SSC 2020 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, X-Rays. Roentgen, a German physicist, noticed in 1895 that a screen in his darkened laboratory glowed while a covered discharge tube was running, and he named the unknown radiation X-rays. For this he received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Option A is wrong because the conservation of electric charge is a principle established through the work of Benjamin Franklin and others, not a discovery of Roentgen. Option B is wrong because a practical incandescent electric bulb was made by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879, sixteen years before the X-ray. Option D is wrong because thermodynamics grew out of the work of Carnot, Joule, Clausius and Kelvin and is a body of laws rather than a single discovery. Remember the pairing of Roentgen, X-rays, 1895 and the first physics Nobel of 1901 together.

The correct answer is Article 360. It allows the President to proclaim a Financial Emergency if satisfied that the financial stability or credit of India, or of any part of its territory, is threatened. The proclamation must be approved by both Houses within two months by a simple majority, and once approved it continues until revoked, with no maximum period and no need for repeated approval.

The other options are related Articles, which is why they confuse. Article 356 provides for President's Rule when the constitutional machinery in a State fails. Article 365 lets the President treat a State's failure to follow the Union's directions as such a failure. Article 330 reserves seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and has nothing to do with emergencies. During a Financial Emergency the Centre can direct the States to observe financial propriety and the President can order salary cuts, even for judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

The correct answer is B, increase the repo rate. The repo rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank lends short-term money to banks against government securities. When inflation keeps rising, the Reserve Bank raises this rate, so banks borrow less and charge more on their own loans, spending and demand cool down and prices rise more slowly. Such a step is called a dear money or tight monetary policy, and the decision is taken by the six-member Monetary Policy Committee, which has to keep retail inflation at four per cent within a band of two percentage points on either side. A is wrong because cutting the repo rate makes money cheaper and adds to demand, which is done to lift growth when inflation is low. C is wrong because a lower reverse repo rate makes it less attractive for banks to park money with the Reserve Bank, so more money stays in the market and inflation gets worse. D is wrong because leaving the rate unchanged does nothing about rising prices. Exam tip: inflation high – repo rate up; growth slow – repo rate down.

The correct answer is D, We Command. Mandamus is a Latin word meaning we command, and the writ is an order from a court to a public official, a public body, a corporation or a lower court to perform a public duty it has refused to do. It cannot be issued against a private person, against the President or a Governor, or against a chief justice of a High Court acting in a judicial capacity. The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226, which is the wider power. A is wrong because you may have the body is the meaning of habeas corpus, the writ used to produce a detained person before a court and test whether the detention is lawful. B is wrong because to be certified is the meaning of certiorari, by which a higher court moves a pending case to itself or quashes an order of a lower body. C is wrong because by what warrant is the meaning of quo warranto, an enquiry into a person's claim to a public office. Exam tip: habeas corpus – produce the body; mandamus – we command; prohibition – stop; certiorari – to be certified; quo warranto – by what authority.

The correct answer is B, 1858. The Government of India Act of 1858, passed after the revolt of 1857, ended the rule of the East India Company and placed India directly under the British Crown. It abolished the Court of Directors and the Board of Control and created the office of Secretary of State for India, a member of the British cabinet, assisted by a Council of India of fifteen members. The Governor General was now also styled Viceroy, and Lord Canning was the first to hold both titles. Queen Victoria's Proclamation, read out at Allahabad on 1 November 1858, promised that treaties with the princes would be honoured and that Indians would be admitted to office without regard to race or creed. A is wrong because 1878 is the year of the Vernacular Press Act. C is wrong because 1868 saw no transfer of power. D is wrong because 1888 has no such event. Exam tip: 1858 means Company rule ends, Crown rule begins, Canning is the first Viceroy.

