Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 20

The correct answer is A, Kolkata. The Eastern Railway zone has its headquarters at Fairlie Place in Kolkata, West Bengal. Eastern Railway was created in 1952 out of the eastern part of the old East Indian Railway and a portion of the Bengal Nagpur Railway, which makes it one of the oldest zones of Indian Railways. It is run through the Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol and Malda divisions, and each zone of Indian Railways is headed by a General Manager. Kolkata is unusual in holding two zonal headquarters, because South Eastern Railway also sits in the city, at Garden Reach. Option B is wrong because Bhubaneswar is the headquarters of East Coast Railway. Option C is wrong because no zone is based at Patna; East Central Railway, which covers Bihar, is headquartered at Hajipur. Option D is wrong because Durgapur is an industrial town of West Bengal and not a railway headquarters. Exam tip: Eastern Railway at Kolkata, East Central at Hajipur, East Coast at Bhubaneswar.

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 C, Tarapur. The Tarapur Atomic Power Station in the Palghar district of Maharashtra was commissioned in 1969 and was the first nuclear power station in India and in Asia to generate electricity commercially; its first two units were boiling water reactors built with American assistance. Option A, Kalpakkam, is the Madras Atomic Power Station in Tamil Nadu, the first station of wholly indigenous design, and it also holds the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and the fast breeder reactor programme. Option B, Rawatbhata, is the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, where the first pressurised heavy water reactor was built in collaboration with Canada, and it is the commonest wrong choice because it too claims a first. Option D, Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, is the most recent of the four and uses Russian pressurised water reactors of the VVER type.

The correct answer is C, San Francisco Conference. The Charter of the United Nations was signed at San Francisco on 26 June 1945, at the close of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, by the delegates of fifty nations; Poland signed a little later and so the organisation began with fifty-one original members. The Charter came into force on 24 October 1945, once the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of the others had ratified it, and that day is kept as United Nations Day. The name United Nations was coined by President Franklin Roosevelt. Option A is wrong because The Hague is the seat of the International Court of Justice, not the place of signing. Option B is wrong because London is where the General Assembly held its first session, in January 1946. Option D is wrong because no United Nations conference was held at Berlin. Exam tip: signed 26 June 1945 at San Francisco and in force from 24 October 1945.

The correct answer is B, Chennai. The capital of Tamil Nadu and its surrounding belt hold a very large share of India's car, commercial vehicle and auto component manufacturing and export, which is why it is compared with Detroit, the historic motor city of the United States; Chennai is also called the Gateway of South India. Option A is wrong because Pune, though it too has vehicle plants, is called the Oxford of the East and the Queen of the Deccan. Option C is wrong because Gurugram is a corporate and services hub in Haryana, not a motor city nickname. Option D is wrong because Jamshedpur is the Steel City, named for the Tata iron and steel works, and is also called the Pittsburgh of India. In a question of this shape the distractors are always other industrial cities, so attach each nickname to its one industry.

The correct answer is A, 1962. The Sino-Indian War was fought between 20 October and 21 November 1962, when China attacked across the Himalayan frontier. The fighting ran in two separate theatres, Aksai Chin in Ladakh in the west and the North East Frontier Agency, today Arunachal Pradesh, in the east. China declared a unilateral ceasefire on 21 November 1962 and kept Aksai Chin. Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister and the reverses cost Defence Minister V. K. Krishna Menon his post; the war pushed India to enlarge its army and raise mountain divisions trained for high altitude. Option B is wrong because no India-China war took place in 1969. Option C is wrong because 1973 is remembered for the Kesavananda Bharati judgment and the launch of Project Tiger, not a war. Option D is wrong because 1964 is the year Nehru died. Exam tip: 1962 with China, 1965 and 1971 with Pakistan, 1999 Kargil.

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 B, Monthly channel. India Post moves its mail through six named channels, and there is no 'Monthly channel' among them. Under the Mail Network Optimisation Project the department separated its traffic so that each kind of article travels on a route with its own time norms. The six are the Metro channel, for mail between the big metro cities; the Rajdhani channel, linking the state capitals; the Green channel, for local mail inside a city; the Business channel, for corporate and bulk business mail; the Periodical channel, for newspapers and magazines; and the Bulk mail channel, for very large mailings. Because of this split, a letter addressed to a metro city does not travel with local city mail. A is wrong because the Metro channel is one of the six. C is wrong because the Rajdhani channel, which joins the capitals, is also one of them. D is wrong because the Business channel handles corporate and bulk mail and is on the list. Exam tip: the six mail channels are Metro, Rajdhani, Green, Business, Periodical and Bulk.

The correct answer is B, Jammu and Kashmir. The Chenab Rail Bridge was built on the Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla rail link in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, and its steel arch carries the track about three hundred and fifty nine metres above the bed of the Chenab, which makes it the highest railway arch bridge in the world. Option A, Himachal Pradesh, has the Kalka Shimla and Kangra valley narrow gauge lines with many masonry viaducts, but none of that height. Option C, Uttarakhand, carries the rail head at Rishikesh and the Rishikesh Karnaprayag line under construction, and its bridges do not reach this height. Option D, Ladakh, has no railway line at all, which alone rules it out; it is placed among the options because candidates associate the Himalaya with Ladakh. The Chenab rises in Himachal Pradesh, so read whether the question asks where the river rises or where the bridge stands.

