Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 10

The correct answer is C, Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly for its eighth session in 1953, becoming the first Indian and the first woman in the world to hold that office. She was the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, led India's delegation to the United Nations, and later served as ambassador to the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, and as Governor of Maharashtra. A is wrong because Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman President of the Congress and the first woman Governor of an Indian province, not a United Nations office holder. B is wrong because Indira Gandhi was India's first woman Prime Minister. D is wrong because Annie Besant, an Irish-born theosophist, was Congress President in 1917. Exam tip: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 1953, first woman President of the UN General Assembly; Sarojini Naidu, first woman Governor in India.

The correct answer is B, Shri Krishna Sinha. Shri Krishna Sinha, affectionately called Shri Babu, is remembered as Bihar Kesari, the lion of Bihar. He was the first Premier of Bihar under the 1937 provincial elections and then the first Chief Minister of the state after independence, holding office until 1961. He led the Barahiya Tal satyagraha against illegal levies, joined the salt satyagraha, and made Bihar the first state in India to abolish the zamindari system in 1950. He also worked with Dr Rajendra Prasad to have the Deoghar temple opened to Dalits. Option A is wrong because Rajendra Prasad, independent India's first President, is called Desh Ratna and Bihar Vibhuti. Option C is wrong because Karpoori Thakur is remembered as Jannayak, the people's leader. Option D is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai was Punjab Kesari and Sher-e-Punjab. Exam tip: Punjab Kesari is Lajpat Rai, Bihar Kesari is Shri Krishna Sinha, Andhra Kesari is T. Prakasam.

The correct answer is B, 1787. The Constitution of the United States was drafted by the Philadelphia Convention and signed on 17 September 1787, which is why it is counted as the world's first written democratic constitution. It was ratified by the required number of states in 1788 and the new government began work in 1789. It is a short document of a preamble and seven articles, sets up a federal republic with a President elected separately from the legislature, and gained a Bill of Rights in 1791 through its first ten amendments. The makers of the Indian Constitution borrowed Fundamental Rights, judicial review, an independent judiciary, the office of Vice-President and the impeachment procedure from it. Option A is wrong because 1932 belongs to the Great Depression years. Option C is wrong because 1877 marks the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Option D is wrong because 2000 is more than two centuries too late. Exam tip: US Constitution signed 1787, in force 1789 — the oldest written constitution still in use.

The correct answer is B, 2004. The committee on civil services reforms under P. C. Hota, a former Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, was set up in 2004 and gave its report the same year. It looked at how officers are recruited, trained, posted and promoted, and suggested a fixed minimum tenure in a post, a sounder system of performance appraisal, mid-career training with examinations, and lateral entry of specialists for jobs needing domain knowledge. Many of its ideas later fed into the work of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission set up in 2005 under Veerappa Moily. Option A is wrong because 2003 saw no such committee. Option C is wrong because 2005 is the year of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission and of the Right to Information Act. Option D is wrong because by 2006 the Hota report was already being examined. Exam tip: Hota Committee 2004 on civil services reform; Second ARC 2005 under Veerappa Moily.

The correct answer is B, Yen. The yen is the money of Japan and its capital is Tokyo. It is one of the most traded currencies in the world, along with the United States dollar, the euro and the pound sterling.

Option A, the won, is the currency of both South Korea, whose capital is Seoul, and North Korea. Option C, the yuan, also called the renminbi, belongs to China, whose capital is Beijing; students confuse yen and yuan because the names look alike, so remember that the longer name goes with the larger country. Option D, the baht, is the currency of Thailand, whose capital is Bangkok. All four options come from East and South East Asia, which is exactly how a paper setter builds a trap for this question.

The correct answer is C, Kanpur. The Indian Institute of Pulses Research works at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and is one of the institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. It began in 1984 as the Project Directorate on Pulses and was raised to an institute in 1993. Its work is on chickpea, pigeonpea, lentil, mungbean, urdbean and field pea: breeding better varieties, protecting the crop from disease and pests, and advising farmers, which matters because India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world. Option A is wrong because Bhopal has the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering. Option B is wrong because Patna has the ICAR Research Complex for the Eastern Region. Option D is wrong because Hyderabad has the Indian Institute of Rice Research and the Institute of Millets Research. Exam tip: Kanpur pulses, Hyderabad rice and millets, Shimla potato, Lucknow sugarcane.

The correct answer is B, Paris. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was founded in 1946 and works from Paris in France. It is the agency behind the World Heritage List, the international literacy programmes and the biosphere reserve network, and it also keeps the list of intangible cultural heritage on which Indian entries such as Kutiyattam and the Kumbh Mela appear.

Option A, New York, is the headquarters of the United Nations itself and of UNICEF and UNDP, not of UNESCO. Option C, Geneva, holds the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization, so it is the commonest trap in this question. Option D, Rome, is the city of the three food bodies, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The correct answer is C, Honours Your Trust. UCO Bank uses this line in its logo and advertising.

