21 November 2025 · Shift 1

Sources of the Constitution Fundamental Rights, Judicial Review and the procedure for the impeachment of the President were all borrowed from the Constitution of the United States of America. The framers looked to the USA because that Constitution is built around a written charter of rights protected by an independent judiciary. The Preamble, the office of the Vice-President and the removal procedure for judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts also come from the USA. For contrast: single citizenship and the parliamentary system come from the United Kingdom, the Concurrent List from Australia, and the Directive Principles from Ireland. So option (b) is correct.

Fundamental Duties Statement 1 is correct: the Fundamental Duties are listed in Article 51A, which forms Part IV-A of the Constitution. Statement 2 is correct: abiding by the Constitution and respecting the National Flag and the National Anthem is the very first Fundamental Duty. Statement 3 is wrong: separation of the judiciary from the executive is a Directive Principle under Article 50, not a duty under Article 51A. Fundamental Duties were added by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, and the idea was drawn from the Constitution of the erstwhile USSR. There were 10 duties at first; the 11th — the duty of a parent to provide education to a child aged 6 to 14 years — was added by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002. So only statements 1 and 2 are correct, and option (a) is correct.

OIC Islamic Summit The 16th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan in 2026. The decision was taken at the 15th Islamic Summit, which met at Banjul in The Gambia in May 2024. The OIC was founded in 1969 and is headquartered at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; it is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the United Nations. It has 57 member states, and India is not a member of the grouping. So option (a) is correct.

Appointments in sports Badminton champion P. V. Sindhu was named the Goodwill Ambassador for Earth Hour India 2024 by WWF-India. She fronted the 'Give an Hour for Earth' campaign, which asks people to give one hour to an activity that helps the planet. Earth Hour is an initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF); it began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and is now observed on a Saturday in March each year. So option (a) is correct.

Nobel Prize laureates Har Gobind Khorana received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968. He was honoured for interpreting the genetic code and showing how it functions in protein synthesis, and he shared the prize with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg. The Indian-American scientist, born at Raipur in undivided Punjab, is also remembered for constructing the first synthetic gene. Other laureates of Indian origin in the sciences include C. V. Raman (Physics, 1930) and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009). So option (a) is correct.

Bhakti literature The "Bijak" is the compilation of the verses of Kabir Das and is the principal scripture of the Kabirpanth. It is arranged in three main parts — Ramaini, Shabda and Sakhi — and is written in Sadhukkadi, the mixed dialect used by the Nirguna saints. Kabir, a disciple of Ramananda, preached devotion to a formless God and criticised ritualism in both Hinduism and Islam; a number of his verses were later included in the Guru Granth Sahib. The other poets wrote different works: Tulsidas the Ramcharitmanas, Jayadeva the Gita Govinda, and Namdev his Marathi abhangas. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Awards and honours The honour was conferred in November 2024 in the United States of America. It was presented at Washington Adventist University, Maryland, by the newly launched Association of Indian American Minorities (AIAM), a body formed to bring Indian-American minority communities together. The citation recognised the "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" approach to the welfare of minority communities in India. The award carries the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the American civil-rights leader and Nobel Peace laureate of 1964. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Purple Fest Purple Fest, called the Festival of Inclusion, has been organised since 2023; the first edition was held at Panaji, Goa, in January 2023. It is India's first large-scale festival devoted to celebrating Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), with accessible sports, films, art, job fairs and assistive-technology stalls. Purple is the international colour of the disability-rights movement, which is why the festival carries the name. Organised by the Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Goa, with support from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, it later grew into the International Purple Fest. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Sprint starting technique A sprint is decided in its first few strides, so the start must produce the greatest possible forward drive from rest; the crouch start does this and is compulsory in all sprint and hurdle races. In the crouch position the athlete's feet rest against starting blocks: the centre of gravity is low and slightly ahead of the hands, and the push against the rigid block is returned as forward thrust by Newton's third law. Its three variations differ only in the spacing of the feet — the bunch (bullet) start, the medium start and the elongated start; the medium start suits most sprinters. The standing start belongs to middle- and long-distance races, while flying and rolling starts are not permitted in track sprint events. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Tiger reserves of India Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve lies in the Bundi district of Rajasthan, in the Hadoti region on the edge of the Vindhyan and Aravalli landscapes. Notified in 2022, it became India's 52nd tiger reserve and the fourth of Rajasthan after Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundra Hills. Its ecological value is that of a corridor: it links Ranthambore with Mukundra Hills, letting tigers disperse between the two populations. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Similipal National Park Statement 1 is correct: Similipal lies in the Mayurbhanj district of northern Odisha. Statement 2 is correct: it was notified in April 2025 as the 107th National Park of India and the second in Odisha after Bhitarkanika. Statement 3 is correct: the Similipal massif forms the core of the Similipal Biosphere Reserve, part of the UNESCO network since 2009, and it is also a notified Tiger Reserve, known for its melanistic (black) tigers. Statement 4 is unrelated: separation of the judiciary from the executive is a Directive Principle under Article 50 and has nothing to do with declaring a national park. Hence, option (a) is correct.

