Current Affairs MCQs – July 30

{GS1 – A&C} Pithora Painting

• Context (ANI): The government is promoting the 2021 GI tag for Pithora painting to empower local tribal artisans and boost cultural tourism.

• Pithora is an ancient ritual mural art practised mainly by the Rathwa, Bhil, Nayak and Bhilala communities across Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It is performed to thank Baba Pithora, the food grain deity.
• Only male artists called Lakharas create the paintings; the tribal priest, Badwa, guides the ritual.
• Materials Used: Walls are prepared with cow dung, mud, chalk, and the paint is made by mixing pigments with milk and liquor from mahua tree.
• Motifs: Horses are the main sacred motif, symbolising divine vehicles. Others include the sun, moon, elephants, farming activities, and tigers.

{GS2 – Governance} Why Accountability Matters in a Democracy? **

• Context (NOA): Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned amid nationwide protests over the NEET-UG paper leak, accepting political accountability.

• Accountability is the bedrock of democratic governance, requiring public authorities to explain decisions, accept responsibility, and face consequences for misconduct or failure.
• In NCT of Delhi v. UoI (2023), the Supreme Court reaffirmed the “triple chain of accountability“— civil servants are accountable to ministers, ministers to legislatures, and legislatures to the electorate.

Democratic Significance of Accountability

• Power Restraint: Accountability deters authoritarianism, nepotism and arbitrary use of public authority through institutional scrutiny.
• Democratic Legitimacy: Regular answerability sustains public trust in democratic institutions and maintains the legitimacy of elected governments.
• Resource Efficiency: Social audits and Citizen Charters improve welfare delivery by detecting leakage, delay and administrative neglect.
• Rights Protection: Judicial review prevents administrative convenience or majoritarian preference from overriding constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Accountability Framework in India

• Legislative Oversight: Parliament enforces collective responsibility under Article 75(3) through debates, questions, confidence motions and bodies like the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
• Administrative Controls: Departmental inquiries, conduct rules, vigilance systems and performance reviews enforce internal administrative accountability.
• Judicial Review: Judiciary uses Art 32 & 226 to examine constitutional validity of laws & administrative orders.
• Independent Oversight: Constitutional organs like the CAG and ECI ensure financial and political accountability, while statutory bodies like CVC and Lokpal oversee corruption.
• Citizen Scrutiny: Citizens use the RTI Act, 2005, social audits, media and Citizen Charters to scrutinise public service delivery.

Major Challenges to Accountability

• RTI Dilution: Over 4 lakh pending RTI appeals and complaints, together with prolonged vacancies, weaken the law’s deterrent effect.
• Legislative Erosion: Bills referred to committees fell from 71% in the 15^th Lok Sabha to 16% in the 17th Lok Sabha, weakening detailed scrutiny.
• Decision Delays: Governors and Speakers delay decisions on assent and the Tenth Schedule, exploiting undefined constitutional timelines despite judicial guidance.
• Political Funding Opacity: Anonymous political donations weaken vertical (political) accountability by making parties more responsive to influential donors than ordinary voters.
• Lack of Institutional Autonomy: Agencies like the CBI and ED lack financial and administrative independence, resulting in political targeting over objective accountability.

Measures to Strengthen Accountability

• Institutional Reforms: Ensure transparent appointments, fixed tenure, budget autonomy; implement 2^nd ARC recommendations to strengthen whistle-blower protection and digital file tracking.
• Community Audits: Extend Meghalaya’s statutory social-audit model to welfare schemes, making community-led auditing a legally enforceable right.
• Mandatory Committee Scrutiny: Mandate at least 100 parliamentary sitting days annually and compulsory committee scrutiny for major Bills, budgets and expenditure proposals.
• Fixed Constitutional Timelines: Codify binding deadlines for Governors and Speakers to decide assent and Tenth Schedule matters, following Supreme Court guidance.
• Electoral Transparency: Bring recognised national parties under the RTI Act, 2005 and establish a fully digital, transparent and auditable electoral-funding system.
• Statutory Assurances: Enact a central Right to Service law with delivery deadlines, appeals and financial penalties for unjustified administrative delays.

