500 GK Questions & Answers
You don’t need to memorize a textbook. You need the right questions, in the right order, asked enough times that the answers stick.
This is that list. 500 questions. Split into Primary (basics every student should own cold) and Secondary (deeper knowledge for competitive exams and curious minds). Each answer sits right below the question. No fluff, no commentary. Just the question, then the answer.
Work through them section by section. Come back to the ones you miss.
Part 1: Primary GK (Questions 1–250)
The foundation. Geography, history, science basics, civics, and everyday knowledge. If you’re preparing for school exams or just want a solid base, start here.
Download 500 GK Question In PDF Format
1. What is the capital of India?
ANS: New Delhi
2. How many states are there in India?
ANS: 28
3. What is the national animal of India?
ANS: Bengal Tiger
4. What is the national bird of India?
ANS: Indian Peacock
5. Who wrote the Indian national anthem “Jana Gana Mana”?
ANS: Rabindranath Tagore
6. In which year did India gain independence?
ANS: 1947
7. Who was the first Prime Minister of India?
ANS: Jawaharlal Nehru
8. What is the largest planet in our solar system?
ANS: Jupiter
9. How many planets are in our solar system?
ANS: 8
10. What is the chemical symbol for water?
ANS: H₂O
11. Who invented the telephone?
ANS: Alexander Graham Bell
12. What is the capital of France?
ANS: Paris
13. How many continents are there on Earth?
ANS: 7
14. What is the longest river in the world?
ANS: Nile (approximately 6,650 km)
15. What is the tallest mountain in the world?
ANS: Mount Everest (8,849 m)
16. Who was the first President of India?
ANS: Dr. Rajendra Prasad
17. What is the national flower of India?
ANS: Lotus
18. What is the currency of Japan?
ANS: Japanese Yen
19. How many bones are in the adult human body?
ANS: 206
20. What is the speed of light?
ANS: Approximately 3 × 10⁸ m/s (300,000 km/s)
21. Who is known as the Father of the Nation in India?
ANS: Mahatma Gandhi
22. What is the smallest country in the world by area?
ANS: Vatican City
23. What is the capital of Australia?
ANS: Canberra
24. Which gas do plants absorb during photosynthesis?
ANS: Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
25. What is the largest ocean on Earth?
ANS: Pacific Ocean
26. Who invented the light bulb?
ANS: Thomas Edison
27. What is the capital of China?
ANS: Beijing
28. In which year did World War II end?
ANS: 1945
29. What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?
ANS: Diamond
30. How many sides does a hexagon have?
ANS: 6
31. What is the national sport of India?
ANS: Hockey (field hockey)
32. Who wrote “Romeo and Juliet”?
ANS: William Shakespeare
33. What is the capital of Russia?
ANS: Moscow
34. Which planet is closest to the Sun?
ANS: Mercury
35. What is the currency of India?
ANS: Indian Rupee
36. Who was the first man to walk on the Moon?
ANS: Neil Armstrong
37. In which year did Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon?
ANS: 1969
38. What is the capital of the United States?
ANS: Washington D.C.
39. How many zeroes are in one million?
ANS: 6
40. What is the formula for carbon dioxide?
ANS: CO₂
41. Which is the largest desert in the world?
ANS: Sahara (hot desert); Antarctica (if all deserts counted)
42. What is the smallest planet in our solar system?
ANS: Mercury
43. Who invented the airplane?
ANS: Wright Brothers (Orville and Wilbur Wright)
44. What is the capital of Germany?
ANS: Berlin
45. How many colors are in a rainbow?
ANS: 7
46. What is the full form of DNA?
ANS: Deoxyribonucleic Acid
47. Which is the largest continent?
ANS: Asia
48. What is the boiling point of water at sea level?
ANS: 100°C (212°F)
49. Who wrote “The Discovery of India”?
ANS: Jawaharlal Nehru
50. Which organ pumps blood in the human body?
ANS: Heart
51. What is the capital of Japan?
ANS: Tokyo
52. How many teeth does an adult human have?
ANS: 32
53. What is the chemical symbol for gold?
ANS: Au
54. Who was the first woman Prime Minister of India?
ANS: Indira Gandhi
55. Which planet is known as the Red Planet?
ANS: Mars
56. What is the national tree of India?
ANS: Banyan Tree
57. In which year was the Indian Constitution adopted?
ANS: 26 November 1949 (effective 26 January 1950)
58. What is the capital of Brazil?
ANS: Brasília
59. Who invented the internet (World Wide Web)?
ANS: Tim Berners-Lee
60. What is the largest organ of the human body?
ANS: Skin
61. Which is the longest river in India? \
ANS: Ganga (Ganges)
62. What does CPU stand for?
ANS: Central Processing Unit
63. What is the capital of Canada?
ANS: Ottawa
64. Who was the first Indian to go to space?
ANS: Rakesh Sharma (1984)
65. How many chambers does the human heart have?
ANS: 4
66. What is the full form of UNESCO?
ANS: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
67. What is the SI unit of force?
ANS: Newton (N)
68. Which city is known as the Pink City of India?
ANS: Jaipur
69. What is the capital of Italy?
ANS: Rome
70. Who invented the steam engine?
ANS: James Watt
71. What is the largest lake in the world?
ANS: Caspian Sea
72. How many letters are in the English alphabet?
ANS: 26
73. What is the chemical symbol for iron?
ANS: Fe
74. Who wrote “Harry Potter”?
ANS: J.K. Rowling
75. What is the capital of South Africa?
ANS: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)
76. What is the approximate distance from Earth to the Moon?
ANS: 384,400 km
77. Who was the first President of the United States?
ANS: George Washington
78. What gas makes up most of Earth’s atmosphere?
ANS: Nitrogen (about 78%)
