Kerala PSC KAS Prelims Paper 2 Mock Test - 4 - Kerala PSC KAS MCQ

• Direct tax is charged on income, salary or profits of an individual or corporates. In the case of direct tax, the burden can’t be shifted by the taxpayer to someone else. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• These are largely taxes on income or wealth. Income-tax, corporate tax, property tax, inheritance tax and gift tax are examples of direct tax. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes deals with matters related to levying and collecting Direct Taxes and formulation of various policies related to direct taxes.

• Indirect tax is a levy where the incidence and impact of taxation do not fall on the same entity. The burden of tax can be shifted by the taxpayer to someone else.

• Indirect tax has the effect to raising prices of products on which they are imposed. Customs duty, import duty, central excise, service tax and value added tax are examples of indirect tax.

• The government sector affects the personal disposable income of households by making transfers and collecting taxes. It is through this that the government can change the distribution of income and bring about a distribution that is considered ‘fair’ by society. This is the redistribution function.

• The redistribution objective is sought to be achieved through progressive income taxation, in which higher the income, higher is the tax rate. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• Structural unemployment is the type of unemployment that is caused by the major shifts in an economy. The reasons for the major shifts may be caused by technological changes, changes in government policies, and competition. For example, the fourth industrial revolution is expected to cause major disruptions in the production and supply chains across the globe, it will render the present skillsets in many sectors obsolete. Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct.

• Prolonged cyclical unemployment may also result in structural unemployment. For example, during the 2008 financial crisis, many people remained out of work due to immediate cyclical causes (recession leading to cyclical unemployment). Remaining out of the workforce for a long time resulted in their skill-set becoming outdated.

• As measures against the increase of structural unemployment in the nation, the government takes measures such as a structural change in the sectors such as education, economics, tax structures, etc. For example introduction of Goods and Service Tax, ease of doing business reforms, provisioning for vocational education, and skilling of the unskilled labour force through training.

• In view of the emergence of fourth-generation technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, etc. India should embark upon further reforms such as execution of new and updated education policy, reskilling of the present labour force, spending more on research and development, intellectual property rights related reforms, etc.

The RBI controls the money supply in the economy in various ways. The tools used by the Central bank to control money supply can be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative tools control the extent of money supply by changing the CRR and SLR, or bank rate or open market operations. Hence option 3 is not correct. Qualitative tools include persuasion by the Central bank in order to make commercial banks discourage or encourage lending which is done through moral suasion, margin requirement, etc. Hence options 1 and 2 are correct. 

Currency Swap Agreement:

• The currency swap agreement between the two countries is entered between the Central Banks of the two countries. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• One country exchanges its national currency for that of another or even a third one. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Examples: India and Japan signed a currency swap agreement in 2018 worth $ 75 billion. India can/will get Yen(or dollars) from Japan worth a max of $ 75 billion and Japan will get equivalent Indian Rupees as per the market exchange rate at the time of transaction.
• In July 2020, India and Sri Lanka signed a currency swap agreement worth $ 400 million in which India will give dollars to SL and in return India will get a ‘Sri Lankan Rupee’. 

• The Basel Accords are a set of agreements set by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision (BCBS), which provides recommendations on banking regulations in regard to capital risk, market risk, and operational risk. The purpose of the accords is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses. The Basel Committee has issued three sets of regulations which are known as Basel-I, II, and III.
• In Basel-I norms the capital adequacy ratio was agreed upon—a requirement was imposed upon the banks to maintain a certain amount of free capital to their assets cushion against probable losses in investments and loans.
• The capital adequacy ratio is the percentage of total capital to the total risk—weighted asset. CAR, a measure of a bank’s capital, is expressed as a percentage of a bank’s risk-weighted credit exposures: CAR= Total of Tier 1 & Tier 2 capitals ÷ Risk-Weighted Assets.
• The Reserve Bank of India decided in April 1992 to introduce a risk-asset ratio system for banks (including foreign banks) in India as a capital adequacy measure in line with the Capital Adequacy Norms prescribed by Basel Committee. It was aimed at Improving the banking sector’s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress.
• Market risk refers to the risk to a bank resulting from movements in market prices in particular changes in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and equity and commodity prices. In simpler terms, it may be defined as the possibility of loss to a bank caused by changes in the market variables.
• Credit risk is most simply defined as the potential that a bank’s borrower or counterparty may fail to meet its obligations in accordance with agreed terms.
• Currently, Basel III norms are implemented in India with effect from April 1, 2013.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer. 

