KSP Civil PSI 2019 — Paper 2 - General Studies (GS)

Milwaukee Deep, Java Trench and Challenger Deep are the deepest known points of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans respectively.

A seamount is an underwater mountain rising more than 1,000 m from the ocean floor without breaking the surface.

The Kuro Shio (Kuroshio) is a warm ocean current flowing along the Pacific coast of Japan.

Rahi Sarnobat won gold in the women's 25m pistol event at the 2018 Asian Games, becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual shooting gold at the Games.

An international consortium of scientists completed sequencing the full genetic code (genome) of bread wheat for the first time, reported in 2018.

The Judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court under Article 32, is regarded as the guardian and protector of Fundamental Rights.

India's first General Election under the new Constitution was conducted by the Election Commission over 1951-52.

Article 32 allows an individual to move the Supreme Court directly for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

Kisan Diwas (Farmers' Day) is observed on 23 December, the birth anniversary of former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Salil Parekh took charge as CEO and Managing Director of Infosys in January 2018.

BSNL launched 'Wings', a VoIP-based wireless intercom-style phone service, in 2018.

'The Remains of the Day' is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, not by V.S. Naipaul, who wrote works like 'A House for Mr Biswas' and 'A Bend in the River'.

As of 2018, 11 of India's biosphere reserves were part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Karnataka Police Flag Day is observed on 2 April every year.

The Union Government set up a high-level committee headed by Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to recommend measures/laws against mob lynching.

The first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was released for the state of Assam in 2018.

Actor Vinod Khanna was posthumously conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2017, announced/given in 2018.

Hiroshima is located on Honshu and Nagasaki on Kyushu, two of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago.

The Chalukyas of Badami built the celebrated temple complexes at Pattadakal and Aihole.

Jayasimha II of the Kalyani (Western) Chalukyas held the title 'Jagadekamalla' ('wrestler of the world').

Luka Modric of Croatia was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, is a supersonic cruise missile.

Michael Ondaatje's 'The English Patient' won the special 'Golden Man Booker' in 2018, chosen among 50 years of Booker Prize winners to mark the prize's anniversary.

The Nag anti-tank guided missile has been developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002) inserted Article 21A, making free and compulsory education a Fundamental Right for children aged 6-14.

The National Commission for Women partnered with Facebook to launch a digital safety/literacy programme for women.

Cochin International Airport (CIAL) was recognised by UNEP as the world's first fully solar-powered airport.

The Atal Innovation Mission, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, is run under NITI Aayog.

Indu Malhotra, previously a Senior Advocate, was directly elevated to the Supreme Court in 2018, the first woman to be so appointed straight from the Bar.

'Sagar Kavach' is a coastal security exercise conducted to test and strengthen India's coastal defence preparedness and identify gaps.

GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communications, a standard for mobile telephony.

BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System, firmware that initializes hardware during a computer's boot process.

Identity theft is the crime of stealing and using another person's personal/financial information to impersonate them.

A mirage is caused by total internal reflection of light in layers of air with different densities/temperatures near a hot surface.

A battery converts stored chemical energy into electrical energy through electrochemical reactions.

Tejinder Pal Singh Toor won India's first gold medal in athletics (shot put) at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

'Re-Unite', launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is a mobile app to help trace missing and abandoned children.

The Vishisht Seva Medal is a longstanding defence forces award, not a medal newly instituted for police personnel.

The Health Ministry banned manufacture and sale of Oxytocin for private use, following its rampant misuse to boost milk yield in dairy cattle.

Pinaka-II is a guided/enhanced version of India's indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system.

A periscope uses a system of mirrors/prisms (reflection) to let a submarine crew view objects above the sea surface.

Acceleration due to gravity (g) at a given location does not depend on the mass of the falling object.

Rusting (oxidation of iron to hydrated iron oxide) adds oxygen mass to the metal, so the rusted iron weighs more than the original iron.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is popularly known as laughing gas for its mild anaesthetic, euphoria-inducing effect.

Radium is extracted from pitchblende (uraninite), a uranium-rich ore.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 introduced the death penalty as a punishment for rape of girls below 12 years of age.

V-46-6 and V-92-S2 are high-powered multi-fuel tank engines manufactured in India under the Make in India initiative for the Army.

International Tiger Day, promoting tiger conservation awareness, is observed on 29 July.

India's first biofuel-powered flight (Dehradun-Delhi, 2018) used a fuel blend containing oil derived from Jatropha seeds.

Missile scientist G. Satheesh Reddy was appointed Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister).

Common salt (sodium chloride) exposed to air does not undergo a chemical reaction, since it is chemically stable and non-hygroscopic in pure form.

