UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

Marshall, in his Principles of Economics, built the theory of demand on the assumption that utility is measurable in imaginary units, so that a consumer can compare the ten utils of a cup of tea with the six utils of a samosa; from this assumption he derived the law of…

Salinity is the quantity of dissolved salts in a kilogram of sea water, expressed in parts per thousand, and isohalines map its distribution; the open ocean averages about 35 parts per thousand, while enclosed seas with high evaporation such as the Red Sea are far saltier and seas fed by…

The earth's orbit is an ellipse, so its distance from the sun changes through the year; at perihelion, about 3 January, the earth is nearest the sun, which is why the northern winter half of the year is slightly shorter than the summer half.

A contour, whose technical name is isohypse, joins all points standing at the same height above sea level and is the chief means of showing relief on a topographical sheet; contours drawn close together mean a steep slope, contours far apart a gentle slope, and contours that merge indicate a…

In Alfred Weber's least-cost theory of industrial location, isodapanes are drawn through all points at which the total transport cost, for assembling the raw materials and for distributing the finished product, is the same; the innermost isodapane marks the area of least total cost, where the plant should be sited.

The Isthmus of Panama joins North and South America and separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific, and the Isthmus of Suez joins Africa to Asia; both have been cut by canals precisely because they are narrow.

Magnetic declination is the angle between true north and magnetic north, and along the agonic line that angle is zero, so a compass needle there points to true north.

Isoseismal lines join points at which the shaking of an earthquake was felt with the same intensity, and because intensity falls away from the source, they are drawn as roughly concentric closed curves around the epicentre, the point of the surface vertically above the focus.

The Greek bathos means depth, so isobaths are the depth contours of a bathymetric chart; the 200 metre isobath is conventionally taken as the outer edge of the continental shelf.

An isohel, from the Greek helios for the sun, joins places that receive sunshine for an equal number of hours, and such maps are used in studies of solar energy potential and of crop seasons.

The word comes from the Greek hyetos, meaning rain, so an isohyet joins all places on a map that receive the same amount of rainfall in a given period; rainfall distribution maps of India, which show the 200 centimetre and 50 centimetre lines, are drawn with isohyets.

Article 94(b) provides that the Speaker may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Deputy Speaker, and the Deputy Speaker resigns by writing addressed to the Speaker.

Article 164(1A), inserted by the Ninety-first Amendment Act of 2003, provides that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers of a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly, and that the number shall…

Article 148(1) provides that the Comptroller and Auditor General shall be removed from office only in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court, which means an address by each House supported by the special majority of Article 124(4), on the ground of proved…

Article 124(4) provides that a judge of the Supreme Court may be removed by an order of the President only after an address by each House of Parliament, supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the…

Under Article 67(b), the Vice-President may be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all the then members of that House and agreed to by the Lok Sabha, and no such resolution may be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given.

Article 61 lays down the procedure for impeaching the President for violation of the Constitution: the charge must be preferred by either House after at least fourteen days' notice signed by not less than one-fourth of the members of that House, and must be passed by not less than two-thirds…

Article 159 requires every Governor, before entering upon his office, to make an oath in the presence of the Chief Justice of the High Court having jurisdiction in relation to that State, or, in his absence, the senior-most judge of that court available.

Article 60 lays down the form of the President's oath and requires that it be made in the presence of the Chief Justice of India, or, in his absence, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court available.

Article 56(1)(a) provides that the President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President, resign his office, and the Vice-President must communicate the resignation forthwith to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.