SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, 1905. Lord Curzon announced the partition of Bengal on 19 July 1905 and it came into effect on 16 October 1905, splitting the province into a Muslim-majority eastern half and the rest of Bengal. The reason given in public was that Bengal had grown too large to administer, but the real aim was to weaken the nationalist movement there by dividing Hindus and Muslims. The protest against it began the Swadeshi and boycott movement, in which foreign cloth was burnt and Indian goods, schools and banks were promoted, and Rabindranath Tagore's song Amar Sonar Bangla belongs to those days. The anger was so wide that the partition was finally cancelled in 1911, when the capital was also moved from Calcutta to Delhi. B is wrong because 1901 is the year Queen Victoria died. C is wrong because 1907 is the year of the Surat split in the Congress. D is wrong because 1911 is the year the partition was revoked, not made. Exam tip: announced in 1905 by Curzon, revoked in 1911 under Hardinge.

The correct answer is D, land gifted to temples. Chola inscriptions use a separate term for every kind of land grant, and tirunamattukkani is the land whose produce was set apart for a temple. The Cholas ruled the Kaveri delta from the ninth to the thirteenth century and had their land settlements cut into temple walls in Tamil, which is why historians can still name each category. In the same lists, brahmadeya was land given to Brahmanas, vellanvagai was the land of ordinary non-Brahmana peasant owners who paid tax to the state, shalabhoga was land whose income ran a school, and pallichchhandam was land given to Jaina establishments. A is wrong because land gifted to Brahmanas was called brahmadeya. B is wrong because the holdings of non-Brahmana peasant proprietors were vellanvagai. C is wrong because a grant to Jaina institutions was pallichchhandam. Exam tip: brahmadeya to Brahmanas, vellanvagai to peasants, shalabhoga to a school, pallichchhandam to Jainas, tirunamattukkani to a temple.

The correct answer is B, Monthly channel. India Post moves its mail through six named channels, and there is no 'Monthly channel' among them. Under the Mail Network Optimisation Project the department separated its traffic so that each kind of article travels on a route with its own time norms. The six are the Metro channel, for mail between the big metro cities; the Rajdhani channel, linking the state capitals; the Green channel, for local mail inside a city; the Business channel, for corporate and bulk business mail; the Periodical channel, for newspapers and magazines; and the Bulk mail channel, for very large mailings. Because of this split, a letter addressed to a metro city does not travel with local city mail. A is wrong because the Metro channel is one of the six. C is wrong because the Rajdhani channel, which joins the capitals, is also one of them. D is wrong because the Business channel handles corporate and bulk mail and is on the list. Exam tip: the six mail channels are Metro, Rajdhani, Green, Business, Periodical and Bulk.

The correct answer is B, Nagpur Road Plan. The Nagpur Plan, drawn up at a conference of chief engineers of the provinces and states held at Nagpur in 1943, was the first attempt at planned road development in India and covered the twenty years from 1943 to 1963. It sorted roads into four classes, national highways, state highways, district roads and village roads, laid them out in a star and grid pattern, and set the target of about 16 kilometres of road for every 100 square kilometres of country. A is wrong because there is no Poona Road Plan among India's road development plans. C is wrong because the Bombay Plan, from 1961 to 1981, was the second twenty-year plan and aimed at roughly double that road length. D is wrong because the Lucknow Plan, from 1981 to 2001, was the third such plan, the first prepared after independence by Indian engineers alone, and it brought in the idea of expressways. Exam tip: Nagpur 1943-63 first, Bombay 1961-81 second, Lucknow 1981-2001 third.

The correct answer is D, Comptroller and Auditor-General. Article 148 of the Constitution creates the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, who audits all receipts and expenditure of the Union and the States and of bodies largely financed from public funds. The President appoints the CAG, who holds office for six years or till the age of 65, whichever comes first, and can be removed only in the manner laid down for a judge of the Supreme Court. The reports go to the President or the Governor, who lays them before Parliament or the State legislature, where the Public Accounts Committee examines them, which is why the CAG is called the guardian of the public purse. A is wrong because the Attorney General, under Article 76, is the highest law officer and advises the government on legal matters. B is wrong because the Advocate General, under Article 165, does the same work for a State. C is wrong because the Union Public Service Commission conducts examinations and advises on recruitment. Exam tip: Article 148 CAG, 76 Attorney General, 165 Advocate General, 315 Public Service Commissions.

