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.
In which country is the headquarter of Asian Development Bank located?
The Asian Development Bank was founded in 1966 to lend for development in Asia and the Pacific and has its headquarters at Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Read the full explanation →The headquarters of UNESCO is at
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was founded in 1946 and works from Paris in France.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first Indian to travel into space?
An Indian Air Force pilot, Rakesh Sharma flew to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in April 1984 as part of a joint mission and spent about a week in orbit, carrying out experiments in biology and remote sensing.
Read the full explanation →Which spacecraft, launched in 1977, is the most distant human-made object from the earth?
Launched by NASA in 1977, Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn, then continued outward and has since crossed into interstellar space, making it the farthest human-made object from the earth.
Read the full explanation →Which country's spacecraft made the first ever landing on the far side of the Moon?
The Chinese mission Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, the first spacecraft ever to do so, and released the rover Yutu-2.
Read the full explanation →JAXA is the space agency of which country?
JAXA stands for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, formed in 2003 by merging three earlier Japanese space bodies, with its headquarters at Tokyo.
Read the full explanation →The headquarters of the European Space Agency is located in which city?
The European Space Agency was founded in 1975 by a group of European countries that decided to pool their space work, and its headquarters is in Paris.
Read the full explanation →The Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down near the south pole of the Moon in which year?
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 on an LVM3 rocket, and its lander Vikram touched down near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023, releasing the rover Pragyan.
Read the full explanation →India's Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, entered the orbit of Mars in which year?
The Mars Orbiter Mission was launched on 5 November 2013 by a PSLV rocket and was placed in orbit around Mars on 24 September 2014.
Read the full explanation →What was the name of the first Indian satellite, launched in 1975?
India's first satellite was named after the ancient astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata and was launched on 19 April 1975 from a Soviet site, since India did not yet have a launch vehicle of its own.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first human being to travel into space?
The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the earth once aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961 and became the first human being in space, a flight that lasted about one hour and forty eight minutes.
Read the full explanation →Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite of the earth, was launched in 1957 by which country?
Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957 and became the first artificial satellite to circle the earth, sending out a simple radio signal that stations across the world could hear.
Read the full explanation →The Indian Space Research Organisation was formed in which year?
ISRO was formed on 15 August 1969, taking over the space work that had been carried on since 1962 by the Indian National Committee for Space Research.
Read the full explanation →What is the expansion of NASA?
NASA is the civilian space agency of the United States, established in 1958 after the launch of Sputnik, with its headquarters at Washington DC.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following forts is included in the World Heritage Site called Hill Forts of Rajasthan?
The Hill Forts of Rajasthan were inscribed in 2013 as a serial site of six forts: Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Amber, Jaisalmer and Gagron.
Read the full explanation →Which of the Mountain Railways of India was the first to be inscribed on the World Heritage List?
This narrow gauge line in West Bengal, opened in the late nineteenth century and famous for its loops and zig zag reverses as it climbs to Darjeeling, was inscribed in 1999 and became the first railway property of India on the list.
Read the full explanation →Which advisory body evaluates cultural properties nominated for the World Heritage List?
When a country nominates a monument, a city or an archaeological site, ICOMOS studies the file, sends experts to the place and recommends to the World Heritage Committee whether it should be inscribed, referred back or rejected.
Read the full explanation →Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site inscribed in 1985, is famous for which animal?
Kaziranga National Park lies on the floodplain of the Brahmaputra in Assam and holds the largest population of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros.
Read the full explanation →The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, known for their prehistoric paintings, are situated in which state?
The Bhimbetka rock shelters lie in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, in the foothills of the Vindhyan range south of Bhopal, and were inscribed in 2003.
Read the full explanation →Which Indian city was declared the country's first World Heritage City in 2017?
The Historic City of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah in the fifteenth century on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati, was inscribed in 2017 and became the first city in India to enter the World Heritage List as a whole city.
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