National Affairs Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The Special Public Prosecutor was H P S Verma.

The rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was investigated by the CBI, and the CBI's special public prosecutor H P S Verma conducted the prosecution before the special CBI court at Panchkula. Ram Rahim was convicted on 25 August 2017 and sentenced to 20 years.

Jagdeep Singh was the special CBI judge who delivered the verdict, which makes him the obvious trap. The other two names are not those of the prosecutor in this trial.

Answer: D

The keyed answer is Vadodara, Gujarat.

The Divya Kala Mela is the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's fair showcasing products and talent of divyang (disabled) entrepreneurs and artisans. Its 23rd edition was held in Vadodara from 9 to 19 January; the dates match the question, though that edition took place in January 2024, not 2025 as the stem prints.

The fair moves from city to city, and the next edition went to Jammu in February 2025. Pune, Chandigarh and Jaipur were not the venue of the 23rd edition.

Answer: C

The chronological order is c, d, b, a.

1. c: the Union Cabinet approved the Unified Pension Scheme for central government employees in August 2024.
2. d: India hosted the first International Solar Festival, organised by the International Solar Alliance, in September 2024.
3. b: industrialist Ratan N. Tata died in October 2024.
4. a: former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh died in December 2024.

All four fall in the second half of 2024, so the order depends on the months. Any option placing Dr. Manmohan Singh's death before Ratan Tata's, or the pension decision last, is wrong.

Answer: B

India's first railway university was to be set up at Vadodara.

The Railway Ministry chose Vadodara in Gujarat, home of the National Academy of Indian Railways, for the National Rail and Transportation Institute, which was approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2017 as a deemed university and later became the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya.

Bengaluru, Varanasi and Kochi were not the site chosen for this university.

Answer: C

The terminal was proposed at Enayam, Kanyakumari District.

In 2016 the Central Government approved an international container transhipment terminal at Enayam (Inayam), near Colachel on the Kanyakumari coast, which has naturally deep water close to the international shipping route. The aim was to handle transhipment cargo that otherwise goes through Colombo, Singapore or Dubai.

Ennore already has the Kamarajar Port, Cuddalore is a minor port, and Nagore is not a port site for such a terminal.

Answer: C

The 7th World Ayurveda Congress was held at Kolkata.

It took place in December 2016 at Kolkata, organised by the Vijnana Bharati with support from the Union Ministry of AYUSH, with the theme of Ayurveda and integrative medicine.

The earlier congresses were held elsewhere: the 6th in New Delhi (2014), the 5th in Bhopal (2012) and the 3rd in Bengaluru (2008), which is why those cities appear as distractors.

Answer: A

The state not going to the polls in February 2017 was Haryana.

Assembly elections were held in February-March 2017 in five states: Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur. Punjab and Goa voted on 4 February and Uttarakhand on 15 February.

Haryana had elected its assembly in October 2014, so its next election was not due until 2019.

Answer: A

The foundation stone was laid at Gorakhpur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of AIIMS Gorakhpur on 22 July 2016, along with the revival of the Gorakhpur fertiliser plant.

Kanpur, Kolkata and Mumbai were not the sites of a new AIIMS foundation stone in July 2016.

Answer: D

The cyclone was DANA.

Severe Cyclonic Storm Dana made landfall on the Odisha coast near Bhitarkanika and Dhamra in October 2024, bringing heavy rain and strong winds; large evacuations limited the loss of life.

Michaung hit Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in December 2023, Sitrang struck Bangladesh in October 2022, and Biparjoy hit Gujarat in June 2023.

Answer: C

The Best State award for 2024 went to Telangana.

At the 14th Indian Organ Donation Day on 3 August 2024 in New Delhi, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) gave the Best State award for the highest deceased organ donation and transplantation to Telangana, received by its Jeevandan programme. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka shared the second place.

Tamil Nadu had been the top state the previous year, which is why it is the tempting wrong answer, and Maharashtra was not the top state. The paper's word "Plantation" stands for transplantation.