List of top Current Affairs Questions

In the ongoing Israeli- Palestinian conflict frequent references have been made to the ‘Iron Dome’. What does it refer to?

The Indian Air Force recently inaugurated a new training establishment, the Weapon Systems School (WSS), with the aim of recalibrating and transforming the Indian Air Force as a future-oriented force. In which city was the WSS located ?

Festivals in India are a vibrant reflection of its diverse culture, heritage andtraditions. Match the following festivals with the State with which its most frequently associated. While a festival may be celebrated in many states, select the most appropriate response from the noted options below.

\(S.no\)	\(Festival\)	\(S.no\)	\(State\)
I	Kadalekayi Parishe	A	Gujarat
II	Bohag Bihu	B	Orissa
III	Uttarayan	C	Assam
IV	Nuakhai	D	Karnataka

As part of its NTMHP initiative, the Government of India recently introduced the TELE-MANAS, a 24/7 toll-free helpline (14416). What does TELE-MANAS stand for ?

In 2024, the Government of India introduced the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar, recognising key contributions in the field of cience and echnology in India. In the first edition awards were presented in the following four categories:
I. Vigyan Ratna
II. Vigyan Shri
III. Vigyan Yuva
IV. Vigyan Team
V. Vigyan Aavishkar
Select the correct option :

The quality of drinking water is regularly measured in terms of TDS. Higher the TDS poorer the quality of drinking water. What does TDS stand for?

Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the wrestling competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics after exceeding the weight limit by 100 grams during the weigh-in for her 50 kg final. Her disqualification was upheld on appeal. To which international body did Vinesh Phogat and the Indian Olympic Association appeal?

In 2004, the Government of India decided to create a new category of languages known as 'Classical Languages'. What are the latest criteria, announced in 2024, for inclusion of languages within this category?

1. High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years.
2. A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a heritage by generations of speakers.
3. Knowledge texts, especially prose texts in addition to poetry, epigraphical and inscriptional evidence.
4. The classical languages and literature could be distinct from its current form or could be discontinuous with later forms of its offshoots.
5. The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.

In September, 2024 a new scheme, Bio-RIDE, was approved in the area of biotechnology. Identify the components of the scheme.
I. Biotechnology Research and Development
II. Industrial & Entrepreneurship Development
III. Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry
IV. Biotechnology parks and International Collaborations

According to the Swachh Survekshan 2023 rankings, which of the following city was ranked as the cleanest in India ?

The following listed items are joint military exercises conducted by India, with another foreign nation. Match the following:

\(Exercise\)	\(Country\)
Veer Guardian	Mongolia
Nomadic Elephant	United States of America
Vajra Prahar	Japan
Exercise Maitree	Thailand

What is the international significance of $21^st$ June ?

Who is the current Secretary General of the United Nations?

The third Japan-India 2+2 Ministerial Meeting was held in New Delhi in 2024. Which is a core focus area for these meetings?

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 was awarded to

Which of the following is not member of the United Nations?

Perseverance Rover, launched by NASA, is famous for its mission to explore the surface of which celestial body, particularly to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples for future return to Earth.

Which among the following is considered as the world’s largest stateless population ?

Which nation became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender ?

The "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam", 2023 Act received near-unanimous support in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The legislation mandates the reservation of one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and Delhi (as a union territory with an elected assembly) for women. This linking of the implementation of the Act to the implementing of two long-term exercises of census and delimitation, makes little sense to many, and sounds quite like empowerment delayed for now.
In a 2012 article 'Holding Up Half the Sky: Reservations for Women in India', Rudolf C Heredia breaks down the common misconceptions that cloud our understanding of women's political participation- "When women do attain a national leadership role it is often because they have inherited the mantle from their fathers ophusbands, rather than as persons in their own right and are then projected as matriarchs, part of the joint family, complementary to the patriarchy rather than a challenge to it."
In 'Equality versus Empowerment: Women in Indian Legislature', 2023, Soumya Bhowmick makes the case for going a step beyond quotas, and to turn our attention to the complexities that shape women's agency in the country. This, he argues, would require a bottoms-up approach, rather than merely handing out reservations in a top-down manner. "In a country like India with a considerably large heterogeneous population, the dissemination of legislative power would be insufficient to protect the interests of minority groups such as women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes." He concludes that "implementing the idea of reservation for women would bring about descriptive representation, but its transformation into substantive representation would depend on the change in the attitudes of the people."
While the reservation of one-third of seats for women belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes under the amendment to article 330a and 332 of the constitution is a welcome step, it remains to be seen whether it fully acknowledges the complex interplay of hierarchies, socio-political relationships which also affect the extent and nature of complications that surround effective realisation of women's politics for Indian politics to emerge as a truly emancipatory space.

