QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 5 March 2021

Solution: d)

India’s public debt-to- GDP has been significantly low compared to high global debt levels. A cross-country

comparison of debt levels points out that for India, the government debt level as a proportion of GDP is equal to the median in the group of G-20 OECD countries and in the group of BRICS nations. India’s overall debt levels as a per cent of GDP are the lowest amongst the group of G-20 OECD countries and also among the group of BRICS nations. Moreover, public debt and overall debt level for India has declined since 2003 and has been stable since 2011.

Source: Economic Survey 2020-21 Vol-1

Solution: c)

The Government’s debt portfolio is characterized by very low foreign exchange risk as the external debt is only 2.7 per cent of GDP (5.9 per cent of total Central Government liabilities). Of the total public debt, 70 per cent is held by the Centre.

As the central government is entrusted with the responsibility of macro-economic management, this distribution of debt between the centre and states is desirable because of the incentive compatibility that it generates. The long maturity profile of India’s public debt (issuance of longer tenure bonds) along with a small share of floating rate debt (floating rate debt of Central Government is less than 5 per cent of public debt) tends to limit rollover risks, and insulates the debt portfolio from interest rate volatility.

Source: Economic Survey 2020-21 Vol-1

Solution: a)

• Capital is the produced means of production or it is called produced wealth by which more wealth is possible in the economy directly and indirectly.
• Capital formation means creation of physical assets and non- physical capital consisting of public health efficiency, visible and no visible capital.
• Gross domestic capital formation is the addition to the capital stock within the domestic territory of a country during a year.
• Gross domestic capital formation includes all expenses made by household, business people and Govt, adding new durable goods to the fixed capital stock of a country.
• These assets are in the form of infrastructure such as buildings, roads canals, bridges, means of transport, machinery and other equipments.

Solution: b)

Chemical techniques in India can be traced back all the way to the Indus valley or Harappan civilisation (3rd millennium BCE).

Pre-Harappan Indians were acquainted with the art of making baked or burnt clay pottery as well as painting the same with two or more colours.

The pottery of the Harappan culture consisted of mainly wheel-made ware, turned in various shapes, sizes and colours out of the well-levigated alluvium of the Indus.

The colour and other characteristics of the wares depended upon the composition of the clay used and techniques of firing under either oxidising or reducing conditions. The Harappans also experimented with various mortars and cements made of burnt limestone, gypsum and mica, among other components.

The Harappan artisans must have had an intimate knowledge of the processing and properties of several naturally occurring chemical substances. The craftsmen were highly skilled in the art of shaping and polishing the precious and semi-precious stones used for the production of beads.

A type of pottery, now known as ‘Painted Grey Ware’, is associated with the Vedic period.

Later, ‘Northern Black Polished Ware’ also came into being in the eastern part of the Gangetic plains.

Source

Solution: a)

The Dudhwa National Park is a national park in the Terai belt of marshy grasslands of northern Uttar Pradesh.

Bandhavgarh National Park is one of the national parks of India, located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.

The Keibul Lamjao National Park is a national park in the Bishnupur district of the state of Manipur.

Simlipal National Park is a national park and a tiger reserve in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha.