Environmental Science — Nature & Sustainability

Why This Chapter Matters

Current affairs carry the single highest weight of any topic in the RRB Group D general awareness section, often 8 to 10 questions out of the paper's GK portion. It is also the topic students revise last and worst, because it feels like a moving target. That is exactly why this chapter exists: to give you a stable foundation of the kind of facts that stay relevant across attempts, dated clearly so you know what to update.

The single biggest mistake aspirants make with current affairs is treating it as a one-time reading task finished a week before the exam. Current affairs decays fast; a fact learned in January without repetition is often gone by June. The second mistake is ignoring dates and numbers, remembering "India won a medal" without remembering which sport, which country hosted the event, or which year. Examiners test the specific detail, not the general vibe. Read this chapter as a foundation, then build a habit of updating it monthly as your exam date approaches, using a reliable newspaper or a monthly current affairs digest.

A note before you begin: this chapter is written to age gracefully. Facts here are anchored to specific years so that even a year or two after publication, you can tell exactly when each event happened and judge for yourself if something newer has since overtaken it. Treat this as your base layer. Closer to your exam date, supplement it with the last three to six months of fresh updates from a dependable current affairs source, because railway and SSC exams do ask about very recent events.

1. National Events and Government Initiatives

India's economic and administrative story through 2025 continued to centre on infrastructure expansion and digital governance. The government pushed forward with the Digital India mission's later phases, expanding UPI-based digital payments to new international partner countries, a trend that began around 2022-2023 and continued growing, with UPI acceptance extended to more countries in Asia, the Gulf, and parts of Europe.

The Union Budget presented each February remains a fixture aspirants must track, since it usually announces new schemes, revises old ones, and sets allocation figures for railways, defence, health, and education, all of which are fair game for exam questions the following year. Pay attention to which sector gets the largest allocation increase and any newly announced scheme name each budget year, since these tend to appear in exams within the following twelve months.

India's G20 presidency, held in 2023, remains an important reference point even in later years because it showcased India hosting over 200 meetings across the country and culminated in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration. Questions referencing "India's G20 presidency year" should be answered as 2023, not any later year, even if you read about G20-related follow-up initiatives afterward.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's success in August 2023, landing near the Moon's south pole, continues to be referenced in current affairs sections because of its lasting significance and because ISRO's subsequent missions are frequently compared against it. We cover this and related space developments in more depth in the science and technology chapter of this book.

Republic Day and Independence Day Chief Guests

Republic Day chief guests are a recurring exam question because the identity of the chief guest reflects India's diplomatic priorities that year. Keep a running note of the most recent Republic Day's chief guest as your exam date approaches, since this is one of the most time-sensitive facts in the whole current affairs syllabus and changes every single year.

Exam trap: Do not confuse the Republic Day chief guest with any visiting head of state on a separate bilateral visit during the same year. Only the officially invited Republic Day parade guest counts for this specific question type.

2. Government Appointments

Track appointments to constitutional and high-profile posts carefully, since these change periodically and are a favourite exam category. The key posts to monitor are the President of India, Vice-President of India, Chief Justice of India, Chief Election Commissioner, Comptroller and Auditor General, service chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the Reserve Bank of India Governor.

Droupadi Murmu became President of India in July 2022, the first person from a tribal community to hold the office and only the second woman President after Pratibha Patil. Jagdeep Dhankhar served as Vice-President from 2022, a post whose holder also chairs the Rajya Sabha. Because these are five-year terms typically, aspirants must check for the latest holder close to their exam date rather than assuming a fixed name stays correct indefinitely.

The Chief Justice of India rotates far more frequently than the President or Vice-President, often changing every one to two years based on seniority convention. This makes it one of the most time-sensitive facts in the entire GK syllabus. Do not memorise a name from an old book; verify the current Chief Justice within a month or two of your exam.

Memory hook: Think of constitutional posts on a spectrum from "changes rarely" to "changes often." President and Vice-President sit at the slow end (five-year fixed terms). Chief Justice of India sits at the fast end (retirement-age-driven, often just months to a couple of years). RBI Governor and service chiefs sit in the middle. Sorting posts this way tells you how urgently you need to re-check each one before an exam.

