Search Previous Year Questions

The correct answer is  PV Sindhu.

Key Points

• Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu on 23 Jan 2022 won the women's singles title at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament.
• At the Babu Banarasi Indoor Stadium, Lucknow, she defeated Malvika Bansod 21-13, 21-16 in the summit clash.
• It was her second Syed Modi title after having annexed the BWF World Tour Super 300 event in 2017.

Additional Information

• Tasnim Mir became the first Indian to grab World no 1 in Under-19 (U-19) Girls Singles category in the 2022 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Junior rankings.
• Nitesh Kumar won doubled gold at the 4^th Para-Badminton National Championship, which concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Kidambi Srikanth has become the first Indian man to win a silver medal at BWF World Championships.
• Badminton World Federation:
• Founded: 5 July 1934;
• Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
• President: Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen (As of Jan 2022).
• Ace Indian badminton player PV Sindhu defeated China’s He Bingjiao to win the bronze medal in the women’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympics on August 01, 2021.

The correct answer is 11^th.

Key Points

• Panchayati Raj
• Panchayati Raj is the system of local self-government of villages in rural India as opposed to urban and suburban municipalities.
• It consists of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) through which the self-government of villages is realized.
• They are tasked with "economic development, strengthening social justice and implementation of Central and State Government Schemes including those 29 subjects listed in the 11^th Schedule."
• ​Part IX of the Indian Constitution is the section of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats.
• It stipulates that in states or Union Territories with more than two million inhabitants there are three levels of PRIs:
• Zilla Parishad at the District Level
• Panchayat Samiti at the Block Level
• Gram/Village Panchayat at the Village Level

Shortcut Trick

• How to remember all the schedules: Code for 12 schedules is - TEARS OF OLD PM
• 1^st Schedule: T- Territory,
• 2^nd Schedule: E- Emoluments/salary,
• 3^rd Schedule: A- Affirmation/Oath,
• 4^th Schedule: R- Rajya Sabha,
• 5^th Schedule: S- Scheduled Tribes,
• 6^th Schedule: O- Other Tribes,
• 7^th Schedule: F- Federal (Division Of Powers),
• 8^th Schedule: O- Official Regional Languages,
• 9^th Schedule: L- Land Reform,
• 10^th Schedule: D- Defection (Anti-Defection Law),
• 11^th Schedule: P- Panchayati Raj,
• 12^th Schedule: M- Municipal Corporation.

The correct answer is Jaziya.

Key Points

• Firoz Shah Tughlaq introduced a new system of taxation according to the Quran.

Additional Information

• Jaziya 
• In Islam, the Jaziya tax was considered a fee for protection provided by the Muslim ruler to non-Muslims.
• It considered the exemption from military service for non-Muslims
• Also, it is considered as the permission to practice a non-Muslim faith with some communal autonomy in a Muslim state,
• Jaziya was understood as material proof of the non-Muslims' submission to the Muslim state and its laws,
• In India, Muhammad bin Qasim imposed Jaziya for the first time
• Then it was abolished by Mughal ruler Akbar in the 16^th century.
• Again it was reimposed by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in the 17^th century.

The correct answer is Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Key Points

• "Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan" was a slogan of "Lal Bahadur Shastri".He was the second Prime minister of India.
• The slogan was coined at a Public gathering at Delhi in 1965.
• India was attacked by Pakistan during Shastri's tenure and at the same time, there was a scarcity of food grains in the country.
• The Prime minister gave the slogan "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" to enthuse the soldiers to defend India.

Additional Information

• And simultaneously farmers were also encouraged to do their best to increase the production of food grains to reduce dependence on others to imports.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee added "Jai Vigyan" to the slogan to underline the importance of knowledge in India's progress after the Pokhran tests in 1998.
• Dr. Kailash Chandra Mishra recreated the slogan as "Jai Jawan Jai Kissan Jai Vigyan Jai Vidwan".

