SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, Original. Article 131 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Government of India and one or more states, and in disputes among states themselves. Exclusive means no other court can hear such a case, and original means it starts in the Supreme Court and does not come on appeal. The article does not cover disputes arising from a treaty or agreement that was in force before the Constitution began. Option A is wrong because appellate jurisdiction, under Articles 132 to 134, is about appeals from High Court judgments in constitutional, civil and criminal cases. Option B is wrong because advisory jurisdiction under Article 143 lets the President seek the Court's opinion on a question of law, and that opinion does not bind him. Option C is wrong because writ jurisdiction under Article 32 is for enforcing fundamental rights of citizens. Exam tip: Article 131 original, 143 advisory, 32 writs.

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 B, Teller. ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine. A teller is the bank employee who takes and pays out cash at the counter, and the machine was built to do that same job without a person, which is how it got the name. The first ATM in India was installed by HSBC in Mumbai in 1987. Machines set up and run by non-bank companies, under the rules of the Reserve Bank, are called White Label ATMs, the first of which was Indicash, launched by Tata Communications in 2013. Option A is wrong because a transfer is a movement of money between accounts, not part of this abbreviation. Option C is wrong because a transaction is any banking entry, again not what the T stands for. Option D is wrong because trunk belongs to telephone terminology, such as trunk call. Exam tip: PIN means Personal Identification Number and ATM means Automated Teller Machine.

The correct answer is B, tuberculosis (TB). The BCG vaccine takes its name from Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin, the two French scientists who developed it from a weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis. In India it is given as a single dose soon after birth under the Universal Immunisation Programme, and it protects infants mainly from the severe forms of the disease, such as tuberculous meningitis and miliary tuberculosis. Tuberculosis itself is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, identified by Robert Koch in 1882, and it spreads through droplets when a patient coughs. Option A is wrong because typhoid, caused by Salmonella typhi, has its own conjugate vaccine. Option C is wrong because mumps is a viral disease covered by the MMR vaccine along with measles and rubella. Option D is wrong because plague, caused by Yersinia pestis and carried by rat fleas, needs a different vaccine. Exam tip: BCG at birth for TB, and World TB Day falls on 24 March.

The correct answer is C, Mumbai. RBL Bank, a private sector bank, has its corporate office in Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, while its registered office stays in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, where the bank was founded in 1943 as the Ratnakar Bank. It served traders and farmers of the Kolhapur and Sangli belt for decades, was renamed RBL Bank in 2014 and now works across the country in retail, credit card and microfinance business. Option A is wrong because Srinagar is the headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, a bank promoted by that state. Option B is wrong because no large commercial bank keeps its corporate office in Patna. Option D is wrong because Bengaluru is the headquarters of Canara Bank, which was started in Mangaluru in 1906. Exam tip: RBL Bank was born as Ratnakar Bank in Kolhapur, 1943, and is run from Mumbai.

The correct answer is D, Ashwini Kumar Dutta. He founded the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti at Barisal in 1905, during the movement against the partition of Bengal. The samiti built a network of village volunteers who pushed swadeshi goods, enforced the boycott of foreign cloth, settled local disputes through their own arbitration courts and organised relief work, which made it the strongest of the Swadeshi era volunteer bodies. A teacher by calling, Dutta had earlier set up Brajamohan College in Barisal, and the government banned the samiti and deported him in 1908. Option A is wrong because Chandrasekhar Azad led the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and died at Alfred Park, Allahabad, in 1931. Option B is wrong because Bhagat Singh worked through the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the HSRA. Option C is wrong because Rajguru was an HSRA member hanged with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in 1931. Exam tip: Swadeshi volunteer bodies - Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Barisal and Anushilan Samiti of Bengal.

The correct answer is B, Leaders of Opposition in Parliament. The Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 gave the post statutory recognition for the first time and fixed the pay and perks of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Act describes the Leader of the Opposition as the leader of the largest opposition party recognised as such by the Speaker or the Chairman, and the office carries the rank of a Cabinet minister. The holder sits on the committees that select the Director of the CBI, the Central Vigilance Commissioner, the Lokpal and the Chief Information Commissioner. Option A is wrong because the President's pay comes under a 1951 law. Option C is wrong because the Prime Minister is paid under the law on ministers' salaries of 1952. Option D is wrong because the office of Governor General ended in 1950. Exam tip: Leader of the Opposition, statutory since 1977, ranks with a Cabinet minister.