79. Which city is known as the City of Joy?
ANS: Kolkata
80. What is the chemical symbol for Oxygen? \
ANS: O
81. How many days are in a leap year?
ANS: 366
82. What is the full form of ISRO?
ANS: Indian Space Research Organisation
83. Which is the largest country in the world by area?
ANS: Russia
84. What is the capital of Egypt?
ANS: Cairo
85. What does HTTP stand for? ANS: HyperText Transfer Protocol
86. Who painted the Mona Lisa?
ANS: Leonardo da Vinci
87. What is the chemical formula for common salt?
ANS: NaCl (Sodium Chloride)
88. How many players are on a cricket team?
ANS: 11
89. What is the capital of Pakistan?
ANS: Islamabad
90. Who discovered gravity?
ANS: Isaac Newton
91. What is the currency of the United States?
ANS: US Dollar
92. How many planets in our solar system have rings?
ANS: 4 (Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune)
93. Who was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution?
ANS: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
94. What is the capital of Mexico?
ANS: Mexico City
95. How many days are in February in a non-leap year?
ANS: 28
96. What is photosynthesis?
ANS: The process by which green plants use sunlight, water, and CO₂ to produce food and oxygen
97. What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
ANS: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative); Colombo (commercial)
98. Who wrote “Wings of Fire”?
ANS: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
99. What is the unit of electrical resistance? ANS: Ohm (Ω)
100. Which is the smallest state in India by area?
ANS: Goa
101. What is the tallest animal in the world?
ANS: Giraffe
102. What is the full form of UNO?
ANS: United Nations Organization
103. Who is known as the Missile Man of India?
ANS: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
104. Which is the fastest land animal?
ANS: Cheetah
105. What is the capital of Nepal?
ANS: Kathmandu
106. How many Fundamental Rights are listed in the Indian Constitution?
ANS: 6
107. What is the full form of AIDS?
ANS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
108. What is the capital of Bangladesh?
ANS: Dhaka
109. Who invented penicillin?
ANS: Alexander Fleming
110. What is the main gas present in the Sun?
ANS: Hydrogen
111. How many Lok Sabha seats are there in India?
ANS: 543
112. What does RAM stand for in computers?
ANS: Random Access Memory
113. What is the SI unit of temperature?
ANS: Kelvin (K)
114. Which city is known as the Silicon Valley of India?
ANS: Bengaluru (Bangalore)
115. Who invented the radio?
ANS: Guglielmo Marconi
116. What is the currency of China?
ANS: Renminbi (Yuan)
117. What is the largest bone in the human body?
ANS: Femur (thigh bone)
118. Which is the national river of India?
ANS: Ganga
119. What is the approximate speed of sound in air at room temperature?
ANS: 343 m/s
120. What is the capital of Argentina?
ANS: Buenos Aires
121. Who was the first Governor-General of independent India?
ANS: Lord Mountbatten
122. What does ATM stand for?
ANS: Automated Teller Machine
123. What is the chemical symbol for silver?
ANS: Ag
124. Which country is the largest producer of tea?
ANS: China
125. What is the full form of NASA?
ANS: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
126. How many Rajya Sabha seats are there?
ANS: 245 (238 elected + 12 nominated)
127. What is the capital of Spain? ANS: Madrid
128. Which vitamin is produced when skin is exposed to sunlight?
ANS: Vitamin D
129. What is the largest flower in the world?
ANS: Rafflesia arnoldii
130. Who was the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize?
ANS: Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913)
131. What is the capital of South Korea?
ANS: Seoul
132. What is the freezing point of water?
ANS: 0°C (32°F)
133. Who was Chandragupta Maurya’s adviser?
ANS: Chanakya (Kautilya)
134. What does PDF stand for?
ANS: Portable Document Format
135. Which is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust?
ANS: Oxygen
136. What is the capital of UAE?
ANS: Abu Dhabi
137. Who invented the printing press?
ANS: Johannes Gutenberg
138. Which planet has the most moons?
ANS: Saturn (146 confirmed moons as of 2023)
139. What is the capital of Saudi Arabia?
ANS: Riyadh
140. What does IoT stand for?
ANS: Internet of Things
141. What is the chemical symbol for copper?
ANS: Cu
142. What is the currency of the United Kingdom?
ANS: British Pound Sterling
143. Who wrote “My Experiments with Truth”?
ANS: Mahatma Gandhi
144. What is the largest country in Africa by area?
ANS: Algeria
145. What does GPS stand for?
ANS: Global Positioning System
146. Which planet rotates on its side with an axial tilt of about 98°?
ANS: Uranus
147. What is the capital of Kenya?
ANS: Nairobi
148. How many fundamental duties are in the Indian Constitution?
ANS: 11
149. What is the chemical formula for glucose?
ANS: C₆H₁₂O₆
150. Who was the first Chief Justice of India?
ANS: H.J. Kania
151. What is the currency of Japan?
ANS: Yen
152. Which is the world’s largest democracy?
ANS: India
153. What does LED stand for?
ANS: Light Emitting Diode
154. What is the currency of Australia?
ANS: Australian Dollar
155. In which year was the United Nations founded?
ANS: 1945
156. Who invented the microscope?
ANS: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
157. What is the capital of New Zealand?
ANS: Wellington
158. What is the smallest bone in the human body?
ANS: Stapes (in the ear)
159. Which city is called the City of Nawabs?
ANS: Lucknow
160. What is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area?
ANS: Lake Superior
161. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
ANS: Marie Curie (Physics, 1903)
162. What is the capital of Turkey?
ANS: Ankara
163. What does AI stand for?
ANS: Artificial Intelligence
164. What is the atomic number of hydrogen?
ANS: 1
165. Which is the hottest planet in the solar system?
ANS: Venus
166. What does WWW stand for?
ANS: World Wide Web
167. What is the capital of Nigeria?
ANS: Abuja
168. Who discovered the structure of DNA?
ANS: James Watson and Francis Crick (with key contributions by Rosalind Franklin)
169. What is the largest gland in the human body?
ANS: Liver
170. What is the capital of Thailand?
ANS: Bangkok
171. What is the full form of SIM?
ANS: Subscriber Identity Module
172. Who wrote “Arthashastra”?
ANS: Chanakya (Kautilya)
173. What is the SI unit of electric current?
ANS: Ampere (A)
