IBPS Current Affairs Quiz: 1 October 2026

The correct answer is 'Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath', which translates as one day, one hour, together. This is the theme under which the Swachhata Hi Seva 2026 campaign is being run across the country, and the spirit of joint action it stands for was what the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare echoed when its officers and staff joined a shramdaan in New Delhi on 1 October 2026. The theme puts a simple demand before every citizen: set aside one hour on a single day and work alongside others on cleanliness.

Option A, 'Swachhata Se Samriddhi', is not the theme of this campaign. Option C, 'Mera Shahar, Meri Zimmedari', is a plausible-sounding civic slogan but does not belong to Swachhata Hi Seva 2026 either. Option D, 'Ek Bharat, Swachh Bharat', mixes up the name of the wider Swachh Bharat effort, whose objectives the Ministry reaffirmed on the occasion, with the campaign theme, and so it is wrong as well.

The correct answer is Narendra Bhooshan. He has taken over as Secretary of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the ministry that handles forests, wildlife, pollution control and climate policy for the country. He is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre and reached this post after serving as Secretary of the Department of Land Resources in the Ministry of Rural Development. Option A, Keshav Chandra, is the Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and not in the environment ministry. Option C, Ashok K. K. Meena, heads the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Option D, Kamal Kishore Soan, is Additional Secretary and Mission Director of the National Jal Jeevan Mission, again a water sector post rather than an environment one. So only option B names the new environment Secretary correctly.

The correct answer is Rs 5,000 crore. This is the dedicated provision set aside under Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 for closing drinking water gaps in the tribal villages covered by the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan and the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan. The figure was placed before states at the second follow-up review and convergence meeting of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which works under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The review built on commitments the states and union territories had made at an earlier departmental summit to reach full tap water saturation in every eligible village. Options A, C and D give other amounts, and none of them matches the provision announced for these two tribal missions, so each of those three choices is incorrect.

The correct answer is the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, known by its short form DARPG. It runs this government-wide drive, in which ministries and their attached, subordinate and autonomous bodies clean their premises, weed out old files and clear pending references. The campaign also has a monitoring portal maintained by the same department, where daily progress is uploaded. Option A, the Department of Personnel and Training, handles service matters of government employees and does not run this drive. Option C, the Department of Expenditure, deals with public finance under the Finance Ministry. Option D, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, works on rural water and sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti; although cleanliness is its subject, this particular campaign is not its own. So only option B is correct.

The correct answer is Buldhana. Lonar Crater Lake is a unique natural formation in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, and it attracts visitors because of its distinctive geological and environmental features. The lake is known for water that is both saline and alkaline, and for the striking crater landscape around it. It is one of the three sites at which the Union Minister of State for Ayush has asked the Defence Ministry to allow performances by the aerobatic display team of the Indian Air Force, the other two being the Ajanta and Ellora Caves. Options B, C and D name Nagpur, Satara and Nashik, which are all districts of Maharashtra but none of them is the district in which this crater lake lies. Hence option A is the correct choice.

The correct answer is Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The hundredth-year celebrations of the Union Public Service Commission were held there, and the Prime Minister took part along with chairpersons of the Public Service Commissions of the states. Option A, Vigyan Bhawan, is a regular conference venue in the capital but was not the place chosen for this event. Option C, Rashtrapati Bhavan, is the official residence of the President and hosts investiture and oath ceremonies, not this celebration. Option D, Yashobhoomi in Dwarka, is another large convention centre in Delhi and was not the venue either. Bharat Mandapam is the correct choice to remember, since the same venue hosts many national events and often appears in questions on where a particular gathering took place. Along with the venue, note that a commemorative stamp, a special coin and a compilation of 100 significant case laws were released on the occasion.

