Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- The mainland Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is the State animal of both Meghalaya and Mizoram.
- It is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, providing it the highest level of legal protection.
- The Sunda Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi) is found in Northeast India alongside the mainland species.
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The mainland Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is the State animal of Meghalaya and Mizoram, and is Schedule I-listed under the WPA, 1972. Statement 3 is incorrect — the Sunda Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi) is confined to Borneo and Sumatra; India hosts only the mainland species.
The Clouded Leopard CAP was released at the 91st meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SCNBWL) at Coimbatore in July 2026, and the species is now included under the Species Recovery Programme of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) scheme, not the tiger-specific Project Tiger.
- The Asiatic lion has been upgraded from 'Critically Endangered' to 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List, reflecting its population recovery in the Gir landscape.
- The Supreme Court of India has directed the translocation of Asiatic lions to Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh to establish a second population, and this has been implemented.
Statement 1 is correct — the Asiatic lion has been downlisted to Endangered as the Gir population grew past 1,000 (2025 census). Statement 2 is incorrect in its latter part — while the Supreme Court directed translocation to Kuno-Palpur in 2013, this has not been implemented amid sustained resistance; Kuno received African cheetahs under Project Cheetah (2022-23) instead.
Assertion (A): The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023 has been identified as a contributing factor to the acceleration of forest diversion rates in India, particularly in ecologically sensitive Himalayan and North-Eastern states.
Reason (R): The 2023 Amendment narrowed the legal definition of 'forest' and exempted certain strategic linear projects near international borders from mandatory forest clearance requirements.
Both A and R are correct, and R explains A. The 2023 Amendment narrowed forest definition to lands recorded as forest on/after October 25, 1980 or under court orders, excluding "deemed forests" from the Godavarman (1996) judgment, and exempted strategic linear projects within 100 km of international borders — directly explaining the acceleration in border-adjacent states like Arunachal Pradesh (8× increase) and Sikkim (19× increase) in 2024-26.
- The framework is administered by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- Under the framework, an Exporter-on-Record (EOR) exports goods in the name of the Indian Seller-on-Record (SOR), who retains full responsibility for export documentation.
- Speculative inventory build-up for anticipated export demand is prohibited under the framework.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct — the framework operates under FTP 2023, administered by DGFT/MoCI, and speculative inventory build-up is explicitly prohibited (export inventory may only be procured against confirmed orders). Statement 2 is incorrect — it reverses the responsibility allocation: the EOR exports in its own name and assumes full export compliance responsibility, while the SOR focuses on production and supply.
- IGST (Integrated GST) is levied on both inter-State transactions within India and on imports; a depreciation of the rupee increases import IGST collection even if real import volumes remain unchanged.
- The GST Compensation Cess, levied to compensate States for revenue loss from GST implementation, forms part of the divisible pool distributed between the Centre and States.
Statement 1 is correct — since GST is ad valorem, a weaker rupee inflates the rupee cost of imports, raising IGST collection even with flat volumes (import IGST grew 26.9% vs 4.5% domestic in July 2026 data). Statement 2 is incorrect — the GST Compensation Cess is not part of the divisible pool; it sits outside Article 270 sharing, dedicated specifically to State compensation and untouched by the Finance Commission formula.
- Article 280 of the Constitution mandates the President to constitute a Finance Commission every five years.
- Grants-in-Aid from the Centre to States are governed by Article 275, which enables need-based transfers beyond formula-based tax devolution.
- Cesses levied by the Union form part of the divisible pool and are shared with States as per the Finance Commission's horizontal devolution formula.
Statements 1 and 2 are correct — Article 280 mandates a Finance Commission every five years (or earlier), and Article 275 provides Grants-in-Aid as a supplementary equalisation tool beyond Article 270 tax devolution. Statement 3 is incorrect — cesses are kept outside the divisible pool under Article 271 (which saves surcharges); they do not reach States through the FC formula, a key fiscal federalism asymmetry.
Assertion (A): The Indian Statistical Institute Bill 2026 seeks to convert ISI from a society-governed body into a statutory body corporate with a compact Board of Governors.
Reason (R): ISI was originally established as a 'learned society' by P.C. Mahalanobis in 1931 and was declared an Institution of National Importance through the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959.
Both A and R are correct, but R does not explain A. The 2026 Bill does propose converting ISI into a statutory body corporate with an 11-member Board of Governors, and ISI was indeed founded as a learned society by Mahalanobis in 1931, declared an Institution of National Importance under the 1959 Act. However, the historical origin explains ISI's current structure, not why the Bill proposes to change it — the Bill's rationale is modernising governance to align with IIT/IIM peer institutions, a forward-looking policy choice unrelated to the 1931 founding.
