UPSC Prelims Practice
Current Affairs Quiz 27 July 2026
Daily Practice
Test Your Knowledge
15 questions based on today’s current affairs & editorials
15 MCQs
Explanations
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Question 1 of 15
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 applies to examinations conducted by which of the following?
FACT: The 2024 Act covers public examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Boards, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, the National Testing Agency and central government departments and their attached offices. Offences under it are cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
ANALYSIS: The scope is deliberately confined to central bodies, which is why State recruitment leaks in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan fall outside it and require parallel State legislation.
ANALYSIS: The scope is deliberately confined to central bodies, which is why State recruitment leaks in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan fall outside it and require parallel State legislation.
📝 Concept Note
The Act received assent on 12 February 2024 as Act No. 1 of 2024 and came into force on 21 June 2024. It punishes persons using unfair means with imprisonment of three to five years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh, while service providers colluding in malpractice face penalties up to Rs 1 crore and four-year debarment.
Investigation is by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Commissioner of Police, and the Centre may refer any case to a central agency. The Amendment Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on 27 July 2026 raises the imprisonment band to five to ten years, the maximum fine to Rs 10 crore, and adds confiscation of assets, fast-track courts in every State and time-bound investigation.
Investigation is by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Commissioner of Police, and the Centre may refer any case to a central agency. The Amendment Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on 27 July 2026 raises the imprisonment band to five to ten years, the maximum fine to Rs 10 crore, and adds confiscation of assets, fast-track courts in every State and time-bound investigation.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 governance and statutory frameworks; GS4 probity in public institutions. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | examination integrity, cognizable offence, federal division of legislative competence, deterrence versus institutional reform. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | assuming the Act covers State public service commissions. It does not; education is in the Concurrent List but the Act is drafted for central examining bodies only. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | remember the three-part classification of offences, cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, which UPSC has tested on other special statutes. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** does raising sentences deter organised paper-leak syndicates, or does it mainly catch the low-level courier? |
Question 2 of 15
Which of the following correctly describes the legal status of the National Testing Agency?
FACT: The National Testing Agency was set up in 2017 as a registered society under the Ministry of Education. It conducts NEET-UG, JEE (Main), UGC-NET and CUET. ANALYSIS: Its legal form is the analytical heart of the reform debate.
A society has neither the independence of a statutory regulator nor the enforceable accountability that comes with a parent Act, so a technology fix leaves the governance deficit untouched.
A society has neither the independence of a statutory regulator nor the enforceable accountability that comes with a parent Act, so a technology fix leaves the governance deficit untouched.
📝 Concept Note
A six-member high-powered task force chaired by Nandan Nilekani was constituted on 26 July 2026 to overhaul the NTA across the entire examination lifecycle, with an explicit brief on artificial intelligence and blockchain-based verification for question-paper custody and candidate authentication. Its members are Nandan Nilekani, S. Somanath, Tapan Deka, Prof.
V. Kamakoti, Anita Karwal and Amrit Lal Meena. An earlier seven-member committee headed by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, constituted on 22 June 2024, made 101 recommendations, which remained only partially implemented when the 2026 leak occurred.
That gap between recommendation and implementation is the standing critique of committee-led reform in Indian education governance.
V. Kamakoti, Anita Karwal and Amrit Lal Meena. An earlier seven-member committee headed by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, constituted on 22 June 2024, made 101 recommendations, which remained only partially implemented when the 2026 leak occurred.
That gap between recommendation and implementation is the standing critique of committee-led reform in Indian education governance.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 statutory, regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies; GS2 government policies and interventions. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | regulatory autonomy, institutional accountability, examination lifecycle, statutory backing. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | treating the NTA as a statutory body because it conducts statutory-looking national examinations. Registration as a society is not statutory status. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | UPSC repeatedly tests the distinction between constitutional, statutory, executive and registered-society bodies. Build a table. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** should a body that determines the life chances of two million candidates be answerable to Parliament rather than to a ministry? |
Question 3 of 15
The sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court of India can be increased by which method?
