State Exams 2023 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Cadmium pollution. Itai-itai disease is long-term cadmium poisoning, first noticed around 1912 in the Toyama region of Japan, where mines upstream released cadmium into the Jinzu river and it built up in the rice and water used by villagers. Cadmium damages the kidneys and makes bones soft and brittle, so patients suffered repeated fractures and severe pain in the spine and joints; the name means it hurts, it hurts in Japanese. It became one of the four big pollution diseases of Japan. Option A is wrong because mercury pollution causes Minamata disease, also from Japan, which spread through eating fish from a bay polluted with methylmercury. Option C is wrong because arsenic in groundwater causes arsenicosis, with skin lesions and cancers, as seen in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Option D is wrong because too much nitrate in drinking water causes blue baby syndrome, or methaemoglobinaemia, in infants. Exam tip: cadmium–itai-itai, mercury–Minamata, nitrate–blue baby, fluoride–fluorosis.

The correct answer is A, b d a c. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya; Manas is in Assam along the Bhutan border; Similipal is in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha; and Seshachalam lies in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. Nokrek is valued as a gene pool of wild citrus, Manas is also a tiger reserve and a World Heritage Site, Similipal is known for its tigers and waterfalls, and the Seshachalam hills are home to the red sanders tree. India began creating biosphere reserves under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme, and the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was the first. Option B is wrong because it places Manas in Odisha and Similipal in Assam. Option C is wrong because it puts Similipal in Andhra Pradesh and Seshachalam in Odisha. Option D is wrong because it swaps the states of Nokrek and Manas. Exam tip: Nokrek–Meghalaya, Manas–Assam, Similipal–Odisha, Seshachalam–Andhra Pradesh, and Nilgiri (1986) the first.

The correct answer is B, Dr. C. Rangarajan. The Twelfth Finance Commission, set up in 2002, was headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan, a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and its award covered the five years 2005–10. The President sets up a Finance Commission every five years under Article 280 to recommend how central taxes are shared between the Centre and the states and how grants-in-aid are given. The Twelfth Commission is remembered for its debt consolidation and relief facility, which gave states relief on central loans only if they passed fiscal responsibility laws. Option A is wrong because A. M. Khusro chaired the Eleventh Finance Commission, for 2000–05. Option C is wrong because Dr. Vijay Kelkar chaired the Thirteenth Finance Commission, for 2010–15. Option D is wrong because Y. V. Reddy chaired the Fourteenth Finance Commission, for 2015–20, which raised the states’ share of central taxes to 42 per cent. Exam tip: 11th Khusro, 12th Rangarajan, 13th Kelkar, 14th Y. V. Reddy, 15th N. K. Singh.

The correct answer is B, 6. On 15 April 1980 the government nationalised six more private banks, each with deposits of over ₹200 crore, which raised the number of nationalised banks to 20. This was the second round; the first and more famous one came on 19 July 1969, when Indira Gandhi’s government took over 14 major banks with deposits of over ₹50 crore. Both times the aim was to take banking to villages, direct credit to farmers and small industry, and end the hold of big business houses over bank lending. The six banks of 1980 were Andhra Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, New Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce. Option A is wrong because four is not the size of either round. Option C is wrong because 14 banks were nationalised in 1969, not in 1980. Option D is wrong because 20 was the total after both rounds, not the number taken over in 1980. Exam tip: 14 banks in 1969, 6 banks in 1980, 20 in all.

The correct answer is A, Limiting the size of the Council of Ministers. The 91st Amendment Act, 2003 capped the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister, at 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha or the state Legislative Assembly. It added clause (1A) to Article 75 for the Union and to Article 164 for the states, and fixed a minimum of 12 ministers in a state. It also barred a member disqualified for defection from holding any ministerial post, and removed the Tenth Schedule exemption for a split by one-third of a party’s members. Option B is wrong because the freeze on seats until the first census after 2026 came through the 84th Amendment of 2001. Option C is wrong because the National Commission for SCs and STs was split into two by the 89th Amendment of 2003. Option D is wrong because option A describes the amendment correctly. Exam tip: 15 per cent ceiling on ministers and a minimum of 12 in a state, both from the 91st Amendment of 2003.

