Defence Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. All four plans came before the First Five Year Plan started on 1 April 1951. The Bombay Plan of 1944 was prepared by eight industrialists led by J. R. D. Tata and G. D. Birla and favoured state-led heavy industry. The Gandhian Plan of 1944 by Shriman Narayan Agarwal stressed village self-sufficiency, cottage industries and agriculture. The People's Plan of 1945 was drawn up by M. N. Roy for the Indian Federation of Labour and put agriculture and nationalisation first over a ten-year period. The Sarvodaya Plan of January 1950 by Jayaprakash Narayan, inspired by Vinoba Bhave, combined Gandhian ideas with land reform and decentralised planning. Even earlier, M. Visvesvaraya's book Planned Economy for India (1934) and the Congress National Planning Committee of 1938 under Nehru had raised the idea. Options A, B and C are wrong only because each leaves out plans that also existed before 1951. Exam tip: sequence them as Visvesvaraya 1934, Bombay and Gandhian 1944, People's 1945, Sarvodaya 1950, Planning Commission March 1950, First Plan 1951.

The correct answer is B, Second Five Year Plan. The Second Plan (1956 to 1961) was built on the model of the statistician P. C. Mahalanobis and aimed at rapid industrialisation with a stress on heavy and basic industries such as steel, machinery and chemicals, on the belief that machines to make machines would speed up growth. The three public sector steel plants at Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur, set up with Soviet, German and British help, belong to this plan, and the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 gave the public sector the commanding heights of the economy. The plan ran into a foreign exchange crisis and its target growth of 4.5 percent was not fully met. A, the First Plan (1951 to 1956), followed the Harrod-Domar model and gave priority to agriculture, irrigation and power. C, the Fifth Plan (1974 to 1979), focused on poverty removal and self-reliance under the slogan Garibi Hatao. D, the Seventh Plan (1985 to 1990), stressed food, work and productivity. Exam tip: Second Plan means the Mahalanobis model, heavy industry, and Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur.

The correct answer is A, the Bombay Plan. The Bombay Plan of 1944 was drawn up by a group of eight, mostly leading industrialists such as J. R. D. Tata, G. D. Birla, Purushottamdas Thakurdas, Lala Shri Ram and Kasturbhai Lalbhai, with John Mathai among them. It proposed a fifteen-year plan to double per-capita income and treble national income, with the state taking the lead in heavy industry and infrastructure and the private sector working under its guidance. It showed that even big business wanted the state to plan the economy and to run a large public sector, and this consensus shaped the Planning Commission of 1950 and the mixed-economy model. B, the demand of peasants, and C, the demand of workers' unions, were not the origin of the planning idea; they were groups the plans tried to serve. D, the Gandhian vision, favoured village industries and decentralisation and was set out separately in the Gandhian Plan of 1944 by S. N. Agarwal. Exam tip: Bombay Plan 1944 by eight industrialists; People's Plan 1945 by M. N. Roy; Gandhian Plan 1944 by S. N. Agarwal.

The correct answer is C, 14 days. Under Article 109 a Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and after it is passed there it is sent to the Rajya Sabha, which cannot reject or amend it. The Rajya Sabha must return the Bill within fourteen days, with or without recommendations; the Lok Sabha may accept or reject those recommendations, and if the Bill is not returned within fourteen days it is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form the Lok Sabha passed it. Whether a Bill is a Money Bill is decided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha under Article 110, and the Speaker's certificate is final. The President cannot return a Money Bill for reconsideration. A, 12 days, B, 21 days, and D, 30 days, are not periods laid down anywhere in the Constitution for Money Bills; the 14-day limit is the only one, and the same 14 days applies to a state Legislative Council under Article 198. Exam tip: Money Bill, Article 110 defines it, Article 109 gives the Rajya Sabha 14 days, and the Speaker's decision is final.

The correct answer is B, Tenth Schedule. The Tenth Schedule, popularly called the anti-defection law, was added by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985. It disqualifies a member of Parliament or a state legislature who voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or who votes, or abstains from voting, against the direction of the party whip without permission; an independent member is disqualified if he joins a party. The presiding officer, the Speaker or the Chairman, decides the question, subject to judicial review after the Kihoto Hollohan case of 1992. The 91st Amendment of 2003 removed the protection for a one-third split, and now only a merger backed by two-thirds of a legislature party is allowed. A, the Ninth Schedule, added by the First Amendment of 1951, protects listed laws, mainly on land reform, from court challenge. C, the Eleventh Schedule, lists the 29 subjects of the panchayats under the 73rd Amendment. D, the Sixth Schedule, deals with the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Exam tip: Tenth Schedule means anti-defection, 52nd Amendment of 1985, tightened by the 91st Amendment of 2003.

