SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Export Security. Export security is not a recognised category of trade barrier; it is not a device that restricts the movement of goods across a border. Option A is wrong as a choice because subsidies are treated as a barrier: by lowering the cost of domestic producers they make imported goods uncompetitive, and the World Trade Organization disciplines them for that reason. Option B is wrong because an embargo is the strongest of all barriers, an outright ban on trade with a particular country or in a particular good. Option D is wrong because tariff barriers, chiefly customs duty, are the classic barrier, raising the price of the imported good in the home market. Keep the two families apart: tariff barriers act on price, while non-tariff barriers such as quotas, embargoes, licensing and standards act on quantity or on entry itself.

The correct answer is B, external sector. The balance of payments is the statement that records every economic transaction between the residents of a country and the rest of the world in a given period, which is precisely what the external sector of an economy means; it covers merchandise trade, services, income, transfers and capital flows. Option A is wrong because the agriculture sector is a producing sector within the domestic economy and is measured through output and national income accounts, not through the balance of payments. Option C is wrong because the government sector is tracked through the budget and the fiscal deficit, which are internal accounts. Option D is wrong because the private sector is likewise a domestic classification, covering households and firms, and appears in savings and investment data. The other three are all parts of the internal economy, while only the external sector looks outward.

The correct answer is D, Nilgiri. Doddabetta, about 2,637 metres high, is the highest point of the Nilgiri hills, the block where the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats meet, and it overlooks the hill station of Udhagamandalam or Ooty in Tamil Nadu. Option A is wrong because the highest point of the Vindhyan range is a far lower summit in Madhya Pradesh; the Vindhyas form the northern edge of the Deccan, not a two-thousand-metre range. Option B is wrong because the highest peak of the Satpura range is Dhupgarh in the Pachmarhi hills, about 1,350 metres. Option C is wrong because the highest peak of the Aravallis is Guru Shikhar near Mount Abu in Rajasthan, about 1,722 metres. Examiners often mix these four peaks in one question, so learn the set together: Doddabetta with the Nilgiris, Dhupgarh with the Satpuras and Guru Shikhar with the Aravallis.

The correct answer is D, Gujarat. Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian state. Its shore runs from the Rann of Kachchh round the Gulf of Kachchh, along the whole Saurashtra or Kathiawar peninsula and down the Gulf of Khambhat, and this deeply indented outline gives it far more shore than any other state. Option A is wrong because Karnataka has a short Kanara coast of only a few hundred kilometres between Goa and Kerala. Option B is wrong because Kerala, though famous for its Malabar coast and backwaters, is a narrow state whose coastline is much shorter than Gujarat's. Option C is wrong because Tamil Nadu, with the Coromandel coast, has one of the longer coastlines on the eastern side but still less than Gujarat. Remember that nine states of India touch the sea, and that Gujarat leads the list.

The correct answer is Article 226. It empowers every High Court to issue directions, orders or writs, including habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, to any person or authority within its territory, for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights "and for any other purpose". Those last words make the High Courts' writ power wider than the Supreme Court's under Article 32, which covers only Fundamental Rights. On the other hand, Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right, while Article 226 is not, so the Supreme Court cannot refuse to hear a genuine Fundamental Rights petition merely because a High Court remedy exists.

The other options are nearby Articles about High Court judges. Article 220 restricts a retired permanent judge from practising law before the same courts. Article 222 lets the President transfer a judge from one High Court to another. Article 224 provides for additional and acting judges. Pair the two writ Articles in your mind: 32 for the Supreme Court and 226 for the High Courts.

The correct answer is 62. Under Article 217(1), a judge of a High Court holds office until he or she attains the age of 62 years. The original Constitution set the age at 60; the 15th Amendment Act, 1963 raised it to 62. If a question arises about a judge's age, the President decides it after consulting the Chief Justice of India, and that decision is final.

The other options come from elsewhere. Sixty-five is the retirement age of Supreme Court judges, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer. Sixty was the retirement age for High Court judges before 1963. Fifty-six has no connection with judges at all. A judge of a High Court can also leave earlier by resigning to the President, being appointed to the Supreme Court, being transferred to another High Court, or being removed by the same process as a Supreme Court judge. The pair to remember remains Supreme Court 65, High Court 62.

The correct answer is Calcutta High Court. It was established on 1 July 1862 under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, which makes it the oldest High Court in India. The Bombay and Madras High Courts followed in August of the same year, so all three "chartered" High Courts date from 1862, but Calcutta came first.

The other options were all set up later. The Allahabad High Court was established in 1866, first at Agra, and moved to Allahabad (now Prayagraj) in 1869. The Karnataka High Court began as the Chief Court of Mysore in 1884. The Delhi High Court was set up in 1966. Today there are 25 High Courts, the newest being the Andhra Pradesh High Court, set up in 2019. A related question asks which High Court has the largest number of judges, and the answer there is Allahabad, so do not mix up "oldest" with "largest".

The correct answer is Harilal Kania. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania, who had been the last Chief Justice of the Federal Court, became the first Chief Justice of India when the Supreme Court began on 26 January 1950, and presided over its inauguration on 28 January. He died in office in November 1951 and was succeeded by M. Patanjali Sastri.

The other options are also Chief Justices, which is exactly why they appear. B.K. Mukherjea and A.K. Sarkar became Chief Justice later, in the 1950s and 1960s. Y.V. Chandrachud is the longest-serving Chief Justice, from 1978 to 1985, and a favourite answer to a different question. To keep the Supreme Court firsts together: first Chief Justice H.J. Kania; first woman judge M. Fathima Beevi (1989); longest-serving Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud. The present Chief Justice, Justice Surya Kant, is the 53rd, and took office in November 2025.

The correct answer is Article 142. It allows the Supreme Court, in exercising its jurisdiction, to pass any decree or make any order necessary for doing "complete justice" in any case or matter pending before it. It is a unique power that lets the Court fill gaps where the law is silent. In 2022, in Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal, the Court used it to issue directions recognising sex work as a profession and ordering the police not to harass consenting adult sex workers. It also relied on Article 142 in the Ayodhya judgment of 2019 to direct that five acres of land be given for a mosque.

The other options are the Articles around it. Article 140 lets Parliament confer supplementary powers on the Court. Article 141 makes the law declared by the Court binding on all courts. Article 143 is the President's power to seek the Court's advice. Because Article 142 is so broad, critics say the Court should use it sparingly, but for exams remember it with two words: "complete justice".

The correct answer is Article 137. It gives the Supreme Court the power to review any judgment it has pronounced or any order it has made, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament and the rules made by the Court under Article 145. A review petition is normally heard by the same bench that gave the judgment, and it succeeds only if there is an error apparent on the face of the record or some similar strong ground. Beyond review, the Court recognised the curative petition in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case (2002) as a last remedy to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice.

The other options are the Articles right around it. Article 135 lets the Supreme Court exercise the jurisdiction the Federal Court had under earlier law. Article 136 is the special leave to appeal from any court or tribunal. Article 138 allows Parliament to enlarge the Court's jurisdiction. The sequence 136, 137 is worth fixing in memory: special leave to appeal, then review of its own judgments.

The correct answer is Article 129. It declares that the Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court, including the power to punish for contempt of itself. Being a court of record means two things: its judgments and proceedings are preserved as permanent records of evidentiary value that cannot be questioned when produced before any court, and it has the inherent power to punish anyone who scandalises the court or disobeys its orders.

The other options are nearby Articles with different content. Article 123 gives the President the power to issue ordinances. Article 125 deals with the salaries and allowances of Supreme Court judges. Article 127 provides for the appointment of ad hoc judges when there is no quorum of permanent judges. The High Courts are courts of record too, under Article 215, so remember the pair: 129 for the Supreme Court and 215 for the High Courts. Contempt of court is further defined by the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

The correct answer is proven misbehaviour or incapacity. Under Article 124(4), a judge of the Supreme Court can be removed by an order of the President only after each House of Parliament, in the same session, presents an address supported by a majority of its total membership and by two-thirds of the members present and voting, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 sets out how the charges are investigated by a three-member committee before Parliament votes.

The other options are not grounds recognised by the Constitution. "Disrespect of the Constitution" sounds close to the ground for impeaching the President, which is "violation of the Constitution", and that is the trap. Murder charges or lack of knowledge would have to be established as misbehaviour or incapacity through the same process; they are not separate grounds. The strict process protects judicial independence: no judge of the Supreme Court has ever been removed, and the first motion, against Justice V. Ramaswami in 1993, failed.

The correct answer is Seven. When the Supreme Court began in 1950, Article 124(1) provided for a Chief Justice of India and not more than seven other judges, eight in all, "until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number". Parliament has used that power several times as the Court's workload grew: to 11 judges in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009 and 34 in 2019, and in May 2026 an ordinance raised the sanctioned strength to 38, the Chief Justice and 37 judges.

The wrong options are nearby numbers designed to catch half-remembered facts. Eight is the total including the Chief Justice, which is exactly why it tempts; six and five have no basis. Read the question carefully: "besides the Chief Justice" means the answer excludes the Chief Justice. Note also that the number of judges is fixed by an Act of Parliament, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, and not by a constitutional amendment, which is why it can be changed relatively easily.

The correct answer is B, hydrogen. Soil acidity is measured on the pH scale, and pH depends on the concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil water. The more hydrogen ions there are, the lower the pH and the more acidic the soil. A pH below 7 is acidic, 7 is neutral and above 7 is alkaline, and most crops grow best between about 6 and 7.5. Acidic soils are common in areas of heavy rainfall, where water washes away bases such as calcium and magnesium, and they are corrected by adding lime, that is calcium carbonate. Option A is wrong because phosphorus is a plant nutrient whose shortage stunts growth but does not define acidity. Option C is wrong because oxygen in soil pores affects aeration and root respiration, not pH. Option D is wrong because nitrogen is a nutrient taken up as nitrate or ammonium and acidity is still read from hydrogen ions. Exam tip: pH measures hydrogen ions, below 7 is acidic, and lime cures an acidic soil.

The correct answer is C, Glycogen. The carbohydrates in our food are broken down into glucose, and the glucose that the body does not need at once is stored as glycogen, a branched chain of glucose units kept mainly in the liver and the skeletal muscles. It is often called animal starch. When blood sugar falls, hormones such as glucagon and adrenaline make the liver break glycogen down and release glucose, which is why a fasting body can keep working for hours. Extra energy beyond what glycogen stores can hold is turned into fat. Option A is wrong because maltose is a double sugar formed while starch is being digested and it is not a store. Option B is wrong because glucose is the form that circulates in the blood and is used at once, not the stored form. Option D is wrong because starch is the storage carbohydrate of plants, not of animals. Exam tip: plants store starch, animals store glycogen in the liver and muscles.

The correct answer is A, 919. The final figures of Census 2011 put the child sex ratio, counted for the age group 0 to 6 years, at 919 females per 1000 males. This was the lowest child sex ratio recorded since independence and a fall from 927 in the 2001 census, even though the overall sex ratio improved in the same decade from 933 to 943. The gap points to sex selection before birth and to poorer care of girl children, which is why the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme focus on it. Haryana recorded the lowest child sex ratio among the states and Kerala the highest overall sex ratio at 1084. Option B, 909, is below any census figure for this group. Option C, 929, is close to the 2001 figure of 927 but not the 2011 one. Option D, 939, is nearer the overall sex ratio than the child figure. Exam tip: Census 2011 means overall sex ratio 943 and child sex ratio 919.

The correct answer is C, single-member body. Article 148 of the Constitution provides for one Comptroller and Auditor General of India, so the office is held by a single person and not by a panel. The President appoints him by warrant under his hand and seal, he holds office for six years or till the age of 65, whichever comes first, and he can be removed only in the same manner as a judge of the Supreme Court, which protects his independence. He audits the accounts of the Union and the states, and his reports are laid before Parliament or the state legislature, where the Public Accounts Committee examines them. Options A, B and D are wrong because the CAG has never been a two-member, three-member or six-member body; only one officer holds the post, helped by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. Exam tip: the CAG under Article 148 is a single-member office, while the Election Commission and the UPSC are multi-member bodies.

The correct answer is C, Jahangir. Mughal painting reached its peak under Jahangir, who ruled from 1605 to 1627. He was a keen collector who claimed he could name the artist behind every figure in a painting, and his studio turned from long illustrated histories to single studies of portraits, birds, animals, flowers and court scenes, with fine European touches such as shading and the halo. Ustad Mansur, titled Nadir-ul-Asr for his birds and animals, Abul Hasan, titled Nadir-uz-Zaman, Bishandas for portraits and Manohar all worked for him. Option A is wrong because Humayun only brought the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad to India, and little painting survives from his unsettled reign. Option B is wrong because Akbar founded and built up the school with works such as the Razmnama and the Akbarnama, but its finest phase came later. Option D is wrong because under Shah Jahan painting grew formal and cold as he turned to architecture. Exam tip: Akbar founded, Jahangir perfected, Shah Jahan formalised and Aurangzeb withdrew support from Mughal painting.

The correct answer is A, Satyendra Prasanna Sinha. The 1915 session of the Indian National Congress, held at Bombay, was presided over by Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, later Lord Sinha of Raipur. He was the first Indian appointed to the Governor-General's Executive Council, in 1909, and went on to become Under-Secretary of State for India and Governor of Bihar and Orissa, the first Indian to govern a province. His presidency came in the year Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta died and Gandhi returned from South Africa, so the session marks a turning point for the party. Option B is wrong because Ambica Charan Mazumdar presided at Lucknow in 1916, where the Congress and the Muslim League signed their pact and the moderates and extremists reunited. Option C is wrong because Bhupendra Nath Bose presided at Madras in 1914. Option D is wrong because Madan Mohan Malaviya presided at Lahore in 1909 and at the Delhi special session in 1918. Exam tip: 1914 Madras Bose, 1915 Bombay Sinha, 1916 Lucknow Mazumdar.

The correct answer is C, 1 - C, 2 - A, 3 - D, 4 - B. BALCO, the Bharat Aluminium Company, has its smelter at Korba in Chhattisgarh, where cheap thermal power and nearby bauxite made aluminium smelting possible. IISCO, the Indian Iron and Steel Company, works at Burnpur near Asansol in West Bengal, in the Damodar valley coal and iron belt. NFL, National Fertilizers Limited, runs its gas-based urea plant at Bhatinda in Punjab, close to the farm belt it supplies. ICF, the Integral Coach Factory, is at Perambur in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and has been building railway coaches since 1955. Option A is wrong because it pairs BALCO with Burnpur and IISCO with Chennai. Option B is wrong because it sends NFL to Chennai and ICF to Bhatinda. Option D is wrong because it places BALCO at Bhatinda and ICF at Korba. Exam tip: aluminium goes with Korba, steel with Burnpur, fertiliser with Bhatinda and coaches with Chennai.