General Awareness and Current Affairs
This section checks whether you follow India's institutions and public events as they change, not just as they were taught at school. Questions usually come from Indian polity and governance, government schemes and their nodal ministries, awards and appointments, sports, defence and space missions, international organisations, and state-level developments in Jammu and Kashmir. Static facts are rarely asked bare - they are attached to a current hook, such as a scheme's anniversary or a new appointment.
Static core to recall instantly
- Institutions: President (Article 52), Vice-President, Election Commission of India, CAG, NITI Aayog, RBI (Governor and the repo rate announced in the bi-monthly monetary policy).
- Schemes and nodal ministries: PM Ujjwala Yojana - Petroleum and Natural Gas; Jal Jeevan Mission - Jal Shakti; PM-KISAN - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY - Health and Family Welfare, cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year.
- Space and defence: PSLV, GSLV and LVM3 launchers; Chandrayaan-3 landed in 2023 with its site named Shiv Shakti Point; Aditya-L1 is a solar observatory at the Sun–Earth L1 point.
- Days: Police Commemoration Day 21 October, Kargil Vijay Diwas 26 July, Constitution Day 26 November, National Voters' Day 25 January.
Worked example
Question: Which pair is correctly matched? (a) PM-KISAN - Ministry of Rural Development (b) Jal Jeevan Mission - Ministry of Jal Shakti (c) PM Ujjwala Yojana - Ministry of Coal Reasoning: PM-KISAN's income support of ₹6,000 a year in three instalments is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and Ujjwala's LPG connections by Petroleum and Natural Gas. Only (b) survives elimination. Answer: (b).
Traps that cost marks
- "Nodal ministry" questions where a scheme is launched centrally but implemented by states.
- Renamed ministries - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- "First in India" versus "first in the world", and the year of a mission rather than the year of its launch announcement.