Rajasthan 2021 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Ranikhet. Newcastle disease is called Ranikhet disease in India because the first serious outbreak in the country was reported from Ranikhet in the Kumaon hills, while the name Newcastle comes from Newcastle upon Tyne in England, where it was identified in 1926. It is caused by a paramyxovirus, spreads fast through a flock by droppings and droplets, and shows itself as gasping, greenish diarrhoea, twisted neck and a sharp fall in egg laying, so losses can be heavy. There is no cure, and poultry keepers rely on vaccination with the F and R2B strains along with strict hygiene. B is wrong because IBD, infectious bursal disease or Gumboro, attacks the bursa and the young bird's immunity. C is wrong because coccidiosis is caused by Eimeria, a protozoan, and brings bloody droppings. D is wrong because fowl pox is a different viral disease, marked by warty scabs on the comb and wattles. Exam tip: Ranikhet equals Newcastle disease, a viral disease met by vaccination.

The correct answer is A, Goat. Capra hircus is the scientific name of the domestic goat, in which Capra is the genus and hircus the species, written in the two-word form that Carl Linnaeus gave to biology. The goat is a ruminant of the family Bovidae and is called the poor man's cow because it gives milk and meat on little feed and thrives in dry country; Rajasthan leads the states in goat population and Sirohi, Marwari, Jakhrana and Barbari are among its known breeds. B is wrong because cattle are Bos indicus, the humped Indian cattle, or Bos taurus. C is wrong because the sheep is Ovis aries. D is wrong because the Indian water buffalo is Bubalus bubalis, the animal that gives most of India's milk. Exam tip: fix the four names together, goat Capra hircus, sheep Ovis aries, cattle Bos indicus and buffalo Bubalus bubalis.

The correct answer is D, Western disturbances. Mawat is the local name in Rajasthan and the neighbouring plains for the light winter rain brought by western disturbances. These are low pressure systems that form over the Mediterranean region, travel east with the subtropical westerly jet stream and reach north-west India between December and February. The rain is small in amount but comes at the right time for the rabi crop, so wheat, gram, barley and mustard gain from it and farmers treat Mawat as golden drops. The same systems give snow to the western Himalayas. A is wrong because the retreating north-east monsoon brings winter rain to the Tamil Nadu coast, not to Rajasthan. B is wrong because the south-west monsoon is the rain of June to September. C is wrong because India has no south-east monsoon. Exam tip: Mawat equals winter rain from western disturbances, a boon for the rabi crop.

The correct answer is D, Rose. The Pushkar valley in Ajmer district is the rose belt of Rajasthan, and its desi gulab is grown on a large scale for processing rather than for cut flowers. The petals go into gulab jal, gulkand, rose oil and perfume, and small units around Pushkar and Ajmer buy the crop, which is why the area is often called the flower garden of Rajasthan. The town itself is known for the Brahma temple and for the cattle fair held at Kartik Purnima. A is wrong because tomato is a common vegetable crop with no special link to Pushkar. B is wrong because date palm in Rajasthan is associated with the dry districts of Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer. C is wrong because chrysanthemum is grown mainly in the south and in hill areas for cut flowers. Exam tip: Pushkar means roses, so remember the pair Pushkar and gulab jal or gulkand.

The correct answer is D, Sheet erosion. Sheet erosion peels a thin, even film of topsoil off a whole slope, leaving no channel or scar behind, so a farmer may not notice it for years while fertility quietly drains away. It begins with raindrops splashing the bare surface loose, after which a shallow sheet of run-off carries the finest and most fertile particles off the field. The only hints are a paler soil colour, exposed pebbles and roots standing above the ground. A is wrong because gully erosion cuts deep, wide channels that nobody can miss and that often put land out of cultivation. B is wrong because stream bank erosion eats sideways into a river bank and shows up as caving earth. C is wrong because rill erosion carves small finger-like grooves that are shallow but still plainly visible. Exam tip: order them by how easily they are seen — sheet, then rill, then gully.

The correct answer is B, because the Rabatak inscription was not found in western Uttar Pradesh. It came to light in 1993 at Rabatak in Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan, and it is written in the Bactrian language using the Greek script. Its importance is that it lists Kanishka's ancestors, Kujula Kadphises, Vima Taktu and Vima Kadphises, and so settled the order of the early Kushan rulers. Statement A is true, since under Kanishka the empire ran from Central Asia through the north-west to the Ganga valley and southward to Malwa, with Purushapura, today's Peshawar, as its capital. Statement C is true, as Kanishka's court supported Ashvaghosha, who wrote the Buddhacharita, and Vasumitra, who presided over the fourth Buddhist council held in Kashmir. Statement D is true, because his coins carry Greek, Iranian and Indian deities side by side, among them the Buddha, Oesho or Shiva, Mithra and Nana. Exam tip: Rabatak means Afghanistan and the Kushan family tree.

