19 February 2025 · Shift 2

Dobereiner's triads Dobereiner (1829) arranged elements in triads: three elements of similar properties placed in order of increasing atomic mass, in which the middle element's atomic mass is nearly the mean of the other two, and its properties lie between theirs. Bromine is the liquid halogen. The halogen just above it is the gas chlorine and the one just below it is the solid iodine, so the triad is Cl - Br - I. Check the arithmetic that defines a triad: $\frac{35.5+127}{2}=81.25$, which is very close to the atomic mass of bromine, 80. Fluorine is also a gaseous halogen, but it stands above chlorine and gives $\frac{19+127}{2}=73$, far from 80; helium and argon are inert gases and share no chemical properties with bromine at all. Hence the correct option is (c).

Religions of Nepal Hinduism has the largest following in Nepal - about 81 per cent of the population in the 2021 census. Nepal was the world's only official Hindu kingdom until 2008; the 2015 constitution made it a secular federal republic, but the religious majority did not change. Buddhism is a distant second (about 9 per cent), followed by Islam (about 5 per cent) and Kirat; Christianity is under 2 per cent, so none of the other three can be the largest. Hence the correct option is (d).

Current appointments 2024 Nalin Prabhat was appointed Special Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police in August 2024. He is a 1992-batch IPS officer who was heading the National Security Guard; his NSG tenure was cut short on 15 August 2024 and he was moved to the AGMUT cadre for this posting, just before the Assembly elections in the Union Territory. He then took over as Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, on 1 October 2024, when R R Swain retired - so the 'Special DG' post in August was the step that made that succession possible. Prabhat is a Kirti Chakra awardee with long anti-insurgency service in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, which is why he was chosen; the other three names hold no such office. Hence the correct option is (d).

Fundamental Duties The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted a new Part IV-A, containing a single Article 51A, and listed 10 Fundamental Duties in it. They were taken from the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee (1976), which drew the idea from the Constitution of the erstwhile USSR. An eleventh duty - that a parent or guardian provide education to a child between six and fourteen - was added much later, by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002; that is why 11 is the present total but not the number added in 1976. The question asks only about the 1976 addition, so 11, 12 and 15 are all ruled out. Hence the correct option is (a).

Drainage patterns A stream network that branches like the twigs of a tree, with tributaries joining the trunk stream at acute angles, is called a dendritic pattern. It develops where the underlying rock is uniform and unfractured, so the water is guided by nothing but the general slope of the land - exactly the situation on the deep, even alluvium of the Northern Plains, where the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra systems spread out. The other patterns need a special structure that the plains do not have: radial needs a central dome or cone, trellis needs alternating hard and soft folded bands, and centripetal needs an enclosed basin into which streams drain inwards. Hence the correct option is (b).

Union Budget schemes The Union Budget 2023-24 announced a package for traditional artisans and craftspeople called PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman, abbreviated PM VIKAS. It was formally launched as the PM Vishwakarma scheme on Vishwakarma Jayanti, 17 September 2023, under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. It covers 18 traditional trades - carpenter, blacksmith, goldsmith, potter, cobbler, boat maker and others - and gives each registered artisan skill training with a daily stipend, a toolkit grant, collateral-free credit at a subsidised rate and help with branding and marketing. PM SHRI is a school-upgradation scheme of the Ministry of Education and has nothing to do with artisans; 'PM VISHWAS' and 'PM VIJET' are not central government schemes at all, they only mimic the sound of the right name. Hence the correct option is (a).

Winter Paralympic Games The first Winter Paralympic Games were held in 1976 at Ornskoldsvik in Sweden. About 198 athletes from 16 countries competed in only two sports, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing, and West Germany topped the medal tally; sledge events were added at later editions. The trap in this question is 1960: that is the year of the first Summer Paralympics, held in Rome. 1964 (Tokyo) and 1972 (Heidelberg) are also Summer editions, so none of them can be the Winter debut. Since then the Winter Paralympics have been held every four years after the Winter Olympics; the 2026 edition goes to Milan-Cortina, Italy. Hence the correct option is (b).

