Skip to content
GK24

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

Q5681.Indian PolityAsked in: Delhi · 10 Oct 2021, Shift 1Easy

Which Article of the Indian Constitution is related to the term of office of the Governor?

  1. A.156
  2. B.161
  3. C.165
  4. D.152
Show answer
Correct answer: A. 156

Article 156 deals with the term of office of the Governor: clause (1) says that the Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, clause (2) allows him to resign by writing addressed to the President, and clause (3) fixes his normal term at five years from the date…

Q5682.Indian HistoryHard

Open competition for recruitment to the covenanted civil service in India was introduced by which Act?

  1. A.Charter Act, 1813
  2. B.Charter Act, 1833
  3. C.Charter Act, 1853
  4. D.Government of India Act, 1858
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Charter Act, 1853

It ended the patronage of the Court of Directors over appointments and laid down that recruitment to the covenanted civil service would be by open competition, which was thrown open to Indians as well; the committee under Macaulay that framed the scheme reported in 1854.

Q5683.Indian HistoryEasy

Which Act set apart one lakh rupees a year for the education of Indians and the revival of literature?

  1. A.Charter Act, 1793
  2. B.Charter Act, 1813
  3. C.Charter Act, 1833
  4. D.Charter Act, 1853
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Charter Act, 1813

The Act directed that a sum of not less than one lakh rupees be set apart every year for the revival and improvement of literature, the encouragement of the learned natives of India and the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences.

Q5685.Indian HistoryMedium

Which Act separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General's Council for the first time?

  1. A.Charter Act, 1793
  2. B.Charter Act, 1813
  3. C.Charter Act, 1833
  4. D.Charter Act, 1853
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Charter Act, 1853

It added six new members to the Governor-General's Council for legislative purposes, so that law-making was carried on by a separate body which began to behave like a small parliament, with its own rules of business, and which is therefore regarded as the beginning of the Indian Legislative Council.

Q5687.Indian HistoryMedium

The Governor-General of Bengal was made the Governor-General of India by which Act?

  1. A.Regulating Act, 1773
  2. B.Charter Act, 1813
  3. C.Charter Act, 1833
  4. D.Charter Act, 1853
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Charter Act, 1833

This Act was the final step in centralising British administration in India: it vested all civil and military powers in the Governor-General of India, took away the legislative powers of the Bombay and Madras governments, and made the East India Company a purely administrative agency holding its territories in trust…

Q5688.Indian HistoryMedium

Which Act ended the East India Company's monopoly of trade with India, leaving it only the tea trade and the trade with China?

  1. A.Charter Act, 1793
  2. B.Charter Act, 1813
  3. C.Charter Act, 1833
  4. D.Charter Act, 1853
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Charter Act, 1813

Pressed by British manufacturers who wanted a free market in India, Parliament threw Indian trade open to all British subjects and allowed the Company to keep only the tea trade and the trade with China.

Q5689.Indian HistoryMedium

The Board of Control, which supervised the civil, military and revenue affairs of the Company's Indian territories, was set up by which Act?

  1. A.Regulating Act, 1773
  2. B.Amending Act, 1781
  3. C.Pitt's India Act, 1784
  4. D.Charter Act, 1793
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Pitt's India Act, 1784

The Act separated the commercial and the political functions of the East India Company, leaving trade to the Court of Directors and placing civil, military and revenue administration under a newly created Board of Control answerable to Parliament.

Q5690.Indian HistoryEasy

Which Act of the British Parliament created the office of the Governor-General of Bengal?

  1. A.Regulating Act, 1773
  2. B.Pitt's India Act, 1784
  3. C.Charter Act, 1813
  4. D.Charter Act, 1833
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Regulating Act, 1773

It was the first attempt by the British Parliament to regulate the affairs of the East India Company: it redesignated the Governor of Bengal as the Governor-General of Bengal, gave him a Council of four, made Bombay and Madras subordinate to him and provided for a Supreme Court at Calcutta.

Q5691.Indian HistoryAsked in: Delhi · 6 Sept 2019, shift 3Easy

Warren Hastings became the first Governor General of Bengal in ______.

