RRB NTPC CBT 1 2021 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

IRCTC stands for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. Established in September 1999 as a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways, it manages the online ticketing, hospitality, catering, and tourism operations for the Indian Railways. It is a Miniratna (Category-I) company that also manufactures packaged drinking water under the brand name Rail Neer and operates luxury and budget tourist trains across India.

Explanation

In cricket, fielding positions are categorized based on their angle relative to the pitch and distance from the batsman. A slip is positioned behind the wicket-keeper on the off-side to catch faint edges off the bat. Gully is situated further out along the same catching arc, between the slips and point. Silly point is a close-in fielding position located extremely close to the pitch on the off-side, where the prefix 'silly' denotes the high risk and close proximity to the striking batsman.

Explanation

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a vast geographical area, spanning cities, states, countries, or even the entire globe. It connects multiple smaller networks together, utilizing satellite links, leased lines, microwave transmission, and public telecommunications infrastructure to enable long-distance data transmission across continents. The Internet is the largest and most prominent example of a Wide Area Network.

Explanation

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad, is an informal strategic forum comprising the United States, Japan, Australia, and India. On March 12, 2021, the leaders of the four nations held their first-ever Quad Leaders' Summit virtually. The summit focused on promoting a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, addressing global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic through a joint vaccine initiative, climate change, and cooperation on critical and emerging technologies.

Explanation

The White Tiger, directed and written by Ramin Bahrani, was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 93rd Academy Awards (Oscars 2021). The film is a cinematic adaptation of Aravind Adiga's 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. It follows the story of Balram Halwai, played by Adarsh Gourav, detailing his rise from an impoverished village driver to a successful entrepreneur in modern India.

Explanation

The West Central Railway (WCR) zone was officially established on 1 April 2003 by carving out the Jabalpur and Bhopal divisions from the Central Railway along with the Kota division from the Western Railway. The headquarters of the West Central Railway zone is located in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Explanation

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages recognized by the Constitution, as referenced under Articles 344(1) and 351. Originally containing 14 languages, the schedule was expanded through the 21st, 71st, and 92nd Constitutional Amendment Acts to include eight additional languages—Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali—bringing the total number of recognized languages to 22.

Explanation

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) was established in 1927 on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi. Founded by pioneering Indian industrialists G.D. Birla and Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas, FICCI was created as a apex national organization to represent the interests of Indian business communities and support the economic agenda of the Indian freedom movement.

Explanation

Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) is a Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. Incorporated in March 1988, CONCOR was established to develop multimodal logistics infrastructure and provide containerized cargo transport services across India and abroad.

Explanation

Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Joshna Chinappa are premier Indian squash players who have brought significant international acclaim to the country in the sport. They won India's first-ever gold medal in squash at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 in the women's doubles event, alongside securing multiple medals at the Asian Games and World Doubles Championships.

Explanation

Plant cell walls are structural layers surrounding the cell membrane that provide rigidity, structural support, and protection to the plant cell. They are primarily composed of cellulose, a complex carbohydrate consisting of long, unbranched chains of beta-glucose units. These cellulose chains group together to form microfibrils, which provide high tensile strength to withstand turgor pressure within the plant cells.

Explanation

Manipur held its 12th Legislative Assembly elections in February–March 2022 (and previously in March 2017), as the five-year tenure of the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly ended in March 2022. No assembly elections took place in the state during March–April 2021.

Explanation

The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti or August Movement, was officially launched by Mahatma Gandhi at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay during the session of the All-India Congress Committee on 8 August 1942, accompanied by his historic call of "Do or Die".

Explanation

Brass is a non-ferrous alloy composed primarily of copper and zinc, typically containing about 70% copper and 30% zinc by mass. The addition of zinc to copper improves its mechanical strength, malleability, and resistance to corrosion, making it widely suitable for musical instruments, plumbing fittings, and decorative items.

Explanation

Dr. K. Sivan served as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from January 2018 to January 2022. Under his leadership, India launched its second lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-2, on July 22, 2019, aboard the GSLV Mk III-M1 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Explanation

Jodhpur is known as the 'Blue City' because a majority of the houses in its old town area around Mehrangarh Fort are painted in shades of blue. Historically, copper sulphate and indigo washes were applied to these homes to reflect sunlight and keep interiors cool during hot desert summers, as well as to repel termites.

Explanation

The Rann of Kutch is a large salt marsh located in the Thar Desert region. It is divided between the Kutch district of Gujarat in India and the Sindh province of Pakistan, with the northern boundary of the Rann forming part of the international border between the two countries.

