UPSC CAPF 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is D, nickel. An alkene has a carbon-carbon double bond, and adding hydrogen across that bond turns it into the corresponding alkane. The reaction needs a finely divided metal catalyst, and nickel is the cheap industrial choice, usually at about 150 to 200 degrees Celsius; palladium and platinum do the same job at lower temperatures. The catalyst holds hydrogen molecules on its surface, splits them into atoms and lets them join the double bond, so it only speeds the reaction up and is not used up. The best known use is in food: unsaturated vegetable oils are hydrogenated over nickel to make solid vanaspati ghee. Option A is wrong because copper is used to dehydrogenate alcohols, which is the opposite kind of change. Option B is wrong because zinc dust is used for other reductions, not for adding hydrogen to a double bond. Option C is wrong because aluminium is not a hydrogenation catalyst at all. Exam tip: alkene plus hydrogen over nickel gives an alkane; oil plus hydrogen over nickel gives vanaspati.

The correct answer is A, temperature is highest at ground level and decreases with increasing altitude. In the troposphere the air is warmed mainly from below: the earth absorbs incoming short-wave insolation and then heats the layer of air touching it by conduction, radiation and convection. So the farther you go from this heat source, the colder the air, and the normal lapse rate is about 6.5 degrees Celsius for every 1,000 metres of ascent. This is why hill stations are cool in summer and high peaks stay under snow even in the tropics. Option B is wrong because that upside-down pattern is a temperature inversion, a local and short-lived reversal seen in valleys on calm clear winter nights, not the normal rate. Option C is wrong because temperature does not stay steady with height; the troposphere cools steadily upward. Option D is wrong because no such initial warming occurs in the normal profile. Exam tip: normal lapse rate is a fall of about 6.5 degrees Celsius per kilometre; the opposite is called an inversion.

The correct answer is A, a destination-based consumption tax. Goods and Services Tax is collected by the state where the goods or services are finally consumed, not by the state that produced them. It came into force on 1 July 2017 through the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016, and replaced a thicket of central and state taxes such as excise duty, service tax, VAT and octroi. It is a multi-stage value-added tax: a seller pays tax on the full value but claims input tax credit for the tax already paid on purchases, so only the value added at each stage is really taxed. Rates are decided by the GST Council under Article 279A, chaired by the Union Finance Minister. Option B is wrong because GST is not levied at the point of production; the earlier regime taxed at origin. Option C is wrong because GST is not a plain sales tax on each transaction, since input credit runs through the chain. Option D is wrong on both counts, origin and sales transaction. Exam tip: GST — destination-based, multi-stage, value-added; 101st Amendment, 1 July 2017.

The correct answer is C, they are appointed by the Governor in consultation with the High Court of the concerned State. This is the rule laid down in Article 233 of the Constitution. Appointment, posting and promotion of district judges in a state are made by the Governor, who must consult the High Court that exercises jurisdiction over that state. A person not already in government service can be appointed only if they have practised as an advocate or pleader for at least seven years and are recommended by the High Court. Article 234 covers other judicial officers, who are appointed by the Governor from the state judicial service as per rules framed after consulting the High Court and the State Public Service Commission. Option A is wrong because the High Court is only consulted; its Chief Justice does not appoint. Option B is wrong because the President appoints judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, not district judges. Option D is wrong because the Supreme Court has no role here. Exam tip: Article 233 — Governor appoints, High Court is consulted.

The correct answer is C, Ratnavali. Harshavardhana was a dramatist as well as a king, and three Sanskrit plays are credited to him: Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda. Ratnavali is a court comedy about the love of King Udayana for Ratnavali, and it is the work most often named in question papers.

Option A, the Harshacharita, is about Harsha but was not written by him; it is the biography composed by his court poet Banabhatta. Option B, Kadambari, is also by Banabhatta, a Sanskrit prose romance left unfinished at his death and completed by his son. Option D, the Gitagovinda, is much later: it was written by Jayadeva in the twelfth century at the court of the Sena king Lakshmanasena of Bengal, and it celebrates Radha and Krishna. Only Ratnavali is the king's own composition.