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UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

Static general knowledge is six of the seven lines of the General Studies Paper-I syllabus in the UPSC CSE notice: History of India and the Indian National Movement; Indian and World Geography; Indian Polity and Governance; Economic and Social Development; Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change; and General Science. The Commission tests understanding rather than recall, through statements to be judged correct or incorrect, pairs to be matched and assertion-reason items, and it likes the edges of a topic: a lesser-known provision of the Constitution, a river's tributary, a species' conservation status, the mandate of a statutory body. This page holds GK24's topic-wise GK notes for UPSC, written as short facts and tables, in English and Hindi, with each note linked to the current affairs and previous-year questions on the same topic. Start with Polity and Modern History, which carry the most questions, then Geography, the Economy, Environment, Ancient and Medieval culture and Science. Read a note, solve its PYQs, take its quiz, and come back to it in your monthly revision. A candidate who knows these notes and reads the daily current affairs has covered the syllabus the notice prescribes for Paper-I.

UPSC Civil Services GK Questions with Answers

Q3581.Indian PolityMedium

Which anti-terror law was repealed in 2004, with its provisions moved into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act?

  1. A.MISA, 1971
  2. B.TADA, 1985
  3. C.POTA, 2002
  4. D.The National Security Act, 1980
Show answer
Correct answer: C. POTA, 2002

The Prevention of Terrorism Act was enacted in 2002 and repealed in 2004, and the amendment of the UAPA made in the same year carried its definitions of terrorist act and terrorist organisation into that older Act, which is why the UAPA is today the principal anti-terror law.

Q3582.Indian PolityHard

Which committee recommended the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958?

  1. A.The Sarkaria Commission
  2. B.The Jeevan Reddy Committee
  3. C.The Punchhi Commission
  4. D.The Malimath Committee
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Jeevan Reddy Committee

The committee headed by Justice B. P. Jeevan Reddy, appointed in 2004 to review AFSPA, reported in 2005 that the Act should be repealed and that the powers genuinely needed should instead be written into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Q3584.Indian PolityHard

Under which provision of the Constitution is preventive detention beyond three months permitted only when an Advisory Board reports that there is sufficient cause for it?

  1. A.Article 20(3)
  2. B.Article 21
  3. C.Article 22(4)
  4. D.Article 32
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 22(4)

Article 22(4) says that no law providing for preventive detention shall authorise detention for longer than three months unless an Advisory Board, consisting of persons qualified to be judges of a High Court, has reported before the expiry of that period that there is sufficient cause for the detention.

Q3586.Indian PolityMedium

Prosecution of a person acting under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 requires the previous sanction of which authority?

  1. A.The Governor of the State
  2. B.The High Court of the State
  3. C.The Central Government
  4. D.The State Government
Show answer
Correct answer: C. The Central Government

Section 6 of AFSPA provides that no prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted against any person in respect of anything done in exercise of the powers conferred by the Act, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.

Q3587.Indian PolityMedium

Under which section of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is an area declared to be a disturbed area?

  1. A.Section 2
  2. B.Section 3
  3. C.Section 4
  4. D.Section 6
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Section 3

Section 3 of AFSPA empowers the Governor of a State, the administrator of a Union Territory or the Central Government to declare the whole or a part of a State or Union Territory to be a disturbed area, and that declaration is the condition on which every other power in…

Q3588.Indian PolityMedium

Which amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act allowed the Central Government to designate an individual as a terrorist?

  1. A.The amendment of 2004
  2. B.The amendment of 2008
  3. C.The amendment of 2012
  4. D.The amendment of 2019
Show answer
Correct answer: D. The amendment of 2019

Until then the UAPA allowed the Government to notify only an organisation as a terrorist organisation; the UAPA (Amendment) Act, 2019 added the power to notify an individual as a terrorist and to enter that name in the Fourth Schedule of the Act.

Q3594.Indian HistoryMedium

Which ruler of Malwa shifted the capital from Dhar to Mandu and renamed it Shadiabad?

  1. A.Dilawar Khan Ghuri
  2. B.Hoshang Shah
  3. C.Mahmud Khalji I
  4. D.Baz Bahadur
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Hoshang Shah

The son of Dilawar Khan Ghuri moved the seat of government from the plains town of Dhar to the hill fort of Mandu, renamed it Shadiabad, the city of joy, and built the Jama Mosque there; his own tomb at Mandu is the first building in India faced entirely in…

Q3596.Indian HistoryMedium

Mahmud of Gujarat received the title Begarha because he

  1. A.captured the two forts of Girnar and Champaner
  2. B.defeated two Sultans of Delhi
  3. C.ruled for two separate terms
  4. D.built two capital cities on the coast
Show answer
Correct answer: A. captured the two forts of Girnar and Champaner

In Gujarati be garh means two forts, and Mahmud took both the hill fort of Girnar in Junagadh and the fort of Champaner in the east of his kingdom, founding the towns of Mustafabad and Muhammadabad beside them.

Q3599.Indian HistoryMedium

Who founded the Sharqi dynasty of Jaunpur?

  1. A.Malik Sarwar
  2. B.Ibrahim Shah
  3. C.Dilawar Khan Ghuri
  4. D.Zafar Khan
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Malik Sarwar

A noble of the later Tughlaq court, Malik Sarwar was sent east in 1394 with the title Malik-us-Sharq, the Master of the East, and he made himself independent of Delhi; the title gave his line the name Sharqi.