State Exams 2016 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Magnetic field strength (H). Ampere-turns per metre, written AT/m, is the unit of magnetic field strength, because H is the magnetomotive force set up per unit length of the magnetic path. In a coil the magnetomotive force equals the current multiplied by the number of turns and is measured in ampere-turns; divide that by the length of the magnetic circuit and the result is H, which is why the unit carries a metre in the denominator. H is also called magnetising force, and in air it is linked to flux density by B equal to the permeability times H. A is wrong because magnetic flux density B is measured in tesla, that is weber per square metre. C is wrong because magnetic flux is measured in weber. D is wrong because magnetomotive force itself is measured in ampere-turns, with no length divided out. Exam tip: ampere-turn is magnetomotive force, ampere-turn per metre is field strength H, weber is flux and tesla is flux density.

The correct answer is D, All of Above. An electronic spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc can filter, merge and sort data, so all three belong to its work and no single one of them is the answer. A spreadsheet keeps data in a grid of rows and columns; the box where a row and a column meet is a cell, and a cell may hold a number, text or a formula. Its real strength is that a formula recalculates by itself the moment a figure it uses is changed, which is why spreadsheets are used for accounts, marksheets, salary statements and simple databases. Besides sorting and filtering it offers functions such as SUM, AVERAGE and COUNT, pivot tables, and charts drawn straight from the data. A is wrong because filtering, which hides rows that do not meet a condition, is only one of these jobs. B is wrong because merging cells is likewise only one. C is wrong because sorting, arranging rows by the order of a column, is one more. Exam tip: a spreadsheet file is a workbook and each page inside it is a worksheet.

The correct answer is A, 250 cm. In an astronomical telescope set for normal adjustment, the magnifying power equals the focal length of the objective divided by the focal length of the eyepiece. Here the magnification is 100 and the eyepiece is 2.5 cm, so the objective must be 100 multiplied by 2.5, that is 250 cm. This is why astronomical telescopes are long instruments: a large objective focal length with a short eyepiece focal length gives high magnification, and in normal adjustment the tube length is roughly the sum of the two focal lengths. B is wrong because an objective of 40 cm would give a magnification of only 16. C is wrong because a focal length smaller than the eyepiece would shrink the image instead of enlarging it. D is wrong because 100 cm gives a magnification of 40. Exam tip: for a telescope magnification is objective divided by eyepiece, so the objective is the longer lens.

The correct answer is B, Surface tension and viscosity both decrease. Heating a liquid makes its molecules move faster and sit a little further apart, so the attraction between them weakens, and both properties depend on that attraction. Surface tension arises because molecules at the surface are pulled inward by their neighbours, and that inward pull fades as temperature rises until it reaches zero at the critical temperature. Viscosity in a liquid comes from molecules gripping each other as layers slide past, so the same weakening makes the liquid thinner and easier to pour, which is why warm oil flows far more freely than cold oil. A is wrong because surface tension falls rather than rises on heating. C is wrong because neither of the two rises. D is wrong because viscosity of a liquid falls, not rises. Exam tip: liquids thin out on heating, but a gas becomes more viscous when heated.

The correct answer is C, Planimeter. A planimeter measures the area of any flat shape, however irregular its outline. The user simply traces the boundary of the shape on the map with the instrument's pointer, and a wheel and dial record the area swept, which is then multiplied by the square of the map scale. On a contour map this is how the area enclosed by a contour line, a catchment or a reservoir spread is worked out, so it is a standard tool in survey and irrigation work. A is wrong because areameter is not the accepted name of any such instrument. B is wrong because a clinometer measures the slope of ground or the angle of elevation of a point, not an area. D is wrong because a graphometer is an old surveying instrument used to measure horizontal and vertical angles. Exam tip: planimeter for area, clinometer for slope, planimeter plus contour map for catchment area.

The correct answer is B, 1881. The Negotiable Instruments Act was enacted in 1881 and came into force on 1 March 1882. It codified the law on promissory notes, bills of exchange and cheques, and it remains the governing statute for cheques in India, amended several times, most notably in 2002 to bring in the electronic and truncated cheque and in 2018 to add Sections 143A and 148.

