UPSC Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: 14–20 September 2026

The correct answer is the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, commonly abbreviated as CENJOWS. According to the Ministry of Defence, the Combined Operational Review and Evaluation Programme 2026 was organised by Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and conducted by CENJOWS, concluding at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi. Candidates should keep the two roles distinct, because questions often test which body organised an event against which body conducted it.

The other options name institutions that the release does not connect with this programme. The National Defence College, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the Defence Research and Development Organisation are all well known in the defence sphere, which is precisely what makes them effective distractors here, but none of them is mentioned in the Ministry's statement on the CORE Programme. Fix the pairing in memory as HQ IDS organised, CENJOWS conducted, Manekshaw Centre hosted.

The answer is Justice V. Ramasubramanian, who chairs the National Human Rights Commission of India and closed the programme. His theme was cooperation between human rights institutions across the Global South, and his argument was that these bodies improve by sharing experience openly, naming the problems they run into and treating their own mistakes as something to learn from.

The other options are drawn from offices that sound plausible for a human rights event but had no role here. The Ministry of External Affairs did partner on the programme, which makes option D the strongest distractor, but the valedictory address came from the Commission's own Chairperson. Present at the session were Joint Secretaries Shri Samir Kumar and Smt. Saidingpuii Chhakchhuak. Remember the Chairperson's name; it is the single most reusable fact here.

The answer is fourteen. The Ministry of Law and Justice announced the elevation of fourteen serving judicial officers, spread over four High Courts. The largest share went to Delhi, which took seven of them, two as Judges and five as Additional Judges. Jharkhand received three as Judges, Karnataka three as Additional Judges, and one officer was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Adding those up is the safest way to hold the figure: seven and three and three and one. Candidates who remember only the number of courts, which is four, or only the Delhi share, which is seven, will miss this. The other options are round numbers close enough to be tempting but none of them matches the announcement.

The correct answer is Harit Nyayam. At the valedictory session in New Delhi on 20 September 2026, Union Minister Manohar Lal released the NGT's souvenir titled Harit Nyayam and presented its first copy to the President of India. The document chronicles the establishment, growth and achievements of the tribunal and reflects the ideas discussed at the two-day conference.

Prakriti Vandan, Harit Bharat and Paryavaran Nyay sound similar, and that is why they are here, but none of them is the title of this souvenir, so options B, C and D are wrong. Names of publications released at official events are a favourite one-liner, so remember who released it (Manohar Lal), who received the first copy (the President) and which body it belongs to (the National Green Tribunal).

The correct answer is Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi. The Ministry of Defence stated that the keel laying ceremony of the first ship of the Indian Navy's Next Generation Missile Vessel project was held at Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi on 18 September 2026, with Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, as the Chief Guest. The contract for construction of the NGMVs had been concluded with Cochin Shipyard Limited in March 2023, so the same yard that holds the contract also laid the keel.

The other options name shipyards that the release does not connect with this ceremony. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai, Garden Reach Shipbuilders in Kolkata and Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam are not mentioned anywhere in the Ministry's statement on this event, and attributing the NGMV keel laying to any of them would be incorrect. For the examination, the pairing to memorise is straightforward: NGMV project, first ship, Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi, 18 September 2026.

The correct answer is 1936. According to the Ministry of Culture, the Kalakshetra Foundation was established in 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale, and it has since played a significant role in the preservation, practice and dissemination of Indian classical arts. It is the Foundation that organises the Kathakali Festival, the seventeenth edition of which was inaugurated at the Bharata Kalakshetra Auditorium in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.

The remaining options give years that the release does not associate with the Foundation at all. Candidates should pair the founding year with the founder's name, because questions on this institution almost always test the two together, and occasionally test the city as well. A useful way to hold it is as a single line: Kalakshetra Foundation, 1936, Rukmini Devi Arundale, Chennai, now functioning under the Ministry of Culture.

