SSC CPO Paper I 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 PYQs

Concept: ECGC (under the Ministry of Commerce) insures exporters and banks against credit risk.

1. In 2019 ECGC launched the Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) named NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana).
2. It raises insurance cover to as much as 90% of principal and interest, so banks lend more freely to exporters, especially MSMEs.
3. NIRANKUSH, NIRUKT and NIRVAY are not ECGC schemes.

Yaad rakhein: NIRVIK = NIRyat + VIKas – export credit ko develop karna.

Answer: (D) NIRVIK

Concept: The radius of an atom is about ${10}^5$ times the radius of its nucleus; the atom is mostly empty space.

1. Nucleus radius $\approx {10}^{-15}\text{m}$, atom radius $\approx {10}^{-10}\text{m}$, ratio $\approx {10}^5$.
2. Take a cricket ball of radius $\approx 5\text{cm}$ as the nucleus.
3. Atom radius $\approx 5\text{cm}\times {10}^5=5\times {10}^5\text{cm}=5\text{km}$.

Yaad rakhein: NCERT image: nucleus = cricket ball → atom ≈ $5\text{km}$ radius.

Answer: (D) $5$

Concept: Between ice point and steam point Celsius has 100 divisions and Fahrenheit 180, so for a temperature difference $\Delta F=\frac{9}{5}\Delta C$ (the 32 cancels).

1. $\Delta F=\frac{9}{5}\times 30$
2. $=9\times 6=54$
3. So a difference of ${30}^{\circ }\text{C}$ equals a difference of ${54}^{\circ }\text{F}$.

Yaad rakhein: For differences use only $\times 1.8$; add 32 only when converting an actual reading (${30}^{\circ }\text{C}={86}^{\circ }\text{F}$ is the trap option).

Answer: (B) $54$

Concept: ‘A Better India: A Better World’ (2009) is a collection of speeches and essays on values, governance and development.

1. It was written by N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys.
2. Gurcharan Das wrote ‘India Unbound’; Shashi Tharoor wrote ‘An Era of Darkness’; Ratan Tata is not its author.

Yaad rakhein: Infosys founder → ‘A Better India: A Better World’.

Answer: (B) NR Narayana Murthy

Concept: V.V. Giri was a prominent trade-union leader before becoming the 4th President of India (1969–74).

1. He served as Union Minister of Labour in Nehru’s cabinet (1952–54) and resigned over a policy difference.
2. He founded the All India Railwaymen’s Federation and was President of AITUC.
3. Zakir Husain, N. Sanjiva Reddy and Ram Nath Kovind never held the Labour portfolio.

Yaad rakhein: V.V. Giri = mazdoor neta → Labour Minister → President.

Answer: (C) V.V. Giri

Concept: In 2019 researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology unveiled the ‘Ramanujan Machine’.

1. It is a computer algorithm that automatically generates conjectures (continued-fraction formulas) for fundamental constants such as $\pi$ and $e$.
2. It honours Srinivasa Ramanujan, who intuitively produced hundreds of such formulas.

Yaad rakhein: Formulas by intuition → Ramanujan → ‘Ramanujan Machine’.

Answer: (C) Ramanujan

Concept: Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa on 9 January 1915, landing at Apollo Bunder, Bombay.

1. This day is celebrated as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas every year on 9 January.
2. On G.K. Gokhale’s advice he then toured India for a year before starting the Champaran Satyagraha (1917).

Yaad rakhein: 9 January = Pravasi Bharatiya Divas = Gandhi ki wapsi.

Answer: (C) January

Concept: Marco Polo (1254–1324) was a merchant-traveller from the Republic of Venice (Italy).

1. He travelled to the court of Kublai Khan in China and on his return voyage visited South India (Kayal in the Pandya kingdom).
2. His account is known as ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’.

Yaad rakhein: Marco Polo – Venice; Ibn Battuta – Morocco; Al-Biruni – Khwarizm (Uzbekistan).

Answer: (C) Venice

Concept: The Constituent Assembly met at midnight of 14–15 August 1947 under the presidency of Dr Rajendra Prasad.

1. Jawaharlal Nehru delivered the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech and moved the pledge resolution.
2. After him, Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan addressed the House.
3. Rajendra Prasad presided (he spoke as President, at the start), so the speaker after Nehru among the options is Radhakrishnan.

Yaad rakhein: Midnight session: Prasad (chair) → Nehru → Khaliquzzaman → Radhakrishnan.

Answer: (D) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Concept: The fork-tailed drongo is known for deceptive mimicry (kleptoparasitism).

1. It imitates the alarm calls of other birds (and meerkats) when no predator is around.
2. The frightened animals flee, dropping their food, which the drongo then steals.
3. The mynah mimics sounds but is not known for this food-stealing trick.

