Static GK carries most of the 100 marks of the CDS General Knowledge paper. Of the 120 questions in the CDS (II) 2026 paper, about 20 were on Indian Polity, about 20 on the History of India, about 15 on Geography and the environment, about 10 on the Indian Economy and about 37 on Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which makes CDS the most science-heavy General Knowledge paper among the major recruitment exams. Polity questions test writs, the NHRC, electoral systems, disqualification of legislators, GST and delimitation. History runs from the Upanishads and the Shunga dynasty to Vijayanagara, temple architecture, the Sylhet referendum and the SNDP Yogam. Geography asks about the atmosphere, earthquakes and tsunamis, Ramsar sites, mangroves and World Heritage sites. Science stays at school level but expects reasoning: a lens problem, a magnetic field direction, molarity versus molality, what cooking soda is, how enzymes act. This page holds GK24's topic-wise GK notes for CDS, written as short facts and tables so that a topic can be revised in one sitting. Read a topic, then solve its previous-year questions and quiz on this site to check what stayed with you.
Which one of the following was the earlier name of Tokyo?
Tokyo was called Edo until 1868, when it was renamed Tokyo, which means eastern capital.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements about the social base of the Arya Samaj in British India is/are correct?
1. It was located mainly in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.
2. It mainly comprised the trading castes.
3. It was much more limited than that of the Brahmo Samaj.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
The Arya Samaj drew its strength mainly from Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh and from the trading castes, and its social base was wider, not narrower, than that of the Brahmo Samaj.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following became a part of China in 1997 following the principle of 'one country, two systems'?
Britain handed Hong Kong back to China on 1 July 1997, and it became a Special Administrative Region under the principle of one country, two systems.
Read the full explanation →The College of Fort William was established by which one of the following Governor-Generals?
Lord Wellesley founded the College of Fort William at Calcutta in 1800 to train young British civil servants of the East India Company.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following may be the true characteristic of cyclones?
Temperate cyclones are carried from west to east by the westerlies, while tropical cyclones generally move from east to west with the trade winds.
Read the full explanation →The 'four great needs' of the people as identified by the Guomindang were
These were the four great needs of the people that the Guomindang set out to meet, following the ideas of Sun Yat-sen.
Read the full explanation →In the elections to the provincial legislatures in 1937 in British India
1. only about 10 to 12 percent of the population had the right to vote
2. the untouchables had no right to vote
3. the Congress won an absolute majority in five out of eleven provinces
4. the Muslim League won more than 80 percent of the seats reserved for Muslims
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Voting in 1937 was limited by property and education, and the Congress won an absolute majority in five provinces, while statements 2 and 4 are false.
Read the full explanation →Under which one of the following Amendment Acts was Sikkim admitted into the Union of India?
The Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975 made Sikkim a full State of the Indian Union. Sikkim had been an Indian protectorate since 1950.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following river valleys of India is under the influence of intensive gully erosion?
The Chambal valley is the best-known Indian example of land destroyed by intensive gully erosion, which has carved it into deep ravines.
Read the full explanation →The 'water frame' of Richard Arkwright was a device for
Richard Arkwright's water frame, patented in 1769, was a spinning machine driven by water power that spun strong cotton thread.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about the Salt March : 1. The Salt March was deliberately ignored by the European media. 2. The Salt March was widely covered by the American and European press. 3. The Salt March was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. 4. The Salt March impressed upon the British the urgent need to devolve more power to Indians. Which of the statements given above are correct?
The Salt March drew wide notice in the American and European press, brought women into the national movement in large numbers, and made the British see that they had to share more power with Indians.
Read the full explanation →Who was the editor of the journal Indian Social Reformer that was started in 1890?
Kamakshi Natarajan founded the weekly Indian Social Reformer at Madras in 1890 and edited it for decades, moving it to Bombay soon after.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements about Attorney General of India is/are not correct? 1. He is the first Law Officer of the Government of India. 2. He is entitled to the privileges of a Member of the Parliament. 3. He is a whole-time counsel for the Government. 4. He must have the same qualifications as are required to be a judge of the Supreme Court. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
The Attorney General is not a whole-time counsel of the Government; he is not barred from private legal practice, so statement 3 is the only incorrect one.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is correct?
Liver cells turn the toxic ammonia released from the breakdown of amino acids into urea through the ornithine cycle, also called the urea cycle.
Read the full explanation →The term Upari refers to which one of the following?
In the Maratha villages of the Deccan, an upari was a tenant who cultivated land without any hereditary right to it.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is not a correct ascending order of commissioned ranks in the defence forces of India?
It places Group Captain below Wing Commander, but in the Indian Air Force a Wing Commander ranks below a Group Captain.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the correct sequence of passage of light in a compound microscope?
Light passes through the condenser to the specimen, is picked up by the objective lens, travels up the body tube and reaches the eye through the eyepiece.
Read the full explanation →The Headquarters of the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy is located at which one of the following places?
The Southern Naval Command has its headquarters at Kochi in Kerala, and it is the Navy's training command.
Read the full explanation →With regard to nature of Mughal State, who among the following scholars argued that "the peculiar feature of the State in Mughal India was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the exploiting classes, but was itself the principal instrument of exploitation"?
In his study of the Mughal agrarian system, Habib argued that the Mughal State did not merely protect the exploiting classes but was itself the main instrument for taking the peasants' surplus.
Read the full explanation →Who was/were the 10th century composer(s) of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham?
The Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the 4,000 sacred verses of Tamil Vaishnavism, is the work of the twelve Alvars, gathered into one collection in the 10th century.
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