SSC CHSL GK Questions 2026

The correct answer is D, Overcoming social exclusion through Bharatanatyam dance performances. Narthaki Nataraj is a Bharatanatyam dancer from Madurai in Tamil Nadu and, in 2019, became the first transgender person to receive the Padma Shri, which she got in the field of art. Thrown out of her home as a teenager, she trained for years under Guru K. P. Kittappa Pillai, a descendant of the Thanjavur Quartet, and mastered the Nayaki bhava style of the Thanjavur tradition; she also runs the Velliyambalam School of Dance in Chennai. She had earlier received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2011 and Tamil Nadu's Kalaimamani title. The Padma citation therefore links her name to dance, not to any other field. A, cuisine, C, agriculture, and B, Nyayashastra, describe fields of other Padma awardees and have nothing to do with her. Exam tip: Narthaki Nataraj = Bharatanatyam, Tamil Nadu, first transgender Padma Shri, 2019.

The correct answer is B, Indonesia. President Sukarno of Indonesia was the chief guest at India's first Republic Day on 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came into force and Dr Rajendra Prasad took oath as the first President. Indonesia had won its own independence from the Dutch only weeks earlier, in December 1949, and Sukarno and Nehru were close partners in the Asian anti-colonial movement that later became the Non-Aligned Movement, which is why he was chosen. That first parade was held at the Irwin Amphitheatre, today the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, not on Rajpath. A, Bhutan, sent King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck as chief guest in 1954. C, China, was represented by Marshal Ye Jianying in 1958. D, Japan, had its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as chief guest in 2014. Exam tip: first Republic Day chief guest, Sukarno of Indonesia, 1950; Indonesia's President Joko Widodo was chief guest again in 2018 with the ASEAN leaders.

The correct answer is D, New Delhi. The National Dope Testing Laboratory, NDTL, is in New Delhi and works under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It analyses the urine and blood samples of athletes for banned substances and is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, which allows its results to be used in international sport. The other arm of the system, the National Anti-Doping Agency, NADA, which collects the samples and decides the cases, is also in New Delhi, so both national anti-doping bodies share the capital. NDTL is an autonomous body; NADA was set up in 2005 under the Societies Registration Act. A, Mumbai, has no national anti-doping facility. B, Bangalore, hosts a Sports Authority of India centre but not the laboratory. C, Punjab, has the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports at Patiala, India's main coaching institute, which is a different body. Exam tip: NDTL tests, NADA polices, both in New Delhi; WADA, the world body, is in Montreal.

The correct answer is A, Roman. The rupee sign blends the Devanagari letter "र" (Ra) with the Roman capital "R" with its vertical stem removed, so that it reads as an Indian letter and an international one at the same time. It was designed by D. Udaya Kumar, then a student at IIT Bombay and later a professor at IIT Guwahati, who won a nationwide open competition; the Union Cabinet approved it on 15 July 2010. The two parallel horizontal lines across the top stand for the tricolour and for the equality sign, a nod to a balanced economy. With this sign the rupee joined the dollar, pound, euro and yen as currencies with their own symbol. B, Ol Chiki, is the script created for the Santali language and has no part in the design. C, Brahmi, is the ancient script of Ashoka's edicts, not used here. D, Cyrillic, is the script of Russian and other Slavic languages. Exam tip: rupee symbol = Devanagari Ra + Roman R, designed by Udaya Kumar, adopted 15 July 2010.

The correct answer is B, 1973. Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 by the Government of India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, from Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, to save the Bengal tiger and its habitat. It began with nine tiger reserves, including Corbett, Kanha, Bandipur, Ranthambore, Sundarbans and Manas, and the network has since grown to more than fifty. Each reserve has a core area free of human activity and a buffer zone around it. Since 2005 the project is run by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, and the tiger census is done every four years. A, 1985, is not linked to the tiger programme. C, 1972, is the year of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, the law that came a year before the project and is often confused with it. D, 1970, is when India banned tiger hunting. Exam tip: 1970 hunting ban, 1972 Wildlife Act, 1973 Project Tiger, 1992 Project Elephant.

