UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

Its thick ice sheet lifts its average elevation above that of every other continent, and it has no permanent population, only the changing crews of research stations maintained under the Antarctic Treaty system; it is also the coldest, driest and windiest continent and counts as the largest cold desert.

It lies in the North Atlantic and is bounded not by land but by four ocean currents, among them the Gulf Stream, which circle its calm, weed-filled waters; the floating sargassum seaweed gives it its name.

The Bering Strait lies between the eastern tip of Siberia and the western tip of Alaska and joins the Pacific Ocean with the Arctic Ocean; during the ice ages a land bridge across it is believed to have carried the first human migrations into the Americas.

Africa is the only continent through which all four of these lines pass: the Equator crosses its middle, the Tropic of Cancer runs across the Sahara, the Tropic of Capricorn crosses its southern part, and the Prime Meridian passes through its western bulge near Accra.

In that year the International Hydrographic Organization recognised the waters surrounding Antarctica, broadly south of sixty degrees south latitude, as the fifth ocean of the world, which is why older textbooks speak of four oceans and newer ones of five.

It takes its name from India, whose peninsula projects into it, and this is the only case of an ocean named after a nation; it is also unusual in being closed in the north by the Asian landmass, which makes its monsoon-driven currents reverse twice a year.

The Mariana Trench lies in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Mariana Islands, and its southern end holds the Challenger Deep, close to eleven thousand metres below sea level, named after the British survey ship that sounded it in the nineteenth century.

It is the largest ocean, covering nearly half the total ocean surface, and the deepest, because the Challenger Deep in its Mariana Trench is the deepest known point on earth; its rim of volcanoes and earthquake zones is called the Ring of Fire.

By area the order of the continents is Asia, about 44 million square kilometres, then Africa with about 30 million, North America with about 24 million, South America with about 18 million, Antarctica with about 14 million, Europe with about 10 million and Australia with about 8 million.

It admitted Sikkim as the twenty-second State of the Indian Union, inserted it into the First Schedule and omitted the earlier provisions that had given it a special status.

It amended the First Schedule to give effect to the acquiring of territories by India and the transfer of certain territories to Bangladesh under the Land Boundary Agreement, settling a dispute that had lasted since Partition.

Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 and came into existence on 2 June 2014, which is observed as its formation day.

The Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 accompanied the States Reorganisation Act, abolished the old classification of States into Parts A, B, C and D, and reorganised the country into fourteen States and six Union territories.

It was carved out of the Madras Presidency in 1953 for Telugu speakers, after the death of Potti Sriramulu on a fast unto death pressed the demand to a point the government could not resist.

The States Reorganisation Commission was appointed in 1953 under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali and submitted its report in 1955.

The President sought the advisory opinion of the Supreme Court on whether the agreement to transfer part of the Berubari Union to Pakistan could be carried out under Article 3.

Article 4 states that a law made under Article 2 or Article 3 may contain provisions for amending the First Schedule, which lists the States and Union territories, and the Fourth Schedule, which allots Rajya Sabha seats, and that no such law shall be deemed to be an amendment of…

The proviso to Article 3 lays down two conditions. First, such a Bill may be introduced in either House only on the recommendation of the President.

Article 2 provides that Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

Article 1 says that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States, and the Drafting Committee chose that phrase with care.