The answer is two. At the Bengaluru ceremony the Air Force received five aircraft in total, and the split is what the question turns on: two Tejas twin-seat trainers at Final Operational Clearance standard, plus three HTT 40 basic trainers. Candidates who remember only the total of five will get this wrong.

The fourth number in the story belongs elsewhere. Four Dhruv helicopters of the Next Generation variant went to Pawan Hans Limited, a civil operator, not to the Air Force. That is also why two ministers attended, one holding Defence and the other Civil Aviation. A clean way to hold all of it is as three pairs: two Tejas trainers, three HTT 40 trainers, four Dhruv NG helicopters, with the first two going to the Air Force and the third to Pawan Hans.

The answer is 34,920. Four figures travel together in this item and the question turns on keeping them apart. 34,920 is the number of rural young people starting training in October 2026; 1,164 is the number of batches they are divided into; 3,57,112 is the far larger sanctioned target for the same fourteen States and Union Territories, to be met by 31 December 2027; and 5.6 lakh is the total already allocated across more than 1,200 projects by 24 States and Union Territories.

So option C is the batch count, option B is the sanctioned target and option D is the wider allocation, each a real figure from the announcement but an answer to a different question. A useful ordering is smallest to largest: batches, then the October intake, then the sanctioned target, then the national allocation.

The answer is over Rs 5,000 crore. At its twenty-first board meeting, held on 18 September 2026, the National Land Monetization Corporation considered and recommended proposals covering assets of that value. What those assets are matters as much as the figure: surplus land and buildings, identified because they no longer serve the purpose they were acquired for.

The remaining options are round figures of the kind that make plausible distractors in a question about money, but none of them appears in the announcement. Two details are worth carrying with the figure, since a question may ask for either instead: it was the twenty-first meeting of the board, and the same sitting approved the Annual Financial Statements and Directors' Report for 2025-26.

The correct answer is Sri Lanka. SLINEX is the bilateral maritime exercise between the navies of India and Sri Lanka, and the Ministry of Defence has described SLINEX-26 as its 13th edition, held at Visakhapatnam from 17 to 21 September 2026. The name itself carries the answer: SL for Sri Lanka, IN for India and EX for exercise. The Sri Lankan side is represented by SLNS Sindurala, while India has fielded INS Kavaratti and INS Jyoti.

Singapore, Thailand and the Maldives do not take part in SLINEX. The release names only two navies, the Indian and the Sri Lankan, and presents the exercise as a way of strengthening the maritime partnership between India and Sri Lanka, so options A, C and D are wrong. When a question gives you the name of an exercise, decode it first, because many bilateral exercise names are built from the initials of the partner countries.

The correct answer is Article 370. The PIB backgrounder on the 72nd National Film Awards lists the Hindi film Article 370, directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, as the Best Feature Film. The same film brought Yami Gautam the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Direction for its songs.

Each of the other three films also won, but in a different category, which is exactly why they make tempting distractors. Amaran, a Tamil film, earned Rajkumar Periasamy the award for Best Direction. Kalki 2898 AD, in Telugu, was named Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Chandu Champion won Kartik Aaryan a share of the Best Actor award, which he holds jointly with Mammootty. When you revise an awards list, attach every film to its category, because examiners like to use the other winners of the same year as the wrong options.

The correct answer is 42,000 metric tonnes. Speaking at the Central Silk Board's 77th Foundation Day in Bengaluru on 20 September 2026, the minister said India's silk production had grown from 26,000 metric tonnes in 2014 to 42,000 metric tonnes today. He linked that growth to the government's commitment to expanding sericulture and raising silk farmers' incomes.

Option D, 60,000 metric tonnes, is the trap: it is not today's output but the target the government has set for 2030-31. Options A and B, 32,000 and 38,000 metric tonnes, do not appear in the release at all. Questions like this often place the current figure next to the target, so memorise the series in order: 26,000 tonnes in 2014, 42,000 tonnes now, 60,000 tonnes by 2030-31, and the world No. 1 position by 2028-29.

