Famous Personalities Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The father of India's space programme is Vikram Sarabhai.

Vikram Sarabhai persuaded the government to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research in 1962, established the Thumba rocket launching station in 1963 and founded ISRO in 1969. He chaired it until his death in 1971.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam led the SLV-3 project and later India's missile programme. G. Madhavan Nair was ISRO chairman from 2003 to 2009, and Nambi Narayanan was a scientist who worked on liquid propulsion.

Answer: B

The translator was C. Achutha Menon.

C. Achutha Menon, Chief Minister of Kerala from 1969 to 1977, was also a writer, and among his works is a Malayalam translation of H.G. Wells' A Short History of the World.

E.M.S. Namboodiripad wrote widely on Kerala's history and Marxism, E.K. Nayanar wrote memoirs and political essays, and P.K. Vasudevan Nair was a journalist, but the Wells translation is Achutha Menon's.

Answer: A

The "Missile Man of India" is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Kalam led the development of SLV-3, India's first satellite launch vehicle, at ISRO, and then headed the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme at DRDO, which produced the Agni and Prithvi missiles. He was also central to the Pokhran-II nuclear tests of 1998 and served as President of India from 2002 to 2007.

Homi J. Bhabha is the father of India's nuclear programme, C.V. Raman won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for the Raman effect, and Vikram Sarabhai is the father of the Indian space programme. None of them is called the Missile Man.

Answer: B

The editor of Lokmat was Pt. Dwarika Prasad Mishra.

Dwarka Prasad Mishra, freedom fighter and later Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, was also a journalist. He edited the Hindi newspaper Lokmat and the journal Sarathi, and wrote the epic Krishnayan.

Makhanlal Chaturvedi edited Karmaveer and Prabha, Ravishankar Shukla was the first Chief Minister of the new State, and Bhavaniprasad Mishra was a poet.

Answer: D

The personality not related to Gwalior is Ustad Amir Khan.

Ustad Amir Khan, founder of the Indore gharana of Hindustani classical music, was associated with Indore.

The other three belong to Gwalior. Tansen, the great musician of Akbar's court, trained in Gwalior and his tomb is there. Pandit Shankar Rao Pandit and Raja Bhaiya Poonchhwale were leading singers of the Gwalior gharana, the oldest khayal gharana.

Answer: B

M.S. Swaminathan is most closely associated with the Green Revolution.

The agricultural scientist, who died in 2023 and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2024, led the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties in the 1960s, with fertilisers and irrigation, which transformed India from food shortage to self-sufficiency in grain. He is called the father of India's Green Revolution.

He had no role in an industrial, digital or cultural revolution.

Answer: C

Vagish Shastri was born in Sagar district.

Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi 'Vagish Shastri' (1934-2022), the Sanskrit scholar, grammarian and yoga teacher of Varanasi who received the President's award and the Padma Shri, was born in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh before making his career at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi.

Bhopal, Indore and Dhar are not his birthplace; the question tests the Madhya Pradesh connection of a scholar best known for his work in Varanasi.

Answer: A

Arjun Singh Dhurwey belongs to the Baiga tribe (A).

Arjun Singh Dhurve (also spelt Dhurwey) of Dindori district received the Padma Shri in 2022 for his work in keeping the Baiga tribal dance alive; he is described as a Baiga dancer and singer and the first postgraduate from the Baiga tribe. This matches the key.

The Bhil, Saharia and Gond are other tribes of Madhya Pradesh but he is not described as belonging to them.

Answer: D

Kailash Satyarthi was born in Vidisha district.

Kailash Satyarthi, the child rights activist who founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, was born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, in 1954. He trained as an electrical engineer before devoting himself to ending child labour, and he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 with Malala Yousafzai.

Bhopal, Sehore and Indore are not his birthplace.

Answer: D

Balkavi Bairagi's real name was Nandram Das (Nandramdas Bairagi).

Balkavi Bairagi (1931-2018), the Hindi and Malvi poet from the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, was born Nandramdas Bairagi. He began writing poetry as a child, which earned him the name 'Balkavi' (child poet). He was also a politician, serving as a minister in Madhya Pradesh and as a member of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Jugal Das, Balkishan Das and Tikam Das are not his name.