SSC 2017 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, 2005. The Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16 February 2005. It had been adopted at Kyoto in Japan on 11 December 1997 as the first binding agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992. It could start only after 55 parties had ratified it, including developed countries that accounted for at least 55 per cent of the 1990 carbon dioxide emissions of that group. Russia’s ratification in November 2004 crossed that mark, and the treaty began ninety days later. Its first commitment period ran from 2008 to 2012 and asked developed countries to cut emissions to about five per cent below their 1990 levels. A is wrong because 2004 is the year Russia ratified, not the year the treaty began. C and D are wrong because the protocol was already working by then; 2007 is remembered instead for the Bali road map. Exam tip: adopted in 1997, in force in 2005, first commitment period 2008 to 2012.

The correct answer is B, Tenth Schedule. The anti-defection law sits in the Tenth Schedule, which sets out when a member of Parliament or of a State legislature loses the seat for defecting. It was inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985, after a decade in which governments were toppled by floor crossing. A member is disqualified for voluntarily giving up the membership of the party on whose ticket the seat was won, or for voting against the party whip. The Speaker or the Chairman of the House decides such a case, and courts can review that decision. The 91st Amendment of 2003 removed the old one third split defence, so only a merger supported by two thirds of a party’s legislators is now protected. A is wrong because the Second Schedule fixes the salaries and allowances of the President, Governors, Speakers and judges. C is wrong because the Third Schedule carries the forms of oath and affirmation. D is wrong because the Fourth Schedule allots Rajya Sabha seats to states and union territories. Exam tip: Tenth Schedule, anti-defection, 52nd Amendment of 1985.

The correct answer is C, Jahangir. Mughal painting reached its peak under Jahangir, who ruled from 1605 to 1627. He was a keen collector who claimed he could name the artist behind every figure in a painting, and his studio turned from long illustrated histories to single studies of portraits, birds, animals, flowers and court scenes, with fine European touches such as shading and the halo. Ustad Mansur, titled Nadir-ul-Asr for his birds and animals, Abul Hasan, titled Nadir-uz-Zaman, Bishandas for portraits and Manohar all worked for him. Option A is wrong because Humayun only brought the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad to India, and little painting survives from his unsettled reign. Option B is wrong because Akbar founded and built up the school with works such as the Razmnama and the Akbarnama, but its finest phase came later. Option D is wrong because under Shah Jahan painting grew formal and cold as he turned to architecture. Exam tip: Akbar founded, Jahangir perfected, Shah Jahan formalised and Aurangzeb withdrew support from Mughal painting.

The correct answer is C, Five. The Citizenship Act of 1955 lays down five ways of acquiring Indian citizenship: by birth, by descent, by registration, by naturalisation and by incorporation of territory. Citizenship by birth applies to those born in India within the periods the Act sets out, descent covers children born abroad to Indian parents, registration is for persons of Indian origin and spouses of Indian citizens who meet the conditions, naturalisation is for foreigners who have lived here for the required years, and incorporation of territory applies when new territory becomes part of India, as with Goa and Sikkim. The same Act provides three ways of losing citizenship: renunciation, termination and deprivation. A and B are wrong because three and four leave out modes the Act lists. D is wrong because there is no sixth mode. Exam tip: five ways in, three ways out, all under the Citizenship Act 1955.

The correct answer is D, Shah Jahan. The Jama Masjid of Delhi, whose formal name is Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa, was built by Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656 as the congregational mosque of his new capital Shahjahanabad. It is built of red sandstone and white marble, stands on a high plinth reached by broad flights of steps, and has two tall minarets and three domes. It is among the largest mosques in India.

Option A, Akbar, built in red sandstone at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra, but the Delhi Jama Masjid belongs to his grandson. Option B, Humayun, built the short lived Dinpanah and is remembered instead through the garden tomb raised for him after his death. Option C, Babur, ruled only from 1526 to 1530 and left very little building in India. The Jama Masjid belongs firmly to the marble and sandstone age of Shah Jahan, who also raised the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.

The correct answer is B, Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist, published in parts between 1837 and 1839, is his second novel and follows an orphan boy through a workhouse and the streets of London. Dickens also wrote A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Hard Times and The Pickwick Papers, and the workhouse, the pickpocket and the debtors' prison are the marks of his world.

Option A, Benazir Habib, is not the author of any novel that appears in general awareness lists. Option C, Paul Kennedy, is a historian known for The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, a work of history and not fiction. Option D, Eric Segal, wrote the popular novel Love Story in 1970, more than a century after Oliver Twist, so the period alone rules him out. When a Victorian title of London poverty is given, Dickens is the safe answer.

The correct answer is A, Sardar Sarovar. The Narmada Bachao Andolan grew up against the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada.

The movement began in 1985 under Medha Patkar, with Baba Amte and others joining later. It argued that raising the dam's height would submerge villages and forests in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and that the people displaced were not being resettled properly. The protest used fasts, rallies and the courts, and in 1993 it made the World Bank withdraw from the project. The Supreme Court allowed construction to continue in 2000 with conditions on rehabilitation.

Option B, Bhakra Nangal, is on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Option C, Rihand, is in Uttar Pradesh on a tributary of the Son. Option D, Tehri, on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand, had its own protest led by Sunderlal Bahuguna, not the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Exam tip: Narmada Bachao - Medha Patkar, Sardar Sarovar; Chipko and Tehri - Sunderlal Bahuguna.

