing the first-generation reforms due to social backlash
  2. (b) They aimed at deepening structural changes by improving governance, labor laws, financial sector regulation, and infrastructure development
  3. (c) They sought to reintroduce industrial licensing and restrict foreign direct investment
  4. (d) They were limited to agricultural subsidies and rural employment schemes
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) They aimed at deepening structural changes by improving governance, labor laws, financial sector regulation, and infrastructure development

Answer: Option 2 — They aimed at deepening structural changes by improving governance, labor laws, financial sector regulation, and infrastructure development
The first-generation reforms of 1991 freed the product market — licensing, trade and foreign investment.
The second generation, from the late 1990s, went after the harder ground: factor markets and institutions — labour, land, finance, infrastructure and governance.
Revision note — Second-generation economic reforms
• First-generation reforms (1991-96): industrial licensing abolished, the rupee devalued, import tariffs cut and FDI allowed up to 51 per cent in many industries.
• They also diluted the MRTP Act and cut the industries reserved for the public sector from 17 to 8.
• Second-generation reforms began in the late 1990s; the phrase entered official use around the Economic Survey of 1999-2000, and the agenda is still unfinished.
• Finance and insurance were opened: the IRDA Act, 1999 admitted private and foreign insurers and ended the LIC and GIC monopoly, while capital-market regulation under SEBI was tightened.
• Infrastructure was restructured: the New Telecom Policy, 1999 moved operators from fixed licence fees to revenue sharing.
• The National Highways Development Project and the Golden Quadrilateral began in 1998-99, and the Electricity Act, 2003 unbundled the state electricity boards.
• Fiscal and tax reform followed: the FRBM Act, 2003 set deficit targets, State VAT replaced sales tax from 2005, and the process led on to the GST in 2017.
• Governance and factor markets: disinvestment got its own ministry in 1999, while labour law reform — later consolidated into four Labour Codes (2019-20) — and land acquisition remain the slowest parts.
Do not mix these up
• First vs second generation — the first freed the product market (licences, trade, FDI); the second targets factor markets and institutions (labour, land, finance, governance).
• Privatisation vs disinvestment — privatisation transfers management control to private hands; disinvestment may sell only a minority stake and leave control with the government.
Also asked from this topic: how second-generation reforms affected foreign investment (they raised it by improving the investment climate); what the 1991 crisis was a shortage of (foreign exchange).
Industry and Infrastructure · LPG reforms of 1991

Q24. In the context of the 1991 economic reforms in India, what was the underlying rationale for promoting privatization, and why was it considered a shift in the philosophy of state intervention in the economy?

  1. (a) To achieve complete withdrawal of the state from all productive sectors and allow only foreign companies to invest
  2. (b) To raise immediate fiscal revenue by auctioning public assets without concern for efficiency
  3. (c) To reduce the fiscal burden, improve efficiency of public enterprises, and redefine the role of the state from owner to facilitator
  4. (d) To abolish the public sector and replace it with state monopolies in defense and heavy industries
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) To reduce the fiscal burden, improve efficiency of public enterprises, and redefine the role of the state from owner to facilitator

Answer: Option 3 — To reduce the fiscal burden, improve efficiency of public enterprises, and redefine the role of the state from owner to facilitator
By 1991 loss-making public enterprises were a steady drain on the budget.
Privatisation was meant to cut that fiscal burden, raise efficiency, and move the state from owner-producer to facilitator and regulator.
Revision note — Privatisation under the 1991 reforms
• The reforms came under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, with Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister; the New Industrial Policy was announced on 24 July 1991.
• The trigger was a balance of payments crisis — reserves had fallen to roughly two weeks of imports, and the conditions of the IMF and the World Bank shaped the LPG package.
• Industrial licensing was abolished for most industries, and the industries reserved for the public sector were cut from 17 to 8.
• Today only atomic energy and railway operations remain closed to private entry.
• Disinvestment is the usual route to privatisation here — a minority sale keeps government control, while a strategic sale hands over management as well.
• DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, renamed in 2016) runs the process; Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna status instead gives profitable PSUs autonomy.
• The largest strategic sale so far is Air India to the Tata group, completed in January 2022.
Do not mix these up
• Privatisation vs disinvestment — privatisation transfers management control; disinvestment may sell only a minority stake and leave the government in charge.
• Liberalisation vs privatisation — liberalisation removes licensing and controls on producers; privatisation changes who owns the enterprise.
Also asked from this topic: what disinvestment sells stakes in (public enterprises); the sale transferring only part of PSU ownership (minority sale); the bodies behind the 1991 reforms (IMF, World Bank).
Poverty, Unemployment and Human Development · Human Development Index and UNDP

Q25. Which of the following features is common to both the Happiness Index and HDI in determining a country's rank?