The correct answer is Gwalior. The Ministry of Communications said Asia's first Telecom Manufacturing Zone will be established in Gwalior, and Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inspected the identified site at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Counter Magnet City (SADA) on 20 September 2026. The zone is expected to attract about ₹5,500 crore of investment and to create more than 18,000 jobs.

Indore and Bhopal are also cities in Madhya Pradesh, which makes them tempting choices, but the release places the TMZ in Gwalior, so options A and D are wrong. Noida is not mentioned at all, so option C is wrong too. Remember the link with SADA: it was set up as a Counter Magnet City to develop Gwalior as a new industrial centre and a counter-magnet to Delhi, and the TMZ takes that plan forward.

The correct answer is Swachhata Mein Sahbhag; Swachh Bharat, Viksit Bharat. The PIB backgrounder of 20 September 2026 gives this as the theme of Swachhata Hi Seva 2026, which began on 17 September. The campaign places students and young people at the centre of lasting behaviour change.

Option D is the trap. 'Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath' is part of the same campaign, but it is the banner for the collective shramdaan that citizens will carry out on 1 October, not the campaign's theme. Options B and C are not given in the release as the 2026 theme, so they are wrong as well. Keep the campaign calendar straight: it began on 17 September, the shramdaan is on 1 October, and special Gram Sabhas are held in villages on 2 October.

The correct answer is Defence, External Affairs and Home Affairs. The release states that the five-day programme brought together senior officers from the three Services along with officials from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs, for deliberations on contemporary and emerging national security challenges.

The combination matters because the programme's stated purpose was to strengthen inter-departmental coordination and inter-agency jointness, and these are the three ministries whose remits meet on national security: military, diplomatic and internal. The other options each swap in a ministry the release does not mention, such as Finance, Commerce or Science and Technology. Note alongside this the phrase the deliberations reinforced, a Whole-of-Nation approach to national security, which is the kind of formulation examiners like to quote directly.

The answer is fourteen. Two numbers travel together in this item and are easy to swap: thirty-eight senior functionaries attended, and they came from fourteen national human rights institutions. The institutions are the smaller figure, the people the larger one.

The countries represented were Algeria, Chile, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Oman, Samoa, South Africa, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe, which spans Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. That spread matters for the framing of the programme, which is built on the idea that institutions doing similar work in different legal systems have a good deal to teach each other. Hold the pair as thirty-eight from fourteen and neither figure will slip.

Note the shape of the programme alongside the figures. It was the fifth edition, it ran six days from 14 September 2026 in New Delhi, and the sessions were interactive rather than lecture-led, covering civil and political rights as well as socio-economic and cultural ones.

The answer is the President, after consulting the Chief Justice of India. The release is explicit on both halves: the power is one the Constitution confers on the President, and it is exercised after consultation with the Chief Justice of India. The order of those two steps matters, because a question will sometimes reverse them.

Option C does exactly that reversal and is the strongest distractor. The Prime Minister and the Law Minister have no constitutional role in the appointment itself, which rules out option A. A Governor does figure in consultation for High Court appointments under the constitutional scheme, but the appointing authority is not the Governor, so option D fails on the same point. Hold the pair as consultation first, warrant afterwards.

The correct answer is 55 per cent. Speaking at the valedictory session of the National Green Tribunal's conference, Manohar Lal, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Power, said non-fossil sources account for nearly 55 per cent of India's installed generation capacity. He presented this as part of India's effort to balance rapid development with environmental sustainability.

Option B, 50 per cent, is the trap. That figure is the non-fossil capacity target, which the minister said India achieved five years ahead of schedule; it is not the current share. Options A and D, 40 and 65 per cent, are not mentioned in the release. Keep the two numbers distinct in your notes: the target was 50 per cent and was met early, while the present share is nearly 55 per cent.

