Static GK Mixed Quiz: Set 4

The correct answer is B, Abhinav Bindra, who won the ten-metre air rifle event at Beijing in 2008. India had won gold before that only in team hockey, so this was the first individual gold in the country's Olympic history.

Option A, K. D. Jadhav, holds the related first: he won India's first individual Olympic medal of any colour, a wrestling bronze at Helsinki in 1952, and the examiner relies on candidates mixing the medal with the gold. Option C, Neeraj Chopra, won the gold in the javelin throw at the Tokyo Games, which was India's first Olympic gold in athletics but came long after Bindra. Option D, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, won a silver in double trap shooting at Athens in 2004, the individual medal immediately before Bindra's gold. Fix the order: Jadhav, Rathore, Bindra.

The correct answer is C, China. SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, has eight members — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China is not one of them; it holds only observer status, as do Japan, the United States, the European Union, South Korea, Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar and Australia. SAARC was set up by the Dhaka Declaration of 8 December 1985 with seven members, and its secretariat is at Kathmandu in Nepal. Option A is wrong because Nepal is a founding member and hosts the secretariat. Option B is wrong because the Maldives is also one of the seven founders. Option D is wrong because Afghanistan is a full member, admitted as the eighth at the Delhi summit of 2007. Exam tip: the seven founders are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives; Afghanistan is the eighth member and China is only an observer.

The correct answer is C, Britain. The Penny Black, issued in 1840 and bearing the head of Queen Victoria, was the world's first adhesive postage stamp, and it came out of the postal reform that fixed a single low rate paid by the sender rather than the receiver.

Option A, France, and option B, the United States, both issued their own stamps within the following decade, after the British reform proved successful, so they are late rather than first. Option D, Switzerland, issued early cantonal stamps in the 1840s, which makes it the most tempting distractor for a well-read candidate, but these also came after the Penny Black. Note the related Indian fact kept separate in the paper: the first postage stamp of India was issued in the Sindh province in 1852, and the first all-India stamps came in 1854.

The correct answer is C, 24 January. On 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force, the United Provinces was officially renamed Uttar Pradesh. The state government began celebrating this date as Uttar Pradesh Diwas, or UP Foundation Day, in 2018, with events across the state showing its culture, crafts and achievements. The One District One Product (ODOP) scheme, which promotes a special product from each district, was launched on the first UP Diwas in 2018. Conveniently, the short form ‘U.P.’ stayed the same, since both names begin with the same letters. Option A is wrong because 26 January is Republic Day, when the Constitution came into force in 1950. Option B is wrong because 25 January is National Voters’ Day, marking the founding of the Election Commission in 1950, and also Himachal Pradesh’s statehood day. Option D is wrong because 23 January is the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, observed as Parakram Diwas. Exam tip: on 24 January 1950 the United Provinces became Uttar Pradesh; the day has been celebrated as UP Diwas since 2018.

The correct answer is B, Kangchenjunga. Kangchenjunga rises to 8,586 metres on the border of Sikkim with Nepal and is the third highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest and K2. It is the highest peak in India and its summit region is treated as sacred in Sikkim, so climbers traditionally stop short of the final point.

Option A, Nanda Devi, in Uttarakhand, is a very high Himalayan peak and the second highest in the country, but it is lower than Kangchenjunga. Option C, Anamudi, at 2,695 metres in Kerala, is the highest peak of peninsular India and of the Western Ghats, not of the country. Option D, Doda Betta, is the highest peak of the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu and is lower still. The question is set to see whether a candidate can keep the national, the peninsular and the regional superlatives apart.

The correct answer is A, Venezuela. Angel Falls, in the Canaima National Park of Venezuela, is the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world, with a total height of about 979 metres and a single unbroken drop of about 807 metres. It pours off the edge of Auyan-tepui, a flat-topped table mountain, and the local Pemon people call it Kerepakupai Meru. It is named after Jimmie Angel, an American pilot who flew over it in 1933. The falls are so remote that most visitors reach them by small plane and then by boat along jungle rivers. B is wrong because Brazil shares the wide Iguazu Falls with Argentina, which are famous for their width, not height. C is wrong because the USA shares Niagara Falls with Canada, which are wide but only about 50 metres high. D is wrong because China is known for the Huangguoshu Falls, which are far lower. Exam tip: highest waterfall = Angel Falls (Venezuela); Iguazu = Brazil and Argentina; Victoria Falls = Zambia and Zimbabwe; Niagara = USA and Canada.

