UPSC CAPF 2019 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, Bacteria contain cytoplasm but viruses do not. A bacterium is a living cell filled with cytoplasm, while a virus is only genetic material inside a protein coat.

Bacteria are prokaryotic cells: they have a cell wall, a cell membrane, cytoplasm with ribosomes, and a circular DNA, but no nucleus bounded by a membrane and no membrane-bound organelles. Viruses are not cells at all. A virus particle (virion) is DNA or RNA wrapped in a protein capsid, sometimes with an outer envelope taken from the host. It has no cytoplasm, ribosomes or metabolism of its own, so it can multiply only inside a living host cell. This is why antibiotics act on bacteria but not on viruses.

B is wrong: bacteria, being prokaryotes, have no mitochondria.

C is wrong: viruses have no organelles, and bacteria have no mitochondria either.

D is wrong: bacteria do have a cell membrane, and viruses have no cell membrane, only a capsid and sometimes an envelope.

Exam tip: bacteria = prokaryotic cell, no mitochondria, killed by antibiotics; virus = nucleic acid + protein coat, not a cell.

The correct answer is B, 1, 2 and 3. All three subjects sit in the list named against them in the Seventh Schedule.

The Seventh Schedule, read with Article 246, divides law-making powers into three lists. Public health and sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries is entry 6 of the State List, so states run most health services. Citizenship, naturalisation and aliens is entry 17 of the Union List, which is why only Parliament made the Citizenship Act, 1955. Legal, medical and other professions is entry 26 of the Concurrent List, so both Parliament and the states can make laws on them, as with the Advocates Act and the National Medical Commission Act.

A is wrong: pair 1 is correct, but pairs 2 and 3 are correct too.

C is wrong: it leaves out the correct pair 1.

D is wrong: it leaves out the correct pairs 1 and 2.

Exam tip: Seventh Schedule with Article 246; public health = State List, citizenship = Union List, professions = Concurrent List.

The correct answer is B, 1 and 2 only. A short notice question is an urgent oral question taken up only with the Minister's consent, and it is answered after Question Hour, not during it.

Under the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha, a member may ask a question on a matter of urgent public importance with less than the usual ten clear days' notice, stating the reason for urgency. It is admitted only if the Minister concerned agrees to answer it at short notice. Such a question is taken up for oral answer immediately after the questions for oral answer of that day have been disposed of, that is, after Question Hour.

A is wrong: it includes statement 3, but these questions come after Question Hour.

C is wrong: it drops the true statement 1 and keeps the false statement 3.

D is wrong: it keeps statement 3 and leaves out the true statement 2.

Exam tip: starred = oral, unstarred = written, short notice = urgent, under ten days, needs the Minister's consent, taken after Question Hour.

The correct answer is A, whatever the change in price, there is absolutely no change in demand. Price elasticity of demand is the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. If the elasticity is zero, the numerator is zero: buyers take the same quantity however the price moves. This case is called perfectly inelastic demand and its demand curve is a vertical straight line. Textbooks illustrate it with a life-saving medicine or with salt, goods a household buys in a fixed quantity because there is no substitute and the spending is small. Option B is wrong because a small response to a small price change means elasticity between zero and one, that is inelastic but not zero demand. Option C is wrong because a large response to a small price change is elastic demand, with elasticity greater than one. Option D is wrong because that too describes ordinary inelastic demand, where some change still takes place. Exam tip: elasticity zero is a vertical curve, elasticity infinity a horizontal one, and elasticity one is unitary.

