Who was the first woman Prime Minister in the world?

The correct answer is B, Pune. Pune stands on the Deccan plateau in Maharashtra, where the Mula and the Mutha meet, and it is called the Queen of the Deccan for its pleasant climate, its setting at the edge of the Sahyadri hills and its long standing as the seat of the Peshwas. The same city is also called the Oxford of the East for its colleges and the Detroit of India for its car and two-wheeler factories, and the Deccan Queen, running since 1930, is the express that still links it with Mumbai. A is wrong because Ahmedabad is the Manchester of India, a name earned by its cotton mills. C is wrong because Amritsar is called the Golden City, after the Golden Temple. D is wrong because Puducherry is known as the French Riviera of the East. Exam tip: Pune is the Queen of the Deccan and the Oxford of the East, while the Manchester of India is Ahmedabad.

The correct answer is C, Iran. The Lotus Temple, the Bahai House of Worship at Kalkaji in New Delhi, was designed by Fariborz Sahba, an architect born in Iran who later settled in Canada, and it was completed and opened for worship in December 1986. Twenty-seven marble petals set in clusters of three give the building its nine sides and nine doors and the shape of a half-open lotus, and the marble was quarried at Penteli in Greece. Like every Bahai house of worship it is open to people of all faiths and holds no idol, no altar and no sermon, only readings from scripture. A is wrong because no architect from the UAE was involved in the work. B is wrong because Japan has no connection with the building. D is wrong because the German link belongs to other projects in Delhi, not to this one. Exam tip: Lotus Temple, Bahai faith, architect Fariborz Sahba of Iran, opened 1986, nine sides and twenty-seven petals.

The correct answer is B, Kapurthala. The Rail Coach Factory, which carries exactly that name, was set up at Kapurthala in Punjab in 1986 and builds passenger coaches, among them the LHB coaches now standard on long-distance trains. It is one of the production units run directly by the Railway Ministry rather than by a zone. A is wrong because Bengaluru has the Rail Wheel Factory at Yelahanka, which makes wheels and axles. C is wrong because Chennai has the Integral Coach Factory at Perambur, the oldest coach plant in the country, started in 1955, which turned out the first Vande Bharat trainsets. D is wrong because Chittaranjan in West Bengal has the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, which builds electric locomotives. Exam tip: Kapurthala and Perambur make coaches, Chittaranjan and Varanasi make locomotives and Yelahanka makes wheels.

The correct answer is A, New Delhi. Humayun's library stood in the Sher Mandal, the small octagonal tower inside the Purana Qila in Delhi, which he used as a library and an observatory after he won back the throne in 1555. It was from its steep steps that he fell in January 1556, and the fall killed him. The Purana Qila itself rose on the site of Dinpanah, the city Humayun began in 1533, and was completed by Sher Shah Suri, who held Delhi from 1540 to 1555. His tomb, the first great garden tomb of the Mughals and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also in Delhi and was raised by his widow Bega Begum. B is wrong because Aligarh is known for its university, founded as a college in 1875. C is wrong because Aurangabad is linked with Aurangzeb and the Bibi ka Maqbara. D is wrong because Agra holds the buildings of Akbar and Shah Jahan, not Humayun's library. Exam tip: Sher Mandal in the Purana Qila was Humayun's library, and he died falling from it in 1556.

The correct answer is D, Afghanistan. SAARC was founded at Dhaka on 8 December 1985 by seven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan was admitted as the eighth member at the fourteenth summit, held in New Delhi in 2007, and no country has joined since, so it remains the newest member of the grouping. The secretariat works from Kathmandu and the chair rotates among the members in alphabetical order. A is wrong because Mauritius is not a member of SAARC at all; it has only observer status, as do China, Japan, the United States and the European Union among others. B is wrong because Sri Lanka was present at the founding in 1985. C is wrong because Nepal too was a founding member, and it hosts the secretariat. Exam tip: remember 1985 Dhaka with seven founders, the 2007 New Delhi summit for Afghanistan and Kathmandu for the secretariat.