Current Affairs Quiz 22 August 2026

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct, while Statement 2 is wrong. A VDVK clusters roughly 15 Self-Help Groups with about 300 tribal members, TRIFED is the apex implementing body disseminating market intelligence and linking VDVKs to e-commerce platforms, and the Van Dhan Yojana, launched on April 14, 2018, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's birth anniversary, forms the foundation of the VDVK model within PMJVM. The actual threshold requires at least 60% of VDVK members, not 50%, to belong to Scheduled Tribe communities, a classic percentage-substitution trap. It helps to anchor the Van Dhan Yojana's 14 April 2018 launch date firmly, since Ambedkar Jayanti is a recurring date the setter attaches to tribal welfare schemes.

Both A and R are true, and R directly explains A. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 confers legally enforceable rights on forest-dwelling communities over MFP, enabling collection, use, and sale without fear of dispossession, and Section 3(1)(c) of the Act specifically recognises community forest rights, including rights over MFP, as the precise legal mechanism creating this right. Since the Reason identifies the exact statutory source of the right described in the Assertion, rather than merely being true and unrelated, option (a) is correct. It is worth remembering Section 3(1)(c) on MFP community rights alongside Section 3(1)(i) on habitat rights for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups as the two most frequently tested FRA provisions.

Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correctly matched, while Pair 4 is wrong. The India-UAE CEPA, implemented in May 2022, covers 97% of UAE tariff lines and 99% of Indian exports, the India-Australia ECTA offers 100% duty-free access across all Australian tariff lines for Indian exports, and the India-EFTA TEPA, signed in March 2024, does permit self-declaration of origin by exporters. The India-Oman CEPA actually covers 98%, not 92.2%, of Oman's tariff lines, since the 92.2% figure belongs to the EFTA TEPA instead, a classic figure-swap trap. A useful anchor set to memorise together: UAE 97%, Australia 100%, EFTA 92.2%, Oman 98%, UK roughly 99%, and EU 97%.

Both statements are correct. The MoA framework explicitly covers Maritime Domain Awareness, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and protection of Sea Lines of Communication between the Indian Navy and the JMSDF, and the UNICORN shipborne integrated communications antenna system is described in the India-Japan joint statement as the first defence equipment transfer project between the two countries, a landmark in their defence-industrial cooperation. When both statements in such a pair check out as straightforwardly correct and factual, it is worth not over-thinking the choice and simply selecting "both."

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, while Statement 3 inverts the actual constitutional position. The CWDT was constituted in 1990 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the CWMA was set up by the Centre in June 2018 to implement the Supreme Court's 2018 order, and the Mettur Dam, or Stanley Reservoir, is indeed located in Salem district, Tamil Nadu. Article 262 actually bars the Supreme Court and all other courts from exercising original jurisdiction over inter-State water disputes, empowering Parliament instead to provide by law for their adjudication, which it did through the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. It is worth contrasting Article 262, which excludes the Supreme Court from water disputes, with Article 131, which confers original jurisdiction on the Supreme Court for other kinds of inter-State disputes.

The 500 MWe PFBR at Kalpakkam, operated by BHAVINI (Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited), is a Stage-II Fast Breeder Reactor that uses plutonium produced by Stage-I PHWRs as fuel, breeds additional fissile material, and carries a thorium blanket that begins converting thorium into uranium-233, forming the bridge to Stage III; it achieved criticality in 2024. Option A instead describes Stage-I PHWRs, which use natural uranium and heavy water, while option C wrongly labels the PFBR as Stage-III, a role that belongs to Advanced Heavy Water Reactors running the thorium-U233 cycle, and option D is incorrect since the PFBR is not a Small Modular Reactor. It helps to remember that BHAVINI operates the PFBR while NPCIL operates all Stage-I PHWRs, since this institutional split is itself a common trap.

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, while Statement 3 misstates the liability cap. The SHANTI Act's draft rules address private participation, captive generation, licensing, safety oversight, and nuclear liability, the 700 MWe PHWR has a 90-95% indigenous supply-chain localisation that is the key argument for its selection by private entrants like NTPC, Adani, and Jindal Steel, and PHWRs use natural uranium as fuel with heavy water as both moderator and coolant, unlike PWRs which use light water and enriched uranium. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 actually caps operator liability at ₹1,500 crore, not ₹500 crore, a figure that has drawn criticism from foreign reactor vendors like Westinghouse as too low to justify project risk. It is worth fixing the three-way distinction: PHWR uses natural uranium and heavy water, PWR uses enriched uranium and light water, and SMRs fall below 300 MWe.

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct, while Statement 2 is wrong. The Bangalore Water Supply judgment specifically held that the absence of a profit motive is irrelevant, the most widely cited principle of the triple test, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 explicitly excludes charitable and philanthropic institutions, domestic services, and sovereign government functions from its definition of industry, and all five opinions on the nine-judge bench agreed that pending IDA cases will continue to be governed by the 1978 triple test, declining to retrospectively replace it. The Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982 was passed by Parliament but was never notified and therefore never acquired legal effect, remaining a dead letter to this day. It is worth remembering "passed but never notified" as a legal nullity — this obscure procedural detail is a rare instance of parliamentary inaction being directly tested.

