SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Maharana Pratap. The Battle of Haldighati was fought on 18 June 1576 near Gogunda in Rajasthan, between Maharana Pratap of Mewar and the Mughal army sent by Akbar. Pratap rode his horse Chetak and fought alongside his Rajput soldiers and the Bhil archers of the hills; the Mughal force was led by Raja Man Singh of Amber with Asaf Khan. The Mughals held the field, but Pratap escaped and carried on a long guerrilla war, winning back much of Mewar at Dewair in 1582. Option B is wrong because Amar Singh was Pratap's son and became Rana after him. Option C is wrong because Udai Singh II, Pratap's father, founded Udaipur and died in 1572. Option D is wrong because Man Singh commanded the Mughal side, not Mewar. Exam tip: Haldighati 1576 - Maharana Pratap against Akbar's general Man Singh; Pratap's horse was Chetak.

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 A, .tmp. A file with the .tmp extension is a temporary file, created by a program while it is working and normally deleted once the work is done. Word processors, browsers and installers make them to hold data they may need for recovery, and Windows keeps many of them in the Temp folder, which can be cleared safely. Option B is wrong because .txt is a plain text file that stores unformatted text and opens in Notepad. Option C is wrong because .tnt is not a standard file extension at all. Option D is wrong because .tar is an archive format from Unix that bundles many files into one, often compressed further as .tar.gz. Questions on extensions come up in every shift, so learn the common ones: .docx for Word, .xlsx for Excel, .pptx for PowerPoint, .exe for a program and .bak for a backup. Exam tip: .tmp is temporary, .bak is a backup and .tar is an archive.

The correct answer is D, Sikkim. Sikkim does not touch Myanmar. Its neighbours across the border are Nepal to the west, China in the north and east, and Bhutan to the south-east. Only four Indian states share the border with Myanmar - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram - and that border runs for about 1,643 km. Option A is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh meets Myanmar along its south-eastern edge. Option B is wrong because Mizoram has a long stretch of the Myanmar border besides its border with Bangladesh. Option C is wrong because Manipur meets Myanmar on the east, and Moreh in Manipur is the main trading town on that border. Sikkim is India's least populated state and shares borders with three countries, but Myanmar is not one of them. Exam tip: remember the Myanmar border states as A-N-M-M - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

The correct answer is B, Sandstone. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock: grains of sand carried by rivers or wind settle in layers and harden over time. Metamorphic rocks are different, being older rocks changed in place by great heat and pressure inside the crust, which is why they are harder and often banded. Option A is wrong because marble is limestone that has been metamorphosed. Option C is wrong because quartzite is the metamorphic form of sandstone itself. Option D is wrong because slate is metamorphosed shale and splits into thin sheets. Rocks fall into three families: igneous, formed from cooling magma or lava, sedimentary, formed from deposits, and metamorphic, formed by change. They pass from one family to another through the rock cycle, so sandstone can turn into quartzite, and any rock that melts and cools again becomes igneous. Exam tip: limestone becomes marble, sandstone becomes quartzite, shale becomes slate and coal becomes graphite.

The correct answer is B, Non-violence. Ahimsa, or non-violence, is the first and greatest vow of Jainism, and every other rule of Jain life follows from it, down to the mask and the soft broom a Jain monk carries to avoid harming the smallest creature. Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, taught five vows: ahimsa or non-violence, satya or truth, asteya or non-stealing, aparigraha or non-possession and brahmacharya or celibacy. Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, had already taught the first four, and Mahavira added celibacy. The three jewels of Jainism are right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Option A is wrong because karma explains the soul's bondage and is shared with other Indian religions, so it is not the chief rule of conduct. Option C is wrong because dispassion follows from keeping the vows rather than standing above them. Option D is wrong because loyalty is not a Jain vow at all. Exam tip: the five vows of Mahavira are ahimsa, satya, asteya, aparigraha and brahmacharya.

The correct answer is C, Kerala. Mohiniyattam is the classical dance of Kerala, and its name comes from Mohini, the enchantress form of Lord Vishnu. It is danced solo by women in a plain off-white and gold Kasavu sari, with gentle swaying movements, soft footwork and delicate expression. The songs are in Manipravalam, a mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam, and the music follows the Carnatic style. The poet Vallathol Narayana Menon revived the form at Kerala Kalamandalam in the twentieth century. Option A is wrong because the classical dance of Assam is Sattriya, begun by the saint Srimanta Sankardeva. Option B is wrong because West Bengal has no classical dance of its own; Chhau and Gambhira are its well known folk forms. Option D is wrong because the classical dance of Andhra Pradesh is Kuchipudi. Exam tip: Kerala has two classical dances, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam; Sattriya belongs to Assam and Odissi to Odisha.