The correct answer is A, Write Once, Read Many. WORM describes a storage medium on which data can be written a single time and after that only read, never altered or erased. A CD-R or a DVD-R is the everyday example, because once the disc has been burnt the marks made in its dye layer are permanent. Since the record cannot be changed later, WORM media are used for archives, bank and hospital records, court evidence and audit trails, where proof that nothing was tampered with matters more than the freedom to edit. Modern systems offer the same guarantee in software on hard disks and cloud storage. B is wrong because Word On RAM Memory is not a storage term at all. C is wrong because it mixes optical recognition with malware, and the worm that is malware is an ordinary word, not an acronym. D is wrong because WORM has nothing to do with wireless working. Exam tip: WORM means Write Once Read Many, as on CD-R and DVD-R, and is used for tamper-proof archives.

The correct answer is D, Kolkali. Kolkali is a popular folk dance of Lakshadweep, and it is also seen in the Malabar region of Kerala, with which the islands share much of their language and custom. Twelve or more dancers move in a circle, each holding a short wooden stick in either hand, and strike their neighbours' sticks in time with the song; the circle widens and closes in as the beat quickens. It is danced by men at weddings and festivals, and the rhythm comes from the clash of the sticks as much as from the drum. Lakshadweep's other well known forms are Parichakali and Lava. A is wrong because Kathak is a classical dance of north India. B is wrong because Kuchipudi is a classical dance of Andhra Pradesh. C is wrong because Koli is the dance of the fishing community of Maharashtra. Exam tip: Lakshadweep has Kolkali, Parichakali and Lava; Koli belongs to Maharashtra.

The correct answer is A, 1896 INC session. Vande Mataram was first sung on a political occasion at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1896, and it was Rabindranath Tagore who set the tune and sang it there. The song had been written earlier by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Sanskritised Bengali and placed in his novel Anandamath, published in 1882. After the partition of Bengal in 1905 it became the cry of the Swadeshi movement, and the Constituent Assembly later gave it the status of the national song, to be honoured equally with the national anthem. B is wrong because the 1903 session came seven years after that first singing. C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1911 is remembered for the first singing of Jana Gana Mana. D is wrong because the 1900 session has no such first to its name. Exam tip: Vande Mataram was written in 1882 in Anandamath and first sung in 1896; Jana Gana Mana was first sung in 1911.

The correct answer is A, 1 to 12. The intensity of an earthquake is measured on the Modified Mercalli scale, whose grades run from I to XII. Intensity is not the same thing as magnitude: it records how strongly the shaking was felt at a particular place and how much damage it did, so it is judged from what people report and from the state of buildings, and it falls as you move away from the epicentre. Grade I is picked up only by instruments, grade VI cracks plaster and moves furniture, and grade XII means total destruction with the ground thrown into visible waves. Magnitude, by contrast, measures the energy released at the focus and is given as one number on the Richter scale. B is wrong because 1 to 7 is nearer the everyday span of Richter magnitudes. C is wrong because the Mercalli scale has no grade above XII. D is wrong because five grades cannot cover everything from barely felt to total ruin. Exam tip: Mercalli I to XII is damage felt; Richter is energy released.

The correct answer is D, Rajendra Chola I. He took the title Gangaikonda Chola, the one who won the Ganga, after his army marched north about 1022 CE, defeated the Pala ruler Mahipala and carried Ganga water back to the Tamil country. That water was poured into a great tank at his new capital, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, which he raised in place of Thanjavur and where he built a large Shiva temple in his father's style. He also sent a fleet against Srivijaya in South East Asia, a rare overseas campaign for an Indian ruler. A is wrong because Vijayalaya founded the dynasty by seizing Thanjavur in the ninth century. B is wrong because Gandaraditya is remembered for a Tamil devotional hymn, not for a northern march. C is wrong because Parantaka I fought the Rashtrakutas and was beaten at Takkolam. Exam tip: Rajendra I means Gangaikonda Chola, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the naval raid on Srivijaya.

