4th July 2026 Current Affairs MCQ

VB-G RAM G bumped guaranteed employment to 125 days, up from MGNREGA's 100 — sounds like a clear upgrade, but the funding structure changed too, shifting from 100% Centre funding to a 60:40 Centre-State split. That's a meaningful burden shift onto poorer states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha, which relied on MGNREGA the most. The bigger structural change, though, is philosophical: MGNREGA was a demand-driven, rights-based scheme where any household could demand work and get it within 15 days; VB-G RAM G is project-based, so if no approved project exists in your area, the guarantee is much harder to actually enforce.

The EPFO Scheme 2026 requires subscribers to keep at least 25% of their accumulated balance as a floor, which effectively caps partial withdrawals at 75% of the total corpus. The logic is simple: premature withdrawals for weddings, medical bills, or home purchases have been rising, and without a floor, there'd be nothing left for actual retirement. EPFO operates under the EPF & MP Act, 1952, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, covering establishments with 20 or more employees. The scheme also added centralised KYC validation and DigiLocker integration — worth remembering as the administrative side of this reform.

VIJAY stands for Vigilance, Innovation and Transformation, Jointness and Integration, Atmanirbharta, and Yodha First — and "Yodha First" is the deliberate signal here, meaning soldier welfare and on-ground capability shouldn't get sacrificed for bureaucratic transformation. General Seth took over as 31st COAS on June 30, 2026, succeeding General Upendra Dwivedi, and comes from the Armoured Corps — making him the 7th COAS from that arm. His roadmap explicitly aligns with the Defence Ministry's Decade of Transformation (2023–2032) framework, tying individual leadership vision to a larger institutional plan.

The response was coordinated through the IFC-IOR, based at INS Kattabomman, Gurugram — India's hub for maritime domain awareness and information-sharing with partner nations. The operation itself brought together INS Trikand (a stealth frigate), MARCOS commandos, and a P-8I Poseidon aircraft for aerial surveillance — a genuinely multi-domain response to foil the piracy attempt. This followed INS Trikand deterring a separate attempt on MV Fareeda 5 in mid-June, and the broader piracy resurgence in the Gulf of Aden traces back to instability in Yemen and Somalia. India operates 12 P-8I aircraft under a government-to-government deal with the US — a good fact to lock in for naval aviation questions.

All proposals — including AKASH TARANG, MPATGM, MRSAM, V-SHORADS, and jet-powered kamikaze drones — were cleared under the Buy Indian (IDDM) category, meaning at least 50% indigenous content for systems and 60% for ammunition. This is a direct push for Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence manufacturing, and the breadth of the list — heavy on drone warfare and layered air defence — reflects lessons India has drawn from the Russia-Ukraine war and its own Operation Sindoor experience. The DAC itself, chaired by the Defence Minister, was established in 2001 following the Kargil Review Committee's recommendations.

CG Semi is an OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facility — it handles the second phase of chip manufacturing, where fabricated chips get packaged and tested, rather than the fabrication itself. Building a full fab requires tens of billions of dollars and years of work, so OSAT is a faster, more realistic entry point into the semiconductor value chain for India right now. The facility is one of 12 projects under the India Semiconductor Mission, backed by a ₹76,000 crore incentive scheme, and its real value lies in cutting India's dependence on packaging facilities in Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.

The Modified UDAN scheme runs from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36 with a total outlay of ₹28,840 crore — this money is specifically a viability gap funding (VGF) pool, covering the difference between what a regional route earns and what an airline needs to break even. UDAN itself launched in April 2016 to make flying affordable, and the modified version now adds helicopter routes for Himalayan and island connectivity, seaplane integration, and a much longer planning horizon. With domestic air traffic crossing 20 crore passengers in FY26 but concentrated mostly in metro airports, UDAN's real purpose is geographic democratisation of air travel.

Khamenei became Supreme Leader in 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Khomeini after his death — marking a stretch of nearly four decades at the helm of Iran's theocratic system. Iran's structure blends elected institutions (President, Parliament) with religious authority — the Supreme Leader sits above the elected President, controlling the military, judiciary, and foreign policy. His death now triggers a succession process through the Assembly of Experts, with major stakes for Iran's nuclear programme, the Gulf conflict, and Strait of Hormuz navigation — all of which have been dominating global energy markets through 2026

ZSI and BSI announced 709 new species discovered during 2025, mostly insects, plants, fungi, and microorganisms — the taxa where India's biodiversity knowledge remains least complete. This pace of discovery reflects both India's extraordinary ecological range, from Himalayan alpine zones to tropical rainforests to marine ecosystems, and improved survey tools like eDNA sampling and citizen science platforms. Worth remembering: ZSI was established in 1916 and BSI in 1890, both functioning under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, covering fauna and flora respectively.

The 2026 NATO Summit was held in Antalya, Türkiye — the first time Türkiye has hosted the summit in many years, and notably the same city set to host COP31 later in 2026. Key agenda items included debates over raising the defence spending floor from 2% to 3% of GDP, continued support for Ukraine, and NATO's expanding Indo-Pacific engagement with partners like Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand. NATO itself was founded through the Washington Treaty of 1949 and now has 32 members, with Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024) as its newest — its Article 5 collective defence clause remains the alliance's core principle.