Delhi 2024 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, Golgi apparatus. The Golgi apparatus is the main site where glycoproteins and glycolipids are formed. It is a stack of flat, disc-shaped sacs called cisternae, first described by Camillo Golgi in 1898. Proteins made on the endoplasmic reticulum reach the Golgi, where sugars are added to them, and they are then packed into vesicles and sent to places inside the cell or out of it. That is why the Golgi is called the packaging and dispatch centre of the cell, and it also helps to form lysosomes. Option A is wrong because plastids, such as chloroplasts, carry out photosynthesis or store food and pigments in plant cells. Option B is wrong because lysosomes are small sacs of digestive enzymes and are called the suicide bags of the cell. Option C is wrong because mitochondria make energy in the form of ATP and are called the powerhouse of the cell. Exam tip: Golgi means packaging and adding sugars; mitochondria mean ATP; a lysosome is the suicide bag.

The correct answer is C, Thymine. In DNA, adenine always pairs with thymine through two hydrogen bonds, and guanine pairs with cytosine through three. This is called complementary base pairing, and it is why one strand of DNA can be used to copy the other. The double-helix model was proposed by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, using X-ray images made by Rosalind Franklin. Adenine and guanine are purines with two rings, while thymine and cytosine are pyrimidines with one ring, so each pair has the same width and the helix stays even. In RNA, thymine is replaced by uracil. Option A is wrong because guanine is a purine like adenine and pairs with cytosine. Option B is wrong because cytosine pairs with guanine through three hydrogen bonds. Option D is wrong because histone is a protein around which DNA is wound in chromosomes; it is not a base at all. Exam tip: A pairs with T by two bonds, G with C by three; RNA has U in place of T.

The correct answer is B, M3. M3 is called broad money or aggregate monetary resources. It equals M1 plus the time deposits of the public with banks, so it measures almost all the money available in the economy. The Reserve Bank of India uses four measures, M1 to M4, introduced in 1977, and M3 is the one most often used to track money supply. Liquidity falls as we move from M1 to M4, because time deposits and post office deposits cannot be spent as quickly as cash. Option A is wrong because M2 is M1 plus the savings deposits with post office savings banks. Option C is wrong because M4 is M3 plus total post office deposits, excluding National Savings Certificates. Option D is wrong because M1 is narrow money: currency with the public, demand deposits with banks and other deposits with the RBI. Exam tip: M1 is narrow money and M3 is broad money or aggregate monetary resources; M1 is the most liquid and M4 the least.

The correct answer is C, Kali and Teesta. The Himalayas, about 2,400 km long, are divided from west to east into regions marked by river valleys, and the Nepal Himalayas lie between the Kali in the west and the Teesta in the east. This is the highest stretch of the whole range and holds Mount Everest as well as Kanchenjunga on the Nepal–Sikkim border. The Kali forms the border between Uttarakhand and Nepal, and the Teesta flows through Sikkim before entering West Bengal. Option A is wrong because the Sutlej and the Dihang together cover almost the whole range and do not mark any single section. Option B is wrong because the land between the Sutlej and the Kali is the Kumaon Himalayas. Option D is wrong because the land between the Teesta and the Dihang is the Assam Himalayas. West of the Sutlej, up to the Indus, lie the Punjab Himalayas, also called the Kashmir and Himachal Himalayas. Exam tip: Indus–Sutlej Punjab, Sutlej–Kali Kumaon, Kali–Teesta Nepal, Teesta–Dihang Assam.

The correct answer is C, Hindan. The Hindan rises in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, flows south past Ghaziabad and joins the Yamuna near Greater Noida, on its left bank. The Yamuna is the longest tributary of the Ganga; it rises at the Yamunotri glacier and meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. Its left-bank tributaries, such as the Hindan, the Rind and the Sengar, come from the plains between the Yamuna and the Ganga. Its right-bank tributaries come from the south, from the Malwa plateau and Bundelkhand. Option A is wrong because the Chambal, which flows through the ravines of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, joins the Yamuna from the right. Option B is wrong because the Ken, which flows through Panna in Madhya Pradesh, is a right-bank tributary. Option D is wrong because the Betwa, rising near Bhopal, also joins the Yamuna from the right, near Hamirpur. Exam tip: Yamuna right bank: Chambal, Sind, Betwa, Ken; left bank: Hindan, Rind, Sengar.

The correct answer is D, Certiorari. Certiorari means 'to be certified' or 'to be informed'. By this writ a higher court orders a lower court or tribunal to send up a case pending before it, or quashes an order it has already passed, when there is lack of jurisdiction, excess of jurisdiction or an error of law. The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226. Prohibition and certiorari look alike, so note the timing: prohibition stops a case while it is still going on, while certiorari can also cancel a decision already made. Option A is wrong because prohibition only forbids a lower court from going beyond its jurisdiction; it does not transfer the case. Option B is wrong because mandamus, 'we command', orders a public official or body to do a duty it has failed to do. Option C is wrong because quo warranto, 'by what authority', asks a person to show his right to hold a public office. Exam tip: Certiorari = send up or quash; Prohibition = stop; Mandamus = do your duty.

The correct answer is A, Richard Wellesley. Lord Richard Wellesley was Governor-General from 1798 to 1805, and in 1801 he forced Nawab Saadat Ali Khan of Awadh to hand over about half of his kingdom to the Company. The Nawab had failed to pay the rising cost of the British troops kept in his state, and Wellesley took rich lands such as Rohilkhand and the lower Doab in payment. This was a classic use of Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance, under which an Indian ruler paid for British troops, accepted a British Resident and could make no treaty without the Company's approval. Hyderabad was the first state to accept it, in 1798. Option B is wrong because Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal, had left India in 1785. Option C is wrong because Cornwallis, known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793, had left by then; he returned only briefly in 1805. Option D is wrong because Robert Clive, the victor of Plassey, died in 1774. Exam tip: Subsidiary Alliance means Wellesley; Awadh lost half its land in 1801 and was annexed by Dalhousie in 1856.

The correct answer is C, Cher. The Cheras ruled in Kerala and took no part in the fight over Kannauj. The Tripartite Struggle was a long contest in the 8th to 10th centuries among three powers for control of Kannauj, the old capital of Harshavardhana in the Ganga valley. Whoever held Kannauj was seen as the master of north India, so the three kept attacking it for nearly two centuries. In the end the Gurjara-Pratiharas held Kannauj the longest, and the fight wore out all three powers. Option A is wrong because the Palas of Bengal, founded by Gopala, were one of the three sides; Dharmapala even placed his own nominee on the Kannauj throne. Option B is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, under kings like Dhruva and Govinda III, raided the north and joined the struggle. Option D is wrong because the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India, with rulers like Nagabhata II and Mihira Bhoja, were the third side. Exam tip: Pala (east), Pratihara (west) and Rashtrakuta (south) fought for Kannauj.

The correct answer is B, 1565. The Battle of Talikota, also called Rakshasi-Tangadi, was fought in January 1565 and broke the power of Vijayanagara. Rama Raya was the real ruler behind the throne of Sadashiva Raya. He had played the Deccan Sultanates against one another, so Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda finally joined hands against him. Rama Raya was captured and killed, and the winning armies plundered the capital Vijayanagara (Hampi) for months. The ruins of Hampi, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, date from this sack. The empire lived on under the Aravidu dynasty but never regained its glory. Option A is wrong because 1585 is twenty years after the battle. Option C is wrong because in 1545 Rama Raya's long control of the empire had only just begun; the decisive battle came twenty years later. Option D is wrong because 1525 was the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, the empire's golden age. Exam tip: Vijayanagara founded 1336, peak under Krishnadeva Raya (1509–1529), fall at Talikota 1565.