General Knowledge and Current Affairs: Anchoring Facts to Official Sources
General Knowledge and Current Affairs is the first paper of the Kharidar examination. It tests Nepal's constitutional facts, geography, culture, national institutions, international relations and the events of the past year. Questions are single-answer factual, so precision beats breadth.
What is actually tested
- Constitutional facts: 7 provinces, 77 districts, 753 local levels (6 metropolitan, 11 sub-metropolitan, 276 municipalities, 460 rural municipalities).
- Census 2078 (2021) results: total population 2,91,64,578 and a literacy rate of 76.3 per cent.
- Nepal in international organisations: UN member since 1955, SAARC founded 1985 with its secretariat in Kathmandu, BIMSTEC secretariat in Dhaka, WTO membership since 2004, AIIB since 2016.
- National days, symbols, awards, sports results and appointments.
Handling current affairs
Work with a rolling twelve-month window. Take facts from the Nepal Gazette, Public Service Commission notices and official press releases rather than forwarded social-media posts. For every item you note, record five things: person, place, date, number and institution. Most objective questions are built on exactly one of these five.
Worked example
Which of the following is a constitutional body? (a) National Planning Commission (b) Public Service Commission (c) Nepal Academy (d) Social Welfare Council. Reasoning: a constitutional body is created by the Constitution itself. The Public Service Commission is established by Article 242 of the Constitution of Nepal, while the NPC, Nepal Academy and Social Welfare Council are created by ordinary law or executive order. Answer: (b).
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing Bikram Sambat and AD dates: Constitution Day is Asoj 3, 2072 BS (20 September 2015).
- Confusing SAARC and BIMSTEC headquarters.
- Using a changed name for a minister, chief or office-holder; always check the latest official list before the exam.
- Treating a statutory body as constitutional.