RRB NTPC CBT 1 2021 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

A concave lens is a diverging lens designed with surfaces that curve inward toward the center. As a result of this geometry, the lens is thinner in the middle section and thicker at its outer edges or periphery. When parallel rays of light pass through a concave lens, they refract outward and diverge away from the optical axis.

Explanation

Valmiki National Park is situated in the West Champaran district of Bihar, along the India-Nepal border. Established in 1990, it is the only national park located in Bihar and forms part of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Situated on the banks of the Gandak River in the Gangetic plains bio-geographic zone, it features moist deciduous Sal forests and hosts rich wildlife, including the Bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros, Asian elephant, and various bird species.

Explanation

The All-India Muslim League was founded on 30 December 1906 at Dhaka during the annual meeting of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference. Prominent leaders involved in its establishment included Nawab Khwaja Salimullah of Dhaka, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk, and Aga Khan III, who served as its first permanent president. The league was formed to safeguard political rights and promote the interests of Muslims in British India.

Explanation

The Third Schedule of the Constitution of India contains the prescribed forms of oaths or affirmations for various constitutional functionaries, including the Oath of Office and Oath of Secrecy for a Minister for the Union. It also prescribes oaths for Members of Parliament, Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, state ministers, and the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.

Explanation

Guru Shikhar is the highest peak of the Aravalli Range, standing at an elevation of 1,722 metres (5,650 feet) above sea level. Located near Mount Abu in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, it features a temple dedicated to Dattatreya, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, at its summit.

Explanation

The Santhal Revolt of 1855–56, also known as the Santhal Hool, was a major uprising in the Rajmahal Hills region against the oppressive taxation of the British East India Company and the exploitation by local moneylenders and zamindars. It was spearheaded by the Santhal brothers, Sidhu Murmu and Kanhu Murmu, alongside their brothers Chand and Bhairav. Sidhu and Kanhu mobilized over 10,000 Santhals, declared a rebellion to establish an independent Santhal raj, and led the armed resistance until the uprising was suppressed by the British.

Explanation

Article 108 of the Constitution of India empowers the President to summon a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament—the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha—to resolve a deadlock over an ordinary or financial bill. A deadlock occurs if a bill passed by one House is rejected by the other, if the Houses finally disagree on amendments, or if more than six months elapse from the receipt of the bill by the other House without it being passed. The joint sitting is presided over by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Explanation

Under Section 24 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, exemptions from the Act's provisions are granted strictly to specified intelligence and security organizations listed in the Second Schedule, except for matters pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations. The Competition Commission of India is a statutory regulatory body established under the Competition Act, 2002 to enforce competition law and promote fair market practices. Being a regulatory authority rather than a security or intelligence agency, it is a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and remains fully bound by its disclosure obligations.

Explanation

The term World Bank refers specifically to two closely related institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Founded in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, the IBRD provides loans to middle-income and creditworthy low-income governments, while the IDA, established in 1960, offers concessional zero to low-interest loans and grants to the poorest developing countries. Together with three other specialized affiliates (IFC, MIGA, and ICSID), they comprise the broader World Bank Group.

Explanation

On 15 August 1947, when India attained Independence, Mahatma Gandhi was at Hyderi Manzil in Beliaghata, Calcutta. He chose to stay away from the official celebrations in New Delhi to address the severe communal violence in Bengal, spending the day fasting, praying, and promoting peace and communal harmony.

Explanation

GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. It is a visual interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical elements such as icons, buttons, menus, and windows, rather than relying solely on text-based commands or command-line inputs.

Explanation

Odisha holds over 95% of the total chromite resources in India. The major chromite deposits in the state are concentrated in the Sukinda valley within Jajpur district, along with significant occurrences in the Cuttack, Dhenkanal, and Keonjhar districts. Chromite is an oxide mineral of chromium and iron, heavily utilized in the production of stainless steel, metallurgical alloys, and refractory materials.

