State Exams 2017 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, inhalation. Inhalation, also called inspiration, is the phase of breathing in which the diaphragm flattens and the intercostal muscles pull the ribs up and out, so the chest cavity enlarges, the pressure inside the lungs falls below the pressure of the atmosphere and oxygen rich air rushes in through the nostrils and the windpipe. Option B is wrong because exhalation is the opposite phase, in which the muscles relax, the chest cavity shrinks and carbon dioxide rich air is pushed out; it is normally a passive process. Option C is wrong because flotation is a physical property of bodies in a fluid, described by the law of Archimedes, and has nothing to do with breathing. Option D is wrong because exploration simply means searching or investigating and is not a term of biology at all. Remember the pair as inhalation for taking air in and exhalation for sending it out.

The correct answer is B, Tiger. Project Tiger was launched in 1973, the year after the Wildlife (Protection) Act came into force, and it was the first species recovery project of its kind in India. It began with a small group of reserves, Jim Corbett among them, and works on the principle of a strictly protected core area surrounded by a buffer in which regulated use is allowed. Option A is wrong because Gir is the forest in Gujarat that shelters the Asiatic lion and is a national park, not the name of a national project. Option C is wrong because the rhino programme, aimed at the greater one-horned rhinoceros of Assam and Bengal, came much later than 1973. Option D is wrong because the hangul, the Kashmir stag of Dachigam, has its own state level recovery effort and was never the first national project.

The correct answer is B, rayon. Rayon is made by dissolving the cellulose of wood pulp in a chemical and forcing the solution through fine holes to form filaments. Because it is made from a natural polymer rather than built from small molecules, it is called a regenerated or semi-synthetic fibre, and its silk-like sheen has earned it the name artificial silk.

Option A is wrong because nylon is fully synthetic, the first fibre made entirely from coal, water and air, with no plant material in it. Option C is wrong because silk is a natural animal fibre obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm and is not man-made at all. Option D is wrong because polyester, of which terylene is the best known form, is a fully synthetic fibre made from petroleum products. Only rayon starts from wood pulp.

The correct answer is B, Static friction > Kinetic friction > Rolling friction. For the same pair of surfaces the order of friction is always static, then kinetic, then rolling. Static friction is the largest because the surfaces interlock while at rest and that grip has to be broken to start motion. Once sliding begins the contact keeps breaking and remaking, so kinetic friction is smaller. Rolling friction is the smallest of the three, since a rolling wheel does not slide over the road but only presses and deforms it slightly at the point of contact. This is exactly why wheels, rollers and ball bearings are used to shift heavy loads. A and D are wrong because they place rolling friction at the top, though it is the least of the three. C is wrong because it puts rolling friction above kinetic friction, reversing the true order. Exam tip: static greater than kinetic greater than rolling; the smallest of them gave us the wheel.

The correct answer is D, Vitamin D - Paul Muller, because this is the pair that does not match. Paul Hermann Muller is remembered for showing that DDT kills insects, work for which he received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; vitamin D is associated with Edward Mellanby, who linked its absence to rickets, and with Adolf Windaus, who worked out its chemistry. Option A is correctly matched because Elmer McCollum identified the fat soluble factor that came to be called vitamin A. Option B is correctly matched because McCollum also identified the water soluble factor named vitamin B. Option C is correctly matched because Albert Szent-Gyorgyi isolated the substance later named vitamin C and won a Nobel Prize for that work. Read the word NOT in the stem carefully, since three of the four pairs here are deliberately correct.

The correct answer is C, 100%. India allows foreign direct investment of up to 100 per cent through the automatic route in railway infrastructure. The sector was opened in 2014, and the list covers suburban corridors taken up as public private partnerships, high speed train projects, dedicated freight lines, the making of rolling stock such as coaches, locomotives and train sets, railway electrification, signalling systems, freight and passenger terminals and mass rapid transport systems. Automatic route means the investor needs no prior approval from the government and only reports the investment to the Reserve Bank. Running the railways themselves remains with Indian Railways; only the infrastructure listed above is open. Option A is wrong because 50 per cent has never been the ceiling for this sector. Option B is wrong because 75 per cent belongs to no railway rule. Option D is wrong because railway infrastructure is not a prohibited sector, unlike lottery, gambling, chit funds, atomic energy and cigarette manufacture. Exam tip: railway infrastructure 100 per cent automatic, defence 74 per cent automatic.