CONCEPT:

• Cyclone: A cyclone is a rotating low-pressure weather system with inward-spiralling winds, which spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.
• The eastern coastal states are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.
• The western coastal states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
• The 4 union territories lying on the coast-line are Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep Islands and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

EXPLANATION:

• Puri is most likely to be affected by a cyclone because the east coast is more prone to cyclones and puri is situated on the East coast of India.

The reason is more prone to the cyclone is:

• The temperature and salinity of the Bay of Bengal are more than the Arabian sea.
• Prevailing of Easterly Subtropical Jetstream.
• The Bay of Bengal is very active during the end of the monsoon (Oct to Dec) because a lot of freshwater mixes in it via great rivers Ganga Brahmaputra etc.

NOTE: Porbandar, Mumbai, and Goa are situated on the western coast of India.

Only Puri is situated on the eastern coast of India.

The correct answer is 8° 4' ; 37° 6'.​

• India's latitudinal range ranges from 8° 4' north to  37° 6' north.

Additional Information

• Latitude: Latitude is the angular distance, north or south from the equator, of a point on the earth’s surface.
• Longitude: Longitude is an angular distance on the earth’s surface along the equator, measured east or west from the prime meridian at Greenwich.
• Angular distance: It is also known as angular separation, is the angle between the two sightlines, or between two point objects as viewed from an observer. It is typically measured in degrees or radians.
• The Indian mainland extends between 8°4′ North and 37°6′ North latitudes and from 68°7′ East and 97°25′ East longitudes.
• The latitudinal and the North-south extent is 3214 km and the East-west extent is 2933 km.
• India accounts for 2.42% of the total world land area.
• The Indian government has accepted the meridian of 82.5 degrees East for standard time, which is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time.

The correct answer is Raniganj.

Key Points

• Raniganj Coalfield is primarily located in the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal.
• Damodar valley is home to the largest coal mines in the Jharkhand-West Bengal coal belt located in Jharia (largest coalfield of India), Raniganhj (second-largest coalfield of India), Bokaro, Giridih, Karanpura, Chandrapur, Tatapani, Talcher, Himgiri, Korba, Singrauli, etc.
• Based on geological units, there are three different Gondwana formations:
• Raniganj Formation.
• Barkar Formation.
• Karharbari Formation (the oldest coal formation in India).

Additional Information

• India’s largest lignite deposits are at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu.
• Durgapur is by far the most industrialized tier-II city in eastern India and the second planned city in India.
• Durgapur is also known as the "Steel city of West Bengal".
• Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (former chief minister of West Bengal) was the founder of Durgapur city.

The correct answer is Loknayak.

Key Points

• Jay Prakash Narayan:
• Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan’s birthday i.e. 11 October is celebrated as Save Democracy Day for his invaluable contribution to anti-emergency agitation during 1975-76.
• His entire life is one of supreme sacrifice and commitment to the nation.
• In 1921 he joined the Non-cooperation movement and was influenced by Gandhian Ideology.
• Later he went to the US, where he was deeply influenced by Marxist ideology.
• In 1929 he joined the INC at the invitation of Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Additional Information

• Titles to the eminent personalities:-
• Lokmanya - Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
• Loknayak - Jai Prakash Narayan.
• Lokhitwadi - Gopal Hari Deshmukh.
• Lokneta - Gopinath Munde.

The correct answer is Rajasthan.

• The Rajasthan government will build temporary shelters for migratory birds near the famous Sambhar Lake.
• They will be built before 2020's winter season when a large number of birds from the cold northern regions of Central Asia are expected to arrive at the country's largest inland saline water body.
• More than 20,000 migratory birds had died due to avian botulism in the lake in 2019.
• Rajasthan:
• State Bird - Great Indian bustard
• State Animal - Chinkara

• "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling has announced a new story called "The Ickabog" to entertain children during coronavirus lockdown.
• The new story will be serialized, with a chapter or more posted on "The Ickabog" website every weekday from Tuesday to July 10, 2020.
• She has also invited children to provide illustrations for the story, to keep them occupied during coronavirus lockdown.