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 floor art known as kolam belongs chiefly to which state?
The kolam is the Tamil threshold drawing, made each morning in white rice flour on ground that has been swept and sprinkled.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements about Section 8 of the RTI Act, 2005 is correct?
Section 8(1) lists ten categories of information that a public authority is not obliged to disclose, among them information affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India, strategic and security interests, foreign relations, commercial confidence and trade secrets, information held in a fiduciary relationship, and personal information with no relation to…
Read the full explanation →Who chairs the selection committee that recommends the appointment of the Chairperson of the Lokpal?
Under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 the Chairperson and members of the Lokpal are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister as chairperson, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief…
Read the full explanation →The Central Vigilance Commission was set up in 1964 on the recommendation of which committee?
The Committee on Prevention of Corruption, chaired by K. Santhanam, reported in 1964, and the Central Vigilance Commission was created in the same year by a government resolution as the apex body for vigilance in the Union administration.
Read the full explanation →Besides the Chief Information Commissioner, the Central Information Commission may have a maximum of how many Information Commissioners?
Section 12 of the RTI Act provides that the Central Information Commission shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner and such number of Central Information Commissioners, not exceeding ten, as may be deemed necessary.
Read the full explanation →The right to information has been read by the Supreme Court into which provision of the Constitution?
The Constitution nowhere uses the words right to information, but the Supreme Court has held that the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) is meaningless unless a citizen can know how the government works.
Read the full explanation →The RTI Act, 2005 repealed which earlier law?
That Act was passed in 2002 but was never notified, so it never came into force; the RTI Act, 2005 replaced it with a stronger scheme that added time limits, penalties and independent Information Commissions, and Section 31 of the new Act repealed it.
Read the full explanation →A second appeal under the RTI Act, 2005 lies to the Information Commission within how many days of the decision appealed against?
The Act provides two appeals. Under Section 19(1) the first appeal is filed within thirty days of the reply or of the expiry of the time limit, and it goes to an officer senior in rank to the Public Information Officer within the same public authority, the First Appellate Authority.
Read the full explanation →Which section of the RTI Act, 2005 gives it an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act, 1923?
Section 22 states that the provisions of the RTI Act have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, in any other law in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any other law.
Read the full explanation →What is the maximum penalty that an Information Commission can impose on a Public Information Officer under Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005?
Section 20(1) provides that where an Information Commission finds that a Public Information Officer has refused an application without reasonable cause, has not furnished information within the time specified, has given incorrect or misleading information or has destroyed information, it may impose a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees…
Read the full explanation →Under the RTI Act, 2005, information concerning the life or liberty of a person must be provided within:
Section 7(1) of the RTI Act lays down two limits. The ordinary limit is thirty days from the receipt of the application, but where the information sought concerns the life or liberty of a person the Public Information Officer must supply it within forty-eight hours of the request.
Read the full explanation →The Right to Information Act, 2005 came into force fully on which date?
The RTI Act received the assent of the President on 15 June 2005, and Section 1(3) provided that the remaining provisions would come into force on the one hundred and twentieth day of its enactment.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?
Lord Cornwallis fought the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1790 to 1792 against Tipu Sultan and closed it with the Treaty of Srirangapatnam; he had no connection with the Third Anglo-Maratha War, which was fought in 1817 and 1818, long after his time, and which ended with the Treaty of Mandsaur…
Read the full explanation →The Simla Agreement of 1972 between India and Pakistan is remembered chiefly for:
The Simla Agreement was signed on 2 July 1972 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the war of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh.
Read the full explanation →The Tashkent Declaration of 1966 was signed between Lal Bahadur Shastri and:
The declaration was signed on 10 January 1966 at Tashkent in the Soviet Union by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and President Mohammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan, with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin acting as mediator; it closed the war of 1965 and provided for withdrawal to the positions held before…
Read the full explanation →The Treaty of Sugauli of 1816 was signed between the British and:
The Treaty of Sugauli ended the Anglo-Nepal War fought from 1814 to 1816 in the time of Lord Hastings.
Read the full explanation →The Gandhi-Irwin Pact, by which the Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended, was signed on:
Also called the Delhi Pact, it was signed by Mahatma Gandhi and Viceroy Lord Irwin.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the Lucknow Pact between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League signed?
At the Lucknow session the Congress and the Muslim League agreed on a joint demand for self-government, and the Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims; Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Muhammad Ali Jinnah were the chief architects, and the moderates and extremists of the Congress, divided since the Surat split of…
Read the full explanation →The Poona Pact of 1932 was signed between Mahatma Gandhi and:
The Communal Award of August 1932 had given the Depressed Classes separate electorates.
Read the full explanation →The Treaty of Srirangapatnam of 1792 was signed at the end of which war?
Fought between 1790 and 1792 between Tipu Sultan and Lord Cornwallis, supported by the Nizam and the Marathas, it ended with the Treaty of Srirangapatnam, under which Tipu surrendered about half his territory and paid a heavy war indemnity, and two of his sons were taken as hostages.
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