RRB NTPC CBT 1 2021 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The Bhotiya people are an ethno-linguistic group of Trans-Himalayan origin residing in the high-altitude Himalayan valleys of Uttarakhand, particularly in districts such as Pithoragarh, Chamoli, and Uttarkashi. Historically famous for their role in Indo-Tibetan trans-border trade prior to 1962, they are officially recognized as a Scheduled Tribe in the state of Uttarakhand.

Explanation

The Red Data Book, maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is a public document established for recording rare and endangered species of plants, animals, fungi, and subspecies. It provides crucial data regarding the population status, degree of threat, and distribution of species facing the risk of extinction to aid in global conservation efforts and biodiversity management.

Explanation

'Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India' was written by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and published in 2002. The book focuses on inspiring the youth of India to dream big, unleash their inner potential, and work collectively towards making India a developed nation.

Explanation

Stamp duty is a tax levied by state governments under Article 268 of the Indian Constitution and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, on legal instruments, property transfers, and commercial documents. When the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented in July 2017, stamp duty was excluded from the subsumed taxes, allowing State Governments to continue levying and collecting it independently on real estate transactions and legal documentation.

Explanation

Tamil Nadu has the highest installed wind energy capacity and total wind power production in India. The state benefits from favorable geographic features, including strong wind corridors created by mountain passes like the Palghat gap. It hosts the Muppandal Wind Farm in Kanyakumari district, which is one of the largest operational onshore wind power plants in the world.

Explanation

Narora Atomic Power Station is located in Narora, Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh along the banks of the River Ganga, rather than in Rajasthan. Operated by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the station comprises two pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWRs).

Explanation

In the 2019 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education), the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) secured the first rank in the overall category with a score of 83.88. The rankings evaluate higher education institutions across India on key parameters including Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI), and Perception (PR).

Explanation

South America has only two landlocked countries: Bolivia and Paraguay. Paraguay is situated in the interior of South America, bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest, giving it no direct access to any ocean.

Explanation

Bombyx mori, commonly known as the mulberry silkworm, produces commercial silk. During its larval stage, the caterpillar feeds on mulberry leaves and secretes liquid protein from its silk glands. This protein hardens upon exposure to air, forming a protective cocoon woven from a continuous filament of natural silk fiber, which is harvested during sericulture to produce silk yarn.

Explanation

Air Force Sports Control Board (AFSCB) was conferred with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2020 under the category of 'Employment of Sportspersons and Sports Welfare Measures' by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. AFSCB serves as the apex body for planning and managing sports activities within the Indian Air Force and at the Inter-Services level. It received the award for its sustained efforts in encouraging sports culture, supporting sportspersons to excel in their respective disciplines, and implementing robust sports welfare initiatives.

Explanation

Apurvi Chandela won the gold medal in the individual women's 10m air rifle event at the 2019 ISSF World Cup held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. She secured India's first medal of the tournament by setting a world record score of 252.9 points in the final.

Explanation

Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Mollem town, Sanguem taluka of Goa, along the eastern border in the Western Ghats. Spanning an area of 240 square kilometers, it is the largest wildlife sanctuary in the state of Goa and houses the famous Dudhsagar Waterfalls as well as the historic 12th-century Tambdi Surla Mahadev Temple.

Explanation

Villi are tiny, finger-like projections located on the inner lining of the small intestine. They drastically increase the surface area available for the absorption of digested nutrients, such as amino acids, simple sugars, and fatty acids, into the bloodstream and lymphatic system. Each villus contains a network of blood capillaries and a central lymphatic vessel called a lacteal.

Explanation

Majuli is a large riverine island situated in the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. It was formed by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries, primarily where the Brahmaputra and its anabranch, the Kherkutia Xuti, join with the Subansiri River. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest river island, Majuli was declared India's first island district in 2016.

Explanation

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was designed and constructed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania between 1943 and 1945. Created by physicist John Mauchly and electrical engineer J. Presper Eckert, it was the first general-purpose, programmable, electronic digital computer, built primarily to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II.

Explanation

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was established in 1958 by merging the Technical Development Establishment (TDE) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). It functions under the Ministry of Defence to design, develop, and innovate advanced technology systems for the Indian Armed Forces.

Explanation

Gautama Buddha, originally named Siddhartha Gautama, was born in the sacred garden of Lumbini in present-day Nepal around 563 BCE. He was born into the Shakya clan to Queen Mayadevi and King Suddhodana, the ruler of Kapilavastu. The Ashokan Pillar inscription discovered at Lumbini in 1896 by Alois Anton Führer explicitly commemorates Emperor Ashoka's pilgrimage to the site and confirms it as the historical birthplace of the Buddha.

Explanation

The World Bank was established at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as the Bretton Woods Conference, held in July 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA. Since the Second World War lasted from September 1939 to September 1945, the founding of the bank in July 1944 took place during the Second World War to facilitate post-war reconstruction and economic stabilization.

