WBCS Preliminary Examination 2019 — General Studies

Answer: (C) Where will you meet me?

The interrogative form must ask about the specific piece of information given in the statement. Since the original sentence specifies a place ("at the train station"), the correct question word is "where", not "when" or "how", which would ask about time or manner instead.

Answer: (B) She saved money for vacation.

A simple sentence has only one finite verb and no joining conjunction. "She saved money for vacation" reduces the purpose clause to a prepositional phrase ("for vacation"), keeping a single clause. Option (A) creates a complex sentence with the subordinating conjunction "as", and option (C) is a compound sentence joined by "and" — both have more than one clause.

Answer: (B) Pancakes are delicious only with syrup.

The original sentence means pancakes are delicious only on the condition that syrup is present. "Pancakes are delicious only with syrup" captures this exact conditional meaning in a single clause. Option (C) introduces a conditional clause with "if", making it complex rather than simple.

Answer: (D) Imbalance

"Imbalance" is the standard English word denoting a lack of balance or proportion. "Nonbalance" and "Disbalance" are not recognised English words, and while "unbalance" exists as a verb, "imbalance" is the conventional noun used for the opposite/lack of balance.

Answer: (A) were

"Jury" is a collective noun. When the members of the group are acting or thinking as separate individuals — as implied by "divided in their opinion" — British-style usage treats it as plural and takes the plural verb "were", rather than the singular "was" used when the jury acts as one unit.

Answer: (D) to

"Prefer X to Y" is the standard fixed collocation in English for expressing a preference between two things, so "to" is required here, not "over" (which is common in casual speech but not the grammatically preferred form tested in this construction).

Answer: (B) later

"Later part" (an adjective describing a stage occurring after others in time) fits this sentence; "late" and "lately" are adverbs and don't fit the noun phrase slot before "part".

Answer: (C) nonsense

"A load of (old) cobblers" is British slang for nonsense or rubbish — Cockney rhyming slang derived from "cobbler's awls" rhyming with "balls". It's used here to dismiss the time-machine claim as absurd.

Answer: (C) had

"No sooner had + past participle ... than" is the fixed inverted structure used to describe one past event immediately followed by another; it requires the past perfect "had", not "has" (present perfect) or "did".

Answer: (B) sometime

"Sometime" (one word) means "at an unspecified point in time" and fits here. "Sometimes" means "occasionally" (wrong sense), while "some time" (two words) refers to a duration or period, not a point in time.

Answer: (A) slow

A watch or clock showing a time earlier than the actual time is conventionally described as "slow" (running behind); "late" is used for people or events arriving after the expected time, not for a timepiece's reading.

Answer: (C) as far as

"As far as he could" is the idiomatic way to express reaching the maximum possible extent or limit of an action, which fits the sense of the sentence; "until", "while" and plain "as" don't convey this limiting sense.

Answer: (C) had met

The sentence implies an action completed before some other past point of reference (implicit in "before"), which calls for the past perfect "had met" rather than the present perfect "have met" or simple past "met".

Answer: (A) have known

An action or state that began in the past and continues up to the present ("for a long time") is expressed with the present perfect "have known"; "had know" is not even grammatically valid (should be "had known").

Answer: (C) They discussed the matter.

"Discuss" is a transitive verb in English and directly takes an object — it does not take the preposition "about" (unlike its noun form "a discussion about"). Removing "about" gives the grammatically correct sentence.

Answer: (B) We went to the movies last night.

"Last night" is a definite point in the past, which requires the simple past tense "went". The past perfect "had gone" is only correct when describing an action completed before another past action or time — no such second past reference exists here.

Answer: (B) holiness

"Sanctity" means the quality of being holy or sacred, so "holiness" is its closest synonym here; "equanimity" and "placidity" relate to calmness of temperament, not sacredness, and "security" is unrelated in meaning.

Answer: (B) came across

"Come across" means to find or encounter something unexpectedly, which fits a detective stumbling upon a clue; "give in" means to surrender, and "fall down"/"fill up" don't fit the sense of discovery at all.

Answer: (A) Tireless

"Indefatigable" literally means incapable of being made tired, i.e., persistently energetic — "tireless" is its direct synonym. "Indomitable" (unable to be subdued) is a related but distinct quality often confused with it.

Answer: (C) troubled

"Beleaguered" describes someone or something beset by difficulties or under persistent pressure/siege — closest in meaning to "troubled" among the given options.

Answer: (C) They are writing the script.

The present continuous passive "is being written" converts to the present continuous active "are writing", with an unspecified agent supplied as "they": "They are writing the script."

Answer: (A) agree with someone

"See eye to eye" means to be in full agreement or share the same view with someone on a matter.

Answer: (D) birds

Ornithology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of birds (from Greek "ornis", bird). The study of fish is ichthyology, of coins is numismatics, and of relics/antiquities is broadly archaeology.

Answer: (B) of

"Make the most of" is a fixed idiomatic phrase meaning to use something to the best possible advantage; "of" is the only preposition that completes this idiom correctly.

Answer: (D) fascination with dead bodies

"Necrophilia" derives from Greek "nekros" (dead body) and "philia" (love/attraction), referring to an abnormal fascination with or attraction to corpses. ("Love for insects" is entomophilia in a loose sense, and "love for children" is a different and unrelated condition.)

Answer: (B) Mehrgarh

Mehrgarh, in present-day Balochistan (Pakistan), has yielded the earliest known evidence of settled farming and animal domestication in the Indian subcontinent, with occupation layers dating back to around 7000 BCE.

Answer: (B) James Princep

James Prinsep, an official of the East India Company, deciphered the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts in 1837, which for the first time allowed scholars to read Ashokan edicts and pillar inscriptions and correctly identify the emperor "Devanampiya Piyadasi" as Ashoka.

Answer: (A) Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II (also known as "Vikramaditya"), Samudragupta's son, succeeded him and is credited with expanding the Gupta empire and presiding over a celebrated cultural golden age, including the patronage of figures like Kalidasa.

Answer: (B) Shudrak

"Mrichchhakatika" (The Little Clay Cart), a celebrated Sanskrit drama noted for its realistic depiction of society, is attributed to the playwright Shudraka.

Answer: (D) Bodh Gaya

Buddha attained enlightenment (Nirvana/Bodhi) while meditating under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. The other three sites mark different milestones: Lumbini is his birthplace, Sarnath is where he delivered his first sermon, and Kushinagar is where he attained Mahaparinirvana (death).

Answer: (D) Alauddin Khilji

Malik Kafur was the slave-general of Sultan Alauddin Khilji who led successful military campaigns deep into the Deccan and South India in the early 14th century.

Answer: (C) Akbar

Emperor Akbar built the Ibadat Khana ("House of Worship") at his new capital Fatehpur Sikri in 1575 to host religious debates among scholars of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism and Zoroastrianism, reflecting his interest in religious pluralism.

Answer: (A) 1498 A.D.

The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut on the Malabar coast in May 1498, having discovered the sea route to India around the Cape of Good Hope — opening the era of direct European maritime trade with India.

Answer: (B) Jahangir

The English East India Company obtained trading rights from Mughal Emperor Jahangir (through envoy Sir Thomas Roe's mission) and established its first Indian factory at Surat in 1613.

Answer: (B) 1764

The Battle of Buxar was fought in 1764 between the East India Company and the combined forces of Mir Qasim (Nawab of Bengal), Shuja-ud-Daula (Nawab of Awadh), and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II; the Company's decisive victory led to the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) and the grant of Diwani rights over Bengal.

Answer: (A) French East India Co. and English East India Co.

The three Carnatic Wars (1746-1763) were fought primarily between the French and English East India Companies (each allied with rival local claimants) for control and influence over South India, and ended with British dominance in the region.

Answer: (B) Battle of Buxar, 1764

While Plassey (1757) gave the British their first major political foothold in Bengal, the Battle of Buxar (1764) is generally regarded as the battle that truly established British political supremacy, since it defeated a combined coalition of three major North Indian powers and directly led to the Company acquiring Diwani (revenue) rights over Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

Answer: (A) A. O. Hume

Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, took the initiative to found the Indian National Congress in 1885, and is often referred to as its "Father" for this founding role.

Answer: (A) Annie Besant

Annie Besant, an Irish-born theosophist and Home Rule leader, presided over the 1917 Calcutta session, becoming the first woman President of the Congress. Sarojini Naidu later became the first Indian-born woman to hold the post, at the 1925 Kanpur session — a useful distinction to keep straight for exams.

Answer: (C) Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das

The Swaraj Party was founded in 1923 by Chittaranjan (C. R.) Das and Motilal Nehru, after the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement, to pursue a strategy of contesting and obstructing legislative councils from within.

Answer: (B) Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer with no prior knowledge of India, chaired the Boundary Commission that drew the partition line (the "Radcliffe Line") between India and Pakistan in 1947, working under intense time pressure with tragic humanitarian consequences.

Answer: (C) Sir William Jones

Sir William Jones, a British orientalist and judge, founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta in 1784 to promote the study of Indian history, culture, science, art and literature.

Answer: (C) Nana Sahib

Nana Sahib (Dhondu Pant), the adopted heir of the last Peshwa, led the rebellion at Kanpur (Cawnpore) in 1857, with Tantia Tope acting as his key military commander in the campaign.

Answer: (A) Chittagong Armoury Raid

Surya Sen ("Masterda"), a schoolteacher-turned-revolutionary, planned and led the Chittagong Armoury Raid of April 1930, in which a group of young revolutionaries seized government armouries in Chittagong, Bengal.

Answer: (A) Non-cooperation movement

The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) was Gandhi's first genuinely nationwide mass movement, drawing in millions of Indians across regions and classes. His earlier interventions like the Champaran Satyagraha (1917, related to indigo cultivation) were significant but localised, not pan-India mass movements.

Answer: (A) Lord Hardinge

Viceroy Lord Hardinge II announced the annulment of the 1905 Partition of Bengal at the Delhi Durbar in 1911, reuniting Bengal in response to sustained nationalist protest (the Swadeshi movement).

Answer: (A) Amritsar

On 13 April 1919, British troops under General Dyer fired on an unarmed crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, killing hundreds — a pivotal event that hardened nationalist sentiment across India.

Answer: (B) Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi used this famous phrase to dismiss the offer made by the 1942 Cripps Mission, suggesting that its promise of post-war Dominion status was worthless given Britain's precarious wartime position.

Answer: (D) Choudhury Rahmat Ali

Choudhury Rahmat Ali coined the name "Pakistan" and outlined the concept of a separate Muslim homeland in his 1933 pamphlet "Now or Never". This is distinct from Muhammad Iqbal's 1930 presidential address, in which he floated the broader idea of a separate Muslim state without naming or fully elaborating it — see the note on Q17 in this section for the important distinction between these two contributions.

Answer: (D) Lord Dufferin

Viceroy Lord Dufferin famously dismissed the early Congress as representing only a "microscopic minority" of educated Indians, a characterisation nationalist leaders spent decades pushing back against as the movement broadened its social base.

Answer: (C) Jawaharlal Nehru

This is a line from Jawaharlal Nehru's famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech, delivered to the Constituent Assembly on the night of 14-15 August 1947, marking India's independence.

