1. Which company built the 'e200X (PT-01)', billed as India's first full-scale eVTOL (electric air taxi) prototype?
Answer: B. The Chennai-based deep-tech startup, incubated at IIT Madras and founded in 2019 by Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, unveiled it. An eVTOL is a zero-emission battery aircraft that rises vertically like a helicopter and then flies forward on wings; PT-01 combines airframe, battery, landing gear, propulsion and avionics and is moving from simulation to physical ground testing.
2. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, brought by Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha, adds legal protection for which national symbol?
Answer: A. Introduced on 20 July 2026, the opening day of the Monsoon Session, it fixes a gap since the 1971 Act had no penalty for Vande Mataram. The new Section 3 punishes deliberately stopping its singing or disrupting a gathering singing it with up to 3 years' jail, a fine or both, in the song's 150th anniversary year (composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, published in Anandamath in 1882).
3. The RBI's draft Foreign Exchange Management (Foreign Investment) Rules, 2026 would replace which current rules?
Answer: D. The draft is open for comments until 31 August 2026 and swaps the NDI Rules for a principle-based framework announced in Budget 2026-27. It separates FEMA's procedural parts from FDI Policy conditions, treats all investors alike, reduces compliance and lays down terms for Indian companies listing shares directly abroad. Note that DPIIT, not the RBI, frames FDI policy, and the usual FDI-FPI dividing line is a 10% stake.
4. Under PMKSY, which component does the Department of Land Resources of the Ministry of Rural Development implement?
Answer: E. PMKSY began on 1 July 2015 as a Centrally Sponsored Core Scheme. AIBP and HKKP sit with Jal Shakti, PDMC with Agriculture (now mostly via RKVY), and WDC, which absorbed IWMP, with Land Resources; the scheme has no specific provision for private investment, and NABARD runs the Long Term Irrigation Fund for AIBP projects.
5. What is the Centre-State funding ratio under PMKSY for North-Eastern and Hilly States?
Answer: C. General States get 75:25 sharing. For 2021-22 to 2025-26 the scheme carries about ₹93,068 crore, with ₹37,454 crore as central help, and a 90% grant supports two National Projects, Renukaji in HP and Lakhwar in Uttarakhand, vital to Delhi's water and Yamuna revival. A new AIBP sub-scheme, M-CADWM (₹1,600 crore, 2025-26), delivers water by pressurised pipes and micro-irrigation.
6. According to the PIB feature 'White Gold: India's Cotton Story', what is India's place in global cotton?
Answer: D. India's 114.84 lakh ha is around 38% of world area, and it supplies roughly 19-23% of global fibre. It is the only country growing all four recognised cotton species, with about 6 million farmers directly (40-50 million across the chain) and 62% of cultivation rain-fed; zones are Northern, Central (largest) and Southern.
7. The Mission for Cotton Productivity follows the '5F' vision. What does 5F stand for?
Answer: B. The Agriculture and Textiles ministries implement it jointly with 10 ICAR institutes. Related efforts include the Kapas Kisan App (41 lakh-plus farmers, Aadhaar-linked MSP payments), Kasturi Cotton Bharat (₹30 crore branding and traceability via CCI and TEXPROCIL), MSP aiming at 50% over cost for medium/long staple kapas, and HDPS with blockchain traceability.
8. What output-based incentive does the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) give farmers practising natural farming?
Answer: A. NMNF began in November 2024 as its own centrally sponsored scheme growing out of BPKP under PKVY. The money covers practising, training, cattle upkeep, preparing inputs, or buying from Bio-input Resource Centres, backed by two Krishi Sakhis/CRPs in each cluster, PGS-India certification handled by NCONF Ghaziabad and geo-tagged tracking on the NMNF portal.
9. In NITI Aayog's assessment of natural farming, what share of adopting farmers reported higher crop productivity and better soil health?
Answer: C. About 90.1% also said input costs fell. ICAR's AINP on Natural Farming, running since 2020-21 after AINP-Organic Farming, spans 20 centres in 16 states and 8 cropping systems, and Himalayan trials saw soil organic carbon rise from about 0.90% to 1.15% in 2-3 years with richer microbial diversity.
10. 'Angen (Invisible)' won Best Debut Film of a Director (Non-Feature) at the 72nd National Film Awards and became the first National Award-winning film in which language?
Answer: E. Directed by Ravi Raj Murmu, the 12-minute short portrays tribal culture and storytelling of Jharkhand. In other news, fertiliser exports from India climbed around 52% from FY24 to FY26, and Amit Shah remembered Batukeshwar Dutt, who threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1929 with Bhagat Singh, on his death anniversary.
11. 'Shabdalok', India's first immersive language museum featuring about 380 Indian languages, was inaugurated where?
Answer: C. Union Home Minister Amit Shah opened it, with digital displays, holograms, AR, VR and interactive exhibits celebrating the country's linguistic diversity.
12. India's first approved dengue vaccine, QDENGA (TAK-003), covers all four serotypes. For which age group is it approved?
Answer: D. The DCGI cleared it on a two-dose schedule, making it the first dengue vaccine available in India.
13. Under the 2020 Foreign Military Sales deal, the US handed over its 21st unit of which helicopter to the Indian Navy?
Answer: E. The MH-60R is a multi-role helicopter that adds punch to the Navy's anti-submarine warfare, maritime surveillance and rescue tasks. Elsewhere, DoLR and the RBI Innovation Hub discussed linking digital land records with the Unified Lending Interface for digital, consent-based farm loans.
14. Which award has NSA Ajit Doval been chosen for, to be presented in Pune on 1 August 2026?
Answer: A. It recognises his work in national security, counter-terrorism and border management.
15. Following Keir Starmer's resignation, who became the 59th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?
Answer: B. The senior Labour figure and former Mayor of Greater Manchester won the party leadership contest and was asked by King Charles III to form the government.
16. Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was chosen Chairman of which regional bloc at its 69th summit in Sierra Leone?
Answer: B. He heads the Economic Community of West African States for one year, with emphasis on regional cooperation and institutional reform.
17. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope found the exoplanet 'Beta Pictoris d', about 63 light-years away. That makes Beta Pictoris only the second known system with what?
Answer: E. The giant planet joins two already imaged there. Separately, Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury, a Collaborative Combat Aircraft meant to fly with F-35s and F-22s, fired a live AIM-120 AMRAAM for the first time for the US Air Force.
18. FIFA announced a record, richest-ever prize pool for the 2026 World Cup. What was the total, and how much did champions Spain get?
Answer: D. Besides Spain's USD 51 million, Argentina received USD 34 million and England USD 30 million out of the USD 871 million total.
19. Pakistan will stage the 14th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games on 23-31 March 2027 in which cities?
Answer: C. It will be Pakistan's third time hosting after 1989 and 2004. In other news, England football great and two-time Ballon d'Or winner Kevin Keegan died at 75.
20. Which authors wrote 'RSS @100: A Century of Service, Unity & Sacrifice', a book released by Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan?
Answer: A. The book traces the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's hundred-year journey and its role in nation-building.
21. Which historic event does International Moon Day on 20 July mark?
Answer: A. The UN observes the day to encourage peaceful space exploration, scientific research and sustainable use of lunar resources.
22. Transition VC's ₹1,500 crore Fund II intends to back about how many startups across a four-year investment period?
Answer: E. The fund will back about 20 engineering-led startups in clean energy, industrial deep-tech and advanced manufacturing. In other items, an AP-UN-Habitat Centre of Excellence on urban affairs is coming up at Amaravati and Uttar Pradesh launched the Kaushal Setu and Kaushal Sarathi skill portals.