Railway Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is Article 52, which says simply: "There shall be a President of India." It opens Chapter I of Part V, the chapter on the Union executive, and every other rule about the office builds on it.

The other options are the Articles around it, which is why they are chosen to confuse. Article 53 vests the executive power of the Union in the President and makes the President the Supreme Commander of the defence forces; it describes what the office does, not that it exists. Article 74 provides the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President. Article 75 deals with the appointment of the Prime Minister and other ministers. A quick way to hold the sequence: 52 creates the office, 53 gives it the executive power, 54 and 55 say how the President is elected, and 74 and 75 bring in the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers.

The correct answer is A, Azerbaijan. The manat is the currency of Azerbaijan, a country of the Caucasus whose capital is Baku on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The name comes from the Russian word moneta, meaning coin, and Turkmenistan calls its currency the manat too, so the two countries share the name. Azerbaijan's oil and gas wealth keeps Baku in the news, and the country is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. B is wrong because the currency of Armenia is the dram. C is wrong because the currency of Albania is the lek. D is wrong because Andorra, a small country between France and Spain, uses the euro and has no currency of its own. Exam tip: manat - Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan; dram - Armenia; lari - Georgia; lek - Albania. When every option starts with the same letter, fix the currency to the country instead of guessing.

The correct answer is C, Ocean Vuong. The Emperor of Gladness, released in May 2025, is a novel by the Vietnamese-American writer and poet Ocean Vuong. Vuong was born near Saigon in 1988 and came to the United States as a child refugee. He first drew notice for the poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds and then for the novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and he has held a MacArthur Fellowship; migration, memory and working-class life run through all his writing. A is wrong because Colum McCann is an Irish novelist, best known for Let the Great World Spin. B is wrong because Sharon Lee is an American science-fiction writer and not the author of this novel. D is wrong because Charlotte McConaghy is an Australian novelist, known for Migrations. Exam tip: Ocean Vuong - Night Sky with Exit Wounds, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and The Emperor of Gladness in 2025.

The correct answer is C, Euro. The euro is the official currency of the European Union. It came into being as an accounting currency in 1999 and reached people's hands as notes and coins on 1 January 2002. It is managed by the European Central Bank at Frankfurt, its symbol is a crossed E and its code is EUR. Not every member state uses it: the group that does is called the eurozone, while members such as Sweden, Poland and Denmark keep their own currencies. A is wrong because the yen is the currency of Japan. B is wrong because the dollar belongs to the United States and several other countries, none of them the European Union. D is wrong because the pound sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom, which never adopted the euro and left the Union in 2020. Exam tip: euro - European Central Bank at Frankfurt, notes and coins from 1 January 2002, and its users form the eurozone.

The correct answer is C, Tim Wigmore. Test Cricket: A History, published in 2025, was written by the English cricket writer and journalist Tim Wigmore. The book follows the game's longest format from the first Test between England and Australia at Melbourne in March 1877 down to the present day, covering how Test cricket spread across countries, how it changed from era to era, and the pressure it now faces from the shorter formats. Wigmore also co-wrote Cricket 2.0, a study of Twenty20 cricket that was named Wisden Book of the Year. A is wrong because Michael Atherton, the former England captain, writes widely on cricket but not this book. B is wrong because Gideon Haigh is an Australian cricket historian with many other titles to his name. D is wrong because Ramachandra Guha wrote A Corner of a Foreign Field and other works on Indian cricket and history. Exam tip: Tim Wigmore - Test Cricket: A History in 2025 and Cricket 2.0 on Twenty20 cricket.

The correct answer is C, kinetic energy. At the top the object holds only potential energy; as it falls, that store is steadily converted into kinetic energy, and just as it touches the ground almost all of it is kinetic. Potential energy is mgh and kinetic energy is half of mv squared, and in free fall under gravity the sum of the two stays constant, which is the law of conservation of mechanical energy. At the instant of touching the ground the height is zero, so the potential energy is zero, while the speed is greatest, so the kinetic energy is at its maximum. A is wrong because heat appears only after the impact, from friction and deformation, not at the instant of touching. B is wrong because chemical energy is stored in bonds and plays no part in a falling body. D is wrong because potential energy has already dropped to zero at ground level. Exam tip: in a falling body potential energy decreases, kinetic energy increases, and the total mechanical energy stays the same.

The correct answer is A, England and France. The Hundred Years' War was fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453, so it actually ran for 116 years with long truces in between. It began when Edward III of England pressed his claim to the French throne, and behind that lay English lands in France and control of the wool trade of Flanders. England won the famous early battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, helped by the longbow, but France recovered after Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans in 1429, and by 1453 the English held only Calais. B is wrong because England and Italy fought no such war. C is wrong because England and Germany faced each other in the twentieth-century world wars, not in the fourteenth century. D is wrong because the German-French clash was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, far later and far shorter. Exam tip: Hundred Years' War 1337 to 1453, England against France, turned by Joan of Arc in 1429.

