UPSC Editorials Quiz : 2 February 2024

Solution: c)

In the Vishnu Puran, Mithila is described as a place to the north of Ganga and south of Himalayas. Abul Fazl in Ain-e-Akbari clearly mentions Mithila as one of the parganas (administrative divisions), earmarking its location and spread, which includes the present-day Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura and some adjoining areas of Bihar and Nepal.

Mithila has also been called Mahla, and finds mention in the revenue records of the erstwhile Sanyukt Prant (United Provinces) of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa.

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Solution: d)

Section 19 of the PMLA 2002 allows authorised ED officials to arrest persons based on material in their possession, which gives them a reason to believe that one is guilty of an offence punishable under that law.

However, the reasons for such belief must be recorded in writing, and the grounds of arrest be informed to the accused “as soon as may be.”

Importantly, anyone arrested shall, within 24 hours, be taken to a Special Court, Judicial Magistrate, or Metropolitan Magistrate.

However, Article 22(3)(b) exempts the application of these safeguards to persons held under any preventive detention law, such as the Gujarat Prevention of Antisocial Activities Act, 1985, and the Bihar Control of Crimes Act, 1981, among others.

What happens when two Benches of equal strength differ?

Although there is no constitutional or statutory prescription on the issue, the rule of precedents has evolved by practice in India to “prevent the possibility of inconsistent decisions on similar points of law by different benches of equal strength,” a Constitution Bench of the SC said in its 1989 ruling in UOI vs. Raghubir Singh.

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Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

After China, India became the second country in the world to start the ‘trade-plus-one’ (T+1) settlement cycle in top listed securities.

What’s the T+1 settlement plan?

The T+1 settlement cycle means that trade-related settlements must be done within a day, or 24 hours, of the completion of a transaction. For example, under T+1, if a customer bought shares on Wednesday, they would be credited to the customer’s demat account on Thursday. This is different from T+2, where they will be settled on Friday. As many as 256 large-cap and top mid-cap stocks, including Nifty and Sensex stocks, will come under the T+1 settlement from Friday.

Until 2001, stock markets had a weekly settlement system. The markets then moved to a rolling settlement system of T+3, and then to T+2 in 2003. T+1 is being implemented despite opposition from foreign investors. The United States, United Kingdom and Eurozone markets are yet to move to the T+1 system.

And what are the benefits of T+1?

In the T+1 format, if an investor sells a share, she will get the money within a day, and the buyer will get the shares in her demat account also within a day.

This will also help investors in reducing the overall capital requirements with the margins getting released on T+1 day, and in getting the funds in the bank account within 24 hours of the sale of shares. The shift will boost operational efficiency as the rolling of funds and stocks will be faster.

A shortened settlement cycle also reduces the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any point of time, and thus decreases the unsettled exposure to Clearing Corporation by 50 per cent. The narrower the settlement cycle, the narrower the time window for a counterparty insolvency/ bankruptcy to impact the settlement of a trade.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

The Sargasso Sea, located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea without a land boundary. It is bounded by four ocean currents forming an ocean gyre.

It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water.

The sea is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream, on the north by the North Atlantic Current, on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current, the four together forming a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents termed the North Atlantic Gyre.

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.