Answer: (a) 1845

1. Vasudeo Balwant Phadke was born on 4 November 1845 at Shirdhon in present-day Maharashtra. His 181st birth anniversary falls in 2026.
2. He was an early revolutionary who advocated Swaraj and organised armed resistance to British colonial rule during the 1870s.
3. He mobilised local communities, including Ramoshis, in a movement shaped by rural distress, famine and colonial economic exploitation.
4. Phadke was arrested in 1879 and transported for life. He died in Aden prison on 17 February 1883 and is remembered as a pioneer of India’s armed freedom struggle.

Answer: (a) Rohit Jain

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted the Technical Consultative Committee for Financial Markets (TCCFM) on 4 November 2026.
2. It is chaired by the Deputy Governor in charge of the Financial Markets Regulation Department (FMRD), currently Rohit Jain, and includes seven external members.
3. The forum covers money markets, government securities, foreign exchange, related derivatives and market infrastructure. It supports structured consultation with market participants.
4. The committee will meet at least once every quarter. Its remit includes policy and operational matters, market efficiency, and trading and settlement arrangements.

Answer: (a) Soreng

1. Soreng district in Sikkim is India’s first notified Organic Fisheries Cluster under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
2. Union Fisheries Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh launched a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for organic fisheries certification during his Sikkim visit on 2 November 2026.
3. Fisheries projects worth ₹375 lakh, equivalent to ₹3.75 crore, were inaugurated. Infrastructure includes hatcheries, feed mills, cold storage and modern aquaculture systems.
4. The initiative promotes sustainable fish production and market access. Sikkim also signed an arrangement with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) for procurement of locally produced rainbow trout.

Answer: (a) Pink Line

1. Pune Metro Line 3 is the Pink Line. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it on 3 November 2026 through video conferencing.
2. The approximately 23-km corridor links the Hinjewadi IT area with Shivajinagar, connecting Maan and the District Court Metro station. It was built at a cost exceeding ₹8,300 crore.
3. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for Phase-II, covering Lines 2A, 2B, 4 and 4A, with an estimated cost of around ₹13,500 crore.
4. The combined projects are worth about ₹21,800 crore. The Pink Line’s planned operation by women train operators and use of solar power support inclusive, sustainable mobility.

Answer: (d) 28 November

1. Uttarakhand will observe Disaster Management Day on 28 November every year, with awareness and preparedness programmes scheduled from 25 to 28 November in 2026.
2. The date commemorates the successful rescue of 41 workers from the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel on 28 November 2023.
3. District authorities will organise emergency exercises at institutions such as hospitals, schools, government offices, power projects and tunnels.
4. The programme also includes assessment of building hazards, firefighting equipment and response readiness. The aim is stronger public awareness and coordinated disaster preparedness.

Answer: (a) Kullu

1. APEDA facilitated a shipment of 1.3 metric tonnes of Sinduri pomegranates from Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
2. APEDA stands for Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority and functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
3. The consignment comprised 650 boxes of 2 kg each and was handled by Amama Exports. Produce was sourced from local growers and the Bhuntar Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO).
4. The FPO is associated with about 600 farmers. Participating growers obtained 50% higher price realisation than the prevailing domestic benchmark, demonstrating the value of stronger export linkages.

Answer: (b) Arunachal Pradesh

1. The kiwis came from Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh. APEDA facilitated the 1.5-metric-tonne trial shipment to Dubai to test overseas market potential.
2. The fruit reached LuLu Hypermarket at Al Qusais, enabling retail-level assessment of consumer response, packaging and quality expectations.
3. The initiative operates under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER), using the branding Kiwi: USP of Arunachal Pradesh.
4. The trial seeks to connect local growers with overseas buyers and guide future export development. A successful trial shipment should be distinguished from an established large-scale export programme.

