Free daily practice · Prelims and Mains
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 20 October 2026
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Daily Current Affairs Quiz · Free
Before you start
- 20 questions from 20 October’s current affairs, 20 minutes.
- Test timer counts down and submits at zero; a clock on each question shows your time.
- +2 for right, −0.67 for wrong; blanks carry no penalty.
- Answers, explanations and your time per question appear after you submit.
- Your first attempt today is ranked (ties go to less time); later attempts are practice.
- Free, no login. Mains practice with model answers is below.
Mains practice
2 questions · write first, then compareGS-315 marks250 words
Q1. India is increasingly negotiating 'full-access' free trade agreements while protecting sensitive sectors, as seen in the India–New Zealand FTA. Critically examine how far such calibrated FTAs can help India meet the challenges of a world moving towards protectionism and bilateralism.
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Introduction
The India–New Zealand FTA, in force from 20 October 2026, gives Indian goods duty-free access on all of New Zealand's tariff lines. India, in turn, opens about 70% of its lines and protects sensitive farm products through an exclusion list, quotas and a minimum import price. It is part of a wider run of deals (UAE CEPA, Australia ECTA, EFTA TEPA, UK CETA) as multilateral trade stalls and US tariffs rise.
How calibrated FTAs help
- Market diversification: they reduce dependence on a few markets at a time of tariff threats and supply-chain shifts.
- Tariff parity: they remove disadvantages that Indian exporters face against competitors already covered by FTAs, especially in labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather and marine products.
- Safeguards: exclusion lists, tariff-rate quotas and MIPs protect farmers and MSMEs, unlike the open-ended commitments that led India to leave RCEP in 2019.
- Beyond goods: mobility visas, post-study work rights and investment pledges make FTAs packages of goods, people and capital.
Limitations
- Small partners such as New Zealand bring limited trade volumes.
- The record of FTA use is weak: complex rules of origin and low MSME awareness keep usage rates low.
- Past FTAs with ASEAN, Japan and Korea widened trade deficits.
- Bilateral deals cannot replace a rules-based WTO for India's interests in agriculture and dispute settlement.
Way forward
India should raise FTA usage through simple rules of origin and export facilitation, link FTAs to domestic competitiveness (logistics, PLI, quality standards), review older FTAs, and keep pressing for WTO reform. Calibrated FTAs are a useful hedge against protectionism, but only domestic competitiveness can turn market access into real export growth.
274 words · Battle IAS model answer
GS-215 marks250 words
Q2. The Supreme Court has recently held that access to the internet is a fundamental right, including for children, and that blanket bans on children's internet use are disproportionate. Analyse the significance of this judgment and discuss the challenges in balancing children's digital rights with their online safety.
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Introduction
In October 2026 the Supreme Court held that the right to access and use the internet is a fundamental right of every individual, and that children enjoy it equally. It ruled that safety measures must target harmful content and those responsible for it, not the children themselves.
Significance
- Constitutional growth: it builds on Shreya Singhal (2015), Puttaswamy (2017), Faheema Shirin (2019) and Anuradha Bhasin (2020), placing internet access under Articles 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g), 21 and 21A.
- Proportionality: blanket bans and age-gating fail the test of least restrictive means, and mass age verification creates surveillance and data risks.
- Children as rights-holders: children are treated as citizens with rights to education, information and expression, not only as objects of protection. This matters where the internet is the main learning resource.
- Platform accountability: the directions for a parental-consent or 'child mode' framework and a national hash database for abuse material shift the burden onto platforms.
Challenges
- Harmful content: abuse material, cyberbullying, addiction and grooming remain serious risks.
- Weak enforcement: the IT Rules, the DPDP Act and POCSO are unevenly enforced, and platforms resist the cost of compliance.
- Digital divide: low digital literacy among parents and children limits real protection.
- Federal tension: States planning screen-time curbs must now meet the proportionality test.
- Hollow right: internet shutdowns continue despite Anuradha Bhasin, which risks a right that exists only on paper.
Way forward
India needs safety-by-design standards, privacy-preserving age assurance, quick takedown backed by penalties, and digital literacy in school curricula. A statutory child online safety regulator would help. Protecting the child while respecting the child's rights is the constitutional balance the Court has set.
272 words · Battle IAS model answer