Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Article 41 of the Constitution directs the State to make effective provision for public assistance in cases of old age, within the limits of its economic capacity.
- Under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, a ‘senior citizen’ is a person who has attained the age of 65 years.
- The Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana provides assistive living devices to eligible senior citizens through the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO).
Statement 1 is correct — Article 41 (DPSP) covers public assistance in old age, sickness, disablement and unemployment. Statement 2 is incorrect — the 2007 Act defines a senior citizen as a person aged 60 years or above, not 65. Statement 3 is correct — the RVY (2017), now a component of AVYAY, distributes walking sticks, wheelchairs, hearing aids and other devices through ALIMCO, a PSU under MoSJE, having delivered over 55 lakh devices to 10.45 lakh+ seniors.
- Elderline (14567) — National helpline for senior citizens — Social Justice & Empowerment
- SAGE — Equity support to elder-care start-ups — Social Justice & Empowerment
- IGNOAPS — Monthly pension for BPL elderly — Social Justice & Empowerment
Pair 1 is correct — Elderline (14567), launched in October 2021, is run under the MoSJE and has handled over 8.66 lakh actionable calls. Pair 2 is correct — SAGE (Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine) gives elder-care start-ups equity support of up to ₹1 crore under the MoSJE. Pair 3 is incorrect — the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme is part of the National Social Assistance Programme (1995), run by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The 11th edition of Garuda Shakti, the India–Indonesia joint Special Forces exercise, is being held at Banyuwangi (East Java) with a focus on jungle operations, and India is represented by the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces). “Garuda” alone is the India–France air force exercise, while India–Indonesia naval engagements are Samudra Shakti and Ind-Indo CORPAT.
- An entity can be recognised as a startup by DPIIT only up to ten years from its date of incorporation.
- The Fund of Funds for Startups under the Startup India initiative is managed by NABARD.
Statement 1 is correct — DPIIT recognition applies for up to 10 years from incorporation, with annual turnover not exceeding ₹100 crore in any year. Statement 2 is incorrect — the ₹10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups is managed by SIDBI, not NABARD, and invests through SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds. Startup India (launched 16 January 2016) has now completed a decade, and DPIIT has opened the 6th National Startup Awards.
- Statement-I: India lies between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, two major regions of illicit opium production.
- Statement-II: The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 provides for forfeiture of property illegally acquired by drug traffickers.
Statement-I is correct — the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan–Iran–Pakistan) lies to India’s west and the Golden Triangle (Myanmar–Laos–Thailand) to its east. Statement-II is also correct — Chapter V-A of the NDPS Act provides for forfeiture of illegally acquired property, the tool the editorial urges to follow the money trail. However, a legal provision cannot explain India’s geographic position, so Statement-II does not explain Statement-I.
- The Organisation of Turkic States evolved from the Turkic Council established in 2009.
- Turkmenistan is a full member of the Organisation of Turkic States.
- Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of both the Organisation of Turkic States and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
- Azerbaijan shares land borders with both Russia and Iran.
Statement 1 is correct — the Turkic Council (2009) was renamed the Organisation of Turkic States in 2021. Statement 2 is incorrect — Turkmenistan, which follows permanent neutrality, is only an observer, the full members being Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Statement 3 is correct — Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan belong to both the OTS and the Russia-led CSTO, one reason they oppose turning the OTS into a military bloc. Statement 4 is correct — Azerbaijan borders Russia to the north and Iran to the south, as well as Georgia and Armenia, and its Nakhchivan exclave touches Turkey.
- The Energy Conservation Building Code is issued by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
- The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 sets greenhouse-gas emissions-intensity targets for obligated entities in energy-intensive sectors.
- The Bureau of Energy Efficiency was established under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001.
All three statements are correct. BEE issued the ECBC (2007, revised 2017) and the ECSBC 2024, with Eco-Niwas Samhita covering residential buildings. The CCTS uses emissions-intensity (per unit of output) targets rather than absolute caps for sectors such as cement and aluminium. BEE was set up in 2002 under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, whose 2022 amendment enabled the carbon market.
Carbon lock-in occurs when long-lived assets such as power plants, buildings and steel mills commit an economy to emissions for decades, and retrofitting or retiring them early creates stranded assets. The op-ed notes that about 86% of the building stock India will have in 2070 is yet to be built, so India can still avoid lock-in. Option (a) describes carbon capture and storage, (c) refers to measures such as the EU’s CBAM, and (d) is wrong because Paris pledges (NDCs) are nationally determined, not binding caps.
