18 February 2025 · Shift 1

PM-SHRI education scheme In October 2024 the Delhi government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Centre to implement the PM-SHRI Scheme - Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India. PM-SHRI was launched on 7 September 2022 to upgrade more than 14,500 existing government schools into model schools that show the National Education Policy 2020 in action; the Centre bears 60% of the cost and the State or UT the remaining 40%. The signing mattered because a State gets its share of Samagra Shiksha funds only after it joins the scheme, which is why an MoU was needed in 2024. The other three are older programmes that needed no fresh MoU: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (2001), the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (1995, now PM POSHAN) and NPEGEL (2003). Hence the correct option is (c).

Inter-State water disputes Article 262 empowers Parliament to provide by law for the adjudication of any dispute over the waters of an inter-State river or river valley. Its second clause lets Parliament bar the Supreme Court and every other court from exercising jurisdiction in such a dispute - which is why these matters go to a tribunal, not to a court. The Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 was enacted under this Article. Hence the correct option is (d).

Women's India Association The Women's India Association was set up in 1917 at Adyar, Madras, with Sarojini Naidu among its founders along with Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins and Dorothy Jinarajadasa; Annie Besant became its first president. It worked for women's education, social reform and above all the right to vote, and it published the journal Stri Dharma. The year in the question settles it: no other option was born in 1917. Hence the correct option is (a).

Physiography of Uttarakhand The northern zone of Uttarakhand is the Greater Himalaya, popularly called Himadri; it takes in the Zaskar range and parts of the Great Himalayan range. 'Himadri' literally means the abode of snow - this is the permanently snow-covered belt that carries the state's highest peaks (Nanda Devi, Kamet) and its big glaciers such as Gangotri, together with passes like Niti, Lipu Lekh and Mana. The belts lying south of it have their own names - the Lesser Himalaya or Himachal, then the Shivalik with the Bhabar and Tarai - so the name Himadri belongs to the northern zone alone. Hence the correct option is (b).

Classification of industries Farming, fishing and forestry all take a product straight from nature without processing it, and that is exactly what defines primary industry. Manufacturing turns those raw materials into finished goods and the service industry sells intangible services, so neither fits. The genetic industry - rearing and breeding plants and animals - is only one small branch inside the primary sector, not the class that covers all three activities named. Hence the correct option is (a).

National Population Policy 2000 The target the National Population Policy 2000 actually set was to bring the infant mortality rate down to below 30 per 1000 live births, so the figure of 15 is the false statement. The remaining three are genuine goals of the policy: free and compulsory school education up to 14 years of age, delaying the age of marriage of girls (not below 18, preferably after 20) and universal immunisation of children against all vaccine-preventable diseases. The policy also aimed at cutting the maternal mortality ratio to below 100 per 100,000 live births and at reaching a stable population by 2045, its long-term objective. Hence the correct option is (a).

Green Revolution crops The Green Revolution of the mid-1960s rested on high-yielding variety seeds, assured irrigation, chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and its gains were concentrated almost entirely in wheat and rice. Wheat responded first and most strongly in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh; rice followed, and within a decade India moved from importing food grains to self-sufficiency. Norman Borlaug, who bred the dwarf wheat varieties, is called the Father of the Green Revolution, and M. S. Swaminathan led the programme in India. Pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and plantation crops such as tea and coffee got no HYV package, which is why every other pair is wrong. Hence the correct option is (c).

Carnatic music trinity Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835) was a composer of Carnatic music, the classical tradition of South India. With Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri he makes up the Trinity of Carnatic music. Dikshitar composed mainly in Sanskrit and is remembered for the Navagraha Kritis, while the other two composed largely in Telugu. Hindustani music is the North Indian tradition, folk music is non-classical and Qawwali is Sufi devotional singing, so none of them can claim him. Hence the correct option is (a).

Discovery of polonium Marie Curie found that pitchblende was more radioactive than the uranium it contained, so something else had to be hiding in it. Working through the residue left after the uranium was removed, she isolated polonium in July 1898 and named it after Poland, her homeland. Radium came from the same ore a few months later. Thorium was discovered by Berzelius in 1828, while strontium and caesium were isolated by Humphry Davy (1808) and by Bunsen and Kirchhoff (1860) - none of them from pitchblende. Hence the correct option is (b).

Junbeel Mela of Assam Junbeel Mela is the fair where the barter system still comes alive: the hill tribes bring ginger, turmeric and herbs and exchange them for the rice cakes and plains produce of the valley people, with no money changing hands. It is held a few days after Magh Bihu at Dayang Belguri in Morigaon district of Assam, is organised by the Tiwa community, and takes its name from the crescent-shaped Jonbeel lake ('jon' = moon, 'beel' = wetland). Community fishing and the ceremonial presence of the Gobha king are its other features. The other festivals belong elsewhere - Chikalkalo is a mud festival of Odisha, Madai a Gond festival of Chhattisgarh and Shigmo the spring festival of Goa - so the barter clue alone points to Assam's Junbeel Mela. Hence the correct option is (c).

