[Mission 2022] Insta– QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 18 February 2022

Solution: a)

Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets, the size of lentils. They are ‘pre-production plastic pellets’ that are the raw material for most of today’s plastic products. Made out of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and other plastics, these pellets are melted down and cast into the moulds to make various plastic products.

They are the main form in which plastic is shipped all over the world after being made in processing factories and then carried to manufacturing factories.

Depending on their density, nurdles can either float to the surface of the water or sink below the surface.

Nurdles, if left exposed to the environment, will slowly break down into microplastics. Since nurdles are plastic, they are not biodegradable.

Nurdles are the second-largest source of micropollutants in the oceans by weight.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has not deemed nurdles hazardous enough to be regulated by the organisation’s dangerous goods code for safe handling and storage.

Source

Solution: d)

Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds.

It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funneled on to specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea.

The Arctic tern holds the long-distance migration record for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each year.

The timing of migration seems to be controlled primarily by changes in day length. Migrating birds navigate using celestial cues from the sun and stars, the earth’s magnetic field, and mental maps.

Solution: c)

The essential characteristic of federalism is the distribution of limited executive, legislative and judicial authority among bodies which are coordinate with and independent of each other.

India is a union of States. The Supreme Court of India has held that the federalist nature of our country is part and parcel of the basic structure of the Constitution.

Federalism is a midpoint between unitarism which has a supreme centre, to which the States are subordinate, and confederalism wherein the States are supreme, and are merely coordinated by a weak centre. 

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar stated in the Constituent Assembly: “The Indian Federation though a dual polity has no dual judiciary at all. The High Courts and the Supreme Court form one single integrated judiciary having jurisdiction and providing remedies in all cases arising under the constitutional law, the civil law or the criminal law.

Source

Solution: a)

The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) for the Month of April, 2021.

Solution: d)

The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica. It was declared a MPA after landmark international agreement among 24 countries and European Union in Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).