Current Affairs Quiz 2 October 2026

Buddhism reached Tibet and the western Himalaya in two waves. The first, in the 8th century, is associated with Padmasambhava and the founding of Samye monastery.

After a period of decline, a “second diffusion” from the late 10th century was led in western Tibet by the translator Rinchen Zangpo (958 to 1055), credited with temples across Ladakh, Spiti and Kinnaur, and by the arrival of Atisha from Vikramashila, whose disciples founded the Kadam school. Marpa the translator travelled to India to study and passed his teachings to the yogi-poet Milarepa, from whom the Kagyu lineage descends.

Kashmiri scholars such as Shakyashribhadra carried learning to Tibet after the decline of the great north Indian monasteries. Vikramashila, in present-day Bhagalpur district of Bihar, was founded by the Pala king Dharmapala.

The Fourth Buddhist Council, under Kanishka, is associated with the compilation of the Mahavibhasha and the rise of Sarvastivada scholarship.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) created Parts IX and IXA. Reservation in local bodies works on three tracks: mandatory and population-based for SCs and STs (Articles 243D(1) and 243T(1)), mandatory for women at not less than one-third of seats (243D(3) and 243T(3)), and enabling for backward classes (243D(6) and 243T(6)).

In K. Krishna Murthy (2010) a Constitution Bench held that political backwardness differs from social and educational backwardness and that local-body reservation should not exceed 50 per cent vertically. Gawali (2021) made this a mandatory triple test: a dedicated commission to study backwardness in local bodies, local-body-wise proportions, and an overall cap of 50 per cent for SC, ST and OBC seats together.

Suresh Mahajan (2022) held that elections cannot be delayed for want of the test; seats are then treated as general. Articles 243E and 243U require elections before the five-year term ends, and Articles 243K and 243ZA give the State Election Commission charge of the polls.

The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is the central law on licensing, registration, permits, insurance and traffic offences, while enforcement is carried out by State transport departments and traffic police. The 2019 amendment raised penalties steeply, created a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, introduced cashless treatment in the golden hour, and added Section 136A on electronic enforcement.

The Supreme Court has monitored road safety since 2012 in S. Rajaseekaran v Union of India, setting up a Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety. MoRTH’s Road Accidents in India 2024 report recorded about 1.77 lakh deaths, with over-speeding the leading cause.

The Parivahan system links VAHAN (vehicles) and SARATHI (licences) across States, which is what allows dues on one service to block another. The Stockholm Declaration (2020) and the UN Decade of Action frame the global goal; India, among the countries with the highest number of road deaths, has endorsed it.

Compressed biogas turns agricultural residue, cattle dung, press mud and municipal waste into a gaseous fuel through anaerobic digestion, leaving fermented organic manure as a by-product. India meets nearly half its natural gas needs through imports, so domestic CBG offers energy security, rural income and a way to reduce stubble burning and methane from open dung.

Earlier efforts were fragmented: GOBAR-Dhan began in 2018 under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), SATAT under the Petroleum Ministry the same year, and a CBG Blending Obligation was announced in 2023, voluntary at first and mandatory from 2025-26. The 2026 GOBARdhan scheme unifies support under the Petroleum Ministry with six interventions: offtake assurance through the CBG Obligation, an administered price, capital assistance of up to Rs 2 crore per tonne per day for greenfield plants, pipeline support, an 85 per cent credit guarantee for MSME projects, and an ecosystem challenge fund.

About 217 plants with over 1,700 TPD were working by August 2026.

Tiger reserves are notified by State governments on the recommendation of the NTCA under Section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, and each must have a Tiger Conservation Plan with a core or critical tiger habitat and a buffer. India held an estimated 3,682 tigers in the 2022 assessment, about three-quarters of the world’s wild tigers.

Reintroduction has a mixed record: Sariska lost its tigers by the mid-2000s and received animals from Ranthambore from 2008; Panna rebuilt a breeding population after 2009; the first inter-State translocation, from Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia in Odisha in 2018, was abandoned. Buxa, in Alipurduar district of North Bengal and linked to forests in Bhutan and to Manas in Assam, spent eight years restoring prey and grassland before the 2026 release.

Success depends on prey, protection, connectivity and community consent, which is why the release is described as phased and adaptive.

Part IX of the Constitution makes the Gram Sabha the foundation of rural local government, but Article 243A leaves its powers to State law. Article 243G allows States to devolve functions on the 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule and to make Panchayats prepare plans for economic development and social justice.

