General Awareness PYQs

The correct answer is Raigad.

Key Points

• Ashta Mahasthana associated with the life of the Buddha are :
• Lumbini
• Bodh Gaya
• Sarnath
• Kushinagar
• Shravasti
• Sankissa
• Rajgriha
• Vaishali
• Gautama Buddha was born in the Lumbini village of Kapilavastu, Nepal in 563 B.C,  in the Shakya Kshatriya clan.​​

Important Points

• Mahabhiniraskramana or the Great Going Forth is the event when Gautama Buddha left his home.
• Buddha visited Vaishali and learnt Sankhya darshan.
• He went to Rajgriha and learnt yoga, went to Uruvela where he attained enlightenment.
• He went on to Sarnath where he delivered his first sermon also called Dharmachakrapravartana.
• He died in 483 B.C near Kushinara and the event is known as Mahaparinirvana.

The correct answer is 99,300.

Key Points

• Rs.99,300 crores have been allocated for the **education sector in 2020-21, Rs.3000 crores for **Skill Development
• There has been an overall increase of Rs. 3308.37 cr (5.85%) in the Budget Allocation of Department of School Education & Literacy.
• While the total budget was around Rs 30,42,230 crore, which is 12.7% higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20.

Important Points

• The Union Cabinet in July 2020 approved the New Education Policy (NEP).
• This committee was headed by K Kasturirangan, who is former ISRO chief.
• At present, Education minister is Ramesh Pokhriyal.

The correct answer is Torr.

Key Points

• A Torr is a non-SI unit of pressure with a ratio of 760 to 1 standard atmosphere.
• It is defined as exactly 1/760 of a standard atmosphere (101325 Pa).
• Thus one torr is exactly 101325/760 pascals (≈ 133.32 Pa).

Additional Information

The correct answer is 5.

Key Points

• Rutherford’s Nuclear Model of Atom proved that most of the space in atoms is generally empty.
• This means the size of the Nucleus is very small in comparison to the total size of an Atom.
• The radius of the atom is about 10^–10 m, while that of the nucleus is 10^–15 m.
• So, if a cricket ball represents a nucleus, then the radius of an atom would be about 5 km.

Additional Information

As we know the Diameter of the cricket ball(nucleus) is 10 cm.

The size of the Nucleus is about 10^-15 m, while the size of an atom is 10^-10 m.

For 10^-15 size of nucleus → 10^-10 m size of an atom

For 1 m size of Nucleus → (10-10 / 10-15) m size of an atom

100 cm size of Nucleus → 10⁵ m size of an atom

10 cm size of Nucleus(Cricket ball) → 10⁴ m size of an atom

10 cm size of Nucleus(Cricket ball) → 10 km size of an atom    (as 1 km = 1000 m)

but here the radius is asked in the question 

The radius of an atom, so radius = Diameter/2

                                                    =  10/2 km

Therefore, The radius of the atom is approximately equal to 5 km.

The correct answer is Giani Zail Singh.

Key Points

• Giani Zail Singh was the first Sikh to serve as president of India (1982–87).
• Served in the Rajya Sabha (upper chamber of the Indian parliament) in 1956–62 and was chief minister of Punjab in 1972–77.
• Giani Zail Singh further inflamed the government by refusing to sign into law a 1987 bill permitting official censorship of private mail.

• As the question asks who was the President when Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as Prime Minister, the answer will be Giani Zail Singh.

Important Points 

• Ramaswamy Venkataraman is an Indian politician, government official, and lawyer who was president of India from 1987 to 1992.
• After serving as vice president of India in 1984–87, he was elected to the largely ceremonial post of president in July 1987.
• Shankar Dayal Sharma is an Indian lawyer and politician who was president of India from 1992 to 1997.
• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who had been elected president in 1977, called for new elections and dissolved parliament in the winter of 1979.

Additional Information

• Droupadi Murmu(As of September 2022) is the Current President of India.
• The Supreme Commander of The Indian Armed Forces is President.
• President Pratibha Patil is the first woman and the first Maharashtrian to hold the President of India.
• Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India, perhaps even one of the youngest elected heads of Government in the world.

The correct answer is Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Key Points

• There were three main speakers at the Central Hall of Parliament.
• Jawaharlal Nehru, Chaudhary Khaliquzaman, and Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the third notable speaker at the official event.

