SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi. K.M. Munshi called the Preamble the 'political horoscope of the Indian Constitution' because it foretells the kind of state India set out to build. Munshi sat in the Constituent Assembly and on its seven-member Drafting Committee, and he was one of the finest phrase-makers in that House. The Preamble itself declares India a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and promises justice, liberty, equality and fraternity to every citizen. In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) the Supreme Court held that the Preamble is a part of the Constitution and can guide how its provisions are read. Option A is wrong because Thakurdas Bhargava praised the Preamble in different words, calling it the soul and the jewel of the Constitution. Option C is wrong because N.A. Palkhivala described the Preamble as the 'identity card of the Constitution'. Option D is wrong because Dr B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee, but this particular phrase is not his. Exam tip: Munshi - political horoscope; Palkhivala - identity card; Thakurdas Bhargava - soul of the Constitution.

The correct answer is A, Two. Because of the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, together with the centrifugal effect of the earth's rotation, most coasts see the sea rise and fall twice in a day. The moon's pull raises a bulge of water on the side of the earth facing it and another on the opposite side, and as the earth turns a place passes through both bulges in about twenty-four hours. These are called semi-diurnal tides, and successive high tides come about twelve hours and twenty-five minutes apart. Option B is wrong because no shore gets three tidal cycles in a day. Option C is wrong because four counts the individual tides — two high and two low — while the rise-and-fall cycle itself happens twice. Option D is wrong because a single daily high and low, called a diurnal tide, occurs only on a few coasts such as parts of the Gulf of Mexico. Exam tip: spring tides come at full moon and new moon when sun and moon pull in line, and neap tides at the quarters.

The correct answer is C, Rupnath. Rupnath lies in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, not in Karnataka, and it bears Minor Rock Edict I. Karnataka holds the largest cluster of Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts, in the Raichur, Ballari and Chitradurga belt — at Maski, Gavimath, Palkigundu, Brahmagiri, Siddapura, Jatinga-Rameshwara, Nittur and Udegolam. Minor Rock Edicts differ from the fourteen Major Rock Edicts in being short, personal declarations of the king's faith in dhamma rather than statements of policy. Option A is wrong because Maski, in Raichur district of Karnataka, is a find spot, and a famous one — it is where the name Ashoka itself was first read in an inscription. Option B is wrong because Gavimath, near Koppal in Karnataka, also carries Minor Rock Edict I. Option D is wrong because Brahmagiri, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, is another Karnataka find spot. Exam tip: Maski, Gavimath, Brahmagiri, Siddapura and Nittur are in Karnataka, while Rupnath is in Madhya Pradesh and Bairat in Rajasthan.

The correct answer is C, fifteen percent. Article 164(1A) lays down that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in a State's Council of Ministers shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of that State's Legislative Assembly, and the same clause fixes a floor of twelve Ministers so that small States are not left with a skeleton cabinet. The clause was inserted by the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003, which put the same fifteen per cent ceiling on the Union Council of Ministers through Article 75(1A), counted on the strength of the Lok Sabha; the amendment also tightened the anti-defection law. Option A is wrong because twenty per cent appears in none of these clauses. Option B is wrong because ten per cent is lower than the limit Article 164 sets. Option D is wrong because twenty-five per cent has never been the ceiling. Exam tip: 91st Amendment, 2003 — a fifteen per cent cap on both the Union and State Councils of Ministers, with a floor of twelve in a State.

The correct answer is A, 5 NTU. Under the Bureau of Indian Standards specification for drinking water, IS 10500:2012, turbidity has an acceptable limit of 1 NTU and a maximum permissible limit of 5 NTU in the absence of any alternate source. Turbidity is the cloudiness of water caused by suspended clay, silt and organic matter, and it is measured in nephelometric turbidity units by how much light a sample scatters sideways. It is kept low because suspended particles shelter bacteria and viruses from chlorine and make disinfection less effective. Option B is wrong because 1 NTU is the acceptable limit, not the maximum permissible one. Option C is wrong because 3 NTU appears in neither column of the standard. Option D is wrong because 7 NTU is above what the standard allows in any circumstance. Exam tip: for IS 10500:2012 remember the pair — turbidity acceptable 1 NTU and permissible 5 NTU, with pH held between 6.5 and 8.5.