The correct answer is A, Baiju Bawra. Baiju, also called Baiju Nayak, was the leading singer at the court of Raja Man Singh Tomar in Gwalior and later served Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Raja Man Singh Tomar ruled Gwalior from 1486 to 1516 and is credited with shaping dhrupad, the oldest surviving style of Hindustani classical music. Baiju was a master of dhrupad, and legend makes him a rival of Tansen, a story retold in the 1952 film "Baiju Bawra". Gwalior's link with music continues today through the Tansen Samaroh held there every year. Option B is wrong because Tansen sang at the court of Raja Ramchandra of Rewa and then became one of the nine jewels of Akbar's court. Option C is wrong because Lal Kalawant was a disciple of Tansen who served at the Mughal court. Option D is wrong because Rang Khan Kalawant is not recorded at the courts of Man Singh Tomar or Bahadur Shah. Exam tip: Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior made dhrupad famous; Baiju sang there, and Tansen later shone at Akbar's court.

The correct answer is D, Forest Act 1878. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 created the three classes of reserved, protected and village forests. British interest in Indian forests grew as the railways and shipbuilding needed huge amounts of timber. The Imperial Forest Department was set up in 1864 with Dietrich Brandis as the first Inspector General of Forests, and the first Indian Forest Act followed in 1865. That Act was soon found too weak, so the 1878 Act replaced it, giving the state firm control over forest land and sharply cutting down villagers' customary rights, above all in reserved forests. Its successor, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, kept the same three classes and is still the main forest law. Option A is wrong because 1864 is the year the Forest Department was created, not a classification law. Option B is wrong because the 1865 Act only began state control and did not create the three classes. Option C is wrong because 1866 is not linked with this classification at all. Exam tip: 1864 department, 1865 first Act, 1878 three classes, 1927 Act still in use.

The correct answer is C, Protection of ozone layer. Both treaties were made to save the ozone layer in the stratosphere, which screens out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1985 as a framework agreement. The Montreal Protocol of 1987 put it into action by fixing deadlines to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. In 2009 these became the first UN treaties ratified by every country, and 16 September, the day the Protocol was signed, is observed as World Ozone Day. The Kigali Amendment of 2016 extended the Protocol to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Option A is wrong because desertification is handled by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification of 1994. Option B is wrong because the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 as part of Agenda 2030. Option D is wrong because climate change falls under the UNFCCC of 1992, with its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. Exam tip: Vienna 1985 and Montreal 1987 for ozone; Kigali 2016 added HFCs.

The correct answer is B, violet light. Violet has the shortest wavelength in visible light, so glass slows it the most and bends it the most. White light is a mix of seven colours, remembered as VIBGYOR. The refractive index of glass is slightly different for each colour, highest for violet and lowest for red. So when white light passes through a prism, each colour bends through a different angle and the light spreads into a coloured band called a spectrum. This splitting is called dispersion, and Isaac Newton showed it with a glass prism in his experiments of 1666. A rainbow is the same dispersion happening inside raindrops. Option A is wrong because red has the longest wavelength and is bent the least, so it lies at the other end of the spectrum from violet. Option C is wrong because yellow lies in the middle of the spectrum and deviates less than violet. Option D is wrong because blue bends more than yellow but still a little less than violet. Exam tip: red deviates least and violet most; the shorter the wavelength, the bigger the bend.

The correct answer is A, Bauxite, Magnetite, Malachite and Calamine respectively. Each metal here is paired with one of its best-known ores. Bauxite is hydrated aluminium oxide; alumina is refined from it and then broken down by electrolysis in the Hall-Héroult process. Magnetite (Fe3O4) is the magnetic ore of iron, while haematite (Fe2O3) is India's chief iron ore. Malachite is a green basic copper carbonate, though copper pyrites is the main commercial ore of copper. Calamine is zinc carbonate (ZnCO3), and zinc blende (ZnS) is the other main ore of zinc; the Zawar mines of Rajasthan are famous for it. Option B is wrong because it gives aluminium to magnetite and iron to bauxite. Option C is wrong because it runs the list backwards, pairing aluminium with calamine and zinc with bauxite. Option D is wrong because malachite is an ore of copper, not aluminium, and bauxite is not an ore of copper. Exam tip: "B-M-M-C" in order: Bauxite-Al, Magnetite-Fe, Malachite-Cu, Calamine-Zn.

