INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 12 March 2021) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• S1: Space hurricanes are caused by plasma unleashed from the sun as solar wind. These charged particle clouds travel through space and fuel magnetic storms as they interact with magnetic fields.
• S2: The phenomenon was discovered by a team of researchers from Shandong University in China, whom had observed the storm over the Arctic region on 20 August 2014, before identifying its nature in 2021.
• S3: In space, astronomers have spotted hurricanes on Mars, and Saturn, and Jupiter, which are similar to terrestrial hurricanes in the low atmosphere. More>>

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/what-is-space-hurricane/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• S1: The Department of Food and Public Distribution is responsible for management of the food economy of the nation. It undertakes various activities, such as procurement of food items, their storage, movement and delivery to the distributing agencies. More>>
• S2: The Public Distribution System (PDS) evolved as a system of management of scarcity through distribution of foodgrains at affordable prices……… PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/UT Governments. More>>
• S3: In June, 1997, the Government of India launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) with focus on the poor. Under the PDS, States were required to formulate and implement foolproof arrangements for identification of the poor for delivery of foodgrains and for its distribution in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level.,……….. Under the TPDS, the end retail price was fixed by the States/UTs after taking into account margin for wholesalers/ retailers, transportation charges, levies local taxes etc. More>>

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/one-nation-one-ration-card-system/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Fifth annual democracy report, titled ‘Autocratisation goes viral’, has been released by Sweden’s organisation Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute.
• The report summarises the state of democracies of the world against the backdrop of developments that have taken place over the past decade.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/annual-democracy-report/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The Reserve Bank of India put several banks under prompt corrective action or PCA for not maintaining a desirable level of capital which restricts their business activity. Besides capital, PCA is also triggered if bad loans are higher than a minimum threshold and return on assets is lower than the threshold.
• The PCA framework is applicable only to commercial banks and not extended to cooperative banks and Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/prompt-corrective-action-framework/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework to maintain sound financial health of banks. It facilitates banks in breach of risk thresholds for identified areas of monitoring, ,capital, asset quality (which is tracked in terms of the net Non-Performing Assets ratio) and profitability, to take corrective measures in a timely manner, in order to restore their financial health. Thus, it is intended to encourage banks to eschew certain riskier activities, improve operational efficiency and focus on conserving capital to strengthen them. The framework is not intended to constrain the performance of normal operations of the banks for the general public.
• What will a bank do if PCA is triggered?
  • Banks are not allowed to renew or access costly deposits or take steps to increase their fee-based income.
  • Banks will also have to launch a special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain generation of fresh NPAs.
  • They will also not be allowed to enter into new lines of business. RBI will also impose restrictions on the bank on borrowings from interbank market.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/prompt-corrective-action-framework/

Ans: (d)

Explanation: What is an API?

