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.
Sirohi, excluding Abu and Delwara, was merged into Rajasthan on
The sixth stage of the integration fell on the day the Constitution came into force: Sirohi was merged and the unit was for the first time simply named Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The capital of the Rajasthan Union formed on 25 March 1948 was
The Rajasthan Union of 25 March 1948, the second stage, joined nine states of the south and east: Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Kota, Pratapgarh, Shahpura and Tonk.
Read the full explanation →Who became the first head of government, then styled Prime Minister, of Greater Rajasthan in 1949?
Hiralal Shastri, a leader of the Jaipur Praja Mandal who had led its satyagraha in 1939, took charge as the first Prime Minister of Greater Rajasthan in 1949, the office that later came to be called Chief Minister.
Read the full explanation →Greater Rajasthan was inaugurated at Jaipur on 30 March 1949 by
Greater Rajasthan, the fourth stage of the integration, brought Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer into the earlier United State of Rajasthan, and Sardar Patel inaugurated it at Jaipur on 30 March 1949.
Read the full explanation →Which leader of the Praja Mandal movement is known as the Gandhi of Rajasthan?
Gokul Bhai Bhatt founded the Sirohi Praja Mandal in 1939, lived the plain Gandhian life of khadi and constructive work, and is therefore called the Gandhi of Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →Who founded the Marwar Praja Mandal in 1934?
The Marwar Praja Mandal was founded at Jodhpur in 1934 by Jai Narayan Vyas, who had already worked through the Marwar Hitkarini Sabha of the 1920s. He led its campaign for civil liberties and against the state tenancy law, was jailed repeatedly, and later became the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following states was NOT a part of the Matsya Union formed on 18 March 1948?
The Matsya Union, the first stage of the integration of Rajasthan, was formed on 18 March 1948 out of only four princely states of the eastern edge of Rajputana: Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli.
Read the full explanation →The Khajuraho Dance Festival, devoted to Indian classical dance, is held in which district?
The temples of Khajuraho stand in Chhatarpur district in the Bundelkhand region, and the dance festival is held among them in February, when dancers of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Kuchipudi and the other classical forms perform against the temple walls.
Read the full explanation →Karma and Saila are the dances chiefly of which communities of Madhya Pradesh?
Karma is danced by the Gond and Baiga of the eastern and southern districts after the harvest, men and women moving in a circle to the mandar drum, and Saila is the stick dance in which young men form rows and strike their sticks together as they move.
Read the full explanation →Which is the oldest gharana of khayal singing in Hindustani classical music?
Gwalior had been a seat of music since the Tomar rulers patronised dhrupad, and when khayal took the place of dhrupad as the leading form the city produced the first of its gharanas.
Read the full explanation →Baba Alauddin Khan, the sarod master who taught Ravi Shankar, belonged to which gharana named after a town of Madhya Pradesh?
Baba Alauddin Khan spent the greater part of his life as court musician at Maihar in the east of the state and gave his name to the Maihar gharana of instrumental music.
Read the full explanation →Maach is the traditional folk theatre of which region of Madhya Pradesh?
Maach is the folk theatre of Malwa, played through the night on a raised wooden platform, which is what the name itself means.
Read the full explanation →The Rai dance, performed by a Bedni dancer to the nagariya drum, belongs to which region of Madhya Pradesh?
Rai is the signature dance of Bundelkhand in the north-east of the state, danced by a woman of the Bedni community who whirls to an accelerating beat of the nagariya and the mridang while the audience calls for more.
Read the full explanation →The Matki dance, performed by women with an earthen pot balanced on the head, belongs to which region?
Matki is danced by the women of Malwa and the adjoining Nimar at weddings and other family celebrations, with an earthen pot held on the head while the dancer turns to the beat of the dhol.
Read the full explanation →In the reign of which ruler of Gwalior was the music treatise Man Kutuhal compiled?
Man Singh Tomar ruled Gwalior at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century and was the great patron of dhrupad, drawing singers to his court and encouraging composition in the spoken language rather than in Sanskrit alone.
Read the full explanation →The Tansen Samaroh, the state's best known music festival, is held every year at
The Tansen Samaroh is held in the winter at the musician's birthplace of Behat and at his tomb in Gwalior, and the National Tansen Samman for Hindustani classical music is conferred during it.
Read the full explanation →Tansen, counted among the navratna of Akbar's court, was born at Behat near which city?
Tansen was born Ramtanu Pandey in the village of Behat near Gwalior, learnt from Swami Haridas of Vrindavan and from the Sufi Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior, served the court of Rewa and was then taken by Akbar into his own court, where he was counted among the nine jewels.
Read the full explanation →The Chhathi songs and dance of Haryana are performed on
Chhathi takes its name from the number six, and the ceremony falls on the sixth day after a birth, when the mother and the newborn are brought out, the household is purified and the women of the family and the neighbourhood sing and dance in the courtyard.
Read the full explanation →In a traditional Saang performance, the women's roles were
A traditional Saang troupe was made up entirely of men, and the younger singers took the women's parts in costume, singing the same raginis in a higher register.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Jasraj, born in a village of Haryana, belonged to which gharana of Hindustani classical music?
Pandit Jasraj was born in a village of Haryana into a family of musicians and became the best known voice of the Mewati gharana, which takes its name from the Mewat region on the Haryana and Rajasthan border.
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