Static General Knowledge makes up the rest of the General Awareness section in RRB NTPC, and the notices name its topics: General Science and Life Science up to Class 10, History of India and the freedom struggle, Physical, Social and Economic Geography of India and the world, Indian Polity and Governance, Indian Economy, Art and Culture, Indian Literature, Monuments and Places, Flora and Fauna, Famous Personalities, the UN and other world organisations, environmental issues, Transport Systems in India, Important Government and Public Sector Organisations, Common Abbreviations, and Basics of Computers and Computer Applications. RRB frames these as short factual questions: the unit of a physical quantity, the year of a battle, the article of the Constitution, the river a city stands on, the full form of an abbreviation, the headquarters of an organisation. GK24's GK notes on this page cover each topic in English and Hindi, arranged the way the syllabus lists them, with the facts RRB tends to ask placed first. Work through one topic at a time, note the lists (national parks, dances, articles, schedules, awards), and pair each topic with its quiz on GK24 to check what has stayed with you.
Which of the following is the oldest fold mountain range of India?
The Aravalli range of Rajasthan and Haryana is an old or relict fold mountain, folded in the Precambrian era and worn down by erosion to low, rounded hills; Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu is its highest point.
Read the full explanation →In a molecule of water, hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a fixed ratio by mass of:
A water molecule has two hydrogen atoms of atomic mass one and one oxygen atom of atomic mass sixteen, so the masses are two and sixteen, which is a ratio of one to eight; this fixed ratio in every sample of water, whatever its source, is the classic illustration of…
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is a water-borne disease?
Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and spreads through water and food contaminated with faecal matter, which is why it breaks out after floods and wherever sewage mixes with the water supply; typhoid, hepatitis A, dysentery and polio spread the same way.
Read the full explanation →Hard water does not lather readily with soap because the calcium and magnesium salts present in it:
Soap is the sodium or potassium salt of a long chain fatty acid.
Read the full explanation →In a nuclear reactor, heavy water is used mainly as:
A moderator slows down the fast neutrons released by fission so that they can cause further fission, and heavy water is the best of them because it slows neutrons well while absorbing very few; in Indian pressurised heavy water reactors it also serves as the coolant that carries heat away…
Read the full explanation →A reverse osmosis water purifier works by:
In reverse osmosis the water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane at a pressure greater than its osmotic pressure, so the flow runs opposite to natural osmosis; the membrane lets water molecules through and holds back dissolved salts, heavy metals and most microbes, which is why reverse osmosis is also…
Read the full explanation →Bleaching powder, used for disinfecting drinking water, is chemically:
Bleaching powder is prepared by passing chlorine over dry slaked lime and is written as calcium oxychloride; in water it releases chlorine, which kills bacteria and other pathogens, and that is why it is used both for disinfecting water supplies and for bleaching cloth and paper.
Read the full explanation →Alum is added at a water works mainly to:
Alum, that is aluminium sulphate or potash alum, is a coagulant: in water it forms a gelatinous hydroxide that gathers the fine clay and colloidal particles into heavier flocs, which then settle in the sedimentation tank and are removed, leaving clear water for filtration.
Read the full explanation →Water has its maximum density at which temperature?
Water contracts as it is cooled to four degrees, is densest at that temperature, and then expands again as it cools further to zero, which is called the anomalous expansion of water.
Read the full explanation →The temporary hardness of water is caused by the presence of:
These bicarbonates are formed when water containing dissolved carbon dioxide passes over limestone, and they are unstable; on boiling they lose carbon dioxide and settle as insoluble carbonates, which is why this kind of hardness is called temporary and can be removed by boiling alone, or by the Clark method…
Read the full explanation →Heavy water is chemically known as:
Heavy water is D2O, in which both hydrogen atoms are deuterium, the isotope whose nucleus has one proton and one neutron, so its molecular mass is twenty instead of eighteen.
Read the full explanation →Zero hardness of water is achieved by
In an ion exchange plant the water passes through a cation resin, which takes up the calcium and magnesium ions, and then through an anion resin, which takes up the sulphate, chloride and bicarbonate ions; because the hardness-causing ions are actually taken out of the water, the hardness can be…
Read the full explanation →Which judgment of the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the reservation for the economically weaker sections?
A bench of five judges decided it in 2022 and upheld the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, which provides up to ten per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections, by a majority of three to two.
Read the full explanation →Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People is provided by which Article?
It reserves seats in the House of the People, that is the Lok Sabha, for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the number being in proportion to their population; there is no reservation of seats for the Other Backward Classes in Parliament.
Read the full explanation →Under which Article may the President appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes?
It empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes, the difficulties they face and the steps that should be taken to remove them, and both the Kalelkar Commission of 1953 and the Mandal Commission of 1979 were appointed under it.
Read the full explanation →Who was the chairman of the first Backward Classes Commission appointed in India?
The first Backward Classes Commission was appointed in 1953 under Article 340 with Kaka Saheb Kalelkar as its chairman, and it submitted its report in 1955; the report was not acted upon because its criteria for identifying backwardness were considered vague.
Read the full explanation →The National Commission for Backward Classes was given constitutional status under which Article?
The Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018 inserted Article 338B, which makes the National Commission for Backward Classes a constitutional body with the duty to investigate and monitor the safeguards provided to the socially and educationally backward classes; the same amendment added Article 342A for the central list…
Read the full explanation →Which Constitutional Amendment added consequential seniority to the reservation in promotion under Article 16(4A)?
It amended Article 16(4A) so that a government servant of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes promoted under the reservation also keeps the seniority of the promoted post, which is called consequential seniority, and the change was given effect from 1995.
Read the full explanation →Article 15(4) of the Constitution, allowing special provision for backward classes, was inserted by which Constitutional Amendment Act?
It was passed after the Supreme Court in State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan struck down a communal order reserving seats in colleges, holding that it offended Article 15(1); Parliament answered by adding clause (4) to Article 15, which permits special provision for the advancement of socially and educationally backward…
Read the full explanation →In Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992), the Supreme Court directed that which group be excluded from the benefit of reservation?
The nine-judge bench in Indra Sawhney upheld the twenty-seven per cent quota for the Other Backward Classes but held that the socially advanced members of those classes, described as the creamy layer, must be excluded so that the benefit reaches the genuinely backward; the same judgment laid down the fifty…
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