FACT: Article 124(1) provides that the Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice of India and, until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number, not more than seven other judges. The words “until Parliament by law prescribes” mean an ordinary law by simple majority suffices.
ANALYSIS: This is why successive increases have come through amendments to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 rather than through constitutional amendment.
ANALYSIS: This is why successive increases have come through amendments to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 rather than through constitutional amendment.
📝 Concept Note
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, Bill No. 128 of 2026, raises the sanctioned strength from 33 to 37 excluding the Chief Justice, that is 38 including the CJI. It replaces an Ordinance promulgated on 16 May 2026 under Article 123. The progression of sanctioned strength has been 8 in 1950, 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009, 34 in 2019 and 38 in 2026, inclusive of the CJI. The binding constraint is not the ceiling: working strength stood at 32 against a sanctioned 34 at the time of introduction, so the real bottleneck is the pace of collegium and executive appointments under the Memorandum of Procedure.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 structure and organisation of the judiciary; GS2 separation of powers and appointments. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | judicial pendency, collegium, Memorandum of Procedure, precedential coherence, National Court of Appeal. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | assuming any change to the composition of the Supreme Court needs a constitutional amendment. Article 124(1) expressly contemplates an ordinary law. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | distinguish the Law Commission 229th Report of 2009, which recommended a Constitution Bench at Delhi plus four Cassation Benches, from the separate National Court of Appeal reference in V. Vasanthakumar v. H.C. Bhatia. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** does adding judges improve justice delivery, or does it fragment the Court into more two-judge benches and weaken precedent? |
Question 4 of 15
Article 51A(a) of the Constitution makes it a Fundamental Duty to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, along with which of the following?
FACT: Article 51A(a) names the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem. The National Song is not mentioned in it.
ANALYSIS: Vande Mataram derives its standing from a Constituent Assembly declaration by President Dr Rajendra Prasad on 24 January 1950 that it shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana, which is a declaration rather than a constitutional provision. That distinction is precisely what the 2026 amendment seeks to close by statute rather than by constitutional change.
ANALYSIS: Vande Mataram derives its standing from a Constituent Assembly declaration by President Dr Rajendra Prasad on 24 January 1950 that it shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana, which is a declaration rather than a constitutional provision. That distinction is precisely what the 2026 amendment seeks to close by statute rather than by constitutional change.
📝 Concept Note
The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 24 July 2026 by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and moved for consideration and passing by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 27 July 2026. It extends to the National Song the protection the parent Act of 1971 gives the National Anthem, with imprisonment up to three years.
Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1875, published in Bangadarshan on 7 November 1875 and later in the novel Anandamath in 1882, and first sung at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress by Rabindranath Tagore. The Congress Working Committee resolution of 29 October 1937 adopted only the first two stanzas.
Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1875, published in Bangadarshan on 7 November 1875 and later in the novel Anandamath in 1882, and first sung at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress by Rabindranath Tagore. The Congress Working Committee resolution of 29 October 1937 adopted only the first two stanzas.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 Fundamental Duties and Fundamental Rights; GS1 the national movement and cultural history. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | compelled patriotism, freedom of conscience, mens rea, national symbols. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | believing the National Song has the same constitutional footing as the National Anthem. The Anthem is named in Article 51A(a); the Song is not. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala (1986) held that standing respectfully without singing does not violate the 1971 Act, and that a Fundamental Duty cannot override a Fundamental Right. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** when a statute penalises "insult" without defining it, who ends up deciding what patriotism looks like? |
Question 5 of 15
The Dharmachakra Pravartana, the setting in motion of the Wheel of Dharma, is associated with which of the following sites?
FACT: Sarnath, near Varanasi, is where the Buddha delivered his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, to the five ascetics, an event known as the Dharmachakra Pravartana. It also marks the founding of the Sangha.
ANALYSIS: The four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites map to the four defining events: Lumbini for birth, Bodh Gaya for enlightenment, Sarnath for the first sermon and Kushinagar for mahaparinirvana. UPSC tests this mapping, not the place names in isolation.
