1. Under the Union Budget 2026-27 drive for high-productivity crop diversification, what share of the crop sub-sector's gross value output comes from horticulture, and how much horticulture was produced in 2024-25?
Answer: E. Horticulture contributes 37 per cent, with 370.74 million tonnes produced, made up of vegetables at 217.80 mt, fruits at 117.65 mt and other categories at 35.29 mt. It anchors the diversification case because it earns more gross value added per unit of land and uses water better than the paddy-wheat cycle; decadal agricultural growth is 4.45 per cent.
2. Which statement about India's horticulture standing is right?
Answer: C. India is second worldwide in fruits and vegetables and first in onions and shallots, holding a 22.42 per cent share of the latter, and horticulture has been ahead of foodgrains since 2012-13. That long lead is why schemes like MIDH, the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, carry heavy policy weight.
3. Which set of leading states is correct for coconut in India?
Answer: B. Kerala has the largest area, Tamil Nadu the highest production and Andhra Pradesh the highest yield, because Kerala's ageing palms pull its yield down. National output is 13.97 mt from 2.19 million hectares at 6.36 tonnes per hectare, placing India second in production with 22.44 per cent and third in area, with the Coconut Development Board at Kochi.
4. Agarwood, flagged as a valuable plantation crop, comes from which genus, and under which CITES appendix is it controlled?
Answer: A. It comes from the genus Aquilaria and sits in CITES Appendix II, which covers species not necessarily facing extinction but whose trade needs control. Agarwood gives oud oil, a very costly perfume ingredient, and India has nearly 150 million trees, over 90 per cent in the Northeast, offering agroforestry income there.
5. A second phase of PM-KUSUM is likely to be announced. Which pairing correctly describes the scheme's three components?
Answer: E. Component A is decentralised ground-mounted grid-connected solar plants of up to 2 MW on barren or fallow land, B is standalone solar pumps replacing diesel ones, and C is solarisation of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps. Launched in 2019 under MNRE as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan, it cuts both subsidy burden and diesel use, and C also includes feeder-level solarisation.
6. What does agrivoltaics, to be added as a separate component in PM-KUSUM 2.0, mean?
Answer: A. It means farming and solar power generation on one piece of land, with panels raised or spaced so crops can grow under or between them, which avoids the food-versus-energy land trade-off. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi announced it at the curtain raiser for the 7th Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026; India's solar capacity grew from around 3 GW in 2016 to over 160 GW by mid-2026.
7. The 9th AIMMAF took place in New Delhi on 9 September 2026. India meets which grouping at this ministerial meeting, and on what subjects?
Answer: A. AIMMAF is the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry, concentrating on food security. Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, the Philippines' Secretary of Agriculture, co-chaired the 2026 round with India's representative, and such forums help coordinate sustainable farming and regional food buffers.
8. The 5th National Steering Committee under PM-SETU cleared Rs 735.70 crore for three ITI clusters. Where are they, and what is the total sanctioned investment under PM-SETU so far?
Answer: B. The clusters are at Bhiwadi, Medchal and Meerut, in Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, getting Rs 241 crore, Rs 254.30 crore and Rs 240.40 crore respectively; cumulative sanctions are Rs 2,171 crore across 9 ITI clusters. The hub-and-spoke model upgrades training capacity near existing manufacturing centres instead of spreading funds thin.
9. For FY 2026-27, the MoU between the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Food Corporation of India chiefly sets performance targets in which areas?
Answer: D. The targets concern storage, logistics, quality control and technology adoption, plus capacity building for FCI staff, aiming to trim storage losses and improve supply chains. Grain lost in storage or transit directly inflates the food subsidy bill, so such agreements focus on physical handling rather than prices.
10. The RBI cleared ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company to acquire up to what percentage of paid-up capital or voting rights of which bank?
Answer: B. The approval allows up to 9.95 per cent of CSB Bank. Private-bank stakes of 5 per cent or more need prior RBI consent under major-shareholding norms, and the same batch of approvals gave RNFI Services in-principle authorisation as a Payment Aggregator-Physical while PB Pay, a PB Fintech arm, began operating as a Payment Aggregator.
11. Which regulator granted fintech platform Niyo a Payment Service Provider licence to work from GIFT City?
Answer: C. IFSCA granted it; the International Financial Services Centres Authority is GIFT City's unified regulator, using powers that RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA exercise domestically. The licence gives Niyo a regulated base for cross-border services such as overseas education, employment, global spending and money transfers, mixing digital delivery with physical branches.
12. The Secretary-General of the Asian-Pacific Postal Union was re-elected for 2027-2030. Which description fits this organisation best?
Answer: D. APPU is a Restricted Union of 32 member countries under Article 8 of the UPU Constitution, based in Bangkok. It was set up on 1 April 1962 as the Asian-Oceanic Postal Union, renamed in 1981 at Yogyakarta, and moved its seat from Manila in 2002; the parent UPU dates from the 1874 Treaty of Bern and became a UN specialised agency in 1948.
13. Mount Anak Krakatau, whose eruptions disrupted flights at Jakarta, lies in which strait, and rose from the caldera of which eruption?
Answer: D. It lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra and emerged from the caldera of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, rated VEI-6, standing permanently above sea level from 11 August 1930. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire where the Indo-Australian Plate subducts under the Sunda Plate, its 2018 flank collapse triggered a tsunami with no earthquake warning.
14. What is the estimated cost of the eight railway multitracking projects approved by the Union Cabinet, and how many States do they span?
Answer: C. The projects cost Rs 20,804 crore and span nine States, adding lines and doubling existing ones, including Arakkonam-Renigunta, Whitefield-Bangarapet, Hosur-Omalur and Salem-Karur-Dindigul. More tracks ease congested corridors where passenger and freight trains share paths, and should support freight movement, jobs and regional growth.
15. What was India's horticulture production in 2024-25, according to the notes?
Answer: C. Total horticulture output was 370.74 mt.