General Awareness PYQs

The correct answer is Agra.

 

Key Points

• The tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah is located along the banks of the Yamuna at Agra.
• It was built by the Mughal queen Noor Jahan, wife of Emperor Jehangir.
• The tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal.
• It is known for the first use of the pietra dura (floral design made up of semiprecious stone).
• Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore is supposed to be the result of Noor Jahan vision.

Important Points

• Agra is known for Taj Mahal (Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for the memory of his favourite wife).
• The Taj Mahal is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
• Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was the chief architect of Taj mahal.
• Agra Fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty until1638.
• Moti Masjid inside Agra Fort was built by Mughal emperor Shah jahan.
• Moti Masjid inside Red Fort, Delhi was built by Aurangzeb.
• The tomb of Akbar is at Sikandra, approximately 8 km from the main city of Agra.
• Fatehpur Sikri is a town in the Agra District, known for Buland Darwaza, and Tomb of Salim Chishti, the city itself was founded as the capital of Mughal Empire in 1571 by Emperor Akbar to 1585.

The Correct Answer is Puri.

 

Key Points

• Govardhan Math is located in Puri in Odisha.
• It was established by philosopher-saint Adi Shankara to preserve and propagate Sanatana Dharma and Advaita Vedanta.

 

Additional Information

• The other Peeths are 
• The Sringeri Sarada Pitham (Karnataka) in the South.
• Dwarka Sarada Pitham (Gujarat) in the West.
• Badari Jyotirmaṭha Pitham (Uttarakhand) in the North.

The correct Answer is Reduced inequalities.  

Key Points

• Sustainable Development Goal 10 aims at reducing inequality within and among countries.
• This SDG calls for reducing inequalities in income as well as those based on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic status within a country.
• To bring about sustainable development, the United Nations (UN) launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs.
• There are 17 goals and 169 specific targets to be achieved by 2030.
• SDGs are not legally binding.

Additional InformationSDG Goals are: 

• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 3: Good Health & Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation
• SDG 7: Affordable & Clean Energy
• SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 14: Life Below Water
• SDG 15: Life on Land
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The correct answer is Malala Yousafzai.

 

Key Points

• We have Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World is a 2019 book by Malala Yousafzai.
• The book follows Yousafzai's own experience being displaced in Pakistan and later forced to move to England, and tells stories from nine other displaced people around the world.

 

Important Points

• Malala Yousafzai
• Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
• She is known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan.
• Amrita Pritam
• Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist, and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi.
• In 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, a long poem, Sunehade (Messages).
• Arnab Goswami
• Arnab Goswami is an Indian news anchor and managing director and editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network.

The correct answer is Kailash Satyarthi.

 

Key Points

• Global March Against Child Labour is founded by Kailash Satyarthi in 1998.
• The Global March Against Child Labour (Global March) is a worldwide network of trade unions, teachers’ and civil society organisation.
• It works towards the shared development goals of eliminating and preventing all forms of child labour, slavery and trafficking and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful and good quality public education.

 

Additional Information

• In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Malala Yousafzai for their contribution towards child education.
• Baba Amte was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy.
• Kiran Bedi was the first female IPS officer and started her service in 1972.
• She is the incumbent Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (2020).
• Anna Hazare is a social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life.

The Correct Answer is brown algae.

 

Key Points

• Algae can be classified on the basis of pigments present in them.
• Chlorophyceae – green algae
• Phaeophyceae – brown algae
• Rhodophyceae – red algae

 

Important Points

• Brown algae is a  class of about 1,500 species of algae in the division Chromophyta, common in cold waters along continental coasts.
• Brown algae are an important source of algin, a colloidal gel used as a stabilizer in the baking and ice-cream industries.

 

Additional Information

• Red algae are red because of the presence of the pigment phycoerythrin; this pigment reflects red light and absorbs blue light.
• They are found in water bodies.
• Green algae have chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll a and b, giving them a bright green colour.
• The cell walls of green algae usually contain cellulose, and they store carbohydrates in the form of starch.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt. of India.

 

Key Points

• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• The recipient(s) is/are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honored for their "spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at the international level.

 

Important Points

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award:

• This award was instituted in 1991-92.
• Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was the first recipient of this award.
• The winner of the Khel Ratna Award gets a reward of 25 lac rupees.
• This award is given annually to those sportspersons who make the country proud at international events.

  

Additional Information 

• The National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand.

The correct answer is cultivation of grapes.

Key Points

• Viticulture refers to the branch of science, which involves the study and cultivation of grapes.
• When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture.

Additional Information

• The rearing of silkworms to produce raw silk is called sericulture.
• Olericulture is the science of vegetable growing, dealing with the culture of non-woody plants for food.
• The breeding, rearing, and transplantation of fish by artificial means is called pisciculture.

