Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- ‘Public health and sanitation’ is an entry in the State List of the Seventh Schedule.
- The Twelfth Schedule lists ‘public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management’ among the functions that may be devolved to municipalities.
- The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 were framed under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
Statement 1 is correct — Entry 6 of the State List reads ‘Public health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries’, which is why sanitation delivery rests with States and their ULBs. Statement 2 is correct — the 74th Amendment (1992) added the Twelfth Schedule (18 items), read with Article 243W, and Item 6 is public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management. Statement 3 is incorrect — the SWM Rules, 2016 were notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the umbrella law for most waste-management rules, while the Water Act, 1974 deals with water pollution and created the pollution control boards.
- ODF+ — Community and public toilets are functional and well maintained
- ODF++ — Faecal sludge and septage are safely managed
- Water+ — Used water is treated before discharge into water bodies
- Garbage Free City (GFC) star rating — Rating of cities on coverage of piped drinking-water supply
Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correct — ODF+ adds functional, clean and maintained community and public toilets to basic ODF status, ODF++ adds safe management of faecal sludge and septage so that it is not dumped into drains or open areas, and Water+ adds treatment of used water before discharge. Pair 4 is incorrect — the GFC star rating (launched 2018; 1-, 3-, 5- and 7-star) assesses solid waste management, covering segregation, collection, processing and dumpsite remediation, not drinking-water supply.
- The Fund of Funds for Startups, managed by SIDBI, invests directly in the equity of DPIIT-recognised startups.
- Under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, the ‘Tarun Plus’ category covers loans above ₹10 lakh and up to ₹20 lakh.
- The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme is implemented at the national level by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
Statement 1 is incorrect — the FFS (corpus ₹10,000 crore, managed by SIDBI) commits capital to SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds, which then invest in startups; up to October 2026, ₹12,623 crore had been committed to 166 AIFs, which invested ₹28,254 crore in 1,475 startups. Statement 2 is correct — the MUDRA tiers are Shishu (up to ₹50,000), Kishore (₹50,000–₹5 lakh), Tarun (₹5–10 lakh) and Tarun Plus (₹10–20 lakh), the ceiling having been raised to ₹20 lakh after the Union Budget 2024-25. Statement 3 is correct — PMEGP (2008), which merged PMRY and REGP, is administered by the Ministry of MSME with KVIC as the national-level nodal agency and gives a margin-money subsidy on bank loans for new micro-enterprises.
- Statement-I: The decision adopting the Paris Agreement states that its provision on loss and damage does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation.
- Statement-II: The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was agreed upon at COP27 held at Sharm el-Sheikh.
Statement-I is correct — Article 8 of the Paris Agreement (2015) recognises loss and damage, and Decision 1/CP.21, para 51 adds that Article 8 ‘does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation’. Statement-II is correct — the Fund was agreed at COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2022) and operationalised at COP28 (Dubai, 2023), with voluntary contributions. However, a fund created in 2022 cannot explain a 2015 decision to exclude liability, which reflected developed-country resistance to compensation claims, so Statement-II does not explain Statement-I.
- Lliuya v. RWE — Higher Regional Court, Hamm (Germany) — Claim dismissed, but a major emitter held liable in principle for its proportional share
- Milieudefensie v. Royal Dutch Shell — Court of Appeal, The Hague — Upheld the order to cut Shell’s emissions by 45% by 2030
- KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland — International Court of Justice — State’s climate inaction violated the right to private and family life
- M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India — Supreme Court of India — Recognised a right against the adverse effects of climate change
Row 1 is correct — on 28 May 2025 the OLG Hamm dismissed the Peruvian farmer’s claim because the flood risk to his house was not sufficiently imminent, but accepted that a large emitter can be liable in proportion to its contribution, including for transboundary harm. Row 2 is incorrect — in November 2024 the Court of Appeal set aside the 2021 District Court’s specific 45% reduction order, while confirming Shell’s duty of care to limit emissions. Row 3 is incorrect — KlimaSeniorinnen (April 2024) was decided by the European Court of Human Rights under Article 8 ECHR, while the ICJ gave a separate advisory opinion in July 2025. Row 4 is correct — in April 2024 the Supreme Court read a right against the adverse effects of climate change into Articles 14 and 21.
Polanyi argued that every push to extend the self-regulating market provokes a counter-movement in which society protects itself through labour laws, unions, social insurance and regulation, and he explained the crises of the 1930s, including fascism, as outcomes of this tension. Option (a) describes the post-war welfare state, (b) factor mobility and (c) the structural-change thesis of Colin Clark and A.G.B. Fisher. Related Polanyian ideas are embeddedness and ‘fictitious commodities’ — land, labour and money.
- An Aadhaar number can be issued only to persons who are citizens of India.
- Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 permits Aadhaar authentication to be required for subsidies whose expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.
- The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 made the linking of Aadhaar with electoral roll entries mandatory for every elector.
Statement 1 is incorrect — Aadhaar is issued to residents, persons who have lived in India for at least 182 days in the preceding 12 months, and is not proof of citizenship, whereas the Voter ID (EPIC) does require citizenship under Article 326. Statement 2 is correct — Section 7 covers subsidies, benefits and services funded from the Consolidated Fund of India and was upheld in Puttaswamy (2018). Statement 3 is incorrect — the 2021 amendment allowed electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar for authentication, but sharing it is voluntary and no entry can be denied or deleted for failure to provide it.
- Under Article 262, Parliament may by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction over an inter-State river water dispute.
- ‘Water, including water supplies, irrigation and canals’ is an entry in the Concurrent List.
Statement 1 is correct — Article 262(2) allows Parliament to exclude the jurisdiction of courts, a power used by the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, under which tribunal awards carry the force of a Supreme Court decree. Statement 2 is incorrect — water is Entry 17 of the State List, subject to Entry 56 of the Union List (regulation and development of inter-State rivers in the public interest), and is not in the Concurrent List.
- Shahpur Kandi Dam — Ravi
- Harike Barrage — Confluence of the Beas and the Sutlej
- Bhakra Dam — Beas
- Pong Dam — Beas
Pair 1 is correct — Shahpur Kandi, on the Punjab–J&K border on the Ravi and completed in 2024, retains Ravi water that previously flowed to Pakistan. Pair 2 is correct — Harike (Punjab) is at the Beas–Sutlej confluence and feeds the Indira Gandhi Canal to Rajasthan. Pair 3 is incorrect — Bhakra Dam (Himachal Pradesh, reservoir Gobind Sagar) is on the Sutlej. Pair 4 is correct — Pong Dam (reservoir Maharana Pratap Sagar) is on the Beas.
- The 2016 demonetisation was effected through a Government notification issued under Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
- ‘Currency with the public’ is derived by deducting cash held by banks from currency in circulation.
- The 2016 exercise was the first time high-denomination notes were demonetised in India.
Statement 1 is correct — Section 26(2) allows the Central Government, on the recommendation of the RBI Central Board, to declare a series of notes no longer legal tender, and the Supreme Court upheld the 2016 decision by 4:1 in Vivek Narayan Sharma (2023). Statement 2 is correct — currency with the public equals currency in circulation minus cash with banks, and it reached ₹42.55 lakh crore in October 2026 against ₹17.97 lakh crore before demonetisation. Statement 3 is incorrect — high-denomination notes were demonetised earlier in 1946 and 1978, the latter under the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978.
- FMD is caused by a virus of the family Picornaviridae and affects cloven-hoofed animals.
- Vaccination against one serotype of the FMD virus provides protection against all other serotypes.
- SAT-1 is one of the seven recognised serotypes of the FMD virus.
- The National Animal Disease Control Programme covers vaccination against FMD and brucellosis.
Statement 1 is correct — FMD is caused by an Aphthovirus (family Picornaviridae) and affects cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs, causing fever, vesicles and a sharp drop in milk yield. Statement 2 is incorrect — there is no cross-protection between serotypes, which is why India’s vaccine is trivalent (O, A, Asia-1) and a SAT-1 incursion would need a new vaccine strain. Statement 3 is correct — the seven serotypes are O, A, C, Asia-1, SAT-1, SAT-2 and SAT-3; SAT-1 has never been reported in India, and the national tabletop exercise VAJRA-SAT (4–5 November 2026) prepared for a possible incursion. Statement 4 is correct — NADCP (2019) funds mass vaccination against FMD and brucellosis.
- The International Seabed Authority, established under UNCLOS, is headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica.
- Polymetallic nodules occur mainly around hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges.
- India was the first country to be granted Pioneer Investor status for exploration of polymetallic nodules, in the Central Indian Ocean Basin.
Statement 1 is correct — the ISA was set up under UNCLOS (1982) and the 1994 Implementation Agreement, is based in Kingston, Jamaica, and regulates mining in ‘the Area’, which UNCLOS treats as the common heritage of mankind. Statement 2 is incorrect — polymetallic nodules lie on abyssal plains (4,000–6,000 m), while deposits formed around hydrothermal vents on ridges are polymetallic sulphides, rich in copper, zinc, gold and silver. Statement 3 is correct — India received Pioneer Investor status in 1987 for the CIOB, also holds an ISA contract for sulphides on the Indian Ocean ridges, and its Matsya submersible (Samudrayaan) is designed for 6,000 m.
- The WHO Air Quality Guidelines, 2021 prescribe a 24-hour PM2.5 guideline value of 15 µg/m³.
- India’s 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 is four times the WHO 2021 24-hour guideline value.
- India’s National Air Quality Index is computed using up to eight pollutants.
- SAFAR, an air-quality forecasting system, was developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.
All four statements are correct. The WHO AQG 2021 set PM2.5 at 15 µg/m³ (24-hour) and 5 µg/m³ (annual) — on Deepavali night, NSUT West recorded 3,008.4 µg/m³, about 200 times this value. India’s NAAQS 2009 sets PM2.5 at 60 µg/m³ (24-hour), four times 15, and 40 µg/m³ annually. The National AQI (2014) covers PM10, PM2.5, NO₂, SO₂, CO, O₃, NH₃ and Pb across six categories, and SAFAR was developed by IITM Pune (Ministry of Earth Sciences) and first deployed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
- Statement-I: The Finance Commission of India recommends measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats in the State.
- Statement-II: The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 inserted a clause in Article 280 assigning this function to the Finance Commission.
Statement-I is correct — this is Article 280(3)(bb), and the Sixteenth Finance Commission has recommended ₹4,35,236 crore for 2.55 lakh panchayats and traditional local bodies for 2026–31. Statement-II is correct — the 73rd Amendment inserted clause (bb) for panchayats, and the 74th inserted clause (c) for municipalities. The function in Statement-I exists because of the amendment in Statement-II, so Statement-II explains Statement-I; note that this is a function of the Union Finance Commission, distinct from the State Finance Commission under Article 243-I.
Chaturanga (c. 6th century CE, Gupta era) means ‘four limbs’ — the infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots of the chaturangini sena, which became the pawn, knight, bishop and rook. The game travelled to Persia as shatranj and then to the Arab world and Europe; later four-player dice variants existed, but the name comes from the army divisions. In current news, Anuj Shrivatri became India’s 100th Grandmaster in November 2026.