The correct answer is A, 1982. The Ramsar Convention came into force for India on 1 February 1982, the date on which India's accession took effect. The treaty itself was signed on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, and came into force internationally in 1975; 2 February is therefore observed as World Wetlands Day. It is the only global convention devoted to one type of ecosystem, and sites listed under it are called Ramsar sites or Wetlands of International Importance. India's first two, Chilika Lake in Odisha and Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, were designated on 1 October 1981, just before the convention took effect for the country. So keep three years apart: 1971 signed, 1975 in force worldwide, 1982 in force for India. B, 1980, is the year of the Forest (Conservation) Act, not Ramsar. C, 1989, and D, 1990, have no link with the convention in India. Exam tip: Ramsar 1971, wetlands, Iran; India joined 1982; Chilika and Keoladeo were first.

The correct answer is D, 9. Period 2 holds the eight elements from lithium (3) to neon (10), and group 17 is the halogen column, whose members have seven electrons in the outer shell. The element that is both in period 2 and in group 17 is fluorine, with electronic configuration 2, 7, and atomic number 9. You can work it out without memorising: period 2 means two shells, group 17 means seven valence electrons, so the electrons are 2 + 7 = 9, and in a neutral atom the number of electrons equals the atomic number. Fluorine is the most electronegative element and the most reactive non-metal. A, 8, is oxygen, which is in period 2 but in group 16 with six valence electrons. B, 7, is nitrogen, period 2, group 15. C, 10, is neon, period 2, group 18, a noble gas with a full shell. Exam tip: for periods 2 and 3, atomic number = electrons in the inner shells plus the group's last digit; 2 + 7 gives fluorine, 10 + 7 gives chlorine (17).

The correct answer is C, 82. Lead has 82 protons in its nucleus, so its atomic number is 82. Its symbol is Pb, from the Latin plumbum, the root of the word "plumber", because Roman water pipes were made of lead. It sits in group 14 and period 6 of the periodic table, below carbon, silicon, germanium and tin, and it is the heaviest element that has stable isotopes; the decay chains of uranium and thorium end at lead. Lead is soft, dense and poisonous, which is why it has been removed from petrol and paint, and it is used in car batteries and radiation shields. The four options are neighbours in the table, so the exam is testing the exact number. A, 81, is thallium (Tl). B, 78, is platinum (Pt). D, 79, is gold (Au). Exam tip: the run of heavy metals goes 78 platinum, 79 gold, 80 mercury, 81 thallium, 82 lead.

The correct answer is B, Pressure. The torr is a unit of pressure named after Evangelista Torricelli, the Italian scientist who invented the mercury barometer in 1643. One torr is the pressure of a one-millimetre column of mercury, so 1 torr = 1 mm Hg, and it equals about 133.3 pascal. Normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is 760 torr, which is the same as 760 mm Hg, 1 atmosphere or 101,325 pascal. The pascal is the SI unit of pressure, one newton per square metre, but the torr and mm Hg are still used for blood pressure and vacuum work. A, Power, is measured in watt, with horsepower as the older unit. C, Energy, is measured in joule, with calorie and electron-volt as other units. D, Force, is measured in newton, or dyne in the CGS system. Exam tip: pressure units are pascal, bar, atmosphere, torr and mm Hg; 760 torr = 1 atm.

The correct answer is B, Vitamin C. Vitamins fall into two groups: the water-soluble ones, which are vitamin C and the whole B-complex, and the fat-soluble ones, A, D, E and K. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, found in citrus fruits, amla, guava and tomatoes; its deficiency causes scurvy, with bleeding gums and slow healing of wounds. Because water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body and the extra is passed out in urine, they must be taken daily, while fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the liver and fatty tissue. A, Vitamin K, is fat-soluble and needed for blood clotting. C, Vitamin A, retinol, is fat-soluble and its deficiency causes night blindness. D, Vitamin D, calciferol, is fat-soluble, made in the skin in sunlight, and its lack causes rickets. Exam tip: remember "ADEK are fat-soluble"; everything else, B-complex and C, dissolves in water.