Plotting the points from the given directions and distances shows E, G and B lie on a single straight line.

Based on the plotted coordinates, point A lies to the East of point C.

Walking north from F and then turning right (East), the first of the listed points reached is E, based on the plotted positions.

A tank that lasts 10 days at the normal rate lasts 10/1.25 = 8 days if consumption increases by 25%.

Article 131 gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over disputes between the Centre and States (or between States).

The Department of Border Management functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Elections to Panchayats and Municipalities are conducted by State Election Commissions, not the Election Commission of India.

The writ of Mandamus literally means 'we command', directing a public authority to perform a duty it has failed to perform.

Swapping the first two letters of TUB, HUB, MUG, PAR and FOR does not yield any meaningful English word from the given set.

Arranging the letters of each word alphabetically, only one of the given words happens to remain unchanged.

Lord Canning was the Governor-General of India during the Revolt of 1857 and later became the first Viceroy.

Sangam literature refers to the earliest known body of Tamil literature, providing key historical evidence about ancient South India.

The Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), a peasant tax-resistance movement in Gujarat, was led by Vallabhbhai Patel, who earned the title 'Sardar' for it.

The Ajanta Caves, famous for Buddhist rock-cut art and murals, are located in Maharashtra.

Vitamin D deficiency impairs the body's ability to absorb calcium from the intestine, weakening bones.

If x km is walked, (50-x) km is cycled: x/4 + (50-x)/10 = 8 hours, solving gives x = 20 km on foot.

With South-East mapped to North and North-East to West (a 135-degree rotation), South correspondingly maps to North-East.

Selling two items at the same price with equal percentage profit and loss always results in a net loss, equal to (common%/10)^2, i.e. 1% here.

Since Ramya is prettier than Rashmi, it follows logically that Rashmi is not as pretty as Ramya.

Amartya Sen won the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the only Indian to have won a Nobel/Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is India's capital market regulator.

The G-20 comprises 19 countries and the EU; Thailand is not among its members.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has 10 member states.

In economics, only activities performed for monetary reward/market exchange are counted as economic activity; a parent teaching their own child at home (unpaid) is excluded.

Karnataka's major thermal power stations are located in Raichur and Udupi districts.

Ilkal, famous for its traditional Ilkal sarees, is a town in Bagalkot district, Karnataka.

Tungsten, with its very high melting point, is used as the filament material in incandescent electric bulbs.

Bt cotton is genetically modified to express a toxin gene from Bacillus thuringiensis, giving the plant built-in resistance to certain insect pests.

Gout is caused by the deposition of uric acid crystals in joints, leading to inflammation and pain.

The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India was headed by Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India.

The Grand Trunk Road, connecting the Indo-Gangetic plain, was rebuilt and extended under Sher Shah Suri's reign.

In the Maratha administrative system (Ashtapradhan), the Peshwa headed the Council of Ministers and eventually became the de facto ruler.

Devaluation refers to a deliberate downward adjustment of a country's currency value relative to other major currencies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank, performs the central banking functions.

Asia's first hydroelectric plant was built across the Kaveri at Shivanasamudra in the erstwhile Mysore State.

TESCOM is not one of Karnataka's electricity supply companies (ESCOMs like BESCOM, MESCOM, HESCOM, GESCOM, CESC).

The Sharavathi is a west-flowing river of Karnataka (draining into the Arabian Sea), unlike the state's other listed east-flowing rivers.

Mullayanagiri, in the Baba Budangiri range of the Western Ghats, is the highest peak in Karnataka.

Gokak Falls is in Belagavi, Abbey Falls is in Kodagu, Gerusoppe (Jog) Falls is in Shivamogga, and Barachukki Falls is in Mandya.

The Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam is noted as India's first completely indigenously built nuclear power station.

The Chambal river is a classic example of a superimposed drainage pattern in India.

Among India's Union Territories, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has the largest area.

The Mullaperiyar Dam, situated in Kerala but operated by Tamil Nadu, has long been a point of dispute between the two states.

India has provided technical and financial assistance to Nepal for strengthening embankments along the Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers.

The 1784 Treaty of Mangalore, which ended the Second Anglo-Mysore War, was widely seen as a victory for Tipu Sultan rather than the British, since the British had to concede on unfavourable terms.

Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala ruler, was originally a Jain (as Bittideva) before converting to Vaishnavism under the influence of Ramanuja.

The famous Mahmud Gawan Madrasa at Bidar was established by Mahmud Gawan, the able minister of the Bahmani Sultanate.

The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) visited the Deccan/Karnataka region during the reign of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II.

Karnataka has been the birthplace of several nationalised banks (Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank); Indian Bank, in contrast, originated in Tamil Nadu.