1. A comprehensive checklist documented how many flowering plant species in the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve?
A. 1,868
B. 2,104
C. 3,261
D. 3,500
E. 4,012
View Answer
Explanation: Read the options carefully — 1,868 is the height in metres of Agasthyarkoodam, the reserve’s highest point, and 3,500 is its area in square kilometres. The reserve spans the southern extremity of the Western Ghats across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, was notified in 2001 and entered the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the Man and the Biosphere Programme in 2016.
2. Which plant family was found to be the most species-rich in the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve?
A. Rubiaceae
B. Poaceae
C. Orchidaceae
D. Fabaceae
E. Asteraceae
View Answer
Explanation: Fabaceae recorded 349 taxa, ahead of Rubiaceae (194), Poaceae (193) and Orchidaceae (168). Fabaceae is the legume or pea family — beans, peas, lentils, chickpea; Rubiaceae is the coffee family, which also gives quinine; Poaceae is the grass family, covering rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane and bamboo; Orchidaceae is the orchid family.
3. Which was India’s first biosphere reserve?
A. Agasthyamala
B. Nilgiri
C. Gulf of Mannar
D. Seshachalam Hills
E. Nanda Devi
View Answer
Explanation: Notified in 1986. South India’s four biosphere reserves are Nilgiri, Agasthyamala, Gulf of Mannar and Seshachalam Hills. A biosphere reserve conserves biodiversity while permitting sustainable use, which distinguishes it from a national park. Also linked to Agasthyamala is the Kani tribe and the Arogyapacha plant — the basis of India’s first access and benefit-sharing model under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
4. The 9th India International Water Week was convened on which theme?
A. “Water Vision @ 2047”
B. “Climate Resilient Water Management”
C. “Water for All, Water Forever”
D. “Catch the Rain, Where it Falls”
E. “One Water, One Nation”
View Answer
Explanation: Held in New Delhi. Keep the constitutional position ready: water is a State subject under Entry 17 of List II, inter-state rivers fall under Entry 56 of the Union List, and Article 262 governs disputes. The mission list to revise alongside: Namami Gange, Jal Jeevan Mission, PMKSY (Per Drop More Crop), Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Bhujal Yojana, Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain and Mission Amrit Sarovar.
5. Which two veterinary NSAIDs were banned in India in 2023 to protect vultures?
A. Diclofenac and meloxicam
B. Aceclofenac and ketoprofen
C. Nimesulide and paracetamol
D. Flunixin and carprofen
E. Meloxicam and tolfenamic acid
View Answer
Explanation: Diclofenac was banned for veterinary use back in 2006, and meloxicam is the safe alternative — both appear in the options as traps. India’s vulture population fell over 95 per cent in three decades. The news peg is Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, where a 100-km radius now supports an estimated 400 to 450 vultures, the State’s sole surviving wild stronghold.
6. India’s Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres are located at:
A. Pinjore, Rajabhatkhawa and Rani
B. Pinjore, Bharatpur and Ranthambore
C. Hazaribagh, Rajabhatkhawa and Rani
D. Pinjore, Rani and Gir
E. Bharatpur, Rajabhatkhawa and Mudumalai
View Answer
Explanation: Pinjore is in Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa in West Bengal and Rani in Assam. Four Indian species are Critically Endangered — White-rumped, Indian (long-billed), Slender-billed and Red-headed. A Vulture Safe Zone is an area of roughly 100 km radius verified free of toxic NSAIDs, and the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation ran 2020-25.
7. Under Uttar Pradesh’s Mukhyamantri Krishak Samriddhi Yojana, the interest rate on farm loans has been reduced to:
A. 4 per cent
B. 5 per cent
C. 6 per cent
D. 7 per cent
E. 9 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: Down from 11 per cent, on loans through the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Gramya Vikas Bank. The aim is to cut the interest burden and pull farmers towards institutional credit and away from informal lenders. It was launched alongside the Bharat Taxi service in the State.
8. Under Swachh Seva Aankalan, launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, who validates the Gram Panchayat’s self-assessment?
