Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
Option (a) is correct — Article 345 allows a State Legislature, by law, to adopt "any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi" for its official purposes, which is why Karnataka must amend Section 2 of the Karnataka Official Language Act, 1963 before its Cabinet decision on Tulu can take effect, as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana did for Urdu. Option (b) is incorrect, since the Census recognises Tulu as an independent language, but it remains a non-scheduled language, with the Eighth Schedule listing only 22 languages. Option (c) is incorrect, as Article 347 vests this power in the President, not the Governor. Option (d) is incorrect, since under Article 346 the official language of the Union is used for communication between States and between a State and the Union, though two States may agree to use Hindi between themselves. An "authority swap" trap substitutes the Governor for the President in option (c), and a "status inflation" trap in (b) confuses Census recognition with scheduled status — Article 345 lets a State choose its languages by law, Article 346 links the States through the Union language, and Article 347 has the President recognise a language on demand.
- Statement-I: India's trade deficit with China widened between 2021 and 2025 even as India emerged as a major hub for mobile-phone assembly.
- Statement-II: Consumption goods bought by Indian households account for the largest share of India's imports from China.
Statement-I is correct — imports from China rose by about 71%, from $87.5 billion in 2021 to $149.5 billion in 2025, while exports stayed broadly flat, so the deficit grew from $64.5 billion to $131.4 billion. Statement-II is incorrect — in 2025, intermediate goods made up 69.7% and capital goods 22% of imports from China, while consumption goods were only 8.2%, meaning the deficit is rooted in Indian factories' dependence on Chinese inputs, not in consumer purchases. This is also why the share of mobile-phone components in imports from China rose from 3.3% in 2022 to 10.1% in 2025 — phone assembly growth has itself pulled in more imports. Statement-II states the commonly assumed cause of the deficit, which the data directly reject: roughly 70% intermediate plus 22% capital goods means over nine-tenths of imports from China are inputs for Indian production, not household consumption.
- The WIPO Copyright Treaty requires its parties to provide legal protection against the circumvention of technological protection measures used by authors.
- India acceded to the WIPO Copyright Treaty in 2018, together with the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
- The 'three-step test' for exceptions to copyright was first introduced into international law by the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO.
Statement 1 is correct — Article 11 of the WCT (1996) obliges parties to provide adequate legal protection against circumvention of technological protection measures, with India giving effect to this through Sections 65A and 65B of the Copyright Act, 1957. Statement 2 is correct, as India acceded to both "WIPO Internet Treaties," the WCT and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, in 2018. Statement 3 is incorrect — the three-step test originated in Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention (Stockholm revision, 1967); TRIPS later extended it to all exclusive rights in 1994. A real rule is attributed here to the better-known later treaty rather than the one that actually created it — Berne 1967 created the three-step test, TRIPS 1994 generalised it, and WCT 1996 took it digital.
- A 'child' under the Act means an individual who has not completed eighteen years of age.
- A Data Fiduciary must obtain the verifiable consent of the parent before processing the personal data of a child.
- Targeted advertising directed at children is permitted under the Act where the verifiable consent of the parent has been obtained.
Statements 1 and 2 are correct — the Act defines a child as a person under 18 and, under Section 9(1), requires verifiable parental consent before a child's data is processed. Statement 3 is incorrect, since Section 9(3) separately prohibits tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children, and parental consent does not unlock these activities. An absolute prohibition is recast here as something parental consent can override, borrowing plausibility from the true consent rule in statement 2 — consent opens processing, but nothing opens tracking or targeted ads at children.
- Rare-earth elements comprise the fifteen lanthanides together with scandium and yttrium.
- Dysprosium or terbium is added to neodymium–iron–boron magnets to help them retain magnetic strength at high operating temperatures.
- Monazite, the principal rare-earth-bearing mineral in India's coastal sands, also contains thorium.
All three statements are correct. The 17 rare-earth elements are the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium — not geologically rare, but hard to separate because of their chemical similarity. NdFeB magnets are the strongest commercially available permanent magnets but weaken at high temperature, so heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium are added for uses like EV traction motors; China's April 2025 export controls targeted several such medium and heavy rare earths. Monazite is found in the beach sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and carries thorium, which is why its processing raises radioactive-residue concerns. This is an "all-true" design where each statement sounds technical enough to tempt doubt — worth fixing as 15 + Sc + Y = 17 REEs, Nd for strength and Dy/Tb for heat resistance, and monazite meaning rare earths plus thorium.
- An antibiogram is a record of the resistance genes sequenced from bacteria isolated from individual patients.
