[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 24 December 2022

Solution: a)

The next step is to reactivate the proposal for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) that has been languishing in the offices of the UN (since India first proposed this in the 1990s), and finalise the list of items needed to check terrorism globally.

The Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is a proposed treaty which intends to criminalize all forms of international terrorism and deny terrorists, their financiers and supporters access to funds, arms, and safe havens.

No consensus has been reached for the adoption of the convention.

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Solution: b)

Bound rate is the maximum rate of duty (tariff) that can be imposed by the importing country on an imported commodity. Here, each country commits itself to a ceiling on customs duties (tariff) on a certain number of products.

These rates vary from country to country and commodity to commodity. But no country can raise duties above the bound rate it has committed, and the rate of customs duty actually applied may be lower than the bound rate.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) obligates countries not to impose tariffs beyond bound rates.

Article XXI of GATT which allows countries to deviate from their trade obligations on grounds of national security. Specifically, Article XXI(b)(iii) of GATT allows a country to take any action ‘which it considers’ necessary for the protection of its essential security interests taken in time of war or other ‘emergency in international relations’.

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Solution: c)

More than 140 experts and dignitaries have signed an open letter published by the Outer Space Institute (OSI) calling for both national and multilateral efforts to restrict uncontrolled re-entries — the phenomenon of rocket parts falling back to earth in unguided fashion once their missions are complete.

There is no international binding agreement to ensure rocket stages always perform controlled re-entries nor on the technologies with which to do so. The Liability Convention 1972 requires countries to pay for damages, not prevent them. 

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Solution: c)

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Solution: d)

The Constitution states that Parliament can bring no law that violates the fundamental rights of citizens.

Article 20(3) of the Constitution, which is a fundamental right that guarantees the right against self-incrimination. It states that “no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself”.

The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Puttaswamy v Union of India, which recognised the right to privacy as a fundamental right, made it clear that any state action infringing on the right needs to be backed by legislation.

In the Puttaswamy case in 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the Aadhaar scheme and allowed the state to collect fingerprints and iris scan for welfare schemes.