General Knowledge For UPSC Prelims

This is the second part of General Knowledge capsule for UPSC Prelims. The first one can be accessed in my blog (www.upsc-prelims.blogspot.com) archives. GK has become an important part of UPSC prelims general studies paper and especially in 2008 prelims lots of questions were asked from this section. I am basically trying to give an overview of information that can be useful from prelims perspective. The idea should be to remember important pieces of information as one cannot remember everything under the sun. So one has to be realistic and at the same time observant enough to select important information from the unending stream of information that aspirants are bombarded with by coaching institutes and competition oriented books.

A.
Organisations HQ

1.UN New York
2.Int’ l Court of Justice The Hague
3.UNDP,UNICEF New York
4.UNEP Nairobi
5.UNHCR Geneva
6.IAEA,UNIDO Vienna
7.FAO Rome
8.UNESCO,ESRO Paris
9.IMF Paris & Geneva
10.World Bank (IBRD) Washington DC
11.WIPO,WTO Geneva
12.IMO London
13.UPU Berne
14.ICAO Montreal
15.ADB Manila
16.ASEAN Djakarta
17.CARICOM Georgetown (Guyana)
18.CIS Minsk(Belarus)

B. Rivers
Brahmaputra – 2900 km
Indus - 2900 km
Ganga - 2510 km
Godavari – 1450 km
Narmada – 1290 km
Krishna – 1290 km
Mahanadi – 890 km
Kaveri – 760 km

Ranking of rivers on the basis of length and direction (west to east ,north to south etc) is a frequently asked question in UPSC prelims. One should also have a good idea about the important international rivers. Ensemble’s Geography through Maps is a good book to follow even for non-geography optional students.

C. Information on important straits :
1.Gibraltar strait separates Spain and Morocco.
2.Magellan strait separates Chile and Tierra del Fugeo.
3.Bass strait separates Australia and Tasmania.
4.Torres strait separates Australia and Papua New Guinea.
5.Bab-al-Mandab strait separates Yemen and Djibouti.
6.Strait of Hormuz separates Iran and UAE.
7.Strait of Malacca separates Malaysia and Sumatra.
8.Selat-sunda strait separates Sumatra and Java.

One should look up all important straits in Atlas and in fact referring atlas should become an important part of reading newspaper.Whenever and wherever one encounters the name of any place or country that one cannot place geographically ,one must immediately look it up in Atlas and don’t stop there,go a step further by looking up nearby countries,mountain ranges,rivers and also whether any tropic or equator is passing through it.This will make the learning more complete and can very well make make the difference.

D.Random Information
1.Oxalic Acid – used to remove ink spots.
2.Sulphuric Acid – dehydrating agent.
3.Hydrogen Peroxide – bleaching agent.
4.Haber’s Process – Ammonia.
5.Ostwald’s Process – Nitric Acid.
6.Solvay Process – Sodium Carbonate.
7.Parke’s Process – Silver.

E.Research Institutes Locations
1.Potato - Shimla
2.Leather - Chennai
3.Poultry - B’lore
4.Tobacco - Rajamundry
5.Rice - Cuttack
6.Sugarcane - Lucknow
7.Jute - Barrackpore
8.Botanical Survey - Kolkata
9.Dairy Institute - Karnal
10.Dairy Corporation - Anand
11.Coffee - Chikmaglur
12.Tea - Jorhat
13.Bee - Pune
14.Cotton - Thane

F.Winds
1.Haboob - Sudan
2.Harmattan – West Africa
3.Khamsin – North Africa
4.Bora – Adriatic Coast
5.Zonda – Argentina