Option A, 1972, is not connected with this Act. Option C, 1957, is remembered for other laws such as the Copyright Act of that year. Option D, 1950, is the year the Constitution came into force. Candidates often confuse the 1881 Act with the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 and the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934, so keep the three years separate: 1881 for negotiable instruments, 1934 for the Reserve Bank and 1949 for banking regulation.

The correct answer is C, Constitutional body. The State Finance Commission owes its existence directly to the Constitution: Article 243-I, added by the seventy-third Amendment, requires the Governor to constitute it every fifth year for the Panchayats, and Article 243-Y extends the arrangement to the Municipalities. A body created by the Constitution itself is called a constitutional body, which is the highest of these categories. Option A is wrong because a merely legal or statutory body is one set up by an ordinary law of the legislature, such as the National Human Rights Commission. Option B is wrong because a non-statutory body rests only on an executive decision, as NITI Aayog and the former Planning Commission do. Option D is wrong because option C states the position correctly. A simple ladder helps here: a constitutional body is named in the Constitution, a statutory body is created by an ordinary Act, and a non-statutory body rests on an executive order alone; Article 243-I puts the State Finance Commission on the first rung.

The correct answer is A, NSSO household consumption expenditure survey. Estimates of poverty and unemployment in India rest on the large sample surveys of the National Sample Survey Office, which since 2019 works as part of the National Statistical Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Poverty is measured from the household consumer expenditure survey: the share of people whose monthly per capita spending falls below a poverty line drawn from a calorie and cost basket, the method of the Lakdawala, Tendulkar and Rangarajan committees. The same office also runs the employment and unemployment enquiry, now the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey. Option B is wrong because the Central Statistical Office compiled the national accounts and GDP, not these household surveys. Option C is wrong because the Planning Commission only fixed the poverty line and applied it to survey data. Option D is wrong because the survey measures consumption expenditure, not family income; India has no official income survey. Exam tip: the NSSO collects the data, the committees fix the poverty line.

The correct answer is D, Ashoka Pillar, Sarnath. The State Emblem of India is adapted from the Lion Capital that crowned Ashoka’s pillar at Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The original capital has four lions standing back to back on an abacus that carries a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion, separated by wheels, with an inverted lotus below. In the emblem only three lions are seen, the fourth being hidden from view, and the lotus is left out; the wheel appears in the centre of the abacus. The words Satyameva Jayate, taken from the Mundaka Upanishad, are written below in Devanagari. It was adopted on 26 January 1950. Option A is wrong because Bodh Gaya is the place of enlightenment. Option B and Option C are wrong because the emblem comes from a site, not a museum, though the original capital is kept in the Sarnath Museum. Exam tip: Lion Capital of Sarnath, adopted 26 January 1950, motto from the Mundaka Upanishad.

The correct answer is C, Kanpur. The Indian Institute of Pulses Research works at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and is one of the institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. It began in 1984 as the Project Directorate on Pulses and was raised to an institute in 1993. Its work is on chickpea, pigeonpea, lentil, mungbean, urdbean and field pea: breeding better varieties, protecting the crop from disease and pests, and advising farmers, which matters because India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world. Option A is wrong because Bhopal has the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering. Option B is wrong because Patna has the ICAR Research Complex for the Eastern Region. Option D is wrong because Hyderabad has the Indian Institute of Rice Research and the Institute of Millets Research. Exam tip: Kanpur pulses, Hyderabad rice and millets, Shimla potato, Lucknow sugarcane.

The correct answer is B, Impact. A daisy wheel printer prints by striking the paper, so it is an impact printer. It carries a flat wheel with spokes, each spoke ending in a moulded letter or figure, and the wheel looks like the petals of a daisy, which gives it its name. A hammer hits the chosen petal against an inked ribbon and presses the character onto the paper, exactly as a typewriter does. It gives clean letter quality text but is noisy, slow and cannot draw pictures. Option A is wrong because non impact printers such as inkjet, laser and thermal printers never touch the paper with a type element. Option C is wrong because a laser printer forms the image with a laser beam and toner powder, without any striking. Option D is wrong because a daisy wheel is a character printer, printing one character at a time, while a line printer prints a whole line. Exam tip: impact printers are dot matrix, daisy wheel, drum and chain.