ANALYSIS: The four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites map to the four defining events: Lumbini for birth, Bodh Gaya for enlightenment, Sarnath for the first sermon and Kushinagar for mahaparinirvana. UPSC tests this mapping, not the place names in isolation.
📝 Concept Note
The Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 25 July 2026 at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, Republic of Korea, becoming India’s 45th World Heritage property and Uttar Pradesh’s fourth. The inscription covers two components, the Chaukhandi Stupa and the Archaeological Remains of Sarnath, which include the Dhamek Stupa and the Dharmarajika Stupa.
The Ashokan Lion Capital found at Sarnath, in polished Chunar sandstone from about 250 BCE, was adopted as India’s State Emblem on 26 January 1950, and the Ashoka Chakra from its abacus appears on the National Flag. Sarnath’s ancient names were Isipatana and Migadaya, the Deer Park.
India ratified the World Heritage Convention of 1972 in 1977.
The Ashokan Lion Capital found at Sarnath, in polished Chunar sandstone from about 250 BCE, was adopted as India’s State Emblem on 26 January 1950, and the Ashoka Chakra from its abacus appears on the National Flag. Sarnath’s ancient names were Isipatana and Migadaya, the Deer Park.
India ratified the World Heritage Convention of 1972 in 1977.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS1 Indian culture, art forms and architecture from ancient times; GS2 India and its neighbourhood through Buddhist heritage diplomacy. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | Buddhist Circuit, soft power, site management plan, buffer zone regulation. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | confusing the Dhamek Stupa with the Dharmarajika Stupa, or placing the first sermon at Bodh Gaya because that is where enlightenment occurred. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | the AMASR Act, 1958 prescribes a 100 metre prohibited area and a 200 metre regulated area around a protected monument. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** does World Heritage inscription protect a site, or does the tourist influx it triggers place it under greater strain? |
Question 6 of 15
In which case did the Supreme Court read a right against the adverse effects of climate change into Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution?
FACT: In M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India, the Supreme Court in its order of 21 March 2024 recalled the blanket direction to underground power lines in Great Indian Bustard habitat, constituted an expert committee, and read a right against the adverse effects of climate change into Articles 14 and 21, drawing also on Articles 48A and 51A(g). ANALYSIS: The case is the clearest Indian statement of the renewable-energy-versus-biodiversity trade-off, since the same Thar landscape hosts both the last bustards and India’s largest solar and wind build-out.
📝 Concept Note
The Court’s interim order of 19 April 2021 had directed undergrounding of transmission lines across roughly 99,000 square kilometres of priority habitat, which the 2024 bench found impracticable. On 26 July 2026 three Great Indian Bustard chicks were released into India’s first rewilding tunnel at the Godawan Conservation Centre, Ramdevra, Jaisalmer, a facility costing Rs 9.25 crore and measuring about 160 metres by 64 metres by 14 metres.
The birds spend about four months inside under CCTV surveillance with minimised human contact before release into Desert National Park. The two Jaisalmer conservation centres held 82 birds as of April 2026.
Ardeotis nigriceps is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and in Appendix I of both CITES and CMS.
The birds spend about four months inside under CCTV surveillance with minimised human contact before release into Desert National Park. The two Jaisalmer conservation centres held 82 birds as of April 2026.
Ardeotis nigriceps is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and in Appendix I of both CITES and CMS.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 conservation and biodiversity; GS2 judicial activism and environmental governance. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | rewilding, imprinting, bird diverters, founder population, ecological trade-off. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | assuming Desert National Park is India’s largest national park. It covers about 3,162 square kilometres, but Hemis in Ladakh is larger. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | pair the IUCN category with the Wild Life (Protection) Act Schedule for every species in the news; both are examined and both change. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** if a captive-bred bird is released into a landscape whose power lines still kill, is the breeding programme conservation or theatre? |
Question 7 of 15
Under the BHAVYA-Rasayan scheme approved by the Union Cabinet, States compete for chemical parks through which selection mechanism?