The correct answer is C, Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha. Under Article 199(3), if a question arises whether a bill is a Money Bill, the decision of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is final. The Speaker endorses a certificate on the bill before it goes to the Legislative Council, where there is one, and then to the Governor. A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Assembly and only on the Governor’s recommendation, and the Council can hold it back for no more than 14 days. The same rule works at the Centre, where the Lok Sabha Speaker decides under Article 110(3). Option A is wrong because the Chief Minister heads the government but has no role in certifying bills. Option B is wrong because the Governor recommends the introduction of a Money Bill and gives assent to it, but does not decide its nature. Option D is wrong because the Law Minister may advise the government but holds no such power. Exam tip: Money Bill under Article 199 in the states and Article 110 at the Centre; in both, the Speaker’s decision is final.

The correct answer is C, Mahi. The Mahi rises in the Vindhya hills in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, flows through the Banswara region of Rajasthan and then crosses Gujarat to fall into the Gulf of Khambhat, so it passes through three states. Like the Narmada, the Tapi and the Sabarmati, it is one of the few Indian rivers that flow west into the Arabian Sea. The Mahi is also known for crossing the Tropic of Cancer twice, a favourite fact of paper setters. Option A is wrong because the Ken flows only through Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, where it joins the Yamuna. Option B is wrong because the Sonar stays within Madhya Pradesh and joins the Ken. Option D is wrong because the Betwa rises in Raisen district and joins the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh, so it covers only two states. Exam tip: Mahi goes from Dhar through Rajasthan to Gujarat, three states, and crosses the Tropic of Cancer twice.

The correct answer is A, 12 and 63. Tradition counts 12 Alvars, the Vaishnava saint-poets devoted to Vishnu, and 63 Nayanars, the Shaiva saints devoted to Shiva, both from the Tamil country. Between about the 6th and 9th centuries these saints sang in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, travelled from temple to temple and welcomed devotees of every caste, laying the base of the Bhakti movement in South India. The hymns of the Alvars were collected in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and those of the Nayanars in the Tevaram, part of the Tirumurai. Andal was the only woman among the Alvars, while Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best-known woman among the Nayanars. Option B is wrong because it cuts the Nayanar count to 53. Option C is wrong because it raises the Alvar count to 23. Option D is wrong because both of its numbers are wrong. Exam tip: 12 Alvars for Vishnu, 63 Nayanars for Shiva, and Andal the lone woman Alvar.

The correct answer is B, Surat. The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its Surat session of December 1907. The two groups had clashed over the choice of president and over how far to push the Swadeshi and boycott programme started after the Partition of Bengal in 1905. The Moderates, led by Pherozeshah Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, backed Rash Behari Ghosh as president, while the Extremists, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, wanted to keep the stronger resolutions of 1906. The session broke up in chaos, and the Extremists returned only at the Lucknow session of 1916. Option A is wrong because Bombay hosted the first session in 1885, not the split. Option C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji avoided a split and first adopted the goal of Swaraj. Option D is wrong because the Nagpur session of 1920 approved the Non-Cooperation programme. Exam tip: Surat 1907 split, Lucknow 1916 reunion, with Tilak at the centre of both.

The correct answer is B, Aluminium. Aluminium naturally forms a thin layer of aluminium oxide when it is exposed to air, and this layer protects it from further corrosion. In anodising, the layer is made thicker on purpose. A clean aluminium article is made the anode, the positive electrode, in an electrolytic bath of dilute sulphuric acid, and the oxygen gas released at the anode reacts with the metal to build a thick oxide coat. This coat resists corrosion and scratches and can easily be dyed in attractive colours, which is why anodised aluminium is used for pressure cookers, window frames and many household articles. Option A is wrong because silver does not form a protective oxide coat; it turns black by forming silver sulphide. Option C is wrong because gold hardly reacts with air at all, so it needs no such coating. Option D is wrong because copper, in moist air, gets a green coat of basic copper carbonate, not an anodised oxide layer. Exam tip: anodising means a thick oxide layer on aluminium; galvanising means a coat of zinc on iron.