Explanation

Prasoon Joshi, a renowned lyricist, poet, and advertising executive, was appointed as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on August 11, 2017, succeeding Pahlaj Nihalani. He was appointed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a term of three years and subsequently continued in the role.

Explanation

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established in June 2007 by amending the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, to combat organized wildlife crime in India. It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and its central headquarters is located in New Delhi.

Explanation

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was established on 14 August 1956 as a central public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Its historical operational headquarters, Tel Bhavan, is located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. ONGC is India's largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company, accounting for the major share of the country's domestic hydrocarbon production.

Explanation

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, a standard file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to display documents reliably across different operating systems, devices, and software applications without altering their original layout, fonts, or images.

Explanation

The Elephanta Caves, located on Gharapuri Island in Mumbai Harbour, feature a network of rock-cut cave temples predominantly dedicated to Lord Shiva. Constructed between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, the main cave (Cave 1) contains magnificent relief sculptures depicting various manifestations of Lord Shiva, most notably the iconic 20-foot-tall Trimurti sculpture that represents Shiva's three aspects as the creator, preserver, and destroyer.

Explanation

The Indian Premier League (IPL) was inaugurated in 2008. The tournament has been held annually without interruption, meaning that from 2008 through 2020, a total of 13 editions were conducted. The 13th season took place in the United Arab Emirates from September to November 2020.

Explanation

Chenda is a prominent cylindrical percussion instrument from Kerala, South India, made of a wooden barrel with drumheads held by ropes and played with wooden sticks. Due to its loud, resonant sound and central role in temple rituals, festivals, and traditional performing arts like Kathakali, it serves as the South Indian counterpart to the North Indian Nagada, which is similarly a loud, stick-played percussion instrument used in folk traditions and temple ceremonies.

Explanation

Shah Mal was a prominent rebel leader during the Revolt of 1857 who mobilized the cultivators and villagers of Baraut pargana in present-day Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. He organized the headmen of 84 local villages, collectively known as Chaurasi des, to rise up against British colonial rule, cutting off supplies and disrupting communication lines to British forces.

Explanation

In IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry, aldehydes contain a terminal carbonyl group (-CHO). Their systematic names are derived by replacing the ending '-e' of the corresponding alkane chain with the suffix '-al' (for example, methane becomes methanal and ethane becomes ethanal).

Explanation

The Indira Gandhi Canal was originally called the Rajasthan Canal. Designed to bring water from the Harike Barrage at the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers to the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, the canal project was conceived by Kanwar Sain in 1948 and launched in 1958. It was officially renamed as the Indira Gandhi Canal on 2 November 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Explanation

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force was captured by Pakistani military forces on 27 February 2019 after his MiG-21 Bison aircraft was shot down during an aerial dogfight following the Balakot airstrike. He was released on 1 March 2019 as a goodwill gesture and handed back to India at the Wagah-Attari border crossing. He was subsequently awarded the Vir Chakra, India's third-highest wartime gallantry medal, for displaying courage and presence of mind during the aerial engagement.

Explanation

Vikramashila University was founded by the Pala ruler King Dharmapala in the late 8th or early 9th century CE. Located at Antichak in the Bhagalpur district of present-day Bihar, it was established as a premier center of Buddhist learning to complement Nalanda. The university specialized in Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) and attracted international scholars, famously associated with the great Buddhist master Atisha Dipankara.

Explanation

Awadh was widely referred to as the "nursery of the Bengal Army" because the British East India Company recruited a large proportion of its Bengal Army soldiers from this region. A vast majority of these sepoys were high-caste Rajputs and Brahmins from Awadh, and by the mid-19th century, nearly every farming family in the region had at least one member serving in the army.

Explanation

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) consists of 15 members in total. This includes 5 permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—which possess veto power, and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly. This structure of 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members was established under the 1965 amendment to Article 23 of the UN Charter.

Explanation

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Steel, Government of India. It is the major public sector agency responsible for managing integrated steel plants across the country, including major facilities at Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bokaro, and Burnpur, as well as specialized steel units in Salem, Durgapur, and Bhadravathi.

Explanation

According to the Census 2001 data on migration by place of last residence, India recorded approximately 5.1 million international migrants. Out of these, Bangladesh was the largest source country, accounting for around 3.0 million (30 lakh) migrants, followed by Pakistan (0.9 million) and Nepal (0.5 million).

Explanation

Litmus is a natural acid-base indicator extracted from lichens, primarily species such as Roccella tinctoria. It is a water-soluble mixture of different dyes that is absorbed onto filter paper or used directly as a solution. In a neutral medium, litmus exhibits a purple color, turning red in acidic conditions and blue in basic conditions.

