Reports and Indices Current Affairs MCQs

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The Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 report for 2022–23 and 2023–24 to assess school education. Chandigarh secured the top rank while Meghalaya was ranked lowest. PGI 2.0 is an evidence-based tool to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories in school education. PGI 2.0 has a total weightage of 1000 points spread over 73 indicators under two categories: Outcome and Governance & Management.

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Recently, NITI Aayog released the third edition of its quarterly insights series, Future Front, titled India’s Data Imperative: The Pivot Towards Quality, in New Delhi. The report highlights the urgent need to improve data quality for stronger digital governance, better public trust, and efficient service delivery. It discusses the major issues caused by poor data quality and suggests simple and practical tools to improve it.

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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2025 on the 19th Statistics Day. The report shows India’s progress on 284 indicators across 17 SDG goals. Maternal and child health, education, poverty reduction, and climate change efforts have improved since 2015–16. Social protection coverage rose to 64.3% in 2025 from 22% in 2016. Senior citizen assistance rose to 1,57,000 in 2023–24 from 23,000 in 2015. Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture per worker rose to ₹94,110 in 2024–25 from ₹61,247 in 2015–16.

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The Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2025 reported a record 1,523 unicorns, which are privately held startup companies valued over 1 billion. This marks an increase of 70 unicorns compared to last year, with a total combined valuation of 5.6 trillion. The United States of America leads with 758 unicorns, including 55 new ones, and has six of the ten most valuable unicorns. China holds second place with 343 unicorns. India ranks third with 64 unicorns, with Bengaluru at rank 7 globally, Mumbai at 22, and Gurugram debuting at 27.

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Recently, NITI Aayog released the report “Chemical Industry: Powering India’s Participation in Global Value Chains.” It highlights India’s chemical sector potential but notes challenges like infrastructure gaps, regulatory delays, and 30% skill shortfall. India has a 3.5% share in global chemical value chains with a trade deficit of USD 31 billion in 2023. The report proposes world-class chemical hubs, better port infrastructure, and an operating expense subsidy scheme. It suggests boosting research and development, fast-tracking environmental clearance, and leveraging Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

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Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai improved their ranks in the QS Best Student Cities 2026 released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Seoul, Tokyo and London are the top three globally. Delhi ranked 104th, climbing 7 spots, and emerged as the world’s most affordable student city. India saw 390% rise in universities featured in QS rankings in 10 years.

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The United Nations has released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report 2025. Five key goals — SDG2 (Zero Hunger), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG6 (Clean Water), SDG8 (Decent Work), and SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities) — are worst hit, with 50–57% of targets off-track. Global hunger affects 713–757 million people, worsened by conflict, climate change, and economic shocks. Food insecurity affected 2.33 billion people in 2023 — 383 million more than in 2019. SDG8 sees half of its indicators declining, with 57.8% of global workforce in informal jobs and youth unemployment at 12.9%. SDG14 (Life Below Water) is least funded and shows 40% decline in key targets. SDG3 (Good Health) shows stagnation in maternal health and universal coverage, with post-COVID strain persisting.

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The World Bank recently released the ‘Global Findex 2025’ report highlighting global progress in digital and financial inclusion. India’s account ownership stands at or near 90 percent, showing major financial inclusion gains. However, 16 percent of Indian account holders have inactive accounts, compared to 4 percent in other low- and middle-income countries. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of men and women with only inactive accounts in India declined. High device cost and poor mobile network coverage remain key barriers to mobile phone ownership in India.

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India has recently jumped eight places to rank 77th on the Henley Passport Index 2025, up from 85th in 2024. The number of visa-free countries for Indian passport holders has slightly increased to 59 from 57. The Philippines and Sri Lanka are the two new visa-free additions for Indian citizens. The Henley Passport Index ranks passports based on the number of destinations accessible without a prior visa. The data is compiled using statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Singapore holds the top spot globally with visa-free access to 193 out of 227 locations.

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The ‘State of Food and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2025 report was released by the United Nations on July 28, 2025. In 2024, 720 million people (8.2% of global population) were affected by hunger. Around 2.3 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024. Hunger levels slightly improved from 8.5% in 2023 and 8.7% in 2022, but progress remained uneven. Asia had the most undernourished people (323 million), followed by Africa (307 million), and Latin America & the Caribbean (34 million). By 2030, 512 million people (6% of the global population) may remain chronically undernourished. It tracks global hunger, food security, and nutrition progress under SDG targets 2.1 and 2.2.