NDA — Set 2

Correct Answer: A. Burnt bricks

• **Burnt bricks** = the main building material of Indus Valley houses. • The civilization had a planned urban culture, and its well-laid houses were made of kiln-fired burnt bricks. • 💡 Stone and wood were used elsewhere in the ancient world, but the Harappans relied chiefly on burnt bricks.

Correct Answer: D. इंडिया ब्लू

• **इंडिया ब्लू** ने **दिलीप ट्रॉफी फाइनल में रक्षक चैंपियन इंडिया रेड को हराया**। • जीत मार्जिन: **187 रन से पारी जीते हुए** **NPR कॉलेज ग्राउंड, दिंडिगुल, TN** में। • भारतीय क्षेत्रीय टीमों के बीच घरेलू क्रिकेट चैंपियनशिप।

Correct Answer: B. Japan

• **Japan has** the highest life expectancy among the countries given in the option.

Correct Answer: B. Dalton

• The atomic theory of matter was proposed by **John Dalton**. • According to it, matter is made of extremely small, indivisible and indestructible particles called atoms. • 💡 Avogadro is known for his law on gas volumes, Newton for the laws of motion, and Pascal for pressure — not for the atomic theory.

Correct Answer: D. Indian Engineering Service

• The **Indian Engineering Service** is NOT part of the All India Services. • Supporting details. • Context explained.

Correct Answer: B. 3 years

• **Minimum 3 years imprisonment** under Section 4 of PMLA, 2002; maximum 7 years + fine up to ₹5 lakh. • Enhanced punishment for **predicate offences** like terrorism, drug trafficking (min 10 years possible). • Strict liability — ignorance of money's criminal origin is no defence. • 💡 1 year = minor violations; 10 years = only for severe cases — standard PMLA range is 3-7 years.

Correct Answer: B. Jonathan Swift

• **Jonathan Swift** = authored the political masterpiece 'Gulliver's Travels'. • **Anglo-Irish satirist** — a description of Swift, who used satire to criticize human nature and European society. • 💡 Wrong-option analysis: Daniel Defoe: known for 'Robinson Crusoe'; Samuel Johnson: a literary figure known for his dictionary and essays, not novels like 'Gulliver's Travels'; Alexander Pope: an Augustan poet known for his satirical verse.

Correct Answer: D. Concurrent

• **Trade unions** are listed in the **Concurrent List** of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. • The Concurrent List lets both the Centre and the states legislate, and it also covers items like criminal law, marriage and divorce, bankruptcy, forests and education. • 💡 The Union and State Lists are exclusive to the Centre and states respectively, and there is no 'Global' list.

Correct Answer: B. An exo-atmospheric missile interceptor for ballistic missile defence

Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) is India's exo-atmospheric interceptor missile designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). Together with Advanced Air Defence (AAD) for endo-atmospheric interception, PAD forms India's two-tier Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system. Knowledge of India's defence capabilities and history is essential for competitive.

Correct Answer: D. Lemon

• **Lemon** = a citrus fruit with the highest Vitamin C content among the options. • Citrus fruits of the family Rutaceae — oranges, lemons and grapefruit — are the richest natural sources of Vitamin C. • 💡 Capsicum, tomato and grape contain Vitamin C too, but far less than citrus lemon.

Correct Answer: C. 1965, Poland

• **Poland hosted the inaugural FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup in 1965**. • Eleven nations participated in this first edition of the competition. • Ten of the participating countries were from Europe, which dominated volleyball at that time.

Correct Answer: B. firms

• **firms** is the appropriate classification for this concept.

Correct Answer: B. Poona Sarvajanik Sabha

• **M.G. Ranade and G.V. Joshi founded the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha on April 2, 1870**. • The organization became a **forum for social reform and nationalist thought** in Maharashtra. • It nurtured many **prominent national leaders** including **Bal Gangadhar Tilak**. • The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha exemplified the emerging educated elite's commitment to social transformation.

