UPSC GK Questions 2026

The four thematic areas, each with its own hub, are quantum computing at the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru, quantum communication at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, quantum sensing and metrology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and quantum materials and devices at the Indian Institute of Technology…

Micius was launched in 2016 and was used to demonstrate quantum key distribution between a satellite and ground stations, and entanglement distribution over distances far greater than optical fibre allows, since fibre loses photons rapidly over long runs.

Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard proposed the protocol in that year, and the name BB84 combines their initials with the year.

The Union Cabinet approved this amount on 19 April 2023 for the period 2023-24 to 2030-31, that is an eight year span, and the Department of Science and Technology implements the mission within it.

The no cloning theorem forbids an exact copy of an unknown state, and any measurement changes the state, so an eavesdropper on the channel inevitably leaves statistical traces that the two legitimate parties detect when they compare a sample of their key.

Peter Shor published the algorithm in 1994, and it would let a sufficiently large quantum computer break the large number factorisation on which public key encryption such as the RSA system depends.

A classical bit must be either zero or one, but a qubit can occupy a combination of both states until it is measured, and this is what allows a register of n qubits to represent two raised to the power n states together.

The mission divides the field among four thematic hubs, and quantum computing was assigned to the Indian Institute of Science.

This is the headline target stated when the Cabinet approved the mission, and it is to be achieved on more than one hardware platform, including superconducting and photonic technology, rather than on a single design.

The Union Cabinet approved the mission on 19 April 2023 and placed its implementation with that department, which runs it through four thematic hubs at leading academic institutions.

Situated on the west bank of the Hooghly near Howrah, Belur Math is the headquarters of both the Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Math, and its main temple is built in a style that deliberately blends Hindu, Islamic and Christian architectural elements.

Grown on the slopes of the Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal, it was the first product in India to be registered under the geographical indications system, which protects a name that identifies goods as coming from a particular place and having qualities owing to that origin.

Santiniketan in Birbhum district grew around the school and later the university Visva Bharati that Tagore founded there, teaching in the open air and joining Indian and world traditions, and it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2023.

The battle was fought on 23 June 1757 at Palashi in the Nadia region, where Robert Clive defeated Siraj ud Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, largely through the defection of Mir Jafar, and the victory made the Company the real power in Bengal.

The Sundarbans, shared between India and Bangladesh, is the one place where tigers have adapted to a tidal mangrove habitat and are known to swim between islands.

The Ganga splits in West Bengal, with the main stream going into Bangladesh as the Padma and the Bhagirathi and Hooghly running south past Kolkata.

The collection of devotional poems, which Tagore himself rendered into English, won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first Indian and the first non European to receive the award.

The Corporation was created soon after independence to control the floods of the Damodar, a river so destructive that it was called the sorrow of Bengal, and it was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States, combining flood control, irrigation, power generation and navigation in one body.

It was established in 1862 under the Indian High Courts Act of 1861, a few days before the High Courts at Bombay and Madras, which makes it the oldest in the country; its jurisdiction also extends beyond the state to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

West Bengal is the only Indian state that touches three foreign countries: Nepal lies to its north west, Bhutan to its north and Bangladesh to its east along a long eastern frontier.