Current Affairs — How to Prepare

high importance~7 Q in Tier 1⚡ 6 shortcuts6 subtopics

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Indexes and reports — index ↔ publisher

⏱ 5 min read🧩 4 question types🎯 14 practice Q

The idea in one minute

The whole game is index ↔ publisher: HDI — UNDP; Happiness — UN SDSN; Innovation — WIPO; WEO — IMF; Human Capital — World Bank; Gender Gap/Risks/Tourism — WEF; Corruption — Transparency International; Hunger — Concern Worldwide + Welthungerhilfe (NGOs, not UN); Peace — IEP; Press Freedom — RSF; ASER — Pratham; SDG India and Innovation indexes — NITI Aayog; FI-Index — RBI. Doing Business (World Bank) discontinued 2021 → B-READY 2024.

The index ↔ publisher grid — the whole subtopic

Index questions overwhelmingly ask who releases which index. Learn the publisher columns; ranks change every edition, publishers never do.

Index	Publisher	Note
Human Development Index (HDI)	UNDP (Human Development Report)	Health + education + income; since 1990
World Happiness Report	UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)	March releases
Global SDG Index	UN SDSN	Tracks the 17 SDGs
Global Innovation Index	WIPO (Geneva)	Innovation inputs/outputs
World Economic Outlook; Global Financial Stability Report	IMF	Flagship macro reports
Human Capital Index	World Bank	Part of the Human Capital Project
Global Gender Gap Report; Global Risks Report; Travel & Tourism Development Index	World Economic Forum (Davos)	WEF's trio
Corruption Perceptions Index	Transparency International (Berlin)	Higher score = cleaner
Global Peace Index	Institute for Economics & Peace (Sydney)	—
Global Hunger Index	Concern Worldwide + Welthungerhilfe	Two NGOs — not a UN body (classic trap)
Henley Passport Index	Henley & Partners	Visa-free access
World Competitiveness Index	IMD (Lausanne)	—
Environmental Performance Index	Yale + Columbia universities	Biennial-ish
Democracy Index; Global Liveability Index	EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit)	—
World Press Freedom Index	Reporters Without Borders (RSF)	3 May links to Press Freedom Day
Ease of Doing Business	DISCONTINUED by the World Bank (2021)	Replaced by Business Ready (B-READY) from 2024

India's own indexes and reports

NITI Aayog: SDG India Index, India Innovation Index (with Institute for Competitiveness), Composite Water Management Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index (national).
RBI: Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index), and its Handbook of Statistics.
MoSPI: CPI, IIP and the household-consumption surveys (the official statistical base).
ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) — by the NGO Pratham, on rural schooling.
EF-PII-style environment reports and the Economic Survey (DEA) round out the domestic set.

How to answer

Match the publisher first — three options usually die on a wrong UN family member (e.g. 'Global Hunger Index — UNDP' is false).
Know the UN family vs NGOs split: UNDP/UNSDSN/WHO/FAO/UNEP/UNICEF are UN bodies; Transparency International, IEP, Concern Worldwide, Pratham, RSF are not.
Note India's rank only within the window — it changes with each edition; the pairing is permanent.
Discontinued and renamed lists matter: Doing Business → B-READY; Global Competitiveness paused by WEF.

Question types you will see

Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.

Type 1very common4 practice Q

Index ↔ UN-family publisher

How to spot it:

'The Human Development Index is released by', 'which body publishes the Global Innovation Index', matching indexes with UN organisations.

Method

UN-family pins: HDI — UNDP; Happiness — UN SDSN; Innovation — WIPO; WEO — IMF; Human Capital — World Bank.
Don't migrate publishers inside the UN family — 'HDI by UNESCO' or 'Innovation by UNDP' are the planted errors.
The HDI rides inside the Human Development Report — often asked together.

Try this

The Global Innovation Index is released by —

Show solution

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), Geneva — not UNDP or the WEF.

Type 2very common4 practice Q

Index ↔ non-UN publishers (NGOs, think tanks)

How to spot it:

'The Global Hunger Index is released by', 'the Corruption Perceptions Index comes from', matching NGO/think-tank indexes.

Method

Global Hunger Index — Concern Worldwide + Welthungerhilfe (two NGOs, not UN — the classic trap).
Corruption Perceptions Index — Transparency International (Berlin); Global Peace Index — IEP; Press Freedom — RSF; Democracy/Liveability — EIU; EPI — Yale + Columbia; Competitiveness — IMD.
WEF's own trio: Gender Gap, Global Risks, Travel & Tourism.

Try this

The Global Hunger Index is published by —

Show solution

Concern Worldwide (Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany) — two NGOs; any option naming UNDP/FAO/WHO is wrong.

Type 3common3 practice Q

India-specific indexes and their publishers

How to spot it:

'The SDG India Index is released by', 'ASER is published by', 'the FI-Index belongs to', matching Indian indexes.

Method

NITI Aayog: SDG India Index, India Innovation Index, Composite Water Index, national MPI.
RBI: Financial Inclusion (FI) Index; MoSPI: CPI/IIP base data.
ASER — Pratham (NGO) on rural learning levels; Economic Survey — Department of Economic Affairs.

Try this

The SDG India Index is released by —

Show solution

NITI Aayog — tracking states and UTs on the 17 SDGs; the global SDG index, by contrast, comes from the UN SDSN.

Type 4common3 practice Q

Discontinued, renamed and replaced indexes

How to spot it:

'The Ease of Doing Business index was replaced by', statements noting a discontinued index or a new publisher.

Method

Ease of Doing Business — discontinued by the World Bank in 2021; its successor is Business Ready (B-READY), first edition 2024.
WEF paused its Global Competitiveness Report; older indexes survive in past editions only.
When a question cites a discontinued index, the answer usually turns on who discontinued it and when.

Try this

The World Bank discontinued its Ease of Doing Business rankings in —

Show solution

2021, replacing the series with Business Ready (B-READY) from 2024 after a data-irregularity review.

Shortcuts that save time

⚡ UN vs NGO split

UN bodies: UNDP (HDI), SDSN (Happiness), WIPO (Innovation), IMF (WEO). NGOs: Hunger = Concern + Welthungerhilfe, Peace = IEP, Press = RSF, ASER = Pratham, Corruption = TI.

Example

Who publishes the Global Hunger Index?

Show solution

Two NGOs — Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe; any UN body in the options is the trap.

Mistakes to avoid

Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.

Mistake 01

Attributing the Global Hunger Index to a UN body — it is published by two NGOs.

Mistake 02

Crediting the HDI to the World Bank; it belongs to UNDP.

Mistake 03

Reciting last year's rank without checking the current edition — ranks, unlike publishers, expire.

Quick revision

Read this the night before the exam.

UN bodies: HDI — UNDP; Happiness & SDG — UN SDSN; WEO — IMF; Human Capital — World Bank; Innovation — WIPO.
WEF trio: Gender Gap, Global Risks, Travel & Tourism. CPI (corruption) — Transparency International, Berlin.
NGOs: Hunger — Concern + Welthungerhilfe; Peace — IEP; Press Freedom — RSF; ASER — Pratham; EPI — Yale/Columbia; IMD — competitiveness.
India: SDG India & Innovation indexes — NITI Aayog; FI-Index — RBI; ASER — Pratham.
Doing Business (World Bank) discontinued 2021 → B-READY.

Practice: 14 questions

Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.

Topic test · 10 questions

Suggested time 4 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.

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