UPSC Current Affairs Quiz : 28 July 2025

Solution: A

• Statement 1 is correct: The primary objective of the ‘Hydrogen for Heritage’ scheme is to deploy hydrogen-powered trains on heritage circuits and routes that are not yet electrified. This aligns with the broader goal of reducing the carbon footprint of Indian Railways by replacing diesel-run trains with a greener alternative.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Hydrogen fuel cells work by facilitating an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, not nitrogen. This process generates electricity, heat, and water (H2​O) as the only byproduct, making it a zero-emission technology. The involvement of nitrogen is not part of this core reaction.

Solution: C

• Statement I is correct: Operation Vijay was the codename for the Indian military’s counter-offensive launched in May 1999 to reclaim the high-altitude posts occupied by Pakistani soldiers and militants in the Kargil sector.
• Statement II is correct: The infiltration was strategically planned by Pakistan to capture commanding heights overlooking the vital National Highway 1A (NH-1A). Severing this highway would have isolated the Ladakh region, including Siachen, from Kashmir and the rest of India, creating a significant strategic disadvantage for India. This hostile action directly necessitated the launch of Operation Vijay, thus Statement II serves as a correct explanation for Statement I.
• Statement III is incorrect: A defining feature of India’s military conduct during the Kargil War was its restraint in not crossing the Line of Control (LoC). Despite the strategic and tactical challenges this posed, India upheld its commitment to international norms and confined its military operations strictly to its side of the LoC.

Solution: D

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a voluntary scheme, not mandatory. It is designed to encourage savings for old age among workers in the unorganised sector, but there is no compulsion to join.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The government’s co-contribution feature had specific conditions and was not for the entire policy duration. It contributed 50% of the subscriber’s contribution or ₹1,000 per year, whichever was lower. This was applicable only for eligible subscribers who joined the scheme between June 2015 and March 2016, and the co-contribution was made for a limited period of five years (2015-2020).
• Statement 3 is incorrect: A key feature of APY is the benefit provided to the spouse. Upon the death of the subscriber (after age 60), the spouse is entitled to receive the same pension amount for their lifetime. The accumulated pension corpus is returned to the nominee only after the death of both the subscriber and the spouse.

Solution: D

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The scheme provides incentives for employers in all sectors, although there is a special focus on the manufacturing sector. For instance, the incentive tenure for manufacturing is extended to 4 years, compared to 2 years for other sectors, but it is not exclusive to manufacturing.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The incentive for first-time employees is equivalent to one-month’s EPF wage (capped at ₹15,000). Furthermore, this payment is made in two separate instalments: the first after 6 months of continuous service and the second after 12 months of service, contingent upon completing a financial literacy module. It is not paid in a lump sum upon joining.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The PM-VBRY is administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, not the Ministry of Finance. The stated target of the scheme is the creation of over 5 crore new jobs, not 5 crore.

Solution: B

• (a) is incorrect: Several other EU members, such as Sweden, Cyprus, Spain, Ireland, and Norway (non-EU but European), have already recognized Palestine. France is not the first.
• (b) is correct: France is a permanent member of the UN Security Council (P5) and a member of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations. Its decision to recognize Palestine is a major diplomatic shift and sets a precedent within these powerful global blocs, potentially influencing the policies of other Western nations.
• (c) is incorrect: Recognition by individual countries, even a powerful one like France, does not automatically grant full UN membership. Full membership requires a recommendation from the UN Security Council (where any permanent member can use a veto) followed by a two-thirds majority vote in the UN General Assembly.
• (d) is incorrect: While the ICJ recently deemed the Israeli occupation unlawful, it has not issued a binding resolution that mandates statehood recognition by any country or group of countries. France’s decision was a sovereign political one, driven by factors like the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and a desire to revive the two-state solution.

Solution: B

• Statement 1 is correct: Rajendra Chola I (1014–1044 CE) inherited a formidable state from his father and was a great conqueror in his own right. He launched a successful campaign up to the Ganga in North India and a historic naval expedition to Southeast Asia, establishing the Chola empire as a major military and maritime power.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The naval expedition against the Srivijaya empire in 1025 CE was a strategic military and economic campaign. Its primary goal was to break Srivijaya’s control over the maritime trade routes, particularly the Malacca Strait, to benefit Tamil merchant guilds. While cultural exchange was a byproduct, the main driver was economic and geopolitical dominance, not cultural propagation.
• Statement 3 is correct: To commemorate his victory over the Pala dynasty of Bengal, he founded the new capital city of Gangaikonda Cholapuram. There, he built a magnificent temple and also commissioned the Cholagangam Tank, a massive artificial lake for irrigation that was an engineering marvel of its time.

Statement 4 is incorrect: The Chola administration, including under Rajendra Chola I, is known for strengthening local self-governance. He continued the practice of empowering village assemblies (sabhas and urs), which played a crucial role in local administration, revenue collection, and justice. Power was effectively decentralized at the village level.

Solution: C

The significance of the AstroSat mission’s findings lies in its observational evidence supporting existing theories.

• (c) is correct. The key breakthrough was that AstroSat, India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory, was able to observe the rapid changes in the black hole’s immediate environment. It captured the real-time flickering and oscillation of the plasma corona as it changed states. This provided strong observational proof for the theory that links these corona dynamics to the high-frequency Quasi-periodic Oscillations (QPOs) seen in the X-ray emissions, a major step in understanding the physics near a black hole.

Solution: A

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The Palestinian territories are generally understood to comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem (not West Jerusalem) as the claimed capital. West Jerusalem is under Israeli control.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: While the UN Partition Plan of 1947 proposed two states, only the Jewish state of Israel was realized in 1948. The proposed Arab state was not established due to the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by the Fatah party, has administrative control over parts of the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been governed by Hamas since 2007 after a conflict with Fatah.
• Statement 4 is correct: The Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917 by the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, was a public statement of British support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which was then an Ottoman region. This declaration was a pivotal moment in the history of the region.

Solution: C

(c) is correct. The 1200 HP power capacity makes it the world’s most powerful hydrogen train engine. This highlights India’s technological achievement in this domain, surpassing the power capacities of hydrogen trains developed and deployed in other countries, positioning India as a potential leader in this niche technology.

Solution: A

• Statement-I is correct. One of the key conditions for being eligible for the government’s co-contribution (which was available for those who joined in 2015-16) was that the subscriber should not be an income taxpayer. Another condition was not being covered by any other statutory social security scheme.
• Statement-II is also correct. The overarching goal of the APY is to extend social security to the unorganised sector. The co-contribution component was specifically designed as an incentive to attract the most vulnerable sections. By limiting this benefit to non-taxpayers and those without existing social security coverage, the government ensured that its financial support was targeted and did not subsidize individuals who were already in a better financial position or covered by other schemes.
• Statement-II provides the precise policy rationale for the rule mentioned in Statement-I. Therefore, Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I.