DAY – 28 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 28)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: C

About Equalization levy

Equalization levy was introduced to tax the income gained by foreign e-commerce companies through digital transactions from India. It is aimed at taxing business to business transactions.

The equalization levy was introduced vide Budget 2016 to give effect to the recommendations of the OECD on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan.

Solution: D

Solution: A

Closure Motion

It is a motion moved by a member to cut short the debate on a matter before the House. If the motion is approved by the House, debate is stopped forthwith and the matter is put to vote. There are four kinds of closure motions:

(a) Simple Closure: It is one when a member moves that the ‘matter having been sufficiently discussed be now put to vote’.

(b) Closure by Compartments: In this case, the clauses of a bill or a lengthy resolution are grouped into parts before the commencement of the debate. The debate covers the part as a whole and the entire part is put to vote.

(c) Kangaroo Closure: Under this type, only important clauses are taken up for debate and voting and the intervening clauses are skipped over and taken as passed.

(d) Guillotine Closure: It is one when the undiscussed clauses of a bill or a resolution are also put to vote along with the discussed ones due to want of time (as the time allotted for the discussion is over).

Solution: C

National Productivity Council (NPC)

• NPC is a national level autonomous organization under Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry to promote productivity culture in India.
• It was established as a registered society on 12th February 1958 by the Government with aim to stimulate and promote productivity and quality consciousness across all sectors in the country.
• It is a tri-partite organization with equal representation from government, employers and workers’ organizations.
• NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an Intergovernmental Body, of which the Government of India is a founder member.

The objectives of NPC are as follows:

• To create and develop productivity consciousness in the country.
• To make arrangements for the training of managers at every level of management.
• To make arrangements for the services of experts on the requisitions of local productivity councils.
• To undertake research with regard to various production processes.
• To send delegations to developed countries to collect and study information with regard to increased productivity.
• To make arrangements for training of personnel with regard to productivity methods and techniques in other countries.
• To invite experts on productivity from foreign countries and to make use of their knowledge and services.
• To import various productivity services with a view to having maximum utilisation of available resources, viz; men, money, materials and machines.
• To ensure higher and better living standards to the people of the country.

Solution: C

North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP)

Context: A study finds that North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) improves livelihoods of 300,000 households in 11 districts of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. Under this project, the Skills development and placement has trained 10462 boys and girls in various job skills and a total of 5494 of them are employed today.

About NERLP:

• It is a World Bank aided, multi-state livelihood project under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), launched in 2012.
• Implemented in 11 districts of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.
• Aim: to improve rural livelihoods especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged, in four North Eastern States(Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim)
• The project has focussed on five development strategies, namely, social empowerment, economic empowerment, partnership development, project management and livelihood & value chain developments.

Solution: D

Janaushadhi Sugam

• Union Ministry for Chemicals and Fertilizers has launched a mobile application “Janaushadhi Sugam”.
• The application aims to enable people to search Janaushadhi generic medicines and the stores at the tip of their fingers.
• It will also help analyse product comparison of Generic vs Branded medicine in form of MRP & overall Savings.
• Janaushadhi Sugam mobile application would have user-friendly options like- to locate nearby Janaushadhikendra, direction guidance for location of the Janaushadhikendra through Google Map, search Janaushadhi generic medicines, analyse product comparison of Generic vs Branded medicine in form of MRP & overall Savings, etc.
• It can be downloaded free of cost by the user from Google Play Store and Apple Store.

Solution: A

SSLV is a new mini-rocket launcher designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for launching small satellites. SSLV rockets are capable of putting a payload of 500 kg to mid-inclination Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 300 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO), making it ideal for launching small satellites.

SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple micro-satellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs. Unlike the PSLV and GSLV, the SSLV can be assembled both vertically and horizontally. It will be used exclusively for small satellites such as nanosats and cubesats.

Solution: C

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• It is set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957 within the United Nations family.
• Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
• It is an independent international organization that reports annually to the UN General Assembly. When necessary, the IAEA also reports to the UN Security Council in regards to instances of members’ non-compliance with safeguards and security obligations.

Functions:

• Works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies.
• Seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.

Solution: C

Nal Sarovar is a Bird Sanctuary, spread in the area of 120.82-sq-km Lake, a serene marshland with shallow waters (4-5 ft) which contains 36 small islands. Nalsarovar-Ahmedabad distance is about 60 km located near Sanand Village, in Gujarat. Mainly inhabited by migratory birds as their wintering ground, Nalsarovar wetland is the largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat, and one of the largest in India. Nalsarovar is a Bird Sanctuary since April 1969 and Nalsarovar is a Ramsar site since 24 September 2012.