The correct answer is A, 243ZD. Article 243ZD was inserted by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992, which added Part IX-A on Municipalities. It requires every state to set up a District Planning Committee in each district to consolidate the plans prepared by the panchayats and the municipalities of the district and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole. At least four-fifths of its members must be elected by and from among the elected members of the district panchayat and the municipalities in the district, in proportion to the rural and urban population, and the chairperson forwards the plan to the state government. B, Article 243ZB, applies the provisions of Part IX-A to Union Territories. C, Article 243ZE, provides for a Metropolitan Planning Committee in every metropolitan area with a population of ten lakh or more. D, Article 243ZC, says that Part IX-A does not apply to the Scheduled Areas and tribal areas under Article 244. Exam tip: remember the run 243ZD district planning, 243ZE metropolitan planning, and that both came with the 74th Amendment of 1992.

The correct answer is A, The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act. The 42nd Amendment of 1976, passed on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, added a new Part IV-A with a single Article 51A listing ten Fundamental Duties of citizens, such as respecting the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem, protecting the environment and developing the scientific temper. The idea was taken from the constitution of the former USSR. An eleventh duty, that a parent or guardian must provide education to a child between six and fourteen years, was added by the 86th Amendment of 2002. The duties are not enforceable by courts, but Parliament may make laws to enforce them. B, the 44th Amendment of 1978, undid many Emergency-era changes and made the right to property a legal right. C, the 85th Amendment of 2001, dealt with consequential seniority in promotion for SC and ST employees. D, the 92nd Amendment of 2003, added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the Eighth Schedule. Exam tip: the 42nd Amendment of 1976 added Part IV-A, Article 51A and ten duties; the 86th Amendment of 2002 made them eleven.

The correct answer is B, 1 and 3, that is Bihar and Manipur. The Sun is overhead, with its rays vertical at noon, only at places between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees N) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees S). The Tropic of Cancer crosses India through eight states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram. Any state lying wholly north of this line never gets vertical rays. Bihar stretches roughly from 24.3 to 27.5 degrees N and Manipur from about 23.8 to 25.7 degrees N, so both lie entirely north of the tropic and the Sun is never directly overhead there. A and C are wrong because they include Chhattisgarh, and D is wrong because it includes Rajasthan; the Tropic of Cancer passes through both, so their southern parts do receive vertical rays around 21 June. Exam tip: memorise the eight tropic states, Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram; states such as Bihar, UP, Punjab, Manipur and Assam lie north of the line.

The correct answer is C, At the North Pole. The Coriolis force is the apparent force caused by the rotation of the Earth that deflects moving air and water to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. Its size is proportional to the sine of the latitude, so it is zero at the equator, where the sine of 0 degrees is zero, and greatest at the poles, where the sine of 90 degrees is one. This is why tropical cyclones cannot form within about 5 degrees of the equator, and why winds around a low-pressure system circle anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. It was described by the French scientist Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis in 1835. A, At the Equator, the effect is zero, not largest. B, At the tropics, at 23.5 degrees, the effect is small. D, At 45 degrees latitude, the effect is only about 71 percent of its value at the poles. Exam tip: the Coriolis force is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles, and it grows with the speed of the moving body.

The correct answer is B, Wheat. Western disturbances are low-pressure systems that originate over the Mediterranean Sea and travel eastward with the subtropical westerly jet stream in winter, bringing light rain to Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, and snow to the Himalaya, between December and February. Wheat is the main rabi crop, sown in October and November and harvested in March and April, and it needs cool weather and a little rain during its growing period; this winter rain, called mahawat in north India, is described as gold for wheat because it saves a round of irrigation and improves the grain. A, Rice, is a kharif crop that depends on the heavy rain of the south-west monsoon. C, Bajra, is a kharif millet of the dry areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, grown on monsoon rain. D, Cotton, is also a kharif crop, sown at the start of the monsoon and picked in autumn. Exam tip: western disturbances bring the winter rain of north-west India, which is good for the rabi crops wheat, barley, gram and mustard.

