UPSC Current Affairs Quiz, 6 August 2026

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) uses a multi-modal route — sea/river waterway from Kolkata port to Sittwe port in Myanmar, then inland waterway up the Kaladan river, and finally a road component (a two-lane highway) running from Paletwa in Myanmar to Zorinpui in Mizoram, linking India's northeast with the Bay of Bengal littoral. Statement 2 is correct. The IMT Trilateral Highway links Moreh (India) through Myanmar to Mae Sot in Thailand, providing India with an overland link into mainland Southeast Asia; it is therefore one of the centrepieces of the Act East Policy's connectivity-driven engagement with ASEAN. Statement 3 is false on two counts and represents a fundamental conceptual confusion. The Kaladan MMTTP is not designed to connect India with Thailand — it is a multimodal corridor linking India's northeast (Mizoram) to the sea through Myanmar's Sittwe port and the Kaladan river, aimed at reducing the dependence of landlocked northeastern states on the 'Chicken's Neck' corridor. The IMT Trilateral Highway, by contrast, is the project oriented toward Thailand. The two projects have different terminal points and different strategic orientations; conflating their destinations is a conceptual error, not a numeric one.

Explanation

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce recommended that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) establish a dedicated rapid monitoring desk to track US customs audits in real time and warn Indian exporters about new import regulations — making Pair 1 correctly matched. Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) are trade policy instruments that harmonise regulatory standards between two countries across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, professional services, and agriculture, and the Committee specifically recommended their fast-track implementation to counter arbitrary Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) at US ports — making Pair 2 correctly matched. Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, however, are domestic demand- and output-based incentive instruments designed to strengthen export infrastructure and enhance cost-competitiveness against global supply shocks; they do not directly address non-tariff barriers at foreign ports — that role belongs to MRAs and bilateral negotiations. Pair 3 is therefore incorrectly matched.