1. A DNA-based indexing system for which species was cleared at the 91st meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) at CASFOS Coimbatore?
Answer: D. At the 9 July 2026 meeting chaired by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, the panel approved the Rhino DNA Index System (RhoDIS), a forensic database of individual rhinos' genetic fingerprints, and also reviewed 118 infrastructure and defence proposals.
2. What is the IUCN conservation status of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis)?
Answer: B. The species is Vulnerable per IUCN, in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and in CITES Appendix I. It is Assam's State Animal, with about 70% of the roughly 4,000 worldwide living at Kaziranga, up from around 200 in the early 1900s; World Rhino Day falls on 22 September.
3. Which agencies jointly carried out ISRO's IMAT-05 (Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test-5) for Gaganyaan?
Answer: E. On 7 July 2026 at the ADRDE drop zone in Sheopur, MP, an IAF IL-76 released a dummy mass standing in for the crew module, qualifying the Main Parachute for peak loads on the uncrewed G1 flight. ADRDE, the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, is a DRDO lab in Agra, UP.
4. Which of these was not one of the three Gaganyaan Crew Module qualification tests ISRO recently finished?
Answer: B. The completed tests covered CMUS, which makes the module self-right after splashdown, umbilical separation between Crew and Service Modules, and structural behaviour during apex cover separation. Gaganyaan plans to carry astronauts to roughly 400 km orbit for about 3 days, with sea splashdown and Navy recovery.
5. How many free units of electricity per month can households get under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana?
Answer: C. MNRE started the scheme in February 2024 with a ₹75,021 crore outlay, running to March 2027, aiming at 1 crore households. Over 36.3 lakh rooftop systems now serve 44 lakh-plus households, led by Tier-II/III cities, and the Utility-Led Aggregation model targets 30 lakh low-income homes.
6. Copenhagen stayed No. 1 in the EIU Global Liveability Index 2026 for a second straight year. In which three categories did it score a perfect 100?
Answer: A. Delhi was India's best at 120th with 48.1, and the global average liveability score stayed at 76.1. The bottom five were Damascus (173), Tripoli (172), Dhaka (171), Karachi (170) and Algiers (169), while Western Europe stayed the most liveable region.
7. The government wants to link GeM with TReDS so MSMEs can go from procurement to invoice financing. On what date was GeM launched?
Answer: E. GeM is the national public procurement portal under the Commerce and Industry Ministry, with Ajay Bhadoo as CEO. The Public Procurement Policy requires CPSEs to buy at least 25% from MSMEs, with 4% for SC/ST-owned and 3% for women-owned; the integration is driven by the MSME and Commerce Ministries, not SEBI.
8. Which statement about TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System) is incorrect?
Answer: A. Financing on TReDS is without recourse to the seller, so a buyer default does not fall on the MSME. Launched in 2017 under a December 2014 RBI framework, it has financiers bid for uploaded invoices at about 7-11% APR with payment in 24-48 hours, and from 30 June 2026 all CPSEs must pay MSME invoices through it.
9. MoSPI's 'Review of Crop Statistics System' report says what share of India's village maps are more than 20 years old?
Answer: B. West Bengal and Puducherry were at 100%, Odisha at 99% and Uttarakhand at 98%, while Gujarat was best at 5%. The report also noted Girdawari delays (only 33-48% of sample villages finished on time) and that about 40% of Crop Cutting Experiments in Jharkhand and UP used untrained staff, out of roughly 1.2 million CCEs in 2023-24.
10. The MoSPI crop statistics report highlighted 'Girdawari'. What is it?
Answer: C. The Village Revenue Officer or Patwari conducts it to gather crop acreage data for agricultural statistics. Crop Cutting Experiments are field trials for estimating yield used in production figures, insurance and policy, and CACP under the Agriculture Ministry relies on such data when recommending MSPs.
11. Where did Union Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurate the Centre of Excellence on Human-Wildlife Conflict?
Answer: D. Located in Tamil Nadu, the CoE is a national hub for research, policy support and scientific handling of such conflicts. The National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal and the publication 'Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India' were also released.
12. Where will ICMR set up India's first Centre for High Altitude Medicine and Public Health Research?
Answer: B. The centre will deal with high-altitude medicine, tribal health, disaster preparedness, climate-sensitive diseases and digital healthcare for remote areas. In a separate item, QCI and NSIC signed an MoU to raise MSME competitiveness via ZED Certification and ONDC integration.
13. India and Australia launched 'PACTS' during PM Modi's 8-10 July 2026 visit. What does it stand for?
Answer: A. The Australia-India partnership aims to strengthen cyber security, supply chain resilience, digital infrastructure and cooperation on critical technologies across the Indo-Pacific.
14. Before its MPC meeting, the RBI began three countrywide surveys. Which of these is not among them?
Answer: C. The launched surveys were IESH, RCCS and UCCS, which collect household views on inflation, jobs, income and spending to inform monetary policy decisions.
15. How much financing did the World Bank approve for the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana?
Answer: D. The money is meant to speed up rooftop solar installation, strengthen domestic manufacturing, draw in private investment and help create about 1.7 million renewable energy jobs.
16. What ownership split was approved for the Dixon Technologies-Vivo Mobile India joint venture making smartphones?
Answer: C. Dixon gets the majority 51% and Vivo Mobile India 49% in the government-cleared venture, which supports electronics manufacturing under Make in India.
17. Which BharatNet-powered initiative of the Department of Telecommunications won the WSIS Prize 2026 under Action Line C6?
Answer: E. Samriddh Gram uses BharatNet to deliver health, education, banking and livelihood services via digital village centres, advancing inclusive rural development.
18. SBI sold 1.42% of SBI Funds Management Ltd for ₹1,655 crore in a pre-IPO placement. How big is the planned IPO?
Answer: D. The placement precedes the company's proposed ₹11,700 crore IPO. Separately, AU Small Finance Bank and Zaggle introduced a co-branded retail credit card on Visa and RuPay with UPI payments and Zagg Coins cashback.
19. Which reusable rocket booster did China recover under control for the first time after an orbital mission?
Answer: E. The successful recovery after an orbital launch is China's first controlled booster recovery, advancing its reusable space technology and efforts to lower launch costs.
20. Sourav Ganguly was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame at the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh. He is which Indian to get the honour?
Answer: A. The former India captain was honoured for his outstanding contribution to international cricket and is the twelfth Indian in the Hall of Fame.
21. National Fish Farmers' Day on 10 July recalls which landmark event of 10 July 1957?
Answer: C. The day marks that breakthrough in India's fisheries sector and also pays tribute to fish farmers and aquaculture professionals.