Current Affairs Quiz 5 June 2026

World Environment Day is led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the only major UN agency headquartered in the Global South. Each year a country hosts the global celebrations.
The 2026 host is Azerbaijan (Baku), chosen on the strength of its COP29 (2024) presidency. The UN focus for 2026 is climate action (#NowForClimate), and Azerbaijan’s national theme is "Inspired by Nature.
For Climate. For Our Future." India hosted WED in 2018 (“Beat Plastic Pollution”).
India’s net-zero target is 2070, pledged at COP26, Glasgow.

India’s tiger population recovered from 1,411 (2006) to 3,682 (2022). The State of India’s Environment 2026 report (CSE / Down To Earth) found that tiger deaths from territorial infighting have nearly doubled in 15 years in reserves like Kanha and Ranthambore, as reserves saturate.
The invasive shrub Lantana camara, introduced in the 19th century, now covers nearly half of India’s forests and scrublands, degrading prey habitat. Project Tiger was launched in 1973 with 9 reserves and now numbers 58.
The tiger is in Schedule I of the WPA and is “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List.

The ₹9,585-crore outlay combines ₹5,041 crore of central funding with ~₹1,601 crore in state tax concessions. It targets 1.91 lakh trucks and 16,329 buses running on BS-IV or older norms, to be replaced with BS-VI or electric vehicles across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
The NCRPB is a statutory body under the NCR Planning Board Act, 1985. The CAQM, by contrast, is the statutory air-quality regulator under the CAQM Act, 2021.
BS-VI emission norms took effect nationwide in April 2020.

The Consolidated Fund of India (Article 266(1)) holds all government revenues, loans raised, and recoveries; withdrawals require parliamentary appropriation. This contrasts with the Contingency Fund of India (Article 267, for unforeseen expenditure, at the President’s disposal) and the Public Account (Article 266(2), for funds where government acts as a banker, e.g., provident funds).
The fund was triggered by the West Asia crisis driving ATF from ~₹60.50/litre (March 2026) to ₹142/litre (May 2026). ATF is ~40% of airline operating costs and is currently outside GST.

The UNSC has 15 members: 5 permanent (China, France, Russia, UK, US, each with a veto) and 10 non-permanent, elected by the 193-member UN General Assembly for two-year terms, with five replaced each year. A two-thirds majority is required.
Seats are allocated by regional groupings. The new members take their seats on January 1, 2027, replacing Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia.
India has served as a non-permanent member 8 times (last in 2021-22) and pursues a permanent seat through the G4 grouping, India, Brazil, Germany, Japan.

TEXMiN is a Technology Translational Research Park set up by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. The Observatory stems from the India-UK PMs’ engagement (October 2025) and a research agreement (March 2026).
Critical minerals, lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, rare earths, are vital for EVs, batteries and renewables. China controls roughly 60% of rare-earth mining and ~85-90% of processing.
India’s broader strategy includes the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025, covering 30 minerals), KABIL (NALCO+HCL+MECL), the Minerals Security Partnership (India joined 2023), and the 2023 MMDR Act amendment enabling critical-mineral block auctions.

Subhash C. Kashyap was Lok Sabha Secretary-General from 1983 to 1990, a Padma Bhushan awardee, and the author of more than 100 books on the Constitution. He was a member of the Ram Nath Kovind-led High-Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections, which underpins the “One Nation, One Election” proposal advanced through the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat derives from Article 98 of the Constitution, which provides for separate secretarial staff for each House, independent of the executive. The Secretary-General is the administrative head of this Secretariat.

The latest estimation (2022) put India’s tiger population at 3,682, up from 1,411 in 2006, making India home to roughly 75% of the world’s wild tigers. The estimation uses camera-trapping and statistical modelling (capture-recapture).
The NTCA was created under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 via the 2006 amendment, following recommendations of the Tiger Task Force after the Sariska crisis (2005), where tigers vanished. The State of India’s Environment 2026 report warns that despite rising numbers, reserve saturation and invasive Lantana camara now threaten habitat quality.

UNSC non-permanent seats are distributed by regional grouping: 5 for African and Asia-Pacific States, 1 for Eastern European States, 2 for Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), and 2 for Western European and Other States (WEOG). Members serve two-year terms and cannot be immediately re-elected.
Substantive UNSC decisions need 9 of 15 affirmative votes with no P5 veto. India has held a non-permanent seat 8 times.
The 2024 “Pact for the Future” reaffirmed the goal of Council reform but produced no binding structural change.

Five petroleum products, crude oil, petrol, diesel, natural gas and ATF, are constitutionally within the GST framework but kept outside it until the GST Council notifies a date. Bringing ATF under GST requires GST Council approval, where states resist losing VAT revenue.
ATF is ~40% of airline operating costs (up to 60% during volatility). The stabilisation fund is a one-time crisis response to the West Asia-driven price spike (₹60.50 → ₹142/litre), not a structural tax fix.
India imports ~85% of its crude oil, making it highly exposed to global price shocks.

In its June 2026 Economic Outlook, the OECD raised India’s FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.3% (up from 6.1%) and projected 6.4% for FY28, while warning that the West Asia energy shock could push inflation toward 4.8% and prompt an RBI repo-rate response. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is often called a “rich-countries’ club.” It is distinct from the IMF and World Bank (Bretton Woods institutions, 1944), of which India is a full founding member.
OECD growth forecasts are watched as an external cross-check on India’s own and IMF projections.

The proposal seeks to synchronise Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections (and potentially local bodies). Arguments in favour: reduced election costs, fewer Model Code of Conduct disruptions, and governance freed from “permanent campaign mode.” Concerns: it tests the federal structure (Article 1, “Union of States”), interacts awkwardly with the anti-defection law and no-confidence motions, and raises the question of what happens when an assembly is dissolved prematurely.
A constitutional amendment under Article 368 requires special majorities and, for federal provisions, ratification by half the states. The Kovind Committee was constituted in 2023.

Invasive alien species are recognised by the IPBES and the Convention on Biological Diversity as a leading global driver of biodiversity loss. Other notable invasives in India: Prosopis juliflora (a thorny tree colonising drylands), Parthenium hysterophorus (“congress grass,” an allergenic weed), and Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth, choking water bodies).
Lantana eradication is expensive and slow once established. The State of India’s Environment 2026 report (CSE/Down To Earth) argues India must shift from counting tigers to managing habitats, including systematic invasive-species removal and grassland restoration.

The Bharat Stage norms are based on European emission standards. India skipped BS-V to align faster with global standards.
BS-VI fuel contains far less sulphur (10 ppm vs 50 ppm in BS-IV), enabling cleaner combustion. The Delhi-NCR scheme targets 1.91 lakh trucks and 16,329 buses running on BS-IV or older norms, the highest per-vehicle emitters.
Vehicular emissions are a year-round, structural source of NCR pollution, distinct from seasonal stubble burning. The scheme complements the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM, 2021), the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), and the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP, 2019).

The G4 is opposed by the “Uniting for Consensus” (UfC) bloc, which includes Italy and Pakistan, that resists new permanent seats and favours only more elected seats. The African Group’s Ezulwini Consensus demands two permanent seats for Africa, complicating any package.
Reform requires amending the UN Charter, which needs ratification by the P5, making it unlikely they would dilute their own veto. India argues the Council reflects the geopolitics of 1945, not today’s world.
Do not confuse the G4 with BRICS, the G7, or IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa).