Current Affairs Quiz 30 September 2026

Pair 1 is correct — MoSPI released the sub-sectoral trial Index of Services Production for July 2026, covering 19 services sub-sectors with base year 2024–25, on an experimental basis. Pair 2 is incorrect — the WPI is actually compiled by the Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT, not the NSO; the NSO instead compiles the CPI (Rural, Urban, Combined) and the IIP. Pair 3 is correct, since the Index of Eight Core Industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — is also released by the OEA, DPIIT. Pair 4 is correct too, as CPI-IW is compiled by the Labour Bureau and used to revise dearness allowance.

Statement 1 is correct — CAQM was set up by Ordinance in October 2020 and then under the CAQM in NCR and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, replacing the EPCA, which had been notified under the Environment Protection Act on the Supreme Court's directions in the M.C. Mehta case. Statement 2 is correct too, since GRAP Stage III does cover the 'Severe' range of 401–450, with Stage I at 201–300, Stage II at 301–400, and Stage IV above 450. Statement 3 is incorrect — the National AQI actually uses eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO₂, SO₂, CO, O₃, NH₃ and Pb), not six; the number six instead refers to its number of categories, from 'Good' to 'Severe'.

Statement 1 is incorrect — the operating agency is actually the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, not FRI Dehradun, which instead functions under ICFRE for forestry research. Statement 2 is correct, since certificates rest on independent audits by NABCB-accredited certification bodies (NABCB being under the QCI), rather than self-declaration. Statement 3 is correct too — the scheme, launched by MoEFCC in December 2023, does assess forest management certification against the Indian Forest Management Standard within the National Working Plan Code, 2023.

Option (d) is correct — Chain of Custody (CoC) certification tracks certified material through processors, traders and manufacturers, so that the final product can carry a certified claim. Option (a) instead describes Forest Management (FM) certification, option (b) is a question of land tenure, and option (c) falls under carbon-market verification rather than forest certification. IFWCS offers three certificate types — Forest Management, Trees Outside Forests Management and Chain of Custody — mirroring global systems such as FSC (1993) and PEFC (1999).

Statement-I is incorrect — the Constitution does NOT mention privacy expressly; the right was instead read into Article 21 and the freedoms of Part III through judicial interpretation. Statement-II is correct — on 24 August 2017, a unanimous nine-judge Bench recognised privacy as a fundamental right, overruling M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962) to that extent and laying down the test of legality, legitimate aim and proportionality.

Statement 1 is correct — Resolution A/RES/76/262 (April 2022) requires the GA President to convene a meeting within ten working days of a veto, giving the vetoing member(s) precedence on the speakers' list. Statement 2 is correct, since Resolution 377(V) of 1950 lets the GA recommend collective measures when the Council is deadlocked. Statement 3 is incorrect — the Council has actually been enlarged only once, from 11 to 15 members, effective 1965; any further change needs an Article 108 amendment ratified by all P5 members. Statement 4 is correct too, since under Article 19 such a member loses its vote in the GA unless the Assembly accepts that non-payment is due to conditions beyond its control.

Statement 1 is incorrect — Article 35A was actually added by the Constitution (Application to J&K) Order, 1954, a Presidential Order under Article 370(1), not by a Parliamentary amendment under Article 368. Statement 2 is correct, since J&K's own Constitution was adopted on 17 November 1956 and came into force on 26 January 1957, after which the State's Constituent Assembly dissolved. Statement 3 is correct too — in 2019 Article 367 was used to read 'Constituent Assembly' as 'Legislative Assembly', and in In Re: Article 370 (2023) the Supreme Court held that the power under Article 370(3) survived the Assembly's dissolution, upholding the abrogation.

Statement 1 is incorrect — the NPPA (1997) is actually under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, and fixes and revises prices, whereas CDSCO, headed by the DCGI, regulates drug approval and quality under the Health Ministry. Statement 2 is correct — the ceiling price equals the simple average of all brands with at least 1% market share plus a 16% retailer margin, issued under the DPCO through Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, for drugs listed in the NLEM (384 in NLEM 2022).

Statement 1 is correct — Article 53(2) defines an enemy state as one that was an enemy of any signatory during World War II, and Articles 77 (trusteeship of detached territories) and 107 (wartime actions) also refer to such states. Statement 2 is incorrect — GA Resolution 50/52 (1995) and the 2005 World Summit Outcome only called for deletion, but no amendment was ever ratified; Japan renewed the demand at the 81st UNGA, while China objected, showing that intention to delete is not the same as an actual completed amendment.

Statement 1 is correct — drought is a slow-onset disaster, and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare issues the Manual for Drought Management (2016, updated 2020), with States declaring drought. Statement 2 is correct too, since a deficiency of 26–50% is 'moderate' and above 50% is 'severe'. Statement 3 is incorrect — SDRF contributions are actually shared 75:25 (Centre:State) for general category States, and 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States, not equally — Maharashtra has declared drought in 265 of 358 talukas, and Karnataka in 177 of 240 taluks.

Statement 1 is correct — the ICRW was signed on 2 December 1946; the IWC has 89 members, India joined in 1981, and IWC-70 is currently under way in Hobart. Statement 2 is incorrect — dugongs actually belong to the order Sirenia, not Cetacea; they are herbivores whose closest living relatives are elephants, and India's first Dugong Conservation Reserve is in Palk Bay (2022). Statement 3 is correct too, since the Arabian Sea humpback is a genetically isolated, non-migratory population listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

Pair 1 is correct — set up in 2004 (report 2005), the Jeevan Reddy Committee recommended repealing AFSPA and moving necessary provisions into the UAPA, later endorsed by the Second ARC. Pair 2 is correct, since the Supreme Court-appointed Santosh Hegde Commission (2013) examined six alleged encounter killings in Manipur and found them not genuine. Pair 3 is incorrect — the Verma Committee (2012–13) actually recommended amendments to criminal law on sexual offences, leading to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013; electoral funding was instead examined by the Indrajit Gupta Committee (1998). Pair 4 is correct too, as the Srikrishna Committee (2017–18) produced the draft data protection Bill that led to the DPDP Act, 2023.

Statement 1 is correct — under the RBI circular of July 2017, reporting an unauthorised transaction caused by a third-party breach within three working days means zero liability, while reporting within 4–7 working days means limited liability. Statement 2 is incorrect — 'police' and 'public order' are actually in the State List (Entries 1 and 2, List II), not the Union List; the Centre only supports States through the I4C (MHA, 2020), the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and the 1930 helpline — the NCRB recorded 1,01,928 cybercrime cases in 2024, up 17.9%.

Statement-I is correct — many El Niño years have had deficient monsoons, but not all; in 1997 a strong El Niño coincided with a near-normal monsoon because of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole. Statement-II is correct and directly explains Statement-I — warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific shifts the ascending limb of the Walker circulation eastward, and the resulting sinking air over the Indian region suppresses convection and monsoon rainfall, which is exactly the mechanism behind the tendency described in Statement-I.

Statement 1 is incorrect — Article 4(2) provides that such laws are NOT deemed amendments under Article 368; they instead pass by simple majority, as with the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, and any restoration of statehood would likewise need only ordinary legislation. Statement 2 is incorrect too — such a Bill needs the President's recommendation and is referred to the affected State legislature for its views, but Parliament is not bound by those views, as held in Babulal Parate v. State of Bombay (1960); the design is deliberately flexible, reflecting India as an "indestructible Union of destructible States".