Current Affairs Quiz 26 October 2026

The Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005, dated 23 December 2005) is the legal frame for India’s response to disasters. Section 3 sets up the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the Prime Minister as Chairperson ex officio.

Section 44 provides for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and section 45 vests its command in a Director General. The Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025, which received assent on 29 March 2025, inserted section 8A.

It gives statutory footing to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) that the Government of India had already constituted, and makes it the nodal body ‘to deal with the major disasters which have serious or national ramifications’. Section 8A(2) makes the Cabinet Secretary its Chairperson, and the committee coordinates ministries, the armed forces and the States.

The trap to avoid: the NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister and the NCMC by the Cabinet Secretary, a civil servant, not a Minister. For Cyclone Arnab, the NCMC’s review was attended by the Union Home Secretary and the NDMA, and the Cabinet Secretary directed that ‘the objective should be to ensure zero loss of life and minimise damage to property and infrastructure’.

Cyclones in the north Indian Ocean are named by the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC), New Delhi, once their winds reach 34 knots, the cyclonic storm stage; naming in the region began in September 2004. The current list, adopted by the WMO/ESCAP Panel member countries in April 2020, holds 13 names from each of 13 countries, used column by column; a name is never used twice and has eight letters at most.

‘Arnab’, pronounced ‘Ornab’, is Bangladesh’s entry in column 3 of the list. IMD’s rainfall terms are also examinable: heavy to very heavy rain means 7 to 20 cm, and extremely heavy rain means 21 cm or more.

On the map, the forecast landfall stretch runs from south to north through Bapatla (15.9° N), Machilipatnam (16.2° N), Yanam (16.7° N), Kakinada (17.0° N) and Visakhapatnam (17.7° N). Yanam’s status as part of a Union Territory explains why Puducherry sat in the national crisis review with four States.

IMD’s forecast placed the maximum peak surge over east Godavari district, near Kakinada, and Yanam.

In fuel names, E stands for ethanol and the number for its share by volume: E20 is petrol with 20 per cent ethanol, E85 holds up to 85 per cent ethanol, and E100 is a fuel consisting predominantly of ethanol. An electrified flex-fuel vehicle (FFV-SHEV) pairs a flex-fuel engine with an electric powertrain.

High blends need purpose-built vehicles: ethanol holds less energy per litre (the US Department of Energy estimate, cited by IE, is about 30% less energy per gallon for E100), and it can affect certain metals, plastics and rubber seals. Its high-octane rating, on the other hand, helps resist engine knocking.

The policy timeline matters: the 2022 amendment advanced the E20 target to ESY 2025-26 from 2030; from April 2026 all petrol sold in India must be E20 with a minimum Research Octane Number of 95; and E85 fuel was launched on 5 June 2026 at 48 public sector oil marketing company outlets. MoPNG plans 500 E85 outlets by December 2026 and about 5,000 by December 2027; these are targets, not results.

Owners of existing vehicles are not required to switch fuel or modify their vehicles, ‘either at present or in the future’.

TRAI’s role in this case is to recommend; the Government decides. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) made its reference on 15 December 2025, on Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) services.

TRAI then issued a consultation paper on 6 April 2026, received 207 comments and 11 counter-comments, and held an Open House on 10 June 2026. Its recommendations propose that application-based linear TV be a distinct sub-category under Television Channel Distribution Services, inside the broadcasting authorisation framework of Section 3(1)(a) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

The proposed terms are a national service area, an initial validity of 20 years renewable for successive periods of 10 years, a processing fee of ₹10,000 and an entry fee of ₹1 lakh, with no authorisation fee, bank guarantee or security deposit. TRAI also proposes that the MIB maintain a ‘Master ALTD app repository’, that device makers and operating system providers make only authorised ALTD applications available, and that ALTD viewership be integrated under the TV Ratings Policy, 2026.

Remember the sequence: reference, consultation, recommendation, and then notification of Rules by the Government under Section 56.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has conducted ASUSE since 2021-22, and its findings also appear in the Quarterly Bulletin of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (QBUSE). The proposal would move ASUSE from the calendar year to the financial year, as in other enterprise surveys such as the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) and ASISSE; MoSPI says this helps the National Accounts.

There would be no gap: the January to March 2027 quarter would still be surveyed on the existing ASUSE 2026 schedule. New questions are proposed on the gender-specific constraints of female entrepreneurs, asked ‘for the first time’, on sources of electricity and on investment in fixed assets.

MoSPI also tracks central sector infrastructure projects of ₹150 crore and above. Its flash report tracks 1,853 such projects worth ₹37.56 lakh crore as of September 2026, 780 of them Mega and 1,073 Major, across 17 central ministries and departments; the Buxar Thermal Power Project (1,320 MW) was commissioned during September.

The monitoring interface earlier called PAIMANA is now PAIMANA-PROJ, alongside PAIMANA-CRIP. Until MoSPI takes a final decision, the financial-year schedule remains a proposal.

Clause 8 of the Restatement reads: ‘A Judge shall not enter into public debate or express his views in public on political matters or on matters that are pending or are likely to arise for judicial determination.’ Clause 1 says justice ‘must not merely be done but it must also be seen to be done’, and clause 9 says: ‘A Judge is expected to let his judgments speak for themselves. He shall not give interview to the media.’ The Law Commission (Report 195) described the Restatement as ‘not meant to be exhaustive but illustrative’ and recommended that its breach be treated as ‘misbehaviour’.

Accountability runs through three channels. Removal under Article 124(4) needs an address by each House of Parliament, by a special majority, on ‘proved misbehaviour or incapacity’.

