17 February 2025 · Shift 3

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics 2001 was shared by Eric A Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl E Wieman for achieving Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms. Cornell and Wieman made the first such condensate from rubidium-87 vapour at Boulder in 1995, and Ketterle achieved it with sodium atoms at MIT in the same year. This state of matter had been predicted in the 1920s by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, so the experiment confirmed a theory about 75 years old. Hence the correct option is (a).

Filmfare Award, choreography Pandit Birju Maharaj won the 2016 Filmfare Award for Best Choreography for the song 'Mohe Rang Do Laal' from Bajirao Mastani. He belonged to the Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Lucknow and was the best known Kathak exponent of his generation. Devdas (2002) and Jodhaa Akbar (2008) belong to earlier award years; Mohenjo Daro did release in 2016 but did not bring him this award. Hence the correct option is (b).

Article 71, election disputes Article 71 places every dispute and doubt arising out of the election of the President or the Vice-President before the Supreme Court, and its decision is final. This is part of the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, so such a petition cannot be filed in a High Court. Article 71 further provides that an election cannot be questioned merely because the electoral college had a vacancy, and that acts done by the President before the election is set aside stay valid. Hence the correct option is (d).

Sattriya dance, Assam Sattriya was introduced by Srimanta Sankardev, the fifteenth-century Vaishnava saint and social reformer of Assam. He used dance-drama (ankiya nat) to carry the Ekasarana Nama-Dharma to ordinary people, and the form was preserved in the sattras, the monasteries that give the dance its name. The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognised Sattriya as a classical dance form of India in 2000. Ramanujacharya, Swami Narayan and Tukaram were Bhakti saints of the south, Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively, with no link to Assam. Hence the correct option is (c).

National MPI indicators The National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023, released by NITI Aayog, measures poverty through 3 dimensions and 12 indicators. The global MPI uses 10 indicators; India's national index keeps those and adds two that matter for Indian policy - maternal health and bank account - which is why the count is 12 and not 10. Hence the correct option is (d).

Oldest football club Of the clubs listed, Sarada FC of Kolkata has the longest history - it was founded in 1885, in the first decade of organised football in India. East Bengal Club dates from 1920, Mahindra United from 1962 and Mumbai City FC only from 2014, so every other option is far younger. For context, Calcutta FC (1872) was the first football club formed in India, and Mohun Bagan (1889) is the oldest club still playing at the top level. Hence the correct option is (a).

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) was created in 1986 under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Seventh Five-Year Plan ran from 1985 to 1990, so 1986 falls inside it. The Seventh Plan stressed food, work and productivity, and the DBT gave biotechnology its own agency for research funding and manpower training. Hence the correct option is (a).

Directive Principles, Part IV The Directive Principles of State Policy are contained in Part IV of the Constitution, in Articles 36 to 51. They were borrowed from the Irish Constitution and are non-justiciable - no court can enforce them - yet Article 37 calls them 'fundamental in the governance of the country'. The Fundamental Rights occupy Articles 12 to 35 in Part III, which is why every other range offered spills into the wrong Part. Hence the correct option is (b).

Maukhari dynasty Sarvavarman, the Maukhari ruler, is the king credited with the claim of having defeated the Later Guptas. He overcame the Later Gupta king Damodaragupta and carried Maukhari power into Magadha, which the Later Guptas had been holding; his Asirgarh copper seal records the dynasty's rise. Isanavarman's Haraha inscription claims victories over the Andhras, Sulikas and Gaudas, not over the Later Guptas. Grahavarman is remembered only for marrying Rajyashri of Thanesar and being killed by Devagupta of Malwa, and Avantivarman was the last notable Maukhari king. Hence the correct option is (d).

Cripps Mission, 1942 The Cripps Mission reached India in March 1942, during the Second World War. Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of Churchill's War Cabinet, was sent to win Indian support for the war effort by promising Dominion status once it ended. The offer included a Constituent Assembly after the war, British control of defence during it, and the right of provinces to stay out of the proposed Union; Gandhi called it 'a post-dated cheque'. Its rejection led straight to the Quit India Movement of August 1942. Hence the correct option is (d).

