Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 23

The correct answer is B, Sagarmala. The programme covers port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity, port linked industrialisation and coastal community development, and it is run by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Option A is wrong because Bharatmala is the umbrella highway development programme of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, covering economic corridors and border roads. Option C is wrong because Setu Bharatam is the scheme to replace level crossings on national highways with bridges and to repair old bridges. Option D is wrong because Jal Marg Vikas is the specific project to develop the National Waterway 1 on the Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia, which is narrower in scope than Sagarmala. Pair each name with its ministry to avoid the mix up.

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 A, Israel. The Knesset is the single house legislature of Israel and has a fixed strength of 120 members elected by proportional representation; it sits at Jerusalem and its name comes from the assembly of the same size in ancient Jewish tradition. Option B is wrong because the legislature of Iran is the Islamic Consultative Assembly, commonly called the Majlis. Option C is wrong because Turkey has the Grand National Assembly, which first met in 1920 during the national struggle. Option D is wrong because Egypt has the House of Representatives. The group of names from western Asia is a favourite in matching questions, so keep Knesset, Majlis and Grand National Assembly together and attach each to its country. The Knesset is also asked for its strength, so remember the figure 120, fixed by the basic law of Israel.

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 A, National Institution for Transforming India. NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015 and works as the policy think tank of the Government of India. The Prime Minister is its chairperson, and it has a vice-chairperson, a chief executive officer and the chief ministers of the states in its Governing Council. Option B is wrong because no official expansion uses the word Initiative, though it sounds plausible. Option C is wrong because the abbreviation has nothing to do with technology; NITI is a policy body, not a technical institute. Option D is wrong because industrial training institutes are the ITIs, a quite separate network of vocational schools run under the Directorate General of Training. Read every word of the expansion before marking, since the distractors differ by one word.

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 D, India Gate. The All India War Memorial in New Delhi is the monument known today as India Gate.

It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in memory of the Indian soldiers who died in the First World War and in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The Duke of Connaught laid its foundation stone in 1921 and the arch was completed in 1931, the year New Delhi was formally inaugurated as the capital. The names of more than thirteen thousand servicemen are carved on its walls. The Amar Jawan Jyoti, the flame added in 1972 after the war of 1971, burned under the arch for fifty years before it was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial close by.

A is wrong: the Charminar is a gateway of 1591 in Hyderabad, built by Quli Qutb Shah. B is wrong: the Lal Qila, or Red Fort, was Shah Jahan's palace fort in Delhi. C is wrong: the Jama Masjid of Delhi is a mosque, also built by Shah Jahan.

Exam tip: India Gate is the All India War Memorial, designed by Lutyens, built between 1921 and 1931.

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, Sri Lanka. Mitra Shakti is the army exercise between India and Sri Lanka, held alternately in the two countries, with training in counter-terrorism and in operations under a United Nations mandate. The naval exercise with Sri Lanka is SLINEX, and the two countries also take part with the Maldives in the coast guard exercise Dosti. Option A is wrong because the exercise with Nepal is Surya Kiran. Option C is wrong because the army exercise with Bangladesh is Sampriti, with Bongosagar for the navies. Option D is wrong because the army exercise with Malaysia is Harimau Shakti, harimau being the Malay word for tiger, with Samudra Laksamana for the navies. Several exercises carry the word Shakti, so the first word of the name is what decides the country.

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 B, Unity, Faith, Sacrifice. The Indian National Army took 'Ittehad, Etmad, Qurbani' as its motto, and those three words mean unity, faith and sacrifice.

Subhas Chandra Bose reorganised the INA at Singapore in 1943 and gave it the war cry 'Jai Hind' and the marching song 'Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja'. The army had a women's regiment named after Rani Lakshmibai, which was led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.

Option A, Unity and Discipline, is the motto of the National Cadet Corps. Option C, Do or Die, was Gandhi's call to the people in the Quit India Movement of 1942. Option D, Service before self, is a general service slogan and was not the motto of the INA.

Exam tip: INA — motto Ittehad, Etmad, Qurbani; slogan Jai Hind; founded 1942 and reorganised by Bose in 1943.

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 D, Foreign Policy of India. Panchsheel is the name given to the five principles that guide India's conduct towards other countries.

