Railway Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, Nucleus. The nucleus is called the master or control centre of the cell because it directs all the activities of the cell. It holds the chromosomes, which carry DNA, the genetic instructions for making proteins and for passing traits from parents to children. It is wrapped in a double membrane called the nuclear envelope, whose pores let messages move in and out. Robert Brown discovered the nucleus in 1831. Mature red blood cells of mammals have no nucleus. A is wrong because mitochondria release energy as ATP and are called the powerhouse of the cell. B is wrong because the endoplasmic reticulum is a network of membranes that makes and carries proteins and fats. C is wrong because the nucleolus is a small body inside the nucleus that makes ribosomes, so it is only a part of the control centre. Exam tip: Nucleus = control centre, Mitochondria = powerhouse, Ribosome = protein factory, Lysosome = suicide bag, Golgi body = packaging unit.

The correct answer is B, Copper and Zinc. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, usually about 70 per cent copper and 30 per cent zinc. Adding zinc makes brass harder than pure copper, gives it a golden-yellow shine and helps it resist corrosion. That is why brass is used for utensils, door handles, taps, musical instruments like the trumpet, and cartridge cases. An alloy is a mixture of a metal with other metals or a non-metal, made to improve properties such as strength, hardness or resistance to rust. A is wrong because copper and tin make bronze, the alloy that gave its name to the Bronze Age. C is wrong because copper with aluminium gives aluminium bronze, not brass. D is wrong because copper and iron do not form a common alloy; iron with a little carbon makes steel. Exam tip: Brass = Cu + Zn, Bronze = Cu + Sn, Solder = Pb + Sn, Stainless steel = Fe + Cr + Ni + C, German silver = Cu + Zn + Ni.

The correct answer is B, Chlorine. Bleaching powder gives off chlorine when it reacts with water, and this chlorine does the bleaching and kills germs. Bleaching powder is calcium oxychloride, CaOCl2, made by passing chlorine gas over dry slaked lime, Ca(OH)2. With water it gives back calcium hydroxide and chlorine: CaOCl2 + H2O → Ca(OH)2 + Cl2. The chlorine it can release is called "available chlorine", which is why the powder smells of chlorine and is used to disinfect drinking water and swimming pools and to bleach cotton and paper. A is wrong because bleaching powder does not give off hydrogen gas. C is wrong because carbon monoxide comes from the incomplete burning of fuels. D is wrong because carbon dioxide is released when an acid reacts with a carbonate such as washing soda or baking soda. Exam tip: Bleaching powder = CaOCl2 (releases chlorine), Baking soda = NaHCO3, Washing soda = Na2CO3.10H2O, Plaster of Paris = CaSO4.½H2O.

The correct answer is C, Calcium Carbonate. Carbon dioxide reacts with lime water to form calcium carbonate, which does not dissolve, and its fine white particles make the water look milky. Lime water is a clear solution of calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, and the reaction is Ca(OH)2 + CO2 → CaCO3 + H2O. This is the standard test for carbon dioxide, for example to show that the air we breathe out contains CO2. If CO2 is passed for a long time, the milkiness disappears because soluble calcium hydrogen carbonate forms. A is wrong because lime water contains no barium, so barium carbonate cannot form. B is wrong because calcium oxide (quicklime) is made by heating limestone, not by bubbling CO2. D is wrong because calcium hydrogen carbonate forms only with excess CO2, and since it dissolves in water it clears the milkiness instead of causing it. Exam tip: CO2 in lime water = milky (CaCO3); excess CO2 = clear again (Ca(HCO3)2); limestone, chalk and marble are all CaCO3.

The correct answer is D, Vitamin K. Vitamin K is needed to make the clotting proteins, so without it even a small cut keeps bleeding. The liver uses vitamin K to make prothrombin and other clotting factors that turn blood into a clot at a wound. The letter K comes from the German word "Koagulation", meaning clotting. Green leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage are rich sources, and bacteria in the large intestine also make some of it. Newborn babies are usually given a vitamin K injection because they are born with very little. A is wrong because lack of the vitamin B group causes diseases like beriberi (B1) and pellagra (B3). B is wrong because lack of vitamin A causes night blindness. C is wrong because lack of vitamin C causes scurvy with bleeding gums, but the vitamin that makes blood clot is K. Exam tip: A = night blindness, B1 = beriberi, C = scurvy, D = rickets, K = bleeding; vitamins A, D, E and K dissolve in fat.

