General Knowledge and Current Affairs
General Knowledge and Current Affairs in this paper tests India-wide static facts - polity, geography, history, economy, awards, sports, books and institutions - plus current events from roughly the year before the exam, with Rajasthan-specific news mixed in.
Static core to lock first
- Constitution: Article 352 (national emergency), Article 356 (President's rule in a state), Article 360 (financial emergency); Fundamental Rights sit in Part III, Directive Principles in Part IV.
- Institutions: RBI set up 1935 and nationalised 1949; NABARD 1982; SEBI formed 1988 and given statutory power in 1992.
- Geography: the Tropic of Cancer crosses eight states; Ganga is the longest river; Wular is India's largest freshwater lake.
Handling current affairs
- Track only what is examinable: new schemes and their ministries, appointments, summit host cities, Bharat Ratna/Padma/Jnanpith awards, sports champions, GI tags, defence exercises and ISRO missions.
- Anchor every current item to a static fact so one revision serves two questions.
Worked example
Under which Article can the President impose President's rule in a state? Reasoning: the three emergency Articles are 352, 356 and 360. 352 covers war, external aggression or armed rebellion (national); 360 covers financial instability; failure of constitutional machinery in a state is 356. Answer: Article 356.
Traps that cost marks
- Swapping 352 with 356 in a hurry.
- "First" questions: Lord Mountbatten was the first Governor-General of independent India, while C. Rajagopalachari was the first Indian Governor-General.
- Treating old news as current: check the window the notification specifies instead of trusting a stale monthly magazine.