WBP SI Prelims Current Affairs Previous Year Questions with Answers

Correct Answer: (A) Russia

Explanation

INDRA 2021, the 12th edition of the India–Russia joint military exercise, was held at Volgograd in Russia from 1 to 13 October 2021.

Exam Facts

• The name INDRA comes from INdia and RussiA; the exercise started in 2003 as a naval exercise.
• It became a tri-service (army, navy, air force) exercise from 2017.
• The 2021 edition focused on counter-terrorism operations under a United Nations mandate.
• Yudh Abhyas is the India–USA exercise.
• Malabar involves India, USA, Japan and Australia.
• Shakti is the India–France army exercise.
• Nomadic Elephant is the India–Mongolia exercise.
• JIMEX is the India–Japan naval exercise (option B concerns Japan).
• SIMBEX is the India–Singapore naval exercise (option C concerns Singapore).
• Ex Ajeya Warrior is the India–UK exercise, and Hand-in-Hand was the India–China army exercise.

Correct Answer: (D) Deepika Padukone

Explanation

Deepika Padukone received the Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in January 2020 for her work in raising awareness of mental health through her Live Love Laugh Foundation.

Exam Facts

• The Crystal Awards recognise artists who use their art to improve the state of the world; they are given at the WEF annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
• Shah Rukh Khan received the Crystal Award earlier, in 2018.
• The WEF was founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971 and has its headquarters at Cologny, Geneva.
• Deepika’s foundation was set up in 2015, and she starred in Padmaavat (2018).
• Priyanka Chopra (option A) is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
• Kareena Kapoor (option B) was made a UNICEF celebrity advocate in 2014.
• Anushka Sharma (option C) is an actor and the producer of NH10.
• The WEF publishes the Global Gender Gap Report and the Global Competitiveness Report.
• The WEF annual meeting of 2021 was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Davos meeting is held every January in the Swiss resort town of Davos-Klosters.

Correct Answer: (C) Tamil Nadu

Explanation

A roughly 300-year-old sati stone (a memorial stone of a woman who committed sati) was unearthed in Tamil Nadu (reported from the Tiruppur area), according to news at the time.

Exam Facts

• Sati (widow burning) was banned by Lord William Bentinck through Regulation XVII of 1829.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy led the campaign against sati.
• The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 was passed after the Roop Kanwar case at Deorala (Rajasthan).
• Memorial stones are called hero stones (virakkal/nadukal) in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) study such finds.
• Keeladi near Madurai is an important excavation site of Sangam-age Tamil Nadu.
• Madhya Pradesh (option A), Haryana (option B) and Gujarat (option D) were not the states where this stone was found.
• Sati was widely practised in Bengal, Rajasthan and parts of north India.
• Ancient memorial stones give information about local history, rulers and customs.
• The Archaeological Survey of India was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham.

Correct Answer: (A) Mathura Refinery

Explanation

In July 2021 the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) announced that India’s first green hydrogen plant would come up at its Mathura Refinery in Uttar Pradesh, where hydrogen would be produced by electrolysis of water with renewable power to replace fossil-based hydrogen.

Exam Facts

• Green hydrogen is made by splitting water with renewable electricity, so it has no carbon emissions.
• Grey hydrogen is made from natural gas, and blue hydrogen is grey hydrogen with carbon capture.
• The National Hydrogen Mission was announced by the Prime Minister on 15 August 2021.
• Mathura Refinery was commissioned in 1982 and is close to the Taj Trapezium Zone.
• Paradip Refinery (option B) in Odisha is IOC’s newest large refinery (2016).
• Jamnagar (option C) in Gujarat is the world’s largest refining complex, owned by Reliance Industries.
• Haldia Refinery (option D) in West Bengal is an IOC refinery set up in 1975.
• Digboi in Assam is the oldest refinery of India (1901).
• IOC is India’s largest oil company and a Maharatna public sector company.
• The electrolyser splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Correct Answer: (B) Table Tennis

Explanation

Mouma Das, a former international table tennis player from West Bengal, was honoured with the Padma Shri in the 2021 Padma Awards (announced on 25 January 2021).

