RRB NTPC CBT 1 2021 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

Bangladesh celebrates its Independence Day on 26 March every year. On this day in 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh following the midnight crackdown by the Pakistani military under Operation Searchlight, marking the official beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Explanation

The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS), situated at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, was constructed with technical and financial collaboration from Canada. Initiated under a nuclear agreement signed in the 1960s, the plant's initial units were designed around Canadian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (CANDU) technology, marking a major milestone in the early development of India's commercial nuclear energy program.

Explanation

The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, established in 1877, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It is held annually at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, a district located in southwest London, England. As one of the four prestigious Grand Slam tournaments, Wimbledon is famous for being the only major tournament still played on traditional grass courts.

Explanation

Covaxin is an inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV). The NIV isolated and characterized the SARS-CoV-2 strain from an infected patient in India and transferred it to Bharat Biotech to manufacture the indigenous vaccine candidate.

Explanation

Lord Dalhousie served as the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. His tenure was marked by territorial expansion through the controversial Doctrine of Lapse as well as major modernization initiatives, including the introduction of passenger railways in 1853, the electric telegraph system, uniform postal services under the Post Office Act of 1854, and the establishment of the Public Works Department.

Explanation

Potloi (or Polloi) is a traditional cylindrical skirt worn by Hindu Meitei brides in Manipur during their wedding ceremony. Introduced by Maharaja Bhagyachandra in the 18th century, this stiff, handcrafted garment adorned with sequins, mirrors, and embroidery is also worn by female dancers performing the classic Manipuri Raas Leela. The complete bridal outfit includes the potloi skirt, a woven belt around the waist, a blouse, an innaphi (a delicate muslin shawl draped over the upper body), and a traditional brass crown known as kajenglei.

Explanation

The Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 16 January 1987. It was inaugurated by King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal to serve as the administrative body coordinating and monitoring the implementation of SAARC activities, servicing meetings of the association, and acting as a channel of communication between SAARC and other international organizations.

Explanation

Carpal bones consist of eight small, irregularly shaped bones located in the human wrist, connecting the forearm to the hand and allowing for flexibility and a wide range of movement in the wrist joint. The skeletal structure of the human neck is composed of seven cervical vertebrae (C1 to C7).

Explanation

Kangana Ranaut won the Best Actress (Best Actor - Female) award at the 67th National Film Awards for her performances in the Hindi films Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) and Panga (2020). The awards for the year 2019 were announced by the Directorate of Film Festivals in March 2021. This was Kangana Ranaut's fourth National Film Award overall and her third award in the Best Actress category.

Explanation

The mountain ranges arranged from North to South are Karakoram Range, Ladakh Range, Zaskar Range, and Pir Panjal Range. Karakoram is the northernmost trans-Himalayan range. The Ladakh Range lies directly south of Karakoram, situated between the Shyok and Indus rivers. South of the Indus River lies the Zaskar Range. The Pir Panjal Range lies further south in the Lesser Himalayan region.

Explanation

Anodising is an electrochemical process used to create a thick, protective layer of aluminium oxide on the surface of aluminium. During this process, the aluminium article is made the anode in an electrolytic cell containing dilute sulfuric acid. When electric current passes through the electrolyte, oxygen evolved at the anode reacts with the aluminium to form a durable, uniform, and corrosion-resistant aluminium oxide coating.

Explanation

The total distance covered during the Dandi March was approximately 240 miles (385 km) from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi. Since the march spanned 24 days, the participants walked an average of about 10 miles per day, rather than 25 miles per day.

Explanation

An anemometer is a standard meteorological instrument used to measure wind speed and velocity. The device name originates from the Greek word "anemos," which means wind. In common cup anemometers, wind pushes against a set of hemispherical cups, causing a vertical shaft to rotate at a speed directly proportional to the speed of the wind.

Explanation

Mount Fujiyama, located on Honshu Island in Japan, is an active stratovolcano and one of the world's most famous examples of a volcanic mountain. Volcanic mountains are formed by the accumulation of volcanic materials, such as molten lava, ash, cinders, and pumice, ejected through vents in the Earth's crust during volcanic eruptions.

Explanation

Ozone is not included under the Kyoto Protocol because it is a secondary pollutant formed through photochemical reactions in the atmosphere rather than being directly emitted by human activities. Additionally, ozone-depleting substances and atmospheric ozone dynamics are addressed under the Montreal Protocol rather than the climate change framework established by the Kyoto Protocol.

Explanation

The headquarters of the North Central Railway is located at Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad). Gorakhpur serves as the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway zone.

Explanation

A wildlife sanctuary is a protected area set aside to conserve wild animals and their natural habitat. Within a sanctuary, human activities such as hunting, poaching, and tree felling are strictly prohibited by law, ensuring that wild animals receive safe living conditions, protection from external disturbances, and adequate natural resources to survive and multiply.