FACT: Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan, approved on 24 July 2026 with an outlay of Rs 3,030 crore, selects three chemical parks through the Challenge Route, in which States compete. Each park requires a minimum contiguous 8 square kilometres, that is 2,000 acres, of encumbrance-free land.
ANALYSIS: The Challenge Route shifts the burden of land assembly onto the State that wants the park, which is a direct response to the land-acquisition failures that stalled the earlier PCPIR model.
ANALYSIS: The Challenge Route shifts the burden of land assembly onto the State that wants the park, which is a direct response to the land-acquisition failures that stalled the earlier PCPIR model.
📝 Concept Note
The outlay splits into Rs 3,000 crore for common infrastructure and basic utilities inside the parks and Rs 30 crore for administrative expenditure, running five years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31. The central grant is up to Rs 1,000 crore per park, conditional on a minimum State contribution of Rs 500 crore.
It is implemented by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. India is the sixth largest chemicals producer globally and the third largest in Asia, with the chemicals and petrochemicals sector contributing roughly 7 per cent of GDP, yet remains a net importer with a large deficit against China.
The existing cluster architecture includes PCPIRs at Dahej, Paradeep, Vishakhapatnam-Kakinada and Cuddalore-Nagapattinam, plus the Plastic Parks scheme.
It is implemented by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. India is the sixth largest chemicals producer globally and the third largest in Asia, with the chemicals and petrochemicals sector contributing roughly 7 per cent of GDP, yet remains a net importer with a large deficit against China.
The existing cluster architecture includes PCPIRs at Dahej, Paradeep, Vishakhapatnam-Kakinada and Cuddalore-Nagapattinam, plus the Plastic Parks scheme.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 industrial policy, infrastructure and growth; GS3 environmental pollution and industrial clusters. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | cluster-based industrial policy, China plus one, Key Starting Materials, zero liquid discharge, anchor investor. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | confusing PCPIRs, which are large investment regions notified from 2007 onward, with the new dedicated chemical parks under BHAVYA-Rasayan. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | link import dependence on Key Starting Materials and Advanced Pharmaceutical Intermediates to the PLI scheme for bulk drugs. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** do chemical clusters concentrate pollution risk in the way the 2020 Visakhapatnam styrene leak suggested, or do they make it easier to regulate? |
Question 8 of 15
The concept of a Zero FIR, under which a First Information Report may be registered at any police station irrespective of territorial jurisdiction, now derives its statutory basis from which provision?
FACT: Section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 provides the statutory basis for registering information about a cognizable offence irrespective of the area where the offence is committed, and also permits electronic registration. ANALYSIS: The Zero FIR concept originated in a recommendation of the Justice J.S. Verma Committee in 2013 and operated as an administrative practice for a decade before the new criminal codes gave it express statutory footing.
📝 Concept Note
Gujarat launched a Cyber Financial Fraud e-Zero FIR service at Gandhinagar on 27 July 2026, under which complaints on the national cybercrime helpline 1930 or the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal auto-generate an e-Zero FIR routed electronically to the jurisdictional police station. It was rolled out statewide over the Gujarat State Wide Area Network in partnership with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, approved as a scheme in 2018, inaugurated in January 2020 and made an attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs only from 1 July 2024.
I4C has seven components, including the National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory ecosystem. Separately, it runs initiatives such as the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre, the Samanvay platform, Cyber Commandos and the Suspect Registry, launched on 10 September 2024.
The golden hour concept holds that reporting within the first hour maximises the chance of freezing fraudulently transferred funds. Police is a State subject under Entry 2 of the State List.
I4C has seven components, including the National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory ecosystem. Separately, it runs initiatives such as the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre, the Samanvay platform, Cyber Commandos and the Suspect Registry, launched on 10 September 2024.
The golden hour concept holds that reporting within the first hour maximises the chance of freezing fraudulently transferred funds. Police is a State subject under Entry 2 of the State List.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 internal security and cyber security; GS2 federalism and centre-State coordination. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | cooperative federalism, golden hour, mule accounts, digital arrest, trans-jurisdictional crime. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | treating I4C as an investigating agency. It is a coordination centre; investigation remains with State police. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | remember that police and public order are State subjects, which is why every national cybercrime instrument has to be built as a coordination layer rather than a command structure. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** if FIR registration moves online, what happens to the elderly victim who is precisely the target demographic for these frauds? |
Question 9 of 15
Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, invoked in the order directing GitHub to remove BitChat repositories, deals principally with which of the following?