The correct answer is C, Pacific Ocean. The Pacific covers a greater area than all the land on earth put together and is also the deepest ocean, holding the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point on the planet. Its rim is ringed by volcanoes and earthquake zones, which is why it is called the Ring of Fire.

Option A, the Atlantic, is the second largest ocean and is famous for the mid-Atlantic ridge along which the sea floor is spreading. Option B, the Indian Ocean, is the third largest, the only major ocean named after a country, and the one whose monsoon winds shaped the trade of the region. Option D, the Arctic, is the smallest and shallowest of the oceans and is largely covered by ice. A candidate should remember the order by size, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic, because the paper asks for the smallest as often as for the largest.

The correct answer is A, Roman. The rupee sign blends the Devanagari letter "र" (Ra) with the Roman capital "R" with its vertical stem removed, so that it reads as an Indian letter and an international one at the same time. It was designed by D. Udaya Kumar, then a student at IIT Bombay and later a professor at IIT Guwahati, who won a nationwide open competition; the Union Cabinet approved it on 15 July 2010. The two parallel horizontal lines across the top stand for the tricolour and for the equality sign, a nod to a balanced economy. With this sign the rupee joined the dollar, pound, euro and yen as currencies with their own symbol. B, Ol Chiki, is the script created for the Santali language and has no part in the design. C, Brahmi, is the ancient script of Ashoka's edicts, not used here. D, Cyrillic, is the script of Russian and other Slavic languages. Exam tip: rupee symbol = Devanagari Ra + Roman R, designed by Udaya Kumar, adopted 15 July 2010.

The correct answer is B, USA. The World Bank has its headquarters at Washington DC in the United States of America.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were both set up after the Bretton Woods conference of 1944 and began work in 1945, and both have their offices in Washington DC. The Bank lends for long-term development - roads, power, irrigation, schools and health - while the IMF looks after exchange rates and short-term balance of payments trouble. The World Bank Group has five arms, of which the IBRD and the IDA together form the World Bank, and India was a founder member.

Option A is wrong because London holds the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Maritime Organisation, not the World Bank. Option C is wrong because Tokyo is the seat of the United Nations University, while the Asian Development Bank is at Manila. Option D is wrong because Moscow hosts no such global lender.

Exam tip: World Bank and IMF at Washington DC, WTO at Geneva, ADB at Manila.

The correct answer is A, Black Francolin. The black francolin, known locally as kala teetar, is the state bird of Haryana. It belongs to the pheasant family, and the male is easy to recognise by its black face and breast, white cheek patch and chestnut collar, while the female is mostly brown. It lives in grassland, scrub and farmland with tall crops such as sugarcane, and its loud, repeated call is heard mostly at dawn and dusk. Haryana's other state symbols are the blackbuck as the state animal, the peepal as the state tree and the lotus as the state flower. Option B is wrong because the house sparrow is the state bird of Delhi and Bihar, not Haryana. Option C is wrong because the great egret is a large white wading bird of wetlands and is not Haryana's symbol. Option D is wrong because hummingbirds are found only in the Americas and do not live in India at all. Exam tip: Haryana's symbols are black francolin (bird), blackbuck (animal), peepal (tree) and lotus (flower).

The correct answer is D, 1927. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry was set up in 1927 by G.D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, so that Indian business would have a voice of its own during the freedom struggle. It is the oldest and largest apex business organisation in the country, a non-government body funded by its member companies and chambers, with its head office in New Delhi. Its well known arms include the FICCI Frames media conference and its ladies' organisation, FLO. Option A is wrong because 1948 is the year of the first Industrial Policy Resolution, not of FICCI. Option B is wrong because 1952 saw the first Parliament meet after the general election. Option C is wrong because 1939 is the year the Second World War began. Exam tip: FICCI 1927 with its head office in New Delhi; CII traces itself to 1895 and ASSOCHAM to 1920.

