SSC 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Krishna. The Musi rises in the Anantagiri hills of Telangana, flows through Hyderabad, and joins the Krishna in Nalgonda district, which is why the city's water supply and floods are tied to it. Option A is wrong because the main tributaries of the Kaveri are the Hemavati, the Kabini, the Bhavani, the Noyyal and the Amaravati. Option B is wrong because the Godavari receives the Indravati, the Manjra, the Purna, the Pranhita and the Wainganga, not the Musi. Option D is wrong because the Mahanadi, which rises in the highlands of Chhattisgarh and carries the Hirakud dam, is joined by the Seonath, the Hasdeo, the Jonk and the Tel. The Krishna's other tributaries are the Bhima, the Tungabhadra and the Ghatprabha, and the pair Hyderabad, Musi and Krishna is the quickest way to hold this fact.

The correct answer is C, 1336. Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, the sons of Sangama, founded the city and the empire of Vijayanagara in 1336 on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra, at the site now known as Hampi in Karnataka. Tradition links the foundation to the sage Vidyaranya of Sringeri, and the kingdom took Virupaksha as its tutelary deity. Option A is wrong because 1210 falls in the early Delhi Sultanate, the year Qutbuddin Aibak died, and no southern empire was founded then. Option B is wrong because 1315 belongs to the closing years of Alauddin Khalji, when Malik Kafur was raiding the far south; the Deccan then had no independent Hindu empire of this size. Option D is wrong because 1368 is a date after the foundation, by which time the Sangama rulers were already fighting the Bahmanis over the Raichur doab. Remember the pair 1336 for Vijayanagara and 1347 for the Bahmanis.

The correct answer is B, Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah. In 1347 the centurion nobles of Daulatabad, the Amiran-i-Sadah, rebelled against the Delhi Sultan and raised one of their own, Hasan Gangu, to the throne of the Deccan. He took the regnal name Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah and made Gulbarga, renamed Ahsanabad, his capital, and the dynasty he founded is called Bahmani after him. Option A is wrong because Mahmud Gawan was a Persian merchant who came to the Deccan more than a hundred years later and served as wazir under Muhammad Shah III; he was a minister, never a founder. Option C is wrong because Muhammad Shah I was Hasan Bahman Shah's son and successor, who organised the kingdom into four tarafs but inherited rather than created it. Option D is wrong because Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the Delhi Sultan against whom the Deccan nobles revolted; the Bahmani kingdom was carved out of his empire, not founded by him.

The correct answer is B. Self-reliance, the goal set out in India's early plans, means building the capacity to produce at home what the country would otherwise have to buy abroad, so the true indicator is that imports of such goods are avoided. It is a statement about reducing dependence, not about ending trade. Option A is wrong because rising imports of goods the country can itself make is the opposite of self-reliance and shows growing dependence. Option C is wrong because a country cannot export in quantity what it does not produce, and in any case exports are a sign of competitiveness rather than of self-reliance. Option D is wrong because avoiding exports of goods that can be produced at home wastes earning capacity; self-reliance was never meant to mean shutting out foreign markets. The policy that followed from this idea was import substitution.

The correct answer is B, external sector. The balance of payments is the statement that records every economic transaction between the residents of a country and the rest of the world in a given period, which is precisely what the external sector of an economy means; it covers merchandise trade, services, income, transfers and capital flows. Option A is wrong because the agriculture sector is a producing sector within the domestic economy and is measured through output and national income accounts, not through the balance of payments. Option C is wrong because the government sector is tracked through the budget and the fiscal deficit, which are internal accounts. Option D is wrong because the private sector is likewise a domestic classification, covering households and firms, and appears in savings and investment data. The other three are all parts of the internal economy, while only the external sector looks outward.

The correct answer is 62. Under Article 217(1), a judge of a High Court holds office until he or she attains the age of 62 years. The original Constitution set the age at 60; the 15th Amendment Act, 1963 raised it to 62. If a question arises about a judge's age, the President decides it after consulting the Chief Justice of India, and that decision is final.