FACT: Section 79(3)(b) provides that an intermediary may lose safe harbour protection if, upon actual knowledge or notification by the appropriate government or its agency, it fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to material being used to commit an unlawful act. It is a safe-harbour provision, not a blocking power.
ANALYSIS: Blocking directions are ordinarily issued under Section 69A read with the Blocking Rules, 2009, which require a hearing and reasons recorded in writing subject to review. Using Section 79 to achieve a blocking outcome therefore bypasses the procedural safeguards that attach to Section 69A.
ANALYSIS: Blocking directions are ordinarily issued under Section 69A read with the Blocking Rules, 2009, which require a hearing and reasons recorded in writing subject to review. Using Section 79 to achieve a blocking outcome therefore bypasses the procedural safeguards that attach to Section 69A.
📝 Concept Note
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre issued Notice No. 11072601011432 at 11.16 p.m. on 23 July 2026 directing GitHub to disable access to three repositories hosting BitChat, a decentralised Bluetooth mesh messaging application, within three hours. BitChat requires no internet connection, no servers and no phone numbers, with each device acting as both client and server and relaying messages across multiple hops.
The Internet Freedom Foundation argued that the order relies on potential for misuse rather than identifying unlawful content, and fails the proportionality standard in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020), which requires restrictions to be tailored to territorial extent, stage of emergency, nature of urgency, duration and nature of restriction. Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) had read down Section 79(3)(b) to require a court order or government notification.
The Internet Freedom Foundation argued that the order relies on potential for misuse rather than identifying unlawful content, and fails the proportionality standard in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020), which requires restrictions to be tailored to territorial extent, stage of emergency, nature of urgency, duration and nature of restriction. Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) had read down Section 79(3)(b) to require a court order or government notification.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 government policies, rights issues and judicial pronouncements; GS3 cyber security and internal security. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | safe harbour, proportionality, ex ante restraint, lawful interception, chilling effect. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | conflating Section 69A blocking with Section 79 safe harbour. They do different constitutional work and carry different procedural protections. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rules, 2017 have been superseded by the Telecommunications (Temporary Suspension of Services) Rules, 2024 under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, though the Anuradha Bhasin reasoning still governs. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** can the state legitimately restrict a communication tool for what it makes possible, rather than for anything its users have actually done? |
Question 10 of 15
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960, the waters of which group of rivers were allocated to India for unrestricted use?
FACT: The Treaty allocated the eastern rivers, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej, to India for unrestricted use, and the western rivers, the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab, to Pakistan, with India retaining limited non-consumptive, agricultural and hydroelectric rights on the western rivers. ANALYSIS: The design is a physical partition of rivers rather than a volumetric sharing formula, which is why India’s permitted run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects on the western rivers have generated recurring disputes.
📝 Concept Note
The Treaty was signed on 19 September 1960, brokered by the World Bank, by Jawaharlal Nehru and Ayub Khan. It creates a Permanent Indus Commission and a graded dispute mechanism running from the Commission to a Neutral Expert and then to a Court of Arbitration.
India has held the Treaty in abeyance since the Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April 2025, in which 26 people were killed, and maintains that it will not operate in its present form until Pakistan verifiably ends cross-border terrorism. India set out this position at the UN Security Council open debate on 22 July 2026, and Pakistan issued its rejoinder on 23 July 2026 arguing that the Treaty remains binding.
India’s permitted storage entitlement on the western rivers is 3.6 million acre feet, of which only about 0.2 million acre feet has actually been built.
India has held the Treaty in abeyance since the Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April 2025, in which 26 people were killed, and maintains that it will not operate in its present form until Pakistan verifiably ends cross-border terrorism. India set out this position at the UN Security Council open debate on 22 July 2026, and Pakistan issued its rejoinder on 23 July 2026 arguing that the Treaty remains binding.