Answer: (B) Swadeshi movement

The Swadeshi Movement, promoting boycott of British goods and revival of indigenous industry, arose directly in protest against the 1905 Partition of Bengal, well before the later Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements of the Gandhian era.

Answer: (B) 1919

The Rowlatt Act, which extended wartime emergency powers allowing detention without trial, was passed in March 1919 and directly triggered widespread protests, culminating in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre the following month.

Answer: (A) Muhammad Iqbal

In his 1930 presidential address to the Muslim League at Allahabad, the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal first articulated the broad idea of consolidating India's north-western Muslim-majority provinces into a separate, self-governing entity. Note the companion Q12 in this section, where Choudhury Rahmat Ali is credited with coining the actual name "Pakistan" and detailing the scheme a few years later, in 1933 — the two men's contributions are often (and confusingly) both described as "conceiving the idea of Pakistan".

Answer: (C) Punjab

The Kuka (Namdhari) Movement, a religious and socio-political reform movement with anti-British undertones led by Baba Ram Singh, originated and was centred in Punjab in the 1870s.

Answer: (B) Sivaswami Iyer

This scathing remark on the all-White Simon Commission's report is attributed to the jurist and statesman Sir P. S. Sivaswami Iyer, reflecting the broad cross-party Indian rejection of a commission that had excluded any Indian members.

Answer: (B) 16 August 1946

The Muslim League, under Jinnah, called for "Direct Action Day" on 16 August 1946 to press its demand for Pakistan, which led to communal violence in Calcutta (the "Great Calcutta Killings") and beyond.

Answer: (A) Dandi March by Mahatma

Gandhi began his Dandi March on 12 March 1930 and reached the coastal village of Dandi on 6 April 1930, where he broke the colonial salt law by making salt from seawater, formally launching the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Answer: (D) Ali Brothers

The Khilafat Movement (1919-24), aimed at pressuring the British to preserve the Ottoman Caliph's authority after WWI, was launched and led by the "Ali Brothers" — Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali — who later allied the movement with Gandhi's Non-Cooperation campaign.

Answer: (C) Sir Mohammad Iqbal

This remark is attributed to the poet-philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal, reflecting his own complex and evolving relationship with both Congress and League leadership in the years before his death in 1938.

Answer: (A) Rowlatt Act

The Rowlatt Act (1919), which permitted arrest and detention without trial and curtailed civil liberties, was popularly branded the "Black Act" or "Black Bill" by Indians for its repressive character.

Answer: (A) Lahore

The Muslim League's Lahore Resolution, formally demanding separate independent states for Muslim-majority regions of India, was passed at its March 1940 session in Lahore — later popularly referred to as the "Pakistan Resolution".

Answer: (D) Rowlatt Act enactment

Widespread protests against the recently enacted Rowlatt Act (March 1919) were underway across Punjab when General Dyer ordered troops to fire on the crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April 1919 — the massacre occurred directly in this charged atmosphere.

Answer: (A) Lahore, 1929

At its December 1929 session in Lahore, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress adopted the resolution demanding "Purna Swaraj" (complete independence), with 26 January 1930 subsequently observed as Independence Day.

Answer: (C) Minto-Morley reforms

The Indian Councils Act of 1909 (commonly called the Morley-Minto Reforms) first introduced separate electorates for Muslims, a provision that deepened communal political divisions in the following decades.

Answer: (A) Rash Behari Bose

Rash Behari Bose, a veteran revolutionary based in Japan, founded the Indian Independence League in 1942 to organise Indians in Southeast Asia against British rule; Subhas Chandra Bose later took over its leadership along with the associated Indian National Army (INA).

Answer: (B) Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee

Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, a prominent Calcutta barrister, presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Bombay in December 1885.

Answer: (C) 1922

Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 following the Chauri Chaura incident, in which a violent mob killed policemen — a departure from non-violence that Gandhi felt compromised the movement's core principle.

Answer: (C) 1896 session

"Vande Mataram", composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, was sung for the first time at a Congress session at its 1896 Calcutta session, well before it became a rallying anthem of the wider freedom movement.

Answer: (A) Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on 1 August 1920, the very day the Non-Cooperation Movement was formally launched — a striking coincidence marking the transition from the Tilak-led "extremist" phase to Gandhi's mass-movement leadership of the Congress.

Answer: (A) Wardha

The Congress Working Committee first passed the "Quit India" resolution at Wardha in July 1942; it was subsequently ratified by the All India Congress Committee at its Bombay session on 8 August 1942, from where Gandhi gave his "Do or Die" call.

Answer: (A) 1945

The Indian National Army (INA) trials of captured officers began at the Red Fort in November 1945 and continued into 1946, generating enormous public sympathy for the accused and adding pressure on the British to leave India.

Answer: (A) Singapore

Subhas Chandra Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) in Singapore in October 1943, with the backing of Japan, and declared war on Britain and the United States.

Answer: (B) Lala Hardayal

Lala Har Dayal founded the Ghadar Party among Indian immigrants (mostly Punjabi) on the west coast of the United States in 1913, aiming to organise an armed uprising against British rule in India.

Answer: (D) M. K. Gandhi

Gandhi founded the All India Harijan Samaj in 1932, shortly after the Poona Pact with Dr. Ambedkar, as part of his campaign against untouchability and for the social upliftment of the depressed classes, whom he termed "Harijans" (children of God).

Answer: (A) H. S. Surhawardi

In 1947, Bengal Premier H. S. Suhrawardy, along with figures like Sarat Chandra Bose and Kiran Shankar Roy, floated the idea of an independent, undivided Bengal instead of its partition between India and Pakistan — a plan that ultimately failed to gain traction with either Congress or the League leadership.

Answer: (B) Gujarat

Vansda National Park is situated in Navsari district, Gujarat, and is notable for its moist deciduous forest cover, unusual for the otherwise dry state.

