UPSC Civil Services Current Affairs Quiz: 7 October 2026

The correct answer is Antalya, Türkiye. A Pre-COP is the preparatory round held a few weeks ahead of the annual UN Climate Change Conference, and the release makes clear that this year the conference itself moves to Antalya in Türkiye in the month of November. Option C, Suva in Fiji, is wrong because Fiji hosted the Pre-COP31 preparatory meeting, not the main conference; mixing up the preparatory venue with the conference venue is the commonest error on this question. Option A, Baku in Azerbaijan, is wrong: no Azerbaijani city figures anywhere in the statement on COP31 priorities. Option D, Belem in Brazil, is wrong for the same reason, as Brazil is not named in the release at all. Only Antalya is identified as the seat of the coming conference, and the Minister used that name directly when he spoke of how success at the conference should be measured.

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 Odisha. Balasore is a city in Odisha, and the drive test was conducted in the Odisha licensed service area, with the exercise supervised by TRAI's regional office at Hyderabad. The route ran through places such as Januganj, Mallikashpur, Remuna, Soro, Nilagiri, Jaleswar and Baliapal, all in the Balasore belt of the state. Option B, Bihar, and option D, Jharkhand, are neighbouring states in the eastern region but do not contain Balasore. Option C, West Bengal, borders Balasore district on the north, which makes it a tempting choice, yet the city and the service area tested belong to Odisha. A licensed service area is the unit in which telecom operators hold licences and in which the regulator measures and compares quality of service.

The correct answer is Australia, Fiji and Tuvalu. The Pre-COP31 meeting was co-hosted by these three countries, and India attended it as a participating Party with a delegation of its own. Option A is wrong because India took part in the meeting and led a delegation to it, but was not among the hosts. Option B is wrong because Türkiye is the country that hosts the main conference at Antalya later in the year; it is not listed among the co-hosts of the preparatory meeting. Option D is wrong because Samoa and Tonga, though Pacific neighbours of Fiji, are not named anywhere in connection with hosting duties. The pairing to remember is that the Pacific and Australia shared the preparatory meeting, while Türkiye takes the conference itself, so the two sets of host countries are different and are often swapped in examinations.

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 Reliance Jio, whose average download speed on the tested route was 239.24 Mbps on its 5G and 4G networks, the highest of the four operators. Airtel in option A came next at 67.10 Mbps, Vi in option D recorded 24.65 Mbps, and BSNL in option B was lowest at 8.18 Mbps because its service on the route was measured on a 3G network. On uploads the order differed, with Airtel at 16.61 Mbps marginally ahead of Reliance Jio at 16.28 Mbps, followed by Vi and BSNL. Reliance Jio also had the fewest poor-signal samples and the fewest dropped calls on the route. Remember that such readings describe only the area and the hours of the drive test.

The correct answer is the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, who headed India at the Pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji and addressed the plenary discussion on the priorities for COP31. Climate negotiations under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement fall to the environment ministry, which is why this portfolio and no other led the delegation. Option B is wrong because the External Affairs Minister is not named in the statement and does not carry the climate negotiation brief at these meetings. Option C is wrong because Jal Shakti deals with water resources and sanitation, a different subject altogether, and that ministry is absent from the release. Option D is wrong because no science and technology minister figures in the delegation described. Aspirants should link the Pre-COP and COP meetings firmly to the environment ministry and to Bhupender Yadav as the minister who spoke for India.

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 the Ministry of Communications, under which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India functions and which issued the release on the Balasore drive test. TRAI's job is to regulate telecom services and tariffs and to protect the interests of subscribers, and drive tests are one of the ways it verifies the quality of service that operators actually deliver. Option B, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, handles electronics manufacturing and information technology policy, not telecom regulation. Option C, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, deals with broadcasting, films and the press. Option D, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, looks after trade and industrial policy. Candidates should also link the regulator with the quality parameters it publishes, such as call drop rate and Mean Opinion Score.

The correct answer is limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Speaking in the plenary, the Minister said the long-term objectives and goals, this ambition among them, were settled long ago under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, and that what the world now lacks is a matching supply of means to achieve them. That is why he argued the focus should move from setting fresh goals to assessing how fast countries can travel towards the goals already agreed. Option A is wrong because a rise of three degrees is far above any agreed ambition and is the kind of outcome that climate action seeks to avoid. Option B is wrong for the same reason, as no figure of that size appears in the statement. Option D is wrong because such a limit was never adopted under the treaty framework and is not mentioned. The figure to memorise with the Paris Agreement is one and a half degrees.

The correct answer is 56. More than four years after the strategy was issued, the government reports that 56 additive manufacturing start-ups have been supported, strengthening the country's innovation and entrepreneurship base. Alongside that figure, more than 1,54,000 people have been trained in additive manufacturing skills, and the network of national centres has enabled 65 India-specific technologies covering materials, machines, Design for Additive Manufacturing and printed products, feeding work in aerospace, medical devices, electronics, energy, food processing and photonics. Options A, B and C are lower counts that do not match the reported progress. Remember also that the strategy's own target is 100 new start-ups, so the figure of 56 represents progress towards that goal rather than its completion.