{GS3 – Envi} Sustainable Aviation Fuel *

• Context (PIB): Ministry of Civil Aviation organised a meeting to review India’s preparedness to adopt Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and to comply with CORSIA.

About Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

• Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a sustainable, drop-in alternative to conventional jet fuel, produced from non-fossil raw materials.
• Emission Impact: It reduces lifecycle CO₂ emissions by up to 80% compared with crude-oil jet fuel and lowers sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions to zero.
• Compatibility: Chemically identical to conventional Jet A or Jet A-1 fuel, it can be blended safely up to 50% without modifying existing aircraft or fuelling systems.
• Market Penetration: SAF currently accounts for less than 1% of total global aviation fuel consumption, due to high price, supply deficit, and feedstock competition.
• Certified Pathways: ASTM International has certified several specific thermochemical and biochemical pathways to produce SAF.
  1. Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA): Used cooking oil, animal fats, and vegetable oils.
  2. Alcohol-to-Jet: Ethanol and iso-butanol, derived from sugarcane, starches, and biomass.
  3. Fischer-Tropsch (FT): Municipal solid waste and woody biomass.
  4. Power-to-Liquid (PtL) / eFuels: Captured CO₂ and green hydrogen.
• Domestic Target: India aims to blend 1% SAF into jet fuel for international flights by 2027, 2% by 2028, and 5% by 2030.

About Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA)

• CORSIA is a market-based mechanism established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to cap and reduce emissions from international aviation.
• Objective: It mandates airlines to achieve carbon-neutral growth by offsetting emissions above a baseline threshold, currently set at 85% of the sector’s total 2019 emissions.
• Scope: Applies only to international flights between participating member states, excluding all domestic aviation emissions. States with less than 0.5% of global Revenue Tonne Km (in 2018) are also exempt.
  • Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) are exempt from the mandatory phase regardless of aviation share.

• Compliance: Airlines can meet offsetting obligations by using SAF or by purchasing certified CORSIA-eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) from ICAO-approved programmes such as Verra or Gold Standard.
• Timeline: Implementation spans a voluntary Pilot Phase (2021–2023), a voluntary First Phase (2024–2026), and a mandatory Second Phase (2027–2035).
• Opt-Out: India opted out of the voluntary phases, citing “Common but Differentiated Responsibilities” (CBDR) to shield its developing aviation sector from premature penalties.

Read More> India’s Civil Aviation Sector

{GS3 – IE} Global Gig Worker Protections and India’s Position **

• Context (TH): India recently abstained from voting on the ILO Convention No. 193, the first binding international treaty to establish labour standards for digital platform and gig workers.

About ILO Convention No. 193

• The convention covers all digital platform workers in formal and informal economies, including online and location-based work like delivery and taxi.
• Worker Classification & Fair Pay: Member states must base employment relationships on actual working conditions, not platform contracts. Workers must be paid timely, while employees must earn at least the minimum wage.
• Algorithmic Control: Platforms must explain automated systems that monitor performance and influence workers’ evaluation, work assignment, or employment access.
• Core Rights: Workers get protections like association, equality, social security, and workplace safety, including the right to refuse dangerous work without retaliation.
• Harassment Safeguards: Member states must protect platform workers from violence, online threats and harassment involving clients or other third parties.
• Data Protection: The Convention safeguards personal data and protects migrant and refugee workers from recruitment and employment abuses.

India’s Abstention

• Rationale: The Convention’s reclassification and algorithmic-transparency mandates conflict with India’s flexible, contract-based gig economy model and could increase platform compliance costs, constraining growth of the start-up ecosystem.
• Implications: India risks falling behind in global labour standards, leaving platform workers insecure compared to peers like China and Brazil as they strengthen protections.

Key Global Regulations for Gig Economy

• European Union: The Platform Work Directive presumes gig workers as employees if platforms control over task execution.
• Spain: The Riders’ Law, 2021, presumes digitally managed delivery riders are employees and requires algorithmic disclosures to workers’ representatives.
• United States: California’s Proposition 22 retains app-based drivers as independent contractors while providing minimum earnings and healthcare subsidies.
• Singapore: The Platform Workers Act, effective from 2025, provides injury compensation, retirement contributions and representation without employee reclassification.

