[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 1 February 2023

Solution: b)

An old pension scheme (OPS), commonly known as the PAYG scheme, is defined as an unfunded pension scheme where current revenues fund pension benefits. Under this scheme, the contribution of the current generation of workers was explicitly used to pay the pensions of existing pensioners. OPS involved a direct transfer of resources from the current generation of taxpayers to fund the pensioners.

NPS is a defined contribution pension scheme. NPS enables an individual to undertake retirement planning while in employment. With systematic savings and investments,

NPS facilitates the accumulation of a pension corpus during their working life. NPS is designed to deliver a sustainable solution of having adequate retirement income in old age or upon superannuation.

NPS is mandatory for central government employees joining services on or after January 1, 2004, and almost all state governments have adopted it for their employees. NPS, regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), is a contributory pension scheme under which employees contribute 10 per cent of their salary (Basic + Dearness Allowance).

Source

Solution: a)

The TFR has fallen sharply for India in the past three decades. Between 1992-93 and 2019-21, it came down from 3.4 to 2; the fall was especially significant in the rural areas.

A TFR of 2.1 is considered as “replacement-level fertility”. Simply understood, a woman having two children replaces herself and her partner with two new lives. Since all infants may not survive, the replacement TFR is taken at slightly above two.

The TFR is the average number of births by women aged 15-49 based on surveys for a particular period/year. Populations can keep growing even with TFRs falling. De-growth requires TFRs to remain below replacement levels for extended periods. The effects of that — fewer children today becoming parents tomorrow and procreating just as much or less — may reflect only after a couple of generations.

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Solution: d)

In India, though mediation finds legitimacy in some specific laws such as the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the Companies Act, 2013, the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, there is no standalone legislation as yet.

Solution: b)

In India, there is no specific legislation that protects journalists from being asked to disclose their sources. Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression to all citizens.

Investigative agencies can issue notice to anyone, including journalists, to provide information. Like any citizen, a journalist can be compelled to give evidence in Court. If she does not comply, the journalist can face charges of Contempt of Court.

However, the absence of a specific law, it is often the discretion of a Court. Courts have in “public interest asked journalists to disclose their sources.

Under the Press Council of India (PCI) Act, of 1978, the Press Council has powers of a civil court to deal with complaints when a newspaper has “offended against the standards of journalistic ethics or public taste or that an editor or working journalist has committed any professional misconduct.” However, the Council cannot force a newspaper, news agency, journalist, or editor to reveal their sources during the proceedings.

Source

Solution: c)

What are carbon bombs?

Defining the term in its report, The Guardian said that it is “an oil or gas project that will result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.”

Whenever coal, oil, or gas is extracted it results in pollution and environmental degradation. Further, carbon emissions take place in particularly large amounts when fuel is burned.

Net zero emissions means that all carbon emissions into the atmosphere must be absorbed by methods like increasing the forest cover, and decreasing man-made emissions.