Answers GENERAL STUDIES (P) 2021 – Test 2 (Economics)

Ans 1. B It is conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers welfare, Ministry of agriculture once in every five years. The total number of operation holdings in the country has increased from 138.35 million to 146.45 million in 2015-16 and operated area has decreased from 159.59 million to 157.52 million. Ans 2. C Types of Economic Planning: In today’s world, most economies are mixed economies. The planning can be

of several types as discussed below:

Indicative Planning: which generally puts forward some broad principles and guidelines to achieve some

specific goals. Indicative planning is flexible. It is peculiar to mixed economy and both the public and

private sector co-exist.

Comprehensive / Imperative Planning: Refers to centralized planning and implementation with allocation

of resources Used by socialist countries and each and every aspect of planning is controlled by state.Under

this type of planning, economic decisions are made through a central planning authority instead of a

market system. Allocation of resources, the mix of output and the distribution of output among the people

(i.e., ‘What, How and For Whom’ problems) are determined centrally in accordance with the pre-

determined plans and targets.

Structural Planning: Aims to change the existing structures.

Functional Planning: Aims to achieve the objectives without making much changes to existing structural

framework.

Centralized Planning: One central authority formulates plan, targets and priorities for all sectors. Also

called Top bottom.

Decentralized planning: Multi-level planning in which more than one institutions work for implementation.

Perspective Planning: Refers to Long term planning 15-20-25 years. Implemented by breaking the plan

period into smaller plans such as 5 years

Ans 3. B In 1944 Eight Industrialists of Bombay viz. Mr. JRD Tata, GD Birla, Purshottamdas Thakurdas, LalaShriram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, AD Shroff, Ardeshir Dalal, & John Mathai working together prepared “A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India”. This is known as the “Bombay Plan”. This plan envisaged doubling the per capita income in 15 years and tripling the national income during this period. Nehru did not officially accept the plan, yet many of the ideas of the plan were inculcated in other plans which came later. Ans 4. A As Competition rather than control, FDI and FII were brought post 1991. Ans 5. A

Comparative advantage is an economic term that refers to an economy’s ability to produce goods and services at a lower opportunity cost than that of trade partners.

A comparative advantage gives a company the ability to sell goods and services at a lower price than its competitors and realize stronger sales margins.

The law of comparative advantage is popularly attributed to English political economist David Ricardo and his book “On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” in 1817, although it is likely that Ricardo’s mentor James Mill originated the analysis.

One of the most important concepts in economic theory, comparative advantage is a fundamental tenet of the argument that all actors, at all times, can mutually benefit from cooperation and voluntary trade. It is also a foundational principle in the theory of international trade.

Ans 6. D The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act 1985. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a Statutory Body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India, is the apex organization engaged in the work related to the development of export of agricultural and processed food products from India. APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the following scheduled products:

Fruits, Vegetables and their Products.

Meat and Meat Products.

Poultry and Poultry Products.

Dairy Products.

Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products.

Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products.

Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds.

Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages.

Cereal and Cereal Products.

Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts.

Pickles, Papads and Chutneys.

Guar Gum.

Floriculture and Floriculture Products.

Herbal and Medicinal Plants. Ans 7. C The collapse of communism was followed in most of these countries by a painful process of transition from an authoritarian socialist system to a democratic capitalist system. The model of transition in Russia, Central Asia and east Europe that was influenced by the World Bank and the IMF came to be known as ‘shock therapy’. Part of it could be seen in how the economy was restructured post-breakdown, that involved more freedom to markets and enterprise and shunning the red tape. Shock therapy varied in intensity and speed amongst the former second world countries, but its direction and features were quite similar. Shock therapy is the sudden release of price and currency controls (economic liberalization), withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization(Trade liberalization is the removal or reduction of

restrictions or barriers on the free exchange of goods between nations) within a country, usually also including large-scale privatization of previously public-owned assets. Hence option c is correct. Ans 8. B By the early 1980s, a new development strategy emerged. After the world recognised the limits of a state-dominated economy arguments in favour of the market, i.e. the private sector, was promoted emphatically. Governments of the socialist or the planned economies were urged/suggested to privatise and liberalise, to sell off state-owned companies and eliminate government intervention in the economy.These governments were also suggested to take the measures which could boost the aggregate demand in the economy (i.e. macroeconomic stability measures). The broad outlines of such a development strategy were called the Washington Consensus. This consensus is broadly termed as the popular meaning of the ‘economic reform’ followed by almost all the socialist, the communist and the planned developing economies. The term was usually seen as a corollary of promoting ‘naked capitalism’, openness in the economy and an open attitude towards foreign investments, etc. Hence statement 2 is false. These are the ten specific principles originally set out by John Williamson in 1989:

Low government borrowing. The idea was to discourage developing economies from having high fiscal deficits relative to their GDP.

Diversion of public spending from subsidies to important long-term growth supporting sectors like primary education, primary healthcare, and infrastructure.

Implementing tax reform policies to broaden the tax base and adopt moderate marginal tax rates.

Selecting interest rates that are determined by the market. These interest rates should be positive after taking inflation into account (real interest rate).

Encouraging competitive exchange rates through freely-floating currency exchange.

Adoption of free trade policies. This would result in the liberalization of imports, removing trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas.

Relaxing rules on foreign direct investment.

The privatization of state enterprises. Typically, in developing countries, these industries include railway, oil, and gas.

The eradication of regulations and policies that restrict competition or add unnecessary barriers to entry.

Development of property rights. Ans 9. B This policy abolished Industrial licensing for all industries except for a short list of 18 industries. This list of 18 industries was further pruned in 1999 whereby the number was reduced to six industries.The limit was abolished and companies were allowed to expand freely with only certain limitations.This was the first Industrial policy in which foreign companies were allowed to have majority stake in India.In 47 high priority industries, up to 51% FDI was allowed. For export trading houses, FDI up to 74% was allowed. Today, there are numerous sectors in the economy where the government allows 100% FDI. Restrictions on exchange of currency for the purposes of current account (such as trade or remittances) were revoked. The policy has brought changes in the following aspects of industrial regulation:

1. Industrial delicensing

2. Deregulation of the industrial sector

3. Public sector policy (de-reservation and reform of PSEs)

4. Abolition of MRTP Act

5. Foreign investment policy and foreign technology policy.

Ans 10. B The committee estimated poverty by using basic requirements of the poor such as housing, clothing, shelter, education, sanitation, travel expenses and health etc., to make poverty estimation realistic. The committee suggested to-do away with the calorie-based criteria. The committee also suggested a uniform poverty line across rural and urban India. Ans 11. A These are different approaches for determining unemployment in India. Ans 12. C

The ECA was enacted in 1955. The act provides for the control of production, supply, distribution, trade and commerce in any farm good deemed “essential” and “in the interest of the general public”.

The list of items under the Act includes drugs, fertilisers, pulses and edible oils, and petroleum and petroleum products.

The Centre under the Act has the power to include new commodities as and when the need arises, and can take them off the list once the situation improves (in view of public interest).

Once a notification is issued, anybody trading or dealing in a commodity, be it wholesalers, retailers or even importers are prevented from stockpiling it beyond a certain quantity.

It protects consumers against irrational spikes in prices of essential commodities. The Government has invoked the Act numerous times to ensure adequate supplies. It cracks down on hoarders and black-marketers of such commodities.

Ans 13. D In economics, the Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nation's residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality . Hence statement 1 is wrong. Gini Coefficient is a popular statistical measure to gauge the rich-poor income or wealth divide. It measures inequality of a distribution — be it of income or wealth — within nations or States. Its value varies anywhere from zero to 1; zero indicating perfect equality and one indicating the perfect inequality. Hence statement 2 is wrong. Gini Coefficients can be used to compare income distribution of a country over time as well. An increasing trend indicates that income inequality is rising independent of absolute incomes. Ans 14. B

The National list of essential medicines is one of the key instruments in balanced healthcare delivery system of a country which inter alia includes accessible, affordable quality medicine at all the primary, secondary, tertiary levels of healthcare.

