Current Affairs and General Knowledge: Dated Facts plus Static Foundations
AILET's Current Affairs and General Knowledge section rewards consistent, dated reading rather than last-minute cramming. Roughly half the items track events of the previous twelve months; the rest test static general knowledge - Indian polity, geography, history, economy, science, awards and international institutions. The section also quietly checks whether you follow legal and constitutional news.
Core areas
- Polity and Constitution: fundamental rights, schedules, amendments, and constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission, CAG and Finance Commission.
- Economy: RBI instruments (repo rate, CRR, SLR), budget terminology, inflation measures.
- International affairs: UN agencies, G20, BRICS, SCO, major treaties and ongoing conflicts.
- Awards and appointments: Bharat Ratna, Nobel and Booker prizes, heads of institutions.
- Science and environment: ISRO missions, climate summits, newly enacted legislation.
Worked example
Which Schedule of the Constitution deals with anti-defection? Answer: the Tenth Schedule, inserted by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985. It lists the grounds on which an MP or MLA may be disqualified for defecting from a political party. The Ninth Schedule, by contrast, protects certain land-reform laws from judicial review - a very common confusion, because both are about protecting something.
Traps that cost marks
- Using a year-old current-affairs compilation; verify the date attached to every fact.
- Guessing under negative marking - a wrong answer costs marks, so leave what you cannot eliminate.
- Confusing similarly named bodies and schemes (NITI Aayog versus the erstwhile Planning Commission; NCW versus NHRC).
- Mixing up amendment numbers with article numbers.