Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar 5.0 Begins at Digha Beach

The correct answer is Ministry of Earth Sciences. The drive at Digha in East Midnapore was organised by this ministry, and the campaign was coordinated across the country by the National Institute of Ocean Technology at Chennai, which is an institute under the same ministry. The programme was inaugurated by Sreenivasa Rao Gangi Reddy, Joint Secretary in the ministry, at the Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre. Option A, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, handles forests, wildlife and pollution control and is a natural guess, but it was not named here. Option C, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, deals with ports and shipping rather than beach cleanup campaigns. Option D, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, works on rivers, drinking water and sanitation rather than marine litter. Candidates should attach the ocean-related institutes, namely NIOT and INCOIS, to the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The correct answer is 19 September. The cleanup drive at Digha was described as a prelude to International Coastal Cleanup Day, to be observed on 19 September 2026, and the objective was to build wider awareness about marine pollution and to encourage practices that protect coastal and marine ecosystems. Option A, 5 June, is World Environment Day, and option B, 8 June, is World Oceans Day; both belong to the same broad family of environmental observances and are therefore the strongest distractors here. Option D is a nearby date offered to test precision. A useful way to keep the three days apart is to remember that June carries the two global environment and ocean days, while September carries the day devoted specifically to cleaning up coasts, which is why a cleanup drive was organised in the week leading up to it.

The correct answer is National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai. The drive at Digha was organised by the Ministry of Earth Sciences and coordinated nationwide by this institute, whose officials also joined the inaugural ceremony at the Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre. Option A, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, did take part in the drive through its officials, but it was a participant rather than the coordinating body, which makes it the sharpest distractor in the set. Option C, the National Centre for Coastal Research, and option D, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, are genuine marine research bodies that were not named in this announcement. Around 100 people joined the drive in all, among them college students and officials of the participating bodies, the India Meteorological Department and the Indian Coast Guard.