• Expert group constituted by the Planning Commission and, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar, was constituted to review methodology for poverty estimation and to address the following shortcomings of the previous methods:
  • Obsolete Consumption Pattern: Consumption patterns were linked to the 1973-74 poverty line baskets (PLBs) of goods and services, whereas there were significant changes in the consumption patterns of the poor since that time, which were not reflected in the poverty estimates. o Inflation Adjustment: There were issues with the adjustment of prices for inflation, both spatially (across regions) and temporally (across time).
  • Health and Education Expenditure: Earlier poverty lines assumed that health and education would be provided by the state and formulated poverty lines accordingly.
• Recommendations:
  • Shift from Calorie Consumption based Poverty Estimation: It based its calculations on the consumption of the items like cereal, pulses, milk, edible oil, non-vegetarian items, vegetables, fresh fruits, dry fruits, sugar, salt & spices, other food, intoxicants, fuel, clothing, footwear, education, medical (non-institutional and institutional), entertainment, personal & toilet goods. Hence option 1 is correct.
  • Uniform Poverty line Basket: Unlike Alagh committee (which relied on separate PLB for rural and urban areas), Tendulkar Committee computed new poverty lines for rural and urban areas of each state based on the uniform poverty line basket and found that all India poverty line (2004-05) was: ✓ ₹446.68 per capita per month in rural areas ✓ ₹578.80 per capita per month in urban areas. Hence option 2 is correct.
  • Private Expenditure: Incorporation of private expenditure on health and education while estimating poverty. Hence option 4 is correct.
  • Price Adjustment Procedure: The Committee also recommended a new method of updating poverty lines, adjusting for changes in prices and patterns of consumption (to correct spatial and temporal issues with price adjustment), using the consumption basket of people close to the poverty line. Hence option 3 is correct.
  • Mixed Reference Period: The Committee recommended using Mixed Reference Period based estimates, as opposed to Uniform Reference Period based estimates that were used in earlier methods for estimating poverty.
• Tendulkar committee computed poverty lines for 2004-05 at a level that was equivalent, in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms to Rs 33 per day.
  • Purchasing Power Parity: The PPP model refers to a method used to work out the money that would be needed to purchase the same goods and services in two countries. 

• GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a domestic territory of a country measured in a year. There are three ways to calculate the national income; namely product method, expenditure method, and income method.
  • The Product or Value-Added Method: In the product method, the aggregate annual value of goods and services produced (if a year is the unit of time) is calculated. If we sum the gross value added of all the firms of the economy in a year, we get a measure of the value of the aggregate amount of goods and services produced by the economy in a year (just as we had done in the wheat-bread example). Such an estimate is called Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  • Expenditure Method: An alternative way to calculate the GDP is by looking at the demand side of the products. This method is referred to as the expenditure method.
  • The expenditure approach is the most commonly used GDP formula, which is based on the money spent by various groups that participate in the economy. GDP = C + G + I + NX; ✓ C = consumption or all private consumer spending within a country’s economy, including, durable goods (items with a lifespan greater than three years), nondurable goods (food & clothing), and services.
    • G = total government expenditures, including salaries of government employees, road construction/repair, public schools, and military expenditures.
    • I = sum of a country’s investments spent on capital equipment, inventories, and housing.
    • NX = net exports or a country’s total exports less total imports. o Income Method: As we mentioned in the beginning, the sum of final expenditures in the economy must be equal to the incomes received by all the factors of production taken together (final expenditure is the spending on final goods, it does not include spending on intermediate goods). Total National Income – the sum of all wages, rent, interest, and profits.
  • Balance of Payment: In international economics, the balance of payments of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time and the outflow of money to the rest of the world. Balance of Payment is primarily an indicator of an economy's link with the outside world and is not used as a method to calculate the national income. Hence option (c) is the correct answer. 