  1. (a) Economic inequality
  2. (b) Internet availability
  3. (c) Life expectancy
  4. (d) National defense expenditure
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Life expectancy

Answer: Option 3 — Life expectancy
Both indices measure a country's health by how long its people live.
The HDI uses life expectancy at birth; the World Happiness Report uses healthy life expectancy.
Revision note — HDI and the Happiness Index
• The HDI is published by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, first issued in 1990; it was designed by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen.
• HDI has three dimensions — health (life expectancy at birth), education (mean and expected years of schooling) and standard of living (GNI per capita, PPP).
• The Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) came in the 2010 report, along with the Multidimensional Poverty Index and the Gender Inequality Index.
• The World Happiness Report is published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) — not the UNDP — using Gallup World Poll survey data.
• It explains happiness through six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
• Finland has topped the World Happiness Report every year since 2018; in the 2024 report Afghanistan was last.
Do not mix these up
• HDI vs World Happiness Report — the HDI is UNDP data on health, education and income; the Happiness Report is UN SDSN and rests largely on self-reported life evaluations.
• Life expectancy at birth vs healthy life expectancy — the HDI counts all years lived; the Happiness Report counts only the years expected to be lived in good health.
Also asked from this topic: the three dimensions of the HDI (education, income, life expectancy); the least happy country in the 2024 World Happiness Report (Afghanistan).
Agriculture and Food Security · Agricultural policies and missions

Q26. Globalization has significantly impacted Indian agriculture. Which of the following is a negative consequence often associated with globalization's impact on Indian farmers?

  1. (a) Increased access to international markets for agricultural products.
  2. (b) Greater availability of modern agricultural machinery.
  3. (c) Exposure to competition from cheaper imported agricultural goods and volatile global prices.
  4. (d) Promotion of diversified cropping patterns for export.
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Exposure to competition from cheaper imported agricultural goods and volatile global prices.

Answer: Option 3 — Exposure to competition from cheaper imported agricultural goods and volatile global prices.
Globalisation opened Indian farming to world markets, so growers now face cheap imports and prices set abroad.
The other three statements describe gains, not losses.
Revision note — Globalisation and Indian agriculture
• Under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (1995) India had to remove quantitative restrictions on farm imports; they went completely by April 2001.
• Edible oil is the clearest case — cheap imported palm and soya oil now meet well over half of India's demand and have squeezed domestic oilseed growers.
• Public investment in agriculture fell through the 1990s while input costs rose, hitting small and marginal farmers, who hold about 86 per cent of all operational holdings.
• Export-led cash cropping in cotton, vanilla and gherkins exposed farmers to global price crashes, a recognised driver of agrarian distress since the late 1990s.
• Gains did follow — basmati rice, spices, marine products and buffalo meat exports grew strongly and India is now a leading farm exporter.
• The Minimum Support Price and buffer stocking by the Food Corporation of India (1965) remain the main shield against imported price volatility.
Do not mix these up
• Liberalisation vs globalisation — liberalisation loosens internal controls on Indian producers; globalisation opens the economy outward to world trade and capital.
Also asked from this topic: globalisation's uneven gains after 1991 (SSC CGL 2025); the reform that let MNCs enter India (globalisation, SSC CGL 2025).
External Sector and International Economic Organisations · Foreign trade policy and EXIM

Q27. Read the below statements:
1. Trade Policy Reforms removed import licensing for most items.
2. Devaluation of the rupee made imports cheaper.
3. FDI was encouraged post-1991 through automatic approval routes.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?

  1. (a) Only 1 and 2 are correct
  2. (b) Only 1 and 3 are correct
  3. (c) Only 2 and 3 are correct
  4. (d) All 1, 2, and 3 are correct
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Only 1 and 3 are correct

Answer: Option 2 — Only 1 and 3 are correct
Statements 1 and 3 are right: the 1991 trade reforms abolished import licensing for most items, and FDI was welcomed through the automatic route.
Statement 2 is wrong — devaluation makes the rupee cheaper, so imports become costlier, while exports become cheaper for foreign buyers.
Revision note — Trade and investment reforms of 1991
• The New Industrial Policy was announced on 24 July 1991 by Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.
• Import licensing was abolished for most goods, quantitative restrictions were dropped and the peak customs duty was cut steeply from over 200 per cent.
• The rupee was devalued in two steps, on 1 and 3 July 1991, a cumulative fall of about 18–19 per cent against the US dollar.
• FDI up to 51 per cent was allowed automatically in 34 high-priority industries in 1991; today most sectors sit on the automatic route, needing no prior government approval.
• The trigger was the balance of payments crisis — reserves had fallen to about two weeks of imports, India pledged gold abroad and borrowed about 7 billion dollars from the IMF and the World Bank.
• Industries reserved for the public sector were cut from 17 to 8, and the asset limits of the MRTP Act on large houses were removed.
Do not mix these up
• Devaluation vs depreciation — devaluation is a deliberate cut under a fixed exchange rate; depreciation is a market fall under a floating rate.
• Imports cheaper vs exports cheaper — after devaluation exports get cheaper abroad and imports get dearer at home. Statement 2 reverses this.
• Automatic route vs government route — the automatic route needs no prior approval, only reporting to the RBI afterwards.
Also asked from this topic: the measure showing trade liberalisation (abolishing import licensing, SSC GD 2026); the July 1991 devaluation (about 18 per cent, SSC CHSL 2025).
Basic Concepts and Economic Systems · Microeconomics and macroeconomics

Q28. Which of the following is not a macroeconomic aggregate?

  1. (a) Aggregate demand
  2. (b) GDP
  3. (c) Price level
  4. (d) Market supply of rice
Answer & solution

Answer: (d) Market supply of rice

Answer: Option 4 — Market supply of rice
A macroeconomic aggregate is an economy-wide total, and aggregate demand, GDP and the general price level all are.
The market supply of rice is the supply of one commodity in one market, which belongs to microeconomics.
Revision note — Microeconomics and macroeconomics
• Microeconomics studies individual units — a household, a firm, the price and output of a single good. It is also called price theory.
• Macroeconomics studies the economy as a whole — national income, aggregate demand and supply, the price level, employment and the balance of payments. It is also called income and employment theory.
• The terms micro and macro were coined by the Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch in 1933; J. M. Keynes's General Theory (1936) founded modern macroeconomics.
• Aggregate demand (AD) = C + I + G + (X − M) — consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.
• The general price level is measured by the CPI, the WPI and the GDP deflator (nominal GDP ÷ real GDP × 100).
• Macroeconomics treats all output as one representative commodity, which is exactly why a single market's supply has no place among its aggregates.
Do not mix these up
• Market supply vs aggregate supply — market supply is one good in one market; aggregate supply is the total output of all goods in the economy.
• Price of rice vs price level — a single price is micro; the average of all prices is macro.
Also asked from this topic: the representative-commodity simplification in macroeconomics (SSC CGL 2025); imports and exports as leakage and injection in aggregate demand (SSC CGL 2025).
External Sector and International Economic Organisations · Foreign exchange reserves and exchange rates

Q29. What happened to India’s foreign exchange reserves after the 1991 reforms?

  1. (a) Declined to lowest point
  2. (b) Reached historic highs in following decades
  3. (c) Remained same
  4. (d) Were abolished
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Reached historic highs in following decades

Answer: Option 2 — Reached historic highs in following decades
Liberalised trade and freer capital inflows reversed the 1991 balance of payments crisis: reserves rose from roughly US$1 billion in 1991 to past US$600 billion in 2021.
The fall to the lowest point happened before the reforms, not after them.
Revision note — The 1991 crisis and the LPG reforms
• In 1991 reserves had shrunk to about two weeks of imports, and India pledged gold with the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan to raise foreign exchange.
• India drew a bailout from the IMF and the World Bank; the reform package is remembered as LPG — Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation.
• The New Industrial Policy was announced on 24 July 1991 by Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.
• The rupee was devalued twice in July 1991, by about 18 to 19 per cent in all.
• Reserves then climbed steadily, crossing US$100 billion in 2003-04, US$500 billion in 2020 and US$600 billion in 2021.
• India's reserves are held by the RBI and consist of foreign currency assets, gold, SDRs and the reserve tranche position with the IMF.
Do not mix these up
• Devaluation vs depreciation — devaluation is a deliberate cut in a fixed exchange rate by the authorities; depreciation is a fall driven by the market.
• Balance of trade vs balance of payments — the balance of trade counts only goods; the balance of payments covers goods, services, income and capital flows.
Also asked from this topic: what the 1991 crisis was a shortage of (foreign exchange); why the reforms lifted reserves (higher exports and capital inflows); the effect on FDI (a sharp rise).
Planning and NITI Aayog · Five-Year Plans - objectives and models

Q30. What was the main focus area of the First Five Year Plan (1951-56)?

  1. (a) Industrialization
  2. (b) Agriculture and irrigation
  3. (c) Export promotion
  4. (d) Heavy engineering
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Agriculture and irrigation

Answer: Option 2 — Agriculture and irrigation
The First Five Year Plan (1951-56) was built on the Harrod-Domar model and gave the highest priority to agriculture, irrigation and power.
Partition had brought a flood of refugees and a severe food shortage, so raising food output came before industry.
Revision note — The First Five Year Plan (1951-56)
• The Planning Commission was set up on 15 March 1950 with the Prime Minister as its ex-officio Chairman; the First Plan was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1951.
• It was based on the Harrod-Domar model, in which the growth rate equals the savings rate divided by the capital-output ratio (ICOR).
• Target growth was 2.1 per cent a year and the achievement was about 3.6 per cent, so the plan is counted a success.
• Multi-purpose river valley projects taken up under this plan: Bhakra-Nangal, Damodar Valley and Hirakud; Mettur Dam, often wrongly added to this list, was completed back in 1934.
• The Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953) were launched under this plan.
• The Second Plan (1956-61), on the Mahalanobis model, switched to industrialisation and heavy industry; the plan holiday ran from 1966 to 1969.
• The Twelfth Plan (2012-17) was the last; the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015.
Do not mix these up
• First Plan vs Second Plan — First: agriculture and irrigation, Harrod-Domar model. Second: heavy industry, Mahalanobis model.
• Planning Commission vs NITI Aayog — the Commission (1950) allocated plan funds to the states; NITI Aayog (2015) is only an advisory think tank.
Also asked from this topic: the main focus of the First Five-Year Plan (agriculture); the model it used (Harrod-Domar); the meaning of plan holiday (the break of 1966-69).

Modern History (3)

Post-Independence India · Major political events after independence

Q31. Who among the following unsung heroes led the Mizo National Famine Front during the 1959 Mautam famine and later established the MNF movement for the rights of the Mizo people?

