1. The report “Forests for Food: Nourishing People, Sustaining the Planet” was published by the FAO together with:
A. UNEP
B. CIFOR-ICRAF
C. IUCN
D. WRI
E. CGIAR Secretariat
View Answer
Explanation: CIFOR-ICRAF is the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry, working here through the Landscape Alliance. The report came out under the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) Joint Initiative. FAO was founded in 1945, is headquartered at Rome, and also publishes SOFA, SOFI and the Global Forest Resources Assessment.
2. According to the report, forest-hosted pollinators support what share of global crop production?
A. 15 per cent
B. 23 per cent
C. 35 per cent
D. 50 per cent
E. 85 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: The 85 per cent figure in the options is the other headline number — forested watersheds supply freshwater to over 85 per cent of the world’s major cities. Examiners routinely swap these two. The report also finds agricultural zones across 155 countries depend on forests in other countries for up to 40 per cent of annual rainfall, through atmospheric moisture recycling.
3. How many people relied primarily on woodfuel for cooking in 2022, as per the report?
A. 410 million
B. 1 billion
C. 1.8 billion
D. 3.2 billion
E. 5 billion
View Answer
Explanation: That is 23 per cent of the global population. A separate 410 million depended on wood energy simply to boil and sterilise drinking water, and more than 1 billion rely on forest-derived medicinal plants for primary healthcare. Over 5 billion depend on forests to some extent for livelihoods.
4. Average annual deforestation between 2015 and 2025 stood at:
A. 4.12 million hectares
B. 6.5 million hectares
C. 10.7 million hectares
D. 10.9 million hectares
E. 14.2 million hectares
View Answer
Explanation: Deforestation and net forest loss are different measures, and both appear in the options. Net loss fell from 10.7 to 4.12 million hectares a year, because losses are partly offset by forest expansion, while gross deforestation stayed at 10.9 million hectares annually.
5. India’s first farm-level soil carbon payments were delivered through which entity’s ‘Aadi’ programme?
A. Grow Indigo
B. DeHaat
C. NAFED
D. Ninjacart
E. Bharat Krishi Carbon
View Answer
Explanation: Grow Indigo is an agri-tech joint venture between Mahyco and the US-based Indigo Ag. More than 2,550 small farmers in Punjab and Haryana received over ₹2.9 crore through DBT for verified regenerative practices. The initiative began in 2019 to curb paddy stubble burning and groundwater depletion in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
6. Under the soil carbon payment mechanism, farmers receive upfront payments or what share of the net proceeds from carbon-credit sales?
A. 50 per cent
B. 60 per cent
C. 70 per cent
D. 75 per cent
E. 90 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: The chain runs: adoption of Direct Seeded Rice, minimum tillage, cover crops and in-situ residue retention → measurement, reporting and verification using satellite data, digital crop models and soil sampling → credit issuance in the voluntary carbon market → payment to the farmer. The first cycle covered 2019 to 2022, roughly 30,000 acres and over 50,000 certified credits.
7. The ‘Bharat Vann’ green initiative inaugurated at Lodhi Colony Park uses which afforestation method?
A. Taungya
B. Miyawaki
C. Agroforestry block planting
D. Assisted natural regeneration
E. Aerial seeding
View Answer
Explanation: Miyawaki uses high-density planting of multi-layered indigenous vegetation to create self-sustaining micro-forests quickly. The project is implemented by the New Delhi Municipal Council with funding under the CSR initiative of IIFCL and execution by the Enviro Creators Foundation. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated it. The aim is to cut particulate pollution and lower the urban heat island effect.
8. The Union Cabinet approved raising the mandatory wage ceiling under the EPFO to:
A. ₹18,000 per month
B. ₹20,000 per month
C. ₹21,000 per month
D. ₹25,000 per month
E. ₹30,000 per month
View Answer
Explanation: The ceiling rises from ₹15,000. It is the statutory threshold of basic pay plus dearness allowance that decides mandatory coverage under the EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 — any worker joining an establishment with 20 or more employees at or below that wage must be enrolled. The Expenditure Finance Committee cleared the hike in June 2026.
9. What was the EPFO wage ceiling immediately before the 2014 revision?
A. ₹3,500
B. ₹5,000
C. ₹6,500
D. ₹7,500
E. ₹10,000
View Answer
Explanation: ₹6,500 applied from 2004 until 1 September 2014, when it was raised to ₹15,000. Over the next twelve years rising state minimum wages pushed baseline earnings to or above ₹15,000, which quietly left new workers outside automatic coverage — the reason the ceiling had to move again.
10. Moody’s Ratings raised its FY27 real GDP growth forecast for India to:
A. 6.4 per cent
B. 6.6 per cent
C. 6.7 per cent
D. 7.0 per cent
E. 7.8 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: Up from 6 per cent, and the highest among major agencies: RBI 6.7, ADB 6.6, S&P 6.6, Goldman Sachs 6.5, Fitch 6.4. The 7.8 per cent in the options is Q1 FY27 actual GDP growth. Moody’s also put FY27 inflation at 4.8 per cent against 2.4 per cent in FY26.
11. India’s sovereign rating from Moody’s currently stands at:
A. Baa1, stable
B. Baa2, stable
C. Baa3, stable
D. Ba1, positive
E. A3, stable
View Answer
Explanation: Baa3 is Moody’s lowest investment grade. The equivalents are Fitch BBB− and Morningstar DBRS BBB, all stable, while S&P upgraded India to BBB last year — one notch above Fitch and Moody’s. The constraints cited are high general government debt, weak debt affordability (the share of revenue eaten by interest payments) and low per capita income.
12. India’s real GDP grew at what rate year-on-year in the first six months of 2026?
A. 6.7 per cent
B. 7.3 per cent
C. 7.8 per cent
D. 8.2 per cent
E. 8.6 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: Against 7.3 per cent in 2025 — both numbers are in the options, so read the period carefully. The drivers were strong private consumption, robust gross fixed capital formation and sustained services activity, with continued public infrastructure spending and an expected revival in private investment.
13. SEMICON India 2026 was held under which theme?
A. “Chips for Viksit Bharat”
B. “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem”
C. “Design in India, Make for the World”
D. “Semiconductors for a Self-Reliant India”
E. “From Fab to Future”
View Answer
Explanation: The 5th edition was inaugurated by the Prime Minister at Yashobhoomi, the India International Convention & Expo Centre in New Delhi, coinciding with Vishwakarma Diwas. It is jointly organised by the India Semiconductor Mission, MeitY and SEMI, the global industry association for electronics manufacturing and design.
14. How many wild species are used globally for food, energy, medicine and materials, as per the FAO report?
A. More than 10,000
B. More than 25,000
C. More than 50,000
D. More than 80,000
E. More than 1,00,000
View Answer
Explanation: Of these, at least 10,000 are consumed directly as human food — the number in option A, and the usual trap. In remote forest-dependent communities wild forest foods supply up to 80 per cent of daily dietary protein and nearly half of total food mass by weight.
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