SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Debendranath Tagore. Debendranath Tagore founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha in Calcutta in 1839 to study the Upanishads and Vedanta and to spread the rational religion that Rammohun Roy had preached. The Sabha ran a school and brought out the Tattvabodhini Patrika, a journal that carried writings on religion, science and social reform; Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshay Kumar Datta were among its members. Debendranath, the father of Rabindranath Tagore, joined the Brahmo Sabha in 1843 and reorganised it as the Brahmo Samaj, and the Tattvabodhini Sabha merged into it in 1859. Option A is wrong because Keshab Chandra Sen joined the Brahmo Samaj much later and broke away to form the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866. Option B is wrong because Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828 and died in 1833, before this body was set up. Option D is wrong because Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 at Bombay. Exam tip: Brahmo Sabha 1828 Rammohun Roy, Tattvabodhini Sabha 1839 Debendranath Tagore, Arya Samaj 1875 Dayanand Saraswati.

The correct answer is A, Khetri. Khetri, in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, is famous for its copper mines. The Khetri belt runs along the Aravalli range, and its ore is mined and processed by Hindustan Copper Limited, which set up the Khetri Copper Complex there. Rajasthan is the country's leading copper state, followed by Madhya Pradesh with the Malanjkhand mine in Balaghat and Jharkhand with the Singhbhum belt. Copper is valued because it conducts electricity and heat well and is ductile, so it goes into wires, cables, utensils and alloys such as brass and bronze. Option B is wrong because Keonjhar in Odisha is known for iron ore and manganese. Option C is wrong because Gaya in Bihar lies in the mica belt and has no copper mining. Option D is wrong because Satna in Madhya Pradesh is known for limestone and its cement plants. Exam tip: for copper remember Khetri in Rajasthan, Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh and Singhbhum in Jharkhand.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 2 only. Statement 3 is wrong because the Kaleshwaram project is built on the Godavari, not the Krishna. The scheme takes its name from Kaleshwaram in Telangana, near the point where the Pranhita joins the Godavari, and it was inaugurated in June 2019, which makes statement 1 correct. It is described as the world's largest multi-stage, multi-purpose lift irrigation project, so statement 2 is correct: water is raised through a long chain of pump houses, barrages, tunnels, canals and reservoirs to fields that lie far above the river, and it is meant to serve lakhs of hectares in north Telangana as well as drinking water and industry. Option A is wrong and option D is wrong because both accept statement 3 and its Krishna River claim. Option B is wrong because it leaves out the correct statement 2. Exam tip: Kaleshwaram is on the Godavari in Telangana, while Polavaram is on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

The correct answer is B, Mughals. After Guru Gobind Singh died at Nanded in 1708, Banda Singh Bahadur led the Sikhs in revolt against Mughal rule in Punjab. He gathered peasants of the Malwa and Doaba tracts, sacked Samana and Sadhaura, and in 1710 won his best-known victory at Sirhind, where the governor Wazir Khan, held responsible for the killing of the Guru's young sons, was defeated and slain. Banda set up his base at Lohgarh, struck coins and issued orders in the name of the Gurus, and ended the zamindari system in the tracts he held by giving land to those who tilled it. He was besieged at Gurdaspur, captured in 1715 and put to death at Delhi in 1716 in the reign of Farrukhsiyar. Option A is wrong because the Gurkhas ruled Nepal and fought the British in 1814-16. Option C is wrong because British power reached Punjab only in 1849. Option D is wrong because the Marathas were never his target. Exam tip: 1708 Guru Gobind Singh, 1710 Sirhind, 1716 Banda's execution.

The correct answer is D, Santhal Revolt. The Santhal rebellion, called the Hool, was led by the brothers Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu. It broke out in 1855 in the Rajmahal hills of the Damin-i-Koh tract, in what is now Jharkhand, when Santhal peasants rose against moneylenders, zamindars, contractors and the police who had taken their land and pushed them into bonded debt. Thousands gathered at Bhagnadih, declared their own rule and marched on the plains; the British put the rising down by 1856 after heavy fighting, and Sidhu and Kanhu were killed. The government then created the separate Santhal Parganas district with special protective rules. Option A is wrong because the Bhil risings of Khandesh were led by Sewaram and later Govind Guru. Option B is wrong because the Khasi revolt in the Meghalaya hills was led by Tirot Sing. Option C is wrong because the Munda rebellion, the Ulgulan of 1899, was led by Birsa Munda. Exam tip: Hool 1855 means Sidhu and Kanhu; Ulgulan 1899 means Birsa Munda.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. Kolathunadu, Valluvanad and Thekkumkoor were small medieval kingdoms, or swaroopams, of Kerala. Kolathunadu, ruled by the Kolathiri rajas, lay in north Malabar around present-day Kannur; Valluvanad spread over the Palakkad and Malappuram area and is remembered for the Mamankam festival at Tirunavaya; Thekkumkoor lay in the Kottayam region and was absorbed by Travancore under Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century. Before unification, Kerala was split among such chiefdoms along with Travancore, Cochin and Calicut, and the present state was formed on 1 November 1956 from Travancore-Cochin and the Malabar district of Madras. Option A is wrong because Karnataka's old kingdoms were the Kadambas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara. Option C is wrong because ancient Bihar was home to Magadha, Anga and Videha. Option D is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solankis of Anhilwada and the Chaulukyas. Exam tip: names ending in nadu or koor in this list point to the medieval chiefdoms of Kerala.

The correct answer is D, Ricky Kej. Ricky Kej won the Grammy for Best New Age Album at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 for Winds of Samsara, made with the South African flautist Wouter Kellerman. The album drew on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and reached the top of the Billboard New Age chart in the United States, the first Indian album to do so. Kej is a Bengaluru-based composer who works on environmental themes and is a UNICEF and UNESCO goodwill figure; he won a second Grammy in 2022 for Divine Tides, made with Stewart Copeland of The Police. Option A is wrong because Mano Murthy composes for Kannada cinema and has not won a Grammy. Option B is wrong because Raghu Dixit is a Bengaluru folk-rock singer with no Grammy. Option C is wrong because Subhashish Ghosh has no link with this album. Exam tip: Winds of Samsara means Ricky Kej with Wouter Kellerman, Grammy 2015; Divine Tides means Ricky Kej with Stewart Copeland.

The correct answer is A, Loo. The Loo is the hot, dry, dusty wind that blows over the plains of north India in summer. It develops in May and June, usually from the west or north-west, and blows strongest in the afternoon, when temperatures can cross 45 degrees Celsius in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Long exposure to it causes heat stroke, so schools and outdoor work stop in the afternoon during a Loo spell. It weakens once the monsoon reaches the plains. Option B is wrong because the Chinook is a warm, dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in North America and is nicknamed the snow-eater. Option C is wrong because mango showers are pre-monsoon rain in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu that helps mangoes ripen, not a wind. Option D is wrong because Purga is a cold, snow-laden wind of the Siberian tundra. Exam tip: Loo is hot and Indian, Chinook is American and warm, Purga is Siberian and cold.

The correct answer is D, 8(1). Section 8(1) of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 gave the Constituent Assembly of each new Dominion the powers of its legislature. The Act was passed by the British Parliament on 18 July 1947 and came into force on 15 August 1947. It divided British India into the two Dominions of India and Pakistan, ended British paramountcy over the princely states, and allowed the Constituent Assembly of each Dominion to work both as its ordinary law-making body and as the body framing its Constitution. India's Assembly, elected in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan, therefore became a sovereign body from 15 August 1947 and no longer needed British approval for its work. Option A is wrong because Section 6 deals with the law-making powers of the new Dominion legislatures. Option B is wrong because Section 10 continues the service conditions of officers of the Secretary of State's services. Option C is wrong because Section 12 deals with British forces stationed in India. Exam tip: Indian Independence Act 1947, Section 8 is the Constituent Assembly clause; the Act came into force on 15 August 1947.

The correct answer is D, Financial service to disadvantaged people. A microfinance institution exists to lend small sums to poor and low-income people who cannot offer the security an ordinary bank asks for. It gives tiny loans, takes small savings and sells simple insurance, usually working through self-help groups or joint liability groups in which the members stand guarantee for one another, so no collateral is needed. The loans are small, are repaid weekly or monthly, and are often used for a small shop, a sewing machine, cattle or seed. In India these bodies are registered with the Reserve Bank of India as NBFC-MFIs, and NABARD's SHG-Bank Linkage programme works on the same idea. A and B are wrong because government employees and Union ministers draw regular salaries and can borrow from ordinary banks. C is wrong because corporate borrowers are served by commercial banks and the capital market. Exam tip: microfinance means small collateral-free loans to the poor, through SHGs and NBFC-MFIs under the RBI.

The correct answer is C, Battle of Talikota. The Battle of Talikota, fought in January 1565, broke the Vijayanagara empire. The Deccan sultanates of Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar and Bidar joined hands against it, and their combined army defeated Aliya Rama Raya, the regent of the Aravidu dynasty, who was captured and killed on the field. The victors then sacked the capital Vijayanagara, at Hampi on the Tungabhadra, for months, and the city never recovered. The rulers moved to Penukonda and later Chandragiri, and the empire shrank away over the next century. The battle is also called Rakshasa-Tangadi, after the two villages near the site. A is wrong because the Battle of Raichur in 1520 was a Vijayanagara victory under Krishnadevaraya. B is wrong because Haldighati in 1576 was fought in Mewar between Maharana Pratap and Akbar's army. D is wrong because Arcot in 1751 belongs to the Carnatic wars. Exam tip: Talikota 1565, also called Rakshasa-Tangadi, Rama Raya killed and Hampi sacked.

The correct answer is D, BSE. The Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in India and in Asia. It began in 1875 as the Native Share and Stock Brokers' Association, growing out of the meetings of brokers under a banyan tree near Horniman Circle in Mumbai, and it was the first Indian exchange to be recognised under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956. Its home on Dalal Street is the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, and its benchmark index is the Sensex, made up of 30 companies. A is wrong because the Calcutta Stock Exchange, though old, was set up in 1908. B is wrong because the National Stock Exchange started in 1992 on the advice of the Pherwani Committee and was the first in India to bring in fully electronic screen-based trading, with Nifty as its index. C is wrong because the Delhi Stock Exchange came up in 1947. Exam tip: BSE 1875 with Sensex 30, NSE 1992 with Nifty 50.

The correct answer is A, Left atrium. The left atrium is the chamber that receives oxygen-rich blood coming back from the lungs through the pulmonary veins. From there the blood passes the bicuspid or mitral valve into the left ventricle, which pumps it out through the aorta to the whole body. The right side of the heart handles the used blood: the right atrium takes oxygen-poor blood from the body through the vena cava, and the right ventricle sends it on to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. The left ventricle has the thickest wall of the four chambers because it must push blood the farthest. B is wrong because the right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs instead of receiving it from them. C is wrong because the left ventricle gets that blood next, from the left atrium, not straight from the lungs. D is wrong because the right atrium receives deoxygenated blood. Exam tip: pulmonary veins carry oxygen-rich blood to the left atrium, and the pulmonary artery is the one artery carrying oxygen-poor blood.

The correct answer is D, Lignite. Lignite is the low grade brown coal the question describes: it is soft, brown to blackish brown, and holds a high amount of moisture, often 35 to 45 per cent, so it gives less heat when it burns. Coal is graded by how much carbon it holds, and the order from lowest to highest is peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite. India's main lignite field is at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu, with other deposits in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, and it is burnt mostly in power stations built right beside the mines because it crumbles and catches fire easily if carried far. A is wrong because bituminous is the common hard coal used in industry and for making coke. B is wrong because anthracite is the best grade, hard and with more than 80 per cent carbon. C is wrong because peat is the first stage, closer to wood than to coal. Exam tip: peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite, with quality rising in that order.

The correct answer is B, Polar Region. The Eskimos, who call themselves Inuit, live in the polar region, that is the Arctic lands of Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska and eastern Siberia. Their home is cold tundra where the ground stays frozen for most of the year, so no crops grow and they live by hunting seal, walrus and caribou and by fishing. They travel by dog sledge and kayak, wear clothes of skin and fur, and in winter build the igloo, a dome of snow blocks whose thick walls trap the warmth inside. Their summer shelter is a tent of animal skin called a tupik. A is wrong because the arid region is home to desert people such as the Bedouins of Arabia. C is wrong because the savanna grassland of Africa is home to the Masai herders. D is wrong because the tropical rainforest is home to the Pygmies of the Congo basin. Exam tip: Inuit and tundra, Bedouin and desert, Masai and savanna, Pygmy and equatorial forest.

The correct answer is D, 100 Rupee Note. The motif of Rani ki Vav appears on the back of the 100 rupee note of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series, which the Reserve Bank of India issued in 2018 in a lavender shade. Rani ki Vav is an eleventh-century stepwell at Patan in Gujarat, built by Queen Udayamati in memory of the Solanki king Bhimdev I. It goes down seven storeys, and its walls carry more than five hundred large sculptures, many of them of the avatars of Vishnu. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage list in 2014. A is wrong because the 50 rupee note shows the stone chariot of Hampi. B is wrong because the 10 rupee note shows the Sun Temple at Konark. C is wrong because the 200 rupee note shows the Sanchi Stupa. Exam tip: 10 Konark, 50 Hampi, 100 Rani ki Vav, 200 Sanchi, 500 Red Fort.

The correct answer is D, Golconda. Golconda Fort near Hyderabad in Telangana was first raised as a mud fort by the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal in the thirteenth century. The Bahmani sultans took it later, and the Qutb Shahi kings rebuilt it in granite in the sixteenth century, adding the long walls, the eight gates and the palaces seen today. The fort is famous for its acoustics: a clap at the Fateh Darwaza can be heard at the pavilion on the hilltop, a signal once used to warn the garrison. The diamond mines around it, such as Kollur, made Golconda a great market for stones like the Koh-i-Noor and the Hope diamond. A is wrong because Panhala in Kolhapur is linked with the Shilaharas and later with Shivaji. B is wrong because Raigad was Shivaji's capital fort in Maharashtra. C is wrong because Neemrana in Rajasthan was a Chauhan fort. Exam tip: Golconda, a Kakatiya mud fort rebuilt by the Qutb Shahis, known for diamonds and acoustics.

The correct answer is C, 65. Under Article 316 of the Constitution, a member of the Union Public Service Commission holds office for six years from the day he takes charge, or until he turns 65, whichever comes first. The same rule applies to the chairman of the UPSC. For a State Public Service Commission the term is also six years, but the retirement age is 62, and this pair of numbers is what paper setters usually test. A member may resign by writing to the President and can be removed only in the manner Article 317 lays down, on a reference to the Supreme Court, which is what protects the commission's independence. A is wrong because 60 is the usual retirement age for central government servants. B is wrong because 68 is not a limit fixed anywhere for this office. D is wrong because 62 is the age for a member of a State Public Service Commission. Exam tip: UPSC six years or 65, State PSC six years or 62.

The correct answer is C, Satyameva Jayate. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya popularised the slogan Satyameva Jayate, meaning truth alone triumphs, and it was later adopted as the national motto of India. The line comes from the Mundaka Upanishad, and it is written in Devanagari on the abacus of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, which India adopted as the State Emblem in January 1950. Malaviya founded Banaras Hindu University in 1916, edited the newspaper Abhyudaya, served four terms as president of the Congress and was given the Bharat Ratna in 2015. A is wrong because Vande Mataram was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and appears in his novel Anandamath. B is wrong because Jai Jawan Jai Kisan was Lal Bahadur Shastri's slogan, raised during the 1965 war. D is wrong because Inquilab Zindabad was popularised by the poet Hasrat Mohani and used by Bhagat Singh. Exam tip: Satyameva Jayate, from the Mundaka Upanishad, popularised by Malaviya, India's national motto.

The correct answer is B, 16. A debit card carries a 16-digit card number printed on its front, and this is the number a shop or a website reads to route the payment. The digits are not random. The first six form the Bank Identification Number, which names the card network and the bank that issued the card; the next nine identify the customer's account with that bank; and the last one is a check digit worked out by the Luhn formula, so a mistyped number is caught at once. RuPay, Visa and Mastercard debit cards issued in India all follow this pattern, usually printed in four groups of four. A is wrong because 15 digits belong to American Express cards, which are charge and credit cards. C and D are wrong because 14 and 17 digits do not match the pattern used for debit cards. Exam tip: 16 digits, the first six the BIN, the last one a Luhn check digit, and the three-digit CVV on the back.