24 April 2021 | Nikaalo Prelims Quiz- TS 05 – Current Affairs Test 2: Aug 2020

Why in news?
According to the RBI, the gross non-performing assets would go up from 11.3% in March 2020 to 15.2% in March 2021, and to 16.3% under a
very severe stress scenario.

Mission Indradhanush is one of the ways to tackle NPAs. The Indradhanush framework for transforming the PSBs represents the most comprehensive reform effort undertaken since banking nationalization in the year 1970 to revamp the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and improve their overall performance by ABCDEFG.

•A-Appointments: Based upon global best practices and as per the guidelines in the companies act, separate post of Chairman and Managing Director and the CEO will get the designation of MD & CEO and there would be another person who would be appointed as non-Executive Chairman of PSBs.
• B-Bank Board Bureau: The BBB will be a body of eminent professionals and officials, which will replace the Appointments Board for the appointment of Whole-time Directors as well as non-Executive Chairman of PSBs
• C-Capitalization: As per finance ministry, the capital requirement of extra capital for the next four years up to FY 2019 is likely to
be about Rs.1,80,000 crore out of which 70000 crores will be provided by the GOI and the rest PSBs will have to raise from the market. (Refer the above table)
• D-DEstressing: PSBs and strengthening risk control measures and NPAs disclosure.
• E-Employment: GOI has said there will be no interference from Government and Banks are encouraged to take independent decisions keeping in mind the commercial the organizational interests.
• F-Framework of Accountability: New KPI(key performance indicators) which would be linked with performance and also the consideration of ESOPs for top management PSBs.
• G-Governance Reforms: For Example, Gyan Sangam, a conclave of PSBs and financial institutions. Bank board Bureau for transparent and meritorious appointments in PSBs.

Why in news?
The Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI has decided to keep the benchmark interest rates of the economy unchanged.

• When growth contracts or when a country’s growth rate decelerates, people’s incomes also get hit.
• As a result, less and less money is chasing the same quantity of goods.
• This results in the inflation rate decline.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

• In a fast-growing economy, incomes go up quickly and more and more people have the money to buy the existing bunch of goods.
• As more and more money chases the existing set of goods, prices of such goods rise.
• In other words, inflation (which is nothing but the rate of increase in prices) spikes.
Hence statements 1 and 3 are correct.

Tikdam:
Statements 2 and 3 cannnot go together. Also options 1 and 3 are indirectly same. So if u would have been able to eliminate option 2, it was easy to reach the correct answer.

Statement 2 is incorrect because Governor of the RBI is ex officio Chairman of the committee.

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
• The RBI Act, 1934 (RBI Act) was amended by the Finance Act, 2016, to provide for a statutory and institutionalized framework for an MPC, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
• The MPC is entrusted with the task of fixing the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) required to contain inflation within the specified target level. Therefore, statement 3 is correct.
• The meetings of the MPC are held at least 4 times a year and it publishes its decisions after each such meeting. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six members of the committee, three members are from the RBI and the other three Members of MPC are appointed by the Central Government.

Why in news?
Non-Brus of Tripura has proposed six places for settling the displaced Brus from Mizoram and set a limit for the number of families to be accommodated in two subdivisions that have borne the brunt of the 23-year-old refugee crisis.

• Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram. It is a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.Therefore, statement 1 is incorrect and statement 2 is correct.
• Their exodus in 1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith subdivision, a Reang-dominated area when they demanded the creation of an autonomous council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo groups.
• Around 34,000 people were forced to live in sub-human conditions in tents in Tripura. No solution could be reached all these years.
• These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.

Statement 3 is incorrect.
Why in news?
This was recently in news because the Supreme Court has referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench a batch of petitions challenging the 103rd Constitution Amendment of 2019.

What is the 103rd amendment about?
• It provides for 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for EWS, by amending Articles 15 and 16 that deal with the fundamental right to equality.
• While Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, Article 16 guarantees equal opportunity in matters of public employment.
• An additional clause was added to both provisions, giving Parliament the power to make special laws for EWS as it does for SCs, STs and OBCs.
• The states are to notify who constitute EWS to be eligible for reservation.

Why in news?
It was recently in news because August 7th was celebrated as the National Handloom Day.