The People’s Plan Campaign, held every year since 2018 from 2 October, is the mechanism through which more than 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayats prepare their Gram Panchayat Development Plans and upload them on eGramSwaraj. Gram Sabhas review schemes, identify gaps using the Panchayat Advancement Index, and set priorities.

Under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, Gram Sabhas in Fifth Schedule areas get stronger powers, such as approval of plans and identification of beneficiaries. Weak own-source revenue, limited devolution of functions, funds and functionaries, and low attendance remain the main constraints on participatory planning.

Prior environmental clearance means that a project must be assessed before work begins, through screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal. “Post-facto” or ex post facto clearance arises when a project starts or expands without it.

In 2017 the Ministry offered a one-time window for such violation cases, and in 2021 an Office Memorandum set a standing procedure for them. The Supreme Court struck the mechanism down in May 2025, recalled that judgment on a review petition, and in July 2026 quashed the 2021 memorandum while upholding the time-bound 2017 notification and keeping approvals already granted valid.

The principle reaffirmed is that prior clearance is mandatory unless the law is amended. The National Green Tribunal, set up under the NGT Act, 2010, hears appeals against clearances and environmental disputes.

Debates on the EIA process concern dilution through exemptions, the quality of impact reports, public hearings and monitoring of conditions after approval.

The Forest Rights Act, 2006 corrects the “historical injustice” of rights left unrecorded when forests were consolidated as State property. It recognises individual rights over land under occupation, community rights such as grazing and minor forest produce, and the right to protect, regenerate, conserve or manage any community forest resource.

Other traditional forest dwellers qualify if they have lived in and depended on forests for three generations (75 years) before 13 December 2005; Scheduled Tribes need to show residence and dependence before that date. The process runs from the Gram Sabha to the Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees, with a State Level Monitoring Committee above.

Forest and revenue officials verify claims but cannot substitute for the Gram Sabha. Community forest resource recognition has lagged far behind individual titles in most States, and conflicts with forest departments over reserved and protected areas are the most common obstacle.

High-frequency indicators help track the economy between quarterly GDP releases. The PMI is a sentiment-based survey released at the start of each month, so it is the earliest signal; it captures the direction and breadth of change, not the level of output.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP), compiled by the National Statistics Office under MoSPI with base year 2022-23 in its new series, measures the volume of production in mining, manufacturing, electricity and gas and some utilities, with a lag of about a month. The Index of Eight Core Industries, from the Office of the Economic Adviser in DPIIT, covers coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity.

GST collections reflect consumption and imports, though the import share of GST, at a record 32.2 per cent in September 2026, shows they also depend on prices and the exchange rate. Analysts read these indicators together.

The multilateral trading system rests on non-discrimination: Most-Favoured-Nation treatment (GATT Article I) and national treatment (Article III). Free trade agreements are permitted exceptions under GATT Article XXIV if they cover substantially all trade.

The WTO’s dispute settlement has two tiers, panels and the Appellate Body; since the Appellate Body stopped functioning in 2019, some members use the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement, which India has not joined. The Finance Ministry’s Monthly Economic Review for September 2026 cited the WTO’s World Trade Report 2026: an “FTA world” replacing multilateralism would cut global GDP by 6.9 per cent and exports by 26.9 per cent by 2050, against gains of 2.9 and 17.9 per cent under enhanced cooperation.

India’s position is that FTAs should complement, not replace, the WTO. India amended its Foreign Trade Policy in July 2026 to bar imports made with forced labour, and the United Kingdom holds the G20 Presidency in 2027.

India carries one of the largest burdens of sickle cell disease, concentrated among tribal communities in central and western India. The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission, launched in 2023 with a target of 2047, focuses on screening people up to 40 years of age in affected areas, genetic counselling, sickle cell cards showing carrier status, and treatment including hydroxyurea and transfusion.

Because the disease is autosomal recessive, two carriers have a one-in-four chance in each pregnancy of a child with the disease, which is why premarital and antenatal screening are central. Indian patients often have milder disease than African patients, partly because of higher foetal haemoglobin, but anaemia, infections and malnutrition worsen it.

Gene therapies based on CRISPR editing have been approved abroad, and India has its own research programmes, but cost and access remain barriers. Population-specific clinical tools, like the CCMB score, help decide treatment where laboratories are scarce.

