SSC 2023 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Akbar. Akbar introduced the mansabdari system in the closing years of the sixteenth century to grade every officer of the empire. Mansab means rank, and each mansabdar held two numbers: zat, which fixed his personal status and pay, and sawar, the number of armed horsemen he had to keep ready. Ranks ran from ten to five thousand, with higher ones kept for princes of the royal house. Akbar also brought in the dagh system of branding state horses and the chehra, a written description of each soldier, to stop officers from showing borrowed men at muster. Option D is wrong because Jahangir only added the du-aspa sih-aspa device, which raised a noble's cavalry without raising his zat. Option B is wrong because Shah Jahan merely introduced the month-scale, or mahana, to adjust pay. Option C is wrong because Aurangzeb continued the system as he found it. Exam tip: Akbar gave the mansabdari ranks and Todar Mal's dahsala revenue settlement.

The correct answer is B, Shri Krishna Sinha. Shri Krishna Sinha, affectionately called Shri Babu, is remembered as Bihar Kesari, the lion of Bihar. He was the first Premier of Bihar under the 1937 provincial elections and then the first Chief Minister of the state after independence, holding office until 1961. He led the Barahiya Tal satyagraha against illegal levies, joined the salt satyagraha, and made Bihar the first state in India to abolish the zamindari system in 1950. He also worked with Dr Rajendra Prasad to have the Deoghar temple opened to Dalits. Option A is wrong because Rajendra Prasad, independent India's first President, is called Desh Ratna and Bihar Vibhuti. Option C is wrong because Karpoori Thakur is remembered as Jannayak, the people's leader. Option D is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai was Punjab Kesari and Sher-e-Punjab. Exam tip: Punjab Kesari is Lajpat Rai, Bihar Kesari is Shri Krishna Sinha, Andhra Kesari is T. Prakasam.

The correct answer is A, Sedimentary rocks. Only sedimentary rocks preserve fossils, because they are built up layer by layer from sediment that settles in water or on land. When a plant or animal dies and is buried in such a layer, the sediment hardens around it and keeps its shape or its hard parts as a fossil. Sandstone, shale, limestone and coal are sedimentary; the word comes from the Latin sedimentum, meaning settling, and the layers are called strata. Option B is wrong because extrusive igneous rock, such as basalt, cools from lava on the surface at temperatures that destroy any remains. Option D is wrong for the same reason: intrusive igneous rock like granite solidifies from magma deep inside the crust. Option C is wrong because metamorphic rocks are old rocks reshaped by great heat and pressure, which erases the fossils they once held. Exam tip: fossils are found only in sedimentary rocks, which is why coal seams carry plant imprints.

The correct answer is D, Jharkhand. Tusu Parab is the harvest festival of Jharkhand, kept at Makar Sankranti in mid-January when the winter paddy is in. Unmarried girls of the Kurmi, Santhal and other communities make a decorated bamboo-and-paper frame called a chaudal, carry the Tusu image in procession with folk songs known as Tusu geet, and immerse it in a river or pond at the end. Fairs are held along the Subarnarekha and Damodar, and the same festival is kept in the neighbouring Purulia belt. Option A is wrong because Gujarat marks the same season as Uttarayan, the kite-flying festival. Option B is wrong because Sikkim's harvest festivals are Namsoong and Losoong, kept by the Lepcha and Bhutia in December. Option C is wrong because Karnataka celebrates the harvest as Suggi Habba and Makar Sankranti with Ellu Bella. Exam tip: Tusu and Sarhul belong to Jharkhand, Bihu to Assam, Wangala to Meghalaya.

The correct answer is D, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. The Eighty-ninth Amendment Act, 2003 split the old joint commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies. It left the National Commission for Scheduled Castes under Article 338 and inserted a new Article 338A for the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, which began work on 19 February 2004. Each commission has a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, and each places its report before Parliament. Option A is wrong because the Competition Commission of India was set up under the Competition Act, 2002 and is a statutory, not a constitutional, body. Option B is wrong because the National Commission for Backward Classes became a constitutional body only through the 102nd Amendment, 2018, which added Article 338B. Option C is wrong because the National Commission for Women rests on an Act of 1990 and remains statutory. Exam tip: Article 338 SCs, 338A STs, 338B backward classes.

