KSP KSISF PC 2017 — Paper 1 - General Studies (GS)

The Radcliffe Line, drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947, demarcates the international border between India and Pakistan.

The Golden Quadrilateral is a network of national highways connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, making it a roadway (highway) project.

The International Solar Alliance was jointly launched by India and France at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) to promote solar energy among sunshine-rich countries, with India as the proposing nation.

Residuary powers of legislation in India are vested in Parliament under Article 248, and are not explicitly enumerated as items within the Union, State or Concurrent Lists of the Seventh Schedule.

The North Channel is a strait separating Northern Ireland from Scotland (Great Britain), connecting the Irish Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, so it lies between England (Britain) and Ireland.

Bhagat Singh was a founding member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (Army), a revolutionary organisation formed in 1928 to achieve complete independence through armed struggle.

30 January, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, is observed in India as Martyr's Day (Shaheed Diwas).

The August Offer was made by Viceroy Lord Linlithgow in August 1940, promising dominion status after the war and expansion of the Viceroy's Executive Council.

The rock-cut and structural temples at Aihole and Badami were built under the patronage of the Chalukyas of Badami, showcasing early Deccan temple architecture.

All acids contain replaceable hydrogen atoms that ionize in water to release H+ ions, making hydrogen the element common to all acids.

This question asks for a missing angle in an accompanying diagram (likely using angle-sum properties such as angles on a straight line or around a point); since the original figure is not available here, the step-by-step geometric derivation cannot be reconstructed, but per the official answer key the missing angle is 35 degrees.

Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system, with a diameter of about 4,879 km, smaller than Mars, Uranus and Neptune.

Blood group O (specifically O negative) is known as the universal donor because its red cells lack A, B, and Rh antigens, making it compatible with recipients of any blood group.

Pathology is the branch of medical science that studies the causes, nature, and effects of diseases.

Murrah is a prominent breed of water buffalo, native to Haryana, renowned for its high milk yield.

Kadambari, a Sanskrit prose romance, was written by Banabhatta, the court poet of King Harshavardhana.

Dwarasamudra (present-day Halebidu) was the capital of the Hoysala dynasty of Karnataka.

Dantidurga founded the Rashtrakuta dynasty in the mid-8th century CE after overthrowing the Chalukyas of Badami.

An atom bomb works on the principle of nuclear fission, in which a heavy nucleus like uranium or plutonium splits into lighter nuclei, releasing enormous energy.

Enzymes are biological catalysts made up of proteins that speed up biochemical reactions in living organisms.

Cartography is the science and art of studying and making maps.

The concept of Fundamental Duties, added to the Indian Constitution as Article 51A by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, was inspired by the Constitution of the erstwhile USSR.

Udupi district does not share a border with Kerala; among the Karnataka districts, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, and Chamarajanagar are the ones bordering Kerala.

Pokhran, the site of India's nuclear tests in 1974 (Smiling Buddha) and 1998 (Pokhran-II), is located in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport is located in Lucknow and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is in Kolkata, both correctly paired, whereas Delhi's airport is Indira Gandhi International Airport, not Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Blockchain is a public distributed ledger technology originally created to record Bitcoin transactions, maintained through decentralized consensus among network participants rather than by any central bank via net banking.

The Thomas Cup is associated with men's international badminton team championship, not tennis, making this the incorrectly paired option.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy while working to prevent its use for military purposes, i.e., nuclear non-proliferation.

India is collaborating with Russia to help Bangladesh construct the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Article 33 of the Indian Constitution empowers Parliament to restrict or abrogate the fundamental rights of members of the armed forces and other such forces to ensure proper discharge of duties and discipline.

A firewall is a network security system used in computer security to monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on defined rules.

The French Open (Roland Garros) is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament played on clay courts.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an independent international organisation and not a specialized agency of the United Nations, unlike the ICJ, WHO, and ILO.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is commonly known as laughing gas due to the euphoric and mild anaesthetic effects it produces when inhaled.

Television remote controls typically use infrared (IR) rays to transmit signals to the television set.

Pyorrhoea is a disease affecting the gums, characterized by inflammation and infection of the tissue surrounding the teeth.

Xylem is a vascular tissue found in plants that conducts water and dissolved minerals from the roots to other parts of the plant.

Night blindness (nyctalopia) is caused by a deficiency of Vitamin A, which is essential for the functioning of retinal photoreceptor cells.

Lactose is the sugar naturally found in milk, composed of glucose and galactose units.

The pattern pairs consecutive integers' squares: 6²=36 with 7²+1=50, and similarly 8²=64 with 9²+1=82.

This is a diagram-based reasoning question requiring selection of the Venn diagram that correctly shows India and Pakistan as separate, non-overlapping countries, both being subsets of the continent Asia; the correct figure completes this relational pattern.

Jawaharlal Nehru founded the English-language newspaper 'National Herald' in 1938 in Lucknow.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 to train national workers dedicated to the service of the country.

The Mahad Satyagraha of 1927 was led by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to assert the right of the depressed classes (untouchables) to draw water from the public Chavadar Tank.

The Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) was reorganized under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose in Singapore in 1943.

91 is not a prime number since it is divisible by 7 and 13 (7×13=91), whereas 31, 61, and 71 are all prime numbers.

Kolkata (Calcutta) is popularly known as the 'City of Joy', a name popularized by Dominique Lapierre's novel of the same title.

Operation Flood, launched in 1970 by the National Dairy Development Board, was a dairy development program that made India the world's largest producer of milk, and is known as the White Revolution.

The Attorney General of India, under Article 88 of the Constitution, has the right to speak in and participate in the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, though without voting rights.

