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.
Fine-grained bed of ephemeral lake in a desert is also known as
A playa is the flat, fine-grained floor of a shallow desert basin that holds water only for a short time after rain.
Read the full explanation →Where in South India did the British East India Company construct a trading post in 1639?
In 1639 the English Company obtained a grant of land at Madraspatam on the Coromandel coast and built Fort St. George there.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following mahajanapadas in ancient India was an oligarchy?
The Vajji mahajanapada was a gana-sangha, ruled by an assembly of clan chiefs rather than by a single king. Of the sixteen mahajanapadas named in Buddhist texts such as the Anguttara Nikaya, most were monarchies, but Vajji and Malla were ganas or sanghas.
Read the full explanation →How often is the APARC General Assembly held?
The assembly in Pune runs for five days, from 12 to 16 October 2026, and brings together more than 550 participants from Europe, the Americas, South Asia, South East Asia and Australia, of whom 380 are attending in person and about 180 online.
Read the full explanation →APARC, whose General Assembly 2026 is being hosted by India, is a core project of which programme?
Atmospheric Processes and their Role in Climate is one of its core projects and works on the atmospheric drivers and processes that govern weather patterns and the dynamics of the global climate.
Read the full explanation →At which institute was the APARC General Assembly 2026 inaugurated?
The inaugural function of the assembly was held there, and the institute's Director delivered the opening keynote on modelling the monsoon and on narrowing the gap between how far the monsoon can be predicted in principle and the skill of actual forecasts.
Read the full explanation →What is the initial contribution pledged by the Government of India to the International Big Cat Alliance?
This is the initial contribution pledged by the Government of India to the Alliance, which is headquartered in this country and works for the conservation of seven big cats.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is NOT among the seven big cats covered by the International Big Cat Alliance?
The Alliance was set up for the conservation of seven big cats, and the list runs lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma.
Read the full explanation →Where were the new office premises of the International Big Cat Alliance inaugurated?
The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change inaugurated the premises, and the Director General of the Alliance welcomed the guests with an account of its activities and programmes.
Read the full explanation →Which Indian financial centre was proposed for closer cooperation with the City of London at the 16th JETCO?
Financial services were the fourth of the five priority areas the Commerce and Industry Minister listed, and under it he sought greater collaboration between the City of London and GIFT City, naming fintech, insurance, cross-border payments, transition finance and trade finance as fields of work, so that the two financial…
Read the full explanation →Where and when will the 17th India-UK JETCO meeting be held?
The joint statement of the 16th meeting records the decision that the next session of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee will be hosted by the British side in that year.
Read the full explanation →By which year did Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal call for doubling India-UK bilateral trade?
Addressing the business plenary of the 16th India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee, the Minister asked businesses in both countries to aim at doubling bilateral trade by the end of this decade, noting that about 1,500 days were left to work with.
Read the full explanation →As per the TRAI report for April-June 2026, what was the average monthly wireless data use per data subscriber?
Average monthly mobile data use for each wireless data subscriber rose to this level in the quarter ending June 2026 from 26.70 GB in the quarter ending March 2026.
Read the full explanation →What was the overall tele-density in India at the end of the quarter ending June 2026?
Tele-density measures telephone connections for every hundred people, and the overall figure improved from 93.26 per cent at the end of March 2026 to 94.31 per cent at the end of June 2026.
Read the full explanation →According to TRAI's performance indicator report, what was India's total telephone subscriber base at the end of June 2026?
The report for the quarter ending June 2026 records this as the total of wireless and wireline connections, a rise of 1.31 per cent over the previous quarter and of 10.65 per cent over the same quarter a year earlier.
Read the full explanation →What was the theme of the national conference held by the NHRC on its 33rd Foundation Day?
The Commission paired its foundation day function with this national conference, which was organised around two technical sessions, the first on the protection and restoration of water bodies and the second on protecting sources of drinking water so that access is safe and sustainable for all.
Read the full explanation →Who was the chief guest at the 33rd Foundation Day function of the NHRC?
He said the Constitution's promises of dignity, equality, liberty and justice must be honoured in the lock-up, the hospital ward and the remotest village, and described a human rights commission as a lighthouse that cannot stop the waves of injustice but can guide those adrift in the darkness.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the National Human Rights Commission of India established?
The National Human Rights Commission was set up on 12 October of that year, and the Commission therefore observes 12 October as its foundation day; this year it marked the 33rd such occasion at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, where it also held a national conference on the right to…
Read the full explanation →What is the theme of IBSAMAR IX?
This is the declared theme of the ninth edition of the India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime Exercise, which aims at collective maritime security and at preparing the three navies to deal with challenges at sea.
Read the full explanation →Since which year has the IBSAMAR exercise been conducted once every two years?
IBSAMAR has been held once in two years since that year, under the India-Brazil-South Africa framework, and has become a settled platform for joint training and for sharing operational practices among the three navies.
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