Maukhari dynasty The Maukharis began as tributary chiefs under the Guptas and, as Gupta authority broke down in the sixth century CE, made themselves independent kings. Their capital was Kanyakubja, the modern Kannauj, on the Ganga in present-day Uttar Pradesh - that is, in the western Ganges plains. The dating is fixed by their own records: the Haraha inscription of Ishanavarman (554 CE) already calls him a maharajadhiraja, an imperial title a feudatory could not use. 'Eastern Ganges plains' is the tempting distractor because that is where their rivals the Later Guptas ruled, in Magadha; 'Southern India' and the vague 'Northern India' do not name the region the question is after. Hence the correct option is (a).

Vitamin A deficiency Xerophthalmia literally means 'dry eye' (Greek xeros = dry, ophthalmos = eye), so by definition it is a disorder of the eyes. Vitamin A is needed to make rhodopsin, the light-sensitive pigment of the rod cells, and to keep the conjunctiva and cornea moist and healthy. When it runs short the signs appear in a fixed order: night blindness first, then dryness of the conjunctiva with Bitot's spots, then drying and ulceration of the cornea (keratomalacia), and finally permanent blindness. Ear, nose and tongue are not involved - the term covers only the eye, which is why the other three options are wrong. Hence the correct option is (c).

Hindustani music gharanas Rattan Mohan Sharma is a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Mewati gharana. He was trained by his maternal uncle Pandit Jasraj, the best known exponent of that gharana, and sings khayal and tarana along with the lighter Haveli Sangeet, tappa and bhajan. The Mewati gharana takes its name from the Mewat region and was founded in the late nineteenth century by the brothers Ustad Ghagge Nazir Khan and Ustad Wahid Khan; its hallmark is a bhakti-coloured, note-by-note unfolding of the raga. The Agra, Bhendibazaar and Benaras gharanas are separate lineages - Faiyaz Khan, the Amaan Ali Khan family and the Mishra family of Benaras respectively - and this singer belongs to none of them. Hence the correct option is (c).

Poona Pact 1932 The Poona Pact was signed on 24 September 1932 in Yerwada Jail, Poona, between Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B R Ambedkar. It was a response to the British Communal Award of August 1932, which had granted separate electorates to the Depressed Classes - a provision Gandhi opposed as one that would split Hindu society, and against which he began a fast unto death. The compromise dropped the separate electorates and gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats inside the joint general electorate instead, raising their provincial seats from 71 to 148. Jinnah and Nehru were not parties to this agreement at all, so every option naming them is wrong. Hence the correct option is (c).

Census 2011 literacy Census 2011 recorded the lowest female literacy rate in Bihar, about 51.5 per cent, against an all-India female figure of 65.46 per cent. Bihar was also last in overall literacy at 61.8 per cent, so the two records go together and are easy to remember as a pair. Rajasthan, at about 52.1 per cent, was the next lowest for women - but it is not among the options, so the comparison here is only among the four states given. Kerala stood at the opposite end with about 92 per cent female literacy, followed by Mizoram and Lakshadweep. Hence the correct option is (b).

PM's foreign visits 2024 On 8 July 2024 Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a two-day visit to Russia. It was his first bilateral visit to Russia since 2019 and the first major bilateral trip of his third term, made for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During the visit Putin conferred on him the Order of St Andrew the Apostle, Russia's highest civilian honour, and the two sides set a target of USD 100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. He flew on from Moscow to Austria on 9-10 July, the first Indian PM there in 41 years; the USA, Australia and the Maldives were not part of this itinerary. Hence the correct option is (a).

Cricket terminology Under the Laws of Cricket an over consists of six consecutive valid deliveries bowled from one end of the pitch. The word 'valid' is what the question turns on: a wide or a no-ball is not a valid delivery, so it does not count towards the six and has to be bowled again - an over can therefore take more than six deliveries to finish. Eight-ball overs were used in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa at various times up to 1979-80, but the six-ball over is the only one recognised today, which rules out four, five and seven. After every over the bowling changes to the other end and the fielding side changes bowler. Hence the correct option is (c).