The first National List of Essential Medicines of India was prepared and released in 1996.

The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), prepared by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is a list of medicines considered essential and high priority for India’s health needs.

DPCOs are issued by the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 3 of the ECA to ensure that the medicines listed under NELM are available at a reasonable price to the general public.

Ans 15. A

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is obtained by dividing the number of persons in the labour force with the total population.

Unemployment Rate (UR) is obtained by dividing the number of those unemployed with the total number of persons in the labour force and not the total population.

Ans 16. B It is an irony that a few years back, when India was on high growth trajectory, its growth was jobless growth. Jobless growth means that the high growth in GDP did not accompany a similar growth in employment, resulting in a low Employment Elasticity. Employment elasticity is a measure of how employment varies with economic output. An employment elasticity of 1 implies that with every 1 percentage point growth in GDP, employment increases by 1%. As a missed opportunity, the extraordinary growth during yesteryears didn’t lead to any employment growth at all. For example, between 2004–05 to 2009–10, employment elasticity of India was as low as 0.01(Hence statement 1 is wrong), which implies that with every 1 percentage point growth in GDP, employment increased by just one basis point. Ans 17. D Structural change represents the fundamental changes that occur in the basic features of the economy over a long period. Structure of the economy means the occupational structure, sectorial distribution of income, industrial pattern, composition of exports, saving- GDP ratio etc. Hence statement d is correct and a,b,c are wrong. Due to LPG reforms, largely agriculture-based economy has transformed into service-based economy in subsequent years or decades. Ans 18. D FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7, HQ- Paris, objectives of the FATF to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF is not a part of the UN system, but it functions out of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development headquarters in Paris. Ans 19. B

Capital formation is a term used to describe the net capital accumulation during an accounting period for a particular country. The term refers to additions of capital goods, such as equipment, tools, transportation assets, and electricity. GFCF in India is not following a particular trend in last 12 years.

Gross capital formation (formerly gross domestic investment) consists of outlays on additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories.

Fixed assets include land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchases;

And the construction of roads, railways, and the like, including schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings, and commercial and industrial buildings.

Inventories are stocks of goods held by firms to meet temporary or unexpected fluctuations in production or sales, and work in progress. According to the 1993 SNA, net acquisitions of valuables are also considered capital formation.

Ans 20. C SFIO:

It is not a statutory body, as it was established through an executive resolution, which inter alia stated

the responsibilities and functions of the SFIO.

It is under the ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The SFIO makes investigations under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and also forwards the

investigated reports on violations of the provisions of other acts to the concerned agencies for

prosecution/appropriate action.

The SFIO is a multi-disciplinary organisation consisting of experts in the field of accountancy, forensic

auditing, law, information technology, investigation, company law, capital market and taxation for

detecting and prosecuting or recommending for prosecution white collar crimes/frauds.

The SFIO normally take up only such cases for investigation, which are characterized by:

o complexity and having inter-departmental and multi- disciplinary ramifications;

o substantial involvement of public interest to be judged by size, either in terms of monetary;

o the possibility of investigation leading to or contributing towards a clear improvement in systems,

laws or procedures.

SFIO may also take up cases on its own, it investigates serious cases of fraud received from Department

of Company Affairs.

Whether an investigation should be taken up or not, is decided by the Director SFIO, who will be

expected to record the reasons in writing. This decision is further subject to review by a coordination

committee.

It was set up in 2003, on the recommendation of Naresh Chandra Committee, and in the backdrop of

stock market scams resulting in huge financial loss to the public. Ans 21. A Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi are the top three performers in terms of State-wise distribution of recognized start-ups in India.As per industry-wide distribution of recognized start-ups, IT Services accounted for 13.9 per cent followed by Healthcare and Life Sciences (8.3 per cent) and education (7.0 per cent). Hence statement 2 is wrong. Ans 22. D The Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) is an inclusive global mechanism enabling all those concerned with the future of agriculture and its role in development around the world to come together and address key global needs. GFAR provides an open forum for stakeholders across the agricultural spectrum—from researchers and organizations to farmers—to participate in collaborative discussion and action around the current and future state of agriculture. Its headquarters is in Rome, Italy.

