GS: Hindi / English · Language questions stay in their original language.
150 questions · 150 marks · 2 hours 30 minutes
Choose one option per question.
Tap an option to check it, or open “See answer”.
Correct answer: (A) Rajagraha
The Prakrit name of Rajgir was ‘Rajagraha’, meaning the house of the king. Pataliputra was the later capital.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
‘The Hindu’ was started in 1878 by a group of young men including G. Subramania Iyer and Viraraghavachariar, so more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (C) ‘Common Sense’
Thomas Paine's pamphlet ‘Common Sense’, published in 1776, stirred the American colonists in favour of independence.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The Revolutions of 1848 were driven chiefly by the demand for political reform and democracy, but demands for economic equality and for national unity went with them—so more than one option applies.
Correct answer: (B) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar founded the revolutionary society ‘Abhinav Bharat’ in 1904.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Wood's Despatch of 1854 is called the Magna Carta of modern education in India—universities and departments of education came of it. So more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (B) Upanishads
The Upanishads, composed in the later Vedic period, hold philosophical thought on creation, the self and ethics.
Correct answer: (C) 1854
India's first cotton textile mill was set up at Bombay in 1854.
Correct answer: (C) ‘Peace, Land, Bread’
The Bolshevik slogan in the revolution of 1917 was ‘Peace, Land, Bread’—the three greatest demands of a people worn out by war.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The rising in the Garo Hills was led by Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma. All three names given belong to other regions, so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (C) Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to make a rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory by law for every house.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
National Waterway No. 2 runs 891 km along the Brahmaputra from Sadiya to Dhubri, which matches none of the options.
Correct answer: (A) Karnataka
Bennur is in Karnataka, where the remains of ancient irrigation works have been found.
Correct answer: (C) Satluj and Kali
The Himalaya lying between the Satluj and the Kali is called the Kumaon Himalaya. The part between the Indus and the Satluj is the Punjab Himalaya, and from the Kali to the Teesta the Nepal Himalaya.
Correct answer: (A) Meghalaya
This old way of leading water drop by drop through bamboo pipes is practised in Meghalaya, where areca nut and betel are grown on the slopes.
Correct answer: (B) Landslide
The Konkan Railway runs through the slopes of the Western Ghats in a belt of heavy rain, so it has to face the problem of landslides.
Correct answer: (A) South-west to north-east
The Betwa rises in the Vindhyan region of Madhya Pradesh and flows from south-west to north-east, joining the Yamuna.
Correct answer: (A) 100–200 cm
The average annual rainfall of Bihar lies between 100 and 200 cm—more in the east and less in the west.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The Hazira–Vijaipur–Jagdishpur gas pipeline is about 1750 km long, which is not among the options.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Kawar Lake lies in the Begusarai district of Bihar and is taken to be Asia's largest oxbow lake. All three districts given are wrong.
Correct answer: (A) Bird sanctuary
The uninhabited Pitti Island of Lakshadweep is protected as a bird sanctuary.
Correct answer: (B) Munger
Bhimabandh Wildlife Sanctuary is in the Munger district of Bihar, known also for its hot springs.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Purvanchal takes in the Patkai, Naga, Manipur and Mizo hills. The Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills belong to the Meghalaya plateau, so none of the options is correct.
Correct answer: (A) Ajmer
In Rajasthan mica is produced mainly from the area of the Ajmer district.
Correct answer: (C) Duns
The long valleys between the Lesser Himalaya and the Shiwaliks are called duns—Dehra Dun and Kotli Dun are examples.
Correct answer: (C) 1985
Phase I of the Ganga Action Plan was begun in 1985.
Correct answer: (B) Baba Budan Hills
The cultivation of arabica coffee in India began on the Baba Budan hills of Karnataka.
Correct answer: (A) Duns
In the duns the rivers drop their coarse debris as soon as they come down from the hills, so the alluvial soil there is of coarse grain.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Indian Railways is divided into more than eighteen zones, so all three figures given are wrong.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka are all among the chief cotton-producing states, so more than one of the groups is correct.
Correct answer: (A) Pir Panjal Range
The longest range of the Lesser Himalaya is the Pir Panjal, which closes the Kashmir valley on the south.
Correct answer: (B) Champaran
The largest producer of sugarcane in Bihar is Champaran, where sugar mills have stood since British times.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The Mahanadi basin spreads over Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, so more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (B) Guls
In the western Himalaya the channels that turn water from a river to the fields are called guls or kuls.
Correct answer: (A) Moist sub-humid
In Thornthwaite's classification eastern Bihar falls in the moist sub-humid climate, since it gets more rain than western Bihar.
Correct answer: (A) Kerala
Vembanad Lake is in Kerala and is taken to be the longest lake in India.
Correct answer: (B) Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam is a landlocked port—a narrow channel was cut to reach the sea, which is why ships lie safe there from storms.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
By the 2011 Census, Bihar held about 8·6 per cent of India's total population, which matches none of the options.
Correct answer: (B) Ambala
Ambala stands on the water divide between the Indus and the Ganga systems—water on one side goes to the Indus and on the other to the Ganga.
Correct answer: (A) Kannad Plain
The central stretch of the western coast is called the Kannad Plain; the Konkan lies to its north and the Malabar coast to its south.
Correct answer: (B) Bauxite
Katni in Madhya Pradesh yields mainly bauxite.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
India's largest producer of bauxite is Odisha, which is not among the options.
Correct answer: (B) 1973
The Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindive islands were named Lakshadweep in 1973.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
‘Rat hole’ mining is done in Meghalaya, where coal is dug out through narrow tunnels. All three states given are wrong.
Correct answer: (C) Chennai
India's first cement plant was set up in 1904 at Chennai, then Madras.
Correct answer: (C) 25.07 percent
Over the decade 2001–2011 Bihar's population grew by 25·07 per cent, well above the national average.
Correct answer: (A) The Shyok
The large tributary that joins the Indus in the Kashmir region is the Shyok, which rises in the Karakoram.
Correct answer: (C) Central Highland
The Malwa plateau is part of the Central Highland, which spreads north of the Vindhyas.
Correct answer: (B) Odisha
Odisha passed the first resolution for joint forest management, in 1988.
Correct answer: (C) Mayurbhanj and Kendujhar districts
The Badampahar iron-ore mine lies in the Mayurbhanj and Kendujhar districts of Odisha.