The correct answer is D, Tropical deciduous forests. Sandalwood is a tree of the tropical deciduous or monsoon forests, and in India it grows best on the dry eastern slopes of the Western Ghats in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Tropical deciduous forests are the most widespread forests of India, found where the yearly rainfall is roughly between 70 and 200 centimetres, and their trees shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks in the dry season to save water. Teak, sal, shisham, sandalwood, khair, mahua and amla belong to them, and they are the most useful of Indian forests for timber. A is wrong because savanna is a tropical grassland with scattered trees, not a forest belt of sandalwood. B and C are wrong because equatorial evergreen forests and tropical rainforests get very heavy rain through the year, are thick and dark, and carry trees such as rosewood, ebony and mahogany instead. Exam tip: tropical deciduous – teak, sal, sandalwood, shisham; evergreen – rosewood, ebony, mahogany.

The correct answer is B, increase the repo rate. The repo rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank lends short-term money to banks against government securities. When inflation keeps rising, the Reserve Bank raises this rate, so banks borrow less and charge more on their own loans, spending and demand cool down and prices rise more slowly. Such a step is called a dear money or tight monetary policy, and the decision is taken by the six-member Monetary Policy Committee, which has to keep retail inflation at four per cent within a band of two percentage points on either side. A is wrong because cutting the repo rate makes money cheaper and adds to demand, which is done to lift growth when inflation is low. C is wrong because a lower reverse repo rate makes it less attractive for banks to park money with the Reserve Bank, so more money stays in the market and inflation gets worse. D is wrong because leaving the rate unchanged does nothing about rising prices. Exam tip: inflation high – repo rate up; growth slow – repo rate down.

The correct answer is D, Acoustics. Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with how sound is produced, how it travels and how it is heard or absorbed. The word comes from a Greek root meaning to hear. Sound is a mechanical wave, so it needs a material medium and cannot pass through a vacuum; it travels at about 343 metres per second in air at room temperature and much faster in water and in steel. Acoustics is put to work in designing halls and studios so that echo and noise are controlled, and in sonar, ultrasound scanning and hearing aids. A is wrong because optics is the study of light, its reflection, refraction and the working of lenses and mirrors. B is wrong because photonics deals with the making, control and detection of photons, as in lasers and optical fibres. C is wrong because astrophysics studies the physics of stars, galaxies and the universe. Exam tip: acoustics – sound; optics – light; photonics – photons; seismology – earthquake waves.

The correct answer is D, We Command. Mandamus is a Latin word meaning we command, and the writ is an order from a court to a public official, a public body, a corporation or a lower court to perform a public duty it has refused to do. It cannot be issued against a private person, against the President or a Governor, or against a chief justice of a High Court acting in a judicial capacity. The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226, which is the wider power. A is wrong because you may have the body is the meaning of habeas corpus, the writ used to produce a detained person before a court and test whether the detention is lawful. B is wrong because to be certified is the meaning of certiorari, by which a higher court moves a pending case to itself or quashes an order of a lower body. C is wrong because by what warrant is the meaning of quo warranto, an enquiry into a person's claim to a public office. Exam tip: habeas corpus – produce the body; mandamus – we command; prohibition – stop; certiorari – to be certified; quo warranto – by what authority.

The correct answer is C, neonatal mortality rate. The neonatal period is the first 28 completed days after birth, and the neonatal mortality rate counts the deaths in that period for every 1,000 live births in a year. It is watched closely because most of these deaths come from a few causes that good care can prevent, such as birth asphyxia, low birth weight, early infection and preterm birth. Within it, deaths in the first seven days are counted separately as early neonatal deaths. A is wrong because the infant mortality rate covers deaths of children below one year of age per 1,000 live births, a wider group. B is wrong because the crude death rate counts all deaths in a year per 1,000 of the whole population, without regard to age. D is wrong because an age-specific mortality rate counts deaths in one chosen age group per 1,000 people of that group. Exam tip: neonatal – within 28 days; infant – within one year; under-five – within five years, all per 1,000 live births.