Explanation

In April 2019, David Malpass was unanimously selected by the Executive Directors of the World Bank as the 13th President of the World Bank Group for a five-year term starting on April 9, 2019. Prior to taking on this role, he served as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs in the United States government.

Explanation

Zinc sulfate heptahydrate (ZnSO₄·7H₂O) is an inorganic compound historically and commonly known as white vitriol. It is a colorless, crystalline solid widely used as a micronutrient fertilizer in agriculture, an essential zinc supplement in medicine, and a coagulation agent in rayon production.

Explanation

The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the world's ancient sacred texts, composed between approximately 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE during the Early Vedic period. It comprises 1,028 hymns (suktas) organized into ten books known as Mandalas, containing prayers addressed to various deities such as Agni, Indra, and Soma.

Explanation

The Sunderbans Delta, located in West Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, features the world's largest contiguous mangrove forest ecosystem. Mangroves, or tidal forests, thrive in coastal intertidal zones characterized by saline and brackish waters, muddy soil, and frequent tidal flooding. These forests are specially adapted with aerial roots (pneumatophores) to survive in oxygen-depleted soil. The region takes its name from the Sundari tree (Heritiera fomes), the dominant mangrove species in this ecosystem.

Explanation

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) holds Navratna status among Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. It has not been conferred the Maharatna status, which requires higher financial thresholds such as an average annual net profit exceeding ₹5,000 crore, an average annual net worth of ₹15,000 crore, or an average annual turnover of ₹25,000 crore over three consecutive years.

Explanation

In traditional color theory, blue is a primary color along with red and yellow. Primary colors are fundamental colors that cannot be created by mixing any other colors together, whereas secondary colors such as green, orange, and violet are produced by mixing two primary colors.

Explanation

In digital data storage based on the binary system, units of memory scale by factors of 2¹⁰ (1024). The hierarchy of standard data units is: 1 Kilobyte (KB) = 1024 Bytes, 1 Megabyte (MB) = 1024 KB, 1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1024 MB, and 1 Terabyte (TB) = 1024 GB. Consequently, 1024 megabytes equals 1 gigabyte.

Explanation

Chandrayaan-1, India's maiden mission to the Moon, was successfully launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 22 October 2008 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. It was carried into space aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its XL variant, designated as PSLV-C11. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit in November 2008 and played a crucial role in confirming the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface.

Explanation

Manipur shares an international border with Myanmar to its east and south-east, while its domestic borders are shared with Nagaland, Assam, and Mizoram. It does not share any boundary with Bangladesh. The five Indian states that share an international border with Bangladesh are West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Explanation

An integrated circuit (IC), commonly referred to as a chip or microchip, is a set of interconnected electronic circuits fabricated onto a single small piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon. It combines thousands to billions of microscopic electronic components into a compact package.

Explanation

Under Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II), India conducted a series of underground nuclear explosions at the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan in May 1998. On 11 May 1998, three nuclear devices—a thermonuclear device, a fission device, and a sub-kiloton device—were detonated simultaneously. These were followed on 13 May 1998 by the detonation of two additional sub-kiloton devices, completing the test series with a total of five contained nuclear explosions.

Explanation

The khol is a terracotta two-sided drum classified as a percussion instrument (membranophone). Played using palms and fingers on both sides, it is widely used in eastern India, especially in West Bengal and Assam, to accompany devotional music like Vaishnava kirtans and Borgeets.

Explanation

Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Champaran, Bihar, in April 1917 at the invitation of Rajkumar Shukla, a local farmer who brought the plight of indigo cultivators to his attention during the 1916 Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi came to inspect the conditions of the farmers who were forced into the oppressive tinkathia system by British planters, leading to the historic Champaran Satyagraha, his first major civil disobedience movement in India.