174. Which country is called the Land of the Rising Sun?
ANS: Japan
175. What is the capital of Malaysia?
ANS: Kuala Lumpur
176. What does EMI stand for?
ANS: Equated Monthly Installment
177. Who is the current President of India (as of 2024)?
ANS: Droupadi Murmu
178. What is the capital of Sweden?
ANS: Stockholm
179. How many moons does Mars have?
ANS: 2 (Phobos and Deimos)
180. What is the full form of PIN?
ANS: Personal Identification Number
181. Who founded the Mughal Empire in India?
ANS: Babur (1526)
182. What is the chemical symbol for lead?
ANS: Pb
183. What is the capital of Portugal?
ANS: Lisbon
184. Which Indian state has the longest coastline?
ANS: Gujarat
185. What does MRI stand for?
ANS: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
186. Who was the last Mughal emperor?
ANS: Bahadur Shah Zafar II
187. What is the full form of CT scan?
ANS: Computed Tomography
188. Which is the world’s most spoken language by native speakers?
ANS: Mandarin Chinese
189. What is the capital of Norway?
ANS: Oslo
190. What does UNICEF stand for?
ANS: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
191. Who invented the calculator?
ANS: Blaise Pascal
192. What is the chemical symbol for potassium?
ANS: K
193. Which mountain range separates Europe from Asia?
ANS: Ural Mountains
194. What is the capital of Denmark? \
ANS: Copenhagen
195. What is the SI unit of length?
ANS: Metre (m)
196. Who was the first Indian woman in space?
ANS: Kalpana Chawla
197. What is the currency of South Korea?
ANS: South Korean Won
198. What does RADAR stand for?
ANS: Radio Detection And Ranging
199. Which blood group is the universal donor?
ANS: O negative (O-)
200. What is the capital of Finland?
ANS: Helsinki
201. What is the full form of GST?
ANS: Goods and Services Tax
202. What does SONAR stand for?
ANS: Sound Navigation And Ranging
203. What is the capital of Austria?
ANS: Vienna
204. Which river is known as the Sorrow of Bihar?
ANS: Kosi
205. What is the SI unit of mass?
ANS: Kilogram (kg)
206. Who invented the vaccine?
ANS: Edward Jenner (smallpox vaccine, 1796)
207. What is the capital of Switzerland?
ANS: Bern
208. Which blood group is the universal recipient?
ANS: AB positive (AB+)
209. What is the full form of BRICS?
ANS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
210. Which Indian city is called the Manchester of India?
ANS: Ahmedabad
211. What does HTML stand for?
ANS: HyperText Markup Language
212. Who was the first Indian to win the Booker Prize?
ANS: Arundhati Roy (“The God of Small Things,” 1997)
213. What is the capital of Ireland?
ANS: Dublin
214. How many time zones does India have?
ANS: 1 (IST: UTC+5:30)
215. What is the chemical symbol for sodium?
ANS: Na
216. What does OTP stand for?
ANS: One-Time Password
217. Who was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha?
ANS: G.V. Mavalankar
218. What is the capital of Poland?
ANS: Warsaw
219. What does IST stand for?
ANS: Indian Standard Time
220. What is the world’s deepest ocean trench?
ANS: Mariana Trench
221. What is the capital of Belgium?
ANS: Brussels
222. Who wrote “Godan”?
ANS: Munshi Premchand
223. What does QR code stand for?
ANS: Quick Response code
224. Which is the longest highway in India?
ANS: NH 44, from Srinagar to Kanyakumari
225. What is the atomic number of carbon?
ANS: 6
226. Who invented the battery?
ANS: Alessandro Volta
227. What is the capital of Greece?
ANS: Athens
228. Which Indian state is called the Spice Garden of India?
ANS: Kerala
229. What is the full form of WHO?
ANS: World Health Organization
230. What is the capital of Czech Republic?
ANS: Prague
231. What does CNG stand for?
ANS: Compressed Natural Gas
232. In which year did the Partition of India happen?
ANS: 1947
233. What is the SI unit of energy?
ANS: Joule (J)
234. Who was the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India?
ANS: Leila Seth (Himachal Pradesh High Court, 1991)
235. What does PNG stand for in image formats?
ANS: Portable Network Graphics
236. What is the capital of Hungary?
ANS: Budapest
237. What is the approximate age of the universe?
ANS: About 13.8 billion years
238. Who designed the Indian National Flag?
ANS: Pingali Venkayya
239. What does SAR stand for in phones?
ANS: Specific Absorption Rate
240. Which planet is known as Earth’s twin?
ANS: Venus
241. What is the capital of Romania?
ANS: Bucharest
242. What is the full form of FOMO?
ANS: Fear Of Missing Out
243. What is the SI unit of electric charge?
ANS: Coulomb (C)
244. Who was the founder of the Indian National Congress?
ANS: Allan Octavian Hume (1885)
245. What does PMGSY stand for?
ANS: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
246. What is the national emblem of India?
ANS: Lion Capital of Ashoka (from Sarnath)
247. Who wrote “Panchatantra”?
ANS: Vishnu Sharma
248. What is the capital of the Philippines?
ANS: Manila
249. What does UNESCO’s World Heritage Site designation mean?
ANS: A site recognized by UNESCO for its outstanding cultural, historical, scientific, or natural significance
250. What is the full form of NTPC?
ANS: National Thermal Power Corporation
Part 2: Secondary GK (Questions 251–500)
Deeper level. Economy, science, history, international affairs, environment, technology, and more. Useful for competitive exams like SSC, UPSC prelims, banking, and state PSCs.