In keeping with the slogan for this year's Olympics, "Games Wide Open," the opening ceremony took place outside a stadium setting by the river, for the first time. In many respects, the Paris Games turned out to be one of the most elaborate cultural rituals since Covid swept across the world beginning in late 2019. Health restrictions forced the organizers of Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 to sharply limit the scale of the festivities, with events largely closed to the public. Paris 2024, powered in part by pent-up demand for communal experiences, symbolized an international post-pandemic vibe shift.
The International Olympic Committee and French officials managed strict security measures in place. Yet the recent history of violence in France - including the 2015 terror attack in Paris that left 138 people dead and at least 416 injured - stalked public consciousness prior to the games. The geopolitical backdrop for the Paris Games was no less troubling. The war between Israel and Hamas which had crossed the six-month mark, raised fears of a protracted conflict and wider regional instability. The devastation in the Gaza Strip has provoked international outrage, isolating Israel on the global stage. Meanwhile, Russia continues to gain ground in its military offensive against Ukraine as some Western nations worry about the rise of authoritarianism. These international crises raised serious concerns that could come into play during the Games in the form of protests and other political demonstrations.
Nevertheless, Olympics organizers put up a show that stunned the throngs assembled on the boulevards of Paris, not to mention the millions of people who watched the Games unfold on their televisions and mobile devices. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, India secured a total of six medals; one silver and five bronze which was one down from the highest haul of medals from the previous Olympics. Neeraj Chopra earned a silver in men's javelin with an 89.45 throw, narrowly missing gold to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem. Shooter Manu Bhaker made history by clinching bronze in the women's 10'm air pistol, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in Olympic shooting. The men's hockey team achieved a second consecutive bronze, defeating Spain 2-1, with captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring both goals.
(Extracted, with edits and revision, from "The Olympics are nearly here. For a weary world, they can't come soon enough", NBCNEWS)

During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports. To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927. The industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched. They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods. After the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic. They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities, and worried about prolonged disruption of business, as well as of the growing influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress.
The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region. As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof. But inspite of that, some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions. There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. In 1930, thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns. But the Congress was reluctant to include workers' demands as part of its programme of struggle. It felt that this would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of women. During Gandhiji's salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.
[Excerpt from Chapter II - Nationalism in India, India and the Contemporary World, NCERT]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a BRICS summit in Russia recently to showcase ambitions for a more harmonious relationship between the world's two most populous countries after years of animosity.
The meeting between Xi and Modi, who have not held formal talks for five years, was one highlight of a summit. BRICS also gave an opportunity to the Russian President Vladimir Putin for showcasing that the West had failed to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war. 
A final communique listed a number of projects aimed at facilitating trade between BRICS nations including an alternative payment system to the dollar but did not include details or timelines. 
Just two days after New Delhi announced that it had reached a deal with Beijing to resolve a four-year military stand-off on their disputed Himalayan frontier, Xi told Modi that they should enhance communication and cooperation and effectively manage differences. 
BRICS - an idea thought up inside Goldman Sachs two decades ago to describe the growing economic clout of China and other major emerging markets - is now a group that accounts for 45% of the world's population and 35% of the global economy. 
Former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the BRIC term in 2001, told Reuters that he had little optimism for the BRICS club as long as China and India remained so divided. 
"It seems to me basically to be a symbolie annual gathering where important emerging countries, particularly noisy ones like Russia, but also China, can basically get together and highlight how good it is to be part of something that doesn't involve the U.S. and that global governance isn't good enough," 
The 43-page final communique from the summit ranged from geopolitics and narcoties to artificial intelligence and even the preservation of Big Cats, but lacked detail on some major issues. It mentioned Ukraine just once. 
(Excerpts from "Putin scores a BRICS win with rare Xi and Modi show of harmony" By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, October 23, 2024)

On the recommendation of Parliament, the President of India effectively abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and gave assent to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. The former state of Jammu & Kashmir has been reorganized as the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the new Union Territory of Ladakh on 31 October 2019,
The new Union Territory of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh. The rest of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir is in the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
 By 2019, the state government of former Jammu and Kashmir had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are as follows- Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil. 
Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat. Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil District.
 [Extracted from the article of Press Information Bureau, published by the Union Home Ministry on 2nd November 2019]

The gaming industry witnessed its largest acquisition in recent history involving the following major entities: