State News Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The state is Sikkim.

Stromatolites are layered structures built by ancient colonies of cyanobacteria, among the oldest evidence of life on Earth. After stromatolite fossils about 1.5 billion years old were identified in south Sikkim, the state announced plans for a fossil park to protect the site and develop it for education and tourism.

Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were not the states that made this announcement.

Answer: A

The conference was held in Aizawl.

The International Conference on MSMEs in North East, organised by the Federation of Industries in North Eastern Region (FINER), was held in Aizawl, Mizoram, in September 2024, with participants from Taiwan as well as local entrepreneurs.

Dimapur, Guwahati and Tawang did not host it.

FINER, the federation that organised it, represents industry across the north-eastern states and holds such conferences to connect local enterprises with outside markets and investors.

Answer: C

The festival was held in Shillong.

The Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival is held every November, when the Himalayan cherry trees in Meghalaya's capital are in bloom; the 2024 edition took place there in November 2024.

Gangtok, Agartala and Imphal do not host the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Shillong's festival, first held in 2016, is timed to the autumn flowering of the Himalayan cherry (Prunus cerasoides), which blooms in November, unlike the spring-flowering cherries of Japan.

Answer: C

TSR stands for Tripura State Rifles.

The Tripura State Rifles is the state's armed police force, raised in 1984. Its battalions played the main part in counter-insurgency operations in Tripura and have also been deployed for internal security duties in other states. It functions under the state government as part of the Tripura Police.

'Tripura Special Rifles', 'Tribal Sector Rifles' and 'Territorial Sector Rifles' are not the names of any force.

Answer: B

The portal is Jagrut Tripura.

The Tripura government launched the Jagrut Tripura online portal in 2021 so that people could find out which government schemes they were eligible for and how to apply for their benefits, without depending on intermediaries.

'Nirbar Tripura', 'Jan Tripura' and 'Yojan Tripura' are not the names of this portal.

Answer: A

The first Kisan Call Centre of North-East India was opened at Agartala.

The Tripura government opened it in Agartala in March 2015, with the Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, inaugurating it. Agricultural, horticultural, fishery and animal husbandry experts answered farmers' calls in the local language every day. The Government of India's own Kisan Call Centre service, run through IFFCO, had not served Tripura's farmers well because of the language barrier, which is why the State set up its own centre. The 2015 launch was reported by the news agency ANI and carried by Business Standard.

Udaipur, Ambassa and Khowai are towns of Gomati, Dhalai and Khowai districts, and none of them hosted the centre.

Answer: A

Ujjayanta Palace housed the legislature until 2011.

After Tripura's merger with India the palace was used for the state government, and the Legislative Assembly sat there until 2011, when it moved to its new building in the Capital Complex. The palace was then converted into the Tripura State Museum, opened in 2013.

2013 is the trap, since it is the year the museum opened, not the year the Assembly left. 2012 and 2014 are not linked to either change.

Answer: B

The first state was Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh presented its budget for 2021-22 in the Legislative Assembly on 22 February 2021 in paperless form, with the budget documents given to members on tablets, and it was reported as the first state to do so. This followed the Union Budget, which had gone paperless on 1 February 2021.

Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh were not the first states to present a paperless budget for that year.

Answer: A

The first Special Economic Zone was planned at Sabroom.

Tripura's first SEZ, focused on agro-based and food processing industries, was approved at Sabroom in South Tripura district. The site was chosen for its position near the Maitri Setu over the Feni river, which gives access to Bangladesh's Chittagong port about 75 km away.

Chandipur, Killa and Sonamura were not the site of this SEZ.

Answer: A

Maitri Setu is built on the Feni river.

The 1.9 km Maitri Setu crosses the Feni river, which forms the border there, linking Sabroom in South Tripura with Ramgarh in Bangladesh. It was inaugurated on 9 March 2021 and gives Tripura a road link towards Chittagong port.

The Haora flows past Agartala, the Gomati is Tripura's largest river, flowing through Udaipur, and the Manu flows north through Kailashahar. None of them is crossed by the Maitri Setu.