UPSC Civil Services Current Affairs Quiz: 14 October 2026

India stands first in the world both in making coir and in selling it abroad, and about two-thirds of global coir output comes from Indian units.

Wholesale price inflation for September 2026 was measured at 11.39 per cent on a year-on-year basis, a clear step up from the previous month.

The maiden ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum was convened at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, where Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh addressed delegates from India and all eleven ASEAN member states across a two-day programme.

That is the outlay with which BHAVYA was notified on 10 April 2026 after Cabinet approval in March 2026, and it funds the development of 100 plug-and-play industrial parks with assistance of up to Rs 1 crore per acre.

The ceremony at which the Indian Navy gave up command of Combined Task Force 154 was held at Manama in Bahrain on 14 October 2026, and it closed the first spell in which India headed a task force of the Combined Maritime Forces.

That is the support the Technology Development Board has agreed to extend to ideaForge Technology Limited under the Research Development and Innovation Fund, and it comes in the form of debt financing.

The third edition of the conclave was held there, and Dr Sukanta Majumdar, Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region and for Education, addressed it on 13 October 2026, asking banks to widen their reach and lend more readily in the region.

The correct answer is ₹6,614.40 crore, the value of coir and coir product exports in FY 2025-26.

The same group had risen 22.93 per cent in August 2026, so the pressure in this basket also widened over the month.

At the forum the Defence Minister placed MAHASAGAR alongside SAGAR, which expands to Security and Growth for All in the Region, and said both, together with the Act East policy, argue for open and multipolar cooperation channelled through ASEAN-led mechanisms that sit at the centre of India’s Indo-Pacific vision.

BHAVYA proposes a nationwide rollout of 100 plug-and-play industrial parks, and in the first phase up to 50 of them are to be selected through challenge mode across two selection rounds, judged on project readiness, land availability and industrial potential.

The Combined Maritime Forces is a partnership of 47 nations, and CTF 154 is the one task force within it that is given over wholly to training, running professional courses and capacity building so that member navies can work with one another at sea.

YETI is designed to lift payloads of up to 200 kg, and by a neat coincidence the same figure is its targeted range in kilometres, which makes the pair easy to remember together.

The minister said that out of the 9,479 villages identified for coverage in the Northeast, 6,905 now have either a bank branch or an India Post Payments Bank point, which comes to roughly 73 per cent.

The scheme funds the development of machines, technologies and products, conducts skill training and promotional work, pushes sales in domestic as well as overseas markets, creates awareness through publicity and trade fairs, gives financial help to lift sales, takes exporters to international exhibitions and compiles the sector’s statistics.

Every index figure in the release, for the Wholesale Price Index as well as for the Output Producer Price Index and the trial Input Producer Price Index, is stated on the 2022-23 base year.

Speaking at the forum, the Raksha Mantri noted that this year has been designated the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation and treated it as a chance to convert shared interest into practical steps: better sharing of maritime information, closer work between navies and coast guards, and the ability to respond…

India’s manufacturing sector at present contributes roughly 16 to 17 per cent of GDP and employs more than 27 million workers, and the National Manufacturing Mission sets the goal of lifting that contribution to a quarter of the economy by 2035.

India's association with the Combined Maritime Forces came in two steps: it first joined as an Associate Partner in 2022 and then took up full membership in 2023.

YETI is designed for an operating altitude of up to 6,500 metres above mean sea level, which is what allows it to be considered for high-altitude work in the mountains, and its weather-resistant build is also meant for deserts and marine conditions.

That is the national credit-deposit ratio quoted at the conclave, and among the Northeastern states Manipur and Assam stand at or above it while Mizoram and several others fall short.

Bringing these units on to the Udyam registration portal places them inside the formal MSME policy system, so they can reach the credit, training and market support the government offers.

The WPI Food Index is a composite built from food articles within the Primary Articles major group and manufactured food products within the Manufactured Products group, and it carries a weight of 24.99 per cent in the index.

The Raksha Mantri made the announcement there on 31 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 12th ADMM-Plus, and the forum held in New Delhi is the follow-through on that commitment.

The scheme period stretches from FY2026-27 to FY2031-32, and the per-acre assistance supports internal roads, power supply, water networks, drainage, common effluent treatment, value-added infrastructure and technology-enabled administration, with up to a quarter of approved funding available for external road, rail and last-mile logistics connectivity.