Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 21

The correct answer is B, the Narmada. The Sardar Sarovar is a concrete gravity dam on the Narmada in the Narmada district of Gujarat, and its water and power are shared by four states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan; the Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by Medha Patkar, grew around the displacement it caused. Option A, the Tapi, carries the Ukai dam in Gujarat and flows parallel to the Narmada in its own rift valley, which makes it the closest distractor. Option C, the Mahi, also flows through Gujarat and carries the Kadana and Mahi Bajaj Sagar dams. Option D, the Sabarmati, flows past Ahmedabad and carries the Dharoi dam. Note for the same river that the Indira Sagar dam stands upstream in Madhya Pradesh, so a question naming the Narmada may be asking for either dam, and the state in the stem decides.

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 B, Pune. The Maharashtra city earned the title from its long list of colleges, its university and its old tradition of Sanskrit and English learning, which drew students from across western and southern India; it is also called the Queen of the Deccan. Option A is wrong because Varanasi is the City of Temples, the Holy City and the City of Ghats, and although it is sometimes called the Oxford of India for the Banaras Hindu University, the Oxford of the East in Indian general knowledge is Pune. Option C is wrong because Kolkata is the City of Joy, the City of Palaces and the Cultural Capital of India. Option D is wrong because Aligarh is known for the Aligarh Muslim University and for its lock industry, not for this title. Read the options with care, since Varanasi is placed here precisely to confuse.

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, Kolkata. The first stretch of the Kolkata Metro, between Esplanade and Bhowanipore, was opened on 24 October 1984, almost two decades before any other Indian city had a metro. The system is also unusual because it is operated as a zone of Indian Railways rather than by a separate metro corporation. Option A is wrong because the Delhi Metro, though it grew into the largest network in the country, opened its first section from Shahdara to Tis Hazari only on 24 December 2002. Option C is wrong because the Mumbai Metro began commercial service in 2014. Option D is wrong because the Chennai Metro is later still. The order to remember for the earliest systems is Kolkata in 1984, Delhi in 2002 and Bengaluru in 2011.

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 C, France and Germany. The Maginot Line was the chain of concrete forts that France built along its border with Germany.

It is named after Andre Maginot, the French war minister who pushed the project through, and it was built in the 1930s after the First World War to stop another German invasion. The line was deep, heavily armed and widely thought to be impregnable, but it covered only the German frontier. In 1940 the German army simply went around its northern end through the Ardennes in Belgium and France fell in six weeks, which is why a Maginot Line is now a byword for a defence that is strong in the wrong place.

A is wrong: no such line divides Namibia and Angola. B is wrong: the United States and Canada are separated by the 49th Parallel. D is wrong: the Germany and Poland boundary is the Oder Neisse Line, fixed after the Second World War.

Exam tip: Maginot Line is France and Germany, while the Siegfried Line was Germany's own answering line of defences.

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 A, India and the United Kingdom. Ajeya Warrior is the bilateral army exercise between India and the United Kingdom, held alternately in the two countries, in which the two armies train together in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in a built-up and semi-urban setting. India holds three exercises with the United Kingdom, one for each service: Ajeya Warrior with the army, Konkan with the navy and Indradhanush with the air force. Option B is wrong because India has no army exercise of this name with Israel; India takes part in the multinational air exercise Blue Flag hosted by Israel. Option C is wrong because the army exercise with France is Shakti, while Varuna is naval and Garuda is with the air force. Option D is wrong because the army exercises with the United States are Yudh Abhyas and the special forces exercise Vajra Prahar.

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, New York. The phrase came into use among jazz musicians and racing writers in the United States in the early twentieth century and was later taken up as a tourism slogan for New York City, which is also called the City of Skyscrapers and the Empire City. Option A is wrong because London is called the Old Smoke or simply the Smoke, after its historic coal fogs. Option C is wrong because Chicago is the Windy City, named for the wind off Lake Michigan and, by some accounts, for the talk of its politicians. Option D is wrong because Toronto is called the Queen City in Canada. World nicknames are asked as often as Indian ones, so pair the Big Apple with New York, the Windy City with Chicago and the City of Light with Paris.

The correct answer is C, Anti-lock braking system. ABS stands for anti-lock braking system, a safety device that keeps the wheels from locking during hard braking. Sensors at the wheels watch how fast each one is turning, and when a wheel is about to stop turning the control unit releases and applies the brake pressure many times a second. Because the wheels keep rolling, the tyres hold their grip on the road, so the driver can still steer while braking hard and the vehicle usually stops in a shorter distance. A locked wheel simply skids and goes wherever it was already going. ABS is now required by law on cars and on larger two-wheelers in India. Option A is wrong because 'avoid brake system' is not a term used for any vehicle part. Option B is wrong because 'actual brake system' has no meaning in engineering. Option D is wrong because an automatic braking system is a different feature in which the vehicle applies the brakes by itself to avoid a crash. Exam tip: ABS prevents wheel lock and keeps steering control; it does not replace the brakes.

