Current Events — Practice

Question 1

The post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was created in December 2019 as the government's single-point military adviser. Who was India's first CDS?
(a) General Bipin Rawat  (b) General Manoj Mukund Naravane  (c) Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria  (d) Admiral Karambir Singh

Accepted Answer

General Bipin Rawat took office as India's first Chief of Defence Staff on 1 January 2020, shortly after the post was created.

Answer: (a) General Bipin Rawat. Trap (b) General M.M. Naravane was the Chief of Army Staff at the time CDS was created — a real, senior, contemporaneous officer, but a different post. Traps (c) and (d) were the Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Naval Staff respectively during the same period — genuine service chiefs of that era, not the CDS.

Question 2

DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation), India's apex military R&D body under the Ministry of Defence, is headquartered in:
(a) New Delhi  (b) Bengaluru  (c) Hyderabad  (d) Pune

Accepted Answer

DRDO's headquarters is in New Delhi.

Answer: (a) New Delhi. Trap (b) Bengaluru is ISRO's headquarters, not DRDO's — a frequent cross-trap between the two organisations. Traps (c) Hyderabad and (d) Pune are both genuine sites of major individual DRDO laboratories (missile and armament research establishments respectively), but neither is the organisation's headquarters.

Question 3

ISRO's satellites and launch vehicles are launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located at:
(a) Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh  (b) Thumba, Kerala  (c) Bengaluru, Karnataka  (d) Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Accepted Answer

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre — ISRO's primary launch site — is located on Sriharikota island, Andhra Pradesh.

Answer: (a) Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Trap (b) Thumba, Kerala was the site of ISRO's original 1963 rocket-launching station (TERLS), historically important but not the current launch site. Trap (c) Bengaluru is ISRO's headquarters, not a launch site. Trap (d) Thiruvananthapuram is home to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO's lead rocket-design centre, again not the launch site.

Question 4

Exercise MALABAR is today a multilateral naval exercise involving India, the US, Japan and Australia. It originated in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between India and:
(a) United States  (b) United Kingdom  (c) Australia  (d) Japan

Accepted Answer

MALABAR began in 1992 as a bilateral India-US naval exercise; Japan and Australia joined as permanent partners only later.

Answer: (a) United States. Traps (b), (c) and (d) are all genuine current or historical partners linked to India through other exercises or MALABAR's later expansion, but none was the 1992 founding partner.

Question 5

Which of the following bilateral military exercises is unique in being conducted at the tri-service (Army, Navy and Air Force) level between India and a single partner country?
(a) Exercise INDRA, with Russia  (b) Exercise GARUDA, with France  (c) Exercise YUDH ABHYAS, with the USA  (d) Exercise KONKAN, with the UK

Accepted Answer

Exercise INDRA, held with Russia, is the only exercise where India engages a single partner country across all three services simultaneously.

Answer: (a). Traps (b), (c) and (d) are all genuine, real joint exercises, but each is tied to a single service branch — GARUDA is Air Force only, YUDH ABHYAS is Army only, KONKAN is Navy only.

Question 6

Exercise YUDH ABHYAS, an annual joint Army exercise held alternately in India and the partner country since 2004, is conducted with:
(a) United States  (b) Russia  (c) Nepal  (d) Sri Lanka

Accepted Answer

YUDH ABHYAS is a joint India-US Army exercise, held annually since 2004.

Answer: (a) United States. Trap (b) Russia is India's tri-service partner in Exercise INDRA, not YUDH ABHYAS. Trap (c) Nepal is India's partner in Exercise SURYA KIRAN (also Army-level). Trap (d) Sri Lanka is India's partner in Exercise MITRA SHAKTI — all genuine Army-level exercises, just with different countries.

Question 7

India's highest military decoration, awarded for the highest degree of gallantry displayed in the presence of the enemy (wartime), is the:
(a) Param Vir Chakra  (b) Ashoka Chakra  (c) Maha Vir Chakra  (d) Kirti Chakra

Accepted Answer

The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest wartime gallantry award.

Answer: (a) Param Vir Chakra. Trap (b) Ashoka Chakra is the equivalent-ranked award, but for peacetime gallantry — the classic wartime/peacetime mix-up. Traps (c) Maha Vir Chakra and (d) Kirti Chakra are genuine, real awards, but they sit one tier below Param Vir Chakra and Ashoka Chakra respectively, not at the top.

Question 8

India's 2019 anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test, which made it the fourth country to demonstrate the capability, was codenamed:
(a) Mission Shakti  (b) Operation Shakti  (c) Mission Divyastra  (d) Mission Gaganyaan

Accepted Answer

The 2019 ASAT test was codenamed Mission Shakti.

Answer: (a) Mission Shakti. Trap (b) Operation Shakti is a genuine but different event — the codename for India's 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests. Trap (c) Mission Divyastra refers to a separate, later missile test (India's first MIRV-capable missile test). Trap (d) Mission Gaganyaan is India's human spaceflight programme, unrelated to the ASAT test.

Question 9

Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander made India the first country to successfully soft-land near the:
(a) Lunar south pole  (b) Lunar north pole  (c) Lunar equator  (d) Far side of the Moon

Accepted Answer

Vikram soft-landed near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023.

Answer: (a) Lunar south pole. Trap (d) Far side of the Moon is a genuine lunar-exploration first, but it belongs to a different country's mission (China's Chang'e-4, 2019), not Chandrayaan-3. Traps (b) and (c) describe regions no major lander has specifically targeted as a 'first.'

Question 10

India's G20 presidency (December 2022-November 2023), culminating in the New Delhi Summit, was held under the official theme:
(a) Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — 'One Earth One Family One Future'  (b) Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas  (c) Atmanirbhar Bharat  (d) Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat

Accepted Answer

India's G20 presidency theme was 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth One Family One Future.'

Answer: (a). Traps (b), (c) and (d) are all genuine, well-known Government of India slogans/initiatives — Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (governance slogan), Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance campaign) and Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (national unity initiative) — but none was the G20 presidency's official theme.

Question 11

India was upgraded from observer status to full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2017, at a summit held in:
(a) Astana, Kazakhstan  (b) Qingdao, China  (c) Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan  (d) New Delhi, India

Accepted Answer

India's full membership was confirmed at the 2017 SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Answer: (a) Astana, Kazakhstan. Trap (b) Qingdao hosted the 2018 SCO summit — India's first as a full member, but a year later. Trap (c) Bishkek hosted the 2019 summit. Trap (d) New Delhi hosted the 2023 summit, with India in the chair — all genuine SCO summit locations, just not the 2017 membership-upgrade summit.

Question 12

Under the Agnipath scheme launched in 2022 for tri-service recruitment into the Indian Armed Forces, the recruited soldiers are officially called:
(a) Agniveers  (b) Agnivirs  (c) Agni Sainiks  (d) Agni Rakshaks

Accepted Answer

Recruits under the Agnipath scheme are officially designated Agniveers.

Answer: (a) Agniveers. Traps (b), (c) and (d) are all plausible-sounding but incorrect terms — none is the scheme's official designation.

Practice — Current Events

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