Current Affairs Quiz: 21 September 2026

The correct answer is 1946. The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 to work out how power would be handed over, and its plan laid down how a Constituent Assembly would be formed: 389 seats in all, 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states, with the members from the provinces elected indirectly by the provincial legislative assemblies. Elections to the British Indian seats followed in July and August 1946, and the Assembly held its first meeting on 9 December 1946.

The other years cannot be right. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950, so an Assembly formed in 1952, 1959 or 1962 would have had nothing left to write. A good way to fix this date is to tie it to two others from the same year: the elections of July and August 1946, and the first sitting in December 1946.

The correct answer is The People of India. The Preamble opens with the words "We, the people of India", which name the people as the source from which the Constitution draws its authority. The Constitution was not handed down by a government, a court or a legislature; the people, through their Constituent Assembly, adopted, enacted and gave it to themselves on 26 November 1949.

The Supreme Court, the Indian Parliament and the Central Government are all created by the Constitution, so none of them can be its source of authority. Each of them exercises only the powers the Constitution gives it. This is the first of the four things the Preamble tells us, the others being the nature of the Indian State (sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic), its objectives (justice, liberty, equality and fraternity) and the date of adoption. A fill-in-the-blank question like this one tests whether you know the exact opening words, so learn the text as written.

The correct answer is 20 October 2026. On 21 September 2026, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand's Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay announced that the agreement would come into force on that day, which is Dussehra–Vijayadashami. Goyal said the auspicious day had been chosen on purpose.

The other dates are all connected with the agreement, which is why they mislead. 27 April 2026 is the date the FTA was signed at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. 16 September 2026 is the date New Zealand's Parliament passed the legislation needed to implement it. 1 January 2027 has no link with the agreement at all. Keep the three dates in order: signed in April, approved by New Zealand's Parliament in September, in force from October.

The correct answer is Silver. On 21 September 2026 the trio of Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, Himanshu Dhillon and Parth Rakesh Mane won silver in the men's 10m air rifle team event. The Prime Minister congratulated them, praising their "great combined score" and saying that their focus, consistency and teamwork had made India proud.

Gold is wrong, as the team finished second, and bronze is the colour of Rudrankksh Patil's individual medal, not the team's, which is why it tempts. "Finished fourth" is simply wrong. In a team event of this kind, the scores of the three shooters are added together, so every shot counts towards the final ranking. Two of the three, Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil, also won individual medals in the same discipline, giving India three medals from men's 10m air rifle.

The correct answer is 231. Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0 was conducted from 12 to 19 September 2026, and its coastal clean-up covered 231 locations across 13 States/UTs. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh reviewed the campaign on 21 September 2026 and applauded the scale of public participation.

The other figures are distractors built around the correct one. Questions on this campaign usually test three numbers together, so learn them as a set: 231 locations, 13 States/UTs and 15 lakh people who took the Ocean Conservation Pledge. The name of the campaign means "Clean Sea, Safe Sea", and it brought together citizens, students, coastal communities, government agencies, scientific institutions and volunteers in a nationwide effort for cleaner coasts and safer seas along India's long coastline.

The correct answer is Namami Gange Programme. The money raised by the PM Mementos e-Auction supports Namami Gange, the national mission dedicated to the conservation, rejuvenation and protection of the River Ganga and its ecosystem. Since the series began in January 2019, the earlier editions have raised more than ₹50 crore for the project.

The other options are real government funds, which is why they are plausible. Swachh Bharat Kosh collects contributions for sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The PM CARES Fund was set up for emergency and disaster relief. The National Defence Fund supports the welfare of the armed forces and their families. None of them receives the auction money. The 8th edition of the auction began on 17 September 2026 and offers 1,498 mementos online.

The correct answer is Implementation of five-day banking. The United Forum of Bank Unions and some other unions in public sector banks, supported by Regional Rural Banks, raised two principal demands: a five-day working week for banks and withdrawal of the Performance Linked Incentive scheme. The Finance Ministry says the strikes are now about the single demand of a five-day week, which is still being examined.

