QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 3 August 2020

Solution: b)

The Union government on July 28, 2020, launched the Green-Ag Project in Mizoram, to reduce emissions from agriculture and ensure sustainable agricultural practices.

Mizoram is one of the five states where the project will be implemented. Other states include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.

About the Project:

The Green-Ag Project is funded by the Global Environment Facility, while the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW) is the national executing agency.

Other key players involved in its implementation are Food and Agricultre Organization (FAO) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

The project seeks to integrate biodiversity, climate change and sustainable land management objectives and practices into Indian agriculture.

Pilot project:

The pilot project is supposed to end on March 31, 2026, in all states.

It aims to cover 35 villages and includes two protected areas — the Dampa Tiger Reserve and the Thorangtlang Wildlife Sanctuary.

Targets:

Achieve multiple global environmental benefits in at least 1.8 million hectares (ha) of land in five landscapes, with mixed land use systems.

Bring at least 104,070 ha of farms under sustainable land and water management.

Ensure 49 million Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) sequestered or reduced through sustainable land use and agricultural practices.

Solution: d)

Green India Mission is one of the eight missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

GIM, launched in February 2014, is aimed at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.

Objectives of the Mission:

• To protect, restore and enhance India’s falling forest cover.
• To respond to climate change through a combination of adaptation as well as mitigation measures.
• To increase forest-based livelihood incomes.
• To enhance annual Carbon sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.

Solution: b)

Alternative Investment Fund or AIF means any fund established or incorporated in India which is a privately pooled investment vehicle which collects funds from sophisticated investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors. AIF does not include funds covered under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, SEBI (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 1999 or any other regulations of the Board to regulate fund management activities.

Applicants can seek registration as an AIF in one of the following categories, and in sub-categories thereof, as may be applicable:

• Category I AIF:

o Venture capital funds (Including Angel Funds)

o SME Funds o Social Venture Funds

o Infrastructure funds

• Category II AIF
• Category III AIF

What are Category I AIFs?

AIFs which invest in start-up or early stage ventures or social ventures or SMEs or infrastructure or other sectors or areas which the government or regulators consider as socially or economically desirable and shall include venture capital funds, SME Funds, social venture funds, infrastructure funds and such other Alternative Investment Funds as may be specified.

What are Category II AIFs?

AIFs which do not fall in Category I and III and which do not undertake leverage or borrowing other than to meet day-to-day operational requirements and as permitted in the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012. Various types of funds such as real estate funds, private equity funds (PE funds), funds for distressed assets, etc. are registered as Category II AIFs.

What are Category III AIFs?

AIFs which employ diverse or complex trading strategies and may employ leverage including through investment in listed or unlisted derivatives.

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Solution: c)

RBI recently launched US-style ‘Operation Twist’ to bring down interest rates.

‘Operation Twist’ is when the central bank uses the proceeds from sale of short-term securities to buy long-term government debt papers, leading to easing of interest rates on the long-term papers.

The objective behind such an operation is management of the yield curve.

It will help to make loans less expensive with those looking to buy homes, cars and make savings less desirable as it doesn’t pay much interest.

Other central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, have used similar measures. This is the first time RBI has undertaken such an unconventional policy measure with the aim of flattening the yield curve by lowering longer rates to boost lending and growth.

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Solution: d)

The 1995 Basel Ban Amendment, a global waste dumping prohibition, has become an international law after Croatia ratified it on September 6, 2019.

Croatia became the 97th country to ratify the ban, which was adopted by the parties to the Basel Convention in 1995, to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes, according to Basel Action Network (BAN).

BAN is a Unites States-based charity organisation and is one among the organisations and countries, which created the Basel Ban Amendment — hailed as a landmark agreement for global environmental justice.

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