251. What is the Preamble often called in Indian constitutional law?
ANS: The “Soul of the Constitution” or “Identity Card of the Constitution”
252. Which article of the Indian Constitution abolishes untouchability?
ANS: Article 17
253. What is the Gini coefficient used to measure?
ANS: Income inequality within a population
254. In which year was the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) established?
ANS: 1935
255. What is the process of conversion of water vapor into liquid called?
ANS: Condensation
256. Who proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection?
ANS: Charles Darwin
257. What does SEBI stand for?
ANS: Securities and Exchange Board of India
258. Which Indian city hosts the Kumbh Mela at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati?
ANS: Prayagraj (Allahabad)
259. What is the Doppler effect?
ANS: The change in frequency or wavelength of a wave as the source and observer move relative to each other
260. What does “per capita income” mean?
ANS: The average income earned per person in a country in a given year
261. What is the Chandrayaan-3 mission?
ANS: India’s lunar exploration mission that successfully landed on the Moon’s south pole in August 2023
262. Who gave the famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech?
ANS: Jawaharlal Nehru (15 August 1947)
263. What is a black hole?
ANS: A region in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape
264. What is the difference between weather and climate?
ANS: Weather refers to short-term atmospheric conditions; climate is the long-term average pattern of weather
265. What is the Rowlatt Act (1919)?
ANS: A British law that allowed detention of political prisoners without trial, sparking widespread protests in India
266. What is GDP?
ANS: Gross Domestic Product — the total monetary value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year
267. What is osmosis?
ANS: The movement of water molecules through a semi-permeable membrane from lower to higher solute concentration
268. Who designed the city of Chandigarh?
ANS: Le Corbusier
269. What does “fiscal deficit” mean?
ANS: The gap between a government’s total expenditure and its total revenue, excluding borrowings
270. In which year was the Non-Cooperation Movement launched?
ANS: 1920
271. What is the Hubble Space Telescope?
ANS: A space telescope launched in 1990 that orbits Earth and provides high-resolution images of distant galaxies and celestial objects
272. Who wrote “Indica”?
ANS: Megasthenes (Greek ambassador to the Mauryan court)
273. What is the theory of relativity?
ANS: Einstein’s framework showing that space and time are interwoven and that mass curves spacetime (Special Relativity: 1905; General Relativity: 1915)
274. What is the Kyoto Protocol?
ANS: An international treaty (1997) that committed industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
275. What is a budget deficit?
ANS: When a government spends more money than it collects in revenue in a given period
276. Who was Tipu Sultan?
ANS: The ruler of Mysore (1782–1799), known as the Tiger of Mysore, who fought against British colonial expansion
277. What is the greenhouse effect?
ANS: The trapping of the Sun’s heat in Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gases like CO₂ and methane
278. What does NITI Aayog stand for?
ANS: National Institution for Transforming India
279. What is Boyle’s Law?
ANS: At constant temperature, the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume (P ∝ 1/V)
280. In which year was the Battle of Plassey fought?
ANS: 1757
281. What is the Ozone layer?
ANS: A region of Earth’s stratosphere (15–35 km altitude) containing high concentrations of ozone, which absorbs UV radiation
282. What does EXIM Bank stand for?
ANS: Export-Import Bank of India
283. What is Newton’s First Law of Motion?
ANS: A body at rest stays at rest, and a body in motion stays in motion at constant velocity, unless acted on by an external force (Law of Inertia)
284. Who was the founder of the Mauryan Empire?
ANS: Chandragupta Maurya
285. What is the Malthusian Theory of Population?
ANS: Thomas Malthus’s argument that population grows geometrically while food supply grows arithmetically, leading to eventual resource scarcity
286. What does NASSCOM stand for?
ANS: National Association of Software and Service Companies
287. What is electrolysis?
ANS: The process of using electricity to drive a non-spontaneous chemical reaction, typically to decompose a compound
288. What was the Poona Pact (1932)?
ANS: An agreement between B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi giving Dalits reserved seats in provincial legislatures within a joint Hindu electorate
289. What is Coulomb’s Law?
ANS: The electric force between 2 charged objects is proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
290. What is the Paris Agreement (2015)?
ANS: A UN climate accord where countries committed to limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels
291. Who was Rani Lakshmibai?
ANS: The Queen of Jhansi who fought against British rule during the 1857 revolt
292. What is monetary policy?
ANS: The process by which a central bank controls the money supply and interest rates to achieve macroeconomic goals
293. What is the Periodic Table?
ANS: A tabular arrangement of chemical elements ordered by atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties
294. In which year was the Indian National Congress split into Extremists and Moderates?
ANS: 1907 (Surat Split)
295. What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?
ANS: A composite statistic measuring life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators
296. What is mitosis?
ANS: A type of cell division resulting in 2 daughter cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell
297. Who wrote “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India”?
ANS: Dadabhai Naoroji
298. What is the significance of Article 370?
ANS: It granted special autonomous status to Jammu & Kashmir (revoked in August 2019)
299. What is a writ of Habeas Corpus?
ANS: A court order requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge; protects against unlawful detention
300. What is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?
ANS: The exact position and exact momentum of a particle cannot simultaneously be known
301. Who started the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra?
ANS: Sant Dnyaneshwar (and later Eknath, Tukaram, Namdev)
302. What is the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
ANS: An international body that regulates and facilitates international trade between nations
303. What is Archimedes’ Principle?
ANS: When a body is submerged in a fluid, it experiences a buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced
304. In which year was the Quit India Movement launched?
ANS: 1942
305. What is the Green Revolution in India?
ANS: A period of agricultural transformation (1960s–70s) introducing high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, and irrigation, dramatically boosting food production
306. What is oxidation?
ANS: A chemical process in which an element loses electrons (or gains oxygen)
307. Who was Birsa Munda?
ANS: A tribal leader from Jharkhand who led the Ulgulan (rebellion) against British rule and forest laws in the late 19th century
308. What is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)?
ANS: India’s 2016 law providing a time-bound process for resolving insolvency of businesses and individuals
309. What is Faraday’s Law of Electromagnetic Induction?
ANS: A change in magnetic flux through a circuit induces an electromotive force (EMF) in that circuit
310. What was the Bengal Partition (1905)?
ANS: The division of Bengal by Lord Curzon into 2 provinces, triggering a massive nationalist movement; reversed in 1911