Withdrawal of the PLI scheme is the trap. It was one of the two original demands, but the Government met it by keeping the scheme in abeyance, so it is no longer pending. The Old Pension Scheme and the merger of Regional Rural Banks are not part of these strikes. A one-day strike was held on 11 September 2026; a three-day strike is set for 28 to 30 September and an indefinite one from 26 October 2026.

The correct answer is Concept Paper on Critical Mineral Recycling Ecosystem. At the seminar in New Delhi, the Union Ministers launched this paper, which outlines a strategic framework for strengthening critical mineral recycling in India. It focuses on resource efficiency, recovery of minerals from secondary sources such as e-waste and End-of-Life products, and building a circular and self-reliant ecosystem.

The other options sound plausible but did not happen at this event. No trading exchange was launched. E-waste management rules are framed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, not by the Mines Ministry. Auctions of critical mineral blocks are a separate process run by the Ministry of Mines and were not part of this seminar. The seminar was inaugurated by G. Kishan Reddy and organised with the Materials Recycling Association of India.

The correct answer is 510 hours. At its virtual conference on 21 September 2026, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation briefed States on the two pathways of the Nal Jal Mitra programme: a 510-hour Short-Term Training course for new entrants, and a 120-hour Recognition of Prior Learning pathway for people who already work on rural water systems, such as plumbers, electricians, pump attendants and operators.

That is why 120 hours is the trap: it is a real figure from the same programme, but for the RPL route, not for new entrants. The other two options are distractors. Nal Jal Mitra is an NSQF-aligned qualification developed with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and it trains multi-skilled village technicians to handle pumps, pipelines, treatment systems and electrical fittings. States were asked to prioritise local youth.

The correct answer is January 2020. I-STEM, the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map, was conceived and supported by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser and launched by the Prime Minister in January 2020. Since then it has grown into a national resource with more than 31,000 scientific instruments across nearly 4,000 institutions and over 65,000 registered users.

The other dates are distractors. The portal came back into the news on 21 September 2026, when the Office of the PSA held the first State Governments Nodal Officers Meeting, chaired by Scientific Secretary Dr Parvinder Maini, with officers from 23 States and 4 UTs. The aim is to bring State universities and laboratories onto I-STEM so that expensive publicly funded instruments are shared rather than bought again by every institution.

The correct answer is December 1946. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting and pressed its demand for a separate Pakistan, and Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, presided as temporary President. Two days later, on 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the permanent President of the Assembly.

The other options are dates from before or after the Assembly's work. August 1945 is more than a year before the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 created the Assembly. July 1948 falls in the middle of its work, after the Draft Constitution had been published in February 1948. January 1950 is the very end: the last session was held on 24 January 1950 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Remember the pair that is asked most often: first meeting on 9 December 1946, and Rajendra Prasad elected on 11 December 1946.

The correct answer is Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic. This is the order in which the Preamble describes India: "a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC". Socialist and secular were inserted between sovereign and democratic by the 42nd Amendment in 1976; before that the phrase read "sovereign democratic republic".

The first option swaps socialist and secular, which is the most common slip, since both words were added at the same time. The third option repeats "secular" and begins with the wrong word, and the fourth moves "sovereign" from the front to the end. A simple way to hold the order is to say the three S-words by sound: So, So, Se (Sovereign, Socialist, Secular), followed by the original last two words, Democratic Republic. The two words added in 1976 sit together in the middle.

The correct answer is USD 20 billion. The agreement includes New Zealand's commitment to facilitate investment of this amount into India, and the Commerce Ministry says it is expected to benefit Indian agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and start-ups.

The other figures are distractors. Do not confuse the investment commitment with the trade target: under the Strategic Partnership "Roadmap to 2030", the two countries aim to double two-way trade in goods and services to NZ$7 billion, about ₹35,000 crore, by 2030. Bilateral merchandise trade was only about USD 1.1 billion in 2025-26, which shows how much room there is to grow. Investment commitments of this kind have become a feature of India's recent trade agreements with developed economies, alongside tariff cuts.

