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.
Thang-Ta, also known as Huyen Langlon, is the traditional martial art of which state?
Thang-Ta is the armed component of the Manipuri martial system called Huyen Langlon, where thang means sword and ta means spear, while the unarmed component is called Sarit Sarak.
Read the full explanation →Silambam, a martial art of Tamil Nadu, is practised chiefly with which of the following?
Silambam is the staff art of Tamil Nadu, and the length of bamboo, usually about the height of the practitioner, is what identifies it in any list of weapons.
Read the full explanation →Kalaripayattu, one of the oldest martial arts in the world, is associated with which Indian state?
Kalaripayattu belongs to Kerala, takes its name from the kalari, the arena in which it is taught, and is usually described as among the oldest surviving martial arts in the world.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first Indian to travel into space?
He flew in 1984 aboard a Soviet mission under the Interkosmos programme and spent about a week in orbit, and his reply that India looked the best in the world from up there is often quoted.
Read the full explanation →Aditya-L1 is India's first mission to study which body?
Aditya-L1 was launched in 2023 and was placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange point between the Earth and the Sun, a position from which the Sun can be watched without eclipses, and it carries instruments to study the corona, the solar wind and solar flares.
Read the full explanation →The Mars Orbiter Mission of India entered the orbit of Mars in which year?
The spacecraft was launched by a PSLV in November 2013 and entered the orbit of Mars on 24 September 2014, which made India the first country to succeed at Mars on its first attempt and the first in Asia to reach Mars orbit.
Read the full explanation →Chandrayaan-1 is best remembered for which finding?
Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008, carried the Moon Impact Probe and instruments from several countries, and its data showed the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface, which changed the understanding of the Moon.
Read the full explanation →India's satellite launch range, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, is at which place?
The correct answer is A, Sriharikota, an island on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, from which PSLV, GSLV and LVM3 flights take off.
Read the full explanation →The headquarters of ISRO is located in which city?
The headquarters of ISRO and of the Department of Space are at Bengaluru, where the U R Rao Satellite Centre and the telemetry and tracking network ISTRAC are also located.
Read the full explanation →Which satellite was the first to be placed in orbit by an Indian launch vehicle?
The SLV-3 placed it in orbit on 18 July 1980 from Sriharikota, with A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as the mission director, and the flight made India a country able to launch its own satellites.
Read the full explanation →Which was the first Indian satellite, launched in 1975?
It was launched on 19 April 1975 from a Soviet launch site, was named after the astronomer of the fifth century and carried experiments in astronomy and solar physics.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the Indian Space Research Organisation formed?
ISRO was formed on 15 August 1969, taking over the work of the committee that had been running the programme.
Read the full explanation →Who is called the father of the Indian space programme?
He chaired the Indian National Committee for Space Research set up in 1962, chose Thumba for the first sounding rocket launches and argued that a poor country needed space technology for communication, education and weather rather than for prestige.
Read the full explanation →The Sanskrit play Mrichchhakatika was written by whom?
Mrichchhakatika, the little clay cart, tells the story of the merchant Charudatta and the courtesan Vasantasena and is valued for its picture of ordinary city life rather than of kings.
Read the full explanation →Tholu Bommalata, a form of shadow puppetry, belongs to which state?
Tholu Bommalata uses large leather puppets held against a lit screen, and the shadows tell episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata through the night.
Read the full explanation →Yakshagana is the traditional theatre form of which state?
Yakshagana is performed through the night in coastal Karnataka on episodes from the epics, with tall headgear, painted faces, a singer who carries the story and drums that mark the dance.
Read the full explanation →The Natya Shastra, the oldest Indian treatise on dramaturgy, is attributed to whom?
The Natya Shastra describes the playhouse, the actor's gestures, music, dance and the theory of rasa, the sentiment a performance raises in the spectator, and it is the foundation of every classical form of Indian theatre and dance.
Read the full explanation →The first Indian talkie, Alam Ara, released in 1931, was directed by whom?
Alam Ara carried recorded dialogue and songs and opened in Bombay in 1931; Irani also produced Kisan Kanya in 1937, the first Indian colour film, which is why his name answers two questions in this chapter.
Read the full explanation →Which is regarded as the first Indian feature film?
Dadasaheb Phalke made it in 1913 as a silent film on the legend of the truthful king, and it is counted as the first Indian feature film.
Read the full explanation →Who portrayed the character of Allauddin Khilji in the controversial movie 'Padmavat'?
In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat he played the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji, whose siege of Chittor in 1303 is the historical background of the story, which is drawn from the Padmavat of Malik Muhammad Jayasi.
Read the full explanation →