GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs

Q1. Which gas is used to disinfect water in swimming pools ?
(A) Hydrogen
(B) Nitrogen
(C) Chlorine
(D) Oxygen

Q2. ’Royal Bengal’, ‘Sumatran’, ‘Malayan’ and ‘Siberian’ are the species of which member of cat family ?
(A) Lion
(B) Tiger
(C) Leopard
(D) Jaguar

Q3. Which was the first state in the India to be formed on a purely linguistic basis, in 1953 ?
(A) Punjab
(B) Gujarat
(C) Andhra Pradesh
(D) Tamil Nadu

Q4. Which 19th century social reformer from Maharashtra was popularly known as ‘Lokhitwadi’ ?
(A) Mahadev Govind Ranade
(B) Dhondo Keshav Karve
(C) Mahatma Jyotirao Phule
(D) Gopal Hari Deshmukh


Q5. In humans, which protein transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of body ?
(A) Lectin
(B) Keratin
(C) Collagen
(D) Hemoglobin


Q6. The union territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands is under the jurisdiction of which High Court ?
(A) Orissa High Court
(B) Andhra Pradesh High Court
(C) Kolkata High Court
(D) Madras High Court

Q7. Ganymede, the largest natural satellite in the Solar System, is a natural satellite (moon) of which planet ?
(A) Mars
(B) Jupiter
(C) Saturn
(D) Uranus


Q8. Which princely state was the first to be annexed to the British East India Company under the Doctrine of Lapse policy, devised by Lord Dalhousie ?
(A) Satara
(B) Sambalpur
(C) Jhansi
(D) Awadh

Q9. Which water body seprates the Africa from the Europe ?
(A) Suez Canal
(B) Panama Canal
(C) Palk Strait
(D) Strait of Gibraltar


Q10. Which American President in his famous Gettysberg speech defined democracy as the ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ ?
(A) Abraham Lincoln
(B) George Washington
(C) John F. Kennedy
(D) Theodore Roosevelt

Q11. What is the popular name of Sodium Chloride ?
(A) Epsom Salt
(B) Common Salt
(C) Baking Soda
(D) Washing Soda

Q12. ’Satyameva Jayate’, the national motto of India, has been teken from which Upanishad ?
(A) Kena
(B) Katha
(C) Mundaka
(D) Aitareya

Q13. On the banks of which river is the city of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir, situated ?
(A) Ravi
(B) Tawi
(C) Tapti
(D) Gomti

Q14. How do we better know social activist Murlidhar Devidas, the founder of leprosy rehabilitation center ‘Anandvan’ in Maharashtra ?
(A) Baba Amte
(B) Vinoba Bhave
(C) Swami Ramdev
(D) Swami Agnivesh

Q15. Which passenger train service connects Kolkata (India) with Dhaka (Bangladesh) ?
(A) Thar Express
(B) Samjhauta Express
(C) Maitreyi Express
(D) Himsagar Express

Q16. To the Greeks, which Maurya ruler was known as ‘Sandrokottos’ ?
(A) Bindusara
(B) Ashok the Great
(C) Chandragupta Maurya
(D) Dasaratha Maurya

Q17. In 1998, which internet search engine company was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin ?
(A) Google
(B) Alta Vista
(C) Yahoo
(D) Lycos

Q18. ’By God’s Decree’, ‘Cricket my style’ and ‘Straight from the Heart’ are the autobiographies of which Indian cricketer ?
(A) Sunil Gavaskar
(B) Ajit Wadekar
(C) Sandeep Patil
(D) Kapil Dev


Q19. On 21st July 1969, at which site did Neil Armstrong set his foot on the Moon ?
(A) Sea of Waves
(B) Sea of Clouds
(C) Sea of Serenity
(D) Sea of Tranquility


Q20. Due to its ability to dissolve glass, which acid is not kept in glass container ?
(A) Nitric Acid
(B) Sulphuric Acid
(C) Hydrochloric Acid
(D) Hydrofluoric Acid



Q21. Which state is known as the ‘Spice Garden of India’ ?
(A) Kerala
(B) Karnataka
(C) Andhra Pradesh
(D) Tamil Nadu

Q22. Which Marathi newspaper is the mouthpiece of Shiv Sena ?
(A) Saamna
(B) Sakal
(C) Lokmat
(D) Loksatta

Q23. Constituting about 78% by volume, which is the most abundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere ?
(A) Argon
(B) Oxygen
(C) Nitrogen
(D) Carbon dioxide

Q24. Koyna Hydroelectric Power Project constructed over Koyna river, a tributary of Krishna river, is located in which state ?
(A) Karnataka
(B) Maharashtra
(C) Andhra Pradesh
(D) Madhya Pradesh

Q25. For Lok Sabha, how many members from the Anglo-Indian community are nominated by the President of India ?
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4

Q26. The Grand Trunk Road (GT Road), running from Peshawar in Pakistan to Sonargaon in Bangladesh, was built by which ruler ?
(A) Babur
(B) Akbar
(C) Sher Shah Suri
(D) Humayun

Q27. Which American swimmer created history by winning 8 gold medals in Beijing Olympic 2008, the most gold medals by an individual at a single Olympic ?
(A) Carl Lewis
(B) Paavo Nurmi
(C) Mark Spitz
(D) Michael Phelps


Q28. Which Muslim social reformer founded the Aligarh Muslim University, originally known as Mohammeden Anglo-Oriental College, in 1875 ?
(A) Zakir Hussain
(B) Hakim Ajmal Khan
(C) Syed Ahmed Khan
(D) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Q29. Which chennai born writer won the Booker Prize 2008 for his debut novel ‘The White Tiger’ ?
(A) V.S.Naipaul
(B) Amitav Ghosh
(C) Salman Rushdie
(D) Aravind Adiga


Q30. ’Fight the guerrilla as a guerrilla’ is the motto of which miltary academy ?
(A) National Defence Academy
(B) Indian Military Academy
(C) Defence Services Staff College
(D) Counterinsurgency & Jungle Warfare School



Q31. Who was the first Indian woman to win Miss Asia Pacific title in 1970 ?
(A) Rita Faria
(B) Zeenat Aman
(C) Tara Anne Fonseca
(D) Diya Mirza

Q32. Who wrote India’s natinal song the ‘Vande Mataram’, which first appeared in the book ‘Anandmath’ ?
(A) Rabindranath Tagore
(B) Bankimchandra Chatterjee
(C) Mohammed Iqbal
(D) Kavi Pradeep

Q33. How many times Equinox, when Sun is vertically above the Earth’s equator and the day & night are equally long, occurs in a year ?
(A) Two
(B) Three
(C) Four
(D) Not fixed

Q34. After attaining enlightenment, where did Gautama Buddha deliver his first sermon ‘Dharamachakra Pravartan’ (set in motion Wheel of Law) ?
(A) Bodh Gaya (Bihar)
(B) Sarnath (U.P.)
(C) Kushinagar (U.P.)
(D) Sanchi (M.P.)

Q35. Which Asian country is known as the ‘Land of the White Elephants’ ?
(A) Thailand
(B) Indonesia
(C) Malaysia
(D) Singapore

Q36. Who is the first chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up recently to investigate terror-related cases across the country ?
(A) K.C.Verma
(B) N.P.S.Aulakh
(C) Radha Vinod Raju
(D) Ashwani Kumar

Q37. Who invented Smallpox Vaccine ?
(A) Jonas Salk
(B) Frederick Banting
(C) Edward Jenner
(D) Louis Pasteur

Q38. Which freedom fighter authored ‘Gita Rahasya’, a commentary on Bhagvad Gita, during his imprisonment at Mandalay in Myanmar ?
(A) Vinoba Bhave
(B) Mahatma Gandhi
(C) C.Rajagopalachari
(D) Bal Gangadhar Tilak


