Uttar Pradesh 2018 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Part II. Citizenship is dealt with in Part II of the Constitution, which contains Articles 5 to 11. These provisions settle who became a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution on 26 January 1950 and, through Article 11, leave all later law on citizenship to Parliament. Option A is wrong because Part I, containing Articles 1 to 4, deals with the Union and its territory, the formation of new states and the alteration of boundaries. Option C is wrong because Part VII originally contained Article 238 on the states in Part B of the First Schedule and was repealed by the Seventh Amendment in 1956. Option D is wrong because Part IX deals with the Panchayats, inserted by the Seventy-third Amendment of 1992, while Part IXA covers the municipalities. Remember the simple order: Part I territory, Part II citizenship, Part III fundamental rights.

The correct answer is B, the Mahabodhi Temple Complex. It stands at Bodh Gaya in Bihar beside the Bodhi tree under which Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment, and the teaching he then carried to the world is tied to this spot; a shrine was first raised here in Ashoka's time and the tall brick temple that survives belongs to the Gupta period, with the site inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2002. Option A is wrong because Humayun's Tomb in Delhi is a Mughal garden tomb of the sixteenth century. Option C is wrong because the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutb-ud-din Aibak in the Delhi Sultanate period. Option D is wrong because the Red Fort was built by Shah Jahan. Only one option in the set is Buddhist at all, which is the shortcut in such questions.

The correct answer is D, C A B D. Taking the four in the order they appear in history: Wood's Despatch came first, in 1854, and is called the Magna Carta of English education in India because it laid down a graded system of schools and universities. The Hunter Commission, also known as the Indian Education Commission, followed in 1882 under W. W. Hunter and reported mainly on primary and secondary education. The Saddler Commission, or Calcutta University Commission, sat in 1917 and 1919 and reviewed university education. The Sargent Plan, prepared by the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1944, was the last of the four and proposed universal free elementary education within forty years. Options A and C both place the Hunter Commission first, which is wrong because Wood's Despatch of 1854 precedes it, and option B puts the Saddler Commission before the Hunter Commission, reversing 1882 and 1917.

The correct answer is B, Kunchikal Falls. Formed by the Varahi river in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, it is counted as the highest waterfall in India, falling in a long series of steps through rocky terrain; because it lies within the catchment of the Mani dam, its full flow is seen mainly in the monsoon. Option A, Jog Falls on the Sharavathi, is the most famous and most visited waterfall in the country and is often given as the answer by students who confuse fame with height, but it is lower than Kunchikal. Options C and D, Rakim Kund and Kevti, are both falls of the Kaimur range in Bihar and are much smaller. Two more superlatives are worth learning: Nohkalikai in Meghalaya is the tallest plunge waterfall, and Chitrakote on the Indravati in Chhattisgarh is the broadest.

The correct answer is C, zinc. Calamine is zinc carbonate, and since it is a carbonate ore it is converted to the oxide by calcination, that is by heating in the absence of air, before being reduced to the metal. The other important ore of zinc is zinc blende, which is the sulphide and is roasted rather than calcined. Option A is wrong because the chief ore of tin is cassiterite, the oxide. Option B is wrong because magnesium is obtained from magnesite, dolomite and from sea water as its chloride. Option D is wrong because copper comes mainly from copper pyrites, also called chalcopyrite, and from cuprite. A pair of definitions is worth keeping ready for this topic: calcination is heating a carbonate ore without air, while roasting is heating a sulphide ore in air, and both give the oxide.

The correct answer is A, Attack Surface. The attack surface of a system is the total collection of every point at which an unauthorised person could try to enter it or pull data out of it: open ports, running services, user accounts, login pages, removable drives and even the employees who can be tricked. Network administrators reduce risk by shrinking this surface, that is by closing unused ports and removing software that is not needed. Option B is wrong because an attack signature is the recognisable pattern of bytes or behaviour by which antivirus and intrusion detection software identify a known attack. Option C is wrong because an attack pattern is a general description of how a class of attacks is carried out, used while designing defences. Option D is wrong because an attack path, also called an attack vector chain, is the particular route a single intruder actually followed from entry to target, not the whole set of possible entry points.