Explanation

Methane is the simplest alkane with one carbon atom, having the chemical formula CH₄. Ethane consists of two carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms with the chemical formula C₂H₆. Propane is a three-carbon alkane represented by the chemical formula C₃H₈. Butane contains four carbon atoms and ten hydrogen atoms, corresponding to the chemical formula C₄H₁₀.

Explanation

Patola is a famous double ikat woven silk textile tradition originating from Patan in Gujarat. It is crafted using a complex tie-dye technique where both warp and weft threads are dyed before weaving, producing identical intricate geometric and floral patterns on both sides of the fabric. This centuries-old craft requires immense precision and holds a Geographical Indication (GI) tag representing Gujarat's rich textile heritage.

Explanation

Bhupesh Baghel served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, having assumed office in December 2018 following the Indian National Congress victory in the state assembly elections. As of March 2021, Jharkhand was headed by Chief Minister Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party.

Explanation

Badampahar is a famous iron-ore mine located in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. It is part of the rich iron-ore deposit belt of eastern India, known for high-grade hematite ore that historically supplied raw material to the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) plant at Jamshedpur.

Explanation

India's first specialised hydrotherapy treatment centre for elephants suffering from arthritis, joint pain, and foot ailments was established in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Situated near the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre along the Yamuna River, the facility was launched by the non-profit organisation Wildlife SOS in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department. The centre features a jumbo hydrotherapy pool equipped with high-pressure water jets that massage the elephants' body and feet, stimulating blood circulation and assisting in physical rehabilitation.

Explanation

The Amar Jawan Jyoti was constructed beneath the arch of India Gate in New Delhi following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Republic Day, 26 January 1972, to honor the fallen soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who sacrificed their lives during the war. The memorial features a marble plinth bearing an inverted rifle topped with a helmet, flanked by a continuously burning flame.

Explanation

Mahadevi Verma is famously known as the 'Meera of Modern India' (Aadhunik Meera) due to the deep emotional intensity, spiritual longing, and mystical devotion in her poetry, which resembles the emotional depth of the medieval Bhakti saint Meerabai. She was one of the primary figures and major pillars of the Chhayavad era in Hindi literature, alongside Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', and Sumitranandan Pant. Her notable literary works include Nehar, Rashmi, Sandhyageet, and Yama, for which she received the prestigious Jnanpith Award in 1982.

Explanation

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They established the company there to be close to Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the company that produced the Altair 8800 microcomputer, for which Gates and Allen had developed an interpreter for the BASIC programming language. The company remained headquartered in Albuquerque before relocating to Washington state in 1979.

Explanation

Pittsburgh, located in western Pennsylvania in the United States of America, is historically renowned as the "Steel City" and represents one of the most prominent heavy industrial regions in North America. Its strategic position near the rich Appalachian coalfields, combined with river transport via the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers and access to Lake Superior iron ore, made it a premier global center for iron and steel manufacturing.

Explanation

The Pole Star (Polaris) is a supergiant star located approximately 433 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Minor. Because it is situated far beyond the gravitational pull of the Sun, it belongs to the broader Milky Way galaxy rather than our solar system.

Explanation

The Mongols were the best-known pastoral and hunter-gatherer tribes in world history. They originally inhabited the vast steppes of Central Asia and the forested regions further north. Under Genghis Khan, who united the Mongol and Turkic tribes in 1206, they built one of the largest land empires in history across Asia and Europe.

Explanation

PSLV-C51 was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 28 February 2021 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It successfully placed Brazil's optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1, into a sun-synchronous polar orbit as its primary payload, alongside 18 co-passenger satellites. Amazonia-1 provides remote sensing data to monitor deforestation in the Amazon region and analyze diversified agriculture across Brazil.

Explanation

Robert Clive led the British East India Company's forces in the Battle of Plassey on 23 June 1757. He secured a decisive victory over Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, primarily through a secret alliance with Mir Jafar, the commander-in-chief of the Nawab's army. This victory established the East India Company's political dominance in Bengal and served as a crucial stepping stone for the expansion of British rule across India.

Explanation

The Department of Posts launched the Five Star Villages scheme in September 2020 to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in rural areas across India. The initiative seeks to bridge public awareness gaps and bring postal products and services directly to interior villages through branch offices acting as one-stop shops. The scheme covers five major categories: savings and deposit accounts, Sukanya Samriddhi or PPF accounts, India Post Payments Bank accounts, Postal/Rural Postal Life Insurance policies, and social security schemes such as PM Suraksha Bima Yojana and PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. Villages achieving full coverage under these categories receive star ratings corresponding to the number of schemes fulfilled, up to five-star status.

