Geography for SSC Exam

1.What is the time taken by the Earth to complete one rotation on its imaginary axis?

a) 24 hr 37 min 23 sec                                     b) 24 hr                

c) 23 hr 56 min 4 sec                                        d)23 hr 52 min

2.The Tropic of Cancer does not pass through:

a) India                                 b) Egypt               c) Mexico            d) Iran

3. Eclipses occur due to which optical phenomena?

a) Reflection                                                      b) Refraction 

c) Rectilinear propagation                            d) Diffraction

4. During the recent venus transit (June 2012), the planet appeared as a tiny black circle moving on the Sun. The black colour on the Sun is because the planet:

a) Is black in colour   

b) Obstructed all light from the sun

c) was invisible due to bright rays from the sun

d) Behaved as a black hole during its transit

5. Which one among the following is called terrestrial planet?

a) Mercury          b)Jupiter              c) Saturn         d)Uranus

6. The twinkling of a star due to:

a) The variation in the intensity of light emitted by it with time                  

b) The variation in the composition of the star with time c) The transit of other celestial objects across the line of sight                  

d) The atmosphere refraction of starlight

7. The earth is at its maximum distance from the sun on:

a) January 30^th                                   b)December22^nd c)September 22^nd                          d) July 4^th

8. Why do we have a leap year every four years?

a) The Earth gets shifted out of orbit every four years

b) The revolution slow down a little once every four years                          

c) The length of a  year is not an integer number of days d) It is a convention

9. The brightest planet is:

a) Jupiter             b) Mars        c) venus       d) Mercury

10. What is meant by the term “midnight sun”?

a) Twilight                                           b)Rising Sun                      

c) Very bright moon       

d) Sun shining in the polar circle for long time

11. The name of Saturn’s largest moon is:

a) Mimas             b) Enceladus       c) Titan                         d) Tethys

12. Which discovered the first four satellites of Jupiter?

a) Galileo             b) Copernicus    c) Newton     d) Kepler

13. Which planet in our solar system is nearly as big as the earth?

a) Mercury          b) Mars             c) Venus         d) Pluto

14. The planet that takes 88 days to make one revolution of the sun is-

a) Mercury          b) Saturn          c) Jupiter        d) Mars

15. Which of the following is called “ Blue planet”?

a)  Saturn             b) Earth                             c)Jupiter        d) Mars

Answer

1.       C

2.       D

3.       C

4.       D

5.       A

6.       D

7.       B

8.       C

9.       C

10.   D

11.   C

12.   A

13.   C

14.   A

15.   B

Indian Economics for SSC Exam

Poverty

The ultimate objective of development planning is human development. Increased social welfare of the people requires a more equitable distribution of development benefits along with better living environment. Development process needs to continuously strive for broad- based improvement in the standard of living and quality of life of the people through an inclusive development strategy that focuses on both income and non income dimension. The development of human resources contributes to sustained growth and productive employment.

The biggest challenge to develop planning in India is posted by the problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment. The poor are those who live below the poverty line. The poverty line is defined in terms of per capita household expenditure. Poverty manifests itself in the form of both absolute poverty as well as relative poverty.

Absolute Poverty: - when people do not have enough money to meet the basic threshold to buy food, shelter, clothing etc that is needed for survival, it is known as Relative poverty. It is also defined in terms of insufficiency of basic needs. In India, these basic needs are measured in terms of calorie intake of 2400 in rural areas per person per day and 2100 in urban areas.

Relative Poverty: this concept is related to the general standard of living in a society when people are poor in comparison to other around them, but may still have enough money to survive. Relative poverty relates to inequalities in a society. India is characterized by both in extreme measures i.e. absolute and relative poverty.

Poverty and inclusive Growth

The Human Development Report 2010 measures poverty in terms of a new parameter, namely multidimensional poverty index (MPI), which replaced the human poverty index (HPI) used since 1997. The MPI indicates the share of the population that is multi- dimensionally poorly adjusted by the intensity of deprivation in terms of living standards, health and education. The differences in population below poverty line (BPL) widens substantially in case of india when this indicator is used instead of the national poverty line indicator while for other countries, there is less difference and in some cases even a fail.

