UPSC GK Questions 2026

The Union Environment Minister underlined the ecological importance of grasslands and said that although they cover close to this share of the country's land area, they remain among the most degraded and least conserved ecosystems in India.

The Union Minister released the plan at Bhuj and described it as a science-based roadmap. It aims to establish a minimum viable population of more than thirty birds and to secure between two hundred and five hundred square kilometres of safe and connected habitat.

The Union Environment Minister said that protected habitat for cheetahs has expanded to this area through the integrated management of Kuno National Park and Gandhi Sagar.

Those taking part include business leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, policymakers, academicians and changemakers. An international expo alongside the forum will feature more than 125 national and international exhibitors showing practical circular solutions developed by startups and investment-ready innovations.

The forum at Gandhinagar is being organised under this theme, and its objective is to showcase India's initiatives for promoting circularity and to strengthen international cooperation.

India is hosting the forum there from 15 to 18 September 2026, and this is the first time that the World Circular Economy Forum is being held in South Asia.

The India-centric CEPI mission, Ind-CEPI, is implemented by BRIC-THSTI and BIRAC, and this vaccine was among its important outcomes. It received Emergency Use Authorisation.

India's bioeconomy reached that size in 2025 and recorded eighteen per cent growth over the previous year. The country's biotech startup ecosystem expanded to 11,855 startups, of which 1,780 were added in that single year, and the biopharma sector accounts for nearly thirty per cent of the bioeconomy.

Its Board and Investors Council met in New Delhi, and the Department of Biotechnology and CEPI jointly hosted a high-level evening reception at the India International Centre.

During August 2026 fourteen Amrit Bharat services were converted from special trains into regular trains, and that conversion took the total number of Amrit Bharat services to this figure.

Five new Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals were commissioned during August 2026, which took the cumulative count to this figure at the end of the month.

Indian Railways loaded that quantity during August 2026 and recorded a year-on-year growth of 5.4 per cent. Freight revenue in the same month rose by 6.27 per cent over the corresponding month of the previous year, which shows that the freight business strengthened in value as well as in volume.

The release says that international attention to the role of traditional medicine in health systems is growing, and that this strategy places emphasis on strengthening the evidence base, on ensuring safety and quality, and on supporting the appropriate integration of traditional medicine into health systems.

The release records that the development in the New Delhi Declaration follows the BRICS meeting on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine held in that city under India's BRICS Chairship.

A key outcome of the New Delhi Declaration adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit is the welcome given to the proposed establishment of an Expert Working Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine under this track.

The final day of the Congress opened with a commemoration ceremony for this day. Messages were read from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, from the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization and from Ms Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation.

The ISSCA Global Awards are an annual flagship initiative that recognises proven agricultural innovations from institutions across the Global South, chosen for their potential to be scaled up and adapted across countries.

The three-day Congress ended in New Delhi and its closing plenary endorsed this document, which is written in short as 3D. Participating governments, institutions, partners and delegates backed it.

The correct answer is Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister of Labour and Employment and of Youth Affairs and Sports, who chaired the first day of the conference.

In the session on the roles and responsibilities of BOCW Welfare Boards in the light of the new labour codes, several States and Union Territories presented their own initiatives.