The other options come from elsewhere. Sixty-five is the retirement age of Supreme Court judges, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer. Sixty was the retirement age for High Court judges before 1963. Fifty-six has no connection with judges at all. A judge of a High Court can also leave earlier by resigning to the President, being appointed to the Supreme Court, being transferred to another High Court, or being removed by the same process as a Supreme Court judge. The pair to remember remains Supreme Court 65, High Court 62.

The correct answer is Calcutta High Court. It was established on 1 July 1862 under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, which makes it the oldest High Court in India. The Bombay and Madras High Courts followed in August of the same year, so all three "chartered" High Courts date from 1862, but Calcutta came first.

The other options were all set up later. The Allahabad High Court was established in 1866, first at Agra, and moved to Allahabad (now Prayagraj) in 1869. The Karnataka High Court began as the Chief Court of Mysore in 1884. The Delhi High Court was set up in 1966. Today there are 25 High Courts, the newest being the Andhra Pradesh High Court, set up in 2019. A related question asks which High Court has the largest number of judges, and the answer there is Allahabad, so do not mix up "oldest" with "largest".

The correct answer is proven misbehaviour or incapacity. Under Article 124(4), a judge of the Supreme Court can be removed by an order of the President only after each House of Parliament, in the same session, presents an address supported by a majority of its total membership and by two-thirds of the members present and voting, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 sets out how the charges are investigated by a three-member committee before Parliament votes.

The other options are not grounds recognised by the Constitution. "Disrespect of the Constitution" sounds close to the ground for impeaching the President, which is "violation of the Constitution", and that is the trap. Murder charges or lack of knowledge would have to be established as misbehaviour or incapacity through the same process; they are not separate grounds. The strict process protects judicial independence: no judge of the Supreme Court has ever been removed, and the first motion, against Justice V. Ramaswami in 1993, failed.

The correct answer is B, hydrogen. Soil acidity is measured on the pH scale, and pH depends on the concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil water. The more hydrogen ions there are, the lower the pH and the more acidic the soil. A pH below 7 is acidic, 7 is neutral and above 7 is alkaline, and most crops grow best between about 6 and 7.5. Acidic soils are common in areas of heavy rainfall, where water washes away bases such as calcium and magnesium, and they are corrected by adding lime, that is calcium carbonate. Option A is wrong because phosphorus is a plant nutrient whose shortage stunts growth but does not define acidity. Option C is wrong because oxygen in soil pores affects aeration and root respiration, not pH. Option D is wrong because nitrogen is a nutrient taken up as nitrate or ammonium and acidity is still read from hydrogen ions. Exam tip: pH measures hydrogen ions, below 7 is acidic, and lime cures an acidic soil.

The correct answer is C, Glycogen. The carbohydrates in our food are broken down into glucose, and the glucose that the body does not need at once is stored as glycogen, a branched chain of glucose units kept mainly in the liver and the skeletal muscles. It is often called animal starch. When blood sugar falls, hormones such as glucagon and adrenaline make the liver break glycogen down and release glucose, which is why a fasting body can keep working for hours. Extra energy beyond what glycogen stores can hold is turned into fat. Option A is wrong because maltose is a double sugar formed while starch is being digested and it is not a store. Option B is wrong because glucose is the form that circulates in the blood and is used at once, not the stored form. Option D is wrong because starch is the storage carbohydrate of plants, not of animals. Exam tip: plants store starch, animals store glycogen in the liver and muscles.

The correct answer is A, 919. The final figures of Census 2011 put the child sex ratio, counted for the age group 0 to 6 years, at 919 females per 1000 males. This was the lowest child sex ratio recorded since independence and a fall from 927 in the 2001 census, even though the overall sex ratio improved in the same decade from 933 to 943. The gap points to sex selection before birth and to poorer care of girl children, which is why the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme focus on it. Haryana recorded the lowest child sex ratio among the states and Kerala the highest overall sex ratio at 1084. Option B, 909, is below any census figure for this group. Option C, 929, is close to the 2001 figure of 927 but not the 2011 one. Option D, 939, is nearer the overall sex ratio than the child figure. Exam tip: Census 2011 means overall sex ratio 943 and child sex ratio 919.

