Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- BIMSTEC was established in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration, originally as a grouping of four countries.
- The permanent Secretariat of BIMSTEC is located in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Nepal and Bhutan were among the founding members of the grouping when it was set up.
Statement 1 is correct — BIMSTEC was founded on 6 June 1997 by the Bangkok Declaration as BIST-EC, comprising Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Statement 2 is incorrect — the BIMSTEC Secretariat is in Dhaka (set up in 2014), while Kathmandu hosts the SAARC Secretariat. Statement 3 is incorrect — Myanmar joined in December 1997, and Nepal and Bhutan became full members only in 2004, when the grouping took its present name.
- Ten Degree Channel — Andaman group and Nicobar group of islands
- Six Degree Channel — Great Nicobar and Sumatra
- Coco Islands — Bangladesh
- Duncan Passage — North Andaman and Middle Andaman
Pair 1 is correct — the Ten Degree Channel separates Little Andaman from Car Nicobar, i.e. the Andaman group from the Nicobar group. Pair 2 is correct — the Six Degree Channel lies between Great Nicobar (Indira Point) and Sumatra (Indonesia), on the approach to the Malacca Strait. Pair 3 is incorrect — the Coco Islands belong to Myanmar and lie just north of the Andaman chain. Pair 4 is incorrect — Duncan Passage separates Rutland Island (South Andaman) from Little Andaman.
- Sittwe port, developed under the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, is located in Myanmar’s Shan State.
- India’s land border with Myanmar is longer than its land border with Bangladesh.
Statement 1 is incorrect — Sittwe is in Rakhine State on the Bay of Bengal coast, while Shan State is landlocked; the Kaladan project links Kolkata → Sittwe (sea) → Paletwa (Kaladan river) → Zorinpui, Mizoram (road). Statement 2 is incorrect — the India–Myanmar border is about 1,643 km, while the India–Bangladesh border is about 4,097 km, India’s longest land boundary.
- Piprahwa is located in the Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, close to the India–Nepal border.
- The relics were first discovered in 1898 by the Archaeological Survey of India during a systematic excavation.
- Excavations in the 1970s yielded terracotta sealings referring to Kapilavastu.
Statement 1 is correct — Piprahwa is in Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, near the Nepal border. Statement 2 is incorrect — the 1898 discovery was made by William Claxton Peppé, a British estate manager, not the ASI, which excavated the site later in 1971–77. Statement 3 is correct — the ASI excavations found sealings naming Kapilavastu, supporting Piprahwa’s identification with ancient Kapilavastu, an identification still debated against Tilaurakot in Nepal.
Tawang Monastery was founded in 1680–81 by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, and belongs to the Gelug school of Tibetan (Vajrayana) Buddhism, which the Dalai Lamas head. Theravada is the tradition of the Golden Pagoda at Namsai (Tai Khamti community), another stop on the same relic route, while Nyingma and Kagyu are other Tibetan schools present elsewhere in the Himalaya.
- It is implemented by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas, a statutory body.
- Its Stage IV (‘Severe+’) is invoked when the Air Quality Index exceeds 450.
- It was first notified following directions of the Supreme Court in the M.C. Mehta v. Union of India litigation.
- Its stages can be invoked only after the AQI has actually crossed the threshold, and not on the basis of forecasts.
Statement 1 is correct — CAQM was created under the CAQM Act, 2021, replacing the court-appointed EPCA. Statement 2 is correct — the stages are I — Poor (201–300), II — Very Poor (301–400), III — Severe (401–450) and IV — Severe+ (above 450). Statement 3 is correct — GRAP was notified in January 2017 after the Supreme Court’s directions in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India. Statement 4 is incorrect — since the 2022 revision, stages can be invoked pre-emptively on the basis of AQI forecasts.
- Statement-I: Polar-orbiting sensors such as NASA’s MODIS may undercount stubble fires in Punjab that are lit late in the afternoon.
- Statement-II: Polar-orbiting satellites observe a given location only at fixed overpass times, whereas geostationary satellites observe the same area continuously.
Statement-I is correct — MODIS on Terra and Aqua passes over north India in the late morning and early afternoon, so fires lit after these passes can be missed, and reports cited by the author say most recent fires burned after 3 PM. Statement-II is correct — sun-synchronous polar orbiters image a place at roughly fixed local times, while geostationary satellites (~35,786 km altitude, such as South Korea’s GK-2A) stay over one region and observe it continuously. Fires are undercounted precisely because the satellite is overhead only at fixed times, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.
- The 2016 demonetisation was effected through a notification under Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
- In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the 2016 demonetisation notification by a majority of 4:1.
- High-denomination banknotes had earlier been demonetised in India in 1946 and 1978.
Statement 1 is correct — Section 26(2) of the RBI Act lets the Centre, on the recommendation of the RBI Central Board, declare any series of notes to have ceased to be legal tender. Statement 2 is incorrect — in Vivek Narayan Sharma v. Union of India (January 2023), the Court upheld the decision by 4:1, with the dissent holding it should have been done through legislation. Statement 3 is correct — notes were demonetised in 1946 and in 1978, the latter through the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978.