The response to the 2012 Delhi case produced the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, whose report of January 2013 led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which widened the definition of rape and created offences such as stalking, voyeurism and acid attack. The Nirbhaya Fund financed Safe City projects in eight cities, the Emergency Response Support System (112), forensic capacity, and One Stop Centres.

Fast-track special courts were set up from 2019 for rape and POCSO cases. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, in force from 1 July 2024, groups offences against women and children in one chapter.

Critics point to uneven use of the Fund, CCTV and lighting that are not monitored or linked to a response, and long trials. Because police and public order are State subjects, outcomes depend on State capacity; the Centre funds, sets standards and monitors through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Jana Gana Mana, written by Rabindranath Tagore, and Vande Mataram, by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, were both given national status by the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950, when President-elect Rajendra Prasad said the Song would be honoured equally with the Anthem. The Anthem is the first of five stanzas of Tagore’s song; the Song’s first two stanzas, written around 1875, were adopted for national gatherings by the Congress Working Committee in 1937 because later stanzas from Anandamath (1882) carry religious imagery.

The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 originally covered the Flag, the Constitution and the Anthem. Fundamental Duties were added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the Swaran Singh Committee’s recommendation and are not enforceable by courts in themselves.

Bijoe Emmanuel is the leading case on conscientious non-participation; the principle is that respect can be required but participation cannot be compelled against conscience.

Each constituency’s roll is prepared by an Electoral Registration Officer under the supervision of the State’s Chief Electoral Officer and the Election Commission. Forms under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 are: Form 6 for inclusion, 6A for overseas electors, 7 for objections and deletion, and 8 for shifting and correction.

An objection must be published, notice served on the person concerned and, where needed, an inquiry held under Rule 20 before a decision; courts have held that names cannot be deleted without a hearing. Section 31 of the 1950 Act makes a knowingly false declaration punishable with up to one year’s imprisonment, fine or both.

Summary revisions happen every year; a special or intensive revision, under Section 21(3), is a fresh, house-to-house preparation. Article 326 guarantees adult suffrage to every citizen of 18 years and above who is not disqualified, so the balance between removing ineligible entries and protecting genuine voters is a constitutional one.

Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 and was drawn into politics in 1894 when Natal moved to disenfranchise Indians. He petitioned the colonial authorities, including the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Ripon, and founded the Natal Indian Congress to organise the community.

Satyagraha as a method came later, in the Transvaal campaign from 1906. Back in India, Gandhi argued for adult franchise without property or literacy qualifications, notably at the Second Round Table Conference in London in 1931.

The Government of India Act, 1935 still restricted the vote to a minority. The Constituent Assembly adopted universal adult franchise in Article 326, a bold choice when literacy was low; the 61st Amendment (1988, in force 1989) lowered the age to 18.

Gandhi’s 1896 discovery that a candidate had put his name on a roll without his knowledge shows that the integrity of rolls has been a concern from the start of representative politics.

Bilateral investment treaties protect foreign investors against expropriation without compensation, discrimination and unfair treatment, and give them recourse to investor-state dispute settlement. India signed its first BIT with the United Kingdom in 1994 and more than 80 in the next two decades.

After the White Industries award of 2011, which held India liable for delays in its courts, and claims over retrospective taxation, India adopted a new Model BIT in December 2015, narrowing the definition of investment, dropping the most-favoured-nation clause, excluding taxation, and requiring exhaustion of local remedies. It then terminated most older treaties.

The Finance Minister told Parliament in 2025 that the model would be revised. Supporters say the model protects regulatory space for tax, health and environment policy; critics argue it raises perceived risk and deters long-term capital.

Net FDI, gross inflows minus repatriation and outward FDI, is the measure that matters for capital formation.

The semiconductor value chain has three main stages. Design, done by fabless firms and integrated companies, captures the highest margins and most of the intellectual property.

Fabrication, the making of wafers in clean rooms, is extremely capital-intensive and concentrated in Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP or OSAT) is the least capital-intensive and lowest-margin stage, though advanced packaging that integrates logic and memory for AI accelerators commands higher margins.

The India Semiconductor Mission, launched in December 2021 with Rs 76,000 crore, supports fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductor units, ATMP and OSAT plants and, through the Design Linked Incentive scheme, chip design start-ups. India has a large chip design workforce, much of it employed by global firms.

The debate is whether to build the ecosystem from the lower rungs upward, as some East Asian economies did, or to target design and IP directly.