Petroleum is often referred to as 'liquid gold' or 'black gold' owing to its high economic value and critical importance as an energy resource.

Coimbatore is known as the 'Manchester of South India' due to its large and historic textile (cotton) industry.

Bhadra, Dandeli, Pushpagiri, and Shettihalli are all wildlife sanctuaries located within the state of Karnataka.

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which will be the world's largest optical telescope, is being constructed atop Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of Chile.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) comprises India, the United States, Japan, and Australia; China is not a member and is in fact the grouping's principal strategic focus.

United Nations Day is observed on 24 October every year, marking the anniversary of the UN Charter coming into force in 1945.

Margaret Court holds the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles won by a female tennis player, with 24 titles.

Pulses (legumes) are an excellent source of dietary protein, particularly important in vegetarian diets.

Sarojini Naidu, poet, freedom fighter, and the first woman President of the Indian National Congress, is popularly known as the 'Nightingale of India' (Bharat Kokila).

The Moplah (Mappila) Rebellion of 1921 took place in the Malabar region of present-day Kerala.

Adi Shankaracharya propounded the philosophy of Advaita (non-dualism), which holds that Brahman alone is real and the individual soul is identical to it.

Pataliputra (modern-day Patna) served as the capital of the Magadha Empire.

The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha was founded in Dharwad in 1890 to promote Kannada language, literature, and education.

Yakshagana is a traditional theatre form combining dance, music, dialogue, and elaborate costumes that originated in coastal Karnataka.

Krishnadevaraya, the most illustrious ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, belonged to the Tuluva dynasty.

Uttara Kannada district, particularly through the salt satyagraha at Ankola and Sirsi, played a major role in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 in Karnataka.

Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral used as an ore of copper, not an iron ore, unlike hematite, magnetite, and limonite.

The series consists of two interleaved sequences: the odd-position terms (7, 8, 9, ...) and the even-position terms (10, 11, 12, ...), each increasing by 1; the next term continues the first sequence as 10.

The All India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka (Dacca) in December 1906.

K. Kelappan led the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) in the princely state of Travancore, demanding temple entry and road-access rights for lower castes.

Jog Falls, one of India's highest waterfalls, is formed by the Sharavathi River in the Shimoga district of Karnataka.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a specialized agency associated with the UN system but is not one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, unlike the Secretariat, Security Council, and International Court of Justice.

Indian Standard Time (IST), based on the 82.5° E meridian passing through Mirzapur, is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Germany is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council; the five permanent members are the USA, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom.

Under Article 94 of the Constitution, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha may resign from office by addressing the resignation letter to the Deputy Speaker.

Emma Watson received the first-ever gender-neutral acting award (Best Actor in a Movie) at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards for her role in 'Beauty and the Beast'.

Bandipur National Park lies at the tri-junction of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, forming part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Tennis is not part of the Commonwealth Games sporting program, unlike boxing, squash, and cycling.

Pravin Godkhindi is a renowned Indian musician known for playing the flute in Hindustani classical and fusion music.

Gahirmatha Beach in Odisha is the world's largest mass nesting ground (arribada site) for Olive Ridley sea turtles.

The 'World Development Report' is an annual flagship publication of the World Bank.

Article 1 of the Indian Constitution states that 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States'.

Each letter in the code is shifted back by one position in the alphabet (T→S, A→Z, P→O); applying the same rule to F,R,E,E,Z,E gives E,Q,D,D,Y,D.

Each term is obtained by multiplying the previous term by 2 and subtracting 1 (23×2−1=45, 45×2−1=89, 89×2−1=177, 177×2−1=353).

This is a figure-based counting question; based on the given diagram, the total number of triangles formed by the intersecting lines is 10.

Assigning each letter its position in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5), ABCD sums to 1+2+3+4=10, and similarly BCDE sums to 2+3+4+5=14.

Let Satish's current age be S and Girish's be 2S. Three years ago: 2S−3=3(S−3), which gives S=6, so Girish's current age is 2×6=12 years.

Mrichhakatika ('The Little Clay Cart') was written by Shudraka, not Kalidasa, whose known works include Kumarasambhava, Meghaduta, and Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

The Yajurveda contains the rituals, formulas, and prose mantras to be uttered during sacrificial rites (yajnas).

The Satavahana dynasty was founded by Simuka, not Gautamiputra Satkarni, who was a later and most celebrated ruler of the dynasty, making this pairing incorrect while the Maurya and Shunga pairings with their actual founders are correct.

Queen Trishala, wife of Siddhartha of the Ikshvaku clan, was the mother of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism.

Badagutittu is a northern-style variant of Yakshagana, the traditional dance-drama theatre form of coastal Karnataka.

The Australian Open Grand Slam tournament is held in Melbourne, not Sydney, making this pairing incorrect.

The term 'Fourth Estate' refers to the press/media, recognizing its influential role as an unofficial fourth pillar of democracy alongside the legislature, executive, and judiciary.

Robert Mugabe was removed from power in Zimbabwe in November 2017 following a military intervention and impending impeachment proceedings.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who played a key role in India's missile development and space programs, is popularly known as the 'Missile Man of India'.

The 92nd Constitutional Amendment (2003) added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution; Bhojpuri was not included.

The Godavari, often called the 'Dakshin Ganga', is the longest river in South India, flowing through Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.

A half-marathon covers a distance of 21.0975 km (approximately 21 km), exactly half the distance of a full marathon.

The Right to Information, granted through the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a legal (statutory) right rather than a fundamental right under the Constitution.

As per international maritime law (UNCLOS) and the Indian Territorial Waters Act, a country's territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from its coastal baseline.