The correct answer is March 2023. The Ministry of Defence release states that the contract for construction of the NGMVs was concluded with Cochin Shipyard Limited in March 2023. The keel laying of the first ship then took place on 18 September 2026, so candidates should keep the two dates separate: the contract date marks the order, while the keel laying date marks the formal start of construction on the slipway.

Option C, September 2026, is the month of the keel laying ceremony rather than of the contract, and it is the most likely confusion in this question. Options B and D give years that the release does not associate with the NGMV contract at all. Examiners frequently test exactly this distinction between the year an order was placed and the year construction began, so note both dates together along with the yard, Cochin Shipyard Limited, and the ministry concerned, the Ministry of Defence.

The correct answer is Kadha Rasa Sangama - Confluence of Essence of Stories. The Ministry of Culture describes the three-day festival as being held on this theme, bringing together three prominent Kathakali institutions, namely Sadanam Academy, Kerala Kalamandalam and Margi Theatre, each of which presents one distinctive production.

The other three options are plausible-sounding titles that the release does not mention anywhere, and none of them is connected with this festival. The theme is worth memorising alongside the three productions it frames: Mandodari from Sadanam Academy, drawn from the Ramayana; The Old Man and the Sea from Kerala Kalamandalam, adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel; and Rugmangada Charitham from Margi Theatre, on the devotion of King Rugmangada and his observance of Ekadasi.

The answer is Pawan Hans Limited. The ceremony had two recipients, and separating them is the whole point of the question. Military trainers, the Tejas twin-seaters and the HTT 40s, went to the Indian Air Force. The four Dhruv helicopters of the Next Generation variant went instead to Pawan Hans Limited, which runs civil helicopter operations.

That division explains the guest list. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh attended for the defence side and Shri K Rammohan Naidu, the Minister of Civil Aviation, for the civil side. The other options name forces that do operate rotary-wing fleets, which makes them plausible, but none of them figures in this handover. Remember the recipient alongside the aircraft type and the question becomes straightforward.

The answer is the Ministry of Rural Development, which is reviewing State readiness and rolling out the second phase of the scheme. The placement of DDU-GKY under Rural Development rather than under Skill Development is the point worth fixing in memory, because the name contains the word Kaushalya and the obvious guess is therefore wrong.

The clue is in the rest of the name: Grameen. The scheme is aimed at poor rural youth specifically, which is what puts it in the rural development portfolio. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, its training is tied to placement rather than ending at a certificate, and courses run from three months up to twelve. The other ministries listed all work on employment or training in some form, which is exactly what makes them effective distractors.

The answer is Central Public Sector Enterprises and other government entities. NLMC does not simply buy and sell. It works alongside whichever body owns the property, identifying which assets are suitable, carrying out due diligence, arranging a valuation and then structuring the process, with transparency, efficiency and value realisation as its stated priorities.

The other options describe owners the release does not mention. Option B in particular points in the wrong direction entirely, since this is public property being put to use, not a rescue of private firms. The purpose behind the whole exercise is worth remembering alongside the answer: unlocking the value of assets that sit underused on government books, which is why the corporation exists at all.

One more point of wording: monetisation is not always a sale. Depending on the structure, the state may lease an asset or take in a partner while keeping the title, so ownership does not necessarily change hands.

The correct answer is INS Kavaratti. The Ministry of Defence lists two Indian ships in SLINEX-26: INS Kavaratti, an indigenous Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, and INS Jyoti, the Fleet Tanker. INS Kavaratti also hosted the opening ceremony and the reception for the visiting Sri Lankan crew at the start of the Harbour Phase.

INS Jyoti is taking part, but as the fleet tanker, a support ship rather than an anti-submarine warship, so option A is wrong. SLNS Sindurala is not an Indian Navy ship at all; it represents the Sri Lanka Navy in the exercise, which rules out option C. INS Vikrant is not among the ships the release names for SLINEX-26, so option D is also incorrect. A common trap in such questions is to mix up the ships of the two navies, so note the prefix each name carries: INS for India and SLNS for Sri Lanka.

