HAS Pre 2008
Science & Technology
- Which of the food stuffs has the highest calorific content?
a) Rice
b) Wheat
c) Coconut
d) Pulses
Answer: c) Coconut - What happens when an object is transferred from the earth to the moon?
a) Its weight increases and its mass decreases.
b) Its weight decreases but its mass remains constant.
c) Its weight and mass both decrease.
d) Its weight remains constant but its mass decreases.
Answer: b) Its weight decreases but its mass remains constant. - Who discovered electrons?
a) Ernest Rutherford
b) J. J. Thomson
c) Niels Bohr
d) James Chadwick
Answer: b) J. J. Thomson - Which scientist was the first to demonstrate the circulation of blood?
a) Louis Pasteur
b) Alexander Fleming
c) William Harvey
d) Robert Koch
Answer: c) William Harvey - To which category does an ‘Asparagus’ (सफेद मूसली) belong?
a) Stem
b) Leaf
c) Root
d) Flower
Answer: c) Root - Why does a burning candle get extinguished when it is covered with a tumbler?
a) Because of lack of fuel.
b) Because the supply of oxygen is cut off.
c) Because of excessive heat.
d) Because of the glass material.
Answer: b) Because the supply of oxygen is cut off. - Why does water get cooled in an earthen pitcher?
a) Because of chemical reaction.
b) Because of the pores in the clay walls of the pitcher.
c) Because of heat absorption.
d) Because of convection currents.
Answer: b) Because of the pores in the clay walls of the pitcher. - What does a Lactometer test?
a) Purity of water
b) Purity of milk
c) Purity of air
d) Purity of sugar
Answer: b) Purity of milk - What is hydroponics?
a) Growing plants in water.
b) Growing plants through nutrients without the use of soil.
c) Growing plants in a greenhouse.
d) Growing plants under artificial light.
Answer: b) Growing plants through nutrients without the use of soil. - Which scientist is associated with the explosion of the first atomic bomb?
a) Albert Einstein
b) J. Robert Oppenheimer
c) Enrico Fermi
d) Niels Bohr
Answer: b) J. Robert Oppenheimer - What does the Richter scale measure?
a) Wind speed
b) Humidity
c) Force of an earthquake
d) Atmospheric pressure
Answer: c) Force of an earthquake
Current Affairs & General Knowledge
- What is ‘Xinhua’?
a) A brand of car
b) A News agency in China
c) A Chinese festival
d) A type of Chinese cuisine
Answer: b) A News agency in China - Which serving Minister of the Union Cabinet was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for 2008?
a) P. Chidambaram
b) Sushma Swaraj
c) Pranab Mukherjee
d) Sharad Pawar
Answer: c) Pranab Mukherjee - For what is word ‘Blitzkrieg’ used?
a) A type of chess move
b) A sudden crippling attack
c) A diplomatic strategy
d) A financial crisis
Answer: b) A sudden crippling attack - Which position does Mr. ElBardei hold at present?
a) Secretary-General of the United Nations
b) Chief of International Atomic Energy Agency
c) President of the World Bank
d) Director-General of World Health Organization
Answer: b) Chief of International Atomic Energy Agency - Who is the present Director General of the World Trade Organization?
a) Roberto Azevêdo
b) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
c) Pascal Lamy
d) Supachai Panitchpakdi
Answer: c) Pascal Lamy - Who was the captain of the Indian Under-19 cricket team which won the World cup at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in March 2008?
a) MS Dhoni
b) Virat Kohli
c) Rohit Sharma
d) Suresh Raina
Answer: b) Virat Kohli - From which country has India purchased the Barak-I anti-missile defence system?
a) Russia
b) France
c) USA
d) Israel
Answer: d) Israel - What role has the UNO assigned to its envoy Ibrahim Gambari at present?
a) To mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
b) To bring rapprochement between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military Junta in Myanmar.
c) To oversee elections in a developing country.
d) To negotiate a peace treaty in the Middle East.