The correct answer is B, Dialysis. Haemodialysis uses a machine called an artificial kidney to clean the blood of a patient whose kidneys have failed. Blood is drawn from the patient, mixed with an anticoagulant such as heparin so that it does not clot, and passed through fine tubes with a semi-permeable lining that sit in a dialysing fluid. Waste products such as urea pass out through the lining into the fluid, and the cleaned blood is returned to the body through a vein. A person with complete kidney failure needs this treatment regularly, often two or three times a week, unless a kidney transplant is done. The Dutch doctor Willem Kolff built the first working artificial kidney in 1943. Option A is wrong because excretion is the body's own natural removal of wastes, which healthy kidneys perform. Option C is wrong because perspiration means sweating through the skin. Option D is wrong because expulsion only means pushing something out; it is not the name of this treatment. Exam tip: the working unit of the kidney is the nephron, and the artificial kidney process is haemodialysis, which mainly removes urea.

The correct answer is C, Insulin. The pancreas is both an exocrine gland, pouring digestive enzymes into the intestine, and an endocrine gland. Its endocrine part is made of small clusters of cells called the islets of Langerhans. The beta cells in these islets release insulin, which lowers blood sugar by helping body cells take in glucose and by making the liver store extra glucose as glycogen. When the body makes too little insulin, or cannot use it properly, blood sugar stays high, which is diabetes mellitus. Insulin was discovered in 1921 by Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Option A is wrong because adrenaline, the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, comes from the medulla of the adrenal gland. Option B is wrong because glucagon is made by the alpha cells of the same islets, and it raises blood sugar, the opposite of insulin. Option D is wrong because aldosterone comes from the adrenal cortex and helps the kidneys keep back sodium and water. Exam tip: alpha cells make glucagon and raise sugar; beta cells make insulin and lower it.

The correct answer is A, Only 1. Statement 1 is correct: the Ramganga rises in the Garhwal hills of Uttarakhand, flows through Corbett National Park, where the Kalagarh dam stands on it, then passes through Moradabad and Bareilly districts and joins the Ganga on its left bank near Kannauj. Statement 2 is wrong: the Betwa, the ancient Vetravati, rises in the Vindhyan region of Madhya Pradesh, flows past Orchha and through the Jhansi area of Bundelkhand, and joins the Yamuna near Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, not near Prayagraj. At Prayagraj it is the Yamuna itself that meets the Ganga, at the Sangam. Option B is wrong because statement 2 puts the Betwa’s confluence in the wrong place. Option C is wrong because it accepts the wrong statement and rejects the right one. Option D is wrong because statement 1 is correct. Exam tip: Ramganga into the Ganga at Kannauj, Betwa into the Yamuna at Hamirpur, Yamuna into the Ganga at Prayagraj.

The correct answer is A, Devprayag. At Devprayag in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, the Bhagirathi, coming from the Gangotri glacier, meets the Alaknanda, and from this confluence onwards the river is called the Ganga. Devprayag is the last of the five sacred confluences on the Alaknanda, known as the Panch Prayag. Going downstream, the Alaknanda meets the Dhauliganga at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini at Nandprayag, the Pindar at Karnaprayag, the Mandakini at Rudraprayag and finally the Bhagirathi at Devprayag. Setters often mix up these pairs, so learning them in order helps. Option B is wrong because Vishnuprayag is where the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda. Option C is wrong because Rudraprayag is where the Mandakini, flowing down from Kedarnath, joins the Alaknanda. Option D is wrong because Karnaprayag is where the Pindar joins the Alaknanda. Exam tip: Vishnu, Nand, Karna, Rudra, Dev is the Panch Prayag order from upstream to downstream, ending with the Bhagirathi at Devprayag.

The correct answer is B, Khan Bahadur Khan. When the sepoys at Bareilly rose on 31 May 1857, Khan Bahadur Khan, a grandson of the Rohilla chief Hafiz Rahmat Khan, took charge of the town and of much of Rohilkhand. He had served as a judge under the Company and was living on a British pension, yet he set up his own government, raised an army of several thousand men and ruled in the name of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who recognised him as governor. The British recaptured Bareilly in May 1858; Khan Bahadur Khan fled to Nepal, was handed over and was hanged at Bareilly in 1860. Option A is wrong because Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, led the revolt at Kanpur. Option C is wrong because Begum Hazrat Mahal led the rising at Lucknow in the name of her son Birjis Qadr. Option D is wrong because Kunwar Singh led the revolt at Jagdishpur near Arrah in Bihar. Exam tip: Kanpur–Nana Saheb, Lucknow–Hazrat Mahal, Bareilly–Khan Bahadur Khan, Jhansi–Lakshmibai, Arrah–Kunwar Singh.

