Solution (a)

Pardoning power of the Governor:

• He can pardon, reprieve, respite, remit, suspend or commute the punishment or sentence of any person convicted of any offence against a state law.
• He cannot pardon a death sentence. Even if a state law prescribes for death sentence, the power to grant pardon lies with the President and not the governor. But, the governor can suspend, remit or commute a death sentence.
• The Governor does not possess any power regarding grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in respect to punishment or sentence by a court-martial (military court). 

Article Link: Governors can pardon prisoners, including death row ones: Supreme Court

Solution (c)

Eighth Schedule of the Constitution:

It lists the official languages of the republic of India. Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages:

Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi,Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.

• Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. 
• Subsequently, Sindhi was added in 1967 by 21st Constitutional Amendment Act; 
• Konkani, Manipuri (Meitei) and Nepali were added in 1992 by 71st Constitutional Amendment Act; and 
• Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali were added in 2003 by 92nd Constitutional Amendment Act.
• The spelling Oriya was replaced by Odia by 96th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2011.

Article Link: Steps Taken By the Government to Promote the Languages in Eighth Schedule

Solution (a)

The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 or PESA is a law enacted by Government of India to cover the “Scheduled Areas”, which are not covered in the 73rd Constitutional amendment.

One of the highlighting features of PESA is its suggestion that, every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.

PESA sought to enable the Panchayats at appropriate levels and Gram Sabhas to implement a system of self-governance with respect to a number of issues such as: 

• customary resources, 
• minor forest produce, 
• minor minerals, 
• minor water bodies, 
• selection of beneficiaries, 
• sanction of projects, and 
• control over local institutions.

PESA is an Act to provide for the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats and the Scheduled Areas.

PESA recognises the traditional system of the decision-making process and stands for the peoples’ self-governance. If it is implemented in letter and spirit, it will rejuvenate the dying self-governance system in the tribal areas of the country.

Article Link: Collapse of Adivasi self-governance system in Jharkhand: Need to implement PESA in letter and spirit

Solution (d)

Karenia brevis is a microscopic, single-celled, photosynthetic organism in the genus Karenia. It is a marine dinoflagellate commonly found in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Karenia brevis is the causative agent of red tide, which occurs when the organism multiplies to higher than normal concentrations. During these events the water can take on a reddish or pinkish coloration, giving these explosions in the K. brevis population the name of Florida Red Tide.

Large scale fish kills are known to occur due to these Florida Red Tides caused by K. brevis. Fish species through the food chain are impacted, up to and including large predatory species such as sharks, as well as species typical in human consumption.

Article Link: An industrial spill might be to blame for an algal bloom ravaging Florida

Solution (c)

Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained.

The Article 22 has two parts–the first part deals with the cases of ordinary law and the second part deals with the cases of preventive detention law.

The first part of Article 22 confers the following rights on a person who is arrested or detained under an ordinary law:

• Right to be informed of the grounds of arrest.
• Right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner.
• Right to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours including the journey time.
• Right to be released after 24 hours unless the magistrate authorises further detention.

These safeguards are not available to an enemy alien or a person arrested or detained under a preventive detention law.

The second part of Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained under a preventive detention law. This protection is available to both citizens as well as aliens and includes the following:

• The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention. The board is to consist of judges of a high court.
• The grounds of detention should be communicated to the detention. However, the facts considered to be against the public interest need not be disclosed.
• The detenu should be afforded an opportunity to make representation against the detention order.

Article Link: Preventive detention only if detenu affects or likely to affect public order, SC rules