The correct answer is Resilience in an Age of Flux, the theme announced by the Ministry of Finance for the fifth edition of the Conclave, to be held in New Delhi from 3 to 5 October 2026. The other three options are all genuine themes of the Conclave, but from earlier years, which is exactly why they make good distractors. Option A, The Indian Era, was the theme of the 2024 edition. Option C, Seeking Prosperity in Turbulent Times, belonged to the 2025 edition. Option D, Navigating a World on Fire, was the theme in 2023, while the very first edition in 2022 was held under the theme Redefining the Future. A clean way to carry this into the examination hall is to remember the five themes in order of year, since a question may ask for any one of them. The Conclave is an initiative of the Institute of Economic Growth, held in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.

The correct answer is 1 October. The day is observed on this date every year to spread awareness about voluntary blood donation and to encourage healthy, eligible people to donate regularly and without payment. The national observance for the year was held at the Swarn Jayanti Auditorium of Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi. Option B, 14 June, is a strong distractor because it marks the global observance for blood donors, not this national one, so read the question carefully to see whether the national or the world day is being asked. Option C, 1 December, is associated with a different health observance altogether. Option D, 7 April, marks the day of global health and is again a separate occasion. Keep the national day and the world day apart in memory, and remember this year’s theme, "One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives."

The correct answer is 1,000 quintals. Under the revised norms a dealer may not hold more than this quantity at any time or at any place in the country, and the rule runs from 15 October 2026 to 30 November 2026. Option C, 2,000 quintals, is the closest wrong choice and must be read with care, because that higher ceiling applies only to Kolkata along with its extended metropolitan areas and to the State of Assam, where geography, transport and the needs of consumers in the North-East were taken into account. Options A and D, 500 and 5,000 quintals, are figures of the right order but were not set by the order. Along with the quantity, remember the time limit: stock may not be kept for more than 15 days from the date it is received, so the order caps both how much and how long.

The correct answer is Rs 1,423.30 crore. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stated that this amount was released to States and Union Territories across three financial years under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the two Acts. The year-wise break-up adds up to the same figure: Rs 392.71 crore in 2022-23, Rs 535.30 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 495.29 crore in 2024-25. Options B, C and D are near figures of the sort an examiner places when a single total has been reported, and each is wrong. A good habit is to check whether the parts add to the whole, which they do here, so the total can be reconstructed even if only the yearly figures are remembered. The money pays for protection cells and special police stations, judicial machinery, relief and rehabilitation of victims, incentives for inter-caste marriages and awareness work.

The correct answer is Paranur Toll Plaza. It lies on the Tambaram-Tindivanam section of NH-179B and has become the first location in Tamil Nadu where the National Highways Authority of India charges toll without a boom barrier, letting vehicles roll through while cameras and FASTag settle the fee. Option A, Chorayasi, is wrong because that plaza is on the Surat-Bharuch section of NH-48 and lies in Gujarat, not Tamil Nadu. Option B, Gharaunda, is wrong because it sits on the Panipat-Jalandhar section of National Highway-44 in Haryana. Option D, Manoharpura, is wrong because it is one of the three plazas on the Delhi-Jaipur section of NH-48 in Rajasthan, the others being Shahjahanpur and Daulatpura. All three of these were converted to free-flow tolling earlier, but none of them is in Tamil Nadu, so only Paranur answers the question asked here.

The correct answer is the National Statistics Office, which works under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and is running this round as CAPEX 2026, its third such exercise, between October and December. Option A is wrong; the central bank does run its own enterprise and industry surveys, which makes it a tempting choice, but this particular survey of private capital spending intentions belongs to the statistics ministry. Option C is wrong because the policy think tank does not collect primary statistics of this kind, and the survey here is a statutory collection carried out under the Collection of Statistics Act of two thousand eight. Option D is wrong because the markets regulator oversees securities markets and listed company disclosure, not economy-wide statistical surveys. The frame of firms for the survey is built from active companies registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The correct answer is Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas. That is the title under which the People's Plan Campaign for the year is launched when Special Gram Sabhas assemble on the second of October, and under it every Gram Panchayat draws up its development plan for the next financial year through participatory, evidence-based planning. Option A is wrong; it echoes a well known government slogan about development with everyone's support, which is exactly why it misleads, but it is not the name of this campaign. Option C is wrong because no such title has been given to the campaign, although it sounds like the kind of name a village planning drive might carry. Option D is wrong because Gram Swaraj belongs to the name of a different programme for building Panchayat capacity, the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, which is one of the schemes discussed in the Sabhas rather than the campaign itself.