Exam Facts

• The Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian honour in India, after the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
• The Padma awards were instituted in 1954.
• They are announced every year on the eve of the Republic Day.
• The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) governs the sport in India.
• Manika Batra received the Khel Ratna in 2020, and she is a table tennis player.
• Badminton (option A) is associated with players such as P. V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal.
• Cricket (option C) has the BCCI as its governing body.
• Lawn tennis (option D) is associated with players such as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza.
• Table tennis is also called ping-pong.
• Sharath Kamal is another well-known Indian table tennis star, and Commonwealth Games have table tennis as a medal sport.

Correct Answer: (D) P.V. Sindhu

Explanation

P. V. Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals: a silver at Rio 2016 and a bronze at Tokyo 2020 (won in August 2021), which also made her the second Indian after wrestler Sushil Kumar to win two individual Olympic medals.

Exam Facts

• Sindhu beat He Bingjiao of China in the bronze-medal match at Tokyo.
• She became world champion at Basel in 2019.
• Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (option B) won a silver in weightlifting (49 kg) at Tokyo 2020, India’s first medal there.
• Lovlina Borgohain (option C) won a bronze in boxing (69 kg) at Tokyo 2020.
• P. T. Usha (option A) finished fourth in the 400 m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
• Neeraj Chopra won India’s first athletics gold at Tokyo 2020 in the javelin throw.
• India won seven medals at Tokyo 2020, its best ever Olympic tally.
• Karnam Malleswari was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal (bronze, Sydney 2000).
• Tokyo 2020 was held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Olympic Games are held every four years, and the Olympic motto is ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ (faster, higher, stronger).

Correct Answer: (D) Prof. Jyotirmoye Das

Explanation

Flag: option (D) is a misprint, and the 2020 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Chemical Sciences went to Prof. Jyotirmayee Dash of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, so (D) is chosen. The prize is India’s top science award for scientists under 45.

Exam Facts

• Among the other options, Surajit Dhara won in Physical Sciences (University of Hyderabad) in 2020.
• Rajat Subhra Hazra won in Mathematical Sciences (ISI Kolkata) in 2020.
• Suryendu Dutta (IIT Bombay) won in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 2020; option (B) spells his name differently.
• The SSB Prize was set up in 1957 by CSIR in memory of its founder director Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.
• It is given in seven categories, such as Biological, Chemical, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Mathematical, Medical and Physical Sciences.
• The prize is for scientists up to 45 years of age.
• The 2020 prizes had 14 winners and were announced in September 2020.
• The CSIR was founded in 1942.
• IACS at Jadavpur, Kolkata, is India’s oldest research institute for basic science, founded in 1876 by Mahendralal Sircar.
• The award is given for work done in India in the preceding five years.

Correct Answer: (D) West Bengal

Explanation

West Bengal declared and celebrated 23 January, the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as ‘Desh Nayak Divas’ (Day of the National Hero) in 2021, as announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Exam Facts

• Netaji was born on 23 January 1897 at Cuttack (Odisha).
• The Central Government declared the same day as ‘Parakram Diwas’ from 2021.
• Netaji formed the Forward Bloc in 1939 and the Azad Hind Government in 1943.
• He was the President of the Indian National Congress at Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939).
• Odisha (option C) is his birth state but did not declare the day under this name.
• Bihar (option A) and Jharkhand (option B) did not declare ‘Desh Nayak Divas’.
• The 2021 year was the 125th birth anniversary year of Netaji.
• He is called ‘Netaji’ (respected leader), a name given in Germany.
• The slogan ‘Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi dunga’ is linked with him.
• Bose’s autobiography-style book is ‘The Indian Struggle’.

Correct Answer: (A) Archery

Explanation

Deepika Kumari is an archer (recurve) from Ranchi, Jharkhand, who returned to world number 1 in June 2021 after winning three gold medals at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris.

