19 September 2025 · Shift 2

Gaganyaan objectives Gaganyaan aims to send a three-member crew to a 400 km orbit for three days and bring them back safely. It builds indigenous human-spaceflight capability, boosts science and technology and widens international cooperation. Lowering the Earth’s temperature is no part of its mandate. Hence option (b).

QUAD economies The QUAD has four members — India, the United States, Japan and Australia. China is NOT a member of the grouping. Among the members the United States has by far the largest economy. Hence option (c).

National IPR Policy The National IPR Policy (2016) has seven objectives, the first being IPR awareness — outreach and promotion. It seeks to make people aware of the economic, social and cultural benefits of intellectual property. Restricting patents to foreigners or excluding startups would defeat its purpose. Hence option (a).

Salt Satyagraha The salt law gave the government a monopoly over making and selling salt and taxed it. Gandhi marched to Dandi in March-April 1930 and broke the law by making salt from sea water. Salt was chosen because the tax hurt the poorest households. Hence option (c).

Digital evidence — BSA 2023 The BSA, 2023 places electronic records on par with documentary evidence. A certificate authenticating the record must accompany it, signed digitally by the person in charge. That digital signature establishes the integrity of the file. Hence option (d).

NSC Chairperson Prof. Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, a noted statistician, became NSC Chairperson in 2022. He had headed the Chennai Mathematical Institute. The NSC was set up in 2005 on the Rangarajan Commission’s recommendation. Hence option (b).

Iron ore in India India has both HEMATITE and MAGNETITE ores — magnetite is found in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. So the claim that only hematite occurs here is incorrect. The other three statements are accurate. Hence option (c).

Burrakatha Burrakatha is a narrative folk form of Andhra Pradesh performed by a lead storyteller and two co-performers. The main performer plays the tambura while narrating. The name comes from the burra (drum) used by the accompanists. Hence option (a).

Lowest sex ratio 2011 Daman and Diu recorded the lowest sex ratio in Census 2011 — 618 females per 1000 males. The heavy migration of male workers to its industrial units explains the figure. Kerala had the highest at 1084. Hence option (c).

Punjab doabs The Bist (Bist-Jalandhar) Doab lies between the BEAS and the SUTLEJ, not the Chenab. Bari Doab (Beas-Ravi), Rachna Doab (Ravi-Chenab) and Sindh Sagar Doab (Jhelum-Indus) are correctly paired. The Chaj Doab lies between the Chenab and the Jhelum. Hence option (a).

Nagara shikhara A Nagara shikhara rises from a SQUARE base. Its walls curve inward as they rise to the top, giving the beehive profile. An amalaka and kalasha crown the peak. Hence option (c).

Kharchi festival Kharchi is a week-long festival of Tripura held in July at the Chaturdasha Devata temple, Old Agartala. Fourteen tribal deities are bathed in the Howrah river and worshipped. It is therefore a festival of native deity worship. Hence option (d).

Kushana title Kushana kings styled themselves Devaputra — "son of god". The title was borrowed from the Chinese practice of calling the emperor the Son of Heaven. Kanishka used it along with Shaonanoshao and Kaisara. Hence option (c).

Judo rules An Ippon is a full point and ends the contest at once; a Hansoku-make is a disqualification that also ends it. Shime-waza are strangling techniques and kansetsu-waza are joint locks — the options swap them. Waza-ari is a half point; two of them equal an ippon. Hence option (a).

Babur — Bhira Babur’s early raids into India began in 1519. Bhira, in the Punjab along the Jhelum, was the first territory he seized. Sialkot and Lahore followed before the decisive battle of Panipat in 1526. Hence option (c).

Sushil Kumar 2008 At Beijing 2008 Sushil Kumar lost his opening bout in the 66 kg freestyle. He re-entered through the repechage route and won three bouts in a row to take bronze. It was India’s first wrestling medal since K.D. Jadhav’s bronze in 1952. Hence option (d).

International Booker 2025 Banu Mushtaq won the 2025 International Booker Prize for Heart Lamp, with Deepa Bhasthi as translator. It is the first Kannada work — and the first short-story collection — to win the prize. The award is shared equally between author and translator. Hence option (a).

Water Polo Championship The Eastern Naval Command organised the championship ✓ and Visakhapatnam hosted it ✓. The meet was held earlier in the season, not in April 2025 — Statement 3 is wrong. So the first two statements alone are correct. Hence Only 1 and 2 — option (d).

Article 263 Article 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council. The Council inquires into and advises upon disputes and matters of common interest between states. It was actually set up in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission’s recommendation. Hence option (d).

Thermodynamics REVERSIBLE expansion gives the maximum work, so Statement 1 is wrong. Carnot efficiency = 1 − $\frac{T\mathrm{₂}}{T\mathrm{₁}}$ — it depends only on the reservoir temperatures — Statement 2 correct. By the second law (Clausius statement), heat moves from cold to hot only with external work, as in a refrigerator — Statement 3 correct. Hence 2 and 3 only — option (c).

Jhora dance Jhora is a community dance of the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. Men and women form a large circle holding each other by the arms. They move in step around a singer at the centre. Hence option (c).

Global Firepower 2025 Global Firepower ranks countries by a PowerIndex score. More than 60 individual factors — manpower, equipment, logistics, finances and geography — feed into it. Nuclear weapons are not counted, though recognised powers get a bonus. Hence option (d).

Green Hydrogen Hub Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, hydrogen hubs are being developed at port locations. Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh was selected for India’s first such hub. Kandla and Tuticorin were also identified for green hydrogen hubs. Hence option (a).

Water on the Moon Chandrayaan-1 (2008) carried the Moon Impact Probe and NASA’s M3 instrument. Together they confirmed water molecules and hydroxyl on the lunar surface in 2009. Mangalyaan went to Mars and Aditya-L1 studies the Sun. Hence option (c).

Pardoning powers The President’s pardoning power comes from Article 72, not Article 161 — Statement 1 is wrong. Article 161 lets a Governor grant reprieve, respite, remission or commutation for offences against state laws. But a Governor cannot PARDON a death sentence — that power rests with the President — Statement 2 is correct. Hence 2 only — option (d).