The correct answer is Bronze. The Indian women's team in squash finished third in its event at the Games and so took the bronze medal, a result the Prime Minister described as a richly deserved place on the podium while congratulating the players for a spirited effort and for the resolve they showed. Option A is wrong because the team did not finish first; a gold would have meant topping the event. Option B is wrong because silver goes to the runner-up, and that was not the position the Indian side finished in. Option D is wrong because a fourth place would have left the team off the podium altogether, whereas the whole point of the congratulations was that the players had secured a podium place. For examinations, the pairing to remember is the women's squash team with the bronze medal at these Games.

The correct answer is Dr. Rajiv Bahl. He is Secretary of the Department of Health Research and also holds charge as Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and he led the voluntary cleanliness drive held near Gate No. 3 of Kartavya Bhavan-1 on Dr. Rajendra Prasad Marg in New Delhi. Speaking to the media there, he said cleanliness must become a sustained collective effort and asked officials and citizens alike to contribute.

Option A, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, is Additional Secretary and Director General of the National AIDS Control Organisation; he took part in the drive but did not lead it. Option B, Smt. Aradhana Patnaik, is Additional Secretary and Mission Director of the National Health Mission, and she spoke on Jan Bhagidari and individual responsibility, again as a participant. Option D, Dr. Loveneesh G. Krishna, is the Director General of Health Services and was also among the participants.

The correct answer is Uttar Pradesh. Narendra Bhooshan is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, and he belongs to the batch of the year 1992. His long list of state assignments confirms the cadre: he served as Additional Chief Secretary for Energy, Additional Energy Sources and Technical Education, as Principal Secretary in departments such as Public Works, Industries Development, Information Technology and Electronics, Science and Technology and Panchayati Raj, and as Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Noida Authority. He was also District Magistrate of Mathura and of Firozabad, both districts of Uttar Pradesh. Options A, B and D name Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, and none of these states figures among his cadre postings, so each of them is wrong. Only option C matches the cadre of the officer.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It has carried out a state-wise exercise named SurveySetu, in which the status of functional household tap connections is verified at the level of each household. States have been advised to present the findings of this exercise jointly, through their water supply departments, tribal welfare departments and the survey agency, before the District Water and Sanitation Mission, and to resolve any mismatch through field verification so that a final validated database exists at the district level. Option A, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is the ministry whose Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation convened the review and funds the taps, but the survey is not its exercise. Option B, the Ministry of Rural Development, and option D, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, have no role in this survey, so both are wrong.

The correct answer is 2 October to 31 October. The campaign is built in two parts. The first is a preparatory phase, which ran from the sixteenth to the thirtieth of September 2026, and in which each participating ministry fixed the cleaning and disposal targets it would meet. The second is the implementation phase, which starts on the second of October, the day of Gandhi Jayanti, and runs to the end of that month. Option A gives the dates of the preparatory phase, not the implementation phase. Option B covers only the first half of October and stops before the campaign ends. Option D stretches the campaign into the next month, which is not correct. Therefore option C alone gives the right window for the implementation phase of the drive.

The correct answer is the Indian Air Force. The Surya Kiran Aerobatic Display Team is the air force’s formation display team, and it has a reputation for precision, skill and closely coordinated aerial manoeuvres. The letter seeking its performances in Maharashtra notes that its displays showcase the country’s aviation capabilities while drawing public interest and encouraging young people to explore opportunities in the air force. Option A, the Indian Army, and option B, the Indian Navy, both have their own display and adventure teams, but Surya Kiran is not one of them. Option D, the Indian Coast Guard, is a maritime force under the Ministry of Defence and operates no such aerobatic team. Candidates should remember Surya Kiran together with Sarang, the air force’s helicopter display team, as both are frequently asked.

