Daily Current Affairs Quiz
Daily Quiz — January 12, 2026
Daily Practice
Test Your Knowledge
10 questions based on today’s current affairs & editorials
10 MCQs
Explanations
Statistics
Timed
Choose number of questions
Question 1 of 10
January 12 is observed as National Youth Day in India. What is the significance of this date?
January 12 is Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary — he was born Narendranath Datta on January 12, 1863. The Government of India declared this date as National Youth Day in 1984.
💡 Concept Note
Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy of Practical Vedanta — ‘He who serves the poor serves God’ — and his call for a combination of India’s spiritual heritage with modern organisational efficiency make him a central figure in Indian nationalist thought and UPSC cultural history.
Question 2 of 10
Where did Swami Vivekananda found the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897?
Swami Vivekananda formally founded the Ramakrishna Mission on May 1, 1897 at Belur Math, Howrah (West Bengal), on the banks of the Hooghly river. The physical campus at Belur was established in December 1898, when Vivekananda ceremonially placed the holy relics of Sri Ramakrishna at the site.
Belur Math remains the global headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to this day.
Belur Math remains the global headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to this day.
💡 Concept Note
Belur Math remains the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. The Mission operates over 200 centres across India and 20+ countries abroad, providing education (Ramakrishna Mission schools and colleges), healthcare (hospitals), and disaster relief.
Its motto: ‘Atmano Mokshartham Jagad Hitaya Cha’ (For one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world). Dakshineswar, where Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Vivekananda’s guru) served as a priest, is in North Kolkata — distinct from Belur Math which is across the river in Howrah.
Its motto: ‘Atmano Mokshartham Jagad Hitaya Cha’ (For one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world). Dakshineswar, where Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Vivekananda’s guru) served as a priest, is in North Kolkata — distinct from Belur Math which is across the river in Howrah.
Question 3 of 10
Swami Vivekananda delivered his famous 'Sisters and Brothers of America' speech at which event?
Vivekananda addressed the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago on September 11, 1893, beginning with ‘Sisters and Brothers of America.’ The speech drew a two-minute standing ovation and made him internationally famous.
💡 Concept Note
The Parliament of the World’s Religions (1893) was part of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Vivekananda’s central argument — that Hinduism accepts all religions as valid paths to truth — was a landmark articulation of religious pluralism in the modern era.
Question 4 of 10
Muhammad Yunus, who became Bangladesh's Chief Adviser in August 2024, received the Nobel Peace Prize for which contribution?
Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for efforts to create economic and social development from below through microcredit. Grameen Bank was founded in 1983 and pioneered collateral-free small loans primarily to rural women.
💡 Concept Note
Grameen Bank’s solidarity group lending model provides small loans to groups of 5 borrowers who guarantee each other’s repayment. With over 97% female borrowers and repayment rates above 95%, it demonstrated that the poor are creditworthy.
Yunus also developed the ‘social business’ concept — enterprises that reinvest all profits into their social mission.
Yunus also developed the ‘social business’ concept — enterprises that reinvest all profits into their social mission.
Question 5 of 10
The Teesta River water-sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh has been pending for decades. Which Indian state government's objection blocked the agreement in 2011?
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal objected to the proposed Teesta water-sharing deal in 2011, arguing it would deprive downstream Bengali farmers of adequate water. The treaty was nearly finalised during PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka but was blocked at the last moment.
💡 Concept Note
The Teesta River originates in Sikkim, flows through West Bengal, then enters Bangladesh where it joins the Jamuna. Bangladesh depends on Teesta irrigation for its northern districts during the dry season.
China has offered to fund a Teesta basin management project in Bangladesh, increasing the strategic stakes for India.
China has offered to fund a Teesta basin management project in Bangladesh, increasing the strategic stakes for India.
Question 6 of 10
India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, inaugurated in March 2023, connects which two locations?
The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline connects the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) marketing terminal at Siliguri (West Bengal) to the Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation in Dinajpur district. Inaugurated on March 18, 2023 (jointly by PM Modi and PM Sheikh Hasina), it is 131.5 km long (5 km in India, 126.5 km in Bangladesh) and is the first cross-border petroleum pipeline in South Asia with a capacity of 1 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA).
💡 Concept Note
The pipeline transports High-Speed Diesel (HSD) produced by Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) — based in Assam — to northern Bangladesh, using a marketing terminal at Siliguri as the Indian origination point. This reduces Bangladesh’s dependence on expensive overland road/rail transport and demonstrates India’s energy connectivity diplomacy under the Neighbourhood First Policy.
NRL is a joint venture of the Government of India, Oil India Limited, and the Government of Assam.
NRL is a joint venture of the Government of India, Oil India Limited, and the Government of Assam.
Question 7 of 10
What is the Siliguri Corridor, sometimes called the Chicken's Neck, and why is it strategically significant for India?
The Siliguri Corridor is a narrow strip of land approximately 22–24 km wide between Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, connecting India’s northeastern states to the rest of the country. Its narrowness makes it a critical strategic vulnerability — any disruption here would sever land connectivity to India’s Northeast.
💡 Concept Note
India’s transit corridors through Bangladesh and improved road/rail connectivity in the Northeast (including the Agartala-Akhaura Rail Link opened October 2023) reduce dependence on the Siliguri Corridor. The corridor is also significant in the context of India-China strategic competition, as it lies close to the Doklam plateau.
Question 8 of 10
Petrapole-Benapole land port is described as the largest land port in South Asia. Which countries does it connect?
Petrapole (North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India) and Benapole (Jessore district, Bangladesh) together form the largest integrated land port in South Asia. Petrapole Land Port is managed by Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI).
The port handles the majority of India-Bangladesh road trade — roughly 60% of bilateral trade by value passes through this crossing.
The port handles the majority of India-Bangladesh road trade — roughly 60% of bilateral trade by value passes through this crossing.
💡 Concept Note
India-Bangladesh bilateral trade is approximately $14 billion annually — India exports ~$11 billion and imports ~$2-3 billion. Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner in SAARC. The Petrapole-Benapole port handles textiles, food products, and manufactured goods.
Question 9 of 10
National Youth Policy 2014 defines youth in India as persons in which age group?
India’s National Youth Policy 2014 defines youth as persons aged 15 to 29 years. The policy outlines five priority areas: education, employability, entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and social values.
💡 Concept Note
Different agencies use different age definitions for youth — the UN uses 15-24, the Commonwealth uses 15-29, while some Indian development schemes extend coverage to 35 years. The National Youth Policy 2014’s 15-29 definition is the official UPSC-relevant figure.
Question 10 of 10
Swami Vivekananda's philosophical school is termed Neo-Vedanta. What is its core distinction from traditional Advaita Vedanta?
Vivekananda’s Neo-Vedanta retained Advaita’s core insight (Atman = Brahman) but added Practical Vedanta — the idea that service to fellow humans is worship of the divine. This made social work spiritually mandatory, departing from the purely contemplative tradition.
💡 Concept Note
Vivekananda’s Practical Vedanta influenced figures from Mahatma Gandhi to modern social entrepreneurs. His view — ‘Serve man as God, daridra narayana’ (God in the form of the poor) — became the philosophical basis for the Ramakrishna Mission’s hospitals, schools, and disaster relief work.
–
/ 10
Performance
✓
Correct
0
✗
Incorrect
0
%
Accuracy
0%
⏱
Time Taken
–
Question-wise Result