DAY – 26 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: C

Aquaponics

• The method combines aquaculture — cultivating fish and other aquatic animals in tanks with organic inputs — with hydroponics, where plants are cultivated in water.
• The water from the fish tank is pumped onto the beds where plants grow.
• While the fish excretions provide nutrients for the plants (hence no chemical fertilizers are needed), the clean water is recirculated back to the fish tank.
• While the initial cost to set up the facility would be high, the recurring cost is low in aquaponics.
• The difference between aquaponics and hydroponics is that synthetic fertilisers are used in hydroponics for providing nutrients to plants and hence cultivation of fish is not possible in hydroponics.

Solution: B

What is climate-smart agriculture

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach for transforming and reorienting agricultural production systems and food value chains so that they support sustainable development and can ensure food security under climate change.

Why is CSA needed?

Climate-smart agriculture helps in the following ways.

• sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes;
• adapt and build resilience to climate change
• reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas emissions, where possible.

The climate-smart agriculture approach seeks to reduce trade-offs and promote synergies to make crop and livestock systems, forestry, and fisheries and aquaculture more productive and more sustainable.

Climate-smart agriculture is not a new agricultural system, nor a set of practices. It is an innovative approach for charting development pathways that can make the agriculture sectors more productive and sustainable and better able to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

How is climate-smart agriculture implemented?

Climate-smart agriculture relates to actions in fields, pastures, forests, and oceans and freshwater ecosystems. It involves the assessment and application of technologies and practices, the creation of a supportive policy and institutional framework and the formulation of investment strategies.

Climate-smart agricultural systems include different elements such as:

• the management of land, crops, livestock, aquaculture and capture fisheries to balance near-term food security and livelihoods needs with priorities for adaptation and mitigation;
• ecosystem and landscape management to conserve ecosystem services that are important for food security, agricultural development, adaptation and mitigation;
• services for farmers and land managers that can enable them to better manage the risks and impacts of climate change and undertake mitigation actions; and
• changes in the wider food system including demand-side measures and value chain interventions that enhance the benefits of climate-smart agriculture.

Designing a national climate-smart agriculture approach requires the coordination of activities of a wide range of stakeholders.

The CSA Approach

CSA is not a set of practices that can be universally applied, but rather an approach that involves different elements embedded in local contexts. CSA relates to actions both on-farm and beyond the farm, and incorporates technologies, policies, institutions and investment.

Solution: D

Part XVI of the Indian Constitution deals with reservation for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) in federal and state legislatures. It also deals with constitutional authority of the president to establish commissions to examine and recommend remedies for the welfare of SC and ST groups

Article 330 and 332 provides for the reservation of seats for SC/STs in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies respectively, on the basis of their population ratio. Also, there is no bar on SC/STs candidates contesting from general seats.

Anglo Indians in India:

• The term Anglo Indian is defined as per the article 366 (2) of the Indian constitution; “a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is a native of India.”
• Anglo Indians in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies:
• Under article 331; the President of India is authorised to nominate 2 members of the Anglo Indian community if know member of this community is elected among the 543 members for the Lok Sabha.
• In the same way the governor of the state is authorised to nominate 1 Anglo Indian in the lower house of the State Legislature (in case of under representation).
  According to the 10th schedule of the Constitution, any Anglo-Indian member can take the membership of any party within 6 months of the nomination. After the membership; they are bound to the party whip and they have to work in the house according to the party’s agenda.
• The Anglo-Indian members enjoy the same powers as other MPs, but they cannot vote in the Presidential election.

Solution: D

What is tillage?

Tillage is an agriculture land preparation through mechanical agitation which includes digging, stirring and overturning.

Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present. Zero tillage not only reduce the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement and weed effect which is better than tillage. Zero Tillage (ZT) also called No Tillage or Nil Tillage.

Zero tillage in India

No Till approach started from 1960s by farmers in India. The zero-tillage system is being followed in the Indo-Gangetic plains where rice-wheat cropping is present. Wheat will be planted after rice harvest without any operation. Hundreds of farmers are following the same system and getting more yields and profits by reducing the cost of cultivation. In South, the outhern districts like Guntur and some parts of West Godavari of Andhra Pradesh state  follow the ZT system  in rice-maize cropping system.

Advantages of zero tillage

1. Reduction in the crop duration and thereby early cropping can be obtained to get higher yields.
2. Reduction in the cost of inputs for land preparation and therefore a saving of around 80%.
3. Residual moisture can be effectively utilized and number of irrigations can be reduced.
4. Dry matter and organic matter get added to the soil.
5. Environmentally safe – Greenhouse effect will get reduced due to carbon sequestration.
6. No tillage reduces the compaction of the soil and reduces the water loss by runoff and prevent soil erosion.
7. As the soil is intact and no disturbance is done, No Till lands have more useful flora and fauna.