FAO ROLE: Strategic Partner

Ans 23. A According to the economic survey 2018-19, the overall production of raw coal in India is increased from 2008 to 2018.

Ans 24. A

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was set up in 1956 which is also known as the private arm of the WB. It lends money to private sector companies of its member nations. 'The interest rate charged is commercial but comparatively low.

The World bank provides loans and grants to developing countries. These support a wide array of investments in such areas as education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.

World Economic Forum publishes Global Competitive Index. Ans 25. B

Government fixes agriculture credit disbursement targets for the banking sector every year.

As per RBI directions, Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to lend 18% of the Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent to Off-Balance Sheet Exposure (CEOBE), whichever is higher, towards agriculture.

A sub-target of 8% is also prescribed for lending to small and marginal farmers including landless agricultural labourers, tenant farmers, oral lessees and share croppers.

Similarly, in the case of Regional Rural Banks 18% of their total outstanding advances is required to be towards agriculture and a sub-target of 8% has been set for lending to small and marginal farmers.

Ans 26. D The Economic Cost of food-grains consists of three components, namely, pooled cost of grains, procurement incidentals and the cost of distribution. The pooled cost of food grains is the weighted MSP of the stock of food-grains available with FCI at the time of calculating the economic cost. Ans 27. A World Economic Forum (WEF) has releases the annual rankings of the global Energy Transition Index. Ans 28. C

Ans 29. C

The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1st May, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed, in the Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (FERA ’47).

In 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’. The administrative control of the Directorate was transferred from the Department of Economic Affairs to the Department of Revenue in 1960.

For a short period of 04 years (1973 – 1977), the Directorate also remained under the administrative jurisdiction of the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms.

Powers: The Directorate enforces two laws;

FEMA, a Civil Law having quasi-judicial powers, for investigating suspected contraventions of the Exchange Control Laws and Regulations with the powers to impose penalties on those adjudged guilty.

PMLA, a Criminal Law, whereby the Officers are empowered to conduct enquiries to locate, provisionally attach/confiscate assets derived from acts of Schedules Offences besides arresting and prosecuting the Money Launderers.

Ans 30. A

India is the world's largest milk producer, with 22 percent of global production, followed by the United States of America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.

Milk production in India has increased from 22 million tonnes in 1970 to 156 million tonne in 2015-16, which shows a growth of 700 percent during last 46 years. As a result, the per capita availability of

milk in India is 337 grams/day as compared to average world per capita availability of 229 grams/day.

Ans 31. C

Ans 32. D Objectives of land reforms: Redistribution of land across society so that land is not held in the hands of a few people.

Land ceiling to disburse surplus land amongst small and marginal farmers.

Removal of rural poverty.

Abolition of intermediaries.

Tenancy reforms.

Increasing agricultural productivity.

Consolidation of land holdings and prevention of land fragmentation.

Developing cooperative farming.

To ensure social equality through economic parity.

Tribal protection by ensuring their traditional land is not taken over by outsiders.

Land reforms were also for non-agricultural purposes like development and manufacturing.

Ans 33. A Industrial Policy Statement of 1956: Government revised its first Industrial Policy (i.e. The policy of 1948) through the Industrial Policy of 1956. o It was regarded as the “Economic Constitution of India” or “The Bible of State Capitalism”. o The 1956 Policy emphasised the need to expand the public sector, to build up a large and growing

cooperative sector and to encourage the separation of ownership and management in private in-dustries and, above all, prevent the rise of private monopolies.

o It provided the basic framework for the government’s policy in regard to industries till June 1991.

o IPR, 1956 classified industries into three categories Schedule A consisting of 17 industries was the exclusive responsibility of the State. Out of these

17 industries, four industries, namely arms and ammunition, atomic energy, railways and air transport had Central Government monopolies; new units in the remaining industries were developed by the State Governments.