The correct answer is C, GST collected by the government. A revenue receipt is money the government gets without creating a liability for itself or selling off an asset; tax collections such as GST, income tax and excise, and non-tax income such as interest, dividends and fees, all fall in this class. A capital receipt is the opposite: it either creates a liability, like a loan, or reduces an asset, like selling shares. Apply that two-part test to each option and only GST passes. A, sale of shares of public sector companies, is disinvestment, which reduces the government's assets, so it is a capital receipt. B, recovery of loans, also reduces an asset, the loan owed to the government, so it too is capital. D, borrowings from the public, create a liability that must be repaid, the clearest capital receipt of all. Exam tip: revenue receipt = tax and non-tax income; capital receipt = borrowings, disinvestment and loan recoveries.

The correct answer is B, Total demand and term deposits. The Statutory Liquidity Ratio, or SLR, is the share of a bank's net demand and time liabilities, that is, all its demand deposits and term deposits taken together, that it must hold in liquid assets such as cash, gold or approved government securities. It is prescribed under Section 24 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the bank keeps these assets with itself, unlike the Cash Reserve Ratio, which is a cash balance kept with the Reserve Bank under the RBI Act, 1934. Both ratios are fixed on the same base, total deposits, and both are tools the RBI uses to control how much banks can lend. A, Current deposits, are only one part of demand deposits, so the base would be far too small. C, Term deposits, leave out demand deposits. D, Saving deposits, are again only one slice of the total. Exam tip: SLR and CRR are both fractions of net demand and time liabilities; SLR stays with the bank in liquid assets, CRR goes to the RBI in cash.

The correct answer is B, NABARD. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development was set up on 12 July 1982 by an Act of Parliament, on the recommendation of the Sivaraman Committee (CRAFICARD), as the apex body for rural and farm credit. It took over the agricultural credit work of the Reserve Bank and the whole of the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation. Its headquarters is in Mumbai, it refinances cooperative banks and regional rural banks, and it runs the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. The year 1982 and the words "farmers" and "national level" together point only to NABARD. A, NEDFI, the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation, was set up in 1995 to fund projects in the North-East. C, IFCI, the Industrial Finance Corporation of India, was India's first development bank, founded in 1948 for industry, not farmers. D, SIDBI, the Small Industries Development Bank of India, began in 1990 at Lucknow for small and medium enterprises. Exam tip: IFCI 1948, NABARD 1982, SIDBI 1990, NEDFI 1995.

The correct answer is A, M1 and M2. The Reserve Bank of India measures money supply in four grades, M1 to M4, in decreasing order of liquidity. M1 is currency with the public plus demand deposits of banks plus other deposits with the RBI, and M2 is M1 plus savings deposits with post offices. Both consist of money that can be spent at once, so they are called narrow money. M3 adds the time deposits of banks to M1, and M4 adds all post office deposits to M3; these two are broad money because they include savings locked for a period. M3 is the measure the RBI usually quotes as "money supply". B, M2 and M4, mixes a narrow and a broad measure. C, M3 and M2, does the same in the other order. D, M1 and M4, pairs the narrowest with the broadest. Exam tip: M1, M2 narrow; M3, M4 broad; M3 is the headline figure.

The correct answer is D, Vembanad Lake. Vembanad in Kerala is the longest lake in India, stretching about 96 km from Alappuzha to Kochi, and it is also the largest lake of Kerala. It is a brackish backwater lagoon separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow barrier, it is a Ramsar wetland since 2002, and the famous Nehru Trophy snake-boat race is held on it at Punnamada every August. Willingdon Island, on which Kochi port stands, was raised inside this lake. A, Shivaji Sagar Lake, is the reservoir of the Koyna dam in Maharashtra, a man-made lake. B, Indira Sagar, is the reservoir of the Indira Sagar dam on the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh, the largest reservoir in India by water volume but not the longest lake. C, Chilika Lake in Odisha is the largest brackish-water lagoon in India and Asia by area, but it is shorter than Vembanad. Exam tip: longest lake Vembanad, largest brackish lagoon Chilika, largest freshwater lake Wular.

