Insta–DART (Daily Aptitude and Reasoning Test) 31 July 2021

To overcome or minimize the impacts of climate change, there has been an emphasis on effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. While mitigation strategies can help in absorbing the atmospheric carbon dioxide and locking it away from the atmosphere, it can often be a time-taking process. In recent years, the idea of local-led adaptation has been widely discussed. Local-led adaptation refers to local communities, local governments acting strong in taking effective decisions to tackle climate change. Local-led adaptation is often characterized by indigenous solutions, which are often associated with nature. Given that the most vulnerable populations are the ones that are more dependent on natural resources, it is therefore to be expected that coping solutions also often germinate from the same source. This directs us to Nature-based Solutions.

As a term, Nature-based Solutions is relatively new, but the concept has been practiced for decades. The idea of protecting an ecosystem by restoring it is nothing but an example of Nature-based Solutions.

In reference to the above passage, Which of the following assumptions is/are valid?

(1)        Climate change is the greatest challenge to the mankind today.

(2)        Nature-based solutions can help in protecting, conserving and restoring our natural environment.

The current imbroglio over the farm laws highlights the Centre’s growing intrusion into what are constitutionally state subjects. But they also highlight another uncomfortable reality. Many of the most serious economic afflictions facing the country — agriculture, water, power, land, health and education — are state subjects. And the failures of the states to do justice on subjects that are well within their constitutional obligations have created space for an activist Centre to weigh in.

Q2. In reference to the above passage, Which of the following assumptions is/are valid?

1. 1. Centre sometimes pushes in the state subjects.
   2. At times, States are inadequately prepared in dealing with the state subjects.

Air pollution and higher particulate matter 2.5 concentrations in ambient air originating from fossil fuel combustion caused 2.5 million premature deaths in India in 2018, according to a new research. Globally, a total of 10.2 million premature deaths annually is attributable to PM 2.5 generated from combustion of fossil fuels. Regions with higher dependence on fossil fuels — China, India, Eastern United States, Europe and South East Asia — contribute majorly to this number. Even though India has introduced several initiatives to impose control on pollution sources, including the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), there is no evidence yet of significant reduction in pollution levels across the cities. Most importantly, there has been very little progress on our use of fossil fuels, primarily coal. Researchers have used chemical transport model GEOS-Chem to quantify the number of premature deaths attributable to ambient air pollution from fossil fuel combustion. The GEOS-Chem model processes satellite data and distinguishes between fossil fuel emissions from anthropogenic multiple sectors — that include power generation, industry, ships, aircraft, ground transportation, backup generators, kerosene and gas extraction — and biological processes such as wildfires. All simulations were set up to replicate 2012 pollution levels. For now, as China continues to reverse its fossil fuel usage, we are on the way towards achieving the number one spot of maximum number of lives lost, prematurely, due to our toxic air.

Q3. Which of the following is the most logical and rational inference derived from the passage?

The 2019 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere states that based on different studies using global and regional climate model projections for the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, the mean annual temperature is projected to increase in a range of 1-4°C by mid-21st century and 2-6°C by the late-21st century relative to the late-20th century. Currently, we are just seeing the impacts of a 1°C warming in the form of reduced snowfall and runaway glacier melt water in the Himalayas. What will a 6°C rise in the Himalayas look like? Recent studies identify compound events (eg, droughts and heat waves), that is, when impacts are induced by the combination of several climate events. Therefore to a large extent, global warming, melting of ice, reduced snowfall and pockmarking the ecologically sensitive Himalayan riverine system with disproportionate construction of infrastructure including that of hydropower projects can exacerbate the disaster.

Q4. Which of the following can be the most logical corollary from the above passage?

Let’s imagine planet Earth without viruses. We wave a wand, and they all disappear. The rabies virus is suddenly gone. The polio virus is gone. The gruesomely lethal Ebola virus is gone. Do you feel better?This scenario is more equivocal than you think. The fact is, we live in a world of viruses—viruses that are unfathomably diverse, immeasurably abundant. The oceans alone may contain more viral particles than stars in the observable universe. Mammals may carry at least 320,000 different species of viruses. Many of those viruses bring adaptive benefits, not harms, to life on Earth, including human life. We couldn’t continue without them. There are two lengths of DNA that originated from viruses and now reside in the genomes of humans and other primates, for instance, without which—an astonishing fact—pregnancy would be impossible. A virus is a parasite, yes, but sometimes that parasitism is more like symbiosis, mutual dependence that profits both visitor and host. Everything depends: depends on the virus, on the situation, on your point of reference. Like fire, viruses are a phenomenon that’s neither in all cases good nor in all cases bad; they can deliver advantage or destruction. They are the dark angels of evolution, terrific and terrible. That’s what makes them so interesting.

Q5. What is the most logical and rational inference which can be derived from the passage?