Schedule B, consisting of 12 industries, was open to both the private and public sectors; however, such industries were progressively State-owned.

Schedule C- All the other industries not included in these two Schedules constituted the third category which was left open to the private sector. However, the State reserved the right to undertake any type of industrial production.

o Resolution reduced the scope for the expansion of the private sector significantly but did not reject the role of private sector in the development of Indian Economy

Ans 34. D Soil fertility being degraded (due to the repetitive kind of cropping pattern being followed by the

farmers as well as the excessive exploitation of the land; lack of a suitable crop combination and the crop intensity; etc.).

Water table falling down (as the new HYV seeds required comparatively very high amount of water for irrigation—5 tonnes of water needed to produce 1 kg of rice.

Environmental degradation due to excessive and uncontrolled use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides have degraded the environment by increasing pollution levels in land, water and air.

Ans 35. C Based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP),

the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India, declares Minimum Support Price

(MSP).

The MSP system was started in 1966-67 for wheat and was expanded further to include other essential

food crops, which was then sold to the poor under subsidised rates under the public distribution system

(PDS).

Ans 36. D The shadow banking system consists of lenders, brokers, and other credit intermediaries who fall outside

the realm of traditional regulated banking.

It is generally unregulated and not subject to the same kinds of risk, liquidity, and capital restrictions as

traditional banks are.

The shadow banking system played a major role in the expansion of housing credit in the run up to the

2008 financial crisis, but has grown in size and largely escaped government oversight even since then.

Examples of shadow lenders include Special Purpose Entities, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Hedge Funds etc. Ans 37. D High-yielding varieties (HYVs) of agricultural crops are usually characterized by a combination of the following traits in contrast to the conventional varieties:

higher crop yield per area (hectare)

dwarfness

improved response to fertilizers

high reliance on irrigation and fertilizers - see intensive farming

early maturation

Ans 38. A

The New Arrangement to Borrow is the fund mobilization arrangement of the IMF to mobilize additional funds through borrowing from member countries.

Under NAB, member countries and institutions can stand ready to lend to the Fund.

The NAB is structured as a set of credit arrangements between the IMF and 38-member countries (can be changed) and institutions.

The NAB was proposed for the first time at the 1995 G-7 Halifax Summit following the Mexican financial crisis.

In January 1997, the IMF’s Executive Board adopted a decision establishing the NAB, which became effective in November 1998.

The NAB was revived in the context of the global financial crisis in 2009; to meet the lending requirements of the Euro zone crisis.

Ans 39. D TRIFED is the national level cooperative body mandated to bring about socio-economic development of tribals of the country by institutionalising the trade of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) & Surplus Agricultural Produce (SAP) collected/cultivated by them. It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Important Functions:

It plays the dual role of both a market developer and a service provider, empowering the tribals with knowledge and tools to better their operations in a systematic, scientific manner and also assist them in developing their marketing approach.

It is involved actively in capacity building of the tribal people through sensitization and the formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs).

The organisation also assists them in exploring and creating opportunities to market the developed products in national and international markets on a sustainable basis.

It launched Tech for Tribals, an initiative of TRIFED supported by the Ministry of MSME, aimed at capacity building and imparting entrepreneurship skills to tribal forest produce gatherers enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Van DhanYojana.

Ans 40. C To ensure that Dairy Cooperatives remain competitive for the sustained benefit of farmers, the Government of India has announced creation of a Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund under NABARD. Funding will be in the form of interest bearing loan, which will flow from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) / National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and in turn to eligible End Borrowers. The scheme has been designed with the following objectives:

To modernize the milk processing plants and machinery and to create additional infrastructure for processing more milk.

To create additional milk processing capacity for increased value addition by producing more dairy products.

To bring efficiency in dairy processing plants/producer owned and controlled dairy institutions, thereby enabling optimum value of milk to milk producer farmers and supply of quality milk to consumers.

To help the producer owned and controlled institutions to increase their share of milk, thereby providing greater opportunities of ownership, management and market access to rural milk producers in the organized milk market.

