Solved Questions of Postal/Sorting Assistant Exam held on 12 May 2013 in Kerala Circle General Awareness Section

 Q1. Which of the following articles of Constitution says that the executive power of every state shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive power of Union?

(A) Article 258

(B) Article 355

(C) Article 356

(D) Article 257

Ans. (D) Article 257

Q2. The distance between earth and sun is greatest during:

(A) Winter Solstice

(B) Aphelion

(C) Perihelion

(D) Summer Solstice

Ans. (B) Aphelion

Q3. Which company has developed AKASH, the cheapest tablet computer?

(A) IBM  

(B) HCL  

(C) Datawind  

(D) Lenovo

Ans. (C) Datawind  

Q4. Bhopal Gas tragedy is associated with leakage of:

(A)  Carbon dioxide

(B) Methyl ISO cyanate  

(C) Sulphur Dioxide   

(D) Nitrogen dioxide

Ans. (B) Methyl ISO cyanate 

Q5. Who is the General Secretary of CPI(M)?

(A) Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy  

(B) Basudev Acharia            

(C) Prakash Karat              

(D) None of these

Ans. (C) Prakash Karat           

  

Q6. The central Government on 1st Jan, 2013 launched the pilot phase of direct cash benefits transfer scheme. Under this scheme the cash will be directly transferred to the intended beneficiaries through.

(A) Permanent Account Number linked Bank Account 

(B) Voter I D linked Bank Account  

(C) Aadhar-Linked Bank Accounts   

(D) Ration Card linked Bank Accounts

Ans. (C) Aadhar-Linked Bank Accounts   

Q7. Identify three leader states in wind energy among the following:

(A) Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar             

(B)  Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal

(C) Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh

(D) TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat

Ans. (D) TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat

Q8. Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia said recently that the term “Bimaru” states should be done away with. Which states was/were termed as Bimaru states?

(A) Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh

(B) Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh  

(C) Bihar, Uttar Pradesh

(D) Bihar

Ans. (B) Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh  

 Note: The term 'Bimaru' was coined by a demographer Ashish Bose in the early 1980s, whereby he had classified Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as laggards struggling to keep up in comparison with the growth rates set by other states.

Q9. Who was recently elected as vice President of Indian National Congress?

(A) Kapil Sibal

(B) Manmohan Singh

(C) P.Chidambaram 

(D) Rahul Gandhi

Ans. (D) Rahul Gandhi

Note: Rahul Gandhi on 19 January 2013 was formally elevated and was appointed at the position of party Vice-President of Congress at the Chintan Shivir organised at Jaipur in January 2013.

Q10. Recently consensus on GST have been arrived by center and states. What does GST mean?

(A) Gross Sales Tax

(B) Graded Sales Tax  

(C) Global Sales Tax

(D) Goods and service Tax

Ans. (D) Goods and service Tax

Note: The proposed nationwide GST is intended to usher in a uniform market for goods and services, cut business costs, and boost government revenue. The indirect tax would replace existing levies such as excise duty, service tax and value-added tax (VAT).

Q11. The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to ensure withdrawal of Non-CTS 2010 standard cheques with CTS standard-2010 cheques by:

(A)  30th April, 2013  

(B) 31st December,  2013  

(C) 31st March, 2013

(D) None of these

Ans. (D) None of these.

Note:- On March 19, 2013 the RBI has once again extended the deadline for issuance of new format cheque till July-end. It has asked the banks to issue new cheque books only under the new format and gave them time till July-end to withdraw the old format cheques . In December, the RBI had extended the deadline to convert to the new standard CTS-2010 by three months to March 31, based on the representations from stakeholders.

Q12. How many gold medals were won by India at Copa-Brasil-2012 Tournament of wrestling?

(A) Eight 

(B) Nine 

(C) Seven

(D) Six

Ans. (B) Nine 

Note: The Indian wrestling contingent finished with a rich-medal haul, including 9 golds and four bronze in the Copa Brasil-2012 tournament held in Rio from November 29 to December 2.