The correct answer is D, Medulla. The medulla oblongata is the breathing centre of the brain, which is why we keep breathing even while asleep. It is the lowest part of the hindbrain and joins the brain to the spinal cord. It controls involuntary actions such as breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, swallowing, coughing, sneezing and vomiting. It senses the level of carbon dioxide in the blood and speeds up or slows down breathing to match, so an injury at the base of the skull can be fatal. A is wrong because the forebrain (cerebrum) handles thinking, memory, speech and voluntary actions. B is wrong because the cerebellum keeps the body balanced and makes voluntary movements smooth and precise. C is wrong because the midbrain mainly carries reflexes linked to seeing and hearing. Exam tip: Medulla = breathing and heartbeat, Cerebellum = balance, Cerebrum = thinking and memory, Hypothalamus = body temperature, hunger and thirst.

The correct answer is A, Buddhism. The Great Stupa at Sanchi, in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, is one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in India. It was first built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE as a brick mound over relics of the Buddha, and was later enlarged with a stone casing. Four richly carved gateways, or toranas, were added around the 1st century BCE; they show Jataka tales and scenes from the Buddha's life, in which the Buddha himself appears only through symbols such as the Bodhi tree, a wheel or footprints. The Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989. B is wrong because the stupa is not a Hindu shrine; famous Hindu temple sites include Khajuraho and Konark. C is wrong because famous Jain sites include Dilwara and Shravanabelagola. D is wrong because famous Islamic monuments include the Qutub Minar and the Jama Masjid. Exam tip: Sanchi stupa = Ashoka = Buddhism = Madhya Pradesh = UNESCO 1989.

The correct answer is B, Rajasthan. Ghoomar is a folk dance of Rajasthan performed by women in long, flared skirts called ghaghras, who spin gracefully in circles. The name comes from 'ghoomna', meaning to twirl, and the swirling of the ghaghra is the heart of the dance. It was first developed by the Bhil tribe and later adopted by the Rajput royal families, and today it is danced at weddings and at festivals such as Teej and Gangaur. Rajasthan's other famous folk dances include Kalbeliya, the dance of the snake-charmer community that is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, Chari, Kachchhi Ghodi and Terah Taali. A is wrong because Gujarat's best-known folk dances are Garba and Dandiya Raas. C is wrong because Kerala is known for Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and the ritual art of Theyyam. D is wrong because Sikkim is known for dances such as Singhi Chham, the snow lion dance. Exam tip: Ghoomar and Kalbeliya = Rajasthan; Garba and Dandiya = Gujarat.

The correct answer is B, Qualification for membership of Parliament. Article 84 lists who can become a Member of Parliament. A candidate must be a citizen of India, must make an oath or affirmation in the form set out in the Third Schedule before a person authorised by the Election Commission, must be at least 30 years old for the Rajya Sabha and at least 25 for the Lok Sabha, and must meet any other qualification that Parliament lays down by law. Parliament did this through the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which also requires the candidate to be a registered voter. A is wrong because disqualifications for membership are in Article 102, with defection covered by the Tenth Schedule. C is wrong because the Annual Financial Statement, or Union Budget, is Article 112. D is wrong because the President's power to issue ordinances is Article 123. Exam tip: 84 qualifications, 102 disqualifications, 112 Budget, 123 ordinance; minimum age 25 for Lok Sabha and 30 for Rajya Sabha.

The correct answer is C, 7th Constitutional Amendment Act. The 7th Amendment of 1956 allowed Parliament to set up a common High Court for two or more states, or for states and a union territory, a power now found in Article 231. It was the amendment that gave effect to the reorganisation of states on a linguistic basis: it abolished the old Part A, B, C and D classes of states and replaced them with states and union territories. Common High Courts still work today; for example, the Gauhati High Court serves Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court sits at Chandigarh. A is wrong because the 6th Amendment of 1956 dealt with taxes on the inter-state sale of goods. B is wrong because the 8th Amendment of 1960 extended the reservation of seats for SCs, STs and Anglo-Indians. D is wrong because the 9th Amendment of 1960 gave effect to the transfer of Berubari to Pakistan under the Nehru–Noon agreement. Exam tip: 7th Amendment 1956 = states reorganised + common High Court (Article 231).

