UPSC Current Affairs Quiz, 22 October 2026

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. When domestic prices exceed international prices, imports become commercially attractive — this is a standard demand–supply adjustment mechanism. In the natural rubber market, high domestic prices have indeed been associated with elevated import volumes, as importers and consuming industries (such as tyre manufacturers) seek cheaper internationally-priced rubber. Over time, rising imports exert downward pressure on the domestic price premium. Statement 2 is incorrect. Synthetic rubber is predominantly manufactured from petrochemical feedstocks (butadiene, isoprene, and styrene — all crude oil derivatives), not from agricultural raw materials. Consequently, synthetic rubber production costs are closely linked to crude oil prices. When crude prices rise — as during periods of geopolitical tension affecting energy markets — synthetic rubber becomes more expensive, making natural rubber relatively more competitive and driving substitution towards natural rubber. Statement 3 is correct. Within the natural rubber production chain, a grower can produce different forms of processed rubber — sheet rubber (RSS grades), latex concentrate, or cup lump — from the same tapped latex, depending on which processing route is chosen. When prices for latex and cup lump rise relative to sheet rubber, rational growers shift their processing towards the higher-value output. This is classic supply-side substitution within a single commodity's production chain — altering the form of supply in response to relative price signals — and it can reduce the availability of one product (sheet rubber) even if overall tapping volumes remain similar.

Explanation

All three pairs are correctly matched. First, the repo rate is the key policy instrument of the MPC — it is the rate at which the RBI lends overnight funds to commercial banks, and changes to it signal the overall stance of monetary policy, transmitting through the economy to lending and deposit rates. Second, under the flexible inflation targeting (FIT) framework institutionalised by the RBI (Amendment) Act, 2016, the Government of India, in consultation with the RBI, notified a CPI inflation target of 4 per cent with a tolerance band of ±2 percentage points — i.e., 2 to 6 per cent. The MPC is mandated to keep inflation within this band, and a breach for three consecutive quarters triggers a mandatory explanation to the government. Third, the interest-rate differential between India and advanced economies (especially G7 nations) is a recognised driver of foreign portfolio investment in Indian debt markets — when India's rates are significantly higher, it attracts carry-trade flows from investors in low-yield economies, making this differential a genuine monetary policy consideration alongside the domestic inflation mandate.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. Soil organic carbon depletion in Indian agricultural soils is well-established to result from excessive chemical fertiliser use, monoculture practices and soil erosion — all of which degrade soil structure and microbial activity, thereby reducing agricultural productivity. This is a core principle of soil science and land degradation studies. Statement 2 is correct. Agro-forestry and tree-based interventions are recognised as integrated ecological tools that simultaneously restore soil health, regulate the water cycle (an ecosystem service), provide biomass and shade, and generate livelihoods through non-timber forest produce and value chains. This is the foundational premise of landscape-scale restoration as opposed to isolated plantation drives. Statement 3 is incorrect. A well-established principle in ecological restoration science — and in frameworks such as the Bonn Challenge and India's land degradation neutrality targets — is that restoration strategies must be context-specific, responding to local ecological conditions, land-use history, community priorities and existing livelihood systems. Uniform, top-down replication across ecologically and socially diverse districts undermines restoration outcomes. The correct approach is an 'integrated landscape approach' tailored to local contexts, not a standardised blueprint.

Explanation

Article 25 of the Constitution grants all persons the freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion — subject to public order, morality and health, and to other provisions of Part III — so Pair 1 is correctly matched. Article 26 grants every religious denomination (or any section thereof) the right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes, and administer property — again subject to public order, morality and health — so Pair 2 is correctly matched. Pair 3 is incorrectly matched: the Waqf Act (and its Central counterpart) vests Waqf Boards with authority over the administration, regulation, and development of Waqf properties — that is, the secular or administrative aspects of religious endowments such as maintenance of shrines, mosques, and financial management. It does NOT confer authority on a Waqf Board to prescribe or vet the theological content of Friday sermons. Directing mosque imams to deliver uniform, government-approved sermons would constitute State interference in 'matters of religion' — the core domain protected by Article 26 — and falls outside the legitimate regulatory scope of a statutory Waqf body. The Mirwaiz's constitutional objection that 'the Waqf Board must confine itself to its administrative responsibilities' reflects precisely this distinction between permissible administrative regulation and impermissible State interference in religious practice.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct. FSSAI, constituted under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, has the statutory mandate to set standards for all food products, including infant foods, and to issue draft regulations — as it has done with its proposal to eliminate added sucrose and fructose from infant food formulations. Statement 2 is incorrect. The IMS Act, 1992 primarily restricts the aggressive marketing and promotion of infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles, and infant foods for children up to two years of age; it is not the primary instrument governing nutritional composition standards (that role belongs to FSSAI's regulations under the 2006 Act). Confusing these two roles — marketing restriction vs. composition standard-setting — is a common misconception. Statement 3 is correct. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognised food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice developed jointly by WHO and FAO. Manufacturers sometimes invoke Codex standards to defend formulations that national regulators or WHO itself consider insufficiently stringent, which is precisely the dynamic described in the infant-food sugar debate.