International Affairs & Organisations: previous-year questions

Answer: (C) International year of Women Farmers

The UN General Assembly has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, to highlight the role of women in agrifood systems and the gaps they face in land rights, credit and technology; FAO is the lead agency. 2026 is also the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, but those titles are not among the options, and options A, B and D are not UN observances for this year. Recent international years asked in exams: 2023 Millets (on India's proposal), 2024 Camelids, and 2025 Cooperatives, Quantum Science and Technology, and Glaciers' Preservation.

Answer: (D) Tomahawk

Israel's multi-layered air and missile defence consists of Iron Dome (short-range rockets and shells), David's Sling (medium-range rockets and cruise missiles) and Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 (long-range ballistic missiles, the latter intercepting outside the atmosphere), with the Iron Beam laser being added. THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) is an American system, but a US battery has been deployed in Israel since October 2024, so it does operate within Israel's defensive shield. Tomahawk is entirely different: it is a US long-range, subsonic land-attack cruise missile launched from ships and submarines, an offensive weapon and not an interceptor. India's comparable systems are the S-400 (from Russia), Akash and the indigenous ballistic missile defence programme.

Answer: (A) Russia and China

On 7 April 2026 Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution, sponsored by Bahrain with Gulf backing, that encouraged states to coordinate defensive efforts for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had largely closed during the 2026 conflict. The vote was 11 in favour and 2 against, with Pakistan and Colombia abstaining. Elimination trick: only the five permanent members (USA, UK, France, Russia, China) have a veto, so any option naming the Netherlands, Ukraine, Pakistan or Colombia is impossible. A Security Council resolution needs 9 of 15 votes and no permanent-member veto (Article 27 of the UN Charter). The Strait links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, between Iran and Oman/UAE, and carries about one-fifth of the world's oil trade.

Answer: (C) California

Answer as of 2024 — this may have changed since.

California became the third US state to make Diwali an official state holiday when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 268 in October 2025, effective 1 January 2026; Pennsylvania (2024) and Connecticut (2025) had done so earlier, and neither is among the options. In New York, Diwali is a school holiday in New York City's public schools, not a statewide state holiday; Texas has no such holiday; and Boston is a city (capital of Massachusetts), not a state. The question's word 'Province' is loose usage, since the USA has states. Related current affairs: in December 2025 UNESCO inscribed Deepavali on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Answer: (A) Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger

On 22 September 2025 the military-led governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which form the Alliance of Sahel States and had already left ECOWAS in January 2025, jointly announced their withdrawal from the Rome Statute, calling the International Criminal Court an instrument of neo-colonial repression. Under Article 127 a withdrawal takes effect one year after it is notified to the UN Secretary-General. ICC basics: created by the Rome Statute (1998), in force from 2002, seated at The Hague; it tries individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression; India, the USA, China and Russia are not members. Do not confuse it with the International Court of Justice, the UN court that settles disputes between states. Earlier exits: Burundi (2017) and the Philippines (2019).

Answer: (C) Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa. It is an intergovernmental organization comprising of eleven countries.

Answer as of 2024 — this may have changed since.

BRICS takes its name from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The term 'BRIC' was coined by economist Jim O'Neill in 2001, the first summit was held at Yekaterinburg in 2009, and South Africa joined in 2010. With Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia (expansion effective 1 January 2024) and Indonesia (January 2025) it now has 11 full members, besides a 'partner country' category created at the Kazan summit (2024). Its bank is the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai (Fortaleza Declaration, 2014). India held the 2026 chairship, its fourth after 2012, 2016 and 2021, and hosted the 18th Summit in New Delhi in September 2026. Options A and B give invented expansions and wrong member counts.

Answer: (C) Russia

Russia became the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government (the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan') on 3 July 2025, when it accepted the credentials of the Taliban's ambassador in Moscow; it had removed the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organisations in April 2025. The Taliban returned to power in Kabul on 15 August 2021. The other options: China and Iran keep embassies and have accepted Taliban envoys without formal recognition, and India, which reopened a technical mission in 2022, upgraded it to an embassy in October 2025 but has not announced formal recognition. During the first Taliban regime (1996-2001) only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE recognised it.