UCO Bank was founded in Kolkata in 1943 as the United Commercial Bank, and the industrialist G. D. Birla was behind its creation. It was one of the fourteen banks nationalised in July 1969, took its present name in 1985, and still has its head office in Kolkata. Taglines are a favourite one-mark question because each public sector bank keeps the same line for years.

Option A, 'Good People to bank with', belongs to Union Bank of India. Option B, 'Where every individual is committed', is the line of Bank of India. Option D, 'Faithful And Friendly', is used by Bank of Maharashtra.

Exam tip: UCO Bank - Kolkata, 1943, 'Honours Your Trust'; Union Bank - 'Good People to bank with'.

The correct answer is B, Ukraine. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant stands near the town of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, close to the border with Belarus, and was part of the Soviet Union when reactor number four exploded on 26 April 1986 in the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosion during a late night safety test blew off the reactor roof and scattered radioactive material across much of Europe. Pripyat was evacuated, an exclusion zone of 30 kilometres was drawn around the plant and it is still in force. The last working reactor at the site was shut down in December 2000, so the plant is now closed. A is wrong because Russia, though also a Soviet republic at the time, does not contain the site. C is wrong because Belarus received much of the fallout but the plant is not on its soil. D is wrong because Georgia has no connection with the accident. Exam tip: Chernobyl - Ukraine, 26 April 1986; Fukushima - Japan, 2011; Three Mile Island - United States, 1979.

The correct answer is D, Hubli. The South Western Railway zone has its headquarters at Hubballi, still widely written as Hubli, in Karnataka. The zone was carved out of the Southern and South Central Railways and began work on 1 April 2003; it runs the Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru divisions and covers most of Karnataka with a little of Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Option A is wrong because Chennai is the headquarters of Southern Railway, the first zone of independent India, formed in 1951. Option B is wrong because Secunderabad is the headquarters of South Central Railway. Option C is wrong because Kolkata is the headquarters of Eastern Railway and of Metro Railway, while South Eastern Railway sits at Garden Reach in the same city. Indian Railways is managed by the Railway Board, and the first train in India ran from Bori Bunder to Thane on 16 April 1853. Exam tip: Hubballi South Western, Jabalpur West Central, Bilaspur South East Central, Hajipur East Central, Bhubaneswar East Coast.

The correct answer is A, Brazil. Brazil is called the Coffee Bowl of the World because it grows and sends out more coffee than any other country and has done so for more than a century. Its coffee belt lies in the south-east, in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Parana, where the deep red soil called terra rossa, the warm climate and the rolling plateau suit the plant. The large estates there are known as fazendas, and the port of Santos handles much of the export. Coffee needs a hot, wet climate with well drained slopes, which is why it is a plantation crop of the tropics. B is wrong because Mexico is a smaller coffee grower and is better known for maize and silver. C is wrong because India grows coffee mainly in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu but is far behind Brazil. D is wrong because Serbia has a cool climate that cannot support coffee at all. Exam tip: Brazil Coffee Bowl of the World, Sri Lanka Pearl of the Indian Ocean, Cuba Sugar Bowl of the World.

The correct answer is B, Assam Rifles. It is the only such force whose administrative control lies with the Ministry of Home Affairs while its operational control lies with the Indian Army. The Assam Rifles is also India's oldest paramilitary force, raised in 1835 as the Cachar Levy to guard British tea estates and settlements in the North East. Most of its officers come on deputation from the Army; it guards the India–Myanmar border and runs counter-insurgency operations in the North East, which is why it is called the Sentinels of the North East and the Friends of the Hill People. A is wrong, because the CRPF, India's largest central armed police force, is fully under the Home Ministry. C is wrong, because the ITBP, raised in 1962 to guard the border with China, is also under the Home Ministry alone. D is wrong, because the CISF, set up in 1969 to protect industrial units, airports and metros, reports only to the Home Ministry. Exam tip: Assam Rifles, raised 1835, Home Ministry for administration and Army for operations, guards the Myanmar border.

The correct answer is D, India, Australia, Japan and the US. Malabar 2020 was held in two phases in November 2020, the first in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam and the second in the Arabian Sea, and Australia joined India, Japan and the United States in it. Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between the Indian Navy and the US Navy. Japan became a permanent participant in 2015. Australia had taken part once in 2007 and then returned in 2020, which brought the navies of all four Quad countries together in the same exercise. The drills cover anti-submarine warfare, air defence, cross-deck flying and live firing. Option A is wrong because that was the three-nation line-up from 2015 to 2019, before Australia rejoined. Option B is wrong because Israel has never been part of Malabar. Option C is wrong for the same reason, and it also leaves out Japan, a permanent member. Exam tip: Malabar started 1992 as India-US, Japan permanent from 2015, Australia from 2020 — the four Quad navies.

