12 September 2025 · Shift 1

Elephanta Caves — Shaivite art The Elephanta Caves (Gharapuri island, Mumbai) are celebrated for their monumental Shaivite sculptures, most famously the Trimurti (Maheshmurti) of Shiva. The dramatic play of light and shadow inside the main cave lends the sculptures their dynamic expression — the feature that sets Elephanta apart. They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1987) — option (b).

Goncha Festival — Bastar Goncha is the Bastar (Chhattisgarh) version of the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, where devotees playfully fire Goncha fruit from bamboo Tupki guns — Statement 1 is correct. The Rath Yatra custom in Bastar is a centuries-old royal tradition traced to the Chalukya rulers of Bastar — Statement 2 is correct. The procession runs from Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya to Dashami — Statement 3 is also correct; hence option (d).

Carnatic music — Khanda jaati In Carnatic tala theory, the jaati of a laghu is defined by its beat count. Khanda jaati = 5 beats; Tisra = 3, Chaturasra = 4, Misra = 7 and Sankirna = 9. Hence a five-beat laghu is Khanda — option (b).

Judo — history Judo was founded by Jigoro Kano in Japan in 1882 at the Kodokan Institute — Statement (a) is correct. Judo actually entered the Olympics at Tokyo 1964, so option (d) is wrong; the other claims also do not match the record. Hence option (a).

National Cross Country 2025 The 59th National Cross Country Championships 2025 were held on 12 January 2025 at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The event, conducted under the Athletics Federation of India, doubled as a selection trial for international cross-country events. Hence option (b).

India–UAE BIT 2024 The India–UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty (in force from August 2024) follows India’s Model BIT approach. Its core is post-establishment protection: once an investment is made, the investor is assured national treatment and protection against unfair measures, with defined dispute-settlement provisions. Hence option (c).

Santosh Trophy final — Riyadh For the first time, the semifinals and final of the Santosh Trophy (2022-23) were played abroad — in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Karnataka beat Meghalaya 3-2 in the final to win the title after a 54-year gap. Hence option (c).

Book — Landscapes of Loss Journalist Kavitha Iyer's book is reportage-based non-fiction, built on years of ground reporting from Marathwada. It documents how drought reshapes lives, livelihoods, migration and ecology in rural India — the human and social cost of water scarcity. Hence option (c).

Glacial landforms Tributary glaciers erode less deeply than the trunk glacier, so their valleys are left "hanging" at higher levels above the main U-shaped valley — Statement 1 is correct. The trunk glacier trims the projecting spurs into truncated spurs with triangular facets — Statement 2 is also correct. Hence option (c).

HLVM3 — Crew Escape System The Crew Escape System sits atop the HLVM3 stack for the Gaganyaan mission. If a launch anomaly occurs, its high-thrust motors pull the crew module rapidly away from the rocket to safety — emergency separation. Hence option (b).

Justice Sanjiv Khanna — 51st CJI Justice Sanjiv Khanna took oath as the 51st Chief Justice of India — Statement 1 is correct. He succeeded CJI D.Y. Chandrachud — Statement 2 is correct; but he assumed office on 11 November 2024, not 2023, so Statement 3 is wrong. Hence only 1 and 2 — option (a).

National Population Policy 2000 NPP 2000 aims at free and compulsory school education up to age 14, reducing IMR below 30 per 1,000 live births, and promoting delayed marriage for girls — objectives 1, 3 and 4. Its central goal is to REDUCE fertility to replacement level (TFR 2.1), not increase it — objective 2 is contrary to the policy. Hence 1, 3 and 4 only — option (c).

Cellular respiration — ATP Glycolysis and the Krebs cycle yield only 2 ATP each (net) directly. The electron transport chain, using NADH and FADH₂, generates about 32–34 ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. Hence the ETC produces the highest ATP — option (c).

Zonal Councils — chronology Zonal Councils were created by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 — so (b) comes first. The first meetings of the councils, including the Central Zonal Council, followed in 1957. The Eastern Zonal Council meeting of 2022 is the latest — order b-c-a; option (b).

Article 300A — Right to Property The 44th Amendment (1978) removed property from Fundamental Rights and placed it in Article 300A. Article 300A says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law — a constitutional/legal right, not a fundamental one. Being non-fundamental, Article 32 is not directly available for it — hence option (c).

Rigid body rotation In a rigid body every particle completes the same angle in the same time about the fixed axis. So the angular velocity ω is identical for all particles; only the linear speed v = rω varies with distance r. Hence option (d).

BSA — electronic evidence The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (replacing the Indian Evidence Act) expressly recognises electronic and digital records as primary evidence. Its technology emphasis — certification, hashing and secure handling — is aimed at authenticating such digital evidence. Hence option (c).

ONORC (A–R) ONORC gives nationwide ration-card portability — a beneficiary can lift entitled grains from any FPS in India — A is true. This portability works through Aadhaar seeding and biometric authentication on ePoS devices at the shops — R is true and is precisely how A is achieved. Hence option (a).

Cheraw dance — Mizoram Cheraw is the famous bamboo dance of Mizoram. Men rhythmically clap bamboo staves near the ground while women dance in and out of the moving bamboos. Hence option (d).

Global Firepower Ranking The Global Firepower Index ranks nations on their conventional war-making capability. Its PowerIndex draws on military manpower, equipment, logistics, resources and defence budget. Hence defence budget and military power — option (c).

Cooperative industries A cooperative is a voluntary association based on mutual help. Members jointly own, manage and control the enterprise and share its profits and losses — e.g., AMUL, IFFCO. Hence option (b).

Education — Concurrent List Originally, education was a State subject. The 42nd Amendment (1976) transferred education to the Concurrent List, letting both Parliament and state legislatures make laws on it. Hence option (a).

NFCS 2024 The NFCS, coordinated by the India Meteorological Department, follows the WMO’s Global Framework for Climate Services. Its goal is to co-develop and deliver reliable climate information for sectors like agriculture, water, health, energy and disaster management. Hence option (c).

Argon from K-40 decay Argon-40, the dominant isotope of atmospheric argon, forms by the radioactive decay of Potassium-40 through electron capture. This K–Ar decay in crustal rocks is also the basis of potassium–argon dating in geology. Hence option (a).

FRs vs DPSPs Fundamental Rights (Part III) are justiciable — a citizen can move the courts, including under Article 32, for their enforcement. DPSPs (Part IV) are non-justiciable by Article 37: fundamental in governance but not enforceable by any court. Hence option (d).