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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

Q5641.Indian PolityEasy

Which Part of the Indian Constitution deals with Citizenship?

  1. A.Part I
  2. B.Part II
  3. C.Part III
  4. D.Part IV
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Part II

Part II of the Constitution, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship: Article 5 lays down who became a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution, Articles 6 and 7 settle the position of persons who migrated from and to Pakistan, Article 8 covers persons of Indian origin living abroad…

Q5642.Indian HistoryHard

The Famine Inquiry Commission appointed in 1944 to enquire into the Bengal famine of 1943 was headed by:

  1. A.Sir Richard Strachey
  2. B.Sir Antony MacDonnell
  3. C.Sir John Woodhead
  4. D.Sir George Campbell
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Sir John Woodhead

The Famine Inquiry Commission of 1944, under the former Chief Secretary of Bengal Sir John Woodhead, enquired into the Bengal famine of 1943 and held administrative failure, the loss of Burmese rice and the absence of a proper relief policy responsible for the deaths.

Q5643.Indian HistoryEasy

The Sedition Committee of 1918, whose report led to the passing of the Rowlatt Act, was headed by:

  1. A.Sir Sidney Rowlatt
  2. B.Lord William Hunter
  3. C.Sir Alexander Muddiman
  4. D.Sir Harcourt Butler
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Sir Sidney Rowlatt

The Sedition Committee of 1918, appointed under the English judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, examined revolutionary conspiracies in India and recommended special powers for the executive, which Parliament granted in the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly the Rowlatt Act, allowing detention without trial; Gandhi's Rowlatt Satyagraha followed.

Q5644.Indian HistoryMedium

Which commission's report led to the establishment of the first Public Service Commission in India in 1926?

  1. A.Aitchison Commission
  2. B.Islington Commission
  3. C.Lee Commission
  4. D.Welby Commission
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Lee Commission

The Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India of 1923–24, under Viscount Lee of Fareham, recommended rates of Indianisation for the services and the immediate setting up of a Public Service Commission; it was established in 1926 and became the Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of…

Q5645.Indian HistoryHard

The Royal Commission on Labour in India, appointed in 1929, was chaired by:

  1. A.J. H. Whitley
  2. B.Lord Islington
  3. C.Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola
  4. D.Lord Linlithgow
Show answer
Correct answer: A. J. H. Whitley

John Henry Whitley, a former Speaker of the House of Commons, chaired the Royal Commission on Labour in India, which reported in 1931 on wages, hours, housing and the health of industrial workers; its findings lay behind the Factories Act, 1934, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and later labour…

Q5646.Indian HistoryMedium

On the recommendation of which commission was the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research set up in 1929?

  1. A.Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1928
  2. B.Indian Industrial Commission, 1916
  3. C.Indian Fiscal Commission, 1921
  4. D.Floud Commission, 1938
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1928

Appointed in 1926 and chaired by Lord Linlithgow, it examined the condition of Indian agriculture and rural life and recommended a central body to coordinate agricultural research, which was established in 1929 as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, renamed the Indian Council of Agricultural Research after independence.

Q5647.Indian HistoryMedium

The Indian Education Commission of 1882, appointed during the viceroyalty of Lord Ripon, was headed by:

  1. A.Sir Charles Wood
  2. B.Sir William Wilson Hunter
  3. C.Sir Thomas Raleigh
  4. D.Sir Michael Sadler
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sir William Wilson Hunter

The Indian Education Commission of 1882, known as the Hunter Commission, reviewed the progress of education since Wood's Despatch and recommended that the State pay special attention to primary education in the vernacular and hand schools over to the newly created local boards, in keeping with Ripon's local self-government resolution.

Q5648.Indian HistoryMedium

Which commission recommended the establishment of a central bank for India, a recommendation that took shape as the Reserve Bank of India?

  1. A.Fowler Commission
  2. B.Chamberlain Commission
  3. C.Hilton Young Commission
  4. D.Babington Smith Committee
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Hilton Young Commission

The Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance of 1926, named after its chairman Edward Hilton Young, recommended that the functions of currency and credit be taken away from the Government and handed to a central bank; the recommendation was carried out by the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934…

Q5649.Indian HistoryAsked in: SSC GD Constable · 18 Feb 2019, Shift 3Easy

The Simon Commission which was sent by the British Government was boycotted because:

  1. A.The Commission curbed financial independence of India.
  2. B.The Commission did not have any Indian member.
  3. C.There were differences amongst the members.
  4. D.It gave special powers to the Princely states.
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Commission did not have any Indian member.

All seven members of the Indian Statutory Commission were British members of Parliament, among them Clement Attlee, and Indians of every party read this as a declaration that they were unfit to decide their own constitution; hence the boycott and the slogan 'Simon, go back'.

Q5650.Indian HistoryAsked in: Delhi · 9 Oct 2021, Shift 1Medium

A resolution boycotting the Simon Commission was passed at the 1927 ____ Congress session.