Additional Information

• Jawahar Lal Nehru delivered his famous 'Tryst With Destiny' speech in Parliament.
• On August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru was sworn in as PM of independent India.
• Vande Mataram was sung as the National Song.

The correct answer is Bombay.

• The Bombay Plan was proposed by a group of Indian industrialists and technocrats (J. R. D. Tata, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Ardeshir Dalal, Lala Shri Ram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Ardeshir Darabshaw Shroff, Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas and John Mathai,) in January 1944, for 15 year economic development of India, post Independence.
• It was also known as A Plan of Economic Development for India,
• It was written in two parts and published in 1944 and 1945.
• Recently Sanjay Baru has written a book The Bombay Plan: Blueprint for Economic Resurgence.
• This book revisits the Bombay Plan to show how it was not only prescient in its approach to development.

The correct answer is 2009.

Key Points

• MG was added to NREGA on 2^nd October 2009.
• It came into force on February 2, 2006 in 200 backward districts.
• MGNREGA is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world.
• It ensures at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Additional Information

• It comes under the Ministry of Rural Development.
• Narendra Singh Tomar is the minister of this ministry.
• He is also the Minister of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

The correct answer is NR Narayana Murthy.

Key Points

• The book talks about the ways to fulfill Gandhi's dream where the fruits of development would be available to every man, woman, and child.
• The proverb of Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu' or happiness to every man, is a long-cherished dream of our founding fathers.
• N. R. Narayana Murthy serves on the ford foundation board of trustees. Murthy co-founded Infosys, an international software services firm based in Bangalore, India, in 1981.
• He was the company's CEO until 2002 and its chairman through the following decade.

Important Points

• Shashi Tharoor prominent Indian diplomat and politician who, after long service in the international diplomatic corps, became an official in the government of India.
• He was also a highly regarded author of both nonfiction and fiction books.
• His most-notable nonfiction books included Reasons of State: Political Development and India’s Foreign Policy Under Indira Gandhi, 1966–1977 (1982), India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997),
• Nehru: the Invention of India (2003), the Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell phone: Reflections on India, the Emerging 21^st-Century Power (2007), and Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21^st Century (2012).
• Among his works of fiction are Show Business (1992), which filmed as Bollywood (1994), and Riot (2001).
• Ratan Tata, in full Ratan Naval Tata, an Indian businessman who became chairman (1991–2012 and 2016–17) of the Tata Group,
• In 2008 Tata oversaw Tata Motors’ purchase of the elite British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company.
• Ratan Tata received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s most distinguished civilian awards, in 2000.
• Gurcharan Das is an author and former CEO of Procter & Gambler India He is the author of a much-acclaimed trilogy based on the classical Indian ideal of life's goals. India Unbound was a famous book.

The correct answer is Baldev Singh.

Key Points

• Baldev Singh is Minister for Development, Government of Punjab, from June 1942 to September 1946.
• Minister in charge of Defence, Government of India, August 1947 to May 1952; Member, First Lok Sabha,1952—57.

Important Points

• Nelson Mandela:
• In 1990, Nelson Mandela was awarded Bharat Ratna.
• Leader of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa, Mandela was the President of South Africa (1994–99). Often called the "Gandhi of South Africa", Mandela's African National Congress movement was influenced by Gandhian philosophy. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Mother Teresa:
• Mother Teresa received the Bharat Ratna in 1980.
• She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
• She was known as the Saint of the Gutters.
• She was also the first person to win the Templeton Prize in 1973.
• The real name of Mother Teresa was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu.
• Abdul Ghaffar Khan:
• Abdul Ghaffar Khan was awarded the  Bharat Ratna in 1987.
• Abdul Ghaffar Khan is Widely known as "Frontier Gandhi".
• He was an independent activist and Pashtun leader Khan was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
• He joined Khilafat Movement in 1920 and founded Khudai Khidmatgar ("Red Shirt movement") in 1929.

Additional Information

• Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour, given for exceptional service towards the advancement of Art, Literature, and Science, and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order. It is also not mandatory that Bharat Ratna be awarded every year.
• The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the Hindi legend "Bharat Ratna" above and a floral wreath below. The reverse was to carry the state emblem and motto. It was to be worn around the neck from a white ribbon. This design was altered after a year.
• The provision of Bharat Ratna was introduced in 1954. The first-ever Indian to receive this award was the famous scientist, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.
• Our former President, Shri A. P. J Abdul Kalam is also a recipient of this esteemed honour (1997).
• There is no written provision that Bharat Ratna should be awarded to Indian citizens only.

