Today’s GK Test Quiz

The Thar Desert also known as the Great Indian Desert. Tt is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km² and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 20th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert.

• Alberuni was a Persian scholar who came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017 CE.
• Fa-Hien was a Chinese pilgrim, who visited India in 399 CE, during the reign of Chandragupta-II. He came to India to study Buddhism.
• Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese Buddhist monk, visited India during Harsha Vardhana's reign in 627 CE, in search of Buddhist scriptures.
• Megasthanes came to India in 302 BC as an ambassador for Seleucus, the representative in India from the greek Prince Alexander.

In the year 643 AD, Harsha held a great religious assembly in his capital at Kanauj. The purpose of the assembly was to highlight the teachings of Buddha. After the Kannauj Assembly was concluded, Hiuen-Tsang (Chinese Buddhist monk, traveler) was making preparations to go to his home, but Harsha invited him to attend another Assembly at Prayag.

William Harvey made the momentous medical discovery that the flow of blood must be continuous and that its flow must be in one direction only.

Scurvy is caused due to the deficiency of Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid). It is caused by not having enough vitamin C in the diet for at least three months. Vitamin C is mainly found in fruit and vegetables.

Most iron is found in minerals formed by the combination of iron with other elements. The purest form of iron is Wrought iron. It contain 99.5% iron, 0.25% carbon and 0.25% other impurities.

Fibreglass is used for making glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). The fibres are usually glass, carbon, aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. It is strong, extremely light and highly versatile.

Mulching, shelter belts and vegetative cover are some methods by which soil can be conserved in semi-arid and arid regions. The shelter belt is most effective in arid areas. Shelter belts are rows of trees, usually along fence lines.

The Panchayat Raj system was first adopted by the state of Bihar by the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act of 1947. It was a continued legacy of local self-government started by Lord Ripon in the British era. Rajasthan was the first state to introduce the panchayat system in India after independence. Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru inaugurated the three-tier Panchayati Raj System on 2nd October 1959 in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.

Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which prepared the Constitution of India and served as its provisional parliament. When India became a republic in 1950, Prasad was elected its first president by the Constituent Assembly.

The Constitution of India does not mention either a Confidence or a No-Confidence Motion. Although, Article 75 does specify that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. A motion of “No Confidence Motion” against the Government can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. No-Confidence Motion can be admitted when a minimum of 50 members, support the motion in the house.

Kelucharan Mohapatra (1926-2004) was a legendary Indian classical dancer, and exponent of Odissi dance, who is credited with the revival and popularizing of this classical dance form in the 20th century. He is the first person to receive the Padma Vibhushan from Odisha.

Using Defence Strategies a seller or buyer protects his business or holdings from changing prices and takes action against it.

The demand for a commodity changes due to a change in price. It is called extension and contraction of demand. When there is decrease in price of a commodity there is increase in demand of that commodity.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, founded in 2001 in Shanghai, China. The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).

The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India. It was a farmer's uprising that took place in Champaran district of Bihar, during the British colonial period.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was given the epithet of Lokmanya during Home Rule Movement. He was given the title, 'Lokmanya', which means 'accepted by the people' by his followers.

When a bus suddenly takes a turn the passengers are thrown outwards due to the property of inertia. As the passengers are still in their straight motion so they fall outwards.

Cloudy nights are warmer compared to clear nights because of radiation. On Cloudy nights, clouds warm the Earth by absorbing infrared radiation emitted from the surface and reradiating it back down.

Greenland is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.