India’s permitted storage entitlement on the western rivers is 3.6 million acre feet, of which only about 0.2 million acre feet has actually been built.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 bilateral relations and international treaties; GS3 water resources and infrastructure. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | riparian rights, run-of-the-river, abeyance, treaty suspension, Permanent Indus Commission. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | reversing the eastern and western allocations. Mnemonic: the eastern rivers, closer to India, went to India. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | know the three-tier dispute mechanism in order, Commission, Neutral Expert, Court of Arbitration, and which forum handled Kishanganga and Ratle. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** if a treaty survived three wars, what does holding it in abeyance signal to other treaty partners about India’s reliability? |
Question 11 of 15
Antibody-dependent enhancement, the central safety concern in dengue vaccine design, refers to which of the following?
FACT: Antibody-dependent enhancement occurs when antibodies produced against one dengue serotype fail to neutralise a different serotype in a subsequent infection and instead facilitate its entry into cells, raising the risk of severe dengue. ANALYSIS: This is why a dengue vaccine must be tetravalent, protecting against all four serotypes simultaneously and equally.
Partial protection is not merely incomplete; it can reproduce the immunological setup for severe disease.
Partial protection is not merely incomplete; it can reproduce the immunological setup for severe disease.
📝 Concept Note
India’s drug regulator approved Qdenga, manufactured by Takeda, as the country’s first dengue vaccine, for ages 4 to 60 irrespective of prior infection, and more than 40 countries have already approved it. Takeda’s phase-3 trial enrolled about 20,000 children aged 4 to 16 across eight endemic countries in Latin America and Asia.
Overall efficacy was about 80 per cent. The concern lies in the serotype-stratified data: in participants who were seronegative at baseline, the published four-and-a-half-year result shows no efficacy against DENV-3, with a negative point estimate, while DENV-4 cases were too few to establish efficacy at all.
The Dengvaxia experience in the Philippines is the historical parallel that led to pre-vaccination screening recommendations. The World Health Organization’s position paper of May 2024 recommends TAK-003 in high-transmission settings and does not recommend pre-vaccination screening.
Overall efficacy was about 80 per cent. The concern lies in the serotype-stratified data: in participants who were seronegative at baseline, the published four-and-a-half-year result shows no efficacy against DENV-3, with a negative point estimate, while DENV-4 cases were too few to establish efficacy at all.
The Dengvaxia experience in the Philippines is the historical parallel that led to pre-vaccination screening recommendations. The World Health Organization’s position paper of May 2024 recommends TAK-003 in high-transmission settings and does not recommend pre-vaccination screening.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 science and technology, developments and applications; GS2 health policy and drug regulation. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | tetravalent, serostatus, seronegative, pre-vaccination screening, pharmacovigilance. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | assuming a high headline efficacy figure settles the safety question. In dengue, aggregate efficacy can conceal a serotype-specific hazard. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | know the four serotypes DENV-1 to DENV-4 and the vector Aedes aegypti, and distinguish the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation from the Drugs Controller General of India. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** when a regulator approves for a wider age band than the WHO recommends, whose risk assessment should a national immunisation programme follow? |
Question 12 of 15
Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, what is the monthly foodgrain entitlement of a household covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana?
FACT: Antyodaya Anna Yojana households are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month, whereas priority households receive 5 kg per person per month. ANALYSIS: The distinction between a per-person and a per-household entitlement is the structural feature UPSC tests, because it determines how the benefit scales with family size and why the two categories cannot be compared on a single per-capita measure.
📝 Concept Note
India was the first country to enact a legal right to food, through the NFSA in 2013, covering 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population on the basis of the 2011 Census, at issue prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains. Since 2020 the entitlement has been provided free of cost under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
Nearly 800 million people receive about 55 million tonnes of foodgrains annually. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report, released on 21 July 2026 by the FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, estimates that 35.5 per cent of Indians could not afford a healthy diet in 2025, down from 59.8 per cent in 2017, while the prevalence of undernourishment stood at 9.8 per cent in 2023-25.
