CLAT current affairs revision checklist

A checklist is only useful if ticking a box means something. "Revised the Supreme Court judgments" can mean you read the page, or it can mean you can state the case name, the question and the holding for each of them without looking. Only the second earns marks.

So this checklist comes with a rule: tick an item only when you can recall its key facts with your notes closed. Each category below says what that recall looks like. Use it in the last four to six weeks before CLAT, after you have built your category digests (see revising a year of current affairs).

How to use it

1. Go category by category. For each item, close your notes and say or write the key facts.
2. Tick the item if you get them all. Star it if you miss any, and come back within three days.
3. Revisit starred items until they turn into ticks.
4. Aim to have every box ticked once by two weeks before the exam, and a second time in the final week.

Legal

• New laws and major amendments of the year. For each: name, year, what it replaced or changed, and two key provisions.
• The three criminal laws. BNS, BNSS and BSA: what each replaced, the date they came into force (1 July 2024), and three notable changes.
• Major Supreme Court judgments. For each: case name, the question, the holding in one sentence, and the Article involved.
• Legal institutions in the news. Their source (Article or Act), composition and one recent development.

See legal current affairs for CLAT.

National affairs and polity

• Elections held in the year. Which, when, and any constitutional or procedural issue raised.
• Constitutional and statutory bodies in the news. Article or Act, who appoints, and the recent development.
• Government schemes launched or changed. Ministry, target group and objective, in one line each.
• Centre–state issues. Finance Commission, GST Council, Governors' powers, as they arose.

International

• Summits of the year. G20, BRICS, SCO, the climate COP and others: host, theme, new members, headline outcome.
• India's major agreements and visits. Partner country, subject, and why it matters.
• International organisations in the news. Headquarters, head, and the recent development.
• Conflicts and crises. The parties, the core issue and India's stated position.

Economy

• Union Budget. Date, fiscal deficit target, and three headline announcements.
• RBI decisions. Current repo rate direction, the Monetary Policy Committee's composition, and any new regulation.
• GST Council decisions. Rate changes and the structure now in force.
• Trade and major economic data. Only the headline figures you have seen repeated.

Science, technology and environment

• Space missions. Agency, objective, and what was new about each.
• Technology policy. Laws and rules on data, AI and digital public infrastructure.
• Climate conference. Host city and country, and the headline outcome.
• Environmental conventions and protected areas. Latest additions, with the convention or law involved.

Awards, sports, appointments and reports

• Major awards. Winner, field and one line of reason, plus how the award works.
• Major sporting events. Host, winner, and India's results.
• Constitutional and international appointments. The office, the Article or rule, and the new holder, verified against an official source.
• Indices. Publisher, what is measured, and India's latest rank for the major ones only.

Static background

• Constitution. The Parts, the Articles table and the amendments table from the Constitution basics guide.
• Constitutional, statutory and executive bodies. Which is which, with their source.
• International headquarters, grouped by city.
• Important days, with the reason for each date.
• Your list of confusable pairs.

A 30-day plan

The last 48 hours

• Read only your category digests and your confusable pairs list.
• Do not open a new compilation or a new source. It adds doubt, not marks.
• Do one short GK passage set to stay in rhythm, not to learn.
• Sleep properly. Recall depends on it more than on one more hour of reading.

For the rest of the final month, see the last month before CLAT.

Self-test passage

Answer without notes. Mark each answer "passage" or "background".

Article 40, among the Directive Principles, asks the State to organise village panchayats as units of self-government. For four decades, that remained largely an aspiration. A committee chaired by Balwant Rai Mehta recommended a three-tier structure in 1957, and the first such system was inaugurated at Nagaur in Rajasthan in 1959. But panchayats depended on state laws, and many states postponed their elections for years.

The [1] Amendment of 1992 changed that by giving panchayats a constitutional footing in a new Part IX. It provides for a three-tier structure at the village, intermediate and district levels, though states with a population not exceeding twenty lakh need not have the intermediate tier. Panchayats have a five-year term, and fresh elections must be held before the term ends or within six months of a dissolution. Elections are run by a State Election Commission, and a State Finance Commission reviews panchayat finances every five years.

Not less than one-third of the seats, and of the offices of chairperson, are reserved for women, and many states have since raised that share to one-half. Seats are also reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population. A new Schedule lists 29 subjects that states may devolve to panchayats. The amendment came into force on 24 April 1993, now observed as National Panchayati Raj Day.

Q1. Which amendment fills [1]?

(a) 42nd (b) 73rd (c) 74th (d) 86th

Q2. According to the passage, which states need not have an intermediate tier?

(a) States with fewer than 20 districts (b) States with a population not exceeding twenty lakh (c) States in the Sixth Schedule (d) Union Territories only

Q3. The Schedule listing the 29 subjects for panchayats is the:

(a) Seventh (b) Tenth (c) Eleventh (d) Twelfth

Q4. Which of the following is supported by the passage?

(a) The constitutional minimum reservation for women in panchayats is one-half.
(b) Panchayat elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.
(c) A dissolved panchayat must be re-elected within six months.
(d) The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee recommended a two-tier structure.

Q5. The 74th Amendment, passed alongside, gave constitutional status to:

(a) municipalities (b) cooperative societies (c) tribal councils (d) district courts

Answers:

1. (b) Background, with clues: Part IX, 1992, panchayats. The 74th deals with municipalities.
2. (b) Stated in the second paragraph.
3. (c) Background. The Eleventh Schedule lists panchayat subjects; the Twelfth lists 18 municipal subjects; the Tenth is anti-defection; the Seventh contains the three legislative lists.
4. (c) Stated in the second paragraph. (a) confuses what many states chose with the constitutional minimum of one-third; (b) is wrong because State Election Commissions run these elections; (d) contradicts the passage.
5. (a) Background. The 74th Amendment added Part IXA on municipalities.

What to do next

• Print or copy this checklist and date the first pass.
• Tick only on recall; star everything else and return within three days.
• Put the 30-day plan into your calendar, counting back from the exam date.
• Revisit the guide on common current affairs mistakes the week before the exam.