The correct answer is A, precipitation. Precipitation is any form of water, liquid or solid, that falls from clouds to the ground. When the temperature is above freezing it falls as rain or drizzle; below freezing, water vapour turns directly into ice crystals that fall as snow. Sleet is rain that freezes into small ice pellets while falling through a cold layer of air, and hail is made of hard ice balls built up layer by layer inside towering cumulonimbus clouds during thunderstorms. All three are therefore solid forms of precipitation. B, Condensation, is the change of water vapour into tiny droplets or ice crystals, which forms clouds, dew, frost and fog, but these do not fall from clouds. C, Transpiration, is the loss of water vapour from the leaves of plants. D, Evaporation, is the change of liquid water into vapour, the first step of the water cycle. Exam tip: rain, drizzle, snow, sleet and hail fall, so they are precipitation; dew, frost, fog and mist form on or near the ground, so they are condensation.

The correct answer is B, Satluj. The Beas rises at Beas Kund near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, flows past Manali, Kullu and Mandi, enters Punjab and meets the Satluj at Harike in Punjab, where the Harike barrage and wetland stand. It is the only one of the five rivers of Punjab that lies entirely within India. The Pong Dam on the Beas in Kangra district is one of the largest earth dams in the country, and the Beas-Satluj link carries its water to the Bhakra system. In ancient times the Beas was the Vipasa, the river beyond which Alexander's army refused to march in 326 BCE. A, the Indus, receives the combined waters of the Punjab rivers only through the Panjnad in Pakistan. C, the Chenab, receives the Jhelum and the Ravi, not the Beas. D, the Ravi, flows to the west of the Beas and joins the Chenab in Pakistan. Exam tip: Punjab rivers from east to west are Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum; the Beas and the Satluj meet at Harike.

The correct answer is B, Lahore, 1929. At its Lahore session in December 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress passed the Purna Swaraj resolution declaring complete independence, not dominion status, as its goal. The tricolour was unfurled on the bank of the Ravi at midnight on 31 December 1929, and 26 January 1930 was celebrated as the first Independence Day; that date was later chosen for the Constitution to come into force in 1950, which is why Republic Day falls on 26 January. The session also authorised Gandhi to launch civil disobedience, which began with the Dandi March in March 1930. A, Bombay, 1885, was the first session of the Congress under W. C. Bonnerjee, which asked only for modest reforms. C, Kheda, 1917, is wrong: Kheda was the peasant satyagraha of 1918, and Champaran came in 1917. D, Bombay, 1942, was the session that passed the Quit India resolution on 8 August 1942. Exam tip: Lahore 1929, Nehru as president, Purna Swaraj, first Independence Day on 26 January 1930.

The correct answer is D, Indo-Greeks. The Indo-Greek kings who ruled the north-west of India from about the second century BCE were the first in Indian history to issue coins that carried the name and portrait of the ruler, with Greek legends on one side and Prakrit in the Kharoshthi script on the other. The coins of Menander (Milinda), who appears in the Buddhist text Milindapanho, are the best known. This practice of putting the ruler's head and name on coins was later followed by the Kushanas and the Guptas. These coins are also the main source for the names of more than thirty Indo-Greek kings, most of whom are known from nothing else. A, the Mauryas, used punch-marked silver coins with symbols but no names or portraits. B, the Pushyabhutis of Thanesar and Kanauj, the dynasty of Harsha, came much later, in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. C, the Guptas, issued beautiful gold dinars with royal portraits, but they followed the Indo-Greek and Kushana example. Exam tip: first coins with rulers' names and images, Indo-Greeks; first large gold coinage, Kushanas; punch-marked coins, Mauryas.

The correct answer is C, Warren Hastings. Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act of 1773 and held office from 1773 to 1785. After he returned to England, the House of Commons impeached him in 1787 on charges of corruption and misrule, including his treatment of Raja Chait Singh of Banaras and the Begums of Awadh. Edmund Burke led the prosecution, and the trial before the House of Lords ran from 1788 to 1795, ending in his acquittal on every charge. It remains the most famous impeachment in British history. A, Robert Clive, was Governor of Bengal, faced a parliamentary inquiry in 1773 but was never impeached, and died in 1774. B, Henry Vansittart, was Governor of Bengal from 1760 to 1764 and faced no impeachment. D, Lord Cornwallis, succeeded Hastings and is known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793. Exam tip: Hastings, first Governor-General of Bengal, impeached 1787, acquitted 1795.