Nearly 800 million people receive about 55 million tonnes of foodgrains annually. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report, released on 21 July 2026 by the FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, estimates that 35.5 per cent of Indians could not afford a healthy diet in 2025, down from 59.8 per cent in 2017, while the prevalence of undernourishment stood at 9.8 per cent in 2023-25.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS2 issues relating to poverty, hunger and welfare schemes; GS3 public distribution system, buffer stocks and food security. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | nutrition security, exclusion error, targeting, calorie versus nutrient adequacy, Sustainable Development Goal 2. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | applying the 5 kg per person figure to Antyodaya households. Antyodaya is a flat 35 kg per household. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | the 2011 Census base means coverage has not been revised for over a decade of population growth, which is the standard exclusion-error critique of proposals to narrow coverage. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** if 90 per cent of free-grain recipients are above the poverty line, is that leakage to be eliminated or insurance to be preserved? |
Question 13 of 15
The Central Reserve Police Force was originally raised in 1939 under which name, and at which location?
FACT: The force was raised on 27 July 1939 at Neemuch in present-day Madhya Pradesh as the Crown Representative’s Police. It was renamed the Central Reserve Police Force under the CRPF Act, 1949, which came into force on 28 December 1949, when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as Home Minister gave it its charter.
ANALYSIS: Option D is the trap, since it gives the correct location with the post-1949 name, which is exactly the kind of partial-recall distractor UPSC favours.
ANALYSIS: Option D is the trap, since it gives the correct location with the post-1949 name, which is exactly the kind of partial-recall distractor UPSC favours.
📝 Concept Note
The CRPF is the largest Central Armed Police Force in India, with roughly 250 battalions and about 3.25 lakh personnel, and its motto is Seva aur Nishtha, service and loyalty. Its specialist wings include the Rapid Action Force, raised in 1992 for riot control, and CoBRA, the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, raised in 2008 for jungle warfare and anti-Left Wing Extremism operations.
The first all-women CAPF battalion was raised in 1986. Police Commemoration Day on 21 October honours the CRPF patrol ambushed at Hot Spring in Ladakh in 1959.
The other Central Armed Police Forces are the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal, the Assam Rifles and the National Security Guard, all under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The first all-women CAPF battalion was raised in 1986. Police Commemoration Day on 21 October honours the CRPF patrol ambushed at Hot Spring in Ladakh in 1959.
The other Central Armed Police Forces are the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal, the Assam Rifles and the National Security Guard, all under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 security forces and agencies and their mandate; GS2 role of the Ministry of Home Affairs. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | Central Armed Police Forces, internal security, cadre review, deployment cycle, Left Wing Extremism. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | calling the CAPFs paramilitary forces. Official usage reserves that term differently, and the seven forces listed above are Central Armed Police Forces under the MHA. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | pair each CAPF with its primary mandate and its year of raising; UPSC has asked which force guards which border. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** the CRPF does internal security, election duty and disaster response at once. Is that versatility a strength, or chronic overstretch? |
Question 14 of 15
India was the first country in the world to be designated a Pioneer Investor by the International Seabed Authority. This designation relates to which resource and region?
FACT: India was designated a Pioneer Investor in 1987, the first country to receive that status, for polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. India separately holds rights for polymetallic sulphides in the Central and South West Indian Ridge.
ANALYSIS: The distinction between the two allotments matters because nodules lie on the abyssal plain while sulphides occur at hydrothermal vents on ridges, and the two raise different environmental impact questions.
ANALYSIS: The distinction between the two allotments matters because nodules lie on the abyssal plain while sulphides occur at hydrothermal vents on ridges, and the two raise different environmental impact questions.
📝 Concept Note
The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute at Kochi launched DeepDATA on 23 July 2026, a mobile application for digital documentation and verification of deep-sea fishes developed under the Deep Ocean Mission with Ministry of Earth Sciences funding. It combines expert scientific validation with real-time field observations on a citizen-science model, feeding a national digital repository.
