SSC CHSL Tier 1 2023 General Awareness Questions with Solutions

Explanation

In India, the Reserve Bank of India classifies money supply into four monetary aggregates. Among these, M3 is formally designated as the Aggregate Monetary Resources. It is a broad measure of money supply that comprises currency with the public, demand deposits with the banking system, time deposits with the banking system, and other deposits with the Reserve Bank of India. Because it includes time deposits, which are less liquid but represent a significant store of value in the financial system, M3 serves as the primary indicator for assessing the overall liquidity and monetary resources available in the economy.

Explanation

Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework in India, tobacco and tobacco products are subject to a dual tax structure. While they are fully covered under GST, the Central Government retains the constitutional power to levy Central Excise duty on them under Entry 84 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Consequently, both GST and Central Excise duty are concurrently applicable to tobacco and tobacco products.

Explanation

Lord Cornwallis served as the Governor-General of Bengal from 1786 to 1793 and introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793. This land revenue system, also known as the Zamindari System, secured a fixed revenue income for the British East India Company by making the landlords or Zamindars the hereditary owners of the land, subject to a fixed annual payment to the state.

Explanation

According to the laws of table tennis established by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the standard playing surface must be rectangular with a length of 2.74 meters (9 feet) and a width of 1.525 meters (5 feet). The surface of the table is suspended in a horizontal plane 76 centimeters above the floor.

Explanation

The Government of Karnataka appointed Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa as the brand ambassador for the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative in 2022. The initiative was launched by the state's Health Department in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences and NITI Aayog to improve brain health awareness, facilitate early diagnosis, and provide treatment for neurological disorders at the primary healthcare level.

Explanation

Murali Sreeshankar won the historic silver medal in the men's long jump at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. He achieved this feat by registering a best jump of 8.08 meters on his fifth attempt in the final. This achievement made him the first Indian male long jumper to win a silver medal in the history of the Commonwealth Games.

Explanation

Vikramasila University was established by the Pala emperor Dharmapala during the late 8th or early 9th century. Located in present-day Bhagalpur district of Bihar, it was one of the premier centers of Buddhist learning in ancient India, especially renowned for Vajrayana Buddhism. Dharmapala founded this institution to maintain high standards of scholarship and spiritual training, and it flourished under royal Pala patronage for over four centuries.

Explanation

The Gaan-Ngai festival is a major post-harvest festival celebrated by the Zeliangrong community, which comprises the Zeme, Liangmai, and Rongmei Naga tribes. This community is predominantly settled in the North-Eastern region of India, primarily across the states of Manipur, Assam, and Nagaland. Celebrated annually over five days in December or January, the festival marks the end of the harvest season and is observed to offer thanksgiving to the almighty for a bountiful harvest, pray for prosperity in the coming year, and honor departed souls.

Explanation

The Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Part III of the Indian Constitution aim at promoting the ideal of political democracy. They prevent the establishment of authoritarian and dictatorial rule in the country by protecting the liberties and freedoms of citizens against encroachment by the state. By placing limitations on the tyranny of the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature, they establish a government of laws and not of men.

Explanation

Loess is a terrestrial windblown sediment composed primarily of silt and dust-sized particles. It is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust, typically deposited over vast areas downwind of glacial outwash plains, deserts, or river basins. This fine-grained, unstratified deposit is highly porous, rich in minerals like quartz and feldspar, and develops into highly fertile agricultural soil.

Explanation

Article 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution states that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. While developing the spirit of reform is a constitutional duty, actually bringing about or implementing reform is not prescribed as a fundamental duty for individual citizens.

Explanation

Thalassemia is a group of inherited autosomal recessive blood disorders characterized by reduced or absent synthesis of the alpha or beta globin chains of hemoglobin. This genetic defect disrupts the balance of globin chains, leading to the formation of unstable hemoglobin aggregates that damage developing red blood cell precursors in the bone marrow. Consequently, these precursors undergo premature destruction before they can mature and enter circulation, a process known as ineffective erythropoiesis, which leads to chronic anemia.

Explanation

Padayani, also known as Padeni, is a traditional ritualistic folk dance and drama performed in the Bhadrakali temples of Central Travancore in Kerala. This ancient art form is dedicated to the goddess Bhadrakali and is performed to appease her anger after the slaying of the demon Darika. The dancers wear massive, highly decorated masks called Kolams, which are handcrafted from the spathe of the areca palm and painted using natural dyes. The performance is accompanied by the rhythmic beats of a traditional percussion instrument called the thappu.