3. Railway Sector News

Since this is a Railway Recruitment Board exam, railway-specific current affairs deserve focused attention, and examiners do draw questions directly from railway sector developments.

Vande Bharat Express Expansion

The Vande Bharat Express, India's indigenously designed semi-high-speed train, has expanded rapidly since its first run in February 2019 between New Delhi and Varanasi. Through 2024 and 2025, the network of Vande Bharat routes grew substantially, connecting major cities across nearly every state, making it the flagship symbol of Indian Railways' modernisation push. Aspirants should know that Vande Bharat trains are manufactured domestically, primarily at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, reflecting the "Make in India" push within the railway sector.

Vande Bharat Sleeper and Bullet Train Progress

Building on the original chair-car Vande Bharat, Indian Railways developed a Vande Bharat Sleeper version intended for longer overnight routes, with trials and rollout phases progressing through 2024 and 2025. Separately, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor, India's first bullet train project using Japanese Shinkansen technology, continued construction through this period, with sections of the corridor reaching advanced completion stages.

Dedicated Freight Corridors

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, built to separate freight traffic from passenger lines and speed up cargo movement, saw major stretches completed and operational through 2024 and 2025. These corridors are a frequent exam topic because they represent one of Indian Railways' largest infrastructure investments in decades, aimed at cutting logistics costs and reducing congestion on regular passenger routes.

Exam trap: Do not confuse the Eastern DFC (running roughly from Punjab to West Bengal, carrying coal and general goods) with the Western DFC (running from Punjab to Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port, carrying containerised cargo). Their starting points overlap in the north, which is exactly why examiners test the distinction.

Railway Safety and Kavach

Kavach, an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, continued its rollout across Indian Railways through 2024 and 2025 following safety reviews after past accidents. Kavach automatically applies brakes if a train driver fails to control speed in line with signal indications, preventing collisions between trains on the same track. Its expansion to more railway zones remains an active, ongoing news item, and it is a strong candidate for direct questions about railway technology.

Amrit Bharat Station Scheme

Launched to redevelop railway stations across the country with modern passenger amenities, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme covers over a thousand stations nationwide, with phased redevelopment and inaugurations continuing through 2024 and 2025. This scheme is distinct from the earlier station redevelopment programmes and is worth remembering by name, since RRB papers, being railway-specific, favour railway infrastructure news heavily.

4. Sports Achievements

Olympic and Asian Games Performances

India's contingent at the Paris 2024 Olympics delivered a mixed but historically significant performance, with Manu Bhaker becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal and the first Indian to win two individual medals at a single Olympic Games since independence. Neeraj Chopra continued his javelin dominance, adding to his Tokyo 2020 gold with further podium finishes, cementing his status as one of India's greatest track and field athletes.

The Asian Games 2022, held in Hangzhou, China, but actually conducted in 2023 due to pandemic-related postponement, saw India's largest-ever medal haul at a single Asian Games edition, crossing 100 medals for the first time. This date confusion, event named "2022" but held in "2023", is a classic exam trap worth remembering precisely.

Cricket

India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2024 T20 format, held jointly in the USA and West Indies, defeating South Africa in the final, a landmark win for Indian cricket's white-ball format. India also continued to feature prominently in the ODI World Cup held in 2023 on home soil, where India reached the final but lost to Australia, still a widely referenced tournament for its record attendance and India's unbeaten run through the league and knockout stages before the final.

Chess

Indian chess enjoyed a landmark period through 2024, with D. Gukesh becoming the youngest ever World Chess Champion after defeating China's Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship match, surpassing the previous record held by Garry Kasparov. This achievement places India firmly among the leading chess nations, alongside the continued excellence of Viswanathan Anand, India's first Grandmaster and a five-time World Champion, whose earlier career inspired this generation of Indian chess talent.

Memory hook: Anand opened the door for Indian chess in the 1990s and 2000s; Gukesh, decades later, became the youngest ever to hold the world title. Think of it as one generation lighting the path and the next generation running fastest down it.