The correct answer is Himanshu Dhillon. In the individual men's 10m air rifle, Himanshu Dhillon won silver, and the Prime Minister highlighted his calm under pressure and remarkable accuracy. It was his second medal of the day, after the team silver.

Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil also won an individual medal in the same event, but it was bronze, which makes him the most tempting wrong answer. Parth Rakesh Mane was the third member of the silver-winning team but did not win an individual medal. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar is an Indian rifle shooter who is not part of this story, added as a distractor. Remember the split: team silver for all three; individual silver for Himanshu Dhillon; individual bronze for Rudrankksh Patil.

The correct answer is Department of Science & Technology. 'Vigyan Ki Baat' is a monthly lecture series launched by DST to showcase the work of India's autonomous scientific institutions and take their achievements to a wider audience. Its first edition, held on 29 August 2026, drew more than 7,500 people from academia, research and industry, and the second edition, on 26 September 2026, will feature the Director of the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences.

The other options were all part of the same review meeting, which is why they confuse. The Department of Biotechnology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences take part in the joint digital outreach effort, and CSIR is preparing for CSIR@85. The proposed Digital Library of Scientific Achievements is being built with CSIR-NIScPR as the nodal institution, not DST.

The correct answer is National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. The Ministry of Culture organises the PM Mementos e-Auction through NGMA, and the auction gives citizens, collectors, institutions and art enthusiasts a chance to acquire mementos presented to the Prime Minister on various occasions. It is conducted online on the portal pmmementos.gov.in.

The other three are also institutions under the Ministry of Culture, which makes them strong distractors. The Lalit Kala Akademi is the national academy of fine arts. The National Museum in New Delhi holds India's major collection of antiquities. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts works on research and documentation of the arts. Only NGMA runs this auction, whose 8th edition started on 17 September 2026.

The correct answer is 2015. In its appeal of 21 September 2026, the Ministry of Finance recalled that the Government, in the interest of bank employees, declared the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month as holidays for public sector banks in 2015. The remaining Saturdays are working days and, the Ministry said, an important opportunity for many citizens to use banking services.

The other years are distractors. This fact matters because the unions' pending demand, five-day banking, would turn every Saturday into a holiday. The Government's argument is that customers already lose two Saturdays a month, and that the planned strike from 28 to 30 September, next to a weekend and the half-yearly closing on 30 September, would mean an effective five-day shutdown of banking at a sensitive time of the financial year.

The correct answer is Materials Recycling Association of India. The day-long National Seminar on "India's Critical Minerals Recycling Ecosystem and Circular Economy" was organised by the Ministry of Mines in collaboration with MRAI, an industry body of recyclers. It brought together policymakers, industry leaders, recyclers, researchers and academia.

FICCI and CII are broad industry chambers that often partner with ministries on events, which is why they are tempting, but neither organised this seminar. The Indian Bureau of Mines is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Mines that deals with mineral conservation and regulation of mining, so it is also a strong distractor. Remember the pair for this story: Ministry of Mines plus MRAI, with Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of State Satish Chandra Dubey and Secretary Keshav Chandra speaking at the event.

The correct answer is Village-level water quality testing and disinfection. Sujalam Shakti aims to create a trained workforce of village women for water quality surveillance, testing and basic disinfection, and to strengthen women's role in rural water governance. It is based on the NSQF Level-2 qualification "Fundamentals of Basic Water Quality Testing and Disinfection", which covers sampling, the use of Field Test Kits, chlorination, sanitary inspection, source protection and digital reporting.

The other options describe different activities that are not part of this initiative. The first phase aims to train about 1.35 to 1.70 lakh women through State Rural Livelihood Missions, Panchayati Raj Institutions and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes. States were advised to give priority to women already testing water under Jal Jeevan Mission and to Self-Help Group members, and to register Sujalam Shakti members on the Gram Panchayat dashboard.

