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.
Which of the following Union Territories is given partial statehood in India?
Puducherry is a Union Territory with a legislature of its own, which is why it is said to have partial statehood.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following is best known for his plays 'Yayati' and 'Tughlaq'?
Girish Karnad wrote Yayati in 1961, his first play, which takes from the Mahabharata the story of the old king who asks his son to trade youth with him, and Tughlaq in 1964, on the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
Read the full explanation →The Ryotwari System was introduced by:
The Ryotwari settlement was worked out by Thomas Munro, along with Captain Alexander Read, and introduced from 1820 in the Madras Presidency, where Munro was then Governor.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is a subject of the state list?
The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution divides subjects into three lists, and public order and police are the first two entries of the State List, so each state makes its own laws on them and runs its own force.
Read the full explanation →What is NOT one of the main duties of the Election Commission of India?
Article 324 places the superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament, to the State Legislatures and to the offices of President and Vice-President in the hands of the Election Commission of India.
Read the full explanation →The slogan "Workers of the world unite" was associated to:
The call ‘Workers of the world, unite!’ closes the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, and it became the rallying cry of the socialist movement that carried the Bolsheviks to power in Russia in 1917.
Read the full explanation →The Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, used for testing Indian missiles, is located in which state?
The Integrated Test Range of the DRDO lies at Chandipur on the Balasore coast of Odisha, and its launch complex on Dr Abdul Kalam Island, earlier called Wheeler Island, off the same coast is used for longer range tests.
Read the full explanation →Who commissioned India's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in Kochi in September 2022?
The Prime Minister commissioned INS Vikrant at Kochi on 2 September 2022; built by Cochin Shipyard, it is the first aircraft carrier designed and built in India and it carries the name of the older Vikrant that served in the 1971 war.
Read the full explanation →Which is the highest gallantry award of India for bravery shown in peacetime?
India keeps two ladders of gallantry awards. Away from the battlefield the order is Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra, so Ashoka Chakra stands highest in peacetime.
Read the full explanation →Nag, developed by the DRDO, is which kind of missile?
Nag is a third generation fire and forget anti tank missile of the IGMDP, and its helicopter launched version is called Helina.
Read the full explanation →The name of the BrahMos missile is formed from the names of which two rivers?
BrahMos is built by a joint venture of India and Russia, and its name joins the Brahmaputra of India with the Moskva of Russia; it is a supersonic cruise missile that flies at nearly three times the speed of sound and can be launched from land, ships, submarines and aircraft.
Read the full explanation →The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme of India was led by which scientist?
The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was approved in 1983 and run under his leadership at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, which is why he is called the Missile Man of India; it produced Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag.
Read the full explanation →The National Defence Academy, where cadets of all three services train together, is located at:
The National Defence Academy is the only academy in which cadets of the Army, Navy and Air Force undergo joint training before moving to their own service academies for pre commission training.
Read the full explanation →Indian Navy Day is celebrated on 4 December in memory of which operation?
On the night of 4 December 1971 Indian missile boats attacked Karachi harbour in Operation Trident, sinking Pakistani vessels without loss, and the Navy marks the date as Navy Day.
Read the full explanation →Army Day in India is observed on 15 January to mark which event?
On 15 January 1949 General K. M. Cariappa took charge as the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army, replacing the last British holder of the post, and the day has been observed as Army Day ever since.
Read the full explanation →Who is the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces?
Article 53 of the Constitution vests the supreme command of the defence forces of the Union in the President, and the exercise of that command is regulated by law; commissions to officers are granted in the President's name.
Read the full explanation →The Department of Biotechnology, which funds most biotechnology research in India, was set up in which year?
The Department of Biotechnology was created in 1986 under the Ministry of Science and Technology to give the subject a separate home, and it supports institutions, fellowships and national facilities; the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation also works under it.
Read the full explanation →Humulin, the first recombinant therapeutic protein to be used by patients, is:
The two polypeptide chains of the hormone are made in genetically engineered bacteria and then joined by disulphide bonds, giving insulin identical to the human hormone, which ended the dependence on insulin extracted from the pancreas of cattle and pigs and the allergy that sometimes followed.
Read the full explanation →Rhizobium, found in the root nodules of leguminous plants, is used as a:
Rhizobium lives in symbiosis in the root nodules of pulses and fixes atmospheric nitrogen into a form the plant can use, which enriches the soil and reduces the need for nitrogen fertiliser.
Read the full explanation →Plant tissue culture is possible because of which property of plant cells?
A single plant cell retains the capacity to divide and differentiate into every tissue and so to regenerate a whole plant, which is why an explant grown on a sterile nutrient medium can form callus and then complete plantlets.
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