[Mission 2024] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 24 October 2023

Solution: d)

The current Lok Sabha (2019-2024) has the highest-ever representation of women Members of Parliament at any point in India, with 78 MPs in the 545-member House (around 14 per cent). Globally, the average for women in parliament is around 24 per cent and the country with the highest percentage of women legislators in its Parliament is Rwanda, with 49 of its 80 Lower House seats occupied by women (around 61 per cent).

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Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which had announced it was working to launch real-time settlement of trades, is now planning to implement one-hour settlement of trades first.

What is trade settlement?

Settlement is a two-way process which involves the transfer of funds and securities on the settlement date. A trade settlement is said to be complete once purchased securities of a listed company are delivered to the buyer and the seller gets the money.

The current cycle of T+1 means trade-related settlements happen within a day, or 24 hours of the actual transactions. The migration to the T+1 cycle came into effect in January this year. India became the second country in the world to start the T+1 settlement cycle in top-listed securities after China, bringing in operational efficiency, faster fund remittances, share delivery, and ease for stock market participants.

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Solution: c)

What are GMOs and gene-edited foods? And how are they shaping the future of our food systems? GMOs and gene-edited foods aren’t the same GMOs are organisms whose genetic material has been artificially altered by inserting a piece of foreign DNA. This DNA may be synthetic in origin or sourced from other organisms.

Gene editing involves making precise changes to an organism’s genome without the integration of foreign DNA elements. Using techniques such as CRISPR/Cas, scientists make precise “cuts” in the DNA to create new genetic variation. Unlike with GMOs, this introduces only minor modifications, which are indistinguishable from natural mutations.

GMOs are mainly used to produce crops that are herbicide-resistant or produce pesticides. Farmers can then use herbicides on those crops to control weeds more effectively, without the plants themselves dying. This leads to higher yields on less land, and often with less chemicals used overall.

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Solution: c)

Option 2 is incorrect.

Which are the three Hoysala temples selected for the UNESCO list?

The three temples include the Chennakeshava temple in Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu, and the Keshava Temple in Somanathapura.

Hoysala temples are known for the rare beauty and finesse of their wall sculptures, and have been described as “art which applies to stone the technique of the ivory worker or the goldsmith”.

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Solution: c)

Appointments of DGPs are now made on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment on police reforms in Prakash Singh vs Union of India 17 years ago. According to the SC’s guidelines on the appointment of police chiefs, the DGP is to be selected by the state government from among the three senior most officers who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC “on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the police force”.

The DGP should have a fixed tenure of two years in the post, irrespective of the date of retirement. A DGP can be removed only in exceptional circumstances.