311. What does FEMA stand for?
ANS: Foreign Exchange Management Act
312. What is a catalyst?
ANS: A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process
313. Who was the founder of the Sikh religion?
ANS: Guru Nanak Dev Ji
314. What is the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC)?
ANS: The fraction of additional income that a consumer spends on consumption
315. What is radioactivity?
ANS: The spontaneous emission of radiation from unstable atomic nuclei as they decay into more stable forms
316. In which year was the Partition of Bengal revoked?
ANS: 1911
317. What does SWIFT stand for in banking?
ANS: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
318. What is the Krebs Cycle?
ANS: A series of chemical reactions in cell mitochondria that generates energy through the oxidation of acetyl-CoA into CO₂ and water
319. What was the Simon Commission (1927)?
ANS: A British commission sent to review India’s constitutional structure; boycotted because it had no Indian members
320. What does GNP stand for?
ANS: Gross National Product — total economic output produced by a nation’s residents, including output from abroad
321. What is quantum mechanics?
ANS: A fundamental branch of physics describing the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic level
322. Who established the first printing press in India?
ANS: Portuguese missionaries in Goa (1556)
323. What is the Blue Economy?
ANS: Sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth while preserving the health of marine ecosystems
324. What is Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation?
ANS: Every mass attracts every other mass with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
325. What was the Cripps Mission (1942)?
ANS: A failed British attempt to win Indian support for WWII by offering limited self-governance, rejected by both Congress and the Muslim League
326. What is stagflation?
ANS: A situation where inflation is high, economic growth is slow, and unemployment stays high simultaneously
327. What is CRISPR-Cas9 technology?
ANS: A gene-editing tool that allows scientists to precisely modify DNA sequences in living organisms
328. What is a derivative in finance?
ANS: A financial contract whose value depends on the performance of an underlying asset, index, or rate
329. What is diffraction?
ANS: The bending of waves around obstacles or through openings, causing them to spread out
330. Who was the political champion of the two-nation theory?
ANS: Muhammad Ali Jinnah
331. What is the Laffer Curve?
ANS: A theoretical curve showing the relationship between tax rates and tax revenue — at both 0% and 100%, revenue is zero
332. What is the photovoltaic effect?
ANS: The generation of voltage or electric current when a material is exposed to light
333. What was the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946)?
ANS: A British proposal for India’s constitutional structure suggesting a federal arrangement; ultimately failed to prevent Partition
334. What is the Multiplier Effect in economics?
ANS: The proportional increase in final income resulting from an injection of spending
335. What is the photoelectric effect?
ANS: The emission of electrons when electromagnetic radiation (like light) hits a material — explained by Einstein in 1905
336. In which year did the first general election in India take place?
ANS: 1951–52
337. What is quantitative easing (QE)?
ANS: A monetary policy where a central bank purchases assets (like government bonds) to inject money into the economy
338. What is the Bernoulli Principle?
ANS: In fluid dynamics, an increase in fluid speed occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure
339. What was the Government of India Act 1935?
ANS: A British law providing for a federal structure with provincial autonomy; formed the basis of many provisions in the Indian Constitution
340. What is deflation?
ANS: A sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services
341. What is DNA replication?
ANS: The biological process by which a DNA double helix is copied to produce 2 identical DNA molecules before cell division
342. What is the Instrument of Accession?
ANS: The legal document signed by Indian princely state rulers to join the Dominion of India (or Pakistan) after 1947
343. What is supply-side economics?
ANS: Economic theory arguing growth is best achieved by lowering barriers to production — through tax cuts, deregulation, and reduced government spending
344. What is a transposon?
ANS: A “jumping gene” — a DNA sequence that can change its position within a genome
345. Who was the first woman to become President of the Indian National Congress?
ANS: Annie Besant (1917)
346. What is the liquidity trap?
ANS: A situation where monetary policy becomes ineffective because people hoard cash even at near-zero interest rates
347. What is CERN?
ANS: The European Organization for Nuclear Research — home of the Large Hadron Collider
348. What was the Lucknow Pact (1916)?
ANS: An agreement between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League for constitutional reforms and joint political action
349. What is the Gig Economy?
ANS: An economy dominated by short-term contracts and freelance work, as opposed to permanent jobs
350. What is Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment?
ANS: A thought experiment illustrating the paradox of quantum superposition — a cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead until observed
351. What is the Right to Information Act in India?
ANS: The 2005 law giving Indian citizens the right to request information from any public authority
352. What is the tragedy of the commons?
ANS: The depletion of shared resources when individuals, acting in self-interest, use them beyond what’s sustainable
353. Who invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN?
ANS: Tim Berners-Lee (1989)
354. What was the Champaran Satyagraha (1917)?
ANS: Gandhi’s first major civil disobedience movement in India, fighting indigo farmers’ exploitation in Bihar
355. What is cognitive dissonance?
ANS: The mental discomfort from holding contradictory beliefs or taking actions inconsistent with one’s values
356. What is the Michelson-Morley experiment?
ANS: An 1887 experiment that failed to detect the luminiferous ether, paving the way for Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity
357. What is the Swadeshi Movement?
ANS: A nationalist economic strategy (1905) encouraging Indians to produce and use Indian goods, rejecting British imports
358. What is the Kuznets Curve?
ANS: A hypothesis suggesting that as an economy develops, income inequality first increases then decreases
359. What is CRISPR’s full form?
ANS: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
360. What is the Anti-Defection Law in India?
ANS: The 10th Schedule of the Constitution (1985) disqualifying legislators who defect from their party or vote against party direction
361. What is Nash Equilibrium?
ANS: A stable state in game theory where no player can benefit by unilaterally changing strategy, given the others’ strategies
362. What is nuclear fusion?
ANS: The reaction in which 2 light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing enormous energy (powers the Sun)
363. Who was Ram Mohan Roy?
ANS: The 19th-century Indian social reformer who founded the Brahmo Samaj and campaigned against sati and for women’s rights
364. What is the Higgs Boson?
ANS: A subatomic particle that gives other particles mass; confirmed experimentally at CERN in 2012
365. What was the Wavell Plan (1945)?
ANS: A British proposal for a new executive council with equal Hindu and Muslim representation; failed due to disagreements
