QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 30 June 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: b)

Recently two Supreme Court judges have recused themselves from hearing cases relating to West Bengal.

Why does a judge recuse?

When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that she carried a bias while deciding the case.

The practice stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law that nobody can be a judge in her own case.

The decision to recuse generally comes from the judge herself as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest. In some circumstances, lawyers or parties in the case bring it up before the judge. If a judge recuses, the case is listed before the Chief Justice for allotment to a fresh Bench.

There are no formal rules governing recusals, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue.

Since there are no formal rules governing the process, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal. Some judges disclose the reasons in open court; in some cases, the reasons are apparent.

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Solution: d)

The International Monetary Fund states “GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country in a given period of time (say a quarter or a year)”.

It is important to note that GDP maps the “final” goods and services, not the intermediate ones.

For a while now, GDP’s dominance has been questioned.

For instance, is GDP a faulty measure?

It all depends on what you use it for. GDP measures the total market value of goods and services in an economy in a year. Does it claim to measure welfare or wellbeing? No. Does it claim to measure happiness? No. Does it claim to measure inequality? No. Is it a measure of corruption or the lack of it? No. Does it measure the robustness of a democracy? No. Does it measure pollution or climate change? No. Such questions can go on with the same reply.

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Solution: a)

What are monoclonal antibodies?

To fight a viral infection, our bodies create proteins known as antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are artificial antibodies that mimic the activity of our immune systems. They are produced through a process that involves extracting specific antibodies from human blood and then cloning them.

These monoclonal antibodies are designed to target a virus or a specific part of one — for instance, REGEN-COV2 is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies developed to target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The monoclonal antibodies bind to specific parts of the spike protein, blocking its ability to infect healthy cells.

So far, these therapies have shown the most success in high-risk groups with mild to moderate Covid-19. They are not approved for use in those hospitalised with severe Covid-19 and those requiring oxygen.

Compared with plasma, scientists have expressed more confidence in the promise of monoclonal antibodies. Both antibody-based therapies, they differ in the way they are made.

Convalescent plasma therapy involves providing antibodies from a recovered Covid-19 patient’s plasma. This means that those receiving this therapy would be getting all the antibodies the recovered patient has made.

Monoclonal antibodies are when you take a specific antibody and mass-manufacture it in a factory. For antibody cocktails, you provide a combination of two or more such antibodies.

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Solution: a)

The government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. E20 will be rolled out from April 2023.

The use of E20 will require new engine specifications and changes to the fuel lines, as well as some plastic and rubber parts due to the fuel’s corrosive nature.

The engines, moreover, will need to be recalibrated to achieve the required power-, efficiency- and emission-level balance due to the lower energy density of the fuel.

Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

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Solution: b)

According to the Constitution the regions of India are eligible to use any of the official languages of India for official purposes. It also acknowledges the possibility of a regional language being adopted and becoming an official language of India, if the President deems that a large enough proportion of the population of India desires it.

The parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963, which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965.