RRB JE Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: 5–11 October 2026

The correct answer is the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital. The multi-institutional campaign on the blazar OJ 287 was coordinated by scientists of this institute, which is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, and the study was led by Dr Alok C. Gupta of the same institute. The team gathered 106 scientists from 18 countries and 48 institutions and universities, who observed the object with about two dozen telescopes between 2015 and 2025. Options A, C and D name well-known Indian centres for astronomy and space science, but none of them is credited with coordinating this particular study; they are offered because candidates often confuse the national astronomy institutes with one another. The safest way to remember the fact is to link the Nainital institute, its parent department and the name of the lead scientist together, since any of the three can be asked.

The correct answer is Rs 500 crore. The approval gives the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority the task of technically appraising infrastructure projects of the Government of India costing that much or more, while financial appraisal continues through the mechanisms that already exist. The same figure also marks the monitoring duty: ITLA will track implementation of transport and infrastructure projects above that cost, provide a coordinated mechanism to resolve issues and assess their impact once they are complete. Options A and B are wrong because the threshold set by the Cabinet is higher than either amount, so smaller projects do not come to ITLA for technical appraisal. Option D is wrong because the threshold is lower than that figure; projects of that size are of course covered, but the authority begins its appraisal well below it. Candidates should remember that the same threshold governs both appraisal and monitoring.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). MeitY brought out the National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing in February 2022 as the guiding policy framework for 3D printing in India, keeping it aligned with Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. The same ministry supports the specialised Development and Deployment Centres and organised the second National Additive Manufacturing Symposium in New Delhi. Option A, the Ministry of Heavy Industries, sounds plausible because additive manufacturing makes machine parts, but the strategy is not its document. Option C, the Ministry of Science and Technology, is wrong here, although the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research works under it and organises the ESTIC conclave where additive manufacturing features. Option D, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, deals with trade and investment promotion and had no role in issuing this strategy.

The correct answer is platinum. Many clean-energy technologies, and hydrogen fuel cells in particular, depend on platinum to speed up the oxygen reduction reaction, and because it is one of the rarest and most expensive metals available, its cost and limited supply stand in the way of large-scale use. The newly reported organic framework matched about ninety-six per cent of the performance of commercial platinum catalysts while using no precious metal at all, which is why the work matters for the price of zinc-air cells. Options A, C and D name palladium, iridium and ruthenium, which are also costly metals used in various catalytic applications, but none of them is the metal identified as the benchmark and the bottleneck in this study. Candidates should link the material to platinum, to the oxygen reduction reaction and to zinc-air batteries together, since questions usually test one of these three links.

The correct answer is Rs 70,125 crore. Under PMGSY-IV, with this outlay, about 62,500 km of all-weather roads are targeted so that 25,000 eligible unconnected habitations receive connectivity. Option A is wrong because 62,500 is the road length in kilometres under this phase, not the money allotted, and the two figures are easy to confuse in a hurry. Option C is wrong for the same reason: 25,000 is the number of habitations to be connected, not a rupee figure. Option D is wrong because no such round figure appears in the review of the scheme. These three numbers were put out together at the PMGSY Chintan Shivir held at Bharat Mandapam on 5 and 6 October 2026, and they should be memorised as a set, along with the roughly 8 lakh km of rural roads already built over 25 years.

The correct answer is Reliance Jio, which averaged 271.44 Mbps on download in the Fazilka drive test. Option A, Airtel, came second at 204.39 Mbps, so it is a close but wrong choice; Airtel did, however, top the upload table at 23.52 Mbps. Option D, Vodafone Idea, averaged 17.19 Mbps on download and 15.10 Mbps on upload. Option B, BSNL, was lowest on download at 15.59 Mbps and on upload at 6.39 Mbps, and also recorded the highest packet loss, at 2.68 per cent on the downlink and 2.90 per cent on the uplink. Candidates should remember that the exercise was an Independent Drive Test in the Punjab Licensed Service Area, carried out from 5 to 7 August 2026 and supervised by the regulator’s regional office at Jaipur, with the findings published in October.