• Every medicine is made up of two main ingredients — the chemically active APIs and chemically inactive, excipients, which is a substance that delivers the effect of APIs to one’s system.
• API is a chemical compound that is the most important raw material to produce a finished medicine.
• In medicine, API produces the intended effects to cure the disease. For instance, Paracetamol is the API for Crocin and it is the API paracetamol that gives relief from body ache and fever.
• Fixed-dose combination drugs use multiple APIs, while single-dose drugs like Crocin use just one API.
• How India lost its API market to China?
  • During the early 90s, India was self-reliant in manufacturing APIs.
  • However, with the rise of China as a producer of API, it captured the Indian market with cheaper products and it eventually led to high economies of scale for China.
  • China created a low-cost API manufacturing industry. The industry was backed by the low cost of capital followed by aggressive government funding models, tax incentives.
  • Their cost of operation is one-fourth of India’s cost. Even the cost of finance in China is 6-7 per cent against India’s 13-14 per cent.
  • So, due to low-profit margins and non-lucrative industry, Indian pharma companies over the years stopped manufacturing APIs.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/pli-centres-nod-for-33-api-applications/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• S1: The Lingaraja temple is the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. James Fergusson (1808–86), a noted critic and historian rated the temple as “one of the finest examples of purely Hindu temple in India”.
• S2: The Gudimallam Lingam is an ancient linga in the Parasurameswara Swamy Temple of Gudimallam. This is perhaps the second earliest linga associated with Shiva discovered so far, and it has been dated to the 2nd/1st century BC, or the 3rd century BC, or much later
  • This is “the only sculpture of any importance” to survive from ancient South India before sculpture made under the Pallava dynasty from the 7th century AD onwards, and “its mysteriousness lies in the total absence so far of any object in an even remotely similar manner within many hundreds of miles, and indeed anywhere in South India”.
  • If assigned an early date, the figure on the linga is “one of the earliest surviving and unequivocal images of the god Shiva”.
• S3: Lingaraja Temple:
  • It is a temple dedicated to Shiva.
  • Built by king Jajati Keshari of Soma Vansh.
  • It is built in red stone and is a classic example of Kalinga style of architecture.
  • Located to the north of the temple is Bindusagar Lake.
  • The temple has images of Vishnu, possibly because of the rising prominence of Jagannath sect emanating from the Ganga rulers who built the Jagannath Temple in Puri in the 12th century.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/12/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-12-march-2021/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Minimum support price (MSP) is a “minimum price” for any crop that the government considers as remunerative for farmers and hence deserving of “support”. It is also the price that government agencies pay whenever they procure the particular crop.
• At the time of Independence, India was staring at a major deficit in terms of cereal production. After the struggling first decade, India decided to go for extensive agricultural reforms. It was the first time in the year 1966-67 that the Minimum Support Price was introduced by the Centre. At Rs 54 per quintal, the MSP for wheat was fixed for the first time.
• The MSP is fixed twice a year on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which is a statutory body and submits separate reports recommending prices for kharif and rabi seasons.
• The CACP submits its recommendations to the government in the form of Price Policy Reports every year, separately for five groups of commodities namely kharif crops, rabi crops, sugarcane, raw jute and copra.
• After considering the report and views of the state governments and also keeping in view the overall demand and supply situation in the country, the central government takes the final decision.
• Currently, MSP for 23 crops is recommended by CACP, which comprise seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), five pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), seven oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, sesamum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed), and four commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).
• Is MSP legal?
  • Short answer – No. While Centre has been providing the MSP to the wheat and paddy farmers since mid-60s to tide over the food crisis, the fact remains that the MSP doesn’t have any legal stature.

Refer: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/minimum-support-price-msp-farmers-explained-6706253/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The Finance Commission uses certain criteria when deciding the devolution to states. For example, income distance criterion has been used by the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions.  Under this criterion, states with lower per capita income would be given a higher share to maintain equity among states.  Another example is Demographic Performance criterion which has been introduced by the 15th Finance Commission.  The Demographic Performance criterion is to reward efforts made by states in controlling their population.
• The 15th Finance Commission used the following criteria while determining the share of states: (i) 45% for the income distance, (ii) 15% for the population in 2011, (iii) 15% for the area, (iv) 10% for forest and ecology (forest cover used in 14^th FC), (v) 12.5% for demographic performance, and (vi) 2.5% for tax effort.

Refer: https://fincomindia.nic.in/ShowContent.aspx?uid1=11&uid2=6&uid3=0&uid4=0

Ans: (a)

Explanation: About Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi:

• It is implemented as a central sector scheme by the Government of India.
• This scheme was introduced to augment the source of income of many small and marginal farmers.
• Under the Scheme an amount of Rs.6000/-per year is transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subjectto certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.
• The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State / UT Governments.
• Ambit:
  • The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded w.e.f. 01.06.2019 to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
• Exceptions:
  • Affluent farmers have been excluded from the scheme such as Income Tax payers in last assessment year, professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants etc and pensioners pensioners drawing at least Rs.10,000/-per month (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D employees).

Refer: https://pmkisan.gov.in/#About