[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 30 September 2022

Solution: b)

The bond-buying programme, also known as quantitative easing, was put in place in 2020 as an extraordinary measure to help the financial markets and the economy counter the impact of the pandemic.

Quantitative easing (QE) is a form of monetary policy in which a central bank, like the U.S. Federal Reserve, purchases securities from the open market to reduce interest rates and increase the money supply.

Quantitative easing creates new bank reserves, providing banks with more liquidity and encouraging lending and investment.

Tapering is the reversal of quantitative easing policies, implemented by a central bank and intended to stimulate economic growth.

Tapering refers specifically to the reduction of central bank assets.

Financial markets may experience a downturn in response to tapering, known as a “taper tantrum.”

Interest rate hikes are the primary monetary policy tool used by central banks to tackle sporadic spurts in inflation. When interest rates go up in an economy, it becomes more expensive to borrow; so households are less inclined to buy goods and services, and businesses have a disincentive to borrow funds to expand, buy equipment or invest in new projects.

A subsequent lowering of demand for goods and services ends up depressing wages and other costs, in turn, bringing runaway inflation under control. Even though the linkages of monetary policy to inflation and employment are not direct or immediate, monetary policy is a key factor in tackling runaway prices.

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Solution: b)

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART has crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in an attempt to divert the celestial body of its trajectory and avoid striking Earth. Since the NASA DART mission’s successful conclusion, much has been said—and for all the right reasons—about how this endeavour might represent the first significant step toward the creation of a workable planetary defence system against rogue asteroids.

NASA Cubesat satellite called LICIACube which took the photographs of the crash.

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Solution: b)

Carbon dating is a widely-used method applied to establish the age of organic material, things that were once living. Living things have carbon in them in various forms. The dating method makes use of the fact that a particular isotope of carbon called C-14, with an atomic mass of 14, is radioactive, and decays at a rate that is well known.

The most abundant isotope of carbon in the atmosphere is carbon-12 or a carbon atom whose atomic mass is 12. A very small amount of carbon-14 is also present. The ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 in the atmosphere is almost static, and is known.

Plants get their carbon through the process of photosynthesis, while animals get it mainly through food. Because plants and animals get their carbon from the atmosphere, they too acquire carbon-12 and carbon-14 isotopes in roughly the same proportion as is available in the atmosphere.

But when they die, the interactions with the atmosphere stops. There is no further intake of carbon (and no outgo either, because metabolism stops). Now, carbon-12 is stable and does not decay, while carbon-14 is radioactive. Carbon-14 reduces to one-half of itself in about 5,730 years. This is what is known as its ‘half-life’.

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Solution: d)

Farmers are using the waste kinnow fruit to improve the pH level and soil fertility of their land by making Bio-enzymes from this waste fruit.

Spraying Bio-enzymes works as pest repellent and also improves the photosynthesis process of the crops.

Solution: b)

The International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, also known as the Hague Code of Conduct (HCOC), was established on 25 November 2002 as an arrangement to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles.