General Awareness / General Knowledge: Context, Not Just Names
General Awareness / General Knowledge tests whether you can place a fact in its correct context across Indian polity, history, geography, economy, science, and Delhi-specific civic knowledge. The ministerial paper also expects recent schemes, appointments, sports, and awards, usually from the months before the notification.
Build a fact grid
- Polity: Constitution, amendments, Articles, Panchayati Raj, and Delhi's National Capital Territory status.
- History: freedom movement, dynasties, social reform, and important dates.
- Geography: rivers, passes, soils, climate, and Indian states.
- Economy: budget terms, banks, inflation, GDP, and welfare schemes.
- Science: everyday physics, chemistry, biology, and health.
- Delhi: districts, monuments, civic bodies, and basic police jurisdiction.
Worked example
Question: Which constitutional amendment created a Legislative Assembly for Delhi? Reasoning: Delhi is a Union Territory with special status. The 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991 inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB and created the NCT of Delhi's Assembly. The 42nd Amendment (1976) is known as the mini-Constitution and added fundamental duties, not Delhi's Assembly. Answer: 69th Amendment.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating Delhi as a full state: it is an NCT with a Lieutenant Governor and limited legislative powers.
- Mixing up the 42nd, 44th, 52nd, 69th, and 73rd/74th amendments.
- Using stale current affairs; check the exam's cutoff period.
- Guessing blindly where negative marking applies.