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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

Q11002.Indian EconomyMedium

The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) was set up by the Government of India jointly with

  1. A.NABARD
  2. B.the Reserve Bank of India
  3. C.the EXIM Bank
  4. D.SIDBI
Show answer
Correct answer: D. SIDBI

CGTMSE was established in 2000 by the Government of India together with SIDBI to guarantee loans given without collateral or third-party guarantee to micro and small enterprises, so that a lender's fear of security does not keep a small unit out of formal credit.

Q11003.Indian EconomyHard

The National Housing Bank was established in which year as the apex institution for housing finance?

  1. A.1982
  2. B.1985
  3. C.1988
  4. D.1991
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 1988

The National Housing Bank was established on 9 July 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987, with its head office in New Delhi, to refinance and regulate housing finance; it was set up as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank, whose shareholding was transferred to the Government…

Q11004.Indian EconomyMedium

Which institution supervises and inspects the regional rural banks and the cooperative banks on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India?

  1. A.SIDBI
  2. B.NABARD
  3. C.the Securities and Exchange Board of India
  4. D.the Indian Banks' Association
Show answer
Correct answer: B. NABARD

Besides refinancing them, NABARD carries out the inspection and supervision of the regional rural banks, the state cooperative banks and the district central cooperative banks on behalf of the Reserve Bank, and it also prepares the potential linked credit plans from which district credit plans are drawn.

Q11005.Indian EconomyHard

The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) is maintained with

  1. A.NABARD
  2. B.SIDBI
  3. C.the Ministry of Rural Development
  4. D.the National Housing Bank
Show answer
Correct answer: A. NABARD

The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund was created in 1995 to 1996 and is maintained with NABARD; it is funded by the amounts commercial banks fall short of in their priority sector lending targets, and NABARD lends from it to state governments for rural roads, bridges, irrigation works, warehouses and similar…

Q11006.Indian EconomyMedium

The Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) was set up as a subsidiary of

  1. A.NABARD
  2. B.the Reserve Bank of India
  3. C.SIDBI
  4. D.the State Bank of India
Show answer
Correct answer: C. SIDBI

MUDRA was created in 2015 as a subsidiary of SIDBI to refinance the small loans given by banks, microfinance institutions and non-banking finance companies under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, the loans being classified as Shishu up to fifty thousand rupees, Kishore from fifty thousand to five lakh and Tarun…

Q11007.Indian EconomyMedium

The Export-Import Bank of India began operations in which year?

  1. A.1957
  2. B.1982
  3. C.1990
  4. D.2006
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 1982

The EXIM Bank was established on 1 January 1982 under the Export-Import Bank of India Act, 1981, is wholly owned by the Government of India, has its head office in Mumbai, and finances and promotes India's foreign trade, including the lines of credit the government extends to other countries.

Q11010.Indian EconomyMedium

NABARD was set up on the recommendation of which committee?

  1. A.Narasimham Committee
  2. B.Sivaraman Committee (CRAFICARD)
  3. C.Nachiket Mor Committee
  4. D.Rangarajan Committee
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sivaraman Committee (CRAFICARD)

The Reserve Bank appointed the Committee to Review the Arrangements for Institutional Credit for Agriculture and Rural Development, known as CRAFICARD, in 1979 under the chairmanship of B. Sivaraman, and its recommendation led to the NABARD Act, 1981 and the creation of NABARD in 1982.

Q11011.Indian EconomyEasy

NABARD was established in which year?

  1. A.1975
  2. B.1979
  3. C.1982
  4. D.1990
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 1982

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development was set up on 12 July 1982 under the NABARD Act, 1981, as the apex institution for credit to agriculture and rural development, taking over the work of the Reserve Bank's Agricultural Credit Department and Rural Planning and Credit Cell and of…

Q11013.GeographyMedium

Which of the following is true of a temperate cyclone but not of a tropical cyclone?

  1. A.It forms along a front where two air masses of different temperature meet
  2. B.It has a calm central eye surrounded by a wall of cumulonimbus
  3. C.It weakens rapidly as soon as it crosses the coast
  4. D.It cannot form within five degrees of the equator
Show answer
Correct answer: A. It forms along a front where two air masses of different temperature meet

A temperate or extra-tropical cyclone is a frontal system: it forms between about thirty-five and sixty-five degrees latitude where a cold polar air mass meets a warm subtropical one, and the warm air is forced to rise along the front, giving slow and widespread rain over a large area.

Q11014.GeographyHard

According to the classification used by the India Meteorological Department, a storm is called a super cyclonic storm when the sustained wind speed is

  1. A.62 to 87 kilometres per hour
  2. B.88 to 117 kilometres per hour
  3. C.118 to 166 kilometres per hour
  4. D.222 kilometres per hour and above
Show answer
Correct answer: D. 222 kilometres per hour and above

The India Meteorological Department grades a system of the north Indian Ocean by its sustained wind speed, and the highest grade, the super cyclonic storm, begins at two hundred and twenty-two kilometres per hour.

Q11015.GeographyHard

Tropical cyclones do not form within about five degrees of the equator because

  1. A.the sea surface temperature there is too low
  2. B.there is not enough moisture in the air
  3. C.the Coriolis force is too weak to set the air spinning
  4. D.the air there is always descending
Show answer
Correct answer: C. the Coriolis force is too weak to set the air spinning

The Coriolis force, which arises from the rotation of the earth, is zero at the equator and very weak for a few degrees on either side, so converging air cannot be deflected into the spiral that makes a cyclone; the belt within about five degrees of the equator is therefore…

Q11016.GeographyMedium

The brief, heavy afternoon showers of the equatorial belt are an example of which type of rainfall?

  1. A.Convectional rainfall
  2. B.Orographic rainfall
  3. C.Frontal rainfall
  4. D.Cyclonic rainfall
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Convectional rainfall

In the equatorial belt the ground is strongly heated through the morning, the warm moist air rises in powerful convection currents, cools as it rises, condenses into towering cumulonimbus and falls as a short, very heavy shower in the afternoon, which is why it is nicknamed four o'clock rain.

Q11017.GeographyMedium

Which cloud is known for bringing thunder, lightning and hail, and is called the thunderstorm cloud?

  1. A.Cirrus
  2. B.Altostratus
  3. C.Stratus
  4. D.Cumulonimbus
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Cumulonimbus

The cumulonimbus is a cloud of great vertical extent that can rise from near the ground almost to the top of the troposphere, and the strong updraughts inside it produce thunder, lightning, heavy showers and hail; it is the cloud of the thunderstorm and the eye wall of a cyclone…

Q11018.GeographyMedium

Which of the following is expressed as a percentage?

  1. A.Absolute humidity
  2. B.Relative humidity
  3. C.Specific humidity
  4. D.Dew point
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Relative humidity

Relative humidity compares the water vapour actually present in the air with the maximum amount the air could hold at that temperature, so it is a ratio and is stated as a percentage; air at a hundred per cent relative humidity is saturated.

GK Questions for sub-exams