Take a look at the essential events, concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your UPSC Current Affairs knowledge nugget for today on Malabar Naval Exercise. (Relevance: A significant number of questions have been asked on the bilateral, regional, and global groupings and agreements that involve India or affect India’s interests. For instance, in the UPSC CSE Mains of 2020, a question was asked on the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Military exercises have also become an important part of the UPSC syllabus as they reflect not only India’s defence preparedness but also its defence cooperation with other nations. Thus, knowing about multilateral groupings and defence exercises becomes important.)Why in the news?The navies of India, the US, Australia and Japan will kick-start the annual Malabar naval exercise in the Northern Pacific beginning Monday (November 10) with an aim to further bolster interoperability among them. In this context, let’s know about the Malabar naval exercise and QUAD. Key Takeaways :1. Malabar is a multilateral war-gaming naval exercise that was started in 1992. It began as a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and the United States. Two more editions of the exercise were carried out in 1995 and 1996, after which there was a break until 2002 in the aftermath of India’s nuclear tests.2. From 2002 onward, the exercise has been conducted every year. Japan and Australia first participated in 2007, and Japan joined the naval exercise in 2015 as a permanent member, and Malabar became a trilateral exercise.3. In 2020, for the first time in over a decade, the exercise saw the participation of all four Quad members. It was the second time that Australia participated in the Malabar series of Naval exercises.4. This year the exercise is taking place in Northern Pacific’s Guam amid some strain in ties between India and the US over Washington’s policies on trade and tariff.Story continues below this ad5. The Indian Navy has deployed its guided missile frigate INS Sahyadri for the mega exercise being hosted by the US. QUAD1. Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is the informal strategic dialogue between India, USA, Japan and Australia. The four nations share a common objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.2. Notably, following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, India, Japan, Australia, and the US created an informal alliance to collaborate on disaster relief efforts. In 2007, then PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, formalised the alliance, as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad.ALSO READ | Knowledge Nugget | Exercise Trishul and Legacy of BRASS TACKS: What you must know for UPSC Exam3. However, the group was hampered by a lack of cohesion amongst members and accusations that the Quad was nothing more than an anti-China bloc. Thus, the early iteration of the Quad, largely based on maritime security, eventually dissipated. In 2017, faced again with the rising Chinese challenge, the four countries revived the Quad, and broadened its objectives.Story continues below this ad4. The Quad is not structured like a typical multilateral organisation, and lacks a secretariat and any permanent decision-making body (like the EU or UN). Additionally, unlike NATO, the Quad does not include provisions for collective defence, instead choosing to conduct joint military exercises as a show of unity and diplomatic cohesion.5. In 2020, the trilateral India-US-Japan Malabar naval exercises expanded to include Australia, marking the first official grouping of the Quad since its resurgence in 2017, and the first joint military exercises among the four countries in over a decade.6. In March 2021, the Quad leaders met virtually and later released a joint statement titled ‘The Spirit of the Quad,’ which outlined the group’s approach and objectives.BEYOND THE NUGGET: Recent key initiatives of QUAD1. QUAD Cancer Moonshot: The QUAD has launched it as a collective effort to leverage public and private resources to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer in the Indo-Pacific, with an initial focus on cervical cancer. Under this, India will provide $7.5 million worth of HPV sampling kits, detection kits and cervical cancer vaccines to countries in the Indo-Pacific.Story continues below this ad2. QUAD critical minerals initiative: In the second Quad foreign ministers’ meeting held in Washington, DC, the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative was launched. It underscores the importance of diversified and reliable global supply chains. “Reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposes our industries to economic coercion, price manipulation, and supply chain disruptions, which further harms our economic and national security,” said the joint statement.Post Read QuestionWhich of the following countries is/are part of the QUAD grouping?1. India2. Canada3. Japan4. United Kingdom5. France6. AustraliaSelect the correct answer using the codes given below:(a) 2, 3, 4 and 6(b) 1, 3, 5 and 6(c) 1, 2, and 4 only(d) 1, 3 and 6 onlyAnswer Key(d)(Sources: The Malabar Exercise of Quad nations, and why it matters to India, PTI)Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – Indian Express UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.Story continues below this ad Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for October 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com