Statement 1 is not correct:

• Diesel fuel is made from crude petroleum, consisting of small amounts of sulphur, nitrogen, and oxygen.
• The diesel distillate is heavier than gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel and derived by distillation process of crude oil.
• Advantages of diesel: The higher fuel economy of diesel engines compared to petrol engines. Statement 2 is not correct:
• Diesel has greater energy content per litre, as they have higher compression ratios and diesel engines are inherently efficient. This makes diesel the fuel of choice for heavy vehicles. 

Statement 1 is correct:

• The ‘Rubber Board’ is a statutory body constituted under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country. On the recommendation of the ad-hoc committee, the government passed the Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1947, on 18th April 1947, and the “Indian Rubber Board” was constituted forthwith. The Rubber Production and Marketing (Amendment) Act, 1954, amended the name of the Board as “The Rubber Board”.

Statement 2 is not correct: It functions under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Government of India.

Statement 3 is not correct: The Board’s headquarters is located at Kottayam in Kerala. 

Both the statements are correct:

• The Railway Board was established in 1905 under the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 for controlling the administration of railways in India with certain powers of functioning under the Indian Railways Act, 1890, which was later revised as the Railways Act, 1989.
• Thus, it is a statutory body, which was established through an Act of Parliament.
• The Union Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, invest the Railway Board, either absolutely or subject to conditions, like
• with all or any of the powers or functions of the Central Government under the Indian Railways Act, 1890 (later revised as the Railways Act, 1989), with respect to all or any Railways, and with the power of the officer referred to in Section 47 of the Act to make general rules for Railways administration. 

Statement 1 is not correct:

• The Union Defence Minister inaugurated the first-ever drone exhibition ‘Bharat Drone Shakti 2023’ at the Hindan Air Force Station, Ghaziabad.
• The event is jointly organised by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Drone Federation of India (DFI) featuring over 75 drone start-ups from across the country.

Statement 2 is correct:

• It is focused on the latest in-house innovations projects such as a hybrid drone detection system, an Artificial Intelligence (Al) engine for fault diagnosis, a fly-by-wire tester, stabilised power supply trolleys, and a QR code-based tool crib management system.

Statement 3 is correct:

• The IAF and DFI seek to develop a major drone hub by 2030 and bolster the Make in India, by showcasing their capabilities through a series of aerial & statics demonstrations 

In News : PFRDA is in the process of appointing DSP Pension Fund Managers as the 11th fund manager permitted to manage retirement savings under the National Pension System (NPS).

• Statement 1 is not correct : NPS has been implemented for all Government Employees (except armed forces) joining Central Govt. on or after 1st January 2004. Most of the State/UT Governments have also notified the National Pension System (NPS) for their new employees.
  • NPS has been made available to every Indian Citizen from 1st May 2009 on a voluntary basis
  • It is being administered and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) set up under PFRDA Act, 2013.
• Statement 2 is correct : NPS can be subscribed by any Indian citizen (resident/non-resident/ overseas) aged between 18-70 years on a voluntary basis.
• Statement 3 is not correct : An NRI can open an NPS account. Contributions made by NRI are subject to regulatory requirements as prescribed by RBI and FEMA from time to time. Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) are not eligible for subscribing to NPS.

• Capital Gains Tax is a direct tax applies on the sale of all assets if a profit has been made by the owner of the asset. The tax is further classified into Short term capital gains and Long term capital gains. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• Minimum Alternate Tax is a direct tax aimed at the taxation of ‘zero tax companies’ i.e., those companies which show zero or negligible income to avoid tax. Under MAT, such companies are made liable to pay to the government, by deeming a certain percentage of their book profit as taxable income. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

• MAT is levied at the rate of 18.5% of the book profits. MAT rate has been progressively increased from 7.5% in 2000 to 18.5% in 2015.

• Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) was announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Monetary Policy (2011-12).

• The scheme has been introduced by RBI with the main aim of reducing volatility in the overnight lending rates in the inter-bank market and to enable smooth monetary transmission in the financial system. Hence option 1 is correct.

