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.
Who was the chairman of the States Reorganisation Commission appointed in 1953?
The States Reorganisation Commission was appointed in December 1953 with Fazl Ali as chairman, and it submitted its report in 1955.
Read the full explanation →Which article of the Indian Constitution empowers Parliament to form a new state by separating territory from an existing state?
It allows Parliament to form a new state by separation of territory, to unite two or more states, to increase or diminish the area of a state and to alter its boundaries or its name.
Read the full explanation →Haryana State was formed on 1st November, 1966 on the recommendation of which Committee?
The Parliamentary Committee headed by Sardar Hukam Singh, then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, examined the demand for a Punjabi-speaking state and recommended the division of Punjab.
Read the full explanation →Which state was formed first on the basis of language in independent India?
The Telugu-speaking Andhra State was carved out of the Madras province on 1 October 1953, the first time independent India accepted language as the ground for a new state, and in 1956 it was enlarged and renamed Andhra Pradesh.
Read the full explanation →In which year was a separate Andhra state formed after the linguistic reorganisation of the then Madras province?
Andhra State came into being on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras province. The immediate cause was the death of Potti Sriramulu on 15 December 1952 after a fast unto death for a Telugu state, and the agitation that followed forced the Government's hand.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Ravi Shankar, who received the Bharat Ratna, played which instrument?
Ravi Shankar played the sitar, the long-necked fretted instrument with a gourd resonator and sympathetic strings that ring on their own.
Read the full explanation →The nadaswaram, played at temples and weddings in south India, is traditionally accompanied by which drum?
The nadaswaram is a long double reed wind instrument, the loudest of the classical wind instruments, and in Tamil Nadu it is played as a pair with the thavil, a barrel drum struck with one hand and a stick, at temple processions and weddings.
Read the full explanation →The ravanahatha, a bowed folk instrument, is associated mainly with which state?
The ravanahatha is an ancient spike fiddle with a coconut shell resonator, played with a horsehair bow that usually carries small bells, and it belongs to the folk musicians of Rajasthan, where it accompanies the ballad of Pabuji.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is famous for playing which instrument?
The bansuri is the bamboo transverse flute, a sushira vadya with no reed, in which the player changes notes by covering the finger holes.
Read the full explanation →The chenda, a drum played during Kathakali performances and temple festivals, belongs to which state?
The chenda is a cylindrical drum hung from the shoulder and struck with curved sticks, and it carries the sound of Kerala's temple festivals, of the percussion ensemble called Chenda Melam, and of Kathakali and Theyyam.
Read the full explanation →The ghatam, used in Carnatic music, belongs to which class of instruments?
The ghatam is a clay pot with nothing stretched across its mouth. The player strikes the body of the pot with fingers, palms and wrists, and changes the tone by moving the mouth of the pot against the stomach.
Read the full explanation →Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is a celebrated player of which instrument?
The sarod is a plucked instrument with a metal fingerboard and no frets, which lets a player slide continuously between notes and gives it its deep, singing tone.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Shivkumar Sharma is known for playing which instrument?
The santoor is a trapezoid wooden box carrying many strings over small bridges, struck with a pair of light curved mallets.
Read the full explanation →Ustad Bismillah Khan is associated with which musical instrument?
Bismillah Khan played the shehnai, a double reed wind instrument long associated with weddings, temple processions and auspicious beginnings in north India, and he is credited with carrying it from ceremonial use onto the classical concert stage.
Read the full explanation →In the classification given in the Natya Shastra, wind instruments are called by which name?
Sushira means hollow, and the class covers every instrument in which a column of air inside a tube is set vibrating.
Read the full explanation →The singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan belonged to which gharana of Hindustani music?
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is the best known singer of the Patiala gharana, a school marked by fast and intricate taans, a free use of thumri alongside khayal, and a bright open tone.
Read the full explanation →Tansen, credited with the ragas Miyan ki Malhar and Darbari Kanada, was a musician in whose court?
Tansen was counted among the navratnas, the nine jewels of Akbar's court, and had earlier served the ruler of Rewa.
Read the full explanation →Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande is remembered for which contribution to Hindustani music?
Bhatkhande travelled across India collecting compositions and then arranged the ragas of Hindustani music under ten parent scales or thaats, among them Bilawal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi and Todi.
Read the full explanation →Who is known as the Pitamaha, or grandsire, of Carnatic music?
Purandara Dasa, a saint composer of the Kannada devotional tradition, is honoured as the Pitamaha of Carnatic music because he organised the way the music is taught.
Read the full explanation →The pakhawaj is the percussion instrument traditionally used to accompany which form?
The pakhawaj is a long barrel drum played horizontally with both hands, deeper and graver in tone than the tabla, and its weight suits the slow and solemn movement of dhrupad.
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