Explanation

Archimedes expressed this famous quote to demonstrate the remarkable mechanical advantage provided by levers. By using a lever of sufficient length together with a firm fulcrum, a small input force can be multiplied exponentially to lift or move an extraordinarily heavy load, theoretically even the Earth itself.

Explanation

National Highway 9 (NH-9) is a major highway in central India connecting Pune in Maharashtra to Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Spanning a length of approximately 841 km across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, this key transport route passes through Solapur, Zahirabad, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada.

Explanation

WTO stands for World Trade Organization, not World Transport Organisation. It was established on 1 January 1995 under the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to supervise and liberalize international trade.

Explanation

Salt, sodium benzoate, and sodium metabisulphite are well-known natural and chemical preservatives used to prevent microbial growth in pickles and other food products. Pepper is a spice primarily used to add flavor rather than act as a preservative.

Explanation

Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone produced predominantly by the ovaries. Its fundamental function is to regulate the female reproductive system and the menstrual cycle. During the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, rising estrogen levels stimulate the proliferation and thickening of the uterine lining (endometrium), preparing it for potential egg implantation, while also triggering the luteinizing hormone (LH) surge that leads to ovulation.

Explanation

Ammonia (NH₃) is an alkaline gas rather than an acidic precursor. When present in the atmosphere, it acts as a base and reacts with atmospheric acids to neutralize them, forming ammonium salts such as ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate instead of generating acid rain.

Explanation

INS Arihant is India's first indigenously designed and constructed nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN). Developed under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project, it was formally launched in July 2009 at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam and commissioned into the Indian Navy in August 2016. Its commissioning completed India's nuclear triad, enabling the country to launch nuclear weapons from land, air, and sea.

Explanation

ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok with five founding member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The foreign ministers of these five nations signed the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) to officially form the organization, making its initial membership five countries rather than three.

Explanation

Pisces (fishes) are cold-blooded (poikilothermic) animals, meaning their body temperature fluctuates with the temperature of their surrounding environment. They lack the physiological mechanisms required to regulate and maintain a constant internal body temperature, a trait reserved for warm-blooded (homeothermic) animals such as birds and mammals.

Explanation

Arthropoda is a phylum of invertebrate animals—including insects, arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans—characterized by jointed legs, segmented bodies, and a chitinous exoskeleton, making it part of the animal kingdom rather than a plant classification group.

Explanation

The 3rd Global Potato Conclave was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, from 28 to 31 January 2020. Jointly organised by the Indian Potato Association (IPA), ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (Shimla), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR, New Delhi), and International Potato Center (CIP, Lima, Peru), the mega event brought together global scientists, farmers, and industry stakeholders to establish a comprehensive roadmap for potato research, processing, trade, and value chain management.

Explanation

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the primary internal memory of a computer system, directly located on the motherboard in dedicated memory slots. It provides high-speed read and write access to the CPU, temporarily storing the operating system files, application data, and instructions currently being processed. Because the CPU can access data stored in RAM much faster than from secondary storage devices, RAM acts as the essential working memory during computer operation.

Explanation

The Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), Kiren Rijiju, presented the awards and trophies to the winning participants of the 2021 Republic Day parade on 28 January 2021 in New Delhi. The Uttar Pradesh tableau, based on the theme "Ayodhya: Cultural Heritage of Uttar Pradesh," was adjudged the best among all the participating tableaux.

Explanation

The main structure above the grand arches of the Charminar consists of only two floors, not four. The first floor was originally used as a madrasah (Islamic seminary) during the Qutb Shahi era, while the upper floor houses a mosque on its western side along with an open terrace gallery. Although each of the four corner minarets is divided into four distinct balcony levels, the central structure over the arches supports only two upper stories.

Explanation

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman played a central role in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh as an independent nation, earning him the title Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal). He was not involved in the Indian freedom struggle against British colonial rule prior to 1947.

Explanation

On 13 April 1919, the public assembled at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar primarily to celebrate the traditional festival of Baisakhi and to attend a peaceful gathering. Most of the people present were villagers, pilgrims, women, and children from surrounding rural areas who were completely unaware of the prohibitory orders imposed by the British administration and had no pre-planned political agenda or hostile motives.

Explanation

Under the Constitution of India and parliamentary rules, there is no legislative category designated as a Revenue Bill. Legislative proposals dealing with public revenue, taxation, and state finances are introduced and processed under specific constitutional provisions, but Revenue Bill itself is not a formally defined or recognized type of bill in the Lok Sabha.

Explanation

Each bit in a binary register can hold 2 possible states (0 or 1). By the fundamental counting principle, an n-bit register can store 2ⁿ distinct values. For a 32-bit register, substituting n = 32 yields 2³² different values.

Explanation

PARAM Siddhi-AI is a high-performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). Built in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), it was designed to accelerate artificial intelligence research across healthcare, agriculture, weather forecasting, and cybersecurity.