Search Previous Year Questions

The correct answer is McLaughlin - Levrone & Mondo Duplantis.

Key Points

• World champion American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis won the World Athlete of the Year awards.
• McLaughlin-Levrone broke the world women’s 400m hurdles record twice while Duplantis set three new world highs this year.
• World Athletics also named Adriana Vilago of Serbia and American Erriyon Knighton their Rising Star of the Year winners. In 2022, Vilagoš recorded 15 top-three finishes in 16 javelin competitions.
• She won silver at the multi-sport European Championships in Munich, and gold medals at the Mediterrean Games and World U20 Championships.

The correct answer is 15 October.

Key Points 

• October 15 is celebrated as the International Day of Rural women across the world.
• Aim: to promote gender quality & highlight the important role played by women in rural areas.
• Established in: 2007 by the UN.
• As per a UN report, approximately 40% of the total agricultural labour force in developing countries comprises women.
• 2022 Theme: “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All”.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Meghalaya.

Key Points 

• The Meghalaya Government in partnership with startup TechEagle has unveiled Asia's first drone delivery hub & network.
• It is aimed at providing universal access to healthcare for netizens.
• It will be delivering vital supplies like drugs, diagnostic samples, vaccines, blood, and blood components.
• The first official drone flight took off from Jengjal Sub Divisional Hospital.

Important Points 

• TechEagle’s Vertiplane X3 Drone delivered different healthcare products on its first flight which was five times faster in comparison to ground transportation.
• Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network (MDDN) and hub in Phase 1 is a combination of one central hub and 25 spokes (supply chain nodes) in a radius of 50 kilometers.
• TechEagle’s drones are capable of vertical takeoff and landing from small areas which enable both forward and reverse logistics of healthcare products in the network.

The correct answer is Arundhati Roy.

Key Points 

• Arundhati Roy is the author of the book 'The God of Small Things'.
• Roy's debut novel, it is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" prevalent in 1960s Kerala, India.
• The novel explores how small, seemingly insignificant things shape people's behavior and their lives.
• The novel also explores the lingering effects of casteism in India.
• It won the Booker Prize in 1997.

Additional Information 

• Karan Thapar
• He was associated with CNN-IBN and hosted 'The Devil's Advocate' and 'The Last Word'. In December 2013, Karan Thapar received the International Press Institute-India Award for excellence in the field of journalism.
• Jhumpa Lahiri 
• The full name of author Jhumpa Lahiri is Jhumpa Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri. Jhumpa Lahiri was born in 1967 in London.
• Her first novel was the 'Namesake' published in 2003.   

She won Pulitzer Prize for her debut short story collection ‘Interpreter of Maldives’ in 1999.

• Arvind Adiga
• The novel, White Tiger, won the Man Booker Prize in the year 2008.
• It was the debut novel of Arvind Adiga.
• Other notable writings of Arvind Adiga are the Last Man in Tower, Between the Assassinations and Selection Day.

The correct answer is Kathakali.

Key Points

• Kathakali​ 
• The literal meaning of the word Kathakali is Story-Play.
• Kathakali is based on the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
• It is a classical dance related to Kerala.
• In this dance, there are nine facial expressions called Navarasas.

Additional Information

• Kathak:
• ​The term Kathak is derived from Katha which means Story.
• The Kathaks were originally a caste of storytellers in the temple of north India, who embellished their performances with gestures and songs.
• Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the bhakti movement.
• The legends of Radha Krishna were enacted in folk plays called Rasa Lila, which combined folk dance with the basic gestures of the Kathak storytellers.
• Manipuri 
• The Manipuri Dance, also referred to as the Manipuri Raas Leela (Meitei: Jagoi Raas, Raas Jagoi), is one of the eight major Indian classical dance forms, originating from the state of Manipur.
• Lai Haraoba is the earliest form of dance in Manipur, and it forms the basis of all such dances.

The correct answer is Chandragupta Maurya.