India’s Gig Worker Protection Framework

• Code on Social Security, 2020: It is the first to recognise gig and platform workers as distinct categories from traditional employees. It mandates the creation of a dedicated Social Security Fund financed by aggregator contributions of 1% to 2% of their annual turnover.
  • Limitations: The Code does not grant gig workers employee status, minimum wages or conventional industrial-dispute remedies.
• e-Shram Portal (2021): Launched in 2021 by the Ministry of Labour, it registers unorganised workers, while its aggregator module facilitates platform-worker enrolment.
• Sub-National Regulations: Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers Act, 2023, creates a welfare board funded by transaction cess, while Karnataka and Telangana proposed laws covering insurance, welfare, and grievance redressal.

Read More > Gig Economy

{GS3 – IE} Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• Context (PIB): Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a 23-month high growth rate of 7.3% in June 2026, marking a 5.1% increase from May 2026.

• IIP is a high-frequency macroeconomic indicator measuring short-term changes in industrial output volume before quarterly GDP data becomes available.
• National Statistical Office (NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), compiles and publishes it monthly.
• 10th Revision: The base year changed from 2011-12 to 2022-23. The deflation methodology shifted from the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to the new Output Producer Price Index (OPPI).
• Item Basket: It now tracks 1,042 products across 463 item groups, including items such as CCTV cameras, stents, and aircraft parts.
• Sectoral Scope: The index divides output across 4 categories. Manufacturing (76.1%), Mining & Quarrying (11.1%), Electricity & Gas Supply (10.9%), and Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management (2.02%)
• Use-Based Classification: It divides output into six categories: primary goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, infrastructure and construction goods, consumer durables, and consumer non-durables.

Read More> Index of Core Industries

{GS3 – IS} Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) *

• Context (PIB): The 88^th Raising Day of the CRPF celebrated on 27 July.

• The CAPF are a group of seven-armed police units under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It was originally established as the Crown Representative’s Police on 27 July 1939 and was renamed the Central Reserve Police Force through the CRPF Act, 1949.

Roles and Functions

• Assists states in maintaining law and order.
• Conducts counter-insurgency and anti-Naxal (Left Wing Extremism) operations.
• Engages in counter-terrorism, election security, riot control, and VIP security.
• Participates in UN Peacekeeping Missions.

Forces Under CAPF

• Border Security Force (BSF): Guards India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF): Handles internal security, law and order, and counter-insurgency.
• Central Industrial Security Force (CISF): Protects vital public sector undertakings, airports, and major critical infrastructure.
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP): Secures the high-altitude border regions along the Indo-China boundary.
• Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB): Monitors and guards the open borders shared with Nepal and Bhutan.
• Assam Rifles (AR): Operates in the northeastern states and guards the Indo-Myanmar border.
• National Security Guard (NSG): Acts as a specialized federal contingency strike force for counter-terrorism and hostage rescue.

Specialized Units

• CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action): Specializes in anti-Naxal operations.
• Rapid Action Force (RAF): Specialized unit for riot control and handling communal disturbances.
• VIP Security Wing: Provides security to designated protectees.

{GS3 – S&T} 25 Years of Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) in Hanle

• Context (PIB): 25 years of successful operations of 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) atop Hanle was celebrated.

Key Features of HCT Telescope

• Background: Foundation stone for Indian Astronomical Observatory was laid in 1997 and was dedicated to the nation in August 2001.
  • Named HCT after Nobel Laureate Subramanyan Chandrasekhar.
• Unique Feature: Operated remotely in real time from IIA’s campus in Hosakote in Bengaluru, since 2001, through a dedicated INSAT-3B satellite link from ISRO.
• Equipments: HFOSC (a spectrograph and camera in the optical), uTIRSPEC (a near-infrared spectrometer and imager), and HESP (a high-resolution Echelle spectrograph).
• Purpose: Study of objects like planets and asteroids, stars and galaxies, comets, exo-planets, stellar astrophysics, Novae and supernovae, etc.

