DAY – 4 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 4 )INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2021

Solution: D

NSSO is one of the national organization which is responsible for conduct of large scale sample surveys in diverse fields on all-India basis.It comes under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

NSSO conducts the surveys (once in 5 years) on

o Consumer Expenditure,

o Employment – Unemployment,

o Social Consumption (Health, Education etc.),

o Manufacturing Enterprises,

o Service Sector Enterprises

It conducts survey of Land and Livestock Holding and Debt and Investment (once in 10 years).

Solution: A

The currency deposit ratio shows the amount of currency that people hold as a proportion of aggregate deposits. An increase in cash deposit ratio leads to a decrease in money multiplier.

Solution: D

All the factors given above are considered.

While recommending price policy of various commodities under its mandate, the Commission keeps in mind the various Terms of Reference (ToR) given to CACP in 2009. Accordingly, it analyzes

1) demand and supply;
2) cost of production;
3) price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
4) inter-crop price parity;
5) terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
6) a minimum of 50 percent as the margin over cost of production; and
7) likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.

It may be noted that cost of production is an important factor that goes as an input in determination of MSP, but it is certainly not the only factor that determines MSP.

Solution: C

Derivatives are financial securities and are financial contracts that obtain value from something else, known as underlying securities. Underlying securities may be stocks, currency, commodities or bonds, etc.

Such derivative securities or instruments are forward, futures options and swaps.

Solution: D

The GII is an inequality index. It measures gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development—reproductive health, measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment, measured by proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education; and economic status, expressed as labour market participation and measured by labour force participation rate of female and male populations aged 15 years and older.

It is released by UNDP.

It measures the human development costs of gender inequality. Thus the higher the GII value the more disparities between females and males and the more loss to human development.

Solution: B

The FRP is the minimum price that sugarcane farmers are legally guaranteed to get from sugar mills. Central Government announces Fair and Remunerative Prices which are determined on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and are approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister.

Solution: B

The Food Corporation of India was setup under the Food Corporation’s Act 1964 , in order to fulfill following objectives of the Food Policy:

• Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers.
• Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for public distribution system.
• Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure National Food Security

Since its inception, FCI has played a significant role in India’s success in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security system.

In its 50 years of service to the nation, FCI has played a significant role in India’s success in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security system. FCI’s Objectives are:

• To provide farmers remunerative prices
• To make food grains available at reasonable prices, particularly to vulnerable section of the society
• To maintain buffer stocks as measure of Food Security
• To intervene in market for price stabilization

Solution: D

Seasonal unemployment occurs when people are unemployed at certain times of the year, because they work in industries where they are not needed all year round. Examples of industries where demand, production and employment are seasonal include tourism and leisure, farming and construction.

Fire cracker manufacturing industries in India work in full fledge prior to Diwali festive season and employ more labours. However, during lean season they employ less workers resulting in seasonal unemployment.

Solution: A

In India, public debt refers to a part of the total borrowings by the Union Government which includes such items as market loans, special bearer bonds, treasury bills and special loans and securities issued by the Reserve Bank. It also includes the outstanding external debt.

However, it does not include the following items of borrowings:

(i) small savings,

(ii) provident funds,

(iii) other accounts, res­erve funds and deposits.

Solution: B

The Fiscal Monitor Report surveys and analyzes the latest public finance developments. It updates fiscal implications of the crisis and medium-term fiscal projections, and assesses policies to put public finances on a sustainable footing. It is published by International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Other reports published by IMF are: World economic outlook, Global Financial stability report

Solution: A

A shell corporation/ Ghost company is a corporation without active business operations or significant assets. These types of corporations are not all necessarily illegal, but they are sometimes used illegitimately, such as to disguise business
ownership from law enforcement or the public. Shell corporations act as tax avoidance vehicles for legitimate businesses.

Solution: D

Champion Services Sectors refers to the 12 identified sectors where the Government wants to give focused attention for promoting their development, and realizing their potential. These include Information Technology & Information Technology enabled Services (IT& ITeS), Tourism and Hospitality Services, Medical Value Travel, Transport and Logistics Services, Accounting and Finance Services, Audio Visual Services, Legal Services, Communication Services, Construction and Related Engineering Services, Environmental Services, Financial Services and Education Services.

Solution: A

Income of a member of a Scheduled Tribe [as per article 366(25) of the Constitution] is exempt from tax, if following conditions are satisfied:

• Such member resides in any area in the State of Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram or district of North Cachar Hills, Mikir Hills, Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills or in the Ladakh region of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Such exemption is available in respect of income which accrues/arises from any source in such areas or income by way of dividends/interest on securities arises from any area.

Solution: D

Tax credit is an amount that offsets the overall tax liability of a person. It is basically the sum that can be subtracted from the total payable tax by an individual. Tax credits are different from deductions as deductions are applicable indirectly, i.e. they help in reducing the base taxable amount of an individual, whereas tax credits directly reduce the amount of liability irrespective of the base tax liability of the tax player.

Solution: C

Quantitative methods aim at controlling the cost and quantity of credit. It does not discriminate between different sectors and end use of credit.