366. What is the Precautionary Principle?
ANS: When an action risks harm, precautionary measures should be taken even if cause-and-effect relationships aren’t fully established
367. What is epigenetics?
ANS: The study of changes in gene expression that don’t involve changes to the DNA sequence itself — often influenced by environment
368. What is the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy?
ANS: Designated areas with special economic regulations to attract foreign investment and promote exports
369. What was the Nehru Report (1928)?
ANS: A draft constitutional framework proposed by Motilal Nehru’s committee, suggesting dominion status for India
370. What is the Phillips Curve?
ANS: An economic model showing an inverse relationship between unemployment and inflation
371. What is CRISPR used for in medicine?
ANS: Potential treatment of genetic disorders by editing defective genes; actively researched for sickle cell disease and cancer
372. Who was Subhas Chandra Bose?
ANS: Indian nationalist leader who founded the Indian National Army (INA) and fought against British rule using German and Japanese support during WWII
373. What is the Paradox of Thrift?
ANS: Keynes’ argument that if everyone saves more simultaneously, total savings in the economy decrease due to reduced income
374. What is a neutrino?
ANS: A subatomic particle with extremely low mass and no electric charge that rarely interacts with matter
375. What was the Morley-Minto Reforms (1909)?
ANS: Constitutional reforms introducing separate electorates for Muslims in India — later criticized for sowing communal division
376. What is the Revealed Preference Theory?
ANS: Paul Samuelson’s economic theory that consumers’ preferences can be determined by observing their purchasing decisions
377. What is the Chipko Movement?
ANS: A 1970s Indian grassroots environmental movement where villagers (especially women) hugged trees to prevent logging in Himalayan forests
378. What is structural unemployment?
ANS: Unemployment caused by a mismatch between workers’ skills and the requirements of available jobs
379. What is quantum entanglement?
ANS: A phenomenon where 2 particles become correlated so that the quantum state of one instantly influences the other, regardless of distance
380. What was the Ilbert Bill Controversy (1883)?
ANS: A British proposal allowing Indian judges to try European criminal cases; fierce opposition from British settlers revealed racial bias in colonial law
381. What is the Indifference Curve?
ANS: A graph showing different combinations of goods that give a consumer the same level of satisfaction
382. What is the Standard Model in particle physics?
ANS: The theoretical framework describing the fundamental particles and forces of the universe (excluding gravity)
383. What was the Permanent Settlement of 1793?
ANS: Lord Cornwallis’s land revenue system fixing land tax permanently for Bengal zamindars, effectively making them landlords
384. What is the crowding-out effect?
ANS: When increased government borrowing leads to higher interest rates, reducing private sector investment
385. What is the Tyndall Effect?
ANS: The scattering of light by colloidal particles, making the path of light visible (explains why the sky appears blue)
386. What is the Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization (LPG) policy in India?
ANS: Economic reforms introduced in 1991 under Finance Minister Manmohan Singh that opened India’s economy to global markets
387. What is the Zika Virus?
ANS: A mosquito-borne virus (Aedes) linked to microcephaly in newborns; declared a global health emergency by WHO in 2016
388. What was the Vernacular Press Act (1878)?
ANS: A British law allowing the government to censor Indian-language newspapers, sparking nationalist outrage
389. What is mean reversion in finance?
ANS: The tendency of asset prices and other financial metrics to return to their long-run average over time
390. What is the concept of externalities in economics?
ANS: Costs or benefits of an economic activity that affect parties not directly involved in the transaction (e.g., pollution as a negative externality)
391. Who was the first Indian Governor-General of India?
ANS: C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), 1948–1950
392. What is the Turing Test?
ANS: A test proposed by Alan Turing to determine if a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human
393. What is the continental drift theory?
ANS: Alfred Wegener’s 1912 theory that continents were once joined as a supercontinent (Pangaea) and have since drifted apart
394. What is the Bhoodan Movement?
ANS: Vinoba Bhave’s 1951 movement persuading landowners to voluntarily donate land to the landless
395. What is a monopsony?
ANS: A market structure where a single buyer dominates the market, giving it disproportionate power over sellers
396. What was the Kuka Movement?
ANS: A mid-19th century Sikh reform and protest movement in Punjab led by Baba Ram Singh, opposing British rule
397. What is the concept of diminishing returns?
ANS: As more of one input is added (holding others constant), the marginal output eventually decreases
398. What is epigenetic inheritance?
ANS: The transmission of gene expression changes to offspring without altering the underlying DNA sequence
399. What was the Hunter Commission (1882)?
ANS: A commission established to review the state of education in India, leading to increased emphasis on primary education
400. What is the concept of “animal spirits” in economics?
ANS: Keynes’ term for the instinctive urge to action by entrepreneurs — the confidence that drives investment
401. What is the Big Bang Theory?
ANS: The prevailing cosmological model explaining the origin of the universe from an extremely hot, dense state about 13.8 billion years ago
402. What was the Doctrine of Lapse?
ANS: Lord Dalhousie’s policy (1848–56) allowing the British to annex Indian states where the ruler died without a natural heir
403. What is opportunity cost?
ANS: The value of the next-best alternative foregone when making a decision
404. What is the Higgs field?
ANS: A quantum field permeating all of space; particles acquire mass by interacting with it
405. What was the Partition of Bengal’s long-term political effect?
ANS: It accelerated Indian nationalism, saw the rise of revolutionary groups, and catalyzed the Swadeshi movement
406. What is the velocity of money?
ANS: The rate at which money circulates in an economy — how many times a unit of currency is used in transactions per period
407. What is the Observer Effect in physics?
ANS: The disturbance of an observed system by the act of observation itself
408. What is PMGSY?
ANS: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana — a rural road connectivity scheme launched in 2000
409. What is the Law of Comparative Advantage?
ANS: David Ricardo’s principle that countries benefit by specializing in goods at which they have the lowest opportunity cost, then trading
410. What was the Ilbert Bill’s historical significance?
ANS: It exposed racial attitudes of the British in India and galvanized Indian nationalist opinion
