UPSC GK Questions 2026

The Eleventh Schedule was added by the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 and lists twenty-nine subjects, from agriculture and minor irrigation to poverty alleviation and public distribution, which a State legislature may devolve on the panchayats under Article 243G. The Schedule itself does not transfer power; it only marks the…

The 74th Amendment Act of 1992 created Part IXA for urban local bodies, of which the municipal corporation is the largest form under Article 243Q. It also made regular elections compulsory by fixing a five-year term under Article 243U and by placing the conduct of municipal elections with the State…

Part IXA of the Constitution, inserted by the 74th Amendment Act of 1992, is titled The Municipalities and covers every kind of urban local body.

The East India Company set up the first municipal corporation in India at Madras in 1688, with a mayor and aldermen, mainly to raise local taxes for the maintenance of the town.

The three tiers created by Article 243B are the village level, the intermediate level and the district level, known in most States as the Gram Panchayat, the Panchayat Samiti and the Zila Parishad.

Both were passed in 1992 and together they gave constitutional status to local government.

Signed in 1765 after the Battle of Buxar, it was concluded by Robert Clive with the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II and with Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh.

Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control, sent the Despatch in 1854 while Dalhousie was Governor-General.

The Charter Act of 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India with authority over the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, took away their power to make laws, and added a law member to the Council, a post first held by Lord Macaulay.

The Government of India Act of 1858 ended the rule of the East India Company and transferred power to the British Crown, so the Governor-General was additionally styled Viceroy, the personal representative of the Crown.

The first passenger railway line in India, about thirty-four kilometres long, was opened on 16 April 1853 during the term of Lord Dalhousie, who had set out the plan for an Indian railway network in his Railway Minute of 1853.

Regulation XVII of 4 December 1829 declared sati illegal in the Bengal Presidency and punishable by the criminal courts, and it was extended to Madras and Bombay in 1830.

Awadh was annexed by Lord Dalhousie in 1856, but the ground given was alleged misgovernment by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, not the absence of a natural heir.

He signed the Subsidiary Alliance in 1798, the first year of Wellesley's term, agreeing to disband his French-trained troops and to maintain a British force at his own expense.

The Permanent Settlement, also called the Zamindari system, was introduced in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1793. It recognised the zamindars as owners of the land and fixed their revenue demand for all time, so that the state gained a certain income but lost any share in rising production.

The Regulating Act of 1773 changed the designation of the Governor of Bengal to Governor-General of Bengal and gave him a Council of four members, and Warren Hastings, who was already Governor, became the first to hold the new title.

The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 in present-day Bihar, where the Company's army under Hector Munro defeated the combined forces of Mir Qasim of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II.

The Treaty of Salbai ended the First Anglo-Maratha War, fought during the term of Warren Hastings. By its terms Salsette remained with the Company, Raghunathrao's claim to the Peshwaship was dropped and Madhavrao II was recognised as Peshwa.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development was set up on 12 July 1982 on the recommendation of the Shivaraman Committee, taking over the refinancing functions earlier performed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation.

The Agriculture Census groups operational holdings by size into marginal below one hectare, small from one to two hectares, semi-medium from two to four, medium from four to ten and large above ten hectares.