The correct answer is C, Hemant. In the traditional Indian reckoning the year is divided into six seasons of two months each, and Hemant, the pre-winter, falls in the months of Agrahayana and Pausha — that is, November and December. Taken in order from spring the six are Vasant (March-April), Grishma (May-June), Varsha (July-August), Sharad (September-October), Hemant (November-December) and Shishir (January-February). Each is tied to the Hindu lunar months rather than to fixed dates. Option A is wrong because Sharad, the autumn, comes in September and October, when the monsoon withdraws. Option B is wrong because Shishir, the winter proper, falls in January and February and is the coldest stretch of the year. Option D is wrong because Vasant is the spring of March and April, the season of Holi and of the rabi harvest. Exam tip: learn the six in order from Vasant — Vasant, Grishma, Varsha, Sharad, Hemant, Shishir — and note that Hemant sits between Sharad and Shishir.

The correct answer is B, Charaka. Charaka is the physician of ancient India whose name is attached to the Charaka Samhita, the great text on medicine, and tradition makes him a court physician of the Kushana king Kanishka. The Charaka Samhita is a reworking of the older Agnivesha Tantra and deals with diagnosis, diet, hygiene, drugs and the ethics a physician must keep; with Sushruta's Samhita on surgery it forms the base of Ayurveda. Option A is wrong because Bhasa was a Sanskrit dramatist, remembered for plays such as Svapnavasavadatta. Option C is wrong because Panini was the grammarian who composed the Ashtadhyayi, the standard work on Sanskrit grammar. Option D is wrong because Harsha was a seventh-century ruler of Kanauj and himself a playwright, author of Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda, not a writer on medicine. Exam tip: fix the pairs — Charaka for medicine, Sushruta for surgery, Panini for grammar, Aryabhata for mathematics and astronomy.

The correct answer is D. The Vice-President is not removed by the President. Article 67(b) says he may be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all its then members and agreed to by the Lok Sabha, and at least fourteen days' notice of such a resolution must be given. No grounds are laid down and there is no formal impeachment procedure, unlike the President's removal. Option A states the position correctly, so it is not the answer: the Vice-President is chosen by an electoral college of the members of both Houses of Parliament alone, including nominated members, and members of State legislatures take no part. Option B is correct because Article 64 makes him the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Option C is correct because Article 67 fixes his term at five years from the day he enters office. Exam tip: the President's removal needs impeachment by both Houses on a stated charge; the Vice-President's needs only a Rajya Sabha resolution agreed to by the Lok Sabha.

The correct answer is C, 1957. The Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York, with the agreement of the Philippine government, in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the third President of the Philippines, who had died in an air crash in March that year. The first awards were presented in 1958. The prize honours greatness of spirit and service to the peoples of Asia and is often called Asia's Nobel Prize; the foundation that gives it is based in Manila. Vinoba Bhave was the first Indian to receive it, in 1958. Option A is wrong because by 1965 the award had already been given for seven years. Option B is wrong because 1962 is the year Mother Teresa won it for peace and international understanding, not the year it began. Option D is wrong because 1982 is far later than the founding. Exam tip: Magsaysay Award — set up 1957, first given 1958, first Indian Vinoba Bhave, foundation at Manila.

The correct answer is A, Maharashtra. The Industrial Development Bank of India has its head office in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, at the IDBI Tower in Cuffe Parade. IDBI was set up in 1964 by an Act of Parliament as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, to give long-term finance to industry. It was transferred to the Government of India in 1976, turned into a banking company in 2004, and reclassified by the RBI as a private sector bank in 2019 after the Life Insurance Corporation took a majority stake in it. Option B is wrong because West Bengal's Kolkata is the home of UCO Bank and Bandhan Bank, not IDBI. Option C is wrong because Karnataka holds Canara Bank at Bengaluru and Karnataka Bank at Mangaluru. Option D is wrong because Haryana has no such national financial institution's head office. Exam tip: Mumbai holds the RBI, SEBI, IDBI, the State Bank of India and both stock exchanges, which is why it is called the financial capital of India.