Correct Answer: C. India

• **Leaders in sesame production countries in decreasing order** are India>China>Nigeria>Myanmar.

Correct Answer: B. Harbhajan Singh

• **Harbhajan Singh** announced **retirement from all competitive cricket** (December 2021). • **First Indian to take Test hat-trick** in cricket history. • 417 wickets in 103 Tests; 4th highest for India.

Correct Answer: C. Fish

• **Fish** = have a valveless, two-chambered branchial heart with one auricle and one ventricle. • Its main job is to pump venous blood from the ventricle to the ventral aorta. • 💡 Mammals, reptiles and amphibians have multi-chambered hearts with valves to prevent backflow.

Correct Answer: A. Australian Open

• **Margaret Court Arena** = Melbourne Park, Australian Open venue. • **Most major titles record** — Named after legendary Australian player; secondary show court 1988. • 💡 Wrong-option analysis: French Open: Different stadium; Wimbledon: No Margaret Court; US Open: Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Correct Answer: C. West Bengal

West Bengal lies to the east of Jharkhand. It is a state in eastern India, between the Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal.

Correct Answer: D. 1998

Both India and Pakistan had conducted nuclear tests in May 1998 — India's Operation Shakti (May 11-13) and Pakistan's Chagai tests (May 28 and May 30). The Kargil War of 1999 thus became the first direct military conflict between two nuclear-armed states. This raised global concerns about escalation.

Correct Answer: C. Decibel

• Noise is measured in **Decibel (dB)**, a unit that expresses sound intensity on a logarithmic scale. • The scale ranges from 0 dB (threshold of human hearing) up to about 120–140 dB (threshold of pain). • Decibels measure the ratio of a sound's power to a reference level.

Correct Answer: D. Sirius

Sirius/ ʩाध तारा Sirius, also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, is the brightest star in Earth's night sky. The name means "glowing" in Greek — a fitting description, as only a few planets, the full moon and the International Space Station outshine this star. Because Sirius is so bright, it was well-known to the ancients. But the discovery of a companion star, Sirius B, in 1862 surprised astronomers. The star that you can see with the naked eye is called Sirius A, or sometimes just Sirius. (In this article, we will clearly state when we are talking about Sirius B.)

Correct Answer: B. Improve seed replacement ratio

The sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP) aims to improve seed replacement ratio in the country. It provides financial assistance for seed production, seed processing, and seed quality testing. Better quality seeds are crucial for improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security.

Correct Answer: B. the Kushanas

• **Gandhara art flourished during the Kushan period** (1st–5th centuries CE) under rulers like Kanishka. • **Greco-Roman-Buddhist style** blended Hellenistic artistic traditions with Buddhist iconography and themes. • Gandhara declined after the White Hun invasions in the 5th century destroyed many masterpieces.

Correct Answer: A. 20%

• About **20%** of India's land area is under forest. • Forest cover has been under pressure and has depleted in recent times due to development and land use. • 💡 The higher figures of 23–28% overstate India's actual forest proportion.

Correct Answer: B. Hydrogen sulphide

• **Hydrogen sulphide** — brass (an alloy of copper and zinc) reacts with it in the air. • The copper forms black copper sulphide on the surface, which is why brass loses its shine and turns dull. • 💡 Nitrogen is largely inert, while oxygen and carbon dioxide do not produce this characteristic black tarnish on brass.

Correct Answer: A. Suckers

Banana crop is propagated by rhizomes, suckers and bits. There are 3 types of suckers: Sword sucker, a sucker attached to the original (mother) rhizome with narrow sword-like leaves, and; Water sucker, a sucker next to but only superficially attached to the mother rhizome with broad leaves.

Correct Answer: A. Article 324

• **Article 324** of the Indian constitution basically empowers the Election Commission to exercise its power to prevent criminals and corrupt persons from entering politics

Correct Answer: B. Quick deployment and longer storage life

Canisterisation of Agni-P (Prime) allows for quick deployment readiness (reduced launch preparation time) and extended storage life without maintenance. The missile can be stored for years in its cannister without servicing. This significantly improves India's strategic forces' operational readiness.