The correct answer is about Rs 19,700 crore. The document brought out by the National Highways Authority of India records that this amount has gone into wildlife mitigation infrastructure and related environmental protection measures across National Highway projects over the past five years. The spending is aimed at habitat fragmentation, the barrier effect of roads and collisions between wildlife and vehicles, while keeping traffic moving safely. Options A, C and D are near-miss figures built by changing the leading digits, the commonest way such questions are set, so the exact number must be memorised. It helps to anchor it against the item-wise split, in which viaducts account for the largest share at about Rs 8,300 crore, followed by animal underpasses at about Rs 4,600 crore, tunnels at about Rs 2,800 crore and major bridges at about Rs 2,500 crore.

The correct answer is the third edition. Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M. Scindia inaugurated the 3rd International Bharat 6G Symposium 2026, organised by the Bharat 6G Alliance at Yashobhoomi, Dwarka, in New Delhi, with sessions running from 7 to 9 October 2026. Option A, the first edition, is wrong because the symposium has been held earlier as well. Option B, the second edition, is the trap most worth noticing: the earlier edition is the one at which the New Delhi Declaration on 6G principles was endorsed, in 2025, and the report released this year marks one year since that endorsement. Option D, the fifth edition, is too far ahead of the actual count. A clean way to hold this together is the pairing of the edition with its year, that is the third edition in 2026 and the Declaration endorsed at the symposium held in 2025.

The correct answer is 1,000 km. Under the National Quantum Mission the country set an eight-year target of covering 2,000 kilometres of quantum-secure communication, and the 1,000-kilometre milestone was reached in three years, which is well ahead of the pace that target implied. Option D, 2,000 km, is the target for the full eight-year period and not the distance achieved so far, which makes it the sharpest distractor in this set. Options A and C name distances that do not appear in the account at all. Quantum communication matters for both security and strategy, and the Minister used the milestone to argue that India must build domestic strength in frontier technologies rather than import them. Candidates should store the pair of numbers together, 1,000 kilometres achieved against a 2,000-kilometre target, because questions on the mission usually turn on telling the two apart.

The correct answer is over ₹13,000 crore. The announcement states that the projects taken up together at Chennai in Tamil Nadu carry a combined value of more than ₹13,000 crore, and that they cover metro rail, national highways, railways, ports, petroleum and education. Option A names ₹3,700 crore, which is only the figure for the national highway projects in the State and not the whole package, so it understates the outlay badly. Option B gives ₹8,500 crore, a figure that does not belong to any part of this announcement at all. Option D raises the sum to ₹21,000 crore, which is well above what the package is worth. Within the total, the metro stretch alone accounts for about ₹4,900 crore, the highway works about ₹3,700 crore, the rail works more than ₹750 crore and the lube oil base stocks plant nearly ₹1,620 crore, which shows how the larger figure is made up.

The correct answer is twelve years. OJ 287 is a rare object lying about 4 billion light years away in which two supermassive black holes circle each other on a twelve-year orbit, forming a binary system. Because of that orbit the blazar brightens in a distinctive double peak, a rhythm that Finnish scientists identified in 1988 after studying nearly 100 years of optical observations going back to 1880, and astronomers have since followed each twelve-year cycle of twin outbursts to map the motion. The recent campaign captured the outbursts that fell between 2015 and 2019. Options A, B and D are wrong because none of them matches the period of the pair; they are included because a candidate who remembers only that the object has a repeating cycle may guess at the number. Remember the orbital period along with the distance, as the two facts are usually asked together.

The correct answer is the National Transport Data Repository. The Cabinet decision asks ITLA to build a unified transport data repository by obtaining relevant transport and logistics datasets from several sources, among them the GSTN e-way bill, FASTag, Vahan, GPS-based systems and urban traffic management systems, and then to carry out analytics such as freight flow and origin-destination studies for planning, monitoring and impact assessment. Option B is wrong because no freight exchange of that name forms part of this approval. Option C is wrong in this context: the decision does not name any such platform as the repository ITLA will create. Option D is wrong because no mobility grid is mentioned in the approval at all. For the examination, link the repository to its named data sources, since questions frequently ask which datasets feed it.

