RRB NTPC CBT 1 2021 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

Irrfan Khan posthumously won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) at the 66th Filmfare Awards in 2021 for his performance as Champak Bansal in the movie Angrezi Medium. He was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the same ceremony.

Explanation

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) is a statutory advisory body on animal welfare laws and promotes animal welfare in the country. It was established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. Renowned humanitarian and dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale played a pivotal role in its establishment and served as its founding chairperson.

Explanation

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of the airways in the human respiratory system. It causes the bronchial tubes that carry air into and out of the lungs to become swollen, narrow, and clogged with excess mucus, leading to symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath.

Explanation

The process of the dissolution of the Soviet Union began in 1990 during the political movement known as the "Parade of Sovereignties." In March 1990, Lithuania became the first constituent republic to declare its independence from the USSR, followed shortly by Estonia and Latvia. On June 12, 1990, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic adopted its Declaration of State Sovereignty. These declarations initiated a chain reaction of political disconsolidation across the remaining republics, fragmenting central Soviet control and setting the stage for the formal end of the USSR in December 1991.

Explanation

Juhu Beach is located along the western coast of India in Mumbai, Maharashtra, situated directly on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

Explanation

The Sino-Indian War was fought between China and India from October 20 to November 21, 1962. The conflict primarily arose from long-standing border disputes over the Himalayan territories of Aksai Chin in Ladakh and the North-East Frontier Agency (present-day Arunachal Pradesh).

Explanation

Kolkata Port was officially renamed Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in January 2020 on the occasion of the port's 150th anniversary celebrations. Situated on the banks of the Hooghly River in Kolkata, West Bengal, it is the oldest operating port in India and the country's only major riverine port.

Explanation

Argon is a noble gas belonging to Group 18 of the periodic table, making it chemically unreactive or inert. In incandescent light bulbs, the tungsten filament operates at extremely high temperatures. Filling the bulb with inert argon gas prevents the tungsten filament from oxidizing or reacting with oxygen, thereby drastically slowing down filament degradation and extending the operating lifespan of the bulb.

Explanation

Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling organic compound widely used as a preservative, disinfectant, and antimicrobial agent in personal care products, including perfumes. In the fragrance industry, formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing compounds are added to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth, extend the shelf life of the formulation, and stabilize fragrance molecules to ensure scent longevity.

Explanation

Ghiyasuddin Balban, the Mamluk ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, introduced the famous Persian festival of Nauroz in India to showcase the grandeur and divine prestige of the monarchy. To assert royal power and establish strict discipline in his court, he adopted various Persian traditions, etiquette, and ceremonies, including the practices of Sijdah (prostration) and Paibos (kissing the monarch's feet).

Explanation

Dr. Ankur Patwardhan, Head of the Biodiversity Department at Abasaheb Garware College in Pune, won the second prize worth €25,000 at the 2019 Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge held in Dresden, Germany. His winning project, titled "Butterfly attractant for pollination and ecosystem health", focused on developing natural attractant formulations to enhance floral visits by butterflies, thereby boosting crop pollination and maintaining ecosystem balance.

Explanation

Angiosperms, also known as flowering plants, are characterized by the presence of flowers and enclosed seeds. Within the flower, the ovules are housed inside an ovary. Upon fertilization, the ovules develop into seeds, while the ovary wall surrounding them enlarges and matures into a fruit that encloses and protects the seeds.

Explanation

According to Article 109 of the Constitution of India, a Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. Under Article 117(1), such a bill can be introduced only on the prior recommendation of the President of India and must be presented by a minister.

Explanation

Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in India, with a total of 80 parliamentary constituencies. The allocation of Lok Sabha seats to each state is based on population as per the 1971 Census under Article 81 of the Constitution of India. Because Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country, it has been allocated the highest representation in the Lower House of Parliament.

Explanation

A home page serves as the main entry point and primary front page of a website. It provides an overview of the site's content along with structured navigation menus and links, effectively functioning as a table of contents to guide users to various sections and subpages.

Explanation

Percentage less = [r / (100 + r)] × 100%

Substituting r = 20%:

Percentage less = [20 / (100 + 20)] × 100% = (20 / 120) × 100% = ⅙ × 100% = 16⅔%

Explanation

Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient that plants absorb directly from the soil through their root system, primarily in the form of nitrate (NO₃⁻) and ammonium (NH₄⁺) ions. It is vital for plant growth and development as it serves as a key building block of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.

Explanation

The elements of each term follow three separate patterns:

First Letter: The positional values of the first letters are 4 (D), 6 (F), 3 (C), 5 (E). The pattern alternates between adding 2 and subtracting 3 (+2, -3, +2, -3). Therefore, 5 - 3 = 2, which corresponds to the letter B.

Middle Number: The number sequence is 2, 7, 22, 67. Each number is obtained by multiplying the preceding number by 3 and adding 1. Thus, 67 × 3 + 1 = 202.

Third Letter: The positional values of the third letters are 26 (Z), 24 (X), 22 (V), 20 (T), decreasing by 2 each time. Therefore, 20 - 2 = 18, which corresponds to the letter R.

Combining these components yields B202R.

Explanation

Initial distance ahead = Speed of Satish × Time lead = 75 × 1 = 75 km.

Relative speed = Speed of Raman - Speed of Satish = 90 - 75 = 15 km/h.

Time required to catch up = Initial distance / Relative speed = 75 / 15 = 5 hours.

Adding 5 hours to Raman's departure time (3:00 p.m.) gives 8:00 p.m.

Explanation

The Palk Strait is a narrow body of water located between the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu in India and the Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest, forming a natural geographical boundary that separates the landmasses of India and Sri Lanka.

Explanation

Methaqualone was synthesized in 1951 by Indian researchers Indra Kishore Kacker and Syed Husain Zaheer at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) while searching for new antimalarial treatments. It was India's first synthetic drug and later gained widespread global use as a sedative-hypnotic central nervous system depressant.

Explanation

Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation over All India Radio. In his historic speech, he expressed the deep grief of the nation with the famous words, "Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere... Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more."

Explanation

A superimposed (or epigenetic) drainage system forms when a river initially establishes its course on a softer upper layer of rock or sediment and subsequently cuts down into harder, structurally discordant underlying rocks. The river maintains its original course irrespective of the varied hardness, folds, or faults of the older bedrock underneath. The Subarnarekha river, flowing through the Chota Nagpur Plateau, is a classic example of a superimposed river in India, as its valley cuts directly across the resistant ancient crystalline rocks without following the structural alignment of the region.

Explanation

The India-Bangladesh border stretches across a length of approximately 4,096.7 km (2,545.6 miles), making it the fifth-longest land border in the world. It is also the longest international land boundary that India shares with any neighboring country, running alongside the five Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Explanation

Rash Behari Ghosh presided over the historic 1907 Surat session of the Indian National Congress. This session witnessed the famous Surat Split, where the Congress divided into two distinct factions—the Moderates and the Extremists—due to sharp differences over the choice of leadership and methods of agitation against British rule.

Explanation

Ellora Caves, located in Maharashtra, India, is a UNESCO World Heritage site featuring 34 rock-cut caves carved into the Charanandri Hills. Created between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, these monuments represent religious harmony with 12 Buddhist caves (1–12), 17 Hindu caves (13–29), and 5 Jain caves (30–34) constructed adjacent to each other.

Explanation

Barium compounds, such as barium chloride, barium chlorate, and barium nitrate, are used in pyrotechnic compositions to produce bright green light. When these salts are heated during the firework explosion, the barium ions absorb thermal energy and excite their valence electrons to higher energy levels. As the excited electrons fall back to their ground state, they emit light at specific wavelengths in the green region of the visible electromagnetic spectrum.

Explanation

Ganga Prasad served as the Governor of Sikkim from August 2018 to February 2023, making him the incumbent governor as of December 2020. Prior to his tenure in Sikkim, he served as the Governor of Meghalaya and was a long-standing member of the Bihar Legislative Council.

Explanation

Apsara was Asia's first nuclear research reactor, located at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) campus in Trombay, Mumbai. Designed and built by India with technical support and enriched uranium fuel supplied by the United Kingdom, it attained criticality on August 4, 1956, marking a historic milestone in India's nuclear energy program.

Explanation

Sattriya Nritya is the traditional classical dance form of Assam, originating in the 15th century AD as a creation of the great Vaishnavite saint and reformer Srimanta Sankardev. It was developed within the Sattras (Vaishnavite monasteries) as a medium to propagate the Neo-Vaishnavite faith through dance-dramas based on the life and teachings of Lord Krishna. Sangeet Natak Akademi formally recognized Sattriya as one of the classical dance forms of India in the year 2000.

Explanation

Subhash Chandra Khuntia, a 1981-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, took charge as the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in May 2018 for a three-year tenure, serving in this position through May 2021.

Explanation

Ammonia is an atmospheric pollutant primarily associated with agricultural emissions, soil acidification, eutrophication, and the formation of secondary fine particulate matter (PM2.5). It is not classified as a short-lived climate pollutant because it does not exert direct positive radiative forcing or contribute directly to atmospheric warming.

Explanation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uses the Minimum Reserve System for issuing currency notes, a framework adopted in 1956. Under this system, the central bank is mandated to maintain a total minimum reserve of ₹200 crore at all times. Of this total reserve, at least ₹115 crore must be held in the form of gold coins and bullion, while the remaining ₹85 crore is held in foreign currency assets and securities. Against this fixed minimum reserve backing, the RBI has the authority to issue currency notes of any amount to meet the requirements of the economy.

Explanation

The Dul Hasti Power Station is a 390 MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric power project constructed on the Chenab River in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. Built and operated by NHPC Limited, the power station utilizes the waters of the Chenab River for power generation to meet the electricity needs of the northern grid.