The correct answer is A, Irula. The Irula, also written Irular, are one of the main tribal communities of Tamil Nadu and live mostly in the Nilgiri hills and in the districts along the border with Kerala. They speak Irula, a Dravidian tongue close to Tamil, and are known across the country as expert snake and rat catchers; their cooperative society in Chennai supplies the venom from which antivenom is made. They are counted among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups of the state, along with the Toda, Kota and Kurumba of the same hills. Option B is wrong because no tribe of that name is recorded in Tamil Nadu. Option C is wrong because the Garo are a major tribe of Meghalaya in the north east and live in the Garo hills. Option D is wrong because the Khond, written here in a shortened form, are a tribe of Odisha known for hill cultivation. Exam tip: Irula and Toda with Tamil Nadu, Garo and Khasi with Meghalaya, Khond with Odisha.

The correct answer is D, Punjabi. The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020 gives the union territory five official languages: Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English. Punjabi is spoken in parts of the region, but it was not put on that list, so it is the odd one out. Before this law Urdu alone was the official language of the old state, even though hardly any household used it as a mother tongue, and the change was made so that the languages people actually speak would be used in government work. Option A is wrong because Hindi is one of the five named in the Act. Option B is wrong because Dogri, spoken mainly in the Jammu division, is both an official language of the union territory and a language of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Option C is wrong because Urdu is official and was in fact the only official language earlier. Exam tip: remember the five as Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English.

The correct answer is A, Jhumpa Lahiri. Jhumpa Lahiri, born in London to Bengali parents and brought up in the United States, moved to Rome and began writing in Italian rather than in English. Her Italian work includes the memoir In Altre Parole, published in English as In Other Words, and the novel Dove mi trovo, which she later put into English herself as Whereabouts. She first won fame in English with Interpreter of Maladies, the story collection that took the Pulitzer Prize in 1999, and with the novel The Namesake. Option B is wrong because Vikram Seth writes in English, as in A Suitable Boy and the verse novel The Golden Gate. Option C is wrong because Kiran Desai writes in English and won the Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss. Option D is wrong because Arundhati Roy also writes in English, as in The God of Small Things. Exam tip: tie Jhumpa Lahiri to Interpreter of Maladies, the Pulitzer of 1999 and her later Italian books.

The correct answer is A, Death. In early Buddhist art the Buddha was never shown in human form, so the events of his life were carved as symbols, and the stupa stands for his mahaparinirvana, that is his death at Kushinagar. A stupa is a domed mound raised over relics; Ashoka is said to have built many of them, and those at Sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati are the best known. This code of symbols is fixed, and examiners return to it again and again. Option B is wrong because the first sermon at Sarnath is shown by the wheel, the dharmachakra, usually with two deer beside it for the deer park. Option C is wrong because the birth at Lumbini is shown by the lotus and the bull. Option D is wrong because the great departure from home is shown by a horse, while enlightenment at Bodh Gaya is shown by the Bodhi tree. Exam tip: lotus for birth, horse for renunciation, Bodhi tree for enlightenment, wheel for the first sermon and stupa for death.

The correct answer is C, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The Delhi Metro was the first metro and rail based system in the world to be certified by the United Nations for earning carbon credits, because its regenerative braking returns electricity to the grid each time a train slows. It also built solar plants at its stations and depots and uses rainwater harvesting and green buildings, which is why it is described as the first completely green metro.

Option A, the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway, and option B, the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit, are both older and efficient systems but did not take the carbon credit route first. Option D, the London Underground, opened in 1863 and is the oldest underground railway in the world, which makes it the natural trap for a candidate who reads first as oldest. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation itself was set up in 1995 and its first stretch opened in December 2002.

The correct answer is A, Khilji. The Khalji or Khilji dynasty held the throne of Delhi only from 1290, when Jalaluddin Khalji seized power, to 1320, when Khusrau Khan was overthrown by Ghazi Malik. That is about thirty years, the shortest run of the five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, even though it produced its most powerful ruler in Alauddin Khalji. Option B is wrong because the Tughlaq dynasty ruled from 1320 to 1414, roughly ninety-four years, which is the longest of the five. Option C is wrong because the Sayyid dynasty, founded by Khizr Khan in 1414, lasted until 1451, about thirty-seven years, which is longer than the Khalji span. Option D is wrong because the Lodi dynasty ruled from 1451 to 1526, about seventy-five years, ending with Ibrahim Lodi's defeat at Panipat. For comparison, the Slave dynasty itself lasted about eighty-four years, from 1206 to 1290.

