10 October 2026 Current Affairs: Headlines, GK & MCQs

The correct answer is Kolkata. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs convened the second of its regional review conferences on the Forest Rights Act in the West Bengal capital, and officers of the Tribal Welfare, Revenue and Forest Departments of eight States took part, along with district Collectors from places where claims have piled up. Option A, Bengaluru, is the trap here, because the first conference of the same series was indeed held in that city for the southern States a month earlier; the second one moved east. Option B, Bhubaneswar, is wrong even though Odisha was one of the eight States under review and was praised for its work on habitat rights, since the State was a participant and not the host. Option D, Ranchi, is wrong in the same way: Jharkhand attended but did not host. For the examination, tie the pair together, Kolkata for the eastern and central States and Bengaluru for the southern ones.

The correct answer is 2006. The full name of the law is the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, and the year that goes with it is 2006. It is the statute under which individual forest rights, Community Forest Resource Rights and habitat rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups are recognised, and it is the law the Kolkata conference examined State by State. Options A, C and D are years attached to other laws that aspirants often mix up with this one, and none of them belongs to the forest rights statute. A useful memory aid is that the recognition of these rights is always paired with the figure in option B, while the Ministry advisories discussed at the conference, on writing rights into revenue and forest records and on habitat rights, are much more recent. Keep the full title of the Act and its year together, because papers set the question both ways.

The correct answer is about 25 lakh. The Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs gave the national position as on 31 August 2026, and that is the number of titles handed over to forest dwellers so far. Option D, about 54 lakh, is the number of claims received in all, which is the figure candidates most often swap with the titles figure. Option A, about 11 lakh, is the number of claims still waiting for a decision at one stage or another, concentrated in a few districts of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. Option B, about 18 lakh, is the number of claims that have been rejected, and the conference asked States to look at those rejections again under the Act and its Rules. Learn the four numbers as one set, claims received, titles given, claims pending and claims rejected, because a question can be set on any one of them.

The correct answer is Bengaluru. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs began this round of regional reviews there, taking up the southern States, and the Kolkata meeting a month later was the second in the series and covered eight eastern and central States. Option A, Hyderabad, is a plausible distractor because Andhra Pradesh figured prominently at the Kolkata conference as a guest State sharing its practices on digitisation of titles, but the State was not the host of either meeting. Option C, Chennai, is wrong: no conference of this series was held there, although Tamil Nadu falls in the southern group that the first meeting covered. Option D, Guwahati, is wrong too, and the clue is that Assam was named at Kolkata as one of the States holding a large share of pending claims, which makes it a participant rather than a host. Remember the order of the two venues.

The correct answer is the Indian Air Force. Tarang Shakti is an air exercise, and the second edition was hosted by the Indian Air Force from 26 September to 12 October 2026, with the Defence Minister addressing the participants at Air Force Station Jodhpur. Option A, the Indian Army, is wrong because the exercise was built around flying operations — combat jets, transport aircraft, surveillance platforms and air-to-air refuelling tankers — and around joint mission planning between air forces, not around ground manoeuvres. Option B, the Indian Navy, is wrong for the same reason; the Navy Chief, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, was present at the event as a dignitary, but the exercise was not a naval one. Option D, the Indian Coast Guard, is wrong because the Coast Guard is a maritime law-enforcement and search-and-rescue service and had no role of this kind here. The clue in such questions is usually the kind of platform named: Tejas and Prachand are an aircraft and a helicopter, which point to the air arm.

The correct answer is seven. The air forces that brought aircraft to the exercise were those of Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America — seven friendly foreign countries in all. Separately, a much larger group of countries attended only to watch the flying, and that group numbered thirty-two observer nations, so a candidate must be careful not to mix the two figures. Option A, five, is too few and matches none of the groupings at the exercise. Option C, twelve, is wrong; no set of twelve participants is recorded, and the number is probably confused with the closing date of the exercise. Option D, eighteen, is wrong as well and corresponds to nothing in the exercise. For the examination the safest way to hold the fact is as a pair: seven air forces flying, thirty-two nations observing.

The correct answer is Jodhpur. Air Force Station Jodhpur, in Rajasthan, was where the Defence Minister spoke to the aircrews and ground teams of the second edition of Tarang Shakti. Option B, Jamnagar, is a well-known Indian Air Force base in Gujarat but was not the venue for this address. Option C, Sulur, in Tamil Nadu, is closely linked with Tejas squadrons and so is a tempting distractor, yet the Minister's address took place at Jodhpur. Option D, Hindan, near Delhi, is one of the busiest transport bases of the Indian Air Force and hosts many ceremonial events, but not this one. Candidates should also fix the exercise window in memory, 26 September to 12 October 2026, and the fact that this was the second edition, the first having been conducted in 2024.

