Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Tiger Triumph is a bilateral tri-service Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief exercise whose first edition was held in 2019.
- Vajra Prahar is a joint exercise between the special forces of the armies of the two countries.
- Exercise Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between India and the United States.
All three statements are correct. Tiger Triumph began in 2019 on the Visakhapatnam–Kakinada coast as the first India–US tri-service exercise, and its 5th edition opened on 2 November 2026 at the Maritime Warfare Centre, Visakhapatnam, with the NDRF joining for the first time. Vajra Prahar is the India–US special forces exercise, not to be confused with Yudh Abhyas (Army), Cope India (Air Force) or Tarkash (NSG and US Special Operations Forces). Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral India–US naval exercise, with Japan becoming a permanent participant in 2015 and Australia rejoining in 2020.
- The National Disaster Response Force was constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 as a specialist force for disaster response.
- The National Disaster Management Authority is chaired by the Union Home Minister.
Statement 1 is correct — the NDRF was constituted under Section 44 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, raised in 2006, and functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs with battalions drawn from the Central Armed Police Forces. Statement 2 is incorrect — under Section 3 of the Act, the NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister, while State Authorities are chaired by Chief Ministers and District Authorities by the Collector / District Magistrate.
- Statement-I: SUVIKALP, a digital platform developed by the Coal Controller Organisation, ranks alternative post-mining land uses for closed and abandoned coal mines.
- Statement-II: TOPSIS ranks alternatives according to how close each lies to an ideal best solution and how far it lies from an ideal worst solution.
Statement-I is correct — SUVIKALP is a decision-support tool of the Coal Controller Organisation under the Ministry of Coal, aligned with the 2025 Mining Plan Guidelines, which scores and ranks repurposing options for closed mines using RECLAIM (community priorities) and PRISM (implementation strategy). Statement-II is correct — TOPSIS (Hwang and Yoon, 1981) computes each option’s distance from a positive and a negative ideal and ranks options by a closeness coefficient between 0 and 1. SUVIKALP’s ranking engine is a TOPSIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision-Making method, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.
- District Mineral Foundations were given statutory backing through a 2015 amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
- Under the 2025 coal and lignite mining-plan guidelines, the Mine Closure Plan forms an integral part of the Mining Plan.
- The Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act was enacted following the nationalisation of coal mines in the 1970s.
- Gondwana coalfields account for the bulk of India’s coal reserves and production.
Statement 1 is correct — the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 inserted Section 9B, providing for District Mineral Foundations in mining-affected districts, which fund welfare through PMKKKY. Statement 2 is correct — the 2025 guidelines (31 January 2025) make the Mine Closure Plan an integral part of the Mining Plan, with at least 25% of the five-yearly escrow earmarked for community development. Statement 3 is incorrect — the CBA Act dates from 1957, well before coking-coal mines were nationalised in 1971–72 and non-coking mines in 1973. Statement 4 is correct — the Gondwana (Permian) coalfields of the Damodar, Mahanadi, Son, Godavari and Wardha valleys hold the overwhelming share of reserves and output, with Tertiary coal limited to the North-East.
- Strait of Hormuz — Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman
- Bab-el-Mandeb — Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
- Chabahar Port — Coast of the Persian Gulf, inside the Strait of Hormuz
Pair 1 is correct — the Strait of Hormuz links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, between Iran and Oman’s Musandam peninsula. Pair 2 is correct — the Bab-el-Mandeb links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Djibouti / Eritrea, and is the route exposed to Houthi attacks on shipping. Pair 3 is incorrect — Chabahar (Sistan–Baluchestan) lies on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz, which is precisely its strategic value for India’s access to Afghanistan and Central Asia via the INSTC.
- The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed in August 2026, commits Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.
- The Mecca Agreement builds upon a bilateral mutual defence agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in 2025.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps functions under the direct authority of the elected President of Iran.
Statement 1 is correct — the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on 7 August 2026 by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan and contains a collective-defence clause likened to NATO’s Article 5. Statement 2 is correct — it builds on the bilateral Saudi–Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement of September 2025. Statement 3 is incorrect — the IRGC (created 1979, recognised in Article 150 of Iran’s Constitution) answers to the Supreme Leader, who is commander-in-chief under Article 110, not to the elected President.
- The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21A, making free and compulsory education a Fundamental Right for children aged six to fourteen.
- Section 27 of the Right to Education Act, 2009 permits deploying teachers for the decennial census, disaster relief and election-related duties.
- The Schedule to the Right to Education Act, 2009 prescribes a pupil–teacher ratio of 30:1 for upper primary classes.
- Education was transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.
Statement 1 is correct — the 86th Amendment, 2002 inserted Article 21A (ages 6–14), and also recast Article 45 to cover early childhood care up to age 6 and added Article 51A(k). Statement 2 is correct — Section 27 bars non-educational duties except the decennial census, disaster relief and elections to local bodies, State legislatures or Parliament. Statement 3 is incorrect — the Schedule prescribes 30:1 for primary and 35:1 for upper primary classes. Statement 4 is incorrect — education moved to the Concurrent List (Entry 25) through the 42nd Amendment, 1976, not the 44th.
