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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

Q5281.Indian HistoryEasy

Which Gupta ruler is described as Sarvarajochchetta, the uprooter of all kings?

  1. A.Chandragupta I
  2. B.Samudragupta
  3. C.Chandragupta II
  4. D.Skandagupta
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Samudragupta

The Allahabad pillar inscription, a prashasti composed by his court poet Harisena, lists his campaigns in the Ganga valley, the Deccan and the frontier states and calls him Sarvarajochchetta; the same inscription gives him Kaviraja for his learning, and his coins show him playing the veena.

Q5284.Indian EconomyAsked in: Madhya Pradesh · 4 Aug 2018, Shift 1Medium

Indirect cost is that cost incurred by the firm which ________.

  1. A.has already been incurred and cannot be avoided
  2. B.can be easily traceable to a product
  3. C.are common to several products
  4. D.are aggregate of variable cost
Show answer
Correct answer: C. are common to several products

Costs are classified as direct or indirect by traceability. A direct cost can be attributed wholly to one product, job or process, such as the raw material in a shirt or the wages of the worker who stitches it.

Q5285.Indian EconomyMedium

Returns to scale is a concept that applies to

  1. A.the short run, when one factor is fixed
  2. B.the long run, when all factors can be changed
  3. C.the market period, when output is fixed
  4. D.only to agriculture
Show answer
Correct answer: B. the long run, when all factors can be changed

Returns to scale asks what happens to output when every input is increased in the same proportion, which is possible only in the long run, when the firm can build a bigger plant as well as hire more labour.

Q5286.Indian EconomyMedium

Which of the following is an example of an implicit cost?

  1. A.Wages paid to hired workers
  2. B.Electricity bill of the factory
  3. C.Rent of the owner own building used by the firm
  4. D.Interest paid on a bank loan
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Rent of the owner own building used by the firm

An implicit cost is the imputed value of a factor supplied by the entrepreneur himself, for which no payment leaves the firm; the rent he could have earned by letting out his own premises, the interest on his own capital and the salary he could have drawn elsewhere are the…

Q5287.Indian EconomyEasy

Marginal cost is correctly defined as

  1. A.total cost divided by total output
  2. B.the change in total cost divided by the change in output
  3. C.total fixed cost divided by total output
  4. D.the change in total revenue divided by the change in output
Show answer
Correct answer: B. the change in total cost divided by the change in output

Marginal cost is the addition to total cost from producing one more unit, so for a one unit change it is simply the difference between successive values of total cost.

Q5288.Indian EconomyMedium

The break-even point of a firm is the level of output at which

  1. A.total revenue equals total cost
  2. B.total revenue equals total variable cost
  3. C.average cost is at its minimum
  4. D.marginal cost equals average fixed cost
Show answer
Correct answer: A. total revenue equals total cost

At that output the firm makes neither profit nor loss in the economic sense and earns only normal profit, since normal profit is already counted in cost as the reward of enterprise.

Q5289.Indian EconomyHard

A producer is in equilibrium when

  1. A.marginal revenue equals marginal cost and marginal cost is rising
  2. B.average revenue equals average fixed cost
  3. C.total revenue is at its maximum
  4. D.marginal cost is at its minimum
Show answer
Correct answer: A. marginal revenue equals marginal cost and marginal cost is rising

Both conditions are needed. If marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost the firm gains by producing more, and if marginal cost exceeds marginal revenue it gains by producing less, so profit can be highest only where they are equal; and the equality must occur on the rising part of the marginal…

Q5291.Indian EconomyMedium

The law of variable proportions operates in which situation?

  1. A.When all factors of production are increased in the same proportion
  2. B.When one factor is varied and the others are held fixed
  3. C.Only in the long run
  4. D.Only when the firm is in equilibrium
Show answer
Correct answer: B. When one factor is varied and the others are held fixed

This is the defining condition of the short run, where plant and machinery cannot be changed, so only the proportion between the variable factor and the fixed factor alters.

Q5292.Indian EconomyMedium

The marginal cost curve cuts the average cost curve at

  1. A.the minimum point of the average cost curve
  2. B.the maximum point of the average cost curve
  3. C.the point where average cost equals average fixed cost
  4. D.no point at all
Show answer
Correct answer: A. the minimum point of the average cost curve

The reason is arithmetic rather than economic: so long as marginal cost is below average cost, each extra unit pulls the average down, and once marginal cost rises above average cost the average must rise, so the two can only be equal where the average is at its lowest.

Q5294.Indian EconomyEasy

Which of the following costs remains the same at every level of output in the short run?

  1. A.Total variable cost
  2. B.Total fixed cost
  3. C.Marginal cost
  4. D.Average cost
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Total fixed cost

Fixed cost is the payment for factors that cannot be varied in the short run, such as the rent of the factory building, insurance and the salary of permanent staff, and it has to be met even when output is zero, which is why it is also called supplementary or…

Q5295.GeographyAsked in: Delhi · 2 Dec 2020, Shift 3Easy

In which of the following states is the Kolleru Lake located?

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

Kolleru is a large shallow freshwater lake lying between the deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari, fed by the Budameru and Tammileru streams; it is a natural flood balancing reservoir for the two deltas and an important wintering ground for pelicans and other water birds.