Reports and Indices Current Affairs MCQs

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UNESCO released its flagship report “Bhasha Matters: The State of Education Report for India 2025,” emphasizing that mother-tongue based instruction is essential for improving equity and learning outcomes in India. The report advocates for the adoption of Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) across the country to ensure linguistic inclusion and cultural preservation. The report recommends establishing a national mission on Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) to provide a unified and coordinated framework that ensures strong alignment between central and state governments.

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NITI Aayog released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024, assessing export readiness of India’s States and Union Territories (UTs) to support the goal of USD 1 trillion merchandise exports by 2030 and Viksit Bharat @2047. EPI 2024 is structured around four pillars—Export Infrastructure, Business Ecosystem, Policy & Governance, and Export Performance. It is further divided into 13 sub-pillars and 70 indicators for granular assessment. Top-performing Large States are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, while top-performing Small/North Eastern States & UTs are Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, and Goa.

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The Global Risk Report 2026 was released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). It identifies geoeconomic confrontation as the most significant global risk. In the short term (2026–2028), key risks include geoeconomic confrontation, state-based armed conflicts, extreme weather events, and rising societal polarisation. In the long term (up to 2036), major risks are extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem collapse. India faces major risks like cyber insecurity, inequality, and weak public services. Geoeconomic confrontation means using trade, technology, sanctions, and investment controls for strategic advantage.

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The International Labour Organization (ILO) released its Employment and Social Trends 2026 report in Geneva on 14 January 2026. The report warns that global unemployment will remain at 4.9% in 2026, affecting 186 million people. Employment quality progress has stalled; extreme working poverty declined only 3.1% between 2015–2025. Informal employment is rising, with 2.1 billion workers globally projected to be informally employed by 2026. India accounts for 3% of global manufacturing. India, along with Japan and Korea, is expanding jobs in the renewable energy sector. There is a gap between demand and supply of green-skilled workers in India.

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The Madhya Pradesh Regional AI Impact Conference 2026 held in Bhopal, showcasing practical AI use cases in governance and public service delivery aligned with national AI goals. The conference was part of eight regional events being held nationwide ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 scheduled in New Delhi from 16–20 February 2026. An MoU was signed to expand AI education and skilling, including the establishment of 30 Data and AI Labs in Madhya Pradesh under a national plan for 570 labs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

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Abu Dhabi ranked the world’s safest city for the tenth consecutive year since 2017. The ranking was released by Numbeo, a global cost of living and quality of life database. The achievement highlights Abu Dhabi’s strong security, stability, and high quality of life. It strengthens the emirate’s image as a top destination for living, working, and investment.

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NITI Aayog released the report “Roadmap for Green Transition of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)” aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047 and net-zero by 2070. It is a 10-year action plan for 69 million MSMEs to shift towards low-carbon growth. The roadmap focuses on energy efficiency, green electricity, and alternative fuels. It proposes a National Project Management Agency (NPMA) for implementation and finance support. MSMEs contribute about 30% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 45.7% to exports, employing over 250 million people. They emitted around 135 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2022.

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The State of Finance for Nature 2026 report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights a major global imbalance favouring nature-negative finance. Nature-positive finance supports environmental conservation through Nature-based Solutions (NbS), while nature-negative finance harms ecosystems. In 2023, nature-negative finance reached 7.3 trillion US dollars, nearly 30 times higher than the 220 billion US dollars spent on NbS. About 90% of NbS funding comes from public sources, while private finance largely flows to fossil fuels and heavy industries.

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India’s innovation ecosystem has steadily improved, climbing to 38th position in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 from 66th in 2019, as per Economic Survey 2025-26. Government initiatives in manufacturing, research, startups, and technology have helped India emerge as a global hub for innovation and industrial development. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme boosted domestic manufacturing, especially in smartphones, attracting global companies to India. Till September 2025, PLI investments exceeded Rs 2 lakh crore, generating additional production/sales of Rs 18.70 lakh crore and employment for 12.60 lakh people.

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India ranked second globally outside the United States in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)–certified building space in 2025. The ranking was released by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). China ranked first outside the US with 26 million gross square meters (GSM), followed by India with 16 million GSM. The United States remains the global leader with over 50 million GSM of LEED-certified space. India showed strong growth in LEED Operations and Maintenance (O+M), highlighting focus on existing building performance.