SSC 2023 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Gir Forest. Gir in Gujarat is a national park and wildlife sanctuary, famous as the only home of the Asiatic lion, but it has never been declared a biosphere reserve. A biosphere reserve is a much larger area, notified under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme, with a protected core zone, a buffer zone and a transition zone where people live and work. India's list began with the Nilgiri in 1986, and Panna in Madhya Pradesh, added in 2011, was the eighteenth. A is wrong because the Cold Desert biosphere reserve was set up in 2009 in the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh. B is wrong because the Sunderbans in West Bengal, home of the Royal Bengal tiger and the mangroves, became a biosphere reserve in 1989 and is on the UNESCO world network. D is wrong because the Nilgiri biosphere reserve, spread over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, was India's first, declared in 1986. Exam tip: Nilgiri first (1986), Sunderbans 1989, Cold Desert 2009; Gir = lions, national park, not a biosphere reserve.

The correct answer is A, 1st April of a year to 31st March of the next upcoming year. In India the fiscal or financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March, so the year that starts on 1 April 2025 is written as 2025-26. The Union Budget, the government's accounts, income tax and company accounts all follow this period. India inherited this April to March cycle from British practice in 1867; before that the government year ran from May to April. The Union Budget is presented on 1 February so that the new year can start on 1 April with the money already approved. B is wrong because a year cannot be only nine months long. C is wrong because January to December is the calendar year, used by some countries but not for India's public finances. D is wrong because it describes a two-year span, which no fiscal year covers. Exam tip: fiscal year 1 April to 31 March; Budget on 1 February; the assessment year follows the financial year.

The correct answer is D, Manipur. Nepal touches five Indian states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim. Manipur lies far to the east in the North-East and shares its international border only with Myanmar. Bihar has the longest border with Nepal, and the India-Nepal border is an open border of about 1,750 km along which people move without a visa. Two easy memory hooks: the Kali river separates Uttarakhand from Nepal, and the Siliguri corridor of West Bengal lies between Nepal and Bangladesh. A is wrong because Sikkim lies between Nepal and Bhutan and shares its western border with Nepal. B is wrong because Bihar has the longest boundary with Nepal among all states. C is wrong because the Darjeeling district of West Bengal borders eastern Nepal. Exam tip: Nepal's five neighbours are Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim; Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal touch Myanmar.

The correct answer is A, Dhondo Keshav Karve. Maharshi Karve, a social reformer from Maharashtra, founded India's first women's university at Pune in 1916, inspired by the Japan Women's University. In 1920 the industrialist Sir Vithaldas Thackersey donated fifteen lakh rupees, and the university was renamed after his mother as Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University; it later moved to Mumbai. Karve had earlier married a widow in 1893, started the Widow Remarriage Association and, in 1896, a home and school for widows at Hingne near Pune. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1958, in his hundredth year. B is wrong because Ashutosh Mukherjee was the famous Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, known as the 'Tiger of Bengal'. C is wrong because William Hunter headed the Hunter Commission of 1882 on education. D is wrong because Sayed Ahmed Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Aligarh Muslim University. Exam tip: first women's university, Pune 1916, D.K. Karve, later SNDT; Bharat Ratna 1958.

The correct answer is D, Part IV. The Directive Principles of State Policy are placed in Part IV of the Constitution, from Article 36 to Article 51. They are instructions to the government to build a welfare state, such as equal pay for equal work, free legal aid, village panchayats, a uniform civil code and protection of the environment. The idea was borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland, which in turn took it from Spain. Unlike Fundamental Rights they cannot be enforced in a court, but Article 37 makes them fundamental in the governance of the country. A is wrong because Part II, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship. B is wrong because Part III, Articles 12 to 35, contains the Fundamental Rights. C is wrong because Part I, Articles 1 to 4, deals with the Union and its territory. Exam tip: Part III = Fundamental Rights (12 to 35), Part IV = Directive Principles (36 to 51), Part IVA = Fundamental Duties (51A).

The correct answer is D, three. Raja Parba is Odisha's three-day festival of womanhood held in mid-June, when the sun enters Mithuna (Gemini). The three days are Pahili Raja, Raja Sankranti or Mithuna Sankranti, and Basi Raja, and a ritual bath of Mother Earth, Vasumati Snana, closes it on the fourth morning. The word Raja comes from 'rajaswala', a menstruating woman: Bhudevi, Mother Earth, is believed to menstruate during these days, so no ploughing or digging is done, and unmarried girls rest, wear new clothes, play on rope swings and eat poda pitha. It marks the onset of the monsoon and the coming farming season. Option A is wrong because five is not the count of Raja days; the festival is not a five-day affair. Option B is wrong because six days belong to no Raja tradition. Option C is wrong because the fourth day, Vasumati Snana, is only a closing bath and the festival itself is counted as three days. Exam tip: Raja Parba = Odisha, three days, Mithuna Sankranti in June, swings and poda pitha.

The correct answer is A, Cold Desert. The Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve in the Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh was notified in 2009 as India's 16th biosphere reserve. It covers the Pin Valley National Park, the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary and the high-altitude wetlands of Chandratal and Sarchu, a trans-Himalayan landscape above 3,000 metres that gets very little rain. Its wildlife includes the snow leopard, Himalayan ibex, red fox, blue rock pigeon and the lammergeier or bearded vulture, the bird that drops bones from a height to eat the marrow. Option B is wrong because Seshachalam, in Andhra Pradesh and famous for red sanders, followed in 2010 as the 17th reserve. Option C is wrong because Agasthyamalai, on the Kerala and Tamil Nadu border, was notified in 2001. Option D is wrong because Dehang-Debang in Arunachal Pradesh dates from 1998. Exam tip: the sequence at the end of the list is Cold Desert 2009 (16th), Seshachalam 2010 (17th), Panna 2011 (18th); the first was Nilgiri in 1986.

The correct answer is D, Uttar Pradesh. Prathama Bank, the first Regional Rural Bank of India, opened on 2 October 1975 with its head office at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, sponsored by Syndicate Bank. It was one of the first five RRBs set up that day under an ordinance that became the Regional Rural Banks Act 1976, following the recommendation of the Narasimham working group of 1975. Their capital is shared 50 per cent by the Central Government, 15 per cent by the State Government and 35 per cent by the sponsor bank; they are regulated by the RBI and supervised by NABARD. Option A is wrong because Prathama Bank never sat in Rajasthan; that state's first RRB was the Jaipur-Nagaur Anchalik Gramin Bank, another of the first five. Option B is wrong because none of the first five RRBs was in Madhya Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Punjab was not in the first batch either; the other first-day banks were in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal and Rajasthan. Exam tip: first RRB = Prathama Bank, Moradabad (UP), 2 October 1975, sponsor Syndicate Bank; shareholding 50:15:35.

The correct answer is D, Ministry of Finance. Under the Coinage Act 2011 the Government of India alone has the right to mint coins, and the work is handled by the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance. Coins are struck at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Noida, run by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), and the Reserve Bank only puts them into circulation as the Government's agent under Section 38 of the RBI Act 1934. The same split explains why the one-rupee note carries the signature of the Finance Secretary, while notes of two rupees and above are issued by the RBI and signed by its Governor. Option A is wrong because the Ministry of External Affairs handles foreign relations. Option B is wrong because the Ministry of Home Affairs handles internal security and police. Option C is wrong because the Ministry of Mines deals with mining and minerals, not coinage. Exam tip: coins and the one-rupee note = Government of India (Finance Ministry); notes of two rupees and above = RBI.

The correct answer is D, [M L T⁻²]. Newton's second law gives force = mass × acceleration. Mass has the dimension [M], and acceleration is velocity divided by time, that is [L T⁻¹] ÷ [T] = [L T⁻²]. Multiplying, force = [M L T⁻²]. Its SI unit is the newton, 1 N = 1 kg m s⁻², and its CGS unit is the dyne, with 1 N = 10⁵ dyne. Weight, tension, thrust and friction are all forces, so they share the same dimensional formula, which is a favourite exam trick. Option A is wrong because [M⁰ L³ T⁰] is simply [L³], the dimension of volume. Option B is wrong because [M L⁻³ T⁰] is mass per unit volume, that is density. Option C is wrong because [M⁰ L T⁻¹] is length per unit time, the dimension of speed or velocity. Exam tip: build from the definition: velocity [L T⁻¹], acceleration [L T⁻²], force [M L T⁻²], work and energy [M L² T⁻²], power [M L² T⁻³], pressure [M L⁻¹ T⁻²].

