RRB NTPC 2020 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, vitamin B1. Beriberi is caused by a lack of thiamine, which is vitamin B1. Thiamine helps the body turn carbohydrates into energy and keeps nerves and the heart working, so its shortage weakens muscles and nerves (dry beriberi) or causes swelling and heart failure (wet beriberi). The disease was common in Asia among people living mainly on polished white rice, because milling strips away the thiamine-rich outer layer of the grain; whole grains, pulses, nuts and eggs supply it. Vitamin B1 is water-soluble, so the body stores little of it and needs a regular intake. B is wrong because vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness and xerophthalmia. C is wrong because vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy, with bleeding gums. D is wrong because vitamin D deficiency causes rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Exam tip: B1 beriberi, B3 pellagra, B12 pernicious anaemia, C scurvy, D rickets.

The correct answer is C, AB+. A person with AB positive blood can receive red cells from every ABO and Rh group, so AB+ is called the universal recipient. The reason is simple: AB+ red cells carry the A antigen, the B antigen and the Rh (D) antigen, so the plasma has no anti-A, anti-B or anti-Rh antibodies to attack donated blood. The opposite case is O negative, whose red cells have none of these antigens, which makes O− the universal donor. Karl Landsteiner discovered the ABO groups in 1900 and received the Nobel Prize in 1930. A is wrong because O+ plasma has both anti-A and anti-B antibodies, so it accepts only O blood. B is wrong because A+ has anti-B antibodies and cannot take B or AB blood. D is wrong because B+ has anti-A antibodies and cannot take A or AB blood. Exam tip: AB+ receives from all, O− gives to all.

The correct answer is C, Lord Chelmsford. Chelmsford was Viceroy from 1916 to 1921, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre happened on 13 April 1919, the day of Baisakhi, in Amritsar. A peaceful crowd protesting the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal was fired upon on the orders of General Dyer, with Michael O'Dwyer as Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest, and the Hunter Commission was set up to inquire into the firing. The Montagu–Chelmsford reforms of the same year and the Government of India Act 1919 are also from his term. A is wrong because Lord Irwin (1926–31) is linked with the Simon Commission boycott, the Dandi March and the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. B is wrong because Dalhousie (1848–56) was a Governor-General famous for the Doctrine of Lapse. D is wrong because Ripon (1880–84) is remembered for local self-government and the Ilbert Bill. Exam tip: 1919 means Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh and Montagu–Chelmsford reforms, all under Chelmsford.

The correct answer is D, air pollution. Lichens are used as bio-indicators of air quality because they are extremely sensitive to sulphur dioxide and other gases in the air. A lichen is a partnership of a fungus and an alga (or cyanobacterium) living together; it has no roots and takes water and minerals straight from the air, so pollutants build up in it quickly. That is why lichens grow well on trees and rocks in clean hill areas but disappear from the centres of polluted cities, and scientists map their presence to judge how clean the air is. A is wrong because gas pollution is not a separate category; the gases concerned are part of air pollution. B is wrong because water pollution is judged with indicators such as coliform bacteria, BOD and algal blooms. C is wrong because soil pollution is tracked through earthworms and soil tests, not lichens. Exam tip: lichen equals sulphur dioxide equals air pollution indicator.

The correct answer is A, The Hague. The International Court of Justice sits in the Peace Palace at The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, set up in 1945 by the UN Charter, and it settles legal disputes between countries and gives advisory opinions to UN bodies. It has 15 judges elected for nine-year terms by the General Assembly and the Security Council, and it is the only one of the six principal UN organs that is not based in New York. Justice Dalveer Bhandari of India is one of its judges. B is wrong because Paris hosts UNESCO, not the court. C is wrong because Washington D.C. is home to the IMF and the World Bank. D is wrong because New York houses the UN headquarters, the General Assembly and the Security Council. Exam tip: ICJ at The Hague, UNESCO in Paris, IMF and World Bank in Washington, UN headquarters in New York.

The correct answer is D, Zoji La. Zoji La is the pass on the Srinagar–Leh highway (NH 1) that joins the Kashmir valley with Dras and Ladakh. It sits at about 3,528 metres in the Great Himalayan range and stays snowbound for months every winter, which is why the Zojila tunnel is being built to keep Ladakh connected all year. Kargil and Dras lie just beyond it, so the pass mattered a great deal during the 1999 Kargil conflict. A is wrong because Nathu La is in Sikkim on the border with Tibet (China) and is used for the Kailash Mansarovar route and border trade. B is wrong because Bara-lacha La is in Himachal Pradesh on the Manali–Leh road, not the Srinagar road. C is wrong because Jelep La is also a Sikkim–Tibet pass, close to Nathu La. Exam tip: Srinagar–Leh means Zoji La; Manali–Leh means Rohtang and Bara-lacha La; Sikkim means Nathu La and Jelep La.