UPSC Editorials Quiz : 17 June 2026

Solution: A

• The Missions for Advancement in High-Impact Areas (MAHA) Water Mission is a national platform launched in June 2026 to bridge the gap between fundamental research and field deployment in the water sector. Jointly contributed by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) and the Ministry of Jal Shakti, it has an outlay of Rs 200 crore over five years. It focuses on five priority themes, including water resource management and climate resilience, and explicitly supports startups and MSMEs in product development through multidisciplinary consortia.
• Alongside the mission, the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari, Citizen Tracking and Reporting (JSJB-CTR) Portal and App was launched to facilitate real-time monitoring and public participation. This digital integration is backed by an MoU between the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Space/ISRO for satellite-based water mapping.
• Khet Bachao Abhiyan is a sustainable agriculture campaign to reduce excessive urea use, launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, not a chemical subsidy program.

Solution: A

• A year-long field investigation reveals that road dust is one of the single largest and most persistent contributors to urban air pollution (affecting both PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels) throughout the year, rather than being a purely seasonal crisis. The primary municipal defense against this particulate matter is the deployment of Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSMs).
• Conceptually, mechanical sweeping is only effective when paired with wet-sweeping or water-sprinkling systems. Dry sweeping simply suspends the fine particulate matter back into the atmosphere, exacerbating the air quality crisis instead of mitigating it. Furthermore, successful sweeping requires synchronized route mapping and real-time GPS tracking to ensure comprehensive coverage; without these, massive gaps in municipal sweeping limits persist, rendering the fleet ineffective.
• Statement 1 is correct as water-sprinkling is necessary to prevent dust suspension. Statements 2 and 3 are incorrect as road dust contributes to PM 2.5, and sweeping fleets require strict GPS tracking and route-mapping to be effective.

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Solution: C

• Statement I is correct because the Gujarat government has designated the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary as the “second home” or backup habitat for the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica). This serves as an ecological insurance policy, designated as “Satellite Population 8” under the ₹2,927-crore central Project Lion, to safeguard the species against catastrophic threats such as the 2018 Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) outbreak in Gir.
• Statement II is incorrect because Barda Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat (near the Porbandar coast), not in Madhya Pradesh. The Supreme Court’s 2013 directive originally ordered the translocation of some lions to Kuno National Park, which is located in Madhya Pradesh, but that inter-state relocation remains stalled due to political resistance.
• Consequently, Gujarat is developing Barda intra-state to maintain its monopoly over the species, despite biologists warning that Barda is geographically too close (~100 km from Gir) to provide true epidemiological isolation.

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Solution: A

• Statement 1 is correct because land acquisition is a traditional, statutory process by which a sovereign state compulsorily takes over private land parcels permanently for public welfare, infrastructure, or urban expansion, replacing individual asset ownership with state-determined one-time monetary compensation and resettlement benefits.
• Statement 2 is incorrect because land pooling is an assembly mechanism where landowners voluntarily aggregate their contiguous parcels. The state agency processes the combined tract, utilizes a specific fraction (typically 25–45%) for collective infrastructure like roads, green spaces, and social housing, and returns the remaining 55–75% portion back to the original owners.
• Crucially, the returned land is not in its exact original spatial boundary; rather, it is a smaller, highly reconstituted, fully serviced plot that commands a significantly higher market valuation due to the newly developed civic infrastructure, making it a progressive, partnership-driven urban design model.

Solution: B

• The Long Period Average (LPA) is a benchmark used by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to assess the performance of the Southwest Monsoon. It represents the average rainfall received over a specified climatological reference period. In line with the guidelines of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), IMD periodically updates this reference period to reflect changing climatic conditions. At present, the all-India monsoon LPA is based on the 1971–2020 period, a span of 50 years. Therefore, Statement 1 is correct.
• Statement 2 is also correct. IMD classifies seasonal rainfall relative to the LPA. Rainfall between 96% and 104% of LPA is considered “normal.” Any rainfall below 96% of LPA falls into categories such as below normal or deficient. Specifically, rainfall below 90% of LPA is termed deficient. Since every deficient monsoon necessarily records rainfall less than 96% of the LPA, the statement is valid.
• Statement 3 is incorrect because the LPA is not a fixed or permanent value. IMD revises it periodically by adopting a newer climatological base period. Such revisions ensure that the benchmark remains representative of prevailing climatic conditions. Thus, the LPA changes over time rather than remaining constant indefinitely.

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