The correct answer is B, National Payments Corporation of India. NPCI is the umbrella organisation that runs India's retail payment and settlement systems. It was set up in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks' Association under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, and works as a not-for-profit company owned by banks, with its head office in Mumbai. UPI, RuPay, IMPS, AePS, BHIM, NACH, the National Electronic Toll Collection behind FASTag and the cheque truncation system are all NPCI platforms, which is why nearly every digital retail payment in the country passes through it. A is wrong because the word in the name is Corporation, not Consortium. C is wrong because a piracy council has nothing to do with payments; it is an invented expansion. D is wrong for the same reason, as no National Protection Council runs payment systems. Exam tip: NPCI - set up in 2008 by RBI and IBA, based in Mumbai, and the operator of UPI, RuPay, IMPS and NACH.

The correct answer is A, During respiration. Plants respire day and night, breaking glucose down to release energy, and carbon dioxide is the waste product of that process. Photosynthesis does the opposite: the plant takes in carbon dioxide and water and, using sunlight trapped by chlorophyll, makes glucose while releasing oxygen as its waste product. During the day photosynthesis runs faster than respiration, so a green plant gives out oxygen on balance; at night only respiration continues, so carbon dioxide is released. These gases move in and out through the stomata of leaves and the lenticels of woody stems. B is wrong because photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide up instead of producing it. C is wrong for the same reason, as oxygen and not carbon dioxide is the waste of photosynthesis. D is wrong because transpiration is the loss of water vapour from the plant and involves no carbon dioxide. Exam tip: respiration takes oxygen and gives carbon dioxide; photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide and gives oxygen.

The correct answer is B, the same, opposite. The same magnet moves at the same speed in both cases, so the rate of change of magnetic flux through the coil is equal and the induced potential difference has the same magnitude. But turning the other pole towards the coil reverses the direction of the field through it, so the induced voltage takes the opposite sign. This follows from Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, which says the induced emf equals the rate of change of flux, and from Lenz's law, which fixes the direction so that the induced current opposes the change causing it. A is wrong because the sign must flip once the pole facing the coil is reversed. C is wrong because the speed, and therefore the rate of flux change, is unchanged, so the two magnitudes match. D is wrong on both counts. Exam tip: speed decides how big the induced emf is, the field direction decides its sign - Faraday for magnitude, Lenz for direction.

The correct answer is D, Fibrous roots. Fibrous roots are the mark of monocotyledonous plants such as wheat, maize, rice and grasses, not of dicots. A dicot seed carries two cotyledons, and its seedling sends down one strong primary root that thickens into a tap root with smaller lateral branches; gram, pea, mustard, neem and mango are familiar examples. Dicot leaves show reticulate or net-like venation, their flowers usually have petals in fours or fives, and their vascular bundles stand in a ring with cambium, so the stem can thicken year after year. A is wrong because the tap root is precisely what a dicot has. B is wrong because reticulate venation is a dicot feature, while monocots show parallel venation. C is wrong because two cotyledons is the very definition of a dicotyledonous plant. Exam tip: dicot - two cotyledons, tap root, reticulate venation; monocot - one cotyledon, fibrous roots, parallel venation.

The correct answer is B, Minsk. Minsk is the capital and largest city of Belarus, a landlocked country of Eastern Europe that shares borders with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Belarus became independent when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, its currency is the Belarusian rouble, and Minsk also houses the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The city gave its name to the Minsk agreements on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which is why it appears in the news. A is wrong because Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan, a port on the Caspian Sea. C is wrong because Moroni is the capital of Comoros, an island country off the eastern coast of Africa. D is wrong because Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the seat of the European Union and NATO. Exam tip: Belarus - Minsk; Belgium - Brussels; Azerbaijan - Baku; Comoros - Moroni. The similar-sounding country names are the trap here.

The correct answer is A, 390. Chandragupta II extended Gupta rule to Gujarat around 390 AD by defeating the Western Kshatrapas, the Saka rulers of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar. The victory handed the Guptas the western ports and the sea trade with West Asia and Rome, and it won him the title Vikramaditya; his silver coins also call him Sakari, the destroyer of the Sakas. Chandragupta II ruled from about 380 to 415 AD, made Ujjain his second seat of power, and the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien travelled through India in his reign. B is wrong because 309 AD falls before the dynasty itself began, as Chandragupta I took the throne only around 319 AD. C is wrong because 903 AD is several centuries after the Gupta empire had ended. D is wrong because 930 AD belongs to the Rajput age, far later than any Gupta king. Exam tip: Chandragupta II - Vikramaditya and Sakari, Ujjain, Fa-Hien's visit, Saka conquest about 390 AD.