411. What is moral hazard in economics?
ANS: When one party takes more risks because another party bears the cost of those risks (e.g., banks betting recklessly because of government bailouts)
412. What is the Stefan-Boltzmann Law?
ANS: The total energy radiated by a black body is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature
413. What is the Doctrine of Basic Structure?
ANS: A Supreme Court doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati case, 1973) that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution’s basic features
414. What is adverse selection in economics?
ANS: When buyers and sellers have different information, leading higher-risk parties to be more likely to participate
415. What is the Raman Effect?
ANS: The scattering of light by molecules that changes the wavelength of light — discovered by C.V. Raman, who won the Nobel Prize for it in 1930
416. What is PMJDY?
ANS: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana — financial inclusion program providing bank accounts to unbanked Indian households (launched 2014)
417. What is path dependency in economics?
ANS: The tendency for current decisions to be constrained by past choices, even if the historical circumstances no longer apply
418. What is the ITER project?
ANS: An international nuclear fusion research project in France aimed at demonstrating fusion as a large-scale energy source
419. What was the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919)?
ANS: British General Dyer ordered troops to fire on a peaceful crowd in Amritsar, killing hundreds — a pivotal event in Indian nationalism
420. What is price elasticity of demand?
ANS: The percentage change in quantity demanded in response to a 1% change in price
421. What is entropy in thermodynamics?
ANS: A measure of disorder or randomness in a system; the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that entropy of an isolated system never decreases
422. What is the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana?
ANS: A government scheme launched in 2015 to provide affordable housing to the urban and rural poor
423. What is the income effect in economics?
ANS: The change in consumption resulting from the change in real income after a price change
424. What is dark energy?
ANS: A hypothetical form of energy driving the accelerating expansion of the universe; makes up about 68% of the universe
425. What was the significance of the 1935 Government of India Act?
ANS: It introduced provincial autonomy and many of its provisions were incorporated into the 1950 Indian Constitution
426. What is game theory?
ANS: A branch of mathematics studying strategic interactions where each participant’s outcome depends on the choices of others
427. What is Planck’s Constant?
ANS: A fundamental physical constant (h ≈ 6.626 × 10⁻³⁴ J·s) relating the energy of a photon to its frequency
428. What is the UDAN scheme?
ANS: Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik — India’s regional air connectivity scheme launched in 2016 to make flying affordable in smaller cities
429. What is systemic risk?
ANS: The risk of collapse of an entire financial system or market, rather than a single entity — like what happened in the 2008 financial crisis
430. What is Maxwell’s demon thought experiment?
ANS: A hypothetical being that could sort fast and slow molecules in a gas, apparently violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics
431. What was the Lahore Resolution (1940)?
ANS: The Muslim League’s resolution demanding separate independent states for Muslims in the subcontinent — later known as the Pakistan Resolution
432. What is quantitative tightening?
ANS: The reverse of quantitative easing — a central bank reduces its balance sheet by selling assets, tightening money supply
433. What is the Drake Equation?
ANS: A probabilistic formula estimating the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way
434. What is PMKVY?
ANS: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana — India’s flagship skill development program for youth
435. What is the substitution effect in economics?
ANS: When the price of a good rises, consumers substitute it with cheaper alternatives
436. What is quantum computing?
ANS: A type of computation using quantum-mechanical phenomena like superposition and entanglement to perform calculations exponentially faster than classical computers
437. What was the Lucknow Session of Congress (1936)?
ANS: The session where Jawaharlal Nehru was elected Congress President and set a socialist agenda for India
438. What is a “currency war”?
ANS: When countries deliberately devalue their currencies to gain a competitive trade advantage — also called competitive devaluation
439. What is the Weak Nuclear Force?
ANS: One of the 4 fundamental forces, responsible for radioactive decay and nuclear reactions; acts only at subatomic scales
440. What is PMFBY?
ANS: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana — India’s crop insurance scheme launched in 2016
441. What is Rawls’s Veil of Ignorance?
ANS: John Rawls’s thought experiment asking what kind of society you’d design if you didn’t know your place in it — leading to principles of justice
442. What is the Casimir Effect?
ANS: A quantum phenomenon where 2 uncharged metal plates placed close together in a vacuum attract each other due to quantum fluctuations
443. What was the Morley-Minto Reform’s key outcome?
ANS: Introduction of separate Muslim electorates in India — a decision with lasting political consequences for the Subcontinent
444. What is Ricardian Equivalence?
ANS: David Ricardo’s proposition that whether a government finances spending with taxes or debt, consumers adjust savings accordingly and the economic effect is the same
445. What is the Theory of Everything (TOE)?
ANS: A hypothetical single framework unifying all physical forces and matter — an unresolved goal in theoretical physics
446. What is MGNREGS?
ANS: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — guarantees 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households
447. What is the concept of “peak oil”?
ANS: The hypothetical point at which global oil production reaches its maximum rate, after which it declines
448. What is Schrödinger’s Equation?
ANS: The fundamental equation of quantum mechanics describing how the quantum state of a physical system evolves over time
449. What was the Peshawar Conspiracy Case?
ANS: A 1922–23 British prosecution of members of the Communist Party of India for conspiracy to deprive the Crown of sovereignty
450. What is quantum tunneling?
ANS: The quantum mechanical phenomenon where a particle passes through a barrier it classically couldn’t penetrate
451. What is the AMRUT scheme?
ANS: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation — improving urban infrastructure in 500 cities across India
452. What is the Dunning-Kruger Effect?
ANS: A cognitive bias where people with limited knowledge in a field overestimate their competence
453. What is a quasar?
ANS: An extremely luminous active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole consuming surrounding matter
454. What was the Subsidiary Alliance System?
ANS: Lord Wellesley’s policy (1798) where Indian rulers accepted British troops and gave up foreign policy control in exchange for “protection”
455. What is the Giffen Paradox?
ANS: A rare case where demand for a good increases as its price rises — applies to essential inferior goods where the income effect dominates