Exam Facts

• She received the Arjuna Award in 2012 and the Padma Shri in 2016.
• She married fellow archer Atanu Das in 2020.
• Deepika took part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but India did not win an archery medal there.
• Archery has events such as recurve, compound and barebow.
• Table tennis (option B), wrestling (option C) and kabaddi (option D) are different sports.
• Other Indian archery stars include Tarundeep Rai and Abhishek Verma.
• World Archery is the world governing body of archery.
• Archery is called ‘Dhanurvidya’ in ancient India.
• Lakshya Sen is a badminton player, not an archer.
• Atanu Das, her husband, is also an Indian recurve archer.

Correct Answer: (A) Israel

Explanation

Pegasus spyware was developed by the NSO Group, a company of Israel. In July 2021 a media investigation (the Pegasus Project) alleged that it was used to spy on phones of journalists, activists and politicians in several countries, including India.

Exam Facts

• Pegasus can infect iPhones and Android phones and read messages, calls and location.
• It can spread through ‘zero-click’ attacks that need no action from the user.
• The Pegasus Project was led by the Forbidden Stories group with Amnesty International.
• The Supreme Court of India appointed an expert committee headed by retired Justice R. V. Raveendran on 27 October 2021 to investigate the allegations.
• The name comes from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology.
• NSO says it sells the software only to government agencies.
• USA (option B), France (option C) and Canada (option D) are not the home of the NSO Group.
• The Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 are the laws used for phone interception.
• Spyware is software that secretly collects information from a device.
• Journalists, activists and politicians were allegedly among the targets named in the investigation.

Correct Answer: (D) France

Explanation

France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, beating Croatia 4-2 in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, on 15 July 2018.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (D) International Monetary Fund

Explanation

Gita Gopinath was appointed the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October 2018, the first woman to hold the post. She is a Harvard economist, born in Kolkata.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (C) Weight lifting

Explanation

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (Manipur) is an Indian weightlifter. She won gold in the 48 kg category at the 2017 World Championships (Anaheim, USA) and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast), where she lifted a total of 196 kg (a Games record).

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (C) India and France

Explanation

Varuna is the bilateral naval exercise between India and France. The 2018 edition was held off the Goa coast in the Arabian Sea in March 2018.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (D) Sheikh Hasina

Explanation

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina received the Global Women’s Leadership Award 2018 from the Global Summit of Women at its gala dinner in Sydney, Australia, on 27 April 2018, for her work on women’s education and entrepreneurship.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (A) Omprakash Rawat

Explanation

As of the exam date (29 July 2018), the Chief Election Commissioner was Om Prakash Rawat, who took charge on 22 January 2018, succeeding A. K. Joti. (Sunil Arora succeeded him on 2 December 2018.)

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (A) The New York Times

Explanation

In 2018 the Pulitzer Public Service prize, the most prestigious of all Pulitzer Prizes, was awarded jointly to The New York Times (for its reporting on sexual harassment, led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey) and The New Yorker (Ronan Farrow). Flag: The Washington Post also won a 2018 Pulitzer (Investigative Reporting, on Roy Moore), so two options are true; The New York Times is the main answer.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (A) Riddhi Sen

Explanation

The 65th National Film Awards (announced on 13 April 2018, for films of 2017) gave the Best Actor award to Riddhi Sen for the Bengali film Nagarkirtan. At 17 he became the youngest Best Actor winner.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (B) Karnataka

Explanation

In March 2018, the Karnataka government under CM Siddaramaiah unveiled a proposed yellow-white-red state flag with the Gandaberunda emblem and sent it to the Centre for approval. If approved, Karnataka would be the second State after Jammu and Kashmir to have its own flag.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (B) Name of Jacket

Explanation

Bhabha Kavach is a lightweight bullet-proof jacket developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), unveiled in April 2018. It uses boron carbide ceramic and carbon nanotube polymer composite, and weighs from about 3.1 kg to 6.6 kg, compared with 10-17 kg for steel jackets.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (B) TCS

Explanation

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) became the first Indian IT company to cross $100 billion in market capitalisation on 23 April 2018; it was also the first Indian firm to close a trading session above that value (26 April 2018).

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF

Correct Answer: (B) Sourav Ganguly

Explanation

“A Century Is Not Enough” (2018) is the autobiography of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, co-written with Gautam Bhattacharya and published by Juggernaut Books.

Want more exam facts on this question? Get the WBP SI Prelims PYQ PDF