Solution: B

National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions:

• The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions was set up in 2004. The Government brought out an Ordinance in November 2004 establishing the Commission. Later a Bill was introduced in the Parliament in December 2004 and both Houses passed the Bill.
• The Commission is mandated to look into specific complaints regarding deprivation or violation of rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
• The Commission is a quasi-judicial body and has been endowed with the powers of a Civil Court.
• It is to be headed by a Chairman who has been a Judge of the High Court and three members are to be nominated by Central Government.

Solution: A

Advantage of aeroponics over hydroponics

• Aeroponics can limit disease transmission since plant-to-plant contact is reduced.
• The enhanced oxygen availability at the root zone leaves disease-causing pathogens dormant.
• Improves uptake of minerals by plants and development of healthy root systems.
• Helps in faster and better growth of plants with a plentiful supply of oxygen, water and nutrients.
• Plants in a true aeroponic conditions have 100% access to the CO2 concentrations for photosynthesis.
• This leads to a multi-fold increase in plant metabolism, which in turn results in a vast increase in production.
• Any species of plants can be grown in a true aeroponic system because the microenvironment of an aeroponic can be finely controlled.
• Aeroponically grown plants have high dry weight biomass (essential minerals).
• According to NASA, aeroponically grown plants require ¼ the nutrient input compared to hydroponics.
• Unlike hydroponically grown plants, aeroponically grown plants will not suffer transplant shock when transplanted to soil.

Solution: D

The System of Rice Intensification involves cultivating rice with as much organic manure as possible, starting with young seedlings planted singly at wider spacing in a square pattern; and with intermittent irrigation that keeps the soil moist but not inundated, and frequent inter cultivation with weeder that actively aerates the soil.

SRI is not a standardized, fixed technological method. It is rather a set of ideas, a methodology for comprehensively managing and conserving resources by changing the way that land, seeds, water, nutrients, and human labour are used to increase productivity from a small but well-tended number of seeds. As Father de Laulanié observed, SRI is an amalgamation of multiple beneficial practices.

Paddy Cultivation: Some Myths

Everybody believes that rice is an aquatic plant and grows best in standing water. Rice is not an aquatic plant; it can survive in water but does not thrive under reduced oxygen (hypoxic) levels. Rice plants spend lot of its energy to develop air pockets (aerenchyma tissue) in its roots under continuous inundation. Nearly 70% of rice root tips get degenerated by flowering period.

SRI: Debunking myths

Under SRI paddy fields are not flooded but kept moist during vegetative phase. Later only one inch water is maintained. SRI requires only about half as much water as normally applied in irrigated rice. Over 1,00,000 farmers are experimenting with this system worldwide at present.

SRI Paddy Cultivation requires less water, involves less expenditure and gives more yields. Thus it is beneficial for small and marginal farmers.SRI was first developed in Madagascar during 1980’s. Its potential is under testing in China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. In Andhra Pradesh. SRI was experimented in all the 22 districts during 2003 Kharif with encouraging results.

SRI Technology Uses Less External Inputs

In SRI paddy cultivation, less quantity of seeds – 2 kg / acre is required. Hence fewer plants per unit area (25 x 25 cm) whereas in mainstream chemical intensive paddy cultivation requires 20 kg seed per acre. (1 acre= apprx 0.4 ha).

SRI is initially labour intensive

• Needs 50% more man-days for transplanting and weeding.
• Mobilises labour to work for profit.
• It offers an alternative to the resource poor, who put in their family labour.
• Once the right skills are learnt and implemented, the labour costs will be lesser.

SRI encourages rice plant to grow healthy with

• Large root volume
• Profuse and strong tillers – Maximum tillering (30 tillers/plant can be easily achieved; 50 tillers per plant are quite attainable) occurs concurrently with panicle initiation. Under excellent management even 100 fertile tillers per plant or even more can be achieved due to early transplanting and absence of die back of roots.
• Non lodging
• Big panicles
• More and well filled grain panicles and higher grain weight
• Resists insects because it allows rice to absorb soil nutrients naturally

Solution: A

Economic Censuses:

• The 7th Economic Census –2019 is being conducted by MoSPI to provide disaggregated information on various operational and structural aspects of all establishments in the country.
• Implementing agency: MoSPI has partnered with Common Service Centres, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the MEITY as the implementing agency.
• Launched in 1976 as a plan scheme.
• Coverage: All entrepreneurial units in the country which are involved in any economic activities of either agricultural or non-agricultural sector which are engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption.
• It is conducted every five years and very crucial for framing of policies and planning for the government and other organisations.
• Objective: It provides detailed information on operational and other characteristics such as number of establishments, number of persons employed, source of finance, type of ownership etc.
• Significance: This information used for micro level/ decentralized planning and to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the gross domestic product (GDP).
• Total Six Economic Censuses (EC) have been conducted till date. First one was conducted in 1977 by CSO.

