[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz ,17 November 2022

Solution: b)

SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association was set up by Ela Bhatt in 1972.

SEWA was born out of the Textile Labour Association (TLA) — founded by Anasuya Sarabhai and Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 — but it could not register as a trade union until 1972 because its members did not have an “employer”, and were thus not seen as workers.

As early as in 1974, SEWA Bank was established to provide small loans to poor women — an initiative that was recognised by the International Labour Organisation as a microfinance movement.

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Solution: d)

During the southwest monsoon, the prevalent direction of the wind is easterly. The winds travel from over the Bay of Bengal, carrying moisture and rainfall to this part of the country. Once the monsoon withdraws, however, the predominant direction of the winds changes to north-westerly. These winds carry particulate matter (essentially smoke and soot) from crop-burning in Punjab to the area above Delhi, and then onward down the Gangetic basin.

The fall in temperature also contributes to increased pollution levels. As it gets cooler, the inversion height — which is the layer beyond which pollutants cannot disperse into the upper atmosphere — comes down. When that happens, larger concentrations of pollutants in the air hang closer to the surface, and lead to worsening AQIs.

The point to note here is this: The direction of the wind is north-westerly in summer too, but it is the very high temperature over the Indo-Gangetic basin that ensures the pollutants that it brings (dust etc. from Rajasthan and sometimes Pakistan and Afghanistan) does not hang low.

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Solution: c)

Solution: d)

Banks maintain a minimum cash balance out of the deposits they receive. The RBI monitors the banks in actually maintaining cash balance.

Similarly, the RBI sees that the banks give loans not just to profit-making businesses and traders but also to small cultivators, small scale industries, small borrowers etc.

Banks need to report spurious transactions to Financial Intelligence Unit. The norms are regulated by RBI.

Solution: c)

By definition, cooperatives are organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal.

The history of cooperative societies dates back to the pre-Independence era, in response to the agrarian distress and overall indebtedness.

In agriculture, cooperative dairies, sugar mills, spinning mills etc are formed with the pooled resources of farmers who wish to process their produce. In banking and finance, cooperative institutions are spread across rural and urban areas. There are also cooperative marketing societies in rural areas and cooperative housing societies in urban areas.

Amul is a successful example of a dairy cooperative society.

Agriculture and cooperation are in the state list, which means state governments can govern them. A majority of the cooperative societies are governed by laws in their respective states.