To help the producer owned and controlled institutions to consolidate their position as dominant player in the organised liquid milk market and to make increased price realisation to milk producers.

Ans 41. B The World Food Programme is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. • Funded entirely byvoluntary donations, in 2018 WFP raised a record US$7.2 billion. • WFP has more than 17,000 staff worldwide of who over 90 percent are based in the countries where the agency provides assistance. • WFP is governed by a 36-member Executive Board. • It works closely with its two Rome-based sister organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. • WFP partners with more than 1,000 national and international NGOs to provide food assistance and tackle the underlying causes of hunger. Ans 42. C Constituting about 6.3% of the global fish production, the sector contributes to 1.1% of the GDP and 5.15% of the agricultural GDP. The total fish production of 10.07 million metric tonnes presently has nearly 65% contribution from the inland sector and nearly the same from culture fisheries. Fish and fish products have presently emerged as the largest group in agricultural exports of India, with over 10.5 lakh tonnes in terms of quantity and over Rs. 33,000 crores in value. This accounts for around 10% of the total exports of the country and nearly 20% of the agricultural exports. More than 50 different types of fish and shellfish products are exported to 75 countries around the world Ans 43. A The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) is a statutory body set up under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952. It functions under the administrative control of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance since September 2013. (Before this, FMC used to function under Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Govt. of India. Ans 44. D A village, wherein trained group of farmers are involved in production of seeds of various crops and cater to the needs of themselves, fellow farmers of the village and farmers of neighbouring villages in appropriate time and at affordable cost is called "a seed village" Objectives: • Increasing the seed production • Increasing the seed replacement rate • Organizing seed production in cluster (or) compact area replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties • Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village • To meet the local demand, timely supply. The present programme of seed village scheme is having two phases:

1. Seed production of different crops: The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with single variety of a kind. 2. Establishing seed processing unit: If the seeds are not processed and handled properly, all the past efforts in production may be lost. Thus seed processing and packaging is very important aspect in seed production. Ans 45. C Tamil Nadu announced that the Cauvery delta region, which is Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl comprising eight districts, will be declared as ‘Protected Special Agricultural Zone’ (PSAZ). Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) lies in the eastern part of Tamil Nadu. It is bounded by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Palk Strait on the south. In this zone, rice is the principal crop.

A Special Agricultural Zone is one where agricultural land is preserved for posterity because of its importance to increasing agriculture production and promoting livelihood security for a large number of farm families. Agricultural scientists such as M.S. Swaminathan have for long-mooted such zones similar to special economic zones; like the Indira Gandhi Canal Area (Rajasthan Canal) in Rajasthan, the Kuttanad wetlands of Kerala (GIAHS), Punjab-Haryana belt, etc.

Ans 46. A The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has launched ARTIS (Applications for Remedies in Trade for Indian Industry and other Stakeholders). It is an online system developed for filing applications by the domestic industry with respect to various trade remedial measures such as anti-dumping duty, safeguards duty and countervailing duty. Ans 47. A Ans 48. A The chequered history of evolution, developments, transformations and coming of age of

the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) has been a mammoth exercise spread over a span of one hundred and forty years and carried out under the stewardship of capable and pragmatic visionaries.

The Organization traces its origin to a statistical branch established in the Finance Department of the Government of India way back in 1862. Sir William W. Hunter was the first DG of the DGCI & S or the Director General of Statistics as he was designated, back in 1871.

The DGCI&S compiles and releases monthly export & import data on merchandise trade. It also compiles and releases yearly data on inter-state movement of goods in India by river, rail & air;

customs & excise revenue collections of the Indian union, inland coasting trade consignments of India and foreign coastal cargo movements of India.

Ans 49. D

Ans 50. C In a bid to transform agriculture into a sustainable enterprise through farmer producer organisations (FPOs), the central government has proposed to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs in the country with budgetary provision of Rs 6,865 crore: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers WelfareVenture

Capital Assistance is financial support in the form of an interest free loan provided by SFAC to qualifying projects to meet shortfall in the capital requirement for implementation of the project.