The correct answer is D, A and D. Vitamins A, D, E and K dissolve in fat, while the B group and vitamin C dissolve in water. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed along with the fat in our food and are stored in the liver and fatty tissue, so the body can build up a reserve; for the same reason, too much of them, especially A and D taken as supplements, can be harmful. Most water-soluble vitamins are not stored in large amounts, the extra is passed out in urine, and so they must be eaten regularly. Vitamin A keeps the eyes healthy and its lack causes night blindness, while vitamin D is made in the skin in sunlight and its lack causes rickets in children. Option A is wrong because vitamin B12 is water-soluble, even though D is fat-soluble. Option B is wrong because vitamin C is water-soluble. Option C is wrong because it pairs fat-soluble A with water-soluble C. Exam tip: remember the fat-soluble group as 'ADEK'; the B group and C are water-soluble.

The correct answer is B, Marine. In the sea the producers are tiny phytoplankton. At any given moment their total mass is smaller than the mass of the zooplankton and fish that feed on them, so the pyramid of biomass stands upside down. This happens because phytoplankton grow and divide very fast and are eaten almost as quickly as they are produced, so a small standing crop can support a larger mass of consumers. The pyramid of energy, however, is always upright in every ecosystem, because energy is lost as heat at each step and only about 10 percent passes to the next level. Option A is wrong because in a grassland the grasses far outweigh the grazing animals, giving an upright pyramid. Option C is wrong because the tundra also has more plant mass than animal mass. Option D is wrong because in a forest the huge trees give a large biomass base, so the pyramid of biomass is upright, even though the pyramid of numbers there can be inverted. Exam tip: numbers can be inverted in a tree ecosystem, biomass in the sea, but energy never.

The correct answer is D, Gas and water supply. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) covers only three sectors: mining, manufacturing and electricity. It is a monthly index released by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and it shows how fast the volume of industrial output is rising or falling compared with a base year. Manufacturing carries by far the largest weight in the index, so a slowdown in factories pulls the IIP down quickly. Gas and water supply are counted in the wider industry sector of national income, together with electricity, but they are not part of the IIP basket, and that is the trap in this question. Option A is wrong because mining is one of the three sectors of the IIP. Option B is wrong because electricity is also a sector of the IIP. Option C is wrong because manufacturing is the biggest part of the index. Exam tip: IIP = mining + manufacturing + electricity; the index of eight core industries is a separate, smaller index.

The correct answer is C, Nilgiri Hills. Doddabetta, about 2,637 metres high, is the highest peak of the Nilgiri Hills and stands close to Ooty (Udhagamandalam) in Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiris are the place where the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats meet, which is why they are often described as a knot of the two ranges. In Kannada, 'dodda betta' simply means 'big mountain', an easy way to remember that it is the top of the Nilgiris. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India's first biosphere reserve, is spread around these hills. Option A is wrong because the Vindhyas are a low range of central India whose peaks stay well below 1,000 metres. Option B is wrong because the highest point of the Satpura Range is Dhupgarh near Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, about 1,350 metres. Option D is wrong because the Anamalai Hills of Kerala hold a different peak, Anamudi, about 2,695 metres, the highest point of South India. Exam tip: Anamudi (Anamalai, Kerala) is the highest in South India; Doddabetta (Nilgiri, Tamil Nadu) is the highest of the Nilgiris.

The correct answer is B, Election Commission. Article 103 says the President shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to that opinion. Article 102 lists the grounds on which a member of either House can be disqualified, such as holding an office of profit, being of unsound mind, being an undischarged insolvent or not being a citizen of India. When a question arises on these grounds, Article 103 makes the President's decision final, but the President is bound by the Commission's opinion, so the advice is not a formality. Disqualification for defection is a different route: under the Tenth Schedule it is decided by the Speaker or the Chairman. For state legislators, Article 192 gives the same role to the Governor. Option A is wrong because the Attorney General advises the government on law but has no role under Article 103. Option C is wrong because the Supreme Court is not consulted in this process. Option D is wrong because the Speaker decides only defection cases. Exam tip: Article 102 gives the grounds; Article 103 gives the decision to the President on the Election Commission's opinion.

The correct answer is A, (i) and (iv). Anekantavada and Syadvada are the two central Jain ideas about knowledge and truth. Anekantavada means 'many-sidedness': reality has many aspects, and no single point of view can capture all of it. Syadvada, the doctrine of 'may be', puts this into language; every statement should carry the word 'syat', meaning 'in some respect', and Jain thinkers built on it a sevenfold way of stating a thing, called saptabhangi. The story often used to explain it is that of the blind men and the elephant, each touching one part and describing a different animal. Option B is wrong because Sarvastivada ('everything exists') was an early Buddhist school, and Shunyavada ('emptiness') is the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna. Option C is wrong because it pairs a Buddhist school with a Jain doctrine. Option D is wrong because it adds two Buddhist schools and leaves out Syadvada. Exam tip: Anekanta and Syad are Jain; Sarvasti and Shunya are Buddhist.