Q39. Considered as the symbol of peace, two branches of which tree are depicted on the United Nations (UN) flag ?
(A) Neem
(B) Mango
(C) Olive
(D) Eucalyptus

Q40. Which city is served by the Veer Savarkar Airport ?
(A) Nasik
(B) Nagpur
(C) Mumbai
(D) Port Blair



Q41. For which domestic Cricket trophy, the Ranji Trophy champions play against the Rest of India team ?
(A) Irani Trophy
(B) Duleep Trophy
(C) Deodhar Trophy
(D) Nissar Trophy

Q42. Which garden near Chandigarh was built by Aurangzeb’s foster brother Fidai Khan ?
(A) Shalimar Gardens
(B) Nishat Gardens
(C) Brindavan Gardens
(D) Pinjore Gardens


Q43. Who was the first education minister of independent India ?
(A) Lal Bahadur Shastri
(B) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
(C) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
(D) Vallabhbhai Patel

Q44. Which city houses the headquarters of United Nations (UN) ?
(A) Vienna (Austria)
(B) Geneva (Switzerland)
(C) New York (USA)
(D) Washington (USA)

Q45. Which among the following is the measuring unit of electric current ?
(A) Ohm
(B) Volt
(C) Watt
(D) Ampere


Q46. Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, the largest Hindu temple in the world, is dedicated to which God ?
(A) Surya
(B) Shiva
(C) Vishnu
(D) Brahma

Q47. Where is the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the launching site of the Chandrayaan-I, located ?
(A) Thumba (Kerala)
(B) Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh)
(C) Bangalore (Karnataka)
(D) Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)

Q48. Which African country was formerly known as ‘Nyasaland’ ?
(A) Malawi
(B) Ghana
(C) Botswana
(D) Tanzania

Q49. ’Long Walk To Freedom’ is the autobiography of which Bharat Ratna recipient ?
(A) Jawaharlal Nehru
(B) S.Radhakrishnan
(C) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
(D) Nelson Mandela


Q50. Which island nation, in the Indian Ocean, is the world’s largest producer and exporter of Vanilla ?
(A) Maldives
(B) Madagascar
(C) Sri Lanka
(D) Mauritius

Q51. Gol Ghar, a beehive shaped structure built in 1786 to store grains for the British Army, is located in which city ?
(A) Meerut
(B) Chennai
(C) Kolkata
(D) Patna

Q52. In humans, which dark brown pigment is responsible for the skin colour ?
(A) Melanin
(B) Bilirubin
(C) Carotene
(D) Hemoglobin

Q53. Who wrote the famous novel ‘Devdas’ ?
(A) Rabindranath Tagore
(B) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
(C) Sharat Chandra Chatterjee
(D) Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay

Q54. Which freedom fighter was popularly known as ‘Lokpriya’ ?
(A) Gopinath Bordoloi
(B) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
(C) Chittaranjan Das
(D) Jayaprakash Narain

Q55. Which battle lead to the disintegration of Vijayanagar empire of south India ?
(A) Battle of Plassey (1757)
(B) Battle of Buxar (1764)
(C) Battle of Talikota (1565)
(D) Battle of Seringapatam (1799)

Q56. In which city is the Indian Institute of Pulses Research located ?
(A) Lucknow
(B) Nagpur
(C) Indore
(D) Kanpur


Q57. Pinaka, the multi barrel rocket launcher produced in India, is named after which Hindu God’s bow ?
(A) Indra
(B) Shiva
(C) Vishnu
(D) Brahma

Q58. Which scale is used to measure the Acid or Alkali (Base) content of a substance ?
(A) Mohs scale
(B) Beaufort scale
(C) Richter scale
(D) pH scale


Q59. Which disease, named after a Japanese city where it was first observed, is caused by severe Mercury poisoning ?
(A) Argyria
(B) Minamata
(C) Itai-itai
(D) Devon colic