The correct answer is B, 35 years. Article 66(3) of the Constitution says a person must have completed 35 years of age to be eligible for election as Vice-President. The same article requires the candidate to be a citizen of India, to be qualified for election as a member of the Council of States, and to hold no office of profit under the Union, a State or a local authority. The Vice-President is elected for five years by an electoral college of members of both Houses of Parliament, including nominated members, through proportional representation by the single transferable vote. The same age limit of 35 years applies to the President under Article 58. Option A is wrong because 30 years is the minimum age for membership of the Rajya Sabha. Options C and D are wrong because the Constitution fixes no such limits for this post. Exam tip: 25 for Lok Sabha, 30 for Rajya Sabha, 35 for President and Vice-President.

The correct answer is B, Primary sector. Dairying takes its produce directly from nature, so it belongs to the primary sector. Economic activity is usually grouped in three sectors. The primary sector draws on natural resources and covers farming, dairy, poultry, fishing, forestry and mining. The secondary sector turns those raw materials into goods, so a plant that converts milk into butter, cheese or milk powder is doing manufacturing. The tertiary sector provides services that support the other two, such as transport, banking, insurance and trade. Milk drawn from cattle is a natural product, which is why dairying, like beekeeping and sericulture, is counted with agriculture and allied activities. In India the primary sector still employs the largest share of workers while the tertiary sector contributes the largest share of GDP. Option A is wrong because the tertiary sector covers services. Option C is wrong because the secondary sector begins only when milk is processed into another product. Option D is wrong because the quaternary sector means knowledge services such as research and IT. Exam tip: dairy, fishing and mining are primary; processing them is secondary.

The correct answer is A, Rig Veda. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas, so it describes the earliest Vedic culture. It is a collection of 1,028 hymns arranged in ten books called mandalas, composed in the land of the seven rivers in the north-west. Books II to VII form the oldest core, while the first and tenth were added later; the tenth holds the Purusha Sukta, the first mention of the four varnas. The Gayatri Mantra also comes from the Rig Veda. The society it shows is pastoral and tribal, with cattle as wealth and Indra, Agni and Varuna as the chief gods. Option B is wrong because the Yajurveda gives the formulas and rituals for sacrifices and belongs to the later Vedic period. Option C is wrong because the Atharvaveda, the last of the four, deals with charms, spells and cures. Option D is wrong because the Samaveda sets Rigvedic verses to music and is the root of Indian classical music. Exam tip: the order is Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva.

The correct answer is C, China. SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, has eight members — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China is not one of them; it holds only observer status, as do Japan, the United States, the European Union, South Korea, Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar and Australia. SAARC was set up by the Dhaka Declaration of 8 December 1985 with seven members, and its secretariat is at Kathmandu in Nepal. Option A is wrong because Nepal is a founding member and hosts the secretariat. Option B is wrong because the Maldives is also one of the seven founders. Option D is wrong because Afghanistan is a full member, admitted as the eighth at the Delhi summit of 2007. Exam tip: the seven founders are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives; Afghanistan is the eighth member and China is only an observer.

The correct answer is C, Local Area Network. A LAN joins computers and devices inside a small area such as one room, one building or a campus. It usually runs on Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, is owned and managed by a single organisation, and gives a high data transfer rate with very few errors, which is why offices, schools and cyber cafes use it. Networks are classed by the area they cover: PAN for one person's own devices, LAN for a building, MAN for a city and WAN for a country or the world, the internet being the largest WAN. Option A is wrong because 'Line Area Network' is not a networking term. Option B is wrong because no class of network is called a 'Linear Area Network'. Option D is wrong because 'Land Area Network' does not exist either. Exam tip: learn the four by rising size — PAN, LAN, MAN, WAN — and remember the LAN is the one limited to a single building or campus.

The correct answer is Part IV A. The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted a new Part IVA into the Constitution, with a single Article, 51A, that lists the Fundamental Duties of every citizen. It was placed immediately after Part IV, the Directive Principles, because both are non-justiciable: neither can be enforced directly in a court of law.

The other options are the Parts nearby. Part II, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship. Part III, Articles 12 to 35, contains the Fundamental Rights, which is the most common wrong answer because people expect rights and duties to sit together. Part V begins at Article 52 and deals with the Union: the President, the Council of Ministers, Parliament and the Supreme Court. A neat way to remember the sequence: Part III rights, Part IV directives, Part IVA duties. Many critics argued that the duties should have been placed alongside the rights in Part III, but Parliament chose to keep them separate.

The correct answer is Article 32. Speaking in the Constituent Assembly, Dr B.R. Ambedkar said that if he were asked to name the most important Article, one without which the Constitution would be a nullity, he could not refer to any other; it was "the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it". His reasoning was simple: a right without a remedy is only words on paper. Article 32 gives every person the right to go directly to the Supreme Court to enforce a Fundamental Right, and this right to a remedy is itself a Fundamental Right. The Supreme Court has held Article 32 to be part of the basic structure, so it cannot be taken away even by an amendment.

The wrong options are Article 4, which says that laws forming or changing States under Articles 2 and 3 are not amendments of the Constitution; Article 28, which bars religious instruction in fully State-funded institutions; and Article 30, on minority educational institutions. Keep this description apart from others: the Preamble is the "identity card" of the Constitution, according to N.A. Palkhivala.