National handball championship The 47th Junior Boys' National Handball Championship is to be hosted in New Delhi. The Handball Federation of India's calendar places the event at Pitampura in Delhi, with the Delhi State Handball Association as host. Handball in India is run by the Handball Federation of India (HFI), affiliated to the Asian Handball Federation and to the International Handball Federation (IHF). Hence, option (b) is correct.

Santosh Trophy The concluding (final) round of the 78th Senior National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy began in December 2024. The Santosh Trophy, first played in 1941, is India's oldest national football competition; it is contested by state associations and institutional teams under the All India Football Federation. The trophy is named after Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, in present-day Bangladesh. In this 2024-25 edition West Bengal, the most successful team in the tournament's history, took the title. Hence, option (d) is correct.

Santosh Trophy venue The final round of the 78th Santosh Trophy was played at Hyderabad in Telangana, from mid-December 2024. Matches were staged at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Gachibowli, and the Sreenidi Deccan Arena, with Telangana appearing as hosts. In the final, West Bengal beat Kerala to lift the trophy. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Indian English literature "Show Business" (1992) was written by Shashi Tharoor. The novel satirises the Bombay film industry: a Hindi film star lies in a coma while his life is replayed in the form of film "takes". Tharoor's other well-known books include The Great Indian Novel, India: From Midnight to the Millennium, An Era of Darkness and Why I Am a Hindu. The distractors belong to other titles: Salman Rushdie wrote Midnight's Children, Vikram Seth A Suitable Boy, and Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Universal law of gravitation Newton's universal law of gravitation states that two bodies attract each other with $F=\frac{G{m}_1{m}_2}{r^2}$. Statement I is correct: for a planet of mass m moving round the Sun of mass M, this pull supplies exactly the centripetal force needed, $\frac{GMm}{r^2}=\frac{m{v}^2}{r}$, so the planet stays in orbit. Statement II is correct: the ocean tides are raised by the gravitational attraction of the Moon and, to a smaller extent, of the Sun on the Earth's waters. The same law also explains the fall of bodies towards the Earth and the motion of the Moon around the Earth, so both statements are significant applications of it. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Sublimation of dry ice At 1 atmosphere solid carbon dioxide passes straight into the gaseous state — it sublimes — without ever becoming a liquid. The reason lies in the phase diagram of carbon dioxide: its triple point is at about 5.11 atm and $-{56.6}^{\circ }C$, so liquid carbon dioxide simply cannot exist below roughly 5.1 atm. Dry ice is therefore stored under high pressure; released to ordinary pressure it stays at about $-{78.5}^{\circ }C$ and turns directly into gas. This is why dry ice leaves no wetness and is used for cold storage of food and for stage smoke. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Government expenditure Statement 1 is correct: subsidies are recurring payments that neither create an asset nor reduce a liability of the government, which is exactly the test of revenue expenditure. Statement 2 is correct: defence expenditure, along with interest payments, salaries and pensions, is committed expenditure — spending the government has almost no discretion to alter in a given year. Statement 3 is wrong on both counts: defence spending is classified as non-development expenditure, and precisely because it is committed it is very hard, not easy, to cut. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Successor states of Mughals Shuja-ud-Daulah was the Nawab of Awadh (Oudh), ruling from 1754 to 1775. He was the son and successor of Safdar Jung and the grandson of Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk, who had founded the autonomous state of Awadh in 1722. Along with Mir Qasim of Bengal and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II he fought the English East India Company at the Battle of Buxar in 1764 and was defeated; the Treaty of Allahabad followed in 1765. The other regions had different rulers: Amber was held by the Kachhwaha Rajputs, Mysore by the Wodeyars and later Haidar Ali, and Hyderabad by the Nizam-ul-Mulk's line. