1. Countries having a border with India are Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west, China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Myanmar to the far east and Bangladesh to the east.

  2. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.

  3. The country can be divided into six zones mainly north, south, east, west, central and north-east zone.

  4. The high altitudes of Himalayas allow travel only through a few passes like Jelep La and Nathu La on the main Indo-Tibet trade route through the Chumbi valley, north-east of Darjeeling and Shipki La.

  5. Eastern ghats have a lower elevation than the western ghats but the western coastal strip is narrower than eastern coastal strip.

  6. Satluj rises in Tibet is the only Indus tributary not originating in India.

  7. Rivers Chambal and Betwa are the important sub tributaries, which join the Yamuna before it meets the Ganga.

  8. The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the important tributaries of the Ganga.

  9. The principal tributaries of Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri, Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas.

  10. Godavari river basin covers 10% of India.

  11. The 12 major river basins are :

    1. Indus

    2. Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna

    3. Godavari

    4. Krishna

    5. Cauvery

    6. Mahanadi

    7. Pennar

    8. Brahmani-Baitarani

    9. Sabarmati

    10. Mahi

    11. Narmada and

    12. Tapti.

  12. Each of these basins has a drainage area exceeding 20,000 sq. km. Medium drainage area is 20000 - 2000 sq km and small drainage area is less than 2000 sq, km.

  13. South India receives more rainfall than North. Due to high pressure zone, the North western India is cloudless in October and November.

  1. The western Himalayan region extends from Kashmir to Kumaon. It has two important types of vegetation cover:

    1. Temperate zone: Consists of forests of chir, pine, other conifers and broad-leaved temperate trees. Higher up, forests of deodar, blue pine, spruce and silver fir occur.

    2. Alpine zone: The characteristic trees of this zone are high-level silver fir, silver birch and junipers.

  2. 'Red Data Book' is compiled by Botanical survey of India with lists of endangered plants.


    1. Tropical Humid Forests

    2. Tropical Dry/Deciduous Forests



  1. The ratio of the length to the height (width) of the Flag shall be 3:2.

  1. The 84 th amendment to the Constitution in 2001 said the total number of existing seats as allocated to various states in the Lok Sabha on the basis of the 1971 census shall remain unaltered till the first census to be taken after the year 2026.

  2. Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions is not created in the Rajya Sabha.

  3. Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House is not created in the Rajya Sabha.

  4. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs is the Government Chief Whips and is entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating, planning and arranging Government business in both Houses of Parliament.

  5. The ministries/departments of the Government are created by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister under Allocation of business Rules.

Project Monitoring Group


  1. Set up and now currently functioning under the Prime minister's office to speed up approvals to Public, private and PPP projects.

  2. Majority of the projects involve clearances at the state government levels and so such projects are resolved by discussions with the state government officials, project proponents and Central government officials.

  3. Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System’ ( CPGRAMS) is the application of ICT for Grievance Redressal.

  4. Government of India has instituted ‘Prime Minister ’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration’ to acknowledge and recognize the work of Individuals, Groups, Districts and Organisations of the Central and State Governments.

Official Languages


  1. The Kendriya Hindi Samiti was constituted in the year 1967. Chaired by Prime Minister it is the apex policy making body which lays the guidelines for the propagation and progressive use of Hindi as official language of the Union.
  1. Governor has special responsibility under Article 371 A of the Constitution with respect to law and order which means though it is necessary for him to consult Council of Ministers in matters relating to law and order, he can exercise his individual judgement as to the action to be taken.

  2. Arunachal Pradesh, the Governor has special responsibility under Article 371 H of the Constitution with respect to law and order. Governor shall, after consulting Council of Ministers, exercise his individual judgement as to the actions to be taken.

  3. These are temporary provisions. If the President, on receipt of a report from Governor or otherwise is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for Governor to have special responsibility with respect to law and order, he may direct this by an order.

  4. Under the Sixth schedule the Governors of Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya are given special discretionary powers in deciding the sharing of royalties between states and district councils.

  5. Governor of Sikkim has special responsibility of maintaining peace and socio economic development of all communities.

  6. Governors of Mizoram and Tripura have special provisions of having discretionary power in all their functions.





Q. Consider the following in respect of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS):
1. Inaugural IONS was held in India in 2015 under the chairmanship of the Indian Navy.
2. IONS is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSAT 2017)


  1. 1 only

  2. 2 only

  3. Both 1 and 2

  4. Neither 1 nor 2


Ans . B


  1. 2016: hosted by Bangladesh; 2015: by S.Africa and co-chair Tanzania

  2. IONS was initiated taking all the littoral countries of the Indian Ocean (IO) onboard to promote friendly relationship and…bear upon issues of regional maritime security and cooperation in the maritime domain.



Q. What is the importance of developing Chabahar Port by India?


  1. India’s trade with African countries will enormously increase.

  2. India’s relations with oil-producing Arab countries will be strengthened.

  3. India will not depend on Pakistan for access to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

  4. Pakistan will facilitate and protect the installation of a gas pipeline between Iraq and India.


Ans . C


  1. India and Iran signed the “historic” Chabahar port agreement, which has the potential of becoming India’s gateway to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe



Q. Consider the following statements:
1. The Nuclear Security Summits are periodically held under the aegis of the United Nations.
2. The International Panel on Fissile Materials is an organ of International Atomic Energy Agency.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?


  1. 1 only

  2. 2 only

  3. Both 1 and 2

  4. Neither 1 nor 2


Ans . D


  1. President Obama had initiated NSS in 2010

  2. The International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), an independent group of arms-control and non-proliferation experts from 17 countries, has been keeping track of HEU and plutonium around the world. So second statement also wrong.






Q.A recent movie titled The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on the biography of (UPSC CSAT 2016)


  • S. Ramanujan


  • S. Chandrasekhar


  • S. N. Bose


  • C. V. Raman



Ans . A


  1. ‘The Man who knew infinite’ is a biographical movie of Indian Mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan (played by Dev Patel) and his association with British mathematician GH Hardy. Ramanujan was a self-taught (autodidatic) Mathematician- born and died in Madras Presidency.


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