The correct answer is C, 14°N. In the summer months the tropical easterly jet stream blows over peninsular India at about 14°N, some 15 km above the ground, and it moves from east to west. It appears only after the subtropical westerly jet has withdrawn north of the Himalayas and the upper air circulation over India has reversed, and it helps the south-west monsoon burst and keep going; it is strongest over the southern peninsula and the Arabian Sea. Option A is wrong because 24°N crosses central India, well north of the jet's summer core. Option B is wrong because 30°N is roughly where the subtropical westerly jet sits over the northern plains in winter, not where the easterly jet blows. Option D is wrong because 28°N is near the latitude of Delhi, again a winter westerly position. Exam tip: in winter the subtropical westerly jet lies at about 25°N to 30°N south of the Himalayas, and in summer the tropical easterly jet lies at about 14°N over the peninsula.

The correct answer is B, Eight. In Rock Edict XIII, Ashoka states that the country of the Kalingas was conquered eight years after his consecration as king. Taking his coronation at about 268 BCE, the war is placed around 261 BCE. The same edict records that a hundred and fifty thousand people were carried away, a hundred thousand were slain and many more died, and that the king felt deep remorse and turned to dhamma — this is the only war Ashoka ever describes in his inscriptions. Kalinga is the coastal tract of present-day Odisha, and his edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada stand there. Option A is wrong because no Ashokan edict gives five years for the Kalinga campaign. Option C is wrong because six years appears in none of the inscriptions. Option D is wrong because seven is a common distractor while the text plainly says eight. Exam tip: consecration about 268 BCE, Kalinga war in the eighth regnal year about 261 BCE, told in Rock Edict XIII.

The correct answer is B, justiciable. Part III holds the fundamental rights, and those rights are justiciable: a citizen may go straight to the Supreme Court under Article 32 or to a High Court under Article 226 and have them enforced. The fundamental duties are moral obligations that no court enforces of its own motion, so putting them in Part III would have sat oddly beside enforceable rights; they were given a new Part IVA instead, as Article 51A. They came in through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 on the advice of the Swaran Singh Committee — ten duties then, and an eleventh on a parent's duty to educate a child added by the 86th Amendment of 2002. Option A is wrong because it is Part IV, the Directive Principles, that is non-justiciable. Option C is wrong for the same reason, since Part III rights are enforceable. Option D is wrong because fundamental rights are not absolute; the State may place reasonable restrictions on them. Exam tip: Part III justiciable, Part IV not, Part IVA duties in Article 51A.

The correct answer is B, 2011-2012. The all-India Index of Industrial Production is compiled with 2011-12 as its base year, a revision announced in 2017 that replaced the older 2004-05 base. The IIP is a monthly volume index put out by the National Statistical Office and it measures the change in output of three sectors — mining, manufacturing and electricity. In the 2011-12 series manufacturing carries by far the largest weight, about 77.6 per cent, with mining near 14.4 per cent and electricity near 8 per cent, and the index is released about six weeks after the month it reports on. Option A is wrong because 2004-05 was the base of the series that the present one replaced. Option C is wrong because 2005-06 has never been an IIP base year. Option D is wrong because 2010-11 is not the IIP base either. Exam tip: 2011-12 is the base year of the IIP, the Wholesale Price Index and India's national accounts alike, while the Consumer Price Index uses 2012.

The correct answer is D, Sarangi. Pandit Ram Narayan was the musician who lifted the sarangi from an accompanying instrument to a solo concert instrument in Hindustani music. Born at Udaipur in Rajasthan in 1927, he played for All India Radio, accompanied singers for years, and from the mid-1950s began giving solo recitals in India and abroad. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and, in 2005, the Padma Vibhushan. The sarangi is a short-necked bowed instrument carved from a single block of wood, with three main gut strings and about thirty-five sympathetic strings, and its tone is said to come closest to the human voice. Option A is wrong because the ghatam, a clay pot, is a Carnatic percussion instrument played by Vikku Vinayakram. Option B is wrong because the tabla is linked with Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. Option C is wrong because the bansuri, the bamboo flute, belongs to Pannalal Ghosh and Hariprasad Chaurasia. Exam tip: sarangi — Ram Narayan; sarod — Amjad Ali Khan; santoor — Shivkumar Sharma.

