SSC CHSL 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, Andhra Pradesh. The Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve lies in the Seshachalam hill ranges of the Eastern Ghats in southern Andhra Pradesh, across the old Chittoor and Kadapa districts, and was notified in 2010 as India's 17th biosphere reserve. The Tirumala temple of Lord Venkateswara stands on these very hills, and the reserve includes the Sri Venkateswara National Park. It is famous for red sanders, the valuable red-wood tree found almost nowhere else in the world, and shelters the slender loris, the golden gecko and the Indian giant squirrel. Option A is wrong because Tamil Nadu's biosphere reserves are the Gulf of Mannar and its shares of the Nilgiri and Agasthyamalai reserves. Option B is wrong because Karnataka's only biosphere reserve is its part of the Nilgiri. Option C is wrong because Kerala shares the Nilgiri and Agasthyamalai reserves but has no Seshachalam. Exam tip: Seshachalam = Andhra Pradesh, red sanders, Tirumala hills, notified 2010 as the 17th reserve.

The correct answer is D, Hawkish. A hawkish stance means the central bank treats inflation as its first enemy and is ready to raise interest rates and tighten money supply, even at some cost to growth. Higher rates make loans dearer, so people and firms borrow and spend less, demand cools and prices stop rising so fast. India saw this when the RBI raised the repo rate from 4 per cent to 6.5 per cent between May 2022 and February 2023 to fight inflation. The opposite, a dovish stance, cuts rates to support growth and jobs, as in 2020 during the Covid slowdown. Option A is wrong because 'owlish' is only an informal label some writers use for a wait-and-watch, neutral position, not the usual anti-inflation stance. Option B is wrong because a dovish stance eases money and fuels inflation rather than fighting it. Option C is wrong because 'Hicksian' refers to the economist John Hicks and his IS-LM model, not to a policy stance. Exam tip: hawk = fight inflation, raise rates; dove = support growth, cut rates.

The correct answer is C, Deccan Plateau. The Deccan plateau is the large triangular block of the Peninsular plateau south of the Narmada, bounded by the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in the north, the Western Ghats in the west and the Eastern Ghats in the east, with an average height of about 600 metres. It is higher in the west, up to 900 to 1,200 metres along the Western Ghats, and tilts east, so the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri flow east into the Bay of Bengal. Its north-western part is the Deccan Trap of basalt lava, which weathers into black cotton soil. Option A is wrong because the Marwar plateau is a low upland of eastern Rajasthan, drained by the Banas. Option B is wrong because the Meghalaya plateau is a detached block in the north-east, made of the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills. Option D is wrong because the Chota Nagpur plateau lies in Jharkhand, drained by the Damodar and rich in coal and iron. Exam tip: Deccan = between Satpura, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats, high in the west, sloping east.

The correct answer is B, Sahyadri Range. The Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Satara district of Maharashtra, at about 1,337 metres in the Sahyadri, which is the local name of the Western Ghats. It is the second longest peninsular river after the Godavari, about 1,400 km long, and flows east through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Bay of Bengal near Vijayawada. Its main tributaries are the Bhima, Tungabhadra, Koyna, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Musi, and the Almatti, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams stand on it. Option A is wrong because the Satpura range is the source of the Tapi, which rises at Multai. Option C is wrong because the Vindhya range feeds northward rivers like the Betwa and Ken, not the Krishna. Option D is wrong because the Eastern Ghats are where the Krishna ends its journey, not where it begins. Exam tip: three great east-flowing rivers rise in the Western Ghats, Godavari at Trimbakeshwar, Krishna at Mahabaleshwar, Kaveri at Talakaveri.