Key Points

• Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in 322 BCE when he conquered the kingdom of Magadha and the northwestern Macedonian satrapies.
• Maurya Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and rapidly expanded his power westward across central and western India in order to take advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal by Alexander the Great‘s armies.
• According to legend, the teacher Chanakya convinced his disciple, Chandragupta Maurya, to conquer the kingdom of Magadha (the Nanda Empire) when he was insulted by its king Dhana Nanda.
• Chandragupta Maurya expanded the Maurya Empire north and west as he conquered the Macedonian Satrapies and won the Seleucid-Mauryan war.

Additional Information

• According to several legends, Chanakya traveled to Magadha, a kingdom that was large and militarily powerful and feared by its neighbors but was insulted by its king Dhana Nanda, of the Nanda Dynasty.
• Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.
• Maurya devised a strategy to invade Pataliputra, the capital of the Nanda Empire.
• A battle was announced and the Magadhan army was drawn from the city to a distant battlefield in order to engage Maurya’s forces.

The correct answer is 1950.

Key Points

• India became a Republic on Jan. 26, 1950
• On this day the Constitution of India came into effect, replacing the Government of India Act (1935), which made India a Republic.

Additional Information 

• The main source of the Indian Constitution is the Government of India Act 1935.
• The Constitution of 1950 was a by-product of the legacy started by the Government of India Act 1935.
• The government of India Act of 1935 abolished the system of provincial dyarchy and established dyarchy at the center.
• It also established a Federation of India consisting of the provinces of British India and most of the princely states.
• Indian Constitution came into existence on 26^th November 1949.
• The Constituent Assembly of 299 members drafted the constitution considering features of constitutions of the other countries as well as from the Government of India Act 1935.

The correct answer is Milkha Singh.

Key Points

• Milkha Singh, known as the Flying Sikh, was born on October 17, 1935, in Lyallpur [now Faisalabad], Pakistan), Indian track-and-field athlete who became the first Indian male to reach the final of an Olympic athletics event when he placed fourth in the 400-meter race at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
• Milkha Singh is known as "The Flying Sikh". This nickname he acquired from General Ayub Khan of Pakistan after defeating Abdul Khaliq in Pakistan in 1960.
• Milkha Singh is the first person from India to win a Gold medal in Individual athletics at Commonwealth Games. He also won two gold medals in the Asian Games in 1958 and 1962.
• He has represented India in the three Summer Olympics such as the one in 1956 at Melbourne respectively in 1960 at Rome and in 1964 at Tokyo.
• The Indian government has honored him by awarding the fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri for his achievements in sports.

The correct answer is Sangeeta sampradaya Pradarshini.

Key Points

• The Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarsini, written by Subbarama Dikshithar in the year 1904, serves as an authority for information regarding the music, musicians, and composers of the previous centuries.
• Many of the musicians and composers of the South were closely acquainted with the Hindustani system of music also and wherever permissible, adopted Hindustani ragas for their compositions.
• The ragas Yaman Kalyan, Hamir Kalyan, Malkaunsa, Brindavani Sarang, Jaijaivanti, etc. were adopted in their compositions by the Musical Trinity.
• Raga Kaphi, Kanada, Khamaj, Paraj, Purvi, Bhairav, etc.

The correct answer is Four.

Key Points

• Abhinaya can be divided into four, according to the Natya Shastra.
• Expression of the limbs.
• Angika Abhinaya denotes the movements of angas like head, hands, waist, and face. Pratyangas like shoulders, shoulders arms, thighs, knees, and elbows, and upangas like eyes, eyelids, cheeks, nose, lips, and teeth. ​
• Expression of speech.
• Speech is used in drama and also in music when the singer expresses emotion through his or her singing. In the Kuchipudi and Melattur styles of Indian classical dance, the dancers often mouth the words of the songs.​
• Costume and scene.
• Another means of representation of the play is indeed the costumes and physical decorations of the actors and the theatre. In dramas and dance dramas, costume and making are distinguished by the sex, race, sect or class, or social position of the characters, giving the production of the presentation some semblance of reality​
• True expression
• Sāttvika Abhinaya is the mental message, emotion or image communicated with the audience through the performer's own inner emotions. ​