The correct answer is Guler Paintings – Karnataka.

Key Points

• Guler Painting is associated with Himachal Pradesh.
• It is a kind of Pahari painting.
• Guler is said to be the birthplace of Kangra paintings.
• The term Guler was derived from Gwala which means cowherd.

Additional Information

• Phad painting of Rajasthan particularly stands out for its unique history, origin, and the efforts put into its revival.
• Saura art is traditionally made on the red or brown clay walls of the homes.
• Bagh is a small village located at the banks of the Baghni river in Madhya Pradesh.
• These are the wall paintings in the Buddhist monastery complex of Bagh, a group of ten caves.

The correct answer is Hockey.

Key Points

• Penalty Corner is awarded for a defensive infringement in the penalty circle or for a deliberate infringement within the defensive 23-metre area.
• It is a penalty given against the defending team.

Additional Information

The correct answer Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri.

Key Points

• Eminent Malayalam poet Akkitham has been awarded the 55^th Jnanpith Award.
• He received 55^th Jnanpith Award for the year 2019.
• Born in 1926, Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri is popularly known as Akkitham.

Additional Information

• Akkitham has authored 55 books out of which 45 are collections of poems including Khanda Kavyas, Katha Kavyas, Charitha Kavyas.
• He has won several literary accolades including :
• Padma Shri Award(2017)
• the Sahitya Akademi Award (1973)
• Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1972 and 1988)
• Mathrubhumi Award
• Vayalar Award
• Kabir Samman.

Important Points

• Jnanpith Award is a literary award presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith organization to Indian writers every year.
• It was started in the year 1961.
• G. Sankara Kurup won the first Jnanpith Award in 1965.

The correct answer is Ramanujan.

Key Points

• Israel Institute of Technology has developed a concept, which is called as ‘Ramanujan machine’ after one of the great Indian mathematicians Srinivasa Ramanujan.
• The Ramanujan Machine is a novel way to do mathematics by harnessing your computer power to make new discoveries, it generates conjectures (mathematical statements that are proposed as true statements) for fundamental constants.
• Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22 Dec 1887, and his birth anniversary is celebrated as National Mathematics Day in his memory.
• Notable works - Landau–Ramanujan constant, Mock theta functions, Ramanujan conjecture, Ramanujan prime, Ramanujan–Soldner constant, Ramanujan theta function, Ramanujan's sum, Rogers–Ramanujan identities, Ramanujan's master theorem, Ramanujan–Sato series.

Additional Information

• Aryabhata was supposed to be the first Indian mathematician and astronomer of ancient India.
• He is well known for his invention of the digit "0".
• His other notable works are Aryabhaṭiya, Arya-Siddhanta, Explanation of lunar eclipse and solar eclipse, rotation of Earth on its axis, a reflection of light by moon, sinusoidal functions, solution of single-variable quadratic equation, the value of π correct to 4 decimal places, the diameter of Earth.
• Bhaskaracharya was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. 
• His notable works are  Siddhanta-Siromani and Karaṇa Kautuhala,
• He is well known for his discovery of the principles of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems and computations.
• In the honor of Bhaskaracharya on 20 November 1981, ISRO launched the Bhaskara II satellite.
• Dattatreya Ramchandra Kaprekar was an Indian recreational mathematician.
• He had described several classes of natural numbers including the Kaprekar, Harshad, and self numbers, and discovered the Kaprekar's constant,

The correct answer is Greece.

Key Points

• Gandhara art, a style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1^st century BCE and the 7^th century CE.
• The style, of Greco-Roman origin, seems to have flourished largely during the Kushan dynasty and was contemporaneous with an important but dissimilar school of Kushan art at Mathura (Uttar Pradesh, India).
• The Gandhara school incorporated many motifs and techniques from classical Roman art, including vine scrolls, cherubs bearing garlands, tritons, and centaurs. The basic iconography, however, remained Indian.