  1. (a) Laldenga
  2. (b) Lal Thanhawla
  3. (c) Pu Zoramthanga
  4. (d) T. Sailo
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Laldenga

Answer: Option 1 — Laldenga
Laldenga founded the Mizo National Famine Front during the Mautam famine of 1959.
He renamed it the Mizo National Front (MNF) in 1961 and led it for the next twenty-five years.
Revision note — The Mizo movement and Mizoram
• Mautam is the famine that follows the flowering of Melocanna baccifera bamboo, roughly once every 48 years.
• The flowering feeds an explosion of rats, which then destroy the grain crop; the 1959 famine and the slow relief from Assam turned Mizo anger political.
• The famine front of 1959 became the Mizo National Front under Laldenga in 1961; it declared independence in 1966, and the insurgency ran about twenty years.
• The Mizoram Peace Accord was signed on 30 June 1986 with the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and Laldenga became the state's first Chief Minister.
• Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987, the same day as Arunachal Pradesh; its capital is Aizawl.
• Mizoram's tribal areas are governed under the Sixth Schedule; its spring festival is Chapchar Kut and its folk dance is Cheraw, the bamboo dance.
Do not mix these up
• Laldenga vs Lal Thanhawla — Lal Thanhawla was the Congress Chief Minister who stepped down to make way for Laldenga in 1986, and later served longest as CM.
• Laldenga vs Zoramthanga — Zoramthanga succeeded Laldenga at the head of the MNF and became Chief Minister much later; he did not found the movement.
• Laldenga vs T. Sailo — Brigadier T. Sailo founded the People's Conference and was Chief Minister of the Union Territory, working against the insurgency, not leading it.
Also asked from this topic: the state whose folk dance is Cheraw (Mizoram); the Mizo festival after jhum clearing (Chapchar Kut); the Sixth Schedule states (Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram).
British Administration and Policies · Press acts and other laws

Q32. Fill in the blank:
The Vernacular Press Act of 1878, enacted by Lord ________, empowered the British government to seize the assets of Indian-language newspapers that published critical or 'seditious' reports, thereby suppressing their freedom.

  1. (a) Canning
  2. (b) Ripon
  3. (c) Lytton
  4. (d) Dufferin
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Lytton

Answer: Option 3 — Lytton
The Vernacular Press Act, 1878 was passed under Viceroy Lord Lytton (1876–1880).
It let magistrates seize the press and assets of Indian-language newspapers that printed matter judged seditious.
Revision note — The Vernacular Press Act and Lord Lytton
• It was nicknamed the Gagging Act and applied only to Indian-language papers — English newspapers were exempt, an open discrimination.
• It allowed no appeal to a court; a paper could escape only by submitting its proofs to a government censor in advance.
• Amrita Bazar Patrika dodged the Act by converting itself into an English newspaper overnight.
• The Act was repealed by Lord Ripon in 1882.
• Lytton also passed the Indian Arms Act, 1878, held the Delhi Durbar of 1877 proclaiming Queen Victoria Kaiser-i-Hind, and cut the maximum age for the civil services examination from 21 to 19.
• Earlier press laws: Censorship of Press Act 1799 (Wellesley), Licensing Regulations 1823 (John Adam), the Metcalfe Act 1835 which freed the press, and the Licensing Act 1857.
Do not mix these up
• Lytton vs Ripon — Lytton passed the Vernacular Press Act in 1878; Ripon repealed it in 1882 and is remembered for local self-government and the Ilbert Bill.
• Vernacular Press Act 1878 vs Indian Arms Act 1878 — same viceroy, same year: one gagged the Indian press, the other barred Indians from keeping arms without a licence.
Also asked from this topic: the viceroy who introduced the Act (Lord Lytton, RRB NTPC 2025); its purpose, seizing the assets of critical papers (Delhi Police 2025).
British Administration and Policies · Constitutional Acts under British rule

Q33. The Government of India Act 1935 separated Burma from India effective from which year?

  1. (a) 1933
  2. (b) 1935
  3. (c) 1937
  4. (d) 1942
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) 1937

Answer: Option 3 — 1937
The Government of India Act, 1935 was brought into force in stages, and under its companion Government of Burma Act, 1935 Burma was separated from British India with effect from 1 April 1937.
Aden was detached from India on the same date.
Revision note — Government of India Act, 1935
• It was the longest Act passed by the British Parliament up to that time — 321 sections and 10 schedules — and is called the blueprint of the Indian Constitution.
• It proposed an All India Federation of British provinces and princely states; the federation never came into being, because the princely states did not accede.
• It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced provincial autonomy, while bringing dyarchy in at the Centre.
• Powers were split into three lists — Federal (59 items), Provincial (54 items) and Concurrent (36 items) — with residuary powers left to the Viceroy.
• It provided for the Reserve Bank of India (established 1935), a Federal Court (inaugurated at Delhi on 1 October 1937) and a Federal Public Service Commission with Provincial PSCs.
• Separate electorates were extended to the depressed classes, women and labour; the franchise was widened to about 10 per cent of the population.
• Provincial elections under the Act were held in 1937, and the Indian National Congress formed ministries in most provinces.
Do not mix these up
• Act of 1919 vs Act of 1935 — the Montagu-Chelmsford Act of 1919 introduced dyarchy in the provinces; the Act of 1935 ended it there and moved dyarchy to the Centre.
• Federal Court (1937) vs Supreme Court (1950) — the Federal Court created by the 1935 Act was the forerunner of the Supreme Court of India.
• Separation of Burma (1937) vs Simon Commission (1927-30) — the Simon Commission only recommended the separation; the 1935 legislation carried it out.
Also asked from this topic: the year the Federal Court of India was set up (1937); the Act called the blueprint of the Indian Constitution (the 1935 Act).

Ancient History (1)

Sources and Prehistoric India · Palaeolithic Age

Q34. Which among the following is the earliest known form of human life in India?