  1. A.Kanpur
  2. B.Lucknow
  3. C.Lahore
  4. D.Madras
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Madras

The annual session of the Indian National Congress held at Madras in December 1927, presided over by Dr M. A. Ansari, resolved to boycott the Simon Commission at every stage and in every form, and the same session passed a resolution on complete independence.

Q5651.Indian HistoryAsked in: Haryana · 12 April 2018, Shift 1Easy

When was Simon Commission sent to India?

  1. A.1937
  2. B.1927
  3. C.1917
  4. D.1958
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 1927

The British Government announced the Indian Statutory Commission in November 1927 under Sir John Simon to review the working of the Government of India Act, 1919; the commission itself reached Bombay on 3 February 1928 and submitted its report in 1930.

Q5652.Indian EconomyHard

The indifference curve for two goods that are perfect substitutes for each other is:

  1. A.A straight line sloping downward
  2. B.L-shaped
  3. C.Convex to the origin
  4. D.A vertical straight line
Show answer
Correct answer: A. A straight line sloping downward

If two goods are perfect substitutes, such as two brands of identical salt, the consumer is willing to exchange them at a fixed rate whatever quantity he already holds, so the marginal rate of substitution is constant and a constant slope means a straight line.

Q5653.Indian EconomyHard

The law of equi-marginal utility is also known as the:

  1. A.Law of demand
  2. B.Law of substitution
  3. C.Law of supply
  4. D.Law of diminishing returns
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Law of substitution

The law of equi-marginal utility, called Gossen's second law and also the law of maximum satisfaction, says that a consumer distributes his income among goods so that the last rupee spent on each gives him the same marginal utility; he reaches that position by substituting the good with the higher…

Q5654.Indian EconomyMedium

The ordinal utility approach to the theory of consumer behaviour was developed by:

  1. A.Adam Smith and David Ricardo
  2. B.J. R. Hicks and R. G. D. Allen
  3. C.Alfred Marshall and A. C. Pigou
  4. D.J. M. Keynes and Joan Robinson
Show answer
Correct answer: B. J. R. Hicks and R. G. D. Allen

In their joint work of 1934, and later in Hicks's Value and Capital, they replaced the measurement of utility with the ranking of preferences and rebuilt the theory of demand on indifference curves, the marginal rate of substitution and the budget line.

Q5655.Indian EconomyMedium

In the indifference curve approach, a consumer is in equilibrium when:

  1. A.The marginal rate of substitution equals the ratio of the prices
  2. B.The marginal utility of the good is zero
  3. C.The budget line cuts the indifference curve at two points
  4. D.Total utility is equal for both goods
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The marginal rate of substitution equals the ratio of the prices

Equilibrium is the point at which the budget line is tangent to the highest indifference curve the consumer can reach, and at a point of tangency the slopes of the two are equal, which means MRS of X for Y equals Px divided by Py; a second condition is that…

Q5656.Indian EconomyMedium

The slope of the budget line of a consumer buying two goods X and Y is given by:

  1. A.Price of X ÷ price of Y
  2. B.Price of Y ÷ price of X
  3. C.Income ÷ price of X
  4. D.MU of X ÷ MU of Y
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Price of X ÷ price of Y

The budget line is the equation Px·X + Py·Y = M, which on rearranging gives Y = M ÷ Py minus (Px ÷ Py)·X, so the intercept is income divided by the price of Y and the slope is the ratio of the price of the good on the horizontal…

Q5657.Indian EconomyMedium

Which of the following is NOT a property of an indifference curve?

  1. A.It slopes downward from left to right
  2. B.It is convex to the origin
  3. C.Two indifference curves can intersect each other
  4. D.A higher indifference curve shows a higher level of satisfaction
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Two indifference curves can intersect each other

If two curves crossed, the combination at the crossing point would belong to both and would therefore give two different levels of satisfaction at the same time, a logical contradiction; for the same reason they cannot even be tangent.

Q5658.Indian EconomyMedium

An indifference curve is convex to the origin because of:

  1. A.Increasing marginal rate of substitution
  2. B.Diminishing marginal rate of substitution
  3. C.Constant marginal rate of substitution
  4. D.Diminishing returns to scale
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Diminishing marginal rate of substitution

As a consumer moves down an indifference curve he holds more and more of the first good and less of the second, so each extra unit of the first is worth fewer units of the second to him; the slope therefore becomes flatter from left to right and the curve…

Q5659.Indian EconomyMedium

The slope of an indifference curve at any point is called the:

  1. A.Marginal rate of substitution
  2. B.Price ratio
  3. C.Marginal propensity to consume
  4. D.Elasticity of substitution
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Marginal rate of substitution

The marginal rate of substitution of X for Y is the number of units of Y a consumer is willing to give up to get one more unit of X while remaining on the same indifference curve, and it equals the ratio of the marginal utility of X to the…

Q5660.Indian EconomyEasy

Total utility is maximum when marginal utility is:

  1. A.Maximum
  2. B.Zero
  3. C.Negative
  4. D.Equal to average utility
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Zero

Marginal utility is the addition made to total utility by one more unit, so as long as it is positive total utility keeps rising; the moment it becomes zero nothing more is being added and total utility stands at its highest point, called the point of satiety.