Article 121 bars discussion of a judge’s conduct in Parliament except on such a motion. And the in-house procedure, adopted by the Full Court on 15 December 1999, deals with complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

Article 50, a Directive Principle, frames the larger value: ‘The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.’

The Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, with the UNODC Commentary of September 2007, are the main international benchmark for judicial ethics. They draw a calibrated line.

Principle 2.4 restrains comment that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome of a proceeding that is before, or could come before, the judge, or impair the manifest fairness of the process, and any public comment that might affect the fair trial of any person or issue. Principle 4.11 positively allows a judge to write, lecture, teach and take part in activities concerning the law, the legal system and the administration of justice.

Read together, the two principles let a judge explain an issue while avoiding the appearance of having already answered it. India’s Restatement of Values of Judicial Life (1997) is broader: clause 8 bars public views on political matters and on matters pending or likely to arise for judicial determination, and clause 9 says a judge should let judgments speak for themselves and give no interviews to the media.

Clause 1 states the value underneath both: justice must not merely be done but must also be seen to be done. The ethical question is about how justice is seen as much as how it is done.

Article 136(1) reads: ‘Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India.’ Clause (2) excludes courts and tribunals constituted by or under a law relating to the Armed Forces. The power reaches any court or tribunal, not only High Courts, and it is discretionary.

Appeals under Articles 132 to 134 lie mainly when the High Court certifies the case under Article 134A, though two kinds of death-sentence cases need no certificate. Article 32 guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

The Court’s size is set by Parliament: Article 124(1) provides for judges ‘until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number’, and the sanctioned strength rose from 34 to 38, including the Chief Justice, with effect from 16 May 2026. In Mathai @ Joby v George (2010), a two-judge Bench warned that the Court had been ‘converted practically into an ordinary appellate Court’; in January 2016 a five-judge Bench declined to restrict the power.

Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are the three main fertiliser nutrients. Urea supplies nitrogen; DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) is a phosphatic fertiliser and MOP (muriate of potash) a potassic one.

India runs two pricing regimes: urea at a fixed, statutorily notified MRP, and P&K fertilisers under NBS, where the subsidy is fixed per kg of nutrient and companies set the price. The Soil Health Card, launched on 19 February 2015 from Suratgarh, Rajasthan, reports 12 parameters: N, P, K and sulphur (macro-nutrients); zinc, iron, copper, manganese and boron (micro-nutrients); and pH, electrical conductivity and organic carbon.

PM-PRANAM (PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness Generation, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother-Earth), approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 28 June 2023, gives a State or UT that uses less chemical fertiliser than its previous three-year average a grant of 50 per cent of the subsidy saved; 95 per cent goes to the State or UT. Excess nitrogen matters for the environment: nitrous oxide has a global warming potential 273 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years (IPCC AR6), and nitrate above the BIS limit of 45 mg per litre carries the risk of ‘blue baby syndrome’ (methemoglobinemia).

The Time Use Survey captures what labour surveys miss: unpaid caregiving, unpaid domestic services and volunteer work, as well as learning, socialising, leisure and self-care. Every household member aged 6 and above reports what they did in each half-hour of the 24 hours from 4:00 AM the previous day.

In the 2024 round, activities were coded to ICATUS 2016, the International Classification of Activities for Time Use Statistics, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2017. The two all-India rounds covered 2019 and 2024; the 2024 report, Time Use in India, 2024, came out on 28 March 2025.

The participation rate is the share of persons who did an activity during the day, while time per participant counts only those who did it. The official results show paid work rising from a low base: women aged 15-59 taking part in employment and related activities rose from 21.8 per cent in 2019 to 25 per cent in 2024, and men from 70.9 to 75 per cent; women who took part in caregiving spent about 140 minutes a day on it, men 74.

State free-bus schemes for women include Karnataka’s Shakti (11 June 2023) and Telangana’s Mahalakshmi (9 December 2023).

Zokhawthar is a trading town on Mizoram’s border with Myanmar, and it was one of the 38 locations of Operation Trident. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) led the operation in the early hours of 23 October 2026, working with the Mizoram Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The Ministry of Home Affairs said ‘38 multi-agency composite teams were mobilised concurrently across 38 pre-identified locations’ in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, among them Aizawl, Champhai, Zokhawthar, Churachandpur in Manipur and the Cachar transit corridor in Assam. PIB placed the operation in line with the Vision Document on Narcotics Control (2026-2029) and a ‘shift from a seizure-centric to a network-centric and financial disruption approach’.

The idea matters for Mains: a seizure removes one consignment, while following the money and the people behind it aims at the network that sends the next one; the ED’s part in the operation fits that financial approach. The Home Minister spoke of the goal of ‘eradicating every drug network by 31 December 2029’.

For the map, place Zokhawthar in Mizoram on the India-Myanmar border and Churachandpur in Manipur, and remember that Cachar, the transit corridor named in the operation, is in Assam.

The ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) is, in PIB’s words, ‘the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN’. The ADMM-Plus brings in its eight Dialogue Partners: India, the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The inaugural ADMM-Plus was held in Hanoi on 12 October 2010, and its ministers have met every year since 2017. The Philippines chairs the ADMM-Plus for 2026, and the 13th meeting is scheduled in Cebu, the Philippines, on 28 and 29 October, with Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh leading the Indian delegation.

India co-chairs the Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism with Malaysia for the 2024-2027 cycle, which gives it a working role inside the forum and not only a seat at the ministers’ table. Exam questions on groupings usually test membership, so learn the eight Dialogue Partners as a set and check each option against it.

A distractor will often be a country that sounds plausible but is not on the list, such as Canada, or a grouping such as the European Union. Remember also the three numbers in this item: eight partners, a first meeting in 2010, and annual meetings since 2017.