Additional Information 

• Greece, the southernmost of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.
• Greece is bordered to the east by the Aegean sea, to the south by the mediterranean sea, and to the west by the Ionian Sea.
• Italy, a country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the mediterranean sea.
• The capital is Rome, one of the oldest of the world’s great cities.
• Hungary, Hungarian magyarország, landlocked country of central Europe.
• The capital is Budapest.
• Budapest is situated on both banks of the Danube (Hungarian: Duna) River.
• Belgium, country of northwestern Europe. It is one of the smallest and most densely populated European countries.
• Belgium today is one of the most heavily industrialized and urbanized countries in Europe.
• Belgium It is a member of the Benelux economic union, the European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic treaty organization (NATO)—organizations that all have headquarters in or near the capital city of Brussels.

The correct answer is Chittagong.

Key Points

• Chittagong is the largest and most important seaport of Bangladesh.

Additional Information

• Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh. It is the largest city of Bangladesh.
• Faridpur is a district city of Bangladesh a part of the Dhaka Division, important for jute mills, sugar mills and Hilsa fish.
• Rajshahi is a major urban city. It is the commercially important city of Bangladesh. It is also known as Silk City or City of Education.
• Rajshahi is famous for Rajshahi silk, a special clothing material in the Indian subcontinent.

The correct answer is Munshi Premchand.

Key Points

• The short story “Shatranj ke Khiladi” or “The Chess Players”, by the renowned Hindu writer Premchand, published in 1924.
• It is set in the times of Wajid Ali Shah when Lucknow was plunged deep into luxurious living.
• Premchand portrays a purportedly feudal mentality of a whole culture through the two main protagonists, Mir and Mirza, who are immersed in chess to the point of being oblivious to everything else.
• Film ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ written and directed by Satyajit Ray.

Important Points

• Indian author Munshi Premchand of novels and short stories in Hindi and Urdu who pioneered in adapting Indian themes to Western literary styles.
• Premchand’s most liked novels are-
• Premashram (1922; “Love Retreat”).
• Rangabhumi (1924; “The Arena”).
• Ghaban (1928; “Embezzlement”).
• Karmabhumi (1931; “Arena of Actions”).
• Godan (1936; The Gift of a Cow).
• Jaishankar Prasad, known as Mahakavi, holds a special place in the Hindi theatre world and fiction.
• Jaishankar Prasad Major's works are a Butterfly, Skeleton, Iravati, and Stories are Akashdeep, Madhua.
• Ramdhari Singh Dinkar was a prominent Hindi writer. The nation poet Dinkar is established as a poet of the best heroic rasa of the modern era.
• Poetry collection Urvashi 1972 for the Library Award several such prestigious honors and prizes awarded.
• Some major works are Kurukshetra, Urvashi, Renuka, Rashmirathi, Dvangit, Bapu, Dhoop Chharan, chilli fun, sun splash.
• Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' was one of the prominent poets of the Chhayawadi era of Hindi poetry.
• One of the most popular writers of Hindi literature.some major works Parimal, Archana, evening Kakli, placenta, Geetika, worship, two shelters, Ragvirag, music boom, Anima, truffle.

The correct answer is 1992.

Key Points

• Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to provide financial and technical support of wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants.
• The objective of the project was to carry out performance evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Elephant’ for the period of 2007-08 to 2011-12 in the four Wildlife Divisions of Meghalaya viz. Khasi Hills Wildlife Division, Jaintia Hills Wildlife Division, East & West Garo Hills Wildlife Division, and Balpakram National Park Division.

The correct answer is Kalibangan.

• Kalibangan, an ancient site of the Indus valley civilization is in northern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. The site contains both pre-Harappan and Harappan remains, and therein can be seen the transition between the two cultures.

Key Points

• The site was discovered by Luigi Pio Tessitori, an Italian Indologist and linguist.
• The most important discovery of Kalibangan is a ploughed field, a wooden furrow has been found, 7 fire altars in a row have been found and they suggest the practice of sacrifice.

​

Additional Information

The correct answer is Gobind Behari Lal.

• Pulitzer Prize- The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, and online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States.

Key Points

• In 1937, Gobind Behari Lal had won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, along with four others, for his coverage in the field of science.
• Gobind Behari Lal was an Indian-American journalist and independence activist.

Additional Information

• Geeta Anand was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in the year 2003.
• Jhumpa Lahiri was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the year 2000.
• Sanghamitra Kalita was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in the year 2016.