While marking the definition of the State as B, I had just two things in my mind
a) state is something that runs the country ( so it has to include Government, legislature, laws)
b) Article 12 of the Indian Constitution.
Though statement A is also correct, I truly feel statement B is more encompassing.
The New Urban Agenda talks about issues ofinformal settlementsand their human rights. It nowhere discussesunauthorized settlements. There is adifferencebetweeninformal settlements and unauthorized settlements. Broadly, it mentions that Informal settlements have human rights and the state must provide them with public service.
Seems statement 3 is correct after reading the above article. But what makes statement 1 wrong?
New Urban Agenda mentions that UN-Habitat does monitor and it is a human right too.
For Westerlies question the answercouldbe "A" as well.
In the Tropical zone, Boundary currents on the western side of the ocean travel from the equator bringing warm water on the western side of the ocean.
Whereas in a temperate zone boundary currents travel from higher latitudes bringing in cold water on the eastern side of the ocean.
With respect to the Moss, Lichen Question:
All the options givencanbe seen growing on a surface without soil. However the word "most likely" makes the difference.
Mushroom being a fungus can grow in most environments. In fact, most of them act as decomposers too. Even the microscopic fungi that we see on bread after the expiry date is acting as decomposers.
Moss and Lichen share the same habitat. Lichen needs moisture to survive as it cannot store water. Mosses on the other hand can store water which Lichens use for survival if they co-exist. However, Lichens can survive without moss as well provided the place is moist.
Most of the ferns are epiphytes.
However, consider other factors which affect their habitat.
For e.g. Lichen is pollution sensitive and tends to avoid dry places. Hence, one rarely sees Lichen in cities. On the other hand Fern, Moss, Fungi all can grow in challenging environments.
Having said that, it is up to UPSC to decide what to give as the correct answer for this question.
Since viruses lack cell machinery they cannot reproduce on their own.
So, when the article mentions that culturing was done in an artificial medium. It meant to say that artificial medium was prepared by using inorganic salts, carbohydrates, serum proteins, vitamins, nutrients, etc. The artificial medium was then used to grow cells (of plants or animals) and then the virus was cultured in that medium. Now viruses can replicate in this artificial medium as cells are present.