The correct answer is D, twelfth. Qutb-ud-din Aibak began the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in 1192, soon after the second battle of Tarain, and the first phase was finished by about 1198, which falls in the last decade of the twelfth century. He laid the foundation of the Qutb Minar beside it in 1199, and Iltutmish completed the minaret. It is counted as the first mosque built in Delhi by the new sultanate, put together with stone taken from earlier temples on the site, which is why its pillars carry older Indian motifs. Iltutmish and later Alauddin Khalji enlarged the courtyard, and the fourth-century iron pillar of Chandra stands within it. Options A, B and C are wrong because the eleventh century is before the sultanate reached Delhi, while the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries cover the later additions rather than the original mosque. Exam tip: Tarain 1192, Quwwat-ul-Islam 1192-98, Qutb Minar begun 1199.

The correct answer is B, Narendra Modi. Abode of Love is credited to Narendra Modi, who wrote several books in Gujarati long before becoming Prime Minister. His better known titles include Jyotipunj, a set of profiles of people who shaped him, Aankh Aa Dhanya Chhe, a collection of poems, and Exam Warriors, written in 2018 for students facing board examinations. Option A is wrong because Shankar Dayal Sharma, President from 1992 to 1997, is not linked with this book. Option C is wrong because APJ Abdul Kalam is remembered for Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds, India 2020 and My Journey, and not for Abode of Love. Option D is wrong because Manmohan Singh's name is attached to writings on economic policy, such as the collection Changing India, rather than to this title. Exam tip: for book questions, fix one sure title to each leader - Kalam and Wings of Fire, Modi and Exam Warriors - and work outwards from there.

The correct answer is D, lotus. The star-shaped shrine of Gurudwara Shri Hemkund Sahib is built with a roof shaped like an upturned lotus, a flower that also appears in the story of the site. The gurudwara stands in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand at a height of over 4,600 metres, beside a glacial lake ringed by seven peaks called Sapt Shring. It is dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, who describes the place in his composition Bachittar Natak, and the shrine stays open only from about May to October because of snow. Options A, B and C are wrong because the rose, the marigold and the sunflower have no place in the design of this gurudwara; the marigold is used in garlands and the other two are garden flowers. The lotus, on the other hand, is a standing symbol of purity in Indian religious architecture. Exam tip: Hemkund Sahib is in Uttarakhand, near the Valley of Flowers National Park.

The correct answer is A, Ethanol. CH3CH2OH, also written C2H5OH, is ethanol or ethyl alcohol, the second member of the alcohol family. The -OH group attached to the carbon chain is the functional group that makes it an alcohol. Ethanol is a colourless liquid that boils at about 78 degrees Celsius, mixes with water in every proportion, and is used in alcoholic drinks, as a solvent in medicines and in ethanol-blended petrol. Alcohol free of water is called absolute alcohol, while alcohol made unfit for drinking by adding methanol and a dye is called denatured spirit. Option B is wrong because acetic acid, the acid in vinegar, is CH3COOH and carries the -COOH group. Option C is wrong because chloroform is CHCl3, once used as an anaesthetic. Option D is wrong because methane is CH4, the simplest hydrocarbon and the main part of natural gas. Exam tip: -OH means an alcohol and -COOH means a carboxylic acid.

The correct answer is B, 35 years. Article 66(3) of the Constitution says a person must have completed 35 years of age to be eligible for election as Vice-President. The same article requires the candidate to be a citizen of India, to be qualified for election as a member of the Council of States, and to hold no office of profit under the Union, a State or a local authority. The Vice-President is elected for five years by an electoral college of members of both Houses of Parliament, including nominated members, through proportional representation by the single transferable vote. The same age limit of 35 years applies to the President under Article 58. Option A is wrong because 30 years is the minimum age for membership of the Rajya Sabha. Options C and D are wrong because the Constitution fixes no such limits for this post. Exam tip: 25 for Lok Sabha, 30 for Rajya Sabha, 35 for President and Vice-President.