Census 2011, literacy gap Census 2011 records Kerala's male literacy at about 96.1% and female literacy at about 92.1%, a difference of only about 4 percentage points. Every other State listed shows a gap three times as wide or more, so Kerala has the smallest male-female literacy difference. Kerala also had the highest overall literacy rate in the country, about 94%. Hence the correct option is (b).

Stock and flow variables A flow is defined over a period of time - it has to be quoted 'per month', 'per year' and so on - while a stock is measured at a single point of time. National income, exports and investment are flows because they accumulate over an interval; wealth, capital and money supply are stocks because they exist at a given instant. Since only the flow concept carries a time period, an option that also brings in stock cannot be right. Hence the correct option is (a).

Padma Bhushan 2021 Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, known to listeners as K S Chithra, was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2021. She had already received the Padma Shri in 2005, and holds six National Film Awards for playback singing along with awards from all four southern States. The other three singers listed were not among the Padma Bhushan awardees of 2021, which is what the question turns on. Hence the correct option is (c).

Peninsular and Himalayan rivers The Gandak rises in the Himalayas of Nepal, where it is called the Kali Gandaki, and joins the Ganga near Patna - so it is a Himalayan river, not a peninsular one. The Son rises on the Amarkantak plateau, the Chambal in the Vindhyan range near Mhow and the Mahanadi in the Sihawa hills, all of which lie on the peninsular plateau. A quick test: Himalayan rivers are snow-fed and perennial, while peninsular rivers are rain-fed and shrink in summer. Hence the correct option is (b).

Five-Year Plans, priorities Planning is the act of choosing between competing uses of scarce means, so a plan must rank some goals above others. The resources available to India - funds, foreign exchange, trained manpower - were limited, and therefore the Five-Year Plans could not give equal importance to every objective. 'Availability' and 'equality' of resources would remove the need to choose at all, and private ownership was not the constraint, since the plans worked through the public sector. Hence the correct option is (a).

Ultimate Kho-Kho league The franchise-based kho-kho league of India is called Ultimate Kho-Kho. It was launched in 2022 by the Kho Kho Federation of India and is the country's first professional league for the sport. Its opening season drew about 64 million viewers, placing it among the most watched non-cricket leagues in India after the Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League. Hence the correct option is (b).

Maritime decarbonization conference The keynote address at the Conference on Maritime Decarbonization in India, held in New Delhi on 3 October 2024, was delivered by TK Ramachandran, Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. The conference was co-hosted by that Ministry and the Asian Development Bank and brought together more than 200 port leaders, officials and international experts. Its subject was cutting emissions from shipping and port operations, in line with India's green-port and green-hydrogen hub plans under the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. Shantanu Thakur was the Minister of State in the Ministry, not the keynote speaker here. Hence the correct option is (b).

Saliva and starch digestion Saliva carries the enzyme salivary amylase (ptyalin), which starts digestion in the mouth itself by breaking starch into simpler sugars such as maltose. That is why a piece of bread or boiled rice slowly begins to taste sweet if it is chewed for a while. Saliva also moistens the food into a bolus, but it is the epiglottis that keeps food out of the wind pipe, and taste is picked up by the taste buds, not by saliva. Hence the correct option is (a).

National festivals of India India observes three national festivals: Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. All three are gazetted holidays in every State and Union Territory, which is what separates a national festival from a religious or regional one. Hence the correct option is (b).

UPSC Chairperson Preeti Sudan took charge as Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission on 1 August 2024. A retired IAS officer of the 1983 Andhra Pradesh cadre, she had served as Union Health Secretary and joined the UPSC as a Member before being elevated. She succeeded Manoj Soni, who stepped down before his term ended; Alka Sirohi and TCA Anant are earlier UPSC figures, not the 2024 appointee. The UPSC is a constitutional body under Articles 315-323, set up on 1 October 1926, with its headquarters in New Delhi. Hence the correct option is (d).