Answer: b) To bring rapprochement between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military Junta in Myanmar. - At which place in Australia was the last cricket match of the tri-series in March 2008, played when India defeated Australia?
a) Sydney
b) Melbourne
c) Brisbane
d) Perth
Answer: c) Brisbane - Which position does Samdhong Rimpoche hold at present?
a) President of Mongolia
b) Tibetan Prime Minister in exile at Dharmashala
c) Spiritual leader in Nepal
d) Head of a Buddhist monastery in Tibet
Answer: b) Tibetan Prime Minister in exile at Dharmashala - Which American leader has been campaigning about the climate crisis caused by global warming?
a) Barack Obama
b) George W. Bush
c) Al Gore
d) Bill Clinton
Answer: c) Al Gore - With which sport is Narain Kartikeyan associated?
a) Cricket
b) Motor-racing
c) Tennis
d) Football
Answer: b) Motor-racing - What position does Fahmida Mirza hold in Pakistan now?
a) Prime Minister
b) President
c) Speaker of Parliament
d) Chief Justice
Answer: c) Speaker of Parliament - Which country has honoured Mrs. Sonia Gandhi with the ‘Order of Leopold’?
a) France
b) Germany
c) Belgium
d) Italy
Answer: c) Belgium - Which country is known as the ‘Sugar bowl of the world’?
a) Brazil
b) India
c) Cuba
d) China
Answer: c) Cuba - What is ‘Esperanto’?
a) A type of dance
b) An artificial language
c) A new scientific discovery
d) A rare bird species
Answer: b) An artificial language - Which erstwhile nation has now been divided into two separate states?
a) Czechoslovakia
b) Yugoslavia
c) Soviet Union
d) German Democratic Republic
Answer: b) Yugoslavia - Who was the first leader to call Mahatma Gandhi ‘Father of the Nation’?
a) Jawaharlal Nehru
b) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
c) Subhash Chandra Bose
d) Rabindranath Tagore
Answer: c) Subhash Chandra Bose - Which African country has the largest area?
a) Algeria
b) DR Congo
c) Sudan
d) Egypt
Answer: c) Sudan - Which country is skirted by the warm Kuroshio current?
a) China
b) Japan
c) South Korea
d) Philippines
Answer: b) Japan - What is Pentagon?
a) A geometric shape
b) U.S. Defence Headquarters
c) A famous monument
d) A type of computer chip
Answer: b) U.S. Defence Headquarters - In which country is Bethlehem, the birth-place of Jesus Christ, located?
a) Egypt
b) Jordan
c) Israel
d) Syria
Answer: c) Israel - What is ‘Hotel Rwanda’?
a) A luxury hotel chain
b) A film about genocide in Rwanda
c) A historical landmark in Africa
d) A charitable organization
Answer: b) A film about genocide in Rwanda
Sports
- With which game is Joaquim Carravelho associated? a) Football b) Basketball c) Hockey d) Tennis Answer: c) Hockey
Books & Authors
- Who said, “The earth has enough for man’s need but not for man’s greed”?
a) Mahatma Gandhi
b) Jawaharlal Nehru
c) Swami Vivekananda
d) Rabindranath Tagore
Answer: a) Mahatma Gandhi - Which book helped Mahatma Gandhi in shaping his views on social and economic reform?
a) Das Kapital (by Karl Marx)
b) Unto This Last (by J. Ruskin)
c) The Republic (by Plato)
d) Discovery of India (by Jawaharlal Nehru)
Answer: b) Unto This Last (by J. Ruskin) - Who was the author of the famous Sanskrit drama ‘Mrichchkatik’?
a) Kalidasa
b) Sudrak
c) Bhasa
d) Vishakhadatta
Answer: b) Sudrak - Who wrote ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’?
a) John Milton
b) John Bunyan
c) William Shakespeare
d) Geoffrey Chaucer
Answer: b) John Bunyan - Who was the author of the book ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’?
a) Charles Dickens
b) R.L. Stevenson
c) Edgar Allan Poe
d) Mary Shelley
Answer: b) R.L. Stevenson - Who has written the book ‘My Country and My Life’?