The correct answer is A, Ctrl + K. With a word or a phrase selected, Ctrl + K opens the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, where the selected text can be linked to a web address, to another file, to a place inside the same document such as a heading or a bookmark, or to an email address. The same command sits in the Links group of the Insert tab, and the linked text is then shown underlined and coloured.

Option B, Ctrl + M, increases the left indent of the paragraph by one tab stop, and Ctrl + Shift + M reduces it again. Option C, Ctrl + H, opens the Find and Replace dialog box at its Replace tab, used to change one word into another throughout the document. Option D, Ctrl + Z, undoes the last action carried out, and Ctrl + Y repeats or redoes it. None of these three creates a link.

The correct answer is B, Peru. El Nino, Spanish for the child, is the warm surface water that appears off the coast of Peru and Ecuador around Christmas in some years, replacing the normally cold Peru or Humboldt current. When it develops strongly the trade winds weaken, the anchovy catch collapses because nutrient-rich cold water stops rising, and Indian monsoon rainfall tends to be below normal.

Option A, Colombia, faces both the Pacific and the Caribbean but lies too close to the equator and is not the coast the phenomenon is named for. Option C, Chile, is washed by the same cold Peru current further south, yet the warming is described and measured off Peru and Ecuador. Option D, Bolivia, is a landlocked country in South America with no sea coast at all, so no ocean current can run along it.

The correct answer is B, the monsoon trough. The monsoon trough is the belt of low pressure that lies across the northern plains during the rainy season and guides the depressions that bring rain. As the sun appears to move south of the equator after the September equinox, the land cools, the low pressure weakens and the trough is replaced by high pressure. That retreat of the trough is what is called the withdrawal or retreat of the monsoon, and it begins from north-west India in early September.

Option A, an upper level trough, belongs to the upper air circulation and is not the feature described here. Option C, a lee trough, forms on the sheltered side of a mountain and is a local feature. Option D, an inverted trough, is a name used for a monsoon trough that extends into the Bay of Bengal in a particular shape, not the plains feature that weakens in October.

The correct answer is C, Finance Commission. Article 280 requires the President to constitute a Finance Commission every fifth year, or earlier if needed, with a chairman and four other members. It recommends how the net proceeds of taxes should be divided between the Union and the states and shared among the states, what grants-in-aid the states should get from the Consolidated Fund of India, and how state funds can be strengthened to support panchayats and municipalities. The first Finance Commission was set up in 1951 under K C Neogy, and its advice is recommendatory, not binding. Option A is wrong because the Advocate General of a state is appointed under Article 165. Option B is wrong because the Central Vigilance Commission began as an executive body in 1964 and became statutory under an Act of 2003. Option D is wrong because the National Commission for Women is statutory, created by an Act of 1990. Exam tip: Article 280 Finance Commission, Article 148 CAG, Article 324 Election Commission.

The correct answer is C, Ghiyas ud din Balban. Balban, who ruled from 1266 to 1287, brought the Persian court customs of sijda, bowing low before the Sultan, and paibos, kissing his feet, into the Delhi court. They went with his idea of kingship, in which the Sultan was Zill-i-Ilahi, the shadow of God on earth, a person set far above his nobles. He also celebrated the Persian festival of Nauroz, broke the power of the group of forty nobles known as the Chalisa, and used a policy of blood and iron against rebels. Option A is wrong because Muhammad bin Tughlaq is remembered for token currency and the shift of the capital to Daulatabad. Option B is wrong because Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was the mild ruler under whom Balban held real power as naib. Option D is wrong because Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded the Slave dynasty and was called Lakh Baksh. Exam tip: Balban - sijda, paibos, Nauroz and Zill-i-Ilahi.