The correct answer is B, at the expiration of every fifth year. Article 243-I, inserted by the seventy-third Constitutional Amendment of 1992, requires the Governor of a State to constitute a Finance Commission at the expiration of every fifth year to review the financial position of the Panchayats and to recommend how taxes, duties, tolls and fees should be divided between the State and its Panchayats. Article 243-Y makes the same body examine the finances of the Municipalities. Options A, C and D are wrong simply because the Constitution fixes the interval at five years, the same interval Article 280 sets for the central Finance Commission, which makes the two easy to remember together. Note also that the State Finance Commission, like the central one, is a constitutional body and not a statutory one.

The correct answer is D, 6. The Nobel Prize is awarded every year in six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economic Sciences. The first five were named in the will of Alfred Nobel and have been given since 1901, while the prize in Economic Sciences was instituted by the Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 and awarded for the first time in 1969.

Option A, 5, is the number of categories in Nobel's own will and is therefore the strongest distractor, but the count asked for today includes economics. Option B, 7, is one more than the list and matches no prize category. Option C, 4, would leave out two of the sciences altogether. The Peace Prize among the six is decided in Norway and presented at Oslo, while the other five are presented at Stockholm on 10 December each year.

The correct answer is A, a simple majority of its members. Article 343 says Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union and that English was to continue for fifteen years from 1950, but it also lets Parliament provide by law for the continued use of English after that period, and such a law needs only a simple majority of the members present and voting. The Official Languages Act of 1963 was passed in exactly this way and allowed English to go on alongside Hindi. So this change is made outside the special procedure of Article 368. Option B is wrong because a two-thirds majority of members present and voting, with a majority of the total membership, is the requirement for a constitutional amendment under Article 368. Option C is wrong because no amendment needs a three-fourths majority; half the state legislatures are what a federal amendment adds. Option D is wrong because one-third support is only a quorum-like number and passes nothing. Exam tip: Article 343, Official Languages Act 1963, simple majority.

The correct answer is C, Article 66. Article 66 lays down the manner of electing the Vice-President of India. He is chosen by an electoral college made up of the members of both Houses of Parliament, elected and nominated alike, by proportional representation through the single transferable vote and by secret ballot. A candidate must be a citizen of India, at least thirty-five years old, qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha, and must hold no office of profit. Note that state legislatures take no part, unlike in the presidential election. Option A is wrong because Article 54 is about the electoral college for the President. Option B is wrong because Article 63 merely says there shall be a Vice-President of India. Option D is wrong because Article 74 is about the Council of Ministers that aids and advises the President. Exam tip: Article 63 the office, Article 64 ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Article 66 the election.

The correct answer is A. The Banking Ombudsman is a senior officer appointed by the Reserve Bank of India to hear and settle customer complaints about deficiency in banking service. The scheme was first brought in under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the ombudsman decides complaints on matters such as delayed payment, wrongly levied charges, card and digital transaction disputes and refusal to accept small coins. A customer must first take the complaint to the bank and may approach the ombudsman when the bank does not reply in thirty days or the reply is unsatisfactory. Option B is wrong because private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and scheduled cooperative banks are covered too, not only public sector banks. Option C is wrong because the complainant is free to reject the award and go elsewhere; it binds the bank once accepted. Option D is wrong because the whole process is free of cost to the customer. Exam tip: the ombudsman is appointed by the RBI, complain to the bank first, and the service costs nothing.

The correct answer is A, Kharavela. The Hathigumpha or ‘elephant cave’ inscription is carved in the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar in Odisha and is the main record of Kharavela, the Jain king of Kalinga of the Mahameghavahana (Chedi) dynasty, who ruled around the first century BCE. Written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, it describes his reign year by year: repairs to his capital, campaigns against rulers in the north and south, gifts to Jain monks, and the extension of a canal first dug by a Nanda king. That Nanda reference makes it an important source for older history too. Option B is wrong because Ashoka is known from his own rock and pillar edicts; his Kalinga war is described in Rock Edict XIII. Option C is wrong because Harshavardhana is known from Banabhatta’s Harshacharita and the Banskhera and Madhuban copper plates. Option D is wrong because Kanishka’s key record is the Rabatak inscription found in Afghanistan. Exam tip: Hathigumpha → Kharavela; Junagadh → Rudradaman; Nasik → Gautamiputra Satakarni.