KSP Civil PSI 2017 — Paper 2 - General Studies (GS)

Walking 20 m West, then left (South) 10 m, then left again (East) 20 m: the East-West legs cancel out, leaving her 10 m South of the starting point.

Exoneration, Retribution and Acquittal all relate to the final legal/moral judgment on guilt, whereas Dismissal (rejection of a case/claim) is a procedural outcome rather than a verdict on guilt.

Each column sums to 36 (7+17+12=36, 8+5+23=36), so the missing middle number is 36-21-1=14.

Total distance to cover = 110+90 = 200 m in 10 s = 20 m/s = 20*18/5 = 72 km/hr.

DDT is a persistent organic pesticide that resists chemical/biological breakdown, so it accumulates in the environment and food chain as a non-degradable pollutant.

Apiculture is the branch of applied biology dealing with the maintenance and study of honeybee colonies for honey and other products.

Mitochondria generate ATP through cellular respiration, supplying the cell's energy needs, hence they are called the powerhouse of the cell.

Retinol is the chemical/common name for Vitamin A, important for vision and epithelial health.

The liver is the principal site of metabolism in the human body, processing nutrients, detoxifying blood and regulating metabolic pathways.

Mohenjodaro, on the Indus in Sindh, was the largest and best-preserved city of the Indus Valley Civilization, larger than Harappa.

Rishabhanatha (Rishabha) is regarded as the first of the 24 Tirthankaras of Jainism.

Ashoka's Rock Edict XIII is the one that famously narrates the Kalinga War and his subsequent remorse and adoption of Dhamma.

Shankaracharya propounded Advaita Vedanta (statement a is correct); Madhvacharya actually propounded Dvaita, not Vishishtadvaita (that was Ramanuja), so statement b is false.

Marco Polo travelled through India in the late 13th century, well before the Vijayanagara Empire was founded in 1336, so he could not have visited it; Nicolo Conti, Domingo Paes and Abdur Razzaq did visit it.

Facing sustained protest during the Swadeshi movement, the British annulled the 1905 Partition of Bengal in 1911.

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were convicted and hanged in 1931 in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, related to the murder of British officer Saunders.

The Simon Commission (1928), having no Indian members, was boycotted across the political spectrum, including the Congress, the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha.

Mahatma Gandhi presided over only one annual session of the Indian National Congress, held at Belgaum in 1924.

Purandaradasa (16th century) is honoured as the 'Father of Carnatic Music' for systematizing its pedagogy.

The Justice Lodha Committee (2015-16), set up on Supreme Court directions, recommended sweeping structural reforms to the BCCI.

The Government of India nationalised 14 major private banks in July 1969 to expand banking's reach and support planned development.

The United Nations designated 21 June as International Day of Yoga, first observed in 2015 following a UN General Assembly resolution.

Ram Nath Kovind was elected and sworn in as the 14th President of India in 2017.

SAARC's eight members are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan; Myanmar is not a member.

Kathakali is a classical dance-drama form that originated in Kerala.

MPG (MPEG) is a common video/movie file compression format.

According to successive All-India Tiger Estimation reports, Madhya Pradesh has consistently had the largest number of tiger reserves/tiger population among Indian states.

Ashwini Ponnappa, a badminton doubles specialist, has been conferred the Arjuna Award for her achievements in badminton.

Article 370 of the Constitution granted special autonomous status to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Battle of Talikota (also called Rakkasa-Tangadi), which broke Vijayanagara's power, was fought in 1565 against the combined Deccan Sultanates.

Karnataka's major thermal power stations (Raichur Thermal Power Station, Bellary Thermal Power Station) are located in the Raichur and Bellary districts.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg along with his Harvard roommates in 2004.

Jallikattu, the bull-taming sport, is traditionally held in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival.

Fundamental Duties were added to the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976, based on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendations.

The Electoral College for the President consists of elected MPs (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and elected members of State (and UT) Legislative Assemblies; members of Legislative Councils do not participate.

The Attorney General of India has the right to participate in and speak at proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, without a right to vote, as he is not a member.

Article 44, a Directive Principle, directs the State to endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for citizens.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called Article 32 (the Right to Constitutional Remedies) the 'heart and soul' of the Constitution, since it lets citizens directly approach the Supreme Court to enforce Fundamental Rights.

On returning from South Africa, Gandhi's first successful Satyagraha in India was the 1917 Champaran Satyagraha against indigo planters in Bihar.

In D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997), the Supreme Court laid down detailed guidelines to be followed during arrest and detention to prevent custodial abuse.

Jawaharlal Nehru presided over the 1929 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress, where the 'Purna Swaraj' (complete independence) resolution was passed.

The principal greenhouse gases are CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and water vapour; hydrogen is not classified as a greenhouse gas.

The Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016 introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in India.

Rabies is caused by the rabies virus, typically transmitted through the bite of an infected animal.

ORS stands for Oral Rehydration Salt/Solution, used to replace fluids and electrolytes lost during diarrhoea.

India is the world's second most populous country after China (it has since overtaken China per 2023 UN estimates, but at the time this question was set, India ranked second).

