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 Greek philosopher coined the term "Geography" in the 3rd century B.C.E. ?
Eratosthenes of Cyrene first used the word "geographia", from the Greek "geo" (earth) and "graphe" (description), so geography means a description of the Earth.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following is not a character of a secular State?
Secularism concerns the relation between the State and religion, and being democratic is not part of its definition. A secular State is not run by a religious order, keeps religious institutions and State institutions apart, and does not favour or persecute any religion.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about primary waves of earthquakes is not correct ?
This statement is false because primary waves pass through solids, liquids and gases alike. Primary or P-waves are longitudinal waves: they push and pull the rock in the same direction in which the wave travels, compressing and stretching the material just as sound waves compress air.
Read the full explanation →Swami Dayanand Saraswati took inspiration from
Swami Dayanand Saraswati held the Vedas to be the only true and infallible source of knowledge, and his call was "Go back to the Vedas".
Read the full explanation →Which of the following terms were used in the Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period to denote a peasant ? 1. Raiyat 2. Asami 3. Muzarian 4. Majur Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Raiyat, muzarian and asami were all used for the peasant in Mughal-period sources, while majur means a labourer. The Indo-Persian sources of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries most often called the peasant raiyat (plural riaya) or muzarian; the words kisan and asami also appear.
Read the full explanation →Storage of biological tissues such as blood, organs, semen requires low temperature which is achieved upon the usage of
Liquid nitrogen boils at about −196 °C, cold enough to stop almost all biological activity, and it is cheap, inert and safe to handle.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following States has the longest extension in north-south direction?
Chhattisgarh is a long, narrow state that stretches from about 17.8° N in Sukma district to about 24.1° N in Balrampur district, a north-south length of roughly 700 km.
Read the full explanation →Identify the type of soil on the basis of given characteristics : 1. They contain a large proportion of sodium, potassium and magnesium, and thus, they are infertile. 2. Their structure ranges from sandy to loamy. 3. They are more widespread in western Gujarat, deltas of the eastern coast and in Sunderban areas of West Bengal.
All three features listed, excess salts of sodium, potassium and magnesium, a sandy to loamy texture and their spread in western Gujarat, the eastern deltas and the Sundarbans, describe saline soils.
Read the full explanation →The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope consists of
The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is an array of 30 fully steerable parabolic dish antennas, each 45 metres across.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is/are the correct components of the "Lion Capital" at Sarnath ? 1. The shaft (stambha-yashti) or the tall tapering column 2. An elliptical top part - the abacus, devoid of any carvings 3. Overflowing inverted petals below the abacus Select the answer using the code given below :
Statements 1 and 3 describe real parts of the Sarnath pillar, while the abacus is neither elliptical nor plain. The Mauryan pillar at Sarnath, set up by Ashoka, had a tall, smooth, tapering shaft of polished Chunar sandstone.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following could not be explained by Rutherford's nuclear model ?
Rutherford's model could not explain why the orbiting electrons do not fall into the nucleus. According to classical physics, a charged particle moving in a circular path is accelerating and must keep radiating energy.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is not a logical operator?
Division is an arithmetic operator that works on numbers, while logical operators work on true and false values. Logical (Boolean) operators take one or more conditions that are either true (1) or false (0) and return a true or false result.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is a Neolithic site ?
Utnur in present-day Andhra Pradesh is a Neolithic site of the southern Deccan, known for its ash mounds. These ash mounds formed where Neolithic cattle-keepers burnt the dung collected inside large cattle pens, and they belong to the same culture as Kupgal, Kodekal and Piklihal.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following pairs : Famous place — Region 1. Bodhgaya — Baghelkhand 2. Khajuraho — Bundelkhand 3. Shirdi — Vidarbha 4. Nasik (Nashik) — Malwa 5. Tirupati — Rayalaseema Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Khajuraho lies in Bundelkhand and Tirupati in Rayalaseema; the other three are placed in the wrong regions. Khajuraho, famous for its Chandela temples and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, in the Bundelkhand region the Chandelas ruled, so pair 2 is correct.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements in respect of Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards : 1. Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards are titles under the Article 18(1) of the Constitution of India. 2. Padma Awards, which were instituted in the year 1954, were suspended only once. 3. The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of five in a particular year. Which of the above statements are not correct?
All three statements are incorrect, so all three are 'not correct'. Statement 1 is wrong because in Balaji Raghavan v. Union of India (1995) the Supreme Court held that the Bharat Ratna and Padma awards are not titles within the meaning of Article 18(1), which abolishes titles; they are honours…
Read the full explanation →Certain species of which one of the following organisms are well known as cultivators of fungi?
Several groups of ants, above all the leafcutter ants of the Americas, grow fungus as their food, a form of farming that began millions of years before human agriculture.
Read the full explanation →The plan of Sir Stafford Cripps envisaged that after the Second World War
The Cripps Mission of March 1942 offered India Dominion status after the Second World War, not full independence. Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of Churchill's War Cabinet, came as Japan advanced in South-East Asia.
Read the full explanation →With reference to agricultural soils, consider the following statements : 1. A high content of organic matter in soil drastically reduces its water holding capacity. 2. Soil does not play any role in the sulphur cycle. 3. Irrigation over a period of time can contribute to the salinization of some agricultural lands. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Only statement 3 is correct: long-term irrigation can make farmland saline, while statements 1 and 2 reverse basic facts about soil.
Read the full explanation →With reference to India, the terms 'Halbi, Ho and Kui' pertain to
Halbi, Ho and Kui are languages spoken by tribal communities of central and eastern India. Halbi is an Indo-Aryan language used by the Halba tribe and as a link language among many tribes of the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and nearby parts of Odisha and Maharashtra.
Read the full explanation →What was the main reason for the split in the Indian National Congress at Surat in 1907?
The Surat split of December 1907 came from a basic difference in method.
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