Solution: A

Indigenous technologies practiced by farmers

  Application of buttermilk @ 5 lit./40 Kg seed of pulses viz. lentil, arhar, chickpea to protect the crop from wilt disease in district Chitrakoot.

  Farmers of district Shahjahanpur, broadcast 8 kg common salt to protect the paddy crop from blight disease.

  In districts Allahabad, Saharnapur, Siddharthnagar and Gonda, dry neem leaves and kanja leaves are used by the farmers to store the grain like wheat, rice etc.

  Mixed cropping of arhar & jowar to protect the arhar from wilt disease in district Gonda.

  Planting of marigold after 8-10 lines of tomato or chilli to protect the crop from mosaic and nematode in Gonda

  The farmers practice putting of twigs in field crops for sitting of owl to control the rats in Sultanpur district.

  Mixed cropping like arhar + urd + til + bajra is practiced in Varanasi and Mirzapur district to protect the crop from wilt.

  Spreading of cooked rice in field crop attract the birds who eat hairy catter pillar also. (Varanasi).

  The farmers of Ghaziabad to control the aphids spray water in mustard crop.

  Ash dusting is practiced in Zaid vegetables to control the red beetle in most districts of UP.

  Cutting of upper portion of leaves before transplanting of paddy to prevent the attack of stem borer in district Bijnour and Ghaziabad.

Solution: D

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) used in India on the supply of goods and services. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax: comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes. Multi-staged as it is, the GST is imposed at every step in the production process, but is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer and as a destination-based tax, it is collected from point of consumption and not point of origin like previous taxes.

Goods and services are divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax – 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. However, petroleum products, alcoholic drinks, and electricity are not taxed under GST and instead are taxed separately by the individual state governments, as per the previous tax system.

Solution: C

Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy. About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community. It also provides employment to about 8.8 % of the population in India. India has vast livestock resources. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP.

Livestock resources

India is

• World’s highest livestock owner at about 535.78 million
• First in the total buffalo population in the world – 109.85 million buffaloes
• Second in the population of goats – 148.88 million goats
• Second largest poultry market in the world
• Second largest producer of fish and also second largest aquaculture nation in the world
• Third in the population of sheep (74.26 millions)
• Fifth in in the population of ducks and chicken (851.81 million)
• Tenth in camel population in the world – 2.5 lakhs

Source : 20th Livestock Census

Solution: C

e-pashuhaat portal – http://www.epashuhaat.gov.in aims to connect breeders and farmers regarding availability of bovine germplasm. The portal has been launched under the scheme “National Mission on Bovine Productivity.”

Aims and objectives

The portal aims to be a

1. E-Trading Market portal for livestock germplasm and additional related services.
2. Will connect farmers with breeders – Central, State, Co-operative and private agencies.
3. Real time authentic certified information on availability of germplasm.
4. Centralized repository of information for Central and State Governments.

Services offered

• Provides direct access to the farmers/ breeders to various organizations/sources wherein frozen semen, embryos and livestock certifications are available.
• Connects farmers to 56 semen stations ( 20 states), 4 Central Herd Registration Scheme (CHRS) ( 4 States) and 7 Central Cattle Breeding Farms (CCBFs) ( 6 states) in the country.
• Provides details like, animal / frozen semen ID, progeny particulars (sire directory), rates and other terms & conditions.
• Farmers can directly get the details like address, contact numbers, photo gallery etc . of individual Institutes / Agriculture universities in States.

Outcomes

Major outcomes of the scheme are:

• Propagation of quality controlled germplasm;
• Availability of disease free germplasm with known genetic merit
• Price evaluation available to buyer
• One stop portal for bovine breeders
• No involvement of middlemen in sale and purchase of animals
• Sale only of tagged animal with animal wellness card
• Propagation of indigenous bovine breeds in the country
• Increase in milk production and productivity

Solution: D

Pardoning powers of President:

Clemency powers of the President under article 72:

It says that the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.

