UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, commits countries to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, with targets on reducing marine pollution from land-based activities, protecting coastal ecosystems, addressing ocean acidification, ending overfishing and conserving coastal and marine areas.

Oilzapper is a consortium of oil-degrading bacteria developed by the institute and used as bioremediation: the bacteria break the hydrocarbons in crude oil and oily sludge into harmless products, which makes it a cheap, low-waste option for contaminated soil at refineries and spill sites.

The hydrogen ions released when carbonic acid dissociates combine with carbonate ions to form bicarbonate, so the pool of free carbonate shrinks.

Oil spill response in Indian waters runs under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, and the Coast Guard is its central coordinating agency, working with major ports, state governments, oil companies and the Navy on reporting, containment with booms, recovery with skimmers, use of dispersants and shoreline clean-up.

MARPOL is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, adopted in 1973 and modified by the Protocol of 1978, and it is the main pollution instrument of the International Maritime Organization.

The tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, releasing crude oil that coated a long stretch of a cold, sheltered coastline where oil breaks down slowly, and killing large numbers of seabirds, sea otters and salmon.

Eutrophication begins with nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser, detergent and sewage. The nutrients feed an algal bloom; the bloom is short-lived, and when it dies the bacteria that decompose the mass consume large amounts of dissolved oxygen.

Microplastics are conventionally defined as plastic particles less than five millimetres across.

Methylmercury discharged with factory effluent into Minamata Bay entered fish and shellfish, biomagnified up the food chain and poisoned the people who ate them, producing the nervous disorder named after the bay and recognised in 1956.

Carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater and reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions; the extra hydrogen ions lower the pH, and they also combine with carbonate ions, leaving less carbonate for shells and coral skeletons.

The word means three bends, and the posture shifts the head one way, the torso another and the hip a third, giving the figure the swaying grace seen in dancing images and in classical Odissi.

Mahishasuramardini means the slayer of the buffalo demon Mahishasura, and the form shows the many-armed goddess, each hand holding a weapon given by a god, driving her trident into the demon as he emerges from the buffalo's body, with the lion at her side.

Its Chitrasutra section sets out the rules of painting and image making, including proportion, posture, the limbs of painting and the measurement system called iconometry, and it is grouped with the Shilpa Shastras and the manuals Manasara and Mayamata as the canonical guides for artists.

The reclining image, lying on the right side with the head resting on the hand and the eyes half closed, shows the Buddha's final passing away, and the colossal figures at Kushinagar and Ajanta are the examples usually cited.

The sculptor first models the figure in wax, coats it in fine clay to form a mould, and heats the mould so that the wax melts and runs out; molten metal is poured into the empty space, and the mould is broken to free the image, so each bronze is…

Saraswati is shown with the veena, a manuscript or palm-leaf book, a rosary and the swan, the bird also given to Brahma, whose consort she is in the later tradition.

The correct answer is C, Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, who is shown with the hood of a serpent, usually of seven heads, spread over his head and the coils rising behind him; his lanchana, the emblem on the pedestal, is a snake.

The Nataraja shows Shiva within a ring of flames, hair flying, the damaru drum in one hand and fire in another, the right foot pressing down the dwarf of ignorance called Apasmara and one hand raised in the gesture of protection; the form is linked with Chidambaram and is the…

The correct answer is B, Varaha, the boar, third in the usual sequence of ten avatars, carved either fully as a boar or with a boar's head on a human body, often lifting the earth goddess on one tusk.

Vishnu is recognised by four attributes, and each has its own name: the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana, the mace Kaumodaki and the lotus.