Question 26: Consider the following statements:

1. Headline inflation is not adjusted to remove highly volatile figures.
2. Core inflation is the change in the costs of goods and services but does not include those from the food and energy sectors.
3. Core inflation often calculated using the consumer price index (CPI).
4. Headline inflation is the raw inflation figure reported through the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. 1, 2 and 3
2. 2, 3 and 4
3. 1, 3 and 4
4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

Headline Inflation

• Headline inflation is the raw inflation figure reported through the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that is released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Headline inflation is not adjusted to remove highly volatile figures, including those that can shift regardless of economic conditions.
• Headline inflation is often closely related to shifts in the cost of living, which provides useful information to consumers within the marketplace.
• The headline figure is not adjusted for seasonality or for the often-volatile elements of food and energy prices, which are removed in the core Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Core Inflation

• Core inflation is the change in the costs of goods and services but does not include those from the food and energy sectors.
• This measure of inflation excludes these items because their prices are much more volatile.
• It is most often calculated using the consumer price index (CPI), which is a measure of prices for goods and services.

Question 27: Consider the following statements:

1. Coronal holes are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into space.
2. Sodium is the only element apart from potassium that can be observed through telescopes in the lunar atmosphere.
3. Coronal holes are not a unique phenomenon, appearing throughout the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. 1 and 2
2. 2 and 3
3. 1 and 3
4. 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

• Sodium is the only element apart from potassium that can be observed through telescopes in the lunar atmosphere (its exosphere). This new map of sodium would enable understanding of the surface-exosphere connection.
• ISRO has mapped out the global distribution of sodium on the Moon’s surface. They used the CLASS instrument (Chandrayaan-2 large area soft X-ray spectrometer) carried by the second Indian Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2.
• This is the first effort to provide a global-scale measurement of sodium on the lunar surface using X-ray fluorescent spectra.

What are coronal holes?

• These are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into
• Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings.
• Here, the magnetic field is open to interplanetary space, sending solar material out in a high-speed stream of solar wind. Coronal holes can last between a few weeks to months.
• The holes are not a unique phenomenon, appearing throughout the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle.
• They can last much longer during solar minimum – a period of time when activity on the Sun is substantially diminished, according to NASA.

Question 28: Consider the following statements:

1. If services such as transport, education, recreation and amusement, personal care get significantly costlier, then wholesale price inflation will rise but there will be no impact on retail inflation.
2. The WPI is dominated by the prices of manufactured goods while the CPI is dominated by the prices of food articles.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 2 only
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Correct Answer: B

Explanation 

WPI Components:

CPI Components:

• For instance, the WPI is dominated by the prices of manufactured goods while the CPI is dominated by the prices of food articles. As such, broadly speaking, if food prices go up sharply, it will bump up the retail inflation rate far more than it would spike the wholesale inflation rate. The reverse will happen when prices of manufactured products (such as TVs and cars) rise sharply.
• A key difference that must not be missed is that the WPI does not take into account the change in prices of services — say a haircut or a banking transaction. But CPI If services such as transport, education, recreation and amusement, personal care etc. get significantly costlier, then retail inflation will rise but there will be no impact on wholesale price inflation.

Question 29: Consider the following statements:

1. The demand for compensation for loss and damage from climate disasters is an extension of the universally acknowledged “Polluter Pays” principle.
2. Historical responsibility is important because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.
3. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement does not mention loss and damage.
4. The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damages, set up in 2003, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. 1, 2 and 3
2. 2, 3 and 4
3. 1, 3 and 4
4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Correct Answer: A

Explanation

• The demand for compensation for loss and damage from climate disasters is an extension of the universally acknowledged “Polluter Pays” principle, that makes the polluter liable for paying not just for the cost of remedial action, but also for compensating the victims of environmental damage caused by their actions.
• Historical responsibility is important because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, and it is the cumulative accumulation of this carbon dioxide that causes global warming.

Warsaw International Mechanism

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad principles of the global effort to fight climate change, acknowledges the differentiated responsibility of nations. It makes it clear that rich countries must provide both the finance and the technology to developing nations to help tackle climate change. However, the UNFCCC does not mention loss and damage.
• In 2009, developed countries agreed to provide US$ 100 billion every year from 2020 to help developing nations fight climate change. However, they are struggling to fulfill this promise.
• It was after much struggle that developing countries and environment groups managed to establish a separate channel on loss and damages. The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.

Question 30: Consider the following statements with respect to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012:

1. The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age.
2. People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act.
3. Police officer to not be in uniform while recording the statement of the child.
4. No child to be detained in the police station in the night for any reason.
5. Delhi has the highest number of POCSO trials in the country.
6. Chandigarh and West Bengal are the only states where the average time taken for convictions is within one year.

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. 1, 2 and 5
2. 1, 2 and 3
3. 1 and 2
4. All of the above

Correct Answer: D

Explanation

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development championed the introduction of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
• The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age.
• People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act.

The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences. These include:

• Police officer to not be in uniform while recording the statement of the child.
• No child to be detained in the police station in the night for any reason.
• Medical examination of the child to be conducted in the presence of the parent of the child or any other person in whom the child has trust or confidence.
• Recording the statement of the child at the residence of the child or at the place of his choice, preferably by a woman police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector.
• The media has been barred from disclosing the identity of the child without the permission of the Special Court.
• For speedy trial, the Act provides for the evidence of the child to be recorded within a period of 30 days. Also, the Special Court is to complete the trial within a period of one year, as far as possible.
• Delhi has the highest number of POCSO trials in the country with 13.54 cases per 100,000 population in 2018 – which does not necessarily mean the number of incidents of sexual offences is higher, but that there is increasing awareness and reporting of cases. But Delhi also had the highest average case length in the country in 2020, at 1,284.33 days.
• Chandigarh and West Bengal are the only states where the average time taken for convictions is within one year. States like Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Sikkim, Chandigarh and the NCT of Delhi seem to have a much higher reporting of POCSO cases.
• Uttar Pradesh has the highest pendency with more than three-fourths (77.77%) of the total POCSO cases filed between November 2012 and February 2021 pending. On the other hand, at 80.2%, Tamil Nadu has the highest disposal percentage.