[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz ,14 November 2022

Solution: a)

Emissions from livestock mainly include carbon dioxide (from urea), nitrous oxide (from livestock dung and urine), and methane (from belching) among others. They contribute towards the greenhouse effect as due to these gases, heat gets trapped around the surface of the earth and causes global warming.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of gases is a metric that helps measure “the radiative effect (determined by the ability to absorb energy) of each unit of gas” over a specific period of time such as 100 years, “as expressed relative to the radiative effect of carbon dioxide.”

Through GWP, we know gases such as nitrous oxide and methane produce more heat around the earth’s surface than carbon dioxide or CO2, which is taken as a reference. It absorbs more energy than CO2 but stays in the atmosphere for a shorter duration. Over a 20-year-period, it has 80 times more GWP than that carbon dioxide, according to the UNEP website.

Solution: c)

The process of cow belching releases more methane into the environment due to enteric fermentation, a digestive process where complex sugars are converted into simpler molecules to be absorbed into the bloodstream, producing methane as a by-product. Whenever a farm animal digests food, methane is released into the atmosphere.

Further, the cultivation of paddy, which floods the fields, prevents oxygen from penetrating the soil and creates suitable conditions for methane-emitting bacteria.

Solution: d)

Under the RBI Act, 1934, if the central bank fails to meet the inflation target for three consecutive quarters, it is required to provide the following information to the government:

• reasons for the failure to achieve the inflation target;
• remedial actions proposed to be taken; and
• an estimate of the time period within which the inflation target shall be achieved pursuant to timely implementation of the proposed remedial actions.

Source

Solution: c)

How does the MPC target inflation?

The MPC has six members including the RBI Governor — three each nominated by the RBI and the government. The MPC meets every two months — that is, six times a year — in February, April, June, August, October, and December to evaluate the current status and outlook for inflation and economic growth. Based on that assessment, it tweaks the repo rate, which is the interest rate at which the RBI loans money to the banking system. It is for this reason that movements in the repo rate influence the overall interest rates in the economy.

Typically, when the MPC wants to contain inflation, it raises the repo rate. Such a “dear money” policy makes all types of borrowing — both for consumers (say, car loans) and producers (say, fresh business investments) — costlier and effectively slows down economic activity in the economy.

When inflation outlook is benign but growth is stalling, the RBI can choose to lower the repo rate and promote economic activity; such a “cheap money” policy incentivises people to spend money instead of saving it.

Source

Solution: b)

Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedures (PIC) that entered into force on 24th February, 2004, is a legally binding instrument, which was adopted on 10th September 1998 by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam. India acceded to the Convention on 24.05.2006.

The Convention seeks to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among State Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm.