17 November 2025 · Shift 1

Constitutional amendments The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 caps the size of the Council of Ministers — at the Centre and in every State — at 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha or of the State Legislative Assembly. It inserted Articles 75(1A) and 164(1A); a State's Council of Ministers, however, must have at least 12 members. The same amendment also strengthened the anti-defection law by deleting the 'split' (one-third) exemption of the Tenth Schedule and by barring a disqualified defector from holding a ministerial post. Hence the correct option is (a).

India's connectivity projects The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project is a joint connectivity project of India and Myanmar. It links Kolkata port with Sittwe port in Myanmar by sea, then runs up the Kaladan river to Paletwa, and finally by road to Zorinpui in Mizoram. Its purpose is to give the North-Eastern states a sea route that avoids the narrow Siliguri corridor, and it is a flagship of India's Act East Policy. Hence the correct option is (d).

G-20 grouping The G-20 members together account for about 85 per cent of world GDP. They also cover roughly 75 per cent of global trade and about two-thirds of the world's population, which is why the grouping is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. The G-20 has 19 member countries plus the European Union, and the African Union was admitted as a member at the New Delhi Summit in 2023. Hence the correct option is (d).

Sports administration PT Usha became the first woman President of the Indian Olympic Association in December 2022, and was elected unopposed. Known as the 'Payyoli Express', she missed an Olympic bronze in the 400 m hurdles at Los Angeles 1984 by 1/100th of a second and is a Rajya Sabha member nominated in 2022. Hence the correct option is (b).

Election Commission of India Gyanesh Kumar was appointed the 26th Chief Election Commissioner of India in February 2025 and took charge on 19 February 2025. A retired IAS officer of the 1988 batch (Kerala cadre), he succeeded Rajiv Kumar, whose term ended on 18 February 2025. He is the first CEC chosen under the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, by a committee of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Hence the correct option is (c).

ASHA programme The ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) scheme was launched in 2005 as a key component of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Adding twenty years to 2005 gives 2025, so the programme completed two decades of service in 2025. An ASHA is a trained female community health volunteer who links her village to the public health system — she mobilises women for institutional delivery, immunisation and antenatal care. In 2022 the ASHA workers were collectively honoured with the WHO Director-General's Global Health Leaders Award. So the correct option is (d).

Subhadra Yojana, Odisha Subhadra Yojana is the Odisha Government's flagship women-empowerment scheme, launched on 17 September 2024. Every eligible woman aged 21 to 60 years receives ₹10,000 a year for five years — a total of ₹50,000 — paid in two instalments of ₹5,000 each. The money goes to a Subhadra debit card linked to the beneficiary's own Aadhaar-seeded bank account, so it is direct cash support and not a loan, a scholarship or a housing benefit. That is why options (a), (c) and (d) fail — each describes a different kind of assistance. So the correct option is (b).

Sports personalities Prakash Padukone is a badminton player — in 1980 he became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships. He was also the first Indian to be ranked world No. 1 in badminton, and won gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games; he received the Arjuna Award (1972) and the Padma Shri (1982). He later set up the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, which has trained many national players. So the correct option is (b).

Founding of BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India was founded in December 1928 at Delhi, with Grant Govan as its first President and Anthony de Mello as its first Secretary. Four years after the Board came into being, India played its first Test match, at Lord's in 1932. The BCCI is headquartered at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and is regarded as the wealthiest cricket board in the world. So the correct option is (b).

National Youth Athletics 2025 The 20th National Youth Athletics Championships 2025 were held at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna, Bihar, from 10 to 12 March 2025. The meet was conducted under the aegis of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), with the Bihar Athletics Association as the host association. It is an age-group national meet at which young athletes from every State compete and win selection for higher-level championships. So the correct option is (b).

Classification of instruments Mahuri is a double-reed wind instrument of Odisha whose body is made of wood and whose flared bell is made of metal — exactly the 'wood and metal' combination the question asks for. It is played at temple rituals, weddings and folk performances, and belongs to the same family as the shehnai. Tabla and dhol are percussion (membrane) instruments and the sitar is a string instrument, so none of them is a wind instrument at all. So the correct option is (b).

Pulitzer Prize, Indian authors Interpreter of Maladies (1999), a collection of nine short stories, was Jhumpa Lahiri's debut book and won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000. The stories move between Kolkata and New England and deal with migration, identity and the strain of living between two cultures. Her later works include The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth and The Lowland. So the correct option is (b).

Gharanas of Hindustani music The Patiala gharana of Hindustani music was founded in the 19th century by Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Baksh Khan at the court of Patiala. It is celebrated for both khayal and thumri, and the fast, heavily ornamented tappa is its further speciality. Its most famous name is Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, whose thumri 'Yaad piya ki aaye' and khayal singing defined the style. Since the gharana is famous for both I and II, both statements are correct. So the correct option is (c).

Books and authors Marx's Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism (2002) was written by the economist Meghnad Desai. The book argues that Marx himself expected capitalism to keep renewing itself, so the collapse of state-run socialism confirms rather than refutes his analysis. Meghnad Desai taught at the London School of Economics and received the Padma Bhushan in 2008; his other books include The Rediscovery of India and Who Wrote the Bhagavadgita? So the correct option is (b).

