QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 16 June 2021

Solution: b)

The Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare conducts agriculture census every five years to collect data on structural characteristics of agricultural sector including size of agriculture land holdings in the country. As per the latest information available from Agriculture Census, the average size of operational holdings has decreased from 2.28 hectares in 1970-71 to 1.84 hectares in 1980-81, to 1.41 hectares in 1995-96 and to 1.08 hectares in 2015-16.

Except in the years of adverse weather, rainfall, temperature conditions, natural calamities etc., the production and productivity (per hectare production) of agriculture crops in the country has been generally increasing. Thus, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that fragmentation of land holdings has resulted in adverse impact on agricultural production/yield.

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Solution: c)

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 7.3% to ₹135.13 trillion in 2020-21 (in real terms adjusted for inflation). It was at ₹145.69 trillion in 2019-20. GDP is a measure of the economic size of a country, and inflation is the rate of price rise.

This is the worst performance of the Indian economy in any year since Independence. The last time the Indian economy contracted was in 1979-80. The GDP had contracted by 5.2% that year, when global oil prices had gone through the roof.

One way of measuring GDP is by adding private consumption expenditure, the money that you and I spend on buying things, with government expenditure, investments made in the economy and net exports (or the difference between exports and imports).

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Solution: b)

A voluntary license is an authorization given by the patent holder to a generic company, allowing it to produce the patented article, such as a medicine, as if it were a generic. The license usually sets quality requirements and defines the markets in which the licensee can sell the product. The decision to grant a voluntary license, and the terms therein, can be tailored to account for many factors, including the nature of the epidemic/disease, social factors, economic considerations and the capacity of the licensee to meet and maintain quality standards for the product.

In the 1990s, the WTO began implementing a global intellectual property regime known as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, or TRIPS. While TRIPS alarmed public health experts because of its potential to raise the price of essential medicines, voluntary licensing agreements between pharmaceutical producers were able to bring down the price of AIDS medications despite the TRIPS regulations.

It is also possible for governments to issue what are called “compulsory licenses” which override patent rights to allow local production or import of drugs by generic manufacturers in the event of a public health crisis. Since 2003, this right has been enshrined in the Doha Declaration addendum to the WTO’s TRIPS agreement.

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Solution: a)

• The IAEA is the world’s centre for cooperation in the nuclear field.
• It was set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957.
• It was established as an autonomous organization in 1957 through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute.
• Reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
• Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
• The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide.

Functions:

• Works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies.
• Seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.

Solution: d)

Ammonia, which is highly soluble in water, is found in soil, air, and water; it is naturally present in the body and secreted by the kidneys to neutralise excess acid. However, it is highly diluted when in the environment and does not affect the human body to a noticeable level.

Ammonia is critical in the manufacturing of fertilizers, and is one of the largest-volume synthetic chemicals produced in the world. More than 80 per cent of ammonia made is consumed in the manufacturing of fertilizer, and most of the remainder goes into the production of formaldehyde.