Explanation

The 'Green Mahanadi Mission' was launched by the Odisha government in July 2018. It is a massive river-rejuvenation and plantation drive aimed at planting millions of saplings along the banks of the Mahanadi, Tel, and Ib rivers. The initiative seeks to prevent soil erosion, recharge groundwater levels, and protect biodiversity along the Mahanadi river basin.

Explanation

The Cabinet Mission arrived in India in March 1946 to discuss the transfer of power from the British government to Indian leadership. During this time, the Labour Party was in power in Britain under Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who had won a landslide victory in the July 1945 British general election. Attlee dispatched the three-member Cabinet Mission—comprising Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps, and A.V. Alexander—to formulate a plan for India's independence and constitution-making process.

Explanation

The World Bank was established in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference alongside the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C., United States. The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects and economic development.

Explanation

Dadabhai Naoroji is famously known as the 'Grand Old Man of India' for his pioneering role in the Indian freedom struggle and national movement. He was a key founding member of the Indian National Congress and served as its president three times in 1886, 1893, and 1906. In 1892, he became the first Indian elected to the British House of Commons. Through his seminal book, 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India', he articulated the 'Drain of Wealth' theory, highlighting how British colonial policies systematically drained India's economic resources.

Explanation

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), originally launched in 1985 as a sub-scheme of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and made an independent scheme in 1996, was restructured into the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMAY-G) with effect from April 1, 2016. The restructured scheme aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all eligible houseless households and those living in kutcha or dilapidated houses in rural areas.

Explanation

Thyroxine (T4) is a vital hormone produced by the thyroid gland that regulates metabolism, body growth, and development. Iodine is an essential constituent of thyroxine, as the thyroid gland combines iodine from the diet with the amino acid tyrosine to produce thyroxine (which contains four iodine atoms) and triiodothyronine (which contains three iodine atoms). A deficiency of iodine inhibits the synthesis of these thyroid hormones, leading to conditions like goitre and hypothyroidism.

Explanation

Under Article 326 of the Constitution of India, every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age is entitled to be registered as a voter in elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. The minimum voting age was lowered from 21 years to 18 years by the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988, which came into force on March 28, 1989.

Explanation

Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables composed in Sanskrit by Pandit Vishnu Sharma around the 3rd century BCE. It was written as a treatise to impart moral principles, statecraft, and practical wisdom in leadership to three young princes. The work is structured into five distinct books or strategies (Tantras), namely Mitra-bheda, Mitra-labha, Kakolukiyam, Labdhapranasam, and Apariksitakarakam, each utilizing allegorical narratives featuring animals to illustrate key principles of human conduct and diplomacy.

Explanation

According to NASA's satellite observations and Earth Observatory data, forests cover approximately 30% of Earth's total land surface area. They constitute one of the largest terrestrial carbon sinks on the planet, accounting for about half of global plant productivity and storing roughly 45% of the carbon bound on land.

Explanation

Our solar system is located in the Orion Arm, a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy containing hundreds of billions of stars, along with vast amounts of gas and dust, all bound together by gravity. Our Sun and its orbiting planets revolve around the Galactic Center at a distance of approximately 27,000 light-years.

Explanation

In Microsoft Excel, a workbook is the primary file format used to store and organize data. A single workbook file contains one or more worksheets (also known as spreadsheets), which consist of a grid of rows and columns where data, formulas, and text are entered and processed. Users can add, delete, rename, or reorder worksheets within a workbook to organize related sets of information in one place.

Explanation

Siraj ud-Daulah was the Nawab of Bengal during the Battle of Plassey, which took place on 23 June 1757. He succeeded his maternal grandfather, Alivardi Khan, as the ruler of Bengal in April 1756. The conflict arose primarily due to the misuse of trade permits (dastaks) by British East India Company officials and the unauthorized fortification of Fort William in Calcutta. The British forces, commanded by Robert Clive, defeated Siraj ud-Daulah, marking the beginning of British political dominion in India.