The correct answer is Gurcharan Das.

 

Key Points

• Gurcharan Das won the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Award for his first play ‘Larins Sahib’.
• Larins Sahib is a historical play set in the confused period after the death of Ranjit Singh when the British first arrived in Punjab.
• This play traces the development of hubris, which brings about the hero's downfall.

 

Important Points

• Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Award was initiated in 1966 by Theatre Group Bombay.
• It was named after its founder, the Sultan Padamsee.
• Playwriting Awards have been among the most prestigious for English language dramatists in India.

  

Additional Information

• Ramchandra Guha is a renowned Indian writer whose research interests include environmental, social, economics, political, contemporary and cricket history.
• Some of his notable works are India after Gandhi, Gandhi Before India, Makers of Modern India, Gandhi Before India, Patriots and Partisans, Verdicts on Nehru:-The Rise and Fall of A Reputation, etc.
• He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2009.
• He has won 2011 Sahitya Akademi Award for his book India after Gandhi.
• Amitav Ghosh is a renowned is an Indian writer. 
• Some of his notable works are The Shadow Lines, The Circle of Reason, The Calcutta Chromosome, Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, The Imam and the Indian, Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in Burma, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable etc.
• He is the recipient of  Padma Shri in 2007.
• He has won Sahitya Akademi Award (1988) and Ananda Puraskar for his novel The Shadow Lines.
• He has won 54^th Jnanpith Award for his outstanding contribution towards literature.
• Shashi Tharoor is a politician, writer and former international diplomat and has been serving as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009.
• Some of his famous books are An Era of Darkness:-The British Empire in India, India:-From Midnight to the Millennium, Nehru: The Invention of India, Pax Indica:-India and the World of the 21^st Century, The Paradoxical Prime Minister, The Battle of Belonging, etc.
• He has won 2019 Sahitya Akademi Award for his book, An Era of Darkness:-The British Empire in India.

Key Points

• The 2000 Summer Olympics was an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• It was the second time the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The United States topped the medal table, followed by Russia and China.

Important Points 

 India in Olympics:

• India first participated in the Olympic Games in 1900.
• India participated with a lone athlete Norman Pritchard winning two medals, both silver, in athletics.
• He became the first Asian nation to win an Olympic medal.
• The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920.
• India has participated in every Summer Games since then.
• India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games beginning in 1964

The correct answer is 1947; 1971.

 

Key Points

• Bangladesh (East-Pakistan) was part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971.
• The Government of India decided on 3^rd December 1971, that India would go to war with Pakistan to save Bengali Muslims and Hindus.
• On 16^th December 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces with 93,000 soldiers had surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces consisting of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini in Dhaka.

 

Additional Information

• Vijay Diwas is observed on 16^th December every year in Bangladesh and India, to observe Bangladesh’s victory over Pakistan in War of 1971 for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan and to show the respect to Freedom fighters, and Martyrs who take part to free the Bangladesh from atrocious rule of Pakistan.
• 26 March is celebrated as the Independence Day of Bangladesh.

The Correct Answer is Upinder Singh.

• The Infosys Prize in Social Sciences – History for the year 2009 was awarded to Professor Upinder Singh in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval Indian history.

 

Important Points

• The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers, and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation.
• Prachi Deshpande was awarded the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences for the year 2020.

 

Additional Information

• Amlan Datta was an economist and educationist from West Bengal, India.
• Hari Vasudevan was an Indian scholar notable for his work on the history of Russia and Europe, and India-Russia relations.

The correct answer is Tamil.

 

Key Points

• The Ramayana in Tamil known as Ramavataram was written by the Tamil poet Kamban during the 12^th century.

  

Important Points

• The Sri Ranganatha Ramayanam was adapted by Gona Budda Reddy and is the Telugu version of the Ramayana.
• Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu is the most popular Malayalam version of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana.
• It is believed to have been written by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan in the early 17^th century.
• Kannada versions of the Ramayana – the Kumudendu Ramayana(a Jain version), written in the 13^th century and the Kumara-Valmiki Torave Ramayana, written in the 16^th century.

The Correct Answer is Sikkim.

 

Key Points

• The meridian 90° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole to the South Pole.
• It passes across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.
• It passes through the State of Assam and Meghalaya in India.
• It also passes through Bhutan and Bangladesh.

 

Additional Information

The correct answer is Cerebellum.

 

Key Points

• The cerebellum helps in maintaining posture and balance of the body.
• It also enables us to make precise and accurate movements.
• The cerebellum coordinates smooth body movements such as walking, dancing, riding a bicycle and picking up a pencil, etc.

