CDS 2019 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Canada. The New Development Bank was founded by the five BRICS countries, and Canada is not one of them.

The founding members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They agreed to set up the bank at the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014, and it began work in 2015 with its headquarters in Shanghai, China. Its first president was K. V. Kamath of India. The bank lends money for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member and other developing countries. It was earlier called the BRICS Development Bank, and it has since admitted some new members, but the founders remain the five BRICS nations.

A is wrong: Brazil is a founding member and hosted the 2014 Fortaleza summit where the bank was agreed.

C is wrong: Russia is one of the five founding BRICS members.

D is wrong: India is a founding member and gave the bank its first president.

Exam tip: NDB: Fortaleza 2014, headquarters Shanghai, first president K. V. Kamath; AIIB headquarters Beijing.

The correct answer is B, Sarkaria Commission. The Inter-State Council was constituted in 1990 by a presidential order acting on this commission's report on centre-state relations. Article 263 empowers the President to set up such a council to inquire into disputes between states, discuss subjects of common interest and make recommendations. The Sarkaria Commission, headed by Justice R. S. Sarkaria, was appointed in 1983 and submitted its report in 1988; it asked that the council be made a permanent body. The Prime Minister chairs it, and the chief ministers of all states, the administrators of union territories and six union ministers are its members. Option A is wrong because the Punchhi Commission came much later, in 2007, and reported in 2010. Option C is wrong because the Rajamannar Committee of 1969 was set up by the Tamil Nadu government, not the Union. Option D is wrong because the Mungerilal Commission dealt with backward class reservation in Bihar. Exam tip: Article 263 plus Sarkaria Commission gives the Inter-State Council, 1990.

The correct answer is A, Lysosomes. They are called the suicide bags of the cell because they are packed with digestive enzymes that can break down the cell's own material. Lysosomes are small membrane-bound sacs built by the Golgi apparatus, and the hydrolytic enzymes inside them work best in an acidic medium. Their normal job is cleaning up: they digest worn-out organelles and bacteria taken in by the cell. When a cell is injured, starved or ageing, the lysosome membrane breaks and these enzymes digest the cell itself, and that is where the nickname comes from. Option B is wrong because plastids occur only in plant cells and store pigments and food or carry out photosynthesis. Option C is wrong because the endoplasmic reticulum is a network of membranes that makes and carries proteins and fats inside the cell. Option D is wrong because mitochondria release energy as ATP and are called the powerhouse of the cell. Exam tip: lysosome is the suicide bag, mitochondrion the powerhouse and ribosome the protein factory.

The correct answer is A, Unity and Discipline. The motto of the National Cadet Corps is Unity and Discipline, in Hindi Ekta aur Anushasan. The NCC was set up in 1948 under the National Cadet Corps Act, 1948, and works under the Ministry of Defence with its headquarters in New Delhi. It trains school and college students through its Army, Navy and Air wings, and cadets holding the C certificate can become Army officers through the NCC Special Entry without writing the CDS paper. NCC Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of November every year. An easy way to remember the motto: a cadet's two first lessons are to stand together and to follow orders. B is wrong, because Unity and Integrity is not the NCC motto. C is wrong, because Unity and Command is a made-up pairing. D is wrong, because the word service belongs to the Indian Army's motto, Service Before Self, not to the NCC's. Exam tip: NCC, 1948, Ministry of Defence, motto Unity and Discipline, NCC Day on the fourth Sunday of November.

The correct answer is B, greenhouse gases emission. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted at Kyoto, Japan on 11 December 1997 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was the first treaty to set binding targets for cutting emissions. It came into force on 16 February 2005 and asked industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 5 per cent below 1990 levels during 2008 to 2012. It covered six gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and created market tools such as the Clean Development Mechanism, which let projects in countries like India earn carbon credits. India ratified it in 2002 but, as a developing country, had no binding target. A is wrong, because cutting poverty is the aim of goals such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, not Kyoto. C is wrong, because nuclear arms are dealt with by treaties like the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968. D is wrong, because farm subsidies fall under the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture. Exam tip: Kyoto 1997, in force 2005, binding cuts for rich nations; Paris 2015, pledges from all nations.