Civils Notes

Free UPSC Prelims notes, 1,000+ past questions mapped to chapters, and daily current affairs. Start with the free study plan 👇

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Free UPSC Prelims study plan: https://t.co/NRI5dZQlX6

Daily current affairs on WhatsApp: https://t.co/rsLgmLQggM

Notes and 1,000+ past questions, chapter by chapter: https://t.co/MOxKcagmf1

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Urea and DAP are both subsidised, but not by the same scheme. The Cabinet approved about Rs 62,370 crore under the Nutrient Based Subsidy for Rabi 2026-27. It covers P&K fertilisers like DAP. Urea has its own scheme and a fixed MRP.

https://t.co/olmp4s3keD

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UPSC 2024 asked which mountain is NOT a fold mountain. The Vosges are a block mountain, lifted beside the Rhine valley. The Alps, Andes and Appalachians are fold mountains. Learn each mountain by how it formed, not just where it is.

https://t.co/8YhFTUxYYs

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Agniveers: six years? Official (4 Nov Cabinet): 25% regular on merit, the rest offered 2 more years, then enrolment if willing and selected. The pay figures and the marriage rule are from briefings and officials, not the release.

https://t.co/Q41V1NuTWM

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Retail inflation was 6.09% in October 2026 (CPI, base 2024, provisional). Above the RBI's 2 to 6% band, but not a failure: the target fails only if average inflation stays outside the band for three consecutive quarters. One month does not count.

https://t.co/mDizffhW8o

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DGFT, 10 Nov 2026: export of lithium-ion battery black mass (the powder from shredded batteries, holding lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese) moved from Free to Prohibited. The aim: feed Indian recyclers and cut import dependence. It backs the ₹1,500 crore critical mineral recycling scheme (Cabinet, Sept 2025).

https://t.co/TEAFK6nEym

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Earthworms, jellyfish, millipedes, seahorses, woodlice: which eat dead matter? UPSC 2021 asked. Two are hunters.

Also: why food chains are short, and which nutrient cycle comes from rock.

Notes: https://t.co/Kt4QX0Lv26

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Ministry of Coal, 10 Nov 2026: Round 2 of the ₹37,500 crore coal gasification scheme closed with two applications, both from NTPC (urea; methanol and DME). Round 1 had seven. Round 3 is open. The target: 100 million tonnes of coal gasified by 2030.

https://t.co/gtC7dGi6Cs

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Who held India's land under British rule? UPSC asked three times, each with a trap: the Charter Act of 1813 (the revenues stayed with the Company), the Butler Committee of 1927, and Arcot, Mysore and Rohilkhand. #UPSC #UPSCPrelims #History

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Nvidia lost about $190B in a day. The bigger story is the chip: Nvidia designs it, TSMC in Taiwan makes it, ASML builds the only EUV machines.

The US licenses H200 sales to China case by case. India: 45,000+ GPUs, first new fab due 2028.

Notes: https://t.co/43v0r6IlU3

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NPPA, 17 Oct 2026: the trade margin on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs is capped at 30% of MRP under Paragraph 19 of the DPCO, 2013, in public interest. The cap is on the margin, not the manufacturer's own price. Revised prices apply from 9 Nov.

https://t.co/kssLDbk0Li

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UPSC Prelims General Studies, by our count of the official papers: about 26 Economy questions a year in 2016 to 2020, about 15 since 2021. Geography about 6, then about 12. Plan by ten years, not last year's paper.

Free study plan: https://t.co/XmUOqQg6pn

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Supreme Court, 6 Nov 2026: the 11 March OBC creamy layer judgment decided the rights of the parties before it and does not reopen concluded selections or seniority. Its principle applies to selections after 11 March, including Civil Services 2025 service allocation. Union of India v Rohith Nathan.

https://t.co/MUin9qHXfB

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UPSC 2021 asked: is Burzahom known for rock-cut shrines? No. It is a Neolithic pit-dwelling site in Kashmir, and its people buried dogs and deer with their dead. The whole prehistory chapter as one ladder, in the video.

https://t.co/2L9kEsC94e

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Supreme Court, 5 Nov 2026: the 24-hour rule for producing an arrested person before a magistrate runs from when liberty is curtailed, not from the formal arrest. Only journey time is excluded. Sujit Das v Union of India.

https://t.co/webwCJQW10

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UPSC 2025 asked how many of cobalt, graphite, lithium and nickel go into an EV battery's cathode. Three: graphite is the anode.

On 4 Nov the Cabinet backed both: plants for lithium and nickel, and 92 GWh of storage, 60 of it pumped hydro.

Notes: https://t.co/igT8WlZF8P

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On 4 Nov the Cabinet changed what happens to Agniveers after 4 years.

25% still get regular jobs. The other 75%, if willing, get 2 more years, then an offer to enrol as regular soldiers if they meet the criteria. A route, not a guarantee.

Notes: https://t.co/7Rs24q6mCq

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Rainforests make more oxygen than the oceans? UPSC 2025 said no: the oceans make about half of the world's oxygen, mostly from plankton.

UPSC 2021: of copepods, cyanobacteria, diatoms and foraminifera, only two make their own food.

Notes: https://t.co/rkAkcUX48x

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In 1798 the Nizam of Hyderabad agreed to pay for a British army inside his state: Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance.

UPSC 2018: a fixed income for the Company was NOT one of its aims. UPSC 2020: Fort William College trained British officials.

Notes: https://t.co/PHvBqs2Sgv

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Delhi's AQI hit 324 and GRAP Stage 2 kicked in. But that number doesn't count carbon dioxide.

UPSC set this trap in 2016. And the AQI isn't an average: the single worst pollutant sets the number.

Notes: https://t.co/ip8bfPZs31

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If the government gives you something free, what does it cost? UPSC asked in 2018: not zero. The cost moves to the taxpayer.

2024, same chapter: four jobs paired with sectors, only two pairs right. Storage is a service, so tertiary.

Notes: https://t.co/g6BQ8zYqAj