UPSC Editorials Quiz : 4 June 2026

Solution: B

The One Health approach is a collaborative, multidisciplinary framework that recognizes that the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems is interconnected. Many emerging infectious diseases, including Ebola virus disease and Hantavirus infections, are zoonotic, meaning they originate in animals and can spill over into humans.

Under the One Health framework:

• Human health professionals, veterinarians, wildlife experts, ecologists, and public health authorities work together.
• Surveillance is conducted across human populations, livestock, wildlife, and environmental systems.
• Early detection of pathogens in animal reservoirs helps prevent outbreaks in humans.
• Environmental changes such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, climate change, and increased human-wildlife interaction are monitored because they can increase the risk of zoonotic spillovers.

Why the other options are incorrect:

• (a) Intellectual property rights waivers may influence access to medicines but are not the defining feature of the One Health approach.
• (c) One Health does not advocate funding solely through centralized international bodies; it emphasizes cross-sectoral collaboration at local, national, and global levels.
• (d) Mandatory vaccination of transit and maritime crews is a specific public-health measure and does not capture the broader integrated human-animal-environment framework of One Health.

Solution: C

• The SARTHAK-PDS scheme introduced by the Union Cabinet seeks to overhaul the public distribution system by integrating advanced digital platforms to streamline last-mile delivery and reduce leakages.
• NIRMAL is an AI-driven beneficiary registry designed to systematically clean up voter database-like public distribution records and weed out duplicate or ghost beneficiaries, matching with function A.
• SAKSHAM functions as an AI-powered logistics and supply-chain monitoring system that manages real-time GPS tracking of vehicles, demand forecasting, and transport route optimization to reduce logistics costs, matching with function B.
• Lastly, ASHA is a multilingual AI assistant developed to handle citizen grievances and gather proactive feedback in the beneficiary’s preferred local language, matching with function C.
• These technological components aim to curb transportation leakages, leading to projected carbon emission reductions and massive annual logistical savings.

Source

Solution: C

• In India’s Balance of Payments (BoP) framework, when the capital account surplus exceeds the current account deficit, more foreign currency enters the country than exits, resulting in a BoP surplus. However, the domestic agricultural model relies heavily on over-subsidized chemical fertilizers, whose manufacturing costs are more than 80% dependent on imported natural gas and naphtha feedstocks.
• This over-subsidization of urea distorts soil nutrient ratios and increases the import of finished fertilizers or raw feedstock, widening the current account deficit during global energy supply shocks. Complete domestic manufacturing of fertilizers does not eliminate import dependency and forex outflow, as raw feedstock is still sourced from external markets.
• Therefore, excessive chemical fertilizer usage degrades soil health, while domestic production remains highly vulnerable to imported feedstock costs that comprise over 80% of total manufacturing costs, worsening the current account deficit.

Source

Solution: C

• Statement-I is correct because the Nagoya Protocol is officially titled the “Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization.” It is a landmark supplementary international treaty to the CBD that establishes a transparent, legally binding framework to ensure that physical biological materials or Digital Sequence Information (DSI) are accessed and used fairly, protecting both providers and users.
• Statement-II is incorrect because the Nagoya Protocol was not adopted in 1992. The parent treaty, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was adopted globally at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Nagoya Protocol was adopted much later, in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, and entered into force in October 2014.

Solution: B

• Statement-I is correct because India’s legal architecture under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, mirrors a rigid three-tier federal governance scheme. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) operates as the statutory body at the central level, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) function across all states, and more than 2,76,653 local Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) serve as the foundation of this decentralized network.
• Statement-II is correct because BMCs are explicitly mandated to be set up by elected local bodies (such as Panchayats and Municipalities) to protect and sustainably manage regional bio-resources. Furthermore, this decentralized structure has been structurally reinforced by conducting 3,724 dedicated workshops that trained over 2.5 lakh local functionaries, scientists, and community leaders.
• However, Statement-II does not explain why or how the structure is explicitly divided into three specific tiers; it merely describes the composition and support given to the bottom-most tier.