The correct answer is Anant Nag. The Government of India announced on 16 September 2026 that the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 will be conferred on Anant Nag, a veteran of Kannada cinema. Born in Karnataka on 4 September 1948, he began his career in the Kannada film Sankalp, made his Hindi debut in Ankur and has acted in more than 300 films across six languages.

The other three names are recent recipients of the same award, but for earlier years. Mohanlal received it for 2023, Mithun Chakraborty for 2022 and Waheeda Rehman for 2021, so none of them is the answer for 2024. Questions on this award tend to pair the recipient with the award year, so it helps to memorise the last four winners in order. The award itself, the highest honour in Indian cinema, was instituted in 1969.

The correct answer is 2028-29. Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh said a resolve has been made to take India to the No. 1 rank in global silk production by 2028-29. He said the effort rests on raising mulberry leaf yields and the number of cocoon-rearing cycles, with the aim of lifting farmers' annual incomes to ₹10 lakh to ₹12 lakh.

Option C, 2030-31, is the year attached to a different goal: producing 60,000 metric tonnes of silk. Options A and D, 2026-27 and 2035-36, are not mentioned in the release. The two targets are easy to mix up because they were announced together, so keep them apart: world No. 1 by 2028-29, and 60,000 metric tonnes by 2030-31. The minister added that demand for Indian silk is rising abroad as China's production declines.

The correct answer is ₹5,500 crore. The Ministry of Communications said the proposed TMZ will be established with an investment of approximately ₹5,500 crore, and that 24 companies have initiated the application process to set up units there.

Options A and B are the two parts of that total, which is why they are there to mislead. The investor roadshow in Delhi in August 2026 brought commitments of about ₹3,500 crore, with around 14,000 potential jobs, and the roadshow in Mumbai brought about ₹2,000 crore, with around 4,000 jobs. Together they make up the ₹5,500 crore figure. Option D, ₹6,500 crore, is not mentioned in the release. When a question gives several amounts from one story, check whether it asks for a part or for the total.

The correct answer is Rising. The backgrounder explains that ODF Plus villages are classified into three progressive stages. Aspiring villages manage either solid or liquid waste. Rising villages manage both solid and liquid waste. Model villages manage both waste streams and, in addition, are visibly clean and display ODF Plus messaging.

Option A is wrong because an Aspiring village manages only one of the two kinds of waste. Option C is wrong because the question describes a village that has not reached the top stage, and Model is that top stage. Option D, Emerging, is not one of the three stages at all. The order to remember is Aspiring, then Rising, then Model. As of 17 September 2026, 5.25 lakh of India's 5.69 lakh ODF Plus villages had reached the Model stage.

The answer is the Ministry of External Affairs. That pairing is not incidental: the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme is a foreign policy instrument, used to offer training and expertise to officials of other developing countries, so a course aimed at human rights institutions abroad naturally runs through External Affairs.

The other ministries listed all have some connection to human rights work within India, which is what makes them usable as distractors, but none of them is named as the partner here. For the examination, treat ITEC and the Ministry of External Affairs as a fixed pair, and note that this was the fifth edition of the programme, held over six days in New Delhi from 14 September 2026.

The answer is the Delhi High Court, which received seven of the fourteen, half the total on its own. Of those seven, two were appointed as Judges and the other five as Additional Judges, a split the release sets out separately and which is itself worth noting.

The remaining seven were divided three ways. Jharkhand took three as Judges, Karnataka took three as Additional Judges, and the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh took one as a Judge. That last court is worth a second look for a different reason: a single High Court serves both Union Territories, which is a fact examiners like on its own. So the order by size runs Delhi, then Jharkhand and Karnataka level, then Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.