1. India reached 99th in the 2025 SDG Index, its highest ever. Which SDG is still India's weakest?
Answer: C. Even with gains in infrastructure and services, India trails on health measures such as maternal and under-5 mortality, life expectancy and affordability of care.
2. The 2024 NSS Consumption Survey suggests close to half of rural households cannot afford how many thalis a day?
Answer: A. Roughly half of rural and a fifth of urban India cannot manage two basic thalis daily, pointing to affordability gaps even though the PDS works well for cereals.
3. According to the WMO 'State of Global Water Resources Report 2024', how many people lack adequate water for at least a month each year?
Answer: D. About 3.6 billion people face water shortage every year, a number projected to climb to 5 billion by 2050 as climate and water stress worsen.
4. The WMO reported above-normal river discharge in 2024 for which region?
Answer: B. Wetter-than-usual conditions across Northern India, Pakistan and Southern Russia gave higher-than-average flows in the Ganges, Godavari and Indus basins.
5. Which transaction does RBI's new 2025 Payment Aggregator framework disallow unless the landlord is a registered merchant?
Answer: E. Rent payments were being abused as disguised person-to-person transfers, so RBI demanded complete merchant KYC and shut out landlords lacking merchant status.
6. Which SEBI regulation targets stock price rigging and insider trading, as invoked in the Adani–Hindenburg matter?
Answer: C. The Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Regulations, 2003 ban price rigging, insider trading and misleading disclosures.
7. What does EPFO's newly introduced 'Passbook Lite' mainly offer?
Answer: A. Passbook Lite gives members a simple snapshot of PF activity, and the detailed graphical passbook continues to exist separately.
8. In what capacity did PhonePe recently get RBI authorisation?
Answer: D. The RBI approval allows PhonePe to onboard merchants directly, SMEs in particular, strengthening its place in India's digital payments sector.
9. How does the RBI's Variable Rate Repo (VRR) differ from a fixed-rate repo?
Answer: B. In contrast to fixed repo operations, VRR lets banks borrow at competitive, market-driven rates, which helps RBI calibrate liquidity.
10. By December 2025, how much liquidity is RBI's staged CRR reduction expected to release into banks?
Answer: E. Four tranches of 25 bps each in the CRR cut will put nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore into the banking system to keep liquidity sufficient by year-end.
11. The geothermal policy aligns with which national climate goal?
Answer: C. It aligns with India's commitment to reach Net Zero by 2070.
12. India is ranked first among which income group in GII 2025?
Answer: D. India tops the lower-middle-income group and Central and Southern Asia.
13. What was India's rank in the SDG Index in June 2025?
Answer: B. India ranked 99th of 167 countries, its best ever.
14. Which metric uses a standard South Asian meal to gauge primary food consumption?
Answer: A. The notes name the Thali Index as the metric.
15. Which organisation released the report on the status of global water resources in 2024?