The correct answer is B, Maharashtra. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port lies at Nhava Sheva across the harbour from Mumbai, in the Navi Mumbai area, and it handles the largest volume of container traffic of any port in India. It was developed to relieve the congestion at the older Mumbai Port. Option A is wrong because Gujarat holds the Deendayal Port at Kandla, a tidal port that was the first developed after independence, and the private Mundra Port, but not Nhava Sheva. Option C is wrong because Goa's major port is Mormugao, long associated with iron ore exports. Option D is wrong because Karnataka's major port is New Mangalore. A useful pairing to memorise is Nhava Sheva for containers, Kandla for tidal cargo and Mormugao for iron ore.

The correct answer is A, Boston. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile red brick path laid out in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951, linking sixteen sites connected with the American Revolution. Walkers pass the Massachusetts State House, the Old South Meeting House where the Boston Tea Party was planned, the spot of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere's house and the Bunker Hill Monument, and the walk ends at the warship USS Constitution. Boston was the centre of colonial protest against British taxes, which is why so much of the revolution's story sits inside one walkable city. B is wrong because Memphis in Tennessee is known for Beale Street and the civil rights museum at the Lorraine Motel. C is wrong because Denver in Colorado is a much later city of the American West. D is wrong because Connecticut is a state, not a city. Exam tip: Freedom Trail, Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre all point to the same city.

The correct answer is B, France. Varuna is the bilateral naval exercise between the Indian Navy and the French Navy, held in the Arabian Sea, the Mediterranean or the Atlantic, with surface ships, submarines and maritime patrol aircraft taking part. The complete French set is worth memorising as one unit: Varuna with the navy, Shakti with the army and Garuda with the air force, with Desert Knight as a further air exercise. Option A is wrong because the exercise with Russia is Indra, which has been conducted as a tri-service exercise, along with Aviaindra for the air forces. Option C is wrong because the naval exercise with Japan is JIMEX, the army exercise being Dharma Guardian. Option D is wrong because the long-running naval exercise with Singapore is SIMBEX, and Bold Kurukshetra is the armoured exercise with Singapore.

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, Rome. The capital of Italy was called the Eternal City by Roman poets who believed the city would last whatever happened to its empire, and the Seven Hills, the Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Quirinal and Viminal, are the heights on which the ancient city grew. Option A is wrong because Athens is called the City of Violet Crown and, in a transferred sense, lends its name to Madurai as the Athens of the East. Option C is wrong because Jerusalem is called the Holy City. Option D is wrong because Istanbul was Constantinople and is called the city on two continents; Lucknow, not Istanbul, is sometimes called the Constantinople of the East. The Eternal City and the Seven Hills always point to one answer, which makes this an easy mark once learnt.

The correct answer is B, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port at Kolkata. It sits far up the Hooghly river rather than on the open sea, which makes it the only riverine major port in the country, and it is the oldest of the major ports still working; the Haldia dock complex downstream was added to handle larger vessels that cannot reach Kolkata. Option A is wrong because Paradip in Odisha is a natural harbour on the open coast. Option C is wrong because Visakhapatnam, though famous as the deepest landlocked port with both an inner and an outer harbour, is a coastal port and not a river port. Option D is wrong because Chennai is an artificial harbour built out into the sea. The dredging of silt from the Hooghly is the recurring problem that makes Kolkata distinctive.

The correct answer is C, Nepal. Surya Kiran is the battalion-level army exercise between India and Nepal, held alternately in the two countries, in which the Indian Army and the Nepali Army train in jungle warfare, counter-insurgency and disaster relief. It is the only named bilateral exercise India holds with Nepal, which makes it an easy mark in an examination. Option A is wrong because the exercises with Bangladesh are Sampriti for the armies and Bongosagar for the navies, with a coordinated patrol in the Bay of Bengal. Option B is wrong because the exercises with Sri Lanka are Mitra Shakti for the armies and SLINEX for the navies. Option D is wrong because India holds no named bilateral exercise with Bhutan; cooperation there runs through training assistance and the Indian Military Training Team.

The correct answer is B, Pune. Pune stands on the Deccan plateau in Maharashtra, where the Mula and the Mutha meet, and it is called the Queen of the Deccan for its pleasant climate, its setting at the edge of the Sahyadri hills and its long standing as the seat of the Peshwas. The same city is also called the Oxford of the East for its colleges and the Detroit of India for its car and two-wheeler factories, and the Deccan Queen, running since 1930, is the express that still links it with Mumbai. A is wrong because Ahmedabad is the Manchester of India, a name earned by its cotton mills. C is wrong because Amritsar is called the Golden City, after the Golden Temple. D is wrong because Puducherry is known as the French Riviera of the East. Exam tip: Pune is the Queen of the Deccan and the Oxford of the East, while the Manchester of India is Ahmedabad.