Quiz – 1 November 2026 (Part 3: Q 108–160)

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Quiz – 1 November 2026 (Part 3: Q 108–160) – 52 questions, subject: Current Affairs. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.

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1.  
What was the theme of the 6th BIMSTEC Summit held in Bangkok in April 2025?

Correct Answer: C [Prosperous, Resilient, Open]

Explanation:

'BIMSTEC: Prosperous, Resilient and Open' (PRO BIMSTEC); it adopted the 'Bangkok Vision 2030'. The maritime exercise builds on this summit's outcomes.

2.  
Which island of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands has India's only active volcano?

Correct Answer: C [Barren Island]

Explanation:

Barren Island, in the Andaman Sea. Narcondam is a dormant volcano; Havelock Island is now 'Swaraj Dweep'.

3.  
Tamil Nadu's eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal is known as the:

Correct Answer: B [Coromandel Coast]

Explanation:

Cholamandalam → Coromandel. Northern Circars – Andhra–Odisha coast; Malabar – Kerala; Konkan – Maharashtra–Goa.

4.  
In which city were the 2026 World Wrestling Championships, where Manisha Bhanwala won gold, held?

Correct Answer: C [Astana]

Explanation:

Astana (Kazakhstan), Barys Arena. It was first allotted to Manama (Bahrain) but moved due to the geopolitical situation.

5.  
Before Manisha, who was the only Indian to become senior World Wrestling Champion (2010)?

Correct Answer: A [Sushil Kumar]

Explanation:

Sushil Kumar – Moscow 2010, 66 kg freestyle. Bajrang Punia won four World medals but no gold.

6.  
Who was the first Indian woman to win a medal at the World Wrestling Championships?

Correct Answer: B [Alka Tomar]

Explanation:

Alka Tomar – Guangzhou 2006, 59 kg bronze; Manisha won India's first women's gold in the same 59 kg class in 2026.

7.  
Which is the world's largest inland water body (largest lake by area)?

Correct Answer: B [Caspian Sea]

Explanation:

The Caspian Sea – on the western edge of Kazakhstan, the 2026 host. Russia's Lake Baikal is the world's deepest lake.

8.  
Silambam, a traditional martial art of Tamil Nadu, is mainly performed with:

Correct Answer: A [Long bamboo staff]

Explanation:

Silambam is a staff-fighting art. Kerala's Kalaripayattu and Punjab's Gatka are other traditional martial arts.

9.  
'Aapravasi Diwas', observed in Mauritius on 2 November, commemorates:

Correct Answer: A [Arrival of indentured labourers]

Explanation:

On 2 Nov 1834, 36 Indian labourers landed from the ship 'Atlas'; 2026 marks the 192nd anniversary. Mauritius became independent on 12 March 1968.

10.  
Where is the 'Aapravasi Ghat', inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006?

Correct Answer: B [Port Louis]

Explanation:

Port Louis (Mauritius) – an immigration depot for indentured labour from 1849; almost half a million people passed through it.

11.  
India's 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' (9 January) commemorates:

Correct Answer: C [Gandhi's return to India]

Explanation:

Gandhi returned to Bombay from South Africa on 9 January 1915; the day has been observed since 2003.

12.  
Who is revered as the 'Father of the Nation' of Mauritius?

Correct Answer: A [Seewoosagur Ramgoolam]

Explanation:

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam – independent Mauritius's first PM (1968–82); Mauritius's main international airport is named after him. His son Navin Ramgoolam has also served as PM.

13.  
Which Tamil festival is an official public holiday in Mauritius?

Correct Answer: D [Thaipoosam Cavadee]

Explanation:

Thaipoosam Cavadee – a festival of Lord Murugan, widely celebrated by Mauritian Tamils. 2 November is also a public holiday there.

14.  
In which country did 550,000+ people march on 17 Oct 2026 against a 2027 austerity budget?

Correct Answer: C [France]

Explanation:

France – against €54 billion of cuts and a civil-servant pay freeze. The 2018 'Yellow Vest' movement against fuel tax also began in France.

15.  
Tirana, which saw student-led protests in Oct 2026 demanding PM Edi Rama's resignation, is the capital of which country?

Correct Answer: B [Albania]

Explanation:

Albania – an EU candidate since 2014; currency lek. Students have protested since 13 Oct over education costs and corruption.

16.  
In which city is the European Central Bank (ECB), which sets monetary policy for the euro area, based?

Correct Answer: D [Frankfurt]

Explanation:

Frankfurt, Germany (1998). The EU statistical office Eurostat is in Luxembourg; the European Commission is in Brussels.