Quantitative methods are:

• Discount Rate Policy
• Open market operations
• Variable Reserve Ratio
• Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF)
• Marginal Standing Facility.

Regulation of Consumer Credit and Rationing of Credit are Qualitative credit control method.

Solution: C

The twenty-point programme was launched during the Fifth five year plan in 1975 by the then Prime minister Indira Gandhi. The basic objective of the 20-Point Programme is to eradicate poverty and to improve the quality of life of the poor and the under privileged population of the country.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development financial institution in India. It is an institution fully owned by Government of India. NABARD was established on the recommendations of B.Sivaraman Committee, (by Act 61, 1981 of Parliament) in 1982 to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981. It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).

Solution: B

Online Portal “ENSURE”

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare launched a portal ENSURE – National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD and operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries.

Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG):

• Under the Mission’s component EDEG, subsidy payment for activities related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc., through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) goes directly to the beneficiary’s account.
• To make it better, simpler and transparent, the NABARD has developed an online portal “ENSURE” which makes the information related to beneficiary and processing of application readily available.

Solution:  C

In India, alternative investment funds (AIFs) are defined in Regulation 2(1)(b) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012.

It refers to any privately pooled investment fund, (whether from Indian or foreign sources), in the form of a trust or a company or a body corporate or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) which are not presently covered by any Regulation of SEBI governing fund management (like, Regulations governing Mutual Fund or Collective Investment Scheme) nor coming under the direct regulation of any other sectoral regulators in India-IRDA, PFRDA, RBI.

AIFs includes venture Capital Fund, hedge funds, private equity funds, commodity funds, Debt Funds, infrastructure funds, etc., while, it excludes Mutual funds or collective investment Schemes, family trusts, Employee Stock Option / purchase Schemes, employee welfare trusts or gratuity trusts, ‘holding companies’ within the meaning of Section 4 of the Companies Act, 1956, securitization trusts regulated under a specific regulatory framework and funds managed by securitization company or reconstruction company which is registered with the RBI under Section 3 of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002.

No scheme of an AIF (other than angel fund) shall have more than 1000 investors. (Please note that the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 shall apply to the AIF if it is formed as a company). In case of an angel fund, no scheme shall have more than forty-nine angel investors. However, an AIF cannot make invitation to the public at large to subscribe its units and can raise funds from the sophisticated investors only through private placement.

Solution: A

National Pension System (NPS) is a voluntary, defined contribution retirement savings scheme designed to enable the subscribers to make optimum decisions regarding their future through systematic savings during their working life. NPS seeks to inculcate the habit of saving for retirement amongst the citizens.

Eligibility

A citizen of India, whether resident or non-resident, subject to the following conditions:

• Applicant should be between 18 – 65 years of age as on the date of submission of his/her application to the Point of Presence – Service Providers (POP/ POP-SP).
• Applicant should comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms as detailed in the Subscriber Registration Form. All the documents required for KYC compliance need to be mandatorily submitted.

Under the NPS, individual savings are pooled in to a pension fund which are invested by PFRDA regulated professional fund managers as per the approved investment guidelines in to the diversified portfolios comprising of government bonds, bills, corporate debentures and shares. These contributions would grow and accumulate over the years, depending on the returns earned on the investment made.

Solution: C

Government to substantially increase the daily supply of onions from its buffer stock held with NAFED.

About NAFED:

• National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED), established in 1958, is registered under the Multi State Co-operative Societies Act.
• Nafed was setup with the object to promote Co-operative marketing of Agricultural Produce to benefit the farmers.
• Composition: Agricultural farmers are the main members of Nafed, who have the authority to say in the form of members of the General Body in the working of Nafed.
• The objectives of the NAFED shall be to organize, promote and develop marketing, processing and storage of agricultural, horticultural and forest produce, distribution of agricultural machinery, implements and other inputs, undertake inter-state, import and export trade etc.
• It functions under Ministry of Agriculture.

Solution: D

NEOWISE- a comet

The recently discovered comet called C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE after the NASA telescope that discovered it, will make its closest approach to the Earth on July 22. On the day, the comet, which takes 6,800 years to complete one lap around its orbit, will be at a distance of 64 million miles or 103 million kilometers while crossing Earth’s outside orbit.

Solution: D

Solar Orbiter Mission:

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA.

The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in February 2020.

It was selected as the first medium-class mission of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Programme.

• This is the first mission that will provide images of the sun’s north and south poles using a suite of six instruments on board that will capture the spacecraft’s view.
• It is a seven-year mission and will come within 26 million miles of the sun.
• It will be able to brave the heat of the sun because it has a custom titanium heat shield coated in calcium phosphateso that it can endure temperatures up to 970 degrees Fahrenheit.

The mission will study the magnetic environment around the Sun, which in turn will provide information about the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle and its periodic outpouring of solar storms.

• Solar Orbiter carries ten instruments, three of which will help to survey how Sun’s surface changes over time.

Solution: A

Bal Gangadhar Tilak:

• His famous declaration “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it” served as an inspiration for future revolutionaries during India’s struggle for freedom.
• The British Government termed him as the “Father of Indian Unrest” and his followers bequeathed upon him the title of ‘Lokmanya’meaning he who is revered by the people.