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 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 B, Hirakud dam – Odisha. The Hirakud dam stands on the Mahanadi near Sambalpur in Odisha. Completed in 1957, it was among the first big multipurpose river valley projects after Independence, built to control the Mahanadi's floods and to give irrigation and hydroelectric power. With its long earthen dykes it is one of the longest earthen dams in the world, about 26 km in total length. A is wrong because the Tehri dam, India's tallest, is on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand; it was in Uttar Pradesh only until Uttarakhand was formed in 2000, which is the trap here. C is wrong because Bhakra Nangal is on the Sutlej, with the Bhakra dam in Himachal Pradesh and the Nangal dam in Punjab, and its reservoir is the Gobind Sagar. D is wrong because Nagarjuna Sagar is on the Krishna, on the border of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, far from Rajasthan. Exam tip: match dams with rivers too, Hirakud–Mahanadi, Tehri–Bhagirathi, Bhakra–Sutlej, Nagarjuna Sagar–Krishna.

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 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, Cambodia. Angkor Wat stands near Siem Reap in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world. It was built in the early twelfth century by King Suryavarman II of the Khmer empire as a temple of Vishnu, and it later became a Buddhist place of worship. The temple faces west, is ringed by a wide moat, and its towers are shaped like lotus buds; UNESCO put the whole Angkor complex on the World Heritage list in 1992. Angkor Wat also appears on the national flag of Cambodia, which is the only national flag in the world that carries a building. Option A is wrong because Vietnam is known for Ha Long Bay and the My Son Cham temples. Option C is wrong because Thailand's best known temple is Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok. Option D is wrong because the Philippines is known for its rice terraces and baroque churches. Exam tip: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, built by Suryavarman II and shown on that country's flag.

The correct answer is C, 1959. Parliament passed the Arms Act in 1959, and it came into force in 1962 along with the Arms Rules. It replaced the colonial Indian Arms Act of 1878, which the British had brought in after the Revolt of 1857 to disarm Indians while exempting Europeans. The 1959 Act governs who may acquire, keep, carry, make, sell or import firearms and ammunition, and it makes a licence necessary for almost all of them. An amendment in 2019 cut the number of licensed firearms a person may hold from three to two and raised the punishment for illegal manufacture and trade. Option A is wrong because 1951 is the year of the first general election and the first constitutional amendment. Option B is wrong because 1955 gave India the Citizenship Act and the Hindu Marriage Act. Option D is wrong because no arms law was enacted in 1964. Exam tip: Indian Arms Act 1878 was colonial; the Arms Act 1959 is the law in force, amended in 2019.

The correct answer is B, Sam Manekshaw, who led the Indian Army as Chief of the Army Staff during the war of 1971 and was the first officer raised to the five-star rank of Field Marshal.

Option A, General K. M. Cariappa, was given the same rank many years later, but his own first is different and is asked just as often: he was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, taking charge in 1949. Option C, Arjan Singh, was promoted to Marshal of the Indian Air Force, the equivalent five-star rank in the air force, so he is a rank-based distractor rather than an army one. Option D, General J. N. Chaudhuri, commanded the army during the war of 1965 but held no five-star rank. Keep the other service firsts with these: Subroto Mukerjee was the first Indian Chief of the Air Staff and R. D. Katari the first Indian Chief of the Naval Staff.

The correct answer is B, Marie Curie. She shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the study of radioactivity and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alone in 1911 for the discovery of radium and polonium, becoming the first person to receive the prize twice. She was also the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize at all.

Option A, Linus Pauling, did win two Nobel Prizes, in Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962, and is the only person to win two unshared prizes, but he came half a century after Marie Curie. Option C, Albert Einstein, received a single Nobel Prize, in Physics in 1921, awarded for the photoelectric effect rather than for relativity. Option D, Frederick Sanger, won the Chemistry prize twice, in 1958 and 1980, again long after Curie.