456. What is a gravitational wave?
ANS: Ripples in the curvature of spacetime caused by accelerating massive objects; first directly detected in 2015 by LIGO
457. What is the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020?
ANS: India’s education reform replacing the 1986 policy — introducing multidisciplinary education, flexible curriculum, and mother-tongue instruction in early years
458. What is a Ponzi Scheme?
ANS: A fraudulent investment scheme where returns to earlier investors are paid using money from newer investors, not actual profits
459. What is the twin-slit experiment?
ANS: A landmark quantum mechanics experiment showing that particles like electrons exhibit wave-particle duality
460. What was the Satyashodhak Samaj?
ANS: A social reform organization founded by Jyotirao Phule in 1873 to fight caste discrimination and empower lower castes in Maharashtra
461. What is austerity in economics?
ANS: Government policies aimed at reducing budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or both — often during financial crises
462. What is the Chandrasekhar Limit?
ANS: The maximum mass (about 1.4 solar masses) above which a white dwarf star cannot remain stable and will collapse into a neutron star or black hole
463. What is the PM Vishwakarma Scheme?
ANS: India’s 2023 scheme supporting traditional artisans and craftspeople with training, tools, and credit access
464. What is the sunk cost fallacy?
ANS: The tendency to continue an endeavor because of past investment even when continuing no longer makes rational sense
465. What is quantum superposition?
ANS: The principle that a quantum system can exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured or observed
466. What were the Deccan Riots of 1875?
ANS: Peasant uprisings in Maharashtra against exploitative moneylenders under British-era land revenue systems
467. What is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)?
ANS: An economic theory arguing governments that issue their own currency can never run out of money and should use deficits to achieve full employment
468. What is the cosmic microwave background radiation?
ANS: Thermal radiation left over from the early universe, roughly 380,000 years after the Big Bang — strong evidence for the Big Bang Theory
469. What is the Samagra Shiksha scheme?
ANS: India’s integrated school education scheme covering pre-primary through class 12 under the National Education Policy
470. What is loss aversion?
ANS: The tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring equivalent gains (Kahneman and Tversky, Prospect Theory)
471. What is the Penrose Singularity Theorem?
ANS: Roger Penrose’s proof that singularities (like those in black holes) are an inevitable consequence of general relativity — part of his 2020 Nobel Prize work
472. What was the role of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) in colonial India?
ANS: The elite administrative service that governed British India; dominated by British officers and structured to maintain colonial control
473. What is the J-Curve effect in trade?
ANS: After a currency depreciation, a country’s trade deficit initially worsens before improving as exports and imports adjust
474. What is spin in quantum mechanics?
ANS: An intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by elementary particles — a quantum property with no classical analogy
475. What is the POSHAN Abhiyaan?
ANS: India’s national nutrition mission launched in 2018 to reduce malnutrition, stunting, and anemia among children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers
476. What is regulatory arbitrage?
ANS: Exploiting differences in regulations across jurisdictions to gain competitive advantage or avoid oversight
477. What is the anthropic principle?
ANS: The philosophical consideration that observations of the universe must be compatible with the existence of conscious life to observe them
478. What was the outcome of the Champaran Inquiry?
ANS: Gandhi’s 1917 investigation led to the abolition of the tinkathia system, freeing indigo farmers from forced cultivation quotas
479. What is a “digital twin”?
ANS: A virtual replica of a physical object, system, or process — updated in real time using sensor data; used in engineering and urban planning
480. What is Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem?
ANS: Kurt Gödel’s 1931 proof that in any sufficiently powerful formal mathematical system, there are true statements that cannot be proven within that system
481. What is the Hayflick Limit?
ANS: The number of times a normal human cell can divide (about 50–70 times) before reaching senescence
482. What was the Khilafat Movement?
ANS: A 1919–24 Indian Muslim movement to protect the Ottoman Caliphate, allied with Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement
483. What is the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH)?
ANS: The theory that financial markets reflect all available information in asset prices at all times
484. What is Faraday’s constant?
ANS: The electric charge carried by one mole of electrons (approximately 96,485 coulombs per mole)
485. What is the Mandate System (post-WWI)?
ANS: The League of Nations’ framework placing former German and Ottoman territories under the administration of Allied powers
486. What is a secondary market in finance?
ANS: A market where previously issued financial instruments like stocks and bonds are bought and sold (e.g., NSE, BSE)
487. What is the Biosphere?
ANS: The global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interactions with the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere
488. What is the Doha Development Agenda (DDA)?
ANS: A trade negotiation round launched in 2001 under the WTO aimed at lowering trade barriers and revising trade rules
489. What is behavioral economics?
ANS: A field combining psychology and economics to explain why people often make irrational financial decisions
490. What is the concept of “comparative advantage” vs “absolute advantage”?
ANS: Absolute advantage means producing more efficiently; comparative advantage means lower opportunity cost — trade benefits even if one party has absolute advantage in everything
491. What is the Law of Demand?
ANS: Holding all else equal, as the price of a good rises, the quantity demanded falls (inverse relationship)
492. What is the Naxalite Movement?
ANS: A communist insurgency in India originating in Naxalbari (1967), fighting for land rights for the rural poor through armed struggle
493. What is the concept of “brain drain”?
ANS: The emigration of highly trained or educated individuals from their home country to another, usually for better pay or opportunities
494. What is the World Bank’s primary function?
ANS: Providing financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (infrastructure, education, health, etc.)
495. What is the Full Employment concept in macroeconomics?
ANS: A condition where all available labor resources are being used in the most economically efficient way; typically includes a small level of natural unemployment
496. What is the Mandal Commission?
ANS: A 1979 Indian commission that recommended 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in government jobs (implemented 1990)
497. What is dark matter?
ANS: Hypothetical matter that doesn’t interact with electromagnetic radiation but exerts gravitational effects; makes up about 27% of the universe
498. What does FRBM stand for?
ANS: Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (India, 2003)
499. What is the concept of “food security”?
ANS: When all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food
500. What is the significance of the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973)?
ANS: The Supreme Court ruled that Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot alter its basic structure — one of the most important constitutional judgments in Indian history