[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2021: Insights Current Affairs Quiz , 23 May 2022

Solution: a)

The forest fire season in India lasts between November to June. Several factors like temperatures, precipitation, vegetation, and moisture contribute to the scale and frequency of these fires. According to the Forest Survey of India, nearly 36 per cent of India’s forests are prone to frequent fires. Higher fire incidents are reported in March, April and May due to ample availability of dry biomass (fuel load) following the end of winter and the ongoing summer season. Most forest fires, according to experts, are man-made due to changes in agriculture and unchecked land-use patterns.

Forest fires are broadly categorised into three categories – ground, surface and crown fire. Fires that burn organic material in the soil are called ground fires, and they burn slowly, under vegetation. Surface fires are caused largely by burning of dry leaves, branches and other materials on the ground. Such fires spread swiftly, as in the case of fires in Himachal. Crown fires burn quickly, from one tree top to another and have huge flames with intense heat. Such fires are rare in India.

Apart from Himachal and Uttarakhand, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tripura, Mizoram and Odisha report frequent forest fires annually.

Incidentally, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha — along with Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra — have been the top five states reporting high number of large forest fires ranging between 143 to 441 between November 2021 and April 2022.

Source

Solution: c)

The Forest Rights Act (FRA) has been in existence for 15 years. As on April 30, 2020, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had received 42,50,602 claims (individual and community), of which titles were distributed to 46% of the applicants. Despite the Ministry being the implementing agency, the role of the Forest Department in granting titles is crucial because the lands claimed are under its jurisdiction.

When a forest dweller files a claim for the land title, or patta, it passes through three levels of checks — the gram sabha, the sub divisional level committee (SDLC) and the district level committee (DLC). A highly inclusive body, called the Forest Rights Committee (FRC), is formed by the gram sabha to facilitate the process. This committee comprises 10 to 15 people, two-thirds of them should belong to scheduled tribes and one-third members should be women.

The FRA provides for equal rights in titles issued under the Act for women. They have the equitable role at every stage of decision-making.

Solution: d)

The survey provides district-level information on fertility, child mortality, contraceptive practices, reproductive and child health (RCH), nutrition, and utilisation and quality of selected health services.

Over the years its scope has been expanded to include HIV, non-communicable diseases, or NCDs (tobacco and alcohol use, hypertension, blood sugar, etc.), Vitamin D3.

Solution: a)

The constitutional principle of a data protection law has been set out in the Justice K S Puttaswamy judgment by the Supreme Court of India that reaffirmed the fundamental right to privacy. 

Surveillance reform was consciously omitted by the Justice B N Srikrishna committee that released the first draft of the Personal Data Protection (PDP) bill in 2018. However, even then it stated, “no general law in India today authorises non-consensual access to personal data or interception of personal communication”.

Solution: a)

The question remains: Why do policymakers prefer targeting retail inflation instead of wholesale inflation rate?

This is especially so since the RBI, as the monetary authority, has little ability to control food and fuel prices, which together account for well over 50% of the CPI. For instance, raising the repo rate — that is the interest rate at which RBI lends money to the banks — is unlikely to contain the price of vegetables (say onions and/or tomatoes) if unseasonal rains or supply disruptions have led to a sudden spike.