General Comprehension (UPSC) (Part-VI)

Aristocratic government ruins itself by limiting too narrowly the circle within which power is confined; oligarchic government ruins itself by the incautions scramble for immediate wealth. But even democracy ruins itself by excess of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy.

This is, at first glance, a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses. The people have no understanding and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them. Such a democracy is tyranny or autocracy. -- Plato

India faces a challenging immediate future in energy and climate policy-making. The problems are multiple: sputtering fossil fuel production capabilities; limited access to electricity and modern cooking fuel for the poorest; rising fuel imports in an unstable global energy context; continued electricity pricing and governance challenges leading to its costly deficits or surplus supply; and not least, growing environmental contestation around land, water and air.

But all is not bleak: growing energy efficiency programmes, integrated urbanisation and transport policy discussions; inroads to enhancing energy access and security; and bold renewable energy initiatives, even if not fully conceptualised, suggest the promise of transformation.

There are reports that some of the antibiotics sold in the market are fed to poultry and other livestock 45 growth promoters. Overusing these Substances can create superbugs, pathogens that are resistant to multiple drugs and could be passed along humans.

Mindful of that, some farming companies have stopped using the drugs to make chickens gain weight faster. Since Denmark banned antibiotic growth promoters in the 1990s, the major pork exporter says it is producing more pigs and the animals get fewer diseases.

1. Oil production countries are one of the reasons for high food prices.

2. If there is a food cisis in the world in the near future, it will be in the emerging economies.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Policy makers and media have placed the blame for skyrocketing food prices on a variety of factors, including high fuel prices, had weather in key food producing countries, and the diversion of land to non-food production.

Increased emphasis, however, has been placed on a surge in demand for food from the most populous emerging economies. It seems highly probable that mass consumption in these countries could be well poised to create a food crisis.

1. Rising GDP is essential for a country to be a developed country.

2. Rising GDP guarantees a reasonable distribution of income to all households.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

A central message of modern development economics is the importance of income growth, by which meant growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In theory, rising GDP creates employment and investment opportunities.

As incomes grow in a country where the level of GDP was once low, households, communities, and governments are increasingly able to set aside some funds for the production of things that make for a good life.

Today GDP has assumed such a significant place in the development lexicon, that if someone mentions "economic growth", we know they mean growth in GDP.

1. Fig trees can often be keystone species in natural forests.

2. Fig trees can grow where other large woody species cannot grow.

3. Sacred trees can have a role in biodiversity conservation.

4. Fig trees have a role in the seed dispersal of other tree species.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Fig trees (genus Ficus) are considered sacred in India, East Asia and Africa and are common in agricultural and urban landscapes where other large trees are absent. In natural forests, fig trees provide food for wildlife when other resources are scarce and support a high density and diversity of frugivores (fruit-eating animals).

If frugivorous birds and bats continue to visit fig trees located in sites with high human disturbance, sacred fig trees may promote frugivore abundance. Under favourable microclimate, plenty of seelings of other tree species would grow around fig trees.

1. Cover crops

2. Fertigation

3. Hydroponics

4. Mixed farming

5. Polyculture

6. Vertical farming

Which of the above farming practices can be compatible with agroecology, as implied by the passage?

At the heart of agroecology is the idea that agroecosystems should mimic the biodiversity levels and functioning of natural ecosystems. Such agricultural mimics, like their natural models, can be productive, pest-resistant, nutrient conserving, and resilient to shocks and stresses. In ecosystems there is no 'waste, nutrients are recycled indefinitely.

Agroecology aims at closing nutrient loops, i.e., returning all nutrients that come out of the soil back to the soil such as through application of farmyard manure. It also harnesses natural processes to control pests and build soil fertility 1.e., through intercropping. Agroecological practices include integrating trees with livestock and crops.

Computers increasingly deal not just with abstract data like Credit card details and databases, but also with the real world of physical objects and Vulnerable human bodies. A modern car is a Computer on wheels; an aeroplane is a computer on Wings.

The arrival of the "Internet of Things" will see computers baked into everything from road signs and MRI scanners to Prosthetics and insulin pumps. There is little evidence that these gadgets will be any more trustworthy than their desktop counterparts. Hackers have already proved that they can take remote control of internet connected cars and pacemakers.

1. People who are obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore the community hygiene.

2. Emergence of multi-drug resistant germs can be prevented by personal cleanliness.

3. Entry of the market in the domain of hygiene increases the risk of infectious diseases.

4. Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of infectious diseases.

5. It is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against infectious diseases.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

A social and physical environment riddled with poverty, inequities, unhygienic and insanitary conditions generates the risk of infectious diseases. Hygiene has different levels: Personal, domestic and community hygiene. There is no doubt that personal cleanliness brings down the rate of infectious diseases.

But the entry of the market into this domain has created a false sense of security that gets conditioned and reinforced by the onslaught of advertisements. Experience in Western Europe shows that along with personal hygiene, general improvements in environmental conditions and components like clean water, sanitation and food security have brought down infant/child death/infection rates considerably.

The obsession with hand hygiene also brings in the persisting influence of the market on personal health, overriding or marginalising the negative impact on ecology and the emergence of resistant germs.

Researchers simulated street lighting on artificial grassland plots containing pea-aphids, sap-sucking insects, at night. These were exposed to two different types of light a white light similar to newer commercial LED lights and an amber light similar to sodium street lamps.

The low intensity amber light was shown to inhibit, rather than induce, flowering in a wild plant of the pea family which is a source of food for the pea-aphids in grasslands. The number of aphids was also significantly suppressed under the light treatment due to the limited amount of food available.