What was the theme of World Habitat Day 2026 as observed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?

The correct answer is World Habitat Day. It was announced at the function that the PMAY-U Awards are being institutionalised, so that the contribution of states, union territories, urban local bodies and partner agencies under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban is recognised every year on World Habitat Day. The purpose stated was to encourage healthy competition among states, spread good practices and push better delivery of affordable housing. Option A names another urban observance but is not the day chosen for these awards. Option C is not an observance connected with this scheme, and option D is a separate day linked with administrative reform rather than housing. The awards cover state level, special recognition and urban local body categories, which is why the day on which they are given is a fact worth holding. Only option B is correct.

The correct answer is Tamil Nadu and SIPCOT, which was named the public agency with the highest number of houses completed and in use under affordable rental housing complexes, at 18,720 beds. In the same category the private agency award went to SPR India Private Limited, at 11,154 beds. Options A, C and D pair other states with their industrial development corporations, which is a plausible shape for the answer but not the one recognised here. Tamil Nadu also took the award for the best shelter fund practice, so the state appears twice in the list. Among the other special recognitions, Gujarat won for the best town planning scheme procedure and for the most reforms achieved under PMAY-U 2.0, Chhattisgarh for mandatory land reservation for weaker sections in private colonies, and HDFC Bank as the best lending institution. Only option B is correct.

The correct answer is opium poppy. The bureau deliberately took its programmes into the licensed poppy-growing tracts of Rajasthan, holding meetings for cultivators in Kota, Jhalawar, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh and Udaipur districts, including villages such as Mangrol and one near Babrikhda in Jhalrapatan tehsil. Option A is wrong because sugarcane is not a narcotics crop and falls outside the bureau’s licensing remit. Option C is wrong because cotton, though widely grown in parts of the state, has no bearing on narcotics regulation. Option D is wrong because mustard is an ordinary oilseed crop of Rajasthan and is not licensed or supervised by the Central Bureau of Narcotics. The link between the bureau and poppy cultivation is the point of the question.

The correct answer is Mahatma Gandhi. National Anti-Drug Addiction Day falls on 2 October, the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and the Central Bureau of Narcotics tied its Rajasthan programmes to Gandhi’s message of self-discipline and social responsibility. Option A is wrong because Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary is marked separately as a day of national unity and has no link to this observance. Option C is wrong because Lal Bahadur Shastri, though also born on 2 October, is not the leader the anti-addiction day is named after; the bureau’s programmes referred specifically to the Father of the Nation. Option D is wrong because Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s anniversary is observed on a different date and is associated with social justice commemorations rather than the anti-drug campaign described here.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Finance. The release on the Rajasthan Unit’s anti-addiction programmes was issued under the Ministry of Finance, which is the parent ministry of the Central Bureau of Narcotics; the bureau licenses and supervises legal opium poppy cultivation. Option A is wrong because, although the Home Ministry handles policing and the Narcotics Control Bureau, the CBN itself is not placed under it. Option B is wrong because the Health Ministry deals with treatment and de-addiction services rather than the licensing of poppy farming. Option D is wrong because, even though poppy is an agricultural crop, its cultivation is controlled as a narcotics and revenue matter, not by the agriculture ministry. Candidates should remember the CBN and its revenue-side parentage as a standing fact.