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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

Q10122.General ScienceEasy

Pascal's law is the principle behind which of the following devices?

  1. A.Hydraulic brakes
  2. B.Barometer
  3. C.Hydrometer
  4. D.Siphon
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Hydraulic brakes

Pascal's law says that pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the walls of the vessel, so a modest push on the brake pedal creates a pressure in the brake fluid that is passed to the wider pistons at every…

Q10123.General ScienceAsked in: Rajasthan · 4th July 2019Medium

A liquid rises upto a height greater than that for water in given capillary tube. Its reason may be that

  1. A.the liquid is more viscous than water.
  2. B.the temperature of liquid is higher than that of water.
  3. C.the surface tension of water is less than that of liquid.
  4. D.the surface tension of water is more than that of liquid.
Show answer
Correct answer: C. the surface tension of water is less than that of liquid.

In a capillary tube the height of rise is directly proportional to the surface tension of the liquid and inversely proportional to its density and the radius of the tube.

Q10124.General ScienceAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · UPSSSC JE Mechanical 2016 Official PaperHard

A fluid in which resistance to deformation is independent of the shear stress, is known as

  1. A.Bingham plastic fluid
  2. B.Pseudo plastic fluid
  3. C.Dilatants fluid
  4. D.Newtonian fluid
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Newtonian fluid

In such a fluid the shearing stress is directly proportional to the rate of shear, so the coefficient of viscosity, which measures the resistance to deformation, keeps the same value whatever the stress applied; water, air, petrol and thin oils behave in this way.

Q10125.General ScienceAsked in: RRB JE · 19 Sep 2019, Shift 2Hard

Centre of buoyancy is

  1. A.Centre of gravity of the body
  2. B.Centre of mass of displaced fluid
  3. C.Mid point between Centre of gravity and metacentre
  4. D.The point of intersection of buoyant force and centre line of the body
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Centre of mass of displaced fluid

The upthrust on a body is the resultant of the pressure forces of the fluid around it, and that resultant acts through the centre of gravity of the fluid the body has pushed aside, which is why the point is called the centre of buoyancy.

Q10126.General ScienceAsked in: RRB JE · 30 Aug, 2019, Shift 1Medium

What percent of the total volume of an iceberg floats above the water surface? Assume the density of ice to be 920 kg/m3 and the density of water to be 1000 kg/m3.

  1. A.6
  2. B.8
  3. C.92
  4. D.20
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 8

A floating body displaces its own weight of fluid, so the fraction of its volume that lies below the surface equals the ratio of its density to the density of the fluid, here 920 divided by 1000, which is 0.92.

Q10127.General ScienceAsked in: RRB Group D · 16 Oct 2018, Shift 2Medium

On which of the following factors does the magnitude of the buoyant force acting on a body in a given fluid depend?

  1. A.Weight of the body immersed in it
  2. B.Shape of the body immersed in the fluid.
  3. C.Density of the fluid and mass of the body immersed in it
  4. D.Density of the fluid and the volume of the body immersed in it
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Density of the fluid and the volume of the body immersed in it

By Archimedes' principle the upthrust on a body equals the weight of the fluid it displaces, and that weight is the volume of the body actually immersed multiplied by the density of the fluid and by the acceleration due to gravity.

Q10128.NationalEasy

Who is remembered as the founder whose vision shaped Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University?

  1. A.Jawaharlal Nehru
  2. B.Lal Bahadur Shastri
  3. C.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
  4. D.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Lal Bahadur Shastri

The Vice-President traced the institution’s journey from a Sanskrit Vidyapeetha to a Central University and said the time had come for it to fulfil its founder’s vision by establishing itself as a leading international centre for Sanskrit studies.

Q10129.NationalHard

The Gyan Bharatam Mission, mentioned at the convocation, has a foundational corpus of how much?

  1. A.Rs 100 crore
  2. B.Rs 250 crore
  3. C.Rs 500 crore
  4. D.Rs 1,000 crore
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Rs 500 crore

The mission is meant to preserve and document India’s manuscript heritage and to bring it within reach of readers in the country and abroad, and the Vice-President cited it while asking teachers and students to seek out unpublished Sanskrit manuscripts, preserve them, edit them critically and publish them.

Q10131.Government SchemesEasy

The PRR Mechanism of MY Bharat is run by which ministry?

  1. A.Ministry of Education
  2. B.Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
  3. C.Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
  4. D.Ministry of Culture
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

The Union Minister of that ministry, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, announced it with the remark that Yuva Shakti is the strength of a developed India.

Q10134.DefenceHard

Where is the 24th National Maritime Search and Rescue Board Meeting being held?

  1. A.Paradip
  2. B.Bhubaneswar
  3. C.Visakhapatnam
  4. D.Chennai
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Bhubaneswar

The board meeting is convened by the Indian Coast Guard under the chairmanship of its Director General, Paramesh Sivamani, and takes up national preparedness for rescue at sea, the management of distress alerts and faster movement of rescue assets through technology and coordination between agencies.

Q10135.DefenceEasy

How many international observers are attending SAREX-2026, and from how many countries?

  1. A.32 observers from 30 countries
  2. B.30 observers from 32 countries
  3. C.24 observers from 20 countries
  4. D.15 observers from 12 countries
Show answer
Correct answer: A. 32 observers from 30 countries

The number of observers is slightly larger than the number of countries because some nations have sent more than one representative, and the Ministry of Defence treats this international presence as a highlight of the drill, since it points to shared rescue protocols and the ability of different navies and…

Q10139.DefenceMedium

Mt Kamet, climbed by the joint Indo-Argentine Army expedition, is the highest peak in India after which two mountains?

  1. A.Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Nanda Devi
  2. B.Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Saltoro Kangri
  3. C.Mt Nanda Devi and Mt Trishul
  4. D.Mt Nun and Mt Kun
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Nanda Devi

Mt Kamet stands in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and is the third-highest mountain within India, which places exactly those two peaks above it.

Q10140.EconomyHard

In the Special Purpose Vehicle formed for the Gwalior Telecom Manufacturing Zone, what is the equity split?

  1. A.Centre 51 per cent, state 49 per cent
  2. B.State 51 per cent, Department of Telecommunications 49 per cent
  3. C.Equal halves
  4. D.State 74 per cent, Centre 26 per cent
Show answer
Correct answer: B. State 51 per cent, Department of Telecommunications 49 per cent

The vehicle set up to build and run the zone gives the Madhya Pradesh government the controlling share and the Department of Telecommunications the rest, which makes the project an example of a Centre-state partnership where the state leads on the ground while the Centre funds the first phase.