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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

Q8701.Indian EconomyHard

Article 43A of the Constitution, which directs the state to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, was added by which amendment?

  1. A.The 24th Amendment, 1971
  2. B.The 42nd Amendment, 1976
  3. C.The 44th Amendment, 1978
  4. D.The 86th Amendment, 2002
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The 42nd Amendment, 1976

It inserted several Directive Principles, among them Article 43A on the participation of workers in the management of industrial undertakings, Article 39A on equal justice and free legal aid, and Article 48A on the protection of the environment.

Q8702.Indian EconomyHard

Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the employer's contribution to the Worker Re-skilling Fund for a retrenched worker is

  1. A.Fifteen days' wages last drawn by the worker
  2. B.One month's wages last drawn by the worker
  3. C.Three months' wages last drawn by the worker
  4. D.A flat sum fixed by the Central Government every year
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Fifteen days' wages last drawn by the worker

The code sets up a Worker Re-skilling Fund to which the employer contributes fifteen days' wages for every retrenched worker, and the amount is to be credited to that worker's account within forty-five days of retrenchment so that it can be used while finding new work.

Q8703.Indian EconomyMedium

How many days' notice must be given before a strike or lock-out under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020?

  1. A.Seven days
  2. B.Fourteen days
  3. C.Thirty days
  4. D.Sixty days
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Fourteen days

The code extends to all industrial establishments the requirement, earlier limited to public utility services, that no person shall go on strike and no employer declare a lock-out without fourteen days' notice, and the strike must begin within sixty days of that notice.

Q8704.Indian EconomyHard

Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, an establishment is a factory if it employs at least

  1. A.Ten workers with power and twenty without power
  2. B.Twenty workers with power and forty without power
  3. C.Thirty workers with power and sixty without power
  4. D.Fifty workers, whether or not power is used
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Twenty workers with power and forty without power

The code doubles the thresholds of the Factories Act, 1948, the argument being that small units were burdened with compliance meant for larger ones, while the criticism is that many workers now fall outside the factory provisions.

Q8705.Indian EconomyEasy

Maternity benefit under the Code on Social Security, 2020 is available for a period of

  1. A.Twelve weeks
  2. B.Sixteen weeks
  3. C.Twenty-six weeks
  4. D.Fifty-two weeks
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Twenty-six weeks

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 originally provided twelve weeks; the amendment of 2017 raised it to twenty-six weeks for the first two children, and the Code on Social Security carries that provision forward along with a creche facility in larger establishments.

Q8706.Indian EconomyEasy

In the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, labour, trade unions and social security fall in which list?

  1. A.Union List
  2. B.State List
  3. C.Concurrent List
  4. D.Residuary powers of Parliament
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Concurrent List

Entry 22 covers trade unions and industrial and labour disputes, Entry 23 social security and social insurance including employment and unemployment, and Entry 24 the welfare of labour including conditions of work and provident funds, so both Parliament and the state legislatures can legislate, and each state notifies its own…

Q8707.Indian EconomyMedium

Under the Code on Wages, 2019, the floor wage is fixed by

  1. A.Each State Government for its own territory
  2. B.The Central Government
  3. C.The Reserve Bank of India
  4. D.The Fifteenth Finance Commission
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Central Government

It fixes a floor wage after taking into account the minimum living standards of a worker, and may set different floor wages for different geographical areas; no state may then fix a minimum wage below that floor.

Q8708.Indian EconomyEasy

A gig worker, a platform worker and an aggregator have been defined in central law for the first time by which code?

  1. A.The Code on Social Security, 2020
  2. B.The Code on Wages, 2019
  3. C.The Industrial Relations Code, 2020
  4. D.The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The Code on Social Security, 2020

It defines a gig worker as one who works outside a traditional employer-employee relationship, a platform worker as one who gets work through an online platform, and an aggregator as the digital intermediary that connects buyer and seller, and it provides a social security fund for such workers.

Q8709.Indian EconomyMedium

Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, an employer must take the prior permission of the appropriate government for lay-off, retrenchment or closure if the establishment employs at least

  1. A.Fifty workers
  2. B.One hundred workers
  3. C.Two hundred workers
  4. D.Three hundred workers
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Three hundred workers

The code raises the threshold from the earlier figure and also makes three hundred the point at which certified standing orders become compulsory, so one number serves two provisions.

Q8710.Indian EconomyMedium

The Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 have been subsumed into which code?

  1. A.The Code on Wages, 2019
  2. B.The Industrial Relations Code, 2020
  3. C.The Code on Social Security, 2020
  4. D.The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020

These three Acts dealt with the registration of unions, the conditions of service to be published as standing orders, and the machinery for disputes, lay-off, retrenchment and closure, and all three subjects are now in one code.

Q8713.GeographyMedium

Cadastral maps are prepared mainly for which purpose?

  1. A.Recording the boundaries and ownership of land holdings
  2. B.Showing the distribution of rainfall in a country
  3. C.Showing air routes between continents
  4. D.Showing the relief of a mountain range on a small scale
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Recording the boundaries and ownership of land holdings

A cadastral map is a very large-scale map of a village or a town drawn to register plots, fields, their boundaries and their owners, and it is the basis of land revenue records and of the registration of property.

Q8716.GeographyMedium

A geostationary satellite is placed at an approximate height of

  1. A.900 km above the earth
  2. B.10,000 km above the earth
  3. C.36,000 km above the equator
  4. D.1,00,000 km above the equator
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 36,000 km above the equator

At that height a satellite's orbital period equals the period of the earth's rotation, so it stays above the same point on the equator and appears fixed in the sky, which is what communication and weather satellites need.

Q8717.GeographyMedium

Which of the following is an example of an active remote sensing sensor?

  1. A.An ordinary aerial camera
  2. B.A multispectral scanner recording reflected sunlight
  3. C.RADAR
  4. D.A thermal sensor recording the earth's emission
Show answer
Correct answer: C. RADAR

An active sensor generates its own energy, sends it to the target and measures what returns; RADAR does this with microwaves and LiDAR with a laser pulse, which is why such sensors can image at night and, in the case of microwaves, through cloud, haze and smoke.

GK Questions for sub-exams