Part – B (General Knowledge) NDA/NA SOLVED PAPER 2017 (II) (51 to 100)

Total Questions: 50

31. Who among the following shared the Nobel Prize in 1962 along with Francis Crick and James Watson for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids?

Correct Answer: (b) Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins
Solution:

The 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins. While Rosalind Franklin's X-ray diffraction data was crucial to the discovery, she passed away in 1958 and the Nobel Committee does not award prizes posthumously.

32. Water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes, because:

Correct Answer: (a) the air pressure is less
Solution:Boiling occurs when a liquid's vapor pressure equals the surrounding atmospheric pressure. At high altitudes, the atmospheric pressure is lower; therefore, it takes less heat (a lower temperature) for the vapor pressure to reach the level of the surrounding air.

33. Concave mirror is used in headlights of vehicles, because it:

Correct Answer: (b) sends parallel rays
Solution:In a vehicle headlight, the light bulb is placed exactly at the focus of the concave mirror. According to the laws of reflection, light rays originating from the focus and hitting a concave mirror are reflected as a powerful, parallel beam of light that can travel long distances.

34. If some object is weighed when submerged in water, what will happen to its weight compared to its weight in air?

Correct Answer: (b) Decrease
Solution:This is due to Archimedes' Principle. When an object is submerged in a fluid, it experiences an upward force called buoyancy (or upthrust). This upward force counteracts a portion of the object's gravity, resulting in a lower "apparent weight."

35. Light year is a measure of:

Correct Answer: (b) distance
Solution:Despite having the word "year" in its name, a light year is a unit of astronomical distance. It is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year (approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers).

36. Which one of the following was set as a target of average growth of GDP of India over the plan period 2012-17 by the Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan?

Correct Answer: (b) 8%
Solution:
The Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017) originally proposed a target of 9% average annual GDP growth. However, due to the fragile economic environment at the time, the full Planning Commission and subsequently the National Development Council (NDC) approved the final, revised target of 8%. 

37. Which one of the following is not a subject that has been devolved to the Panchayati Raj Institutions by the 11th Schedule of the Constitution of India?

Correct Answer: (c) Higher education
Solution:The 11th Schedule contains 29 subjects devolved to Panchayats. While it includes "Education, including primary and secondary schools" and "Libraries," Higher Education (Universities/Colleges) is not under the jurisdiction of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

38. Who among the following used the term Industrial Revolution for the first time in English to describe the changes that occurred in the British industrial development between 1760 and 1820?

Correct Answer: (c) Arnold Toynbee
Solution:While French and German writers like Georges Michelet and Friedrich Engels used the term earlier in their respective languages, it was the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee who popularized the term in English through his lectures in 1881 to describe Britain's economic development.

39. Who among the following is the author of the book ‘The Indian Struggle, 1920-34’?

Correct Answer: (c) Subhash Chandra Bose
Solution:Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose wrote this book to analyze the Indian independence movement from the Non-Cooperation movement to the mid-1930s. It was initially published in London in 1935 but was banned in India by the British government at the time.

40. Which one of the following about the Swadeshi Campaign in 1896 is not correct?

Correct Answer: (c) It opposed the levy of tariff on imports.
Solution:This statement is incorrect because the movement actually supported tariffs on imports. The 1896 campaign (led by figures like Tilak in Maharashtra) was a protest against the British government's decision to impose an excise duty on Indian cotton goods to protect British (Lancashire) textile interests. Participants wanted higher tariffs on foreign goods to protect indigenous industries.