• The MSF would be the last resort for banks once they exhaust all borrowing options including the liquidity adjustment facility by pledging government securities, where the rates are lower in comparison with the MSF.

• It refers to the penal rate at which banks can borrow money from the central bank over and above what is available to them through the LAF window. It is always fixed above the repo rate. Hence option 2 is correct.

• Under MSF, banks can borrow funds by pledging government securities within the limits of the statutory liquidity ratio.

• MSF represents the upper band of the interest corridor with repo rate at the middle and reverse repo as the lower band.

• Under MSF, Banks can borrow overnight upto 1 percent of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).

• Liberalisation was introduced to put an end to these restrictions and open various sectors of the economy. Some important areas, such as the industrial sector, financial sector, tax reforms, foreign exchange markets, and trade and investment sectors which received greater attention in and after 1991.

• Deregulation of Industrial Sector:

  • The reform policies introduced in and after 1991 removed many of these restrictions. Industrial licensing was abolished for almost all but product categories — alcohol, cigarettes, hazardous chemicals, industrial explosives, electronics, aerospace and drugs, and pharmaceuticals.

  • The only industries which are now reserved for the public sector are part of defence equipment, atomic energy generation, and railway transport.

  • Many goods produced by small-scale industries have now been de-reserved.

• Financial Sector Reforms:

  • One of the major aims of financial sector reforms is to reduce the role of RBI from the regulator to facilitator of the financial sector;

  • The reform policies led to the establishment of private sector banks, Indian as well as foreign;

  • The foreign investment limit in banks was raised to around 74 percent;

  • Foreign Institutional Investors (FII), such as merchant bankers, mutual funds, and pension funds, are now allowed to invest in Indian financial markets.

Hence, option (b) is correct.

• The nature of India’s foreign trade has changed over the years. Though there has been an increase in the total volume of imports and export, the value of imports continued to be higher than that of exports. In 1950-51, India’s external trade was worth Rs.1,214 crore, which rose to Rs. 44,29,762 crore in 2016-17.

• Changing Pattern of the Composition of India’s Exports:

  • The composition of commodities in India’s international trade has been undergoing a change over the years. The share of agriculture and allied products has declined, whereas, shares of petroleum and crude products and other commodities have increased.

  • The share of agricultural and allied products export in India's total exports during the last four decades has, however, been declining continuously. It came down from 44 per cent in 1960-61 to 12.3 per cent in 2016-17.

• Changing Patterns of the Composition of India’s Import:

  • India faced serious food shortages during the 1950s and 1960s. The major item of import at that time was foodgrain, capital goods, machinery and equipment.

  • After the 1970s, foodgrain import was discontinued due to the success of the Green revolution but the energy crisis of 1973 pushed the prices of petroleum, and import budget was also pushed up.

  • Foodgrain import was replaced by fertilisers and petroleum. Machine and equipment, special steel, edible oil and chemicals largely make the import basket.

  • Import of capital goods maintained a steady increase due to rising demand in the export-oriented industrial and domestic sectors. Non-electrical machinery, transport equipment, manufacturers of metals and machine tools were the main items of capital goods.

Hence, both statements 1 and 2 are not correct.

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations that represents chemists in individual countries. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC). IUPAC is registered in Zürich, Switzerland, and the administrative office, known as the "IUPAC Secretariat".

• IUPAC was established in 1919 as the successor of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry for the advancement of chemistry. The IUPAC has the responsibility of naming all new elements and compounds, declare atomic weights and physical constants, update the Periodic table and carry out research projects for the benefit of mankind. Hence statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is not correct.

• IUPAC has publications in many scientific fields including chemistry, biology and physics. Some important work IUPAC has done in these fields includes standardizing nucleotide base sequence code names; publishing books for environmental scientists, chemists, and physicists; and improving education in science. IUPAC is also known for standardizing the atomic weights of the elements through one of its oldest standing committees, the Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW).