Answer: (D) Ramsar site

The East Kolkata Wetlands, a unique system of sewage-fed fisheries and farmland that naturally treats the city's wastewater, were designated a Ramsar site (wetland of international importance) in 2002.

Answer: (A) Undulating, aeolian sandy deposit

"Bhur" refers to raised, undulating tracts of coarse, wind-deposited (aeolian) sandy soil found along the higher banks of the Ganga in the Upper Ganga Plain, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh.

Answer: (A) 1956

The West Bengal Land Reforms Act, enacted in 1955, came into force in 1956, laying the legal groundwork for the state's later, more sweeping land-reform and tenancy-recording programmes (such as "Operation Barga" in the late 1970s).

Answer: (B) Kolkata

The Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC), which operates cargo and passenger services on India's river systems, is headquartered in Kolkata, reflecting the historic importance of the Hooghly and Ganga-Brahmaputra river network to the region.

Answer: (A) Damodar valley

The Damodar Valley, spanning Jharkhand and West Bengal, holds the bulk of India's coal reserves and hosts major coalfields like Jharia and Raniganj, making it historically central to India's coal and steel industries.

Answer: (B) 1 June 2014

Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh to become India's 29th state, formally coming into existence on 2 June 2014 (the answer key here cites 1 June 2014, the date closely associated with the final legal steps just before formal inauguration).

Answer: (A) tant industry

Dhaniakhali, in Hooghly district, West Bengal, is renowned for its handloom "tant" (cotton saree) weaving tradition, producing some of Bengal's most sought-after cotton sarees.

Answer: (A) Terai

The western stretch of the Teesta river basin in North Bengal falls within the Terai belt — a marshy, forested lowland tract at the foot of the Himalayas.

Answer: (C) mangrove forest

UNESCO inscribed the Sundarbans National Park (the Indian portion of the larger delta) as a World Heritage Site in 1987, recognising it as the world's largest contiguous mangrove forest ecosystem.

Answer: (A) Tista and Karala river

Jalpaiguri town, headquarters of Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal, is situated on the banks of the Teesta and Karala rivers.

Answer: (D) Darjeeling

The Rammam Hydel Project, harnessing the Rammam river, is located in Darjeeling district in the Himalayan foothills of North Bengal.

Answer: (D) Dachigam: Asiatic lions

Dachigam National Park in Jammu & Kashmir is famous for the endangered Hangul (Kashmir stag), not Asiatic lions — the world's only wild Asiatic lion population is found in Gir Forest, Gujarat, not Dachigam, making this the incorrectly matched pair.

Answer: (A) Howrah and Hooghly

India's first railway line in the eastern region (and in Bengal) ran between Howrah and Hooghly, opened in 1854, marking the early expansion of the rail network that had begun with the Bombay-Thane line the previous year.

Answer: (C) Orissa

The Tropic of Cancer runs through eight Indian states — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram — but does not pass through Odisha (Orissa), which lies entirely south of it.

Answer: (B) Western Ghats

Shola forests — dense, stunted montane forest patches interspersed with rolling grasslands — are characteristic of the higher elevations of the Western Ghats, particularly the Nilgiri, Anamalai and Palni hill ranges.

Answer: (B) Godavari and Krishna

Kolleru Lake, one of India's largest freshwater lakes and an important Ramsar wetland, lies between the deltas of the Godavari and Krishna rivers in Andhra Pradesh.

Answer: (C) Increase in 16-64 years age group of population

The demographic dividend refers to the economic growth potential that arises when the proportion of the working-age population (broadly 15-64 years) is significantly larger than the dependent population (children and the elderly), giving a country more workers relative to dependents.

Answer: (A) Cooch Behar

Cooch Behar was a princely state that acceded to India separately in 1949 and was merged into West Bengal only in 1950 — so at the moment of Independence in August 1947, it was not yet a part of the state.

Answer: (C) 77.08%

According to the 2011 Census, West Bengal recorded a literacy rate of about 77.08%, slightly above the national average of that census.

Answer: (A) Jharkhand

Among these options, Jharkhand shares the longest common boundary with West Bengal; overall, West Bengal borders five Indian states (Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim, Assam) as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

Answer: (A) coral island

The Lakshadweep islands are of coral origin, formed from coral reefs and atolls built up over submerged volcanic peaks in the Arabian Sea — quite unlike the tectonic-origin Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Answer: (B) Tropical Moist deciduous

Tropical moist deciduous forests, found in regions with moderate-to-high rainfall (much of the Gangetic plain's fringe, Odisha, parts of the Northeast and Western Ghats), cover the single largest forest area in India.

Answer: (C) Kailas Range

Lake Manasarovar, considered sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon, lies near Mount Kailash in the Kailas Range of Tibet.

Answer: (C) The Khasi Hills

Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, is situated in the Khasi Hills, part of the larger Meghalaya plateau that also includes the Garo and Jaintia Hills.

Answer: (A) the bomb traverses a curved path and falls some distance behind that point

This is a classic physics question best understood in two stages. If air resistance is ignored, the bomb keeps the same constant horizontal velocity as the plane (Newton's first law), so it stays directly below the aircraft throughout its fall — the pilot would see it drop straight down. In the realistic case with air resistance, the bomb (unpowered) loses horizontal speed faster than the aircraft (whose engines keep it at constant speed), so it steadily lags behind the plane's advancing position — the pilot sees it trace a curved path and land some distance behind, not ahead.

Answer: (C) good emitters

By Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation, a body's ability to absorb radiation at a given wavelength equals its ability to emit radiation at that wavelength — so good absorbers (typically dull, dark surfaces) are also good emitters, while highly polished, reflective surfaces are poor absorbers and poor emitters.

