RRB NTPC 2021 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Pyrometer. A pyrometer measures very high temperatures, such as those of furnaces, kilns and molten metal, without touching the hot object. It works on the principle that every hot body gives off thermal radiation whose intensity and colour depend on its temperature; the instrument reads this radiation and converts it into a temperature value. Ordinary mercury thermometers stop at about 350 degrees Celsius, so steel plants, glass works and cement kilns rely on pyrometers, which can read well above 1,000 degrees Celsius. The word comes from the Greek pyro, meaning fire. A is wrong because a bolometer measures the power of incident electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared or microwaves, not furnace temperature. C is wrong because an ammeter measures electric current in amperes. D is wrong because a fluxmeter measures magnetic flux. Exam tip: pyrometer for furnace heat, thermometer for body heat, ammeter for current, fluxmeter for magnetism.

The correct answer is D, metamorphic. Quartzite is formed when sandstone, a sedimentary rock, is changed by great heat and pressure deep inside the earth. The quartz grains of the sandstone recrystallise and fuse, so quartzite becomes one of the hardest and most weather-resistant rocks, which is why the ridges of the Aravalli range and the Delhi Ridge, made largely of quartzite, have survived for hundreds of millions of years. Such change of an existing rock without melting is called metamorphism. A is wrong because igneous rocks such as granite and basalt form from cooled magma or lava, not from an older rock under pressure. B is wrong because basalt is itself a specific igneous rock, not a class of rock. C is wrong because sedimentary is the parent type; sandstone is sedimentary, but once transformed it is no longer classed that way. Exam tip: sandstone becomes quartzite, limestone becomes marble, shale becomes slate, granite becomes gneiss.

The correct answer is C, Secondary consumers. In a food chain each step at which energy is transferred is a trophic level, and secondary consumers stand at the third step. The first trophic level is the producers, green plants that make food by photosynthesis; the second is the primary consumers, herbivores that eat plants; the third is the secondary consumers, carnivores that eat the herbivores; and the fourth is the tertiary or top consumers. In the chain grass, grasshopper, frog, snake, eagle, the frog is at the third level. Only about 10 percent of energy passes from one level to the next (Lindeman's ten percent law), so chains rarely go beyond four or five levels. A is wrong because primary consumers are the herbivores of the second level. B is wrong because top consumers sit at the fourth or final level. D is wrong because producers form the first level, the base of every chain. Exam tip: producers 1, herbivores 2, carnivores 3, top carnivores 4.

The correct answer is A, a police station at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh was set on fire by a mob. Gandhi withdrew the movement because it had turned violent, against his principle of non-violence. On 5 February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, a crowd of protesters set fire to a police station after the police fired on them, and 22 policemen died. Gandhi called the incident a warning from God, went on a five-day fast, and the Congress Working Committee at Bardoli on 12 February 1922 suspended the movement that had been launched in 1920 on the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs. Leaders such as Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das disagreed and later formed the Swaraj Party. B is wrong because Gandhi was not ill; the decision was a moral one. C is wrong because Swaraj had not been achieved when the movement was stopped. D is wrong because Gandhi was arrested only in March 1922, after the movement had already been called off. Exam tip: Chauri Chaura 5 February 1922, Bardoli resolution 12 February 1922, Non-Cooperation ended.

The correct answer is A, Philippines. The Asian Development Bank has its headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, in the Philippines. It was set up in 1966 to fund development in Asia and the Pacific, and India was one of its founding members. Japan and the United States are its two largest shareholders, and by tradition its president has always been Japanese. The ADB lends for roads, power, water and urban projects, and India is among its biggest borrowers. B is wrong because South Korea hosts the Green Climate Fund at Songdo, not the ADB. C is wrong because China is the home of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Beijing) and the New Development Bank of BRICS (Shanghai). D is wrong because Japan is only the largest shareholder; the bank was deliberately located in Manila rather than Tokyo. Exam tip: ADB in Manila (1966), AIIB in Beijing (2016), New Development Bank in Shanghai (2015).

