DAY – 41( INSTA REVISION TEST – 41)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2021

Solution: A

What is the Kostak rate?

It relates to an IPO application. So, the rate at which an investor buys an IPO application before the listing is termed the Kostak rate.

Solution: A

The debt-to-GDP ratio indicates how likely the country can pay off its debt. Investors often look at the debt-to-GDP metric to assess the government’s ability of finance its debt. Higher debt-to GDP ratios have fuelled economic crises worldwide.

The NK Singh Committee on FRBM had envisaged a debt-to-GDP ratio of 40 per cent for the central government and 20 per cent for states aiming for a total of 60 per cent general government debt-to-GDP

Solution: D

What is cess?

• It is a form of tax levied or collected by the government for the development or welfare of a particular service or sector.
• It is charged over and above direct and indirect taxes.
• Cess collected for a particular purpose cannot be used for or diverted to other purposes.
• It is not a permanent source of revenue for the government, and it is discontinued when the purpose levying it is fulfilled.
• Currently, the cess and surcharge collected by the Centre are not part of the tax devolution.

Examples: Education Cess, Swachh Bharat Cess, Krishi Kalyan Cess etc.

Solution: D

Inverted duty structure:

Inverted duty structure is a situation where import duty on finished goods is low compared to the import duty on raw materials that are used in the production of such finished goods.

• For example, suppose the tariff (import tax) on the import of tyres is 10% and the tariff on the imports of natural rubber which is used in the production of tyres is 20%; this is a case of inverted duty structure.
• When the import duty on raw materials is high, it will be more difficult to produce the concerned good domestically at a competitive price. Several industries depend on imported raw materials and components. High tax on the raw materials compels them to raise price.
• The disadvantage of the inverted duty structure increases with the increased use of imported raw materials. An inverted duty structure discourages domestic value addition.
• On the other hand, foreign finished goods will be coming at a reduced price because of low tax advantage. In conclusion, manufactured goods by the domestic industry becomes uncompetitive against imported finished goods.
• In such a case, even foreign investors would not be interested in setting up a firm for production in the country

Solution: A

Regulations Review Authority 2.0.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up the Regulations Review Authority 2.0, initially for a period of one year from 1 May 2021 to streamline regulations and reduce the compliance burden of regulated entities.
• The authority will review regulatory prescriptions internally as well as by seeking suggestions from RBI-regulated entities for simplification and ease of implementation.
• The RBI had set up a similar authority in 1999 for reviewing regulations, circulars, reporting systems

Solution: D

Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code:

• It has been made mandatory for a GST taxpayer having a turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year, to furnish 6 digits HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code).
• This comes into effect from April 1, 2021.

What does the HS code mean?-

Harmonised System, or simply ‘HS’: It is a six-digit identification code. Of the six digits, the first two denote the HS Chapter, the next two give the HS heading, and the last two give the HS subheading.

• Developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO).
• Called the “universal economic language” for goods.
• It is a multipurpose international product nomenclature.
• The system currently comprises of around 5,000 commodity groups.

Solution: B

The eight core sector industries include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity

• The eight core industries comprise nearly 40% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• The eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.

Solution: B

Under the National Security Act, an individual can be detained without a charge for up to 12 months. The individual also need not be informed of the charges for 10 days.

The detained individual can appeal before a high court advisory board but is not allowed a lawyer during the trial. Also, the individual can be put under preventive detention for months if authorities are satisfied that he/she is a threat to national security or law and order.

Solution: C

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was set up in 1963 by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and now it enjoys the status of an attached office. The Special Police Establishment (which looked into vigilance cases) setup in 1941 was also merged with the CBI.

The establishment of the CBI was recommended by the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962–1964).

The CBI is not a statutory body. It derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.

Solution: C

Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin is known to occur within the Indian Ocean from South Africa to India. Indian Ocean humpbacked dolphins are social delphinids that live in groups.

Habitat:

Species are among the most adaptive ones due to their habitat preference for shallow waters places them in some of the world’s most intensively utilised, fished, shipped, modified and polluted waters.

The species is currently categorized as endangered species and protected under Schedule I of the Wild life protection Act, 1972.

