UPSC GK Questions 2026

The correct answer is B.N. Rau. Sir Benegal Narsing Rau was appointed the constitutional (legal) adviser to the Constituent Assembly. He studied the constitutions of other countries and prepared the initial draft of the Constitution, which the Drafting Committee then worked on before publishing its own draft in February 1948.

B.R. Ambedkar is the most likely wrong pick: he chaired the Drafting Committee and steered the Constitution through the Assembly, but he was not the Assembly's adviser. H.V.R. Iyengar served as the Secretary of the Constituent Assembly, an administrative office, and S.N. Mukherjee was its chief draftsman. The distinction the question tests is between the adviser who prepared the first draft (Rau) and the committee chairman who guided the final text (Ambedkar). Questions sometimes use the words "legal adviser" and sometimes "constitutional adviser"; both point to B.N. Rau.

The correct answer is B.R. Ambedkar. The Drafting Committee was set up on 29 August 1947 with seven members, and Dr B.R. Ambedkar was its chairman. The committee published the Draft Constitution in February 1948, and Ambedkar piloted it through the Assembly's clause-by-clause debate, which is why he is remembered as the chief architect of the Constitution.

K.M. Munshi and Mohammad Saadullah were members of the same committee, not its chairman, which makes them the most tempting wrong answers. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was not on the Drafting Committee; he chaired the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas. Learn the full list of seven members too, because a common variant asks which name was not a member: Ambedkar, N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, K.M. Munshi, Syed Mohammad Saadullah, N. Madhava Rau and T.T. Krishnamachari.

The correct answer is Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946, and the Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947. The resolution set out what the Constitution was meant to achieve: an independent, sovereign republic in which all people would have justice, equality and freedom, with safeguards for minorities and backward classes. Those ideas were later shaped into the Preamble.

Dr Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Assembly and presided over its debates; he did not move this resolution. J.B. Kripalani chaired the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee. Dr B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee, which was set up only on 29 August 1947, months after the resolution had been adopted. A tidy way to remember the order: Nehru stated the objectives first, and Ambedkar's committee turned them into a draft later.

The correct answer is Dr Rajendra Prasad. Dr Sachchidananda Sinha presided over the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1946 only as its temporary President. On 11 December 1946 the Assembly elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as its permanent President, and he held that office until the Assembly finished its work. On 24 January 1950, at its last session, the Assembly also elected him the first President of India.

The other names played different parts. Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution and chaired the Union Powers, Union Constitution and States Committees. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel chaired the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities. Mahatma Gandhi was not a member of the Constituent Assembly at all. Exams like to pair the words "temporary" and "permanent", so fix the sequence: Sinha first, then Prasad two days later.

The correct answer is Dr Sachchidananda Sinha. When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946, Sinha, its oldest member, was made the temporary President, following the French practice of letting the senior-most member preside until a regular head is chosen.

Dr Rajendra Prasad is the classic trap: he was elected the permanent President of the Assembly on 11 December 1946, two days after the first sitting, so he did not preside over the first meeting. Jawaharlal Nehru's best-known role in the Assembly was moving the Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946 and chairing committees such as the Union Powers Committee. G.V. Mavalankar presided when the Assembly sat as the Dominion Legislature, the country's first Parliament, not when it met to frame the Constitution. Keep the three offices apart: temporary President Sinha, President Prasad, and Mavalankar for the legislative sittings.

The correct answer is December 1946. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting and pressed its demand for a separate Pakistan, and Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, presided as temporary President. Two days later, on 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the permanent President of the Assembly.

The other options are dates from before or after the Assembly's work. August 1945 is more than a year before the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 created the Assembly. July 1948 falls in the middle of its work, after the Draft Constitution had been published in February 1948. January 1950 is the very end: the last session was held on 24 January 1950 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Remember the pair that is asked most often: first meeting on 9 December 1946, and Rajendra Prasad elected on 11 December 1946.

The correct answer is 1946. The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 to work out how power would be handed over, and its plan laid down how a Constituent Assembly would be formed: 389 seats in all, 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states, with the members from the provinces elected indirectly by the provincial legislative assemblies. Elections to the British Indian seats followed in July and August 1946, and the Assembly held its first meeting on 9 December 1946.