The correct answer is C, 143. The number 235 is the mass number and uranium's atomic number is 92, so the nucleus holds 235 minus 92, that is 143 neutrons. The mass number (A) counts protons and neutrons together, while the atomic number (Z) counts only protons, so neutrons = A − Z. Every uranium atom has 92 protons; its isotopes differ only in the number of neutrons. Uranium-235 makes up only about 0.7% of natural uranium, the rest being mostly U-238 with 146 neutrons. Yet U-235 is the isotope that splits easily when struck by a slow neutron, which is why reactor fuel is "enriched" in it. Option A is wrong because 235 is the total of protons and neutrons, not the neutrons alone. Option B is wrong because 92 is the number of protons, that is the atomic number. Option D is wrong because 51 has no link with this nucleus and is only a distractor. Exam tip: neutrons = mass number minus atomic number; U-235 has 143 and U-238 has 146.

The correct answer is A, whatever the change in price, there is absolutely no change in demand. Elasticity measures how strongly the quantity demanded reacts to price, and zero means no reaction at all. Price elasticity of demand is the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. When it is zero, demand is perfectly inelastic and the demand curve is a vertical straight line. Life-saving medicines such as insulin come closest to this, since a patient buys the same dose whatever the price. At the other extreme, perfectly elastic demand, with infinite elasticity, gives a horizontal demand curve. Option B is wrong because any change in demand, however small, means the elasticity is above zero. Option C is wrong because a large response to a small price change means elastic demand, with elasticity greater than one. Option D is wrong because a small response to a large price change is relatively inelastic demand, between zero and one, but still not zero. Exam tip: elasticity zero gives a vertical curve; elasticity infinite gives a horizontal one.

The correct answer is A, Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar, Pir Panjal, Siwalik. Across Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, the ranges step down from the lofty north to the low foothills in the south. The Karakoram is the northernmost and carries K2 (8,611 m), the highest peak in India, and the Siachen Glacier. South of it runs the Ladakh Range, and the Indus flows through the valley between the Ladakh and Zaskar ranges. Further south, the Pir Panjal of the Lesser Himalaya holds the Banihal and Rohtang passes, with the Atal Tunnel cut beneath Rohtang. The Siwalik forms the lowest and youngest outer range. Option B is wrong because it puts the Karakoram fourth, when it is the northernmost. Option C is wrong because it starts with the Pir Panjal, one of the southern ranges. Option D is wrong because it gives the whole order in reverse, from south to north. Exam tip: from the north, "K-L-Z-P-S": Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar, Pir Panjal, Siwalik.

The correct answer is C, Palk Strait – Palk Bay – Gulf of Mannar. Moving south between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, you pass the strait first, then the bay, then the gulf. The Palk Strait is the northern channel that links the Bay of Bengal with Palk Bay, between Point Calimere in Tamil Nadu and the Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka. Palk Bay is the shallow water body just south of it. It is closed on the south by the chain of Pamban (Rameswaram) Island, Adam's Bridge (Ram Setu) and Mannar Island, and beyond that chain lies the Gulf of Mannar, which opens into the Indian Ocean and is a marine biosphere reserve known for coral reefs and dugongs. Option A is wrong because it starts with the Gulf of Mannar, the southernmost of the three. Option B is wrong because it puts the Gulf of Mannar above Palk Bay. Option D is wrong because Palk Bay lies south of Palk Strait, not north of it. Exam tip: from north to south, strait, bay, Adam's Bridge, then the Gulf of Mannar.

