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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

Q11741.GeographyAsked in: SSC GD Constable · 24 Jan 2023, Shift 2Medium

What is a group of industries that tend to come together to make use of the advantages offered by the urban centres known as?

  1. A.rural economies
  2. B.amalgamation economies
  3. C.urban economies
  4. D.agglomeration economies
Show answer
Correct answer: D. agglomeration economies

When industries gather at one urban centre, each of them can use the roads, railways, power lines, water supply, banks, insurance offices, skilled workers, component suppliers and repair workshops that the others have brought into being, and the saving in cost that follows from this sharing is called an agglomeration…

Q11742.GeographyAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · UPPSC Civil Services GS Official PaperHard

Given below are two statements, one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R):

Assertion (A): Ahmedabad is the largest centre of the cotton textile industry in India.
Reason (R): Ahmedabad is located in the major cotton-growing region of India, so it has no problem with raw materials.

Select the correct answer from 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

Ahmedabad is a very large cotton textile centre and is called the Manchester of India, but it is not the largest in the country; that place belongs to Mumbai, the old Cottonopolis, which grew first because of its port, its mills and its capital, and Maharashtra remains ahead of Gujarat…

Q11743.Indian PolityAsked in: UPSC Civil Services · 2020Hard

Consider the following statements: 1. The Constitution of India defines its basic structure in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy. 2. The Constitution of India has a provision for judicial review to safeguard the citizens' liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based. Which of the statements given above is or are correct?

  1. A.1 only
  2. B.2 only
  3. C.Both 1 and 2
  4. D.Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Neither 1 nor 2

Statement 1 is wrong because the Constitution nowhere uses the expression basic structure or defines it. The doctrine is a creation of the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati in 1973, and the courts have added features to it case by case, which is why no closed list exists.

Q11744.Indian PolityMedium

Which amendment provides for the reservation of one third of the seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies?

  1. A.One hundred and first Amendment
  2. B.One hundred and third Amendment
  3. C.One hundred and fourth Amendment
  4. D.One hundred and sixth Amendment
Show answer
Correct answer: D. One hundred and sixth Amendment

Passed in 2023 and called the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, it inserted Articles 330A and 332A to reserve one third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and in the state legislative assemblies, as well as in the Delhi assembly, for women, the reservation to take effect after the delimitation…

Q11745.Indian PolityEasy

An amendment touching the federal provisions of the Constitution must be ratified by the legislatures of:

  1. A.Not less than one half of the states
  2. B.Not less than two thirds of the states
  3. C.Not less than three fourths of the states
  4. D.All the states
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Not less than one half of the states

For matters such as the election of the President, the extent of the executive power of the Union and the states, the Supreme Court and the High Courts, the Seventh Schedule, the representation of states in Parliament and Article 368 itself, the bill must first be passed by each House…

Q11747.Indian PolityMedium

The voting age in India was reduced from twenty-one years to eighteen years by which amendment?

  1. A.Fifty-second Amendment
  2. B.Sixty-first Amendment
  3. C.Seventy-fourth Amendment
  4. D.Eighty-sixth Amendment
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sixty-first Amendment

Passed in 1989, it amended Article 326 and lowered the voting age for elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies from twenty-one years to eighteen years, which brought a very large number of young voters on to the rolls for the general election that followed.

Q11749.Indian PolityEasy

Which amendment to the Constitution of India is popularly called the mini Constitution?

  1. A.Forty-second Amendment
  2. B.Forty-fourth Amendment
  3. C.Fifty-second Amendment
  4. D.Seventy-third Amendment
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Forty-second Amendment

Enacted in 1976 on the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee, it changed so many provisions at one stroke that it is called the mini Constitution: it added the Fundamental Duties in Part IVA, inserted the words socialist, secular and integrity in the Preamble, extended the term of the Lok…

Q11750.Indian PolityHard

By which amendment was the President's assent to a Constitution Amendment Bill made obligatory?

  1. A.Twenty-fourth Amendment, 1971
  2. B.Twenty-fifth Amendment, 1971
  3. C.Forty-second Amendment, 1976
  4. D.Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Twenty-fourth Amendment, 1971

It was passed in answer to the Golaknath ruling. It amended Article 13 and Article 368 to make clear that Parliament could take away or abridge a Fundamental Right by amendment, and it made the President's assent to such a bill compulsory, so an amendment bill can neither be withheld…

Q11752.Indian PolityEasy

The doctrine of the basic structure of the Constitution was laid down by the Supreme Court in which case?

  1. A.Shankari Prasad case, 1951
  2. B.Golaknath case, 1967
  3. C.Kesavananda Bharati case, 1973
  4. D.Minerva Mills case, 1980
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Kesavananda Bharati case, 1973

A bench of thirteen judges, the largest ever assembled at the time, held by a majority of seven to six that Parliament may amend any part of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights, but may not damage or destroy its basic structure.

Q11755.Indian HistoryHard

Which historian described the Revolt of 1857 as neither first, nor national, nor a war of independence?

  1. A.V. D. Savarkar
  2. B.S. N. Sen
  3. C.R. C. Majumdar
  4. D.Benjamin Disraeli
Show answer
Correct answer: C. R. C. Majumdar

He held that the rising of 1857 was not the first armed challenge to British power, that it did not cover the whole country or unite its people, and that it was not fought for a clear idea of national independence; his summing up is quoted in this exact form…

Q11757.Indian HistoryMedium

The government of India was transferred from the East India Company to the British Crown by which Act?

  1. A.Charter Act of 1853
  2. B.Government of India Act of 1858
  3. C.Indian Councils Act of 1861
  4. D.Government of India Act of 1919
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Government of India Act of 1858

Known as the Act for the Better Government of India, it abolished the East India Company along with the Board of Directors and the Board of Control, vested the government of India in the Crown, created the office of Secretary of State for India with a Council of India of…