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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

Q9741.Indian EconomyAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · UPPSC Civil Services General Studies OffMedium

Given below are two statements, one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R). Assertion (A): Government has launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for the period of 2020-30. Reason (R): The objective of NIP is to provide equitable access to infrastructure for all. Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

  1. A.Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
  2. B.Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
  3. C.(A) is true but (R) is false
  4. D.(A) is false but (R) is true
Show answer
Correct answer: D. (A) is false but (R) is true

The National Infrastructure Pipeline was announced in the Budget speech of 2019-20 and the task force under the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, drew it up for the five years from 2019-20 to 2024-25, with projected capital expenditure of about 111 lakh crore rupees.

Q9742.Environment & EcologyHard

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which prepares the assessment reports used at the conferences, was established in 1988 by

  1. A.the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme
  2. B.the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC
  3. C.the United Nations Security Council
  4. D.the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
Show answer
Correct answer: A. the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme

The panel was created in 1988, four years before the climate convention existed, which is why B is wrong: the IPCC is not an organ of the convention, although its reports set the agenda for every conference and the first assessment report of 1990 led directly to the negotiation of…

Q9743.Environment & EcologyMedium

Under the Paris Agreement, how often is the global stocktake of collective progress carried out?

  1. A.Every year
  2. B.Every three years
  3. C.Every five years
  4. D.Every ten years
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Every five years

The agreement works on a five-year ambition cycle: parties submit nationally determined contributions, implement them, and then the stocktake assesses where the world stands on mitigation, adaptation and the means of implementation, so that the next round of contributions can be stronger.

Q9744.Environment & EcologyMedium

In the Panchamrit announced by India at the Glasgow conference in 2021, the target year for net zero emissions is

  1. A.2050
  2. B.2060
  3. C.2070
  4. D.2080
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 2070

Panchamrit, the five nectar elements announced by India at COP26, consists of five hundred gigawatts of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, meeting half of the country's energy requirement from renewable sources by 2030, reducing projected emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, reducing the emissions intensity of the economy by…

Q9745.Environment & EcologyHard

The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities is laid down in which instrument?

  1. A.Article 3 of the UNFCCC, 1992
  2. B.The Montreal Protocol, 1987
  3. C.The Ramsar Convention, 1971
  4. D.The Stockholm Declaration, 1972
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Article 3 of the UNFCCC, 1992

The article directs parties to protect the climate system on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and adds that the developed country parties should take the lead.

Q9746.Environment & EcologyMedium

The Warsaw International Mechanism, set up at COP19 in 2013, deals with which subject?

  1. A.Loss and damage from climate impacts
  2. B.Carbon markets and credit trading
  3. C.Forest certification and timber trade
  4. D.Measurement of ozone depleting substances
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Loss and damage from climate impacts

Loss and damage is the third pillar of climate policy, after mitigation and adaptation, and covers harm that can no longer be prevented: land lost to the sea, a crop destroyed by an extreme event, an island made uninhabitable.

Q9747.Environment & EcologyMedium

The Green Climate Fund, the main financial channel of the climate convention, was agreed upon at which conference, and where is it headquartered?

  1. A.COP15 Copenhagen; Geneva
  2. B.COP16 Cancun; Songdo
  3. C.COP21 Paris; Bonn
  4. D.COP26 Glasgow; Nairobi
Show answer
Correct answer: B. COP16 Cancun; Songdo

Copenhagen in 2009 had produced the political pledge of a hundred billion dollars a year by 2020, and the Cancun decisions of the following year created the institution to channel that money, along with the Cancun Adaptation Framework.

Q9749.Environment & EcologyMedium

Which mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol allowed a developed country to earn emission credits by funding a clean project in a developing country?

  1. A.Joint Implementation
  2. B.Emissions Trading
  3. C.Clean Development Mechanism
  4. D.Global Stocktake
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Clean Development Mechanism

Under it a country with a Kyoto target financed a project such as a wind farm, a biomass plant or a more efficient kiln in a developing country, and the emissions avoided were issued to it as certified emission reductions that counted towards its own target, while the host country…

Q9750.Environment & EcologyEasy

The Kyoto Protocol, the first climate treaty with binding emission targets, was adopted at which Conference of the Parties?

  1. A.COP1 at Berlin
  2. B.COP3 at Kyoto
  3. C.COP8 at New Delhi
  4. D.COP13 at Bali
Show answer
Correct answer: B. COP3 at Kyoto

The protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 in the Japanese city that gave it its name, and it entered into force on 16 February 2005 once countries accounting for the required share of Annex I emissions had ratified it.

Q9751.Environment & EcologyEasy

At which conference was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opened for signature?

  1. A.Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, 1972
  2. B.Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, 1992
  3. C.World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002
  4. D.Montreal Conference on the Ozone Layer, 1987
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, 1992

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in June 1992 and popularly called the Earth Summit, opened three agreements for signature: the climate convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity and Agenda 21.

Q9753.Indian PolityEasy

Under Article 324 of the Constitution, the superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament and the state legislatures is vested in which authority?

  1. A.The President of India
  2. B.The Election Commission of India
  3. C.The Parliament of India
  4. D.The Supreme Court of India
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Election Commission of India

Article 324 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of all elections to Parliament, to the state legislatures and to the offices of President and Vice-President in the Election Commission.

Q9754.Indian PolityHard

Which article of the Constitution empowers Parliament to provide for the adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-state rivers?

  1. A.Article 262
  2. B.Article 263
  3. C.Article 131
  4. D.Article 143
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Article 262

Article 262 allows Parliament to provide by law for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint about the use, distribution or control of the waters of an inter-state river or river valley, and clause 2 allows Parliament to bar the Supreme Court and every other court from such a dispute.

Q9755.Indian PolityEasy

Article 368 of the Indian Constitution deals with which subject?

  1. A.Procedure for amendment of the Constitution
  2. B.Emergency provisions
  3. C.Official language of the Union
  4. D.Elections to Parliament
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Procedure for amendment of the Constitution

Article 368, in Part XX, gives Parliament the power to amend the Constitution and lays down the procedure: a bill may be introduced in either House, must be passed by each House by a majority of its total membership and by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting…

Q9760.Indian PolityMedium

The Fundamental Duties of Indian citizens are listed in which article of the Constitution?

  1. A.Article 48A
  2. B.Article 49
  3. C.Article 51A
  4. D.Article 50
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 51A

The Fundamental Duties were not in the Constitution as adopted. They were inserted as Article 51A in a new Part IVA by the Forty-second Amendment Act of 1976, on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, and one more duty, the duty of a parent or guardian to provide education…