[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2021: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 5 November 2021

Solution: d)

The Government kept the interest rates on small savings schemes unchanged for the September-December period. Small savings rates are reviewed every quarter and this is the sixth consecutive quarter that the government has maintained the rates.

The small savings schemes basket comprises 12 instruments including the National Saving Certificate (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and Sukanya Samridihi Scheme. 

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Solution: b)

A new study has found under-reported debts to the tune of $385 billion in projects carried out in dozens of countries under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with a rise in “hidden” debt on account of an increasing number of deals struck not directly between governments but structured through often opaque arrangements with a range of financing institutions.

The total debt, was “systematically under-reported to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS) because, in many cases, central government institutions in LMICs [low and middle income countries] are not the primary borrowers responsible for repayment”.

Debtor Reporting System (DRS) is a statistical reporting system maintained by the World Bank to monitor the debt of developing countries. Information is supplied through reports from debtor countries.

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Solution: b)

The census of one of the world’s most threatened cetaceans, the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) — a freshwater dolphin that is found in river Beas, is all set to commence in the winter as part of a project by the Centre.

The Indus river dolphin is classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and, until recently, it was believed that these dolphins were endemic to Pakistan. But in 2007, a remnant but viable population of Indus dolphins was discovered in Punjab’s Harike wildlife sanctuary and in the lower Beas river.

The Indus river dolphin was declared the State aquatic animal of Punjab in 2019.

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Solution: b)

A key indicator of an economy’s long-run debt sustainability is the differential between interest paid on government debt and the economy’s nominal growth rate. When the cost of raising debt is lower than the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, public debt comes with low fiscal costs. In such a situation, the debt-to-GDP ratio of the economy declines as debts are rolled over.

Solution: b)

To enhance the productivity of cattle, the Rashtriya Gokul Mission was initiated in 2014 with a focus on the genetic upgradation of the bovine population through widespread initiatives on artificial insemination, sex-sorted semen, and in vitro fertilization.

India is the highest livestock owner of the world.

As per the Economic Survey-2021, the contribution of Livestock in total agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32% (2014-15) to 28.63% (2018-19).