- INS Malvan is the second of 16 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) to be built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and the sixth overall commissioned into the Indian Navy.
- The Mahe-class ASW-SWCs are designed for deep-water blue-water ASW operations and are equipped with vertical launch systems.
- INS Kadamba (Karwar) in Karnataka, where INS Malvan was commissioned, is India's largest naval base.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct — INS Malvan is the 2nd of 8 CSL-built ASW-SWCs, the 6th of 16 total commissioned, and INS Kadamba at Karwar (Project Seabird) is India's largest naval base. Statement 2 is incorrect — Mahe-class ASW-SWCs are specifically designed for shallow-water littoral operations, not blue-water deep-sea missions, and vertical launch systems belong to destroyers and frigates, not this class.
- The residual neutrino flux from spent nuclear fuel is produced primarily by isotopes such as Praseodymium-144 (Pr-144) and Rhodium-106 (Rh-106) that continue to decay after a reactor shuts down.
- The IAEA currently uses neutrino detectors as the primary tool for routine verification of spent fuel inventories at nuclear power plants globally.
Statement 1 is correct — the Double Chooz study identifies Pr-144 and Rh-106 as the primary isotopes producing residual neutrino flux post-shutdown. Statement 2 is incorrect — the study is the first precise measurement of spent-fuel neutrino signatures; the IAEA currently relies on cameras, seals, and physical inspections, not neutrino detectors, which remain a research-stage technology.
- NPCI is a not-for-profit company promoted by RBI and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA); it is not a government body.
- The Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions is currently zero for all categories of merchants and transaction values, as mandated by a government notification.
- UPI transactions recorded in 2025-26 grew by approximately 425% over the previous five years.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct — NPCI is a Section 25 not-for-profit company promoted by RBI and IBA, not a government body, and UPI volume grew 425% over five years to 24,161 crore transactions in 2025-26. Statement 2 is incorrect — MDR is zero for most, not all, categories and values; the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026 seeks to enable MDR on specific subsets (merchants with ₹1-1.5 crore turnover, transactions above ₹2,000).
Assertion (A): The 16th Finance Commission has faced criticism for potentially widening regional fiscal disparities by eliminating Revenue Deficit Grants while retaining the States' share in the divisible pool at 41%.
Reason (R): Revenue Deficit Grants (RDGs) were designed to address heterogeneity in States' fiscal positions — providing need-based transfers to States whose post-devolution revenue receipts fall short of assessed expenditure needs.
Both A and R are correct, and R explains A. RDGs were the targeted equalisation instrument compensating States (like Kerala and Punjab) with structural fiscal stress despite the same devolution formula. Removing RDGs while retaining a flat 41% divisible-pool share removes the tool that corrected for diverse State needs, directly explaining why critics argue FC-16 widens regional disparities.
- The National Board for Wildlife is constituted under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and is chaired by the Prime Minister of India.
- The Standing Committee of the NBWL, chaired by the Union Environment Minister, is empowered to grant clearances for projects within and around Protected Areas.
- The M-STrIPES application was originally developed for monitoring snow leopard populations in high-altitude Himalayan ecosystems.
Statements 1 and 2 are correct — the NBWL, constituted under Section 5A of the WPA, 1972, is chaired by the Prime Minister, and its Standing Committee, chaired by the Union Environment Minister, handles project clearances in eco-sensitive zones and Protected Areas. Statement 3 is incorrect — M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers — Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) was developed specifically for tiger monitoring, not snow leopards, which have their own dedicated Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan.
- India's Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP stands at 0.84%, compared to South Korea's 4.94% and China's 2.58%.
- The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), established under the ANRF Act 2023, has a corpus of ₹50,000 crore to be raised primarily from the Union Budget.
Statement 1 is correct — India's GERD is 0.84% of GDP against South Korea's 4.94% and China's 2.58% (DST R&D Statistics 2023-24). Statement 2 is incorrect — the ANRF's ₹50,000 crore corpus is meant to be raised predominantly from private sources, not the Union Budget, a design feature distinguishing it from earlier government-funded research bodies, with government providing only seed funding.
The Danube (2,860 km, Europe's second-longest river) drains into the Black Sea through a delta shared by Romania and Ukraine, flowing through or bordering 10 countries — the most of any river in the world. It does not drain into the Mediterranean (that's the Rhône/Rhine system), the Caspian (the Volga), or the Adriatic.