The correct answer is D, Tamil Nadu. The Shevaroy Hills, also spelt Servarayan, rise near Salem in Tamil Nadu and are part of the Eastern Ghats. Their best-known spot is the hill station of Yercaud, about 1,500 metres high, famous for coffee plantations, oranges and the Yercaud lake, which is why the range is sometimes called the "poor man's Ooty". The Shevaroys form a set with the other Eastern Ghats hills of Tamil Nadu, the Javadi, Kalrayan and Pachaimalai hills, and all four sit between the Palar and Kaveri river basins. A, Chhattisgarh, has the Maikal range and the Bastar plateau. B, Odisha, has the Garhjat hills and Mahendragiri in its stretch of the Eastern Ghats. C, Rajasthan, has the Aravalli range with Guru Shikhar as its highest point. Exam tip: Shevaroy, Javadi, Kalrayan and Pachaimalai are Tamil Nadu's Eastern Ghats hills; Yercaud sits on the Shevaroys.

The correct answer is C, Godavari river. The Wardha rises in the Satpura range near Multai in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, flows south-east through Vidarbha and meets the Wainganga; the combined stream is called the Pranhita, which is the largest tributary of the Godavari and joins it at Kaleshwaram in Telangana. So the Wardha reaches the Godavari through the Pranhita, and both names appear in exams. The Godavari is the longest river of peninsular India, about 1,465 km, rising at Trimbakeshwar near Nashik and ending in the Bay of Bengal. A, Mahanadi, is fed by the Seonath, Ib, Tel and Ong, not the Wardha. B, Tapi, receives the Purna, Girna and Panzara. D, Narmada, has tributaries like the Tawa and Hiran. Exam tip: Wardha + Wainganga = Pranhita, and Pranhita, Indravati, Manjra all feed the Godavari, the "Dakshin Ganga".

The correct answer is C, Tapi. Aner, Panzara and Waghur all join the Tapi in the Khandesh region of northern Maharashtra, along with the Purna, Girna and Bori. The Tapi rises near Multai in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, flows west for about 724 km through the Satpura and Ajanta ranges and the Khandesh plain, and enters the Gulf of Khambhat near Surat. With the Narmada it is one of the two big west-flowing rivers of the Peninsula that run through rift valleys and form estuaries instead of deltas. The Ukai dam in Gujarat is built on it. A, Kaveri, has the Kabini, Bhavani and Amaravati as tributaries. B, Mahanadi, is joined by the Seonath, Ib and Tel. D, Godavari, receives the Pranhita, Indravati and Manjra. Exam tip: Tapi group = Purna, Girna, Panzara, Waghur, Aner, Bori; Tapi and Narmada are the west-flowing pair.

The correct answer is D, Bihar. The Lomas Rishi cave is one of the Barabar caves in the Barabar Hills of Jehanabad district, about 25 km north of Gaya. These are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, carved from hard granite in the Mauryan period, in the third century BCE, and their inner walls carry the famous glass-like Mauryan polish. Ashoka and his grandson Dasharatha gave the caves to the Ajivika monks, as inscriptions at the site record. The Lomas Rishi cave is best known for its doorway, carved to look like the arched wooden entrance of a hut, the earliest "chaitya arch" that later appears at Bhaja, Karle and Ajanta. A, Maharashtra, has the later Buddhist caves of Ajanta, Ellora, Karle and Bhaja. B, Karnataka, has the Badami cave temples of the Chalukyas. C, Madhya Pradesh, has Bhimbetka rock shelters and Udayagiri caves, but not Lomas Rishi. Exam tip: Barabar and Lomas Rishi, Mauryan, Ajivikas, Bihar.

The correct answer is B, 1934. Gandhi formally withdrew the Civil Disobedience Movement in April 1934, after it had lost momentum under heavy repression. The movement had begun on 12 March 1930 with the Dandi March and the breaking of the salt law on 6 April 1930. It was suspended after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931, when Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London. The conference failed, Gandhi was arrested on his return, and the movement was restarted in January 1932, but by 1934 most leaders were in jail and it was called off. So the movement has three dates to keep apart: 1930 launch, 1931 pause, 1934 end. A, 1917, is the year of the Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhi's first movement in India. C, 1923, is when the Swaraj Party was formed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru. D, 1943, is the year Subhas Chandra Bose set up the Azad Hind Government in Singapore. Exam tip: Civil Disobedience 1930 to 1934, with the 1931 pact in between.