[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 10 January 2023

Solution: b)

The BoP is essentially the overall ledger of how much rupee was demanded by the rest of the world and how much foreign currency (that is, currencies of all countries) was demanded by Indians.

The BoP is divided into two “accounts” — current and capital. Current account refers to all transactions that are related to current consumption; capital account refers to transactions for investment purposes.

Each bucket is sub-divided into smaller buckets. This allows policymakers and analysts to better understand the dynamics of the relative demand for rupees (by foreigners) and forex (among Indians).

All transactions involving export or import of goods (cars, gadgets etc) are logged under the “trade account” within the current account.

But people also trade in “invisibles”. Essentially, this refers to export and import of services (such as an Indian company selling software to an American firm, or a European bank providing financial services to some Indians, or simply Indians working abroad sending back money to their families in India).

The capital account, on the other hand involves investments (such as an Indian buying land in the US, or a Japanese firm investing in the Indian stock exchange) as well as exchange of loans between India and other countries.

Solution: d)

Ecologically safe engineering marvels of water conservation have existed in India for nearly 1,500 years, including traditional systems of water harvesting, such as the bawari, jhalara, nadi, tanka, and khadin.

Solution: a)

Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present.

Zero tillage not only reduce the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement and weed effect which is better than tillage. Zero Tillage (ZT) also called No Tillage or Nil Tillage.

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops as well as the raising of livestock.

Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice involving growing two or more crops in proximity. 

Vertical farming is the practice of growing produce in vertically stacked layers. The practice can use soil, hydroponic or aeroponic growing methods. Vertical farms attempt to produce food in challenging environments, like where arable land is rare or unavailable.

Solution: c)

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or Cert-In, a wing of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

What is a VPN and how do these networks function?

Any and all devices connected to the internet are a part of a large network of computers, servers and other devices spread across the world. To identify each device connected to the internet, service providers globally assign a unique address to each such device called the internet protocol address or IP address. It is this IP address that helps websites, law enforcement agencies and even companies track down individual users and their accurate location.

A virtual private network, when switched on, essentially creates a safe network within the larger global network of the internet and masks the IP address of the user by rerouting the data. Acting as a tunnel, a VPN takes data originating from one server and masks it in a different identity before delivering it to the destination server. In essence, a VPN creates several proxy identities for your data and delivers it safely without disturbing the content of the data.

Solution: d)

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed. The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur. Currently, no other universal mechanism of this kind exists.