The correct answer is D, San Francisco. The Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 by Indian immigrants on the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada, most of them Punjabi Sikh farmers and workers. Sohan Singh Bhakna was its president and Lala Har Dayal its leading thinker. Its office, called the Yugantar Ashram, was in San Francisco, and from there it brought out the weekly paper ‘Ghadar’ from 1 November 1913 in Urdu and Punjabi, calling for armed revolt against British rule. When the First World War began, thousands of members sailed home, but the planned rising of February 1915 was betrayed, and many were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Cases. Option A is wrong because Delhi became the capital of British India in 1911 but was never the party’s base. Option B is wrong because Lahore is linked to the trials of the Ghadar revolutionaries, not to their headquarters. Option C is wrong because Calcutta was the base of Bengal groups such as the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar. Exam tip: Ghadar Party, 1913, Yugantar Ashram, San Francisco; president Sohan Singh Bhakna.

The correct answer is B, Nagasena. The Pali text Milindapanho, ‘The Questions of King Milinda’, records a long question-and-answer session between the Buddhist monk Nagasena and King Milinda. Milinda is the Indo-Greek king Menander I, who ruled in the second century BCE from Sakala, today’s Sialkot. Nagasena answers his doubts on the soul, rebirth and karma with simple examples; the best known is the chariot, which is only a name for its parts, just as a ‘self’ is only a name for changing parts. Buddhist tradition says Menander became a follower of the Buddha. Option A is wrong because Nagarjuna was the Mahayana thinker of about the second century CE who founded the Madhyamika school. Option C is wrong because Kumarila Bhatta was a Mimamsa philosopher of the seventh or eighth century who defended Vedic ritual. Option D is wrong because Nagabhata was a king, the founder of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, not a monk. Exam tip: Milinda = Menander (Indo-Greek, capital Sakala); his teacher in the text = Nagasena.

The correct answer is A, 1 and 4. Valmiki National Park and Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary are both in Bihar, while the other two are in other States. Valmiki National Park, with its tiger reserve, lies in West Champaran district in the far north-west of Bihar, along the Nepal border, where it adjoins Nepal's Chitwan National Park. It takes its name from the sage Valmiki, whose ashram is believed to have stood in this forest. Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary lies in Munger district in south Bihar and is known for its hot springs. Option B is wrong because both Dudhwa and Gajner are outside Bihar. Option C is wrong because Gajner Wildlife Sanctuary is near Bikaner in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. Option D is wrong because Dudhwa National Park is in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, famous for its swamp deer. Exam tip: Valmiki is in West Champaran in north Bihar, Bhimbandh in Munger in south Bihar; Dudhwa is Uttar Pradesh and Gajner is Rajasthan.

The correct answer is D, More than one of the above. Carbon dioxide, water vapour and CFCs are all greenhouse gases, because each of them traps the heat that the Earth gives off and warms the lower atmosphere. Water vapour is the most plentiful greenhouse gas in the air, while carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and gas is the main one that human activity keeps adding. CFCs, once used in refrigerators and aerosol sprays, do double damage: they trap heat and they also destroy the ozone layer, which is why the Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased them out. Methane and nitrous oxide are other important greenhouse gases. Option A is incomplete because carbon dioxide is only one of the gases listed that trap heat. Option B is incomplete because water vapour also traps heat but is not the only such gas here. Option C is incomplete because CFCs are greenhouse gases too, but so are the other two. Exam tip: the main greenhouse gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and CFCs.

The correct answer is C, amount of water in cells. Each stoma is surrounded by two guard cells, and the pore opens or closes as these cells gain or lose water. When water flows into the guard cells they swell and become turgid; because their inner walls are thicker than the outer walls, they curve outward and the pore between them opens. When they lose water they become flaccid, straighten and close the pore. The movement of potassium ions into and out of the guard cells drives this flow of water. Stomata are the tiny pores, mostly on the lower surface of leaves, through which plants take in carbon dioxide, give out oxygen and lose water vapour in transpiration. Option A is wrong because the position of the nucleus does not control the pore. Option B is wrong because the protein make-up of the cells does not change to open or shut the stomata. Option D is wrong because only one factor, the water content, is the cause here. Exam tip: turgid guard cells open the stoma, flaccid guard cells close it.