Current Affairs based Model Questions For Civils Prelims 2020 GS Paper TEST 5

Current Affairs based  Model Questions

For Civils Prelims 2020 GS Paper

TEST 5

( 23 04 2020  )

                                                                                                                                Prepared by :P.Potayya Sarma

                                                                                                                                 

1) The ‘Arthashastra’ (written by Kautilya)  literally means “The Treatise on Wealth” and it extensively discusses issues ranging from urban governance to tax administration and commerce. The book explicitly presents its intellectual framework right in the beginning by stating that good governance is based on which of  the following branches of knowledge ?

1) Varta (economic policy )

2)  Dandaneeti (law and enforcement),

3) Anvikshiki (philosophical and ethical framework)

4) Trayi (cultural context)

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2, 3,4

2) The importance of Anvikshiki in Kautilya’s writings is often ignored but is critical to understanding his worldview. Which are relevant in this context ?

1) Interestingly this mirrors Adam Smith who did not just advocate the “invisible hand” but equally the importance of “mutual sympathy” (i.e. trust).

2) The same idea is reflected in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, who advocated not only economic freedom but also a set of general rules and social norms that applies evenly to everyone.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1  only

(b)     2 only

(c)     Both 1 and 2

(d)     Neither 1 nor 2

3) As per economic survey report 2019-2020, consider the following :

1) while the number of new firms in the formal sector grew at a cumulative annual growth rate of 3.8 per cent from 2006-2014, the growth rate from 2014 to 2018 has been 12.2 per cent.

2)As a result, from about 70,000 new firms created in 2014, the number has grown by about 80 per cent to about 1,24,000 new firms in 2018.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1  only

(b)     2 only

(c)     Both 1 and 2

(d)     Neither 1 nor 2

4) “Wealth, the lamp unfailing, speeds to every land; Dispersing darkness at its lord’s command.” is said by whom ?

a) Tamil saint and philosopher Thiruvalluvar in his book  ‘Thirukural’ which is a treatise on enriching human life

b) Kautilya

c)Kalidas

d)Bhasa

5) Economic Survey 2019-2020 posits that India’s aspiration to become a US$ 5 trillion economy depends critically on strengthening the invisible hand of markets together with the hand of trust that can support markets. The invisible hand needs to be strengthened by promoting pro-business policies to which of the following ?

1) provide equal opportunities for new entrants, enable fair competition and ease doing business

2) eliminate policies that undermine markets through government intervention even where it is not necessary; and enable trade for job creation

3) efficiently scale up the banking sector to be proportionate to the size of the Indian economy..

4) Introducing the idea of “trust as a public good that gets enhanced with greater use”, the Survey suggests that policies must empower transparency and effective enforcement using data and technology to enhance this public good

 Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 , 3,4

6) India continues to trail in which parameters ?

a) Ease of Starting Business

b) Registering Property

c) Paying Taxes

d) Enforcing Contracts

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1  only

(b)     2 only

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 , 3 ,4

7) Which is the  largest bank in the world?

a) Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ( It is nearly two times as big as the 5th or 6th largest bank, which are Japanese and American banks respectively )

b) Bank of America

c) Citi Bank

d) Bank of Japan

8) Which of the following is correct ?

a) DCCO :Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations

b) CRE :Commercial Real Estate

c) UAN : Udyog Aadhar Number

d) All the above

9)  Long Term Repo Operations (LTROs)  will be conducted for one-year and three-year tenors for up to a total amount of Rs. 1,00,000 crores at which policy rate ?

a) Bank Rate

b) Repo Rate

c)  PLR

d)MCLR

10) LTROs  will be conducted  in addition to the existing LAF and MSF operations. The total amount of liquidity injected through these operations would be up to Rs. _______crores.

a) 100

b)  1,00,000

c) 1000

d)2000

11) What is the  theme selected for current year Financial Literacy Week (FLW) is,” which will be observed from February 10 to February 14, 2020 ?

a) Zero Balance accounts

b) “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”

c) Plain Vanilla accounts

d) Food Security

12) Going forward, the inflation outlook (in India) is likely to be influenced by several factors.