- In a difference-in-differences design, the change over time in an affected group is compared with the change over the same period in a comparison group.
- A fall in the quantity bought by existing buyers, with no change in the number of products available, is a contraction at the extensive margin.
Statement 1 is correct — difference-in-differences nets out shocks common to both groups by comparing their changes, as when the demonetisation study compared acute drugs (affected) with chronic drugs (comparison). Statement 2 is incorrect — this is a contraction at the intensive margin (how much is bought), while the extensive margin concerns whether products or buyers enter or exit; the study found a pure intensive-margin fall.
- A person arrested and detained must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours, excluding the time necessary for the journey.
- The safeguards under clauses (1) and (2) apply equally to persons held under laws providing for preventive detention.
- No preventive detention law may authorise detention beyond three months without an Advisory Board’s report, except as Parliament provides by law.
Statement 1 is correct — this is Article 22(2), and the Supreme Court has now held that the 24-hour clock starts when liberty is first curtailed, not when an arrest is formally recorded. Statement 2 is incorrect — Article 22(3) excludes enemy aliens and preventive detainees from clauses (1) and (2). Statement 3 is correct — Article 22(4) sets the three-month limit unless an Advisory Board reports sufficient cause, and Article 22(7) lets Parliament prescribe exceptions by law.
- Joginder Kumar v. State of U.P. (1994) — The power to arrest does not by itself justify an arrest; reasons must exist
- D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) — Guidelines on arrest and detention to prevent custodial violence
- Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014) — Grounds of arrest under the PMLA must be furnished in writing
- Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) — Procedure under Article 21 must be just, fair and reasonable
Pair 1 is correct — Joginder Kumar held that an arrest must be justified and is not automatic. Pair 2 is correct — D.K. Basu laid down guidelines such as a memo of arrest, informing a relative and medical examination. Pair 3 is incorrect — Arnesh Kumar curbed routine arrests for offences punishable with up to 7 years, while the rule on written grounds under the PMLA comes from Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India (2023). Pair 4 is correct — Maneka Gandhi read due-process content into ‘procedure established by law’.
- In Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992), the Supreme Court upheld 27% OBC reservation and permitted reservation in promotions.
- Under the 1993 Office Memorandum, income from salaries and agricultural land is not clubbed for the income/wealth test.
- The National Commission for Backward Classes was given constitutional status by the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018.
Statement 1 is incorrect — Indra Sawhney upheld the 27% quota with a creamy-layer exclusion and a 50% ceiling, but held that reservation in promotions was not permissible (the 77th Amendment, 1995 later enabled it for SCs/STs). Statement 2 is correct — the DoPT OM of 8 September 1993 excludes salary and agricultural income from the income/wealth test, which the Supreme Court upheld in March 2026. Statement 3 is correct — the 102nd Amendment inserted Article 338B, giving the NCBC constitutional status.
- Storage capacity expressed in GWh indicates the total energy that can be delivered, while GW indicates the rate of delivery.
- In a pumped storage plant, water is pumped to the upper reservoir when electricity is scarce and released when power is in surplus.
- Viability Gap Funding is a grant that bridges the gap between a project’s cost and the revenue it can recover commercially.
Statement 1 is correct — GW measures power and GWh measures energy, so a 1 GW system running for 4 hours stores 4 GWh. Statement 2 is incorrect — the direction is reversed: water is pumped up when power is surplus and cheap and released through turbines when power is scarce, at peak demand. Statement 3 is correct — VGF is a capital grant that makes otherwise unviable projects bankable, and the new scheme provides ₹14,500 crore for 92 GWh of storage.
- Statement-I: The Economic Census enumerates establishments engaged in crop production and plantation along with all non-farm establishments.
- Statement-II: The Economic Census is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in collaboration with State and UT Governments.
Statement-I is incorrect — the Economic Census covers non-farm establishments and excludes crop production and plantation, which are covered separately by the Agriculture Census; the 8th Economic Census under VISTAR will map non-farm establishments down to Gram Panchayat and ward level. Statement-II is correct — MoSPI conducts it with States/UTs; the 1st was held in 1977 and the 7th in 2019, and the next will form the baseline for a National Statistical Business Register.
- A Zero FIR can be registered at any police station irrespective of where the offence occurred, and this is now codified in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
- ‘Police’ and ‘Public order’ are subjects listed in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.
Statement 1 is correct — Section 173 of the BNSS codifies the Zero FIR, and the e-Zero FIR mechanism, functional in 19 States per the I4C, converts high-value cyber-fraud complaints into FIRs. Statement 2 is incorrect — Police and Public order are in the State List (List II), which is why the I4C relies on State Cyber Crime Coordination Centres, notified so far by only 14 States.