The correct answer is D, Mallika Sarabhai. She won the best actress award in 1975 for her role in the Gujarati film Meena Gurjari, early in a career that moved between cinema, theatre and dance. Trained by her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, she is also known for playing Draupadi in Peter Brook's stage and screen production of The Mahabharata, and she runs the Darpana Academy in Ahmedabad. Option A is wrong because Sonal Mansingh is an Odissi and Bharatanatyam exponent honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, not a film actress. Option B is wrong because Sitara Devi was the Kathak dancer whom Rabindranath Tagore called Nritya Samragini, and her film work came in the 1940s. Option C is wrong because Shovana Narayan is a Kathak dancer who also served as an officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. Exam tip: link Mallika Sarabhai with Darpana Academy and her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai.

The correct answer is C, Chandra Shekhar. Of the four leaders listed, Chandra Shekhar had the shortest run, from 10 November 1990 to 21 June 1991, a little over seven months. He led a breakaway Samajwadi Janata Party with only a small group of MPs and governed with Congress support from outside; when that support was withdrawn he resigned, and the 1991 general election followed. Option A is wrong because HD Deve Gowda was Prime Minister for about ten months, from June 1996 to April 1997. Option B is wrong because VP Singh headed the National Front government for close to a year, from December 1989 to November 1990. Option D is wrong because IK Gujral, remembered for the Gujral Doctrine on neighbourly ties, served about eleven months from April 1997 to March 1998. Exam tip: the shortest tenure overall belongs to Gulzarilal Nanda, acting Prime Minister for 13 days on two occasions.

The correct answer is B, Indonesia. President Sukarno of Indonesia was the chief guest at India's first Republic Day on 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came into force. Inviting him fitted Nehru's outreach to newly free Asian nations; India had backed Indonesia's freedom struggle against the Dutch, and both countries later helped found the Non-Aligned Movement after the Bandung Conference of 1955. Option A is wrong because Bhutan's King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck was a Republic Day chief guest later, in 1954, and Bhutan is a monarchy, so it has a king and not a president. Option C is wrong because no Chinese head of state has ever been the chief guest at the parade. Option D is wrong because Japan has an emperor as head of state; its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was chief guest in 2014. Exam tip: first Republic Day 26 January 1950, first chief guest President Sukarno of Indonesia.

The correct answer is D, Smriti Mandhana. The India opener was named ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year for 2021 and received the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in January 2022. She had scored 855 international runs across the three formats in that year, including India's first century in a day-night Test, made against Australia at Carrara. The trophy is named after Rachael Heyhoe Flint, the England captain who pushed for women's cricket at Lord's and for the first Women's World Cup in 1973. Option A is wrong because Mithali Raj, India's long-serving captain, has never won this particular trophy. Option B is wrong because Ellyse Perry of Australia won it in 2019, not for 2021. Option C is wrong because Lizelle Lee of South Africa took the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year award that season, which is a separate prize. Exam tip: the women's award is the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, the men's is the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.

The correct answer is C, Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat. The Dronacharya Award, India's honour for coaches who produce outstanding sportspersons, was given for the first time in 1985, and Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat, a wrestling coach, was among the first three to receive it, along with O.M. Nambiar in athletics and Om Prakash Bhardwaj in boxing. The award is named after Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the Mahabharata, and it carries a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a certificate and a cash prize. It is given in two categories, regular and lifetime. Option A is wrong because Hansa Sharma was not among the first recipients. Option B is wrong because Karan Singh did not receive the award in 1985. Option D is wrong because Hawa Singh, the boxer, was honoured as a coach much later, not in the first list. Exam tip: the Dronacharya Award began in 1985, the Arjuna Award in 1961 and the Khel Ratna in 1991-92.