Classical dance exponents Bharati Shivaji is associated with Mohiniyattam, the classical dance of Kerala. Mohiniyattam - literally 'the dance of the enchantress' - is a solo form danced by women in an off-white and gold kasavu costume, built on gentle swaying lasya movement rather than vigorous steps. She founded the Centre for Mohiniyattam in Delhi to revive and document the form, and wrote 'The Art of Mohiniyattam' with Avinash Pasricha, which is why the award citations name her with this dance. Kathakali is Kerala's male dance-drama with elaborate face make-up, Sattriya belongs to the Vaishnava monasteries of Assam and Kathak to north India - none of them is her form. Hence the correct option is (a).

Twelfth Five Year Plan The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) carried the subtitle 'Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth', with a growth target that was set at 9 per cent and later revised to 8 per cent. The single word that decides the option is 'Sustainable'. The Eleventh Plan (2007-12) was already 'Faster and More Inclusive Growth'; the Twelfth added sustainability, because environment and energy had become binding constraints. 'Attainment of Self-reliance' was the goal of the Fifth Plan and 'Food, Work and Productivity' the theme of the Seventh, so neither belongs to the Twelfth. The Twelfth was the last plan of the series - the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog in 2015, while this plan was still running. Hence the correct option is (c).

Consumer and capital goods A consumer good is a final good bought by a household to satisfy a want directly; it leaves the production process for good once it is sold. Food grains are eaten by the buyer, so they satisfy the want themselves and are a consumer good. Equipment, machinery and tools are capital or producer goods: they are not consumed for their own sake but are used to make other goods, and they stay in the production process over many cycles, wearing out slowly as depreciation. The test to apply is 'who uses it, and for what' - a bag of wheat bought by a flour mill would be an intermediate good, but bought by a household it is a consumer good. Hence the correct option is (d).

Folk art of Tamil Nadu Villu Pattu, literally 'bow song', is a folk story-telling and performing art of Tamil Nadu, also found in the adjoining Kanyakumari-south Kerala belt. A large bow (villu) is rested on an upturned earthen pot, which acts as the sound box, and is struck with sticks to keep the beat while the lead narrator sings a ballad and a chorus answers him. The other Tamil folk forms usually asked with it are Karakattam, Kummi, Kolattam, Oyilattam and Mayilattam. The other options belong to different traditions altogether - Chhau and Paika in Jharkhand, Perini and Lambadi in Telangana, Garba and Dandiya in Gujarat - and none of them uses a bow as its instrument. Hence the correct option is (d).

Disqualification of MLAs Article 192 of the Constitution says that if a question arises whether a member of a State Legislature has become subject to any disqualification under Article 191, the question is referred to the Governor, and his decision is final. Before deciding, the Governor must obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and act according to that opinion - he has no discretion to differ from it. The parallel provision for Parliament is Article 103, under which the President decides on the opinion of the Election Commission. The Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary have no role in this at all; the presiding officer - Speaker or Chairman - decides only disqualification on the ground of defection, under the Tenth Schedule, which is a different question from the one asked here. Hence the correct option is (d).

Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh Losar is the new-year festival of the Monpa tribe of Tawang and West Kameng districts in Arunachal Pradesh. The Monpas follow Tibetan Buddhism, so their new year falls with the Tibetan lunar year and is kept for about three days: houses are cleaned and whitewashed, prayer flags are renewed and butter lamps are lit in the monasteries to drive away evil spirits and welcome a prosperous year. The distractor to watch is Losoong - a similar-sounding name, but it is the harvest new year of the Bhutias and Lepchas of Sikkim, not of the Monpas. Makaravilakku is celebrated at Sabarimala in Kerala and Gangaur is a Rajasthani festival for Gauri, so both are far outside Arunachal Pradesh; the state's own festivals include Mopin, Solung, Dree, Reh and Myoko. Hence the correct option is (c).