a) Atal Bihari Vajpayee
b) Lal Krishna Advani
c) Murli Manohar Joshi
d) Jaswant Singh
Answer: b) Lal Krishna Advani - Which of Shakespeare’s plays was once banned in England in 1788 A.D.?
a) Hamlet
b) Romeo and Juliet
c) Othello
d) King Lear
Answer: d) King Lear - Who wrote the Famous book ‘Essay on Population’?
a) Adam Smith
b) Malthus Thomas Robert
c) David Ricardo
d) John Maynard Keynes
Answer: b) Malthus Thomas Robert - Who wrote the script of the famous movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”?
a) Stanley Kubrick
b) Arthur C. Clarke
c) Isaac Asimov
d) Philip K. Dick
Answer: b) Arthur C. Clarke
Geography
- In which country is Greenwich located?
a) France
b) USA
c) England
d) Germany
Answer: c) England - To which subject is ‘light year’ related?
a) Physics
b) Chemistry
c) Astronomy
d) Biology
Answer: c) Astronomy - In which State of India is the Dudhwa National Park located?
a) Madhya Pradesh
b) Uttar Pradesh
c) Rajasthan
d) Uttarakhand
Answer: b) Uttar Pradesh - On which mountain range is the Shilla Peak located?
a) Pir Panjal
b) Dhauladhar
c) Zaskar (in District Kinnaur)
d) Great Himalayan Range
Answer: c) Zaskar (in District Kinnaur) - Why is sea water saline?
a) Because of evaporation.
b) Because of marine life.
c) Because of salt brought to the sea by rivers.
d) Because of underwater volcanoes.
Answer: c) Because of salt brought to the sea by rivers. - In which State of India is the rocket launching station Thumba located?
a) Tamil Nadu
b) Andhra Pradesh
c) Karnataka
d) Kerala
Answer: d) Kerala - What is Korba known for?
a) Aluminium plant (BALCO)
b) Diamond mines
c) Textile industry
d) Software parks
Answer: a) Aluminium plant (BALCO) - In which country is the Kalahari desert located?
a) Australia
b) Botswana (in South Africa)
c) China
d) India
Answer: b) Botswana (in South Africa) - Which is the largest island in the World?
a) New Guinea
b) Borneo
c) Greenland
d) Madagascar
Answer: c) Greenland
Indian History & Culture
- Who compiled the Adi Granth?
a) Guru Nanak Dev
b) Guru Gobind Singh
c) Guru Arjan Dev
d) Guru Teg Bahadur
Answer: c) Guru Arjan Dev - Which Sikh Guru was sentenced to death by Emperor Jahangir for blessing rebellious prince Khosrau?
a) Guru Ram Das
b) Guru Arjan Dev
c) Guru Hargobind
d) Guru Teg Bahadur
Answer: b) Guru Arjan Dev - What was the main proposal of the original Ilbert Bill presented in the Central Legislative Council during the tenure of Viceroy Lord Ripon?1
a) Empowering Indian judges to trial cases involving Europeans also.
b) Introducing self-government in India.
c) Promoting education for women.
d) Reforming land revenue system.
Answer: a) Empowering Indian judges to trial cases involving Europeans also. - Who presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress held at Bombay on December 28, 1885?
a) Dadabhai Naoroji
b) Surendranath Banerjee
c) W.C. Bannerjee
d) Allan Octavian Hume
Answer: c) W.C. Bannerjee - Who had set up the Indian Home Rule Society in London in 1905?
a) Mahatma Gandhi
b) Shyamji Krishna Verma
c) Annie Besant
d) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Answer: b) Shyamji Krishna Verma - Which Viceroy had promulgated the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 to muzzle press freedom?
a) Lord Curzon
b) Lord Lytton
c) Lord Dalhousie
d) Lord Ripon
Answer: b) Lord Lytton - Which Amendment to the Indian Constitution banned floor-crossing by Members of Parliament and State Legislatures elected on Party-ticket?
a) 42nd Amendment
b) 44th Amendment
c) 52nd
d) 61st Amendment
Answer: c) 52nd - Which schedule of the Indian Constitution describes the division between Centre and State functions on the basis of three lists?
