UPSC Editorials Quiz : 13 May 2026

Solution: B

• Babur’s victory was a triumph of technique over numbers.
• Statement 1 is incorrect; it was the Lodi Sultanate that relied on war elephants, which proved ineffective against Babur’s cannons.
• Statement 2 is correct; Babur introduced Ottoman-style (Rumi) field artillery and used matchlocks (arquebusiers). Unlike Indian forces who fired from elephants, Babur’s men fought on foot behind mantlets (turah), ensuring higher accuracy and reload speed.
• Statement 3 is incorrect; Babur did not have Rajput support. In fact, he later had to fight a Rajput confederacy led by Rana Sanga at the Battle of Khanwa.
• Statement 4 is correct; the Tulughma tactic allowed Babur to surround the numerically superior Lodi army and attack from all sides. The battle signalled the end of the Delhi Sultanate and the start of a 300-year Mughal rule. The military revolution it brought proved that discipline and modern weaponry were far superior to traditional, massive, elephant-based armies of the medieval period in India.

Solution: D

• Statement 1 is incorrect; the subduction occurs in the opposite direction. It is the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate that sink beneath the Eurasian Plate. This “sinking” is what leads to the intense seismic activity and the formation of deep undersea trenches.
• Statement 2 is incorrect because the abundance of hot springs across the Japanese islands is almost entirely of volcanic origin, a direct result of the geothermal heat generated by tectonic subduction and the presence of over 60 active volcanoes. Japan’s landscape is dominated by mountains (80% of land), which are frequently divided by lowlands rather than forming long, continuous ranges.
• The coastal areas are a mix of headlands and sandy bays, often at risk from tsunamis triggered by undersea earthquakes along fault lines like the Nankai Trough. This unique geological setting makes Japan a global leader in earthquake engineering and disaster preparedness.

Solution: D

• Statement-I is incorrect because the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) is not a private self-regulatory body. Under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, it is a government-led body established under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). This marks a shift from earlier proposals of industry self-regulation to a more formal, state-led oversight mechanism.
• Statement-II is correct; to ensure a comprehensive approach to the multi-faceted challenges of online gaming (security, taxation, content, and legalities), the OGAI includes high-level representatives from several key Union Ministries: Home (for security/money laundering), Finance (for taxation/payment gate regulation), I&B (for content/advertising), Sports (for esports classification), and Law.
• This inter-ministerial composition allows the OGAI to effectively categorize games into Online Money Games (which are banned), Online Social Games, or esports. By having the power to block financial transactions through banks for non-compliant platforms, the OGAI acts as a central enforcement pillar for the 2025 parent Act.

Solution: B

• NITI Aayog acts as the premier policy think tank of the Government of India.
• Statement 1 is correct; its primary mandate is to foster Cooperative Federalism by recognizing that “strong states make a strong nation.” It provides a platform for states to participate in the formulation of national strategies.
• Statement 2 is correct; the Vice Chairperson is a high-ranking official nominated by the Prime Minister, enjoying the status of a Cabinet Minister, which allows for effective coordination with various Union Ministries.
• Statement 3 is incorrect. The Governing Council is inclusive. It comprises the Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories with Legislatures (Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu & Kashmir), and it expressly includes the Lieutenant Governors of other Union Territories. This ensures that even UTs without a local assembly have a voice in the national development dialogue. The shift from the Planning Commission to NITI Aayog was intended to replace a “one-size-fits-all” model with a more dynamic and strategic platform for innovation and long-term planning.

Solution: C

• Recent advances in plant nanobionics and bioelectronics have explored the integration of conductive polymers and nanowires into plant tissues to convert plants into living biosensors. These materials can interface with the plant’s natural electrical and biochemical signaling systems.
• Conductive polymers are organic polymers capable of conducting electricity, while nanowires are extremely thin conductive structures at the nanoscale. When introduced into plants, they can help monitor physiological changes such as variations in water content, nutrient stress, pathogen attacks, soil contamination, temperature fluctuations, or exposure to toxic chemicals.
• The objective is not primarily to improve crop yield directly, but to create a real-time environmental sensing system. Such “electronic plants” can transmit signals about stress conditions before visible symptoms appear, enabling precision agriculture and early intervention. Researchers have also experimented with embedding sensors in leaves and vascular tissues to monitor plant health continuously.