UPSC Current Affairs Quiz : 25 May 2026

Solution: A

• Both statements are correct, and Statement II directly explains Statement I. The JEEVAN (Joint Elderly Empowerment & Virtual Assistance Network) mobile application was specifically engineered by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment as an accessible, citizen-facing portal to act as a single-window support ecosystem for India’s elderly population.
• Statement II provides the functional justification for how the app achieves this status, highlighting its core features: aggregating all active central and state pension and healthcare entitlements, and integrating a simplified, elder-centric SOS panic button that connects senior citizens instantly to localized medical networks and emergency services.

Solution: A

• Both statements are accurate, and Statement II is the correct explanation for Statement I. The SHATAYU (Senior Holistic Care Assistance and Training For Your Utility) platform is designed to formalize India’s historically informal, unorganized elderly care sector into a professional, trackable economic ecosystem.
• Statement II explains how this transition is structurally executed: by deploying an infrastructure that hosts standard training trackers, monitors skill graduation benchmarks, maps available personnel at a district micro-level, and acts as a verified service directory to ensure physical safety and legal compliance.

Solution: B

• Thermal Energy Storage (TES) functions essentially as a thermal battery, retaining excess thermal energy during peak availability cycles (such as midday solar generation) and releasing it during off-peak periods.
• Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are key components that operate on latent heat storage, absorbing and releasing massive volumes of energy at an almost constant temperature during phase transitions.

Statement 2 is incorrect because it confuses sensible heat with latent heat. Sensible heat storage (like molten salts or thermal oils) stores energy by changing the temperature of the material without altering its physical phase, whereas latent heat materials absorb energy during solid-to-liquid transitions.

Solution: B

• Schedule H1 was introduced in 2013 as an amendment to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, to combat drug abuse, monitor dangerous psychotropic substances, and control the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently brought the neurological drug Pregabalin under Schedule H1 due to rising concerns over its recreational abuse for sedative and euphoric effects.
• Statement 2 is incorrect because Schedule H1 sits as a legal middle ground between ordinary prescription drugs (Schedule H) and heavily restricted narcotics (Schedule X). It does not impose stricter controls than Schedule X, which represents the highest tier of domestic restriction for dangerous, habit-forming narcotics.

Solution: D

• The foundational rule governing fixed-income security markets is that bond prices and bond yields share an inverse relationship. The coupon rate printed on a physical sovereign bond remains entirely fixed throughout its tenure.
• If market conditions fluctuate—such as inflation rising or newer bonds offering higher coupons—the older bond becomes less attractive. To incentivize buyers in the secondary market, the seller must discount the old bond’s market price below its face value.
• When the market price falls, the fixed annual coupon payment yields a higher percentage rate of return for the new buyer, causing the mathematical bond yield to spike.

Solution: D

• The Kali night frog (Nyctibatrachus kali) is an amphibian belonging to the ancient genus Nyctibatrachus, which is entirely endemic to the Western Ghats. It has a micro-endemic distribution, living in the torrential stream ecosystems and humid leaf litter of the Castlerock rainforest region within the Kali river catchment basin.

Statement 2 is incorrect because the species is highly cryptic, meaning it is morphologically almost identical to the previously known Kumbara night frog (Nyctibatrachus kumbara). It cannot be easily differentiated via simple visual observation in the field; instead, accurate identification requires advanced laboratory tools, DNA sequencing, and bioacoustic call profile analysis.

Solution: C

• Statement I is correct because the Western Ghats host an exceptionally rich biodiversity, where nearly 94% of its 253 amphibian species are completely endemic to the region.
• Statement II is incorrect because species with a micro-endemic distribution (restricted to very small, localized pockets) are highly vulnerable, rather than resilient, to environmental changes.
• Because they depend on specialized micro-habitats like pristine mountain streams and specific rock crevices, any regional land-use alterations, habitat fragmentation, or climate shifts pose a severe threat of extinction to their localized populations.

Solution: B

• Pair 1 is incorrectly matched; the Danakil Depression is located in the Afar Triangle of northeastern Ethiopia, near the border zones, rather than within Djibouti. It sits roughly 125 meters below sea level and is known for its intense hydrothermal sulfur fields.
• Pair 2 is correctly matched; Ras Dashen is the highest alpine peak in Ethiopia, rising to 4,550 meters within the rugged Ethiopian Highlands.
• Pair 3 is incorrectly matched; Lake Tana, the official headwater source of the Blue Nile River, is located entirely within the borders of Ethiopia, not South Sudan.

Solution: C

• Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country and has been completely landlocked since 1993 following Eritrea’s independence. Its terrain is deeply defined by the Great Rift Valley System, a massive tectonic trench that cuts across the nation from northeast to southwest, forming deep volcanic lakes and steep escarpments.
• Statement 2 is incorrect because Ethiopia shares land boundaries with six nations, not four: Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Solution: A

• Statement 1 is incorrect; the MCC originated much later, in the 1960 Kerala Assembly elections, and was only formalized nationally in the late 1960s.
• Statement 2 is correct and represents Part VII of the code. This section is vital to prevent the “incumbency advantage,” ensuring that ministers do not use public resources (media, transport, personnel) for partisan gain.

Statement 3 is incorrect; the ECI cannot directly disqualify a candidate based solely on an MCC violation because the MCC is not a statutory law. Disqualification usually requires a conviction under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, for “corrupt practices.” The ECI’s power under the MCC is primarily moral and administrative, involving warnings, censures, or temporary bans from campaigning.