Skip to content
GK24

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

Q12201.Indian States & UTsMedium

The Santhal rebellion of 1855 and 1856 was led by which pair of brothers?

  1. A.Buddhu Bhagat and Jatra Oraon
  2. B.Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu
  3. C.Tilka Manjhi and Birsa Munda
  4. D.Jaipal Singh and Shibu Soren
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu

The Santhal Hul of 1855 and 1856 was raised in the Santhal Pargana region against revenue officials, moneylenders and the police, and was led by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu along with their brothers Chand and Bhairav; its suppression led the colonial government to create a separately administered Santhal Pargana.

Q12202.Indian States & UTsMedium

The rebellion led by Birsa Munda against colonial rule is known by which name?

  1. A.Ulgulan
  2. B.Hul
  3. C.Fituri
  4. D.Kol Uprising
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Ulgulan

The word means the great tumult, and it is the name given to the movement Birsa Munda led in the Chhotanagpur region in 1899 and 1900 against landlords, moneylenders, missionaries and the colonial administration, demanding the restoration of tribal land rights; Birsa died in Ranchi jail in June 1900, and…

Q12203.Indian States & UTsMedium

The highest point of Jharkhand, also an important Jain pilgrimage centre, is:

  1. A.Netarhat
  2. B.Parasnath Hill
  3. C.Dalma Hill
  4. D.Trikut Hill
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Parasnath Hill

Standing in the Giridih district on the Chhotanagpur plateau, Parasnath is the highest point in Jharkhand and is revered by Jains as Sammed Shikhar, the place where a number of their Tirthankaras are believed to have attained liberation, which makes it one of the most important Jain pilgrimage sites in…

Q12204.Indian States & UTsMedium

Which city is designated the sub-capital of Jharkhand?

  1. A.Jamshedpur
  2. B.Dhanbad
  3. C.Dumka
  4. D.Hazaribagh
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Dumka

Ranchi is the capital of Jharkhand and the seat of its High Court, while Dumka, the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana division in the east of the state, was named the sub-capital so that administration would not be concentrated entirely in one city.

Q12205.Indian States & UTsEasy

Jharkhand was carved out of which existing state?

  1. A.Odisha
  2. B.Bihar
  3. C.West Bengal
  4. D.Madhya Pradesh
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Bihar

The southern, largely tribal plateau districts of Bihar were separated to form Jharkhand under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, after a demand that had been pressed since the days of the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj and the Adivasi Mahasabha led by Jaipal Singh Munda.

Q12206.Indian States & UTsEasy

Jharkhand came into existence as a separate state on which date?

  1. A.1 November 2000
  2. B.9 November 2000
  3. C.15 November 2000
  4. D.2 October 2000
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 15 November 2000

Jharkhand was created on that day under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, becoming the twenty-eighth state of India, and the date was chosen because it is the birth anniversary of the tribal leader Birsa Munda, now observed nationally as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.

Q12207.Awards & HonoursMedium

The Press Council of India, which presents the National Awards for Excellence in Journalism, is a body of what kind?

  1. A.A private trust of newspaper owners
  2. B.A statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament
  3. C.A department of the Ministry of Home Affairs
  4. D.A constitutional body under Article 324
Show answer
Correct answer: B. A statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament

The Press Council of India first began working in 1966 and functions today under the Press Council Act, 1978; it is a self-regulatory watchdog whose chairman is chosen by a committee of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a member of the Council…

Q12208.Awards & HonoursMedium

The Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science is awarded by which organisation?

  1. A.World Health Organization
  2. B.UNESCO
  3. C.United Nations Environment Programme
  4. D.International Atomic Energy Agency
Show answer
Correct answer: B. UNESCO

The Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science was created in 1951 with a donation from Biju Patnaik, the founder of the Kalinga Foundation Trust of Odisha, and UNESCO awards it to writers, editors and broadcasters who explain science to ordinary readers; the first prize went to the French physicist…

Q12209.Awards & HonoursHard

The UNESCO press freedom prize awarded on 3 May is named after which journalist?

  1. A.Joseph Pulitzer
  2. B.Guillermo Cano Isaza
  3. C.Ramon Magsaysay
  4. D.Ramnath Goenka
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Guillermo Cano Isaza

UNESCO instituted the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 1997 in memory of the Colombian editor of El Espectador, who was murdered outside his office in 1986 for writing against drug cartels; the prize is presented each year on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May.

Q12210.Awards & HonoursEasy

World Press Freedom Day is observed every year on which date?

  1. A.3 May
  2. B.8 March
  3. C.16 November
  4. D.10 December
Show answer
Correct answer: A. 3 May

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day in 1993, acting on a recommendation of the UNESCO General Conference that followed the Windhoek Declaration of African journalists in 1991; UNESCO presents the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on this day.

Q12211.Awards & HonoursEasy

National Press Day in India is observed on which date?

  1. A.3 May
  2. B.16 November
  3. C.2 October
  4. D.21 June
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 16 November

National Press Day marks the day in 1966 on which the Press Council of India began its work as a moral watchdog of the press, and the Council itself organises the observance and presents its National Awards for Excellence in Journalism around it.

Q12214.Awards & HonoursHard

Who was the first person of Indian origin to win a Pulitzer Prize?

  1. A.Gobind Behari Lal
  2. B.Danish Siddiqui
  3. C.Jhumpa Lahiri
  4. D.Dar Yasin
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Gobind Behari Lal

A science correspondent who had gone from Punjab to the United States, Gobind Behari Lal shared the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting in 1937 for his coverage of a scientific meeting, and he is remembered as the first Indian-born winner of the prize.

Q12216.Awards & HonoursEasy

The Pulitzer Prize, awarded for journalism and letters, is administered by which university?

  1. A.Harvard University
  2. B.Yale University
  3. C.Columbia University
  4. D.Princeton University
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Columbia University

The Hungarian-born American publisher Joseph Pulitzer left money in his will to Columbia University in New York, which set up a school of journalism and the prizes that carry his name; the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in 1917 and are announced every year by the university on the recommendation…

Q12218.Awards & HonoursEasy

The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards are given by which media group?

  1. A.The Times Group
  2. B.The Indian Express Group
  3. C.The Hindu Group
  4. D.ABP Group
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Indian Express Group

The awards were instituted in 2006 in memory of Ramnath Goenka, the founder of the Indian Express newspapers, and are administered by the group through an independent jury that has usually been chaired by a former judge of the Supreme Court.

Q12220.Art & CultureMedium

The Pancha Rathas, monolithic shrines each carved from a single boulder, are located at which site?

  1. A.Badami
  2. B.Mamallapuram
  3. C.Aihole
  4. D.Pattadakal
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Mamallapuram

Also called Mahabalipuram, the site on the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu was developed by the Pallavas, and its five rathas, named after the Pandavas and Draupadi, are each cut from a single boulder in a different temple form, which makes them a stone catalogue of early southern architecture.

GK Questions for sub-exams