India Current Affairs [Nation & States] MCQs

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Researchers from the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) have shown that local ecological knowledge of the Adi community can improve efforts to track the critically endangered Chinese pangolin. Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a small, nocturnal mammal fully covered in protective keratin scales. It inhabits subtropical, tropical, and deciduous forests and is distributed across southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Hainan, parts of Southeast Asia including Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as northern India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The species has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

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Tuman village in Chawasi area of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, received its first motorable road after 78 years. The 2.7-kilometre road was constructed from Shakeld to Tuman by the Public Works Department (PWD). The village was earlier cut off from basic transport facilities for decades. A trial run of a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus was successfully conducted on the new road.

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Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant inaugurated India’s first fully paperless district judiciary in Kalpetta, Wayanad, Kerala, on 6 January. All courts in Kalpetta district now operate entirely digitally, with electronic filings, digital scrutiny, and instant access through the District Court Case Management System (DCMS) developed in-house by Kerala High Court. The system improves access to justice, reduces litigation costs, removes geographical barriers, and enhances transparency and trust. AI-based tools help judges generate summaries, retrieve case details, annotate documents, and mark statutory provisions.

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Chhattisgarh leads among larger states in implementing the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) system. As of 7 January 2026, 50,60,941 APAAR IDs were generated out of 57,10,207 students in 57,045 schools, achieving 88.63% coverage. APAAR IDs provide a permanent, secure digital academic identity for students, storing achievements, certificates, and credits. Bemetara district has the highest coverage at 96.40%, followed by Rajnandgaon at 96.38%. Raigarh, Korea, Raipur, Korba, Dhamtari, Durg, and Balodabazar have over 93% coverage.

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Mumbai will host India’s first city-led climate action initiative, Mumbai Climate Week 2026, from 17 to 19 February 2026. The initiative highlights that climate action is a fundamental child rights issue. UNICEF India and YuWaah are official youth engagement partners, collaborating with Project Mumbai. The event empowers children and youth to become agents of change, linking grassroots participation with civic leadership. The Youth Green Innovation Challenge for ages 16–24 will showcase sustainable solutions in food systems, urban resilience, and energy transition.

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The central government has announced India’s first tailings policy to guide recovery of critical minerals from both primary sources and secondary sources like mine dumps and tailings. Tailings are leftover materials produced after processing mined ore. They contain finely ground rock, unrecoverable or uneconomic metals, chemicals, organic matter, and liquid waste from extraction processes. Tailings usually exist as a liquid slurry formed during crushing, grinding, and processing of ore.

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The National Career Service (NCS) Portal is a digital platform providing career services such as job listings, job fairs, career counselling, vocational guidance, and skill development information. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Labour and Employment It aims to connect jobseekers and employers, offering decent employment opportunities and career development assistance. As of 20 January 2026, more than 2.23 crore jobseekers have been shortlisted. The portal offers online employability and digital skill enhancement programmes.

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NeophyteID is an Artificial Intelligence powered mobile application launched by the Chief Minister of Kerala. It is designed to identify invasive plant species across Kerala and support biodiversity conservation. The app is developed by the Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences (MBGIPS). The application is citizen friendly and helps communities, students, and ecologists monitor invasive plants. It uses image recognition and geospatial tracking through camera or gallery images.

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The Ministry of Panchayati Raj launched SabhaSaar, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled voice-to-text meeting summarisation tool, on 14 August 2025. SabhaSaar is available to all States and Union Territories and is being adopted for Gram Sabha and Panchayat meetings. As of 29 January 2026, 1,11,486 Gram Panchayats have used SabhaSaar for automated meeting summarisation. The Ministry has promoted awareness through standard operating procedures and physical and virtual training sessions. SabhaSaar runs on AI and cloud infrastructure provided through the IndiaAI Compute Portal under the IndiaAI Mission of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

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Wool is an important fibre for winter clothing, carpets, floor coverings, and industrial products. India has the second-largest sheep population globally with 77.4 million sheep and ranks ninth in wool production. In Financial Year 2023–24, total wool production was 33.69 million kilograms. Rajasthan led with 16,013.50 thousand kg, contributing about 47.5% due to its arid climate and native sheep breeds. Jammu and Kashmir followed with 7,770 thousand kg, known for fine wool from cold-climate sheep. Other major producers were Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh. Punjab recorded the highest annual growth rate in wool production.