Consider the following :

1) food inflation is likely to soften from the high levels of December,2019 and the decline is expected to become more pronounced during Q4:2019-20 as onion prices fall rapidly in response to arrivals of late kharif and rabi harvests.

2) crude prices are likely to remain volatile due to unabating geo-political tensions in the Middle East on the one hand, and the uncertain global economic outlook on the other.

3)  there has been an increase in input costs for services, in recent months. However, subdued demand conditions, muted pricing power of corporates and the correction in energy prices since the last week of January may limit the pass-through to selling prices. Fourth,

4) domestic financial markets remain volatile reflecting both global and domestic factors, which may have an influence on the inflation outlook.; and  ‘base effects’ would turn favourable during Q3:2020-21

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

13) The nominal value of the bond based on the simple average closing price [published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd (IBJA)] for gold of 999 purity of the last three business days of the week preceding the subscription period, i.e. January 29 – January 31, 2020 works out to _________ per gram of gold.

a) Rs.4,070/- (Rupees Four Thousand and Seventy only)

b) Rs.5000

c) Rs.6000

d)Rs.5500

14) Which of the following is correct abut Emerging Green Bond Market ?

1) The Economic Survey 2019-2020 observed that India has the Second largest Emerging Green Bond Market after China.

2) The SBI entered the market with an US$650 million Certified Climate Bond.

3) India also joined International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) in 2019 to scale up the environmentally sustainable investments.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     1,2,3

(d)     2 and 3

15) Green Climate Funds’ first replenishment (2020-2023) so far witnessed ____  countries pledging resources to replenish the fund for an amount of US$9.7 billion which is quantitatively lower than the Initial Resource Mobilization (IRM) period

a) 28

b) 50

c) 193

d)5

16) In India, mechanization in agriculture  is _____percent compared to China (59.5 percent) and Brazil (75 percent).

a) 10

b) 40

c) 15

d) 20

17) PM Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) envisages increase in coverage from the existing _____ per cent to 50 per cent of Gross Cropped Area(GCA), in India. 

a) 5

b) 23

c) 10

d)  20

18) Dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund(MIF) with an initial corpus of Rs. 5,000 crores is created with which bank ?

a) Exim Bank

b)NABARD

c) SIDBI

d) NHB

19) The Economic  survey 2019-2020 proposes to enable employees to become owners in the public sector  banks (PSBs) and thereby incentivise them to embrace risk-taking and innovation continually, a portion of the government stakes can be transferred to employees exhibiting good performance across all levels of the organisation through Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs).

Consider the following :

1) Part-ownership of PSBs by employees will reduce agency problems

2) Benefits include the possible change of the mind-set that of an employee to that of an owner.

3) Employees can constitute one of the blocks of new owners of PSBs through an employee stock ownership Plan (ESOP) that is conditioned on employee performance.

4) Ownership by motivated, capable employees across all levels in the organisation could give such employees tangible financial rewards for value enhancement, align their incentives with what is beneficial to the PSB, and create a mind-set of enterprise ownership for employees a long-term solution to case for employee stakes in PSBs.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

20) Drawing upon the experience of linking all new floating rate personal or retail loans and floating rate loans to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to external benchmarks, the pricing of loans by scheduled commercial banks for medium enterprises is also being linked to an external benchmark effective _________.

a) 1.1.2020

b) April 1, 2020.

c) 1.12.2019

d) 1.7.2020

21) To give a fillip to digital banking and to enable RRBs to provide cost effective and user-friendly solutions to their customers, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are being allowed, like other commercial banks, to act as merchant acquiring banks using which of the following ?