17.  
Which treaty formally created the European Union (EU)?

Correct Answer: C [Maastricht Treaty]

Explanation:

Maastricht Treaty – signed 1992, in force from 1 Nov 1993. The Treaty of Rome (1957) created the European Economic Community (EEC).

18.  
Which State has continued a 'universal Public Distribution System' even after the Targeted PDS was introduced in 1997?

Correct Answer: A [Tamil Nadu]

Explanation:

Tamil Nadu; free rice for all rice-card holders since 1 June 2011. The National Food Security Act was enacted in 2013.

19.  
To keep the Kolkata port navigable, the Farakka Barrage mainly diverts Ganga water into which river?

Correct Answer: C [Hooghly]

Explanation:

The Bhagirathi–Hooghly; the Farakka Barrage is in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, and became operational in 1975.

20.  
By what name is the main stream of the Ganga known in Bangladesh?

Correct Answer: B [Padma]

Explanation:

Padma; it joins the Jamuna (Brahmaputra) near Goalundo and later merges with the Meghna.

21.  
Which Prime Minister signed the 1996 India–Bangladesh Ganga Waters Treaty for India?

Correct Answer: A [H.D. Deve Gowda]

Explanation:

Deve Gowda – with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina on 12 Dec 1996. The 1977 agreement was signed during the Morarji Desai government.

22.  
Which Article lets Parliament legislate even on State List subjects to implement international treaties?

Correct Answer: D [Article 253]

Explanation:

Article 253. Though water is a State subject (Entry 17), it enables the Centre to make treaties like the Ganga pact; 249 – Rajya Sabha resolution.

23.  
The Teesta, whose India–Bangladesh water-sharing pact is pending since 2011, rises in which State?

Correct Answer: D [Sikkim]

Explanation:

Sikkim – it rises from glaciers in North Sikkim and flows through West Bengal to join the Brahmaputra (Jamuna) in Bangladesh. The two countries share 54 rivers.

24.  
Nuclear-powered submarines that carry nuclear ballistic missiles, like 'Generalissimus Suvorov', are classified as

Correct Answer: B [SSBN]

Explanation:

SSBN – nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine; SSN – nuclear attack submarine; SSK – diesel-electric; SSGN – cruise-missile submarine.

25.  
In Oct 2026, from which sea did Russia's Borei-A submarine fire the 'Bulava' missile while submerged?

Correct Answer: C [Sea of Okhotsk]

Explanation:

Sea of Okhotsk → Chizha range, Arkhangelsk. In 2022 the same submarine fired from the White Sea to the Kura range in Kamchatka.

26.  
Where was INS Arighaat, India's second nuclear missile submarine commissioned in August 2024, built?

Correct Answer: D [SBC, Visakhapatnam]

Explanation:

Ship Building Centre (SBC), Visakhapatnam – ATV programme. The third SSBN, INS Aridhaman, was commissioned in April 2026.

27.  
Which of the following is India's submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)?

Correct Answer: D [K-4]

Explanation:

K-4 (about 3,500 km) – tested from INS Arighaat in Nov 2024. Agni-V is land-based; Nirbhay is a cruise missile.

28.  
Where is the land-based prototype of the reactor that powers INS Arihant located?

Correct Answer: C [Kalpakkam]

Explanation:

Kalpakkam, Chengalpattu district. Arihant's pressurised water reactor (PWR) attained criticality on 10 Aug 2013.

29.  
Google's 'Project Suncatcher' mainly aims at:

Correct Answer: C [Solar-powered AI in orbit]

Explanation:

Space data centres using solar-powered TPU satellite clusters. The prototype, built with Planet, was launched on 1 Oct 2026.

30.  
What does 'TPU', the Google chip that ran the AI model on the Suncatcher satellite, stand for?

Correct Answer: A [Tensor Processing Unit]

Explanation:

Tensor Processing Unit – a special chip (ASIC) for machine learning. The open 'Gemma 4' model ran on it and wrote the haiku.

31.  
Which orbit, planned for future Suncatcher satellites, passes over each place at the same local solar time?

Correct Answer: C [Sun-synchronous orbit]

Explanation:

Sun-synchronous orbit – near-polar; in the 'dawn–dusk' type sunlight is almost continuous. Geostationary orbit is about 35,786 km high.

32.  
Svalbard, over which the Suncatcher satellite flew when its first AI reply was received, belongs to which country?

Correct Answer: D [Norway]

Explanation:

Norway – in the Arctic Ocean. India's Arctic research station 'Himadri' (2008) is at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard.

33.  
In the vacuum of space, heat from a satellite can escape into space only by which mode?

Correct Answer: D [Radiation]

Explanation:

Radiation – convection needs a medium (air). So Suncatcher runs only one TPU at a time, in short sessions.

34.  
Data from which observatory led to the discovery of the dwarf-planet candidate '2026 ED138'?

Correct Answer: B [Vera C. Rubin, Chile]

Explanation:

The Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachón is an NSF–DOE project with the world's largest 3.2-gigapixel camera.

35.  
Under the IAU's 2006 definition, which condition for a planet does a dwarf planet fail to meet?

Correct Answer: C [Has cleared its orbital zone]

Explanation:

Pluto was reclassified at the 2006 IAU General Assembly in Prague because it has not cleared its orbital neighbourhood.

36.  
The icy 'Kuiper Belt' lies just beyond the orbit of which planet?

Correct Answer: A [Neptune]

Explanation:

The Kuiper Belt supplies short-period comets; long-period comets come from the distant Oort Cloud.

37.  
Which NASA spacecraft made the first close flyby of Pluto and imaged it in detail?

Correct Answer: C [New Horizons]

Explanation:

New Horizons flew past Pluto in July 2015; Pluto's largest moon is Charon.

38.  
The over-4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite 'Teghaza 001', studied in Oct 2026, was found in which desert?

Correct Answer: D [Sahara]

Explanation:

Found in the Sahara in 2022, it is named after the Teghaza salt plain in Mali; the study appeared in Science.

39.  
To trace Mars' early water loss, scientists studied the ratio of hydrogen to which of its isotopes?

Correct Answer: B [Deuterium]

Explanation:

Deuterium has one proton and one neutron; as lighter hydrogen escapes, the remaining water gets richer in it.

40.  
Mars is called the 'Red Planet' mainly because of which compound on its surface?

Correct Answer: D [Iron oxide]

Explanation:

Iron oxide (rust) in Martian dust gives the red colour; its polar caps hold frozen CO₂.

41.  
Which NASA rover is collecting samples in Jezero crater, an ancient lake bed on Mars?

Correct Answer: C [Perseverance]

Explanation:

Perseverance landed in Feb 2021; its companion Ingenuity was the first helicopter to fly on another planet.

42.  
India's Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) made India the first nation to achieve what?

Correct Answer: A [Mars orbit on maiden attempt]

Explanation:

It entered Mars orbit on 24 Sep 2014; its Programme Director was Mylswamy Annadurai of Coimbatore.

43.  
World Cities Day 2026 theme is '... : Adequate Housing for All'. What is the missing first part?

Correct Answer: B [Regenerating the City]

Explanation:

The 2025 theme was 'People-centred smart cities' (Bogotá); 2022 – 'Act Local to Go Global' (Shanghai).

44.  
Which city hosted the global observance of World Cities Day 2026?

Correct Answer: D [Fuzhou]

Explanation:

Fuzhou is the capital of China's Fujian province; the fourth-cycle 'Shanghai Award' was presented there.

45.  
What is the permanent general theme of World Cities Day?

Correct Answer: C [Better City, Better Life]

Explanation:

It comes from the Shanghai World Expo 2010; each year also has its own sub-theme.

46.  
UN-Habitat's 'Urban October' begins with which day observed on the first Monday of October?

Correct Answer: C [World Habitat Day]

Explanation:

World Habitat Day fell on 5 Oct in 2026, with the global event in Muscat, Oman; UN-Habitat is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

47.  
Which of these Tamil Nadu cities was NOT selected under the Smart Cities Mission?

Correct Answer: A [Hosur]

Explanation:

Tamil Nadu has 11 smart cities; the mission was launched on 25 June 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

48.  
The date 2 November recalls the 2013 killing of two French journalists in which country?

Correct Answer: C [Mali]

Explanation:

Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were killed; UNGA resolution 68/163 (Dec 2013) proclaimed the day.

49.  
UNESCO's 2026 campaign theme for this day is 'Threats Evolve. ...' – complete it.

Correct Answer: D [Impunity Endures]

Explanation:

It highlights, among others, the 50 journalists killed by drones in 2024–25.

50.  
The Press Council of India (PCI) is a statutory body functioning under which Act?

Correct Answer: A [Press Council Act, 1978]

Explanation:

PCI was first set up in 1966 (1965 Act), dissolved in the Emergency and revived under the 1978 Act; its chair is by convention a retired SC judge.

51.  
'Reasonable restrictions' on freedom of speech and expression can be imposed under which provision?

Correct Answer: B [Article 19(2)]

Explanation:

Grounds include sovereignty, security, public order, defamation and contempt of court; 'public order' was added by the First Amendment, 1951.

52.  
Which was the earliest newspaper published in the Madras Presidency?

Correct Answer: D [Madras Courier]

Explanation:

Richard Johnston started it on 12 Oct 1785; India's first newspaper was Hicky's 'Bengal Gazette' (1780, Calcutta).

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📰 Read the news behind these questions
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