Daily Quiz — March 27, 2026

The correct answer is every 5 years, mandated under Article 4.9 of the Paris Agreement, which establishes a ratchet mechanism requiring progressively ambitious climate pledges. India submitted NDC 3.0 covering 2031-2035 on 25 March 2026.
The first Global Stocktake was completed at COP28 in Dubai (December 2023), providing the evidence base for the next NDC round. COP21 in Paris (12 December 2015) adopted the agreement with 196 parties; it entered into force on 4 November 2016 after ratification by 55 countries representing 55% of global emissions.

India NDC 3.0 (approved 25 March 2026) commits to a 47% reduction in emissions intensity of GDP from 2005 levels by 2035. This builds on NDC 2.0 (August 2022) which targeted 45% by 2030.
India had already achieved a 36% reduction by 2020 per its Third Biennial Update Report to UNFCCC. India per-capita emissions stand at approximately 2.4 tonnes CO2, well below the global average of 6.3 tonnes — a fact India consistently cites in climate negotiations to justify its development-first approach.

ISA is headquartered at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) campus in Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana. It was jointly launched by PM Modi and French President Francois Hollande at COP21 Paris on 30 November 2015.
The ISA Framework Agreement entered into force on 6 December 2017. As of 2026, ISA has 125+ signatory countries and 107+ full members.
Ajay Mathur serves as the Director General since March 2021. ISA received UN Observer status in October 2018.

The five Panchamrit goals announced by PM Modi on 1 November 2021 at COP26 Glasgow are: (1) 500 GW non-fossil fuel installed capacity by 2030, (2) 50% energy from renewables by 2030, (3) 1 billion tonnes cumulative emission reduction by 2030, (4) 45% carbon intensity cut from 2005 levels by 2030, (5) net-zero emissions by 2070. These were formally incorporated into India NDC 2.0, submitted to UNFCCC in August 2022.
India non-fossil capacity had already crossed 52.57% of installed capacity by February 2026.

UDAN was conceptualised under the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016, approved by the Union Cabinet on 15 June 2016. The scheme was formally launched on 21 October 2016 by MoCA. The first UDAN flight (Shimla-Delhi) was flagged off by PM Modi on 27 April 2017 operated by Alliance Air.
Over four phases, UDAN operationalised 663 routes across 95 airports. However, only 7-10% of routes proved commercially viable after the Viability Gap Funding subsidy was withdrawn, exposing structural weaknesses in the demand model.

VGF bridges the gap between airline operating costs and revenue earned from government-capped fares (Rs 2,500 for a one-hour flight). Under Modified UDAN, VGF totals Rs 10,043 crore over 10 years, tapering over 5 years per route — extended from the original 3-year period.
The Regional Connectivity Fund, sourced from a Rs 5,000 levy per departing domestic flight and state government contributions (10-20%), finances the VGF. In the original UDAN, premature VGF withdrawal caused over 90% of routes to become unviable.

The HAL Dornier 228 is manufactured at HAL Transport Aircraft Division in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. HAL acquired the production licence from Dornier GmbH (now part of Airbus) in November 1983.
Over 125 aircraft have been produced as of 2022. It is a 19-seater twin-turboprop STOL aircraft suited for short unpaved runways.
Alliance Air operated India first commercial Dornier 228 flight on 12 April 2022 on the Dibrugarh-Pasighat route in Arunachal Pradesh, a milestone for NE regional connectivity.

Kavach was developed by RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation), headquartered in Lucknow, in collaboration with three Hyderabad-based firms: Medha Servo Drives, Kernex Microsystems, and HBL Power Systems. RDSO is the sole R&D wing of Indian Railways, established in 1957 by merging RDSO and Railway Testing and Research Centre.
Kavach received SIL-4 certification (highest safety level under IEC 61508) in 2019 and costs approximately Rs 50 lakh per route-km — four to five times cheaper than Europe ETCS at roughly Rs 2 crore per km.

SIL-4 is the highest of four Safety Integrity Levels defined under IEC 61508, the international standard for functional safety of electrical/electronic systems. It requires a probability of dangerous failure below 10^-8 per hour of continuous operation — essentially one failure in 11,400 years.
Kavach received SIL-4 certification from an independent assessor in 2019. This places it at the same safety tier as the European Train Control System (ETCS), which is deployed across the EU, Japan, and South Korea for high-speed rail.

RRSK was created in 2017-18, announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Union Budget 2017-18 as a dedicated non-lapsable safety fund. The corpus was Rs 1 lakh crore over five years, funded through Rs 15,000 crore annual Gross Budgetary Support plus Rs 5,000 crore from Railways internal resources, totalling Rs 20,000 crore per year.
In the first five-year term, Rs 1,05,378 crore was actually spent. RRSK was extended for a second term from 2022-23 with Rs 45,000 crore allocated from GBS over five years.

Australia is NOT a member of the G7. The seven members are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan.
The European Union participates as a permanent invitee (since 1981 Ottawa Summit) without full voting status, sometimes called a “non-enumerated member.” The G7 originated as the G6 at the Rambouillet Summit in France on 15-17 November 1975; Canada joined at San Juan, Puerto Rico in June 1976. Russia was admitted in 1998 to form the G8 but was suspended indefinitely in March 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.

India chaired BRICS in 2012 (4th Summit, New Delhi — first on Indian soil, the Delhi Declaration), 2016 (8th Summit, Goa — focus on counter-terrorism), and 2021 (13th Summit, virtual due to COVID, theme: BRICS@15). The 2026 chairship theme is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability” (forming the acronym BRICS).
Chairship rotates alphabetically among the original five founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. The 2025 chair was Brazil (Brasilia Summit).

India established its Strategic Partnership with France on 26 January 1998 (Republic Day) during President Jacques Chirac state visit to India. This was India first strategic partnership with any Western nation.
Critically, France did not impose sanctions after India Pokhran-II nuclear tests in May 1998, unlike the US (Glenn Amendment sanctions), Japan, and others. In February 2026, the partnership was elevated to “Special Global Strategic Partnership” — the highest tier in India bilateral framework, above the “Strategic Partnership” level held with most major powers.

Shaurya Squadrons were validated during Exercise Amogh Jwala, a 13-day mechanised manoeuvre drill conducted from 6 to 19 March 2026 at the Babina Field Firing Ranges near Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. The exercise was executed by the 31 Armoured Division (White Tiger Division) under XXI Corps (Sudarshan Chakra Corps), headquartered at Bhopal.
It was reviewed by Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, GOC-in-C Southern Command, Pune. The exercise validated real-time drone-tank coordination in offensive and defensive armoured operations for the first time.

Nagastra-1 was developed by Economic Explosives Limited (EEL), a subsidiary of Solar Industries India Limited (Nagpur), in collaboration with Bengaluru-based startup Z-Motion Autonomous Systems. The Indian Army received all 480 units of the initial order by December 2024.
Specifications: 8-9 kg total UAV weight, 15 km range in man-in-loop mode and 30-40 km in autonomous GPS/NavIC-guided mode, 1-1.5 kg HE fragmentation warhead, and 2-metre CEP (Circular Error Probable) accuracy for precision strikes.

The Indian Army Armoured Corps maintains 67 regiments, including the President Bodyguard (the oldest regiment, raised in 1773). Six Shaurya Squadrons are currently active across five commands as of March 2026, with eventual integration planned across all 67 regiments.
India operational tank fleet consists of approximately 5,000 vehicles: T-90S Bhishma (~2,078 in service), T-72 Ajeya (~1,900), and Arjun Mk1A (124 delivered, 118 more on order from HVF Avadi, Chennai). India is the world fourth-largest tank operator.

Article 110(3) of the Indian Constitution explicitly states that the decision of the Speaker of Lok Sabha as to whether a Bill is a Money Bill shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court or either House of Parliament. Article 110(1) defines a Money Bill as dealing exclusively with taxation, government borrowing, appropriation from the Consolidated Fund, or Contingency Fund.
Under Article 109, a Money Bill can only be introduced in Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha gets a maximum of 14 days to return it with recommendations, which Lok Sabha may accept or reject.

The PRB was created under Section 3 of the Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007, as amended by Section 162 of the Finance Act, 2017. It replaced the earlier Board for Payment and Settlement Systems (BPSS).
The PRB is chaired by the RBI Governor (ex-officio); current chair is Sanjay Malhotra, who assumed office on 11 December 2024, succeeding Shaktikanta Das. The PRB regulates and supervises all payment systems in India, including UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, and card networks.

PRISM-SG (Portal for Rail-Road Inspection and Stages Management - Steel Girders), launched on 25 March 2026, reduces the ROB approval timeline from approximately 12 months to 3-4 months — a reduction of 70-75%. It digitises the entire lifecycle: Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) submissions, Welding Procedure Specification Sheet (WPSS) approvals, fabrication stage inspections, dispatch clearances, and real-time progress tracking.
The portal replaces a paper-based process involving multiple rounds of correspondence between MoRTH and the Ministry of Railways.

The TV Rating Policy 2026 (notified 27 March 2026 by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) mandates at least 50% independent directors on TV rating agency boards, with no ties to broadcasters, advertisers, or advertising agencies. Key provisions include: expanded sample of 80,000 metered homes (up from ~50,000 under 2014 guidelines), scaling to 120,000 homes; a dual audit system (internal plus independent); net worth requirement reduced from Rs 20 crore to Rs 5 crore to allow competition; and mandatory compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 for viewer data.

The Tokaido Shinkansen began commercial service on 1 October 1964, nine days before the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. It was the world first dedicated high-speed railway line, covering 552.6 km between Tokyo and Osaka (then reduced to 515.4 km after a route adjustment).
Initial speed was 210 km/h using the iconic 0 Series trainsets, designed by Hideo Shima. The project was championed by Japanese National Railways (JNR) president Shinji Sogo against considerable political opposition.
Current Nozomi services cover the route in 2 hours 21 minutes at 285 km/h.