The correct answer is 5 per cent. The national strategy sets a time-bound goal of capturing a twentieth of the world additive manufacturing market and of adding close to one billion US dollars to India's gross domestic product. Around that headline figure sit its other targets: 50 technologies built for Indian needs covering materials, machines, processes and software, 100 new start-ups, 500 new products, a skilled pool of one lakh workers and additive manufacturing capability in 10 existing and emerging manufacturing sectors. Option A understates the ambition, while options C and D overstate it; no such share appears in the strategy. The figure matters because progress is measured against it, and the next phase, NSAM 2.0, is being shaped to accelerate the market further.

The correct answer is 120 hours. Tests showed that even after that long a spell of continuous running, the material kept its performance and did not suffer the degradation or contamination that commonly affects catalysts built around metals. This durability matters as much as the raw activity figure, because a catalyst that performs brilliantly for an hour and then decays is of little practical use in a battery meant for transport or for storing renewable power. Options A and B understate the tested period, while option D overstates it by a wide margin. Candidates should pair this number with the other headline figure from the same study, namely that the material reached roughly ninety-six per cent of the performance of commercial platinum catalysts, and should also remember that the simulations traced the result to sites in the molecular structure where oxygen attaches and reacts readily.

The correct answer is 25,000. The current phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana is designed to provide connectivity to 25,000 eligible unconnected habitations, and to do so it targets roughly 62,500 km of all-weather roads with an outlay of Rs 70,125 crore. Option A is wrong because no such halved figure is mentioned anywhere in the scheme review. Option C is wrong because 62,500 is the kilometre target of road length and not a count of habitations. Option D is wrong because it is simply not the figure announced for this phase. Aspirants should also note the long-run achievement quoted at the Chintan Shivir, namely about 8 lakh km of rural roads built under the different phases of PMGSY over the past 25 years.

The correct answer is 184.6 km. Along with the city drive, the appointed agency carried out a walk test of 1.9 km and tested six hotspot locations across Fazilka city and the areas adjoining it, all between 5 and 7 August 2026. Options A, B and D give distances that were not reported. The route took in Abohar, Jalalabad, Khui Khera, Ghubhaya, Ladhuka and several other settlements besides Fazilka town. During such a test, live voice and data sessions are established on the SIM cards of every service provider over 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks using multiple advanced handsets, and the sessions are monitored and analysed in real time. The parameters measured include coverage gap, call setup success rate, call drop rate, call silence instances, speech quality, latency, jitter, packet loss and download and upload throughput.

The correct answer is Nitin Gadkari, at a Chintan Shivir in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat. He is the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and the document was released by him at that Chintan Shivir; the Authority then put it out to mark National Wildlife Week, observed from 2 to 8 October 2026. Option A is wrong because the Environment Ministry and the National Board for Wildlife had no part in this release, even though wildlife falls in that ministry’s domain, which is what makes the option tempting. Option C is wrong as no press conference by the Authority’s chairman is involved. Option D is wrong because no such conference at Gandhinagar features here; the Gujarat link in the news is Ekta Nagar, where the Chintan Shivir was held. Note also that the document is published on the NHAI website as a reference framework.

The correct answer is nine. The Bharat 6G Alliance released nine Working Group white papers, reflecting the technical contributions of its industry, academic and research members. Their subjects run from a 6G technology landscape survey and a research roadmap for India, through Integrated Sensing and Communication, fixed wireless access and optical technologies, to spectrum readiness, sustainable networks designed for a carbon net zero future, cellular and Wi-Fi synergy, captive non-public networks and security for 6G. Option A, five, is the number of fresh Memoranda of Understanding exchanged at the same ceremony, with GSMA, the one6G Association, GTI Alliance Ltd, the 6G Industry Forum and VoICE, so it belongs to a different count. Option D, seventeen, is the Alliance total number of collaborations after the new agreements were added to the ten global and two domestic ones it already held. Option B, seven, matches nothing announced.

