Current Affairs Quiz — 11 August 2026

13 current affairs MCQs for 11 August 2026, framed UPSC-style from the day's reporting, each verified against its source and explained. Click a question to reveal the answer, or take the quiz interactively.

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13 Questions with Answers & Explanations
Q1. At India's Independence Day 2026 celebrations at the Red Fort, how many Olympic medalists were included among the special invitees, at a ceremony themed on 150 years of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Youth Shakti for Viksit Bharat@2047'?
  1. (a) 19
  2. (b) 12
  3. (c) 25
  4. (d) 9

Answer: (a) 19

The 80th Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort honoured 150 years since the composition of 'Vande Mataram' and celebrated youth contribution to a developed India by 2047; among the roughly 5,000 special guests were 19 Olympic medalists, alongside entrepreneurs, innovators and beneficiaries of government schemes.

Q2. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, roughly what share of PM SVANidhi beneficiaries obtained their first-ever formal bank loan through the scheme?
  1. (a) 95%
  2. (b) 75%
  3. (c) 60%
  4. (d) 40%

Answer: (a) 95%

PM SVANidhi, launched for street vendors in June 2020, has enabled over 76.95 lakh vendors to access more than 1.15 crore guarantee-free loans worth over Rs. 18,475 crore; officials noted that for 95% of beneficiaries, this was their first-ever loan from a formal bank.

Q3. In August 2026, Dr. Srinivas Kumar Tummala — a specialist in satellite oceanography known for his role in India's tsunami early warning system — took charge as Secretary of which ministry?
  1. (a) Ministry of Earth Sciences
  2. (b) Ministry of Science and Technology
  3. (c) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  4. (d) Department of Space

Answer: (a) Ministry of Earth Sciences

Dr. Tummala, a former Director of ESSO-INCOIS, Hyderabad, took charge as Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, at a time when the ministry is expanding its Deep Ocean Mission and strengthening climate modelling and coastal early-warning infrastructure.

Q4. In August 2026, APEDA facilitated Tripura's first-ever export of mustard honey, produced by a Farmer Producer Organisation, to which international destination?
  1. (a) Dubai
  2. (b) Singapore
  3. (c) London
  4. (d) Tokyo

Answer: (a) Dubai

A Farmer Producer Organisation from Tripura shipped 1 metric tonne of mustard honey to Dubai with APEDA's support for market linkage, capacity building and quality assurance — the region's first mustard honey export, aimed at giving Northeast beekeepers access to better international prices.

Q5. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' drive to modernise city master plans using GIS mapping and satellite/drone imagery is being implemented through which two missions?
  1. (a) AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0
  2. (b) Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT
  3. (c) PM Gati Shakti and Smart Cities Mission
  4. (d) HRIDAY and AMRUT

Answer: (a) AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0

Under AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0, cities are mapped using very high-resolution satellite imagery and drone surveys to prepare GIS-based master plans; as of August 2026, 292 such master plans had been completed under AMRUT, with geo-databases from 343 cities uploaded to the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan portal.

Q6. The Department of Financial Services' conference for public sector bank and financial institution leadership, scheduled for August 17-18, 2026 in New Delhi, is focused on themes such as deposit mobilisation and priority sector lending. Which of these was NOT listed among its focus areas?
  1. (a) Cryptocurrency regulation
  2. (b) Banking for youth
  3. (c) Agricultural value chain infrastructure
  4. (d) Global capability centres

Answer: (a) Cryptocurrency regulation

Organised by the Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance, the conference brings together roughly 125 leaders from public sector banks and institutions like NABARD, EXIM Bank and SIDBI to discuss deposit mobilisation, banking for youth, global capability centres and priority sector lending — cryptocurrency regulation is not part of its stated agenda.