The correct answer is C, single-member body. Article 148 of the Constitution provides for one Comptroller and Auditor General of India, so the office is held by a single person and not by a panel. The President appoints him by warrant under his hand and seal, he holds office for six years or till the age of 65, whichever comes first, and he can be removed only in the same manner as a judge of the Supreme Court, which protects his independence. He audits the accounts of the Union and the states, and his reports are laid before Parliament or the state legislature, where the Public Accounts Committee examines them. Options A, B and D are wrong because the CAG has never been a two-member, three-member or six-member body; only one officer holds the post, helped by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. Exam tip: the CAG under Article 148 is a single-member office, while the Election Commission and the UPSC are multi-member bodies.

The correct answer is C, 1 - C, 2 - A, 3 - D, 4 - B. BALCO, the Bharat Aluminium Company, has its smelter at Korba in Chhattisgarh, where cheap thermal power and nearby bauxite made aluminium smelting possible. IISCO, the Indian Iron and Steel Company, works at Burnpur near Asansol in West Bengal, in the Damodar valley coal and iron belt. NFL, National Fertilizers Limited, runs its gas-based urea plant at Bhatinda in Punjab, close to the farm belt it supplies. ICF, the Integral Coach Factory, is at Perambur in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and has been building railway coaches since 1955. Option A is wrong because it pairs BALCO with Burnpur and IISCO with Chennai. Option B is wrong because it sends NFL to Chennai and ICF to Bhatinda. Option D is wrong because it places BALCO at Bhatinda and ICF at Korba. Exam tip: aluminium goes with Korba, steel with Burnpur, fertiliser with Bhatinda and coaches with Chennai.

The correct answer is B, Mughals. After Guru Gobind Singh died at Nanded in 1708, Banda Singh Bahadur led the Sikhs in revolt against Mughal rule in Punjab. He gathered peasants of the Malwa and Doaba tracts, sacked Samana and Sadhaura, and in 1710 won his best-known victory at Sirhind, where the governor Wazir Khan, held responsible for the killing of the Guru's young sons, was defeated and slain. Banda set up his base at Lohgarh, struck coins and issued orders in the name of the Gurus, and ended the zamindari system in the tracts he held by giving land to those who tilled it. He was besieged at Gurdaspur, captured in 1715 and put to death at Delhi in 1716 in the reign of Farrukhsiyar. Option A is wrong because the Gurkhas ruled Nepal and fought the British in 1814-16. Option C is wrong because British power reached Punjab only in 1849. Option D is wrong because the Marathas were never his target. Exam tip: 1708 Guru Gobind Singh, 1710 Sirhind, 1716 Banda's execution.

The correct answer is D, Santhal Revolt. The Santhal rebellion, called the Hool, was led by the brothers Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu. It broke out in 1855 in the Rajmahal hills of the Damin-i-Koh tract, in what is now Jharkhand, when Santhal peasants rose against moneylenders, zamindars, contractors and the police who had taken their land and pushed them into bonded debt. Thousands gathered at Bhagnadih, declared their own rule and marched on the plains; the British put the rising down by 1856 after heavy fighting, and Sidhu and Kanhu were killed. The government then created the separate Santhal Parganas district with special protective rules. Option A is wrong because the Bhil risings of Khandesh were led by Sewaram and later Govind Guru. Option B is wrong because the Khasi revolt in the Meghalaya hills was led by Tirot Sing. Option C is wrong because the Munda rebellion, the Ulgulan of 1899, was led by Birsa Munda. Exam tip: Hool 1855 means Sidhu and Kanhu; Ulgulan 1899 means Birsa Munda.