A very significant development on poverty- estimation front in India has been the role of the Supreme Court which directed the Union government to clear the mess surrounding the issue of identification of the poor.. in response to this directive, the planning Commission has come out with revised monthly expenditure data to define the poor in urban and rural areas. In its affidavit to the Supreme Court in September 2011, the Planning Commission has stated that anyone with a monthly expenditure below Rs. 965 in urban areas and Rs. 25 a day in rural areas. The above numbers are an improvement over Tendulakar Committee members of Rs. 579 per month in urban areas and Rs. 447 per month in rural areas (at 2004-05 prices). The revised figures set a shamefully low bar for determining poverty and make a mockery of the whole exercise.

Cause of Poverty: the extent of poverty in an economy is due to a wide range of factors as follow:

(i) Underdeveloped nature of economy.

(ii) Rapid growth of population in an overpopulated country; even if the national income increases, the per capita income remains the same due to increase in population.

(iii) Large inequalities in the ownership of earning assets such as land, buildings, industry etc.

(iv) Low level of productivity in agriculture and industry.

(v) Large scale unemployment and under- employment.

(vi) Inequality of opportunity in acquiring education and skills.

(vii) State Policy.

(viii) Regional disparities.

The main determinants of poverty in a country like India are generally reflected in terms of:

(i) Lack of income due to a lack of productive employment and under- employment.

(ii) Increasing prices of food grains which constitute the major item in the consumption basket.

(iii) Inadequate social infrastructure affecting the quality of life of the people and their ability to take up gainful employment.

Among various factors contributing to poverty alleviation, economic growth in terms of its trickledown effect has always been regarded as an important factor. However, it is not economic growth but also the sectoral composition of growth. If growth is concentrated more in agriculture and rural sectors, it may lead to much large alleviation of poverty in India than if it is concentrated say, in large scale industries. Similarly, factors like physical and social infrastructure, focus on increasing productivity of small farmers, generation of employment opportunities, control of population, expenditure on human development etc. help alleviate poverty to a large extent. The main focus of poverty to a large extent. The main focus of poverty alleviation in the first two decades of Planning was on achieving a high rate of growth of GDP. It was assumed that a high rate of growth would bring about what was known as the trickledown effect and thereby take care of the trickledown effect and thereby take care of the poor and the downtrodden. However, by early 1970s it became clear that trickledown effect had not taken place and poverty alleviation would require redistribution policies. Hence, from mid 70’s anti- poverty strategy has focused on direct attack on poverty in the form of special Poverty Alleviation and Employment generation Programmes.

Anti-poverty strategy has three broad components-

Promotion of economic growth.

Promotion of human development and target programs of poverty alleviation.

Employment generation to address multi-dimensional nature of poverty.

Indian Geopgraphy for SSC Exam

General Aspects of Geography

Latitude

·         It is the angular distance of a point on the earth’s surface, measured in degree from the centre of the earth.

·         It is parallel to equator which lies midway between the poles. Hence, these lines are called parallel of latitude.

·         The most important lines of latitude are the Equator, the tropic of cancer (23 N), the Tropic of Capricorn (23 S), the Arctic Circle (66 ) and the Antarctic Circle (66 S).

·         The midday sun is exactly overhead at least once a year on all latitude in between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This area, therefore receive the maximum heat and is called the Torrid Zone.

·         The areas bounded by the Tropic of cancer and the Arctic Circle in the northern hemisphere, and the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle in the southern hemisphere have moderate temperature, hence called Temperate Zones.

·         Area bounded by the Arctic Circle and North Pole, and the Antarctic Circle and South Pole are called Frigid Zones. These Zones are very cold as the sun does not rise above the horizon.

Longitude

·         It is an angular distance measured in degrees along the equator east or west of the Prime Meridian.