The correct answer is D, 3, 4, 2, 1. The four dates run 1828, 1849, 1875 and 1897. Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in Calcutta in 1828, which later came to be called the Brahmo Samaj. The Paramhans Mandali was set up in Bombay in 1849 as a secret society that opposed caste rules and idol worship. Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay in 1875, with the call "Go back to the Vedas". Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, after his return from the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893. Option A is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission, the latest of the four, first. Option B is wrong because it places the Arya Samaj of 1875 before the Brahmo Samaj of 1828. Option C is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission of 1897 before the Arya Samaj of 1875. Exam tip: Brahmo Samaj 1828, Paramhans Mandali 1849, Arya Samaj 1875, Ramakrishna Mission 1897.

The correct answer is D, Surya Sen. Surya Sen led the Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930 in Bengal and had no part in the Kakori case. The Kakori train action took place on 9 August 1925, when members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) stopped a train at Kakori near Lucknow and took the government cash it was carrying to fund their struggle. In the trial that followed, four revolutionaries were sentenced to death, and all four were hanged in December 1927. Option A is wrong because Ramprasad Bismil planned the action and was hanged at Gorakhpur. Option B is wrong because Rajendra Lahiri took part and was hanged at Gonda, two days before the others. Option C is wrong because Ashfaqulla Khan, Bismil's close friend, was hanged at Faizabad; the fourth martyr was Roshan Singh. Chandrashekhar Azad also took part but escaped arrest. Exam tip: Kakori 1925 with the HRA; Chittagong 1930 with Surya Sen.

The correct answer is A, Abu'l Hasan al Hujwiri. He wrote Kashf-ul-Mahjub in Lahore in the 11th century, and it is the oldest Persian treatise on Sufism. Al Hujwiri came from Ghazni in Afghanistan and settled in Lahore. The title means "Unveiling of the Veiled", and the book explains Sufi ideas, practices and the lives of earlier saints for ordinary readers. His shrine in Lahore, Data Darbar, is still one of the busiest in South Asia, and people call him Data Ganj Bakhsh, "the giver of treasures". Option B is wrong because Moinuddin Chishti set up the Chishti order in India at Ajmer in the late 12th century and did not write this book. Option C is wrong because the sayings of Nizamuddin Auliya were recorded by Amir Hasan Sijzi in Fawaid-ul-Fuad. Option D is wrong because Amir Khusrau was a poet and musician, known for works such as Khazain-ul-Futuh and Tughluq Nama. Exam tip: Kashf-ul-Mahjub by Hujwiri of Lahore; Fawaid-ul-Fuad records Nizamuddin Auliya.

The correct answer is D, He is a whole-time counsel for the Government. The Attorney-General is not a full-time government servant and may keep a private practice. He is appointed by the President under Article 76 and holds office during the pleasure of the President, with no term fixed by the Constitution. He is the highest law officer of the country, yet he is not a member of the Union Cabinet. Because he is not a whole-time counsel, the only bar on him is that he must not advise or hold briefs against the Government of India. Option A is a correct statement because Article 88 lets him speak and take part in either House of Parliament, though he cannot vote. Option B is a correct statement because Article 76(3) gives him a right of audience in all courts in India. Option C is a correct statement because Article 76(1) requires the qualifications of a Supreme Court judge. Exam tip: Article 76 creates the office, Article 88 lets him speak in Parliament, and he never gets a vote there.

The correct answer is B, Fundamental duties. These words form clause (b) of Article 51A, the list of duties every citizen owes the nation. The Fundamental Duties were added as Part IVA by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 on the advice of the Swaran Singh Committee, and the idea was borrowed from the Constitution of the former USSR. There were ten duties at first; the 86th Amendment Act, 2002 added the eleventh, asking parents to give their children aged 6 to 14 a chance of education. Clause (a) asks citizens to respect the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem, and clause (b) is the line in this question. Option A is wrong because the Directive Principles in Part IV are instructions to the State, not duties of citizens. Option C is wrong because the Fundamental Rights in Part III are claims a citizen can enforce in court. Option D is wrong because the Preamble states the ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity but lists no duties. Exam tip: Article 51A, Part IVA, 42nd Amendment 1976, eleven duties today.