[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 6 June 2023

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Graphene is the world’s thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material of both electricity and heat. It conducts electricity better than copper. It is 200 times stronger than steel but six times lighter. It is almost perfectly transparent as it absorbs only 2% of light. It is impermeable to gases, even those as light as hydrogen and helium. 

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Solution: c)

During the supervision of banks, the RBI noticed certain instances wherein banks were using innovative ways to conceal the real status of stressed loans.

Such (evergreening) methods include “bringing two lenders together to evergreen each other’s loans by sale and buyback of loans or debt instruments; good borrowers being persuaded to enter into structured deals with a stressed borrower to conceal the stress; use of internal or office accounts to adjust borrower’s repayment obligations; renewal of loans or disbursement of new/additional loans to the stressed borrower or related entities closer to the repayment date of the earlier loans.

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Solution: c)

Article 298 grants the Centre and the state governments the power to carry on trade or business, acquire, hold, and dispose of property, and make contracts for any purpose, while Article 299 delineates the manner in which these contracts will be concluded. Articles 298 and 299 came after the Constitution came into effect and the government entered into contracts even in the pre-independence era. According to the Crown Proceedings Act of 1947, the Crown could not be sued in court for a contract it entered into.

Article 299 of the Constitution provides that “all contracts made in the exercise of the executive power of the Union or of a State shall be expressed to be made by the President or by the Governor of the State” and that all such contracts and “assurances of property made in the exercise of that power shall be executed” on behalf of the President or the Governor by persons in a manner as directed and authorised by them.

The objective behind Article 299(1), as per the 1954 top court ruling in ‘Chatturbhuj Vithaldas Jasani v. Moreshwar Parashram & Ors’, is that there must be a definite procedure according to which contracts must be made by agents acting on the government’s behalf; otherwise, public funds may be depleted by unauthorized or illegitimate contracts. It implies that contracts not adhering to the manner given in Article 299(1) cannot be enforced by any contracting party.

However, Article 299 (2) says that essentially, neither the President nor the Governor can be personally held liable for such contracts.

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Solution: a)

Only Statement 2 is correct.

China launched a spacecraft carrying three astronauts, including its first civilian, to its Tiangong space station on May 30. This is the country’s fifth manned mission to a fully functional space station since 2021.

What is the Tiangong space station?

Operated by China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the Tiangong space station was built by China after the USA barred NASA from working with the Asian country, citing a high risk of espionage. The permanently inhabited space station’s first module entered orbit in 2021 and two more modules were added to it in the following years.

The Tiangong space station, expected to become the sole in-orbit outpost for scientific research after the end of operations for the International Space Station in 2030, is China’s ambitious project to achieve its space dreams.

China has also invited other countries and companies to collaborate and carry out experiments at its space station.

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Solution: c)

Article 344 (4) provides for a ‘Committee consisting of thirty members’, ‘twenty’ from the Parliament and ‘ten’ from State assemblies, for safeguarding language related provisions.

The Official Language Committee is headed by the Home Ministry.