The other years cannot be right. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950, so an Assembly formed in 1952, 1959 or 1962 would have had nothing left to write. A good way to fix this date is to tie it to two others from the same year: the elections of July and August 1946, and the first sitting in December 1946.

The correct answer is 2017. The PIB backgrounder says Swachhata Hi Seva was launched in 2017 as an annual campaign that brings government institutions, local bodies, organisations and citizens together around a shared responsibility for cleanliness. More than 18.06 crore citizens took part in its 2025 edition.

Option A, 2014, is the year the Swachh Bharat Mission itself began, when rural sanitation coverage stood at 39 percent; SHS came later. Option C, 2019, is the year rural India was declared Open Defecation Free. Option D, 2021, is not linked to the launch of the campaign in the release. Questions on sanitation often line up these years as options, so keep the sequence clear: SBM in 2014, SHS in 2017, rural India ODF in 2019. The 2026 edition of the campaign began on 17 September.

The correct answer is 5.69 lakh. According to the PIB backgrounder, India had attained 5.69 lakh ODF Plus villages as of 17 September 2026. An ODF Plus village sustains its Open Defecation Free status, manages solid and liquid waste and maintains visual cleanliness.

The other figures are close enough to confuse, and two of them come from the same release. Option A, 5.25 lakh, is the number of villages that have reached ODF Plus Model status, a subset of the total. Option B, 5.38 lakh, is the number of villages with solid waste management arrangements. Option D, 6.10 lakh, does not appear in the release. The release also gives 5.65 lakh villages with liquid waste management systems, so read such questions carefully and match each figure to what it measures.

The correct answer is Rising. The backgrounder explains that ODF Plus villages are classified into three progressive stages. Aspiring villages manage either solid or liquid waste. Rising villages manage both solid and liquid waste. Model villages manage both waste streams and, in addition, are visibly clean and display ODF Plus messaging.

Option A is wrong because an Aspiring village manages only one of the two kinds of waste. Option C is wrong because the question describes a village that has not reached the top stage, and Model is that top stage. Option D, Emerging, is not one of the three stages at all. The order to remember is Aspiring, then Rising, then Model. As of 17 September 2026, 5.25 lakh of India's 5.69 lakh ODF Plus villages had reached the Model stage.

The correct answer is Swachhata Mein Sahbhag; Swachh Bharat, Viksit Bharat. The PIB backgrounder of 20 September 2026 gives this as the theme of Swachhata Hi Seva 2026, which began on 17 September. The campaign places students and young people at the centre of lasting behaviour change.

Option D is the trap. 'Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath' is part of the same campaign, but it is the banner for the collective shramdaan that citizens will carry out on 1 October, not the campaign's theme. Options B and C are not given in the release as the 2026 theme, so they are wrong as well. Keep the campaign calendar straight: it began on 17 September, the shramdaan is on 1 October, and special Gram Sabhas are held in villages on 2 October.

The correct answer is about 170 acres. According to the Ministry of Communications, more than 90 acres in SADA and more than 70 acres in the IT Park, approximately 170 acres in all, have been identified for the proposed Telecom Manufacturing Zone. Investor interest is so strong that applications already exceed the land available, so additional land will be identified to expand the first phase.

Options A and B are the two parcels that make up the total, 70 acres in the IT Park and 90 acres in SADA, so each on its own is only part of the answer. Option D, 250 acres, is not mentioned in the release. As with the investment figure, this question tests whether you remember the total or only a piece of it, so learn the breakdown and the sum together.

The correct answer is ₹5,500 crore. The Ministry of Communications said the proposed TMZ will be established with an investment of approximately ₹5,500 crore, and that 24 companies have initiated the application process to set up units there.

Options A and B are the two parts of that total, which is why they are there to mislead. The investor roadshow in Delhi in August 2026 brought commitments of about ₹3,500 crore, with around 14,000 potential jobs, and the roadshow in Mumbai brought about ₹2,000 crore, with around 4,000 jobs. Together they make up the ₹5,500 crore figure. Option D, ₹6,500 crore, is not mentioned in the release. When a question gives several amounts from one story, check whether it asks for a part or for the total.

The correct answer is Gwalior. The Ministry of Communications said Asia's first Telecom Manufacturing Zone will be established in Gwalior, and Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inspected the identified site at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Counter Magnet City (SADA) on 20 September 2026. The zone is expected to attract about ₹5,500 crore of investment and to create more than 18,000 jobs.

