State Exams 2024 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Pulmonary vein. Veins usually carry blood low in oxygen back to the heart, but the pulmonary veins are the exception. After blood picks up oxygen in the lungs, four pulmonary veins, two from each lung, bring this oxygen-rich blood to the left atrium of the heart. From there it passes to the left ventricle, which pumps it to the whole body through the aorta. The mirror-image fact is asked just as often: the pulmonary artery is the only artery that carries deoxygenated blood, taking it from the right ventricle to the lungs. So the rule is that arteries carry blood away from the heart and veins carry it towards the heart, whatever its oxygen level. Option A is wrong because the cystic vein drains the gall bladder. Option C is wrong because the hepatic portal vein carries nutrient-rich but oxygen-poor blood from the intestines to the liver. Option D is wrong because the cardiac veins drain used blood from the heart muscle into the right atrium. Exam tip: pulmonary vein, the only vein with oxygenated blood; pulmonary artery, the only artery with deoxygenated blood.

The correct answer is C, Nyaya Panchayat. A Nyaya Panchayat is a village court for small civil and criminal disputes, a judicial body that some states created, so it is not a tier of local self-government. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was set up in 1957 to review the Community Development Programme and recommended ‘democratic decentralisation’ through three linked tiers. It wanted the block-level body to be the main executive body and the district body to guide and supervise. Rajasthan was the first state to adopt the scheme, at Nagaur on 2 October 1959, and Andhra Pradesh followed soon after. Option A is wrong because the Gram Panchayat is the first tier, at the village level. Option B is wrong because the Panchayat Samiti is the middle tier, at the block level. Option D is wrong because the Zila Panchayat, also called the Zila Parishad, is the top tier, at the district level. Exam tip: Balwant Rai Mehta 1957, three tiers, Nagaur 1959; the Ashok Mehta Committee of 1977 proposed two tiers.

The correct answer is A, Bimbisara. Bimbisara founded the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha and began Magadha's rise as the strongest of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. His capital was Rajagriha, today's Rajgir in Nalanda district, and he was a contemporary and admirer of Gautama Buddha. He grew his power through marriages: with the Kosala princess who brought Kashi as dowry, with Chellana of the Licchavis of Vaishali, and with Khema of Madra. He also conquered Anga, the region around present-day Bhagalpur, which gave Magadha control of trade on the Ganga. Option B is wrong because Brihadratha founded the older dynasty of Magadha, the one to which Jarasandha belonged. Option C is wrong because Ajatashatru was Bimbisara's son and successor, not the founder. Option D is wrong because only one ruler, Bimbisara, founded the dynasty. Exam tip: the Haryanka line runs Bimbisara, Ajatashatru, Udayin, and Udayin shifted the capital to Pataliputra.