Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Food and beverages carry the heaviest weight in India's Consumer Price Index, at about 45.86%.
- The World Bank has warned that climate change could shave up to 2.8% off India's GDP by 2050.
- During the May 2026 heatwave, India's power demand hit a record high of 270.8 gigawatts.
- A 6% rainfall deficit in 2023 reduced the sown area for pulses and oilseeds, pushing retail prices up by 6–15% year-on-year.
All four statements are correct. Food and beverages account for approximately 45.86% of India's CPI basket, and the World Bank has specifically projected a 2.8% GDP loss for India by 2050 due to climate change. The 270.8 GW record power demand was explicitly recorded during the May 2026 heatwave, and the 2023 monsoon deficit of about 6% did drive retail prices for pulses and oilseeds up by 6–15% year-on-year. A common trap is to distrust the precise 270.8 GW figure and eliminate Statement 3 — always verify specific numbers against the source rather than assuming they are too granular to be tested.
- List-I: A. Tamil Nadu B. Telangana C. Rajasthan D. Kerala
- List-II: 1. Net-zero cooling station (Jodhpur) reducing local temperature by 8–12°C 2. Decentralized village-level heat planning integrated into State Action Plan on Climate Change 3. Declared heatwaves a state-specific disaster to unlock SDRF financing 4. Dedicated Cool Roof Policy (2023–2028) linked to Haritha Haram and Mission Kakatiya
Tamil Nadu declared heatwaves a state-specific disaster to access SDRF financing (→3). Telangana runs a dedicated Cool Roof Policy (2023–2028) linked to its Haritha Haram afforestation drive and Mission Kakatiya water-body restoration programme (→4). Rajasthan's Jodhpur pioneered a net-zero cooling station that lowers local temperatures by 8–12°C (→1). Kerala, through Kozhikode's Moodadi Grama Panchayat, integrated decentralized village-level heat planning into its State Action Plan on Climate Change (2023–2030) (→2). Option (c) swaps Rajasthan and Telangana — a common error since both involve infrastructure-type cooling interventions.
- Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules notified, introducing tougher limits including Rule 9(1B)
- Supreme Court judgment in Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) v. Union of India
- Supreme Court judgment in Noel Harper v. Union of India
The correct sequence is INSAF (March 2020) → Noel Harper (April 2022) → 2026 Amendment Rules (notified June 22, 2026). The INSAF judgment called for a balance between FCRA objectives and NGO rights, ruling that only associations involved in active politics were barred from foreign funds. The Noel Harper three-judge bench then took a firmer stance, declaring no absolute right to accept foreign donations. The 2026 Amendment Rules — the most recent development — built on this legal foundation by introducing Rule 9(1B) and tougher administrative limits. Option (c) reverses the entire order, exploiting the assumption that the stricter judgment must have come first.
- "The Indian passport is fundamentally a document that establishes citizenship and can be used to challenge exclusion from electoral rolls."
A senior MEA official explicitly clarified that the passport is a travel document, not a citizenship document — these two functions are analytically distinct. While a passport does attest to the holder's nationality when travelling abroad, it cannot be used as proof of citizenship rights such as for voter list inclusion. Option (a) is the precise misconception the MEA sought to dispel, and option (d) overcorrects by denying any nationality linkage altogether. Option (c) conflates the unrelated 10% e-passport statistic with the citizenship-document distinction. The key is to hold both parts simultaneously: attests to nationality during travel, but is not proof of citizenship rights.
- The Bengaluru-based study found that allowing access to ants and flying insect visitors increased mango yield by 350%.
- Non-native European honey bees in Mexico's mango study contributed to the majority of pollination visits but did not proportionally increase fruit yield.
- Neonicotinoid insecticides affect bees' cognitive functions, including navigation and memory, and travel into the hive via pollen and nectar.
- India's environmental accounting framework has attached a monetary value to pollinators amounting to over ₹2.6 lakh crore in 2021–22.
All four statements are correct. The 2023 Bengaluru study recorded a 350% yield increase when ants and flying insects had access to mango flowers. In Mexico, non-native European honey bees (Apis mellifera) accounted for about 80% of pollination visits yet delivered "wrong" pollen within the same orchard, producing malformed fruit without a proportional yield gain. Neonicotinoids are neurotoxic, impairing bees' navigation, learning, and memory, and enter hives through contaminated pollen and nectar. The government's environmental accounting framework valued pollinators at 8–10% of total crop output, amounting to ₹2.6 lakh crore in 2021–22. Option (a) is a "plausible exclusion" trap — candidates stop at the two most memorable statistics and miss the equally verifiable insecticide and valuation statements.
