[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 23 November 2022

Solution: c)

The Ninth Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts. Currently, 284 such laws are shielded from judicial review. Most of the laws protected under the Schedule concern agriculture/land issues.

The Schedule became a part of the Constitution in 1951, when the document was amended for the first time. It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system.

While the Ninth Schedule provides the law with a “safe harbour” from judicial review, the protection is not blanket.
When the Tamil Nadu law was challenged in 2007 (I R Coelho v State of Tamil Nadu), the Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous nine-judge verdict that while laws placed under Ninth Schedule cannot be challenged on the grounds of violation of fundamental rights, they can be challenged on the ground of violating the basic structure of the Constitution.

The court clarified that the laws cannot escape the “basic structure” test if inserted into the Ninth Schedule after 1973, as it was in 1973 that the basic structure test was evolved in the Kesavananda Bharati case as the ultimate test to examine the constitutional validity of laws.

Source

Solution: a)

The Union Agriculture Ministry has restricted the use of glyphosate, a widely used herbicide.

What is glyphosate?

It is a herbicide used to kill weeds — undesirable plants that compete with crops for nutrients, water and sunlight. Since weeds basically grow at the expense of crops, farmers remove them manually or spray herbicides.

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that can control a wide range of weeds, whether broadleaf or grassy.

In general, though, the scope for glyphosate use is limited for the very reason that it is non-selective. Designed to kill all plants coming into contact with it, the chemical cannot ordinarily distinguish between crop and weed. Hence, it can be used in tea or rubber plantations, but not in fields where the crops and weeds are at almost the same level.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, on October 21, issued a notification stating that “the use of glyphosate involves health hazards and risk to human beings and animals”. It has, however, not banned and only “restricted” its use. The spraying of glyphosate and its derivatives shall henceforth only be permitted through “pest control operators”.

Source 

Solution: c)

There is a growing tendency among firms and governments to mark all kinds of activities as climate-friendly, as something that would lead to emissions reduction, or avoidance of emissions. Many of these claims are unverifiable, misleading, or dubious. While they help in boosting the image of the entity, sometimes even helping them garner benefits, they do nothing in the fight against climate change.

Greenwashing presents a false picture of the progress being made on the climate change front, thereby pushing the world towards disaster, while at the same time rewarding entities for irresponsible behaviour.

Source

Solution: a)

The Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, is a preferential tariff system which provides tariff reduction on various products. The concept of GSP is very different from the concept of “most favored nation” (MFN). MFN status provides equal treatment in the case of tariff being imposed by a nation but in case of GSP differential tariff could be imposed by a nation on various countries depending upon factors such as whether it is a developed country or a developing country. Both the rules comes under the purview of WTO.

GSP provides tariff reduction for least developed countries but MFN is only for not discriminating among WTO members.

Solution: b)

Footloose industry is a general term for an industry that can be placed and located at any location without effect from factors such as resources or transport. These industries often have spatially fixed costs, which means that the costs of the products do not change despite where the product is assembled. Diamonds and computer chips are some examples of footloose industries. These industries can be located at a wide variety of places, as these are not weight-losing nor raw-material-specific. These are generally not polluting industries.