The correct answer is A, Harishena. The Prayag Prashasti, also called the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is a Sanskrit eulogy of the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (about 335 to 375 CE) composed by his court poet and minister Harishena, who held the titles sandhivigrahika (minister of peace and war) and kumaramatya. It is engraved on the Ashokan pillar now at Allahabad Fort and lists the kings Samudragupta defeated in the north (uprooted) and in the south (defeated and released), which is why historians call him the Napoleon of India. Written in the champu style, it also describes him as a poet and musician. B, Chand Bardai, wrote the Prithviraj Raso in the twelfth century. C, Vishakhadatta, wrote the play Mudrarakshasa about Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. D, Kalidasa, the poet of Abhijnanashakuntalam and Meghaduta, is linked to Chandragupta II, not to this inscription. Exam tip: Harishena, Prayag Prashasti, Samudragupta; Ravikirti, Aihole inscription, Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is C, Gandhar. Buddhist texts list sixteen mahajanapadas of the sixth century BCE, and Gandhara, in the north-west covering the Peshawar and Rawalpindi region, had its capital at Taxila (Takshashila), near present-day Islamabad in Pakistan. Taxila stood on the Uttarapatha trade route and grew into a famous centre of learning linked in tradition with Panini, Chanakya and the physician Jivaka. Its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gandhara later became famous for the Gandhara school of art under the Kushanas. A, Kuru, had its capital at Indraprastha, near Delhi, with Hastinapur as another centre. B, Kasi, had Varanasi as its capital. D, Avanti, in Malwa, had Ujjain as its capital, with Mahishmati in the south. Exam tip: learn them in pairs, Gandhara with Taxila, Avanti with Ujjain, Kosala with Shravasti, Vatsa with Kaushambi, and Magadha with Rajgir and later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is C, refraction of starlight. Starlight has to cross many layers of air before it reaches the eye, and these layers keep changing in temperature and density, so their refractive index keeps changing too. The light is bent a little differently every moment, the apparent position of the star shifts slightly and the amount of light entering the eye rises and falls. This flickering is what we call twinkling. A star is so far away that it acts as a point source, so the small shifts are easily seen. Planets are nearer and appear as tiny discs; light from the many points of the disc averages out, so planets do not twinkle. A, Diffraction, is the bending of light around edges and is not the cause. B, Reflection, sends light back from a surface and cannot make a star flicker. D, Scattering, of sunlight by air makes the sky blue but does not cause twinkling. Exam tip: twinkling and the early sunrise both come from atmospheric refraction; the blue sky and the red sunset come from scattering.

The correct answer is C, Newtonian telescope. Isaac Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope in 1668. In it, light from the star falls on a large concave mirror at the bottom of the tube, and a small flat mirror set at 45 degrees near the top turns the light sideways to the eyepiece. Because the objective is a mirror and not a lens, there is no chromatic aberration, the colour fringing that lenses produce, and a mirror can be made much larger and lighter than a lens. Most big observatory telescopes are therefore reflectors. A, the Galilean telescope, is a refractor using a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece lens. B, the Keplerian telescope, is also a refractor, with two convex lenses, and gives an inverted image. D, the Schmidt telescope, is a catadioptric design that combines a spherical mirror with a glass corrector plate, so it is not mirrors only. Exam tip: refractor means lenses (Galileo, Kepler), reflector means mirrors (Newton), Schmidt means a mirror plus a corrector lens.

The correct answer is B, A bottle opener. Levers are grouped by where the fulcrum, the load and the effort sit. In a second class lever the load lies between the fulcrum and the effort. In a bottle opener the rim of the cap is the fulcrum at the tip, the cap being lifted is the load in the middle, and your hand applies the effort at the far end. Such levers always multiply force because the effort arm is longer; a wheelbarrow and a nutcracker work the same way. A, A pair of scissors, is a first class lever, with the pivot between the effort and the load. C, A cricket bat, is a third class lever: the lower hand applies the effort between the top hand, which acts as the fulcrum, and the ball. D, A bow and arrow, works by storing energy in the bent bow like a spring, not by placing the load between the fulcrum and the effort. Exam tip: first class has the fulcrum in the middle, second class the load in the middle, third class the effort in the middle.