a) Fifth Schedule
b) Sixth Schedule
c) Seventh Schedule
d) Eighth Schedule
Answer: c) Seventh Schedule - Which type of disputes can be directly raised in the Supreme Court?
a) Disputes between states
b) Enforcement of fundamental rights
c) Disputes between citizens
d) Disputes related to elections
Answer: b) Enforcement of fundamental rights - Which refinery is not owned by the Indian Oil Corporation?
a) Mathura Refinery
b) Panipat Refinery
c) Vishakhapattanam Refinery
d) Guwahati Refinery
Answer: c) Vishakhapattanam Refinery - Which fundamental right was repealed by an Act of Parliament in 1978?
a) Right to Equality
b) Right to Freedom
c) Right to Property
d) Right to Constitutional Remedies
Answer: c) Right to Property - Who propounded the doctrine of ‘the end justifying the means’?
a) Plato
b) Aristotle
c) Machiavelli
d) Sun Tzu
Answer: c) Machiavelli - At which place did Vasco-de-Gama land during his discovery of India on May 20, 1498 A.D.?
a) Goa
b) Mumbai
c) Calicut (now called Kozhikode)
d) Cochin
Answer: c) Calicut (now called Kozikode) - Who founded the Belur Math near Kolkata in 1897 A.D.?
a) Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
b) Swami Vivekananda
c) Sri Aurobindo
d) Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati
Answer: b) Swami Vivekanand - Whose consent has to be taken before a money-bill is introduced in a state legislature?
a) Chief Minister
b) Governor
c) Speaker of the Assembly
d) Finance Minister
Answer: b) Governor - To which category does the Planning Commission in India belong?
a) Statutory body
b) Constitutional body
c) Advisory body
d) Judicial body
Answer: c) Advisory body - Which Indian industry needs the largest numbers of workers?
a) IT Industry
b) Automobile Industry
c) Textile Industry
d) Construction Industry
Answer: c) Textile - What does the Antyodaya Scheme aim to achieve?
a) Promoting higher education
b) Providing housing for all
c) Helping the poorest of the poor
d) Supporting small and medium enterprises
Answer: c) Helping the poorest of the poor - Which is the largest source of power supply in India?
a) Hydroelectric power
b) Solar power
c) Thermal power
d) Nuclear power
Answer: c) Thermal power - Which tax is levied only by the Central Government in India?
a) Sales Tax
b) Property Tax
c) Income Tax
d) Entertainment Tax
Answer: c) Income Tax - Which office does Montek Singh Ahluwalia hold at present?
a) Finance Minister
b) Governor of RBI
c) Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission
d) Chief Economic Advisor
Answer: c) Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission - What was the view of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) at its meeting held at Dakar in March 2008 on the question of Kashmir?2
a) It supported India’s stand.
b) The Kashmir dispute should be resolved in accordance with U.N. resolutions.
c) It called for bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.
d) It advocated for an independent Kashmir.
Answer: b) The Kashmir dispute should be resolved in accordance with U.N. resolutions. - Which former Prime Minister of India was instrumental in introducing the terms ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the preamble to the Indian Constitution?
a) Jawaharlal Nehru
b) Indira Gandhi
c) Rajiv Gandhi
d) P.V. Narasimha Rao
Answer: b) Indira Gandhi - For which historical event is the term ‘Holocaust’ used?
a) World War I
b) Genocide of Jews under Nazis
c) The partition of India
d) The Russian Revolution
Answer: b) Genocide of Jews under Nazis
World History & Culture
- Which community live in an ‘igloo’?
a) Aborigines
b) Masai
c) Eskimos
d) Bedouins
Answer: c) Eskimos - Which of the two great men were contemporaries?
a) Napoleon and Washington
b) Karl Marx and Charles Darwin
c) Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
d) Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great
Answer: b) Karl Marx and Ch. Darwin - Which American President ordered dropping of atomic bombs on Japan during World War II?