Explanation

Incineration is a high-temperature thermal treatment process that combusts organic substances in hazardous material. It is considered the most effective method for disposing of biological and biomedical wastes from hospitals, such as anatomical tissue, microbiological cultures, and contaminated items, because the extreme temperatures completely destroy pathogenic microorganisms, viruses, and infectious agents while reducing the waste to inert ash and drastically lowering its volume.

Explanation

The Green Revolution refers to a major transformation in agricultural practice during the mid-20th century that significantly boosted agricultural yields. It relied on the introduction of high-yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds, expanded irrigation infrastructure, modern farm machinery, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Initiated globally by Norman Borlaug and spearheaded in India by M.S. Swaminathan, it turned nations into self-sufficient agricultural producers, focusing primarily on high-volume staple crops such as wheat and rice.

Explanation

Silver articles turn black when exposed to air due to tarnishing. Silver reacts with trace amounts of sulfur compounds present in the atmosphere, such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), to form a layer of silver sulfide (Ag₂S), which is black in color.

4Ag + 2H₂S + O₂ → 2Ag₂S + 2H₂O

This black coating of silver sulfide covers the surface of the metal and dulls its shine over time.

Explanation

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leading the Muslim League, proclaimed 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day to press the demand for a separate nation of Pakistan. The call was issued after the Muslim League rejected the Cabinet Mission Plan to demonstrate the strength of Muslim support for partition, which subsequently triggered widespread communal violence, particularly in Calcutta.

Explanation

The term 'ecology' was coined in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel. He derived the word from the Greek terms 'oikos', meaning house or dwelling place, and 'logos', meaning study, defining it as the science dealing with the relationships of organisms to their surrounding environment.

Explanation

National Highway 37 (NH-37) runs along the southern boundary of Kaziranga National Park in Assam, separating the park's low-lying floodplains from the Karbi Anglong hills. During the annual monsoon floods, large areas of the park become submerged, forcing wild animals—including one-horned rhinoceroses, elephants, and deer—to cross the highway to reach higher ground for shelter. The high volume of speeding vehicular traffic on this route causes significant habitat fragmentation and leads to frequent roadkills and casualties among migrating wildlife.

Explanation

The International Day of Light is celebrated annually on May 16th to mark the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman. The day was officially proclaimed by UNESCO to raise awareness about the vital role light and light-based technologies play in science, culture, art, education, and sustainable development.

Explanation

Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, became the first Indian citizen to travel into space when he flew aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz T-11 on April 3, 1984. As part of the Soviet Interkosmos program, he spent 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes aboard the Salyut 7 space station, conducting scientific and Earth observation experiments. During a live broadcast from space with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when asked how India looked from above, he famously replied, "Saare Jahan Se Achha".

Explanation

The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE), popularly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, was launched by the Government of India on 15 August 1995. The centrally sponsored scheme was introduced to boost universalization of primary education by increasing enrolment, retention, and attendance, while simultaneously improving the nutritional status of primary school children across the country.

Explanation

EVM stands for Electronic Voting Machine. It is an electronic device used for casting and counting votes in elections in India. EVMs were first used in 1982 in the Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala, and are designed and manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) under the guidance of the Election Commission of India.

Explanation

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established on 16 November 1945 to promote world peace and security through international cooperation in education, science, and culture. Its headquarters is located at Place de Fontenoy in Paris, France.

Explanation

By the Inscribed Angle Theorem, the angle subtended by an arc at the centre of a circle is twice the angle subtended by the same arc at any point on the circumference.

∠AOB = 2 × ∠ACB ∠AOB = 2 × 47.5° = 95°

Explanation

The Poona Pact was signed on 24 September 1932 at Yerwada Central Jail in Poona between Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi (represented by Madan Mohan Malaviya and other upper-caste Hindu leaders). It was reached to end Gandhi's fast unto death against the Communal Award announced by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, which had granted separate electorates to the depressed classes. Under the agreement, separate electorates were abandoned in favor of reserved seats for the depressed classes within the general electoral system.