Explanation

The Indian Antarctic Act, 2022 is implemented under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, which is the nodal ministry for India's polar research program and oversees the Indian Antarctic Programme. The Act provides for the establishment of the Indian Antarctic Authority (IAA) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences as an apex body to facilitate, regulate, and monitor activities in Antarctica. This authority ensures compliance with international environmental standards and treaty obligations, protecting the fragile Antarctic ecosystem and managing India's research stations, Maitri and Bharati.

Explanation

Ustad Bismillah Khan was a legendary Indian musician who revolutionized Indian classical music by bringing the shehnai, a traditional wind instrument previously played mainly during marriages and temple ceremonies, to the global concert stage. Born in Bihar and closely associated with the holy city of Varanasi, his mastery of the instrument made him one of the most revered instrumentalists in India. In recognition of his unparalleled contributions to music and culture, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 2001.

Explanation

Sociologist Jan Breman, in his study of agrarian social relations in South Gujarat, documented the transformation of the bond between landowning dominant-caste patrons and landless lower-caste agricultural laborers. He characterized this historical transition as a shift from patronage to exploitation. In the traditional system, landlords provided a degree of security, patronage, and livelihood protection to their laborers in exchange for permanent service. With the commercialization and capitalist transformation of agriculture, landlords abandoned their traditional paternalistic obligations, shifting the relationship to a purely market-driven, casualized, and highly exploitative contract without any social security or patron protection.

Explanation

Nevil Sidgwick and Herbert Powell proposed the fundamental correlation between molecular geometry and the number of valence electron pairs in their Bakerian Lecture in 1940. They suggested that the spatial arrangement of bonds around a central atom is determined by the repulsive forces between all electron pairs present in its valence shell, whether they are shared in chemical bonds or remain as lone pairs. This concept served as the direct precursor to the modern Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory.

Explanation

Coal is the primary and largest source of energy and electricity generation in India. According to data from the Ministry of Power, Government of India, as of March 2023, coal-based thermal power plants accounted for over 50% of the country's total installed power capacity and met around 70% of India's total electricity generation requirements.

Explanation

Jayalakshmi Eshwar is an eminent Bharatanatyam exponent, choreographer, and educator who has dedicated over five decades to the preservation and propagation of this classical dance form. She is the founder-director of Abhinaya Aaradhana, a leading dance institution in Delhi. Her outstanding contribution to the field of Bharatanatyam earned her the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2021, which was conferred by the President of India in early 2023.

Explanation

According to the 2011 Census of India, Haryana recorded the lowest sex ratio among all the states in India, with a ratio of 879 females per 1000 males. This is significantly below the national average sex ratio of India, which stood at 943 females per 1000 males in the 2011 census.

Explanation

In India, the financial year, also known as the fiscal year, begins on April 1 of a given year and concludes on March 31 of the subsequent year. This period is used by the government, businesses, and financial institutions for accounting, budgeting, and taxation purposes. This standard cycle was officially adopted in 1867 during British rule to align the Indian financial system with that of the British Empire, and it has remained the norm for national budgeting and income tax assessment ever since.

Explanation

According to Newton's second law of motion, force is the product of mass and acceleration.

The dimension of mass is [M].

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity per unit time, which has the dimension of length divided by time squared, represented as [L T⁻²].

Multiplying the dimensions of mass and acceleration yields the dimension of force:

[Force] = [M] × [L T⁻²] = [M L T⁻²]

Explanation

The Indian Association was founded in Calcutta on 26 July 1876 by Surendranath Banerjee and Anandamohan Bose. It was established as a nationalist organization to represent the aspirations of the educated middle class and to unify Indians on a common political platform, preceding the establishment of the Indian National Congress.

Explanation

During the southwest monsoon season, the monsoon trough occasionally shifts northwards close to the foothills of the Himalayas. This shift causes a sharp reduction in rainfall over most parts of the Indian plains, leading to prolonged dry spells that can last for one or more weeks. This temporary cessation of rainfall during the active monsoon period is meteorologically termed as a break in the monsoon.

Explanation

PV Sindhu finished as the runner-up in the women's singles category at the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 badminton tournament. In the final match played in Madrid, Spain, she was defeated by Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in straight games.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The government budget is a prospective document that presents the estimated receipts and expenditures of the government for the upcoming financial year. It is not a statement of receipts and expenditures already incurred or actually spent, which instead is detailed in the audited appropriation and finance accounts of the past fiscal years. Therefore, defining the budget as a statement of incurred expenditures is conceptually incorrect.

