[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2021: Insights Current Affairs Quiz , 21 May 2022 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: a)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) recently approved a proposal to continue the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), a scheme for improving the governance capabilities of panchayati raj institutions, till 2025-2026.

The approved scheme of RGSA will help more than 2.78 lakh rural local bodies…to develop governance capabilities to deliver on SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] through inclusive local governance with focus on optimum utilisation of available resources.

The scheme would work towards “poverty free and enhanced livelihood in villages; healthy village, child friendly village; water sufficient village; clean and green village; self-sufficient infrastructure in village; socially secured village; village with good governance; engendered development in village”.

No permanent posts would be created under the scheme but “need-based contractual human resources may be provisioned for overseeing the implementation of the scheme and providing technical support to States/UTs”.

Source

Solution: a)

The labour force participation rate essentially tells us what percentage of people who are within the working-age (15 to 59 years) group want to be part of the workforce. A low labour force participation rate undermines a country’s overall productivity and wellbeing because fewer people are making themselves available for economic activity.

Solution: a)

Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present.

Zero tillage not only reduce the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement and weed effect which is better than tillage. Zero Tillage (ZT) also called No Tillage or Nil Tillage.

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops as well as the raising of livestock.

Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice involving growing two or more crops in proximity. 

Vertical farming is the practice of growing produce in vertically stacked layers. The practice can use soil, hydroponic or aeroponic growing methods. Vertical farms attempt to produce food in challenging environments, like where arable land is rare or unavailable.

Solution: c)

The NFHS is a large survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India which started in 1992-93 and is repeated at an interval of about four to five years. It is the Indian version of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), as it is known in other countries.

The NFHS is not the only survey that the Health Ministry conducts. In the last five years, it has conducted the National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS), the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS), the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), the alcohol survey, the Comprehensive National. Nutrition Survey (CNNS) and many others.

Solution: d)

Lending to the agriculture sector, like that to MSMEs or Housing, is clubbed under priority sector which banks are mandated to do. Before the start of the kharif-rabi cycle, banks are given district-wise targets to lend to each priority sector. The State Level Bankers Conference (SLBC) — a body of bankers in the state — fixes this by taking in consideration the scale of finance for individual districts. For the agricultural sector, banks extend for short term and long-term loans at concessional interest rates. The short-term loan is known as crop loans as banks extend this before the start of the cropping cycle.

There are structural differences in the way scheduled commercial banks and cooperative banks approach this.

Cooperative banks operate through village level Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) — cooperative bodies of individual farmers at the village level.

On the other hand, state commercial banks deal with farmers individually.

Source