The correct answer is A, Jawaharlal Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister from 15 August 1947 until his death on 27 May 1964, about sixteen years and nine months, and no Indian Prime Minister has held the office for longer. He is also the only one to have served continuously through three general elections, in 1952, 1957 and 1962. Option B is wrong because Indira Gandhi served in two spells, from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984, together about fifteen years and eleven months — close to Nehru but short of him. Option C is wrong because I.K. Gujral was Prime Minister for less than a year, from April 1997 to March 1998. Option D is wrong because Narendra Modi took office in May 2014, so his tenure was far shorter than Nehru's when this paper was set. Exam tip: Nehru's tenure of about sixteen years and nine months is the longest, and Indira Gandhi's of about fifteen years and eleven months comes next.

The correct answer is C, Memory Card. A memory card keeps data in flash memory, a semiconductor chip with no moving parts, so it is solid-state storage and not magnetic. The data sits as trapped charge in floating-gate transistors, which is why SD cards, pen drives and solid-state drives are fast, silent and able to take a knock. Magnetic storage works quite differently: it records data as patterns of magnetised spots on a coated surface that a read-write head passes over. Option A is wrong because the Winchester disk is the early IBM name for the sealed hard disk drive, which is magnetic. Option B is wrong because a floppy drive writes on a thin magnetic plastic disc. Option D is wrong because magnetic tape, still used for archives and backups, is a plastic ribbon with a magnetic coating. Exam tip: sort storage by how it records — magnetic (hard disk, floppy, tape), optical (CD, DVD, Blu-ray) and solid-state or flash (memory card, pen drive, SSD).

The correct answer is B, Namdapha National Park. Namdapha lies in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, covers about 1,985 square kilometres and is the largest protected area in the Eastern Himalayan sub-region. It was declared a national park in 1983 and is also a tiger reserve. Its land climbs from about 200 metres on the Noa-Dihing river to more than 4,500 metres, so tropical rainforest, temperate forest and alpine meadow all lie inside one park; it is the only protected area known to hold four large cats — tiger, leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopard. Option A is wrong because Jim Corbett, in Uttarakhand, belongs to the Western Himalayan foothills. Option C is wrong because Keibul Lamjao in Manipur is the world's only floating national park and is very small. Option D is wrong because Bandipur is in Karnataka, in the Western Ghats, far from the Himalayas. Exam tip: Namdapha — Arunachal Pradesh, four big cats, the Noa-Dihing river and the hoolock gibbon.

The correct answer is D, Elaioplasts. Leucoplasts are the colourless plastids of plant cells, and each kind is named after what it stores. Elaioplasts are the leucoplasts that make and store oils and fats, and they are plentiful in the tapetum, the nourishing layer of cells in the anther that feeds developing pollen grains and leaves an oily coat on them. The other leucoplasts are amyloplasts, which store starch in potato tubers and cereal grains, and proteinoplasts, which store protein. Option A is wrong because gerontoplasts are chloroplasts that have aged, as in a leaf turning yellow in autumn. Option B is wrong because proteinoplasts, also called aleuroplasts, hold protein and not oil. Option C is wrong because chloroplasts are green, pigment-bearing plastids that carry out photosynthesis, so they are not leucoplasts at all. Exam tip: name the leucoplast by its store — amyloplast for starch, elaioplast for oil (elaion is Greek for oil), proteinoplast for protein.

The correct answer is D, Education. Article 21A says the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years, in such manner as the State may by law determine. It was inserted by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002, which also reworded Article 45 to cover early childhood care and added a parent's duty to educate a child as Fundamental Duty 51A(k). Parliament gave the right its working shape through the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, in force from 1 April 2010. Option A is wrong because there is no fundamental right to work; the right to work appears in Article 41 among the Directive Principles. Option B is wrong because privacy has no separate article and was read into Article 21 by the Supreme Court in 2017. Option C is wrong because the right to equality is Article 14. Exam tip: 86th Amendment, 2002 — Article 21A, a reworded Article 45 and the eleventh Fundamental Duty, all in one Act.