Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Article 47 of the Constitution directs the State to endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drinks and drugs injurious to health.
- “Intoxicating liquors” is an entry in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule.
- The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 provides immunity from prosecution, subject to conditions, to an addict who volunteers for de-addiction treatment.
Statement 1 is correct — Article 47, a Directive Principle, links nutrition and public health with the prohibition of intoxicating drinks and harmful drugs, except for medicinal purposes, and the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan cites it as its constitutional basis. Statement 2 is incorrect — “intoxicating liquors” is Entry 8 of the State List, which is why States such as Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram decide on prohibition, while drugs and poisons fall under Entry 19 of the Concurrent List. Statement 3 is correct — Section 64A of the NDPS Act grants immunity to an addict charged with consumption or a small-quantity offence who volunteers for and completes treatment.
- MUDRA Ltd is a subsidiary of the Small Industries Development Bank of India and refinances lenders rather than lending directly to micro enterprises.
- Under PMMY, the ‘Tarun Plus’ category covers loans above ₹10 lakh and up to ₹20 lakh.
- The CGFMU is managed by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company.
- Overdrafts provided under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana are excluded from the coverage of the CGFMU.
Statement 1 is correct — MUDRA is a wholly owned subsidiary of SIDBI, and banks, NBFCs and MFIs lend while MUDRA refinances them. Statement 2 is correct — after the Union Budget 2024-25 raised the ceiling to ₹20 lakh, Tarun Plus (₹10–20 lakh) was added for borrowers who repaid earlier Tarun loans, above Shishu (up to ₹50,000), Kishore (to ₹5 lakh) and Tarun (to ₹10 lakh). Statement 3 is correct — NCGTC, set up in 2014 under the Department of Financial Services, is the trustee of CGFMU, which the Cabinet has extended to 31 March 2031 with a ₹5,000 crore corpus. Statement 4 is incorrect — CGFMU covers PMJDY overdrafts of up to ₹10,000, along with PMMY loans up to ₹20 lakh and certain SHG loans.
- Loans under the scheme are meant for greenfield enterprises set up by women, Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs.
- Loans under the scheme range from ₹1 crore to ₹10 crore per enterprise.
Statement 1 is correct — launched in April 2016, Stand-Up India finances greenfield enterprises of women, SC and ST entrepreneurs in manufacturing, services, trading and agri-allied activities, and the Cabinet has extended it to 31 March 2031. Statement 2 is incorrect — loans range from above ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore, covering up to 85% of the project cost with a credit guarantee on 85% of the loan; the scheme sits just above Mudra’s range, which ends at ₹20 lakh.
- Under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the inflation target is determined by the Central Government, in consultation with the RBI, once in every five years.
- The inflation target is defined in terms of the Consumer Price Index (Combined).
- In the event of a tie in the Monetary Policy Committee, the Governor of the RBI has a second or casting vote.
All three statements are correct. Section 45ZA of the RBI Act, inserted in 2016, provides for the target, and on 25 March 2026 the Centre retained 4% ± 2% for April 2026 – March 2031. The target uses CPI (Combined) inflation, compiled by the NSO with its base year revised to 2024, not the Wholesale Price Index. The six-member MPC — three from the RBI and three external members appointed by the Centre — decides by majority, with the Governor having a casting vote in a tie.
- Statement-I: Other things being equal, a depreciation of the rupee tends to raise domestic inflation in India.
- Statement-II: India meets a large part of its crude oil requirement through imports, which become costlier in rupee terms when the rupee depreciates.
Statement-I is correct — a weaker rupee makes imports costlier, raising prices of fuel, fertiliser, edible oil and electronics (imported inflation), while also raising the rupee value of exports, as seen in this year’s petroleum-product exports. Statement-II is correct — India imports most of the crude oil it uses, and oil prices feed into transport, power and manufacturing costs across the economy. The costlier oil import bill is a principal channel through which depreciation becomes inflation, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.
- Statement-I: El Niño years are associated with a tendency towards stronger south-west monsoon rainfall over India.
- Statement-II: El Niño refers to an abnormal warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Statement-I is incorrect — El Niño years tend to bring a weaker south-west monsoon and higher drought risk in India, as with this year’s deficient kharif rainfall and low reservoir levels, though a positive Indian Ocean Dipole can offset the link. Statement-II is correct — El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), while La Niña, the cool phase, is usually associated with a good Indian monsoon.
- ‘Black mass’ is the powdered material obtained after shredding spent batteries and contains metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt.
- Hydrometallurgical recycling recovers metals through chemical leaching, while pyrometallurgical recycling relies on high-temperature smelting.
- Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries contain more cobalt than nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, which makes them more valuable to recycle.
Statement 1 is correct — black mass is the intermediate powder from discharged, dismantled and shredded batteries, and India has now prohibited its export so that it is refined at home. Statement 2 is correct — hydrometallurgy leaches metals with chemical solutions and yields battery-grade salts with high recovery, while pyrometallurgy smelts at high temperature and loses much of the lithium. Statement 3 is incorrect — LFP (lithium, iron, phosphate) cathodes contain no cobalt or nickel, which is why the shift to LFP lowers the value recyclers can recover.
- The Rules were notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and apply only to electric-vehicle batteries.