• It was on August 7, 1905, that a formal proclamation was made at the Calcutta Town Hall to boycott foreign goods and rely on Indian-made products.
• Swadeshi movement was also called the Vandemataram movement in India.
• Credit to starting the Swadeshi movement goes to Baba Ram Singh Kuka of the Sikh Namdhari sect, whose revolutionary movements heightened around 1871 and 1872.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It gained momentum with the partition of Bengal by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon in 1905 and continued up to 1911.
• It was the most successful of the pre-Gandhian movements. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Its chief architects were Aurobindo Ghosh, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Babu Genu.
• Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Mahatma Gandhi, who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self-rule). It was strongest in Bengal.

Why in news?
Environment Minister has launched piloting of the National Transit Pass System for seamless movement of forest produce.

• The NTPS is an online system for issuing transit permits for timber, bamboo and other forest produce.
• This system helps in monitoring and keeping records of transit permits for inter-state and intra-state transportation of timber and bamboo from private lands/government/private depot and other minor forest produce.
• E-pass will be issued for transit through the desktop-based web portal as well as a mobile application.
• It will bring ease of business and expedite the issuance of transit permits for timber, bamboo and other minor forest produce without physically going to forest offices.
• It will be functional in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana for now on a pilot basis.

Why in news?
Recently, the Supreme Court of India suo moto initiated the proceedings for criminal contempt of court against lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan for his tweet criticising the current Chief Justice of India and the role of some Chief Justices of India in the last six years.

Both the statements are incorrect.
Civil contempt is when someone willfully disobeys a court order.
Criminal contempt is when someone prejudices or interferes
with any judicial proceeding.

What is Contempt of Court?
• It seeks to protect judicial institutions from motivated attacks and unwarranted criticism, and as a legal mechanism to punish those who lower its authority.

What are the kinds of contempt of court?
The law codifying contempt classifies it as civil and criminal.
• Civil contempt is fairly simple. It is committed when someone willfully disobeys a court order or wilfully breaches an undertaking given to the court.
• Criminal contempt is more complex:
It consists of three forms:
(a) words, written or spoken, signs and actions that scandalise
or tend to scandalise or lower or tends to lower the authority of any court
(b) prejudices or interferes with any judicial proceeding and
(c) interferes with or obstructs the administration of justice.
• The punishment for contempt of court is simple imprisonment for a term up to six months and/or a fine of up to Rs.2,000.

Why in news?
India has refused a request by Pakistan to hold a meeting on issues around the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) at the Attari check post near the India-Pakistan border.

Statement 1 is incorrect:
• The IWT is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank signed in Karachi in 1960.
• According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three eastern rivers of India the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej was given to India. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The control over the water flowing in three western rivers of India the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan.
• The treaty allowed India to use western rivers water for limited irrigation use and unrestricted use for power generation, domestic, industrial and non-consumptive uses such as navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc. while laying down precise regulations for India to build projects
• India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through the run of the river (RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation is unrestricted.
•Ratle run-of-the-river (RoR) project on the Chenab in the Kishtwar district. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Why in news?
The Himalayas, which hosts about 600 geothermal springs, needs
to be considered while estimating emissions to the carbon cycle
and thereby to global warming, says Indian researchers.

Hot springs in India:
1) Panamik in Nubra valley
2) Kheer Ganga in Kullu, Himachal
3) Manikaran Sahib, Himachal
4) Tattapani, Chhattisgarh
5) Gaurikund, Uttarakhand
6) Yumthang, Sikkim
7) Reshi, Sikkim

Why in news?
A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.

Statement 1 is incorrect:
IUCN status is Vulnerable.

About Great Indian Hornbill
• IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I
• The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
• The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
• It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
• A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris. Hence, statement 4 is correct.
• The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.

Their ecological significance
• Referred to as forest engineers or farmers of the forest for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Why in news?
PM has recently launched a new financing scheme under the ₹1 lakh crore AIF.

Statement 1 is incorrect:
It is a Central Sector Scheme.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme:
• The AIF is a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee.
Hence, statements 2 and 3 are correct.
• The duration of the scheme shall be from FY2020 to FY2029 (10 years).
• It is a Central Sector Scheme meant for setting up storage and processing facilities, which will help farmers, get higher prices for their crops.
• It will support farmers, PACS, FPOs, Agri-entrepreneurs, etc. in building community farming assets and post-harvest agriculture infrastructure.

Why in news?
The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for various government jobs.

Statement 3 is incorrect.
The NRA will conduct the Common Eligibility Test (CET) for recruitment to non-gazetted posts in government and public sector banks.

