SSC MTS 2021 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, 1952. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy of music, dance and drama, was created by a government resolution of 31 May 1952 and formally inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by President Rajendra Prasad. It was the first of the three national academies; the Sahitya Akademi for literature and the Lalit Kala Akademi for fine arts followed in 1954. Its annual awards, the Akademi Puraskar, have been given to performing artists since 1952, which makes it the oldest national honour for the performing arts in India. The higher honour, the Akademi Ratna or Fellowship, was started in 1954. A is wrong because 1961 is the year the Arjuna Award for sports began. B is wrong because 1950 is when the Constitution came into force, not when the Akademi was formed. D is wrong because 1959 is the year the National School of Drama was set up, not the start of the awards. Exam tip: Sangeet Natak Akademi 1952 (awards from 1952); Sahitya Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi 1954.

The correct answer is D, 29th July. International Tiger Day, also called Global Tiger Day, is observed every year on 29 July. It was started in 2010 at the Tiger Summit held in St Petersburg, Russia, where the thirteen tiger-range countries promised to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. The day spreads awareness about the loss of tiger habitat and poaching. India is home to about three-fourths of the world's wild tigers; it launched Project Tiger on 1 April 1973 from Jim Corbett National Park, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was set up in 2005. The tiger is India's national animal and the results of the tiger census are usually released around this day. A is wrong because 12 May is International Nurses Day, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. B is wrong because 10 January is World Hindi Day. C is wrong because 5 November is World Tsunami Awareness Day. Exam tip: 29 July Tiger Day (St Petersburg 2010); Project Tiger 1973; 12 August is World Elephant Day.

The correct answer is C, Vini Mahajan. Vini Mahajan, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch of the Punjab cadre, was appointed Chief Secretary of Punjab in June 2020, the first woman to hold the state's top civil service post since Punjab was formed in 1966. The Chief Secretary is the senior-most IAS officer of a state and heads its entire administration. She had earlier served in the Prime Minister's Office and as Punjab's Additional Chief Secretary for Investment Promotion, and after her state tenure she moved to the Centre as Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. A is wrong because Akanksha Juneja is a television actress, not a civil servant. B is wrong because Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu is a doctor and politician who was a member of the Punjab assembly. D is wrong because Kiran Bedi was India's first woman IPS officer (1972) and later Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, but she was a police officer, never a Chief Secretary. Exam tip: first woman Chief Secretary of Punjab, Vini Mahajan, June 2020; first woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, 1972.

The correct answer is A, B3. Pellagra is caused by a lack of vitamin B3, also called niacin or nicotinic acid. The body can also make niacin from the amino acid tryptophan, so the disease is common where people live mainly on maize, which is poor in both. Pellagra is remembered by the 'four Ds': dermatitis (rough, dark skin on parts exposed to the sun), diarrhoea, dementia and, if untreated, death. Niacin is found in meat, fish, groundnuts, whole grains and milk. B is wrong because vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) deficiency causes anaemia, skin problems and convulsions in infants. C is wrong because vitamin B2 (riboflavin) deficiency causes cracked lips and sores at the corners of the mouth, called ariboflavinosis. D is wrong because vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency causes pernicious anaemia and nerve damage. Exam tip: B1 beriberi, B2 ariboflavinosis, B3 pellagra, B12 pernicious anaemia; pellagra = the four Ds.

The correct answer is D, Jhelum. The Kishanganga rises near Gurez in the Kashmir valley, flows north-west through Bandipora, crosses the Line of Control, where it is called the Neelum, and joins the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It is the largest tributary of the Jhelum, which itself rises at the Verinag spring and flows through Srinagar and the Wular lake. India's 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Bandipora district, opened in 2018, led to a dispute with Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which is why this river appears in exams. A is wrong because the Chenab is formed by the Chandra and Bhaga at Tandi in Himachal Pradesh and does not receive the Kishanganga. B is wrong because the Sutlej rises near Rakshastal in Tibet and is fed by the Beas, not the Kishanganga. C is wrong because the Ravi rises in the Kullu hills near the Rohtang Pass. Exam tip: the Kishanganga (Neelum) meets the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad; the Jhelum rises at Verinag; the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960.

The correct answer is D, Annie Besant. Annie Besant, an Irish-born theosophist, was the first woman to preside over the Indian National Congress, at its Calcutta session in 1917. She had started the Home Rule League in 1916, founded the newspaper 'New India', and set up the Central Hindu College at Banaras, which later grew into Banaras Hindu University. The first Indian woman to become Congress president was Sarojini Naidu, at the Kanpur session of 1925. A is wrong because Indira Gandhi became Congress president much later, in 1959. B is wrong because Sucheta Kripalani was India's first woman Chief Minister, of Uttar Pradesh in 1963, and never headed the Congress. C is wrong because Nellie Sengupta presided over the Calcutta session of 1933, making her the third woman president, not the first. Exam tip: first woman Congress president Annie Besant, Calcutta 1917; first Indian woman Sarojini Naidu, Kanpur 1925.

The correct answer is A, Babur. Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India after defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat on 21 April 1526, and he ruled till his death in 1530. He came from Fergana in Central Asia and traced his descent from Timur on his father's side and Chengiz Khan on his mother's side. After Panipat he defeated Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khanwa in 1527 and the Afghans at Ghaghra in 1529. He wrote his memoirs, the Baburnama, in Turkish, and he is buried in Kabul. B is wrong because Jahangir was the fourth Mughal emperor, ruling from 1605 to 1627. C is wrong because Sher Shah Suri was not a Mughal at all; he was an Afghan who drove Humayun out and founded the Sur dynasty in 1540. D is wrong because Humayun was Babur's son and the second Mughal emperor. Exam tip: the order of the great Mughals is Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb.

The correct answer is D, Article 72. This Article gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute a sentence. It applies in three cases: punishment by a court martial, an offence against a law made by the Union, and every sentence of death. The President alone can pardon a death sentence; the Governor, whose similar power is in Article 161, cannot. The five words to remember are pardon (wipes out the conviction), commutation (lighter kind of punishment), remission (shorter period), respite (lesser sentence for a special reason such as pregnancy) and reprieve (temporary stay). A is wrong because Article 55 describes the manner of electing the President. B is wrong because Article 81 gives the composition of the Lok Sabha. C is wrong because Article 63 says there shall be a Vice-President of India. Exam tip: pardon power is 72 for the President and 161 for the Governor; only the President can pardon a death sentence or a court-martial sentence.

The correct answer is December 1946. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting and pressed its demand for a separate Pakistan, and Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, presided as temporary President. Two days later, on 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the permanent President of the Assembly.

The other options are dates from before or after the Assembly's work. August 1945 is more than a year before the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 created the Assembly. July 1948 falls in the middle of its work, after the Draft Constitution had been published in February 1948. January 1950 is the very end: the last session was held on 24 January 1950 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Remember the pair that is asked most often: first meeting on 9 December 1946, and Rajendra Prasad elected on 11 December 1946.