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.
The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development was instituted in:
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust instituted this prize in 1986, two years after Indira Gandhi's death, and it is presented on 19 November, her birth anniversary, with a cash award of twenty-five lakh rupees.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize?
The correct answer is B, Julius Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania, who received the Gandhi Peace Prize in its first year, 1995, for his work for peace and for the poor of Africa.
Read the full explanation →The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted in which year?
The Government of India instituted the Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995, the year of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and it is administered by the Ministry of Culture.
Read the full explanation →Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 jointly with:
The prize for 2014 was shared by Kailash Satyarthi of India, who founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan against child labour, and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, who campaigned for girls' education and who remains the youngest person to receive any Nobel Prize.
Read the full explanation →Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in which year?
Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work among the destitute and the dying in Kolkata through the Missionaries of Charity, which she had founded in 1950.
Read the full explanation →Which organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize three times?
The correct answer is B, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917 and 1944 for its work in the two World Wars and again in 1963, the centenary year of its founding.
Read the full explanation →The first Nobel Peace Prize, in 1901, was awarded to Frederic Passy and:
The Swiss humanitarian Henry Dunant, whose account of the battlefield at Solferino led to the founding of the Red Cross and to the first Geneva Convention, shared the first Nobel Peace Prize of 1901 with the French campaigner Frederic Passy.
Read the full explanation →The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in which city?
Alfred Nobel's will placed the peace prize in the hands of a Norwegian body, so the winner is chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the prize is presented at Oslo, the capital of Norway.
Read the full explanation →Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in India, lies in which state?
Chilika is a shallow lagoon on the Bay of Bengal coast, separated from the sea by a sandy ridge and joined to it by a narrow mouth, which is why its water is brackish.
Read the full explanation →The Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention is a register of:
The Montreux Record lists Ramsar sites where the ecological character has changed, is changing or is likely to change because of pollution, encroachment, siltation or other interference, so that the parties can direct attention and assistance there.
Read the full explanation →A ring shaped coral reef enclosing a central lagoon is known as:
Charles Darwin explained its formation: a fringing reef grows around a volcanic island, the island slowly subsides, the reef keeps growing upward towards the light, and in the end only a ring of reef and a lagoon are left where the island stood.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is not one of the four major coral reef areas of India?
Its water is muddy, its tidal range is among the highest in the country and several rivers empty into it, so the clear, silt-free conditions that corals need are absent; it is known instead for tidal energy potential.
Read the full explanation →The algae that live inside coral polyps and give reefs their colour are called:
These single-celled algae live within the tissue of the coral polyp, photosynthesise, hand most of the food they make to the polyp and give the reef its colour; the polyp in return offers shelter and nutrients, a textbook case of symbiosis.
Read the full explanation →The upward growing breathing roots of mangrove plants are called:
Mangrove mud is waterlogged and short of oxygen, so these roots grow vertically out of the soil and take in air through small pores called lenticels; they are the classic adaptation asked about in examinations, along with stilt roots and vivipary.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is the largest mangrove forest in the world?
It is named after the sundari tree, holds the only mangrove population of the Royal Bengal tiger, and the Indian portion is a national park, a biosphere reserve and a World Heritage Site.
Read the full explanation →Keibul Lamjao, the only floating national park in the world, lies on which lake?
Keibul Lamjao National Park rests on these mats and is the last natural home of the sangai, the brow-antlered deer of Manipur.
Read the full explanation →World Wetlands Day is observed every year on which date?
The correct answer is B, 2 February, the anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention in 1971, which is why the day carries that date.
Read the full explanation →The Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, was signed in 1971 in which country?
The convention takes its name from Ramsar, a town on the Caspian coast of Iran, where it was signed on 2 February 1971; it came into force in 1975 and is the oldest of the modern global environmental treaties.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following pairs of wetlands and the confluence of rivers they lie at:
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
The Harike Wetland in Punjab was created by building a barrage just below the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, so the first pair is correct and it is the only one.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following Ramsar sites is not situated in Uttar Pradesh?
These twin lakes lie near Jammu in the Jammu and Kashmir region, not in Uttar Pradesh, so they are the odd one out in this list.
Read the full explanation →