a) Aadhaar Pay

b) BHIM app a

c) POS terminals

d)All the above

22) Default and rating downgrades of a nonbanking financial company (NBFC) and a housing finance company (HFC) recently led to ______ constraints and interruptions in their niche-centric financial intermediation

a) hardship

b) liquidity

c) hardly

d) road

23) The time limit for resolution under (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has been recently extended to ____ days, some cases are delayed beyond the limit, partly reflecting repeated litigations

a) 90

b) 330 (As per news in February, 2020)

c) 180

d) 240

Ans: b

24) Central Government   has been infusing capital in some PSBs, which has been just enough to meet the regulatory minimum including capital conservation buffer (CCB). The deferment of the implementation of the last tranche of the CCB till ______has offered some breathing space to these banks.

a) 26.1.2020

b) March 31, 2020

c) 1.7.2020

d) 1.12.2019

25) In order to strengthen the liquidity framework for NBFCs, a liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) has been introduced for all deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) and non-deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with an asset size of _______ crore and above.

a) Rs.1,000

b) Rs.2,000

c)  Rs.5,000

d) Rs.2,500

26) The number of banks in the top  ____  category, ranked by Tier-I capital, remained the same across 2017 and 2018 in the Advanced Economies (AEs) and Emerging Market Economics  (EMEs ).

a) 10

b) 100

c) 50

d) 25

27) With reference to  ‘shadow banking’, consider the following :

1)  Shadow banking comprises a set of activities, markets, contracts and institutions that operate partially (or fully) outside the traditional commercial banking sector and are either lightly regulated or not regulated at all.

2) The shadow banking sector, which has grown significantly in India, accounts for a significant proportion of financial intermediation especially in those segments where the traditional banking sector is unable to penetrate

3) A shadow banking system can be composed of a single entity that intermediates between end-suppliers and end-users of funds, or it could involve multiple entities forming a chain”. Shadow banks do not have explicit access to central bank liquidity.

4) The shadow banking system is highly levered with risky and illiquid assets while its liabilities disposed to “bank runs”.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     1,2,3,4

(d)     1,2 and 3

28) Full market capitalization is used rather than free-float capitalization for comparability over time, as free-float methodology was initiated only in ______.

a) 1991

b) 2003

c) 1999

d) 2014

29) India has followed an idiosyncratic growth pattern, wherein the prime mover of the economy has shifted from agriculture to services. Almost ______per cent of Indian GDP is attributable to the services sector

a) 60

b) 15

c) 25

d) 30

30)With reference to the  NABARD is the National Implementing Entity (NIE) for three important funding arrangements, relating to climate change, consider the following :

1) Adaptation Fund (AF)

2) National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) 

3) Direct Access Entity to Green Climate Fund (GCF) which aims to channelise national, international, and private finances for adaptation and mitigation activities in India

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

a)1 and 3 only

b)2 only

c)2 and 3 only

d)1,2 and 3

31) What is Global Findex ?  Consider the following :

1) At the global level, the most comprehensive attempt made in this field, was the development of the Global Financial Inclusion Index by the World Bank, popularly known as the Global Findex, which offers a homogeneous measure of indicators of individuals’ use of financial products across economies.

2) Since 2011, the index has been published every three years, and it incorporates a multitude of indicators related to financial services such as payments, savings, credit, risk management, etc., which are revised in each round

3) Global Findex 2017 incorporates updated indicators on access to, and use of formal and informal financial services, including the usage of financial technology, to conduct financial transactions.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

32) Nearly three-fourths of the participants were from the states of ___________ indicating large concentration of the ‘startup sector’ in India in a few states.

1) Karnataka, Maharashtra,

2) Telangana,

3) Delhi and

4) Tamil Nadu

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     1,2 , 3, 4

(d)     3 only

33) The Expert Committee on “Licensing of New Urban Co-operative Banks” constituted under the Chairmanship of whom ?

a) Shri Y.H.Malegam (2011)

b)Dalbir Singh

c)Kohli

d)Bimal Jalan

34) What is ‘accelerator’ (for ‘startups’) ? Consider the following :

1)  An accelerator is typically a 3-4 month program for ‘startups’ at early traction and scaling stage.