 

Important Points

• The brain is the highest coordinating center in the body.
• The brain is broadly divided into three regions: forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain.
• The forebrain consists mainly of the cerebrum.
• The midbrain does not have any further divisions.
• The hindbrain consists of three centres called pons, cerebellum and medulla.
• The cerebrum (or forebrain) is the main thinking part of the brain.
• It is the site of our faculties such as learning, reasoning, intelligence, personality and memory.
• All the voluntary actions of the body are coordinated by the cerebrum.
• The midbrain controls reflex movements of the head, neck and trunk in response to visual and auditory stimuli.
• It also controls the reflex movements of the eye muscles, changes in pupil size and shape of the eye lens.

 

Additional Information

• Cranium is the top portion of the skull, which protects the brain.
• The cranium includes the frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, sphenoid, and ethmoid bones.
• The hypothalamus is a small region of the brain.
• It's located at the base of the brain, near the pituitary gland.
• The hypothalamus plays a crucial role in releasing hormones, regulating body temperature etc.

The Correct Answer is Igor Stimac.

 

Key Points

• Igor Stimac is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a centre back.
• He is the current coach of the India national football team.

 

Important Points

• The 2019 Intercontinental Cup was the second edition of Hero Intercontinental Cup that was held in Ahmedabad in July 2019.
• The tournament was organized by the AIFF.
• North Korea won the title by a 1–0 victory over Tajikistan in the final.

 

Additional Information

• Stephen Constantine is an English professional football coach and former player.
• He coached the Indian Football team from 2015 to 2019.
• Bhaichung Bhutia is a former Indian professional footballer who played as a striker.

The correct answer is 10.

Key Points

• The Rigveda is divided into 10 mandalas (books).
• The first and tenth Mandalas are the youngest and the longest.
• The Gayatri mantra is in Rig Veda is taken ffrom Mandala 3.
• Mandala 9 is completely devoted to Soma.
• The 10^th mandala contains the Purusha Sukta which explains the 4 Varnas that were born from the Mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of the Brahma or Purusha.
• Nasadiya Sukta which talks about the origin of the Universe is in the 10^th Mandala.

Additional Information

• Vedas are supposed to be the first religious text of the Hindu religion.
• Veda means knowledge.
• There are four Vedas namely:
• Rig Veda - Rig Veda contains hymns about mythology
• Yajur Veda - Only Veda, which is divided into two parts (i.e. Krishna Yajur Veda and Shukla Yajur Veda), contains the knowledge of all sacrificial formulas and weapons.
• Sam Veda - It is the Origin of Indian classical music.
• Atharva Veda - It contains the knowledge of Ayurveda, also charms and spells hence it is known as black Veda.

The Correct Answer is Amber.

 

Key Points

• The word "elektron" in Greek means amber.
• Amber is the yellow fossilized resin of evergreen trees, a "natural plastic material" already known to the ancient Greeks.
• It was known that when amber was rubbed with a dry cloth, it could attract light objects, such as bits of paper.
• When J.J. Thomson discovered the light particle which carried that charge, the name "electron" was applied to it.

The correct answer is 1948.

 

Key Points

• At the time of independence, India comprised two categories of political units,
• The British provinces (under the direct rule of the British government).
• The princely states (under the rule of native princes but subject to the paramountcy of the British Crown).
• Of the 552 princely states situated within the geographical boundaries of India, 549 joined India and the remaining 3 (Hyderabad, Junagarh, and Kashmir) refused to join India.
• However, in course of time, they were also integrated with India–Hyderabad by means of police action, Junagarh by means of referendum, and Kashmir by the Instrument of Accession.

 

Important Points

• On 13 September 1948, the Indian Army, launched a campaign, code-named "Operation Polo".
• Indian troops invaded Hyderabad from all points of the compass.
• on 17 September 1948 the Nizam's army surrendered.
• India then incorporated the state of Hyderabad and ended the rule of the Nizam.

Rana Kumbha is NOT correct.

• Rana Kumbha was the ruler of the Mewar kingdom.
• He belonged to the Sisodia clan.
• He was the 48^th Rana of Mewar and succeeded Rana Mokal Singh in the year 1433 CE as the ruler of Mewar.

Additional Information

• Rao Chanda:
• Rao Chanda/Chundarj secured Marwar and founded the kingdom of Jodhpur.
• She was killed in battle by the forces of Salim Shah of Multan.
• Rao Jodha:
• He is the son of Rao Chanda and is considered the first fully independent Rathore king of Jodhpur & Marwar.
• Construction on the fort of Mehran Garh (or Mehrangarh) began during his reign.
• Rao Maldeva:
• He expanded the kingdom, taking Ajmer, Merta, & Nagore under his control.