Yaad rakhein: Drongo = jhootha alarm → khana chori.

Answer: (A) Drongo

Concept: SI prefixes for small quantities go down in steps of ${10}^{-3}$.

1. milli ${10}^{-3}$, micro ${10}^{-6}$, nano ${10}^{-9}$, pico ${10}^{-12}$, femto ${10}^{-15}$, atto ${10}^{-18}$.
2. So femto means ${10}^{-15}$; ${10}^{-12}$ is pico.

Yaad rakhein: Order: m-μ-n-p-f-a (Milli Micro Nano Pico Femto Atto).

Answer: (B) $-15$

Concept: The pascal ($1\text{Pa}=1{\text{N/m}}^2$) is the SI unit of pressure.

1. The torr is also a unit of pressure: $1\text{torr}=1\text{mm of Hg}\approx 133.3\text{Pa}$.
2. watt – power, newton – force, joule – energy/work.

Yaad rakhein: Pressure units: pascal, bar, atm, torr (mm Hg).

Answer: (B) torr

Concept: Tripura is almost surrounded by Bangladesh.

1. Bangladesh lies on its north, west and south; only the east touches India (Assam and Mizoram).
2. Meghalaya has Bangladesh only to its south; West Bengal has it to the east; Assam touches it only in a short stretch.

Yaad rakhein: Tripura = teen taraf Bangladesh, sirf poorv mein Assam–Mizoram.

Answer: (A) Tripura

Concept: Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) heats wet biomass in water under pressure to make a coal-like hydrochar.

1. IIT Kharagpur developed HTC to convert solid waste with high moisture content (food and municipal wet waste) into fuel.
2. Unlike incineration, no prior drying is needed, so wet waste becomes an energy source.
3. It has nothing to do with river currents, dams or natural hydrocarbons.

Yaad rakhein: Hydro = paani ke saath pakana; Carbonisation = koyla banana → geela kachra.

Answer: (C) Solid waste with high moisture content

Concept: Project Elephant is a centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Environment.

1. It was launched in February 1992 to protect elephants, their habitats and corridors and to reduce human–elephant conflict.
2. Project Tiger was launched in 1973; the Wildlife Protection Act came in 1972.

Yaad rakhein: Tiger 1973 → Elephant 1992.

Answer: (D) 1992

Concept: Right to education became a Fundamental Right through the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002.

1. It inserted Article 21A: free and compulsory education for all children aged 6–14 years.
2. The RTE Act, 2009 gives effect to it (in force from 1 April 2010).
3. Article 31A protects laws on acquisition of estates; Art. 101 deals with vacation of seats; Art. 74 with Council of Ministers.

Yaad rakhein: 86th Amendment 2002 → 21A, Art. 45 (early childhood) and Art. 51A(k) (parents’ duty).

Answer: (A) 21A

Concept: Chittagong (Chattogram) is the principal seaport of Bangladesh, on the Karnaphuli river near the Bay of Bengal.

1. It handles most of the country’s sea trade; Mongla is the second seaport.
2. Dhaka (capital), Rajshahi and Faridpur are inland cities.

Yaad rakhein: Bangladesh seaports: Chittagong, Mongla, Payra.

Answer: (C) Chittagong

Concept: The Qadam Rasul Mosque stands in the fort of Gaur (Malda district, West Bengal), the old capital of the Bengal Sultanate.

1. It was built in 1530–31 by Sultan Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah.
2. It houses a stone said to bear the footprint of the Prophet (Qadam Rasul); it is built of brick with black-marble (basalt) facing typical of Bengal style.
3. Mandu has Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal – not Qadam Rasul.

Yaad rakhein: Qadam Rasul – Gaur – Nusrat Shah.

Answer: (A) Gaur

Concept: Abhinav Bindra won India’s first individual Olympic gold in the 10 m air rifle at Beijing 2008.

1. Till the exam (2020) he was the only Indian with an individual Olympic gold.
2. P.V. Sindhu (silver 2016, bronze 2020) and Karnam Malleswari (bronze 2000) won other medals; Leander Paes won bronze in tennis (1996).
3. Note: Neeraj Chopra later won javelin gold at Tokyo (held 2021).

Yaad rakhein: Bindra 2008 – first individual gold.

Answer: (A) Abhinav Bindra

Concept: Kamet (7,756 m) lies in the Garhwal Himalaya of Uttarakhand, India, near the Tibet border.

1. Mount Everest and Lhotse are on the Nepal–China (Tibet) border in the Mahalangur range.
2. Annapurna is in north-central Nepal.

Yaad rakhein: Kamet, Nanda Devi, Trisul → Uttarakhand.

Answer: (B) Kamet