Explanation

Mongolia is a landlocked sovereign country located in East-Central Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east, and west. Its geography is dominated by the Gobi Desert in the south and alpine mountainous regions in the north and west, with Ulaanbaatar serving as its capital city.

Explanation

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III paid an official three-day visit to India from March 19 to 21, 2021. This was his first overseas trip after assuming office under President Joe Biden's administration. During his visit, he held bilateral talks with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on strengthening the US-India Major Defense Partnership, defense trade, information-sharing, and bilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Explanation

The Luni River originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range near Ajmer, Rajasthan. It begins as two headstreams, the Saraswati and the Sagarmati, which join at Govindgarh to form the Luni River. It then flows southwest through the Thar Desert before dissipating into the marshy lands of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.

Explanation

Plague is a vector-borne bacterial disease caused by Yersinia pestis. It is primarily transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas that feed on rodents like rats, or via direct contact with infected tissue and respiratory droplets, rather than through waterborne pathogens or polluted water.

Explanation

Goa was liberated from 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule on December 19, 1961, through an armed action code-named Operation Vijay conducted by the Indian Armed Forces. Following the surrender of Portuguese Governor General Manuel António Vassalo e Silva, Goa, along with Daman and Diu, was successfully integrated into the Indian Union as a Union Territory.

Explanation

The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement, was launched by Mahatma Gandhi at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay during the All India Congress Committee session on 8 August 1942. The movement demanded an immediate end to British rule in India, accompanied by Gandhi's call to the nation with the famous slogan "Do or Die".

Explanation

The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) was launched by the Ministry of Urban Development on January 21, 2015. The scheme aims to preserve and revitalize the rich cultural heritage of heritage cities and UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. It focuses on holistic development, urban infrastructure, and economic growth around heritage sites to make them economically viable while preserving their unique aesthetic and cultural identity.

Explanation

Sumitra Mahajan served as the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha from June 6, 2014 to June 16, 2019. She was succeeded by Om Birla, who assumed office as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha on June 19, 2019, making her the immediate predecessor to Om Birla in the Lok Sabha.

Explanation

Each letter is shifted forward by an increasing sequence of numbers (+3, +4, +5, +6, +7):

G (+3) = J R (+4) = V E (+5) = J A (+6) = G T (+7) = A

Applying the same pattern to ACUTE:

A (+3) = D C (+4) = G U (+5) = Z T (+6) = Z E (+7) = L

Explanation

Using the complementary angle identity tan(90° - θ) = cot θ and the reciprocal identity tan θ × cot θ = 1, terms equidistant from the ends pair up as tan 1° × tan 89° = tan 1° × cot 1° = 1, tan 2° × tan 88° = 1, up to tan 44° × tan 46° = 1. The remaining middle term in the numerator is tan 45° = 1. Multiplying all 44 pairs and tan 45° gives a numerator of 1. Since the denominator is also tan 45° = 1, the value of the expression is 1 / 1 = 1.

Explanation

Gold Coast is a major coastal city situated in the state of Queensland on the eastern coast of Australia. It hosted the XXI Commonwealth Games from 4 to 15 April 2018, marking the fifth time Australia hosted the multi-sport event.

Explanation

Using the complementary angle identity tan A = cot B, which implies A + B = 90° when the angles are acute.

Setting A = 3θ and B = 60° - θ: 3θ + (60° - θ) = 90° 2θ + 60° = 90° 2θ = 30°

Therefore, the value of tan 2θ is: tan 2θ = tan 30° = 1/√3 = √3/3

Explanation

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance formed by the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. It establishes a system of collective defence where member nations agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by an external party. With North Macedonia joining in March 2020, the alliance grew to 30 member states spanning North America and Europe, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

Explanation

On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, seized control of the country in a coup d'état. The military detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), following their decisive victory in the November 2020 general elections. The coup brought an end to a decade of partial civilian rule and triggered widespread civil disobedience and pro-democracy protests across the nation.

Explanation

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a diagnostic test used to evaluate the electrical activity of the brain. Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical impulses, and an EEG tracks and records these brain wave patterns using small metal discs (electrodes) attached to the scalp. It is primarily used to diagnose brain disorders such as epilepsy, seizure disorders, brain tumors, head injuries, encephalopathy, and sleep disorders.

Explanation

Bahadur Shah II, popularly known as Bahadur Shah Zafar, was the last Mughal emperor who reigned from 1837 to 1857. When the Indian Rebellion of 1857 began with the mutiny of sepoys at Meerut on 10 May 1857, the rebel soldiers marched to Delhi the following day and proclaimed the 82-year-old emperor as the symbolic leader of the uprising, declaring him Shahenshah-e-Hindustan.

