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.
The Make in India initiative was launched in which year?
Make in India was launched on 25 September 2014 as a national programme to make India a global hub of design and manufacturing, and it is implemented by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Read the full explanation →Which Indian state has the longest coastline?
The deeply indented coast of Kutch and Saurashtra, with the Gulf of Kachchh and the Gulf of Khambhat, gives Gujarat the longest coastline of any Indian state, ahead of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Read the full explanation →The latitudinal extent of the Indian mainland lies between
These are the latitudes of the southern tip of the mainland at Kanyakumari and of the northernmost part of the country, and between them lie the 3,214 km of the mainland's north-south extent.
Read the full explanation →India shares its longest land border with which country?
The correct answer is C, Bangladesh, with which India shares a border of about 4,096.7 km, the longest of all its land boundaries; it touches five Indian states, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Read the full explanation →The Tropic of Cancer passes through how many Indian states?
The Tropic of Cancer, at 23 degrees 30 minutes north, enters India in Gujarat and leaves it in Mizoram, passing on the way through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.
Read the full explanation →Which meridian of longitude is taken as the standard meridian of India?
This meridian, which passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, runs roughly through the middle of the country and was adopted as the standard meridian so that the whole of India could keep one time.
Read the full explanation →Indira Point, the southernmost point of India, is situated in which island?
Indira Point lies at the southern end of Great Nicobar, the largest island of the Nicobar group, at about 6 degrees 45 minutes north, and is the southernmost point of the territory of India; it was known as Pygmalion Point before being renamed.
Read the full explanation →The southernmost point of the Indian mainland is
The correct answer is B, Kanyakumari, also called Cape Comorin, in Tamil Nadu, which stands at about 8 degrees 4 minutes north and is the southern tip of the Indian mainland, where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean are said to meet.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the longest parallel of latitude?
Parallels of latitude are circles drawn parallel to the equator, and they grow shorter as one moves towards the poles, until a pole is a point with no length at all.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following water bodies separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands?
The correct answer is B, the Ten Degree Channel, which lies roughly along the parallel of ten degrees north and separates the Andaman group in the north from the Nicobar group in the south; Little Andaman lies to its north and Car Nicobar to its south.
Read the full explanation →What is the approximate time lag (in hours) from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh?
The mainland of India extends from about 68 degrees 7 minutes east to about 97 degrees 25 minutes east, a longitudinal spread of roughly 29 degrees.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is not enumerated in the Constitution of India as a fundamental duty of citizens of India?
This is a Directive Principle of State Policy under Article 51, a duty of the State, not a fundamental duty of citizens.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following Articles in the Constitution of India are exceptions to the Fundamental Rights enumerated in Article 14 and Article 19?
Both articles protect certain laws from being struck down on the ground that they violate Article 14 or Article 19.
Read the full explanation →Exchange rates state the value of one currency in terms of other currencies. Which one of the following statements with respect to the exchange rate of currency is correct ?
Under a fixed exchange rate, the government or central bank decides the rate and keeps it there by buying and selling currency.
Read the full explanation →In India, which one of the following is responsible for the implementation of the Government of India's policy in all matters concerning telecommunications ?
This body within the Department of Telecommunications is in charge of carrying out the Government's telecom policy. The Telecom Commission was set up in 1989 with administrative and financial powers to deal with all aspects of telecommunications, and in 2018 it was renamed the Digital Communications Commission.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following Chief Justices of India ordered the constitution of a Special Bench called 'Social Justice Bench' ?
As Chief Justice of India, he set up the Social Justice Bench of the Supreme Court in December 2014.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following action(s) by the Government would lead to contraction of money supply in the economy? 1. Purchase of Treasury Bills by the central bank from public 2. Sale of Treasury Bills by the central bank to public 3. Sale of foreign exchange by the central bank 4. Purchase of foreign exchange by the central bank Select the correct answer using the code given below:
In both actions the central bank takes rupees from the public in exchange for an asset, so money in circulation falls.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements relating to given weather phenomena in India is/are correct? 1. When maximum temperature of a station reaches ≥40°C for plains and ≥30°C for hilly regions, it is considered heat wave 2. When minimum temperature of a station is ≤10°C for plains and ≤0°C for hilly regions, it is considered cold wave Select the answer using the code given below:
These are the threshold temperatures the India Meteorological Department (IMD) uses for declaring heat waves and cold waves.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following statements pertaining to the President's term of office is not correct?
Under Article 56, the President resigns by writing to the Vice-President of India, not to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, so this statement is not correct.
Read the full explanation →The excess of total expenditure of Government over its total receipts, excluding borrowings, is known as
Fiscal deficit is total expenditure minus total receipts other than borrowings, so it shows how much the government must borrow in a year.
Read the full explanation →