Badminton and Other Sports

Indian badminton, athletics, and wrestling continued producing strong performers through this period across various international tournaments, including the Badminton Asia Championships, the World Athletics Championships, and Commonwealth-level events. Aspirants should track medal-winning athletes in these disciplines close to their exam date, since specific medal tallies and athlete names change with each tournament cycle.

5. Science and Innovation Highlights of the Period

India's scientific establishment recorded steady progress through 2024 and 2025, building on the Chandrayaan-3 success. The Aditya-L1 solar mission, launched in September 2023, reached its designated orbit around the Lagrange Point L1 in January 2024, becoming India's first dedicated solar observation mission. This mission studies the Sun's outer layers and space weather, a topic covered in more depth in this book's dedicated science and technology chapter.

India also continued expanding its semiconductor manufacturing ambitions through this period, with government-backed incentive schemes attracting new chip fabrication and assembly investments, part of a broader push to reduce dependence on imported electronics components. This ties into the "Make in India" and self-reliance themes that examiners frequently link across current affairs and economics questions.

6. Economy and International Recognition

India's economy through 2024 and 2025 kept its position among the fastest-growing major economies in the world, with GDP growth consistently tracked and compared against other G20 nations in economic surveys and budget speeches. Aspirants should note the broad trend rather than exact quarterly figures, since GDP growth rate numbers get revised often and change too fast for a static book to track reliably. What matters for the exam is the qualitative fact: India remained among the top few fastest-growing large economies through this period, a status frequently referenced in Economic Survey documents presented alongside the Union Budget.

India's foreign exchange reserves crossed record levels during this period, providing a cushion against global economic shocks, and the Reserve Bank of India continued its policy of calibrated interest rate decisions through its Monetary Policy Committee meetings, held roughly every two months. The repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends to commercial banks, is a term that appears often in banking and railway GK sections alike, so understand it as the tool RBI uses to control inflation: raise the repo rate to cool an overheating economy, lower it to encourage borrowing and growth.

On the international stage, India continued strengthening ties through platforms like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), BRICS, and the Quad grouping alongside the USA, Japan, and Australia. BRICS itself expanded its membership during this period, adding new countries to what was originally a five-nation bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, a development significant enough that aspirants should know the expanded bloc includes several West Asian and African nations beyond the original five.

7. Notable Awards and Recognitions

Major national and international awards form another recurring current affairs category. The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was conferred on select recipients during this period, honouring long-standing contributions to public life, science, or the arts; specific recipient names change with each announcement, so verify the latest list close to your exam date. The Padma Awards (Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri), announced every Republic Day, recognise excellence across fields including sports, medicine, literature, and public service, and typically feature over a hundred recipients each year, making broad category recall more useful than trying to memorise every name.

Internationally, the Nobel Prizes, announced every October, continued to be closely tracked by Indian aspirants, particularly for any Indian-origin laureates or India-linked research. The Booker Prize and other major literary awards also occasionally featured Indian authors or India-set works during this period, a category worth a quick check closer to exam time since literature awards rotate their focus each year.

8. Defence and Strategic Developments

India's defence sector continued its indigenous development push through 2024 and 2025, with the Agnipath scheme, a short-service recruitment model for the armed forces introduced in 2022, continuing its implementation cycles across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Indigenous defence platforms, including further trials and inductions related to the Tejas light combat aircraft programme and various indigenous naval vessels, kept appearing in defence news through this period, reflecting the broader self-reliance theme running across India's manufacturing and technology sectors.

India also continued joint military exercises with multiple partner nations, including exercises with the USA, France, Russia, and members of the Quad grouping, aimed at improving interoperability and strategic cooperation. These joint exercises carry specific code names that occasionally appear in exam questions, so a quick scan of the most recent major exercise names before your exam is a reasonable use of last-week revision time.

9. Environment and Climate Initiatives

Climate and environment remained a steady current affairs theme, with India continuing its commitments made at international climate conferences, including targets around renewable energy capacity and reducing carbon intensity of its economy. The Conference of Parties (COP) climate summits, held annually under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, remained a fixture, with India's delegation and stated commitments a recurring exam reference point. We cover India's specific renewable energy achievements, including solar and wind capacity milestones, in greater depth in this book's science and technology chapter, since those facts overlap heavily with both current affairs and science sections of the exam.

