Who presided over the National Level Technical Committee meeting held under the REWARD programme?

The correct answer is Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development, the expansion given in the release for the programme under which the technical committee met at the NASC Complex in New Delhi. The second option is wrong; it is built from plausible words but does not match the expansion, and in particular it drops the idea of resilience, which is central to the programme's purpose. The third option is wrong for the same reason and adds terms about ecology and drylands that do not appear in the name. The fourth option is wrong because the programme is not an employment scheme, and confusing it with rural employment programmes is a common error. Candidates should also link the programme with the body running it, the National Rainfed Area Authority, which functions under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, since acronym questions are often paired with the parent ministry.

The correct answer is the Watershed Development Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in its third phase. The release states that the guidelines under preparation will be used for future generation watershed development in the country under that component, which is why the meeting spent its time on validating claims in the draft and on data from the two participating states. The crop insurance scheme in the second option is wrong, as it compensates farmers for crop loss and has no role in framing watershed guidelines. The sustainable agriculture mission in the third option is wrong; it is a separate programme and is not named anywhere in the release. The agriculture development scheme in the fourth option is wrong for the same reason. Remember the pairing of the guidelines with the watershed component and its version number, because the phase is itself examinable.

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.