Ideology:

• Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in 1890. He soon started vocalizing his strong opposition to the moderate views of the party on self-rule.
• He maintained that simple constitutional agitation in itself was futile against the British. This subsequently made him stand against the prominent Congress leader, Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
• He wanted an armed revolt to broom-away the British. Following the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon, Tilak wholeheartedly supported the Swadeshi (Indigenous) movement and Boycott of British goods.
• Due to this fundamental difference in outlook, Tilak and his supporters came to be known as the extremist wing of INC.
• Tilak’s endeavours were supported by fellow nationalists Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab.
• He was a great reformer and throughout his life he advocated the cause of women education and women empowerment.
• Tilak proposed Grand celebrations on ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ and ‘Shivaji Jayanti’. He envisioned these celebrations inciting a sense of unity and inspiring nationalist sentiment among Indians.

Protests and Imprisonment:

• Tilak protested against the oppressive nature of the British efforts and wrote provocative articles on it in his newspapers on the epidemic of Plague in Pune and adjacent regions.
• His article inspired the Chapekar brothers and they carried out assassination of Commissioner Rand and Lt. Ayerst on June 22, 1897. As a result of this, Tilak was imprisoned for 18 months on Sedition charges for inciting murder.
• He openly supported the revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki’s efforts to assassinate Chief Presidency Magistrate in 1908. He continued to write during his years of imprisonment and the most prominent of which is Gita Rahasya.

Tilak and All India Home Rule League:

• Deciding to re-unite with his fellow nationalists, Tilak founded the All India Home Rule League in 1916with Joseph Baptista, Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
• He rejoined the INC but could not bring about reconciliation between the two opposite-minded factions.

Newspapers:

• Towards his nationalistic goals, Bal Gangadhar Tilak published two newspapers –‘Mahratta’ (English) and ‘Kesari’ (Marathi).
• Tilak fearlessly published reports about the havoc caused by famine and plague and the government’s utter irresponsibility and indifference about ‘Famine Relief fund’.

Education:

• As a founding father of the Deccan Education Society created in 1884.
• The Society established the Fergusson College in 1885 for post-secondary studies. Tilak taught mathematics at Fergusson College.

Abhinav Bharat Society (Young India Society) was a secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1904

Solution: A

Astra Missile

• The missile was launched from Sukhoi-30 MKI.
• It is the first indigenously developed air-to-air missile
• The Astra missile is developed by Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
• It works on the Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) technology that enables the fighter-pilots to shoot precisely at the enemy targets which are beyond their visual range.
• It is a single stage solid fuelled missile.

The specifications of the missile are:

• Speed: over 5,555 km per hour or 4.5 mach
• Range: over 70 km,
• Payload/warhead capacity: 15 kg.

Solution: C

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released the State of the World Population 2020 report, titled ‘Against my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality’.

It highlights at least 19 human rights violations against women and focuses on the three most prevalent ones, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), extreme bias against daughters, in favour of sons and child marriage.

Solution: A

Total amount paid = Rs. 24,000

Total monthly instalments = 3X12 = 36

Monthly amount = 24000/36 = Rs. 666.66

Solution: B

It is given that 2 men can do the work in 30 days.

Time needed by 1 man to do the same amount of work = 2×30= 60 days

Work done by a man in one day = 1/60 (If total work = 1 unit)

So, work done by a man in 12 days = 12/60 = 1/5

Similarly, work done by 3 men in 12 days = 3/5

It is given that 3 men and 4 children can do the work in 12 days. We already know that 3 men can do 3/5thpart of the work in 12 days. Thus, rest of the work must be done by 4 children.

Work done by 4 children in 12 days = 1-3/5 = 2/5

Work done by a child in 12 days = (2/5)/4 = 1/10

So, work done by a child in one day = (1/10)/12= 1/120

Work done by 6 children in one day = (1/120) × 6 = 1/20

1 unit of work can be done by 6 children in 20 days

Hence, 20 days are required by 6 children to paint 100 walls.

Solution: A

Distance travelled by bus in ten hours = Speed of the bus x total time

As we know that Speed of bus = 2/5th of speed of train.

Therefore, Distance travelled by bus = (Speed of train × 2/5) × 10 hours

= [(320/8) × 2/5] × 10 = [40 × 2/5] × 10 = 160 kmph.

Solution: C

Option –A –Passage tell that even school which are state funded have led to no improvement in learning so there are no suggestion like to make education state funded.

Option –B – Although the drawbacks of the public sector have been highlighted in the passage but there is no argument which tells that PPP is unsuitable for sectors that are purely public sector.

Option –C – In the above passage it has been shown that private sector is not able to provide quality education because they are concerned of commercial success than interest in education.

Option –D- There is no talk on right to education at primary level in the passage.

Thus Option C is the most logical inference.

Solution: B

Statement -1 – This statement is out of context of the passage because author has never talked on the online education. Thus statement 1 is incorrect.

Statement -2 – While pointing out the failure of private to ensure inclusive education author assumes that the sector which may be interested in education itself rather than business model can help in achieving inclusive education.

Thus only statement 2 is correct.