UPSC Editorials Quiz : 8 July 2026

Solution: B

• Despite record-breaking global rollouts of wind and solar energy, human-induced global warming continues to rise, reaching 1.37 degrees Celsius in 2025. The Indicators of Global Climate Change (IGCC) report highlights that while the power and electricity generation sectors are rapidly transitioning to renewables, large sections of heavy industry (such as steel, cement, aluminum, and chemical manufacturing) remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
• The transition of these hard-to-abate sectors to cleaner alternatives like green hydrogen is capital-intensive, technologically challenging, and takes time. Consequently, renewable energy has not yet bent the overall global emission curve. In the short term, national policies can mitigate this issue by promoting energy-efficient machinery and the use of recyclable materials, such as recycled aluminum, which require significantly less energy to process compared to primary production.

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Solution: B

• The Supreme Court has consistently held that the right to vote is a statutory right, derived primarily from the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and related election laws. Although elections are a constitutional requirement, an individual can vote only if they satisfy the statutory conditions, such as being enrolled in the electoral roll and not being subject to any statutory disqualification.
• Statement II is also correct. Article 326 of the Constitution of India mandates that elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies shall be based on universal adult suffrage, subject to the qualifications and disqualifications prescribed by the Constitution and law. Thus, universal adult suffrage is indeed a constitutional principle.
• Therefore, while both statements are true, Statement II does not explain why the Supreme Court regards the right to vote as a statutory right.

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Solution: A

• In the landmark ruling of Vakil Prasad Singh v. State of Bihar (2009), the Supreme Court unequivocally ruled that the right to a speedy trial, which is an integral facet of Article 21 of the Constitution (Right to Life and Personal Liberty), includes the right to a speedy and time-bound investigation. Furthermore, in Robert Lalchungnunga Chongthu v. State of Bihar, the Court reinforced that investigations cannot be permitted to continue endlessly, as the process of establishing guilt must not turn into the punishment itself.
• While special laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) set high thresholds for bail and allow extensive investigative powers, they do not grant investigative agencies absolute, unchecked authority to prolong investigations indefinitely without filing charges. Doing so violates constitutional standards of procedural fairness and personal liberty.

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Solution: C

• Statement 1 is correct. Gross Foreign Direct Investment (Gross FDI) refers to the total inward cross-border direct investment received by a country during a given period, without adjusting for any capital withdrawn by foreign investors. It measures the overall volume of fresh foreign direct investment entering the domestic economy.
• Statement 2 is also correct. Net FDI is obtained after adjusting gross inflows for capital repatriation, disinvestment, and other outward equity withdrawals by foreign investors. Thus, it reflects the actual addition to the country’s FDI stock during the period. A widening gap between gross and net FDI often indicates that foreign investors are repatriating larger amounts of capital or exiting existing investments, even if fresh investments continue to flow in.

Solution: D

• The “Lattice-Work Framework” refers to the evolving security architecture in the Indo-Pacific, where countries increasingly rely on a flexible network of overlapping bilateral, trilateral, and plurilateral partnerships rather than a single, NATO-style alliance. These arrangements include initiatives such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, AUKUS, and various trilateral groupings involving countries such as Japan, Australia, India, the United States, and others.
• The framework is described as a “lattice” because multiple interconnected partnerships reinforce one another, enhancing deterrence, resilience, maritime security, technology cooperation, and supply-chain security while allowing members to retain strategic autonomy. It reflects the shift toward a distributed and multipolar regional security architecture rather than dependence on a single centralized alliance.

• Option (a) is Incorrect. The lattice-work approach is not a rigid, centralized military alliance under a single superpower.
• Option (b) is Incorrect. The term does not refer to an underwater defense grid or any specific military technology deployment.
• Option (c) is Incorrect. It is not a trade agreement focused on tariff elimination; its emphasis is primarily on strategic, security, and technological cooperation.