IAS Budget & Economic Survey Test - 2

ANSWER: Dr. Y. V. Reddy

Explanation:
The Finance Commission is a Constitutional body formulated under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution. It is constituted every five years by the President of India. Dr. Vijay Kelkar headed the Thirteenth Commission and C. Rangarajan the Twelfth. Raghuram Rajan is current RBI governer.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
The share is 42%. It is a radical enhancement. .The Twelfth (period 2005-10) and Thirteenth (period 2010-15) had recommended a state share of 30.5% (increase of 1%) and 32% (increase of 1.5%). All states stand to gain from FFC transfers in absolute terms. Gains by each state as compared to what they received in earlier years differ. Thus in relative terms few states gain more than others.

ANSWER: Only 1 and 3

Explanation:
The FFC has incorporated two new variables: 2011 population and forest cover; and excluded the fiscal discipline variable.

ANSWER: Only 2 and 3

Explanation:
The FFC has not made any recommendation concerning sector specific-grants unlike the Thirteenth Finance Commission. CAS has become more and more discretionary in recent years. Grants in statement 3 are formula based and hence progressive.

ANSWER: Only 1 and 2

Explanation:
Successful implementation of the Fourteenth Finance Commission’s (FFC) recommendations will advance the idea of Cooperative and Competitive federalism.

ANSWER: 2 and 4

Explanation:
The regions with more forest cover are the gainers. Arunachal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, etc. have more forest cover.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
It is due to above reasons that converting all subsidies into direct benefit transfers is a laudable goal of government policy.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
JAM stands for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile Number and not mobile money. Linking the Aadhaar number to an active bank account is key to implementing income transfers.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Explanation:
Cash Benefits Transfers also compensate consumers and producers for exactly the welfare benefits they derive from price subsidies without distorting their incentives.

ANSWER: Mechanism of delivering direct cash benefits

Explanation:
Aadhaar registrations include the mobile number of a customer. With several cell phone operators reportedly applying for a payment bank license, mobile money platforms offer tremendous opportunities to direct Aadhaar based transfers.

ANSWER: NABARD

Explanation:
At present, NABARD is the only NIE in the Asia Pacific Region. In its capacity as NIE, NABARD has generated several feasible proposals on climate change adaptation; promote sustainable development livelihood through Natural Resource Management, such as watershed development and sustainable livelihood for tribal communities. Under NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance, it is financing green investments in solar power generation and improvement of electricity distribution networks which includes India’s first 1MW canal-top solar power project in Gujarat.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Carbon Tax is indirectly putting an effective price on emissions. Coal Cess feeds the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF).

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4, 5

Explanation:
MDGs focus on Child and Maternal mortality only whereas SDGs focus on universal health.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
MSPs at national level are recommended for 23 crops, but effectively price support operates primarily in wheat and rice and that too in selected states. This creates incentive structures highly skewed in favor of wheat and rice. While the country is dependent on imports for pulses and oilseeds (edible oils), their prices often fall below the MSP as there is no effective price support.

ANSWER: 1, 2 and 4 only

Explanation:
Financial position is reviewed by state finance commission appointed by the Governor.

ANSWER: Panipat, Haryana

Explanation:
Haryana is noted for the lowest CSR – 835 (SRS 2013). It aims to address declining CSR through a mass campaign targeted at changing social mind set and creating awareness about the criticality of the issue. The overall goal of the BBBP programme is to celebrate the girl child and facilitate her education with the objectives of preventing gender-biased sex-selective elimination, ensuring survival and protection, and education of the girl child.

ANSWER: Paris

Explanation:
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals would be adopted at Paris. Also, finalization of negotiations done during Lima conference would be done in Paris.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 3, 5

Explanation:
The solution lies in the 4 Ds of deregulation (addressing the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) and priority sector lending (PSL)), differentiation (within the public sector banks in relation to recapitalization, shrinking balance sheets, and ownership), diversification (of source of funding within and outside banking), and disinterring (by improving exit mechanisms).

ANSWER: Department of Economic Affairs

Explanation:
a, b and c are departments in Finance ministry. D is not a department. It is a separate ministry.

ANSWER: Railway Technology

Explanation:
Four Railway Research Centers to be set up in select universities for fundamental research.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8

Explanation:
The 8 core industries of Indian economy are coal, fertilizer, electricity, crude oil, natural gas, refinery product, steel and cement.

ANSWER: Capital Adequacy Ratio

Explanation:
CRAR is a standard metric to measure balance sheet strength of banks. BASEL I and BASEL II are global capital adequacy rules that prescribe a minimum amount of capital a bank has to hold given the size of its risk weighted assets. Capital Adequacy can indicate the capacity of the Bank's ability to absorb the possible losses.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4 and 5

Explanation:
The beneficiaries will receive a RuPay Debit Card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs1 lakh. In addition, there is a life insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 to those who opened their bank accounts for the first time between 15 August 2014 and 26 January 2015 and meet other eligibility conditions of the Yojana. After satisfactory operation of the account for 6 months, an overdraft facility upto Rs. 5000 would be available in only one account per household, preferably lady of the household.

ANSWER: Only 2 and 3

Explanation:
FDI up to 49 per cent through the government route has been permitted in the defence industry. Higher FDI has also been allowed on a case-to-case basis.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The National Pension System (NPS) which was initially introduced for the new recruits who had joined central government service (except armed forces at first stage) with effect from 1 January 2004, has been subsequently extended to autonomous bodies, state governments, and the unorganized sector. With effect from 1st May, 2009, NPS has been provided for all citizens of the country including the unorganized sector workers on voluntary basis.

ANSWER: 3 and 4

Explanation:
The Swavalamban Scheme, a co-contributory pension scheme launched in 2010 for persons in the unorganized sector, is now open to those citizens of India who are not part of any pension/provident fund scheme.

ANSWER: Atal Pension Yojana

Explanation:
Atal Pension Yojana (APY) will replace the Swavalamban Yojana NPS Lite. The scheme will be launched on June 1 and focus on the unorganised sector. Existing subscribers of Swavalamban Scheme would be automatically migrated to Atal Pension Yojana, unless they opt out.

ANSWER: 1 > 4 > 5 > 3 > 2

Explanation:
The currency composition of India’s total external debt shows that the share of US dollar-denominated debt in external debt stock continued to be the highest at 60.1 per cent at end-September 2014, followed by Indian rupee (24.2 per cent), special drawing rights (SDR) (6.5 per cent), Japanese yen (4.5 per cent), and euro (3.0 per cent) denominated. The currency composition of government (sovereign) debt indicates predominance of SDR-denominated debt.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 5

Explanation:
The objectives of the SBM are elimination of open defecation, eradication of manual scavenging, modern and scientific solid waste management, and generating awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health.

ANSWER: Reviewing the governance of Boards of Banks in India.

Explanation:
RBI setup this Committee to review the governance of Board of Banks in India. In Indian Government banks, Government owns >50% shares. Committee recommends that the Government should transfer its shares to Bank Investment Company (BIC), with functional autonomy. Then Government won’t be able to appoint directors as per its own wishes thus improving governance.