Skip to content
GK24

CDS GK Questions 2026

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.

CDS GK Questions with Answers

Q1661.Indian PolityEasy

Article 21A provides free and compulsory education to children of which age group?

  1. A.Birth to six years
  2. B.Six to fourteen years
  3. C.Six to eighteen years
  4. D.Fourteen to eighteen years
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Six to fourteen years

Article 21A, inserted by the 86th Amendment, 2002, says that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may by law determine, and the Right to Education Act, 2009, works out that promise…

Q1662.Indian PolityMedium

In which case did the Supreme Court hold that the right to livelihood is a part of the right to life under Article 21?

  1. A.Olga Tellis versus Bombay Municipal Corporation
  2. B.Chameli Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh
  3. C.Hussainara Khatoon versus State of Bihar
  4. D.Subhash Kumar versus State of Bihar
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Olga Tellis versus Bombay Municipal Corporation

The Court held that the right to life includes the right to livelihood, because no person can live without the means of living, and that pavement and slum dwellers could not be evicted without a fair hearing.

Q1663.Indian PolityHard

Under Article 359, the enforcement of which pair of fundamental rights cannot be suspended during a national emergency?

  1. A.Articles 19 and 21
  2. B.Articles 20 and 21
  3. C.Articles 14 and 21
  4. D.Articles 21 and 22
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Articles 20 and 21

Article 359 lets the President suspend the right to move any court for the enforcement of fundamental rights while a national emergency is in force, but the 44th Amendment Act, 1978, passed after the experience of the 1975 Emergency, placed Article 20, on protection against conviction for offences, and Article…

Q1664.Indian PolityMedium

The doctrine that the death sentence should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases was laid down in which case?

  1. A.Jagmohan Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh, 1973
  2. B.Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab, 1980
  3. C.Machhi Singh versus State of Punjab, 1983
  4. D.Mithu versus State of Punjab, 1983
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab, 1980

A Constitution Bench upheld the death penalty as consistent with Article 21 but held that it may be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases, where the alternative of life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed, and that courts must weigh aggravating against mitigating circumstances.

Q1666.Indian PolityEasy

Article 21A, which makes elementary education a fundamental right, was inserted by which Constitutional Amendment?

  1. A.42nd Amendment, 1976
  2. B.44th Amendment, 1978
  3. C.86th Amendment, 2002
  4. D.93rd Amendment, 2005
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 86th Amendment, 2002

It inserted Article 21A, which directs the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years, recast Article 45 to cover early childhood care and education below six years, and added clause k to Article 51A, making it a fundamental duty…

Q1667.Indian PolityMedium

In which case did the Supreme Court hold that the procedure under Article 21 must be fair, just and reasonable, and not arbitrary?

  1. A.A. K. Gopalan versus State of Madras
  2. B.Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India
  3. C.ADM Jabalpur versus Shivkant Shukla
  4. D.Kharak Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India

A seven-judge bench held that a procedure which takes away life or personal liberty must be fair, just and reasonable, gave personal liberty the widest amplitude, and tied Articles 14, 19 and 21 together as the golden triangle.

Q1668.Indian PolityEasy

Which expression is actually used in Article 21 of the Constitution of India?

  1. A.Due process of law
  2. B.Procedure established by law
  3. C.Equal protection of the laws
  4. D.Reasonable restrictions imposed by law
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Procedure established by law

Article 21 says that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, an expression the Constituent Assembly borrowed from the Japanese Constitution.

Q1669.Indian HistoryEasy

The Bali Jatra fair, which recalls the ancient sea voyages of Indian merchants to Southeast Asia, is held in which state?

  1. A.Odisha
  2. B.West Bengal
  3. C.Gujarat
  4. D.Tamil Nadu
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Odisha

Bali Jatra, meaning the voyage to Bali, is held at Cuttack on the bank of the Mahanadi on Kartik Purnima, when people float small paper and banana bark boats in memory of the merchants of Kalinga who sailed to Bali, Java, Sumatra and Borneo; the same day is marked as…

Q1671.Indian HistoryMedium

Which Chola ruler sent the naval expedition against the Srivijaya empire of Sumatra in 1025 of the Christian era?

  1. A.Rajaraja I
  2. B.Rajendra I
  3. C.Kulottunga I
  4. D.Vijayalaya
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Rajendra I

The correct answer is B, Rajendra I, the son of Rajaraja I, who in 1025 of the Christian era sent a Chola fleet across the Bay of Bengal against Srivijaya, the trading power that controlled the straits of Malacca and Sunda, and recorded the campaign in his inscriptions along with…

Q1673.Indian HistoryMedium

Which Greek pilot is credited with using the south west monsoon winds to sail directly across the Arabian Sea to India?

  1. A.Megasthenes
  2. B.Hippalus
  3. C.Ptolemy
  4. D.Nearchus
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Hippalus

Around the middle of the first century of the Christian era this pilot is said to have worked out the rhythm of the south west monsoon, after which ships ran straight from the mouth of the Red Sea to the Malabar coast instead of hugging the shore, cutting the voyage…

Q1676.Indian HistoryMedium

The ancient port of Muziris, the chief pepper market of the Indo-Roman trade, lay on the coast of which present day state?

  1. A.Tamil Nadu
  2. B.Karnataka
  3. C.Kerala
  4. D.Andhra Pradesh
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Kerala

Muziris, called Muchiri in Tamil sources, stood near Kodungallur on the Periyar, and the excavations at Pattanam in Ernakulam district have yielded Roman amphora sherds, glass beads and brick structures that fit its description in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Q1679.Indian PolityMedium

Who was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India on 24 November 2025?

  1. A.Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai
  2. B.Justice Sanjiv Khanna
  3. C.Justice Surya Kant
  4. D.Justice Vikram Nath
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Justice Surya Kant

According to the Supreme Court of India, Justice Surya Kant was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on 24 May 2019 and was sworn in as the fifty-third Chief Justice of India on 24 November 2025, with retirement due on 9 February 2027.

Q1680.Indian PolityMedium

Which pair of Chief Justices of India were father and son?

  1. A.H. J. Kania and M. H. Kania
  2. B.Y. V. Chandrachud and D. Y. Chandrachud
  3. C.H. R. Khanna and Sanjiv Khanna
  4. D.S. R. Das and B. K. Mukherjea
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Y. V. Chandrachud and D. Y. Chandrachud

Justice Y. V. Chandrachud was Chief Justice of India from 1978 to 1985 and his son, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, became the fiftieth Chief Justice of India in November 2022, the only instance of a father and a son both holding the office.