[MISSION 2024] RTM(Revision through MCQs)- 7 July 2023

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Option A: This would help control imports and thus the depreciation of rupee.
• Option B: Masala bonds were brought in to curb slide of rupee since the borrowing is rupee-dominated and does not put pressure on our currency through borrowing dollars.
• Option C: Easing ECBs will lead to higher borrowing abroad and would temporarily bridge the deficit of forex in India preventing the slide of rupee.
• Option D: An expansionary monetary policy may lead to lower interest rates and thus flight of foreign capital from India (which would get better returns abroad). Also, such a policy may fuel inflation and higher imports through higher government spending and further cause slide of rupee. So, D is the answer.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/internationalisation-of-rupee-why-and-what-are-the-benefits/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• As rupee is devalued, it becomes cheaper for other country residents. So, they demand greater Indian goods (exports). Reverse happens for us, we demand lesser imports (as they become costlier in terms of Indian currency).
• Statement 3 leads to statement 2, i.e. inflow of foreign exchange. There is another channel for this flow, which is greater FDI or FII. For a foreign investor, Indian securities or land or labour would become cheaper, and there is thus an incentive to invest in India.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/internationalisation-of-rupee-why-and-what-are-the-benefits/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• India has come a long way in liberating the capital account transactions in the last three decades and currently has partial capital account convertibility.
• Some of the recent moves include increasing the foreign portfolio investment limits in the Indian debt markets, introducing the Fully Accessible Route (FAR) — through which non-residents can invest in specified government securities without any restrictions and the easing of the external commercial borrowing framework by relaxing end-user restrictions. Inward FDI is allowed in most sectors, and outbound FDI by Indian incorporated entities is allowed as a multiple of their net worth.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/internationalisation-of-rupee-why-and-what-are-the-benefits/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Context: The Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in India has developed a unique early warning system known as the “farmers’ distress index.”

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/farmers-distress-index/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Agricultural soils contributed to over 70% of N2O emissions from India in 2010, followed by waste water (12%) and residential and commercial activities (6%). Since 2002, N2O has replaced methane as the second largest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) from Indian agriculture.
• Cattle account for 80% of the ammonia production, though their annual growth rate is 1%, due to a stable population.
• The poultry industry, on the other hand, with an annual growth rate of 6%, recorded an excretion of reactive nitrogen compounds of 0.415 tonnes in 2016.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/new-methane-source/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• S1 and S2: , frozen into a form of water ice called methane hydrate.

• At low temperatures the methane hydrates on the sea floor are stable, but if the water and the sea floor become warmer, then the hydrates can break down. Because microorganisms then oxidize the resulting methane gas to form the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), methane hydrates have recently become a topic of intense discussion within the context of climate change. See https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/energy/methane-hydrates/
• S3: Methane is relatively short-lived in the atmosphere; a molecule of methane is oxidized to water and carbon dioxide within a decade or so, mainly by reaction with another trace gas, the hydroxyl radical OH-. Thus, unlike the case of carbon dioxide (which stays in the atmosphere longer than methane), a concerted effort to reduce methane emissions would have almost immediate results in terms of reduction of greenhouse effect. See http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange1/03_3.shtml

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/new-methane-source/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Agricultural crop residue burning contributes towards the emission of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O, CH4), air pollutants (CO, NH3, NOx, SO2, NMHC, volatile organic compounds), particulates matter and smoke thereby posing threat to human health.
• Satellite observations have revealed elevated levels of O3 (Ozone), CO and aerosols over vast areas of Central Africa and South America, over the tropical Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean due to long-range transport of pollutants emitted from biomass burning.
• See http://www.aaqr.org/files/article/619/40_AAQR-13-01-OA-0031_422-430.pdf

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/new-methane-source/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Statement 1: The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC) was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and six countries—Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States—in 2012.
• Statement 2: The Coalition’s initial focus is on methane, black carbon, and HFCs.
• Statement 3: The program is managed out of the United Nations Environmental Programme through a Secretariat in Paris, France.[

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/new-methane-source/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. They are used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.
• Microbeads can cause plastic particle water pollution and pose an environmental hazard for aquatic animals in freshwater and ocean water.
• See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbead

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/microplastics/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Air Quality Index doesn’t include carbon dioxide and methane.
• http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/modi-launches-air-quality-index-wants-change-in-lifestyle-to-save-environment/story-C8VHWyZWYe36La6PQ7v2eO.html

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/07/new-methane-source/