The correct answer is C, Champaran. Gandhi's first satyagraha in India was fought in 1917 at Champaran in Bihar, where indigo planters forced tenants to grow indigo on a fixed part of their holding under the tinkathia system. The peasant Rajkumar Shukla persuaded Gandhi to come and see their condition; Gandhi arrived, was ordered to leave, refused, and the government instead set up an enquiry committee with him as a member. Its report ended the tinkathia system and won the peasants part of their money back. A is wrong because the Kheda satyagraha in Gujarat came in 1918, when Gandhi asked for remission of land revenue after crops failed. B is wrong because the Ahmedabad mill workers' struggle, in which Gandhi used a hunger strike for higher wages, also belongs to 1918. D is wrong because the Bardoli satyagraha of 1928 was a no-tax movement led by Vallabhbhai Patel, who earned the title Sardar there. Exam tip: 1917 Champaran, 1918 Ahmedabad and Kheda, 1928 Bardoli.

The correct answer is B, Drosera. Drosera, known as the sundew, is an insect-eating plant whose leaves are covered with stalked glands tipped with a shining drop of sticky fluid. An insect that lands on it is held fast, the tentacles curl over the catch, and enzymes digest the soft parts so that the plant can absorb nitrogen. Carnivorous plants grow in marshy or sandy soils that are poor in nitrogen, and they still make their own food by photosynthesis; the insect only makes up for the missing mineral. The pitcher plant Nepenthes, the bladderwort Utricularia and the Venus flytrap trap their prey in the same way but with different leaf traps. A is wrong because Clarkia is an ordinary garden flower of the evening primrose family. C is wrong because Alyssum is a small ornamental plant of the mustard family. D is wrong because hollyhock is a tall garden plant of the mallow family. Exam tip: insect-eating plants – Drosera (sundew), Nepenthes (pitcher plant), Utricularia, Venus flytrap; they need nitrogen, not food.

The correct answer is A, Jharkhand. In the Census of 2011 Jharkhand recorded a density of about 414 persons per square kilometre, the highest among the four states named. Density of population means the number of persons living on one square kilometre of land, and it is found by dividing the population of an area by its area. For India as a whole the figure was 382 persons per square kilometre in 2011. Among the states Bihar stood first with about 1,106 persons and Arunachal Pradesh last with only 17, while among all units the National Capital Territory of Delhi was the most crowded. B is wrong because Goa had about 394 persons per square kilometre, a little below Jharkhand. C is wrong because Gujarat had about 308. D is wrong because Maharashtra had about 365, in spite of its large cities, since it is a very large state by area. Exam tip: Census 2011 density – India 382, Bihar highest state, Arunachal Pradesh lowest, Delhi highest among all units.

The correct answer is C, Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO). IISCO has its works at Burnpur, near Asansol in West Bengal, on the Kolkata-Asansol railway line, and it became a subsidiary of the Steel Authority of India and was later merged into it, the plant now being run as the IISCO Steel Plant. The site suited iron and steel making because coal came from the Raniganj and Jharia fields close by, iron ore from Singhbhum and Odisha, and water from the Damodar, while the railway carried the finished steel to the port of Kolkata. A is wrong because ESL Steel Limited is a plant at Bokaro in Jharkhand owned by the Vedanta group, not by SAIL. B is wrong because Jindal Steel and Power is a private company of the Jindal group, with its main works at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. D is wrong because TISCO, now Tata Steel, is a private company with its plant at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. Exam tip: SAIL plants – Bhilai, Durgapur, Rourkela, Bokaro, Burnpur (IISCO) and Salem.

The correct answer is C, Kakrapar. The Kakrapar Atomic Power Station stands in Surat district of Gujarat, on the bank of the Tapi, and is run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. It uses pressurised heavy water reactors, and its third unit is the first 700 MWe reactor of Indian design to be built, a bigger version of the 220 MWe units used earlier. India's other nuclear stations include Tarapur in Maharashtra, the oldest, Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Narora in Uttar Pradesh, Kaiga in Karnataka and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. A is wrong because Hirakud, on the Mahanadi in Odisha, is a large dam with a hydroelectric station, not an atomic one. B is wrong because Naharkatiya in Assam is an oilfield. D is wrong because Tatipaka in Andhra Pradesh has a small oil refinery. Exam tip: Kakrapar – Gujarat, on the Tapi, home of India's first 700 MWe indigenous reactor.

The correct answer is C, Grammy. Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt won the Grammy Award in 1994 for the album A Meeting by the River, which he recorded with the American slide guitarist Ry Cooder in the world music category. Bhatt, a musician of the Jaipur gharana and a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, is best known for building the Mohan Veena, a Hawaiian guitar rebuilt with about twenty strings so that it can carry the sliding notes and drone of Indian classical music. He was later honoured with the Padma Shri. A is wrong because Sangita Kalanidhi is the highest award of the Madras Music Academy, given for Carnatic music. B is wrong because the Oscar, or Academy Award, is given for films, not for a music album of this kind. D is wrong because the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award is a national honour for music, dance and drama given in India, and it is not the 1994 award named in the question. Exam tip: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt – Mohan Veena, Grammy 1994 for A Meeting by the River with Ry Cooder.

The correct answer is A, 297. The Constitution (Fortieth Amendment) Act, 1976 rewrote Article 297 so that all lands, minerals and other things of value lying in the territorial waters, the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of India vest in the Union and are held for the purposes of the Union. The same amendment empowered Parliament to fix the limits of these maritime zones from time to time, and it also added a large number of state land-ceiling laws to the Ninth Schedule to protect them from court challenge. B is wrong because Article 248 deals with the residuary powers of legislation, which rest with Parliament. C is wrong because Article 245 sets out the extent of the laws made by Parliament and by State legislatures. D is wrong because Article 226 gives every High Court the power to issue writs. Exam tip: Article 297 – things of value in the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone vest in the Union; widened by the 40th Amendment, 1976.

The correct answer is B, 1858. The Government of India Act of 1858, passed after the revolt of 1857, ended the rule of the East India Company and placed India directly under the British Crown. It abolished the Court of Directors and the Board of Control and created the office of Secretary of State for India, a member of the British cabinet, assisted by a Council of India of fifteen members. The Governor General was now also styled Viceroy, and Lord Canning was the first to hold both titles. Queen Victoria's Proclamation, read out at Allahabad on 1 November 1858, promised that treaties with the princes would be honoured and that Indians would be admitted to office without regard to race or creed. A is wrong because 1878 is the year of the Vernacular Press Act. C is wrong because 1868 saw no transfer of power. D is wrong because 1888 has no such event. Exam tip: 1858 means Company rule ends, Crown rule begins, Canning is the first Viceroy.

The correct answer is A, Write Once, Read Many. WORM describes a storage medium on which data can be written a single time and after that only read, never altered or erased. A CD-R or a DVD-R is the everyday example, because once the disc has been burnt the marks made in its dye layer are permanent. Since the record cannot be changed later, WORM media are used for archives, bank and hospital records, court evidence and audit trails, where proof that nothing was tampered with matters more than the freedom to edit. Modern systems offer the same guarantee in software on hard disks and cloud storage. B is wrong because Word On RAM Memory is not a storage term at all. C is wrong because it mixes optical recognition with malware, and the worm that is malware is an ordinary word, not an acronym. D is wrong because WORM has nothing to do with wireless working. Exam tip: WORM means Write Once Read Many, as on CD-R and DVD-R, and is used for tamper-proof archives.

The correct answer is D, Both I and II. Statement I is right, because a government security, or G-Sec, is a tradeable debt instrument issued by the central government or by a state government and can be bought and sold in the secondary market before it matures. Statement II is right as well, because repayment is promised by the government itself, so these papers carry practically no risk of default and are therefore called risk-free gilt-edged instruments. Short-dated central paper is issued as treasury bills of 91, 182 and 364 days, which are sold at a discount and repaid at face value, while longer paper is issued as dated securities that pay a fixed coupon every six months; a state's issue is called a State Development Loan. The Reserve Bank of India manages these borrowings for the government and conducts the auctions. A is wrong because it rejects both correct statements. B is wrong because it leaves out the gilt-edged character. C is wrong because it denies that G-Secs can be traded. Exam tip: G-Secs are tradeable and gilt-edged; treasury bills run 91, 182 and 364 days.