To what monthly figure has the Union Cabinet raised the EPFO wage ceiling for mandatory coverage?

The correct answer is 17 September 2026. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister of Labour and Employment and also of Youth Affairs and Sports, told a press briefing that the higher ceiling would come into force on that day, which is observed as Vishwakarma Jayanti and as Sewa Divas. Option D is the trap here: 16 September 2026 is the day the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, not the day the ceiling becomes operative, and candidates who confuse approval with effect will pick it. Option A is wrong because no October start date was announced for this measure. Option C is wrong because the government did not push the change to the beginning of a financial year; it deliberately chose a date of symbolic value to artisans and workers. Remember the pair cleanly: approval on 16 September 2026 and effect from 17 September 2026.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation works under this ministry, so the proposal to widen compulsory coverage came from it and was then placed before the Union Cabinet. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, who heads the ministry, announced the details afterwards. Option A is wrong because the Finance Ministry handles taxation, budgets and financial sector regulation, not the provident fund statute. Option C is wrong because the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment runs welfare schemes for specific social groups and has no role in provident fund coverage. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Corporate Affairs administers company law, not worker social security. The step widens access to provident fund savings, pension cover under the Employees' Pension Scheme and insurance cover under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme.

The correct answer is that kharif crops are sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon. That is why the agriculture ministry publishes a weekly progressive sowing report through the monsoon months and why the position as on 4 September 2026, when the sown area stood at 1086.31 lakh hectares, is treated as an important signal for the year's foodgrain supply. Option B describes the rabi season, whose crops such as wheat and mustard are sown in the cooler months and harvested in spring, and the report under discussion is not a rabi report. Option C is wrong because kharif sowing follows the rains rather than the rabi harvest alone, and much of the acreage is rain fed. Option D is wrong because kharif sowing is spread across rain fed as well as irrigated areas of the country, and not confined to command areas in a winter month.

The correct answer is pulses, and jute and mesta. Pulses were sown on 117.13 lakh hectares against 115.30 lakh hectares a year earlier, and jute and mesta on 6.34 lakh hectares against 6.24 lakh hectares, so these are the only two groups of the report standing above last season. Option A is wrong because rice is the biggest loser of the season, its area falling to 421.82 lakh hectares from 438.19 lakh hectares, and cotton is also down. Option B is wrong because oilseeds slipped to 191.99 lakh hectares and sugarcane to 58.47 lakh hectares. Option D is wrong on both counts, as Shri Anna and coarse cereals came down to 181.39 lakh hectares while cotton came down to 109.17 lakh hectares. Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Telangana drove the gain in pulses, and Bihar and West Bengal the gain in jute.

The correct answer is 1086.31 lakh hectares. The weekly progressive sowing report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, issued on 8 September 2026, gives this as the total area under kharif crops for the position as on 4 September 2026. Compared with the same week of the previous season, sowing is lower by 17.69 lakh hectares, and the season is also running below the normal area with which the department compares each weekly report. Options A, C and D are numbers built around the correct one by changing only the leading digits, which is exactly how a paper setter tests whether a candidate has memorised the figure or merely recognises its shape. None of them appears in the report. While revising, keep the total area and the date it refers to together, because the same report is issued every week and the figure changes with each release.