  1. (a) Homo sapiens
  2. (b) Homo erectus
  3. (c) Australopithecus
  4. (d) Neanderthal
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Homo erectus

Answer: Option 2 — Homo erectus
The oldest human fossil found in India is the Narmada Man skull cap from Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, identified as Homo erectus.
Homo sapiens reaches India only much later, and Australopithecus is known from Africa alone.
Revision note — Prehistoric India
• The Narmada Man fossil was found by Arun Sonakia of the Geological Survey of India at Hathnora in the Narmada valley, Madhya Pradesh, in 1982.
• The order of species is Australopithecus → Homo habilis → Homo erectus → Homo sapiens.
• The Palaeolithic (Old Stone) Age in India is split into Lower, Middle and Upper; the Upper Palaeolithic (about 40,000–10,000 years ago) belongs to anatomically modern Homo sapiens.
• Bhimbetka, in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, near the Narmada, shows Acheulian (Lower Palaeolithic) to Mesolithic levels and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2003).
• Its rock paintings go back roughly 30,000 years.
• India's first Palaeolithic tool was found at Pallavaram, Tamil Nadu, by Robert Bruce Foote in 1863.
• Mehrgarh (Balochistan) is the subcontinent's earliest Neolithic farming site; Burzahom (Kashmir) is famous for its pit dwellings.
Do not mix these up
• Homo erectus vs Homo sapiens — Homo erectus is the earlier species and the one India's fossil record begins with; Homo sapiens belongs to the Upper Palaeolithic onwards.
• Australopithecus vs Homo erectus — Australopithecus is an African genus with no Indian find; Homo erectus spread out of Africa across Asia, India included.
Also asked from this topic: the human species of the Upper Palaeolithic phase (Homo sapiens); the state where Bhimbetka lies (Madhya Pradesh); the river valley near Bhimbetka (Narmada).

Current Affairs (3)

Science, Technology and Space - Current · Space missions - current

Q35. Who was selected to represent India on the Axiom Mission 4 to the ISS and will conduct food and nutrition experiments in space?

  1. (a) Col Rakesh Sinha – test pilot and payload specialist
  2. (b) Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla – astronaut and science researcher
  3. (c) Wg Cdr Nitin Raj – medical officer and bio-specialist
  4. (d) Lt Cdr Rajeev Menon – engineer and hydro systems lead
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla – astronaut and science researcher

Answer: Option 2 — Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla – astronaut and science researcher
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla flew as pilot of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the ISS in 2025.
He ran ISRO's microgravity experiments there, among them the sprouting of methi and moong seeds for space food and nutrition.
Revision note — Axiom Mission 4 and Indian human spaceflight
• Axiom-4 launched on 25 June 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 with the Crew Dragon "Grace", and splashed down on 15 July 2025.
• The crew spent about 18 days aboard the International Space Station.
• Crew: commander Peggy Whitson (USA), pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India), and mission specialists from Poland and Hungary.
• Shukla became the first Indian aboard the ISS and the second Indian in space, after Rakesh Sharma, who flew on the Soviet Soyuz T-11 in 1984.
• He is one of the four astronaut-designates of India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
• India ran seven microgravity experiments on Ax-4, covering seed germination, tardigrades, muscle loss, cyanobacteria and the effect of screen time.
• Axiom Space is a private American company; Ax-1 (2022) was the first all-private crewed mission to the ISS.
Do not mix these up
• Rakesh Sharma vs Shubhanshu Shukla — Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian in space (1984, Soyuz T-11); Shukla was the first Indian on the ISS (2025, Axiom-4).
• Axiom-4 vs Gaganyaan — Ax-4 was a commercial flight on an American vehicle; Gaganyaan is ISRO's own crewed mission, to fly on the LVM3.
Also asked from this topic: who flew to the ISS on Axiom-4 in 2025 (Shubhanshu Shukla); the mission on which he spent 18 days in orbit (Axiom-4); the first Indian in space (Rakesh Sharma, 1984).
Reports, Indices and Rankings · Global indices and India's rank

Q36. What rank did India achieve in the 2025 World Happiness Index?

  1. (a) 118
  2. (b) 120
  3. (c) 130
  4. (d) 116
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) 118

Answer: Option 1 — 118
India was placed 118th out of 147 countries in the World Happiness Report 2025, released on 20 March 2025, the International Day of Happiness.
Revision note — World Happiness Report 2025
• It is published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) with the Wellbeing Research Centre, University of Oxford and Gallup — not by the UNDP.
• Finland topped the ranking for the eighth year running, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Sweden; Afghanistan was last.
• India stood 118th of 147 in 2025, an improvement on 126th of 143 in 2024.
• India ranked below Nepal (92nd) and Pakistan (109th) but above Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
• The ranking rests on six variables — GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
• The theme of the 2025 report was caring and sharing.
Do not mix these up
• World Happiness Report vs Human Development Index — the first comes from the UN SDSN, the second from the UNDP.
• Happiness Index vs Gross National Happiness — Gross National Happiness is Bhutan's own development measure, coined in 1972.
Also asked from this topic: India's rank against its neighbours (118th in 2025, SSC CGL 2025); the number of variables used (6, SSC GD 2026); the publisher (UN SDSN, not UNDP, SSC CGL 2025).
Sports - Current · Venues and hosts

Q37. Where will the BWF World Junior Championships 2025 be held in India?

