SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 1 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.

Which of the following best describes the cultural significance of "Mim" in the "Mim Kut festival"?

(a)A rare millet stored for famine
(b)The sacred herb for tribal healing
(c)The last harvest representing survival and love
(d)A mythological offering for spirits only

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Ministry of Tourism's Utsav portal, listing Tourism Nagaland's Mim Kut festival at Dimapur, says: "Mim is the last harvest of the year in the Kuki society."

Its origin story is of Lendou and his younger brother, abandoned by their mother, who shared mim when hungry. Mim "got them through these hard times, brought them closer and taught them love": survival and love, option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
A rare millet stored for famine — The account the key follows calls mim the year's last harvest, not a rare grain kept against famine. Its meaning comes from the Lendou story: hunger survived and a bond of love.
(b)
The sacred herb for tribal healing — Mim is a food crop, harvested and eaten, not a healing herb. The Mizoram Tourism website calls Mim Kut the Maize Festival, and the Kuki story has two hungry brothers living on mim.
(d)
A mythological offering for spirits only — In the Utsav account, people offer their ancestors tokens of maize, jewelry, clothing, bread and rice wine, but only is the flaw. Mim is first a harvest that fed the living, as in the Lendou story.

Concept

Mim Kut is celebrated in Mizoram and by the Kuki of Nagaland, and the two accounts stress different things.

The Mizoram Tourism website (mizoramtourism.com) calls it the Maize Festival, celebrated generally in August or September.

The Kuki account on the Utsav portal describes a festival where people summon their deceased ancestors and pay their respects, and where mim is remembered through the Lendou story.

The keyed wording tracks the Kuki account on the Utsav portal almost phrase for phrase. Mizoram Tourism's page calls the same festival the Maize Festival, so expect either frame in a question.

Key facts

The Mizoram Tourism website, mizoramtourism.com, calls Mim Kut the Maize Festival, celebrated generally in August or September.
The Utsav portal's Kuki account calls mim the last harvest of the year in Kuki society.
In the Kuki origin story, Lendou and his younger brother survive hunger by sharing mim.
The souls of ancestors are believed to return to their homes during the festival, and families pay them homage.

Study next

Chapchar Kut and Pawl Kut, Mizoram's other Kut festivalsJhum cultivation and the farm calendar behind north-east harvest festivalsFolk dances and festivals of the Kuki of Nagaland

Common traps

Choosing the famine-store option because mim is a grain, when the stem asks for its cultural meaning.
Taking the offering to ancestors as the whole festival and missing the word only in option (d).

Here a festival is tested through the meaning of one word in its name. The Kuki of Nagaland also appear at 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.13, which asks where Kuki dance is predominantly performed (keyed Nagaland).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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