The correct answer is Milton Dick, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Australia, who was declared elected after a secret ballot in the IPU Governing Council on the closing day of the Assembly. Option A, Harivansh, is wrong: he is the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and led the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Arusha, and he was one of the three Indian members who cast India's votes in the election, not a candidate for the post. Option C, Mussa Azzan Zungu, is wrong because he is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania and served as President of this particular Assembly, the sitting he formally declared closed; presiding over one Assembly in the host country is a different thing from heading the organisation. Option D, Sasmit Patra, is wrong as well; he is a Rajya Sabha member of the delegation and his role was to hand the newly elected President a letter of congratulation from the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The correct answer is Arusha, Tanzania. The Assembly was held there from 5 to 9 October 2026, and the outcome document it adopted on its final day is accordingly named the Arusha Communiqué. Option A, Nairobi in Kenya, is wrong; Nairobi hosts several United Nations offices and is therefore a plausible-looking choice, but it was not the venue. Option B, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, is wrong; it is the seat of the African Union and again a tempting distractor for an East African meeting. Option D, Kampala in Uganda, is wrong and had no part in this Assembly. A useful habit for aspirants is to link the city to the document: when a communiqué or declaration carries a place name, that place is almost always the host city, so Arusha Communiqué points straight to Arusha. The Assembly was closed by Mussa Azzan Zungu, Speaker of the National Assembly of the host country.

The correct answer is the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh, who led the Indian Parliamentary Delegation at Arusha and was one of the three members who cast India's votes for the IPU presidency. Option A, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, is wrong, though the Speaker is connected with the event in another way: the letter of congratulation presented to the newly elected President came from the Lok Sabha Speaker, carried by the Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra. Option C, the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, is wrong and is simply a confusion of the two Houses and their presiding officers. Option D, the Minister of External Affairs, is wrong on a point of principle worth remembering: the Inter-Parliamentary Union is a forum of national parliaments rather than of governments, so a country is represented there by a parliamentary delegation of members of its legislature and not by its foreign ministry. The other two Indian votes were cast by the Lok Sabha members Anurag Singh Thakur and Kamaljeet Sehrawat.

The correct answer is option A. The text taken up as the emergency item sought urgent parliamentary action to address climate-related disasters and to strengthen resilience in the Himalayan region and other vulnerable regions, a subject of obvious concern to India and its neighbours. Option B, reform of the United Nations Security Council, is wrong; that is a recurring theme of debates among governments at the United Nations, not the emergency item of this Assembly. Option C, regulation of artificial intelligence in elections, is wrong and finds no place among the documents adopted here. Option D, debt relief for the least developed countries, is wrong as well. Candidates should keep the three outcomes of the Assembly apart: the Arusha Communiqué, the resolution of the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights on inclusive social development and the rights and empowerment of persons with disabilities, and the emergency item on climate-related disasters.

The correct answer is Ahmedabad, where the Games are being held at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex on 12 October 2026. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organising them together with the Government of Gujarat, which is the clue that fixes the host state and therefore the city. Option A, New Delhi, is wrong even though most national sporting announcements are made from the capital; the Games themselves are not being held there. Option C, Bhopal, is wrong, and it is a tempting choice because Madhya Pradesh is strongly associated with Mallakhamb, one of the three disciplines India will show. Option D, Pune, is wrong for a similar reason: Maharashtra too has a deep Mallakhamb tradition, but the venue is in Gujarat. Aspirants should remember the pairing of the complex and the city — Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Ahmedabad — along with the fact that the event comes under India's BRICS Chairship.

The correct answer is Mallakhamb, Yogasana and Kalaripayattu, the three disciplines India will present. Mallakhamb is a gymnastic form performed on a wooden pole or a hanging rope, Yogasana has been shaped into a competitive sport in India in recent years, and Kalaripayattu is a martial art associated with Kerala. Option A is wrong because Sambo and Gorodki are the Russian entries and Wushu is a Chinese one, Gorodki being brought by Belarus as well. Option C is wrong because Capoeira comes from Brazil while Tinku and Rayuela are among the practices listed for Bolivia. Option D is wrong because Asyk Atu and Togyzkumalak belong to Kazakhstan and Al Tabbah is the entry of the United Arab Emirates. Matching a traditional game to its country is a favourite pattern in examinations, so it is worth memorising at least the Indian, Russian, Chinese and Brazilian entries.

The correct answer is option A. The Games have deliberately been designed as a non-competitive platform: the purpose is to demonstrate traditional and indigenous sporting practices, to document them, and to let practitioners from different countries exchange knowledge, with emphasis on the cultural meaning of each game. Option B is wrong because no medals at all are part of this format, whether in team events or individual ones. Option C is wrong; no age restriction of that kind has been laid down, and the delegations are made up of practitioners of the traditional forms rather than of an age-group squad. Option D is wrong on an important point: delegations are coming from BRICS member countries and from partner countries alike, which is why the list of participants includes Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates besides the founding members. Bilateral meetings with the visiting delegations are also planned on the sidelines.

The correct answer is Jharkhand. Deoghar lies in the Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand, and the Vice-President described the convocation as a celebration of that region's aspirations, speaking of what the institute means for tribal and rural communities around it. Option A, Bihar, is wrong, though it is an understandable error: Deoghar was part of undivided Bihar before Jharkhand was carved out, and the two states share the Santhal Pargana cultural region along their border. Option C, Odisha, is wrong; Odisha has its own All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bhubaneswar. Option D, West Bengal, is wrong as well; its institute of this family is at Kalyani. A further confirmation inside the event itself is the list of those present, which included the Governor of Jharkhand, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, and the state's Minister for Health and Medical Education, Dr. Irfan Ansari.

The correct answer is 132 of 173. The Vice-President pointed to this with satisfaction, saying that it showed the country moving from the empowerment of women towards development led by women, and that it showed how education allows women to realise their potential. Option A keeps the right total but halves the number of women, which would make the batch almost evenly divided and would remove the very point the Vice-President was making. Option C keeps the right number of women but inflates the size of the batch, which would reduce their share to little more than half. Option D changes both figures and matches nothing at the ceremony. In examinations a pair of figures like this is usually tested as a ratio, so it helps to hold the fact in the form of a sentence: women were a clear majority, 132 out of a batch of 173 doctors, nurses and health professionals.

The correct answer is 846. Speaking about the expansion of medical education and health infrastructure, the Vice-President said the country had 387 medical colleges before 2014 and now has 846, and he presented institutions such as AIIMS Deoghar as proof of development that is balanced and inclusive. Options A, B and D — 648, 706 and 912 — are all plausible-looking figures of the same order but none of them is the one cited. The safest way to remember the fact is as a pair with its base year: 387 before 2014, and 846 now. Candidates should also link the figure to the wider claim the Vice-President made with it, namely that quality health care and higher education must reach every state, district and village if the goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 is to be achieved.

The correct answer is option A. The Vice-President recalled the legacy of Birsa Munda, Sidho-Kanhu and Tilka Manjhi, all of them figures of tribal resistance closely associated with the region around Deoghar, and used their memory to ask the graduates to carry their knowledge into villages, tribal communities and the remotest parts of the country. Option B names Rani Gaidinliu of the north-east along with Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, who are remembered chiefly in the Telugu-speaking regions, so the grouping does not fit this ceremony. Option C names tribal leaders connected with central and western India, and although Budhu Bhagat belongs to the Chhotanagpur area the set as a whole was not the one cited. Option D lists further tribal leaders of the eastern belt who were likewise not named in the address. The Santhal Pargana link is the clue: Sidho and Kanhu led the Santhal uprising and Tilka Manjhi is remembered in the same region.

The correct answer is Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat. The 94th edition of the ride, held in Varanasi, was built around this theme, which joins the weekly fitness drive to the effort to keep young people away from substance abuse and sets both in the frame of a developed India. Option A, Fit Youth Fit India, is wrong; it echoes the name of the wider Fit India movement but is not the theme announced for this edition. Option C, Cycle for Clean Air, is wrong, and although cycling does reduce vehicular pollution, air quality was not the theme here. Option D, Khelo India Badho India, is wrong; Khelo India is a separate scheme of the same ministry for sporting talent, and the ride is held at Khelo India State Centres of Excellence and Khelo India Centres among other places, which is probably what makes the option tempting. The theme is the detail most often asked about such campaigns, so it should be learnt word for word along with the edition number.

The correct answer is Varanasi. The ride went from Namo Ghat to the Diksha Mandap of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, and both of those landmarks are in Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh; the start was at 6 in the morning. Option A, Prayagraj, is wrong; it too is a riverside city of Uttar Pradesh with well-known ghats and so is a reasonable-looking guess, but it was not the host. Option C, Haridwar, is wrong; its ghats lie on the Ganga in Uttarakhand, and no part of this edition was held there. Option D, Patna, is wrong as well. The surest way to hold the answer is through the two named places: Namo Ghat and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, a Sanskrit university long associated with Varanasi, both point to the same city. Candidates should also note that the ride is held on the same day in every state and union territory, so the host city refers to the main event led by the minister.

The correct answer is Parul Chaudhary, who won two bronze medals at the Asian Games, one in the women's 3000m steeplechase and the other in the 5000m. Option A, Prachi Chaudhary, is wrong, and the similarity of the two names is exactly what such a question tests: she won a single bronze, in the women's 400m. Option C, Jay Kumar, is wrong because he won two medals of different colours rather than two bronzes, a silver in the mixed 4x400m relay and a bronze in the men's 4x400m relay. Option D, Raj Kumar Pal, is wrong because his medal was a gold, won as a member of the hockey team, and it was the only gold among the athletes taking part in the ride. A clean way to remember the group is by colour: one gold in hockey, one silver and one bronze in the relays, two bronzes on the track in distance events and one bronze in the sprint.

The correct answer is option A. The campaign is run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with the Cycling Federation of India, which is the national federation for the sport, the Raahgiri Foundation, which works on reclaiming streets for walking and cycling, and MY Bharat, the ministry's youth platform. Option B is wrong; neither of the bodies named is listed as a partner for this drive. Option C is wrong; the National Anti-Doping Agency deals with doping control in competitive sport, a different function altogether, even though the edition in Varanasi carried a drug-free theme. Option D is wrong as a whole, but it is worth being careful here: the Sports Authority of India is connected with the ride in another way, since it is held at its Regional Centres, National Centres of Excellence and Training Centres, yet it is not named among the organising partners. More than 6,000 NAMO Fit India Clubs conduct the ride in their own areas every week.