Solution: D

Nagorno-Karabakh region:

• Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but its population is majority Armenian. As the Soviet Union saw increasing tensions in its constituent republics in the 1980s, Nagorno-Karabakh voted to become part of Armenia – sparking a war which stopped with a ceasefire in 1994.
• Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh has remained part of Azerbaijan but is controlled by separatist ethnic Armenians backed by the Armenian government.

Solution: C

The Group of Seven (G7) is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of the seven largest IMF-described advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Solution: D

What are rare earth minerals?

• The rare earths minerals (REM) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
• The REMs have unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and luminescent properties. While named ‘rare earth’, they are in fact not that rare and are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust.

Strategic importance of REM

• Its usage range from daily use (e.g., lighter flints, glass polishing mediums, car alternators) to high-end technology (lasers, magnets, batteries, fibre-optic telecommunication cables).
• Even futuristic technologies need these REMs (For example high-temperature superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a post-hydrocarbon economy, environmental global warming and energy efficiency issues).
• Due to their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, they help in technologies perform with reduced weight, reduced emissions, and energy consumption; therefore give them greater efficiency, performance, miniaturization, speed, durability, and thermal stability

Solution: C

About North Atlantic Treaty Organization:

• It is an intergovernmental military alliance.
• Established by Washington treaty.
• Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
• Headquarters — Brussels, Belgium.
• Headquarters of Allied Command Operations — Mons, Belgium.

Composition:

• Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.
• NATO membership is open to “any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Solution: C

Pakke tiger reserve:

• Pakke Tiger Reserve is also known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve.
• This Tiger Reserve has won India Biodiversity Award 2016 in the category of ‘Conservation of threatened species’ for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.
• It is bounded by Bhareli or Kameng River in the west and north, and by Pakke River in the east.
• Neighbours: Papum Reserve Forest in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam’s Nameri National Park, Doimara Reserve Forest and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The main perennial streams in the area are the Nameri, Khari and Upper Dikorai. West of Kameng River is Sessa Orchid Sanctuary.
• It falls within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.

Solution: C
Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes
8°4’ and 37°6’ north, longitudes 68°7’ and 97°25’ east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km.

The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.

Solution: D
Nine pillars of Digital India
1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
5. e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs
9. Early Harvest Programmes.

Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
· The initiative is to focus on network penetration and fill the gaps in connectivity in the country.
· All together 42,300 uncovered villages will be covered for providing universal mobile connectivity in the country.
· DoT will be the nodal department

Electronics Manufacturing
Target NET ZERO Imports is a striking demonstration of intent.

This ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts
· Taxation, incentives
· Economies of scale, eliminate cost disadvantages
· Focus areas – Big Ticket Items FABS, Fab-less design, Set top boxes, VSATs,
Mobiles, Consumer & Medical Electronics, Smart Energy meters, Smart cards,
micro-ATMs
· Incubators, clusters
· Skill development
· Government procurement
There are many ongoing programs which will be fine-tuned.

Solution: D
Recently, Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) was held, adopting Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration.

Solution: D
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health of women &
children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting
firewood.
Under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, 8 Cr LPG connections will be provided to BPL families with a support of Rs.1600 per connection in the next 3 years. Ensuring women’s empowerment, especially in rural India, the connections will be issued in the name of women of the households. Rs. 8000 Cr. has been allocated towards the implementation of the scheme. Identification of the BPL families will be done through Socio Economic Caste Census Data.

Solution: B
About Nirbhaya Fund

The fund is created by Ministry of Finance in 2013. It dedicated for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. It is a non-lapsable corpus fund.
Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry to appraise
schemes under Nirbhaya Fund and also to review and monitor the progress of sanctioned Schemes in conjunction with the line Ministries/Departments.
It is being monitored by Empowered Committee of Officers under Secretary of Women and Child Development Ministry.
Empowered Committee of Officers: It is an inter-ministerial committee which
appraises and recommends various projects (schemes) proposed by different ministries to be funded from Nirbhaya Fund.

