Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 11

The correct answer is C, South Africa. South Africa is the standard example of a country with three capitals. Pretoria holds the executive and the office of the President, Cape Town holds the Parliament and is therefore the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein holds the Supreme Court of Appeal and is the judicial capital. The currency of South Africa is the rand, and the country is a member of BRICS along with Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Option A, Nigeria, has a single capital at Abuja, which replaced Lagos, and its currency is the naira. Option B, Kenya, has its capital at Nairobi and uses the Kenyan shilling. Option D, Zimbabwe, has its capital at Harare. Only South Africa splits the three branches of government across three cities.

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 C, International Monetary Fund. The conference held in 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire in the United States set up two twin institutions, the International Monetary Fund to keep exchange rates orderly and help countries facing balance of payments difficulty, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to lend for reconstruction and development. Both have their headquarters at Washington DC.

Option A is wrong because the United Nations was created by its own Charter, signed at San Francisco in 1945. Option B, UNESCO, was founded in 1946 as a specialised agency for education, science and culture. Option D, the International Labour Organization, is older than all of them, set up in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles. Only the IMF and the World Bank are called the Bretton Woods institutions.

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 C, Myanmar. Naypyidaw became the capital of Myanmar in 2006, when the government moved out of Yangon, which had been the capital under the older name Rangoon. Myanmar shares a long land border with India in the north east, touching Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, and its currency is the kyat.

Option A, Cambodia, has its capital at Phnom Penh and uses the riel. Option B, Laos, has its capital at Vientiane and uses the kip. Option D, Vietnam, has its capital at Hanoi and uses the dong, and its best known city is Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Since all four are South East Asian neighbours, the safest way to hold this group is to learn capital and currency together rather than separately.

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 D, 2 only. The United Nations works in six official languages, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Of the four names in the list, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese are all official, so only German, the second item, is not. Arabic was the last of the six to be added, in 1973. Of the six, English and French are also the working languages of the Secretariat.

Option A is wrong because Arabic is official, having been added in 1973. Option B is wrong for the same reason and because Chinese was official from the beginning as one of the languages of the founding members. Option C again wrongly counts Arabic as not official. Only option D keeps German alone, and German is not a UN language although Germany is a large contributor to the UN budget.

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 A, Bangladesh. The taka is the currency of Bangladesh, whose capital is Dhaka. Bangladesh was created in 1971 and shares the longest land border that India has with any country, touching West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Option B, Sri Lanka, uses the Sri Lankan rupee; its commercial capital is Colombo but the legislative capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Option C, Nepal, uses the Nepalese rupee and its capital is Kathmandu. Option D, Afghanistan, uses the afghani and its capital is Kabul. Candidates lose this mark by pairing the taka with Sri Lanka, so fix in memory that the two names Dhaka and taka rhyme, which ties the capital and the currency of Bangladesh together.

Remember also that Dhaka is both the capital and the largest city of Bangladesh, and that the note issuing central bank of the country is the Bangladesh Bank.

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, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, known by its short form IUPAC. It is the world authority on chemical nomenclature, so it approves the names and symbols of newly discovered elements, standardises the naming of compounds and maintains the recommended values of atomic weights. Elements such as oganesson and nihonium received their names through this body after the discovery claims were verified.

Option A, UNESCO, promotes education, science and culture but does not name elements. Option C, the International Science Council, brings scientific bodies together for policy and cooperation and has no naming power. Option D, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, works on the study of the earth, its shape, gravity and interior, and so is unrelated to chemical names, although its own abbreviation looks similar.

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, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur remains the national capital of Malaysia and the seat of its parliament, but the offices of the government and the judiciary were shifted to the planned city of Putrajaya to ease the crowding of the capital. The currency of Malaysia is the ringgit, and Kuala Lumpur is known for the Petronas Twin Towers.

Option A, Indonesia, is a large island country in South East Asia whose currency is the rupiah. Option C, Brunei, is a small oil rich sultanate on the island of Borneo with its capital at Bandar Seri Begawan and the Brunei dollar as its money. Option D, the Philippines, has Manila as its capital and the Philippine peso as its currency. Only Malaysia runs its administration from a second city while keeping the older capital.