The correct answer is A, Article 20. Article 20 gives protection in respect of conviction for offences, and it contains exactly these three safeguards. Clause (1) bars ex post facto criminal laws: no one can be punished for an act that was not an offence when it was done, or given a heavier penalty than the law allowed at that time. Clause (2) bars double jeopardy: no one can be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once. Clause (3) bars self-incrimination: a person accused of an offence cannot be forced to be a witness against himself. Since the 44th Amendment of 1978, Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended even during a national emergency. B is wrong because Article 21 protects life and personal liberty. C is wrong because Article 19 gives the six freedoms, such as speech and movement. D is wrong because Article 23 bans human trafficking and forced labour (begar). Exam tip: Article 20 = three shields: ex post facto, double jeopardy, self-incrimination; Articles 20 and 21 survive an emergency.

The correct answer is C, Mizoram. The NCERT Class 11 geography book describes Mizoram as the 'Molassis basin', made up of soft, unconsolidated deposits. Molasse is a geologists' word for soft sediments washed down from rising mountains and laid down in a basin; in Mizoram these young rocks were later folded into the north–south ridges of the Purvanchal hills that run along India's eastern border. Because the rocks are soft, the hills of Mizoram are prone to landslides in the monsoon. The Purvanchal also includes the Patkai hills, the Naga hills and the Manipur hills, and the Barak is an important river of Manipur and Mizoram. A is wrong because Tripura is not the state given this name. B is wrong because Assam is mostly the flat Brahmaputra valley. D is wrong because the Meghalaya plateau, with the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills, is an old block of hard rock that belongs to the Peninsular plateau. Exam tip: NCERT line: Mizoram = 'Molassis basin'; Meghalaya = detached part of the Peninsular plateau.

The correct answer is D, Brahmaputra river. National Waterway 2 is the Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya in Assam, a stretch of 891 km declared in 1988. It carries cargo and passengers through the Brahmaputra valley and connects with Bangladesh through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. National Waterway 1, the Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly system from Haldia to Prayagraj, is the longest at 1,620 km. The waterways are developed and run by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, headquartered at Noida. A is wrong because the West Coast Canal with the Champakara and Udyogmandal canals in Kerala is National Waterway 3. B is wrong because the East Coast Canal with the Matai river, in Odisha and West Bengal, is part of National Waterway 5. C is wrong because the Kakinada canal belongs to National Waterway 4, which links the Godavari and Krishna rivers with canals from Kakinada to Puducherry. Exam tip: NW-1 Ganga (Haldia–Prayagraj), NW-2 Brahmaputra (Dhubri–Sadiya), NW-3 West Coast Canal (Kerala).

The correct answer is C, 2, 1, 4, 3. Going from north to south, the order is Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura and then Ajanta. The Aravalli Range runs across Rajasthan in the north-west and is among the oldest fold mountains in the world. South of it, the Vindhya Range stretches across central India and marks the northern edge of the Narmada valley. The Narmada flows west through a rift valley between the Vindhyas and the Satpura Range, and the Tapi flows along the southern side of the Satpura. The Ajanta Range, famous for the Ajanta caves, lies further south in Maharashtra, between the Tapi and Godavari basins. A is wrong because it puts Ajanta north of Satpura. B is wrong because it places Vindhya north of Aravalli. D is wrong because it makes both of those mistakes. Exam tip: Aravalli → Vindhya → (Narmada) → Satpura → (Tapi) → Ajanta.