The correct answer is 1926. The Commission began in that year under colonial rule, and the Prime Minister contrasted those origins with the way the body later turned its work towards the aims of an independent country, which is why the celebration in 2026 marks a full hundred years. Option A, 1919, is wrong for this body even though that year is remembered for other constitutional changes of the colonial period. Option C, 1935, is wrong as well; it is a year associated with another colonial statute, not with the setting up of this Commission. Option D, 1950, is the year the Republic came into being and is a tempting but wrong choice, because the Commission already existed and was only reshaped for a free nation afterwards. The Prime Minister credited Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with providing the steel frame of administration needed to rebuild the country.

The correct answer is the Institute of Economic Growth, usually written as IEG, which runs the Conclave together with the Ministry of Finance. The Institute was founded by Professor V.K.R.V. Rao in 1952; N. K. Singh is President of its Board of Trustees, Dr Michael Debabrata Patra is Chairman of its Board of Governors and Professor Sabyasachi Kar is its Director. Option A is wrong because the government think tank, while central to policy work, is not the organiser of this Conclave. Options C and D name well-known economic research bodies of the country and are plausible for that reason alone, but neither convenes this event. Note the year of the Institute’s founding and the name of its founder together, because questions often pair an event with the body behind it and the body with the person who set it up.

The correct answer is "One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives." The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare set this theme for the observance, and officials explained that it points to the humanitarian spirit behind donation and calls on eligible citizens, particularly the young, to come forward. The other three options read like donation slogans and are placed to test whether the exact wording has been noted, because a theme question is usually answered word for word. At the same observance it was said that about 75 per cent of the blood collected in the country now comes from voluntary donors, that the e-RaktKosh portal is used for donor registration and monitoring, and that Lady Hardinge Medical College provides free treatment and transfusion support to about 700 registered thalassemia patients, among the largest such services in a government hospital.

The correct answer is Kolkata with its extended metropolitan areas and the State of Assam. These were kept outside the general ceiling and given a limit twice as large, because Kolkata draws sugar from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka and forwards it to eastern India including the North-East, while the higher figure for Assam reflects the geography of the region, the logistics of moving goods and the interest of consumers there. Options A, B and D name other large cities and states that are important to trade, but none of them was given an exemption in this order. The point to carry away is that the exemption follows a supply route, not the size of a city: Kolkata acts as a gateway for the east, which is why the stricter national ceiling would have pinched supplies to the North-East.

The correct answer is 217. As reported by the states and Union Territories, 217 Exclusive Special Courts have been set up in 15 States and Union Territories to try offences under the Act of 1989, the purpose being speedy trial and quicker disposal of cases. Options A, B and D are the same three digits rearranged, which is a common way of testing whether a figure has been read closely rather than half remembered. Note the second half of the arrangement as well: where the number of cases in a district is relatively low, the Act allows a Court of Session to be designated a Special Court, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned. The need for such courts is clear from the pendency, since 3,92,006 cases were awaiting trial at the end of 2024.

The correct answer is Automatic Number Plate Recognition, usually shortened to ANPR. Cameras at the plaza read the registration plate of every vehicle that crosses, and the FASTag-based Electronic Toll Collection system then debits the user fee from the account linked to that vehicle. Option B is wrong because the free-flow system described for Paranur rests on plate reading and FASTag, not on satellite tracking of individual vehicles. Option C is wrong because no chassis number is broadcast anywhere in this arrangement; the chassis number is a manufacturing identity and plays no part in charging toll. Option D is wrong because the whole purpose of the change is the opposite: free-flow tolling is meant to cut human intervention in collection, so staff do not type registration numbers for passing traffic. Together, ANPR and FASTag allow charging without any halt.