[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 5 January 2023

Solution: a)

• Born in Naigaon in Maharashtra on January 3, 1831,Phule is widely regarded as one of India’s first generation modern feminists for her significant contributions in ensuring equal education opportunities under the British raj.
• She became the first female teacher in India in 1848 and opened a school for girls along with her husband,social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
• The two also worked against discrimination based on caste-based identity,something vehemently opposed by the orthodox sections of society in Pune.
• She went on to establish a shelter for widows in 1854 which she further built on in 1864 to also accommodate destitute women and child brides cast aside by their families.
• Phule also played a pivotal role in directing the work of the Satyashodhak Samaj,formed by her husband with the objective to achieve equal rights for the marginalised lower castes.
• Savitribai opened a clinic in 1897 for victims of the bubonic plague that spread across Maharashtra just before the turn of the century.
• She also set up “Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha”.
• In her honour, University of Pune was renamed Savitribai Phule University in 2014.
• She established the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness for issues concerning women’s rights.

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Solution: c)

— A NASA-led international satellite mission was launched from Southern California to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time.

— Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite is designed to give scientists an unprecedented view of the life-giving fluid covering 70 per cent of the planet, shedding new light on the mechanics and consequences of climate change.

— One major thrust of the mission is to explore how oceans absorb atmospheric heat and carbon dioxide in a natural process that moderates global temperatures and climate change.

— Scanning the seas from orbit, SWOT is designed to precisely measure fine differences in surface elevations around smaller currents and eddies, where much the oceans’ drawdown of heat and carbon is believed to occur.

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Solution: d)

Recombinant DNA are DNA sequences which result from bringing genetic material form different sources. The genes can be transferred between any species that is across different species of plants from animals to plants and from microorganisms to higher organisms.

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Solution: a)

Asteroids are rocky, irregularly shaped remnants both smaller and larger sizes that are leftovers from when the period of the formation of the solar system. The asteroid belt is a circumstellar ring of asteroids located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock, and ices. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet. This material forms a tail that stretches millions of miles. Comets are well spread over the entire solar system.

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Solution: c)

Stagflation is an economic scenario where an economy faces both high inflation and low growth (and high unemployment) at the same time. 

The Phillips curve states that inflation and unemployment have an inverse relationship. Higher inflation is associated with lower unemployment and vice versa.