Explanation

The Gujarat Titans won the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League in 2022. In their debut season, the franchise was led by captain Hardik Pandya and defeated Rajasthan Royals in the final match played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Explanation

Pascal's Law, formulated by the French scientist Blaise Pascal in 1653, states that when pressure is applied to a confined fluid, the pressure change is transmitted undiminished throughout the fluid in all directions, acting with equal force on equal areas and at right angles to the container walls. This principle is independent of the shape of the container and forms the theoretical basis for hydraulic machinery, where a force applied to a small area is transmitted to create a larger force over a larger area, expressed as:

P = F₁/A₁ = F₂/A₂

Explanation

Article 51A (e) of the Indian Constitution prescribes it as a Fundamental Duty of every citizen of India to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities. This duty directly emphasizes the importance of preserving communal harmony and mutual respect among different communities, which is vital when observing or participating in religious processions to ensure peace, tolerance, and social cohesion.

Explanation

According to the 2011 Census of India, Kerala recorded the highest literacy rate in the country at 94.00%. The male literacy rate in the state stood at 96.11%, while the female literacy rate was 92.07%. Kerala has consistently maintained its position at the top of the literacy rankings due to early social reforms, state-led educational initiatives, and high public investment in primary education.

Explanation

The scheme for Safeguarding India's Intangible Cultural Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India is formulated and implemented by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. This scheme aims to reinvigorate and revitalize various institutions, groups, individuals, non-governmental organizations, researchers, and scholars to engage in activities for safeguarding, promoting, preserving, and propagating the rich and diverse intangible cultural heritage of India. It provides financial assistance for the documentation, research, and dissemination of traditional performing arts, oral traditions, rituals, festivals, and traditional craftsmanship.

Explanation

The EShakti project was launched by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in March 2015 as a pilot project for the digitization of all Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the country. The first phase of this initiative was implemented in two districts: Ramgarh in Jharkhand and Dhule in Maharashtra. The project aims to bring SHG members into the fold of financial inclusion by digitizing their transactional data and making it accessible to banks, thereby improving credit linkage.

Explanation

Alha and Udal were legendary warrior brothers and military commanders who served the Chandela King Paramardi Deva, who ruled the Bundelkhand region (Jejakabhukti) in the late 12th century. They are celebrated in Indian folklore, particularly in the epic poem Alha-Khand, for their extraordinary bravery and military prowess in defending the Chandela kingdom against the invasion of Prithviraj Chauhan of Delhi in the Battle of Mahoba around 1182 CE.

Explanation

Dr. Indira P. P. Bora is a pioneer and acclaimed exponent of the Sattriya classical dance form of Assam. In 1996, she was honored with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by India's national academy of music, dance, and drama for her outstanding contribution to Sattriya dance. Her lifelong dedication and performances have played a vital role in elevating Sattriya to the status of a recognized classical dance of India.

Explanation

The Bokajan Cement Plant is a prominent unit of the Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) located in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Commissioned in 1976, this plant utilizes the high-quality limestone deposits found in the nearby Dillai Hill to manufacture cement, playing a crucial role in meeting the infrastructural demands of the northeastern region of India.

Explanation

Net National Product at Factor Cost (NNP at FC) is the standard economic measure used to represent the National Income of a country. It represents the total value of all final goods and services produced by the normal residents of a country during a financial year, after deducting depreciation. Measuring at factor cost reflects the actual income earned by the factors of production, which are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship, by excluding indirect taxes and including subsidies. This provides the most accurate estimation of the net income generated by the citizens of a nation.

Explanation

Shubha Mudgal is a highly acclaimed Indian singer who is deeply rooted in Hindustani classical music. She received rigorous training under several legendary gurus, including Pandit Ramashreya Jha, Pandit Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, and Pandit Kumar Gandharva. Her expertise spans classical genres such as Khayal, Thumri, and Dadra. Known for her powerful voice and versatile range, she was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 for her significant contributions to the field of Hindustani classical music.

Explanation

Léon Foucault discovered eddy currents in 1851. He observed that the torque required to rotate a copper disc increases when the disc is placed between the poles of an electromagnet, and that the metal disc heats up due to the induced currents. These currents flow in closed loops within conductors in planes perpendicular to the magnetic field, and are also known as Foucault currents in his honor.