Indore and Bhopal are also cities in Madhya Pradesh, which makes them tempting choices, but the release places the TMZ in Gwalior, so options A and D are wrong. Noida is not mentioned at all, so option C is wrong too. Remember the link with SADA: it was set up as a Counter Magnet City to develop Gwalior as a new industrial centre and a counter-magnet to Delhi, and the TMZ takes that plan forward.

The correct answer is Mission LiFE. In her address the President said India has done commendable work in fostering environmental awareness by engaging common citizens, especially the youth, and that the Government's Mission LiFE initiative has shown that meaningful strides towards ecological restoration can be made through public participation and community ownership.

Namami Gange, the Green India Mission and the Nagar Van Yojana are other environment-related programmes, but the President did not cite any of them in this address, so options B, C and D are wrong. Her other key points are worth noting alongside the answer: climate resilience through people-centric, community-based adaptation rooted in traditional knowledge, and sustainable afforestation that restores self-sustaining ecosystems rather than merely planting trees. Questions on speeches often ask which scheme a speaker cited, so link Mission LiFE to this address.

The correct answer is Justice Prakash Shrivastava. The release identifies him as the Chairperson of the NGT. In his valedictory address he said the two days of discussion had shown the need to move beyond identifying environmental problems to building laws, institutions and partnerships able to respond to them, and that climate action must be inclusive and equitable.

The other three all spoke at the same session but hold different offices. Justice B.V. Nagarathna is a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Tushar Mehta is the Solicitor General of India. Manohar Lal is the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Power, who released the souvenir Harit Nyayam. That rules out options B, C and D. When several dignitaries appear in one release, examiners often swap their designations, so match each name to its post.

The correct answer is 55 per cent. Speaking at the valedictory session of the National Green Tribunal's conference, Manohar Lal, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Power, said non-fossil sources account for nearly 55 per cent of India's installed generation capacity. He presented this as part of India's effort to balance rapid development with environmental sustainability.

Option B, 50 per cent, is the trap. That figure is the non-fossil capacity target, which the minister said India achieved five years ahead of schedule; it is not the current share. Options A and D, 40 and 65 per cent, are not mentioned in the release. Keep the two numbers distinct in your notes: the target was 50 per cent and was met early, while the present share is nearly 55 per cent.

The correct answer is Harit Nyayam. At the valedictory session in New Delhi on 20 September 2026, Union Minister Manohar Lal released the NGT's souvenir titled Harit Nyayam and presented its first copy to the President of India. The document chronicles the establishment, growth and achievements of the tribunal and reflects the ideas discussed at the two-day conference.

Prakriti Vandan, Harit Bharat and Paryavaran Nyay sound similar, and that is why they are here, but none of them is the title of this souvenir, so options B, C and D are wrong. Names of publications released at official events are a favourite one-liner, so remember who released it (Manohar Lal), who received the first copy (the President) and which body it belongs to (the National Green Tribunal).

The correct answer is Karnataka. Speaking at the Central Silk Board's 77th Foundation Day in Bengaluru, Shobha Karandlaje said Karnataka occupies the leading position in the country's total silk production. She added that the government is giving special attention to infrastructure and industrial growth to strengthen the sector further, and is encouraging silk of global export quality to cut reliance on imports.

Assam and West Bengal are not named in the release, so options B and C are wrong. Tamil Nadu is mentioned, but only as one of the states whose silk farmers and weavers attended the event, along with Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, not as the leading producer, so option D is also wrong. A question on the leading state is a common static-GK pairing with news on silk, so link Karnataka to it.

The correct answer is Central Silk Board. Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh and Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje inaugurated the 77th Foundation Day programme of the Central Silk Board, together with an exhibition of silk products and technologies, at the UAS-GKVK auditorium in Bengaluru on 20 September 2026. During the event the Board exchanged MoUs, gave appointment letters to 28 scientists and released its publications.

The Coir Board, the Tea Board and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission are other bodies connected with traditional industries and crops, but the release concerns none of them, so options A, C and D are wrong. When a foundation day is in the news, the questions usually ask for the body, the anniversary number and the city, so remember all three here: Central Silk Board, 77th, Bengaluru.