The correct answer is D, Ricky Kej. Ricky Kej won the Grammy for Best New Age Album at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 for Winds of Samsara, made with the South African flautist Wouter Kellerman. The album drew on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and reached the top of the Billboard New Age chart in the United States, the first Indian album to do so. Kej is a Bengaluru-based composer who works on environmental themes and is a UNICEF and UNESCO goodwill figure; he won a second Grammy in 2022 for Divine Tides, made with Stewart Copeland of The Police. Option A is wrong because Mano Murthy composes for Kannada cinema and has not won a Grammy. Option B is wrong because Raghu Dixit is a Bengaluru folk-rock singer with no Grammy. Option C is wrong because Subhashish Ghosh has no link with this album. Exam tip: Winds of Samsara means Ricky Kej with Wouter Kellerman, Grammy 2015; Divine Tides means Ricky Kej with Stewart Copeland.

The correct answer is D, 8(1). Section 8(1) of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 gave the Constituent Assembly of each new Dominion the powers of its legislature. The Act was passed by the British Parliament on 18 July 1947 and came into force on 15 August 1947. It divided British India into the two Dominions of India and Pakistan, ended British paramountcy over the princely states, and allowed the Constituent Assembly of each Dominion to work both as its ordinary law-making body and as the body framing its Constitution. India's Assembly, elected in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan, therefore became a sovereign body from 15 August 1947 and no longer needed British approval for its work. Option A is wrong because Section 6 deals with the law-making powers of the new Dominion legislatures. Option B is wrong because Section 10 continues the service conditions of officers of the Secretary of State's services. Option C is wrong because Section 12 deals with British forces stationed in India. Exam tip: Indian Independence Act 1947, Section 8 is the Constituent Assembly clause; the Act came into force on 15 August 1947.

The correct answer is C, Carotenoid. Carotenoids are the yellow, orange and red pigments inside the chloroplast that absorb sunlight and hand the energy on to chlorophyll, so they are the only choice here that traps light for photosynthesis. They come in two groups, the carotenes and the xanthophylls, and they also protect chlorophyll from damage by strong light. Because they lie hidden under the green of chlorophyll, they become visible in autumn leaves, in carrots and in ripe tomatoes. Option A is wrong because cristae are the folds of the inner membrane of the mitochondrion and belong to respiration, not photosynthesis. Option B is wrong because amyloplasts are colourless plastids that only store starch and have no pigment to absorb light. Option D is wrong because the vacuole is a sap filled sac that stores water and waste and keeps the cell firm. Exam tip: chlorophyll is the main photosynthetic pigment and carotenoids are the accessory pigments.

The correct answer is C, Neither I nor II, because both pairs are the wrong way round. Iron is a micronutrient, needed by plants only in very small amounts, and calcium is a macronutrient, needed in large amounts. Macronutrients are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur, while the micronutrients are iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, chlorine and nickel. Iron works in chlorophyll formation and in the electron carriers of photosynthesis, so a shortage shows as yellowing between the veins of young leaves. Calcium builds calcium pectate in the middle lamella of the cell wall and holds cells together. A is wrong because the first pair calls iron a macronutrient. D is wrong because the second pair calls calcium a micronutrient. B is wrong because neither pair is correct. Exam tip: remember the nine macronutrients; anything outside that list is a micronutrient.

The correct answer is D, 16.68 percent. In the Census of 2011 the male literacy rate was 82.14 per cent and the female literacy rate was 65.46 per cent, so the gap between them was 16.68 percentage points. Overall literacy stood at 74.04 per cent. The gap had been more than twenty one points in 2001, so it narrowed over the decade because female literacy rose faster than male literacy. Kerala had the highest literacy at 93.91 per cent and Bihar the lowest at 61.80 per cent, while the union territory of Lakshadweep stood second after Kerala. A, B and C are wrong because 14.96, 15.23 and 17.98 do not match the difference between the two published figures. Exam tip: Census 2011 literacy, total 74.04, male 82.14, female 65.46, gap 16.68, Kerala highest and Bihar lowest.