Shell coiling is a maternal-effect trait: handedness is fixed so early in development that it depends on gene products the mother loads into the egg, before the embryo’s own genes act. A mother with even one S (sinistral) variant produces left-handed offspring, and only DD mothers produce right-handed young. A right-handed snail that produced left-handed young in the laboratory showed the snail’s own genotype is not decisive, while the father matters only through the next generation.
- A Census Town is an area notified as urban by the State Government under its municipal law.
- One criterion for a Census Town is that at least 75% of the male main working population is engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.
- Article 243Q provides for a Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area.
- A Metropolitan Planning Committee is constituted for a metropolitan area having a population of ten lakh or more.
Statement 1 is incorrect — this describes a Statutory Town; a Census Town is not notified but qualifies by meeting the Census tests and remains governed as rural by a panchayat. Statement 2 is correct — the three Census-town tests are a population of at least 5,000, density of at least 400/sq km, and at least 75% of male main workers in non-agricultural work. Statement 3 is correct — Article 243Q provides for Nagar Panchayats (transitional areas), Municipal Councils (smaller urban areas) and Municipal Corporations (larger urban areas). Statement 4 is correct — Article 243P(c) defines a metropolitan area as having ten lakh or more people, and Article 243ZE mandates a Metropolitan Planning Committee for it.
DEGURBA overlays a 1 km² population grid and classifies clusters by density and contiguity — for example, urban centres need at least 1,500 people/km² and at least 50,000 people — and was developed by the EU, FAO, ILO, OECD, UN-Habitat and the World Bank before UNSC endorsement in March 2020. Option (a) is the basis of a Statutory Town, (b) is a Census Town criterion and (c) is part of the Agglomeration Index. By DEGURBA, India is about 61% urban, against 31% by the Census 2011 definition.
- Statement-I: In Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980), the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty but held that life imprisonment is the rule and death the exception.
- Statement-II: The Law Commission of India, in its 262nd Report, recommended abolition of the death penalty for all offences without exception.
Statement-I is correct — the Constitution Bench in Bachan Singh (1980) upheld capital punishment but confined it to the ‘rarest of rare’ cases where life imprisonment is ‘unquestionably foreclosed’, following Section 354(3) CrPC (now Section 393(3) BNSS), which makes life imprisonment the rule. Statement-II is incorrect — the 262nd Report (2015) recommended abolition for all offences except terrorism-related offences and waging war against the State, so the absolute phrase ‘without exception’ makes it false.
- A Protected Area Permit is required by foreign nationals to visit notified areas, which include the whole of Nagaland.
- The Inner Line Permit system for Indian citizens traces its origin to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
- Manipur remains outside the Inner Line Permit system, which applies only to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Statement 1 is correct — the PAP, under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, covers all of Nagaland, as well as Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and parts of other border States, and was reimposed in December 2024 in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram after a 2011 relaxation. Statement 2 is correct — the ILP derives from the colonial Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, meant to protect tribal hill areas. Statement 3 is incorrect — Manipur was brought under the ILP in December 2019, so the ILP now applies in four States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.
- Solar photovoltaic plants connected through inverters supply large natural rotational inertia that slows changes in grid frequency.
- Low-voltage ride-through settings require inverters to disconnect from the grid immediately whenever the voltage dips.
Statement 1 is incorrect — inertia comes from the spinning rotors of synchronous generators in coal, gas, hydro and nuclear plants, while inverter-based solar has no rotating mass and supplies little or no natural inertia, so high-solar grids see faster frequency falls after a disturbance. Statement 2 is incorrect — Low-Voltage Ride-Through requires inverters to stay connected through brief dips; mass disconnection is the very failure LVRT prevents, and it amplified Sri Lanka’s blackouts in February 2025 and on 17 October 2026.
- Global Goal on Adaptation — Article 7 of the Paris Agreement
- New Collective Quantified Goal of USD 300 billion a year by 2035 — COP28, Dubai
- Just Transition Work Programme — COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh
Pair 1 is correct — Article 7 of the Paris Agreement (2015) establishes the Global Goal on Adaptation, and India wants its indicators, now narrowed to 59, kept voluntary and not linked to finance. Pair 2 is incorrect — the NCQG of USD 300 billion a year by 2035 was agreed at COP29, Baku (2024), alongside the Baku-to-Belém Roadmap to USD 1.3 trillion, while COP28 (Dubai, 2023) concluded the first Global Stocktake. Pair 3 is correct — the Just Transition Work Programme was established at COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh (2022), and India seeks its continuation at COP31, Antalya (9–20 November 2026).
- SWAS green firecrackers release water vapour to suppress the dust and particulate matter generated while they burn.
- Green firecrackers are certified by the Central Pollution Control Board, whose logo is printed on their packaging.
- Licensing of firecracker manufacture and storage falls under the Explosives Act, 1884, administered through PESO.
Statement 1 is correct — SWAS (Safe Water Releaser) releases water vapour to suppress dust, alongside the STAR (Safe Thermite Cracker) and SAFAL (Safe Minimal Aluminium) formulations. Statement 2 is incorrect — green crackers were developed by CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, and carry the CSIR-NEERI logo with a QR code to verify the certificate, emitting about 30% less particulate matter. Statement 3 is correct — the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) licenses manufacture and storage under the Explosives Act, 1884.