A. The District Collector
B. The Gram Sabha
C. The Block Development Officer
D. A third-party audit agency
E. The State Sanitation Mission
View Answer
Explanation: Launched under Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen 2.0, SSA is an annual digital self-assessment framework in which Gram Panchayats rate ODF sustainability, cleanliness, Solid and Liquid Waste Management and sanitation infrastructure. Validation by the Gram Sabha is the design choice being tested — it puts verification with the village assembly rather than an outside inspector.
9. India’s maiden blue bond is being raised by which entity?
A. Shipping Corporation of India
B. Sagarmala Finance Corporation
C. Cochin Shipyard
D. IREDA
E. National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development
View Answer
Explanation: India’s first maritime lender, planning the issue on 28 September. A blue bond finances sustainable water and marine projects — clean water, recycling, shipping, sustainable fishing, ocean energy and mapping — making it the marine equivalent of a green bond. Two terms that travel with it: the greenshoe option, which lets an issuer retain oversubscription beyond the base size, and “greenium”, the yield discount a thematic bond earns over a conventional one.
10. Which country issued the world’s first sovereign blue bond?
A. Fiji
B. Maldives
C. Seychelles
D. Indonesia
E. Belize
View Answer
Explanation: In 2018, with World Bank support. For comparison, India issued its first Sovereign Green Bonds in January 2023 under the Sovereign Green Bond Framework. SEBI has issued a framework for green debt securities and proposed norms to curb greenwashing. The wider family is green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds.
11. Which agency now has the highest FY27 GDP growth projection for India?
A. ADB — 7.0 per cent
B. Moody’s — 7.0 per cent
C. OECD — 7.1 per cent
D. S&P Global — 7.0 per cent
E. Fitch — 6.9 per cent
View Answer
Explanation: OECD moved from 6.3 to 7.1; ADB from 6.6 to 7.0; S&P from 6.6 to 7.0; Moody’s from 6.0 to 7.0; Fitch from 6.4 to 6.9. All five now sit above the RBI’s own 6.7 per cent projection — that gap is the examinable point. The upgrades follow 7.8 per cent growth in April-June on investment momentum, consumption demand and strong industrial activity, and all four institutions also expect an RBI rate hike later in the year.
12. ‘Operation Twist’ refers to which RBI action?
A. Outright sale of G-Secs to absorb durable liquidity
B. Outright purchase of G-Secs to inject durable liquidity
C. Simultaneous sale of short-term and purchase of long-term securities
D. Simultaneous purchase of short-term and sale of long-term securities
E. Variable Rate Reverse Repo auctions of over 14 days
View Answer
Explanation: It reshapes the yield curve without expanding the balance sheet — option D is the same idea reversed, which is the trap. The news peg is the RBI’s ₹25,000 crore OMO sale, the second tranche of a ₹1 trillion programme: ₹50,000 crore on 17 September, ₹25,000 crore on 21 September and ₹25,000 crore on 28 September. Bidding runs on e-Kuber, the RBI’s core banking solution. Durable liquidity was ₹10.66 trillion on 31 August and near ₹14 trillion by mid-September; WACR is the operating target, with repo at 5.25 per cent and SDF at 5.00 per cent.
13. Jayanti Prasad, who took additional charge as Chairperson of IBBI, belongs to which service?
A. Indian Administrative Service
B. Indian Revenue Service
C. Indian Audit and Accounts Service
D. Indian Corporate Law Service
E. Indian Economic Service
View Answer
Explanation: A 1986-batch IA&AS officer and a Whole-Time Member of IBBI, he took additional charge from 13 September 2026, succeeding Ravi Mital, and will hold it until 20 November 2026. IBBI is the statutory regulator under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
14. ‘Angh’, which won the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival 2026, is the debut feature of which filmmaker?
A. Theja Rio
B. Rajkumar Kandamudi
C. Nancy Nisa Beso
D. Santosh Davakhar
E. Dominic Sangma
View Answer
Explanation: A historical period drama set in the early 1960s in a remote Nagaland village near the Indo-Burma border, co-written with Rajkumar Kandamudi and co-produced with Nancy Nisa Beso. “Angh” is the hereditary village chief among the Konyak, Nagaland’s largest tribe, known for facial tattoos. Santosh Davakhar in the options directed Gondhal, India’s Oscar entry — a different film entirely.
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