CDS Current Affairs Quiz: 10 October 2026

The correct answer is the Indian Air Force. Tarang Shakti is an air exercise, and the second edition was hosted by the Indian Air Force from 26 September to 12 October 2026, with the Defence Minister addressing the participants at Air Force Station Jodhpur. Option A, the Indian Army, is wrong because the exercise was built around flying operations — combat jets, transport aircraft, surveillance platforms and air-to-air refuelling tankers — and around joint mission planning between air forces, not around ground manoeuvres. Option B, the Indian Navy, is wrong for the same reason; the Navy Chief, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, was present at the event as a dignitary, but the exercise was not a naval one. Option D, the Indian Coast Guard, is wrong because the Coast Guard is a maritime law-enforcement and search-and-rescue service and had no role of this kind here. The clue in such questions is usually the kind of platform named: Tejas and Prachand are an aircraft and a helicopter, which point to the air arm.

The correct answer is Deoghar, Jharkhand. The mela, named Sainya Sampark Mela - Sadaiv Aapke Saath, was held at Deoghar and was organised by the Indian Army together with the Deoghar district administration. It served ex-servicemen, Veer Naris and their dependents from across the Santhal Pargana region, which is why the venue was placed there rather than in the State capital. Option A names Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, which is not where this mela was held. Option C names Dumka, another town of the Santhal Pargana region, but the event was not located there. Option D names Bokaro, an industrial centre of the State, which also does not match. Candidates should fix the pairing of the mela with Deoghar, and remember that the Vice-President, C. P. Radhakrishnan, is a former Governor of Jharkhand.

The correct answer is Cyprus and Greece. The Ministry of Defence has said that the Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, will undertake an official visit to these two countries from 12 to 15 October 2026, with the Cyprus leg falling on 12 and 13 October and Greece forming the second half of the tour. In Cyprus he is to meet counterparts in the Cypriot Ministry of Defence and call on the leadership, while in Greece he will interact with the senior defence and military leadership. Options B, C and D each pair one correct country with one that does not appear in the announcement, or name countries that are not part of it at all. Candidates should note that both countries on the itinerary are members of the European Union, which is what links the visit to the India-EU Security and Defence Partnership.

The correct answer is seven. The air forces that brought aircraft to the exercise were those of Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America — seven friendly foreign countries in all. Separately, a much larger group of countries attended only to watch the flying, and that group numbered thirty-two observer nations, so a candidate must be careful not to mix the two figures. Option A, five, is too few and matches none of the groupings at the exercise. Option C, twelve, is wrong; no set of twelve participants is recorded, and the number is probably confused with the closing date of the exercise. Option D, eighteen, is wrong as well and corresponds to nothing in the exercise. For the examination the safest way to hold the fact is as a pair: seven air forces flying, thirty-two nations observing.

The correct answer is Always with You; for ex-servicemen, Veer Naris and their dependents. Sadaiv Aapke Saath translates as Always with You, and the Vice-President asked that it become a continuing national commitment rather than the slogan of one event. The mela itself was arranged to deliver welfare services and grievance redressal to ex-servicemen, to Veer Naris and to their dependents in the Santhal Pargana region. Option B gives a different motto and limits the beneficiaries to serving soldiers, which is not the case here. Option C misreads the theme and narrows it to NCC cadets, although NCC activities were only one of the stalls at the venue. Option D again gives a wrong meaning and wrongly restricts the event to families of serving officers.

The correct answer is maritime security and defence industrial cooperation. The announcement states that these two subjects will remain prominent themes in the discussions with both countries. Maritime security matters because Cyprus and Greece sit on the shipping routes of the eastern Mediterranean, and the ministry says the Cyprus engagement is expected to deepen bilateral work particularly in the maritime domain. Defence industrial cooperation covers joint work in making and supplying military equipment, an area India has been opening to foreign partners. Option A shifts the subject to space cooperation, which the announcement does not mention. Option C names law-enforcement subjects that belong to a different kind of agreement. Option D lists tourism and education, which are not what a Defence Secretary's visit is built around. The two correct themes should be remembered as a pair.

The correct answer is Jodhpur. Air Force Station Jodhpur, in Rajasthan, was where the Defence Minister spoke to the aircrews and ground teams of the second edition of Tarang Shakti. Option B, Jamnagar, is a well-known Indian Air Force base in Gujarat but was not the venue for this address. Option C, Sulur, in Tamil Nadu, is closely linked with Tejas squadrons and so is a tempting distractor, yet the Minister's address took place at Jodhpur. Option D, Hindan, near Delhi, is one of the busiest transport bases of the Indian Air Force and hosts many ceremonial events, but not this one. Candidates should also fix the exercise window in memory, 26 September to 12 October 2026, and the fact that this was the second edition, the first having been conducted in 2024.

The correct answer is the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, known by its short form ECHS. Its services were set up at the mela along with displays of weapons and military equipment, disaster relief facilities, medical screening and blood donation camps, women's health awareness work, NCC activities and pension-related counters. The Vice-President praised this single-window arrangement, under which pension assistance, medical facilities, documentation and grievance redressal came together on one platform, and he described it as a meaningful example of last-mile delivery. Option A is a digital health records mission and not a veterans' scheme. Option B serves central government employees and pensioners, not ex-servicemen specifically. Option D covers organised sector workers through insurance contributions. Only ECHS is the health scheme meant for ex-servicemen and their dependents.

The correct answer is the President of Cyprus. According to the Ministry of Defence, the India-Cyprus Strategic Partnership gained further momentum after the President of Cyprus travelled to India in May 2026, and the Defence Secretary's visit on 12 and 13 October 2026 is expected to underline the shared commitment of both sides to deepening and expanding the relationship, especially at sea. Option A names a Prime Minister, an office that does not lead the executive in the Cypriot system as described here. Option C names the Defence Minister, who is the counterpart the Defence Secretary will meet in the Cypriot Ministry of Defence but is not the leader whose India visit is cited. Option D names the Speaker of the legislature, who has no role in this account. The link to memorise is the President of Cyprus with May 2026.

The correct answer is Lance Naik Albert Ekka. While recalling his tenure as Governor of Jharkhand and speaking of the State's proud tradition of military service and sacrifice, the Vice-President paid tribute to this Param Vir Chakra awardee, and in the same breath recalled the tribal freedom fighters of the region, among them Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Tilka Manjhi, Sidhu and Kanhu, and Nilambar and Pitambar. He said the spirit of patriotism and national service continues to inspire the people of Jharkhand. Options B, C and D name other recipients of the Param Vir Chakra, all of them well known, but none of them was the awardee honoured in this address. The connection to hold on to is Jharkhand with Albert Ekka, which is a frequent pairing in examination questions on gallantry awards.

The correct answer is Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. The Ministry of Defence recalls that the Greek Minister of National Defence came to India in February 2026 and held talks with the Raksha Mantri, and it treats such high-level exchanges as evidence of a growing India-Greece partnership in the defence and strategic domains. The Defence Secretary's own interaction in Greece, during the second leg of his tour from 12 to 15 October 2026, follows from that engagement and will be with the senior defence and military leadership of the country. Option B names the Chief of Defence Staff, option D the Chief of the Naval Staff, and option C the External Affairs Minister; none of them is named as the host of those February talks. Remember that the Indian counterpart of a visiting Defence Minister is the Raksha Mantri.