SSC 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, 1856. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in February 1856, in the last month of his term as Governor General. He did not use the Doctrine of Lapse here, because the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had heirs; instead the British said the province was badly governed and took it over under the terms of the subsidiary alliance treaty of 1801. Wajid Ali Shah was pensioned off to Calcutta. The annexation angered the taluqdars who lost their estates and the sepoys of the Bengal Army, many of whom came from Awadh and lost the privileges they had enjoyed there, which is why Awadh became a centre of the revolt the very next year. A is wrong because 1857 is the year of the revolt itself. B and C are wrong because 1855 and 1858 fall on either side of the annexation. Exam tip: Awadh 1856, misgovernment not lapse, Wajid Ali Shah.

The correct answer is B, Lala Lajpat Rai. The All India Trade Union Congress was formed in Bombay in October 1920 and Lala Lajpat Rai was elected its first President, with Dewan Chaman Lall as the first General Secretary. The body was set up partly so that India could send worker delegates to the International Labour Organisation, which had come up in 1919, and it became the first central trade union organisation in the country. Lajpat Rai, one of the Lal Bal Pal trio, linked the cause of labour with the national movement and died in 1928 after a lathi charge during the protest against the Simon Commission. A is wrong because C Rajagopalachari presided over the AITUC much later, not at its founding. C is wrong because Chandra Shekhar Azad was a revolutionary, not a trade union leader. D is wrong because Motilal Nehru led the Swaraj Party. Exam tip: AITUC 1920, Lala Lajpat Rai President, Dewan Chaman Lall Secretary.

The correct answer is A, Humayun Shah. Mahmud Gawan, a Persian trader and scholar who came to the Bahmani court in 1453, was given the title Malik ut Tujjar, meaning Chief of the Merchants, by Sultan Humayun Shah, who ruled from 1458 to 1461. Gawan later became the wazir and ran the kingdom for nearly twenty years, dividing it into eight provinces to curb the power of the governors, reforming the revenue survey and building the famous madrasa at Bidar. The nobles who lost by his reforms forged a letter against him and he was executed in 1481. B is wrong because Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah founded the kingdom in 1347, long before Gawan arrived. C is wrong because Muhammad Shah III was the ruler under whom Gawan served as wazir, not the one who gave him this title. D is wrong because Feroz Shah Bahmani ruled earlier, from 1397 to 1422. Exam tip: Gawan, Malik ut Tujjar, Bidar madrasa, executed 1481.

The correct answer is A, Article 85. Article 85 of the Constitution deals with the sessions of Parliament, its prorogation and the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. It requires the President to summon each House so that not more than six months pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next, which is why Parliament must meet at least twice a year, though in practice it holds three sessions, budget, monsoon and winter. B is wrong because Article 89 deals with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. C is wrong because Article 90 covers the vacation and resignation of the office of Deputy Chairman. D is wrong because Article 101 deals with the vacation of seats by members, including the rule about being absent for sixty days. Exam tip: Article 85 summons, prorogation and dissolution, with the six month gap rule between two sessions.

The correct answer is D, Chandela Dynasty. The Khajuraho temples in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh were built between about 950 and 1050 CE by the Chandela rulers of Bundelkhand, among them Yashovarman, who built the Lakshmana temple, and Dhanga and Vidyadhara, under whom the large Kandariya Mahadeva temple came up. About twenty five of the original eighty five temples survive, built in the Nagara style on high platforms with rising spires and famous carved figures, and the group has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. A is wrong because the Gurjara Pratiharas ruled from Kannauj and are linked with temples at Osian. B is wrong because the Rashtrakutas built the rock cut Kailasa temple at Ellora. C is wrong because the Palas of Bengal and Bihar built Buddhist monasteries such as Vikramshila. Exam tip: Khajuraho, Chandelas, Nagara style, Madhya Pradesh, World Heritage Site 1986.

