Daily Current Affairs Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- The Amendment provides for imprisonment of five to ten years for individuals convicted of examination fraud.
- The Act mandates that investigation of offences must be completed within two months and trial within three months of filing of the charge-sheet.
- The Amendment empowers the Union government to constitute a Special Task Force to investigate offences under the Act.
- Service providers found guilty are banned from being assigned any public examination responsibility for ten years under the Amendment.
Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct. The 2026 Amendment enhances individual punishment to 5–10 years (up from 3–5 under the 2024 Act), mandates a 2-month investigation and 3-month trial timeline from chargesheet filing, and empowers the Union government to establish a Special Task Force for investigation. Statement 4 is incorrect — the service-provider ban under the 2026 Amendment is 8 years, not 10 (it was 4 years under the 2024 Act).
Reason (R): ILO Convention No. 193 requires member states to classify platform workers as employees and extends all labour protections applicable to regular employees to gig workers.
A is true — India's government delegate abstained at the 114th ILC while the employer and worker delegates voted in favour, an unusual fracture in the tripartite system. R is false — Convention 193 does not mandate classifying all platform workers as "employees"; it extends a floor of rights regardless of classification and requires clear determination of employment status, placing the burden of proof on platforms, but does not prescribe a single mandatory classification.
- The Amendment extends the protection of Section 3 of the 1971 Act to cover both the National Anthem and the National Song.
- Vande Mataram was composed by Rabindranath Tagore and first performed at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.
- Under the existing Section 3A of the 1971 Act, repeat offenders face a minimum imprisonment of one year.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct. The 2026 Amendment substitutes Section 3 of the 1971 Act to cover both the National Anthem and the National Song, and Section 3A (added in 2003) mandates a minimum one-year imprisonment for repeat offenders. Statement 2 is incorrect — Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, not Tagore, who only set it to music and first sang it at the 1896 INC session; the composition itself was first published in Bangadarshan in 1875.
- BitChat operates over a Bluetooth mesh network and does not require internet connectivity, mobile networks, or a central server.
- Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers the government to block online content on grounds including sovereignty, public order, and prevention of incitement to an offence.
Both statements are correct. BitChat is a decentralised peer-to-peer app routing messages device-to-device over Bluetooth without internet, mobile networks, or central servers. Section 69A authorises blocking content on grounds like sovereignty, security, public order, and prevention of incitement, and was the basis for I4C's direction to GitHub. Option (C) is a trap — Statement 2 is the legal basis used, not a logical explanation of Statement 1's technical architecture; the two facts are independently true, not causally linked.
- The scheme provides collateral-free and guarantor-free education loans to students admitted on merit to designated Quality Higher Educational Institutions.
- The Government of India provides a 75% credit guarantee on education loans up to ₹7.5 lakh under the scheme.
- The interest subvention of 3% is available to students from families with annual income up to ₹10 lakh.
- Eligibility of institutions under the scheme is determined based on their NIRF rankings.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. PM Vidyalaxmi provides collateral-free, guarantor-free loans to meritorious students at QHEIs, with a 75% credit guarantee on loans up to ₹7.5 lakh, and institution eligibility based on NIRF rankings (Top 100 overall/category, Top 200 state HEIs, all central HEIs). Statement 3 is incorrect — the 3% interest subvention income threshold is ₹8 lakh, not ₹10 lakh; ₹10 lakh is instead the loan amount cap for subvention eligibility.
Interest subvention amounts are credited to the beneficiary's PM Vidyalaxmi Digital Rupee App, a CBDC (e-Rupee) wallet maintained by the RBI — as of July 2026, 35,777 active wallets had disbursed ₹57.66 crore. UAN is an e-Shram concept unrelated to this scheme, PM-USP CSIS is a predecessor scheme now administered through the PM Vidyalaxmi portal rather than a separate wallet, and eShram and PM Vidyalaxmi are distinct portals.
- The India Meteorological Department defines a cloudburst as rainfall of 10 cm or more in one hour over an area of approximately 20–30 sq. km.
- Cloudbursts form primarily through orographic lifting, wherein moist air forced upward by mountains cools and releases moisture rapidly.
- Doppler weather radars can detect cloudbursts reliably in mountainous regions because mountains enhance radar signal reflection.
- Mission Mausam aims to more than double India's Doppler radar network to improve hyperlocal weather prediction.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. IMD defines a cloudburst as ≥100 mm rain in one hour over roughly 20–30 sq. km, with orographic lifting as the primary formation mechanism. Mission Mausam plans to more than double India's radar network (from ~40 to 90+ stations) alongside AI-based hyperlocal forecasting. Statement 3 is incorrect — mountains actually impede, not enhance, Doppler radar coverage, blocking beams and creating blind spots precisely in cloudburst-prone areas.
Reason (R): An Office Memorandum is an administrative instruction without the force of law, whereas a statutory notification issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 carries the authority of delegated legislation.
