SSC CGL Tier-2 9-March-2018 English

P: How do you find a mate when you are just two centimetres in size and there aren’t many who match your profile?
Q: Now, scientists have discovered that the loudspeakers they make are almost maximally optimised for the purpos e at hand: transform any given leaf into the best
‘amplifier’ it could be.
R: But the tiny tree cri ckets have taken this a step further: they amplify their mating calls using loudspeakers that they themselves build using leaves.
S: An old trick is to draw attention to oneself by creating a lot of noise.

P: The list also includes antibiotics and disinfectants, the use of which can stave off killers like sepsis and meningitis.
Q: The 10 critical products that hospitals must stock to save newborns include a piece of cloth to keep a baby warm a nd close to the mother to encourage
breastfeeding.
R: The biggest cause of death is premature birth, while the second is complications like asphyxia during delivery.
S: But other solutions will need greater investment.

P: First, with the discovery of the planet Kepler 90i, orbiting the star Kepler 90, we now know of another star besides the Sun that has eight planets orbiting it.
Q: But this announcement of the discovery of two new exoplanets, Kepler-90i and Kepler-80g by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
R: Second, Christopher Shallue, a software engineer at Google, and Andrew Vanderburg, of the University of Texas, Austin, have discovered it using a deep learning
neural network — an artificial intelligence tool that mimics the workings of a human brain.
S: Exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, are routinely being discovered, with the number of those that have already been found now standing at 3,567.

P: The funds are intended to offset the loss of wages due to TB and to help with travel and nutrition.
Q: The Central TB Division has said the government would hand over a sum of 500 rupees a month t o each of India’s 35 lakh diagnosed TB patients in order to strengthen the fight against the disease.
R: An early study from a prisoner-of-war c amp in Germany in the 1940s showed that Soviet inmates, who didn’t receive extra rations from the Red Cross as their British counterparts did, were around 16 times more likely to develop the disease.
S: Yet, much more needs to be done to protect TB patients from the effects of ma lnutrition, which has a complicated relationship with TB.

P: This time the court will have to do more than pronounce on whether the provision discriminates against men on the basis of gender and gives an unconstitutional
exemption to women.
Q: It has further noted that in a case of adultery, one person is liable for the offence but the other is absolved and that the concept of gender neutrality, on which
criminal law normally proceeds, is absent.
R: By agreeing to have another look at the constitutional validity of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, under which men can be prosecuted for adultery, the
Supreme Court has re-opened a question that has been decided thrice in the past.
S: While agreeing to issue the notice to the government, the Bench has observed th at the provision is archaic.

P: One lakh rupees invested in Bitcoin in 2010 would be worth a few hundred crore rupees today.
Q: In fact, all it took for the currency to reach $11,000 after breaching the $10,000 mark was a sin gle day.
R: In 2017 alone, Bitcoin price has increased by over 1000%.
S: That is the kind of extraordinary return the digital currency has given to investors as its price has witnessed a meteoric rise, from just a few cents in 2010 to hit a
lifetime high of over $11,000 last week.

P: Even the periodic directions of the Supreme Court in a public interest case, Dr. S. Rajasekaran v. Union of India, have not produced any dramatic change in the
official attitude.
Q: But as anyon e who uses India’s roads knows only too well, that is not an administrative priority.
R: The most effective measure to keep roads safe is enforcement of rules with zero tolerance to v iolations.
S: Despite the court setting up the Committee on Road Safety and appointing an amicus curiae to help impl ement its recommendations, it is mostly business as
usual for the police in enforcing road rules, for engineers tasked with forming roads and pavements, and transport officials in charge of licensing.

P: But it is the conflict between the massive scope for progress provided by the digital era and the fear of loss of individual autonomy that is foregrounded in any
debate about data protection laws.
Q: It also enhanced the perils of unr egulated and arbitrary use of personal data.
R: Unauthorised leaks, hacking, and other cyber crimes have rendered data base s vulnerable.
S: The dawn of the information age opened up great opportunities for the beneficial use of da ta.

P: A few months ago, the court had sought the Centre’s response to a petition filed in public interest by former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who complained about the delay in India ratifying the UN Convention, which it had signed in 1997.
Q: The Union government has informed the Supreme Court that it is seriously con sidering the 273rd Report of the Law Commission, which has recommended that India ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and pass a law to prevent torture and punish its perpetrators.
R: The court disposed off the matter without any direction after being informed that the matter was under serious consideration.
S: The petition had also favoured a standalone legislation to prohibit torture.

P: They are moving ahead with specific instruments for loss and damage they suffer due to destructive climate-linked events.
Q: Early studies also suggest that it is on track to achieve the national pledge under the 2015 Paris Agreement for a 33-35% cu t in emissions intensity per unit of
growth from the same base year by 2030, and thus heed the 2°C warming goal.
R: As the 23rd conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn shifts into high gear, developing countries including India are focussing on
the imperatives of ensuring adequate financing for mitigation and adaptation.
S: India’s progress in reducing the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions p er unit of GDP by 20-25% from 2005 levels by 2020, based on the commitment made in
Copenhagen in 2009 has been positive.