{Prelims – AH} Pollen Study Traces Harappan Decline

• Context (PIB): A recent study analysing pollen from Uttarakhand’s Deoria Tal lake provided evidence for the cause of Harappan Civilisation’s decline and de-urbanisation.

• Researchers dated Deoria Tal sediments using AMS radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating of Trapa (water chestnut) seed cases and reconstructed the climate using Oak-to-Pine pollen ratios.
• Key Finding: Around 4,200 years ago, the Indian Summer Monsoon weakened significantly (“4.2 ka event”), shown by an abrupt rise in Oak/Pine pollen ratio. This reduced water in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers, causing drought and eastward migration, leading to the Harappan decline.
• How Pollens Trace Climate Change (Palynology): Palynology studies pollen grains and spores preserved in lake sediments for thousands of years by their durable walls. Scientists analyse the pollen types and amounts to infer past temperature and moisture conditions.
  • Climate Indicators: High oak pollen indicates warm, humid monsoons, while rising pine pollen indicates cooler, drier and more arid conditions.

Read More > Harappan Civilisation

{Prelims – Envi } MISHTI Scheme

• Context (DD): Andhra Pradesh has secured 2^nd place among Indian states under the Centre’s MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes) scheme.

• Andhra Pradesh has started Great Green Wall of Andhra Pradesh initiative and also adopted the Fish Bone Technique, an innovative restoration method designed to improve tidal water circulation, increase mangrove survival rates and enhance long-term ecological resilience.
• The MISHTI scheme is a central government program launched in 2023, to restore mangrove forests, protect coastal areas from climate change, and support local jobs.

Read More> Mangroves

{Prelims – Geo} Andromeda Galaxy

• Context (TH): Astronomers traced Andromeda’s stellar history using Hubble Telescope data, revealing a rapid decline in star formation over the past 40 million years, placing it in the “green valley”.

• The Galaxy, also known as Messier 31 or M31, is a massive barred spiral galaxy in the Andromeda constellation, about 2.5 million light-years away. It is the nearest major spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.
• Andromeda is the largest galaxy in the Local Group (cluster of over 80 galaxies including Milky Way), spanning over 220,000 light-years and containing about 1 trillion stars.
• It appears as an elongated smudge to the unaided eye under sufficiently dark skies.
• M31 is approaching the Milky Way at about 110 km/s and will likely collide and merge into a giant elliptical galaxy in about 4 to 5 billion years.

{Prelims – MoPR} DAANVEER Initiative

• Context (PIB): Ministry of Panchayati Raj launched the voluntary DAANVEER initiative with tagline “Give Back to Your Village.”

• It is a citizen participation platform designed to strengthen Gram Panchayats’ digital infrastructure.
• Objective: DAANVEER provides a transparent digital mechanism for citizens, organisations, and the Indian diaspora to donate quality-verified technology assets to native villages.
• Mechanism: Donors can purchase pre-approved computer bundles that strictly meet the technical specifications set by state governments. Hardware is tracked from dispatch to physical installation via the Meri Panchayat app and the DigiHaat marketplace.

Read More> Artificial Intelligence Transforming Rural India

{Prelims – S&T} Virtual Magnets

• Context (TH): Bengaluru based startup called Vimag Labs has reportedly replaced Rare-Earth Magnets in motors with so-called virtual magnets.

Virtual Magnets

• Virtual Magnets involve wireless power transfer and sophisticated software algorithms to generate electric fields inside the motor that behave like a permanent magnet.
  • This allows building motors using only copper and steel, eliminating the need for rare-earth materials.
• Significance: Electric Vehicle (EV) motors use permanent magnets made with rare-earth materials around 90-95% of these are processed and controlled by China creating a major global supply chain dependency.

{Prelims – Misc} One Liners

• Sports – Silver Medals at CWG (TH): Gulveer Singh and Harjinder Kaur won silver medals for India at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Gulveer Singh claimed India’s first-ever medal in the men’s 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games. Kaur finished second in the women’s 69kg weightlifting category.