India Current Affairs [Nation & States] MCQs

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The Chief Minister of Sikkim has declared Cho La and Dok La passes, located in the border areas of Sikkim, open for tourists. This has been done under the Bharat Ranbhoomi Darshan initiative of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Tourism. The initiative aims to promote border tourism, improve infrastructure, and support livelihoods in remote border villages. It focuses on boosting connectivity, tourism, and socio-economic development in border regions. The initiative offers virtual tours, historical stories, and interactive content on key battlefields.

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Uttar Pradesh government inaugurated the first Braille library in the state exclusively for visually impaired students at Dr Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University (DSMNRU), Lucknow. The library is located on the first floor of Swami Vivekananda Central Library and aligns with CM Yogi Adityanath’s vision of “education for all.” The library has over 4,000 Braille books covering 54 undergraduate and postgraduate courses, all printed by the university’s own Braille press.

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A value-education initiative titled “Young Ambassadors of Change: Values for a Caring Community” was launched at a Government Adi Dravidar Primary School in Kattur, Tamil Nadu. The programme promotes values like honesty, kindness, respect, responsibility, discipline, patience, and gratitude. Teachers use value-based stories, prayers, and reflections during morning assemblies. Students practice values at school and home with parental support through WhatsApp communication. Children are rotated in batches every 15 days for equal participation. Assessment is done through observation, encouragement, badges, and quote walls instead of marks.

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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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Rajasthan launched Raj-UNNATI, an initiative inspired by PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation), an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based platform. It aims to resolve delays in key projects, government schemes, and public grievances. Projects of both Central and State governments are reviewed through videoconferencing. It was launched after the Prime Minister suggested states replicate the PRAGATI model. Rajasthan is the first state to adopt it, as praised by the Cabinet Secretary.

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Recently, the Union Minister of Jal Shakti inaugurated 25 JALAJ Livelihood Centres. JALAJ is a joint initiative of the Namami Gange Mission and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). It aims to link Ganga river conservation with sustainable livelihoods in the Ganga river basin. The initiative follows a circular economy model by training local people in eco-friendly livelihood practices. It promotes community ownership of conservation with special focus on women’s participation. JALAJ creates a symbiotic relationship between rivers and local communities.

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Oil India carried out seismic studies in blocks won under the ninth round to plan bidding for the tenth round. The Open Acreage Licensing Policy was introduced by the Government of India under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy. It replaced the New Exploration and Licensing Policy that operated for over eighteen years. Under this policy, companies can choose and explore oil and gas blocks on their own. Exploration can begin without waiting for government notifications. The policy also allows access to seismic data from the National Data Repository.

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Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah informed in Rajya Sabha that Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh was selected as the pilot district under the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector (WLGSP). A 500 Metric Tonne (MT) godown built at Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) Parswada. The plan is implemented through convergence of schemes like Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) and Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI). The initiative will reduce post-harvest losses, prevent distress sales and strengthen food security.

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The Finance Minister announced Bharat-VISTAAR, a multilingual AI tool to integrate AgriStack portals and ICAR’s agricultural practice package with AI systems. AgriStack is a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the farm sector under the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2024. AgriStack has three foundational registries: Farmer Registry, Crop Sown Registry, and Geo-referenced Village Maps, maintained by State Governments and Union Territories. Farmer Registry gives farmers a digital Farmer ID, linked to land records, livestock, crops, family, demographics, schemes, and benefits; target is 11 crore farmers.

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Union Minister for Rural Development and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare directed fast action to achieve revised target of 6 crore Lakhpati Didis by March 2029. A Lakhpati Didi is a Self-Help Group member earning annual household income of Rs. 1,00,000 or more. Income must be sustained for at least four agricultural seasons or business cycles, with average monthly income above Rs. 10,000. It was launched under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). The nodal Ministry is Ministry of Rural Development.