The correct answer is US$300 billion. The bioeconomy has grown from roughly US$10 billion in 2014 to about US$196 billion, crossing the US$195 billion mark, and the ambition stated is to take it to US$300 billion by 2030. Option B, US$196 billion, is the present size rather than the target, and is therefore the most tempting wrong answer: a candidate who remembers only one figure will often pick the one just read. Option A understates the current size, so it cannot be a forward target. Option D names a round number that has not been set for this decade. The Minister tied the growth to an expanding biotechnology start-up ecosystem, presenting life sciences and advanced research as a source of new enterprises, domestic capability and economic value rather than only of published papers.

The correct answer is Phase II of Chennai Metro, with a double-decker structure of 3.7 km. The stretch from Poonamallee to Vadapalani is part of the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project, it was built at a cost of about ₹4,900 crore, and its distinguishing feature is a double-decker structure running 3.7 km, along with advanced signalling meant to support driverless operations. The corridor is expected to cut daily travel time and improve the link between the fast-growing western suburbs of the city and the centre. Option A wrongly places the stretch in the first phase and invents an underground tunnel. Option C assigns it to a suburban rail system, which is not what the announcement describes. Option D moves it to a third phase and adds a floating station, a feature nowhere mentioned. Only option B matches both the phase and the structure.

The correct answer is 3.89 billion solar masses. Using eight optical spectra recorded at Steward Observatory in the United States during low-brightness phases of the object in October and November 2017, the team estimated the central black hole to weigh no less than that, reading the figure from the width of the oxygen emission line. Option A is wrong because it shifts the same digits down by a factor of a thousand; supermassive black holes can range from millions to billions of solar masses, so a candidate who misses the unit will fall for it. Option C is wrong because eighteen is the number of countries whose scientists joined the study, not a mass. Option D is wrong for the same kind of reason, since one hundred and six is the number of scientists in the team. The lesson is to keep the three large numbers of this study separate: the team size, the number of countries and the mass estimate.

The correct answer is the National Logistics Policy of 2022. Among the roles listed for ITLA is to advise and assist in the review and updating of that policy, alongside capacity building, training and skilling in the logistics sector and the promotion of research and innovation in transport and logistics. Option A is wrong because the approval does not give ITLA charge of reviewing any rail plan, though railways are one of the modes covered by the master plan it will prepare. Option C is wrong for the same reason: civil aviation is a mode within the master plan, not a policy ITLA is asked to revise. Option D is wrong because no highways development policy is named in the decision. Remember that ITLA is an apex planning and appraisal body, and the master plan it writes covers roads, railways, ports and shipping, civil aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics together.

The correct answer is the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). ESTIC is India's Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave, and its second edition is organised by CSIR on the theme 'Creative Minds, Catalyzing Science, Empowering Technologies'. The conclave spans 12 thematic areas with plenary sessions, technical discussions and exhibitions, takes forward frontier fields such as additive manufacturing, and supports the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Option A, ISRO, is the space agency and is linked to additive manufacturing only through printed rocket hardware. Option B, DRDO, handles defence research and is not the organiser. Option D, ICAR, is the apex agricultural research body and has no role in this conclave. Note the venue, Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, and the dates.

The correct answer is S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, and SRM University, Amaravati. The first two are institutions of the Department of Science and Technology, and the team was led by Dr. Pradip Pachfule, Prof. Ramendra Sundar Dey and Prof. Ranjit Thapa respectively, with the findings published in the journal Science Advances. Options A, C and D list well-known Indian research bodies, including engineering institutes, basic science institutes and national laboratories, but none of these combinations is the group credited with this particular material. Remember that questions on such announcements often ask either for the lead institution, for the parent department, or for the journal, so it is worth memorising all three: the Department of Science and Technology as parent, Kolkata and Mohali as the two institute locations, and Science Advances as the journal.

The correct answer is Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Union Minister of Rural Development and of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He addressed the Chintan Shivir and pressed for wider use of digital technologies, GPS-based monitoring and artificial intelligence in field verification, monitoring and timely decision-making, while also seeking faster preparation of Detailed Project Reports, better construction quality and stronger accountability. Option A is wrong because the road transport portfolio is separate and that minister is not named here; PMGSY is run by the Ministry of Rural Development. Option C is wrong because Kamlesh Paswan is the Minister of State for Rural Development, who spoke about delayed works and the five-year maintenance period. Option D is wrong because Rohit Kansal is the Secretary, Rural Development, an officer rather than a minister.

The correct answer is Airtel and Reliance Jio. Airtel dropped none of the 279 calls it successfully set up and Jio dropped none of its 278, while BSNL recorded three drops out of 281 calls and Vodafone Idea three out of 248, which rules out options A, C and D. On the related measure of coverage gap, counted as samples of poor signal strength out of all samples gathered in auto-selection mode, Airtel showed the fewest weak samples at 178 out of 31329, ahead of Jio at 295 out of 30439, Vodafone Idea at 820 out of 31163 and BSNL at 1575 out of 31183. Call silence instances lasting more than three seconds were lowest for Airtel at one out of 268 calls and highest for Vodafone Idea at six out of 272.

The correct answer is viaducts, which take about Rs 8,300 crore, the biggest single item in the structural break-up. Option A, animal underpasses, comes next at about Rs 4,600 crore, so a candidate who assumes the structure named after animals must cost the most gets the question wrong. Option D, tunnels, accounts for about Rs 2,800 crore. Option B, animal overpasses, is the smallest of these at about Rs 650 crore, with major bridges at about Rs 2,500 crore and minor bridges at about Rs 500 crore completing the list. Together these structures let animals cross highway corridors safely and keep habitats connected on either side. The total of more than 2,150 structures built or proposed, and the figure of over 300 km of guide fencing and noise barriers, are the other numbers worth carrying into the exam hall.

The correct answer is seventeen. Before the symposium the Bharat 6G Alliance already held ten global and two domestic collaborations, and at the inaugural ceremony it exchanged five more Memoranda of Understanding, with GSMA, the one6G Association, GTI Alliance Ltd, the 6G Industry Forum and VoICE. Adding the five fresh agreements to the twelve it already had takes the partnership network to seventeen in all, which is the figure to remember. Option A, twelve, is only the earlier tally of global and domestic collaborations, before the new signings. Option B, fifteen, and option D, twenty-two, do not match either stage of the count. The arithmetic itself is worth memorising rather than the single number, since questions on this item can be framed either as the earlier total, the number added, or the new combined figure.

The correct answer is the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Minister spoke at the 121st Annual Session of PHDCCI in New Delhi, where industry leaders, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders had gathered to discuss growth and innovation priorities. He said such chambers can act as the bridge between researchers and businesses, facilitating investment and helping an innovation travel from the laboratory to a prototype and then to a market-ready product. Options A, C and D name FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM, which are also major Indian industry associations, but the address in question was delivered at the PHDCCI session and the edition number, the 121st, belongs to that body. Remember the edition along with the name, since paper setters often ask for the number of the session rather than only the host organisation.

The correct answer is the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. The five stations named for inauguration in Tamil Nadu, at Palani, Vellore Cantonment, Ambasamudram, Paramakkudi and Namakkal, have been rebuilt under that scheme and are being opened as Amrit Stations, as part of railway works worth more than ₹750 crore that also include the Karaikal-Peralam line and three rail flyovers in and around Coimbatore. Option B, the Adarsh Station Scheme, is a different railway programme and is not the one named here. Option C, Setu Bharatam, deals with road bridges and level crossings on national highways rather than station buildings. Option D, Bharatmala Pariyojana, is a highway development programme and has nothing to do with station redevelopment. Candidates should link the words Amrit Station to this scheme and remember the five station names.