·         Meridians are a series of semicircle that run from pole to pole passing through the equator.

·         Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich near London, where the British Royal Observatory is located. Its value is .

·         Longitudes have one very important function i.e. they determine Local Time in relation to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

·         Local time is the time reckoned by the noon- sun at a given place.

·         Standard Time is the Local Time of the Standard Meridian of a country.

·         In India, the longitude of 82  is treated as the Standard Meridian. The local Time at Meridian is taken as the standardtime is treated as the Standard Meridian. The local Time at Meridian is taken as the standard time for the whole country. It is known as the Indian standard Time (IST)

International Date Line

·         It is longitude where the date changes by exactly one day when it is crossed.

·         A traveler crossing the date line from east to west losses a day and while crossing the date line from west to east he gains day.

·        

Do You Know? 1. The midday sun never shines overhead on any latitude beyond the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. 2.  East and  West meridians are the same line which is called the International Date Line. 3. Russia has as many as 11 time Zones. 4. Both USA and Canada have five time Zones, viz. the Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.

The International Date Line in the mid- pacific curves from the normal meridian at the Bering Strait, Fiji, Tonga and other island to prevent confusion of day and date in some of the island to prevent confusion of day and date in some of the island group that are cut through bythe meridian.

ROTATION OF EARTH

·         Earth spins continuously on its axis once in about twenty four hours, which is called rotation.

·         When the earth rotates on its own axis, only one portion of the earth’s surface comes into the rays of the sun and experiences darkness.

REVOLUTION OF EARTH

·         The motion of the earth around the sun completing one revolution in about 365 days and 6 hours is called revolution of earth.

·         The axis of the earth is inclined to the plane of earth’s orbit at an angle of 66 giving rise to different seasons and varying lengths of day & night.

·         The earth’ revolution round the sun with its axis inclined at 66  to the plane of earth’s orbit changes the apparent altitude of the midday sun.

·         The sun is vertically overhead at the equator on 21 March and 21 September and these two days are termed as equinoxes.

·         On 21 June, the sun is vertically overhead at the Tropic of Cancer (23 ). This is known as summer solstice, when the northern hemisphere will have its longest day and shortest night.

·         On 22 December, the sun is vertically over head at the Tropic of Capricorn (23 ). This is known as winter solstice when the southern hemisphere will have its longest day and shortest night.

·         Beyond the Arctic Circle (66 ) and Antarctic Circle (66 ) darkness lasts for 6 months and daylight is continuous for the remaining half of the year.

·         Star nearest to sun is Proxima Centauri.

·         The view considering the sun as the centre of the solar system was given by Copernicus, and is also called the heliocentric view.

English for Competitive Exam

Daily Vocab for all Competitive Exam

1. Disseminate (V):- cause to become widely known,

Synonyms: broadcast, circularise, circularize, circulate, diffuse, disperse, distribute, pass around, propagate, spread.

Uses: After win of NarendraModi in the general election , it would not take long for the media to disseminate the results to living rooms around the world.

2. Repudiate (V):- refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid.

Synonyms: disown, renounce, reject, abandon, forswear

Uses: The actress used the interview to repudiate claims of alcohol abuse.

3. Connundrum (N):- A riddle whose answer contain a pun; a difficult problem.

Synonyms: enigma, riddle, perplexity.

Uses: what is the difference between a jewller and a jailer? 'One sells the watches and the other watches the cell :)

4. Consecrate (V):- to cause to be revered, honoured or treated as sacred; dedicated to a sacred purpose.

Synonyms: hallowed, sacral, sacred, sacrosanct, sanctified.

Uses: The church was consecrated in 1234.

5. Placebo (N):- a substance which does not have any pharmacological effect but is administered to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a real medicine.

Uses: The study indicated that sixty-five percent of the patients recovered when given a placebo.

6. Conscientious (Adj) :- characterized by extreme care and great effort.

Synonyms: painstaking, scrupulous, arduous, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome, strenuous.

