January 22 2025 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Ad-Hoc Judges are temporary judicial appointees nominated for specific cases, projects, or limited periods, unlike regular judges appointed through standard procedures.
• Appointed when there is a lack of quorum in the Supreme Court.
• They enjoy the salary, powers, and privileges of Supreme Court judges during tenure.
• Tenure of Ad Hoc Judges:
  • Duration: Typically for 2–3 years or as required.
  • Renewability: Extended based on judicial needs and case backlogs.

Statements 2 is correct

• Appointment of HC Ad-hoc Judges: Chief Justice of the High Court with the President’s consent, Governed by Article 224A of the Indian Constitution.
• Appointment of SC Ad-hoc Judges: CJI with President’s approval after consulting the concerned High Court Chief Justice, Governed by Article 127.

Statements 3 is correct

• Eligibility Criteria:
  • Experience: Must have served as a judge in the same or another High Court.
  • Age: Retired judges physically and mentally fit for duty.
  • Expertise: Specialization in specific areas of law may be required.
• Appointment:
  • Trigger for Appointment: High case pendency (8-10 years delay) or when over 20% of regular judge positions are vacant (2021 Lok Prahari guidelines).

Answer: (c) All three; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• Every person born outside India shall be a citizen of India by descent if both the parents or either of them is an Indian citizen, not being an illegal migrant, provided his/her birth is registered at an Indian Mission/Post abroad within one year of the birth or with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period.

Statement 2 is correct

• Any citizen of India of full age and capacity can make a declaration renouncing his Indian citizenship.
• Upon the registration of that declaration, that person ceases to be a citizen of India. However, if such a declaration is made during a war in which India is engaged, its registration shall be withheld by the Central Government.
• Further, when a person renounces his Indian citizenship or ceases to be an Indian citizen, every minor child of that person also loses Indian citizenship. However, when such a child attains the age of eighteen, he may resume Indian citizenship.

Statement 3 is correct

• Deprivation is a compulsory termination of Indian citizenship by the Central government, if:
  • the citizen has obtained the citizenship by fraud:
  • the citizen has shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India:
  • the citizen has unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy during a war;
  • the citizen has, within five years after registration or naturalisation, been imprisoned in any country for two years; and
  • the citizen has been ordinarily resident out of India for seven years continuously.

• According to the Citizenship Act of 1955, the government of India can deprive a person of his citizenship in some cases. But this is not applicable for all citizens. It is applicable only in the case of citizens who have acquired the citizenship by:
  • registration,
  • naturalization, or
  • only by Article 5 Clause (c)
    • Article 5(c): Citizenship at commencement for a domicile in India who has ordinarily been a resident of India for not less than 5 years immediately preceding the commencement of the Constitution.

Answer: (a) 1 only; Difficulty Level: Hard

Explanation

Option (c) is correct

• Kho-Kho is believed to have evolved from the Mahabharata’s Chakravyuha formation, showcasing defensive and tactical skills.
• Initially played on chariots, it transitioned to foot-based in the early 20th century.
• The modernisation of Kho-Kho occured when the Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana Club established formal rules in 1914.
• Demonstrated at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the global Reach of the game expanded internationally with the formation of the International Kho Kho Federation in 2018.
• Recently India’s women’s and men’s teams both claimed the title in the first-ever Kho Kho World Cup, defeating Nepal.
  • Venue: Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India.
  • Organizers: Kho Kho Federation of India and International Kho Kho Federation (IKKF).
  • Mascots: Tejas, a blue gazelle for brilliance & energy; Tara, an orange gazelle for guidance & aspiration.

Answer: (c) Kho-Kho; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Like any other modern state, India has two kinds of people–citizens and aliens.
• Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it. They enjoy all civil and political rights. Aliens, on the other hand, are the citizens of some other state and hence, do not enjoy all the civil and political rights.

Options 1, 2 and 4 are correct

• The Constitution confers the following rights and privileges on the citizens of India (and denies the same to aliens):
  • Right against discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15).
  • Right to equality of opportunity in the matter of public employment (Article 16).
  • Right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession (Article 19).
  • Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29 and 30).
  • Right to vote in elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly.
  • Right to contest for the membership of the Parliament and the state legislature.
  • Eligibility to hold certain public offices, that is, President of India, Vice-President of India, judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts, Governor of states, Attorney General of India and Advocate General of states.

Option 3 is incorrect

• Article 28 of the Indian Constitution protects the freedom of religion in educational institutions.
  • It safeguards the rights of individuals, religious groups, and educational institutions.
  • It prohibits the requirement of attending religious instruction or worship in certain educational institution.
  • This right is available to all people, including foreigners, except enemy aliens.
• Along with the above rights, the citizens also owe certain duties towards the Indian State, as for example, paying taxes, respecting the national flag and national anthem, defending the country and so on.

Answer: (b) Only three; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement-I is correct

• The “rarest of rare” doctrine mandates the death penalty only in exceptional cases where the crime is so heinous that no alternative punishment would suffice, emphasising the need for extreme caution and judicial scrutiny in capital punishment decisions.

Statement-II is incorrect

• Introduced in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980), the doctrine restricts death penalty imposition to cases without any possibility of reformation of the convict.
  • Key Criteria: Courts assess aggravating and mitigating circumstances without fixed standards, relying on outlined guidelines.

• In Santosh Bariyar v. State of Maharashtra (2009), the court reinforced the need for objectivity in sentencing by focusing on evidence to assess the offender’s capacity for rehabilitation.

Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• President Trump’s executive order mandates renaming of North America’s highest peak, reversing the Obama-era decision to call it Denali, citing historical significance of President McKinley.
• Denali National Park and Preserve retains its name despite the mountain’s renaming.

Pairs 1 and 2 are incorrect but pairs 3 and 4 are correct

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium

Reference: Mountain Peaks