- The Rules are based on the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility.
Statement 1 is incorrect — the Rules, notified by MoEFCC on 24 August 2022 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, cover all battery types (EV, portable, automotive and industrial), replacing the 2001 rules, so the word “only” makes it false. Statement 2 is correct — Extended Producer Responsibility makes producers responsible for collection and recycling, tracked through a CPCB portal with tradable certificates, and recyclers must recover 90% of battery material from 2026-27.
- Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 exempts an intermediary from liability for third-party information, subject to conditions including the observance of due diligence.
- In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015), the Supreme Court struck down Section 69A of the IT Act, which empowers the government to block online content.
- Under the IT Rules, 2021, a ‘significant social media intermediary’ is one whose number of registered users in India exceeds a threshold notified by the Central Government.
Statement 1 is correct — Section 79, the “safe harbour”, protects intermediaries that do not initiate, select or modify content and observe due diligence, and it is now under review for platforms that algorithmically amplify content. Statement 2 is incorrect — Shreya Singhal struck down Section 66A (offensive messages) and read down Section 79(3)(b), but upheld Section 69A and its blocking rules as having adequate safeguards. Statement 3 is correct — the threshold notified in 2021 is 50 lakh registered users, and such platforms must appoint India-based compliance, nodal and grievance officers.
- NALSA v. Union of India (2014) — Recognised transgender persons as a ‘third gender’
- Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) — Upheld the criminalisation of consensual same-sex relations under Section 377 IPC
- K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) — Recognised the right to privacy as a fundamental right
Pair 1 is correct — NALSA recognised a third gender, read “sex” in Articles 15 and 16 to include gender identity and upheld self-identification, and is now at the centre of a fresh plea and challenges to the 2026 Amendment. Pair 2 is incorrect — Navtej Singh Johar, a five-judge Bench, decriminalised consensual same-sex relations between adults by reading down Section 377, overruling Suresh Kumar Koushal (2013). Pair 3 is correct — a nine-judge Bench in Puttaswamy held privacy to be a fundamental right under Article 21 and Part III.
ATMP stands for Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging, and OSAT for Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test — the back end of the chain after fabrication, and Pillar 4 of Semicon 2.0. Option (a) is chip design (Pillar 1), (b) is fabrication in a fab (Pillar 3), and (c) belongs to machines and materials (Pillar 2).
- The Directorate General of Foreign Trade is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- The power of the Central Government to prohibit exports by notification flows from the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.
- Goods placed in the ‘Restricted’ category of India’s export policy cannot be exported under any circumstances.
Statement 1 is correct — the DGFT, under the Department of Commerce, administers the Foreign Trade Policy (2023) and has just moved lithium-ion battery black mass from “Free” to “Prohibited”. Statement 2 is correct — Section 3 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 empowers the Centre to prohibit, restrict or regulate imports and exports. Statement 3 is incorrect — “Restricted” items can be exported with an authorisation (licence), and only “Prohibited” items cannot be exported at all; the other categories are “Free” and STE (through State Trading Enterprises).
- PM2.5 refers to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less.
- India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard for 24-hour PM2.5 concentration is stricter than the WHO’s 2021 air quality guideline.
- The National Air Quality Index has six categories, ranging from ‘Good’ to ‘Severe’.
- The Central Pollution Control Board was constituted under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Statement 1 is correct — PM2.5 particles (≤ 2.5 µm) penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream. Statement 2 is incorrect — India’s 24-hour PM2.5 standard (NAAQS 2009) is 60 µg/m³ against the WHO 2021 guideline of 15 µg/m³, so India’s standard is four times more lenient. Statement 3 is correct — the NAQI (2014) has six categories (Good, Satisfactory, Moderate, Poor, Very Poor and Severe), and for PM2.5 “severe” begins above 250 µg/m³, a level 70% of stations touched this Deepavali. Statement 4 is incorrect — the CPCB was constituted in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and was later entrusted with functions under the Air Act, 1981.
- The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a Legislative Assembly, while the Union Territory of Ladakh does not.
- ‘Police’ and ‘public order’ fall within the legislative competence of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Statement 1 is correct — from 31 October 2019, the Act created the UT of J&K with a legislature (like Puducherry) and the UT of Ladakh without one (like Chandigarh). Statement 2 is incorrect — the Assembly can legislate on State List matters except public order and police, which remain with the Centre through the Lieutenant-Governor, a point relevant after the latest attack on a CRPF checkpoint in Kulgam.
- North Block and South Block — Herbert Baker
- Rashtrapati Bhavan — Edwin Lutyens
- Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan), 1927 — Charles Correa
- India Gate — Edwin Lutyens
Pair 1 is correct — Herbert Baker designed the Secretariat buildings, North and South Blocks, which are now to become the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum (₹3,230 crore). Pair 2 is correct — Edwin Lutyens designed the Viceroy’s House, now Rashtrapati Bhavan. Pair 3 is incorrect — the old Parliament House (inaugurated 1927) was designed by Lutyens and Baker, while Charles Correa was a post-independence architect and the new Parliament building (2023) was designed by Bimal Patel. Pair 4 is correct — India Gate (All India War Memorial, unveiled 1931) is a Lutyens design.
