Madhya Pradesh 2021 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, dissolves resins, gums, dyes and oils and also evaporates quickly, so paints, varnishes and polishes made with it dry fast; this makes it the common solvent of the paint industry. Its formula is C2H5OH, and it is got by the fermentation of molasses or grain and, these days, from sugarcane for blending with petrol. The same property of being a good solvent makes ethanol the base of tincture of iodine, cough syrups and many tonics. Alcohol meant for industry is mixed with poisonous substances such as methanol and then coloured, giving denatured spirit, so that it is not drunk. A is wrong because methyl alcohol is highly poisonous and even a small quantity can cause blindness or death, so its use is restricted. B is wrong because n-propyl alcohol is costly and little used on this scale. D is wrong because iso-propyl alcohol serves mainly as a rubbing alcohol and a cleaning agent. Exam tip: ethanol is C2H5OH, and denatured spirit is ethanol made undrinkable with methanol.

The correct answer is B, dyne-sec/cm². The poise is the CGS unit of dynamic or absolute viscosity, named after the French physician Jean Poiseuille, and one poise equals one dyne-second per square centimetre, which is the same as one gram per centimetre per second. Dynamic viscosity measures the internal friction of a fluid, the shearing stress needed for a unit rate of shear, so its unit is a stress multiplied by time. In SI the unit is the pascal-second, and one poise equals 0.1 pascal-second. Water at room temperature has a viscosity of about one centipoise, while honey is thousands of times thicker. A is wrong because dyne/cm² is a unit of stress or pressure, with no time in it. C is wrong because gram is a unit of mass, and g-sec/cm² does not reduce to the dimensions of viscosity. D is wrong because gm-cm/sec² is the dyne itself, a unit of force. Exam tip: 1 poise = 1 dyne-s/cm² = 0.1 Pa-s; water is about 1 centipoise.

The correct answer is A, (321)8. To turn a binary number into octal, group the bits in threes starting from the rightmost bit, adding leading zeros to complete the last group, because three bits cover the eight octal digits. The number 11010001 splits into 11, 010 and 001, and the first group is written as 011. The group 011 has the value 3, the group 010 has the value 2 and the group 001 has the value 1, so the octal number is 321. Checking in decimal confirms it: 11010001 is 128 + 64 + 16 + 1, which equals 209, and octal 321 is 3 times 64 plus 2 times 8 plus 1, again 209. Option B is wrong because 123 is the same digits reversed. Option C is wrong because 641 would need the bits 110100001. Option D is wrong because 146 in octal equals 102 in decimal.

The correct answer is B, Vinoba Bhave. Acharya Vinoba Bhave won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1958, in the category of community leadership, and was the first Indian to receive it. The award was created in 1957 in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the President of the Philippines who died in an air crash that year, and it is often called Asia’s Nobel Prize. Vinoba Bhave was honoured for the Bhoodan movement he began at Pochampally in 1951, walking from village to village to persuade landowners to give land to the landless. Option A is wrong because the cartoonist R. K. Laxman received the award much later, in 1984. Option C is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru never received it. Option D is wrong because Mahatma Gandhi died in 1948, nine years before the award was instituted. Exam tip: Magsaysay Award began 1957, first Indian Vinoba Bhave 1958, Mother Teresa 1962.

The correct answer is B, Flavour enhancer. Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid, and it is added to soups, sauces, noodles and snacks to strengthen their savoury taste. This taste, called umami, is the fifth basic taste after sweet, sour, salty and bitter; it was identified in 1908 by the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who first made MSG from a seaweed broth. In India MSG is widely sold as Ajinomoto, the name of the Japanese company that makes it. Option A is wrong because colour enhancers are food colours such as caramel or permitted dyes, which change how food looks, not how it tastes. Option C is wrong because preservatives such as sodium benzoate, or salt and vinegar, stop food from spoiling. Option D is wrong because emulsifiers such as lecithin help oil and water stay mixed in foods like mayonnaise and ice cream. Exam tip: MSG gives the umami flavour, sodium benzoate preserves, lecithin emulsifies.

The correct answer is B, Nagaland. In the 2011 Census, Nagaland was the only state whose population actually fell, with a decadal growth rate of about minus 0.6 per cent for 2001–2011, the lowest in India. Experts linked the fall mainly to the correction of an inflated count in 2001, when Nagaland had shown one of the fastest growth rates in the country. For India as a whole, decadal growth was 17.7 per cent, down from 21.5 per cent in 1991–2001, and among states Meghalaya grew the fastest, at about 27.9 per cent. Option A is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh grew by about 26 per cent, well above the national average. Option C is wrong because Madhya Pradesh grew by about 20.3 per cent. Option D is wrong because Punjab grew by about 13.9 per cent, which is low but still positive. Exam tip: Census 2011 decadal growth, lowest Nagaland (negative), highest state Meghalaya, India 17.7 per cent.

The correct answer is C, 3 1 2 4. The Steppes are the temperate grasslands of Eurasia, stretching across Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan; the Prairies cover the central plains of the United States and Canada; the Velds are the grassy plateaus of South Africa; and the Downs are the grasslands of south-eastern Australia, famous for sheep rearing and merino wool. All four are temperate grasslands in the interior of continents, where light rainfall, hot summers and cold winters keep trees few and let grass dominate. The Pampas of Argentina and the Canterbury plains of New Zealand belong to the same family, while the Llanos and Campos of South America are tropical grasslands. Option A is wrong because it places the Steppes in South Africa. Option B is wrong because it puts the Steppes in the USA and the Prairies in Australia. Option D is wrong because it sends the Steppes to Australia and the Downs to the USA. Exam tip: Steppes–Russia, Prairies–USA, Velds–South Africa, Downs–Australia, Pampas–Argentina.

The correct answer is C, Dr. Vishnudhar Vakankar. Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, an archaeologist from Ujjain, spotted the rocks of Bhimbetka in 1957–58 while travelling by train near Bhopal, and then explored the shelters in detail. Bhimbetka lies in Raisen district, about 45 km south of Bhopal, at the southern edge of the Vindhya hills. Its more than 700 rock shelters carry paintings from the Stone Age to the medieval period, showing hunting, dancing and animals, which makes it one of the oldest records of human life in India. UNESCO listed the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka as a World Heritage Site in 2003. Option A is wrong because H. D. Sankalia is known for excavating sites such as Navdatoli and Nevasa, not for finding Bhimbetka. Option B is wrong because the historian Shyam Sundar Nigam did not discover the site. Option D is wrong because Rajbali Pandey was a historian of ancient India, not the discoverer. Exam tip: Bhimbetka, Raisen district, found by Wakankar in 1957–58, World Heritage Site in 2003.