The J-6 is a Chinese-produced variant of the Soviet MiG-19, a twin-engined supersonic fighter first flown in 1953. China manufactured over 4,500 J-6 aircraft at the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation before production ended in 1986.
The J-6W is a drone conversion with automatic flight control systems, terrain-matching navigation, and pre-programmed mission profiles. According to a March 2026 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies report, approximately 200+ J-6W drones are deployed at six air bases near the Taiwan Strait — five in Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province.

Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) discovered and described Neoloboptera peninsularis from the Nathachiwadi area near Pune, Maharashtra. ZSI was founded on 1 July 1916 and is headquartered in Kolkata, operating under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) with 16 regional centres across India.
This was the first use of DNA barcoding techniques for cockroach identification in India, raising the country total of documented cockroach species to 190. The species was described in the journal ZooKeys.

Sushila Karki was the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Nepal. A former Chief Justice of Nepal (2016-2017, also the first woman CJ), she was appointed interim PM on 12 September 2025 under Article 76(7) of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 after K.P. Sharma Oli resigned amid Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests that paralysed Kathmandu.
She oversaw parliamentary elections held on 5 March 2026 and stepped down on 27 March 2026 when Balen Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was sworn in as Nepal new PM with the first single-party majority since 1999.

Operation Searchlight was launched on the night of 25 March 1971 under orders from General Yahya Khan, targeting Bengali nationalists, intellectuals, students, and Awami League supporters. This followed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Awami League winning 167 of 169 East Pakistan seats in the December 1970 general elections, which West Pakistan refused to honour.
Bangladesh marks 25 March as Genocide Day (officially declared in 2017). Mujib declared independence on 26 March 1971 via radio (Bangladesh Independence Day).
The war ended on 16 December 1971 with Pakistan formal surrender in Dhaka.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. NDC 3.0 targets 60% non-fossil fuel installed power capacity by 2035, and India achieved 52.57% non-fossil capacity by February 2026 per CEA data, surpassing the NDC 2.0 target of 50% by 2030 a full five years ahead of schedule.
Statement 2 is incorrect — India net-zero target remains firmly at 2070, unchanged since PM Modi announced it at COP26 Glasgow on 1 November 2021. India consistently cites its development needs, low per-capita emissions (~2.4 tonnes vs global average ~6.3 tonnes), and the CBDR-RC principle to justify the 2070 timeline.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Modified UDAN (approved 25 March 2026) has a total outlay of Rs 28,840 crore over FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36, broken down as: Rs 12,159 crore for 100 airports, Rs 10,043 crore for VGF, Rs 3,661 crore for 200 helipads, Rs 2,577 crore for O&M, and Rs 400 crore for HAL aircraft (2 Dornier 228 for Alliance Air and 2 Dhruv helicopters for Pawan Hans).
Statement 2 is incorrect — only 7-10% of routes were viable after VGF withdrawal; over 90% failed, and 327 of 663 operationalised routes were discontinued entirely.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The G6 was founded at the Rambouillet Summit in France on 15-17 November 1975 (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan); Canada joined at San Juan, Puerto Rico in June 1976, forming the G7.
Russia joined in 1998 to form the G8 but was suspended indefinitely in March 2014 following Crimea annexation — the scheduled 2014 Sochi G8 summit was replaced by a Brussels G7 meeting. Statement 3 is incorrect — the EU is a “non-enumerated member” or permanent invitee (since the 1981 Ottawa Summit) and does not have full voting status equal to the seven member states.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Kavach uses UHF radio for train-to-station communication, unlike the European ETCS which uses GSM-R. This technology choice enables cost-effective distributed deployment without centralized Radio Block Centres.
RailTel Corporation (founded 26 September 2000) received Navratna PSU status on 30 August 2024, becoming the 22nd Navratna enterprise, and operates approximately 62,000 route-km of optical fibre along Railway right-of-way. Statement 2 is incorrect — Kavach costs roughly Rs 50 lakh per route-km, which is four to five times CHEAPER than ETCS at approximately Rs 2 crore per km.
The question reverses the cost advantage.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. iDEX (launched April 2018 under the Defence Innovation Organisation, Ministry of Defence) has onboarded 676+ startups and MSMEs with cumulative business exceeding Rs 13,000 crore through Defence India Startup Challenges (DISCs). Drone Shakti (announced in Budget 2026-27) allocates Rs 10,000 crore over 5 years for incentive-based domestic drone manufacturing.
Statement 2 is incorrect — the Liberalised Drone Rules 2021 (notified 25 August 2021) ABOLISHED the mandatory security clearance requirement, dramatically simplified compliance by reducing forms from 25 to 5, fee types from 72 to 4, and eliminated the need for certificate of conformance and pilot licence for nano drones.