SSC MTS Previous Year GK Questions

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 B, Bindusara. Bindusara was the son of Chandragupta Maurya and became the second ruler of the Mauryan Empire in about 297 BCE, ruling till about 273 BCE. Greek writers called him Amitrochates, from the Sanskrit 'Amitraghata', which means slayer of enemies. He kept up friendly ties with the Greek kingdoms of West Asia, and the Greek ambassador Deimachus lived at his court at Pataliputra. He is said to have extended the empire into the Deccan, and his son Ashoka served as viceroy at Ujjain before taking the throne. A is wrong because Kumaragupta I was a Gupta ruler of the fifth century CE, remembered for founding Nalanda. C is wrong because Ashoka was Bindusara's son and succeeded him in about 273 BCE, being crowned in 268 BCE. D is wrong because Kanishka was a Kushan king who ruled from 78 CE, the year the Saka era begins. Exam tip: the Mauryan order is Chandragupta (322 BCE), Bindusara (297 BCE), Ashoka (273 BCE); father, son, grandson.

The correct answer is B, Mughal's Rule in India. On 21 April 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of Delhi, at Panipat in present-day Haryana, and this victory ended the Delhi Sultanate and started Mughal rule in India. Babur's army was much smaller, but he won with field guns handled by the Ottoman experts Ustad Ali and Mustafa and with the 'tulughma' tactic of encircling the enemy from the flanks. Ibrahim Lodi died on the battlefield, the only Delhi Sultan to die in battle. Panipat saw two more decisive battles: 1556, when Akbar's general Bairam Khan defeated Hemu, and 1761, when Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas. A is wrong because the French never ruled India; their power ended with the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760. C is wrong because British East India Company rule began after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. D is wrong because the Delhi Sultanate began in 1206 with Qutb-ud-din Aibak and actually ended at Panipat in 1526. Exam tip: Panipat 1526 Babur beats Ibrahim Lodi; 1556 Akbar beats Hemu; 1761 Abdali beats the Marathas.

The correct answer is B, President. A bill passed by both Houses of Parliament becomes an Act only when the President gives assent to it, as laid down in Article 111. The President has three choices: give assent, withhold assent, or return the bill (if it is not a Money Bill) to Parliament for reconsideration. If both Houses pass the returned bill again, with or without changes, the President has to give assent. The Constitution fixes no time limit, so this delaying power is often called a 'pocket veto'. For state bills the Governor plays the same role under Article 200. A is wrong because the Law Minister only pilots bills; a minister's approval cannot turn a bill into law. C is wrong because the Supreme Court can strike down a law later but does not approve it before it is made. D is wrong because the Prime Minister heads the government but the formal assent is the President's. Exam tip: Parliament passes, the President assents (Article 111); the Governor assents for states (Article 200).

The correct answer is D, Part IV. The Directive Principles of State Policy are placed in Part IV of the Constitution, from Article 36 to Article 51. They are instructions to the government to build a welfare state, such as equal pay for equal work, free legal aid, village panchayats, a uniform civil code and protection of the environment. The idea was borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland, which in turn took it from Spain. Unlike Fundamental Rights they cannot be enforced in a court, but Article 37 makes them fundamental in the governance of the country. A is wrong because Part II, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship. B is wrong because Part III, Articles 12 to 35, contains the Fundamental Rights. C is wrong because Part I, Articles 1 to 4, deals with the Union and its territory. Exam tip: Part III = Fundamental Rights (12 to 35), Part IV = Directive Principles (36 to 51), Part IVA = Fundamental Duties (51A).

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 A, Articles 74 and 75. These two Articles create the Council of Ministers that actually runs the Union government. Article 74 says there shall be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President, and the President acts on that advice. Article 75 says the Prime Minister is appointed by the President, the other ministers are appointed on the Prime Minister's advice, the Council is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, and its size cannot exceed 15 per cent of the Lok Sabha strength, a limit added by the 91st Amendment in 2003. The matching Articles for the states are 163 and 164. B is wrong because Article 71 is about disputes in presidential elections and Article 72 about the President's power of pardon. C is wrong because Articles 79 and 80 deal with the constitution of Parliament and the composition of the Rajya Sabha. D is wrong because Article 76 creates the Attorney-General and Article 77 covers the conduct of government business. Exam tip: Centre 74-75, states 163-164; collective responsibility is to the Lok Sabha.

The correct answer is C, Article 84. This is the Article that lists who is qualified to be a member of Parliament. Under Article 84 a person must be a citizen of India, must take an oath before a person authorised by the Election Commission, and must be at least 30 years old for the Rajya Sabha or 25 years old for the Lok Sabha. Parliament can add other qualifications by law, which it did through the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Remember the pair: qualifications are in Article 84, disqualifications are in Article 102. A is wrong because Article 105 deals with the powers and privileges of the Houses and their members. B is wrong because Article 85 covers the sessions of Parliament, prorogation and dissolution. D is wrong because Article 80 gives the composition of the Rajya Sabha. Exam tip: 84 for qualification, 102 for disqualification, 25 years for the Lok Sabha and 30 years for the Rajya Sabha.

The correct answer is Habeas Corpus, a Latin phrase meaning "to have the body of". Through this writ a court orders whoever is holding a person to produce that person before it and show the legal grounds for the detention. If the detention is found unlawful, the person is set free at once. It can be issued against public authorities and private individuals alike, and a petition can be filed by the detained person or by someone on their behalf. It is not issued where the detention is lawful, where it is for contempt of a legislature or a court, or where a competent court has ordered it.

The other three writs do different jobs. Certiorari transfers a case from a lower court or tribunal, or quashes an order it has already passed. Prohibition stops a lower court or tribunal from exceeding its jurisdiction while a case is pending. Mandamus, meaning "we command", orders a public official to perform a duty. Habeas Corpus is often called the strongest safeguard of personal liberty, because it puts the protections of Articles 21 and 22 into immediate effect.

The correct answer is Socialist. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 added three words to the Preamble: "Socialist" and "Secular" to the description of India, and "Integrity" to the phrase "unity and integrity of the Nation". It is the only amendment ever made to the Preamble.

Democratic, Republic and Sovereign were all in the Preamble from the start: as adopted on 26 November 1949, it described India as a "sovereign democratic republic". That is why they are wrong here. Questions on this amendment come in several forms: which word was added, which word was not added, or how many words were added. Keep all three in mind together: Socialist, Secular and Integrity, added in 1976. A related fact worth linking is the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973, which had held three years earlier that the Preamble is part of the Constitution and can be amended without changing its basic features.

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.

The correct answer is 1946. The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 to work out how power would be handed over, and its plan laid down how a Constituent Assembly would be formed: 389 seats in all, 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states, with the members from the provinces elected indirectly by the provincial legislative assemblies. Elections to the British Indian seats followed in July and August 1946, and the Assembly held its first meeting on 9 December 1946.

The other years cannot be right. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950, so an Assembly formed in 1952, 1959 or 1962 would have had nothing left to write. A good way to fix this date is to tie it to two others from the same year: the elections of July and August 1946, and the first sitting in December 1946.