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UPSC GK Questions 2026

Static general knowledge is the larger part of every UPSC general studies paper. The notices name the same areas again and again: the history of India and the national movement, Indian and world geography, polity and the Constitution, the economy and social development, and general science with environment and ecology. The balance shifts from exam to exam. NDA puts about half of its General Knowledge part on Physics, Chemistry and General Science. CSE favours polity, modern history, environment and the economy. CAPF adds security and human rights, and CDS spreads its questions across polity, history, geography, the economy and school science.

GK24's GK notes are written topic by topic in English and Hindi, as short, fact-first chapters that are easy to revise. They cover Indian Polity, Indian History, Geography, Indian Economy, General Science, Environment and Ecology, Art and Culture, Computer, and the fact lists of awards, sports, books and days. A new chapter is added in each subject as the series grows. Each note carries practice questions, and those that have appeared in an exam say which exam and year. Start with Polity and modern history, then Geography, the Economy and Science. Read a note, take its topic quiz, and come back to it in your monthly revision.

UPSC GK Questions with Answers

Q7663.Indian EconomyEasy

Which was the first cooperative law enacted in India?

  1. A.The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904
  2. B.The Cooperative Societies Act, 1912
  3. C.The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984
  4. D.The Banking Regulation Act, 1949
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904

It was the first law on the subject and gave village credit societies a legal form, following the recommendation of the Famine Commission and the study of European land banks by Frederick Nicholson, with the German Raiffeisen societies as the model.

Q7664.GeographyMedium

The Saffir-Simpson scale is used to classify

  1. A.earthquakes by the energy released
  2. B.hurricanes by their wind speed
  3. C.tornadoes by the damage caused
  4. D.droughts by the rainfall deficiency
Show answer
Correct answer: B. hurricanes by their wind speed

The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale puts a storm of the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific in one of five categories by its sustained wind, from Category 1, which begins at about 119 km/h, to Category 5 at 252 km/h and above, and a storm of Category 3 or higher is…

Q7666.GeographyEasy

Which statement about the eye of a tropical cyclone is correct?

  1. A.It has the highest wind speed in the storm
  2. B.It is a calm core of descending air with the lowest pressure
  3. C.It is the band of heaviest rainfall
  4. D.It is found only in temperate cyclones
Show answer
Correct answer: B. It is a calm core of descending air with the lowest pressure

The eye is ten to fifty kilometres across, the air inside it sinks rather than rises, the wind is light and the sky can even be clear, while the atmospheric pressure there is the lowest in the whole system.

Q7667.GeographyMedium

In the Southern Hemisphere, the winds of a cyclone blow

  1. A.clockwise and inwards
  2. B.anticlockwise and inwards
  3. C.clockwise and outwards
  4. D.anticlockwise and outwards
Show answer
Correct answer: A. clockwise and inwards

A cyclone is a low pressure system, so air flows inwards towards the centre, and the Coriolis force deflects moving air to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, which turns that inflow into a clockwise spiral.

Q7670.GeographyMedium

Which body names the tropical cyclones of the north Indian Ocean?

  1. A.The Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre, New Delhi
  2. B.The National Disaster Management Authority
  3. C.The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
  4. D.The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre, New Delhi

The names themselves are contributed by the thirteen member countries of the panel, but the centre at New Delhi, which the India Meteorological Department runs, takes the next name from the list, announces it when a deep depression strengthens into a cyclonic storm, and issues advisories to all the member…

Q7673.GeographyEasy

What is the minimum sea surface temperature generally required for a tropical cyclone to form?

  1. A.About 16.5 degrees Celsius
  2. B.About 20 degrees Celsius
  3. C.About 26.5 degrees Celsius
  4. D.About 36.5 degrees Celsius
Show answer
Correct answer: C. About 26.5 degrees Celsius

A tropical cyclone runs on the latent heat released when water vapour condenses, so it needs a sea whose surface is at about 26.5 degrees Celsius or warmer, with that warm water reaching down about fifty metres, so that the churning of the sea does not cool the surface.

Q7675.General ScienceHard

Which of the following pairs are the primary lymphoid organs of the human body?

  1. A.Spleen and lymph nodes
  2. B.Tonsils and appendix
  3. C.Bone marrow and thymus
  4. D.Liver and pancreas
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Bone marrow and thymus

These are the organs in which lymphocytes are produced and in which they mature into cells able to tell self from non-self; the B cells complete this training in the bone marrow and the T cells in the thymus, a gland behind the breastbone that shrinks with age.

Q7676.General ScienceHard

Which of the following is a live attenuated vaccine?

  1. A.Tetanus toxoid
  2. B.Oral polio vaccine
  3. C.Rabies vaccine
  4. D.Hepatitis B vaccine
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Oral polio vaccine

The correct answer is B, the oral polio vaccine, which contains live poliovirus weakened so that it can multiply in the gut and raise immunity without causing the disease; it is the vaccine given as two drops in the pulse polio rounds.

Q7677.General ScienceMedium

The immunity a newborn gets from its mother's milk is an example of

  1. A.active natural immunity
  2. B.passive natural immunity
  3. C.active artificial immunity
  4. D.innate immunity
Show answer
Correct answer: B. passive natural immunity

The antibodies, mainly of the IgA class, come ready-made in the first milk, the colostrum, and the child's own immune system does no work, which is why the protection begins at once and lasts only a few months; antibodies of the IgG class reach the foetus through the placenta in…

Q7678.General ScienceMedium

Antibodies in the human body are produced by

  1. A.red blood cells
  2. B.platelets
  3. C.B lymphocytes
  4. D.neutrophils
Show answer
Correct answer: C. B lymphocytes

On meeting an antigen a B lymphocyte multiplies and turns into a plasma cell, which pours out antibodies, that is immunoglobulins, into the blood; this arm of the defence is called humoral immunity, while T lymphocytes kill infected cells and regulate the response in cell-mediated immunity.

Q7679.General ScienceEasy

The BCG vaccine gives protection against

  1. A.tuberculosis
  2. B.tetanus
  3. C.typhoid
  4. D.measles
Show answer
Correct answer: A. tuberculosis

BCG stands for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, a live but weakened strain of the bovine tuberculosis bacterium, and in India it is given soon after birth under the Universal Immunisation Programme, mainly to prevent the severe forms of childhood tuberculosis.

GK Questions for sub-exams