SSC 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Sahyadri Range. The Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Satara district of Maharashtra, at about 1,337 metres in the Sahyadri, which is the local name of the Western Ghats. It is the second longest peninsular river after the Godavari, about 1,400 km long, and flows east through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Bay of Bengal near Vijayawada. Its main tributaries are the Bhima, Tungabhadra, Koyna, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Musi, and the Almatti, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams stand on it. Option A is wrong because the Satpura range is the source of the Tapi, which rises at Multai. Option C is wrong because the Vindhya range feeds northward rivers like the Betwa and Ken, not the Krishna. Option D is wrong because the Eastern Ghats are where the Krishna ends its journey, not where it begins. Exam tip: three great east-flowing rivers rise in the Western Ghats, Godavari at Trimbakeshwar, Krishna at Mahabaleshwar, Kaveri at Talakaveri.

The correct answer is D, Olympic Council of Asia. ASIAD is the short name for the Asian Games, the continent's multi-sport event held every four years, and it is run by the Olympic Council of Asia, OCA, headquartered in Kuwait City. The OCA was formed in 1982, taking over from the Asian Games Federation that had organised the Games since the first edition in New Delhi in 1951; New Delhi hosted again in 1982, the year Appu the elephant became the mascot. The Games are recognised by the International Olympic Committee, but the day-to-day regulation is the OCA's job. A, International Olympic Council, is a distorted name for the International Olympic Committee, which runs the Olympic Games, not the Asian Games. B, the Commonwealth Games Federation, governs the Commonwealth Games. C, Indian Olympic Council, points to the Indian Olympic Association, India's national body, which only sends the Indian team. Exam tip: Asian Games = OCA, Kuwait; first held 1951 in New Delhi; motto "Ever Onward".

The correct answer is A, 1982. The Ramsar Convention came into force for India on 1 February 1982, the date on which India's accession took effect. The treaty itself was signed on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, and came into force internationally in 1975; 2 February is therefore observed as World Wetlands Day. It is the only global convention devoted to one type of ecosystem, and sites listed under it are called Ramsar sites or Wetlands of International Importance. India's first two, Chilika Lake in Odisha and Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, were designated on 1 October 1981, just before the convention took effect for the country. So keep three years apart: 1971 signed, 1975 in force worldwide, 1982 in force for India. B, 1980, is the year of the Forest (Conservation) Act, not Ramsar. C, 1989, and D, 1990, have no link with the convention in India. Exam tip: Ramsar 1971, wetlands, Iran; India joined 1982; Chilika and Keoladeo were first.

The correct answer is C, 82. Lead has 82 protons in its nucleus, so its atomic number is 82. Its symbol is Pb, from the Latin plumbum, the root of the word "plumber", because Roman water pipes were made of lead. It sits in group 14 and period 6 of the periodic table, below carbon, silicon, germanium and tin, and it is the heaviest element that has stable isotopes; the decay chains of uranium and thorium end at lead. Lead is soft, dense and poisonous, which is why it has been removed from petrol and paint, and it is used in car batteries and radiation shields. The four options are neighbours in the table, so the exam is testing the exact number. A, 81, is thallium (Tl). B, 78, is platinum (Pt). D, 79, is gold (Au). Exam tip: the run of heavy metals goes 78 platinum, 79 gold, 80 mercury, 81 thallium, 82 lead.

The correct answer is A, M1 and M2. The Reserve Bank of India measures money supply in four grades, M1 to M4, in decreasing order of liquidity. M1 is currency with the public plus demand deposits of banks plus other deposits with the RBI, and M2 is M1 plus savings deposits with post offices. Both consist of money that can be spent at once, so they are called narrow money. M3 adds the time deposits of banks to M1, and M4 adds all post office deposits to M3; these two are broad money because they include savings locked for a period. M3 is the measure the RBI usually quotes as "money supply". B, M2 and M4, mixes a narrow and a broad measure. C, M3 and M2, does the same in the other order. D, M1 and M4, pairs the narrowest with the broadest. Exam tip: M1, M2 narrow; M3, M4 broad; M3 is the headline figure.

The correct answer is B, 1934. Gandhi formally withdrew the Civil Disobedience Movement in April 1934, after it had lost momentum under heavy repression. The movement had begun on 12 March 1930 with the Dandi March and the breaking of the salt law on 6 April 1930. It was suspended after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931, when Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London. The conference failed, Gandhi was arrested on his return, and the movement was restarted in January 1932, but by 1934 most leaders were in jail and it was called off. So the movement has three dates to keep apart: 1930 launch, 1931 pause, 1934 end. A, 1917, is the year of the Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhi's first movement in India. C, 1923, is when the Swaraj Party was formed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru. D, 1943, is the year Subhas Chandra Bose set up the Azad Hind Government in Singapore. Exam tip: Civil Disobedience 1930 to 1934, with the 1931 pact in between.

The correct answer is D, Kashmir. Lalitaditya Muktapida was the most powerful king of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir in the eighth century, ruling roughly from 724 to 760 CE. He is remembered for building the Martand Sun Temple near Anantnag, whose ruins still stand, and for founding the town of Parihaspora as his capital. Almost everything we know about him comes from Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the twelfth-century Sanskrit chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, which credits him with campaigns against Yashovarman of Kannauj and with wide conquests. The words Karkota, Martand and Rajatarangini all point to Kashmir, so any one of them settles the question. A, Gujarat, was ruled at that time by the Maitrakas of Valabhi and later the Chaulukyas. B, Sikkim, had no such king; its Namgyal kingdom began only in 1642. C, Kerala, was under the Cheras and never had a Karkota ruler. Exam tip: Lalitaditya, Karkota, Martand temple, Rajatarangini all mean Kashmir.