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 B, 1921. Harappa in Punjab was excavated in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni of the Archaeological Survey of India, and that dig brought the civilisation to light. A year later, in 1922, R.D. Banerji found Mohenjo-daro on the Indus in Sindh. Sir John Marshall, then Director-General of the ASI, put the two finds together and in 1924 announced a new Bronze Age civilisation older than anything then known in India. It is called the Harappan civilisation after the first site excavated and the Indus Valley civilisation after the river along which many of its sites lie. Option A is wrong because no such excavation took place in 1905. Option C is wrong because by 1926 work at these sites was already going on. Option D is wrong because 1932 is a full decade after the discovery. Exam tip: Harappa 1921 - Daya Ram Sahni; Mohenjo-daro 1922 - R.D. Banerji; announced by John Marshall in 1924.

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 A, Taj Mahal. Pietra dura, an Italian term meaning hard stone, is the craft of cutting coloured semi-precious stones and setting them into marble to form flowers and creepers. Its finest Indian example is the Taj Mahal at Agra, built by Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1648 in memory of Mumtaz Mahal; the Indian name for the technique is parchin kari. Stones such as jasper, carnelian, lapis lazuli, jade and turquoise were used, and the same work appears in the Itmad-ud-Daulah tomb and the Red Fort. The Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Option B is wrong because India Gate in Delhi, designed by Edwin Lutyens, is a sandstone war memorial. Option C is wrong because the Charminar of Hyderabad, built by Quli Qutb Shah in 1591, is of granite and lime stucco. Option D is wrong because the Gateway of India in Mumbai, finished in 1924, is in the Indo-Saracenic style. Exam tip: pietra dura or parchin kari is Shah Jahan's marble inlay, at its best in the Taj Mahal.

The correct answer is B, Rupiya. Sher Shah Suri, who ruled from 1540 to 1545 after defeating Humayun at Chausa and Kannauj, issued a silver coin of about 178 grains called the rupiya, along with a copper coin called the dam. The Mughals kept this coinage, and the word rupiya is the ancestor of today's rupee. Sher Shah is remembered for a strong administration: he rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road with sarais and shady trees, ran a postal service of horse riders, measured land to fix revenue at one third of the produce and gave each peasant a patta stating his holding and a qabuliyat stating his dues. He also built the Rohtas fort and Purana Qila in Delhi. Option A is wrong because the tankah was the silver coin of the Delhi Sultanate, introduced by Iltutmish. Option C is wrong because the mohur was the gold coin of the Mughals. Option D is wrong because the dinar was a West Asian gold coin. Exam tip: Iltutmish gave the tankah and jital, Sher Shah the rupiya and dam.

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 C, Vice President of India. Article 64 of the Constitution makes the Vice President the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Article 89 repeats it. He presides over the House but is not a member of it, and he votes only in the case of a tie, that is he has a casting vote. He draws the salary of the Chairman, not a separate salary as Vice President. When he acts as President, he does not perform the duties of Chairman, and the Deputy Chairman, who is elected by the members of the Rajya Sabha from among themselves, presides. A resolution to remove him can be moved only in the Rajya Sabha, with fourteen days notice, and must be agreed to by the Lok Sabha. Option A is wrong because the Leader of the Opposition leads the largest opposition party. Option B is wrong because the Speaker presides over the Lok Sabha. Option D is wrong because the Prime Minister heads the Council of Ministers. Exam tip: Speaker for the Lok Sabha and the Vice President as Chairman for the Rajya Sabha.

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, Dhamma-mahamatta. Ashoka created a new class of officers called Dhamma Mahamattas, mentioned in his fifth Rock Edict, in about the thirteenth year of his reign. Their work was to spread his Dhamma, look after the welfare of women, of prisoners, of the aged and of border peoples, and to see that different sects were treated fairly. Ashoka turned to Dhamma after the Kalinga war of 261 BCE, described in the thirteenth Rock Edict, and had his message carved on rocks and pillars in Prakrit using the Brahmi script. His edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837. Options B, C and D are wrong because Dhammadhiraja, Dhammadhikari and Dhammadhyaksha are not titles used in Ashokan inscriptions; Ashoka calls himself Devanampiya, the beloved of the gods, and Piyadassi. Exam tip: Dhamma Mahamatta for spreading Dhamma, Rajukas for justice in the districts and Yuktas as revenue officers.