a) Franklin D. Roosevelt
b) Harry Truman
c) Dwight D. Eisenhower
d) John F. Kennedy
Answer: b) Henry Truman - Which British Prime Minister was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature?
a) Tony Blair
b) Clement Attlee
c) Winston Churchill (in 1953)
d) Harold Macmillan
Answer: c) Winston Churchill (in 1953) - In which country is ‘Waterloo’ located?
a) France
b) Germany
c) Belgium
d) Netherlands
Answer: c) Belgium - With whom is the ideology of Fascism associated?
a) Adolf Hitler
b) Benito Mussolini
c) Vladimir Lenin
d) Joseph Stalin
Answer: b) Benito Mussolini - Who is known as ‘The Lady With The Lamp’?
a) Marie Curie
b) Florence Nightingale
c) Mother Teresa
d) Clara Barton
Answer: b) Florence Nightingale - Which country adopted the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ as a part of its foreign policy?
a) United Kingdom
b) France
c) USA
d) Russia
Answer: c) USA - Which Russian leader introduced ‘perestroika’ and ‘glasnost’ in the Soviet Union, leading to its disintegration?
a) Vladimir Lenin
b) Joseph Stalin
c) Nikita Khrushchev
d) Mikhail Gorbachev
Answer: d) Mikhael Gorbachev - Which independent country is the latest to be carved out of the erstwhile Yugoslavia?
a) Serbia
b) Montenegro
c) Kosovo (on 17th Feb. 2008)
d) North Macedonia
Answer: c) Kosovo (on 17th Feb. 2008) - Which leader is credited with introducing globalization and market economy in China?
a) Mao Zedong
b) Zhou Enlai
c) Deng Xiaoping
d) Jiang Zemin
Answer: c) Deng Shiao Ping - Which office did Vitthal Bhai Patel hold after the formation of the Swaraj Party in 1925?
a) President of the Indian National Congress
b) Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly
c) Chief Minister of Bombay Presidency
d) Finance Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council
Answer: b) Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly - Which is the last of the 50 states constituting the United States of America?
a) Alaska
b) Hawaii
c) Arizona
d) New Mexico
Answer: b) Hawaii - Which speaker of Lok Sabha has served as President of India?
a) G.S. Dhillon
b) Balram Jakhar
c) Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy
d) K.S. Hegde
Answer: c) Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy - Who was Torman?
a) A Greek philosopher
b) A Hun invader and ruler in the 5th century
c) A Roman Emperor
d) An Egyptian Pharaoh
Answer: b) A Hun invader and ruler in the 5th century - Who built Charminar at Hyderabad?
a) Akbar
b) Adil Shah of Bijapur
c) Quli Qutb Shah
d) Aurangzeb
Answer: b) Adil Shah of Bijapur - In which year was the People’s Republic of China admitted as a member of the United Nations Organizations (UNO)?
a) 1949 A.D.
b) 1955 A.D.
c) 1971 A.D.
d) 1980 A.D.
Answer: c) 1971 A.D. - Of which country does ‘Xinjiang Uygur’ province form part?
a) Russia
b) India
c) China
d) Kazakhstan
Answer: c) China - In which continent is Surinam located?
a) Africa
b) Asia
c) South America
d) Europe
Answer: c) South America - Which Peshwa emerged as the real head of Maratha Confederacy under the Sangola Agreement?
a) Balaji Vishwanath
b) Baji Rao I
c) Balaji Baji Rao (1750 A.D.)
d) Madhavrao I
Answer: c) Balaji Baji Rao (1750 A.D.) - Who laid the foundation of Yoga Therapy during 200-100 B.C.?
a) Buddha
b) Patanjali
c) Mahavir
d) Shankara
Answer: b) Patanjali - In which year was slave trade abolished in the British empire?
a) 1789 A.D.
b) 1807 A.D.
c) 1833 A.D.
d) 1865 A.D.
Answer: b) 1807 A.D.
Who is the author of the book ‘In The Line of Fire’?
a) Benazir Bhutto
b) Pervez Musharraf
c) Imran Khan
d) Nawaz Sharif
Answer: b) Parvez Musharraf