State Exams 2019 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Total internal reflection. When light travels from a denser medium to a rarer one and strikes the boundary at an angle greater than the critical angle, it does not pass out at all but is reflected completely back. An optical fibre uses exactly this. It has a thin glass or plastic core of higher refractive index, covered by a cladding of lower refractive index, so light entering one end keeps bouncing off the walls and travels long distances, even around bends, with very little loss. That is why fibres carry internet and telephone signals and are used in endoscopes to see inside the body. The Indian-born physicist Narinder Singh Kapany is called the father of fibre optics. Option B is wrong because diffraction is the bending of light around small obstacles or through narrow slits. Option C is wrong because scattering spreads light in many directions, which makes the sky look blue. Option D is wrong because refraction is only the bending of light as it enters a new medium, while a fibre works by stopping light from escaping. Exam tip: optical fibre, mirage and a sparkling diamond all work by total internal reflection.

The correct answer is A, Morris D. Morris. The American economic historian Morris David Morris built the Physical Quality of Life Index in the 1970s for the Overseas Development Council, and set it out in his 1979 book on measuring the condition of the world’s poor. He wanted a simple measure of well-being that did not depend on income alone. The PQLI uses three indicators, each scored from 0 to 100 and given equal weight: basic literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy at age one. Their average gives a country a score out of 100. Kerala was often cited as a place where a high PQLI came with a low income. Option B is wrong because the UNDP publishes the Human Development Index, which came later, in 1990. Option C is wrong because Mahbub-ul-Haq designed the HDI, not the PQLI. Option D is wrong because the index has a known author, Morris D. Morris. Exam tip: PQLI, Morris D. Morris, 1979, three indicators; HDI, Mahbub-ul-Haq and the UNDP, 1990.

The correct answer is B, Article 110. Article 110 says a Bill is a Money Bill if it deals only with matters such as imposing or changing a tax, government borrowing, the custody of the Consolidated Fund or Contingency Fund of India and payments into or out of them, and spending charged on the Consolidated Fund. Under Article 110(3), if a question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill, the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is final, and the Speaker certifies it before it goes to the Rajya Sabha. A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and only on the President’s recommendation. Option A is wrong because Article 109 lays down the special procedure for Money Bills: the Rajya Sabha must return the Bill within 14 days and can only make recommendations. Option C is wrong because Article 111 deals with the President’s assent to Bills. Option D is wrong because Article 112 deals with the Annual Financial Statement, the budget. Exam tip: 109 procedure, 110 definition, 111 assent, 112 budget; the Speaker certifies a Money Bill.

The correct answer is B, Rajagopalachari. C. Rajagopalachari, known as C.R. or Rajaji, drew up the formula in 1944 to end the Congress–League deadlock over Pakistan. Under the plan, the Muslim League would back the demand for independence and join the Congress in a provisional government. After the war, a commission would mark out the Muslim-majority districts of the north-west and east, and a plebiscite of all adults there would decide on separation. Gandhi used it as the basis of his talks with Jinnah in Bombay in September 1944, but Jinnah rejected it because he wanted the whole of Punjab and Bengal and a vote of Muslims alone. Option A is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru did not draft this plan. Option C is wrong because Chittaranjan Das founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 and died in 1925, long before 1944. Option D is wrong because V. P. Menon drafted the June 1947 partition plan and later helped integrate the princely states. Exam tip: C.R. Formula 1944, Gandhi–Jinnah talks September 1944, Wavell Plan 1945.

The correct answer is C, Kharosthi. Kharosthi was written from right to left, like the Aramaic script from which it grew. It was the script of Gandhara in the north-west, now in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and was used roughly from the third century BCE to the third century CE, mostly for Prakrit. That is why two of Ashoka's major rock edicts, at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra, are in Kharosthi, while almost all his other edicts are in Brahmi. It spread along the Silk Road into Central Asia and then died out. Option A is wrong because Brahmi runs left to right and is the parent of Devanagari and most other Indian scripts. Option B is wrong because Sharada, the old script of Kashmir, grew out of Brahmi and is also written left to right. Option D is wrong because Nandinagari, a southern form of Nagari used for Sanskrit manuscripts, runs left to right as well. Exam tip: Kharosthi is the odd one out, right to left and found in the north-west; Brahmi is left to right and found almost everywhere else.

The correct answer is C, Certiorari. Certiorari is called a postmortem because it is issued after a lower court or tribunal has already passed its order, to quash that order. The word means 'to be certified' or 'to be informed'. The Supreme Court issues it under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226, when a lower body has acted without jurisdiction, gone beyond its powers or broken the rules of natural justice. Prohibition and certiorari make a neat pair: prohibition stops a case while it is still going on, while certiorari cancels a decision that has already been made. Option A is wrong because prohibition is preventive and is issued before the final order, not after it. Option B is wrong because mandamus, meaning 'we command', orders a public official or body to perform a legal duty. Option D is wrong because quo warranto, meaning 'by what authority', asks a person to show his right to hold a public office. Exam tip: prohibition prevents, certiorari cures, and only certiorari is the postmortem writ.

The correct answer is A, Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla. Both were sentenced to death in the Kakori case and hanged in December 1927. On 9 August 1925, members of the Hindustan Republican Association stopped a train at Kakori near Lucknow and took away government money to fund their fight. Four of them were hanged: Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan Singh, while Chandrashekhar Azad escaped arrest. The friendship of Bismil, a Hindu, and Ashfaqulla, a Muslim, is still remembered as a symbol of unity. Option B is wrong because Vasudev Chapekar was hanged for the 1897 killing of the plague commissioner Rand in Pune, and Savarkar was sent to the Cellular Jail, not hanged. Option C is wrong because Khudiram Bose was hanged in 1908 for the Muzaffarpur bomb attack in Bihar, and Prafulla Chaki shot himself at Mokama to avoid arrest. Option D is wrong because Surya Sen was hanged for the Chittagong armoury raid and Udham Singh for killing Michael O'Dwyer in London. Exam tip: Kakori 1925 means Bismil, Ashfaqulla, Lahiri and Roshan Singh.

The correct answer is A, Shri Krishna Singh. Shri Krishna Singh, better known as Sri Krishna Sinha, led the formation of the Bihar branch of the Swaraj Dal in 1923. The Swaraj Party itself was founded on 1 January 1923 by Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru, who wanted to enter the councils and oppose the government from inside. The split that led to it came at the Congress session held at Gaya in Bihar in December 1922, where Das was president and his council-entry plan was voted down. Sri Krishna Sinha, called Bihar Kesari, later became the first Chief Minister of Bihar and held the post from 1946 until his death in 1961. Option B is wrong because Ramlal Shah did not found the Swaraj Dal in Bihar. Option C is wrong because Bankim Chandra Mitra is not the person credited with it either. Option D is wrong because Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a revolutionary who founded the Hindustan Republican Association in 1924. Exam tip: Gaya session 1922, Swaraj Party 1923, Bihar unit under Sri Krishna Sinha.