Answer: (B) quality

"Quality" (or timbre) of sound — determined by the mix of overtones accompanying the fundamental frequency — is what allows us to distinguish between different voices or instruments even when they produce notes of the same pitch and loudness.

Answer: (C) the distance travelled by light in free space in one year

A light-year is a unit of distance (not time), equal to the distance light travels through a vacuum in one Julian year — roughly $9.46 \times 10^{12}$ km — commonly used to express astronomical distances.

Answer: (D) large distance of stars and fluctuations in the density of air

Stars are so distant that they behave as point sources of light; as their light passes through Earth's atmosphere, continuously shifting pockets of air with varying density and temperature refract it unevenly, causing the apparent flickering or "twinkling" we observe (a phenomenon called stellar scintillation).

Answer: (C) of decrease in air pressure in the space between them

By Bernoulli's principle, air moving faster through the narrow gap between the two cars has lower pressure than the relatively still air on their outer sides. This pressure difference creates a net inward force that can pull the vehicles toward each other, risking a side-swipe collision.

Answer: (C) 80-99 dB

Sustained noise levels above roughly 80-90 decibels are generally considered harmful to human hearing and well-being, and are treated as "noise pollution" under Indian environmental/pollution-control norms.

Answer: (D) 90

The angle of dip (the angle a freely suspended magnetic needle makes with the horizontal) is 90° at the magnetic poles, where Earth's magnetic field lines point straight down/up into the ground; at the magnetic equator, the dip is 0° (the needle stays horizontal).

Answer: (B) Sulphur

Hair-setting and perming lotions typically contain sulphur-based compounds like ammonium thioglycolate, which break and later re-form the disulphide bonds in hair's keratin protein, allowing the hair to be reshaped and hold a new style.

Answer: (A) Urea

Urea has the highest nitrogen content by weight among common nitrogenous fertilisers, at roughly 46% nitrogen, which is a key reason for its widespread and cost-effective use in Indian agriculture.

Answer: (C) to maintain convectional currents to keep the air fresh in the room

Warm, stale air rises and escapes through ventilators placed near the ceiling, drawing in fresh air from lower openings and setting up a convection current that continuously refreshes the air in the room.

Answer: (A) Lemon juice

Lemon juice is acidic (pH around 2, well below 7) due to its citric acid content, whereas lime water, human blood (pH ~7.35-7.45) and antacids are all mildly to strongly basic (pH above 7).

Answer: (C) basic

Toothpaste is formulated to be mildly basic (alkaline) so that it can neutralise the acids produced by bacteria feeding on food residues in the mouth — acids that would otherwise erode tooth enamel and cause decay.

Answer: (B) Limestone

Limestone (calcium carbonate) is the principal raw material in cement manufacturing, providing the calcium oxide that reacts with clay-derived silica and alumina during clinker formation; gypsum is added only in small amounts afterward to control the setting time.

Answer: (A) Copper and Zinc

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; it is often confused with bronze, which is instead an alloy of copper and tin.

Answer: (B) Carbon dioxide, Methane and Hydrogen

Biogas, produced by the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter (as in gobar/cattle-dung gas plants), consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, along with smaller amounts of gases like hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide.

Answer: (B) 31 pairs

The human nervous system has 31 pairs of spinal nerves, arising from the spinal cord segments: 8 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral and 1 coccygeal pair.

Answer: (C) fat

Fat is the most energy-dense macronutrient, yielding about 9 kilocalories per gram, roughly double the approximately 4 kilocalories per gram supplied by proteins or carbohydrates.

Answer: (B) potential difference

An electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) records the tiny electrical potential differences generated on the body's surface by the heart's rhythmic electrical activity as it contracts and relaxes; heart rate is only one of several things that can be read off this recording, not what it directly measures.

Answer: (D) accumulates excess of fats

Chronic heavy alcohol consumption disrupts normal fat metabolism in liver cells, causing fat to accumulate abnormally in the liver (a condition called fatty liver/steatosis) — the first and most common stage of alcohol-related liver disease, which can progress to inflammation and cirrhosis.

Answer: (A) National Commission on Backward Classes

The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017 (enacted as the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018) granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, giving it powers similar to those of the National Commissions for SCs and STs.

Answer: (B) 497

Section 497 of the IPC historically criminalised adultery. It is worth noting that in the landmark Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018) judgment — decided shortly before this exam — the Supreme Court struck down Section 497 as unconstitutional, decriminalising adultery in India.

Answer: (C) Article 154

Article 154 vests the executive power of a state in the Governor, to be exercised either directly or through officers subordinate to him, in accordance with the Constitution.

Answer: (D) Legal Right

The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the right to vote is not a Fundamental Right but a statutory/legal right, conferred and regulated by ordinary legislation — principally the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Answer: (B) Directive Principles of State Policy

Article 51, part of the Directive Principles of State Policy, directs the State to endeavour to promote international peace and security, foster respect for international law, and encourage settlement of disputes by arbitration.

Answer: (A) The Lok Sabha may still proceed with the Bill, accepting or not accepting the recommendations of the Rajya Sabha

Under Article 109, a Money Bill can only originate in the Lok Sabha, and while the Rajya Sabha may recommend amendments, it has no power to reject or substantially alter it — the Lok Sabha is free to accept or reject any of the Rajya Sabha's recommendations, and there is no provision for a joint sitting on a Money Bill.

Answer: (B) Directive Principles of State Policy

The vision of a welfare state — where the government actively works to secure social and economic justice for citizens — is embodied primarily in the (non-justiciable but fundamental in governance) Directive Principles of State Policy, Part IV of the Constitution.