The correct answer is Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser. The PSA's Office conceived and supports I-STEM, and it was this office that convened the first State Governments Nodal Officers Meeting for the portal on 21 September 2026. The meeting was chaired by Dr (Mrs) Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary in the Office of the PSA.

The other options are plausible because they are all part of India's science administration. NITI Aayog is the government's policy think tank. The Department of Science & Technology funds research and runs many science programmes. CSIR is a network of national laboratories, and its own ANALYTICS portal for instruments is now being integrated with I-STEM through API links, which makes it a particularly tempting wrong answer. But the portal itself belongs to the Office of the PSA.

The correct answer is Dr Sachchidananda Sinha. When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946, Sinha, its oldest member, was made the temporary President, following the French practice of letting the senior-most member preside until a regular head is chosen.

Dr Rajendra Prasad is the classic trap: he was elected the permanent President of the Assembly on 11 December 1946, two days after the first sitting, so he did not preside over the first meeting. Jawaharlal Nehru's best-known role in the Assembly was moving the Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946 and chairing committees such as the Union Powers Committee. G.V. Mavalankar presided when the Assembly sat as the Dominion Legislature, the country's first Parliament, not when it met to frame the Constitution. Keep the three offices apart: temporary President Sinha, President Prasad, and Mavalankar for the legislative sittings.

The correct answer is Socialist. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 added three words to the Preamble: "Socialist" and "Secular" to the description of India, and "Integrity" to the phrase "unity and integrity of the Nation". It is the only amendment ever made to the Preamble.

Democratic, Republic and Sovereign were all in the Preamble from the start: as adopted on 26 November 1949, it described India as a "sovereign democratic republic". That is why they are wrong here. Questions on this amendment come in several forms: which word was added, which word was not added, or how many words were added. Keep all three in mind together: Socialist, Secular and Integrity, added in 1976. A related fact worth linking is the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973, which had held three years earlier that the Preamble is part of the Constitution and can be amended without changing its basic features.

The correct answer is 5,000. The agreement sets aside a dedicated quota of 5,000 Temporary Employment Entry visas for skilled Indian professionals, giving them a clear route to work in New Zealand.

The figure of 1,000 is also in the agreement, but for a different visa: it is the number of Working Holiday visas available each year to young Indians, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer. 3,000 and 10,000 are distractors. The services chapter also opens about 118 sectors, including IT, professional services, audio-visual, construction and tourism, with Most-Favoured Nation treatment in about 139 sub-sectors. For students, there is no cap, and STEM graduates get post-study work rights of up to three years, while doctoral scholars get up to four.

The correct answer is Japan. The 2026 Asian Games, the 20th edition of the event, are being hosted by the Japanese cities of Aichi and Nagoya. India's shooters won their three men's 10m air rifle medals there on 21 September 2026.

China is the tempting wrong answer because the previous edition of the Games was held in Hangzhou, China. South Korea has hosted the Asian Games in the past, at Seoul, Busan and Incheon, and Qatar hosted them at Doha, but neither is the host this time. Questions on multi-sport events often pair the host city with the edition number, so remember both together: the 20th Asian Games, Aichi–Nagoya, Japan. The Asian Games are held every four years under the Olympic Council of Asia.

The correct answer is 15 lakh. During Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0, held from 12 to 19 September 2026, 15 lakh people took the Ocean Conservation Pledge, a commitment to keep the sea and the coast free of litter. Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted this figure while reviewing the campaign and asked that the momentum of public participation be sustained.

The other options are distractors. The pledge figure is the one most likely to be asked because it appears in the headline of the government release, alongside the 231 clean-up locations in 13 States/UTs. Ocean litter is dominated by plastic, which breaks down into microplastics and enters the marine food chain, and campaigns like this aim to change behaviour on land, where most of that waste starts, as well as to clean the beaches themselves.