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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

Q7681.Indian PolityHard

Article 244A, inserted by the Twenty-second Amendment Act of 1969, empowers Parliament to create an autonomous State within which State?

  1. A.Nagaland
  2. B.Assam
  3. C.Manipur
  4. D.Tripura
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Assam

Article 244A, added by the Twenty-second Amendment Act of 1969, allows Parliament by law to form an autonomous State within Assam comprising all or any of the tribal areas specified in the Sixth Schedule, and to give it a legislature or a council of ministers, or both, with powers it…

Q7682.Indian PolityHard

Grants-in-aid from the Union to a State for promoting the welfare of Scheduled Tribes and for raising the level of administration of Scheduled Areas are provided under which Article?

  1. A.Article 270
  2. B.Article 275(1)
  3. C.Article 280
  4. D.Article 282
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Article 275(1)

Its proviso directs that sums be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India as grants-in-aid to States for schemes of development approved by the Union for promoting the welfare of Scheduled Tribes and for raising the level of administration of Scheduled Areas, and it names Assam specially for the administration…

Q7683.Indian PolityEasy

The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, known as PESA, was enacted in which year?

  1. A.1992
  2. B.1993
  3. C.1996
  4. D.2006
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 1996

Because Part IX of the Constitution does not extend of its own force to Scheduled Areas, Parliament enacted PESA in December 1996 on the recommendations of the Bhuria Committee, and made the Gram Sabha the pivot of village government in those areas, with powers over minor forest produce, minor water…

Q7685.Indian PolityMedium

Under the Fifth Schedule, the Tribes Advisory Council of a State consists of not more than how many members?

  1. A.15
  2. B.20
  3. C.25
  4. D.30
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 20

Paragraph 4 of the Fifth Schedule requires every State with Scheduled Areas, and if the President so directs a State with Scheduled Tribes but no Scheduled Areas, to set up a Tribes Advisory Council of not more than twenty members, of whom roughly three-fourths must be representatives of Scheduled Tribes…

Q7686.Indian PolityEasy

Who has the power to declare an area as a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule?

  1. A.The Governor of the State
  2. B.The President of India
  3. C.Parliament by a simple majority
  4. D.The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The President of India

Paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule says that the President may by order declare an area to be a Scheduled Area, and may increase or decrease its area, alter its boundaries, rescind the declaration or make a fresh order after consulting the Governor of the State concerned.

Q7687.Indian PolityEasy

The administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram is governed by which Article of the Constitution?

  1. A.Article 243
  2. B.Article 244(1)
  3. C.Article 245
  4. D.Article 246
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Article 244(1)

It states that the provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, while Article 244(2) applies the Sixth Schedule to the tribal areas of those four States.

Q7689.Indian PolityAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · 4 Jan 2020, Shift 2Medium

How many states with Fifth Schedule Areas are covered under the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996?

  1. A.7
  2. B.9
  3. C.10
  4. D.13
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 10

PESA applies to the Scheduled Areas of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan, and these ten States must bring their Panchayati Raj laws in line with it.

Q7690.Indian PolityAsked in: UPSC Civil Services · UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2019Medium

Under which Schedule of the Constitution of India can the transfer of tribal land to private parties for mining be declared null and void?

  1. A.Third Schedule
  2. B.Fifth Schedule
  3. C.Ninth Schedule
  4. D.Twelfth Schedule
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Fifth Schedule

Regulations made by the Governor under paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule can prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of Scheduled Tribes, and a transfer made in breach of such a regulation is void.

Q7691.Indian PolityAsked in: UPSC Civil Services · UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2022, 5 JuneMedium

If a particular area is brought under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which one of the following statements best reflects the consequence of it?

  1. A.This would prevent the transfer of land of tribal people to non-tribal people.
  2. B.This would create a local self-governing body in that area.
  3. C.This would convert that area into a Union Territory.
  4. D.The State having such areas would be declared a Special Category State.
Show answer
Correct answer: A. This would prevent the transfer of land of tribal people to non-tribal people.

Paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule allows the Governor of a State to make regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area, and expressly permits regulations that prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of Scheduled Tribes.

Q7693.Indian HistoryHard

The Ad Dharm movement, which asked its followers to register themselves as a separate religious community, was founded in Punjab by whom?

  1. A.Mangoo Ram
  2. B.Guruchand Thakur
  3. C.Guru Ghasidas
  4. D.Ayyankali
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Mangoo Ram

After years of work in the United States, Mangoo Ram returned to Punjab and founded the Ad Dharm movement in 1926, arguing that the so-called untouchable castes were the original inhabitants of the land and formed a religion of their own; the census of 1931 recorded lakhs of people as…

Q7695.Indian HistoryMedium

Who started the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 in the Madras Presidency?

  1. A.C. Rajagopalachari
  2. B.E. V. Ramasamy Periyar
  3. C.T. M. Nair
  4. D.M. C. Rajah
Show answer
Correct answer: B. E. V. Ramasamy Periyar

He left the Congress in 1925 and launched the Self-Respect Movement, which rejected priestly ritual, conducted marriages without Brahmin priests and without religious ceremony, campaigned for widow remarriage and for women rights, and later turned into the Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944.

Q7697.Indian HistoryMedium

The Poona Pact of 1932 was signed between Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar. What did it provide?

  1. A.Separate electorates for the depressed classes
  2. B.Reserved seats for the depressed classes within joint electorates
  3. C.Reservation in government services for the depressed classes
  4. D.Abolition of untouchability by law
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Reserved seats for the depressed classes within joint electorates

The Communal Award announced by Ramsay MacDonald in August 1932 gave the depressed classes separate electorates.

Q7698.Indian HistoryMedium

The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam was founded in 1903 under the inspiration of which social reformer?

  1. A.Ayyankali
  2. B.Sree Narayana Guru
  3. C.Vitthal Ramji Shinde
  4. D.Mangoo Ram
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sree Narayana Guru

The SNDP Yogam was founded in 1903 in Travancore under his inspiration, with Dr Palpu as the organiser and the poet Kumaran Asan as its first secretary, to work for the Ezhava community through schools, temples open to all and the slogan of one caste, one religion and one God…

Q7699.Indian HistoryMedium

The Mahad Satyagraha of 1927 was led by B. R. Ambedkar to secure which right?

  1. A.The right to draw water from the Chavdar tank
  2. B.The right to enter the Kalaram temple
  3. C.The right to use the roads around the Vaikom temple
  4. D.The right to reserved seats in the legislature
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The right to draw water from the Chavdar tank

In March 1927 Ambedkar led thousands of people to the Chavdar tank at Mahad in the Kolaba district of Bombay Presidency and drank its water, asserting that a public tank opened by a municipal resolution belonged to every citizen.

Q7700.Indian HistoryAsked in: CTET · 22 Dec 2021, Paper 2 Social ScienceMedium

What is the name of Omprakash Valmiki autobiography in which he narrates a story of caste discrimination?

  1. A.Achhut
  2. B.Tiraskar
  3. C.Pichhra
  4. D.Joothan
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Joothan

Omprakash Valmiki published Joothan in 1997, and it is the best known Dalit autobiography in Hindi; the title refers to the leftover food that upper-caste households gave to Dalit families, and the book records humiliation in school, in the village and at work.