The correct answer is B, West Bengal and Assam. Nor'westers are violent pre-monsoon thunderstorms that strike eastern India, especially West Bengal and Assam, in the afternoons and evenings of April and May. They form when hot dry air from the Chotanagpur plateau meets moist air drawn in from the Bay of Bengal; the towering clouds bring squally winds, lightning and short but heavy showers. In West Bengal they are called Kalbaisakhi, the calamity of the month of Baisakh, and in Assam they are known as Bardoli Chheerha, where they help the tea crop. A is wrong because Kerala and Karnataka get the pre-monsoon mango showers, which ripen mangoes and help coffee. C is wrong because Gujarat and Maharashtra lie in the west and get no Nor'westers. D is wrong because Rajasthan and Punjab instead feel the hot dry summer wind called loo. Exam tip: Kalbaisakhi - Bengal; Bardoli Chheerha - Assam; mango showers - Kerala and Karnataka; loo - north-west India.

The correct answer is C, Philippines. The Asian Development Bank has its headquarters in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. ADB was set up in 1966 to reduce poverty and fund development in Asia and the Pacific, and it lends mainly for roads, railways, power, water and urban projects. Japan and the United States hold the largest shares in it, and by convention its president has always been Japanese, which is what makes Japan a tempting wrong choice. India was a founding member and is today one of the bank's biggest borrowers. A is wrong because Japan supplies the bank's largest shareholding and its presidents but not its head office. B is wrong because Beijing hosts the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a different institution set up in 2016. D is wrong because India hosts no such multilateral development bank; the BRICS New Development Bank sits in Shanghai. Exam tip: ADB - Manila, 1966; AIIB - Beijing, 2016; New Development Bank - Shanghai, 2015.

The correct answer is D, 80 J. The work done in moving a charge across a potential difference is W = QV, so W = 5 × 16 = 80 joules. Potential difference is itself defined as the work done per unit charge in carrying that charge from one point to another, which is why one volt means one joule of work for every coulomb moved. Here five coulombs are carried across sixteen volts, so the source must supply 80 J of energy. A is wrong because 65 J does not follow from any correct use of 5 C and 16 V. B is wrong because 45 J would need a potential difference of 9 V for the same charge. C is wrong because 40 J would need either 2.5 C at 16 V or 5 C at 8 V. Exam tip: remember V = W/Q, so W = QV; in this chapter joules are simply coulombs multiplied by volts.

The correct answer is B, Buddha, Dhamma (dharma), Sangha. Triratna means the three jewels in which a Buddhist takes refuge. Buddha is the enlightened teacher, Dhamma is his teaching of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, and Sangha is the order of monks and nuns that carries the teaching forward. A follower formally enters the faith by reciting these three refuges, which is why the Triratna is treated as the doorway of Buddhism. A is wrong because Tripitaka is the three-basket Pali canon of Buddhism, made up of the Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitakas, not the three jewels. C is wrong because truth, non-violence and compassion are values respected in Indian thought but they are not the Triratna. D is wrong because the threefold Buddhist training is Sheel, Samadhi and Prajna, and this option replaces Prajna with Sangha. Exam tip: Buddhism's Triratna is Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha; Jainism's Triratna is right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.

The correct answer is A, 1773. The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, when American colonists threw British tea into Boston harbour. The protest was against the Tea Act of 1773, which let the East India Company sell tea in the colonies without paying the usual duties and undercut local merchants. Members of the Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships at Griffin's Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. Britain replied with the Intolerable Acts, and the anger they caused led to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and to the American War of Independence from 1775. B is wrong because 1776 is the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted, on 4 July. C is wrong because 1775 is when fighting began at Lexington and Concord. D is wrong because 1774 is the year of the Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress. Exam tip: Boston Tea Party 1773, war begins 1775, independence declared 1776.

The correct answer is C, Gross National Product. Net National Product is simply Gross National Product minus depreciation, that is NNP = GNP − Depreciation. Depreciation, also called consumption of fixed capital, is the wear and tear of machines, buildings and other capital goods during the year; taking it out shows how much output is really left with the nation. GNP itself is GDP plus the net factor income from abroad, so it counts what the residents of a country earn wherever they work. When NNP is measured at factor cost, it is the same as national income. A is wrong because direct taxes are a form of government revenue and are not an output aggregate. B is wrong because GDP minus depreciation gives Net Domestic Product, not NNP. D is wrong because national income is the result of the calculation, not its starting point. Exam tip: GDP + net factor income from abroad = GNP; GNP − depreciation = NNP; NNP at factor cost = national income.

The correct answer is A, Penguin Random House India. Arundhati Roy's memoir 'Mother Mary Comes to Me' was brought out in India in September 2025 by Penguin Random House India, under its literary imprint Hamish Hamilton. The book is a portrait of the author's mother, Mary Roy, the educationist who founded a school in Kerala and won the 1986 Supreme Court case on the inheritance rights of Syrian Christian women. Penguin Random House is the largest trade publisher in the world and its Indian arm publishes much of the country's serious literary writing. B is wrong because HarperCollins India, though a major literary publisher here, did not bring out this title. C is wrong because Hachette India publishes a wide list but not this memoir. D is wrong because Rupa Publications is an older Indian house known for popular and general interest books. Exam tip: link the book to both names — Arundhati Roy as the author and Penguin Random House India as the publisher.