Answer: (A) Congress passed laws allowing the President to impose tariffs unilaterally for national security reasons.

Answer as of 2024 — this may have changed since.

The US Constitution (Article I, Section 8) gives the power to 'lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises' to Congress, not to the President, so options B and C are wrong. A President can impose tariffs only under powers delegated by laws passed by Congress, the classic one being Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, 1962, which permits tariffs on imports that threaten national security (used for steel, aluminium and automobiles); hence option A. Others are Section 301 (unfair trade practices) and Section 122 (a surcharge of up to 15% for 150 days for balance-of-payments problems) of the Trade Act, 1974. In Learning Resources v. Trump (20 February 2026) the US Supreme Court held 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 1977 does not authorise tariffs, striking down the 'reciprocal' tariffs, after which a temporary global tariff was imposed under Section 122.

Answer: (D) Crimea has been taken over by Russian forces from Ukraine during the current war

Answer as of 2024 — this may have changed since.

Statement D is the incorrect one: Russia seized and annexed Crimea in February-March 2014, after the fall of the Yanukovych government, eight years before the present war. The full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022 (B is correct); Russia holds large parts of Luhansk and Donetsk, together called the Donbas (A is correct), and in September 2022 proclaimed the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson; and stopping Ukraine's movement towards NATO and the EU is among Russia's stated motives (C is correct). Geography to note: Crimea lies between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, with the naval base of Sevastopol; Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024) joined NATO after the invasion.

Answer: (C) 17

The 2030 Agenda adopted by the UN in 2015 contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 targets. The earlier Millennium Development Goals numbered 8, and 15, 16 or 18 do not match the SDGs.

Answer: (A) Johannesberg

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, 'Rio+10') was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002. Brazil hosted the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20, not the WSSD, and Paris hosted COP 21.

Answer: (B) Norway

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008, is dug into a mountain on Spitsbergen in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Switzerland, Finland and Denmark do not host it.

Answer: (A) New york

The United Nations Development Programme has its headquarters in New York. Geneva hosts bodies such as the WHO and WTO, Paris hosts UNESCO, and London hosts the IMO.

Answer: (B) 1948

The World Health Organization's constitution came into force on 7 April 1948, which is why that date is World Health Day. The other years do not match.

Answer: (A) 1947

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed by 23 countries in Geneva in October 1947. It came into force on 1 January 1948, which makes 1948 the tempting wrong option; 1954 and 1960 are unrelated.

Answer: (A) Rio

The UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, producing Agenda 21. Stockholm hosted the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, the tempting wrong option.

Answer: (D) Radio active elements

The International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, promotes the safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy and sets standards on radiation and radioactive-waste safety. Heavy metals, hydrocarbons and plastics fall outside its mandate.

Answer: (B) Bangkok

The Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU) was founded on 1 April 1962 following a convention signed at Manila in 1961; it has 32 member countries and its headquarters is in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a "restricted union" of the Universal Postal Union (UPU, founded 1874, headquarters Bern, a UN specialised agency; World Post Day is 9 October). India's Vinaya Prakash Singh took over as its Secretary General in January 2022. Manila is the seat of the Asian Development Bank, Colombo gave its name to the Colombo Plan, and Bangkok also hosts UN ESCAP.

Answer: (B) Geneva

The WTO, successor to GATT, came into being on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement and has its headquarters in Geneva; its Appellate Body sits there too. The Appellate Body is a standing body of seven members who hear appeals from dispute-settlement panels, but it has been unable to function since December 2019 because the United States has blocked new appointments. New York houses the UN headquarters; Paris has UNESCO and the OECD; The Hague has the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the OPCW. Geneva also hosts the WHO, ILO, WIPO, WMO, ITU and UNCTAD.

Answer: (C) Dhaka

BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) was founded by the Bangkok Declaration of 6 June 1997. It has seven members — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka from South Asia, and Myanmar and Thailand from South-East Asia — and its permanent secretariat has been in Dhaka since 2014. Its charter was adopted at the fifth summit (Colombo, 2022). For comparison: the SAARC secretariat is at Kathmandu, ASEAN's at Jakarta, IORA's at Ebene (Mauritius), and Colombo is associated with the Colombo Plan.