General Awareness
General Awareness in DSSSB Nursing Officer measures static general knowledge plus current affairs, with a clear tilt toward Indian polity, science, geography, and national health programmes that a nursing officer should recognise.
Polity and Constitution
- Fundamental Rights are in Part III (Articles 12–35) and are enforceable in courts.
- Directive Principles of State Policy are in Part IV (Articles 36–51); Article 47 directs the State to raise nutrition and public health and to prohibit intoxicants.
- Article 21, the right to life and personal liberty, has been interpreted to include the right to health and medical care.
- The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992) gave constitutional status to panchayats and urban local bodies.
Health and science
- The National TB Elimination Programme replaced the older RNTCP and aims at TB elimination.
- ORS is first-line for dehydration in diarrhoea; zinc is added for children.
- Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness, vitamin C deficiency scurvy, and iodine deficiency goitre.
Worked example
Question: The right to health is most directly linked to which constitutional provision? Reasoning: Part III rights are enforceable, and the Supreme Court has expanded Article 21 to include health, medical care, and a clean environment. Article 47 is a Directive Principle, not a directly enforceable fundamental right. Answer: Article 21.
Traps
- Mixing fundamental rights with DPSPs; DPSPs are not directly justiciable.
- Confusing old and new programme names, such as RNTCP and NTEP.
- Guessing current affairs from vague memory; if a date or rank is uncertain, eliminate options instead of inventing one.