The correct answer is B, Insat-1B. It was the first working satellite of the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system, carried to orbit by the US Space Shuttle Challenger in August 1983. INSAT-1B was a multipurpose satellite: its transponders gave national television coverage, telephone links and weather pictures from one spot in geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above the equator. It made nationwide Doordarshan broadcasts possible and began the INSAT series that still serves communication and meteorology. Its predecessor INSAT-1A, launched in 1982, failed early, which is why 1B is remembered as the real start. A is wrong because Bhaskara-I, launched in 1979 on a Soviet rocket, was an experimental earth-observation satellite, not a geostationary broadcaster. C is wrong because GSAT-7, launched in 2013, is the Indian Navy's dedicated communication satellite, often called Rukmini. D is wrong because RISAT-1, launched in 2012 on a PSLV, is a radar imaging satellite for earth observation. Exam tip: INSAT = communication and weather in geostationary orbit; Bhaskara and RISAT = observing the earth.

The correct answer is A, ₹2,000. Section 141 of the Electricity Act, 2003 deals with the extinguishing of public lamps and says that whoever maliciously puts out a public lamp shall be punished with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. The Act replaced the earlier laws of 1910, 1948 and 1998 and brought the generation, transmission, distribution and trading of electricity under one statute; its neighbouring sections cover offences such as theft of electricity under Section 135 and damage to electrical works. The amount here is a ceiling, so a court may impose less. B is wrong because three thousand rupees is not the limit fixed by this section. C is wrong because the section makes no mention of two thousand five hundred rupees. D is wrong because five thousand rupees is higher than the maximum the section allows. Exam tip: Electricity Act, 2003 - Section 135 theft of electricity, Section 141 extinguishing public lamps with a fine up to ₹2,000.

The correct answer is B, Bogibeel. The Bogibeel bridge crosses the Brahmaputra near Dibrugarh in Assam and links the south bank to the north bank on the way to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. It was opened on 25 December 2018 and is India's longest rail and road bridge, about 4.94 km long, with a double line railway track below and a three-lane road above. Built to withstand earthquakes, it cuts the journey between Dibrugarh and the eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh by several hours and also serves the armed forces near the border. Option A is wrong because the Naini or New Yamuna bridge is a cable-stayed bridge at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Option C is wrong because the Coronation bridge spans the Teesta near Siliguri in West Bengal. Option D is wrong because the Pamban bridge joins Rameswaram island to the Tamil Nadu mainland. Exam tip: Bogibeel is the longest rail and road bridge, while Dhola-Sadiya, also called Bhupen Hazarika Setu, is the longest road bridge.

The correct answer is C, Canberra. Canberra was planned and built as the capital of Australia because Sydney and Melbourne could not agree on which of them should hold the seat of government, and the new city was placed between them. It lies in the Australian Capital Territory and holds the Parliament House and the High Court. The currency of Australia is the Australian dollar.

Option A, Sydney, is the largest city of Australia and the capital of the state of New South Wales, known for its Opera House and Harbour Bridge, which is why most students pick it. Option B, Melbourne, is the capital of Victoria and was the temporary seat of the federal parliament before Canberra was ready. Option D, Perth, is the capital of Western Australia. None of the three is the national capital.

The correct answer is D, Philippines. The Asian Development Bank was founded in 1966 to lend for development in Asia and the Pacific and has its headquarters at Manila, the capital of the Philippines. India is a founding member and among its largest borrowers. Japan and the United States hold the largest shares in the bank, and its president has by convention always been Japanese.

Option A, Malaysia, hosts no such bank at Kuala Lumpur, although the city holds regional offices of several bodies. Option B, Indonesia, is the seat of the ASEAN Secretariat at Jakarta, which is a different institution. Option C, Thailand, hosts the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at Bangkok, and the Bangkok Declaration of 1967 created ASEAN, so it is a plausible but wrong choice here.

The correct answer is A, Gujarat. The Kakrapar Atomic Power Station stands near Vyara in the Tapi district of Gujarat, on the bank of the Tapi river, and is run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. It uses pressurised heavy water reactors, the design India developed for its own nuclear programme, with heavy water as both moderator and coolant. Gujarat's other nuclear site is at Mithi Virdi, while Kakrapar remains the working station in the state. B is wrong because Rajasthan's plant is the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhata near Kota, India's first pressurised heavy water station. C is wrong because Maharashtra has Tarapur, the country's oldest atomic power station, opened in 1969. D is wrong because Karnataka has Kaiga, in Uttara Kannada district. Exam tip: Tarapur in Maharashtra, Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, Kakrapar in Gujarat, Kaiga in Karnataka, Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer is B, Bhutan. The ngultrum is the currency of Bhutan, whose capital is Thimphu. It is pegged to the Indian rupee at par, and the Indian rupee is accepted across Bhutan, which is why the two economies are closely tied. Bhutan is a landlocked Himalayan kingdom that shares its borders only with India and China.

Option A, Nepal, uses the Nepalese rupee and its capital is Kathmandu. Option C, the Maldives, uses the rufiyaa and its capital is Male. Option D, Myanmar, uses the kyat and its capital is Naypyidaw, which replaced Yangon in 2006. All four are neighbours of India, so the question is really testing whether the currency list of the neighbourhood has been learnt as a block rather than in pieces.