Explanation

A cataract is a large, powerful waterfall characterized by an immense volume of water rushing down with great force. It typically refers to a wide, fast-flowing river where a massive quantity of water plunges over a cliff or steep drop, making it distinct from smaller or gentler water features.

Explanation

The Indian Councils Act of 1909 is also known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, named after John Morley, who was the Secretary of State for India, and Lord Minto, the then Viceroy of India. This act introduced significant constitutional reforms in British India, most notably the expansion of the legislative councils at both the central and provincial levels, and the introduction of a system of separate electorates for Muslims, which marked a major step in the political history of the country.

Explanation

The Hornbill Festival is celebrated annually in Nagaland from December 1 to 10. Organized by the State Tourism and Art and Culture Departments of Nagaland, this festival is often referred to as the "Festival of Festivals". It serves as a grand showcase of the rich cultural heritage, traditional music, dance, crafts, and food of the diverse Naga tribes, fostering inter-tribal interaction and promoting tourism. The festival is named after the Indian hornbill, a bird that holds a sacred and prominent place in the folklore and cultural songs of the Naga people.

Explanation

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan at a YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA. The first official compilation of volleyball rules was subsequently drafted and published by the Physical Education Department of the YMCA in the United States in 1897, featuring in the Official Handbook of the Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America.

Explanation

The velocity of circulation of money refers to the average frequency with which a single unit of currency is spent on purchasing goods and services within a given time period. It essentially measures the rate at which money exchanges hands in an economy to facilitate transactions, indicating how rapidly money circulates through the financial system during a specific unit of time, such as a fiscal year.

Explanation

The Green Revolution was a public-sector initiative driven and managed by the government of India, rather than a private-sector programme. The Indian government, in collaboration with public research bodies like the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and state agricultural universities, took the lead in planning, coordinating, and executing the strategy. The government actively subsidized inputs such as High-Yielding Variety seeds, chemical fertilizers, and electricity for irrigation, and established minimum support prices to incentivize farmers, making it a state-led development model aimed at achieving national food self-sufficiency.

Explanation

The Cheraw dance is a traditional folk dance of Mizoram, characterized by the use of bamboo staffs. Commonly referred to as the Bamboo Dance, it is performed by both men and women during major festivals and after a bountiful harvest. In this dance, men sit face-to-face on the ground holding and rhythmically tapping long bamboo pairs against each other and the ground. Women perform complex, graceful steps by stepping in and out of the shifting bamboo squares in perfect coordination with the beats. It is widely recognized as one of the oldest traditional dances of the Mizo people.

Explanation

The Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development (DD R | D), who also serves concurrently as the Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), occupies the apex position (Level I) in the organisational structure of the department. This position reports directly to the Minister of Defence and carries the executive responsibility for leading all defence research and development programs, coordinating with the armed forces, and advising the government on scientific and technological aspects of national security.

Explanation

Pteridophytes are the earliest terrestrial plants to possess vascular tissues, namely xylem and phloem, which are specialized for conducting water, minerals, and nutrients throughout the plant body. This evolutionary development allowed them to adapt to land environments more successfully than their non-vascular predecessors, enabling them to grow much larger and taller.

Explanation

The Bailadila range of hills, located in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, is world-famous for its exceptionally high-grade hematite iron ore deposits. The name Bailadila translates to hump of an ox due to the unique shape of the hills. This region contains some of the richest and largest iron ore reserves in India, which are mined by the National Mineral Development Corporation. The high-quality iron ore extracted from these mines is primarily exported to countries like Japan and South Korea via the Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh, making it a critical hub for India's mineral export industry.

Explanation

The Battle of Karnal was fought on 24 February 1739 between the invading forces of Nadir Shah, the Shah of Persia, and the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. Nadir Shah's military tactics and superior firearms led to a decisive Persian victory over the numerically superior Mughal army at Karnal. This defeat severely weakened the Mughal Empire and allowed Nadir Shah to march into Delhi, where his forces plundered the treasury, seizing immense wealth including the legendary Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Explanation

Revenue deficit represents the excess of the government's total revenue expenditure over its total revenue receipts in a financial year. It indicates that the government's current earnings are insufficient to meet its day-to-day operational expenses.

The formula for calculating this is:

Revenue Deficit = Revenue Expenditure - Revenue Receipts

When the revenue expenditure exceeds the revenue receipts, the resulting difference is termed as a revenue deficit, which reflects the shortfall in the government's regular savings.