The correct answer is C, New Delhi and Varanasi Junction. The first Vande Bharat Express was flagged off on 15 February 2019 on the New Delhi to Varanasi route. It was built at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and was known as Train 18 while under development. The train is India's first indigenous semi high-speed train set: it has no separate engine, as motors are spread under the coaches, which lets it pick up speed quickly, and it is designed for 160 kilometres an hour. The second Vande Bharat, started later in 2019, runs from New Delhi to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra. Option A is wrong because the Howrah to Puri service is one of the many later Vande Bharat trains. Option B is wrong because Mumbai Central to Ahmedabad is the bullet train corridor under construction and got its Vande Bharat only in 2022. Option D is wrong because Hazrat Nizamuddin to Jhansi is the route of the Gatimaan Express. Exam tip: Train 18, ICF Chennai, 15 February 2019.

The correct answer is A, Heritage Foundation. The Index of Economic Freedom has been published by this research organisation based at Washington DC since 1995, and it scores countries on matters such as property rights, tax burden, government spending, trade freedom and business regulation. Questions on this topic usually pair an index with the body that publishes it, so this name is worth memorising along with the index it produces.

Option B, the Fraser Institute of Canada, publishes a similarly named report called Economic Freedom of the World, which makes it the closest trap in the set. Option C, the International Monetary Fund, publishes the World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report. Option D, the World Bank, brings out the World Development Report and earlier the Ease of Doing Business rankings, but not this index.

The correct answer is A, Kolkata. Kolkata earned the name City of Palaces in the colonial era for the grand mansions built by British officials and rich Bengali families along its main streets. It was the capital of British India until 1911, when the capital moved to Delhi, and many of those buildings still stand, from the Victoria Memorial to the Marble Palace and the Writers Building. The city also carries the names City of Joy and the cultural capital of India, and it was the first city in India to get a metro railway, in 1984. B is wrong because Hyderabad is the City of Pearls and the City of Nizams. C is wrong because Mumbai is known as the Gateway of India, the City of Seven Islands and the financial capital of India. D is wrong because Chennai is called the Gateway of South India and the Detroit of India for its car industry. Exam tip: Kolkata = City of Palaces and City of Joy; Hyderabad = City of Pearls; Jaipur = Pink City; Udaipur = City of Lakes.

The correct answer is B, Lira. The Turkish lira is the money of Turkey, whose capital is Ankara, not Istanbul. Istanbul is the largest city and the only city in the world spread over two continents, Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus strait, which is why students wrongly treat it as the capital.

Option A, the dinar, is used by Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Serbia. Option C, the dirham, is the currency of the United Arab Emirates, whose capital is Abu Dhabi, and of Morocco, whose capital is Rabat. Option D, the rial, is used by Iran with its capital Tehran and by Oman with its capital Muscat, while the similar sounding riyal belongs to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Grouping West Asian currencies in this way removes most of the confusion.

The correct answer is B, Geneva. The World Health Organization works from Geneva in Switzerland. Its constitution came into force on 7 April 1948, which is why that date is observed every year as World Health Day, and its governing body, the World Health Assembly, meets in Geneva each May. The organisation declares public health emergencies of international concern and maintains the international classification of diseases.

Option A, Vienna, holds the International Atomic Energy Agency, UNIDO and OPEC. Option C, Nairobi in Kenya, holds the United Nations Environment Programme, the only major UN headquarters in Africa. Option D, Montreal in Canada, holds the International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Anti-Doping Agency. Geneva is the city to remember here, as it also holds the ILO, WTO, WIPO, WMO and UNHCR.

The correct answer is A, New Zealand. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and sits at the southern end of the North Island, which makes it the southernmost national capital in the world. The largest city of New Zealand is Auckland, and the currency is the New Zealand dollar. New Zealand was the first self governing country to give women the right to vote, in 1893.

Option B, Australia, has its capital at Canberra and its largest city at Sydney. Option C, Fiji, is an island country in the Pacific with its capital at Suva. Option D, Papua New Guinea, has its capital at Port Moresby. All four lie in the Pacific region, and the usual error is to pair Wellington with Australia because the two countries are so often mentioned together.

The correct answer is A, 1919. The International Labour Organization was created in 1919 by Part Thirteen of the Treaty of Versailles, at the end of the First World War, as part of the League of Nations system. It is therefore older than the United Nations and became the first specialised agency associated with it in 1946. India is a founding member. The body is unusual in having a tripartite structure in which governments, employers and workers are all represented, and it received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.

Option B, 1945, is the year the United Nations and the FAO came into being. Option C, 1948, is the year the World Health Organization began work and the year GATT came into force. Option D, 1957, is the founding year of the International Atomic Energy Agency at Vienna, so each wrong option is a genuine founding year of another body.