UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

Spring tides rise about 20 percent higher than normal tides because the Sun and the Moon pull along the same line.

Liberal democracy rests on constitutional, rule-bound government and on guaranteed civil liberties; it limits political power rather than making it unlimited.

Kalinga does not appear in the list of sixteen mahajanapadas given in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya. The sixteen mahajanapadas of the sixth century BCE were Anga, Magadha, Kashi, Kosala, Vajji, Malla, Chedi, Vatsa, Kuru, Panchala, Matsya, Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboja.

Zinc reacts with dilute sulphuric acid to form zinc sulphate and hydrogen gas: Zn + H2SO4 gives ZnSO4 + H2.

This Act has never been added to the Ninth Schedule; the other three were placed in it by constitutional amendments.

The DMK government of Tamil Nadu set up the Rajamannar Committee in 1969 to study Centre-State relations. The three-member committee was headed by Dr P.V.

Polythene is an addition polymer: ethene molecules join through their double bonds without losing any small molecule. Polymers form in two main ways.

Directive Principles do not have precedence over Fundamental Rights; in a conflict, the Fundamental Rights generally prevail. Directive Principles are in Part IV, Articles 36 to 51.

Steatite seals and bricks of a standard ratio are the hallmarks of the Harappan Civilisation. Harappan seals were usually carved from steatite, a soft stone, and carry animal motifs such as the unicorn together with signs of the undeciphered script.

Article 124(3) allows such a person to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Graphite, fullerene, diamond and graphene are all allotropes of carbon, made only of carbon atoms arranged in different ways. Allotropes are different structural forms of the same element.

Pairs 2 and 3 are correct; pairs 1 and 4 are wrongly matched. Lakshmikarna, also called Karna, was an eleventh-century Kalachuri ruler of Tripuri, not a Pala king, though he fought the Palas of Bengal.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare is not under the Ministry of Finance; it is part of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

The budget is presented first, examined by the departmental committees, voted through the Appropriation Bill and finally completed with the Finance Bill.

Quartz is a crystalline solid, and crystals show different physical properties in different directions, which is called anisotropy. In a crystalline solid the particles are arranged in a regular, repeating pattern, so the arrangement looks different along different directions.

Weber's ideal type describes bureaucracy through its structure and the conduct of its officials, not through class domination. Max Weber, the German sociologist, described the ideal type of bureaucracy as the most rational form of administration under legal-rational authority.

The Public Accounts Committee is constituted afresh every year, so each member's term is one year. The PAC was first set up in 1921 under the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.

An alloy is made by melting and mixing its components, which keep their own properties and are not joined in a fixed ratio by chemical bonds.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct, but NOTA does not apply to the presidential election. The Election Commission conducts the election under Article 324 and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952.

Air masses form under calm, stable, anticyclonic (high-pressure) conditions, not in cyclones. An air mass is a huge body of air with nearly uniform temperature and humidity across it.