The correct answer is A, Loo. The loo is a hot, dry wind that blows over the plains of north India and Pakistan in May and June, often pushing afternoon temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius and causing heat strokes. Winds are grouped as planetary, which blow across the globe all year, seasonal, which reverse with the seasons, and local, which affect a small area for a short period because of local heating and pressure differences. Other local winds worth remembering are the chinook of North America, the foehn of the Alps, the mistral of France and the sirocco of the Mediterranean. Option B is wrong because the westerlies are planetary winds blowing from the subtropical high towards the subpolar low. Option D is wrong because the easterlies, or trade winds, are also planetary winds moving towards the equator. Option C is wrong because the monsoon is a seasonal wind that reverses direction between summer and winter. Exam tip: loo, chinook, foehn, mistral and sirocco are the standard local winds.

The correct answer is C, Indira Gandhi. Fundamental Duties were inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976, passed during the Emergency when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. The amendment followed the report of the Swaran Singh Committee, and the duties were placed in Part IVA as Article 51A, drawing on the practice of the Soviet constitution. Ten duties were listed at first; an eleventh, on providing education to children between six and fourteen years, was added by the 86th Amendment of 2002. Like the Directive Principles, these duties are not enforceable by the courts. Option A is wrong because P V Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister in 1991 and is linked with the economic reforms. Option B is wrong because Charan Singh was Prime Minister briefly in 1979-80. Option D is wrong because Lal Bahadur Shastri held office from 1964 to 1966. Exam tip: 42nd Amendment 1976 added Fundamental Duties and the words socialist, secular and integrity to the Preamble.

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 A, Shehnai. The shehnai is called a mangal vadya, an instrument of auspicious occasions, because it is played at weddings, temple rituals and processions. It is a double-reed wind instrument with a wooden body and a metal bell at the end, and in classical music it belongs to the sushir or wind family. Ustad Bismillah Khan, who played the shehnai from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 1947 and received the Bharat Ratna in 2001, turned it into a concert instrument. Option B is wrong because the santoor is a trapezoid string instrument of Kashmir struck with light mallets, made famous by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Option C is wrong because the tabla is a pair of drums used for rhythm in Hindustani music. Option D is wrong because the damaru is a small two-headed drum linked with Lord Shiva. Exam tip: shehnai-Bismillah Khan, santoor-Shivkumar Sharma, sarod-Amjad Ali Khan.

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, Nepal. After India, Nepal has both the largest number of Hindus and the largest Hindu share of any country, with roughly four out of five Nepalis following the faith. Nepal was the world's only officially Hindu kingdom until 2007-08, when the interim constitution and then the new republic declared it a secular federal state. Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu and Janakpur, linked in tradition with Sita, are among its best known Hindu centres. Option A is wrong because Bhutan is a small country whose state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism, with Hindus a minority of Nepali origin. Option B is wrong because Sri Lanka is Buddhist-majority and its Hindus, mostly Tamils, form a far smaller community than Nepal's. Option C is wrong because Myanmar is also Buddhist-majority, with only a small Hindu population of Indian descent. Exam tip: remember Nepal as the Hindu-majority neighbour and Bhutan as the Buddhist one.

The correct answer is C, Anga. Champa was the capital of the Anga mahajanapada, and its site lies near modern Bhagalpur in Bihar, where the Champa river meets the Ganga. Anga is one of the sixteen mahajanapadas listed in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, and Champa was among the six great cities of the Buddha's time. The kingdom was rich because the river port carried trade downstream, which is why Bimbisara of Magadha annexed it and made his son Ajatashatru its governor. Option A is wrong because the capital of Kashi was Varanasi. Option B is wrong because Matsya, in the Alwar-Jaipur region of Rajasthan, had Viratnagar as its capital. Option D is wrong because the Vajji confederacy, a group of clans led by the Lichchhavis, had its centre at Vaishali. Exam tip: pair the capitals - Anga-Champa, Kashi-Varanasi, Vajji-Vaishali, Magadha-Rajgir.