• Pardon –A pardon completely absolves the offender from all sentences and punishment and disqualifications and places him in the same position as if he had never committed the offence.
• Commutation– Commutation means exchange of one thing for another. In simple words to replace the punishment with less severe punishment. For example for Rigorous imprisonment-simple imprisonment.
• Reprieve– Reprieve means temporary suspension of death sentence. For example-  pending a proceeding for pardon or commutation.
• Respite – Respite means awarding a lesser punishment on some special grounds. For example- the Pregnancy of women offender.
• Remissions– Remission means the reduction of the amount of sentence without changing its character, for example, a sentence of 1 year may be remitted to 6 months.

The President can exercise these powers:

• In all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court martial;
• In all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
• In all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

The pardoning power of President is wider than the governor and it differs in the following two ways:

• The power of the President to grant pardon extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor.
• The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is sentence of death but pardoning power of Governor does not extend to death sentence cases.

Key facts:

• This power of pardon shall be exercised by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers.
• Further, the constitution does not provide for any mechanism to question the legality of decisions of President or governors exercising mercy jurisdiction.
• But the SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness.
• The court has earlier held that court has retained the power of judicial review even on a matter which has been vested by the Constitution solely in the Executive.

Solution: D

Rural women form the most productive work force in the economy of majority of the developing nations including India. More than 80% of rural women are engaged in agriculture activities for their livelihoods. About 20 per cent of farm livelihoods are female headed due to widowhood, desertion, or male emigration. Agriculture support system in India strengthens the exclusion of women from their entitlements as agriculture workers and cultivators. Most of the women-headed households are not able to access extension services, farmers support institutions and production assets like seed, water, credit, subsidy etc. As agricultural workers, women are paid lower wage than men.

The “Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana” (MKSP), a sub component of the Deendayal Antodaya Yojana-NRLM (DAY-NRLM) seeks to improve the present status of women in Agriculture, and to enhance the opportunities available to empower her.

Focus and strategy

MKSP recognizes the identity of “Mahila” as “Kisan” and strives to build the capacity of women in the domain of agro-ecologically sustainable practices. It has a clear vision to reach out to the poorest of poor households and expand the portfolio of activities currently handled by the Mahila Kisan.

The focus of MKSP is on capacitating smallholders to adopt sustainable climate resilient agro-ecology and eventually create a pool of skilled community professionals. Its objective is to strengthen smallholder agriculture through promotion of sustainable agriculture practices such as Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA), Non Pesticide Management (NPM), Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), Pashu-Sakhi model for doorstep animal care services, Sustainable regeneration and harvesting of Non-Timber Forest Produce.

Implementation strategy

The program is being implemented by DAY-NRLM in partnership with State Rural Livelihood Missions/ Community Based Organizations (CBOs)/NGOs, as implementing partners (PIAs) across the country. These agencies are expected to support and nurture scalable livelihood models in the MKSP intervention areas. In the process, it is expected that a cadre of barefoot community professionals will be created from among the best practioners. The State Rural Livelihood Missions will further replicate the models with the help of the community.

Solution: C

Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP)

It was launched in the year 2003. The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) seeks to achieve blending of Ethanol with motor sprit with a view to reducing pollution, conserve foreign exchange and increase value addition in the sugar industry enabling them to clear cane price arrears of farmers.

The National Policy on Biofuels-2018 envisages an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of bio-diesel in diesel by 2030. Ethanol blending in petrol is being undertaken by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in whole country except island Union Territory (UT) of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep wherein, OMCs blend up to 10 % ethanol in petrol under the EBP Programme.

Ethanol, an anhydrous ethyl alcohol having chemical formula of C2H5OH, can be produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc which are having high starch content. In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process.

National Biofuel Policy 2018, categorizes biofuels as:

• First Generation (1G), which produce bio-ethanol from molasses and bio-diesel from non-edible oilseeds.
• Second Generation (2G)ethanol can be produced from municipal solid waste.
• Third Generation (3G)fuels like bio-CNG.

Solution: C

Classification of Agroforestry System

Based on the nature of components, AF systems can be classified into the following categories;

1. Agrisilvicultural systems
2. Silvopastoral systems
3. Agrosilv opastoral systems  and
4. Other systems.

1. Agrisilvicultural System (crops and trees including shrubs/vines and trees)

This system involves the conscious and deliberate use of land for the concurrent production of agricultural crops including tree crops and forest crops.

2. Silvopastoral System (trees + pasture and/or animals)

Silvopastoral systems are definitely the most prominent agroforestry practice. Silvopastoral systems are characterized by integrating trees with forage and livestock production. Traditionally, silvopastoral systems involved grazing livestock in wooded rangeland and incorporating trees in pastures for shade and timber. The majority of rangeland grazing in hills is typically comprise the grazing of natural herbaceous and shrubby vegetation for under trees such as pines, bhimal, Oak etc.

