[Mission 2024] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 29 June 2023

Solution: c)

The reason for the current high prices can be traced back to their sudden fall in April-May, which led many growers to abandon their crops. The unusual heat of March and April also saw pest attacks that took a toll on production.

India grows two major crops of tomato. The rabi crop, which is grown mainly in the Junnar taluka of Maharashtra and in parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, comes to the market between March and August. After August, the market is supplied by the kharif crop in Uttar Pradesh, Nashik in Maharashtra, and elsewhere in the country.

3-4-inch-tall saplings are transplanted in raised beds either in December-January or February-March. The first batch ensures supplies until April; the second feeds the market until August. The crop is ready in three months, and picking continues for 45 days.

The cost of production of rabi tomato is around Rs 12/kg, while that of kharif is Rs 10/kg. A higher incidence of pest attacks during the summer requires more control, and thus the cost of production is nominally higher.

Source

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

With the El Nino phenomenon almost certain to affect the Indian monsoon this year, high hopes are pinned on the development of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and its ability to counterbalance the El Nino effect. The IOD is an ocean-atmosphere interaction very similar to the El Nino fluctuations in the Pacific Ocean, playing out, as the name shows, in the Indian Ocean. It is also a much weaker system than El Nino, and thus has relatively limited impacts.

But a positive IOD does have the potential to offset the impacts of El Nino to a small measure in neighbouring areas, and it has, at least once in the past (1997), delivered admirably on this potential.

Source

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

The LFPR is the share of the working-age population (aged 15 years and above) that is employed or unemployed, willing and looking for employment.

Typically, policymakers and the general public is focussed on the unemployment rate in the economy. The unemployment rate is the share of people who are unemployed despite looking for work. If the proportion of people looking for work is high and stable, then the unemployment rate is a good way to assess the stress in the job market.

But in India’s case, the unemployment rate is an inadequate measure because India’s LFPR (or the proportion asking for a job) has not only been lower than the global average but also falling.

Source

Solution: c)

WHO initiated the High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative in some of the high malaria burden countries, including India.

Solution: c)

Scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have mapped out the global distribution of sodium on the Moon’s surface. They used the CLASS instrument (Chandrayaan-2 large area soft X-ray spectrometer) carried by the second Indian Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2.

This is the first effort to provide a global-scale measurement of sodium on the lunar surface using X-ray fluorescent spectra.

X-ray fluorescence is commonly used to study the composition of materials in a non-destructive manner. When the sun gives out solar flares, a large amount of X-ray radiation falls on the moon, triggering X-ray fluorescence.