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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

Q10042.Indian PolityEasy

The power of the President of India to promulgate ordinances is contained in which Article of the Constitution?

  1. A.Article 72
  2. B.Article 111
  3. C.Article 123
  4. D.Article 213
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 123

It empowers the President to promulgate an ordinance when Parliament, or either House of it, is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which make immediate action necessary; such an ordinance has the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament.

Q10043.Indian HistoryEasy

The Third Battle of Panipat, fought in 1761, was between which two powers?

  1. A.The Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali
  2. B.Babar and Ibrahim Lodi
  3. C.Akbar and Hemu
  4. D.The Marathas and the East India Company
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali

On 14 January 1761 the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau, in which the young Vishwasrao was also killed, and the defeat ended the Maratha bid to succeed the Mughals as the paramount power of northern India.

Q10044.Indian HistoryHard

Which Nawab of Bengal shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger?

  1. A.Alivardi Khan
  2. B.Siraj-ud-Daulah
  3. C.Mir Jafar
  4. D.Mir Qasim
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Mir Qasim

Installed by the Company in place of Mir Jafar, Mir Qasim moved his capital from Murshidabad to Munger in Bihar precisely to put distance between himself and the Company's establishment at Calcutta, raised a new army and abolished the inland duties that the Company's servants were evading; the quarrel that…

Q10046.Indian HistoryAsked in: Delhi · 2 Dec 2020, Shift 2Medium

The Anglo-Mysore War ended with which of the following battles?

  1. A.Battle of Vandiwash
  2. B.Battle of Seringapatam
  3. C.Battle of Porto Novo
  4. D.Battle of Polilur
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Battle of Seringapatam

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War closed with the storming of Seringapatam, Tipu Sultan's capital, in which he was killed on 4 May 1799; Mysore then passed to a restored Wodeyar ruler under a subsidiary alliance.

Q10047.Indian HistoryAsked in: SSC GD Constable · 26 Nov 2021, Shift 3Medium

Who among the following is credited with being the 'Pioneer of Rocket Technology' in India?

  1. A.Lord Cornwallis
  2. B.Babar
  3. C.Akbar II
  4. D.Tipu Sultan
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Tipu Sultan

Mysore under Haidar Ali and then Tipu Sultan built iron-cased war rockets and organised regular rocket units, using them against the English in the Anglo-Mysore wars; specimens taken at Seringapatam were studied in England and shaped the rockets developed there.

Q10048.Indian HistoryAsked in: SSC GD Constable · 12 Feb 2019, Shift 1Medium

Who among the following was inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution?

  1. A.Tipu Sultan
  2. B.Aurobindo Ghosh
  3. C.Annie Besant
  4. D.Badruddin Tyabji
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Tipu Sultan

Tipu openly identified with the French Revolution: he planted a Tree of Liberty at Seringapatam, allowed a Jacobin club to be formed there, let himself be addressed as a citizen and sought a French alliance against the English.

Q10049.Indian HistoryMedium

Who set up the system of dual government in Bengal, and who abolished it?

  1. A.Set up by Warren Hastings, abolished by Lord Cornwallis
  2. B.Set up by Robert Clive, abolished by Warren Hastings
  3. C.Set up by Lord Wellesley, abolished by Lord Hastings
  4. D.Set up by Mir Jafar, abolished by Robert Clive
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Set up by Robert Clive, abolished by Warren Hastings

Clive arranged after 1765 that the Company should hold the Diwani, the right to collect revenue, while the Nawab kept the Nizamat, the duty of administration and justice without the money to perform it; the result was a government in which nobody was answerable, and the famine of 1770 followed.

Q10050.Indian HistoryMedium

Under the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765, what did the East India Company obtain?

  1. A.The Diwani, or revenue collection rights, of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa
  2. B.The right to appoint the Mughal wazir at Delhi
  3. C.The whole of the Carnatic region
  4. D.The port of Bombay and the island of Salsette
Show answer
Correct answer: A. The Diwani, or revenue collection rights, of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa

After Buxar the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the Company the Diwani of these provinces, which gave it a legal title to their revenues and turned a trading body into a territorial power.

Q10051.Indian HistoryAsked in: SSC CPO · 9 Nov 2022, Shift 1Medium

The Battle of Buxar was fought between the forces under the command of the British East India Company led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of ______.

  1. A.Mir Jafar, Siraj-ud-Daulah and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II
  2. B.Mir Qasim, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh
  3. C.Mir Jafar, Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II and Shuja-ud-Daulah
  4. D.Siraj-ud-Daulah, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Mir Qasim, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh

At Buxar on 22 October 1764 Hector Munro defeated this alliance of the deposed Nawab of Bengal, the reigning Mughal emperor and the Nawab of Awadh, and the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765 followed.

Q10054.Indian HistoryAsked in: SSC GD Constable · 17 Nov 2021, Shift 2Medium

Who among the following laid the foundation of independent Awadh dynasty?

  1. A.Chin Qilich Khan
  2. B.Marthanda Varma
  3. C.Saadat Khan
  4. D.Haider Ali
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Saadat Khan

Saadat Khan, who held the title Burhan-ul-Mulk, was appointed governor of Awadh in 1722 and converted the governorship into a hereditary principality, keeping the outward forms of allegiance to the Mughal emperor while ruling independently.

Q10055.Indian EconomyHard

Which of the following is the oldest preferential trading arrangement to which India is a party?

  1. A.Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, earlier the Bangkok Agreement
  2. B.South Asian Free Trade Area
  3. C.India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement
  4. D.India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, earlier the Bangkok Agreement

Concluded in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, it was renamed the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement in 2005 and its members are India, Bangladesh, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Laos and Mongolia.

Q10057.Indian EconomyHard

The main purpose of rules of origin in a free trade agreement is to

  1. A.fix a common external tariff for all members
  2. B.ensure that concessions go only to goods genuinely produced in a partner country
  3. C.decide the currency in which trade will be settled
  4. D.set a ceiling on the value of services traded
Show answer
Correct answer: B. ensure that concessions go only to goods genuinely produced in a partner country

Rules of origin test whether a product really originates with the partner, usually by requiring a change in its tariff classification there together with a minimum share of value added in that country.

Q10058.Indian EconomyHard

Under the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, the EFTA states have committed to raise foreign direct investment in India by how much, and over what period?

  1. A.50 billion US dollars over 10 years
  2. B.100 billion US dollars over 15 years
  3. C.100 billion US dollars over 25 years
  4. D.200 billion US dollars over 20 years
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 100 billion US dollars over 15 years

Article 7.1 of TEPA commits the EFTA states to increase foreign direct investment in India by 50 billion US dollars in the first ten years and a further 50 billion in the following five years, a total of 100 billion over fifteen years, with the stated aim of generating one…

GK Questions for sub-exams