Cartel is a form of ___.
- India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL)
- Countercyclical
- collusion
- arbitrage (or resale)
Answer: collusion
Cartels are formal collusive agreements among firms.
Fill in the Blank – GK Questions
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Duopoly has ___ sellers.
- two
- Diminishing Marginal
- middle-income (and creditworthy low-income)
- Refinery Products
Answer: two
Duopoly means exactly two sellers dominate the market.
Monopolistic competition features ___ differentiation.
- product
- working
- lender of last resort
- purchasing (or buying)
Answer: product
Products are similar but differentiated by brand/features.
Unitary elasticity means total revenue remains ___.
- balance (or sum to zero)
- constant
- indifference
- Total variable cost
Answer: constant
Total revenue is maximized and constant at Ed=1.
Consumer equilibrium is where budget line is ___ to IC.
- tangent
- Total receipts excluding borrowings
- low (or zero / no)
- crowding out
Answer: tangent
Tangency ensures MRS equals the price ratio.
Ordinal utility is associated with ___ curve.
- technological
- John Maynard Keynes
- Pareto Efficiency (or Pareto Optimality)
- indifference
Answer: indifference
Indifference curve shows ordinal ranking of preferences.
Income elasticity for inferior goods is ___.
- Total variable cost
- negative
- decrease (or reduce / lower)
- dumping
Answer: negative
Demand falls as income rises for inferior goods.
Rightward shift in demand curve means ___ in demand.
- technological
- 66
- balance (or sum to zero)
- increase
Answer: increase
Rightward shift indicates higher demand at the same price.
Veblen goods are also known as ___ goods.
- snob
- 1965
- Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIA)
- Ways and Means
Answer: snob
Snob/prestige goods violate the basic law of demand.
Jorge Luis Borges, famous for his labyrinthine short stories like 'The Library of Babel', was from ________.
- Chile
- Argentina
- Mexico
- Colombia
Answer: Argentina
Borges is a foundational figure of 20th-century literature, though he controversially never won the Nobel Prize. His works deeply influenced magical realism and postmodernism.
The Hindi poet Sumitranandan Pant was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1968 for his poetry collection ________.
- Chidambara
- Madhushala
- Kamayani
- Rashmirathi
Answer: Chidambara
Sumitranandan Pant, a major figure of the Chhayavad movement, won the Jnanpith for 'Chidambara', which reflects his later shift towards humanism and Marxist ideals.
Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel ________, which explores the social and intellectual issues facing African Americans in the early 20th century, won the National Book Award.
- Native Son
- Invisible Man
- Beloved
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
Answer: Invisible Man
'Invisible Man' uses the metaphor of literal and social invisibility to explore the narrator's struggle for identity in a racially divided America.
The American poet ________ won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature for her 'unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal'.
- Louise Glück
- Sylvia Plath
- Elizabeth Bishop
- Maya Angelou
Answer: Louise Glück
Louise Glück, known for her deeply personal and often mythic poetry collections like 'The Wild Iris' and 'Averno', received the Nobel Prize in 2020.
The 2023 Booker Prize was awarded to Irish author Paul Lynch for his dystopian novel ________.
- The Bee Sting
- Prophet Song
- The Covenant of Water
- Yellowface
Answer: Prophet Song
Paul Lynch's 'Prophet Song' depicts a terrifying, near-future Ireland sliding into totalitarianism, praised by the judges for its visceral and relentless narrative.
The 'Popol Vuh' is a foundational sacred narrative and creation myth of the ________ civilization.
- Aztec
- Inca
- Maya (K'iche')
- Olmec
Answer: Maya (K'iche')
The Popol Vuh preserves the mythology and history of the K'iche' Maya people of the Guatemalan Highlands, including the adventures of the Hero Twins.
The epic poem 'Beowulf', featuring a hero battling the monster Grendel, is the oldest surviving long poem written in ________.
- Old Norse
- Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
- Middle High German
- Latin
Answer: Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
'Beowulf' is the foundational text of English literature, composed between the 8th and 11th centuries in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular.
The 17th-century Gujarati poet Premanand Bhatt is celebrated as the greatest master of the ________ (narrative storytelling) form.
- Akhyan
- Doha
- Kavya
- Vachan
Answer: Akhyan
Premanand Bhatt elevated the 'Akhyan' (a form of musical storytelling accompanied by a brass pot) to high literary art, adapting epics and puranic tales for Gujarati audiences.
The 17th-century Odia poet Dinakrushna Das is best known for his lyrical masterpiece ________.
- Rasa Kallola
- Chandi Purana
- Laxmi Purana
- Bidagdha Chintamani
Answer: Rasa Kallola
'Rasa Kallola' (Waves of Passion) is a celebrated Odia text that beautifully describes the divine love and Rasa Lila of Radha and Krishna.
The celebrated Hindi novelist Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', known for 'Maila Anchal', used 'Renu' which translates to ________ in Sanskrit/Hindi.
- Dust/Particle
- Lotus
- Light
- Ocean
Answer: Dust/Particle
'Renu' means dust or a tiny particle. His pen name reflects his deep connection to the soil and the rural, agrarian roots of his 'Aanchalik' (regional) literature.
The 19th-century French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle is best known by his pen name ________.
- Honoré de Balzac
- Stendhal
- Gustave Flaubert
- Émile Zola
Answer: Stendhal
Stendhal is celebrated for his masterpieces 'The Red and the Black' and 'The Charterhouse of Parma', and his acute psychological realism.