Uttar Pradesh Special: syllabus hub.
Syllabus: UPPCS Mains GS5 & GS6 (UP-specific) + Prelims UP GK
Soils of India for UPSC: how soil forms, ICAR's eight groups, features and crops, erosion, salinity, land degradation data and Soil Health…
GI tags for UPSC: Geographical Indications Act 1999, TRIPS link, registration at Chennai, 10-year validity, famous GI products, UP's ODOP and key…
Quit India Movement for UPSC: why it began after the Cripps Mission, the 8 August 1942 resolution, "Do or Die", underground leaders…
Governor for UPSC: Articles 153–162, appointment and removal, discretionary powers, assent to Bills (Art. 200), Sarkaria/Punchhi views and real PYQs.
Attempt them here.
As per the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme of Uttar Pradesh, Moonj products are associated with which of the following districts?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (d), 1 and 2, is correct. Under Uttar Pradesh's One District One Product scheme, launched in January 2018, moonj (munj grass) products are listed for Sultanpur and Amethi. Moonj grass is woven into baskets, mats and decorative items. Sant Kabir Nagar (3) is listed for brassware (Magahar), so options (a), (b) and (c) are wrong. Concept: other well-known UP ODOP products include Varanasi silk, Moradabad brassware, Firozabad glass, Bhadohi carpets, Agra leather, Kannauj perfume, Aligarh locks, Lucknow chikankari and Meerut sports goods. The Union government adopted ODOP nationally, and the Unity Mall scheme showcases these products. Trap: Sant Kabir Nagar is a nearby eastern UP district, but its ODOP product is brassware, not moonj.
Sant Kabir Nagar is brassware; moonj belongs to Sultanpur and Amethi.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
Which of the following districts is/are part of the Devipatan Division in Uttar Pradesh?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (b), only 2 and 3, is correct. Devipatan division, with its headquarters at Gonda, includes Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti and Balrampur districts. Basti (1) is the headquarters of a separate Basti division, which also includes Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar, so options (a), (c) and (d) are wrong. Concept: the division takes its name from the Devipatan Shaktipeeth temple at Tulsipur, Balrampur. The Indo-Nepal border runs along Bahraich, Shravasti and Balrampur, and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary is in Bahraich. Shravasti is an ancient Buddhist site where the Buddha spent many rainy seasons. Uttar Pradesh has 18 divisions and 75 districts. Trap: Basti is next door but is its own division.
Basti is its own division; Devipatan has Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti and Balrampur.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
Which of the following Ramsar wetland site is/are NOT situated in Uttar Pradesh?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (c), 3 and 4, is correct. Rudrasagar Lake (3) is a Ramsar site in Tripura, and Sultanpur National Park (4) is a Ramsar site in Haryana, near Gurugram. So these two are not in Uttar Pradesh. The others are UP Ramsar sites: Sarsai Nawar Jheel in Etawah, known for sarus cranes, and Samaspur Bird Sanctuary in Raebareli. So options (a), (b) and (d) are wrong. Concept: Uttar Pradesh has 10 Ramsar sites, including Nawabganj (Unnao), Parvati Arga (Gonda), Saman (Mainpuri), Sandi (Hardoi), Sur Sarovar (Agra), Upper Ganga (Brijghat-Narora), Bakhira (Sant Kabir Nagar) and Haiderpur (Muzaffarnagar). India passed 90 Ramsar sites in 2025. Trap: the name Sultanpur sounds like UP, but the park is in Haryana.
Rudrasagar (Tripura) and Sultanpur (Haryana) are Ramsar sites outside UP.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
Which of the following Department prepares the National Indicator Framework Progress Report related to Sustainable Development Goals in Uttar Pradesh?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (c), only 3, is correct. In Uttar Pradesh, the Planning Department is the nodal department for the Sustainable Development Goals. It prepares the State Indicator Framework and its progress report, based on NITI Aayog's National Indicator Framework, and runs the SDG monitoring cell and the district indicator framework. The Finance (1) and Education (2) Departments supply data for their goals but do not prepare the report, so options (a), (b) and (d) are wrong. Concept: at the national level, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) publishes the National Indicator Framework progress report, while NITI Aayog coordinates SDGs and brings out the SDG India Index. UP ranked among the front-runner States in the 2023-24 index. Trap: SDG monitoring is a planning task, not a finance task.
UP's SDG report is by the Planning Department.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
As per the India State of Forest Report 2023, which of the following districts in Uttar Pradesh had forest over more than 20% of their total area?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (b), 2 and 3, is correct. In the India State of Forest Report 2023, Chandauli has about 21.6% of its area under forest, and Shravasti about 21% using the Forest Survey's own district area. Both clear the 20% mark. Bahraich (1) is only about 10%, despite the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, so options (a), (c) and (d) are wrong. Concept: Sonbhadra is UP's most forested district, at about 35%, and Kheri has the second largest forest area. UP has about 15,000 sq km of forest cover, only about 6.2% of its area, among the lowest of large States. The ISFR is published every two years by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun. Note: Shravasti falls below 20% if a larger district area figure is used, so the key rests on the FSI figure.
Bahraich has only about 10% forest, despite Katarniaghat.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
Which of the following districts of Uttar Pradesh shares its boundary with only one other district of Uttar Pradesh?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (d), only 1, is correct. Lalitpur, in Bundelkhand, shares a boundary with only one Uttar Pradesh district, Jhansi; the rest of its boundary is with Madhya Pradesh, which nearly surrounds it. Saharanpur (2) borders Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in UP, as well as Uttarakhand and Haryana. Sonbhadra (3) borders Mirzapur and Chandauli in UP, and touches four other States. So options (a), (b) and (c) are wrong. Concept: Sonbhadra is the only UP district that borders four States: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. Lalitpur has the Rani Laxmi Bai (Mata Tila) dam and the Jain temples at Deogarh. UP borders eight States and two UTs, plus Nepal. Trap: Saharanpur sits at the corner of UP but still touches two UP districts.
Lalitpur's other neighbours are in MP; within UP it borders only Jhansi.
Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
With reference to 'Uttar Pradesh', which of the following statements is/are correct?
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Option (d), only 1, is correct. Uttar Pradesh is India's leading producer of potatoes, with about 30-35% of national output, followed by West Bengal and Bihar. Agra, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Firozabad are leading districts (statement 1). Statement 2 is wrong: in June 2025 the Union Cabinet approved the South Asia Regional Centre of the International Potato Centre (CIP-SARC) at Singna in Agra district, not Aligarh. Concept: the International Potato Centre (CIP) is a CGIAR institute headquartered in Lima, Peru. The Central Potato Research Institute is at Shimla. India is the world's second-largest potato producer after China. The Kufri varieties come from CPRI. Trap: Agra, not Aligarh, is the CIP-SARC site.
CIP-SARC is at Singna, Agra, not Aligarh.
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Question and answer as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet with answers (provisional key, published for objections). We will update if the final key differs. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched regarding peculiarities of Ramganga project ?
Option (a), the dam's length of 825.8 m, is the key for the wrongly matched pair. The Ramganga multipurpose project at Kalagarh in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand (c), was built by Uttar Pradesh and completed in 1974-75. It has a 198 MW power house of three 66 MW units (b), and project reports put its irrigation benefit at about 5.75-6 lakh hectares in western Uttar Pradesh (d). Its main earth-and-rockfill dam is about 128 m high and usually given as about 630 m long, so the 825.8 m figure is the mismatch. Concept: the reservoir lies within Corbett National Park and attracts many birds. Western UP's other irrigation sources are the Upper and Lower Ganga canals and the Eastern Yamuna Canal.
Ramganga dam is about 630 m long, not 825.8 m.
Question as printed in UPPSC's official question booklet. Source: uppsc.up.nic.in
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court has stayed the conviction and life sentence of Nandlal Rai alias Babloo Rai in a 2017 murder case in Varanasi, noting that he wishes to contest the 2027 UP Assembly election. Relying on the Supreme Court’s Afjal Ansari ruling, the court granted bail pending appeal. The order revives the debate on stay of conviction and disqualification under the Representation of the People Act.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-V: elections, RPA disqualification and judicial review; Prelims: Section 8, Lily Thomas, Article 191.
20 Oct 2026
The Allahabad High Court has told the UP government and the State Election Commission to complete three-tier panchayat elections within three months under the existing 27% OBC reservation, rather than wait for the dedicated OBC commission’s report. Panchayat terms ended in May 2026, and outgoing pradhans have been running villages as administrators. On 20 October, the Panchayati Raj Minister said the State is ready, while a pradhans’ body plans to go to the Supreme Court.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-V: Panchayati Raj in UP, SEC, OBC reservation and the triple test; Prelims: Articles 243E, 243K, 243D.
20 Oct 2026
Uttar Pradesh has notified the Interest Waiver Scheme-2026 through a government order of 16 October. Traders with old dues under pre-GST tax laws such as UP VAT and UP Trade Tax can get 50% to 100% of the interest waived, depending on the size of the principal, and eligible penalties waived in full, if they pay the entire principal. The window is open for three months in all 75 districts.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-VI: UP’s tax administration and revenue; Prelims: scheme slabs, dates and laws covered.
20 Oct 2026
In an order of 16 October 2026, the Allahabad High Court directed all UP government school teachers of Classes 1 to 8 to submit their appointment letters and educational documents within a week, for verification by the UP Police Special Task Force (STF). Justice Vinod Diwakar linked falling enrolment to fraudulent appointments. The next hearing is on 4 November.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-V: basic education governance, recruitment fraud, role of STF and BSAs, RTE Act.
19 Oct 2026
The UP government said on 18 October 2026 that CCTV coverage across its prisons has grown from about 4,900 cameras in June 2025 to more than 7,000, including over 750 AI-enabled cameras linked to the headquarters control room. It also listed the JARVIS AI monitoring system, an e-Prisons module for early release, and digital libraries in 74 jails.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-V: UP prison administration, e-governance in jails, rights of prisoners.
19 Oct 2026
UP forest officials have proposed sterilising leopards in Bijnor, where a survey last year counted 444 leopards in affected areas. Leopard attacks in Bijnor and Moradabad have killed 11 people and injured 30 this year, and 92 leopards have been captured, the Indian Express reported on 18 October 2026. The State has sought the Centre’s view.
UPPCS angle: UPPCS GS-VI: human-leopard conflict in Bijnor and Moradabad, WPA 1972, conservation policy.
19 Oct 2026