The correct answer is A, tungsten. Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals, well above three thousand degrees Celsius, so a thin tungsten wire can be heated until it glows white without melting. It also has a fairly high resistivity and a low rate of evaporation at working temperature, which is why the filament lasts for hundreds of hours inside a bulb filled with an inert gas.

Option B, silver, is the best conductor of electricity of all metals, but for that very reason it would produce hardly any heat, and it melts at a temperature far too low for a filament. Option C, nichrome, is the right choice for the element of a heater or a toaster, where a red heat is wanted, but it cannot reach the white heat needed to give useful light. Option D, copper, is used for connecting wires precisely because it has a low resistance and stays cool while carrying current.

The correct answer is A, Amber-Jaipur School. Gopal, Udai, Hukma and Jiwan were court painters of the Amber-Jaipur school, which grew first in the ateliers of Amber and then in the new capital after Sawai Jai Singh II founded Jaipur in 1727. The school reached its height under Sawai Pratap Singh, whose karkhana employed dozens of artists; its best known master, Sahibram, painted life-size portraits, and Krishna subjects such as the Ragamala and Bhagavata sets were favourites. Very large paintings, life-size portraits and green and yellow backgrounds mark the style. Option B is wrong because the Bikaner school is identified with Ruknuddin, Shahdin and Ustad Ali Raza, artists trained in the Mughal manner. Option C is wrong because Jodhpur or Marwar painting is associated with Shivdas, Kishandas and Dalchand. Option D is wrong because the Mewar school of Udaipur is led by Sahibdin and Manohar, who painted the Rasikapriya and Ramayana series. Exam tip: Sahibram belongs to Jaipur, Sahibdin to Mewar.

The correct answer is A, 1990. SIDBI was set up under the Small Industries Development Bank of India Act, 1989 and began operations in 1990 as the principal financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of micro, small and medium enterprises. It started as a subsidiary of IDBI and its head office is at Lucknow, which is itself a frequently asked detail.

Option B, 1988, is the year before the Act and is a common trap. Option C, 1992, is the year the Securities and Exchange Board of India became a statutory body, and Option D, 1994, is the year the first new generation private banks were licensed after the Narasimham Committee report. Keeping the development institutions in order helps: NABARD in 1982, SIDBI in 1990, and the National Housing Bank in 1988, each set up by its own Act of Parliament.

The correct answer is D, Mathura. The main Kushana capital was Purushapura, the modern Peshawar, which Kanishka I developed as his seat of power. As the empire spread into the Ganga-Yamuna plain, Mathura on the Yamuna became its second capital and the southern headquarters of the family. Mathura also grew into a great centre of sculpture, and a shrine of Kushana royal portrait statues, including a famous headless figure of Kanishka, was found at Mat near the city.

Option A, Pataliputra, was the Magadhan capital of the Nandas, the Mauryas and later the Guptas, not of the Kushanas. Option B, Delhi, did not exist as a capital in this period and rose only from the twelfth century under the Delhi Sultanate. Option C, Lahore, lay within Kushana territory but was never a Kushana capital and became important much later.

The correct answer is A, Ant. Among the four, the ant has the largest brain in proportion to its body. An ant’s brain is tiny in absolute terms, with about two hundred and fifty thousand neurons, yet it makes up roughly a sixth of the insect’s body weight, a share no vertebrate comes close to. This is a general rule of body size: as animals get smaller, the brain shrinks more slowly than the body, so small creatures carry proportionately bigger brains. Option B is wrong because an elephant has the largest brain in absolute weight on land, about five kilograms, but that is a very small fraction of a body of several tonnes. Option C is wrong because a dolphin, though highly intelligent, has a brain near one per cent of its body weight. Option D is wrong because a human brain is about 1.4 kilograms, roughly two per cent of body weight, high for a vertebrate but far below an ant’s share. Exam tip: elephant biggest brain by weight, ant biggest in proportion.

The correct answer is B, Papaver Somniferum. Opium is the dried latex of the opium poppy, whose botanical name is Papaver somniferum; the second word means sleep bringing. The milky latex is collected by making shallow cuts in the unripe capsule, and from it come the medicines morphine and codeine, used to control pain and cough. India grows the crop only under licence from the Narcotics Commissioner at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, and the licensed districts lie in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which is why state papers ask this question. Option A is wrong because Emblica officinalis is amla, the Indian gooseberry, rich in vitamin C. Option C is wrong because Rauvolfia serpentina is sarpagandha, the source of reserpine used for high blood pressure. Option D is wrong because Cinchona species yield quinine, the old treatment for malaria. Exam tip: opium Papaver somniferum, amla Emblica officinalis, quinine from Cinchona.