[Mission 2024] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 26 July 2023

Solution: c)

The ISA can grant exploration contracts only in international waters —the area defined as the seabed and subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); thus, the region beyond the outer limits of the continental shelf. This comprises just over 50% of the entire seabed. UNCLOS is a 1982 agreement that established rules governing the use of the oceans and their resources.

Countries are free to carry out exploration within their borders.

Source

Solution: a)

Only statement 2 is correct.

In the current CPI (base year 2012), weights of various groups are as follows: food and beverages (45.86); paan, tobacco and intoxicants (2.38); clothing and footwear (6.53); housing (10.07); fuel and light (6.84); miscellaneous (28.32). The weightage of food in the CPI basket has decreased from 60.9 (in 1960) to 57.0 (in 1982) and to 46.2 (in 2001).

Over-reliance on food inflation today distinguishes Indian inflation from many other developed countries where the food weight is much smaller.

Source

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the extraction of mineral resources from the ocean below 200 metres is called deep sea mining.

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSSC), an initiative formed in 2004 to safeguard deep-sea ecosystems.

India has been granted two exploration contracts from the ISA so far – one for polymetallic nodules, and one for polymetallic sulphides.

Source

Solution: d)

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is in the midst of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (CES), with the first round slated to conclude in July 2023.

Source

Solution: a)

Aichi Biodiversity Targets that expired in 2020. No single country met all 20 Aichi Targets within its own borders, according to a September 2020 UN assessment.

What were the Aichi Targets?

The Aichi Targets, adopted during the 2010 CBD summit in Nagoya, located in Japan’s Aichi prefecture, included goals such as reducing deforestation by at least half during the coming decade and curbing pollution so that it no longer harmed ecosystems.

After parties adopted the Aichi Targets, they were expected to devise their own national biodiversity strategies that would mimic the goals laid out by Aichi. Nearly all parties created these strategies, but most were never fully implemented.