The correct answer is D, Mahad Satyagraha. On 20 March 1927 Dr B.R. Ambedkar led thousands of people to the Chavdar Tank at Mahad, in today's Raigad district of Maharashtra, and drank its water to assert the right of Dalits to use public water sources. The Bombay Legislative Council had already resolved in 1923 that such public places be open to all, but upper-caste residents still kept Dalits away. The campaign continued at a second conference in December 1927, where copies of the Manusmriti were publicly burnt. Ambedkar followed it with the Kalaram Temple entry satyagraha at Nashik in 1930. A is wrong because the Shahada Movement was a movement of Bhil tribals in Dhule district in the 1970s. B is wrong because peasant uprisings in the Bombay region, such as the Deccan Riots of 1875, were aimed at moneylenders, not caste barriers. C is wrong because the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 was Gandhi's campaign in Gujarat for remission of land revenue. Exam tip: Mahad 1927 = water (Chavdar Tank); Kalaram 1930 = temple entry; both led by Ambedkar.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. The Moplah (Mappila) Rebellion of 1921 broke out in the Malabar region of present-day Kerala, which was then a district of the Madras Presidency. The Mappilas were Muslim tenant farmers who had long resented the heavy rents of the mostly Hindu landlords (janmis) and the British officials who backed them. In 1921 the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements spread into Malabar, and the unrest turned into an armed revolt led by men such as Variyamkunnath Kunhahammed Haji and Ali Musliyar. The British crushed it with martial law. The most tragic event was the Wagon Tragedy of November 1921, when dozens of Mappila prisoners died of suffocation inside a closed railway goods wagon. A is wrong because the uprising had nothing to do with Assam. C is wrong because Punjab's best-known event of that period is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. D is wrong because Bengal is linked to revolts such as the Indigo Revolt of 1859–60. Exam tip: Moplah 1921 = Malabar, Kerala = Khilafat link = Wagon Tragedy.

The correct answer is B, Bombay. The Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885, at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College. Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee presided, 72 delegates from across India attended, and the retired British official A.O. Hume played the key role in organising it. The session had first been planned for Poona but was shifted to Bombay because of a cholera outbreak there. Paper setters also ask about the next few sessions, so link each place with its president. A is wrong because Lahore hosted the famous 1929 session under Jawaharlal Nehru, which adopted the Purna Swaraj resolution. C is wrong because Calcutta hosted the second session in 1886, presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji. D is wrong because Allahabad hosted the fourth session in 1888 under George Yule, the first British president of the Congress. Exam tip: 1885 Bombay, W.C. Bonnerjee, 72 delegates; 1886 Calcutta, Dadabhai Naoroji; 1929 Lahore, Purna Swaraj.

The correct answer is B, Quit India Movement. Mahatma Gandhi gave the call 'Do or Die' (Karo ya Maro) when the Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942. The Congress passed the Quit India resolution at its Bombay session on 8 August 1942, and in his speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan, now August Kranti Maidan, Gandhi told Indians to win freedom or die trying. The British arrested Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders early the next morning, and Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag at the same ground. With the leaders in jail, the movement was carried on by students, workers and underground leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. A is wrong because the Swadeshi Movement began in 1905 against the partition of Bengal. C is wrong because the Civil Disobedience Movement began with the Dandi March in 1930. D is wrong because the Non-Cooperation Movement ran from 1920 to 1922. Exam tip: 1942 = Quit India = 'Do or Die'; 9 August is marked as August Kranti Day.

The correct answer is A, Madhya Pradesh. Kanha Tiger Reserve lies in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, in the Maikal hills at the eastern end of the Satpura range. It was among the first nine tiger reserves created when Project Tiger was launched in 1973. Kanha is best known for saving the hard-ground barasingha, a swamp deer that had almost died out and is now the state animal of Madhya Pradesh. Its open sal forests and grassy meadows make it one of the best places in India to see tigers in the wild. Madhya Pradesh's other well-known tiger reserves include Bandhavgarh, Panna, Pench and Satpura. B is wrong because Karnataka's famous tiger reserves are Bandipur and Nagarhole. C is wrong because Odisha's main tiger reserve is Similipal. D is wrong because Maharashtra's best-known tiger reserves are Tadoba-Andhari and Melghat. Exam tip: Kanha = Madhya Pradesh = barasingha; one of the first nine Project Tiger reserves of 1973.

The correct answer is C, Polythene bag. Polythene is a synthetic plastic that bacteria and fungi cannot break down, so it is non-biodegradable. A plastic bag can stay in soil or water for hundreds of years. Biodegradable waste is anything that decomposers can break down into simple, harmless substances, and it usually comes from plants or animals. Plastic bags choke drains and cause waterlogging, are swallowed by cattle and sea animals, and give off toxic gases when burnt, which is why their use must be reduced and the bags reused and recycled rather than thrown away. Waste is best kept in two bins: wet (biodegradable) and dry (non-biodegradable). A is wrong because vegetable peels rot within days and make good compost. B is wrong because dead leaves decay into humus that enriches the soil. D is wrong because a rotting fruit is already being broken down by microbes. Exam tip: if microbes can eat it, it is biodegradable; plastic, glass, metal cans and DDT are not.