Q60. Who was the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Royal Society (FRS) ?
(A) Srinivasa Ramanujan
(B) Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia
(C) Jagadish Chandra Bose
(D) Meghnad Saha

Q61. Which among the following is not a Kharif crop ?
(A) Mustard
(B) Sugarcane
(C) Groundnut
(D) Maize

Q62. Which monument was built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1591 to commemorate the end of the plague in his capital ?
(A) Taj Mahal, Agra
(B) Hawa Mahal, Jaipur
(C) Gol Gumbad, Bijapur
(D) Charminar, Hyderabad


Q63. For the popularization of science, which agency of United Nations (UN) awards the Kalinga Prize ?
(A) UNIDO
(B) UNESCO
(C) UNICEF
(D) UNHRC

Q64. ’Lawsons Bay Beach’ and ‘Ramakrishna Beach’ are located in which port city on the Bay of Bengal ?
(A) Paradip (Orissa)
(B) Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
(C) Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu)
(D) Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)


Q65. Which ancient Indian physician is known as the ‘Father of Modern Plastic Surgery’ ?
(A) Charak
(B) Madhav
(C) Sushruta
(D) Patanjali

Q66. Who directed Oscar award winning short documentary film ‘Smile Pinki’ (2008) ?
(A) Danny Boyle
(B) Megan Mylan
(C) Andrew Stanton
(D) Gus Van Sant

Q67. Who presided over the first session of the All India Trade Union Cogress in 1920 ?
(A) M.N.Roy
(B) V.V.Giri
(C) Lala Lajpat Rai
(D) Shripad Amrut Dange

Q68. On which planet, due to its clockwise (east to west) rotation on the axis, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east ?
(A) Mars
(B) Earth
(C) Venus
(D) Mercury

Q69. By what name is British lady Madeleine Slade, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, better known ?
(A) Meera Ben
(B) Sister Nivedita
(C) The Mother
(D) Sarla Ben

Q70. For his major role in the development of computer chip ‘Pentium’, which indian IT expert is called the ‘Father of Pentium’ ?
(A) Sabeer Bhatia
(B) Vinod Dham
(C) Vinod Khosla
(D) Vijay Bhatkar

Q71. In which sport, each team consists of four male and four female players ?
(A) Baseball
(B) Volleyball
(C) Korfball
(D) Hockey

Q72. What is the term of a member of Rajya Sabha ?
(A) 3 years
(B) 4 years
(C) 5 years
(D) 6 years


Q73. In which state is the Kanchenjunga, the second highest mountain peak in India, located ?
(A) Sikkim
(B) Jammu & Kashmir
(C) Himachal Pradesh
(D) Uttarakhand

Q74. What does the Pisciculture refers to ?
(A) Beekeeping
(B) Fish Farming
(C) Silk Farming
(D) Dairy Farming

Q75. In 1906, at the founding session of all India Muslim League in Dhaka, who became the first president of the party ?
(A) Mohammed Ali Jinnah
(B) Syed Ahmed Khan
(C) Mohammed Iqbal
(D) Nawab Salimullah Khan


Q76. Which is the longest National Highways in India ?
(A) Kolkata – Hazira (NH6)
(B) Chennai – Baharagora (NH5)
(C) Varanasi – Kanyakumari (NH7)
(D) Pathankot – Samakhiali (NH15)

Q77. How do we better know nineteenth century spiritual guru Gadadhar Chatterjee ?
(A) Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
(B) Ramakrishna Paramhans
(C) Swami Dayanand Saraswati
(D) Swami Vivekanand

Q78. Stapes, the smallest and the lightest bone in human body, is the part of which organ ?
(A) Ear
(B) Hand
(C) Foot
(D) Lungs

Q79. Which mineral is mined at Jayamkondam in Tamil Nadu ?
(A) Zinc
(B) Lignite
(C) Copper
(D) Gold