The correct answer is D, Pala. The Palas ruled eastern India, that is Bengal and Bihar, so their capital was never in the south. The line was founded by Gopala around 750 CE, who was chosen by the chiefs of Bengal to end a long spell of disorder. Dharmapala and Devapala after him ruled from Pataliputra and Monghyr, and they built and endowed the great Buddhist monastery at Vikramashila, which drew students from Tibet. A is wrong because the Cholas ruled the Tamil country, with their capital first at Thanjavur and later at Gangaikonda Cholapuram. B is wrong because the Cheras held the Malabar coast of present-day Kerala and had their seat at Vanji, usually identified with Karur. C is wrong because the Pallavas ruled from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and gave India the shore temples of Mahabalipuram. Exam tip: Chola at Thanjavur, Chera at Vanji and Pallava at Kanchipuram are all southern; the Pala kingdom of Bengal and Bihar is the odd one out.

The correct answer is D, Jharkhand. Bhagta Parab is observed by the tribal communities of Jharkhand in the weeks between spring and summer, and it is dedicated to Budha Baba. Devotees called bhagtas fast, carry water from a tank to the shrine and take part in feats of endurance, and the Chhau dance of the Seraikela and Purulia tradition is performed through the nights of the festival. Sarhul, Karma and Sohrai belong to the same festival calendar of the state.

Option A, Mizoram, celebrates Chapchar Kut, Mim Kut and Pawl Kut. Option B, Maharashtra, is the state of Ganesh Chaturthi and of the Warli people. Option C, Madhya Pradesh, holds the Bhagoria Haat of the Bhil and Bhilala before Holi, which sounds close to Bhagta Parab and is the trap in this question. Bhagta Parab, however, is a Jharkhand festival.

The correct answer is A, Alamgir II. The Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757 between Robert Clive of the East India Company and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The Mughal emperor on the throne at Delhi in that year was Alamgir II, who ruled from 1754 to 1759 and was by then a powerless figure controlled by his nobles. Option B is wrong because Siraj-ud-Daulah was the Nawab of Bengal and the defeated party at Plassey, not the Mughal emperor. Option C is wrong because Mir Qasim, usually written Mir Qasim or Mir Kasim, was a later Nawab of Bengal who fought at Buxar in 1764 and never held the imperial throne. Option D is wrong because Shah Alam II became emperor in 1759, two years after Plassey, and it was he who lost Buxar and granted the diwani of Bengal to the Company in 1765.

The correct answer is D, Shipki La. The Sutlej rises from the Rakas lake near Mansarovar in Tibet, where it is called the Langchen Khambab, and enters India through the Shipki La pass in Himachal Pradesh before flowing on to join the Beas at Harike. Option A is wrong because Zoji La lies on the road from Srinagar to Kargil in Ladakh and carries no such river. Option B is wrong because Nathu La is a trade pass in Sikkim on the route to Tibet, in an entirely different part of the Himalaya. Option C is wrong because Lipulekh is a pass in Uttarakhand used by the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and by the Kali river valley, not by the Sutlej. The Sutlej also carries the Bhakra Nangal project, so link the river, the pass and the dam together when you revise.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. Kolathunadu, Valluvanad and Thekkumkoor were small medieval kingdoms, or swaroopams, of Kerala. Kolathunadu, ruled by the Kolathiri rajas, lay in north Malabar around present-day Kannur; Valluvanad spread over the Palakkad and Malappuram area and is remembered for the Mamankam festival at Tirunavaya; Thekkumkoor lay in the Kottayam region and was absorbed by Travancore under Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century. Before unification, Kerala was split among such chiefdoms along with Travancore, Cochin and Calicut, and the present state was formed on 1 November 1956 from Travancore-Cochin and the Malabar district of Madras. Option A is wrong because Karnataka's old kingdoms were the Kadambas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara. Option C is wrong because ancient Bihar was home to Magadha, Anga and Videha. Option D is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solankis of Anhilwada and the Chaulukyas. Exam tip: names ending in nadu or koor in this list point to the medieval chiefdoms of Kerala.