The Deep Ocean Mission was approved in June 2021 with an outlay of about Rs 4,077 crore and has six pillars, including Samudrayaan and the Matsya-6000 crewed submersible designed for 6,000 metre depth. ICAR-CMFRI was established in 1947.
Deep-sea biodiversity documentation is the missing baseline for any future impact assessment of deep-sea mining, which is the precautionary-principle test India faces at the International Seabed Authority.
The Deep Ocean Mission was approved in June 2021 with an outlay of about Rs 4,077 crore and has six pillars, including Samudrayaan and the Matsya-6000 crewed submersible designed for 6,000 metre depth. ICAR-CMFRI was established in 1947.
Deep-sea biodiversity documentation is the missing baseline for any future impact assessment of deep-sea mining, which is the precautionary-principle test India faces at the International Seabed Authority.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 science and technology, and conservation; GS2 international institutions and India’s role. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | blue economy, precautionary principle, marine genetic resources, area-based management tools. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | confusing the Exclusive Economic Zone, where India has sovereign rights, with the Area beyond national jurisdiction, which the International Seabed Authority administers as the common heritage of mankind. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | connect this to the BBNJ or High Seas Treaty adopted in June 2023, which India signed in September 2024. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** should India press for deep-sea mining rights it has held since 1987, or lead the moratorium argument it is better placed than most to make? |
Question 15 of 15
A breed of livestock is generally treated as being at risk of extinction when the number of breeding females falls below which threshold, a criterion recently applied to the Malvi camel?
FACT: Breeds with fewer than 300 breeding females are treated as at risk. The Malvi camel, down to 102 surviving animals, falls well below that threshold, alongside the Mewari and Mewati breeds in the endangered category.
ANALYSIS: The threshold matters because it triggers conservation-breeding intervention, which the National Research Centre on Camel at Bikaner has begun with 12 procured Malvi camels, three males and nine females.
ANALYSIS: The threshold matters because it triggers conservation-breeding intervention, which the National Research Centre on Camel at Bikaner has begun with 12 procured Malvi camels, three males and nine females.
📝 Concept Note
India recognises nine camel breeds, including Bikaneri, Jaisalmeri, Kachchhi, Mewari, Mewati, Marwari, Malvi, Kharai and Jalori. The Kharai camel of Kachchh is the world’s only swimming camel.
India’s camel population fell about 37 per cent between the 2012 and 2019 Livestock Censuses. Rajasthan holds over 80 per cent of India’s camels and declared the camel its State Animal in 2014, and the Rajasthan Camel Act of 2015 restricts movement out of the State, which paradoxically depressed the animal’s market value and accelerated abandonment.
The National Research Centre on Camel at Bikaner was established in 1984 under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The FAO observed 2024 as the International Year of Camelids.
Camel milk was recognised by FSSAI in 2016.
India’s camel population fell about 37 per cent between the 2012 and 2019 Livestock Censuses. Rajasthan holds over 80 per cent of India’s camels and declared the camel its State Animal in 2014, and the Rajasthan Camel Act of 2015 restricts movement out of the State, which paradoxically depressed the animal’s market value and accelerated abandonment.
The National Research Centre on Camel at Bikaner was established in 1984 under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The FAO observed 2024 as the International Year of Camelids.
Camel milk was recognised by FSSAI in 2016.
🎯 Concept Kit — tap to expand
| 🔗 Cross-Paper Links | GS3 animal husbandry, biodiversity and conservation; GS1 pastoral communities and human geography. |
| ✍️ Mains Keywords | genetic erosion, in situ and ex situ conservation, commons enclosure, pastoralism, breed registry. |
| ⚠️ Common Mistake | treating livestock breed conservation as a purely veterinary matter. It is a livelihood question for the Raika pastoralists whose grazing commons are being enclosed. |
| 📌 Exam Tip | distinguish the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources, which registers breeds, from the ICAR research centres that conduct breeding. |
| 🎤 Interview | ** a law banning camel slaughter and export removed the animal’s market value. When does protective legislation harm the thing it protects? |
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