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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

Q11241.Indian PolityHard

A member of the Union Public Service Commission can be removed by the President only after an inquiry held by the Supreme Court. This procedure is laid down in which article?

  1. A.Article 315
  2. B.Article 316
  3. C.Article 317
  4. D.Article 320
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 317

It provides that the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission shall be removed from office by order of the President on the ground of misbehaviour only after the Supreme Court, on a reference made by the President, has held an inquiry and reported that the member…

Q11243.Indian PolityMedium

Which statement about NITI Aayog is correct?

  1. A.It is a constitutional body created by Article 282
  2. B.It is a statutory body created by an Act of Parliament in 2015
  3. C.It was created by a resolution of the Union Cabinet in January 2015
  4. D.It was created by a joint resolution of both Houses of Parliament in 2014
Show answer
Correct answer: C. It was created by a resolution of the Union Cabinet in January 2015

NITI Aayog, the National Institution for Transforming India, was created by a resolution of the Union Cabinet dated 1 January 2015, and it therefore has neither constitutional nor statutory standing.

Q11244.Indian PolityHard

The Central Vigilance Commission was given statutory status by which Act?

  1. A.Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
  2. B.Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946
  3. C.Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003
  4. D.Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003

The Commission was first set up in 1964 by a resolution of the Government of India on the recommendation of the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption, and for nearly four decades it worked as an executive body.

Q11245.Indian PolityMedium

The Goods and Services Tax Council is a constitutional body established under which article?

  1. A.Article 263
  2. B.Article 279A
  3. C.Article 280
  4. D.Article 282
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Article 279A

The article was inserted by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, the amendment that introduced the goods and services tax, and it requires the President to constitute a Council of the Union Finance Minister, the Union Minister of State in charge of revenue or finance, and the Minister in charge…

Q11246.Indian PolityMedium

Article 338A of the Constitution, which provides for the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, was inserted by which amendment?

  1. A.73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
  2. B.86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002
  3. C.89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003
  4. D.102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003

Until that amendment a single National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes worked under Article 338.

Q11247.Indian PolityMedium

Which of the following is not a constitutional body?

  1. A.Finance Commission
  2. B.National Human Rights Commission
  3. C.Comptroller and Auditor General of India
  4. D.National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
Show answer
Correct answer: B. National Human Rights Commission

It is a statutory body created by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and no article of the Constitution mentions it, so Parliament could alter or repeal its parent Act by an ordinary majority.

Q11248.Indian PolityEasy

Under which article of the Constitution is the Election Commission of India established?

  1. A.Article 280
  2. B.Article 315
  3. C.Article 324
  4. D.Article 338
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 324

Article 324 vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and of the conduct of all elections to Parliament, to the legislature of every State, and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.

Q11249.Indian HistoryAsked in: Haryana · 17 Nov 2018, Shift 1Hard

During the suzerainty of the British crown, Princely States covered what portion of the land area of the British Indian empire?

  1. A.One-third
  2. B.One-fourth
  3. C.One-tenth
  4. D.None of the above
Show answer
Correct answer: D. None of the above

The princely states were not a small fringe of the map. Standard accounts place their share at roughly two-fifths of the land area of the subcontinent, and some put it close to a half, with around a quarter of the population; about 565 states of every size, from Hyderabad and…

Q11251.Indian HistoryHard

Under the Constitution as it came into force in 1950, the former princely states that survived as separate units were classed as which category, headed by a Rajpramukh?

  1. A.Part A states
  2. B.Part B states
  3. C.Part C states
  4. D.Part D territories
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Part B states

These were the former princely units and unions of states, among them Hyderabad, Mysore, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Madhya Bharat, Travancore-Cochin, PEPSU and Jammu and Kashmir, and each was headed by a Rajpramukh rather than by a Governor.

Q11252.Indian HistoryHard

PEPSU, one of the unions of states formed out of princely territory, stood for which of the following?

  1. A.Punjab and East Provinces States Union
  2. B.Patiala and East Punjab States Union
  3. C.Princely Eastern Punjab States Union
  4. D.Patiala and Eastern Provinces States Union
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Patiala and East Punjab States Union

It was formed in 1948 by grouping Patiala with Kapurthala, Jind, Nabha, Faridkot, Malerkotla, Nalagarh and Kalsia, with the Maharaja of Patiala as Rajpramukh, and it became a Part B state under the Constitution of 1950.

Q11253.Indian HistoryMedium

Junagadh finally joined the Indian Union after which event?

  1. A.A plebiscite held in February 1948
  2. B.A police action in September 1948
  3. C.An award of the Boundary Commission
  4. D.A referendum held in 1956
Show answer
Correct answer: A. A plebiscite held in February 1948

The Nawab of Junagadh, Mahabat Khan III, announced accession to Pakistan in September 1947 although his small state in Kathiawar was surrounded by Indian territory and had a largely Hindu population.

Q11254.Indian HistoryMedium

What did the Indian Independence Act, 1947 do with the paramountcy that the British Crown exercised over the princely states?

  1. A.Transferred it to the Government of India
  2. B.Divided it between India and Pakistan
  3. C.Allowed it to lapse from 15 August 1947
  4. D.Continued it for a further ten years
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Allowed it to lapse from 15 August 1947

The Act let paramountcy lapse with effect from 15 August 1947, so in strict law every princely state became free either to accede to India, to accede to Pakistan, or to attempt to remain outside both.

Q11255.Indian HistoryEasy

Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession for Jammu and Kashmir on which date?

  1. A.15 August 1947
  2. B.26 October 1947
  3. C.26 January 1948
  4. D.17 September 1948
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 26 October 1947

The Maharaja had hoped to stay out of both dominions and had signed a standstill arrangement, but when tribal raiders supported from across the border entered the valley and advanced towards Srinagar in late October 1947 he asked India for military help.

Q11257.Indian HistoryMedium

Who was the Secretary of the States Department who worked with Sardar Patel on the integration of the princely states?

  1. A.H. M. Patel
  2. B.V. P. Menon
  3. C.K. M. Munshi
  4. D.B. N. Rau
Show answer
Correct answer: B. V. P. Menon

As Secretary of the States Department he drafted the Instrument of Accession and the Standstill Agreement, travelled from court to court to collect signatures, and wrote the standard first-hand account of the episode, The Story of the Integration of the Indian States.

Q11258.Indian HistoryMedium

Under the Instrument of Accession, a princely state transferred which three subjects to the Government of India?

  1. A.Defence, external affairs and communications
  2. B.Defence, taxation and police
  3. C.Currency, customs and railways
  4. D.Education, health and local government
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Defence, external affairs and communications

The Instrument of Accession was kept deliberately narrow so that a ruler could sign it without feeling that he had surrendered his state, and all other powers stayed with him for the time being.

Q11260.Indian EconomyEasy

Amartya Sen, whose work shaped the idea of human development, is associated with which approach, and in which year did he receive the Nobel Prize in Economics?

  1. A.Capability approach, 1998
  2. B.Basic needs approach, 1993
  3. C.Capability approach, 2004
  4. D.Welfare approach, 1998
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Capability approach, 1998

Sen argued that development should be judged by what people are actually able to be and to do, their capabilities, rather than by the goods they own or the income they earn, and this is the reasoning behind the HDI's choice of health, education and a decent standard of living.

GK Questions for sub-exams