Answer: (C) Democratic decentralisation

While people's participation and accountability are important outcomes, the core constitutional and administrative rationale for the Panchayati Raj system is "democratic decentralisation" — devolving governmental power and decision-making down to elected local bodies.

Answer: (B) The Parliament

Under Article 124, Parliament has the power, by law, to increase (or otherwise regulate) the number of judges in the Supreme Court — the original strength of 8 judges (besides the Chief Justice) has been progressively raised by successive Parliamentary Acts.

Answer: (D) 26 January 1950

The Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950 — a date chosen to honour the 1930 Purna Swaraj pledge — even though it had been adopted by the Constituent Assembly two months earlier, on 26 November 1949.

Answer: (C) 1, 3 and 4

The President is constitutionally required to lay before Parliament the Finance Commission's recommendations (Article 281), the CAG's audit reports (Article 151), and reports of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) — but not the Public Accounts Committee's report, which is a Parliamentary committee's own output presented directly to Parliament, not routed through the President.

Answer: (D) Article 19

Article 19(1)(a) guarantees all citizens the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, subject to "reasonable restrictions" laid out in Article 19(2) on grounds like public order, security of the state, and defamation.

Answer: (D) Seventh Schedule

The Seventh Schedule contains the three legislative lists — Union List, State List and Concurrent List — that distribute law-making power between the central government and the states.

Answer: (A) early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years

The 86th Amendment (2002) inserted Article 21A making elementary education a Fundamental Right for children aged 6-14, and correspondingly amended Article 45 (a Directive Principle) to now focus the State's duty on providing early childhood care and education for children below the age of six.

Answer: (A) Governor

Under Article 233, the Governor of a state appoints District Judges, but only in consultation with the High Court of that state, ensuring judicial input into the process.

Answer: (A) either House of the Parliament

Under Article 61, impeachment proceedings against the President for "violation of the Constitution" may be initiated in either House of Parliament, provided the resolution is moved after 14 days' notice and supported by at least a quarter of that House's total membership.

Answer: (B) 2 and 3 only

The Public Accounts Committee actually has 22 members in total (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha) — so statement 1's claim of "not more than 25 members of the Lok Sabha" alone is inaccurate. Statements 2 and 3, describing the Committee's broad scrutiny of government expenditure (including on grounds of propriety, not just legality) and its examination of CAG reports, are both accurate.

Answer: (B) President and Governor of a State

Both the President (Article 72) and state Governors (Article 161) possess pardoning powers, though the President's power is wider — it alone extends to sentences given by court-martial and to all death sentences, regardless of which law the offence falls under.

Answer: (D) Finance Commission

Article 280 provides for the constitution of a Finance Commission every five years (or earlier if needed) to recommend the distribution of tax revenues between the Union and the States.

Answer: (C) three tiers

The 73rd Amendment established a uniform three-tier Panchayati Raj structure across India: the Gram Panchayat at the village level, the Panchayat Samiti (or Block/Mandal) at the intermediate level, and the Zilla Parishad at the district level.

Answer: (D) 79th Amendment

The 79th Amendment (1999) extended the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and the special nominated representation for the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies by a further ten years.

Answer: (C) Prompt Corrective Action

"Prompt Corrective Action" (PCA) is the RBI's supervisory framework that imposes restrictions on banks whose financial health (measured through indicators like capital adequacy, asset quality and profitability) breaches certain risk thresholds, aiming to help them recover before failure.

Answer: (D) All of the above

RCEP, though technically ASEAN-centred, was widely seen as a China-anchored trade bloc (statement 1) and often framed geopolitically as a counterweight to the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (statement 2); expanding market access for India's services sector and professionals was also a key argument made in favour of India's participation (statement 3) — all three characterisations were part of the public debate at the time, though India ultimately opted out of RCEP in November 2019.

Answer: (A) NITI Aayog

NITI Aayog released the Agricultural Marketing and Farm Friendly Reforms Index, which ranks Indian states on how far they have implemented agri-marketing reforms such as the model APMC Act and contract farming provisions.

Answer: (A) Economic Capital Framework

The Economic Capital Framework (ECF), examined by the Bimal Jalan Committee (2019), governs how much capital reserve the Reserve Bank of India needs to hold against risks, and how much surplus it can transfer to the central government — a topic of significant public debate around the time of this exam.

Answer: (C) 90 cm

Using arc length $= r\theta$ (with $\theta$ in radians): $\theta = 77^\circ = \dfrac{77\pi}{180}$ rad, so $r = \dfrac{121 \times 180}{77\pi} = \dfrac{121 \times 180 \times 7}{77 \times 22} = 90$ cm.

Answer: (D) 21

The original mean is $\dfrac{9+12+15+18+20+22}{6} = \dfrac{96}{6} = 16$. The new mean must be 17, so the new total is $17 \times 6 = 102$, an increase of $102-96=6$ over the original total — so 15 must be replaced by $15+6=21$.

Answer: (D) 300%

Surface area of a cube with side $a$ is $6a^2$. Doubling the side to $2a$ gives a new surface area of $6(2a)^2 = 24a^2$, which is 4 times the original — an increase of $\dfrac{24a^2-6a^2}{6a^2}\times 100\% = 300\%$.

Answer: (B) 24

For fractions, $\text{LCM} = \dfrac{\text{LCM of numerators}}{\text{HCF of denominators}}$. Here, LCM of numerators $(4,8,3) = 24$, and HCF of denominators $(3,9,5) = 1$, so the LCM of the three fractions is $\dfrac{24}{1}=24$.

Answer: (C) 355

$5^2+\ldots+10^2 = (1^2+2^2+\ldots+10^2) - (1^2+2^2+3^2+4^2) = \dfrac{10\times11\times21}{6} - \dfrac{4\times5\times9}{6} = 385 - 30 = 355$.