  1. (a) Lucknow
  2. (b) New Delhi
  3. (c) Guwahati
  4. (d) Kolkata
Answer & solution

Answer: (c) Guwahati

Answer: Option 3 — Guwahati
India hosted the BWF World Junior Championships 2025 at Guwahati, Assam, in October 2025.
It was the first time the junior world badminton championships came to India since 2008 (Pune).
Revision note — Badminton, the BWF and Indian venues
• The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the world governing body, founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation; its headquarters are at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The World Junior Championships award the Suhandinata Cup for the mixed team event and the Eye Level Cups for the individual events.
• Senior team championships: the Thomas Cup for men, first held in 1948-49, and the Uber Cup for women, first held in 1956-57.
• The India Open, a BWF Super 750 event, is played at the K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi; the Syed Modi International (Super 300) is played at Lucknow.
• P. V. Sindhu is the only Indian to win the BWF World Championships title (2019); Kidambi Srikanth in 2021 became the first Indian man to reach its final.
• The domestic governing body is the Badminton Association of India (BAI); badminton entered the Olympics at Barcelona 1992.
• A badminton court measures 13.4 m × 6.1 m for doubles, and a match is the best of three games of 21 points.
Do not mix these up
• Thomas Cup vs Uber Cup — Thomas is the men's world team championship, Uber the women's.
• Suhandinata Cup vs Eye Level Cups — the first is the mixed-team trophy of the World Junior Championships, the second the individual junior titles.
Also asked from this topic: the venue of the India Open in January 2025 (New Delhi); the host of the Syed Modi International in 2025 (Lucknow); the first Thomas Cup (1948).

Polity (7)

State Government · Chief Minister and State Council of Ministers

Q38. The head of the State Council of Ministers is the:

  1. (a) Chief Minister
  2. (b) Governor
  3. (c) Speaker
  4. (d) President
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Chief Minister

Answer: Option 1 — Chief Minister
Article 163 provides a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at its head to aid and advise the Governor.
The Governor is the constitutional head of the state, but the head of the Council of Ministers — the real executive — is the Chief Minister.
Revision note — The State Executive
• Article 153 — there shall be a Governor for each state; Article 154 vests the executive power of the state in him.
• Article 163 — a Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister aids and advises the Governor, except where he must act in his discretion, and his decision on what is discretionary is final.
• Article 164 — the Governor appoints the Chief Minister, and the other ministers on the Chief Minister's advice; ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.
• Article 164(2) — the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the state.
• Article 164(1A), added by the 91st Amendment Act, 2003, caps the Council including the Chief Minister at 15 per cent of the Assembly's strength, with a minimum of 12.
• Article 167 — it is the Chief Minister's duty to communicate all decisions of the Council of Ministers to the Governor.
Do not mix these up
• Governor vs Chief Minister — the Governor is the nominal head of the state; the Chief Minister is the real executive head.
• Article 74 vs Article 163 — Article 74 creates the Union Council of Ministers under the Prime Minister; Article 163 the state Council under the Chief Minister.
Also asked from this topic: the article on collective responsibility (Article 164(2), SSC CGL 2025); the body it answers to (State Legislative Assembly, SSC GD 2026).
Emergency and Centre-State Relations · Legislative relations and Seventh Schedule lists

Q39. In case of a conflict between Union and State law on a Concurrent List subject, which prevails?

  1. (a) State law
  2. (b) Union law
  3. (c) Law made by Panchayats
  4. (d) Law by Supreme Court
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Union law

Answer: Option 2 — Union law
Under Article 254, when a Union law and a State law on the same Concurrent List subject clash, the Union law prevails and the State law is void to the extent of the repugnancy.
Revision note — The Concurrent List and Article 254
• The Seventh Schedule divides law-making power into three lists — the Union List (originally 97 entries), the State List (originally 66) and the Concurrent List (originally 47).
• Both Parliament and a state legislature may legislate on a Concurrent subject; in a clash Article 254(1) gives the Union law the upper hand.
• Exception — Article 254(2): a State law reserved for and given the President's assent prevails in that state over the earlier Union law, but Parliament may still amend or repeal it later.
• The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 moved education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds, and administration of justice from the State List to the Concurrent List.
• Article 249 lets Parliament legislate on a State subject in the national interest after a Rajya Sabha resolution by a two-thirds majority.
• Article 250 lets it do the same while a National Emergency is in force.
• Concurrent subjects include criminal law and procedure, marriage and divorce, adoption, bankruptcy, trade unions, electricity, forests and drugs.
Do not mix these up
• Article 246 vs Article 254 — 246 says who may legislate on which list; 254 decides whose law survives when the two collide.
• Article 249 vs Article 250 — 249 works in the national interest through a Rajya Sabha resolution; 250 works only while a National Emergency is in force.
Also asked from this topic: whether State law wins on a Concurrent subject (no — Article 254); the list education moved to in the 42nd Amendment (Concurrent List); what Schedule VII holds (three lists).
Emergency and Centre-State Relations · Legislative relations and Seventh Schedule lists

Q40. Which of the following is NOT in the State List?

  1. (a) Police
  2. (b) Agriculture
  3. (c) Public health
  4. (d) Atomic energy
Answer & solution

