SSC CPO 2019 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Ibn Battuta, a qazi from Tangier in Morocco, reached Delhi in the 1330s, and the Sultan, impressed by his learning, appointed him qazi of the capital and later sent him as an envoy to the court of China. His book, the Rihla, written in Arabic, describes the Sultan's court, the postal relay system, the coconut and the betel leaf, and the movement of the capital, and it is a first hand source for the reign. Option A is wrong because Alauddin Khalji ruled at the turn of the fourteenth century, a generation before Ibn Battuta arrived, and is associated with market control regulations. Option B is wrong because Jalaluddin Khalji, the founder of that dynasty, ruled even earlier. Option D is wrong because Feroz Shah Tughlaq succeeded Muhammad bin Tughlaq; Ibn Battuta had left India before his reign began. Fix the pairing in memory as Ibn Battuta with Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Al-Biruni with Mahmud of Ghazni.

The correct answer is A, heavy water. The CANDU design, from which India's pressurised heavy water reactors descend, burns natural uranium, and natural uranium contains only about seven parts in a thousand of the fissile isotope uranium 235. Such a lean fuel can sustain a chain reaction only if very few neutrons are wasted, and heavy water absorbs far fewer neutrons than ordinary water while still slowing them down, so it serves as both moderator and coolant. Option B is wrong because light water absorbs too many neutrons, which is why reactors that use it must be fuelled with enriched uranium. Option C is wrong because carbon dioxide is used as a coolant in gas cooled reactors, where graphite is the moderator. Option D is wrong because liquid sodium is the coolant of a fast breeder reactor, which deliberately has no moderator at all.

The correct answer is C, Parushni. In the Rigveda the Ravi appears as the Parushni, and it is on this river that the Battle of the Ten Kings, the Dasarajna, is placed. Option A is wrong because Askini, also written Asikni, is the Vedic name of the Chenab, which is formed by the Chandra and Bhaga streams and is also called the Chandrabhaga. Option B is wrong because Shutudri is the Vedic name of the Sutlej, the river that enters India through the Shipki La pass. Option D is wrong because Kalindi is an old name of the Yamuna, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier and joins the Ganga at Prayagraj. The remaining pairs to memorise are the Jhelum as the Vitasta and the Beas as the Vipasha, since papers often ask all six Punjab rivers in one matching question.

The correct answer is Harilal Kania. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania, who had been the last Chief Justice of the Federal Court, became the first Chief Justice of India when the Supreme Court began on 26 January 1950, and presided over its inauguration on 28 January. He died in office in November 1951 and was succeeded by M. Patanjali Sastri.

The other options are also Chief Justices, which is exactly why they appear. B.K. Mukherjea and A.K. Sarkar became Chief Justice later, in the 1950s and 1960s. Y.V. Chandrachud is the longest-serving Chief Justice, from 1978 to 1985, and a favourite answer to a different question. To keep the Supreme Court firsts together: first Chief Justice H.J. Kania; first woman judge M. Fathima Beevi (1989); longest-serving Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud. The present Chief Justice, Justice Surya Kant, is the 53rd, and took office in November 2025.

The correct answer is A, Arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart to the different parts of the body. Because the heart pushes blood into them under high pressure, arteries have thick, muscular and elastic walls and no valves, and they are placed deep in the body. The largest artery is the aorta, which leaves the left ventricle. One important exception is the pulmonary artery, which carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs, so arteries are defined by direction, not by the kind of blood. B is wrong because veins bring blood back to the heart, have thinner walls and carry valves to stop backflow. C is wrong because the septum is the wall of muscle that separates the right and left sides of the heart. D is wrong because capillaries are the very thin vessels where exchange of gases and nutrients takes place. Exam tip: arteries away from the heart, veins towards it.

The correct answer is A, Wild yak. Bos mutus is the scientific name of the wild yak, the long haired bovine of the high cold plateaus of Ladakh, Tibet and the Karakoram, which grazes above four thousand metres and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The domestic yak is called Bos grunniens, the grunting ox, and mutus means mute, since the wild animal is far quieter. The two part naming system, with the genus first and the species second, was given by Carl Linnaeus. B is wrong because the horse is Equus caballus. C is wrong because the ox, meaning domestic cattle, is Bos taurus or Bos indicus for the humped Indian breeds. D is wrong because the Asiatic water buffalo is Bubalus bubalis. Exam tip: the genus Bos covers cattle and yak, Bos mutus wild yak and Bos grunniens domestic yak.

The correct answer is C, Tax levied on revenue. Sardeshmukhi was a levy of one tenth, that is ten per cent, of the land revenue, which the Marathas claimed in territory outside their own kingdom. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj claimed it as the hereditary sardeshmukh or chief headman of Maharashtra, so it was presented as an old right rather than a new tax. It was collected along with chauth, which was one fourth or twenty five per cent of the revenue and was taken in return for protection, so together the two claims brought the Marathas thirty five per cent of the revenue of the areas they raided. A is wrong because sardeshmukhi was a tax, not an office ranking with the Peshwa, who was the chief minister. B is wrong because it was not a coin; Maratha coins included the hon and the shivrai. D is wrong because it was never a name for Shivaji himself. Exam tip: chauth one fourth, sardeshmukhi one tenth.

The correct answer is D, 30 th December, 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the BHIM app on 30 December 2016, a few weeks after the note ban of November 2016, to push people towards digital payment. BHIM stands for Bharat Interface for Money and is named after Dr B R Ambedkar, whose full name was Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. The app is built by the National Payments Corporation of India on the Unified Payments Interface, so money moves straight from one bank account to another using a UPI identifier or a mobile number, and it works in several Indian languages. A is wrong because 15 August 2016 saw no such launch. B is wrong because 31 October 2016 is before the note ban announcement. C is wrong because 26 January 2016 is Republic Day of that year and unconnected. Exam tip: BHIM, Bharat Interface for Money, NPCI, UPI, 30 December 2016.

The correct answer is Article 75. Article 75(1) says the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The rest of Article 75 contains the other key rules: the 15% cap on the size of the ministry (clause 1A), collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha (clause 3), the oath (clause 4), the six-month rule for non-members (clause 5) and salaries (clause 6).

The wrong options are Articles from other parts of Chapter I and II of Part V. Article 70 deals with the discharge of the President's functions in other contingencies. Article 79 says Parliament consists of the President and the two Houses. Article 85 deals with the sessions of Parliament and its prorogation and dissolution. Since Article 75 packs so many rules into one Article, questions from it come up again and again; learn its clauses rather than just the number.

The correct answer is the Vice President. Article 56(1)(a) says the President may resign by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Vice-President. The Vice-President must then communicate the resignation to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha without delay. In the same way, the Vice-President resigns by writing to the President. Article 56 also provides that a President whose five-year term has ended continues in office until the successor takes over, so the office is never left empty merely because a term expires.

The Prime Minister, who heads the government, is appointed by the President and so cannot receive the President's resignation. The Chief Election Commissioner conducts the election of the President but has no role in a resignation, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha only receives information about it from the Vice-President. Resignation questions come in sets, so learn the pairs together: the President writes to the Vice-President, the Vice-President to the President, the Prime Minister and a Governor to the President, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to the Deputy Speaker.