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, Kochi. The port on the Malabar coast of Kerala was the first European settlement in India and remained the chief trading harbour of the spice coast, which earned it the title Queen of the Arabian Sea; it is also the base of the Southern Naval Command and of the Cochin Shipyard. Option A is wrong because Mumbai carries the names Gateway of India, City of Seven Islands, Financial Capital of India and City of Dreams, but not this one. Option C is wrong because Panaji, the capital of Goa, is on the Mandovi and old Goa is instead called the Rome of the East. Option D is wrong because Mangaluru is a port of coastal Karnataka without this nickname. The pair to carry is Kochi as Queen of the Arabian Sea and Mumbai as the Gateway of India.

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 C, the Brahmaputra. The Bogibeel Bridge crosses the Brahmaputra in the Dibrugarh district of Assam, was opened in December 2018 and carries a double line of railway below a three lane road above, which makes it the longest rail cum road bridge in India at close to five kilometres. Option A, the Lohit, carries the Bhupen Hazarika Setu, also called the Dhola Sadiya bridge, which links Assam with Arunachal Pradesh and is the longest river bridge in the country, and it is the strongest distractor because the two bridges are in the same region and are learnt together. Option B, the Barak, flows through southern Assam past Silchar and carries no bridge of this description. Option D, the Teesta, flows through Sikkim and West Bengal. Keep the three superlatives apart: longest river bridge, longest rail cum road bridge and longest sea bridge.

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, Alappuzha. Also written Alleppey, the town is laced with canals, lagoons and backwater channels crossed by houseboats, and the comparison with Venice is said to have been made by Lord Curzon; it is the home of the Nehru Trophy snake boat race. Option A is wrong because Kollam, the old Quilon, is known as the cashew capital of India. Option C is wrong because Kozhikode, the old Calicut, is remembered as the port where Vasco da Gama landed in 1498 and is called the City of Spices. Option D is wrong because Thalassery is known for its cuisine and for an old English fort, not for canals. Udaipur in Rajasthan is sometimes also called the Venice of the East, and papers exploit that overlap, so read whether the question names Kerala or Rajasthan.

The correct answer is B, 1961. The Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961 and came into force on 1 July that year.

The Act makes the giving, taking or demanding of dowry a punishable offence, and defines dowry as property or valuable security given in connection with a marriage. It was strengthened by amendments in 1984 and 1986, which fixed a minimum punishment and provided for Dowry Prohibition Officers. Around the same years criminal law added cruelty to a wife as an offence and made a death within seven years of marriage in suspicious circumstances a dowry death, with the burden of explanation on the husband's family.

A is wrong: no dowry law was passed in 1967. C is wrong: 1952 saw no such legislation. D is wrong: 1959 is when the bill was under discussion, but the Act carries the year 1961.

Exam tip: Dowry Prohibition Act - 1961, in force 1 July 1961, amended in 1984 and 1986.

The correct answer is B, the Hooghly. The Howrah Bridge, renamed Rabindra Setu in 1965, is a steel cantilever bridge over the Hooghly connecting Howrah with Kolkata; it was opened to traffic in 1943 and its deck was riveted rather than bolted, so it is often described as having been built without nuts and bolts. Option A, the Damodar, is a tributary of the Hooghly and the river of the Damodar Valley Corporation, but it carries no bridge of this name. Option C, the Ganga at Patna, carries the Mahatma Gandhi Setu, for many years the longest river bridge in the country, and it is placed here because it is the other famous long bridge of eastern India. Option D, the Mahananda, flows through north Bengal and Bihar. Note also that the Vidyasagar Setu, the second Hooghly bridge, is a cable stayed bridge across the same river.

The correct answer is B, Kolkata. The capital of West Bengal is called the City of Joy, a name made popular by Dominique Lapierre's book, and the City of Palaces for the grand colonial mansions built when it was the capital of British India; it is also called the Cultural Capital of India. Option A is wrong because Lucknow is the City of Nawabs, known for its courtly manners and its Awadhi cuisine. Option C is wrong because Mysuru is called the City of Palaces in a local sense and also the Sandalwood City, but the standard examination answer for both names together is Kolkata. Option D is wrong because Hyderabad is the City of Pearls and the City of Nizams, and its technology district is called Cyberabad. Where two cities can claim one name, pick the one that also fits the second name in the question.

The correct answer is B, the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Damodar Valley Corporation was set up in 1948, the first statutory corporation of its kind in India, and it was consciously modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States, which had shown how one authority could take up flood control, irrigation, power and navigation across a whole basin. It built the Tilaiya, Konar, Maithon and Panchet dams on the Damodar and the Barakar. Option A, the Hoover Dam, is a single structure on the Colorado and not a basin wide authority. Option C, the Aswan High Dam on the Nile in Egypt, was completed long after 1948 and cannot have been the model. Option D, the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze in China, was built at the end of the twentieth century and is the largest hydro project in the world, which is why it is offered as a plausible looking but chronologically impossible answer.

The correct answer is B, the Coal Capital of India. Dhanbad sits on the Jharia coalfield, the chief source of coking coal for Indian steel plants and notorious for an underground fire that has burned for decades, and the city also holds the old Indian School of Mines, founded in 1926. Option A is wrong because the Steel City is Jamshedpur, also in Jharkhand, named for the Tata iron and steel works. Option C is wrong because the copper belt of the region lies around Ghatsila and Mosaboni in East Singhbhum, not at Dhanbad. Option D is wrong because mica is associated with Koderma, called the mica capital. Jharkhand alone supplies several nickname questions, so keep Dhanbad for coal, Jamshedpur for steel, Koderma for mica and Jaduguda for uranium.