The correct answer is B, Pellagra. Pellagra is caused by a lack of vitamin B3, niacin, also called nicotinic acid, and is remembered by the three Ds: dermatitis, a rough dark rash on skin exposed to sunlight, diarrhoea from the gut, and dementia from the nervous system; untreated, a fourth D, death, follows. It was common where maize was the staple food, because the niacin in maize is bound and hard to absorb and maize is poor in tryptophan, the amino acid from which the body makes niacin. Niacin is found in meat, fish, groundnuts, whole grains and pulses. Option A is wrong because anaemia comes from a shortage of iron, vitamin B12 or folic acid, not B3. Option C is wrong because beriberi is the deficiency disease of vitamin B1, thiamine, affecting nerves and the heart. Option D is wrong because scurvy, with bleeding gums, is caused by a lack of vitamin C, ascorbic acid. Exam tip: B1 = beriberi, B2 = cheilosis, B3 = pellagra, B12 = pernicious anaemia, C = scurvy, D = rickets.

The correct answer is B, Mahanadi river. The Malwa plateau lies in western Madhya Pradesh and south-eastern Rajasthan, between the Vindhyas in the south and the Aravallis in the north-west, and is made of Deccan lava with black soil. It slopes to the north, so its rivers, the Chambal, Kali Sindh, Parbati, Betwa and Ken, flow north to join the Yamuna. The Mahanadi has nothing to do with Malwa: it rises near Sihawa in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, flows east through Odisha past the Hirakud dam and falls into the Bay of Bengal. Option A is wrong because the Chambal rises at the Janapav hills near Mhow on the Malwa plateau and carries the Gandhi Sagar dam. Option C is wrong because the Ken rises on the Kaimur hills in Panna and drains the eastern edge of the plateau. Option D is wrong because the Betwa rises near Raisen in the Vindhyas and crosses Malwa and Bundelkhand to meet the Yamuna at Hamirpur. Exam tip: Malwa rivers flow north to the Yamuna (Chambal, Betwa, Ken); the Mahanadi flows east to the Bay of Bengal.

The correct answer is C, Lord Hastings. This sentence comes from the NCERT Class 8 history chapter 'From Trade to Territory'. Lord Hastings, Governor-General from 1813 to 1823, declared that the Company's authority was paramount, so it could annex or threaten any Indian state to protect its interests. Under him the Company fought the Anglo-Nepal War (1814 to 1816), ended by the Treaty of Sugauli, crushed the Pindaris, and won the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817 to 1818), after which the Peshwa's office was abolished; Thomas Munro's ryotwari system in Madras (1820) also belongs to his time. Do not confuse him with Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal. Option A is wrong because Lord Amherst (1823 to 1828) fought the First Anglo-Burmese War, ended by the Treaty of Yandabo. Option B is wrong because Lord Cornwallis (1786 to 1793) is known for the Permanent Settlement. Option D is wrong because Lord Auckland (1836 to 1842) is linked with the First Anglo-Afghan War. Exam tip: Wellesley = subsidiary alliance, Lord Hastings = paramountcy, Dalhousie = doctrine of lapse.

The correct answer is A, Warren Hastings. The Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, and Warren Hastings, then Governor of Bengal, became the first holder from 1774 to 1785, with a council of four and a Supreme Court at Calcutta set up in 1774. He ended the dual system of Robert Clive, shifted the treasury from Murshidabad to Calcutta, set up civil and criminal courts in each district, and founded the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781; the Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in 1784 during his time. After returning to England he faced a long impeachment trial from 1788 to 1795 and was acquitted. Option B is wrong because William Bentinck was the first Governor-General of India under the Charter Act of 1833 and abolished sati in 1829. Option C is wrong because Charles Metcalfe (1835 to 1836) freed the press. Option D is wrong because John Shore (1793 to 1798) followed Cornwallis and is known for non-intervention. Exam tip: first Governor-General of Bengal = Warren Hastings (1773 Act), first Governor-General of India = William Bentinck (1833 Act).

The correct answer is B, Pushyamitra. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty in about 185 BCE after killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan king, while reviewing the army; he was the Mauryan commander-in-chief. The Shungas ruled from Pataliputra, and later Vidisha, for about 112 years, and Pushyamitra performed two Ashvamedha sacrifices, a sign of the Brahmanical revival after Ashoka's Buddhist patronage. The Bharhut stupa railings and the enlargement of the Sanchi stupa belong to this period, and Patanjali, author of the Mahabhashya, lived at his court. The last Shunga king, Devabhuti, was killed by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, who started the Kanva dynasty. Option A is wrong because Porus was the Punjab king who fought Alexander at the Hydaspes in 326 BCE. Option C is wrong because Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor, son of Chandragupta. Option D is wrong because Ashoka was a Mauryan, not a Shunga. Exam tip: Mauryas end with Brihadratha, Shungas begin with Pushyamitra (185 BCE), Kanvas begin with Vasudeva.