The correct answer is A, MS Subbulakshmi. M S Subbulakshmi, the Carnatic vocalist from Madurai, received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1974 in the category of public service, the first Indian musician to be honoured by that award. She was also the first musician to be given the Bharat Ratna, in 1998, and she is remembered for singing at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 and for the Suprabhatam and Bhaja Govindam recordings heard in homes every morning. The Magsaysay Award, named after a President of the Philippines, is often called Asia's Nobel Prize. B is wrong because Zakir Hussain, the tabla player, has not been given this award. C is wrong because Bhimsen Joshi received the Bharat Ratna in 2008 but not the Magsaysay. D is wrong because Bismillah Khan, the shehnai player, received the Bharat Ratna in 2001. Exam tip: Subbulakshmi, Magsaysay 1974, Bharat Ratna 1998, first musician for both.

The correct answer is B, Sarangi. Ustad Sultan Khan was one of the best known sarangi players of recent times. He belonged to the Sikar gharana of Rajasthan, learnt from his father Ustad Gulab Khan, and played the instrument both in classical concerts and in film music, where his voice and bow were heard in songs such as Albela Sajan and Piya Basanti. He was a founder member of the group Tabla Beat Science with Zakir Hussain and was given the Padma Bhushan. The sarangi is a short necked bowed instrument whose sound is said to come closest to the human voice, which is why it long accompanied vocalists. A is wrong because drums are struck, not bowed, and no drum tradition names him. C is wrong because the tabla is linked with players such as Zakir Hussain and Alla Rakha. D is wrong because the flute is linked with Hariprasad Chaurasia. Exam tip: sarangi, Sultan Khan, closest to the human voice.

The correct answer is A, Lysosome. The lysosome is a small sac bound by a single membrane that is filled with digestive enzymes, so it breaks down food particles taken into the cell and clears out worn out parts of the cell itself. Because it can digest the whole cell when the membrane bursts, for example when the cell is injured or starving, it is often called the suicide bag of the cell, a name given by Christian de Duve, who discovered it. Its enzymes work best in an acidic setting, which the lysosome keeps inside itself. B is wrong because peroxisomes handle oxidation reactions and break down hydrogen peroxide rather than acting as the digestive system. C is wrong because glyoxysomes are found in fatty plant seeds and convert stored fat into sugar. D is wrong because a polysome is only a group of ribosomes reading one mRNA strand. Exam tip: lysosome, single membrane, suicide bag, de Duve.

The correct answer is B, 1999. Pandit Ravi Shankar received the Bharat Ratna in 1999, along with Amartya Sen and Gopinath Bordoloi. He was the sitar player who carried Hindustani classical music to concert halls abroad, worked with the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and taught George Harrison of the Beatles, and he played at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. He had already been given the Padma Bhushan in 1967 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1981, so the Bharat Ratna was the last of the three. A is wrong because 1998 was the year of the awards to M S Subbulakshmi and C Subramaniam. C is wrong because no Bharat Ratna was conferred in 1996. D is wrong because the 1995 conferment does not include him. Exam tip: Ravi Shankar, sitar, Bharat Ratna 1999, in the same year as economist Amartya Sen.

The correct answer is C, Odissi. Laxmipriya Mohapatra was an Odissi dancer from Odisha and one of the first women to perform the form on stage in its modern revival. She trained under the Gotipua tradition and later worked with her husband Kelucharan Mohapatra, the guru who shaped much of today's Odissi repertoire, helping to build the style's stage grammar in the 1950s and 1960s. She was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for her work. Odissi grew out of the temple dance of the Jagannath shrine at Puri and is known for the tribhanga stance and soft, sculpture-like poses. A is wrong because Sattriya is the dance of the Vaishnava monasteries of Assam. B is wrong because Kathakali is the masked dance-drama of Kerala. D is wrong because Kuchipudi belongs to Andhra Pradesh and began as a village dance-drama. Exam tip: Odissi, Odisha, tribhanga, and the Mohapatra family of dancers.

