[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 19 November 2022

Solution: a)

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad principles of the global effort to fight climate change, acknowledges the differentiated responsibility of nations. It makes it clear that rich countries must provide both the finance and the technology to developing nations to help tackle climate change. However, the UNFCCC does not mention loss and damage.

In 2009, developed countries agreed to provide US$ 100 billion every year from 2020 to help developing nations fight climate change. However, they are struggling to fulfill this promise.

It was after much struggle that developing countries and environment groups managed to establish a separate channel on loss and damages. The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.

Source

Solution: d)

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has completed the Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) with field videography of the country’s 576 languages.

According to the report, the Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that “surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more Census decades”. It also documents the linguistic features of the selected languages.

Source

Solution: a)

The Law Ministry describes the Law Commission of India as a non-statutory body that is constituted by a notification of the Government of India, with definite terms of reference to carry out research in the field of law. The Commission makes recommendations to the Government (in the form of Reports) as per its terms of reference.

The Law Commission was first constituted in 1955, and has so far submitted 277 reports. According to the Law Ministry’s website, the “Law Commission of India provides excellent thought provoking and vital review of the laws in India”.

The 21st Law Commission came to an end on August 31 2018.

The 22nd Commission has been constituted two and a half years after it was approved by the Union Cabinet on February 19, 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. A petition had been moved in the Supreme Court subsequently against the delay in constituting the 22nd Commission.

Source

Solution: c)

A stem cell is a cell with the unique ability to develop into specialised cell types in the body. In the future they may be used to replace cells and tissues that have been damaged or lost due to disease.

Stem cells provide new cells for the body as it grows, and replace specialised cells that are damaged or lost. They have two unique properties that enable them to do this:

• They can divide over and over again to produce new cells.
• As they divide, they can change into the other types of cell that make up the body.

Solution: a)

Import substitution is a strategy under trade policy that abolishes the import of foreign products and encourages for the production in the domestic market. The purpose of this policy is to change the economic structure of the country by replacing foreign goods with domestic goods. Post-Independence India adopted the policy of import substitution by imposing heavy tariffs on import duty.

Import Cover measures the number of months of imports that can be covered with foreign exchange reserves available with the central bank of the country. Eight to ten months of import cover is essential for the stability of a currency.