Answer: (b) India

1. India was elected President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) for a third consecutive term at its ninth session during the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit 2026.
2. France was re-elected Co-President. India and France jointly launched the ISA in 2015 to accelerate international solar energy deployment.
3. The alliance is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. It works to mobilise finance, knowledge and cooperation for expanding solar energy.
4. The election concerns leadership of the ISA, an international solar alliance; its focus is wider access to affordable and sustainable solar power.

Answer: (a) Keisha Lance Bottoms

1. Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s gubernatorial election on 3 November 2026, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state.
2. The Democratic candidate defeated Republican Rick Jackson. She is also the first woman elected to Georgia’s governorship.
3. Bottoms previously served as Mayor of Atlanta and as a senior adviser in the Biden administration. The result ended a long period of Republican control of the governorship.
4. At the time of the result she is Governor-elect, rather than an already sworn-in governor. Election victory and assumption of office are separate stages.

Answer: (b) Balaji Nuthalapadi

1. Equitas Small Finance Bank announced that its board had approved Balaji Nuthalapadi as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO), subject to Reserve Bank of India approval.
2. Nuthalapadi was serving as a whole-time director and executive director. The proposed interim appointment follows the resignation of Managing Director and CEO P N Vasudevan.
3. Before joining Equitas, he spent 28 years with Citigroup in roles including operations, technology and global capability centre leadership.
4. The appointment takes effect from RBI approval or another date stipulated by it. The bank has separately started the search for a permanent successor.

Answer: (d) Arunachal Pradesh

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs appointed Rajesh Kumar as Director General of Police (DGP) of Arunachal Pradesh through an order dated 3 November 2026.
2. He is a 1995-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the AGMUT cadre, which covers Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories.
3. Kumar succeeds Shiv Darshan Singh Jamwal, who was transferred to Delhi. He previously served as Special Director General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
4. His premature repatriation to his parent cadre was approved before the new state assignment. Remember the pairing Rajesh Kumar — Arunachal Pradesh DGP.

Answer: (a) Tamil Nadu

1. Tamil Nadu led with 44,611 research publications in 2024–25, according to NITI Aayog’s India Science and Technology (S&T) Scoreboard.
2. Uttar Pradesh followed with 29,298 publications, while Maharashtra recorded 28,947. These are publication counts for the specified period, rather than a general state-development ranking.
3. Tamil Nadu also led patent applications; Maharashtra and Karnataka occupied the next two positions in that indicator.
4. The scoreboard supports state-wise benchmarking and evidence-based policy. Publication output and patent filings are separate indicators of research and innovation activity.

Answer: (d) Third

1. India ranked third with 51 Gazelles in the 2026 ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Gazelle Index, moving ahead of the United Kingdom.
2. The United States led with 302 companies and China followed with 278. Gazelles are privately held potential unicorns valued from US$500 million to below US$1 billion.
3. The 51 Indian companies had a combined valuation of about ₹3.3 lakh crore and had raised ₹87,780 crore in funding.
4. Together they employed 60,228 people. The classification identifies firms with potential to reach unicorn status, rather than companies already valued at US$1 billion.

Answer: (a) IIT Delhi

1. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi led Indian institutions at 66th place in the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027.
2. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, ranked 79th, followed by IIT Bombay at 83rd. QS stands for Quacquarelli Symonds.
3. India had 325 ranked institutions, the region’s second-largest representation after mainland China. Its list included 34 new entrants.
4. The edition covered 1,722 institutions across 26 higher education systems. Twenty-one Indian institutions featured among Asia’s top 200.

Answer: (d) Mangaluru

1. The convention began in Mangaluru, Karnataka, and is scheduled from 3 to 15 November 2026. It is organised by Mandd Sobhann during its 40th anniversary year.
2. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was the chief guest for the inauguration. The event brings together Konkani-speaking communities and performers from India and abroad.
3. Konkani Nirontari is a Guinness World Records attempt for the longest singing marathon by multiple singers, targeting 12 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes.
4. The programme also includes seminars, exhibitions and cultural activities. The marathon is an attempt in progress during this edition, rather than a record already confirmed.