Assertion A is true — PN3 of April 2020 was indeed primarily aimed at Chinese investment, intended to prevent opportunistic takeovers during COVID-19 and reinforced after the June 2020 Galwan Valley clash. Reason R is false, since under the 2026 revised framework, entities with up to 10% non-controlling beneficial ownership from land-bordering countries may invest through the automatic route, not the government approval route, subject to Indian majority ownership being maintained at all times — the government approval route was exactly what PN3 originally mandated, and the 2026 revision's entire point is to move eligible investors from that route to the automatic route. It is worth remembering that PN3 meant the government approval route as a restriction, while the 2026 revision shifts eligible land-border-linked investors with 10% or less non-controlling ownership onto the automatic route.

Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct, while Statement 4 contains two errors. The Cauvery originates at Talakaveri, a sacred spring in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu district, Karnataka, its basin spans roughly 81,155 sq km across Karnataka (34,273 sq km), Tamil Nadu (44,016 sq km), Kerala, and Puducherry, and the Kollidam, or Coleroon, is indeed a major distributary flowing roughly parallel to the main channel in the Cauvery delta. The Mettur Dam is actually located in Salem district, not Tiruchi, and its full reservoir level is 120 ft, not 100 ft, with the current level reported in the news around 85 ft. It is worth fixing the complete trio for Mettur Dam: Salem district, 120 ft full level, and June 12 as the customary opening date for the Kuruvai season.

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, while Statement 3 wrongly extends a true fact to another stage. OBCs record the highest national GER at 49%, followed by General at 27%, SCs at 17%, and STs at 10%, Jharkhand records the highest secondary PTR at 43, followed by Uttar Pradesh, and Chandigarh registers the highest average enrolment per school at 1,194 students, followed by Delhi at 788. Bihar does record the highest preparatory dropout rate at 7.9% and the highest middle-level dropout rate at 9%, but not the highest secondary dropout rate, which is instead recorded by Ladakh at 14.8%, followed by Karnataka. It is worth keeping these stages separate: Bihar leads at the preparatory and middle stages, while Ladakh leads at the secondary stage.

Both statements are correct. The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 were framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and classify industrial, commercial, residential and silence zones with different permissible day and night noise limits, and the Supreme Court in Noise Pollution (V) v. Union of India (2005) held that people have a right under Article 21 to be protected from noise pollution, making noise regulation a fundamental rights issue rather than merely a statutory matter. It is worth remembering that Article 21 has been judicially extended by the Supreme Court to cover the right to a clean environment, including protection from noise, alongside the right to health and the right to livelihood.

The India-New Zealand FTA, signed in April 2026, contains a dedicated pathway for up to 5,000 skilled Indians to stay and work for up to three years, covering fields including IT, engineering, healthcare, education, construction, AYUSH, yoga, culinary arts, and music, making it one of the most specific and unique mobility provisions among India's FTAs. The UAE CEPA covers around 111 services sub-sectors but has no specific numerical skilled-worker pathway, the UK CETA has broad mobility provisions across IT, healthcare, finance, and education but no defined 5,000-person quota, and the EFTA TEPA includes mutual recognition agreements in nursing, chartered accountancy, and architecture but no dedicated worker pathway of this kind. It helps to attach one unique feature to each agreement: New Zealand for the 5,000-person mobility pathway, UK CETA for its Double Contribution Convention, and EFTA TEPA for its professional MRAs.

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct, while Statement 2 swaps two dates. India and Japan elevated their relationship to a Special Strategic and Global Partnership in 2014, the ACSA, signed in 2020, enables reciprocal logistics support covering fuel, rations, ammunition, and spare parts without requiring financial settlement for each transaction, and both countries are founding members of the Quad alongside the US and Australia, which was revived at the Leaders' Summit level in 2021. The GSOMIA between India and Japan was actually signed in 2015, not 2019, since 2019 is instead the year the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministers' Dialogue was launched — a swap between two credible milestone years. A useful chronology to remember: 2014 for the Special Strategic and Global Partnership, 2015 for GSOMIA, 2019 for the 2+2 Dialogue, and 2020 for ACSA.

Statements 2, 3 and 4 are correct, while Statement 1 misattributes a proposal that was never adopted. The IR Code, 2020 defines industry as systematic activity involving employer-worker cooperation for producing or supplying goods and services, regardless of capital or profit motive, and explicitly excludes charitable and philanthropic institutions, domestic services, and sovereign government functions, while the nine-judge bench unanimously declined to retrospectively replace the 1978 test for pending IDA cases. The 1978 Bangalore Water Supply triple test actually held the opposite of Statement 1 — that an undertaking does not need to be carried on along commercial lines to qualify as an industry, and it was CJI Kant's 2026 opinion that merely proposed introducing a "discernible commercial character" requirement, a proposal that was not adopted as the governing test. It is worth fixing this distinction sharply: the 1978 test needs no commercial character, while CJI Kant's 2026 calibration proposing one was never adopted.