Explanation

The trachea, commonly known as the windpipe, is a cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs. It serves as the primary airway conducting oxygen-rich air into the lungs and carrying carbon dioxide out during breathing. Lined with a mucous membrane and ciliated epithelial cells, it also helps trap and sweep away dust and foreign particles before air reaches the lungs.

Explanation

Argentina is a sovereign nation located in South America. Membership in the European Union is open only to European states that satisfy the requisite political and economic criteria, making a South American nation geographically and politically ineligible for EU membership.

Explanation

The Narmada River flows westward through a narrow rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges and empties into the Gulf of Khambhat in the Arabian Sea. Because it flows over hard rock terrain with high velocity, it carries minimal sediment load and prevents the accumulation of silt at its mouth. As a result, instead of forming a delta, it forms a funnel-shaped tidal estuary where freshwater mixes directly with the saltwater of the sea.

Explanation

The Lambert-Fisher glacier, located in East Antarctica, is recognized as the world's largest glacier. It stretches over 400 km in length, reaches up to 100 km in width, and has a depth of approximately 2,500 meters. It drains roughly 8% of the Antarctic ice sheet into the Amery Ice Shelf.

Explanation

ICANN stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Formed in 1998, it is an American non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet. Its primary duties include allocating IP address spaces, assigning protocol identifiers, managing top-level domain (TLD) systems, and overseeing root server system functions to ensure the global Internet operates in a stable and secure manner.

Explanation

Candy bean is not an official version or codename of the Android operating system. Google historically named Android releases alphabetically after sweets and desserts, using Jelly Bean for versions 4.1 to 4.3, but Candy bean was never used as a version name or release by Google.

Explanation

The Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple is one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas dedicated to Lord Shiva, located in the ancient city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. Situated on the banks of the holy Shipra River, it is famous for its unique dakshinamukhi (south-facing) deity and the traditional early-morning Bhasma Aarti ritual.

Explanation

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa on 9 January 1915. He launched the Non-cooperation Movement in September 1920 following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Rowlatt Act. The Salt (Dandi) March was undertaken from 12 March to 6 April 1930 to mark the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. The Quit India Movement was launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee on 8 August 1942.

Explanation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a two-day visit to Bangladesh on March 26–27, 2021, to attend as the Guest of Honour the celebrations marking the 50th Independence Day of Bangladesh (Golden Jubilee of Independence), the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and 50 years of diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh.

Explanation

The Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of Point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. Extending approximately 76 km in length, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and the second-longest non-polar glacier in the world. It lies directly south of the major watershed divide that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent in the high-altitude region of Ladakh.

Explanation

Unix is a multi-user, multitasking operating system designed to allow multiple users to access and run processes on the same computer system simultaneously. It utilizes time-sharing to allocate system resources efficiently among concurrent users while maintaining process isolation and security through user account management and file permissions.

Explanation

Phosphorus exists naturally as a molecule composed of four phosphorus atoms bonded together (P₄). Since atomicity refers to the total number of atoms present in a single molecule of an element, phosphorus has an atomicity of four, making it tetra-atomic.

Explanation

The pancreas is a dual-function gland located in the abdomen that acts as both an exocrine and an endocrine gland. Its endocrine function is carried out by clusters of cells called the islets of Langerhans. Within these islets, beta cells are responsible for synthesizing and secreting insulin, a peptide hormone that plays a crucial role in regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism by lowering blood glucose levels.

Explanation

SIDBI stands for Small Industries Development Bank of India. It was established on April 2, 1990, under an Act of the Indian Parliament as the apex regulatory body and principal financial institution for the promotion, financing, and development of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in India. Headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, SIDBI functions under the ownership of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and helps coordinate institutions engaged in similar developmental activities.

Explanation

Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar exploration mission, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 22 October 2008 using a PSLV-C11 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit in November 2008 and famously confirmed the presence of water molecules on the Moon's surface.

Explanation

Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka captain, was named the first non-British President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in May 2019 and officially assumed the role on 1 October 2019. Founded in 1787, the MCC is based at Lord's Cricket Ground in London and serves as the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. Sangakkara's appointment marked a landmark moment in the club's history, breaking a 232-year tradition of having exclusively British presidents. His term was subsequently extended into 2021 due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Explanation

The construction of the new Parliament building is a key component of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project, initiated by the Government of India. The master plan involves revamping the central administrative axis of New Delhi, which includes constructing a modern Parliament building adjacent to the existing heritage structure, building a Common Central Secretariat, and redeveloping the Rajpath area stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament building in December 2020.