3. Agrosilvopastoral System (trees + crops+pasture/animals)

This system has been grouped into two subgroups:

• Home Gardens: This is one of the oldest agroforestry practices, found extensively in high rainfall areas in tropical south and south-east Asia.  Many species of trees, bushes, vegetables and other herbaceous plants are grown in dense and apparently random arrangements, although some rational control over choice plants and their spatial and temporal arrangement may be exercised. Most home gardens also support a variety of animals (cow, buffalo, bullock, goat, sheep) and birds (chicken, duck). In some places pigs are also raised. Fodder and legumes are widely grown to meet the daily fodder requirements of cattle. The waste materials from crops and homes are used as fodder/feed for animals/birds and barn wastes are used as manure for crops.
• Woody Hedgerows: In this system various woody hedges especially fast-growing and coppicing fodder shrubs and trees, are planted for the purpose of browse, mulch, green manure, soil conservation etc. The main aim of this system is production of food/fodder/fuelwood and soil conservation.

4. Other Systems

The following systems can be included:

• Apiculture with Trees: In this system various honey (nectar) producing tree species frequently visited by honeybees are planted on the boundary, mixed with an agricultural crop. The main purpose of this system is the production of honey.
• Aquaforestry: In this system various trees and shrubs preferred by fish are planted on the boundary and around fish-ponds. Tree leaves are used as forage for fish. The main or primary role of this system is fish production and bund stabilization around fish-ponds.

Solution: A

Biodiversity—the rich array of life on Earth—is fundamental to human survival, but under tremendous and growing threat. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) was founded in 2000 to address this challenge by empowering civil society in developing countries and transitional economies to protect the world’s biodiversity hotspots, which are some of Earth’s most biologically rich yet threatened terrestrial ecosystems.

The fund is a joint program of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank.

Solution: C

National Pension System (NPS):

National Pension System (NPS) is a pension cum investment scheme launched by Government of India to provide old age security to Citizens of India. It was launched in January 2004 for government employees.

However, in 2009, it was opened to all sections.

The Scheme is regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). Every NPS subscriber is issued a card with 12-digit unique number called Permanent Retirement Account Number or PRAN. Opening multiple NPS accounts for an individual is not allowed.

Who can join NPS?

Any individual citizen of India (both resident and Non-resident) in the age group of 18-65 years can join NPS. The only condition is that the person must comply with know your customer (KYC) norms.

Solution: D

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems.

The GEF provides funding to assist developing countries in meeting the objectives of international environmental conventions. The GEF serves as a “financial mechanism” to five conventions: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and Minamata Convention on Mercury.

The conventions, for which the GEF serves as financial mechanism, provide broad strategic guidance to the two governing bodies of the GEF: the GEF Council and the GEF Assembly. The GEF Council converts this broad guidance into operational criteria (guidelines) for GEF projects.

Solution: B

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into force from 20^th July, 2020.  As provided in section 10 of the Act, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has been established.

The objective of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.

It will be empowered to conduct investigations into:

• violation of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution,
• order recall of unsafe goods and services,
• order discontinuation of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

Solution: C

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated fund helping developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change. It was set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010. GCF has a crucial role in serving the Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C. It does this by channelling climate finance to developing countries, which have joined other nations in committing to climate action.

The GCF Board is charged with the governance and oversight of the Fund’s management. It was established by 194 sovereign governments party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Board is independent and guided by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention.

Solution: C

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a mechanism developed by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It creates a financial value for the carbon stored in forests by offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Developing countries would receive results-based payments for results-based actions. REDD+ goes beyond simply deforestation and forest degradation and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Solution: A

Participatory Notes (P-notes) are Offshore Derivative Instruments (ODIs).

(P-Notes) are instruments used by foreign funds and investors not registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to invest in Indian securities. They are generally issued overseas by registered foreign institutional investors (FII)) and domestic institutional investors.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and their sub-accounts mostly use these instruments for facilitating the participation of their overseas clients, who are not interested in participating directly in the Indian stock market.

Solution: B

The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was established in response to guidance from the Conference of the Parties (COP7) in Marrakech in 2001. The SCCF complements the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF). Unlike the LDCF, the SCCF is open to all vulnerable developing countries. In addition, it funds a wider range of activities related to climate change.

Solution: C

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)

It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established by the Union Ministry of Railways to undertake planning, development, and mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the Dedicated Freight Corridors.

The DFCCIL was registered as a company under the Companies Act 1956 in 2006.

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, 1,468 km from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, 1,760 km from Ludhiana, Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal.