State Exams GK Questions 2026

In 1893 New Zealand, then a self-governing colony, gave women the right to vote in national elections, the first country in the world to do so, after a long campaign led by Kate Sheppard.

The Norwegian explorer and his party reached the South Pole in December 1911, using dog sledges and a carefully laid line of supply depots, and returned safely.

The American astronaut commanded the Apollo 11 mission and stepped out of the lunar module on 20 July 1969, becoming the first human being to walk on the Moon.

The Soviet cosmonaut flew alone aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963 and spent nearly three days in orbit, becoming the first woman in space, two years after Yuri Gagarin's flight.

The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961 and completed a single orbit of the Earth, becoming the first human being in space.

Nongkrem is the harvest thanksgiving dance of the Khasi people, held over several days at Smit, the seat of the Khyrim chiefdom near Shillong, where unmarried women dance in the centre in heavy silver and gold ornaments while men dance around them with swords and whisks.

Bhangra is the men's dance of the Punjab harvest, danced at Baisakhi in April to the beat of the dhol, with leaps, shoulder work and the raised arms that everyone recognises.

Kalbeliya is the song and dance tradition of the Kalbeliya community of Rajasthan, who were traditionally snake charmers, and the dancer in a black swirling skirt imitates the movement of a serpent to the been and the khanjari.

In Dollu Kunitha the dancers hang a large drum, the dollu, from the neck and beat it while moving in fast formations, and the dance belongs to the Kuruba shepherd community, who perform it in the service of their deity Beereshwara.

Hojagiri is danced by women of the Reang community of Tripura, who balance on an earthen pitcher while keeping a bottle with a lit lamp on the head, and bend the upper body while the feet stay still.

In Cheraw, men sit facing each other and hold long bamboo staves horizontally, clapping them together in a steady beat, while women in the Mizo puan step in and out of the closing gaps without letting a foot be caught.

Chhau is a martial masked dance of eastern India with three recognised styles, and Seraikella Chhau takes its name from the former princely seat of Seraikella in Jharkhand, where the royal house trained and refined it.

Lavani combines song and dance and is performed mainly by women in a nine-yard saree to the sharp beat of the dholki.

Ghoomar is danced by women in a wide ghagra who move in a circle and turn on the spot, the swirl of the skirt giving the dance its name.

Bihu is danced chiefly at Rongali or Bohag Bihu, the Assamese new year festival that falls in April and opens the sowing season.

The Thai capital has staged the Asian Games on four occasions, more than any other city, and it twice stepped in at short notice when another host withdrew, which is how it built up that record.

The nickname records the spirit in which the meet was set up, a gathering of nations bound by a shared history rather than a contest of blocs, and it fits the Federation motto, Humanity, Equality, Destiny.

Milkha Singh, the quarter-miler known as the Flying Sikh, won the 440 yards at Cardiff in 1958, giving India its first athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games.

Kabaddi entered the Asian Games programme as a medal sport at that edition and India won the gold, which began a long run of Indian success in the event and is the reason the fact is set so often.

Shera, an animated tiger, was chosen as the mascot of the nineteenth Commonwealth Games, whose slogan was Come Out and Play and which remain the only Commonwealth Games hosted by India.