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.
Which one of the following Indian places receives minimum rainfall in a year?
Leh lies in the rain shadow of the Great Himalaya and gets only about 100 mm of precipitation a year, making it one of the driest places in India.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following founded the Bhil Seva Mandal in 1922 ?
A. V. Thakkar, known as Thakkar Bapa, founded the Bhil Seva Mandal in 1922 to work for the Bhil tribals of the Panchmahal district of Gujarat.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following limits the number of trophic levels in a food chain ?
Energy shrinks sharply at each step of a food chain, so after a few levels too little is left to support another level of consumers.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is not an example of an oxidation reaction ?
This is a double displacement (precipitation) reaction, in which no element gains oxygen or loses electrons. When the two solutions are mixed, the ions swap partners: BaCl2 + Na2SO4 → BaSO4 + 2NaCl.
Read the full explanation →The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has revised the base year index of Eight Core Industries having a combined weight of about 40.27 percent in the Index of Industrial Production. Which one of the following is not one of the Eight Core Industries ?
Rubber products are not among the Eight Core Industries tracked by the Index of Eight Core Industries.
Read the full explanation →A person burned a firecracker in front of a cliff and heard its echo 5 s after it burst. The distance of the cliff from the person, if the speed of the sound is 340 m/s, is close to
The sound travels to the cliff and back in 5 s, so it covers 340 × 5 = 1,700 m in all, and the cliff is half of that, 850 m away.
Read the full explanation →During white-washing of walls, slaked lime reacts slowly with carbon dioxide in air to form a thin layer of calcium carbonate on the walls. Which of the following reactions represents this correctly?
Slaked lime is calcium hydroxide applied as a watery solution, and it takes up carbon dioxide gas from the air to form solid calcium carbonate and water.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is true for James Webb Space Telescope launched in December 2021?
The telescope sits near the second Lagrange point (L2), about 1.5 million km from Earth, and goes round the Sun along with the Earth.
Read the full explanation →In which one among the following mediums would the speed of sound be maximum?
Dissolved salts make sea water less compressible, so sound travels faster in it, about 1,530 m/s at 25 °C, than in pure or drinking water.
Read the full explanation →Identify the type of climate on the basis of the following characteristics relating to it : I. Temperature is high throughout the year. II. Rainfall is variable with a short wet season and a longer dry season. III. Climate of Sudan and Paraguay is an example of this climate type. Select the answer using the code given below :
This is the savanna (Sudan type) climate: hot all year, with a short rainy summer and a long dry season.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements : 1. Erok Sim is a festival mainly celebrated by the Santhal community. 2. Sangken is a Buddhist festival celebrated in Arunachal Pradesh. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Erok Sim is a sowing festival of the Santhals, and Sangken is the Buddhist new-year water festival of Arunachal Pradesh.
Read the full explanation →In humans, which chamber of the heart receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs first?
The pulmonary veins bring oxygen-rich blood from the lungs straight into the left atrium. The human heart has four chambers and works as two pumps.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements is/are correct with respect to the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu? 1. The merger of the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu was given effect to by an Act of the Parliament of India 2. After the merger of the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, three seats have been allocated in the House of People 3. The jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay continues to extend to this Union Territory Select the answer using the code given below:
The merger was made by an Act of Parliament and the Bombay High Court still has jurisdiction, but the merged UT has two Lok Sabha seats, not three.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the largest source of electricity in India?
Coal-based thermal plants produce the largest share of India's electricity, roughly three-fourths of the power generated. A thermal power plant burns a fuel, mostly coal and to a smaller extent gas or lignite, to boil water into steam that turns a turbine.
Read the full explanation →AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The transmission of HIV infection generally occurs through
HIV spreads through body fluids such as blood, so a transfusion of infected blood passes the virus directly into the bloodstream.
Read the full explanation →Why is argon gas used along with tungsten wire in an electric bulb?
Argon is an inert gas, so it does not react with the white-hot tungsten filament and slows its evaporation, which makes the bulb last longer.
Read the full explanation →Reaction between which of the following two reactants will produce hydrogen gas?
Magnesium is above hydrogen in the reactivity series, so it displaces hydrogen from the acid: Mg + 2HCl → MgCl2 + H2.
Read the full explanation →The Limitation Law, which was passed by the British in 1859, addressed which one of the following issues?
The Limitation Law of 1859 was meant to stop debts from piling up over many years. In the Deccan, ryots borrowed from moneylenders (sahukars) and signed bonds.
Read the full explanation →The property of the sound waves that determines the pitch of the sound is its
Pitch is how high or low a sound seems to the ear, and it depends on the frequency of vibration: the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931 is correct ?
Under the pact, signed on 5 March 1931, Congress agreed to attend the next conference in London, and Gandhi went as its sole representative.
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