The correct answer is A, Brihadisvara Temple. The Brihadisvara (Brihadeeswarar) Temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja Chola I and completed around 1010 CE, which is why it is also called Rajarajeswaram or the Big Temple. It is the finest example of Dravidian temple architecture: a granite vimana about 66 metres high, a single-stone capstone said to weigh around 80 tonnes, and a huge monolithic Nandi facing the shrine of Shiva. Along with Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, it forms the UNESCO World Heritage listing called the Great Living Chola Temples. B is wrong because the Naganathaswamy Temple is at Thirunageswaram near Kumbakonam and is famous as the Ketu shrine among the Navagraha temples. C is wrong because the Thirumananjeri Temple is a wedding-blessing shrine near Kumbakonam, not Rajaraja's temple. D is wrong because the Murugan temples such as Palani and Swamimalai are not Chola royal temples in Thanjavur. Exam tip: Rajaraja I built Thanjavur's Brihadisvara; his son Rajendra I built Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

The correct answer is B, April 1935. The Reserve Bank of India started working on 1 April 1935 under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, following the recommendation of the Hilton Young Commission of 1926. It began as a privately owned shareholders' bank with its central office in Calcutta, which moved permanently to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1937. Its first Governor was Sir Osborne Smith, and C. D. Deshmukh became the first Indian Governor in 1943. The bank was nationalised on 1 January 1949, after which it has been fully owned by the Government of India. A is wrong because nothing about the RBI's founding happened in April 1948; 1949 is the nationalisation year. C is wrong because April 1945 was still wartime and the bank had already existed for ten years. D is wrong because April 1936 is a year too late; the bank had already completed its first year. Exam tip: RBI Act 1934, RBI born 1 April 1935, nationalised 1 January 1949.

The correct answer is A, Indira point. Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the southernmost point of Indian territory, at about 6 degrees 45 minutes north latitude. It was earlier called Pygmalion Point and was renamed after Indira Gandhi in 1985. It lies only about 150 km from Indonesia's Sumatra, and its lighthouse area was partly submerged by the 2004 tsunami. The question asks about the whole territory, which includes the islands, so the mainland tip is not the answer. B is wrong because Kanyakumari is the southernmost point of the Indian mainland, not of the entire territory. D is wrong because Cape Comorin is simply the old English name of Kanyakumari, so it is the same mainland point. C is wrong because Karondi is not a recognised geographical extremity of India. Exam tip: southernmost point of India is Indira Point (Great Nicobar); southernmost point of the mainland is Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin).

The correct answer is B, 10. The UN Security Council has 15 members: 5 permanent members and 10 non-permanent members. The permanent five are the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China, and only they hold the veto. The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms, five seats falling vacant every year, and a retiring member cannot be re-elected immediately. Seats are shared by region: five for Africa and Asia-Pacific, one for Eastern Europe, two for Latin America and the Caribbean, and two for Western Europe and others. India has served eight terms, the latest in 2021–22. A is wrong because 15 is the total strength of the Council, not the non-permanent count. C is wrong because 12 has never been the number of elected seats. D is wrong because 14 is also incorrect; before the 1965 enlargement there were only 6 non-permanent members. Exam tip: Security Council means 5 permanent plus 10 non-permanent equals 15, with two-year elected terms.

The correct answer is A, 1951. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act was passed by the provisional Parliament in June 1951, barely seventeen months after the Constitution came into force. Nehru's government brought it mainly to protect land-reform laws from court challenges and to allow reasonable restrictions on free speech. It added the Ninth Schedule along with Articles 31A and 31B, put new grounds such as public order in Article 19(2), and inserted Article 15(4) so the state could make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes after the Champakam Dorairajan case. D is wrong because in 1950 the Constitution had only just come into force on 26 January and no amendment had been made. C is wrong because 1952 is the year of the first general elections and the first Lok Sabha. B is wrong because 1953 saw the creation of Andhra State, not the first amendment. Exam tip: Constitution enforced 1950, first amended 1951 (Ninth Schedule), first elections 1952.