The correct answer is D, Both I and II. The Post Office Protocol, best known in its third version POP3, lets a mail client download messages from a mail server, and it works in two modes. In the delete mode the message is removed from the server once it has been downloaded, which suits a person who always reads mail on the same computer. In the keep mode a copy stays on the server after downloading, so the same mail can be read again from another device. POP3 uses port 110, or port 995 when secured with SSL. Option A is wrong because both modes do exist in POP. Option B is wrong because keep mode is not the only one; delete mode is the default in many clients. Option C is wrong because delete mode is not the only one either. Exam tip: POP3 downloads mail and offers delete and keep modes, IMAP keeps mail on the server and syncs it across devices, and SMTP is the protocol that sends mail.

The correct answer is D, a - iv, b - i, c - ii, d - iii. The Champakkulam Moolam boat race is held on the Pampa river in Alappuzha, Kerala, and is the oldest snake-boat race in the state. The Somnath fair is held at the Somnath temple in Gujarat on Kartik Purnima, where pilgrims gather at the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas. The Surajkund crafts fair takes place every February at Surajkund in Faridabad, Haryana, and brings craftspeople from India and abroad together under a theme state each year. The Baneshwar fair is a tribal fair of the Bhils held at Dungarpur in Rajasthan, where the Som and Mahi rivers meet. Option A is wrong because it sends the Somnath fair to Rajasthan and the Baneshwar fair to Haryana. Option B is wrong because it places the boat race in Rajasthan. Option C is wrong because it moves the Somnath fair to Haryana and Surajkund to Gujarat. Exam tip: Champakkulam - Kerala, Somnath - Gujarat, Surajkund - Haryana, Baneshwar - Rajasthan.

The correct answer is D, Golconda Fort. Golconda in Hyderabad was the capital of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Golconda Sultanate from 1518, when Quli Qutb Shah broke away from the Bahmani kingdom. The fort stands on a granite hill and is famous for its acoustics, since a clap at the Fateh Darwaza can be heard at the pavilion on top, and for the diamond trade that passed through it, including the Koh-i-Noor. In 1591 Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah founded the city of Hyderabad and built the Charminar, moving the capital there; Aurangzeb finally took Golconda in 1687. Option A is wrong because Chiktan Fort stands in Ladakh. Option B is wrong because Rajgad in Maharashtra was an early capital fort of Shivaji. Option C is wrong because the Red Fort was built by Shah Jahan in Delhi. Exam tip: Qutb Shahi rulers held Golconda and then Hyderabad; the Charminar was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591.

The correct answer is C, 1784. Pitt's India Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1784, named after Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and it separated the commercial work of the East India Company from its political work. Trade stayed with the Court of Directors, while a Board of Control of six members, answerable to the British government, took charge of civil, military and revenue matters in India. This began the dual government of the Company and the Crown, which lasted until the Government of India Act of 1858, and the term British possessions in India was used for the first time. The Act corrected the weaknesses of the Regulating Act of 1773, which had made Warren Hastings the Governor-General of Bengal. Option A is wrong because 1818 is the year the Third Anglo-Maratha War ended. Option B is wrong because no India Act was passed in 1792. Option D is wrong because 1802 is the year of the Treaty of Bassein. Exam tip: Regulating Act 1773, then Pitt's India Act 1784 with its Board of Control and dual government.

The correct answer is C, The air always moves from high pressure areas to low pressure areas. Air flows from where pressure is high to where it is low, and that moving air is what we call wind; the greater the difference in pressure, the stronger the wind. The Coriolis force then bends this flow, to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern. Option A is wrong because high pressure means sinking air, which brings clear skies and dry weather. Option B is wrong because low pressure means rising air that cools and condenses, so it brings clouds and rain. Option D is wrong because air pressure is highest at sea level, about 1,013 millibars, and falls as one goes up and the air thins. Pressure is measured with a barometer and shown on weather maps by isobars, the lines joining places of equal pressure. Exam tip: high pressure means sinking air and clear weather; low pressure means rising air, clouds and rain.