Answer: (A) Africa

An igloo is a dome-shaped dwelling traditionally built by Arctic peoples such as those in Canada; a rondavel is a traditional round, thatched-roof hut characteristic of Southern Africa, completing the analogy of a region and its traditional dwelling type.

Answer: (D) TwXz

In BdEg, KmNp and PrSu, each successive letter is two places ahead of the previous one in the alphabet (B+2=d, d+2... and so on within each group's pattern). TwXz breaks this consistent pattern, making it the odd one out.

Answer: (D) RADE

The transformation swaps the first and third letters of the word (positions 1 and 3) while keeping positions 2 and 4 fixed: R-O-M-E becomes M-O-R-E (R and M swap). Applying the same swap to D-A-R-E (swapping positions 1 and 3, D and R) gives R-A-D-E, i.e. RADE.

Answer: (B) B

Let $A+C = B+D = k$. Since $A = \dfrac{1}{2}(B+D) = \dfrac{k}{2}$, we get $C = k - A = \dfrac{k}{2}$, so $A=C=\dfrac{k}{2}$. Also, since $A+B>C+D$ and $A=C$, it follows that $B>D$. Since $B+D=k$ and $B>D$, we must have $B>\dfrac{k}{2}$, so $D<\dfrac{k}{2}$. Putting it together: $D < A = C < B$, so B's income is the highest.

Answer: (D) $\dfrac{5}{27}$

From the diagram, 100 people know all three languages. Those who do not know Sanskrit at all are those in the Hindi-only, English-only, and Hindi-and-English-only regions: $200+220+120 = 540$. So the required ratio is $\dfrac{100}{540} = \dfrac{5}{27}$.

Answer: (C) (iii), (v), (ii), (i), (iv)

Comparing the letters after "Epi-": Epigene (g) comes first, then Epilogue (l), then Episode (s), and finally Epitaxy and Epitome (both starting "epit-"), where comparing the 5th letter "a" (Epitaxy) precedes "o" (Epitome). This gives the order: Epigene, Epilogue, Episode, Epitaxy, Epitome — i.e., (iii), (v), (ii), (i), (iv).

Answer: (B) Y

NECESSARY has letters N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y at positions 1-9. Swapping positions 1&3 (N and C) gives CEN ESSARY; swapping positions 4&6 (E and S) gives CENSS EARY; swapping positions 7&9 (A and Y) gives CENSSEYRA. Reading off the 7th letter from the left in this new arrangement gives Y.

Answer: (C) Three

In MEAN, the consonants are M and N; replacing each with the previous alphabet letter gives L and M respectively, producing the letter set L, E, A, M. Using each of these letters exactly once, three meaningful English words can be formed: MEAL, LAME and MALE.

Answer: (D) Eight

Scanning through the given string and checking each letter's immediate neighbours against the "preceded by symbol XOR followed by number" condition (satisfying exactly one, not both) identifies eight qualifying letters in the arrangement.

Answer: (C) Two

Scanning the sequence in overlapping triplets, exactly two starting numbers satisfy all three conditions (odd, divisible by 3 or 5, immediately followed by an odd number, which is in turn immediately followed by an even number): the triplet 3-25-18 and the triplet 21-45-46, giving two qualifying cases.

Answer: (B) Two

Checking each occurrence of the digit 3 in the sequence against the two exclusion conditions (immediately preceded by 6, or immediately followed by 9) shows that exactly two of the 3s satisfy neither condition and so qualify.

Answer: (C) 30

Substituting the coded symbols with their real operators: $27 > 81\ \$\ 9 < 6$ becomes $27+81\div9-6 = 27+9-6=30$.

Answer: (C) D > A

Chaining the given inequalities gives $A>B>C>D$, meaning A is the greatest and D is the smallest of the four. "D > A" directly contradicts this chain and is therefore definitely wrong, while $A>D$, $A>C$ and $B>D$ all follow validly from the chain.

Answer: (C) 3, 5

Swapping the 3 and the 5 gives $8 \times 20 \div 5 + 9 - 3 = \dfrac{160}{5} + 9 - 3 = 32 + 6 = 38$, which matches the required result.

Answer: (A) (ii), (iii), (i), (iv), (v)

The natural real-world sequence of a medical episode runs: Illness occurs, one visits a Doctor, has a Consultation, receives Treatment, and finally experiences Recovery — i.e., (ii), (iii), (i), (iv), (v).

Answer: (D) (i), (v), (iv), (ii), (iii), (vi)

Following the broad biological hierarchy from most general to most specific gives: Animal, Vertebrate, Mammal, Feline (the cat family), then narrowing to the specific example Leopard, and finally the most familiar and specific everyday example, Cat — i.e. (i), (v), (iv), (ii), (iii), (vi).

Answer: (B) 301

The number of boxes must leave a remainder of 1 when divided by the LCM of 3, 4, 5 and 6 (which is 60), so it has the form $60k+1$, and must also be exactly divisible by 7. Testing $60k+1$ for divisibility by 7 gives the smallest valid value at $k=5$: $60\times5+1=301$, and $301 \div 7 = 43$ exactly.

Answer: (D) 9

In the first group, $93-63-3=27$; in the second, $79-37-4=38$. Applying the same relationship to the third group, $67-42-x=16$, gives $x = 67-42-16 = 9$.

Answer: (D) banks

By definition, every river flows within banks; a delta or tributaries are common but not universal features (some rivers have neither), and boats are entirely incidental to a river's existence.

Answer: (A) lens

Every camera, by definition, requires a lens to focus light onto its recording medium; film reels are absent in digital cameras, and a flash or stand are optional accessories, not defining features.

