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.
At Khejarli in 1730, the Bishnois led by Amrita Devi gave their lives to protect which tree?
Khejri, the Prosopis cineraria of the Thar, is the tree the Bishnois hold sacred, and it is the state tree of Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The famous Mawphlang sacred forest, kept by the Lyngdoh clan, is in which state?
Mawphlang lies in the Khasi hills south of Shillong and is the best known sacred grove of India.
Read the full explanation →The sacred groves called Orans are a feature of which state?
An Oran is a patch of desert vegetation in western Rajasthan dedicated to a folk deity, made up of khejri, kair, jaal and rohida trees and the grass between them.
Read the full explanation →Sacred groves are known as Kavu in which state of India?
In Kerala a sacred grove is called a Kavu, and a grove kept for the serpent deities, which almost every old family compound of the state once had, is called a Sarpa Kavu.
Read the full explanation →Which judgment fixed 24 April 1973 as the cut-off date for the protection that the Ninth Schedule gives to laws?
Decided in 1981, it held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule before 24 April 1973, the day the Kesavananda Bharati judgment was delivered, stay protected, while those added afterwards can be examined for damage to the basic structure, a position confirmed in I.R.
Read the full explanation →In S.R. Bommai v Union of India (1994), the Supreme Court dealt mainly with the use of which Article?
The nine-judge bench held that the proclamation of President's rule in a state is open to judicial review, that the material on which it rests must be relevant, and that the majority of a government must be tested on the floor of the legislative assembly rather than assessed in the…
Read the full explanation →The Vishaka judgment of 1997 laid down guidelines on which subject?
In Vishaka v State of Rajasthan the court, acting because there was no statute on the subject, framed binding guidelines for employers, including complaints committees, and these guidelines governed workplaces until Parliament enacted a law on the prevention, prohibition and redressal of such harassment in 2013.
Read the full explanation →Privacy was declared a fundamental right flowing from Article 21 in which case?
Puttaswamy v Union of India. A bench of nine judges held unanimously in 2017 that the right to privacy is intrinsic to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and to the freedoms guaranteed by Part III, and it overruled the older view taken in the M.P.
Read the full explanation →The ceiling of fifty per cent on reservation and the exclusion of the creamy layer were laid down in which judgment?
Decided in 1992 by a nine-judge bench, it upheld reservation in central services for other backward classes, fixed an ordinary ceiling of fifty per cent on total reservation and directed that the better off among the backward classes, the creamy layer, be kept out.
Read the full explanation →The National Judicial Appointments Commission and the Ninety-ninth Constitutional Amendment were struck down by the Supreme Court in which year?
In the case known as the Fourth Judges Case the court held by four to one that the commission would let the executive influence the appointment of judges, that the independence of the judiciary is part of the basic structure, and that the collegium therefore revived.
Read the full explanation →In Minerva Mills v Union of India (1980), the Supreme Court struck down clauses inserted by which constitutional amendment?
That amendment had added clauses to Article 368 declaring that an amendment could not be questioned in any court and that there was no limit on the amending power; the court held those clauses void because judicial review and the balance between fundamental rights and directive principles are part of…
Read the full explanation →The judgment in Maneka Gandhi v Union of India (1978) is chiefly remembered for widening the scope of which Article?
The case arose from the impounding of a passport, and the court held that the procedure by which the state takes away life or personal liberty must be just, fair and reasonable, which read the substance of due process into Article 21 and replaced the narrow view taken in A.K.
Read the full explanation →In which case did the Supreme Court hold that a constitutional amendment is law within the meaning of Article 13 and that fundamental rights cannot be abridged?
Golaknath v State of Punjab. In 1967 an eleven-judge bench held by six votes to five that an amendment of the Constitution is law for the purposes of Article 13, so Parliament could not abridge fundamental rights, and it softened the blow by applying the doctrine of prospective overruling to…
Read the full explanation →The doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution was laid down by the Supreme Court in which case?
The judgment was delivered on 24 April 1973 by a bench of thirteen judges, the largest ever assembled in the Supreme Court, and the majority of seven to six held that Parliament may amend any provision of the Constitution but cannot damage or destroy its basic structure.
Read the full explanation →Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March, a great event in Indian freedom struggle, was associated with
The Dandi March of 1930 was a protest against the British salt tax, and common salt is sodium chloride, NaCl.
Read the full explanation →Arabica, Robusta and Liberica are varieties of
Arabica, Robusta and Liberica are the main species of the coffee plant, Coffea, grown around the world. Arabica (Coffea arabica) gives a milder, more aromatic coffee and grows best on cool hill slopes at higher altitudes.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. All the bases are alkali. 2. All alkalis dissolve in water. 3. Alkalis are soapy to touch, bitter in taste and corrosive in nature. Select the correct answer using the code given below :
An alkali is a base that dissolves in water, so all alkalis are soluble, but not all bases are alkalis; statement 1 has it the wrong way round.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about biogas is not correct ?
This statement is wrong: biogas is renewable, because the cattle dung, crop waste and kitchen waste it is made from are produced again and again.
Read the full explanation →Which among the following is/are the objective/objectives of the NITI Aayog? 1. Imposing policies on the States/UTs 2. Allocation of funds at National and State levels 3. Design strategies and long-term policies and programme frameworks Select the correct answer using the code given below.
NITI Aayog is a policy think tank that designs strategies and long-term policy and programme frameworks; it neither imposes policies on states nor allocates funds.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following crops is not cultivated under dryland farming ?
Sugarcane needs plenty of water through a long growing season, so it is grown under irrigation or in high-rainfall areas, not as a dryland crop.
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