QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 26 July 2019

Solution: b)

Corporate bonds are debt securities issued by private and public corporations. Companies issue corporate bonds to raise money for a variety of purposes, such as building a new plant, purchasing equipment, or growing the business. When one buys a corporate bond, one lends money to the “issuer,” the company that issued the bond. In exchange, the company promises to return the money, also known as “principal,” on a specified maturity date. Until that date, the company usually pays you a stated rate of interest, generally semiannually. Corporate bond does not have an ownership interest in the issuing company, unlike when one purchases the company’s equity stock.

In India, given the absence of a well functioning corporate bond market, the burden of financing infrastructure projects such as roads, ports, and airports is more on banks and the general government. This, in turn, puts lenders such as the banks under pressure as reflected in the ballooning of bad loans.

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Solution: d)

The latest edition of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has been released. The unemployment rate (UR) in both rural and urban India is at its highest since 1972.

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation launched a new regular employment-unemployment survey, namely, Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) during April, 2017 with certain changes in survey methodology, data collection mechanism and sampling design vis-à-vis the earlier quinquennial (once in every five years) Employment and Unemployment surveys of NSSO.

PLFS was launched with the objective of measuring employment every three months in urban areas and once a year in both rural and urban areas.

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            Solution: d)

The Leader of Opposition is leader of the largest party that has not less than one-tenth of the total strength of the house.

It is a statutory post defined in the Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977.

LoP plays a crucial role in bringing bipartisanship and neutrality to the appointments in institutions of accountability and transparency – CVC, CBI, CIC, Lokpal etc.

India did not have a Leader of Opposition till 1969. In the first three Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had an overarching influence. Nehru’s Congress won 1951-52, 1957 and 1962 Lok Sabha elections with an overwhelming majority and the main Opposition parties consistently failed to win 10 per cent of the seats.

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Solution: c)

India pledges to contribute USD 5 million in 2019 to UN Palestine refugee agency. India has increased its annual financial contribution fourfold to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) core budget, from USD 1.25 million in 2016 to USD 5 million in 2018.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. UNRWA also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations, which is used mostly for international staffing costs.

The Agency’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.

Solution: c)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails Ujjwala scheme saying that a ‘Blue Flame Revolution’ is under-way.

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