Answer: (D) 12

Systematically counting every triangle formed by the figure's lines — including the smallest individual triangles as well as the larger triangles formed by combining adjacent smaller ones — gives a total of 12 triangles.

Answer: (C) 15

Counting every square in the overlapping figure — the smallest unit squares as well as the larger squares formed by combining them — gives a total of 15 squares.

Answer: (A) 2

Comparing the two shown positions of the dice and eliminating the faces visible adjacent to the 4-dot face in both views identifies the opposite face as having 2 dots.

Answer: (C) STTIBUDIONRI

Splitting BREAKTHROUGH into consecutive letter-pairs (BR, EA, KT, HR, OU, GH, numbered 1-6) and comparing to the coded form EA-OU-HR-BR-GH-KT shows the pairs have been reordered as $2,5,4,1,6,3$. Applying this exact reordering to DISTRIBUTION's pairs (DI, ST, RI, BU, TI, ON) gives ST-TI-BU-DI-ON-RI, i.e. STTIBUDIONRI.

Answer: (D) Intelligence : Stupidity

"Poverty" and "Prosperity" are direct antonyms; "Intelligence" and "Stupidity" share the same antonym relationship, unlike the other pairs, which are not simple opposites of each other.

Answer: (A) Golda Meir

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Golda Meir was Prime Minister of Israel at the time of the 1972 Munich Massacre, in which Palestinian militants killed eleven Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics; she subsequently authorised the covert "Operation Wrath of God" in response.

Answer: (D) Palden Namgyal

Palden Thondup Namgyal was the last Chogyal (king) of the Kingdom of Sikkim, reigning until Sikkim's merger with India as its 22nd state in 1975.

Answer: (A) Iranian Rial

The official currency of Iran is the Iranian Rial.

Answer: (D) January 6

World Day for War Orphans is observed on 6 January each year to draw attention to the plight of children orphaned by armed conflict.

Answer: (B) Asaduddin Owaisi

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Asaduddin Owaisi has led the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), based in Hyderabad, since 2008, succeeding his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi.

Answer: (B) Geraldine Ford

This is a play on words: Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and James Buchanan were all genuine US Presidents. "Geraldine Ford", however, is not a real historical figure — the actual 38th US President was Gerald Ford, a man; "Geraldine Ford" as named never existed and so, quite literally, never became President.

Answer: (A) 1984

The Kolkata Metro, India's first underground metro rail system, began commercial operations in 1984, decades before any other Indian city had one.

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. No printed option is correct (source answer key: none).

None of the printed options is actually correct: the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 90th Academy Awards (held in March 2018, honouring 2017 films) went to Gary Oldman, for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour". The listed names won in other categories that year — Sam Rockwell won Best Supporting Actor (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Lee Smith won Best Film Editing (Dunkirk), Alexandre Desplat won Best Original Score (The Shape of Water), and Richard King won Best Sound Editing (Dunkirk).

Answer: (A) Andrew Sean Greer

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Andrew Sean Greer won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel "Less", a comic tale following a struggling novelist travelling the world to avoid his ex-boyfriend's wedding.

Answer: (A) Osaka

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

The 2019 G20 Summit — "forthcoming" at the time this paper was set — was hosted by Japan in Osaka in June 2019, the first time Japan hosted the summit.

Answer: (C) Amitava Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh wrote "Flood of Fire" (2015), the concluding volume of his acclaimed Ibis Trilogy set against the backdrop of the First Opium War.

Answer: (A) Millie Bobby Brown

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Actress Millie Bobby Brown was named UNICEF's youngest-ever Goodwill Ambassador in November 2018, at age 14, to advocate for children's rights globally.

Answer: (B) Vikram Misri

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Vikram Misri served as India's Ambassador to China from January 2019 (Vijay Gokhale, an earlier Ambassador to China, had by then moved on to become India's Foreign Secretary).

Answer: (D) Christine Lagarde

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Christine Lagarde served as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2011 until mid-2019, when she moved on to head the European Central Bank.

Answer: (A) Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih became President of the Maldives in November 2018, defeating incumbent Abdulla Yameen in a closely watched election.

Answer: (A) Mike Pompeo

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Mike Pompeo served as US Secretary of State from April 2018, having succeeded Rex Tillerson, whom President Trump had dismissed.

Answer: (B) Akihito

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Emperor Akihito reigned until his abdication on 30 April 2019 (the first Japanese imperial abdication in about two centuries), after which his son Naruhito ascended the throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era.

Answer: (A) Moon Jae-in

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Moon Jae-in served as President of South Korea from 2017 to 2022.

Answer: (A) 31 December 2018

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

President Trump signed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which formalised long-term US strategic policy toward the Indo-Pacific region, into law on 31 December 2018.

Answer: (D) Justice Indu Malhotra

In the Supreme Court's September 2018 Sabarimala verdict, which permitted women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple, Justice Indu Malhotra was the sole dissenting judge on the five-judge bench, arguing that the matter involved deep religious questions best left undisturbed by courts.

Answer: (D) Sikkim

Sikkim became India's first fully organic state in January 2016, having converted all its agricultural land to certified organic farming practices, banning chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Answer: (D) Amitav Ghosh

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Amitav Ghosh received the 54th Jnanpith Award in 2018, becoming the first English-language writer to be honoured with India's highest literary award.

Answer: (B) 2 only

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

Hausla is actually a national-level festival organised by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, not the Ministry of Minority Affairs, making statement 1 incorrect; statement 2, describing it as a platform for children in Child Care Institutions to showcase their talents, is accurate.

Answer: (B) 77th rank

Answer as of 2019 — this may have changed since.

India jumped 23 places to rank 77th in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report 2019, a significant improvement from its 100th-place ranking the previous year, driven by reforms in areas like construction permits and cross-border trade.