Maharashtra Gram Sevak cheat sheet

Marathi has three genders (पुल्लिंग, स्त्रीलिंग, नपुंसकलिंग) and two numbers (एकवचन, अनेकवचन); verb endings agree with gender and number of the subject.

Eight cases (विभक्ती) are recognised: प्रथमा, द्वितीया, तृतीया, चतुर्थी, पंचमी, षष्ठी, सप्तमी, संबोधन; their suffixes are -ने/-ला/-स/-चा/-त/-ई.

विभक्ती suffixes: प्रथमा = कोण/काय; द्वितीया = -ला/-स; तृतीया = -ने/-शी; चतुर्थी = -साठी/-ला; पंचमी = -पासून/-हून; षष्ठी = -चा/-ची/-चे; सप्तमी = -त/-मध्ये.

Sandhi types in Marathi: स्वरसंधी, व्यंजनसंधी, विसर्गसंधी; e.g. विद्या + अर्थी = विद्यार्थी (स्वरसंधी).

समास types: अव्ययीभाव, तत्पुरुष, कर्मधारय, द्विगु, द्वंद्व, बहुव्रीही; उदा. राजपुत्र = तत्पुरुष, नीलकमळ = कर्मधारय.

Marathi has 12 स्वर (अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ए ऐ ओ औ) and 36 व्यंजने; अनुस्वार (ं) and विसर्ग (ः) are अयोगवाह.

अलंकार: उपमा (like/as), रूपक (metaphor), अनुप्रास (alliteration), यमक, श्लेष; उदा. 'मुख कमळासारखे' = उपमा.

वाक्प्रचार are fixed idioms; म्हणी are proverbs - both tested by matching meaning, e.g. 'हाताला काम लागणे' = व्यस्त होणे.

Tenses: simple present for habits/facts; present continuous for ongoing actions; present perfect (has/have + past participle) for past action with present relevance.

Subject-verb agreement: singular subject takes singular verb; 'each, every, either, neither, everyone' are singular; 'neither...nor' agrees with the nearer subject.

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes be + past participle, agent introduced by 'by' - 'She writes a letter' → 'A letter is written by her'.

Direct to indirect speech: present tense shifts to past, 'today' → 'that day', 'tomorrow' → 'the next day', 'here' → 'there'; pronoun changes to third person.

Articles: 'a' before consonant sounds, 'an' before vowel sounds (an hour, a university); 'the' for unique or already-mentioned nouns.

Prepositions of time: in (months, years), on (days, dates), at (clock times); 'since' with a point of time, 'for' with a duration.

Common error traps: 'one of the boys is', 'furniture/news/information' are uncountable, 'cope with', 'married to', 'senior to'.

Idioms tested in MCQs: 'a bolt from the blue' = sudden shock; 'to beat about the bush' = avoid the main point; 'once in a blue moon' = very rarely.

Constitutional offices: President (elected by electoral college), Vice-President, Prime Minister (leader of Lok Sabha majority), Chief Justice of India (senior-most SC judge).

Lok Sabha strength 543 elected members; Rajya Sabha 245 (233 elected + 12 nominated); a money bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha.

Fundamental Rights are in Part III (Articles 12–35); Directive Principles in Part IV (36–51); Fundamental Duties in Article 51A added by the 42nd Amendment (1976).

National symbols: tiger (national animal), peacock (bird), lotus (flower), banyan (tree), Ganges (river), 'Jana Gana Mana' (anthem by Tagore).

Key dates: Republic Day 26 January 1950; Constitution adopted 26 November 1949; Independence 15 August 1947; Quit India 1942.

International bodies: UN founded 1945 (HQ New York); WHO (Geneva); IMF and World Bank (Washington DC); WTO (Geneva, 1995).

Space and defence: ISRO HQ Bengaluru; Chandrayaan-3 landed near lunar south pole in August 2023; Mangalyaan entered Mars orbit in 2014.

Current affairs are tested from the last 12 months - track state and central budget highlights, awards, sports champions, and new scheme launches.

Maharashtra formed on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act, splitting the bilingual Bombay State into Maharashtra and Gujarat; first CM was Yashwantrao Chavan.

36 districts and 6 divisions: Konkan, Nashik, Pune, Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Amravati, Nagpur.

State symbols: leopard (animal), yellow-footed green pigeon/hariyal (bird), jarul (flower), mango (fruit), Indian giant squirrel (animal - shekru).

Longest river Godavari (also called Dakshin Ganga) rises at Trimbakeshwar, Nashik; Krishna rises at Mahabaleshwar; Tapi is the only major west-flowing river.

Forts: Raigad (Shivaji's capital), Pratapgad (Afzal Khan battle 1659), Sinhagad, Panhala, Devgiri/Daulatabad.

Festivals: Ganesh Chaturthi (public celebration started by Lokmanya Tilak), Gudi Padwa (Marathi new year), Ashadhi Ekadashi Wari to Pandharpur.

Sant tradition: Dnyaneshwar (Dnyaneshwari), Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram (Abhang), Ramdas (Dasbodh); Warkari sect worships Vithoba of Pandharpur.

Classical arts: Lavani and Tamasha folk forms, Powada ballads, Povada on Shivaji; Natya Sangeet tradition; Bhimsen Joshi (Kirana gharana) and Lata Mangeshkar from Maharashtra.

73rd Constitutional Amendment (1992) gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj; Part IX and Eleventh Schedule list 29 subjects.

Three-tier structure: Gram Panchayat (village), Panchayat Samiti (block), Zilla Parishad (district); Gram Sabha is the body of all registered village voters.

Gram Panchayat elections are held every 5 years; one-third seats reserved for women; State Election Commission conducts panchayat polls, State Finance Commission reviews finances.

MGNREGA (2005): guaranteed 100 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household per year; at least one-third of beneficiaries must be women; wages within 15 days.

PMAY-Gramin: financial assistance for pucca houses for houseless and kutcha-house rural families, with toilet, electricity and LPG convergence.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen): aims at open-defecation-free villages, solid-liquid waste management, and ODF-Plus status.

DAY-NRLM (Aajeevika): organises rural women into Self-Help Groups, provides revolving funds, community investment support and bank linkage.

Jal Jeevan Mission (Har Ghar Jal) targets functional household tap connections in rural areas; PMGSY builds all-weather rural roads; PM-KISAN gives ₹6,000 per year in three instalments.

Kharif crops are sown with monsoon (June–July) - rice, cotton, soybean, tur, jowar; Rabi crops in winter (Oct–Nov) - wheat, gram, safflower; Zaid is the summer season.

Major Maharashtra cash crops: sugarcane (irrigated), cotton (Vidarbha, Marathwada), soybean, onion (Nashik), grapes and pomegranate for export.

Soil types: black cotton soil (regur) retains moisture and suits cotton; laterite, red, alluvial and saline soils differ in fertility and drainage.

NPK fertilisers supply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; urea is 46% N; compost and green manure improve organic matter and soil structure.

Irrigation methods: drip and sprinkler (micro-irrigation) save water and are subsidised under PMKSY; flood irrigation is least efficient.

Plant protection: Integrated Pest Management combines biological control, pheromone traps and need-based pesticide use; neem-based formulations are common.

Animal husbandry: crossbred cows and buffaloes for milk; vaccination against FMD and HS; poultry and goat rearing support small farmers.

Agricultural institutions: ICAR coordinates research; Krishi Vigyan Kendras give district-level extension; NABARD funds rural credit and cooperatives.

Percentage change = (new − old)/old × 100; successive changes of a% and b% give net change a + b + ab/100.

Simple interest = P × R × T / 100; compound interest amount = P(1 + R/100)^T; CI − SI for 2 years = P(R/100)².

Profit% = (SP − CP)/CP × 100; loss% = (CP − SP)/CP × 100; discount is calculated on marked price.

Average = sum of observations / number of observations; if every value rises by k, the average rises by k.

Speed = distance/time; to convert km/h to m/s multiply by 5/18; relative speed adds when moving opposite, subtracts when same direction.

Ratio and proportion: if a:b = c:d then ad = bc; partnership profit shares are proportional to capital × time.

Number series and coding-decoding: check differences, squares, cubes and alternating patterns; letter positions A=1 … Z=26.

Blood relations and direction sense: draw a diagram; clock problems use 30° per hour and 5.5° per minute for the minute-hand gain.

Hardware is physical (CPU, RAM, monitor); software is programs - system software (OS) and application software (MS Word, browsers).

Memory units: 1 byte = 8 bits; 1 KB = 1024 bytes; 1 MB = 1024 KB; 1 GB = 1024 MB; RAM is volatile, ROM is non-volatile.

Windows shortcuts: Ctrl+C copy, Ctrl+X cut, Ctrl+V paste, Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+P print, Alt+F4 close window.

MS Word is a word processor; Excel is a spreadsheet using formulas starting with '='; PowerPoint creates slide presentations.

Internet basics: URL identifies a web resource; HTTP/HTTPS are transfer protocols; email needs an address in the form user@domain.

Computer generations: first used vacuum tubes, later transistors, integrated circuits, and now microprocessors; CPU has ALU, control unit and registers.

Cyber safety: use strong passwords, avoid phishing links, keep antivirus updated; digital signature verifies sender authenticity.

Government digital services: Aadhaar, DigiLocker, UMANG, DBT and CSC (Common Service Centre) are used for rural e-governance delivery.