The correct answer is A, Reserve Bank of India. Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the RBI alone has the right to issue currency notes in the country, and it decides how many notes of each denomination are printed. The work is done at four presses, two run by the government company SPMCIL at Nashik and Dewas and two by the RBI's own subsidiary BRBNMPL at Mysuru and Salboni. Coins and the one rupee note are issued by the Government of India, though the RBI puts them into circulation. Option B is wrong because NABARD is the apex bank for agriculture and rural development and refinances rural lending. Option C is wrong because the State Bank of India is a commercial bank, the largest in the country, and only handles notes as a bank. Option D is wrong because ICICI Bank is a private commercial bank. Exam tip: the RBI issues all notes above one rupee, the central government issues coins and the one rupee note.

The correct answer is D, Iron oxide. Laterite soil is rich in oxides of iron and aluminium, and the iron oxide gives it its red brick colour. The soil develops in regions of high temperature and heavy seasonal rain, where water washes the lime, silica and plant nutrients down through the soil and leaves the insoluble iron and aluminium behind. This process is called leaching, and the name laterite comes from the Latin word for brick, since the hardened soil is cut into blocks for building. It is found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and the hills of Maharashtra. Option A is wrong because laterite soil is poor in phosphorus, nitrogen and humus and needs manure. Option B is wrong because calcium carbonate, or lime, is exactly what leaching removes, and it is instead plentiful in black and arid soils. Option C is wrong because potash too is washed away. Exam tip: leaching leaves iron and aluminium, so laterite is red and acidic.

The correct answer is C, Subhash Chandra Bose. Both slogans belong to Netaji and to the Azad Hind Fauj, the Indian National Army he led from 1943. He gave the call of Dilli Chalo to set the march on Delhi as the army's goal, and asked for blood in return for freedom in his famous appeal to Indians in South East Asia. He also gave the greeting Jai Hind, set up the Provisional Government of Free India at Singapore in October 1943, and formed the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of women soldiers. Option A is wrong because Gandhi's slogans were Quit India and Do or Die, given in 1942. Option B is wrong because Nehru is remembered for his Tryst with Destiny speech, not these slogans. Option D is wrong because Patel, the Iron Man of India, is linked to the Bardoli movement and the merger of the princely states. Exam tip: Dilli Chalo, Jai Hind and Give me blood all point to Subhash Chandra Bose.

The correct answer is B, Tropical Deciduous Forests. These are called monsoon forests because they grow where rainfall comes with the monsoon, between about 70 and 200 centimetres a year, and the trees shed their leaves for six to eight weeks in the dry season to save water. They are the most widespread forests of India, covering much of the northern plains, the Deccan plateau and the lower Himalayan slopes. The moist type, with over 100 centimetres of rain, gives teak, sal, shisham, sandalwood and bamboo, while the drier type gives teak, axlewood and bel. Option A is wrong because montane forests are the belts of oak, deodar, pine and fir that change with height in the mountains. Option C is wrong because tropical evergreen forests grow in very wet areas above 200 centimetres of rain and never shed all their leaves together. Option D is wrong because mangrove forests are tidal forests of deltas and coasts. Exam tip: monsoon forest means tropical deciduous, and sal and teak are its trees.

The correct answer is B, Article 32. Article 32 gives every person the right to move the Supreme Court directly when a fundamental right is violated, and it is itself a fundamental right. Under it the Court may issue five writs: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. Dr B. R. Ambedkar called Article 32 the heart and soul of the Constitution, because the rights in Part III would mean little without a way to enforce them. Article 226 gives High Courts a wider writ power, but that is not a fundamental right. Option A is wrong because Article 40 is a Directive Principle asking the state to organise village panchayats. Option C is wrong because Article 38 is a Directive Principle on securing a just social order. Option D is wrong because Article 36 only defines the word state for Part IV. Exam tip: Article 32 Supreme Court, Article 226 High Courts, and only 32 is a fundamental right.