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.
Indian society is divided into 4 major castes. Which one of the following is not one of them?
The fourfold varna order of classical texts consists of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
Read the full explanation →Satyashodhak Samaj was founded by:-
He founded the Satyashodhak Samaj, or Truth Seekers Society, at Pune in 1873, the same year in which his book Gulamgiri appeared.
Read the full explanation →Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, launched in 2015, promotes which kind of farming?
The scheme, a component of the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, groups farmers into clusters, supports them with training and inputs for organic cultivation, and certifies the produce through the Participatory Guarantee System of India, in which groups of farmers inspect and vouch for one another.
Read the full explanation →Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana, what monthly pension is assured to a small or marginal farmer after the age of sixty?
The scheme, launched in 2019, is a voluntary and contributory pension arrangement for small and marginal farmers between eighteen and forty years of age; the farmer contributes a monthly amount that depends on the age of entry, the Union government contributes an equal amount, and a pension of three thousand…
Read the full explanation →Har Khet Ko Pani and Per Drop More Crop are components of which scheme?
Launched in 2015, it brings irrigation work under one umbrella with the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme for major and medium projects, Har Khet Ko Pani for creating new sources, Per Drop More Crop for drip and sprinkler micro-irrigation, and watershed development for rainfed areas.
Read the full explanation →The Kisan Credit Card scheme was introduced in which year, on the recommendation of the R. V. Gupta committee?
Acting on the report of the R. V. Gupta committee, the scheme was introduced in 1998 and the model was prepared by NABARD for commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
Read the full explanation →e-NAM, launched in April 2016, is
The electronic National Agriculture Market was launched on 14 April 2016 to connect regulated mandis across the States on a single internet platform, so that a trader sitting anywhere can bid for a lot after it is assayed, which widens the market for the farmer and reduces the hold of…
Read the full explanation →Which body recommends the minimum support price for agricultural crops in India?
Set up in 1965 as the Agricultural Prices Commission and renamed in 1985, it is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare that studies costs of production and recommends the minimum support price for the mandated crops; the final decision is taken by the Cabinet Committee…
Read the full explanation →The Soil Health Card Scheme was launched in 2015 from which place?
The scheme was launched on 19 February 2015 from Suratgarh in Sri Ganganagar district, and it gives every holding a card showing the status of the main nutrients and the physical properties of the soil, with crop-wise advice on fertiliser and manure, renewed on a fixed cycle so that the…
Read the full explanation →Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, what share of the sum insured is paid as premium by the farmer for kharif food crops?
The scheme fixed a uniform maximum premium for the farmer: two per cent of the sum insured for kharif food and oilseed crops, one and a half per cent for rabi food and oilseed crops, and five per cent for annual commercial and horticultural crops, with the balance of the…
Read the full explanation →Under PM-KISAN, how much income support is given to an eligible farmer family in a year?
PM-KISAN pays each eligible landholding farmer family two thousand rupees every four months, that is six thousand rupees a year, straight into an Aadhaar-seeded bank account; the whole cost is borne by the Union government because it is a central sector scheme.
Read the full explanation →The National Mission for Saffron was launched as a sub-scheme under which of the following?
The National Mission for Saffron, meant to revive saffron cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir through better corms, irrigation and a spice park, runs as a sub-scheme of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the umbrella fund started in 2007 that lets States plan their own agricultural projects.
Read the full explanation →Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) was launched in the year 2019 from ______ in Uttar Pradesh.
PM-KISAN was announced in the interim budget of February 2019 and formally launched on 24 February 2019 from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the first instalment released there, although the scheme was given effect from 1 December 2018.
Read the full explanation →The Pamir Knot, from which several great ranges of Asia radiate, is popularly known as
The Pamir, mostly in Tajikistan, is the knot where the Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Kunlun and Tien Shan meet, and its height and position earned it this name, which is also used for the plateau of Tibet.
Read the full explanation →Which is the highest and the most extensive plateau in the world?
Enclosed by the Himalaya in the south, the Karakoram and Kunlun in the north-west and the Chinese mountains in the east, it averages well over four thousand metres and is called the roof of the world along with the Pamir; the Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, the Yangtze and the…
Read the full explanation →The Strait of Hormuz, one of the busiest oil routes of the world, connects the Persian Gulf with
The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran on the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates on the south, and is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and so to the Arabian Sea; a very large share of the crude oil traded…
Read the full explanation →The Gobi desert, a cold desert of Asia, is spread over which two countries?
The Gobi lies in southern Mongolia and northern China, in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, which keeps the monsoon out; it is a cold desert with bitter winters, gravel plains rather than sand seas, and is known for dinosaur fossil beds.
Read the full explanation →The largest lake in the world, bordered by five countries of Asia and Europe, is
Although it is called a sea because of its size and its saline water, it has no outlet to the ocean and is therefore the largest lake in the world by area.
Read the full explanation →Which is the longest river of Asia?
It rises on the plateau of Tibet, flows across central China and enters the East China Sea near Shanghai, and is the longest river of Asia and the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon.
Read the full explanation →Which lake of Asia is the deepest lake in the world?
Lying in southern Siberia in a rift valley, Baikal is the deepest lake on the earth and holds the largest volume of fresh water of any lake, roughly a fifth of the unfrozen fresh water on the surface of the planet.
Read the full explanation →