2) It is a process of intense, rapid and immersive education aimed at accelerating the growth of the ‘startup’.

3) The accelerator may take a set amount of seed equity from the ‘startups’ in their cohorts in exchange for capital and mentorship. An incubator is a workspace created to offer early-stage startups access to all resources they need under one roof.

4) They provide office space, mentoring, business services, funding, and networking opportunities to the incubatees

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     2 only

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

35) ‘Startups’ in six sectors, accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the survey respondents.Consider the following :

1) agriculture

2) data & analytics

3) education, health

4) IT consulting/solution and manufacturing

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

36)With reference to ‘Benchmarks’, consider the following :

1)‘Benchmarks’ mean prices,related to financial instruments that are calculated periodically and used as a reference for pricing or valuation of financial instruments or any other financial contract

2) ‘Benchmarks’ mean rates, indices related to financial instruments that are calculated periodically and used as a reference for pricing or valuation of financial instruments or any other financial contract

3) ‘Benchmarks’ mean values or a combination thereof related to financial instruments that are calculated periodically and used as a reference for pricing or valuation of financial instruments or any other financial contract

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2  

37) India is categorised as a water stressed country in terms of per capita freshwater availability (1,544 cubic meter in 2011). Water productivity has been measured in which ways?

1) Physical water productivity (crop output per unit of total consumptive water used (TCWU))

2) Irrigation water productivity (crop output per unit of irrigation water applied by farmers)

3) Economic water productivity (value of crop output produced per unit of TCWU as well as irrigation water applied).

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

38) ‘Suppose I have come by a fair amount of wealth – either by way of legacy, or by means of trade and industry – I must know that all that wealth does not belong to me; what belongs to me is the right to an honourable livelihood, no better than that enjoyed by millions of others. The rest of my wealth belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the community’. Who said it ? 

a) Jawaharlal Nehru

b) Mahatma Gandhi ( This forms the essence of the co-operative movement which is based on the same principles of community camaraderie, mutual help, democratic decision making and open membership.)

c)Smt. Indira Gandhi

d) Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam

39) What are the key findings of the study entitled Water Productivity Mapping of Major Indian Crops ?

Consider the following relating to it:

1) Rice, wheat and sugarcane, which cover about 43% total GCA, consume almost 80% of freshwater available for irrigation.

2) This has led to large inequality in irrigation water availability for other crops

3) These water guzzling crops are concentrated in some of the most water scarce regions of the country, classic example being rice in north-west India (Punjab and Haryana) and sugarcane in sub-tropical belts, mainly Maharashtra

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2  

40) With reference to Internet-of-Things (IoT), consider the following :

1) The term ‘Internet-of-Things’ (IOT) was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999

2) His team was developing an extension of the internet to accommodate ‘things’, and hence the term ‘Internet-of-Things’. Simply put, the terms ‘smart’ and ‘connected’ refer to the ‘Internet-of-Things’.

3) IOT refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an Internet Protocol (IP) address for internet connectivity, and the communication that occurs between these objects and other internet-enabled devices and systems.

4) ‘In 2018, IOT was a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.’

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

41) With reference to  Structured Water, consider the following :

1) Water flowing down the hills to the foothills is ‘structured’. It passes through the pebbles, particles, etc., and its molecular arrangement attains a hexagonal shape.

2) Such water is found to have less surface tension and structuring accelerates the water’s ability to hydrate plants and animal tissues, penetrate in soil and conserve water.

3) Structured water can be made available for irrigation if it is passed through pipelines equipped with water structuring devices which are filled with pebbles/marbles.

4) Structuring of water does not remove life-enhancing minerals, viz., calcium and magnesium present in it. 

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2

(c)     1,2 , 3, 4

(d)     1,2 and 3

42) Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) has been launched by the Government of India during 2018–19. It  comprises of  which of the following ?

