Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Article 41 directs the State, within the limits of its economic capacity, to provide public assistance in cases of old age, sickness and disablement.
- ‘Social security and social insurance’ is an entry in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule.
- Provident funds and old-age pensions fall under the entry on welfare of labour in the Concurrent List.
Statement 1 is correct — Article 41 (a Directive Principle) asks the State, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, to secure the right to work, education and public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement. Statement 2 is incorrect — ‘social security and social insurance; employment and unemployment’ is Entry 23 of the Concurrent List, so both Parliament and State legislatures can make laws on it. Statement 3 is correct — Entry 24 of the Concurrent List covers welfare of labour, including provident funds, employers’ liability, workmen’s compensation, invalidity and old-age pensions and maternity benefits.
- It consolidates nine central labour laws relating to social security into a single legislative framework.
- It recognises gig workers and platform workers and provides for a social security fund for their welfare.
- It entitles fixed-term employees to gratuity only after five years of continuous service.
- It came into force on 21 November 2025, along with the other three labour codes.
Statement 1 is correct — the Code merges nine Acts, including the EPF & MP Act, 1952, the ESI Act, 1948, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008. Statement 2 is correct — it defines gig and platform workers and creates a Social Security Fund financed partly by aggregators (1–2% of annual turnover, capped at 5% of payments to such workers). Statement 3 is incorrect — fixed-term employees get pro-rata gratuity after one year of service, while the five-year condition applies to regular employees. Statement 4 is correct — all four labour codes came into force on 21 November 2025, replacing 29 central laws.
- It is a regional navigation system covering India and a region extending about 1,500 km beyond India’s boundary.
- Its original seven-satellite architecture placed all the satellites in geostationary orbit.
Statement 1 is correct — NavIC (earlier IRNSS) is a regional system serving the Indian landmass and about 1,500 km beyond it. Statement 2 is incorrect — the constellation was designed with three satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) and four in inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), whose figure-of-eight ground track improves coverage geometry.
- Statement-I: The second-generation NavIC satellites of the NVS series transmit navigation signals in the L1 band in addition to the L5 and S bands.
- Statement-II: NVS-01, the first satellite of the NVS series, carried an indigenously developed rubidium atomic clock.
Statement-I is correct — the NVS series adds L1 to the legacy L5 and S bands, and since L1 (1575.42 MHz) is the civil band used by GPS, it improves NavIC’s compatibility with mass-market receivers. Statement-II is correct — NVS-01 (29 May 2023, GSLV-F12) carried an indigenous rubidium atomic clock developed by the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. However, an atomic clock governs timing accuracy and does not explain why a new signal band was added, so Statement-II does not explain Statement-I.
- It is conducted by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
- Under its Usual Status approach, a person’s activity status is determined with reference to the preceding 365 days.
Statement 1 is incorrect — the PLFS is conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; launched in 2017-18, it replaced the NSSO’s five-yearly employment–unemployment surveys. Statement 2 is correct — Usual Status (principal plus subsidiary activity) uses a 365-day reference period, while Current Weekly Status uses the preceding 7 days.
- It is a tripartite body in which governments, employers and workers are all represented.
- It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969, the year it completed fifty years of existence.
- India has ratified the ILO conventions on freedom of association (C87) and the right to organise and collective bargaining (C98).
- Its Decent Work Agenda rests on employment creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue.
Statement 1 is correct — the ILO (1919, Geneva) is the only tripartite UN agency, and India is a founding member. Statement 2 is correct — it received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969, its 50th anniversary year. Statement 3 is incorrect — India has not ratified C87 and C98; of the eight older core conventions it has ratified six, covering forced labour, equal remuneration, discrimination and child labour. Statement 4 is correct — the Decent Work Agenda (1999) rests on these four pillars and is embedded in SDG 8.
- A safeguard duty may be imposed against a surge in imports causing serious injury to domestic industry, without establishing any unfair trade practice.
- In India, such duties are recommended by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies and imposed by the Ministry of Finance.
- An anti-dumping duty is levied to offset subsidies granted by a foreign government to its exporters.
Statement 1 is correct — under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, a temporary duty can counter an import surge that causes serious injury, even when the imports are fairly traded. Statement 2 is correct — the DGTR (Ministry of Commerce) investigates and recommends, and the Ministry of Finance notifies the duty. Statement 3 is incorrect — offsetting foreign subsidies is the job of a countervailing duty, while an anti-dumping duty targets exports priced below normal value.
The ISA was launched by India and France at COP21, Paris (2015), and its Framework Agreement entered into force in 2017. It is headquartered in Gurugram — the first treaty-based intergovernmental organisation based in India — while IRENA is in Abu Dhabi. Membership was first meant for ‘sunbelt’ countries, but an amendment in force since 2021 opened it to all UN member states, and it is a treaty-based body with observer status at the UN General Assembly, not a UN specialised agency.
- Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers the Central Government to direct the blocking of public access to online information.
- In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015), the Supreme Court upheld the blocking power under the IT Act while striking down the offence of sending offensive messages.
- Section 79 of the IT Act grants intermediaries conditional exemption from liability for third-party content.
Statement 1 is incorrect — the blocking power lies in Section 69A (added in 2008) and is exercised under the Blocking Rules, 2009, while Section 66A was the ‘offensive messages’ offence. Statement 2 is correct — Shreya Singhal (2015) struck down 66A as vague and upheld 69A for its procedural safeguards, also reading ‘actual knowledge’ in Section 79 as a court order or government notification. Statement 3 is correct — Section 79 is the safe harbour, lost under 79(3)(b) if a platform fails to act on actual knowledge, now within 3 hours under the amended IT Rules.
- Statement-I: During an El Niño event, the Southern Oscillation Index generally turns negative.
- Statement-II: During an El Niño event, sea-level pressure tends to fall near Tahiti in the central Pacific and rise near Darwin in northern Australia.
Statement-I is correct — a sustained negative SOI accompanies El Niño, while a positive SOI accompanies La Niña. Statement-II is correct — the SOI is based on the standardised pressure difference Tahiti minus Darwin, and in El Niño pressure falls at Tahiti and rises at Darwin as convection shifts east. Lower Tahiti and higher Darwin pressure is exactly what makes the index negative, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.
- A positive Indian Ocean Dipole is marked by warmer-than-normal waters in the western Indian Ocean and cooler waters in the eastern Indian Ocean.
- The Indian Ocean Dipole tends to be most pronounced between September and November.
- The India Meteorological Department classifies all-India seasonal rainfall below 90% of the long-period average as ‘deficient’.
All three statements are correct. In a positive IOD, the western pole (off Africa) is warmer and the eastern pole (off Sumatra) cooler, strengthening moisture flow towards India; the IOD usually develops around June and peaks in September–November, so it mainly affects the later part of the monsoon. IMD classes rainfall below 90% of the LPA as deficient, 90–95% as below normal, 96–104% as normal, 105–110% as above normal and above 110% as excess; with an LPA of 87 cm, 2026 ended at 87.4% — deficient.
- The National Policy on Biofuels, 2018 originally set the target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol for 2030.
- Ethanol has a higher energy content per litre than petrol.
- Second-generation (2G) ethanol is produced from lignocellulosic biomass such as crop residue.
- Under the amended Central Motor Vehicles Rules, E85 and E100 fuels may be used only in flex-fuel vehicles designed by manufacturers.
Statement 1 is correct — NPB 2018 set E20 by 2030, a 2022 amendment advanced it to 2025-26, and the target was met in 2025. Statement 2 is incorrect — ethanol carries only about two-thirds of petrol’s energy per litre, hence the mileage loss; its advantage is a higher octane rating. Statement 3 is correct — 2G ethanol comes from crop residue and other lignocellulosic biomass, supported by PM JI-VAN Yojana (2019). Statement 4 is correct — Rule 115 now lists E85 and E100 for OEM-designed flex-fuel vehicles only, and existing vehicles need not switch.
- Anda — Hemispherical dome
- Harmika — Ornamental gateway
- Vedika — Railing enclosing the stupa
- Chhatra — Raised terrace used for circumambulation
Pair 1 is correct — the anda is the hemispherical dome built over the relic chamber. Pair 2 is incorrect — the harmika is the railed, box-like enclosure on top of the dome, while the gateway is the torana. Pair 3 is correct — the vedika is the railing that encloses the stupa and the processional path (pradakshina patha). Pair 4 is incorrect — the chhatra is the umbrella on the mast (yashti), while the raised terrace is the medhi.
Since March 2023, VDA service providers have been reporting entities under the PMLA and must register with FIU-IND. Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender — the RBI’s e₹ (CBDC) is the digital form of legal tender — and in IAMAI v. RBI (2020) the Supreme Court set aside, rather than upheld, the RBI’s 2018 curbs as disproportionate. VDA gains are taxed at a flat 30% with 1% TDS on transfers (Finance Act, 2022), not at slab rates.
- The duty to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform was added by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002.
- Like Fundamental Rights, the Fundamental Duties can be directly enforced by the courts through writs.
Statement 1 is incorrect — Article 51A(h) was among the original ten duties added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the Swaran Singh Committee’s recommendation, while the 86th Amendment (2002) added 51A(k), the duty of parents or guardians to provide educational opportunities to children aged 6–14. Statement 2 is incorrect — Fundamental Duties are non-justiciable, so no writ lies to enforce them, though courts use them to interpret laws and Parliament can give them effect through legislation.