The Nal Sarovar Lake is in a lowest-lying area between the Central Gujarat and East Saurashtra. It represents a sea link that once existed between the Little Rann and the Gulf of Khamba.

Solution: C

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which helps us understand the growth of various sectors in the Indian economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing. It is a short term indicator of industrial growth.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. IIP is published monthly, with six weeks delay.

It covers 865 (Older series 682) items comprising:

• Manufacturing (809 items, Older series 620 items),
• Mining (55 items, Older Series 61 items) &
• Electricity (1 item).

The weights of the three sectors are:

• Manufacturing – 77.63%,
• Mining – 14.37%,
• Electricity – 7.99%

Solution: B

Voluntary Retention Route is a scheme to encourage Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to undertake long-term investments in Indian debt markets.

The minimum retention period would be three years. During this period, FPIs shall maintain a minimum of 75 per cent of the allocated amount in India.

FPIs registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are eligible to voluntarily invest through the route in government and corporate bonds.

Allocation of investment amount to FPIs under this route shall be made on tap or through auctions.

Solution: A

SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold. They are substitutes for holding physical gold.

Investors have to pay the issue price in cash and the bonds will be redeemed in cash on maturity. The Bond is issued by Reserve Bank on behalf of Government of India.

Benefits of Sovereign Gold Bonds

• Investors are assured of the market value of gold at the time of maturity and periodical interest.
• SGB is free from issues like making charges and purity in the case of gold in jewellery form.
• The bonds are held in the books of the RBI or in demat form eliminating risk of loss of scrip etc.

Solution: B

Three Phases of Indian nuclear power programme

• Homi Bhabha envisioned India’s nuclear power programme in three stages to suit country’s low uranium resource profile.

Phase I – Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor:

• In the first stage of the programme natural uranium fuelled Pressurized Heavy water reactors produces electricity while generating plutonium-239 as by-product.

Phase II – Fast Breeder Reactor:

• In the second stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs) [moderators not required] would use plutonium239, recovered by reprocessing spent fuel from the first stage, and natural uranium.
• In FBRs, plutonium-239 undergoes fission to produce energy, while the uranium-238 present in the fuel transmutes to additional plutonium-239.

Phase III – Thorium based Reactors:

• A Stage III reactor or an advanced nuclear power system involves a self-sustaining series of thorium-232-uranium-233 fuelled reactors.
• This would be a thermal breeder reactor, which in principle can be refueled – after its initial fuel charge – using only naturally occurring thorium.
• As there is a long delay before direct thorium utilization in the three-stage programme, the country is now looking at reactor designs that allow more direct use of thorium in parallel with the sequential three-stage programme
• Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is such an option under consideration.

Solution: B

Chandipura virus:

Context: Chandipura virus detected in Gujarat.

What is it?

Named after the Maharashtra village where the virus was first discovered, the likely vector (carrier) of the virus is the female phlebotomine sandfly. It has been detected in sand flies in Senegal and Nigeria, apart from India. The virus is known to cause inflammation of the brain, and progresses rapidly from an influenza-like illness to coma and death.

Chandipura virus (CHPV) belongs to the Rhabdoviridae family in the order Mononegavirales of the genus Vesiculovirus. Interestingly, its continuing mutating trend has enhanced its lethality to cause human infections, unlike its genetic cousin, the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV).

Symptoms:

• Sudden high fever accompanied by headaches and altered consciousness.
• Convulsions.
• Vomiting and nausea.
• Unconsciousness

Key facts:

The virus predominantly infects children between the ages of 2-16, spreading through the bite of a sandfly, and in some cases, even the mosquito during the monsoon and pre-monsoon season.
It is distantly related to the virus that causes rabies and is known to have a case fatality between 55-75 per cent.

Solution: B

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency or virtual currency created and held electronically.

It is not regulated by any central bank or government. They aren’t printed, like dollars or euros – they’re produced by people, and increasingly businesses, running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems.

It is also called a “cryptocurrency” since it is decentralized and uses cryptography to prevent double-spending, a significant challenge inherent to digital currencies.

Bitcoin is a distributed peer-to-peer digital currency that functions without the inter-mediation of any central authority.

It can also be traded on an open market and its exchange rate fluctuates much like a stock market i.e. based on the demand.