The correct answer is B, Article 89. Article 89 covers the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council of States. Clause (1) makes the Vice-President of India the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and clause (2) says the Council shall choose one of its own members as Deputy Chairman, and choose another whenever that office falls vacant. Article 90 deals with the Deputy Chairman's vacation of office, resignation and removal, and Article 93 is the matching provision for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The point setters test is that the Chairman is not a member of the House while the Deputy Chairman always is. Option A is wrong because Article 14 guarantees equality before the law. Option C is wrong because Article 377 is a transitional provision about the Comptroller and Auditor-General. Option D is wrong because Article 370 dealt with the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Exam tip: 89 = Rajya Sabha Chairman and Deputy Chairman, 93 = Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The correct answer is D, Article 343. Article 343(1) says the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script, and that the international form of Indian numerals shall be used for official purposes. It also allowed English to continue for fifteen years from 1950; the Official Languages Act 1963 then kept English alongside Hindi beyond 1965. Articles 343 to 351 form Part XVII on Official Language, and Hindi Diwas is celebrated on 14 September because the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi as the official language on that day in 1949. Note that India has no 'national language'; Hindi is the official language of the Union, and the Eighth Schedule lists 22 languages. Option A is wrong because Article 370 gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Option B is wrong because Article 51A lists the Fundamental Duties. Option C is wrong because Article 80 is about the composition of the Rajya Sabha. Exam tip: 343 = Hindi in Devanagari, 344 = Official Language Commission, 348 = language of the courts.

The correct answer is A, Admission or establishment of new states. Article 2 lets Parliament admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit. Article 2 deals with territory that is outside India, for example Sikkim, which was admitted as a full State by the 36th Amendment in 1975. Article 3, by contrast, works inside India: it lets Parliament form a new State from existing ones, and change their areas, boundaries or names, as happened with Telangana in 2014. Both sit in Part I, Articles 1 to 4, headed 'The Union and its Territory'. Option B is wrong because altering the area of an existing State is a power under Article 3. Option C is wrong because changing the name of an existing State is also Article 3. Option D is wrong because the name and territory of the Union, 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States', is Article 1. Exam tip: Article 2 = new States from outside, Article 3 = reorganising States inside.

The correct answer is A, Article 80. Article 80 lays down how the Council of States, the Rajya Sabha, is composed. It fixes the House at not more than 250 members: 12 nominated by the President for special knowledge in literature, science, art and social service, and up to 238 representatives of the States and Union Territories, elected by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies through proportional representation by the single transferable vote. Article 81, the next one, does the same job for the Lok Sabha, and Articles 79 to 122 together cover Parliament. Option B is wrong because Article 395 only repeals the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the Government of India Act 1935. Option C is wrong because Article 51A lists the Fundamental Duties of citizens. Option D is wrong because Article 12 defines the 'State' for Part III on Fundamental Rights. Exam tip: remember the pair 80 = Rajya Sabha composition, 81 = Lok Sabha composition, and 250 = 238 + 12.

The correct answer is D, Delhi. The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, "Might of Islam", stands in the Qutub complex at Mehrauli in Delhi, next to the Qutub Minar and the Iron Pillar. Qutb-ud-din Aibak began it in 1192-93, right after the Turkish conquest, making it the first mosque built in Delhi and the earliest surviving example of Indo-Islamic architecture in India. Its pillars were taken from twenty-seven demolished Hindu and Jain temples, which is why they still carry bells, chains and floral carvings, and Iltutmish and Alauddin Khalji later enlarged it. The complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A, Panipat, has the Kabuli Bagh mosque built by Babur after the first battle of Panipat in 1526. B, Lahore, has the Badshahi mosque of Aurangzeb. C, Ajmer, has Aibak's other mosque, the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, which is the usual trap in this question. Exam tip: Aibak built Quwwat-ul-Islam in Delhi and Adhai Din ka Jhonpra in Ajmer.