Explanation

Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq introduced the concept of human development in 1990. He defined it as the process of expanding people's freedoms and opportunities while improving their overall well-being. Under his leadership, the United Nations Development Programme published the first Human Development Report in 1990, introducing the Human Development Index to evaluate countries based on health, education, and standard of living rather than purely economic metrics like gross domestic product.

Explanation

India is a dialogue partner and associate member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as full membership is geographically restricted to Southeast Asian countries. India cannot be an associate member of SAFTA because it is a full founding member of the South Asian Free Trade Area. Therefore, ASEAN is the correct choice.

Explanation

In 2018, researchers from the RISE (Reconfigurable Intelligent Systems Engineering) group at IIT Madras designed and booted up Shakti, India's first indigenously-developed microprocessor. Built using the open-source RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), the microprocessor was fabricated at the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) of ISRO in Chandigarh. The Shakti processor family is designed for a wide array of applications including mobile computing devices, low-power wireless embedded systems, smart meters, and networking hardware.

Explanation

Kochi, located on the southwest coast of India in Kerala, has been known as the 'Queen of the Arabian Sea' since the 14th century. It became a major hub for spice trade with Arab, Chinese, and European merchants after its natural harbor was carved out by flooding of the Periyar River in 1341, establishing its long-standing prominence in maritime commerce across the Arabian Sea.

Explanation

The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) was established on 7 January 1935 as the National Institute of Sciences of India (NISI) in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Sir Lewis Fermor served as its inaugural President. The institution was created to promote scientific knowledge in India and harness science for national welfare. It moved its headquarters to New Delhi in May 1946 and was officially renamed the Indian National Science Academy in February 1970.

Explanation

In computing memory and data storage measurement, units increase in capacity by factors of 1024 (2¹⁰) in binary notation or 1000 (10³) in decimal notation. 1 Terabyte (TB) equals 1024 Gigabytes (GB), 1 Gigabyte (GB) equals 1024 Megabytes (MB), and 1 Megabyte (MB) equals 1024 Kilobytes (KB). Therefore, Terabyte is the largest unit among these, followed by Gigabyte, Megabyte, and Kilobyte.

Explanation

Sir Isaac Newton discovered the phenomenon of dispersion of light in 1666 using a glass prism. He demonstrated that white sunlight is composed of seven constituent colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). When white light passes through a prism, each colour bends or refracts at a slightly different angle due to its distinct wavelength, causing the light to split into a visible spectrum.

Explanation

During the Constituent Assembly debate on 27 August 1947, Govind Ballabh Pant strongly opposed the continuation of separate electorates. He argued that separate electorates would permanently isolate minority communities, preventing them from integrating into national governance or forming an effective majority. He asserted that such isolation would breed frustration and cripple minorities politically, stating, "I believe separate electorates will be suicidal to the minorities and will do them tremendous harm".

Explanation

Quinine is an alkaloid compound extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree, native to the tropical Andean regions of South America. It has been used for centuries as a primary treatment for malaria caused by Plasmodium parasites, functioning by interfering with the parasite's ability to digest hemoglobin within human red blood cells.

Explanation

Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as King Rama X, was officially crowned as the King of Thailand during a three-day elaborate royal coronation ceremony held from May 4 to May 6, 2019 in Bangkok. He succeeded his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), who passed away in October 2016.

Explanation

COBOL stands for Common Business Oriented Language. Designed in 1959 by CODASYL (Conference on Data Systems Languages), it is a high-level programming language created specifically for business data processing, administrative tasks, and financial systems. It uses English-like syntax to ensure readability and portability across different computer hardware systems in enterprise environments.

Explanation

Al Biruni was an 11th-century Persian scholar and polymath who visited the Indian subcontinent alongside Mahmud of Ghazni. He mastered Sanskrit and deeply studied Indian religion, philosophy, astronomy, and social organization, compiling his findings in his famous Arabic work 'Kitab-ul-Hind' (also known as 'Tarikh al-Hind').

Explanation

Allan Octavian Hume (A.O. Hume), a retired British civil servant, played a key role in founding the Indian National Congress in December 1885 at Bombay. He was appointed as its first General Secretary upon its formation and held the post continuously for over two decades until 1906.

Explanation

The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any sovereign nation in the world. Adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and coming into force on 26 January 1950, it originally comprised 395 articles across 22 parts and 8 schedules, spanning over 145,000 words. Its comprehensive nature stems from incorporating detailed administrative mechanisms, fundamental rights, directive principles, and specific governance arrangements to accommodate the country's vast geographic, cultural, and social diversity.

Explanation

Mars has two natural moons, named Phobos and Deimos. Both were discovered in August 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. They are small, irregularly shaped bodies named after the ancient Greek mythological figures representing fear (Phobos) and dread (Deimos), who accompanied the god of war, Ares (Mars).