Q13. Who was named AIFF (All India football federation) player of the year 2012?

(A) Gouramangi Singh

(B) Sunil Chhetri 

(C) Syed Rahim Nabi

(D) Subrata Paul

Ans. (C) Syed Rahim Nabi

Q14. India on Oct-4, 2012 successfully test fired nuclear capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from a test range at Balasore. This was a:

(A) Air to Air Missile     

(B)  Surface to Air Missile

(C) Surface to Surface Missile                          

(D) Air to Surface Missile

Ans. (C) Surface to Surface Missile                           

Q15. The National Development Council has approved recently the 12th five year plan and set an annual average growth target of:

(A) 10%              

(B) 11%             

(C) 8.2%      

(D) 9%

Ans. (C) 8.2%      

Q16. Who was world biggest exporter of rice in 2012 as per the latest report by Food & Agriculture organization?

(A) China             

(B) Pakistan                    

(C) Thailand  

(D) India

Ans. (D) India

Note: India in 2012 surpassed Thailand as the top exporter for the first time in three decades, shipping 10.3 million tons of milled rice compared with Thailand’s 7.0 million. India could export 8.3 million tons of rice in 2013, making it the world’s leading rice exporter for two years in a row, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on May 07, 2013.

Q17. The government of India has given ……………..” languages of the 8th Schedule” the status of official language.

(A) 23   

(B) 26  

(C) 24   

(D) 22

Ans. (D) 22

Q18. Who is credited with the discovery of Electron?

(A)    James Chadwick

(B)     Rutherford

(C)     E. Goldstein

(D)    J.J. Thompson

Ans. (D)    J.J. Thompson

Q19. During the time of which Mughal emperor did the English East India Company establish its first factory in India?

(A)  Shahjahan

(B) Aurangazeb

(C) Akbar

(D) Jahangir

Ans. (D) Jahangir

Q20. The first temporary president of Constituent Assembly was:

(A) Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar

(B) Sardar Vallabhai Patel

(C) Dr. Rajendra Prasad

(D) Dr. Sachidanand Sinha

Ans. (D) Dr. Sachidanand Sinha

Note: Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the first president (temporary chairman) of the Constituent Assembly when it met on December 9, 1946.

Q21. Which among the following was the major demand of the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) organized under the leadership of Sardar Vallabhai Patel?

(A) Rollback of newly enhanced revenue rate

(B) Supply of Agricultural Inputs to farmers at subsidized rate

(C) Land to the tiller

(D) Increase of rates of labour wage

Ans. (A) Rollback of newly enhanced revenue rate

Q22. Find the incorrect statement:

(A) Full moon occurs when the moon comes between the Earth and Sun

(B) The difference in minutes between the Greenwhich time and the local time at a place can be derived by multiplying the longitude of place by four

(C) Spring Tide is caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun together in the same direction

(D) A line on a map that joins all places of the same height above sea level is called contour line

Ans. (A) Full moon occurs when the moon comes between the Earth and Sun

Q23. The refractive indices of Kerosine, Turpentine and water are 1.44, 1.47 and 1.33 respectively. Light will have maximum speed in:

 (A) Water

(B) Speed remains same for all

(C) Kerosine

(D) Turpentine

Ans. (A) Water

Note: Refractive Index= Speed of light in air/ speed of light in medium

Speed of light will be maximum in the medium which has lowest refractive index

Q24. Which of the following gases are given out during photosynthesis: 

(A) Nitrogen

(B) Hydrogen

(C) Oxygen

(D) Carbon dioxide

Ans. (C) Oxygen

Q25. What is the script of Ashoka’s inscriptions:

(A) Gurumukhi

(B) Hieroglyphics

(C) Dev Nagri

(D) Brahmi

Ans. (D) Brahmi