Solution: C

About Cyber Gram Project:

Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) aims at improving the socio-economic conditions of minorities and providing basic amenities to them for improving the quality of life of the people and reducing imbalances in the identified minority concentration areas.

As we are living in a digital society, it is felt that to achieve the objective of programme, it is necessary to equip the targeted group with knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and enabling them to use ICT services in their day to day work.

Solution: B
The administrative control of Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) has been transferred to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Finance Ministry. So far, it was under the domain of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The budget 2018 has amended the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, and has renamed
the Central Road Fund as Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF).
Main purpose of the amendment is to use the proceeds of the road cess under CRIF to finance other infrastructure projects including waterways, some portion of the railway infrastructure and even social infrastructure including education institutions, medical colleges etc.

The amendment prescribes that road cess is first credited to the Consolidated Fund of India and later, after adjusting for the cost of tax collection, should go to the CRIF.
As per the amendment, the share for each infrastructure areas and projects from the CRIF shall be finalised by a Committee, constituted by the Central government. The Committee will be headed by the finance minister.

Solution: C

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) measures the quantum of changes in the industrial production in an economy and captures the general level of industrial activity in the country. It is a composite indicator expressed in terms of an index number which measures the short term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a given period with respect to the base period.

The base year is always given a value of 100. The current base year for the IIP series in India is 2011-12.

IIP is a short term indicator of industrial growth till the results from Annual Survey of Industries and National Accounts Statistics are available. However, IIP is considered to be one of the lead indicators for short-term economic analysis because of its strong relationship with economic fluctuations in the rest of economy. Most of services, like transport, storage, communication, real estate, insurance and banking are industry dependent and are considerably influenced by industrial performance.

Index of Industrial Production is compiled and published every month by Central Statistics Office (CSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with a time lag of six weeks from the reference month. i.e., at the time of release of IIP data, quick estimates for the relevant month along with revised and final indices of previous two months respectively, (on the basis of updated production data) are released.

The general scope of IIP, as recommended by United Nations Statistics Division includes Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas steam, Air conditioning supply, Water supply, Sewerage, Waste management and Remediation activities. But, in India, due to constraints of data availability and other resources, the index is compiled using figures of mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors only

Solution: B

Structure of an economy refers to the fundamental features of the economy like the size of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in terms of their contribution to GDP and employment. Other important elements of structure are trade composition (the items that we export and import), saving GDP ratio (level of savings as a percent of GDP) etc. Structure of the economy thus means the occupational structure, sectoral distribution of income, industrial pattern, composition of exports, saving- GDP ratio etc.

Solution: D

The World Investment Report has been published annually since 1991 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution.

Other reports published by UNCTAD include Trade and Development Report,  The Least Developed Countries Report, World Economic Situation and Prospects, Information and Economy Report, Technology and Innovation Report, and Commodities and Development Report.

Solution: C

Let the average age of men be x

Therefore, sum of age of 8 men = 8x

If average increases by 2 when two women are included in place of two men of ages 20 and 24 years, then average age will be x+2.

Since, total number of people remain 8, sum of age new  group = 8 * (x+2) = 8x +16

Therefore,  total age  of two women = 20 + 24 + 16 = 60

Therefore, average of women = 30 years.

Solution: B

A: B :C = 100: 90:87

Therefore, B/C = 90/87

Therefore, by the time B covers 180 m, C covers 87*2 m or 174 m

Thus, B beats C by 6 m

Solution: D

Maximum length of tape
= HCF of 363m, 528m and 693m
363 can be simplified as 3 * 11 * 11
528 can be simplified as 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 3 * 11
693 can be simplified as 3 * 3 * 7 * 11
HCF of 363m, 528m and 693m = 3 * 11= 33 metre

Solution: C

Least number between 100 and 300 which is divisible by 11 is 110.

Highest number between 100 and 300 which is divisible by 11 is 297

Therefore, total number divisibly 11 including 110 and 297 are

(297 – 110)/11 + 1 = 187/11 + 1

= 17 + 1 = 18

Solution: D

The least number which when divided by 8, 12 and 16, leave the common remainder 3 = LCM (8, 12 and 16) + 3

= 48 + 3 = 51.