Answer: (d) Atomic energy

Answer: Option 4 — Atomic energy
Atomic energy sits in the Union List (Entry 6), so only Parliament may legislate on it.
Police, agriculture and public health are all State List subjects.
Revision note — Seventh Schedule: which subject sits where
• Union List — defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy, railways, banking, currency, posts and telegraphs, citizenship, war and peace.
• State List — public order (Entry 1), police (Entry 2), public health and sanitation (Entry 6), agriculture (Entry 14), land, prisons, local government and trade within the state.
• Concurrent List — criminal law and procedure, marriage and divorce, adoption, education, forests, electricity, trade unions and drugs.
• Residuary powers — subjects in no list, such as cyber law — belong to Parliament under Article 248 and Entry 97 of the Union List.
• Article 246 fixes the division and gives the Union List supremacy over the other two lists.
• After the 1991 reforms only atomic energy and railway operations stayed reserved for the public sector, which is a second reason atomic energy is a Central subject.
Do not mix these up
• Police and public order (State List) vs armed forces and defence (Union List) — day-to-day policing is the state's job, the armed forces are the Centre's.
• Agriculture (State List) vs food adulteration and inter-state trade (Concurrent and Union) — farming is a state subject, but food standards and inter-state commerce are not.
Also asked from this topic: whether police is a Union subject (no — State List); who legislates on police, health and agriculture (state legislatures); whether prisons is a Union subject (no).
Polity Miscellaneous · New criminal laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA)

Q41. Which phrase now replaces “sedition” under new criminal laws as of July 2024?

  1. (a) Sedition
  2. (b) Acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India
  3. (c) Treason
  4. (d) Political Offence
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India

Answer: Option 2 — Acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 dropped the colonial offence of sedition (Section 124A of the IPC).
In its place Section 152 punishes acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
Revision note — The three new criminal laws
• All three were enacted on 25 December 2023 and came into force on 1 July 2024.
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860 — substantive criminal law, 358 sections.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — procedure, 531 sections.
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — evidence, 170 sections.
• Section 152 of the BNS covers secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities and separatist feeling; the word sedition no longer appears anywhere in the statute.
• New offences include terrorist act (Section 113), organised crime (Section 111), petty organised crime (Section 112) and mob lynching; community service appears as a punishment for the first time.
Do not mix these up
• BNS vs BNSS vs BSA — BNS defines the offences, BNSS lays down the procedure, BSA governs evidence.
• Old Section 124A vs new Section 152 — 124A punished disaffection towards the Government; Section 152 targets acts against the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation.
Also asked from this topic: what Section 152 of the BNS covers (acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India); the offence the BNS removed (sedition); the law replacing the IPC (BNS).
Fundamental Rights · Fundamental Rights - general (Articles 12, 13)

Q42. What is enshrined in Part III (Articles 12-35) of the Indian Constitution?

  1. (a) Fundamental Duties
  2. (b) Fundamental Rights
  3. (c) Directive Principles
  4. (d) Union Territories
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Fundamental Rights

Answer: Option 2 — Fundamental Rights
Part III (Articles 12 to 35) contains the Fundamental Rights, borrowed from the Bill of Rights of the United States and enforceable in a court of law.
Revision note — Part III and the six Fundamental Rights
• Right to Equality — Articles 14 to 18; Right to Freedom — Articles 19 to 22.
• Right against Exploitation — Articles 23 and 24; Right to Freedom of Religion — Articles 25 to 28.
• Cultural and Educational Rights — Articles 29 and 30.
• Right to Constitutional Remedies — Article 32, which Dr B. R. Ambedkar called the heart and soul of the Constitution.
• Article 12 defines the State and Article 13 makes any law inconsistent with Part III void.
• The Right to Property was taken out of Part III by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978 and is now only a legal right under Article 300A in Part XII.
Do not mix these up
• Part III vs Part IV vs Part IVA — Part III is Fundamental Rights (Articles 12-35), Part IV the Directive Principles (Articles 36-51), Part IVA the Fundamental Duties (Article 51A).
• Fundamental Rights vs DPSP — Fundamental Rights are justiciable, that is enforceable in court; the Directive Principles are not.
Also asked from this topic: the Part the Right to Property moved to (Part XII, Article 300A); the amendment that shifted it (44th); which of Rights and DPSPs are justiciable (Fundamental Rights).
Fundamental Rights · Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32) and writs

Q43. Which article provides remedies for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights?

  1. (a) Article 32
  2. (b) Article 21
  3. (c) Article 19
  4. (d) Article 51A
Answer & solution

Answer: (a) Article 32

Answer: Option 1 — Article 32
Article 32 is the Right to Constitutional Remedies — the right to move the Supreme Court directly for the enforcement of the rights in Part III.
The remedy is itself a Fundamental Right, which is why it stands inside Part III.
Revision note — Article 32 and the five writs
• Dr B. R. Ambedkar called Article 32 the heart and soul of the Constitution.
• The Supreme Court may issue five writs — Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Certiorari and Quo Warranto.
• Habeas Corpus means to have the body and is issued against unlawful detention, by a public authority or a private person.
• Mandamus commands a public authority to do its public duty; Quo Warranto questions the legality of a person's claim to a public office.
• Prohibition stops a lower court from exceeding its jurisdiction; Certiorari quashes or transfers an order already passed.
• Article 226 gives the High Courts a wider writ power — for Fundamental Rights and for any other legal right.
• Enforcement under Article 32 can be suspended during a National Emergency under Article 359, except for Articles 20 and 21.
Do not mix these up
• Article 32 vs Article 226 — Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right and covers only Fundamental Rights; Article 226 is a constitutional power of High Courts and is wider in scope.
• Prohibition vs Certiorari — Prohibition is issued while the case is still pending; Certiorari comes after the order has been passed.
• Article 21 vs Article 32 — Article 21 grants the right to life and personal liberty; Article 32 is the remedy used to enforce it.
Also asked from this topic: the Article giving the Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32); the number of writs (five); the writ for unlawful detention (Habeas Corpus).
Polity Miscellaneous · New criminal laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA)

Q44. What is notably addressed under the new laws to improve witness security for the first time in July 2024?

