Abbreviations — PPSC previous year questions

POCSO stands for the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, which protects persons below 18 years from sexual abuse and provides child-friendly procedures and special courts. It has no bearing on industrial labour, working women or minorities.

OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, founded at Baghdad in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and headquartered in Vienna since 1965. Its members coordinate crude-oil production quotas to influence world prices; the wider grouping with Russia and other non-members is called OPEC+.

CGST stands for Central Goods and Services Tax, the Centre's share of GST on sales within a state, not 'Customs'. CAG, EPFO and FPI are expanded correctly.

UPOV is the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. It is an intergovernmental body with its head office in Geneva. The 1961 UPOV Convention set it up to grant plant breeders' rights. India is not a member. It protects breeders under its own Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. The IUCN (option c) is a separate conservation body.

E-governance means electronic governance: the use of information and communication technology to deliver government services, exchange information and integrate systems for citizens, businesses and government departments. Examples in India include the National e-Governance Plan (2006) and the Digital India programme.

NSSO stands for the National Sample Survey Organisation, later the National Sample Survey Office. Set up in 1950 and later placed under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, it ran the large sample surveys on consumption, employment, health and other socio-economic indicators. Note the date: in 2019 the NSSO was merged with the Central Statistical Office into the National Statistical Office (NSO), which has run these surveys since then, including the Periodic Labour Force Survey.

CTBT stands for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, which bans all nuclear explosions in all environments. India has refused to sign it, holding it discriminatory because it does not bind the nuclear-weapon states to time-bound disarmament.

NSS stands for the National Service Scheme, a Central Sector youth-volunteering programme launched on 24 September 1969 (Gandhi's birth centenary year) under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Its motto is 'Not Me But You'. The National Sample Survey (NSSO) is a statistical body and is a common distractor.