  1. A.1772
  2. B.1778
  3. C.1775
  4. D.1773
Show answer
Correct answer: D. 1773

The Regulating Act of 1773 changed the designation of the Governor of Bengal to Governor-General of Bengal and created an Executive Council of four members to assist him, and Warren Hastings, who had been Governor of Bengal since 1772, became the first holder of the new office.

Q5693.Indian EconomyHard

Which section of the Income Tax Act provides a tax deduction of profits to eligible startups for three consecutive years out of the first ten years?

  1. A.Section 80-IAC
  2. B.Section 80C
  3. C.Section 54
  4. D.Section 115BAA
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Section 80-IAC

It allows an eligible startup, recognised for the purpose and incorporated within the prescribed window, a deduction of one hundred per cent of the profits and gains from its business for three consecutive assessment years out of its first ten years, subject to conditions, and it must be claimed with…

Q5694.Indian EconomyHard

The first Production Linked Incentive scheme, notified in 2020, was for which sector?

  1. A.Speciality steel
  2. B.Textile products
  3. C.Large-scale electronics manufacturing
  4. D.Food processing
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Large-scale electronics manufacturing

The first PLI scheme was notified in 2020 for large-scale electronics manufacturing, with mobile phones and specified electronic components as its targets, and it was followed by schemes for pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices in the same year.

Q5695.Indian EconomyMedium

The incentive under the Production Linked Incentive scheme is calculated on

  1. A.the capital invested in a new plant
  2. B.the incremental sales of goods manufactured in India over a base year
  3. C.the export duty paid by the manufacturer
  4. D.the number of workers employed in the factory
Show answer
Correct answer: B. the incremental sales of goods manufactured in India over a base year

This output-linked design is what distinguishes the PLI scheme from older industrial subsidies: a selected manufacturer receives an incentive, usually a percentage of the additional sales of eligible goods made in India, for a fixed number of years, so the payment follows production and sales actually achieved.

Q5696.Indian EconomyMedium

The Fund of Funds for Startups, set up with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, is operated by which institution?

  1. A.Reserve Bank of India
  2. B.NABARD
  3. C.Small Industries Development Bank of India
  4. D.National Housing Bank
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Small Industries Development Bank of India

The Fund of Funds for Startups was created in 2016 with a corpus of ten thousand crore rupees and is operated by SIDBI, which does not invest directly in startups but puts money into alternative investment funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and those funds in…

Q5697.Indian EconomyHard

According to the definition used for recognition under Startup India, an entity may be treated as a startup for a period of up to

  1. A.Five years from incorporation
  2. B.Seven years from incorporation
  3. C.Ten years from incorporation
  4. D.Fifteen years from incorporation
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Ten years from incorporation

Under the definition notified for recognition by DPIIT, an entity qualifies as a startup for up to ten years from the date of its incorporation or registration, provided its turnover has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees in any financial year, it works towards innovation, development or improvement of products…

Q5698.Indian EconomyMedium

The Startup India Action Plan was launched on 16 January 2016. That date is now observed every year as

  1. A.National Entrepreneurship Day
  2. B.National Startup Day
  3. C.National MSME Day
  4. D.National Industry Day
Show answer
Correct answer: B. National Startup Day

The government declared that 16 January, the day on which the Startup India Action Plan was released in 2016, would be celebrated as National Startup Day, and the National Startup Awards are associated with the same programme.

Q5699.Indian EconomyMedium

Under the Make in India programme, the share of manufacturing in India's gross domestic product was targeted to be raised to

  1. A.15 per cent
  2. B.20 per cent
  3. C.25 per cent
  4. D.35 per cent
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 25 per cent

The target declared for Make in India was to raise the share of manufacturing in gross domestic product to twenty-five per cent along with the creation of a large number of jobs; the deadline, first set for 2022, was later extended.

Q5700.Indian EconomyMedium

Make in India and Startup India are both implemented by which department?

  1. A.Department of Economic Affairs
  2. B.Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
  3. C.Department of Revenue
  4. D.Department of Financial Services
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

The correct answer is B, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, known as DPIIT, which works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and is the nodal department for both programmes; it also recognises startups and maintains the national single window system.