The correct answer is C, Ctrl + tab. In Google Chrome, holding Control and pressing Tab moves to the next open tab on the right, and the pair Control, Shift and Tab moves back to the previous one. Chrome also lets a tab be opened with Control and T, closed with Control and W, and the last closed tab reopened with Control, Shift and T, while Control with a number from 1 to 8 jumps straight to that tab. Option A is wrong because Alt and Tab is a Windows shortcut that switches between open programs, not between tabs inside the browser. Option B is wrong because Shift, Control and Alt together are only modifier keys and do nothing on their own. Option D is wrong because Control, Alt and Delete opens the Windows security screen from which the Task Manager can be started. Exam tip: Ctrl + Tab next tab, Ctrl + T new tab, Ctrl + W close tab.

The correct answer is C, Pisciculture. The Blue Revolution means the rapid rise in fish production, so it belongs to pisciculture, the rearing of fish. In India it began with the Fish Farmers Development Agency set up in the early 1970s, and Dr Hiralal Chaudhuri, who worked out induced breeding in carp, is called its father. The effort continued through the Neel Kranti Mission and then the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, and India today is among the largest fish producers in the world, with inland fisheries giving most of the catch. Option A is wrong because floriculture, the growing of flowers, comes under the Golden Revolution in horticulture. Option B is wrong because sericulture is the rearing of silkworms for silk. Option D is wrong because horticulture, the growing of fruit and vegetables, is linked to the Golden Revolution. Exam tip: Blue for fish, White for milk, Yellow for oilseeds, Green for food grains.

The correct answer is B, F. The hexadecimal system has base sixteen, so it needs sixteen symbols for a single place. The digits 0 to 9 give the first ten values and the letters A to F stand for the remaining six, with A as 10, B as 11, C as 12, D as 13, E as 14 and F as 15. One hexadecimal digit therefore holds exactly four bits, which is why memory addresses, colour codes such as FF0000 for red and machine code are written in hex: a long binary string becomes short and easy to read. Option A is wrong because stopping at C would give only thirteen symbols, too few for base sixteen. Option C is wrong because stopping at B leaves twelve. Option D is wrong because stopping at D leaves fourteen, still short of sixteen. Exam tip: binary base 2, octal base 8 using 0 to 7, hexadecimal base 16 using 0 to 9 and A to F.

The correct answer is A, Port. A port is the socket on a computer where an external device is plugged in, so that the keyboard, mouse, printer, monitor or pen drive can exchange data with the machine. Common ones are the USB port, the HDMI and VGA display ports, the audio jack and the Ethernet port, and older machines had serial and parallel ports. Ports may be physical sockets or, in networking, numbered software ports such as 80 for HTTP. Option B is wrong because a ring is a network topology in which computers are joined in a closed loop. Option C is wrong because a bus is the set of internal wires that carries data, addresses and control signals inside the computer, not a socket for accessories. Option D is wrong because Zip is a file compression format and the name of an old removable disk drive. Exam tip: port connects, bus carries.

The correct answer is D, Afghanistan. The Amir Amanullah Khan Award is Afghanistan's highest civilian honour, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi received it in June 2016 at Herat, on the day he and President Ashraf Ghani opened the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier called the Salma Dam, which India built on the Hari Rud. The honour is named after Amir Amanullah Khan, the ruler who won Afghanistan full control of its foreign affairs from the British in 1919. Option A is wrong, although Saudi Arabia did honour the Prime Minister in April 2016; its top award is the Order of King Abdulaziz Al Saud, a different decoration with a different name. Options B and C are wrong because neither Uzbekistan nor Iran gives an award of this name, and neither conferred its highest civilian honour on him in that year. Exam tip: Amir Amanullah Khan Award means Afghanistan, 2016, Herat and the Afghan-India Friendship Dam.