SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 6 of 99

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Bihu festival is the main festival of which state?

(a)Kerala
(b)Punjab
(c)Assam
(d)Rajasthan

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Bihu is the festival of Assam, and the Assamese year turns on three of them.

Rongali or Bohag Bihu, in April, opens the Assamese new year and the sowing season. Kati or Kongali Bihu, in October, falls in the lean month when the transplanted paddy is still in the field. Magh or Bhogali Bihu, in January, is the harvest festival and its feasting.

The dance and the dhol most people picture belong to the April Bihu, and that is the festival the singular 'Bihu festival' in the stem points to — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Kerala — Kerala keeps Onam, the ten-day festival of the Chingam month built around the return of King Mahabali, as its state festival. Bihu is not part of its calendar.
(b)
Punjab — Punjab marks Baisakhi in April and Lohri in January — harvest festivals in the same two seasons as Bihu, which is precisely why the option is offered here.
(d)
Rajasthan — Rajasthan runs on Teej and Gangaur, both tied to Shiva and Parvati rather than to a paddy cycle, and neither shares Bihu's agricultural calendar.

Concept

Bihu is not one festival but three, each fixed to a point in the paddy year of Assam.

Bohag or Rongali Bihu in April is the new year and the sowing, celebrated with the Bihu dance, the dhol and the pepa.

Kati or Kongali Bihu in October is austere: lamps are lit in the fields when the granary is empty and the crop is still standing.

Magh or Bhogali Bihu in January is the harvest, and it is the feasting one. The three names describe those moods — joyous, bare and feasting.

Festival-to-state items are pure pairing recall — there is nothing to reason out.

Learn them as pairs in both directions, state to festival and festival to state, so either wording finds the same fact.

Key facts

Bihu is the festival of Assam and is celebrated three times in a year.
Rongali or Bohag Bihu falls in April and opens the Assamese new year.
Kati or Kongali Bihu falls in October.
Magh or Bhogali Bihu falls in January and is the harvest feast.

Study next

State festivals of India as a paired list, learnt in both directionsHarvest festivals across India and the months they fall inFolk dances and instruments tied to particular states

Common traps

Assuming Bihu is a single festival, when the stem's singular hides three.
Pairing Bihu with a neighbouring state because the North East is remembered as one block.

SSC asks Bihu at more than one level of detail, so the three names and their months are worth holding, not just the state.

The month of Kati Bihu is asked on 23 Sep 2024, 12:30 at General Awareness Q.7, an Assamese Vaishnavite festival on 24 Sep 2024, 12:30 at General Awareness Q.25, and the same festival-to-state format with Chhath Puja on 13 Sep 2024, 09:00 at General Awareness Q.22.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.