VMC Junior Clerk cheat sheet

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950; Dr B. R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee.

Fundamental Rights occupy Articles 12-35 of the Constitution; the Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32) was called the 'heart and soul' of the Constitution by Ambedkar.

Gujarat was carved out of the erstwhile Bombay State on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960; Gandhinagar became its capital in 1970.

The RBI was established on 1 April 1935 under the RBI Act, 1934; it was nationalised in 1949 and its headquarters moved to Mumbai in 1937.

ISRO was formed in 1969; Chandrayaan-3 soft-landed near the lunar south pole in August 2023, making India the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon.

India's G20 presidency ran from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, with the Leaders' Summit held in New Delhi in September 2023.

The Tropic of Cancer passes through eight Indian states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

Books and authors current affairs are commonly tested: 'Wings of Fire' - A. P. J. Abdul Kalam; 'Discovery of India' - Jawaharlal Nehru; 'Arthashastra' - Kautilya.

National days: Republic Day 26 January, Independence Day 15 August, Constitution Day 26 November, National Unity Day 31 October (Sardar Patel's birthday).

Gujarati has three genders (પુલ્લિંગ masculine, સ્ત્રીલિંગ feminine, નપુંસકલિંગ neuter) and two numbers (એકવચન singular, બહુવચન plural); adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number and case.

Vibhakti (case) markers follow the noun: -એ (agentive/karta), -ને (accusative/dative), -થી/-એ (instrumental), -માં (locative), -નું/-ની/-નો (genitive).

Sandhi is joining of sounds: સ્વર સંધિ involves vowels (e.g., વિદ્યા + આલય = વિદ્યાલય), વ્યંજન સંધિ involves consonants.

Samasa (compound) types include તત્પુરુષ, દ્વંદ્વ, બહુવ્રીહિ, કર્મધારય and દ્વિગુ; identifying the type depends on which member is principal.

Synonyms (સમાનાર્થી) and antonyms (વિરુદ્ધાર્થી) are standard question types; idioms (કહેવત/રૂઢિપ્રયોગ) must be matched to their figurative meaning, not literal.

Alankara (figures of speech): ઉપમા (simile, uses જેવું/સમ), રૂપક (metaphor), અનુપ્રાસ (alliteration), ઉત્પ્રેક્ષા (hyperbolic fancy).

Jodani (orthography) rules: િ (small i) is written after the consonant, ી (big i) after; ુ and ૂ, ે and ૈ, ો and ૌ follow the same short/long pairing.

Gujarati numerals ૦-૯ correspond to 0-9; the language uses the Perso-Arabic-derived script style of Devanagari with no headstroke (શિરોલંબન).

Subject-verb agreement: singular subject takes singular verb; 'each, every, either, neither, everyone' are singular; 'none' can be singular or plural depending on the noun.

Tenses: present perfect uses has/have + past participle for an action with present relevance; past perfect uses had + past participle for the earlier of two past actions.

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes be + past participle, agent follows 'by'; only transitive verbs can be passivised.

Direct to indirect speech: present tense shifts to past, 'today' to 'that day', 'tomorrow' to 'the next day', 'here' to 'there', and question word order changes to statement order.

Articles: 'a/an' before singular countable nouns (a before consonant sound, an before vowel sound); 'the' for definite/specific reference and unique things.

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

Commonly confused pairs: affect (verb) vs effect (noun); principal (main/head) vs principle (rule); stationary (not moving) vs stationery (writing material).

Idioms: 'to let the cat out of the bag' = reveal a secret; 'a bolt from the blue' = a sudden shock; 'to beat about the bush' = avoid the main point.

Percentage change = (change / original) x 100; successive percentage changes of a% and b% give a net change of a + b + ab/100.

Simple interest = P x R x T / 100; compound interest amount = P(1 + R/100)^T, and CI = Amount - P.

Profit/loss percentage is always calculated on cost price: Profit% = (SP - CP)/CP x 100; Loss% = (CP - SP)/CP x 100.

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

Ratio and proportion: if a:b = c:d then ad = bc; to divide a sum S in ratio a:b:c, shares are S x a/(a+b+c), etc.

Speed = distance / time; to convert km/h to m/s multiply by 5/18, and m/s to km/h multiply by 18/5.

Time and work: if A finishes in x days and B in y days, together they take xy/(x+y) days; work done in 1 day = 1/x + 1/y.

Area formulas: rectangle = l x b; triangle = 1/2 x base x height; circle = πr²; circumference = 2πr; volume of cylinder = πr²h.

LCM x HCF of two numbers = product of the numbers; use this to find one when the other, LCM and HCF are known.

Number series: check differences, then ratios, then alternating/prime/square patterns; squares are 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 and cubes are 1, 8, 27, 64, 125.

Letter positions: A=1 ... Z=26; opposite letter pairs sum to 27 (A-Z, B-Y, C-X, D-W, E-V, F-U, G-T, H-S, I-R, J-Q, K-P, L-O, M-N).

Coding-decoding: test shift ciphers (+1, +2, -1), reverse alphabet (A=Z), and position-based codes before assuming a complex rule.

Blood relations: draw a family tree with symbols (+ male, - female, = spouse, | child); 'brother of my father' = uncle, 'son of my mother's only child' = nephew/son.

Direction sense: net displacement uses Pythagoras; e.g., 3 km east then 4 km north gives 5 km from start. Facing north, a right turn faces east.

Syllogism: valid conclusions must be true in every possible diagram; 'All A are B' does not imply 'All B are A'.

Seating arrangement: for a circle, fix one person and note that 'facing centre' reverses left/right compared with 'facing outward'.

Calendar: an ordinary year has 1 odd day, a leap year 2; a century leap year (divisible by 400) has 0 odd days across 400 years.

Clock: angle between hands = |30H - 5.5M| degrees; hands coincide 11 times in 12 hours.

Shortcuts: Ctrl+C copy, Ctrl+X cut, Ctrl+V paste, Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y redo, Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+P print, Ctrl+F find, Ctrl+A select all.

MS Word: Ctrl+B bold, Ctrl+I italic, Ctrl+U underline; F7 spell check; Ctrl+Enter inserts a page break; header/footer repeats on every page.

MS Excel: every formula starts with '='; relative reference A1 changes when copied, absolute $A$1 does not; SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, MIN are standard functions.

Excel error values: #DIV/0! division by zero, #REF! deleted reference, #NAME? unrecognised name, #VALUE! wrong argument type.

MS PowerPoint: F5 starts the slideshow from the beginning, Shift+F5 from the current slide; Ctrl+M inserts a new slide.

Computer generations: 1st vacuum tubes, 2nd transistors, 3rd integrated circuits, 4th microprocessors, 5th artificial intelligence.

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

Internet terms: URL is the address of a web resource, HTTP/HTTPS the transfer protocol, and a browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) renders web pages.

Email: CC sends a copy visible to all recipients, BCC hides recipients from each other; attachments are limited by the provider's size cap.

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj; it came into force on 24 April 1993 (National Panchayati Day).

Three-tier Panchayat structure: Gram Panchayat (village), Panchayat Samiti (block/intermediate), Zilla Panchayat (district); states with under 20 lakh population may skip the intermediate tier.

Gram Sabha consists of all persons registered in the electoral rolls of a village; it is the foundation of the Panchayati Raj system.

Panchayat elections are conducted by the State Election Commission; the State Finance Commission reviews the financial position of panchayats every five years.

Reservation: seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to population, and not less than one-third of seats for women.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (in force 1 June 1993) dealt with urban local bodies: Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation.

A Gram Panchayat's term is five years; if dissolved earlier, fresh elections must be held within six months.

Gujarat has a three-tier panchayat system with 33 district panchayats, block panchayat samitis and village panchayats; the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993 governs them.

A Municipal Corporation is headed politically by a Mayor (elected) and administratively by a Municipal Commissioner (appointed by the state government).

Ward committees and ward-level elected councillors form the base of municipal representation; the number of wards is fixed by the state election authority.

Key municipal functions: water supply, drainage and sewerage, solid waste management, street lighting, roads, public health and birth/death registration.

Property tax is the main own-source revenue of urban local bodies; other sources include water charges, user fees, advertisement tax and grants from the state finance commission.

The 74th Amendment added the Twelfth Schedule listing 18 municipal functions, including urban planning, fire services and slum improvement.

Civic awareness: segregation of wet and dry waste at source, use of dustbins, avoiding single-use plastic, and reporting civic issues to the local body.

Voter eligibility for local body elections: Indian citizen, ordinarily resident in the ward, and aged 18 or above on the qualifying date.

Emergency numbers in India: 112 for emergency response, 100 police, 101 fire, 108 ambulance; municipal helplines handle water and sanitation complaints.