Answer: (d) Soket Labs

1. Soket Labs developed EKA-1, released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the IndiaAI Mission on 3 November 2026.
2. EKA-1 has 26.3 billion parameters and was trained on approximately 7.5 trillion tokens. It supports all 22 Scheduled Indian Languages and English.
3. ZenteiQ developed the other two released models, Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B. These lightweight models support English and ten Indian languages, including offline deployment use cases.
4. The releases fall under the IndiaAI Innovation Centre’s foundation-model work and aim to strengthen indigenous artificial intelligence capabilities for sectors such as banking, education and government services.

Answer: (d) VELC

1. The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on Aditya-L1 provided spectroscopic observations of a solar eruption recorded on 5 August 2024.
2. Scientists combined these measurements with images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and three-dimensional modelling to reconstruct the eruption’s expansion.
3. The coronal mass ejection (CME) developed an asymmetric shape, rather than expanding like a uniform bubble. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
4. CME shape can influence its interaction with the solar wind and its speed towards Earth. Understanding this behaviour can improve models used in space-weather assessment.

Answer: (d) India

1. India won the men’s 50m pistol team event on 3 November 2026 at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
2. The team comprised Ravinder Singh, Saurabh Chaudhary and Amanpreet Singh. Their aggregate score was 1,659-24x.
3. China won silver with 1,648-26x and South Korea took bronze with 1,643-26x. Ravinder contributed 559-11x to India’s team score.
4. The championship runs from 1 to 14 November 2026. The team result is distinct from the individual medal standings, even though athletes’ individual scores form the aggregate.

Answer: (c) Sowa-Rigpa

1. Dr Padma Gurmet, Director of the National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR), Leh, received the Wellness Visionary Award for Holistic Healing.
2. Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University (CSJMU), Kanpur, presented the honour during its third International Conference on Wellness, held from 30 October to 1 November 2026.
3. The recognition concerns his contribution to traditional medicine and holistic healthcare, including the role of Sowa-Rigpa in Himalayan wellness.
4. Sowa-Rigpa is commonly translated as Science of Healing. The traditional medical system is practised in Himalayan regions, and its national institute at Leh supports education, research and preservation of its knowledge.

Answer: (b) IIT (ISM) Dhanbad

1. TEXMiN, the Technology Translation Research Park at IIT (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, signed a Joint Statement of Intent with NITI Aayog.
2. The collaboration, reported on 3 November 2026, supports indigenous technology, collaborative research, policy studies and capacity building in critical and strategic minerals.
3. It aligns with the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. The focus extends across exploration, processing, refining and recycling.
4. Recovery from secondary resources, including mine tailings, coal fly ash, red mud and electronic waste, can diversify mineral supplies. The partnership aims to translate research into commercially useful technologies.

Answer: (b) United States

1. Greenland’s lawmakers approved the trilateral security agreement with Denmark and the United States on 3 November 2026 by 16 votes to zero, with seven abstentions.
2. The agreement was signed in September 2026 and seeks stronger security cooperation in the Arctic and North Atlantic, including an expanded US military presence.
3. It respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.
4. Greenland’s approval is one parliamentary stage. Entry into force remains subject to the required national parliamentary procedures; approval should not be described as immediate transfer of sovereignty.

Answer: (c) Mogging

1. Collins Dictionary named mogging its Word of the Year for 2026. It describes outperforming or outshining another person or thing, often in appearance, confidence or status.
2. The expression gained visibility among Generation Z and Generation Alpha and moved more widely into online and everyday conversation.
3. Collins reported a 210% rise in usage during 2026 and analysed its large language database to identify emerging trends.
4. Other shortlisted expressions included firewaves, P(doom), carspreading, fricy and ghost jobs. The award identifies a language trend rather than a formal academic term.