News Quiz This Week (October 2026)

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced on 5 October, was awarded for discoveries in which field?

• mRNA vaccines
• Optogenetics
• Gene editing with CRISPR
• MicroRNA

Answer: Optogenetics. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won "for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics", a way to switch nerve cells on and off with light.

Channelrhodopsin, the light-sensitive protein at the heart of the 2026 medicine Nobel, was first found in what?

• A deep-sea jellyfish
• A firefly
• A single-celled alga
• A bat's retina

Answer: A single-celled alga. Hegemann and Nagel found channelrhodopsin in the alga Chlamydomonas; shine blue light on it and a channel opens to let ions into the cell.

Guy Parmelin, who made a state visit to India on 5 October 2026, is the President of which country?

• Austria
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• Switzerland

Answer: Switzerland. During the 5-7 October state visit, India and Switzerland signed a Migration and Mobility Partnership and a Young Professionals Agreement (300 places a year each way).

The India-EFTA trade deal (TEPA), India's first FTA with a group of European countries, was on the agenda of the Swiss President's visit. Which country is NOT an EFTA member?

• Austria
• Norway
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein

Answer: Austria. EFTA has four members: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Austria is in the EU. The India-EFTA trade agreement came into force on 1 October 2025.

The 2026 Asian Games, which closed on 4 October, were held in which country?

• China
• Japan
• South Korea
• Indonesia

Answer: Japan. The XX Asian Games were held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, from 19 September to 4 October 2026.

What made India's hockey campaign at the 2026 Asian Games historic?

• India's first-ever Asian Games hockey gold
• India's first hockey final on Japanese soil
• Both the men's and women's teams won gold at the same Games
• India won without conceding a goal

Answer: Both the men's and women's teams won gold at the same Games. For the first time, both Indian teams won gold at the same Asian Games: the women beat China 1-0 and the men beat Malaysia 5-1. The men's win was their fifth Asian Games gold and first successful title defence.

The Indian women's hockey team won Asian Games gold this week for the first time in over four decades. When did they win their previous gold?

• 1966 Bangkok
• 1998 Bangkok
• 2014 Incheon
• 1982 New Delhi

Answer: 1982 New Delhi. India won the first women's hockey gold at the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982. The next one came in Japan in 2026, 44 years later.

Neeru Dhanda became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games gold in which shooting event?

• Trap
• Skeet
• 10m air rifle
• 25m pistol

Answer: Trap. Neeru Dhanda won the women's trap gold with an Asian record in the final, then added the trap mixed team gold with Kynan Chenai.

Kumkum Anil Mohod became the first Indian woman to win which Asian Games gold, after a decisive shoot-off?

• Compound individual archery
• Recurve individual archery
• Individual epee fencing
• Women's singles badminton

Answer: Recurve individual archery. She beat South Korea's Oh Yejin 6-5 in a shoot-off for the recurve individual title, after helping the women's recurve team win India's first gold in that event.

Pranavi Sharath Urs won India's first-ever Asian Games gold in the women's individual event of which sport?

• Squash
• Table tennis
• Golf
• Tennis

Answer: Golf. Pranavi Sharath Urs won the women's individual golf gold. She also won silver in the team event with Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar.

Which wrestler, a bronze medallist at the previous Asian Games, won India's first-ever Asian Games gold in men's 57 kg freestyle this week?

• Bajrang Punia
• Deepak Punia
• Ravi Kumar Dahiya
• Aman Sehrawat

Answer: Aman Sehrawat. Aman Sehrawat beat North Korea's Han Chong Song 11-7 in the final, upgrading the bronze he won at Hangzhou 2023.

Lovlina Borgohain won a 2026 Asian Games gold with a 5-0 win in the final. In which event?

• Women's 75 kg boxing
• Women's 76 kg weightlifting
• Women's 68 kg wrestling
• Women's 70 kg judo

Answer: Women's 75 kg boxing. Lovlina beat China's Bao Ziyi 5-0 in the 75 kg final on her 29th birthday, upgrading her Hangzhou silver; she is only the second Indian woman, after Mary Kom, to win Asian Games boxing gold.

On 1 October 2026 the PM addressed the centenary celebrations of which body, first set up as the Public Service Commission in 1926?

• Election Commission of India
• Union Public Service Commission
• Comptroller and Auditor General
• Finance Commission

Answer: Union Public Service Commission. The UPSC marked 100 years at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. Its forerunner, the Public Service Commission, was set up on 1 October 1926.

The Green Energy Corridor Phase-III scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet on 30 September 2026, will let states evacuate up to how much renewable power?

• 35 GW
• 75 GW
• 135 GW
• 500 GW

Answer: 135 GW. GEC-III strengthens intra-state transmission to carry up to 135 GW of renewable energy, and includes 50 GWh of battery energy storage.

On 2 October the PM paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and which former Prime Minister, born on the same date?

• Morarji Desai
• Charan Singh
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee
• Lal Bahadur Shastri

Answer: Lal Bahadur Shastri. Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on 2 October 1904, and Gandhi on 2 October 1869, so the date marks two birth anniversaries.