SSC 2023 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Most people will expect the interest rate to rise in the future. When the rate of interest is already very low, people believe it can hardly fall further and must rise, so they hold cash instead of bonds. Keynes called this the speculative demand for money, and the extreme case, in which everyone prefers cash at a very low rate, is the liquidity trap. The reason lies in the link between bond prices and interest: when the rate rises, the price of existing bonds falls, so anyone holding bonds would suffer a capital loss. Option B is wrong because people avoid bonds at such a time for exactly that fear of loss. Option C is wrong because a further fall is what people stop expecting once the rate is near its floor. Option D is wrong because in a liquidity trap extra money is simply held as cash and leaves the interest rate unchanged. Exam tip: a very low interest rate means high speculative demand for money, which is the liquidity trap.

The correct answer is B, 1240. Razia Sultan was removed from the throne of Delhi in 1240 and killed the same year. She was the daughter of Iltutmish, who named her his successor over his sons, and she ruled from 1236 to 1240, the only woman ever to sit on the throne of the Delhi Sultanate. She gave up the veil, held court in men's dress and rode into battle herself, and she raised Jamaluddin Yaqut, an Abyssinian noble, to high office, which the Turkish nobles of the Chalisa resented. Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda, rose in revolt; Razia married him, but both were defeated by the supporters of her brother Bahram Shah and killed near Kaithal. Option A is wrong because 1244 falls in the reign of Alauddin Masud Shah. Option C is wrong because 1238 falls in the middle of her own rule. Option D is wrong because 1236 is the year she came to the throne. Exam tip: Razia ruled 1236-1240; the Turkish nobles of the Chalisa brought her down.

The correct answer is C, Chandipur, Odisha. Prithvi II is test-fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur on the Odisha coast, the DRDO range used for missile and rocket trials. Prithvi II is a surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile of the Indian Air Force, developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme that Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam led. It runs on liquid propellant, has a range of about 350 km and can carry a warhead of 500 to 1,000 kg. Option A is wrong because Rutland Island in the Andamans has no missile test range. Option B is wrong because Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh is ISRO's launch centre for satellites, not a missile range. Option D is wrong because Machilipatnam is a coastal town with no such facility. Exam tip: the IGMDP missiles are Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag; missiles are tested at Chandipur, while satellites go up from Sriharikota.

The correct answer is D, Thallophyta. Algae belong to Thallophyta, the simplest division of the plant kingdom. Their body is a thallus, which means it is not divided into root, stem and leaf, and they have no vascular tissue. Most algae live in water, make their own food by photosynthesis and reproduce by spores; Spirogyra, Ulothrix, Chara and Volvox are common examples. Option A is wrong because angiosperms are flowering plants whose seeds lie enclosed in a fruit, the most advanced group of all. Option B is wrong because pteridophytes, such as ferns, are the first plants with proper vascular tissue, though they bear no seeds. Option C is wrong because bryophytes, such as mosses and Marchantia, are called the amphibians of the plant kingdom; they stand a step above thallophytes and need water for reproduction. Exam tip: the order of the plant kingdom is Thallophyta, Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.

The correct answer is B, VVS Laxman. '281 and Beyond' is the autobiography of VVS Laxman, published in 2018. The title comes from his innings of 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in the Kolkata Test of March 2001, when India followed on and still won, in one of the greatest Test matches ever played. Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted through almost the whole fourth day, and Harbhajan Singh, who took the first hat-trick by an Indian in Tests in that match, finished the job. Option A is wrong because Kapil Dev's autobiography is 'Straight from the Heart'. Option C is wrong because Sourav Ganguly wrote 'A Century Is Not Enough'. Option D is wrong because Ajinkya Rahane has written no such book. Exam tip: 281 and Beyond - VVS Laxman; A Century Is Not Enough - Sourav Ganguly; Playing It My Way - Sachin Tendulkar.

The correct answer is C, 1959. Parliament passed the Arms Act in 1959, and it came into force in 1962 along with the Arms Rules. It replaced the colonial Indian Arms Act of 1878, which the British had brought in after the Revolt of 1857 to disarm Indians while exempting Europeans. The 1959 Act governs who may acquire, keep, carry, make, sell or import firearms and ammunition, and it makes a licence necessary for almost all of them. An amendment in 2019 cut the number of licensed firearms a person may hold from three to two and raised the punishment for illegal manufacture and trade. Option A is wrong because 1951 is the year of the first general election and the first constitutional amendment. Option B is wrong because 1955 gave India the Citizenship Act and the Hindu Marriage Act. Option D is wrong because no arms law was enacted in 1964. Exam tip: Indian Arms Act 1878 was colonial; the Arms Act 1959 is the law in force, amended in 2019.

The correct answer is D, Jupiter. The four inner or terrestrial planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Jupiter lies beyond the asteroid belt and is the first of the outer planets. Inner planets are small, rocky and dense and have few or no moons. The outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - are gas or ice giants, far bigger, much less dense, ringed and rich in moons. Jupiter is the largest planet of the solar system and takes about twelve years to go once round the Sun. Option A is wrong because Mars, the red planet, is the fourth planet and the outermost of the inner group. Option B is wrong because Venus is the second planet and the hottest one. Option C is wrong because Mercury is the planet nearest the Sun and the smallest of all. Exam tip: the asteroid belt separates the four rocky inner planets from the four giant outer planets.

