[Mission 2023] Insta– QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 12 July 2022

Solution: b)

What are the benefits of ‘developing country’ tag?

Certain WTO agreements give developing countries special rights through ‘special and differential treatment’ (S&DT) provisions, which can grant developing countries longer timeframes to implement the agreements and even commitments to raise trading opportunities for such countries.

WTO pacts are often aimed at reduction in government support to certain industries over time and set more lenient target for developing nations and grant them more time to achieve these targets compared to developed ones.

The classification also allows other countries to offer preferential treatment.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are often exempted from certain provisions of WTO pacts. A country classified as an LDC, receives zero duty, zero quota access for most of its exports to developed countries.

Solution: a)

When human beings feel hot, they cool themselves by sweating. However, if the humidity is too high, sweating no longer works and one risks dangerous overheating.
In this case, “wet-bulb” temperature is used to measure both heat and humidity, helping estimate whether conditions are safe for humans or not.

Measured on a different scale compared with normal temperatures, where 35 degrees Celsius is the maximum or threshold limit, wet-bulb temperature of 32 degrees can mean that even fit, acclimatised people will not be able to work easily.

With climate change, the number of such potentially dangerous days, where high heat and humidity combine, are also increasing.

At present, most of India experiences 12 to 66 days annually of this potentially deadly heat and high humidity combination with hotspots along the east coast.

A humid heatwave was a lot more dangerous compared with a dry heatwave.

While the human skin has a temperature of around 35 degrees Celsius, a wet-bulb with the same heat means sweat can no longer be used to cool the body.

Wet-bulb temperature is measured by wrapping a wet cloth around the bulb of a thermometer. It represents the lowest temperature air can reach by evaporation of water. Internationally, the wet-bulb globe temperature is calculated by using a globe thermometer and additionally accounting for solar radiation and wind speed

Solution: c)

The Court, pointing to its own judgment in K S Puttaswamy, has said that “right to privacy is as sacrosanct as human existence and is inalienable to human dignity and autonomy”. While agreeing that it is not an absolute right, the Court has said any restrictions “must necessarily pass constitutional scrutiny”.

Any surveillance or snooping done on an individual by the state or any outside agency is an infringement of that person’s right to privacy. Hence, any violation of that right by the state, even in national interest, has to follow procedures established by the law.

Solution: a)

The complete results of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) were made public.

India has also officially hit a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0 that indicates a decrease from the 2.2 in the NFHS-4. According to the United Nations Population Division, a TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility. If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself. The urban TFR is 1.6 and the rural TFR is 2.1

Solution: b)

Among the winners of this year’s Padma awards is Rahibai Popere, popularly known as Seedmother. Her Padma Shri is a recognition of her work that has helped save hundreds of landraces (wild varieties of commonly grown crops) at the village level.

Landraces refer to naturally occurring variants of commonly cultivated crops. These are as opposed to commercially grown crops, which are developed by selective breeding (hybrids) or through genetic engineering to express a certain trait over others. 

Biodiversity allows a natural mechanism for crops to develop traits to face challenging situations. However, given the large-scale human interference in crop selection, that ability is now lost in most commercially crops

Naturally occurring landraces have a large pool of still untapped genetic material, which can provide solutions. Genetic diversity is nature’s survival mechanism. The wider the gene pool, the more the chance of developing a trait that can help in surviving extreme climate events.

kalbhat, a unique landrace of scented rice. Over the years, this variant had almost vanished from cultivators’ fields as hybrid variants became popular. It has better climate resilience than popularly grown rice and can withstand flood or drought better.