Daily Quiz — April 19, 2026

FACT: The India-South Korea CEPA signed in 2010 was India’s first Free Trade Agreement with an East Asian country — predating the India-Japan CEPA (2011). India had signed the ASEAN-India FTA (goods) in 2009, but ASEAN is a regional bloc, not a single East Asian country.
ANALYSIS: The Korea CEPA established the template for India’s FTA engagement with East Asia. A CEPA review was initiated in 2023 to address India’s persistent trade deficit with South Korea and to add digital trade provisions.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s April 2026 state visit to India further deepens the Special Strategic Partnership (established 2015).

FACT: Article 81(2)(a) mandates that Lok Sabha seats be allocated to each state such that the ratio of seats to population is as nearly equal as practicable. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment (1976) froze this allocation based on the 1971 Census, with subsequent extensions deferring revision until post-2026 Census figures are published (expected late 2027).
Article 82 separately directs Parliament to enact a new delimitation law after each Census — which Parliament has effectively deferred. ANALYSIS: The freeze creates a north-south political fault line: high-growth northern states (UP, Bihar) stand to gain seats post- delimitation, while southern states that achieved demographic transition face relative losses.

FACT: The 106th Amendment explicitly conditions the commencement of women’s reservation on a delimitation exercise being completed after Census data is published. Since the 2026 Census is underway (figures expected late 2027), and the delimitation process itself requires Census data, the reservation cannot be implemented until after delimitation — a structural delay built into the law.
ANALYSIS: Critics argue this conditionality effectively deferred implementation indefinitely, since delimitation is politically contentious and operationally complex. The defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill (April 2026), which would have triggered delimitation, further extends this delay.

FACT: PMGSY is implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, with the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) providing technical support. Its primary mandate is all-weather connectivity — ensuring passability year-round, not just road construction.
ANALYSIS: All- weather connectivity enables multiple development outcomes: it improves market access for farmers, reduces maternal and child mortality by enabling emergency transport, and increases school attendance in remote areas. Cabinet extended PMGSY-III to March 2028 with a revised outlay of Rs 83,977 crore in April 2026.

FACT: For North-Eastern states and specified Himalayan states (J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand), the Centre bears 90% and the state 10% of PMGSY costs. For general states, the ratio is 60:40.
This asymmetric funding reflects both the higher construction cost in mountainous terrain and the lower fiscal capacity of these states. ANALYSIS: The 90:10 ratio is a standard feature across major Centrally Sponsored Schemes for NE and Himalayan states — PMGSY, PMAY (housing), Jal Jeevan Mission — and is a key mechanism for maintaining fiscal federalism while extending national programmes to fiscally weaker states.

FACT: India imports over 88% of its crude oil. Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, Russia began offering heavily discounted crude — displacing Iraq and Saudi Arabia to become India’s single largest crude supplier, with normal import levels at ~2.5 million barrels per day.
The US extended its sanctions waiver to May 16, 2026, allowing Indian refiners to continue these purchases. ANALYSIS: India’s strategic pragmatism — buying Russian crude despite Western pressure — is grounded in the position that India follows UN Security Council sanctions only (Russia has UNSC veto power), while also serving India’s energy security and import bill reduction objectives.

FACT: The Strait of Hormuz — between Iran and Oman — handles approximately 20% of global oil trade. For India, a substantial share of crude imports from Persian Gulf producers (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait) transits this route.
Any closure or disruption directly threatens India’s energy supply and spikes global oil prices. ANALYSIS: West Asian tensions involving Iran — which shares the strait with Oman — make this chokepoint increasingly relevant to India’s naval posture in the Arabian Sea, which is one reason India values access to Persian Gulf military logistics agreements and the Chabahar port route.

FACT: Article 254 establishes the doctrine of repugnancy: if a state law on a Concurrent List subject conflicts with a Central law, the Central law prevails and the state law is void to the extent of the conflict — unless the state law has received Presidential assent, in which case it prevails in that state. ANALYSIS: The Punjab Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill 2026 received the Governor’s assent (not Presidential assent) — suggesting it was drafted as a standalone state addition to criminal law rather than as a modification to the IPC/BNS provision, thereby avoiding the repugnancy trap that caused earlier Punjab sacrilege bills (2016, 2018) to fail to obtain Presidential assent.

FACT: CPI (Maoist) was formed in 2004 through the merger of the People’s War Group (PWG) — dominant in Andhra Pradesh — and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) — operating primarily in Bihar and Jharkhand. This merger created a unified national command and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), enabling the Red Corridor expansion across 180+ districts at its 2013 peak.
ANALYSIS: The 2004 merger was the peak organisational moment of Indian Maoism; its near- collapse in 2025-26 — with the killing of General Secretary Nambala Keshava Rao (May 2025) and the surrender of his successor Thippiri Tirupati (early 2026) — represents a reversal of that consolidation.

FACT: The Fifth Schedule (under Article 244) provides for administration of Scheduled Areas — largely tribal-dominated regions in non-NE states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh — the same geography where Maoist influence has been strongest. Governors of these states have special powers including Tribes Advisory Councils and authority over which laws apply in Scheduled Areas.
ANALYSIS: The structural grievance underlying Maoism is dispossession of tribal communities from land and forest resources — the rights the Fifth Schedule was meant to protect. Inadequate enforcement of these protections and of PESA 1996 created the governance vacuum that Maoists exploited for decades.

FACT: The Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers converge at Devprayag in Uttarakhand to form the Ganga. The Bhagirathi originates from the Gangotri Glacier — specifically from Gaumukh (the glacier snout) at 3,892 m, 18 km upstream from Gangotri town (3,048 m).
The Alaknanda is itself fed by the Mandakini (at Rudraprayag), Pindar (at Karnaprayag), and Dhauliganga (at Vishnuprayag). ANALYSIS: The Panch Prayag — five sacred confluences in Uttarakhand — culminates at Devprayag where the Ganga officially begins, making this geography simultaneously cultural, ecological, and hydrological.

FACT: Gangotri Glacier lies in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand — not Chamoli district. Chamoli district is home to Badrinath (Char Dham shrine), the Valley of Flowers National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO WHS).
All other options are correct: the glacier is ~30 km long and ~143 sq km; Gaumukh is at ~3,892 m, 18 km from Gangotri town; the retreat rate is approximately 22 m/year. ANALYSIS: Gangotri Glacier retreat threatens the perennial character of the Bhagirathi-Ganga, affecting freshwater availability for hundreds of millions downstream.

FACT: In Jain tradition, Akshaya Tritiya marks Varshitap Parana — the occasion when Tirthankara Rishabhadeva (the first of 24 Tirthankaras, also called Adinatha) broke his year-long penance fast (Varshitap) by accepting sugarcane juice (ikkhuras) offered by king Shreyansa Kumar. This is commemorated as the origin of the Jain tradition of Daan (charitable giving).
ANALYSIS: The shared auspiciousness of Akshaya Tritiya across Hindu and Jain traditions illustrates the deep cultural and religious interconnections between the Vedic and Shramana streams of Indian civilisation.