Examples of Exothermic Reactions:

• any combustion reaction

• a neutralization reaction

• rusting of iron (rust steel wool with vinegar)

• the reaction between water and calcium chloride

• reaction between sodium and chlorine to make sodium chloride (table salt)

• reaction between water and any strong acid

• reaction between water and any anhydrous salt

• dissolving laundry detergent in water

• freezing water into ice cubes

• snow forming inside clouds

• respiration, decomposition of organic matter, photosynthesis. Hence the correct answer is option (d).

• rain forming from water vapor in clouds

• burning sugar

• a burning candle

• nuclear fission

• Diarrhea results from exposure to parasites or harmful bacteria like E. coli through contaminated food or water. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

• ‘eSanjeevani’ and ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ Both the platforms have been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Mohali.

• ‘eSanjeevani’ and ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ are telemedicine service platforms of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• He was a 17th-century commander of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• With Chhatrapati Shivaji’s rise and increasing control of the region, Afzal Khan was seen as the man to subdue him in the Deccan.

• Khan put together a force of 10,000 cavalry and marched from Bijapur to Wai, plundering Shivaji’s territory along the way.

• Shivaji called a council of war at the fort of Pratapgarh, where most of his advisers urged him to make peace. However, Shivaji was not eager to back down and he set up a meeting with Khan.

• During the meeting, an embrace between the two turned into an attack in which Shivaji emerged victorious. This was followed by a rout of the Adilshahi army at the hands of the Marathas.

• As per Maratha sources, Khan’s remains were buried at the fort and a tomb was constructed on Shivajij’s orders.

• In an act of grace Shivaji erected a tomb over the remains of Afzul Khan and built a tower in his honour, which is still known by the name ‘Afzul Buruj’ at Pratapgarh. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus), transmitted by several species of female mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally Aedes aegypti. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• This mosquito also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infection. There is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• Sodium tetrafluoroborate(NaBF₄): The electrochemical ammonia synthesis is largely limited by the poor solubility of nitrogen (N₂) in the aqueous electrolyte environment as well as the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction. Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have introduced a new electrolyte called (NaBF₄). Hence option 1 is correct.

• It will not only acts as an N₂-carrier in the medium but also works as a full-fledged “co-catalyst” along with active material transition metal-doped nanocarbon (MnN₄) to deliver a high yield of ammonia (NH₃) at absolutely ambient experimental conditions. The high production rate of NH₃ approached the industrial scale and exceeded almost all the standard catalysts in any other electrolyte medium.

• The source of NH₃ was thoroughly studied and confirmed to be chiefly from the electrochemical reduction of the purged N₂ gas (make it N₂ saturated electrolyte to convert N₂ to NH₃.

• Dark Sky Reserve: A Dark Sky Reserve is a designation given to a place that has policies in place to ensure that a tract of land or region has minimal artificial light interference. Hence option 2 is correct.

• In South India, most dark sky locations are in the Western Ghats or some hill ranges nearby.

• According to astronomers, Talacauvery is the most ideal location to gaze at the sky and have a star party.

• Hanle, located in Ladakh, known for its pristine skies and minimal light pollution, is also India’s first Dark Sky Reserve.

• Talacauvery is possibly the best dark night location in South India due to less light pollution.

• Bortle Scale:

  • It measures the night sky’s brightness of a location on a nine-level numerical scale.

  • The lesser the numerical scale it qualifies for a better dark sky location.

  • For example, Hanle skies would qualify as Bortle one skies, Talacauvery as Bortle two and Bengaluru as Bortle nine.

• The star parties are usually conducted in the winter months between December and March as the skies are clearer during these months which is very important for stargazing.

Of the five states, the matter can be in, the Bose-Einstein condensate is perhaps the most mysterious. Gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas were all well studied for decades, if not centuries; Bose-Einstein condensates weren't created in the laboratory until the 1990s.

A Bose-Einstein condensate is a group of atoms cooled to within a hair of absolute zero. When they reach that temperature the atoms are hardly moving relative to each other; they have almost no free energy to do so. At that point, the atoms begin to clump together and enter the same energy states. They become identical, from a physical point of view, and the whole group starts behaving as though it were a single atom.