The correct answer is C, Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Article 143 lets the President ask the Supreme Court for its opinion on a question of law or fact, and this power was modelled on the Canadian Constitution. From Canada the makers also took a federation with a strong Centre, the vesting of residuary powers in the Union, the appointment of State Governors by the Centre and the very name Union of India. Option A is wrong because the independence of the judiciary, along with judicial review and the rule of law, comes from the British and American models. Option B is wrong because the idea of a Republic, with an elected head of State, was taken from France. Option D is wrong because the Concurrent List, the freedom of trade and commerce and the joint sitting of the two Houses come from Australia. Exam tip: Canada - strong Centre, residuary powers, advisory jurisdiction; Australia - Concurrent List and joint sitting.

The correct answer is D, Bryophytes. Moss, or Funaria, and Marchantia, a liverwort, are bryophytes, the group called the amphibians of the plant kingdom because they live on land but need water for reproduction. Bryophytes have no true roots, stems or leaves and no vascular tissue, so they stay small and grow in damp, shady places; they cling to the soil with thread-like rhizoids and their male gametes swim to the female in a film of water. Mosses help to hold soil and prevent erosion, and Sphagnum moss gives peat. Option A is wrong because algae are simple, mostly aquatic thallophytes such as Spirogyra and Chara. Option B is wrong because gymnosperms are seed plants with naked seeds, such as pine, cycas and deodar. Option C is wrong because pteridophytes, such as ferns and Selaginella, have vascular tissue but no seeds. Exam tip: thallophyta means algae, bryophyta means mosses and liverworts, pteridophyta means ferns, and the seed plants are gymnosperms and angiosperms.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka. Karnataka has a two house legislature, the Legislative Assembly or Vidhan Sabha and the Legislative Council or Vidhan Parishad, so it is bicameral. Article 168 allows a state to have a Council, and Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish one if the Assembly of that state passes a resolution by a special majority. The states with a Legislative Council today are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh; all the rest have only an Assembly. A Council can have at most one third of the strength of the Assembly and not fewer than forty members; it is a permanent house in which one third of the members retire every two years. Options A, C and D are wrong because Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Haryana are unicameral and have only a Legislative Assembly; Punjab and West Bengal abolished their Councils in 1969. Exam tip: remember the six Council states, and that Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish one.

The correct answer is B, Chief minister. Article 164 of the Constitution says the Governor appoints the Chief Minister, and the other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, but the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the state, so in practice it stays only as long as it has the confidence of the House. A minister who is not a member of either House must become one within six months. The strength of the council cannot exceed fifteen per cent of the total members of the Assembly, with a minimum of twelve, a limit set by the 91st Amendment of 2003. Option A is wrong because the President appoints Union ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister. Option C is wrong because the Chief Justice of a High Court has no role here. Option D is wrong because the Governor makes the appointment, but the advice comes from the Chief Minister. Exam tip: Governor appoints, Chief Minister advises, and the Assembly holds the council responsible.

The correct answer is B, Mathura. Mathura on the Yamuna became the second capital of the Kushanas, while Purushapura, today's Peshawar, was the main one. Under Kanishka, the greatest Kushana ruler, whose reign is usually dated from 78 CE, the empire stretched from Central Asia to the Ganga valley, and Mathura served as its eastern seat of power. The Mathura school of sculpture flourished here in red sandstone and made some of the earliest images of the Buddha, alongside the Gandhara school of the north-west. A famous headless statue of Kanishka was found at Mathura. The Kushanas also issued fine gold coins and Kanishka convened the fourth Buddhist council in Kashmir. Option A is wrong because Kannauj was the capital of Harshavardhana in the seventh century. Option C is wrong because Purushpur, or Peshawar, was the first and chief capital, not the second. Option D is wrong because Pataliputra was the Mauryan and later Gupta capital. Exam tip: Kushanas had Purushapura first and Mathura second, with Kanishka starting the Saka era in 78 CE.

The correct answer is B, Kalbaisakhi. Kalbaisakhi is the name given in West Bengal to the violent evening thunderstorms of the hot weather season, from March to May. The word means the calamity of the month of Baisakh, because the squalls arrive with strong winds, thunder and sudden heavy rain that can flatten crops and huts. They help the jute and rice nurseries and bring brief relief from the heat. The same storms are called Bardoli Chheerha in Assam and Norwesters in English, since they blow in from the north-west. Option A is wrong because the Loo is the hot, dry wind that blows over north-western India in the afternoons of May and June. Option C is wrong because the retreating monsoon is the withdrawal of the south-west monsoon from October onwards. Option D is wrong because mango showers are the pre-monsoon rains of Kerala and coastal Karnataka that help the mango crop ripen. Exam tip: Kalbaisakhi in Bengal, Bardoli Chheerha in Assam, mango showers in Kerala and the Loo in the north-west.