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Qualifications of the President Statement I is wrong. Article 58(2) says that a person holding an office of profit under the Union, a State or any local authority is not eligible for election as President — holding such an office is a disqualification, not a qualification. Statement II is correct. Article 58(1)(c) requires the candidate to be qualified for election as a member of the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 58 also requires the candidate to be a citizen of India and to have completed 35 years of age; a nomination must in addition be subscribed by 50 proposers and 50 seconders. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Sessions of Parliament The Constitution permits a gap of less than six months between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next. Article 85(1) lets the President summon each House "at such time and place as he thinks fit", but adds the condition that six months shall not intervene between those two sittings. The practical effect is that Parliament must meet at least twice in a year; in practice it holds three sessions — Budget, Monsoon and Winter. Note that the six months are counted between sittings, not between sessions as calendar events, so a long session can still be followed by a long recess. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Article 85 of the Constitution The six-month rule is laid down in Article 85 of the Constitution. Article 85(1) empowers the President to summon each House, subject to the condition that six months shall not intervene between the last sitting in one session and the date appointed for the first sitting of the next; Article 85(2) gives the powers of prorogation and of dissolving the Lok Sabha. The neighbouring Articles deal with quite different matters, as the table shows, so none of them can carry this rule. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Money Bill procedure The Rajya Sabha must return a Money Bill within 14 days of the date on which it receives the Bill. Article 109 gives the Rajya Sabha only a recommendatory role over a Money Bill: it can neither reject nor amend the Bill, and the Lok Sabha is free to accept or reject its recommendations. If the Bill is not returned within those 14 days, it is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form in which the Lok Sabha passed it. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Lymphatic system Tissue fluid that drains into the lymphatic vessels is called lymph. Plasma with dissolved nutrients filters out through the thin walls of the blood capillaries into the spaces between cells, forming tissue fluid (interstitial fluid) that bathes every cell. Most of it re-enters the capillaries, but the surplus is picked up by blind-ended lymph capillaries; from that moment the fluid is lymph. Lymph is a colourless fluid carrying lymphocytes and less protein than plasma; it returns to the blood through the subclavian veins and also absorbs digested fat from the villi of the small intestine. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Pallava rock-cut architecture The Rathas at Mahabalipuram are monolithic temples — each one carved downward out of a single granite outcrop — and they preserve the earliest experiments in the Dravidian temple form. They were cut in the 7th century CE under the Pallava ruler Narasimhavarman I "Mamalla", and the five principal ones are named after Draupadi and the Pandavas. Because each ratha tries out a different vimana shape, they served as working models for the structural temples of the South that followed, such as the Shore Temple and later Chola temples. The other options fail on the facts: the patrons were Pallavas and not Cholas or Satavahanas, the technique is rock-cutting and not brick-and-mortar, and the style is Dravidian and not Nagara. Hence, option (b) is correct.