  1. (a) Anonymous testimony
  2. (b) Witness protection guidelines
  3. (c) Police protection for all
  4. (d) Relocation to another state
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Witness protection guidelines

Answer: Option 2 — Witness protection guidelines
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024, makes witness protection a statutory duty for the first time.
Section 398 requires every State Government to prepare and notify a Witness Protection Scheme.
Revision note — Witness protection and the BNSS, 2023
• Section 398 of the BNSS obliges every State Government to notify a Witness Protection Scheme; the old CrPC, 1973 had no such provision at all.
• Until then protection rested on the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, approved by the Supreme Court in Mahender Chawla v. Union of India (2018).
• The BNSS allows evidence and testimony to be recorded by audio-video electronic means, so a witness need not always depose face to face with the accused.
• Section 105 makes audio-video recording of search and seizure compulsory, and Section 173 allows an e-FIR from any police station (zero FIR).
• The statement of a rape survivor is to be recorded by a woman magistrate or a woman police officer, with audio-video recording.
• The BNSS has 531 sections, replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and fixes timelines such as judgment within 45 days of the close of trial.
Do not mix these up
• Witness protection vs anonymous testimony — the BNSS provides a protection scheme and shielded or electronic deposition; it does not allow a witness to stay anonymous to the court.
• BNSS vs BSA — the BNSS is the procedure code, which is where witness protection sits; the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam decides what counts as evidence.
Also asked from this topic: the law that replaced the CrPC, 1973 (BNSS); its change for faster justice (electronic recording of witness testimony); the number of BNSS sections (531).

Physics (1)

Electricity · Ohm's law

Q45. Which law quantifies the relationship between resistance, voltage, and current?

  1. (a) Boyle's Law
  2. (b) Ohm's Law
  3. (c) Hooke's Law
  4. (d) Newton's Third Law
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Ohm's Law

Answer: Option 2 — Ohm's Law
Ohm's law states that at constant temperature the current through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across its ends.
That proportionality is written V = I × R, which is exactly the link between voltage, current and resistance.
Revision note — Ohm's law and resistance
• Statement: under constant physical conditions V ∝ I, so V = IR, where R is the resistance measured in ohm (Ω).
• One ohm is one volt per ampere; the law is named after Georg Simon Ohm, who published it in 1827.
• R = ρL/A — resistance grows with length and falls with area of cross-section; ρ is resistivity, measured in ohm-metre.
• Stretching a wire so that its length doubles makes its resistance four times, because the volume stays the same and the area halves.
• Series: R = R₁ + R₂ + … ; Parallel: 1/R = 1/R₁ + 1/R₂ + … , so the parallel resistance is always less than the smallest branch.
• Electric power P = VI = I²R = V²/R; a 100 W bulb working at 200 V has a filament resistance of 400 Ω.
• Boyle's law — at constant temperature P ∝ 1/V for a fixed mass of gas; Hooke's law — within the elastic limit stress ∝ strain.
• Newton's third law — to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Do not mix these up
• Resistance vs resistivity — resistance depends on the size and shape of the sample; resistivity is a property of the material alone.
• Ohm's law vs Kirchhoff's laws — Ohm's law links V, I and R in a single conductor; Kirchhoff's junction and loop rules handle a network.
• Ohmic vs non-ohmic conductors — metals obey Ohm's law; a diode or a filament lamp does not.
Also asked from this topic: the effect on current of doubling the resistance at constant voltage (it halves); the quantity measured in volt per ampere (ohm).

Biology (1)

Diversity and Classification of Living Organisms · Plant kingdom groups (Thallophyta to Angiosperms)

Q46. Which plant family is most important for pulses and protein-rich crops in Indian agriculture?

  1. (a) Poaceae
  2. (b) Fabaceae
  3. (c) Solanaceae
  4. (d) Brassicaceae
Answer & solution

Answer: (b) Fabaceae

Answer: Option 2 — Fabaceae
Fabaceae, also called Leguminosae, is the pea or legume family, and it supplies almost every pulse grown in India — gram, tur, urad, moong, masoor, pea and soybean.
These seeds are the country's chief source of plant protein.
Revision note — Fabaceae and the major crop families
• Fabaceae (Leguminosae) is the third largest family of flowering plants; its fruit is a legume (pod) and its flower is typically papilionaceous, shaped like a butterfly.
• Legume roots bear root nodules containing Rhizobium bacteria, which fix atmospheric nitrogen — this is why pulses are sown in rotation with cereals to restore soil fertility.
• Examples: gram (Cicer arietinum), pigeon pea or tur (Cajanus cajan), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), soybean (Glycine max), fenugreek or methi (Trigonella foenum-graecum).
• Poaceae (Gramineae) is the grass family — rice, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, sugarcane, bamboo; its fruit is a caryopsis.
• Solanaceae is the potato or nightshade family — potato, tomato, brinjal, chilli, tobacco.
• Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) is the mustard family — mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, turnip.
• India is the world's largest producer and consumer of pulses; Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan lead in output.
Do not mix these up
• Fabaceae vs Poaceae — pulses and plant protein come from Fabaceae; cereals and grains come from Poaceae.
• Pulses vs cereals — pulses are the dried edible seeds of legumes and are protein-rich; cereals are grass grains and are carbohydrate-rich.
Also asked from this topic: the nutrient legumes replenish before a wheat crop (nitrogen); the bacterium of legume root nodules (Rhizobium); the family of fenugreek (Fabaceae).
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