The correct answer is A, ₹2,000. Section 141 of the Electricity Act, 2003 deals with the extinguishing of public lamps and says that whoever maliciously puts out a public lamp shall be punished with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. The Act replaced the earlier laws of 1910, 1948 and 1998 and brought the generation, transmission, distribution and trading of electricity under one statute; its neighbouring sections cover offences such as theft of electricity under Section 135 and damage to electrical works. The amount here is a ceiling, so a court may impose less. B is wrong because three thousand rupees is not the limit fixed by this section. C is wrong because the section makes no mention of two thousand five hundred rupees. D is wrong because five thousand rupees is higher than the maximum the section allows. Exam tip: Electricity Act, 2003 - Section 135 theft of electricity, Section 141 extinguishing public lamps with a fine up to ₹2,000.

The correct answer is C, 1989. The Election Commission of India became a multi-member body for the first time on 16 October 1989, when two Election Commissioners were appointed alongside the Chief Election Commissioner just before the general election of that year. Article 324 leaves the number of Election Commissioners to the President, so the size of the Commission can be changed. The two posts were abolished in January 1990 and the Commission went back to being a single-member body; it was made multi-member again on 1 October 1993 and has remained a three-member body since. All members have equal say and matters are decided by majority. A is wrong because in 1995 the Supreme Court only upheld the multi-member structure that already existed. B is wrong because in 1985 the Commission was still headed by the Chief Election Commissioner alone. D is wrong because 1994 brought no change in the Commission's composition. Exam tip: multi-member first on 16 October 1989, single-member again in 1990, three-member since 1 October 1993.

The correct answer is B, London dispersion forces. These are the weak attractions that appear when the electron cloud of an atom becomes momentarily lopsided, creating a temporary dipole which then induces a matching dipole in a neighbouring atom. Named after Fritz London, they are the weakest of the van der Waals forces and fall away very sharply with distance, so they count only over a few hundred picometres. They exist between all atoms and molecules and are the only forces holding non-polar substances such as helium, argon and methane together, which is why such gases liquefy only at very low temperatures. Their strength grows as the electron cloud gets larger. A is wrong because dipole-dipole forces act between molecules that already carry permanent dipoles. C is wrong because dipole-induced dipole forces need one permanent dipole to begin with. D is wrong because a hydrogen bond is a far stronger attraction, formed where hydrogen is bonded to nitrogen, oxygen or fluorine. Exam tip: strength order - hydrogen bond, then dipole-dipole, then London dispersion.

The correct answer is B, Article 213. Article 213 gives the Governor the power to promulgate an ordinance when the state legislature is not in session and he or she is satisfied that circumstances make immediate action necessary. An ordinance has the same force as an Act of the legislature, but it must be laid before the House when it reassembles and ceases to operate six weeks from that date unless it is approved earlier; the Governor may also withdraw it at any time. For a bill that would have needed the President's previous sanction, the Governor must take the President's instructions before issuing the ordinance. A is wrong because Article 200 deals with the Governor's assent to bills passed by the state legislature. C is wrong because Article 161 gives the Governor the power to grant pardons and remit sentences. D is wrong because Article 167 lays down the Chief Minister's duty to furnish information to the Governor. Exam tip: ordinance power - President under Article 123, Governor under Article 213.

The correct answer is D, 1761. The British East India Company captured Pondicherry from the French in 1761, during the Third Carnatic War, after Sir Eyre Coote had broken French power in the south at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760. The town was handed back to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, but the French were forbidden to fortify it or keep troops there, so it survived only as a trading settlement and the contest for India was settled in Britain's favour. Pondicherry stayed with France until it was transferred to India in 1954. A is wrong because 1674 is the year the French East India Company set up Pondicherry under Francois Martin. B is wrong because no such capture took place in 1699. C is wrong because 1738 falls before the Carnatic Wars began in 1746. Exam tip: Battle of Wandiwash 1760, Pondicherry captured 1761, returned by the Treaty of Paris 1763, merged with India 1954.