Correct Answer: D. Chess

• **Magnus Carlsen** is one of the world's greatest **chess** players • He is a five-time **World Chess Champion** and holds multiple blitz and rapid chess titles • 💡 His dominance in chess during the modern era is unparalleled

Correct Answer: B. Parallel

• Sunlight reaching the Earth's surface arrives as **parallel** beams. • Near the Sun, photons travel in all directions randomly, but since the Sun is very far from Earth, only photons directed toward Earth actually reach it. • These photons are all travelling in nearly the same direction, making them effectively parallel by the time they reach Earth.

Correct Answer: A. Special Bearer Bonds

• **Special Bearer Bonds** — introduced to channel unaccounted money into productive use. • The Special Bearer Bonds (Immunities and Exemptions) Act of 1981 gave certain immunities to bondholders. • 💡 Resurgent India Bonds, Provident Funds and market loans served different financial purposes, not the unearthing of black money.

Correct Answer: B. Lactic acid

Milk contains a sugar called lactose. It also contains harmless bacteria called lactobacillus, which uses lactose for energy and creates lactic acid as a by-product. It is the lactic acid which makes milk taste sour

Correct Answer: B. Arthashastra

• **Arthashastra** is a comprehensive Sanskrit text on governance, economy, and military affairs authored by Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) • Kautilya was the chief minister of Chandragupta Maurya and his treatise became a foundational work on statecraft in ancient India

Correct Answer: B. Peanut-Bihar

• The incorrect pair is **Peanut-Bihar** — India's major peanut (groundnut) production is in Gujarat, not Bihar. • Tea-Assam, Coconut-Kerala and Sugarcane-Uttar Pradesh are all correctly matched. • 💡 Since those three pairs are accurate, only the peanut-Bihar pairing is wrong.

Correct Answer: B. annihilate each other

• When a particle meets its antiparticle, they **annihilate each other**. • This process converts the entire mass of both particles into energy (photons or other particles). • For example, an electron colliding with a positron produces two photons.

Correct Answer: C. 1849

The Battle of Chillianwala was fought on 13 January 1849 during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the Chillianwala region of Punjab, now part of modern-day Pakistan.

Correct Answer: B. Executive Board

• **Executive Board** = The **Executive Board** of the Sahitya Akademi grants the final approval for the award winners, ensuring all procedural norms are followed. • **final approval** — This role is crucial for maintaining the autonomy and integrity of the selection process after juries make recommendations. • 💡 Wrong-option analysis: [Ministry of Culture]: while the Akademi is under this ministry, it maintains autonomy in its selections; [General Council]: the General Council is the highest body, but the Executive Board handles the operational approval of awards; [Prime Minister's Office]: this office has no direct involvement in the Akademi's award selection process.

Correct Answer: B. 5 establishments

Approximately 5 major naval engineering establishments operate across India providing comprehensive technical support, repairs, and maintenance services to the naval fleet. The Indian Navy is responsible for protecting India's maritime interests and coastal security The Indian Navy operates from three commands: Western, Eastern, and Southern, ensuring comprehensive maritime coverage. The Indian Navy operates from three commands: Western Naval Command in Mumbai, Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, and Southern Naval Command in Kochi.

Correct Answer: B. Duck-Billed platypus

• The **duck-billed platypus** is a rare mammal that lays eggs instead of giving live birth. • Along with the echidna, it belongs to the egg-laying mammals called monotremes. • 💡 Sloth, kangaroo and bandicoot are all mammals but give birth to live young, so they are not monotremes.

Correct Answer: A. They send high pitched ultrasonic squeaks which reflect on hitting any obstacle

Echolocation is the use of sound waves and echoes to determine where objects are in space. Bats use echolocation to navigate and find food in the dark. To echolocate, bats send out sound waves from the mouth or nose. ... Echolocation allows bats to find insects the size of mosquitoes, which many bats like to eat.