- Section 258(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita requires a Sessions Judge to hear the accused on the question of sentence after conviction.
- The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 requires courts to consider release on probation in eligible cases.
- The ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine for imposing the death penalty was laid down in Sunita Devi v State of Bihar.
Statement 1 is correct — Section 258(2) of the BNSS (old CrPC 235(2)) mandates a separate hearing on sentence. Statement 2 is correct — Sections 3, 4 and 6 of the 1958 Act, along with Sections 401–402 of the BNSS, provide for admonition or probation. Statement 3 is incorrect — the “rarest of rare” test comes from Bachan Singh v State of Punjab (1980), while Sunita Devi (2024) held that sentencing “shall not be a mere lottery” and asked the Centre to consider a national sentencing policy.
- The Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 is issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
- The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Statement 1 is correct — the DPCO, 2013 is issued under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and ceiling prices apply to medicines in the NLEM (384 in NLEM 2022). Statement 2 is incorrect — the NPPA (1997) is under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, while the Health Ministry prepares the NLEM. The Supreme Court has questioned the NPPA over its failure to cap trade margins on essential medicines.
- Statement-I: Every government formed in Israel since its independence has been a coalition government.
- Statement-II: Israel elects its parliament through a nationwide, party-list proportional representation system in which seats are allotted in proportion to votes.
Statement-I is correct — no party has ever won 61 of the 120 Knesset seats on its own. Statement-II is correct — the whole country is a single constituency, and lists crossing the 3.25% threshold get seats in proportion to votes. Pure proportional representation spreads seats across many parties and makes single-party majorities rare, so Statement-II explains Statement-I — in contrast to India’s First-Past-The-Post system, which tends to produce clearer majorities.
- InvITs are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
- An InvIT is required to distribute at least 90% of its net distributable cash flows to unitholders.
Statement 1 is correct — InvITs are governed by the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014, and the first listed InvIT came in 2017. Statement 2 is correct — at least 90% of net distributable cash flows must be paid out, which is why InvITs appeal to income-seeking investors. Listed InvITs now have 6.53 lakh investors and AUM of ₹7.3 lakh crore.
- Its constellation includes satellites in both geostationary and inclined geosynchronous orbits.
- It provides global coverage comparable to that of GPS.
- A receiver needs signals from at least four satellites to determine its position.
Statement 1 is correct — NavIC (IRNSS) has seven satellites, three geostationary and four in inclined geosynchronous orbits. Statement 2 is incorrect — NavIC is a regional system covering India and about 1,500 km around it, whereas GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou are global. Statement 3 is correct — four satellites are needed, three for position and one to correct the receiver’s clock, and ISRO’s NVS-03 launch aims to restore that minimum.
- Stage I — Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor — Natural uranium
- Stage II — Fast Breeder Reactor — Plutonium-based mixed oxide
- Stage III — Light Water Reactor — Enriched uranium
Pair 1 is correct — PHWRs use natural uranium and heavy water, producing plutonium. Pair 2 is correct — fast breeders such as the 500 MW PFBR at Kalpakkam, which has now reached first criticality, use plutonium-based MOX fuel and can breed U-233 from a thorium blanket. Pair 3 is incorrect — Stage III envisages thorium–U-233 reactors to use India’s large thorium reserves, while light water reactors using enriched uranium (such as Kudankulam) are outside the three-stage sequence.
- In the IMD classification, a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ has maximum sustained winds of 118–165 km/h.
- Tropical cyclones do not form within about 5° of the equator because the Coriolis force there is negligible.
- Cyclones in the North Indian Ocean are named by IMD’s RSMC New Delhi from a list contributed by the member countries of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones.
- Yanam, near which Cyclone Arnab made landfall, is part of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
All four statements are correct. IMD’s scale runs CS 62–88, SCS 89–117, VSCS 118–165, ESCS 166–220 and super cyclone 222+ km/h, and cyclones do not form near the equator because the Coriolis force needed to spin up a vortex is near zero there. A list of 169 names (2020) from 13 countries is used, with “Arnab” contributed by Bangladesh. Yanam is a Puducherry enclave surrounded by Andhra Pradesh near Kakinada — Puducherry UT has four non-contiguous parts: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.
