5 May 2026 Current Affairs MCQ — 10 Questions & Explanations

India notified 100% Foreign Direct Investment in the insurance sector through the automatic route via the FEMA (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2026 — meaning foreign companies no longer need prior government approval to invest fully in Indian insurance entities. This was the culmination of decades of gradual liberalisation: from 26% in 1999, to 49% in 2015, to 74% in 2021, and now 100% in 2026. The policy is governed by the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025 and regulated by IRDAI. One key exception to remember: LIC remains capped at 20% FDI due to its sovereign importance.

Despite India opening 100% FDI in insurance broadly, LIC remains capped at 20% FDI — a deliberate policy carve-out reflecting LIC's unique status as a sovereign-backed institution managing trillions in public savings and government obligations. LIC is governed by the LIC Act, 1956, which was separately amended under the 2025 insurance reform package. The government treats LIC differently because it underwrites large social security schemes and holds significant government securities — making unrestricted foreign ownership a financial stability and national security concern.

With the appointment of Dr. R. Balasubramaniam and Dr. Joram Aniya, the total number of full-time members in NITI Aayog rose from five to seven. NITI Aayog was established in January 2015, replacing the Planning Commission, to shift India's development planning towards a cooperative federalism model. The Prime Minister serves as Chairperson, and unlike the Planning Commission, NITI Aayog does not directly allocate funds to states — that role belongs to the Finance Commission and Union Budget.

The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) struck down a District Level Committee order that had wrongly rejected forest rights claims of the Tharu tribal community in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh. The Tharu are an indigenous group from the Terai belt of UP and Uttarakhand, with strong forest-based livelihoods. The court upheld the spirit of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, which recognises land and community rights of forest-dwelling communities — reinforcing constitutional protections under Articles 244 and Schedule V against administrative overreach.

Mission Drishti, developed by Bengaluru-based startup GalaxEye, weighs approximately 190 kg, making it India's largest privately developed Earth observation satellite. It operates in Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit at ~500 km altitude and delivers imaging resolution of 1.2 to 1.8 metres. GalaxEye was founded in 2020 by IIT Madras alumni and the mission was facilitated by IN-SPACe under India's Space Policy 2023, which opened the space sector to private players in a structured way.

Parveen Shaikh won the 2026 Whitley Award for her work protecting the Indian Skimmer — a riverine bird with a unique bill that skims water surfaces to catch fish, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Barkha Subba won for her conservation efforts protecting the Himalayan Salamander, one of only two salamander species found in India. The Whitley Awards are conferred by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), a UK-based charity that honours grassroots conservation leaders from the Global South with limited resources doing extraordinary work.

India announced a target of expanding chemical-free natural farming to 3.25 million hectares by FY2030-31, up from approximately 8.8 lakh hectares at present. The implementation plan includes 65,000 clusters, 26,000 Community Resource Persons (CRPs), 5,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres, and 2,858 demonstration farms backed by ICAR and Krishi Vigyan Kendras. The target also contributes to India's climate commitments under the Paris Agreement by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fertiliser use.

Varanasi led all Indian cities under NCAP with a remarkable 76.4% reduction in Particulate Matter levels between 2019 and 2024, followed by Moradabad (58%) and Kanpur (51.2%). NCAP was launched in 2019 with a target of 20–30% PM reduction by 2024, covering Non-Attainment Cities — urban areas that have consistently failed to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The National Green Tribunal mandated Airshed-level coordination among states, recognising that air pollution crosses administrative boundaries.

Norway topped the RSF (Reporters Without Borders) World Press Freedom Index 2026, followed by the Netherlands (2nd) and Estonia (3rd). India ranked 157th with a score of 31.96 out of 180 countries. The index was released on April 30, 2026 and widely discussed in the context of World Press Freedom Day (May 3) — observed annually since May 3, 1994 following a UN General Assembly proclamation in 1993. In India, press freedom is implicitly protected under Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression), subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2).

All 4,715 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India achieved ODF status under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0), which ran from 2021 to 2026. SBM-U 2.0 went well beyond Phase 1 — it targeted Garbage Free cities through source segregation, remediation of legacy dumpsites, scientific waste processing, and faecal sludge management. The original SBM-Urban Phase 1 was launched on 2 October 2014 (Gandhi Jayanti) and was measured annually through the Swachh Survekshan — a competitive city cleanliness survey that drove improvement across ULBs nationwide.