- Shigella, which is now resistant to common antibiotics in Keralam, causes an intestinal infection spread mainly through the faecal–oral route.
- Keralam was the first State in India to adopt its own action plan on antimicrobial resistance.
Statement 1 is incorrect — an antibiogram is a periodic summary of how susceptible locally isolated organisms are to different antibiotics, based on laboratory susceptibility testing, not genome sequencing, and clinicians use it to choose empirical treatment. Statement 2 is correct, as Shigella causes shigellosis (bacillary dysentery) and spreads through contaminated food, water and hands, with its resistance showing AMR has moved from ICUs into the community. Statement 3 is correct — Keralam adopted the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Action Plan (KARSAP) in 2018. A genomic technique is swapped here for what is actually a phenotypic susceptibility summary — an antibiogram is simply the susceptibility pattern of local bugs to drugs, guiding the first prescription.
- Metalloproteinases, which cause haemorrhage and tissue damage, are the most abundant toxin family in rattlesnake venom.
- The saw-scaled viper is one of the 'Big Four' snakes responsible for most snakebite deaths in India.
- The common krait is a viper whose venom acts mainly on the blood and blood vessels.
- Conventional antivenom used in India is produced by immunising animals such as horses with snake venom.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. Metalloproteinases dominate rattlesnake venom, and FETUA "toxin-sponge" proteins that inhibit them have neutralised venom lethality in mice at about ten times the potency of a commercial antivenom. The Big Four are the Indian cobra, common krait, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper. Statement 3 is incorrect — the common krait is an elapid, not a viper, and its venom is chiefly neurotoxic, which is exactly why FETUAs, acting only on metalloproteinases, cannot by themselves treat elapid bites. Indian polyvalent antivenom is indeed raised in horses against the venoms of the Big Four. An elapid is placed among the vipers here and given haemotoxic venom, riding on the fact that the Big Four mix both families — cobra and krait are elapids with neurotoxic venom, while Russell's and saw-scaled are vipers with haemotoxic venom.
- El Niño is marked by above-normal sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
- During an El Niño event, the Walker circulation over the equatorial Pacific becomes stronger than normal.
- A positive Indian Ocean Dipole can offset part of the adverse effect of El Niño on the Indian summer monsoon.
Statement 1 is correct — a sustained anomaly of +0.5°C marks El Niño conditions, and this year the anomaly reached 2.6°C in August. Statement 2 is incorrect — El Niño actually weakens the Walker circulation, as trade winds slacken, warm water spreads eastward and convection shifts towards the central Pacific, reducing moisture supply over India. Statement 3 is correct, since a positive IOD (warmer western Indian Ocean) can enhance monsoon rainfall and partly counter El Niño, as it did in 1997. The correct mechanism is flipped here from weakening to strengthening — El Niño means a weak Walker cell and a weak monsoon, La Niña means a strong Walker cell, and a positive IOD is the monsoon's friend.
- The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies.
- The same Amendment reserves one-third of seats for women in the Rajya Sabha and the State Legislative Councils.
- The reservation takes effect after a delimitation exercise based on the first Census published after the Amendment's commencement.
- Women constituted more than one-fifth of the members elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct — the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam inserted Articles 330A and 332A, and Article 334A ties commencement to a fresh delimitation after the next Census, with the reservation initially lasting fifteen years. Statement 2 is incorrect, since the Amendment does not cover the Rajya Sabha or Legislative Councils, which are indirectly elected. Statement 4 is incorrect — only 74 women were elected in 2024, about 13.6% of 543 seats, well below one-fifth and below the global average of 27.4%. A "scope extension" trap stretches directly elected Houses to cover indirectly elected ones in statement 2, and a "numerical inflation" trap sits in statement 4 — the 106th Amendment covers only the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, and India's roughly 14% still trails the world's roughly 27%.
- The National Film Awards were instituted in 1954 following the recommendation of the Film Enquiry Committee set up in 1949.
- The first Dadasaheb Phalke Award was conferred on Devika Rani.
- No entries are invited for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award; a committee of eminent film personalities recommends the recipient.
All three statements are correct. The awards, first called the State Awards for Films, were instituted in 1954 and honoured films of 1953, conferred by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Phalke Award was instituted in 1969 and first presented to Devika Rani, commemorating Dadasaheb Phalke, director of Raja Harishchandra (1913). Unlike the three competitive sections, no entries are invited for the Phalke Award. This is an "all-true" design where the unfamiliar procedural detail in statement 3 invites needless doubt — worth anchoring as 1949 committee → 1954 awards → 1969 Phalke Award → Devika Rani first.