Uses: He received the employee of the year award because he was conscientious and hardworking.

7. Expostulation (N) :- the act of objecting; the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest.

Synonyms: objection, remonstrance, remonstration, demonstration.

Uses: The Prime minister went out of his way to expostulate his displeasure towards those who vandalized the church.

8. Abstemious (Adj.):- sparing in consumption of especially food and drink.

Synonyms: abstinent, abstentious, abstain.

Uses: The best way to avoid becoming obese is by being abstemious and only eating what is necessary to survive.

9. Brusque (Adj.):- Rough and abrupt in manner.

Synonyms: curt, terse, laconic, uncivil.

Uses: Because they are so busy, bank clerks often appear brusque.

10. Clandestine (Adj.):- Kept secret for a purpose, often for something illicit or evil.

Synonyms: secret, furtive, stealthy, surreptitious, underhand.

Uses: Clandestine meetings between lovers.

General Science for SSC Exam

About Metal and Non-Metal

METAL & NON-METAL:

1. All the materials found in the earth's crust are made up of chemical elements.

2. All these elements can be broadly divided into two classes:

Metals and Non-metals.

Note : Out of 117 elements 83 are naturally occuring. Out of total 117 elements about 24 are non-metals and rest are metals.

3. Physical Properties of Metals

• Metals, in their pure state, possess a shining surface(metallic lustre). Freshly cut metals have a bright metallic lustre.

• Metals are solid at room temperature. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

• Metals are generally hard and strong. But metals like sodium and potassium are exceptionally very soft and can be cut with a knife.

• Metals have high melting and boiling points. Sodium,potassium, gallium and mercury have low melting and boiling points.

• Metals are good conductors of heat. Silver, followed by copper and aluminium, is the best conductor of heat. These days, cooking vessels and other utensils are made up of copper and aluminium.

• Metals are also good conductors of electricity. Silver, followed by copper, gold and aluminium, is the bestconductor of electricity. Copper and aluminium are used for making electrical wires.

• Metals are sonorous. They make a ringing sound when struck.

• Metals are usually malleable. They can be hammered into thin sheets and rolled into different shapes without breaking. Gold and silver are the most malleable metals.

• Metals are generally ductile. They can be easily drawn into wires. Gold and silver are most ductile metals. Copper wires are used for electrical purposes.

• Metals have high tensile strength, i.e. they can hold heavy loads without breaking.

• Metals have high densities i.e. they are heavy in nature. Sodium and potassium metals are exceptions as they have low densities and float on water.

4. Corrosion is the process of slowly eating away of metal due to attack of atmospheric gases and water on the surface of metal. The most common example of corrosion is the rusting of iron.

Rusting: Rusting is the corrosion of iron on exposure to atmosphere

Non-metals are quite abundant in nature. They are main constituent of atmosphere.

• Oxygen, nitrogen and noble gases are present in the air.

• Non-metals are also present in large amounts in oceans.

• Hydrogen and oxygen are present as water and chlorine is present as chlorides in the oceans.

• Oxygen, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur are present in the earth's crust.

6. Physical Properties of Non-metals:

• Non-metals are either solids or gases at room temperature. Bromine is the only liquid non-metal at room temperature.

• Non-metals are soft. Phosphorus is so soft that can be cut with a knife. Diamond, an allotrope of carbon, is the hardest known substance.

• Non-metals have low tensile strength, i.e. they are not strong and break easily.

• Non-metals are non-lustrous and have a dull appearance. Graphite, an allotrope of carbon and iodine have shining lustrous surfaces.

• Non-metals are non-malleable and non-ductile. They cannot be hammered into sheets or drawn into wires. These are brittle solids. When non-metals like sulphur, are hammered or stretched, they break into pieces.

• Non-metals are non-conductors or bad conductors of heat and electricity. Gas carbon and graphite are good conductors of heat and electricity.

• Non-metals are non-sonorous i.e. do not make a ringing sound when struck.

• Non-metals usually have low densities