Kerala has consistently recorded India's highest sex ratio among states, per Census data.

Kyanite is an aluminium silicate mineral, not an atomic mineral; atomic minerals include uranium, thorium and monazite ores.

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu was built with technical and financial assistance from Russia.

Per the source's answer key, Tumkuru is cited as the district with the highest population in this context.

Applying the same letter-rearrangement pattern used to encode CALCUTTA as ACCLTUAT, KARNATAK is coded as AKNRTAKA per the answer key.

The man in the photograph's son is the speaker's only brother, which means they share the same father — so the man in the photograph is the speaker's father.

Vinod is currently 15 (20-5); with the 4:3 ratio, Arun is currently 20, so 3 years ago Arun was 20-3 = 17 years.

New area = (1.25)^2 = 1.5625 times the original, i.e. a 56.25% increase.

Total petrol used = 596 + 7120 = 480+840 = 1320 litres over 12 months, giving a monthly average of 1320/12 = 110 litres.

If x is solved correctly, 2x is wrong, so 3x = 48, giving x = 16 correct answers.

Shah Alam II was the nominal Mughal Emperor at Delhi at the time of the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), fought between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali's forces.

Among the major European colonial powers in India, the French East India Company (established 1664) was the last to arrive, after the Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Competitive examinations for entry into the Indian Civil Service were introduced by the British in 1853, opening (in principle) the service to Indians as well.

Mercury, with a diameter of about 4,880 km, is the smallest planet in the solar system.

Dadabhai Naoroji founded the East India Association in London in 1866 to represent Indian interests to the British public and Parliament.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on 1 August 1920, the same day the Non-Cooperation Movement was formally launched by Gandhi.

The Lucknow Pact of 1916 was an agreement between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League on constitutional reforms and Hindu-Muslim unity.

The 1920-1947 phase of the Indian freedom struggle, marked by Gandhi's mass movements (Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, Quit India), is regarded as the era of mass-based nationalism.

In chronological order: Minto-Morley Reforms (1909), Montague-Chelmsford Reforms (1919), Simon Commission Report (1930), Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) — i.e. sequence 2,3,4,1.

Article 32/226 empower courts to issue five types of writs: Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Certiorari and Quo Warranto.

The Seychelles archipelago lies in the western Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar.

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has its headquarters in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, following the establishment of the Nobel Foundation per Alfred Nobel's will.

Nelson Mandela (1990) and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) are the two foreign nationals honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Anna Chandy became independent India's first woman judge, appointed to the Kerala (then Travancore-Cochin) High Court in 1948 and later the first woman judge of a High Court in India.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, was established in 1909 with support from J.N. Tata and the Mysore state government.

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the UN, is seated at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.

The adult human skeleton normally comprises 206 bones.

The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, added by the 52nd Amendment (1985), lays down the anti-defection law disqualifying legislators who defect from their party.

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in the solar system that have no natural satellites (moons).

The Dronacharya Award is India's highest honour for sports coaches who have produced medal-winning athletes.

The Advocate General is the chief legal advisor to a State Government, appointed by the Governor, analogous to the Attorney General at the Union level.

The writ of Habeas Corpus ('you may have the body') is issued by courts to produce a detained person and examine the legality of the detention.

The Right to Property was removed from Part III (Fundamental Rights) by the 44th Amendment (1978) and made a mere legal right under Article 300A.

Under Article 124, a person is eligible for appointment as a Supreme Court judge if they have served as a High Court judge (or judges of two or more such courts in succession) for at least five years.

A bit (binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a digital/computing system.

The Bhakra Nangal Dam is built across the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh/Punjab.

Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

On 9 August 1925, revolutionaries of the Hindustan Republican Association looted a train's cash chest at Kakori, an event known as the Kakori Train Robbery/Conspiracy.

India's Rupee symbol (₹), designed by D. Udaya Kumar, was officially adopted by the Government of India in 2010.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. are all examples of social media platforms.

Kavirajamarga, the earliest available Kannada work on poetics, is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha I (or composed under his patronage).

Karnataka (then Mysore State) was formed in 1956 on the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission chaired by Fazal Ali.

The Mullaperiyar Dam, located in Kerala but operated by Tamil Nadu under a colonial-era lease, has long been a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Brownian motion is the random, erratic movement of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid, caused by collisions with fast-moving fluid molecules.

Sound propagates through air as a rapid, adiabatic process — compressions and rarefactions occur too quickly for significant heat exchange with surroundings.

The tesla (T) is the SI unit of magnetic flux density (magnetic field strength).

Cooking vegetables involves chemical changes (breakdown of complex molecules, Maillard/other reactions) that are not easily reversible, unlike a purely physical change.

Baking soda's chemical formula is NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate).

Sagar Samrat was India's first offshore oil drilling/production platform, deployed off Bombay High.

The Ganga basin is the largest river basin in India by area and population it supports.

Per the source's answer key, Bihar is cited as having jute industry presence.

National Highway 2 (the old Grand Trunk Road corridor) connects Delhi to Kolkata.

Arunachal Pradesh has India's lowest population density among states, owing to its mountainous terrain and low population.