Current Affairs Quiz 29 June 2026

Mahalanobis founded the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, in 1931, and devised the Mahalanobis Distance in statistics and the Mahalanobis Model that underpinned the Second Five-Year Plan (1956), with its emphasis on heavy industry. National Statistics Day was instituted by the Government of India in 2007.
The 2026 theme marks 75 years of the National Sample Survey (NSS), established in 1950 and now conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under MoSPI; the NSSO and CSO were merged into the NSO in 2019.

The Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) covers the “poorest of the poor” households (around 2.5 crore families) under the National Food Security Act, 2013. NFSA covers up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population; Priority Households (PHH) receive 5 kg per person.
The Act is implemented through One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) for portability. Public comments on the draft were invited till July 13, 2026.
Critics fear small poor households would lose grain, while the government argues per-capita allocation is more equitable.

India imports over 80% of its crude oil, a large share routed through the Strait of Hormuz. A widened route announced by the Joint Maritime Information Center eased traffic after conflict-related disruption, and crude prices softened.
India’s response through the West Asia conflict was neutral, urging de-escalation while protecting citizens and energy supply, consistent with its strategic autonomy. India mitigates chokepoint risk through Strategic Petroleum Reserves and diversified sourcing from Russia, the United States and West Africa.

The planetary boundaries framework, developed by Johan Rockstrom and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, identifies nine boundaries: climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, novel entities, stratospheric ozone depletion and atmospheric aerosol loading. The State of India’s Environment report is published annually by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth.
It also linked the invasive shrub Lantana camara to rising human-tiger conflict by depleting prey. India has 100 Ramsar wetland sites, the highest in Asia.

India’s textile sector employs around 4.5 crore people directly. Key government interventions include PM MITRA Parks (seven mega textile parks), the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles focused on man-made fibre and technical textiles, the National Technical Textiles Mission, and the Samarth skilling scheme.
Free Trade Agreements such as the India-UK FTA and the prospective India-EU agreement are expected to improve tariff access and help offset US-tariff headwinds. Moving up the value chain into technical and man-made fibre textiles is a central theme.

The judgment, by a bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and A.S. Chandurkar, arose from the death of a child where no footpath existed, and recognised the State’s positive obligation to provide pedestrian infrastructure, even suggesting a national pedestrian-rights statute. It sits in the line of cases expanding Article 21, including Olga Tellis v Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985) on livelihood and shelter, and the M.C. Mehta environmental jurisprudence.
The case illustrates how courts convert civic concerns into enforceable rights.

The NSS is now conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The NSSO and the Central Statistics Office (CSO) were merged into the NSO in 2019.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) are conducted within this system. The Census of India, by contrast, is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a separate exercise from the sample-based NSS.

Within this coverage, beneficiaries are split into Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, the poorest of the poor, and Priority Households (PHH). AAY households currently receive 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month, while PHH receive 5 kg per person.
The proposed amendment would move AAY to a per-capita basis. Foodgrains are distributed through the Targeted Public Distribution System and made portable via One Nation One Ration Card.
The Act makes food security a legal entitlement rather than a discretionary scheme.

The International Day of the Tropics was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2016 and commemorates the first State of the Tropics Report (2014). The tropics, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, face deforestation, climate vulnerability and a high share of threatened species.
For India, the Tropic of Cancer roughly divides the country and is a recurring map-based prelims fact. The day links to climate justice for the Global South and biodiversity conservation.

The IBCA is headquartered in New Delhi and functions as a treaty-based inter-governmental body. Bangladesh’s membership is significant because India and Bangladesh share the Sundarbans, the mangrove habitat of the Royal Bengal Tiger, making transboundary cooperation essential.
India is home to five of the seven big cats (tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard and, through reintroduction, the cheetah). The alliance reflects India’s conservation soft power and complements domestic efforts such as Project Tiger and Project Lion.

India is often called the “pharmacy of the world” for its large share of global generic-medicine supply. The Trade Watch Quarterly reported India’s combined merchandise and services trade at about USD 1.84 trillion in Q4 of FY 2025-26, up around 5.4% year-on-year.
To reduce API dependence, the government has launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for bulk drugs and promoted bulk-drug parks. Moving up the value chain into biologics and biosimilars is a key policy goal, as India is currently stronger in formulations than in complex biologics.

The nine-judge bench in Puttaswamy (2017) held that the right to privacy is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. This underpins the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, India’s data-protection law.
The AI-governance debate distinguishes voluntary, self-regulatory codes from enforceable legal obligations, arguing that the scale and opacity of AI systems and the power asymmetry between developers and individuals require binding accountability. This connects to GS4 ethics on dignity, autonomy and accountability.

India’s official position on the boundary is clear: areas such as Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh are integral parts of India, and connectivity projects must respect its sovereignty. Economic ties with China are substantial but marked by a large trade deficit and dependence in sectors such as APIs and electronics.
Engagement spans forums such as BRICS and the SCO. The editorial’s argument is that managed economic dialogue can reduce friction and dependence vulnerabilities without conceding on security, consistent with India’s calibrated, interest-based diplomacy.

The SDGs succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (2000 to 2015) and are tracked through indices such as the UN Sustainable Development Report’s SDG Index. India monitors progress domestically through the NITI Aayog SDG India Index.
Hunger and undernutrition remain stubborn challenges despite a large food-security architecture, reflecting issues of dietary diversity and nutrition rather than calorie access alone. The 2030 deadline approaches with many goals globally off-track, a recurring theme in international sustainability forums.

The First Five-Year Plan (1951 to 1956), based on the Harrod-Domar model, emphasised agriculture and irrigation. The Second Plan, guided by the Mahalanobis Model, shifted to rapid industrialisation through public-sector heavy industry, establishing steel plants and capital-goods capacity.
This strategy aimed at long-term self-reliance but later drew criticism for neglecting agriculture, consumer goods and employment. Understanding the model is useful for both economy and post-independence history, illustrating how planning ideas shaped India’s economic trajectory.