10. How to Keep This Chapter Current

Current affairs, by definition, keeps moving after any book is printed. Use this chapter as your anchor for events through 2025, but build a simple monthly habit as your exam approaches: read one reliable current affairs digest a month, note only names, dates, and one-line facts, and add them to a small personal notes page rather than trying to remember scattered newspaper articles. Focus your final month of preparation heavily on the three sectors this exam tests most: national appointments, railway sector news, and sports achievements, in that order of frequency.

Exam trap: Aspirants often over-invest in international current affairs (foreign elections, global summits) while under-preparing on railway-specific news, which appears far more often in RRB papers precisely because the exam is conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board. Balance your revision time accordingly; do not let international headlines crowd out railway sector developments.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• India held the G20 presidency in 2023, hosting over 200 meetings nationwide.
• Chandrayaan-3 achieved a successful Moon landing near the south pole in August 2023.
• Aditya-L1, launched September 2023, reached its L1 orbit position in January 2024.
• Droupadi Murmu became President of India in July 2022, the first tribal community President.
• Jagdeep Dhankhar became Vice-President of India in 2022, also chairing the Rajya Sabha.
• The Chief Justice of India's post changes far more frequently than the President's, based on seniority convention.
• Vande Bharat Express began service in February 2019 between New Delhi and Varanasi.
• Vande Bharat trains are mainly manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
• Vande Bharat Sleeper trains progressed through trials and rollout in 2024-2025.
• Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail is India's first bullet train project, using Japanese technology.
• Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors saw major operational stretches complete through 2024-2025.
• Kavach is India's indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system for railway safety.
• Amrit Bharat Station Scheme covers over a thousand stations for modern redevelopment.
• Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal at Paris 2024.
• Neeraj Chopra continued his javelin success after his Tokyo 2020 gold medal.
• The Asian Games named "2022" were actually held in 2023 in Hangzhou, China.
• India crossed 100 medals for the first time at a single Asian Games edition in 2023.
• India won the T20 Cricket World Cup 2024, held jointly in the USA and West Indies.
• India reached the ODI World Cup 2023 final on home soil but lost to Australia.
• D. Gukesh became the youngest ever World Chess Champion, defeating Ding Liren in 2024.
• Viswanathan Anand remains India's first Grandmaster and a five-time World Chess Champion.
• Republic Day chief guests reflect India's diplomatic focus and change every year.
• Union Budget is presented every February and often introduces or revises government schemes.
• UPI-based digital payments expanded to more international partner countries through this period.
• Semiconductor manufacturing incentives attracted new chip investment as part of self-reliance goals.
• Track RBI Governor, service chiefs, and Chief Election Commissioner as moderately time-sensitive posts.
• Railway sector news carries extra weight in RRB exams because RRB conducts the exam itself.
• Current affairs revision works best as a monthly habit, not a one-time read before the exam.
• Balance revision between national, railway, and sports news, since these dominate RRB question patterns.
• Always verify constitutional post-holders within a month or two of your actual exam date.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Key Appointments and Terms (as of publication, verify closer to exam)

Post	Holder (from)	Term Nature
President of India	Droupadi Murmu (July 2022)	Fixed 5-year term
Vice-President of India	Jagdeep Dhankhar (2022)	Fixed 5-year term
Chief Justice of India	Rotates frequently	Seniority-based, often 1-2 years
RBI Governor	Check nearer exam date	Fixed term, renewable
Chief Election Commissioner	Check nearer exam date	Fixed term

Table 2: Major Events and Their Correct Years

Event	Year
India's G20 Presidency	2023
Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing	2023
Aditya-L1 Launch	2023 (orbit reached 2024)
Asian Games "2022" (actually held)	2023
ODI Cricket World Cup (India hosted)	2023
T20 Cricket World Cup (USA & West Indies)	2024
Paris Olympics	2024
Gukesh becomes World Chess Champion	2024
Vande Bharat Express first run	2019

Practice MCQs

Q1. In which year did India hold the G20 presidency? (a) 2021 (b) 2022 (c) 2023 (d) 2024

Q2. Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed near which region of the Moon in August 2023? (a) North pole (b) Equator (c) South pole (d) Far side centre

Q3. Who became President of India in July 2022, the first from a tribal community? (a) Pratibha Patil (b) Droupadi Murmu (c) Ram Nath Kovind (d) Meira Kumar

Q4. Which constitutional post typically changes most frequently, based on seniority convention? (a) President of India (b) Vice-President of India (c) Chief Justice of India (d) Comptroller and Auditor General

Q5. The first Vande Bharat Express began service in February 2019 between New Delhi and which city? (a) Varanasi (b) Lucknow (c) Kanpur (d) Patna

Q6. Vande Bharat trains are primarily manufactured at which facility? (a) Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi (b) Integral Coach Factory, Chennai (c) Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala (d) Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

Q7. What is Kavach, frequently mentioned in railway safety news? (a) A ticketing app (b) An Automatic Train Protection system (c) A freight tracking system (d) A station cleanliness scheme

Q8. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project uses technology from which country? (a) France (b) Germany (c) Japan (d) China

Q9. Manu Bhaker made history at the Paris 2024 Olympics by becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in which sport? (a) Wrestling (b) Shooting (c) Badminton (d) Boxing

Q10. The Asian Games officially named "2022" were actually held in which year, due to postponement? (a) 2022 (b) 2023 (c) 2024 (d) 2021

Q11. India won the T20 Cricket World Cup 2024, held jointly in which two countries? (a) India and Sri Lanka (b) England and Australia (c) USA and West Indies (d) South Africa and Zimbabwe

Q12. D. Gukesh became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 2024 by defeating which player? (a) Magnus Carlsen (b) Ding Liren (c) Viswanathan Anand (d) Fabiano Caruana

Q13. India's Aditya-L1 mission is dedicated to studying which celestial body? (a) Mars (b) The Moon (c) The Sun (d) Venus

Q14. Which of the following correctly describes the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors? (a) Both carry only passenger trains (b) They separate freight traffic from passenger lines to speed up cargo movement (c) They are metro rail projects (d) They connect only two cities each

Q15. The Amrit Bharat Station Scheme is primarily aimed at what? (a) Building new railway lines (b) Redeveloping stations with modern passenger amenities (c) Introducing new train categories (d) Privatising railway stations

Answer Key

Q	Answer	One-line reason
1	(c) 2023	India's G20 presidency year is a fixed, frequently tested fact; do not shift it forward with later G20-linked news.
2	(c) South pole	Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to land near the Moon's south pole region.
3	(b) Droupadi Murmu	She took office in July 2022, becoming the first President from a tribal community.
4	(c) Chief Justice of India	This post rotates on seniority and retirement age, unlike the fixed five-year terms of President and Vice-President.
5	(a) Varanasi	The inaugural Vande Bharat route connected New Delhi and Varanasi in February 2019.
6	(b) Integral Coach Factory, Chennai	ICF Chennai is the primary manufacturing hub for Vande Bharat rakes.
7	(b) An Automatic Train Protection system	Kavach automatically applies brakes to prevent same-track train collisions.
8	(c) Japan	The corridor uses Japanese Shinkansen bullet train technology under a bilateral agreement.
9	(b) Shooting	Manu Bhaker's Paris 2024 medals made her the first Indian woman to medal in Olympic shooting.
10	(b) 2023	Pandemic-related postponement pushed the event named "2022" to actually take place in 2023.
11	(c) USA and West Indies	This was the first ICC T20 World Cup hosted jointly by the USA and West Indies.
12	(b) Ding Liren	Gukesh defeated China's Ding Liren to become the youngest ever World Chess Champion.
13	(c) The Sun	Aditya-L1 studies the Sun's outer atmosphere and space weather from the L1 Lagrange point.
14	(b) They separate freight traffic from passenger lines to speed up cargo movement	This is their core purpose, distinguishing them from regular mixed-traffic railway lines.
15	(b) Redeveloping stations with modern passenger amenities	The scheme covers over a thousand stations nationwide for modernisation, not new line construction.