1) Price Support Scheme (PSS)

2) Price Deficiency Payment Scheme

3) Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPSS)

 Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

43) To look into regulatory issues concerning UCBs, including the licensing policy, which committees are included ?

a) Madhava Das Committee (1978),

b) the Marathe Committee (1991),

c) the Madhava Rao Committee (1999)

d) the Malegam Committee (2010)

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

44)Give details about  PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana ?

1) To address the need for structured income support for poor land holders, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme was announced by the Government of India.

2) Under the scheme, farmers owning up to 2 ha will get Rs.6,000 per year directly in their accounts in three equal instalments of Rs.2,000 each.

3) The initiative initially aimed to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs.75,000 crore annually.

4) It was subsequently extended to benefit 14.5 crore farmers with an estimated annual expenditure of Rs.87,217 crore

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

45) With reference to  Rashtriya Gokul Mission, consider the following :

1) Under animal husbandry, allocation for Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been increased to Rs.750 crore in 2018–19.

2) Further, setting up of ‘Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog’ has been announced with an objective to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cow milk output.

 Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1  only

(b)     2,

(c)     Both 1 and 2

(d)     Neither 1 nor 2

46)With reference to natural calamities and crop loans , consider the following :

1) When natural calamities strike, farmers are generally unable to repay crop loans.

2)It was announced that all farmers affected by severe natural calamities, where assistance is provided from National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), will be provided the benefit of 2% interest subvention, and prompt repayment incentive of  3% for the entire rescheduled period of their loans

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1  only

(b)     2 only

(c)     Both 1 and 2

(d)     Neither 1 nor 2

47) What is “hybrid debt” ?

a) It means capital instrument which possesses certain characteristics of equity as well as of debt

b) It is about  seeds

c) It is about  fertilizers

d) It is about  food

e) None of these

48) Digital Financial Inclusion Architecture in India covers which of the following ?

1) Mobile Banking: It allows customers to access financial services and payments remotely, using mobile phones, smartphones, or feature phones (using USSD channel).

2)  Mobile ATMs/micro ATMs/biometric ATMs

3) Immediate Payment Services (IMPS): Offers instant 24x7 interbank electronic fund transfer services through mobile phones, internet, and ATMs.

4) Unified Payment Interface (UPI): Allows linking of multiple bank accounts to a single mobile application, thus merging several banking services into one interface

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

49) Which of the following is correct about IoT?

1) Nearly everything in the world can be considered a ‘thing’ for potential use in the IOT.

2) An IOT device is any standalone internet-connected device that can be monitored and/or controlled from a remote location. Sensors (IOT devices) gather data.

3) A wide variety of sensors measure limitless amounts of data such as temperature, vibration, force, pressure, weight, sound, acceleration, tilt, angle, optical, ambient light, electric, magnetic, flow, position, proximity, motion, velocity, humidity, movement, emotion, and presence.

4) All of the data collected by devices feeds into, what is called, the ‘IOT ecosystem’, which consists of ‘all the components that enable businesses, governments, and consumers to connect their IOT devices, including remotes, dashboards, networks, gateways, analytics, data storage, and security, and can be used for the betterment of pre- and post-production processes.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

50) The tribal population of India, as per 2011 Census, constitutes 8.6% of total population, distributed over 94,000 tribal villages. In which major states, what is the % of  tribal population is concentrated ?

a) Chhattisgarh (30.60%), Madhya Pradesh (27.20%),

b) Jharkhand (26.20%), Odisha (22.80%), Gujarat (14.79%),

c) Assam (13.70%), Rajasthan (12.57%),

d) Maharashtra (9.40%)

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

(a)     1 and 3 only

(b)     1,2,3,4

(c)     2 and 3 only

(d)     1,2 and 3

KEY

TEST PAPER 5

1d	11b	21d	31d	41c
2c	12b	22b	32c	42d
3c	13a	23b	33a	43b
4a	14c	24b	34d	44b
5d	15a	25c	35b	45c
6d	16b	26b	36b	46c
7a	17b	27c	37d	47a
8d	18b	28b	38b	48b
9b	19b	29a	39b	49b
10b	20b	30d	40b	50b