Current Affairs Special
May 2022
1. Consider the following statements:
- Contributions to political parties under Section 29 C of RPA are exempted from income tax.
- A party is recognized as a national party if it gets the state party status in 3 or more states.
Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
June 2022
2. With regards to the recently released, performance grading index for districts (PGI-D) assessment of the school education system, consider the following statements:
- It is the first ever such report.
- None of the districts figured in the highest ‘Daksh’ grade
- Only one district made a substantial improvement of over 20% in the outcomes category during 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1, 2 and 3
B. 1 and 2 only
C. 3 only
D. 1 only
July 2022
3. Consider the following statements :
- Both Central and State governments have the power to issue directions for blocking of content under Information Technology Act 2000.
- The terms “ Critical Information Infrastructure” has been mentioned but not defined by the Information Technology Act 2000.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
August 2022
4. Which of the following statements is correct ?
- Assam is the only state in India where National Register of Citizens has been updated post 1951.
- The ILP system is in operation in all the states of North-East.
Select the correct options:
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 & 2
D. Neither 1 or 2
UPSC Previous Year Question 2020
5. Consider the following statements: (2020)
- According to the Constitution of India a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State.
- According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answers with Explanation
May 2022
1. Consider the following statements:
- Contributions to political parties under Section 29 C of RPA are exempted from income tax.
- A party is recognized as a national party if it gets the state party status in 3 or more states.
Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: B
Explanation
Obligations of the Registered Political Parties
- Under Section 29 C of the RP Act the registered parties are required to furnish a contribution report. Such contributions are 100% exempted from income tax as an incentive to the parties for strengthening the electoral democracy.
- Section 29A (9) of the Act mandates every political party to communicate any change in its name, head office, office bearers, address, PAN to the Commission without delay. They also have to submit audited annual statements and a return of income for each assessment year to be eligible for exemption from income tax.
- The parties need to include in their constitution that they must contest an election conducted by the ECI within five years of registration.
- Upon participation in an election, they have to furnish their election expenditure statement within 75 days in case of Assembly polls and within 90 days in case of Lok Sabha election.
- Any aggrieved party can approach the Chief Electoral Officer concerned with full facts within 30 days of the ECI order, along with all the evidence, to seek remedial action.
Conditions for Recognition as a National Party
- At present (2019), a party is recognised as a national party if any of the following conditions is fulfilled :
- If it secures six per cent of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly; and, in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states; or
- If it wins two per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election; and these candidates are elected from three states; or if it is recognised as a state party in four states.
June 2022
2. With regards to the recently released, performance grading index for districts (PGI-D) assessment of the school education system, consider the following statements:
- It is the first ever such report.
- None of the districts figured in the highest ‘Daksh’ grade
- Only one district made a substantial improvement of over 20% in the outcomes category during 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1, 2 and 3
B. 1 and 2 only
C. 3 only
D. 1 only
Answer: A
Explanation
Context
- Ministry of Education recently (27 June 2022) released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-19 and 2019-20 for the first time ever.
- Released by: The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), under MOE.
- PGI-D assesses the performance of the school education system at the District level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
6 categories
- Outcomes
- Effective Classroom Transaction
- Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements
- School Safety & Child Protection
- Digital Learning
- Governance Process.
10 grades
The highest achievable grade is ‘Daksh’, which is for districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
- ‘Utkarsh’ (81% to 90%)
- ‘Ati Uttam’ (71% to 80%)
- ‘Uttam’ (61% to 70%)
- ‘Prachesta-1’ (51% to 60%)
- ‘Prachesta-2’ (41% to 50%).
- The lowest grade in PGI-D is ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores upto 10% of the total points.
None of the districts figured in the highest ‘Daksh’ grade in both these years.
Ati Uttam – Rajasthan has the highest 24 districts in this grade, followed by Punjab (14), Gujarat (13), and Kerala (13).
July 2022
3. Consider the following statements :
- Both Central and State governments have the power to issue directions for blocking of content under Information Technology Act 2000.
- The terms “ Critical Information Infrastructure” has been mentioned but not defined by the Information Technology Act 2000.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer : D
Explanation
Section 70. Protected system.
[(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare any computer resource which directly or indirectly affects the facility of Critical Information Infrastructure, to be a protected system.
Explanation.–For the purposes of this section, ―Critical Information Infrastructure‖ means the
computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which, shall have debilitating impact on national
security, economy, public health or safety.]
August 2022
4. Which of the following statements is correct ?
- Assam is the only state in India where National Register of Citizens has been updated post 1951.
- The ILP system is in operation in all the states of North-East.
Select the correct options:
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 & 2
D. Neither 1 or 2
Answer: A
Explanation
- The Manipur assembly has passed a resolution to implement National Register of Citizen (NRC) in the state. It has also resolved to establish a State Population Commission.
- The demand for NRC has been generated by more than two dozen organizations including tribal organizations, to protect the indigenous people from perceived invasion by ‘non-local residents”.
What is NRC?
- The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is an official record of those who are official Indian citizens.
- It records the demographic information of all the persons who qualify to be Indian citizens as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.
- NRC is collated from the census data by marking the persons who are citizens.
- The issue of NRC is significant in case of Assam. Assam having a boundary with Bangladesh witnessed large scale inflow of persons from across the boundary.
ILP
- In December 2019, Manipur became the fourth northeastern State to be brought under the Inner-Line Permit (ILP) system after Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
- The ILP – a temporary official travel document to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area, was implemented under the British-era Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation.
UPSC Previous Year Question 2020
5. Consider the following statements: (2020)
- According to the Constitution of India a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State.
- According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: D
Explanation
Article 75(5) : A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall at the expiration of that period cease
to be a Minister.
Article 326:
- Section 8. Disqualification on conviction for certain offences.
- A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years (other than any offence referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2)) shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.
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