1. UNCCD COP17 concluded at which venue, and under what theme?
A. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; “Our Land, Our Future”
B. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope”
C. Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; “Land, Life, Legacy”
D. New Delhi, India; “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope”
E. Nairobi, Kenya; “Land for Life”
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Explanation: The session focused on rangeland conservation, drought financing and community-led restoration, though it deadlocked over a binding global drought treaty. Holding it in Mongolia was symbolically apt — 77 per cent of Mongolian land is degraded, against 40 per cent globally. India hosted COP14 at New Delhi in 2019.
2. Which statement about the UNCCD is correct?
A. It was adopted at Rio in 1992 and has 154 Parties
B. It was adopted at Paris on 17 June 1994, is one of the three Rio Conventions along with the UNFCCC and CBD, and is the only legally binding international agreement on land management
C. It is a non-binding declaration administered by UNEP
D. It was adopted at Kyoto in 1997 and its finance arm is the Green Climate Fund
E. It is legally binding only on developed country Parties
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Explanation: The Convention emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and now has 197 Parties. Its finance arm is the Global Mechanism. The central goal, Land Degradation Neutrality, corresponds directly to SDG target 15.3, which is how land restoration links to the wider development agenda.
3. Which of the following outcomes or facts associated with UNCCD COP17 is correct?
A. Drought becomes a standalone agenda item from COP18, and the Drought Resilience Investment Facility was co-launched with Luxembourg
B. A binding global drought treaty was adopted by consensus
C. The Drought Resilience Index was abandoned in favour of a rainfall index
D. Drought was removed from the COP agenda entirely
E. The Drought Resilience Investment Facility was co-launched with Norway
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Explanation: Parties could not agree on a binding drought protocol, so elevating drought to a standalone agenda item is the compromise outcome. The Drought Resilience Index and the DRIF are the operational instruments. COP17 coincided with the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026, and about 30 per cent of India’s land is degraded per the SAC-ISRO Atlas.
4. The 9th Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2026 was launched at Varanasi. What are its observance period and central theme?
A. 1 to 30 September 2026; “Sahi Poshan Desh Roshan”
B. 9 September to 8 October 2026; “Hamari Anganwadi Hamari Jimmedari”
C. 1 September to 30 September 2026; “Hamari Anganwadi Hamari Jimmedari”
D. 9 September to 8 October 2026; “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi”
E. 15 September to 14 October 2026; “Suposhit Bharat”
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Explanation: Union Minister Annapurna Devi of the Ministry of Women and Child Development launched it at the Rudraksh International Cooperation and Convention Centre. The theme calls for shared community ownership of Anganwadi centres. Focus areas are dietary diversity and adequate protein, fresh hot cooked meals, community accountability, and linking nutrition with early childhood development.
5. The proposed Article 371(K) for Ladakh would be inserted as a chapter under which Part of the Constitution, and what would it create?
A. Part IX; a three-tier panchayati raj structure for Ladakh
B. Part XXI — Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions; a directly elected Union Territory-level governing body with legislative authority over specified subjects
C. Part VI; a full-fledged State legislature for Ladakh
D. Part X; Sixth Schedule autonomous district councils
E. Part XI; an expanded role for the Lieutenant Governor
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Explanation: Under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, Ladakh became a Union Territory without a legislative assembly, leaving governance largely with the Lieutenant Governor and bureaucracy while the LAHDC councils of Leh and Kargil were sidelined. The Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance pressed for statehood and Sixth Schedule status; this proposal offers a sui generis middle path without granting either.
6. Project CHAYANKAN, for which an MoU was signed by NIT Rourkela, ISRO-NRSC and the Tea Board of India, relates to:
A. Coffee plantation soil mapping in the Western Ghats
B. AI-based geospatial data analytics for tea plantation monitoring, including yield estimation and pest and disease forecasting
C. Satellite tracking of tea exports and shipping consignments
D. Cloud seeding over tea-growing districts of Assam
E. Genetic improvement of tea clones through tissue culture
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Explanation: CHAYANKAN stands for Comprehensive AI-based Geospatial Data Analytics for Tea Plantation Monitoring, and runs from April 2026 to March 2029. It combines satellite imagery, UAV hyperspectral data, ground observations and AI. Early pest and disease forecasting matters commercially because tea quality and price collapse quickly once an outbreak spreads through a garden.
7. Bihar signed an MoU with which foreign entity to establish a dedicated food processing park?
A. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings
B. UAE-based AIM Global Foundation
C. Japan’s JICA
D. Israel’s MASHAV
E. Netherlands’ Wageningen Foundation
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Explanation: The aim is to draw UAE and Gulf investment into Bihar’s agro-food sector and promote value addition, processing, exports and employment. For a state with high agricultural output but thin processing capacity, the more significant gain may be linking local farmers and processors to international food supply chains.