This state was first predicted, generally, in 1924–1925 by Albert Einstein following and crediting a pioneering paper by Satyendra Nath Bose on the new field now known as quantum statistics. One application for BEC is for the building of so-called atom lasers, which could have applications ranging from atomic-scale lithography to measurement and detection of gravitational fields. Hence the correct option is (a).

Radioactivity is the property exhibited by certain types of matter of emitting energy and subatomic particles spontaneously. It is, in essence, an attribute of individual atomic nuclei. An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic energy.

Radioactive decay is a property of several naturally occurring elements as well as of artificially produced isotopes of the elements. The rate at which a radioactive element decays is expressed in terms of its half-life; i.e., the time required for one-half of any given quantity of the isotope to decay.

The emissions of the most common forms of spontaneous radioactive decay are the alpha (α) particle, the beta (β) particle, the gamma (γ) ray, and the neutrino. The alpha particle is actually the nucleus of a helium-4 atom, with two positive charges He (mass number 4, atomic number 2). Such charged atoms are called ions. The neutral helium atom has two electrons outside its nucleus balancing these two charges.

Beta particles may be negatively charged (beta minus, symbol e−), or positively charged (beta plus, symbol e+). The beta minus [β−] particle is actually an electron created in the nucleus during beta decay without any relationship to the orbital electron cloud of the atom. The beta plus particle, also called the positron, is the antiparticle of the electron; when brought together, two such particles will mutually annihilate each other.
Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiations such as radio waves, light, and X-rays.

Beta radioactivity also produces the neutrino and antineutrino, particles that have no charge and very little mass, symbolized by ν and ν, respectively. Thus only gamma rays and neutrino are electrically neutral and not alpha or beta particles. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

Beta radiation is more penetrating than alpha radiation. It can pass through the skin, but it is absorbed by a few centimetres of body tissue or a few millimetres of aluminium. Gamma radiation is the most penetrating of the three radiations.

Alpha particles can easily be shielded by a single sheet of paper and cannot penetrate the outer dead layer of skin, so they pose no danger when their source is outside the human body. Beta particles are essentially electrons emitted from the nucleus of a radioactive atom.

Gamma rays are energy that has no mass or charge. They have tremendous penetration power and require several inches of dense material (like lead) to shield them. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Germline gene therapy is when DNA is transferred into the cells that produce reproductive cells, eggs, or sperm, in the body. This type of therapy allows for the correction of disease-causing gene variants that are certain to be passed down from generation to generation.

In GGT germ cells (sperm or egg cells) are modified by the introduction of functional genes into their genomes. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

Modifying a germ cell causes all the organism‘s cells to contain the modified gene. Germline gene therapy is not legal in many places as the risks outweigh the rewards. The change is therefore heritable and passed on to later generations.

It occurs in the germline cells of the human body. Generally, this method is adopted to treat the genetic, disease-causing-variations of genes which are passed from the parents to their children. The process involves introducing healthy DNA into the cells responsible for producing reproductive cells, eggs, or sperms. Germline gene therapy is not legal in many places as the risks outweigh the rewards. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
 

Capillary action is defined as the spontaneous flow of a liquid into a narrow tube or porous material. This movement does not require the force of gravity to occur. It often acts in opposition to gravity. Capillary action is sometimes called capillary motion, capillarity, or wicking. Capillary action is caused by the combination of cohesive forces of the liquid and the adhesive forces between the liquid and tube material.

Cohesion and adhesion are two types of intermolecular forces. These forces pull the liquid into the tube. In order for wicking to occur, a tube needs to be sufficiently small in diameter. Examples of capillary action include:

• Capillary action in plants is one of the most essential processes which helps them to survive. The roots of plants draw water via capillary action from the soil, and thus, supply it to various parts of the plant including the stems, branches, and leaves. Hence option 3 is correct.
• A candle burns due to capillary action. When the wick of a candle is lit, the heat of the flame causes the candle wax to melt. The molten wax is then pulled up through the wick by capillary action and supplies the fuel needed to sustain the fire and keep the candle burning. Hence option 2 is correct.
• Pores in the sponge act as minute capillaries, causing them to absorb a large number of liquids. Hence option 1 is correct.

Other examples include uptake of water in paper and plaster (two porous materials), the movement of
water through sand etc.