Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- CPGRAMS is developed and managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in association with the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
- Under the revised guidelines issued in August 2024, the mandatory grievance resolution timeline was reduced from 30 days to 21 days.
- Matters related to the Right to Information Act and sub-judice cases are taken up for redress through CPGRAMS.
- The Grievance Redressal Assessment and Index (GRAI) is a performance benchmarking framework that evaluates Ministries and Departments on grievance redressal effectiveness.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. CPGRAMS was developed by NIC with DARPG, and the August 2024 guidelines reduced the resolution timeline from 30 to 21 days. GRAI is a benchmarking index creating accountability across Ministries. Statement 3 is incorrect — RTI matters, sub-judice cases, religious matters, and government employees' service grievances are explicitly excluded from CPGRAMS redressal, not included.
Reason (R): Samadhan Didi integrates BHASHINI's speech-to-text, text-to-speech, translation and transliteration capabilities to automatically categorise and route grievances to the appropriate authority.
Both A and R are correct, and R explains A. Samadhan Didi (launched 30 May 2026) lets citizens speak in any Scheduled language; BHASHINI's multilingual AI analyses spoken content and identifies the relevant Ministry, Department, category, and sub-category automatically — precisely the technological mechanism enabling the "no navigation needed" capability described in the Assertion.
- GeM was launched on 9 August 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- The General Financial Rules (GFR) were amended to enable government organisations to procure through GeM.
- GeM's integration with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is aimed at strengthening compliance in manpower outsourcing services.
- Under the GeMSahay initiative, the partnership with the State Bank of India provides collateral-free working capital to registered sellers.
Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct. GeM launched 9 August 2016; the GFR was amended giving GeM legal standing as an approved procurement channel; and EPFO integration strengthens labour compliance verification for manpower outsourcing. Statement 4 is incorrect — GeMSahay actually partners with Union Bank of India, not the State Bank of India.
GMV refers to the total monetary value of all procurement transactions processed through the platform cumulatively since GeM's 2016 launch. Options A, B and D misrepresent the term — GMV is a rupee-value figure, not a unit count, not equivalent to the Union Budget, and not a market capitalisation measure.
- The Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) was created under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, replacing the earlier Directorate General of Shipping.
- India is currently the largest supplier of seafarers globally, with an active workforce exceeding 3.23 lakh.
- The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 is an ILO convention that establishes minimum working and living standards for seafarers.
- E-Samudra operates under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and provides a single-window digital platform for maritime services.
Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct. DGMA was established under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, replacing the DGS. MLC 2006 is the ILO's "Seafarers' Bill of Rights." E-Samudra operates under MoPSW as a single-window digital maritime services platform. Statement 2 is incorrect — India is currently the second-largest supplier of seafarers globally, not the largest, though it aspires to become the largest.
- Population Enumeration will begin in Ladakh from 17 August 2026 using paper schedules, as an exception to the otherwise digital Census, due to security constraints on geo-tagging defence establishments.
- The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 included a comprehensive caste enumeration whose full results were publicly released to inform OBC reservation policy.
Statement 1 is correct — Ladakh begins Population Enumeration from 17 August 2026, ahead of the rest of India, using paper schedules since defence locations near the China/Pakistan borders cannot be geo-tagged. Statement 2 is incorrect — SECC 2011 collected caste data, but its results were never fully released publicly, due to data quality concerns and political sensitivity, making Census 2027's caste column India's first post-Independence public caste enumeration.
- The 16th Finance Commission has flagged that approximately 44% of State expenditure is pre-committed to salaries, pensions and interest payments, limiting fiscal headroom for UCT schemes.
- In States such as Jharkhand, Karnataka and West Bengal, expenditure on UCT schemes exceeds half of the entire State expenditure on education.
- UCT schemes, being funded from States' own revenue, are outside the purview of Article 282 of the Constitution.
- States' social sector revenue expenditure as a share of GDP has shown a declining trend since 2020-21, despite increases in overall expenditure capacity.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. The 16th Finance Commission documents the 44% pre-commitment figure and confirms UCT spending exceeds 50% of education spending in Jharkhand, Karnataka, and West Bengal, with social sector spending as a share of GDP declining since 2020-21. Statement 3 is a misleading distractor — Article 282 concerns discretionary grants, while States' own-revenue UCT spending draws from the Consolidated Fund under Article 266, not a matter of being "outside" Article 282's purview in the way stated.
- DNA methylation refers to the attachment of a methyl group (–CH₃) to cytosine bases in DNA, which typically silences gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence.
- Paramutation is a phenomenon where the methylation status of one copy of a gene is transferred to and overwrites the other copy, which then persists into subsequent generations.
- The recent study used nanopore sequencing to directly detect DNA methylation without chemical pre-processing, and found that approximately 93% of studied sites followed classical Mendelian inheritance rules.
- Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) can fully capture heritable epigenetic variation because they sequence the complete genome including methylation patterns.
Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct. DNA methylation at cytosine positions silences gene expression without altering sequence. Paramutation involves methylation status copying from one allele to another, persisting into the next generation. Nanopore sequencing directly detects methylation via electrical current differences, with about 93% of studied sites following Mendelian rules. Statement 4 is incorrect — GWAS searches for sequence variants, not methylation patterns, and the study explicitly argues GWAS misses heritable epigenetic variation, proposing allele-specific EWAS instead.
Reason (R): Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically infect and kill bacteria without affecting human cells, and have been used therapeutically since before the discovery of antibiotics.
Both A and R are correct, and R explains A. Bacteriophages' bacteria-specificity and pre-antibiotic therapeutic history are exactly what makes engineering novel phages via AI genome language models medically valuable — designing new phages to overcome bacterial resistance builds directly on this established therapeutic rationale.
- The suckermouth catfish is native to South America's Amazon river basin and entered India through the ornamental aquarium trade; it is locally called the 'Helicopter fish' due to its appearance.
- The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) launched a removal programme offering fishermen an above-market-rate incentive; the collected fish is processed into organic fertiliser at oil mills.
Both statements are correct. The suckermouth catfish (Pterygoplichthys spp.) is from the Amazon basin, entered India via the aquarium trade, and is called the "helicopter fish" for its fin silhouette. BNHS offers ₹2/kg above auction rate as an incentive, with collected fish sent to oil mills in Taloja and Ratnagiri, where resulting molasses becomes organic fertiliser — a complete catch-to-fertiliser value chain.
Option (B) is correct — UC Riverside research estimates roughly 0.5 litres per 20-50 exchange ChatGPT conversation, predominantly through data centre cooling systems. Option (A) is wrong — data centres have both direct water use (evaporative cooling towers) and indirect use (power plant cooling). Option (C) is wrong — Gautam Buddha Nagar (UP) is also over-exploited (104.79% extraction) with 17+ data centres. Option (D) is wrong — CGWB is an assessment body, not a regulator; that authority falls under State Groundwater Acts and PCBs.
- The MJDA was signed by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan and contains language mirroring NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause.
- Pakistan shares a 900 km land border with Iran, creating economic and security disincentives for it to confront Iran militarily under the MJDA.
- The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has an established collective defence mechanism that the MJDA is designed to complement.
- Türkiye's annual arms exports amount to approximately $10 billion, making its military-industrial complex a key complementarity it brings to the MJDA.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. The MJDA's joint statement echoes NATO's Article 5 collective defence language. Pakistan's 900 km Iran border, large Shia minority, and concurrent Iran FTA negotiations structurally limit its willingness to act against Iran. Türkiye exports about $10 billion in arms annually, a key complementarity for the pact. Statement 3 is incorrect — the OIC has no established collective defence mechanism; it is a political and cultural body, and this institutional gap is one reason the MJDA was created.
Pitwa or Lauh Shilp is a tribal iron craft from Bastar, Chhattisgarh, practised by tribal ironsmiths who transform recycled scrap iron into minimalist sculptures. Option (A) describes Maheshwari textiles. Option (B) describes Kaavi art from the Konkan coast. Option (D) describes Goa's Khajan lands wetland system — all four appeared in the same invite bag but represent distinct regional crafts.
- The Technology Development Board is a statutory body established under the Technology Development Board Act, 1995, under the Department of Science and Technology.
- Under India's deep-tech fund, the government's financial exposure per project is capped at the full project cost to maximise support for high-risk ventures.
Statement 1 is correct — TDB is a statutory body under the TDB Act, 1995, operating under DST. Statement 2 is incorrect — the government's exposure is capped at 50% of the project cost, not the full cost, ensuring private co-investment as a risk-management safeguard.
- The study published in 'Gut Microbes' was led by researchers from the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, which functions under the Department of Biotechnology.
- Trans-Himalayan tribal communities in the study showed enriched Bifidobacterium adolescentis, associated with high dairy consumption, and more diverse gut microbiota compared to other tribes studied.
- Tribal populations make up less than 1% of global human microbiome study samples, despite India's large indigenous population.
- The Indian Human Microbiome Initiative that emerged from the study aims to sample more than 3,400 individuals across 10 endogamous and 7 tribal communities.
Statements 2, 3 and 4 are unambiguously verifiable from the source. Trans-Himalayan tribal communities showed enriched Bifidobacterium adolescentis (linked to dairy consumption) and more diverse gut microbiota. Tribal populations make up under 1% of global microbiome study samples. The Indian Human Microbiome Initiative targets over 3,400 individuals across 10 endogamous and 7 tribal communities. Statement 1's claim about NCCS Pune's parent department is treated as unconfirmed here — NCCS Pune does lead the study, but its departmental affiliation requires independent verification.