Q80. Who authored the book ‘A Brief History of Time’ ?
(A) Jack Welch
(B) Bill Gates
(C) Deepak Chopra
(D) Stephan Hawking

Q81. When do we celebrate the Engineers Day of India, the birthday of Bharat Ratna recipient M.Visvesarayya ?
(A) 15 January
(B) 28 February
(C) 29 August
(D) 15 September


Q82. ’Muga’, ‘Eri’, ‘Tussar’ and ‘Mulberry’ are the varieties of which natural fibre ?
(A) Wool
(B) Silk
(C) Jute
(D) Cotton

Q83. In which pilgrimage city of India would you come across the world’s longest corridor ?
(A) Dwarka
(B) Varanasi
(C) Rameshwaram
(D) Tirupati

Q84. In 1929, who founded non-violent movement ‘Khudai Khidmatgar’, also known as ‘Red Shirts’ ?
(A) Mahatma Gandhi
(B) Gopal Krishan Gokhle
(C) Mohammed Ali Jinnah
(D) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan


Q85. Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education is located in which city ?
(A) Jhansi
(B) Gwalior
(C) Patiala
(D) Nagpur

Q86. Athlete’s Foot, an infectious disease, is caused by which agent ?
(A) Virus
(B) Fungi
(C) Bacteria
(D) Protozoa

Q87. Who authored the book ‘Hindu View of Life ?
(A) S.Radhakrishnan
(B) Jawaharlal Nehru
(C) C.Rajagopalachari
(D) Mahatma Gandhi

Q88. Solid form of which gas is commonly known as ‘Dry Ice’ ?
(A) Oxygen
(B) Nitrogen
(C) Carbon dioxide
(D) Hydrogen

Q89. Who was the first woman president in the world ?
(A) Golda Meir
(B) Indira Gandhi
(C) Sirimavo Bhandarnaike
(D) Maria Isbel Paron


Q90. Who created the first Portable Computer ?
(A) Adam Osborne
(B) Charles Babbage
(C) Steve Jobs
(D) Tim Berners-Lee

Q91. Designed by Bengali architect Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya, which city is known as ‘Pink City’ ?
(A) Jaipur
(B) Jodhpur
(C) Bengaluru
(D) Chandigarh

Q92. Which metal is used to make electric bulb filaments ?
(A) Copper
(B) Silver
(C) Tungsten
(D) Aluminium

Q93. Who was the first Viceroy of India ?
(A) Lord Mayo
(B) Lord Dalhousie
(C) Lord Canning
(D) Lord Curzon

Q94. In terms of both area and population, which is the smallest country in the world ?
(A) Nauru
(B) Monaco
(C) Tuvalu
(D) Vatican City


Q95. Which portfolio did Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the first woman cabinet minister in India, hold in the independent India’s first cabinet ?
(A) Labour
(B) Health
(C) Education
(D) Railways

Q96. Palghat Gap, about 20 miles wide mountain pass between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills, connects Kerala to which state ?
(A) Tamil Nadu
(B) Karnataka
(C) Maharashtra
(D) Andhra Pradesh

Q97. Named after the mount of Hindu god Vishnu, ‘Garuda’ is the national airline of which most Muslim populous country ?
(A) Nigeria
(B) Pakistan
(C) Bangladesh
(D) Indonesia

Q98. At which town in Andhra Pradesh, famous for silk sarees, did Vinoba Bhave start the Bhoodan Movement in 1951 ?
(A) Vijayawada
(B) Rajahmundry
(C) Pochampally
(D) Warangal

Q99. ’Daughter of the East’ book is the autobiography of which Asian woman leader ?
(A) Indira Gandhi
(B) Benazir Bhutto
(C) Aung San Suu Kyi
(D) Maghawati Sukarnoputri

Q100. Which country was formerly known as ‘Upper Volta’ ?
(A) Namibia
(B) Ethiopia
(C) Botswana
(D) Burkina Faso