The correct answer is C, Intercellular spaces are present. Permanent tissues are made of cells that have stopped dividing and have taken on a fixed shape, size and function, and in simple permanent tissues such as parenchyma the loosely packed cells leave clear intercellular spaces through which gases can move. Permanent tissue is formed when cells produced by meristematic tissue undergo differentiation; the simple kinds are parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma, while xylem and phloem are the complex kinds. Such cells are usually large, with a big central vacuole and a thin lining of cytoplasm. A is wrong because repeated division is the mark of meristematic tissue, not of permanent tissue. B is wrong because permanent cells often hold inorganic inclusions such as crystals of calcium oxalate. D is wrong because large vacuoles are typical of permanent cells, while it is meristematic cells that lack them. Exam tip: meristematic - small cells, dense cytoplasm, no vacuole, no intercellular spaces; permanent tissue is the opposite on every count.

The correct answer is D, He/She should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, because that is the one statement which is not correct. Article 66(3) of the Constitution says a person may be elected Vice-President only if he or she is a citizen of India, has completed 35 years of age and is qualified for election as a member of the Council of States, that is the Rajya Sabha. The qualification is tied to the Upper House because the Vice-President is the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. A is not the answer because citizenship of India is indeed a required condition. B is not the answer because 35 years is the correct minimum age laid down in the same clause. C is not the answer because the bar on holding any office of profit under the Union, a state or a local authority is also a genuine condition. Exam tip: President - qualified for election to the Lok Sabha; Vice-President - qualified for election to the Rajya Sabha; both must be 35.

The correct answer is C, Loo - Hot wind. The Loo is the strong, dry and very hot wind that blows over the plains of north and north-west India during the day in May and June. It moves from the west towards the east across Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, often pushing afternoon temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius, and long exposure to it can cause heat stroke. It dies down once the monsoon arrives in late June. A is wrong because Kaal Baisakhi is not an autumn wind; it is the violent evening thunderstorm of April and May in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam that brings sudden rain and squalls. B is wrong because trade winds are the steady tropical winds blowing from the subtropical high pressure belts towards the equator, not winter snow storms. D is wrong because the Loo is a summer wind, not a winter stormy wind. Exam tip: Loo - hot summer wind of the northern plains; Kaal Baisakhi - pre-monsoon thunderstorm of eastern India; mango showers - pre-monsoon rain of Kerala and Karnataka.

The correct answer is C, 73. The Qutub Minar in Mehrauli, Delhi, rises to about 72.5 metres, which is taken as 73 metres in answer keys. It is the tallest brick minaret of its kind, tapering from a base diameter of roughly 14.3 metres to about 2.7 metres at the top, and it is climbed inside by a spiral staircase of around 379 steps. Qutb-ud-din Aibak began it, Iltutmish added storeys, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq repaired the upper part after lightning damage, which is why the material changes from red sandstone below to marble and sandstone above.

Options A, B and D give 75, 77 and 71 metres. All three are near misses put there to test whether the figure has been memorised rather than guessed. Examiners like this monument because it also carries the Iron Pillar of Delhi in the same complex, along with the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and the Alai Darwaza.

The correct answer is B, Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Unfinished, published in 2021, is her memoir, written in English, and it recounts her school years in India and the United States, her win at a beauty pageant and her move from Hindi films to work abroad. The title itself signals a life the writer regards as still in progress.

Option A, Alia Bhatt, has not written a memoir, and no such book stands in her name. Option C, Deepika Padukone, is likewise not an author, though she is often placed in these options because she belongs to the same set of leading actors. Option D, Katrina Kaif, has also written no memoir. In a question of this kind only one of the four names has actually published a book, and here the book and the name are tied by the word Unfinished.