1.With reference to Bhai Parmanand, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Statement 1 – Correct: Bhai Parmanand belonged to a prominent Mohyal Brahmin family from Karyala in the Jhelum region and was strongly influenced by the Arya Samaj. He also served as an educator at D.A.V. College, Lahore.
Statement 2 – Correct: In 1905, he travelled to South Africa as a Vedic missionary and stayed with Mahatma Gandhi.
Statement 3 – Correct: During his travels in the United States and Caribbean, he persuaded Lala Hardayal to participate in revolutionary activities. Hardayal subsequently became a key figure in the Ghadar movement, which led to the establishment of the Ghadar Party at San Francisco.
Statement 4 – Correct: After returning to India in 1914, Bhai Parmanand became involved in revolutionary activities. He was arrested in connection with the First Lahore Conspiracy Case (1915) and initially sentenced to death. The sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment, and he was transported to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands.
Statement 5 – Correct: After his release in 1920, he became active in political life, including leadership in the Hindu Mahasabha, and was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly.
2.With reference to the designation of wetlands under the Ramsar Convention, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Statement 1 – Correct: One of the Ramsar criteria covers wetlands that represent a rare, unique or near-natural wetland type.
Statement 2 – Correct: A wetland can qualify if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
Statement 3 – Correct: Ramsar criteria also recognise wetlands that regularly support at least 1% of the population of a wetland-dependent non-avian animal species.
Statement 4 – Incorrect: A wetland needs to satisfy at least ONE of the nine Ramsar criteria, not three.
Statement 5 – Correct: In India, the State Government or Union Territory Administration identifies suitable wetlands, following which the proposal is processed through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and forwarded to the Ramsar Secretariat.
3.With reference to the NDEX and FINNDEX equity indices proposed by the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Statement 1 – Correct: NDEX is designed to track 20 large and actively traded Indian stocks, selected from the top 60 companies.
Statement 2 – Correct: FINNDEX will comprise 15 financial-sector companies, with insurance companies excluded.
Statement 3 – Correct: Both indices will follow a rule-based multi-factor methodology. Stock selection and weighting will depend on multiple factors rather than merely market capitalisation.
Statement 4 – Correct: NCDEX is India's technology-driven agricultural commodity exchange. It provides a platform for price discovery and risk management/hedging in agricultural commodities and is regulated by SEBI.
Statement 5 – Correct: NCDEX is targeting the first quarter of FY28, i.e. April–June 2027, for the launch of the indices.
4.With reference to the SAMHiTA Project, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Statement 1 – Correct: SAMHiTA stands for South Asian Manuscript Histories and Textual Archive Project.
Statement 2 – Correct: Its primary objective is to digitise ancient manuscripts, thereby preserving their religious, historical, philosophical and cultural knowledge and improving their accessibility.
Statement 3 – Correct: Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo, located near Beira Lake, is the first Sri Lankan institution to partner with the SAMHiTA Project.
Statement 4 – Correct: The project is undertaken by the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi, with grant assistance from the Government of India.
Statement 5 – Correct: Under the MoU, local experts are digitising 100 ancient manuscripts preserved at Gangaramaya Temple. The first phase is scheduled for completion by November 2026.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Statement 1 – Correct: The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded annually by the European Parliament to individuals, groups or organisations making an outstanding contribution to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Statement 2 – Correct: The prize is named after Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet physicist and political dissident. It was established in 1988.
Statement 3 – Correct: The ICC deals with four core international crimes:
Statement 4 – Correct: The Rome Statute was adopted in 1998 and entered into force on 1 July 2002, establishing the ICC as a permanent international criminal court.
Statement 5 – Incorrect: India is not a State Party to the Rome Statute and is therefore not a member of the ICC. Other notable non-parties include the United States, China, Russia and Israel.
