1. A meeting chaired by the Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister reviewed the Action Plan to strengthen Krishi Vigyan Kendras. Where, and in which year, did India's very first KVK come up?
Answer: E. The pioneering centre opened at Puducherry in 1974 and set the pattern for carrying lab research to the farmer's field. KVKs are district-level farm science centres funded by ICAR and hosted by agricultural universities, ICAR institutes, NGOs and state departments; the review seeks more State participation per the 5th Chief Secretaries' Conference 2025.
2. Through which institutional arrangement are Krishi Vigyan Kendras coordinated at the regional level?
Answer: A. ATARIs are placed between ICAR nationally and the district-level KVKs, overseeing and monitoring the KVKs in their zone. A KVK's remit includes on-farm testing, frontline demonstrations, training for farmers and extension staff, and acting as the district's knowledge and resource centre.
3. About what share of its water can a Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS), promoted under PMMSY, reuse?
Answer: B. A RAS recycles roughly 90-95 per cent of its water by continuously filtering, treating and reusing it in a controlled setting, sharply lowering freshwater use. That makes intensive fish farming workable in dry and landlocked areas, and PMMSY supports it within the Blue Economy drive.
4. Based on the PIB feature on next-generation aquaculture, which statement correctly describes India's place in global fisheries?
Answer: D. India ranks second in overall fish output, with about 8 per cent of the world's production, and first in shrimp, which dominates its seafood exports. Nearly three crore fishers and fish farmers depend on the sector, so aquaculture technology is a livelihood matter as well as an export one.
5. What is the key difference between Biofloc technology and a Recirculatory Aquaculture System?
Answer: B. Biofloc depends on a managed community of microbes that turn fish waste and surplus nutrients into biomass, which fish can also eat, lowering feed cost and water exchange. RAS saves water as well, but through engineered filtration rather than microbes.
6. The Botanical Survey of India recently described Osbeckia ulotricha. To which family does it belong, and in which biosphere reserve was it found?
Answer: D. The plant is in the Melastomataceae family and was found in the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve, in shola grasslands and montane habitats of Kerala and Tamil Nadu at about 1,200-1,500 metres. Such mosaics are among the rarest habitats of the Western Ghats, so new finds strengthen conservation arguments for the hotspot.
7. The IMF's latest report on Strong, Sustainable, Balanced and Inclusive Growth (SSBIG) estimates medium-term G20 growth at roughly what rate?
Answer: E. The estimate is about 3 per cent, near the lowest since the SSBIG framework started in 2009. The IMF blames regulatory drag: around half of advanced G20 economies and almost three-fourths of emerging members have restrictive labour, product or consumer-market rules that discourage private investment.
8. The 5th e-FAST India Summit 2026 saw the launch of the Platform for Aggregating Clean Transport (PACT). A Member of which body launched it, and what does it chiefly do?
Answer: C. NITI Aayog Member Rajiv Gauba launched PACT, which pools freight demand to open up deployment opportunities for zero-emission trucks; individual shippers seldom have enough volume to justify electric fleets or corridor charging. The summit also introduced a ZET Marketplace connecting manufacturers, financiers, charging operators and freight stakeholders.
9. The FATF's report on underground banking found new technologies in use within hawala-type networks in what share of surveyed jurisdictions, leading to the label "digital hawala"?
Answer: B. Nearly 70 per cent of jurisdictions reported this. The FATF, the global standard-setter against money laundering and terror financing, warns that combining virtual assets with traditional hawala settlement speeds up transfers and makes tracing harder, and it urges better investigation, supervision and international cooperation.
10. The RBI cleared LIC to acquire up to what percentage of the paid-up capital or voting rights of ICICI Bank, and within what time must it be done?
Answer: D. LIC may go up to 9.99 per cent within one year of September 4, 2026. It held about 4.35 per cent as of Q1 FY27, so the nod allows the stake to roughly double; approval is required because holding 5 per cent or more in a private bank crosses the major-shareholding line, and it lapses after the time limit.
11. Ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, a 'POWER' framework was proposed for Greater BRICS. What does its pillar 'O - Openness' mainly address?
Answer: A. Openness covers defending WTO rules and MFN treatment while resisting protectionist tariff barriers. The five pillars are Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine and Responsibility, and the plan spans India's 2026 chairship and China's 2027 presidency; Greater BRICS holds nearly half of humanity and about 30 per cent of global GDP.
12. Which body administers India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), now accepted by the UK for CBAM pricing relief, and under which law?
Answer: C. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power runs it under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022. Notified in 2023 as the successor to PAT, it has a compliance mechanism for obligated entities and a voluntary offset mechanism; UK recognition means carbon already priced in India is deducted from CBAM liability, so exporters avoid paying twice.
13. A UN General Assembly resolution named which date as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage?
Answer: A. The date is 27 November, with the first observance in 2026. India was among 70 co-sponsors and the resolution passed without a vote, showing broad consensus, and member states are urged to adopt multisectoral national strategies, action plans, laws and policies.
14. Through which network does WhatsApp's newly introduced native Bill Payments service in India run, and how many billers does it include?
Answer: C. It runs on Bharat Connect, the renamed Bharat Bill Payment System under NPCI, with 22,722 billers in 30 categories. People can pay electricity, gas, water, FASTag, insurance, credit-card and loan bills through UPI, debit or credit cards, taking recurring payments deeper into semi-urban and rural users.
15. Where was the first Krishi Vigyan Kendra set up?
Answer: B. The first KVK was established at Puducherry in 1974.