Current Affairs Quiz 15 July 2026

FACT: The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement that entered into force on July 15, 2026, giving India duty-free access on about 99 per cent of UK tariff lines. ANALYSIS: It is India’s first free-trade agreement with a major developed economy in about a decade.

FACT: The Double Contribution Convention (DCC) is a social-security agreement that exempts Indian professionals working temporarily in the UK from making social-security contributions there for up to five years. ANALYSIS: It benefits an estimated 75,000-plus workers and improves the cost competitiveness of Indian services.

FACT: Section 356 of the BNSS allows a court to conduct a full trial, deliver judgment and pass sentence against a proclaimed offender who has absconded, that is, a trial in absentia. ANALYSIS: A Jammu NIA court invoked it against the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed in the Pahalgam terror-attack case, the first major use of the provision.

FACT: Before a trial in absentia, the offence must be punishable with at least ten years, life or death, two arrest warrants must have been issued, there must be a 90-day wait after the proclamation, a public notice, and a court-appointed defence counsel. ANALYSIS: These safeguards protect fair-trial principles even when the accused is absent.

FACT: The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 delisted 24 critical minerals from the list of atomic minerals, enabling their auction to the private sector. ANALYSIS: The Centre launched the eighth tranche of critical and strategic mineral block auctions in July 2026, offering 20 blocks across nine states.

FACT: The eighth tranche covered minerals such as rare earth elements, lithium, vanadium, gallium, tungsten, graphite and titanium; coal is a bulk fossil fuel, not a critical mineral in this sense. ANALYSIS: Critical minerals are essential to clean energy, defence, electronics and fertilisers, and India seeks to reduce import dependence.

FACT: The study, in Nature Geoscience, showed that the underthrusting (subduction) of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate drove the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and explains the contrast between western and central Tibet. ANALYSIS: The India-Eurasia collision began about 50 million years ago.

FACT: The India-Eurasia continental collision began about 50 million years ago, and the resulting orogeny raised the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. ANALYSIS: The plateau feeds major Asian rivers and strongly influences the Indian monsoon system.

FACT: Parrot Bornavirus 4 (PaBV-4) is the primary cause of Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD), a fatal condition in parrots that damages the nervous and digestive systems. ANALYSIS: Indian scientists reported its first detection and genetic characterisation in India, across captive psittacine birds.

FACT: The draft National Health Research Policy 2026, released for public consultation, updates the earlier National Health Research Policy of 2011. ANALYSIS: It aims to strengthen the health-research ecosystem, coordinate research, promote ethics and encourage indigenous innovation.

FACT: The Department of Health Research (DHR) functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is its scientific and technical arm. ANALYSIS: The draft National Health Research Policy 2026 is intended to coordinate and strengthen research across institutions.

FACT: World Youth Skills Day is observed on July 15, a United Nations observance since 2014, highlighting the importance of skilling young people for employment and entrepreneurship. ANALYSIS: The government marked it with skilling measures including a proposed Skills Outcomes Fund.

FACT: The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the joint food-standards body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), established in 1963. ANALYSIS: At its 49th session, India-led standards for dried coriander seeds and fresh curry leaves were adopted.

FACT: The Thukkachi Abathsahayeswarar Temple, a 12th-century temple in the Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu, received recognition under the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. ANALYSIS: The awards honour efforts to restore and conserve heritage structures.

FACT: Under the CETA, India gains immediate duty-free access on about 99 per cent of UK tariff lines, with tariffs going to zero on categories such as marine products, textiles, leather, engineering goods and chemicals. ANALYSIS: This is expected to benefit labour-intensive export sectors.

FACT: The Ministry of Mines launched the eighth tranche of critical and strategic mineral block auctions, offering 20 blocks across nine states. ANALYSIS: The auctions are part of India’s effort to secure critical minerals for clean energy, defence and electronics.