Q7. In August 2026, India expanded its e-Visa infrastructure by notifying 11 additional entry ports, taking the total number of authorised ports (airports, seaports and land borders) to what figure?
  1. (a) 88
  2. (b) 77
  3. (c) 100
  4. (d) 65

Answer: (a) 88

With 9 new land ports and 2 new airports added — including Agartala and the Atari road crossing — India's e-Visa entry points rose to 88 (37 airports, 38 seaports and 13 land borders); the government noted that about 95% of e-Visa applications are processed within 72 hours.

Q8. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation signed MoUs with IDEAS and the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, in August 2026 to develop a tool for which purpose?
  1. (a) Real-time GDP growth estimation (GDP nowcasting)
  2. (b) Census data digitisation
  3. (c) Consumer Price Index revision
  4. (d) Foreign trade data reconciliation

Answer: (a) Real-time GDP growth estimation (GDP nowcasting)

Under the MoUs, the Institute of Data Engineering, Analytics and Science Foundation (IDEAS) will develop a desktop-based GDP nowcasting tool and a harmonised indicator framework linking health, nutrition and welfare-scheme data with National Sample Survey data, supporting evidence-based policymaking.

Q9. The National Handloom Designer Conference 2026, organised by the Ministry of Textiles' Development Commissioner (Handlooms), aimed to boost design-led innovation in a sector that sustains the livelihoods of how many people?
  1. (a) Over 3.5 million
  2. (b) Over 1 million
  3. (c) Over 7 million
  4. (d) Over 500,000

Answer: (a) Over 3.5 million

Held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, the conference connected 80 design-promising handloom clusters to a structured design process; India's handloom sector, supported by 29 weaver service centres and 357 cluster development programmes, sustains the livelihoods of over 3.5 million people.

Q10. The PM Young Achievers' Scholarship Award Scheme for Vibrant India (PM-YASASVI), reviewed for implementation issues in Maharashtra in August 2026, primarily targets students from which categories?
  1. (a) OBC, EBC and DNT
  2. (b) SC and ST only
  3. (c) Minorities and EWS
  4. (d) Persons with disabilities

Answer: (a) OBC, EBC and DNT

PM-YASASVI provides pre-matric, post-matric and higher-education scholarships for Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Backward Classes (EBC) and De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNT) students; Maharashtra's review found delays from incomplete proposals and introduced SNA-Sparsh-linked fund monitoring as a corrective measure.

Q11. India Nano 2026, the 14th edition of a conference on advancing nanotechnology research and its commercial applications, was inaugurated in Bengaluru in August 2026 by whom?
  1. (a) Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar
  2. (b) Union Minister for Science and Technology
  3. (c) Karnataka Governor
  4. (d) ISRO Chairman

Answer: (a) Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar

The Karnataka Chief Minister inaugurated the 14th edition of India Nano, attended by Bharat Ratna Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Honorary Chairman of the state's Vision Group on Nanotechnology, with a call for greater investment in deep-tech and IP-driven research in Bengaluru.

Q12. Under the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, which replaced the BBMP with the Greater Bengaluru Authority, the number of City Corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area cannot legally exceed how many?
  1. (a) Seven
  2. (b) Five
  3. (c) Ten
  4. (d) Three

Answer: (a) Seven

Section 5(1) of the Act caps the number of City Corporations that can be carved out of the former BBMP area at seven; the state government has so far notified five such corporations, replacing the single Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike with a multi-corporation structure under the apex Greater Bengaluru Authority.

Q13. In August 2026, water levels at the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam — built on the Cauvery river in Mandya district — crossed which milestone mark for the first time this monsoon, easing concerns among farmers in the basin?
  1. (a) 100 feet
  2. (b) 90 feet
  3. (c) 110 feet
  4. (d) 80 feet

Answer: (a) 100 feet

The KRS reservoir crossed the 100-ft mark on August 3, 2026, aided by heavy rainfall in Cauvery catchment areas including Kodagu, with inflow touching over 32,000 cusecs, bringing relief to farmers in the Cauvery basin who depend on the reservoir for irrigation.

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