Festivals of Manipur Gaan-Ngai is the biggest festival of the Zeliangrong Naga people of Manipur, celebrated in December-January once the harvest is in. It marks the close of the agricultural year with a sacred fire kindled by friction, tribal dances, community feasting and farewell rites for those who died during the year. Onam belongs to Kerala, Ganesh Chaturthi to Maharashtra, and Ugadi to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. So the correct option is (b).

Hindu temple architecture Garbhagriha literally means 'womb-house' — the small, dark innermost sanctum in which the principal deity of a Hindu temple is installed. Only the priest enters it, the shikhara rises directly above it, and the whole plan of the temple is organised around it. The mandapa is the pillared hall in front where devotees gather, the pradakshina patha is the passage for circumambulating the sanctum, and the shikhara is the spire above it. So the correct option is (b).

Folk dances of India Veeragase is a vigorous folk dance of Karnataka, performed by devotees of Veerabhadra who dance holding an unsheathed sword. It is a Shaiva dance that enacts the story of Veerabhadra, the fierce form Shiva created after Daksha's sacrifice, and is a highlight of the Mysuru Dasara procession. Kerala's well-known folk forms are Theyyam and Kaikottikali, Odisha's are Chhau and Ghumura, and Chhattisgarh's are Panthi and Raut Nacha. So the correct option is (b).

Mission Mausam Mission Mausam was approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2024 with an outlay of about ₹2,000 crore, to make India 'weather-ready and climate-smart'. Under it the country's cloud chamber is being set up at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. A cloud chamber is a closed cylindrical drum in which water vapour and aerosols are held at controlled temperature and humidity, so that scientists can watch how droplets and ice particles actually form — the science needed for cloud seeding and rain enhancement. So the correct option is (b).

PLI Scheme sectors The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme covers 14 sectors, with a combined outlay of about ₹1.97 lakh crore, and pays incentives on incremental sales of goods made in India. The 14 include mobile phones and electronic components, pharmaceuticals and APIs, medical devices, automobiles and auto components, telecom and networking products, white goods, food processing, textiles, specialty steel, solar PV modules, ACC batteries and drones. Its purpose is to build scale in domestic manufacturing, cut import dependence and raise exports under Atmanirbhar Bharat. So the correct option is (c).

1991 balance of payments crisis By June 1991 India's foreign exchange reserves had fallen to about US$1.1 billion — enough to pay for imports for only about two weeks, that is, not even a fortnight. The crisis grew out of a widening current account deficit, the oil shock of the Gulf War and a fall in remittances, and India came close to defaulting on its external payments. To raise emergency funds the government pledged about 67 tonnes of gold with the Bank of England and UBS, and borrowed from the IMF. This pressure produced the reforms of 1991 — liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation — under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. So the correct option is (a).

Term of the President Article 56(1) of the Constitution fixes the President's term at five years from the date on which he or she enters office. The President may resign by writing to the Vice-President, and can be removed only by impeachment under Article 61 for violation of the Constitution. Even after the five years end, the incumbent continues in office until the successor takes charge, and is eligible for re-election under Article 57. So the correct option is (c).

Article 249, State List Article 249 allows Parliament to legislate on a State List subject only if the Rajya Sabha first passes a resolution that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest. The resolution must be supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. Such a law remains in force for one year, can be extended a year at a time by fresh resolutions, and lapses six months after the resolution ceases to operate. Parliament may also legislate on State subjects during a National Emergency (Article 250), when two or more States request it (Article 252) and to implement international agreements (Article 253) — but never on the Prime Minister's recommendation, a Lok Sabha simple majority or a court's direction. So the correct option is (b).

Position of human organs The buccal cavity is the mouth, which lies in the head — higher than any other organ in the list. The other three all lie in the trunk: the gall bladder under the liver in the upper right abdomen, the appendix at the junction of the small and large intestine in the lower right abdomen, and the rectum at the very end of the alimentary canal in the pelvis. Ordered from the top downwards: buccal cavity, then gall bladder, then appendix, then rectum. So the correct option is (a).

Human excretory system The human excretory system is made of a pair of kidneys, a pair of ureters, one urinary bladder and one urethra. All three items listed — the ureters, the urethra and the kidneys — are therefore parts of it. The kidneys filter blood in their nephrons and form urine, the ureters carry it down to the bladder which stores it, and the urethra passes it out of the body. So the correct option is (d).

Nanda dynasty of Magadha Mahapadma Nanda founded the Nanda dynasty at Magadha around 345 BCE — that is, in the 4th century BCE — by overthrowing the last Shishunaga ruler. The Puranas call him ekarat, the 'sole sovereign', and sarva-kshatrantaka, the 'uprooter of all Kshatriyas', because he destroyed the older ruling houses and built the first great empire of northern India. He was of low, non-Kshatriya birth and is remembered for a huge standing army and systematic tax collection through appointed officials. The last Nanda, Dhana Nanda — the Agrammes of Greek accounts — ruled at the time of Alexander's invasion and was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya in about 321 BCE. So the correct option is (b).