8. The CCEA approved eight railway multitracking projects worth Rs 20,804 crore. Which detail is correct?
A. The projects cover 31 districts across nine states, with three projects worth Rs 10,783 crore adding about 656 km to the network
B. The projects cover 12 districts across four states
C. Five projects worth Rs 10,021 crore cover West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha
D. The projects add about 1,200 km to the railway network
E. All eight projects are confined to the southern states
View Answer
Explanation: The five southern projects worth Rs 10,021 crore span Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, while the three eastern and central projects cover West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The eastern corridors carry heavy mineral and coal freight, which is why capacity augmentation there has an outsized effect on logistics cost.
9. The Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) Portal on Data Harmonisation was launched by which ministry, and for what purpose?
A. MeitY; harmonising digital identity databases
B. MoSPI; improving identification, standardisation and quality of administrative datasets across Central Ministries and Departments
C. Ministry of Finance; consolidating state fiscal accounts
D. NITI Aayog; tracking SDG index scores
E. Ministry of Home Affairs; standardising crime statistics
View Answer
Explanation: Administrative data generated during routine governance is potentially far richer and more frequent than survey data, but is unusable if definitions and formats differ across departments. The portal supports automated validation, dashboards and cross-verification with the National Metadata Structures portal, strengthening India’s National Data System.
10. The first sector-specific CSR Framework for Indian coal companies was launched by the Ministry of Coal with Coal India Limited. Which body developed it?
A. Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
B. NITI Aayog
C. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute
D. Indian Bureau of Mines
E. National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
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Explanation: The framework seeks to make CSR spending in the coal sector transparent, measurable and outcome-oriented rather than scattered across one-off activities. Coal-bearing districts bear concentrated environmental and displacement costs, so directing CSR outlays toward those host communities is the framework’s central purpose.
11. SEBI’s Demat 2.0, launched at the Global Fintech Fest, is a pilot project for:
A. Dematerialisation of remaining physical equity shares
B. Tokenisation of corporate bonds using distributed ledger technology, with digital money settlement
C. Same-day settlement of equity trades
D. A unified KYC registry for demat account holders
E. Migration of mutual fund units to a blockchain registry
View Answer
Explanation: If Demat 1.0, introduced in 1996, converted paper shares into electronic records, Demat 2.0 converts digital bonds into tokens on a shared ledger owned by the depositories and maintained by market infrastructure institutions. It was launched jointly by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra and SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey — a joint appearance that signals coordination on the settlement leg.
12. NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) partnered with which firm to enable UPI QR acceptance for merchants in Singapore?
A. Liquid Group
B. FOMO Pay
C. NETS Singapore
D. Grab Financial
E. PayNow Holdings
View Answer
Explanation: Indian travellers can pay in rupees through their UPI apps while Singapore merchants receive settlement in Singapore dollars, with the currency conversion handled in the background. Resorts World Sentosa is among the first merchant partners. Merchant-acceptance tie-ups like this are how UPI internationalisation actually scales beyond person-to-person remittance corridors.
13. Under the ChipIN Centre initiative, which state leads, and which body launched the centre?
A. Tamil Nadu, with 79 organisations; launched by DRDO
B. Karnataka, with 81 organisations and 73 chip tape-outs; launched by MeitY in 2023 at C-DAC
C. Telangana, with 42 organisations; launched by MeitY at C-DOT
D. Karnataka, with 81 organisations; launched by the Department of Science and Technology
E. Gujarat, with 73 tape-outs; launched by the India Semiconductor Mission
View Answer
Explanation: Karnataka also recorded about 88 lakh hours of Electronic Design Automation tool usage, followed by Tamil Nadu with 79 organisations and 33 tape-outs, and Telangana with 42 organisations and 28 tape-outs. The ChipIN Centre lowers the entry barrier for startups by pooling expensive EDA licences and design infrastructure. A tape-out is the point at which a finished chip design is sent for fabrication.
14. ONGC announced an Alternative Investment Fund for deep-tech energy startups, alongside an MoU involving IIT Bombay and SINE. What is the fund size and the per-startup ceiling?
A. Rs 1,000 crore fund; up to Rs 5 crore each
B. Rs 2,000 crore fund; up to Rs 2 crore each through convertible and milestone-based funding
C. Rs 500 crore fund; up to Rs 2 crore each
D. Rs 2,000 crore fund; up to Rs 10 crore each
E. Rs 5,000 crore fund; up to Rs 20 crore each
View Answer
Explanation: Focus areas include AI-driven subsurface intelligence, drilling, hydrogen, mobility, bioenergy, refinery technology and digital asset management. Milestone-based tranches let a public-sector investor manage risk in early-stage deep tech, where failure rates are high and technical validation takes years. SINE is IIT Bombay’s incubator.
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