Explanation

Linux is an open-source, Unix-like operating system kernel created by Linus Torvalds in 1991. An operating system serves as the primary system software that manages a computer's hardware resources, CPU execution, memory allocation, and storage, while providing essential services for applications. Linux forms the foundation of numerous operating system distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Android, powering personal computers, cloud servers, supercomputers, and mobile devices worldwide.

Explanation

Article 56 of the Indian Constitution specifies the term of office of the President. It provides that the President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which they enter upon their office. The article also lays down the conditions regarding the President's resignation addressed to the Vice-President, removal from office by impeachment for violation of the Constitution under Article 61, and continuation in office until their successor enters upon the office.

Explanation

In his Independence Day address on 15 August 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Gaganyaan project, India's first human spaceflight programme, with a target to launch an Indian crew into space by 2022 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of India's independence. Under this mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aimed to send three crew members to a low Earth orbit of 300 to 400 km for five to seven days.

Explanation

Article 280 of the Constitution of India provides for the establishment of a Finance Commission by the President of India every five years or at such earlier time as deemed necessary. It is a quasi-judicial constitutional body responsible for recommending the distribution of net tax proceeds between the Union and the States, as well as determining the principles governing grants-in-aid to the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India.

Explanation

Acid rain is primarily caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) from industrial activities, power plants, and vehicular combustion. In the atmosphere, these compounds react with water vapor, oxygen, and other atmospheric oxidants to form sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and nitric acid (HNO₃). When condensation occurs, these acids dissolve into cloud droplets and fall as precipitation with a pH significantly lower than normal rainwater.

Explanation

Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, popularly known as the Saubhagya Yojana, was launched in September 2017 under the Ministry of Power to achieve universal household electrification across India. The scheme aims to provide electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas. REC Limited (formerly Rural Electrification Corporation Limited) acts as the nodal agency for implementing the scheme across the country.

Explanation

P. V. Narasimha Rao, the 9th Prime Minister of India, translated the acclaimed epic Telugu novel Veyipadagalu, written by Jnanpith laureate Viswanatha Satyanarayana, into Hindi under the title Sahasra Phan. A renowned scholar fluent in 17 languages, Rao was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award for this literary translation.

Explanation

'Capital and Growth' was written by the British economist Sir John Richard Hicks and published in 1965. The book is a landmark work in dynamic economics, exploring methods of economic growth, dynamic equilibrium, fixprice theory, and comparative methods of economic analysis.

Explanation

The brutal Kalinga War in 261 BCE resulted in massive bloodshed and suffering, filling Emperor Ashoka with profound grief and remorse. This devastating event served as a major turning point in his life, prompting him to renounce violence and adopt Buddhism under the influence of the Buddhist monk Upagupta. Ashoka subsequently embraced the principles of Ahimsa (non-violence) and spent the remainder of his reign spreading the teachings of the Buddha and the policy of Dhamma across India and neighboring regions.

Explanation

Saurashtra won their maiden Ranji Trophy title in the 86th edition (2019–20 season) in March 2020. Captained by Jaydev Unadkat, Saurashtra secured the championship against Bengal in the final played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot by virtue of a crucial first-innings lead.

Explanation

A pixel, short for picture element, is the basic unit of programmable color on a computer display or digital image. It represents the smallest individual resolvable component of a raster image or display screen that can be addressed or controlled independently to form a complete image. The total number and density of pixels determine the visual resolution and detail of the picture.

Explanation

Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut was an Abyssinian slave who became a trusted noble and confidant of Razia Sultana, the monarch of the Delhi Sultanate. Razia appointed him as the superintendent of the royal stables and conferred upon him the honorific title Amir-al-Khayl (Commander of the Horses). His elevated status and proximity to the ruler caused intense resentment among the powerful Turkish nobles (Chahalgani), eventually leading to court conspiracies and open rebellions.

Explanation

Mount Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is a dormant stratovolcano and the highest mountain in Africa, standing at 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) above sea level. It is the largest free-standing mountain rise in the world and is comprised of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira.

Explanation

Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, the principal spaceport and satellite launch centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is located at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Operational since 1971, the center provides the solid propellant processing plants, static testing and launch ranges for India's sounding rockets and satellite launch vehicles such as PSLV and GSLV.

Explanation

Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh constructed the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur in 1799 after being inspired by the unique design and structural ventilation of the Khetri Mahal located in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Designed by architect Lal Chand Ustad, the building incorporates 953 intricate latticed windows (jharokhas) that replicate the breeze-circulating architecture of Khetri Mahal while allowing royal ladies to observe public processions under purdah customs.

Explanation

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is a prominent Indian weightlifter from Manipur. She won the gold medal in the women's 48 kg category at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, United States, and followed it with a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in weightlifting, the Government of India conferred her with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2018 alongside cricketer Virat Kohli.