1. Which state secured the first position nationally in the third phase of Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB 3.0)?
A. Madhya Pradesh
B. Gujarat
C. Chhattisgarh
D. Rajasthan
E. Maharashtra
View Answer
Explanation: The state completed 77,719 of its 79,775 registered water conservation structures, moving up from second place in both JSJB 1.0 and JSJB 2.0. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai presented the model at a national summit in New Delhi in the presence of the Prime Minister. Completion rate, not merely the number registered, is what the ranking rewards.
2. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign, under which Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari operates, was launched in which year?
A. 2015
B. 2017
C. 2019
D. 2021
E. 2024
View Answer
Explanation: The campaign runs under the Ministry of Jal Shakti with the theme “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”, targeting water-stressed blocks and districts through rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional water bodies, watershed development, recharge structures and afforestation. Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari, its community-participation component, was launched separately from Gujarat in 2024.
3. The Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) framework, recently onboarded by PSEB and MDU Rohtak, has been established by which body?
A. National Payments Corporation of India
B. Unique Identification Authority of India
C. National Informatics Centre
D. Controller of Certifying Authorities
E. Data Protection Board of India
View Answer
Explanation: The Punjab School Education Board became India’s first school education board and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak the first university to onboard the framework. OVSE allows verification using verifiable digital credentials held locally rather than querying central identity databases, which keeps the process tamper-evident and privacy-preserving. UIDAI functions under MeitY.
4. The Reserve Bank of India recently approved Life Insurance Corporation of India to acquire a stake in which bank?
A. HDFC Bank
B. Axis Bank
C. ICICI Bank
D. Kotak Mahindra Bank
E. IndusInd Bank
View Answer
Explanation: RBI prior approval is mandatory before any entity acquires a significant shareholding in a private sector bank, which is why such approvals become news. The clearance lets LIC raise its holding within permitted regulatory limits and remains subject to applicable RBI conditions. As the country’s largest institutional investor, LIC’s bank shareholdings are closely tracked by markets.
5. SEBI signed an MoU with ESMA covering Central Counterparties. This agreement replaces an earlier MoU signed in which year?
A. 2012
B. 2015
C. 2017
D. 2019
E. 2021
View Answer
Explanation: A Central Counterparty sits between buyer and seller in a trade, becoming the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, thereby absorbing counterparty risk. The new MoU with the European Securities and Markets Authority restores supervisory cooperation and information sharing, allowing Indian CCPs to re-apply for recognition under the European EMIR framework.
6. Razorpay and IndusInd Bank launched ‘RAY’. What is it?
A. A co-branded corporate credit card
B. An AI-based conversational account manager on WhatsApp
C. A cross-border remittance corridor
D. A supply-chain finance marketplace
E. A merchant point-of-sale terminal
View Answer
Explanation: RAY lets businesses and MSMEs handle payments, transactions, settlements and refunds through chat, supplying payment insights, alerts and recommendations without a traditional dashboard. It has already recorded more than 20,000 conversations. For small merchants, removing the dashboard barrier is significant because many operate entirely on a phone.
7. The Bank of Canada’s new CAD 20 banknote features King Charles III on the front. What appears on its reverse side?
A. Parliament Hill, Ottawa
B. Niagara Falls
C. The Vimy Ridge Memorial in France
D. The Canadian Rockies
E. The Confederation Bridge
View Answer
Explanation: King Charles III becomes the first British monarch on Canadian currency in more than seven decades, reflecting Canada’s status as a Commonwealth realm with the monarch as head of state. The note uses a vertical orientation like the CAD 10 note and is expected to enter general circulation in early 2027.
8. Ophiopogon japonicus, a medicinal plant recorded in India for the first time, was discovered in which state?
A. Sikkim
B. Arunachal Pradesh
C. Uttarakhand
D. Meghalaya
E. Himachal Pradesh
View Answer
Explanation: It was recorded at 2,185 metres in West Kameng district by researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and the Uluberia Botanical Institute Herbarium, West Bengal. Known as dwarf lilyturf or mondo grass and belonging to family Asparagaceae, its tuberous roots are the medicinally used part. It is native to China, Japan, Korea, Nepal and Vietnam.
9. The Northern Goshawk (Baaj), recently in the news, is the state bird of which state?
A. Haryana
B. Himachal Pradesh
C. Punjab
D. Jammu and Kashmir
E. Uttarakhand
View Answer
Explanation: A medium-to-large raptor of the family Accipitridae, historically Accipiter gentilis and recently reclassified as Astur gentilis, it is a classic falconry bird valued for speed and manoeuvrability. It inhabits mature temperate and boreal woodlands across Eurasia and North America and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
10. The 9th Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2026 was launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development from which city?
A. Bhopal
B. Lucknow
C. Varanasi
D. Patna
E. Ahmedabad
View Answer
Explanation: The campaign draws on the revised Supplementary Nutrition Programme guidelines and is linked with Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, delivering nutrition and child development interventions through the Anganwadi network. Poshan Maah is observed through September each year and follows National Nutrition Week, held from 1 to 7 September.
11. Gegeneophis chandgadi, a newly described species found at Buzawade village in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, belongs to which group of animals?
A. Legless lizards
B. Burrowing caecilian amphibians
C. Blind snakes
D. Subterranean rodents
E. Freshwater eels
View Answer
Explanation: Caecilians are limbless, soil-dwelling amphibians, a third amphibian order alongside frogs and salamanders, and in India are largely confined to the Western Ghats. Their discovery rate remains high precisely because they live underground and are rarely seen, reinforcing the Western Ghats’ standing as a global biodiversity hotspot.
12. The NHAI Green Highways Excellence Awards, whose 2026 winners were announced, were instituted in 2025 under which policy?
A. National Highways Development Policy, 2010
B. Green Highways Policy, 2015
C. Bharatmala Pariyojana, 2017
D. National Green Corridor Policy, 2018
E. Highway Landscaping Guidelines, 2020
View Answer
Explanation: The awards cover avenue plantations, median plantations and plantation in land parcels, recognising best practices in highway landscaping and plantation management. Roadside plantation along national highways serves more than aesthetics: it reduces dust and noise, stabilises embankments and contributes to carbon sequestration targets.
13. The International Day of Charity, observed on 5 September, was designated by the UN General Assembly in which year?
A. 2005
B. 2008
C. 2010
D. 2012
E. 2015
View Answer
Explanation: The date marks the death anniversary of Mother Teresa and links charitable and humanitarian effort to the Sustainable Development Goals on poverty and inequality. The same date is National Teachers’ Day in India, marking the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India’s second President and first Vice-President, first celebrated in 1962.
14. Birkbeck, University of London received UGC approval for a Bengaluru campus under which regulatory framework?
A. The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, 2010
B. The IFSCA (Setting up of International Branch Campuses) Regulations, 2022
C. India’s 2023 Foreign Higher Educational Institutions regulations
D. The UGC (Twinning Programmes) Regulations, 2016
E. The National Higher Education Qualifications Framework, 2021
View Answer
Explanation: The campus will start with business-related undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with degrees awarded by the University of London under Birkbeck’s academic oversight. The 2023 regulations operationalise an NEP 2020 commitment by letting reputed foreign universities set up full campuses in India rather than only twinning or franchise arrangements.
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