The correct answer is A, Alauddin Khalji – Jalaluddin Khalji. Jalaluddin Khalji founded the Khalji dynasty in 1290, and in 1296 his nephew and son-in-law Alauddin had him killed at Kara and took the throne. Alauddin then ruled till 1316, fixed market prices, kept a large standing army and sent Malik Kafur into the Deccan. In the pair, the first name is the ruler and the second is the person who ruled just before him, so you only need to check who came first. B is wrong because Balban came after Iltutmish: Iltutmish ruled from 1211 to 1236 and Balban from 1266 to 1287. C is wrong because Firuz Shah Tughluq succeeded Muhammad Tughluq in 1351, so he is the successor, not the predecessor. D is wrong for the same reason in reverse: Ghiyasuddin Tughluq founded the dynasty in 1320 and Muhammad Tughluq followed him in 1324. Exam tip: Jalaluddin to Alauddin 1296, Ghiyasuddin to Muhammad 1324, Muhammad to Firuz 1351.

The correct answer is D, Rajput dynasties, Khalji dynasty, Tughluq dynasty. This is the only option in which every dynasty comes after the one before it. The full order of the rulers of Delhi, as the NCERT table gives it, is: Rajput dynasties, the Tomaras and the Chauhans, in the early twelfth century; Early Turkish Rulers from 1206 to 1290, starting with Qutbuddin Aibak; the Khalji dynasty from 1290 to 1320; the Tughluq dynasty from 1320 to 1414; the Sayyid dynasty from 1414 to 1451; and the Lodi dynasty from 1451 to 1526, ending with Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat. A is wrong because the Sayyids ruled before the Lodis, not after. B is wrong because the Khaljis came before the Tughluqs. C is wrong because the Rajput rulers of Delhi came before the Turkish rulers, not after. Exam tip: remember the chain Rajput, Turk (Slave), Khalji, Tughluq, Sayyid, Lodi with the years 1206, 1290, 1320, 1414, 1451, 1526.

The correct answer is Article 25 to Article 28. The Right to Freedom of Religion has four Articles: Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion; Article 26 lets every religious denomination manage its own religious affairs; Article 27 says no one can be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion of a particular religion; and Article 28 bars religious instruction in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds.

Each wrong option is another group of Fundamental Rights: Articles 14 to 18 are the Right to Equality, Articles 19 to 22 the Right to Freedom, and Articles 29 and 30 the Cultural and Educational Rights. So this question really tests whether you know where each group begins and ends. If you remember the six starting points, 14, 19, 23, 25, 29 and 32, you can answer every question of this kind. Note too that these Articles were in the Constitution from 1950, long before the word "secular" was added to the Preamble in 1976.

The correct answer is 14. Article 24 says that no child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. Together with Article 23, which bans human trafficking and forced labour, it forms the Right against Exploitation.

The number 14 links several parts of the Constitution, so it is worth tying them together. Article 21A guarantees free and compulsory education from six to fourteen, Article 45 now covers early childhood care below six, and Article 51A(k) makes it a duty of parents to educate children between six and fourteen. Parliament has gone further than Article 24 through the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986: after its 2016 amendment it bars children below 14 from almost all work, with narrow exceptions such as helping a family business after school hours, and bars adolescents aged 14 to 18 from hazardous work. Of the wrong options, 18 tempts the most because it is the age of majority and, since the 61st Amendment of 1988, the voting age.

The correct answer is 6. Article 19(1) gives every citizen six freedoms: speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations, unions or co-operative societies; to move freely throughout India; to reside and settle in any part of India; and to practise any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business. There were seven when the Constitution began. The seventh, clause (f), the freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property, was deleted by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978.

The 97th Amendment Act, 2011 added the words "co-operative societies" to clause (c), but that widened an existing freedom rather than creating a new one, so the count is still six. These freedoms belong only to citizens, and none of them is absolute: clauses (2) to (6) of Article 19 let the State impose reasonable restrictions. The wrong options are borrowed from nearby numbers in this topic, Article 13, Article 30 and the 44th Amendment, which is exactly why they look familiar and tempt you.

The correct answer is France. The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble were taken from France, where they were the watchwords of the French Revolution. France is also the source of the idea of a republic.

The other options gave India different features. The United Kingdom is the source of parliamentary government, the rule of law, the cabinet system and single citizenship. Canada gave the idea of a federation with a strong Centre and residuary powers vested in the Centre. Ireland gave the Directive Principles of State Policy and the method of electing the President. The ideal of justice in the Preamble, the fourth of its objectives, has a different source again: the Russian Revolution. So of the four objectives, three (liberty, equality and fraternity) trace to France and one (justice) traces to the former USSR, a split that examiners like to test.

The correct answer is Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946, and the Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947. The resolution set out what the Constitution was meant to achieve: an independent, sovereign republic in which all people would have justice, equality and freedom, with safeguards for minorities and backward classes. Those ideas were later shaped into the Preamble.

Dr Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Assembly and presided over its debates; he did not move this resolution. J.B. Kripalani chaired the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee. Dr B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee, which was set up only on 29 August 1947, months after the resolution had been adopted. A tidy way to remember the order: Nehru stated the objectives first, and Ambedkar's committee turned them into a draft later.