The correct answer is A, Bank Rate. Section 49 of the Reserve Bank Of India Act defines the bank rate as the standard rate at which the Bank is prepared to buy or rediscount bills of exchange or other commercial paper eligible for purchase. It is long term lending by the RBI without any collateral being pledged, so it is higher than the repo rate; today it is aligned with the marginal standing facility rate and is used mainly for penal interest when a bank falls short of its reserve requirements. Option B is wrong because the cash reserve ratio is the share of net demand and time liabilities a bank must keep as cash with the RBI, not a rate of lending. Option C is wrong because the reverse repo rate is what the RBI pays banks when it absorbs their surplus funds. Option D is wrong because the repo rate is short term lending by the RBI against government securities. Exam tip: bank rate means no collateral and a long term, repo means securities pledged for a short term.

The correct answer is B, Article 21. Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. It is available to citizens and foreigners alike and cannot be suspended even during a national emergency, which the 44th Amendment made clear. The Supreme Court has read many rights into it, among them the right to live with dignity, to privacy in the Puttaswamy case of 2017, to a clean environment, to livelihood, to health and to a speedy trial. Article 21A, added by the 86th Amendment in 2002, makes free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen a fundamental right. Option A is wrong because Article 19 gives the six freedoms, including speech and expression. Option C is wrong because Article 20 protects against conviction for an act that was not an offence when done, double jeopardy and self-incrimination. Option D is wrong because Article 22 protects against arbitrary arrest and detention. Exam tip: Article 19 freedoms, 20 protection in conviction, 21 life and liberty, 22 arrest.

The correct answer is C, Tropic of Cancer. The Tropic of Cancer, at 23 degrees 30 minutes north, cuts India almost in half and divides it into a tropical south and a subtropical north. This is why the south stays warm through the year while the north has a cold winter, and it is the main reason India is described as having a tropical monsoon climate. The line passes through eight states, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram. Option A is wrong because the Equator, at zero degrees, lies well south of India and passes through countries such as Kenya, Indonesia and Brazil. Option B is wrong because the Tropic of Capricorn lies in the southern hemisphere at 23 degrees 30 minutes south. Option D is wrong because the Antarctic Circle at 66 degrees 30 minutes south is far from India. Exam tip: remember the eight states on the Tropic of Cancer from west to east, starting with Gujarat and ending with Mizoram.

The correct answer is D, Part XIV. Part XIV of the Constitution, titled Services under the Union and the States, covers Articles 308 to 323, and the public service commissions sit in it. Article 315 provides for a Union Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each state. Article 316 deals with the appointment and term of members, Article 317 with their removal, Article 320 with the functions of the commissions, mainly conducting examinations for appointment to services, and Article 323 with their annual reports. The UPSC is a constitutional body and its chairman and members are appointed by the President. Option A is wrong because Part XVII deals with official language. Option B is wrong because Part XV deals with elections and the Election Commission. Option C is wrong because Part XVI covers special provisions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indians. Exam tip: Part XIV services and UPSC, Part XV elections, Part XVI special provisions, Part XVII language.

The correct answer is D, Saturn. Saturn lies beyond the asteroid belt, so it is an outer planet. The eight planets are divided by the asteroid belt that runs between Mars and Jupiter. The four inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are small, rocky and dense, with solid crusts and few or no moons; they are called terrestrial planets. The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are huge balls of hydrogen and helium with low density, ring systems and many moons; they are called Jovian or gas giant planets. Saturn is the second largest planet and its bright rings make it the easiest to recognise. Option A is wrong because Venus is the second planet from the Sun and an inner planet. Option B is wrong because Earth is the third planet and also an inner one. Option C is wrong because Mercury is the smallest planet and the closest to the Sun. Exam tip: four rocky planets inside the asteroid belt, four gas giants outside it.

The correct answer is A, 1974. Women of the Self-Employed Women's Association at Ahmedabad, who worked as vendors, headloaders and home-based workers, pooled their own share capital and registered a cooperative bank of their own in 1974 because ordinary banks would not deal with borrowers who had no collateral and no paperwork. It is a standard example of a cooperative bank owned by its members.

Option C, 1994, is close enough to look right to a candidate who remembers only the decade of microfinance growth, but the bank is twenty years older than that. Options B, 1894, and D, 1874, belong to the nineteenth century: 1894 is the year Punjab National Bank was registered, which is probably why it appears here. Note the wider point the question tests, that a cooperative bank is registered as a cooperative society and works on one member one vote.

The correct answer is C, Bank of Baroda. It was founded in 1908 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, nationalised in the first round of July 1969, and the Government of India still holds the majority of its shares, which is what makes a bank a public sector bank. In 2019 it absorbed Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank.

Option A, Axis Bank, began life in 1994 as UTI Bank, the first of the new private banks licensed after the RBI guidelines of 1993. Option B, ICICI Bank, grew out of a development finance institution and is a private sector bank. Option D, Yes Bank, is also private and started business in 2004. A quick test in the examination hall: if the bank was nationalised in 1969 or 1980, or is the State Bank of India, it is a public sector bank; if it was licensed in the 1990s or later, it is private.