UPSC Editorials Quiz : 14 May 2025

Solution: a)

• Statement 1 is incorrect. ‘Zero Hour’ is an Indian parliamentary innovation and is not mentioned in the Constitution of India, nor is it formally detailed in the Rules of Procedure of the Houses. It is a convention that allows members to raise matters of urgent public importance without prior notice.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. Parliamentary Committees like the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Estimates Committee, and Committee on Public Undertakings are crucial for financial oversight. The PAC, for instance, primarily scrutinizes the appropriation accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), focusing on executive expenditure to ensure it was applied for the purpose intended and with due economy and efficiency. While policy implications might be discussed, their core function is ex-post facto scrutiny of expenditure.
• Statement 3 is correct. The principle of collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to the Lok Sabha, as enshrined in Article 75(3) of the Constitution, is indeed the philosophical and constitutional cornerstone of parliamentary oversight in India. This ensures that the executive remains accountable to the elected representatives of the people.

Solution: c)

Statement-I is correct. Western Disturbances are indeed the primary source of winter precipitation (rain and snow) in North India, including states like Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. This precipitation is crucial for Rabi crops (winter-sown crops like wheat, barley, mustard), providing essential moisture during their growing season.

Statement-II is incorrect. The formation of Western Disturbances is a complex meteorological process. While temperature gradients play a role in atmospheric dynamics, WDs form due to interactions between polar and tropical air masses. They are extra-tropical cyclones embedded in high-altitude westerly winds (subtropical westerly jet stream) and are often accompanied by low-pressure areas. Their genesis involves factors beyond just the land-ocean temperature gradient; upper-air atmospheric conditions and jet stream dynamics are critical.

Solution: b)

• Vaccination is a simple, safe, and effective method of protecting individuals against harmful diseases before they encounter them.
• The core principle involves introducing a modified version of the pathogen (killed or weakened viruses or bacteria) or specific components of it (like proteins or sugars) into the body.
• This exposure does not cause the disease or put the individual at risk of its complications.
• Instead, it triggers the body’s natural defenses, specifically the immune system, to recognize the agent as foreign, mount a response, and produce antibodies and memory cells specific to that pathogen.
• This process “trains” the immune system, so if the body encounters the actual pathogen later, it can quickly and effectively neutralize it, preventing illness or reducing its severity.
• This creates a specific, often long-lasting, immunity, making the immune system stronger against that particular infection.

Solution: c)

• Statement 1 is incorrect. The Finance Commission, under Article 280 of the Constitution, recommends the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution. This is not limited to only Income Tax and Corporate Tax but encompasses the divisible pool of central taxes.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. The 16th Finance Commission is required to make recommendations covering a period of five years commencing on April 1, 2026, not six years from 2025.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Finance Commission recommends the principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India, not the Public Account of India, under Article 275 of the Constitution. Therefore, all three statements are incorrect.

Solution: b)

• Statement 1 is incorrect. The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, represents a paradigm shift away from the exclusionary “fortress conservation” model. Instead, it is a rights-based conservation model that legally recognizes various forest rights of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers. It aims to redress historical injustice and empowers Gram Sabhas for community-led biodiversity conservation, integrating tenure security with ecosystem protection.
• Statement 2 is correct. The “fortress conservation” model, prevalent in many global conservation laws such as some Wildlife Acts in Africa and Latin America, adopts an exclusionary “protected area” approach. This model has often led to the displacement of millions of IPLCs worldwide, criminalizing traditional users and centralizing forest control under state or private actors. Examples include the Batwa in Uganda and Masai in Kenya.
• Statement 3 is correct. The FRA, 2006, explicitly empowers Gram Sabhas (village assemblies) as the competent authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both that may be given to forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.

• Statement 1 is incorrect. The Biodiversity Benefit Sharing Regulations, 2025, establish turnover-based slabs for benefit sharing. Users with an annual turnover of up to Rs 5 crore are exempt from benefit sharing. For those with turnover between Rs 5 crore and Rs 50 crore, the sharing is 0.2%; for Rs 50-250 crore, it’s 0.4%; and above Rs 250 crore, it’s 0.6% of the annual gross ex-factory sale price. There is no flat 0.5% minimum for all users.
• Statement 2 is correct. The regulations, aligning with the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023, exempt users of cultivated medicinal plants from benefit sharing obligations. The amendments also aimed to ease compliance for AYUSH practitioners.

About Biodiversity Benefit Sharing Regulations 2025:

• These are updated rules under the Biological Diversity Act, aimed at ensuring that users—especially industries—share a part of their economic benefits with local communities and biodiversity conservers.
  • This aligns India with global Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)

Key Provisions

• Turnover-Based Slabs for Benefit Sharing:
  • ₹0–5 crore: No sharing
  • ₹5–50 crore: 0.2% of ex-factory turnover
  • ₹50–250 crore: 0.4%
  • Above ₹250 crore: 0.6%
• Mandatory Reporting:
  • Firms with turnover over ₹1 crore must disclose annual biodiversity usage.
• Cultivated Plant Exemption:
  • Medicinal plant cultivators exempted from sharing benefits—aligns with Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act 2023.
• High-Value Species Clause:
  • For species like red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood, minimum benefit sharing is 5%, extendable to 20% or more.
• Digital Sequence Information (DSI):
  • Now covered under the benefit-sharing regime—critical update from the 2014 guidelines.
• IPR and Research Use:
  • Researchers and IPR applicants must comply with benefit-sharing norms.
• Revenue Utilization:
  • 10–15% retained by National Biodiversity Authority (NBA); remainder to benefit claimant communities.