Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0: 15 Lakh Take Ocean Pledge

The correct answer is 231. Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0 was conducted from 12 to 19 September 2026, and its coastal clean-up covered 231 locations across 13 States/UTs. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh reviewed the campaign on 21 September 2026 and applauded the scale of public participation.

The other figures are distractors built around the correct one. Questions on this campaign usually test three numbers together, so learn them as a set: 231 locations, 13 States/UTs and 15 lakh people who took the Ocean Conservation Pledge. The name of the campaign means "Clean Sea, Safe Sea", and it brought together citizens, students, coastal communities, government agencies, scientific institutions and volunteers in a nationwide effort for cleaner coasts and safer seas along India's long coastline.

The correct answer is Department of Science & Technology. 'Vigyan Ki Baat' is a monthly lecture series launched by DST to showcase the work of India's autonomous scientific institutions and take their achievements to a wider audience. Its first edition, held on 29 August 2026, drew more than 7,500 people from academia, research and industry, and the second edition, on 26 September 2026, will feature the Director of the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences.

The other options were all part of the same review meeting, which is why they confuse. The Department of Biotechnology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences take part in the joint digital outreach effort, and CSIR is preparing for CSIR@85. The proposed Digital Library of Scientific Achievements is being built with CSIR-NIScPR as the nodal institution, not DST.

The correct answer is 15 lakh. During Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0, held from 12 to 19 September 2026, 15 lakh people took the Ocean Conservation Pledge, a commitment to keep the sea and the coast free of litter. Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted this figure while reviewing the campaign and asked that the momentum of public participation be sustained.

The other options are distractors. The pledge figure is the one most likely to be asked because it appears in the headline of the government release, alongside the 231 clean-up locations in 13 States/UTs. Ocean litter is dominated by plastic, which breaks down into microplastics and enters the marine food chain, and campaigns like this aim to change behaviour on land, where most of that waste starts, as well as to clean the beaches themselves.