The five are mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. They were written into the preamble of the agreement on trade and intercourse with the Tibet region of China, signed by Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai on 29 April 1954. The word itself comes from Buddhist usage, where the five rules of conduct are called panchsheel, and these principles later fed into the non-aligned movement.

A is wrong: the Fundamental Duties were added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 and now number eleven. B is wrong: NITI Aayog is a policy think tank set up in 2015 and has nothing to do with this term. C is wrong: inter-state relations are dealt with in Articles 261 to 263 of the Constitution.

Exam tip: Panchsheel means the five principles signed by Nehru and Zhou Enlai on 29 April 1954, the base of India's non-alignment.

The correct answer is B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Statue of Unity stands on Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada near the Sardar Sarovar Dam in the Narmada district of Gujarat, and it shows Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, who brought the princely states into the Union. The statue is 182 metres tall, a height chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Assembly, and it was unveiled on 31 October 2018, Patel's birth anniversary. Ram V. Sutar designed it, and iron collected from farmers across the country went into the work. A is wrong because M. K. Gandhi has no statue of this scale. C is wrong because Vinoba Bhave, who led the Bhoodan movement, is not its subject. D is wrong because Dr B. R. Ambedkar is honoured by other memorials, not by this statue. Exam tip: Statue of Unity — 182 m, Sardar Patel, on the Narmada in Gujarat, unveiled 31 October 2018.

The correct answer is B, Kandla. After partition left the port of Karachi outside India, Kandla in the Gulf of Kutch was developed as the main gateway for the northern and western hinterland, which makes it the first major port developed after independence. It is a tidal port, meaning ships work with the rise and fall of the tide in the gulf, and it was renamed the Deendayal Port in 2017. Option A is wrong because Mundra, also in Gujarat, is the largest privately operated port in India and is not a major port in the statutory sense. Option C is wrong because Porbandar is a smaller state port better known as the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Option D is wrong because Okha is a minor port on the Gujarat coast. Note the three Gujarat names separately.

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, Japan. The Japanese legislature is the Diet, called Kokkai in Japanese, and it is bicameral: the House of Representatives is the lower house and the House of Councillors the upper. The Prime Minister is chosen by the Diet, and the lower house prevails on a money matter. Option A is wrong because South Korea has the National Assembly, a single house. Option C is wrong because Mongolia has the State Great Khural, a name that comes from the old assemblies of the steppe. Option D is wrong because Vietnam has the National Assembly. Japan is asked often because the word Diet was once used for several European assemblies, which makes it a tempting option for Germany or Hungary. Hold the pair in memory: Diet for Japan, National Assembly for South Korea, and the Khural for Mongolia.

The correct answer is B, Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser produces a narrow, coherent, single-wavelength beam by stimulated emission, in which an excited atom is made to release a photon identical to the one that strikes it. Option A is the usual trap, replacing Amplification with Absorption: absorption is the opposite process, in which energy is taken in rather than released as a beam. Option C is wrong because the word Linear belongs to no standard expansion, and lasers are not described as linear amplifiers of standard rays. Option D is wrong because a laser neither analyses light nor emits sequentially. The companion acronym is MASER, Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, which came first and was developed by Charles Townes.

The correct answer is A, Singapore. SIMBEX stands for Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise, the longest running naval exercise India holds with any country, begun in 1994 and conducted in the South China Sea, the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. India also holds Bold Kurukshetra with the Singapore Army and Agni Warrior for the artillery of the two armies. Option B is wrong because the naval exercise with Sri Lanka is SLINEX, a name that looks deliberately similar. Option C is wrong because with South Africa India takes part in IBSAMAR, the trilateral naval exercise that also includes Brazil. Option D is wrong because the naval exercise with Saudi Arabia is Al Mohed Al Hindi, with Sada Tanseeq as the army exercise. Expanding the abbreviation gives the answer at once.

The correct answer is A, the Althing of Iceland. The Althing was founded in 930 at Thingvellir, where free men gathered in the open to settle disputes and declare law, and it still functions as the legislature of Iceland, which makes it the oldest surviving parliament in the world. Option B is wrong because the British Parliament, though called the mother of parliaments and the model for the Westminster system, grew from the thirteenth century councils and is younger. Option C is wrong because the Storting of Norway was set up in 1814 with the Norwegian constitution. Option D is wrong because the Riksdag of Sweden, although it has medieval roots, took its modern form much later. Oldest means Iceland, mother of parliaments means Britain.