Padma Vibhushan 2024 Vyjayanthimala Bali, the actor and Bharatanatyam dancer, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2024 - India's second-highest civilian honour, after the Bharat Ratna. She had already received the Padma Shri in 1968 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982, and she also served as a Member of Parliament. The 2024 Padma Vibhushan list included Vaijayanthimala Bali, Chiranjeevi, Venkaiah Naidu, Bindeshwar Pathak and Padma Subrahmanyam, which is a useful group to remember together. Hence the correct option is (c).

Effects of privatisation Privatisation means transferring the ownership or control of a public sector undertaking to private hands. The question asks for the unintended consequence - the side-effect the government does not plan for. Less corruption, an immediate rise in public revenue from the sale and better operational efficiency are precisely the results the government hopes for, so all three are intended and cannot be the answer. If a large public monopoly simply becomes a private monopoly, the new owner faces no competition and can raise prices or cut services at will. That monopolistic outcome is the one nobody intended. Hence the correct option is (d).

Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan was launched on 20 June 2020 in 116 districts of six states - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. These were the six states to which the largest numbers of migrant workers returned during the COVID-19 lockdown; each selected district had received at least 25,000 returnees. It was a 125-day campaign of about ₹50,000 crore covering 25 kinds of public works, and it was flagged off from village Telihar, Beldaur block, Khagaria district, Bihar. Hence the correct option is (c).

Arjuna Award 2022 All four players received the Arjuna Award in 2022, so the question turns entirely on the sport: only Lakshya Sen is a badminton player. Lakshya Sen won the Commonwealth Games gold and the India Open in 2022 and was part of India's Thomas Cup winning team. The Arjuna Award, instituted in 1961, is given for consistently outstanding performance in sport over the preceding four years. Hence the correct option is (b).

Tennis scoring terms When both sides reach 40-40 the score is called deuce, and from deuce a player or team must win two points in a row to take the game. The first point won after deuce is 'advantage'; win the next one too and the game is over, lose it and the score returns to deuce - which is exactly why two consecutive points are needed. That also rules out 'advantage': from advantage only one more point is needed, not two. 'Love' means a score of zero and a 'set' is a group of games, so neither describes this situation. Hence the correct option is (c).

Tripitaka texts The word vinaya itself means discipline, and the Vinaya Pitaka is the basket that lays down the code of conduct for the sangha - the rules binding on monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (bhikkhunis). The Dhammapada is a collection of verses on the Buddha's teaching and sits inside the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka, so it is a book of moral verses, not a rule book. The three Pitakas together, written in Pali, form the Tripitaka or 'Three Baskets'. Hence the correct option is (c).

Right to Equality Article 14 says the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Note that it speaks of 'any person', so it protects foreigners and companies too, unlike Articles 15 and 16, which are available only to citizens. Articles 14 to 18 together make up the Right to Equality, and Article 14 is the first and widest of them. Hence the correct option is (b).

Blood lipids and heart risk Triglycerides are the main storage form of fat in the body, and a high triglyceride level combined with low HDL or high LDL cholesterol sharply raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. The combination is dangerous because HDL, the 'good' cholesterol, is what carries excess fat back to the liver; when it is low the fat stays in the blood, deposits in the artery walls and narrows them (atherosclerosis). Chemically a triglyceride is glycerol joined to three fatty acids. Mono- and diglycerides carry one and two fatty acids and are used mainly as food emulsifiers, and 'nonglyceride' is not a recognised blood-lipid class at all. Hence the correct option is (a).

Sattriya dance Sattriya, the classical dance of Assam, was created in the 15th century by the Vaishnava saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardev as a medium for his Bhakti movement. He used it in the ankiya nat, his one-act devotional plays, and the form was then preserved for centuries by the monks of the sattras - the Vaishnava monasteries that give the dance its name. The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognised it as a classical dance in 2000. The other names belong to other traditions: Siddhendra Yogi to Kuchipudi, Bharata to the Natya Shastra and Janaki Prasad to the Banaras gharana of Kathak. Hence the correct option is (c).

Current affairs 2024 Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joined the Indian National Congress on 6 September 2024, shortly before the Haryana Assembly elections. Vinesh Phogat then contested from the Julana seat and won it, while Bajrang Punia was made Working President of the All India Kisan Congress. The Indian National Congress was founded on 28 December 1885 by A. O. Hume, with W. C. Bonnerjee as its first president. Hence the correct option is (d).