Both A and R are true, and R explains A. The 2017 notification, issued under statutory authority (EP Act, 1986), provided a limited one-time amnesty, while the 2021 OM was a mere administrative instruction with no force of law that created a perpetual regularisation mechanism — this OM-versus-statutory-notification distinction is precisely why the Court upheld one and quashed the other.
- Base editing was developed by David Liu at the Broad Institute in 2016 as a technique that converts one DNA nucleotide into another without cutting both strands of the DNA double helix.
- Adeno-Associated Viruses (AAVs), commonly used as delivery vectors in gene therapy, carry no risk of immune reactions.
- In China, investigator-initiated clinical trials at hospitals do not require prior review by the National Medical Products Administration.
- CRISPR-Cas9 and base editing both require cutting the DNA double helix to introduce genetic modifications.
Statements 1 and 3 are correct. David Liu developed base editing at the Broad Institute in 2016, converting DNA bases without a double-strand break. China's investigator-initiated hospital trials can proceed without prior NMPA review, a regulatory gap exposed in a notable case. Statement 2 is incorrect — AAVs carry known immune-reaction risks, including thrombotic microangiopathy at high doses. Statement 4 is incorrect — CRISPR-Cas9 cuts both DNA strands, but base editing specifically avoids this double-strand break, its key distinguishing advantage.
- Gujarat's Viksit Gujarat Data Centre Policy 2026–29 mandates that at least 51% of electricity for core data centre operations be sourced from renewable energy.
- Visakhapatnam's emergence as an AI data centre hub is partly attributed to its submarine cable connectivity.
- Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu currently dominate India's operational data centre landscape, with Mumbai and Chennai as the largest markets.
- Odisha's entry into the AI data centre sector is anchored by HCLTech's partnership with AI startup Sarvam at the Odisha Sovereign AI Park.
All four statements are correct. Gujarat's 2026–29 policy mandates 51% renewable electricity for core operations. Visakhapatnam's submarine cable landing station is a cited locational advantage. Maharashtra (Mumbai) and Tamil Nadu (Chennai) remain dominant due to mature digital infrastructure. HCLTech announced a ₹14,257 crore investment at the Odisha Sovereign AI Park with AI startup Sarvam and the Odisha government.
- Under the ILO's tripartite system, each member country votes through three delegates representing the government, employers, and workers.
- Chapter IX of India's Code on Social Security, 2020, recognises gig and platform workers as a distinct category and has been fully operationalised.
Statement 1 is correct — the ILO's tripartite structure has each member state send three independently voting delegates representing government, employers, and workers, which is why India's government-only abstention on Convention 193 was notable. Statement 2 is incorrect — Chapter IX of the Code on Social Security, 2020, recognises gig and platform workers and provides for a platform-contribution social security fund, but it remains unnotified and unoperationalised as of 2026, law on paper but not in force.
Option (C) is correct — the July 2021 OM was quashed for creating an ongoing, open-ended regularisation mechanism through mere administrative instruction with no force of law, while the March 2017 notification, issued under statutory authority with a limited one-time six-month amnesty, was upheld. Option (A) reflects the overruled May 2025 Vanashakti position. Option (B) is wrong — only the 2021 OM was struck down. Option (D) reverses the actual holding.
- Vande Mataram was first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan in 1875.
- The song was included in the novel Anandamath, which fictionalised the Sannyasi Rebellion against colonial revenue policy.
- Vande Mataram was first used as a political slogan during the Swadeshi Movement in 1905 against the Partition of Bengal.
- The Constituent Assembly in January 1950 gave Vande Mataram statutory equal status with Jana Gana Mana under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct. Vande Mataram was first published in Bangadarshan on 7 November 1875, later included in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Anandamath (1882), fictionalising the Sannyasi Rebellion against colonial revenue extraction, and first used as a political slogan on 7 August 1905 during the Swadeshi Movement. Statement 4 is incorrect — the Constituent Assembly's January 1950 resolution expressed intent to honour it equally but was non-binding; the 1971 Act did not cover Vande Mataram until the 2026 Amendment finally provided statutory protection.
Reason (R): Orographic lifting forces moist air upward over mountain barriers, causing rapid adiabatic cooling and the formation of dense cumulonimbus clouds that release moisture suddenly over small areas.
Both A and R are true, and R explains A. Orographic lifting is the dominant cloudburst formation mechanism: forced ascent produces rapid adiabatic cooling, condensation into dense cumulonimbus clouds, and sudden moisture release over small areas — precisely why the Himalayas and Western Ghats, India's most orographically active zones, see disproportionate cloudburst concentration.
Section 69A empowers the government to direct intermediaries like GitHub to block content on grounds of sovereignty, security, public order, or prevention of incitement to a cognisable offence, and was the basis for I4C's directive. Option (A), Section 66A, was struck down as unconstitutional in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015). Option (C), Section 79, is the safe harbour provision limiting intermediary liability, not a blocking power. Option (D) is a constitutional provision on permissible speech restrictions, not an executive blocking mechanism.
