[Mission 2024] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 7 July 2023

Solution: c)

The process of cow belching releases more methane into the environment due to enteric fermentation, a digestive process where complex sugars are converted into simpler molecules to be absorbed into the bloodstream, producing methane as a by-product. Whenever a farm animal digests food, methane is released into the atmosphere.

Further, the cultivation of paddy, which floods the fields, prevents oxygen from penetrating the soil and creates suitable conditions for methane-emitting bacteria.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

The Fundamental Rights lie at the heart of the Constitution, and are justiciable — that is, they are legally enforceable in a court of law.

In its landmark Minerva Mills judgment (1980), the Supreme Court held: “Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles). To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution.”

Article 31C says that if a law is made to implement any of the Directive Principles, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the Fundamental Rights under Articles 14 and 19.

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

What is Patan Patola

The ancient art of double ikat or Patola woven in pure silk dates back to the 11th century. The Patola fabrics bear an equal intensity of colours and design on both sides. This peculiar quality has its origins in an intricate and difficult technique of dyeing or knot dyeing, known as ‘bandhani’, on the warp and weft separately before weaving.

One of the major practitioners of the dwindling art form is the Salvi family from North Gujarat.

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

CDSL, or Central Depositories Services India Ltd, is a government-registered share depository, alongside its other state-owned counterpart National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).

Share depositories hold shares in an electronic or dematerialised form and are an enabler for securities transactions, playing a somewhat similar role to what banks play in handling cash and fixed deposits. While banks help customers keep their cash in electronic form, share depositories help consumers store shares in a dematerialised form.

CDSL was founded in 1999. It is a Market Infrastructure Institution or MII that is deemed as a crucial part of the capital market structure, providing services to all market participants, including exchanges, clearing corporations, depository participants, issuers and investors.

Solution: d)

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. The convention entered into force in 1975 and India became the 25th party — a state that voluntarily agrees to be bound by the Convention — in 1976.

All import, export and re-export of species covered under CITES must be authorised through a permit system.

Every two years, the Conference of the Parties (CoP), the supreme decision-making body of CITES, applies a set of biological and trade criteria to evaluate proposals from parties to decide if a species should be in Appendix I or II.