SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 3 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The Pongtu Festival, celebrated by the Tutsa tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, is primarily observed to seek blessings from which deity before millet harvesting?

(a)Donyi-Polo
(b)Rangkhothak
(c)Rangfraa
(d)Nyegi-Nyapa

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The Changlang district administration's page on Pongtu says the festival is celebrated before the harvesting of millet.

It is observed by offering prayers to the supreme God Rangkhothak, for a bumper harvest, prosperity and protection from natural calamities and epidemics. That is the deity the stem asks for, option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Donyi-Polo — Donyi-Polo, meaning Sun-Moon, names the revivalist faith of the Tani groups of Arunachal Pradesh, such as the Adi. It is not the Tutsa deity addressed at Pongtu.
(c)
Rangfraa — Rangfraa is described as the Tangsa and Tutsa word for God, and names a faith promoted by a society based in Changlang. The district's account of Pongtu uses Rangkhothak, and that is the name the key takes.
(d)
Nyegi-Nyapa — Nyegi-Nyapa does not appear in the district's account of Pongtu, which names Rangkhothak as the deity the prayers are offered to.

Concept

The Tutsa live in the Changlang and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and their festivals follow the stages of jhum (shifting) cultivation, from choosing the plot to the harvest.

Pongtu Kuh is the main one. The district fixes it on 11 April, though villages hold it through April, May and June, and says the name joins pong, wind, and tu, retreating.

Rangkhothak and Rangfraa overlap. Rangfraa is the Tangsa and Tutsa word for God.

The key follows the district's own wording for Pongtu, so answer with Rangkhothak.

Key facts

Pongtu Kuh is the principal festival of the Tutsa of Changlang and Tirap districts, Arunachal Pradesh.
It is celebrated before the millet harvest, with prayers to the supreme God Rangkhothak.
The district fixes it on 11 April, though villages celebrate it from April to June.
Donyi-Polo, meaning Sun-Moon, is the faith associated with the Tani groups of Arunachal Pradesh.

Study next

Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh and the communities that celebrate themThe Tangsa, Tutsa and Nocte of Changlang and Tirap districtsDonyi-Polo and the indigenous faith movements of Arunachal Pradesh

Common traps

Choosing Rangfraa, the Tangsa and Tutsa word for God, when the key follows the district's name for the Pongtu deity.
Reaching for Donyi-Polo as a default answer to any Arunachal deity question.

The festival is identified by community, crop and season, and the answer is a name. Arunachal festivals also appear at 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.7, which asks the religion whose followers celebrate Sangken (keyed Buddhism).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 163 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.