• NRA will be a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, headed by a Chairman of the rank of the Secretary to the Government of India. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices to the field
of Central Government recruitment.
• This test aims to replace multiple examinations conducted by different recruiting agencies for selection to government jobs advertised each year, with a single online test.
• The Common Eligibility Test will be held twice a year.
• The CET will be conducted in 12 major Indian languages. Henec, statement 2 is correct.
• CET will be a first level test to shortlist candidates and the score will be valid for three years.
• There shall be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit.

Why in news?
The rift between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia over Jammu and
Kashmir is out in the open after a delegation led by Pak Army
Chief was denied a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman (MBS).

Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; by the Persian Gulf, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman to the east; by a portion of Oman to the southeast; by Yemen to the south and southwest; and by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west.

About Hilsa Fish
• IUCN status: Least Concerned. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

• The Hilsa is a species of fish related to the herring, in the family Clupeidae.
• It is a very popular and sought-after food fish in the Indian Subcontinent.
• Though its a saltwater fish, it migrates to sweet waters. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• It is the national fish of Bangladesh and state symbol in the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.
• The fish contributes about 12% of the total fish production and about 1.15% of GDP in Bangladesh.

Why in News?
The government has set targets of 10 per cent bioethanol blending of petrol by 2022 and to raise it to 20 per cent by 2030 to curb carbon emissions and reduce India’s dependence on imported crude oil. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

What is Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program?
• Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme was launched in January 2003 for the supply of 5% ethanol blended petrol.
• The programme sought to promote the use of alternative and environment-friendly fuels and to reduce import dependency for energy requirements.
• OMCs are advised to continue according to the priority of ethanol from 1) sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup, 2) B-heavy molasses 3) C-heavy molasses and 4) damaged food grains/ other sources. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Why in news?
The Odisha government has announced to give a facelift to the 11th century Lingaraj Temple, akin to its pre-350-year structural status.
Statement 2 is incorrect:
Lingaraja Temple represents the quintessence of the Kalinga Architecture.
Statement 3 is incorrect:
The temple is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty

About Lingaraj Temple
• Lingaraja Temple is a temple dedicated to Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It represents the quintessence of the Kalinga Architecture and culminating the medieval stages of the architectural tradition at Bhubaneswar.
• The temple is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty, with later additions from the Ganga rulers.
• It is built in the Deula style that has four components namely, vimana (structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), natamandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings), each increasing in the height to its predecessor.
• Bhubaneswar is called the Ekamra Kshetra as the deity of Lingaraja was originally under a mango tree (Ekamra) as noted in Ekamra Purana, a 13th-century Sanskrit treatise.
• The temple has images of Vishnu, possibly because of the rising prominence of Jagannath sect emanating from the Ganga rulers who built the Jagannath Temple in Puri in the 12th century.

Why in news?
The COVID-19 pandemic has reached the Bondas, a PVTGs community residing in the hill ranges of Malkangiri district in Odisha.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

Who are the Bondas?
• The Bondas are Munda ethnic group who live in the isolated hill regions of the Malkangiri district of southwestern Odisha near the junction of the three states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh.
• They are a scheduled tribe of India and are also known as the Remo (meaning “people” in the Bonda language). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The tribe is one of the oldest and most primitive in mainland India; their culture has changed little for more than a thousand years. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Their isolation and known aggressiveness continue to preserve their culture despite the pressures of an expanding Indian population.

Why in news?
Attorney General of India has refused consent to a plea to initiate criminal contempt action against an actor for scandalizing the Supreme Court.

Statement 3 is incorrect:
He/she is appointed by the President of India.

Attorney General of India (AGI)
• The AGI is the Indian government’s chief legal advisor and is a primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.
• They can be said to be the advocate from the government’s side.
• They are appointed by the President of India on the advice of Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• They must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court (i.e. a judge of some high court for five years or an advocate of some high court for ten years or an eminent jurist, in the opinion of the President and must be a citizen of India.). Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Tikdam:
Statement 3 says that they are appointed by the Chief Justice of India while statement 1 says that they hold office during the pleasure of the President. This indicates that appointing authority is different from the one responsible for its removal, which generally does not happen.
Therefore, it was easy to reach the answer if you would have been able to eliminate statement 3.

Why this question?
In a resumption of bilateral and multilateral military exercises which were deferred due to coronavirus (COVID-19), India will take part in the Russian Kavkaz 2020 strategic command-post exercise next month.

Surya Kiran : India and Nepal
Harimau Shakti : India and Malaysia
Ekuverin : India and Maldives