10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : January 30 2021

Statement 1 is correct. India’s real GDP to record a growth of 11 per cent in 2021-22 and nominal GDP by 15.4 per cent-the highest since independence. The GDP growth rate has been declining since 2016-17.

Statement 2 is incorrect. India is likely to post a current account surplus after a gap of 17 years, at 2 per cent of GDP during 2020-21. India’s current account deficit averaged 2.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the last 10 years.

Both statements are incorrect.

Trends in Indian Economy:

–India expected to have a Current Account Surplus of 2% of GDP in FY21, a historic high after 17 years

–On supply side, Gross Value Added (GVA) growth pegged at -7.2% in FY21 as against 3.9% in FY20:

–Agriculture set to cushion the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy in FY21 with a growth of 3.4%

–Industry and services estimated to contract by 9.6% and 8.8% respectively during FY21

Statement 1 is correct. The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation prepares national accounts as well as publishes annual estimates of national product, government and private consumption expenditure, capital formation, savings, estimates of capital stock and consumption of fixed capital, as also the state level gross capital formation of supra-regional sectors and prepares comparable estimates of State Domestic Product (SDP) at current prices.
Statement 2 is correct.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) are released by NSO on 12th of every month with a six weeks lag and compiled with data received from source agencies, which in turn receive the data from the producing factories/ establishments.

Combined weight of eight core industries is 40.27 percent of IIP with base 2011-12.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The monthly Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) is a production volume index released by Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA). ICI measures collective and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries viz. Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.

Refinery Products has highest weightage in ICI.

# The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 133.8 in December,2020, which declined by 1.3 (provisional) per cent as compared to the Index of December, 2019.Its cumulative growth during April to December, 2020-21 has been (-) 10.1%. 

Statement 1 is correct. Under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, certain persons are prohibited to accept any foreign contribution. These include: election candidates, editor or publisher of a newspaper, judges, government servants, members of any legislature, and political parties, among others.

The FCRA Amendment Act 2020 adds public servants (as defined under the Indian Penal Code) to this list. Public servant includes any person who is in service or pay of the government, or remunerated by the government for the performance of any public duty.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The FCRA Amendment Act, 2020 states that foreign contribution must be received only in an account designated by the bank as “FCRA account” in such branch of the State Bank of India, New Delhi, as notified by the central government.

No funds other than the foreign contribution should be received or deposited in this account. The person may open another FCRA account in any scheduled bank of their choice for keeping or utilising the received contribution.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The objective of the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) Operation for India is to improve the quality and governance of school education in selected states.

The project covers 6 States viz Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha. The identified States will be supported for various interventions for improving the quality of education.

Statement 2 and 3 are correct. The total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest coming as State share from the participating States, over a period of 5 years.

STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), MOE.

The Government has fixed a target of 10% blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022 and 20% blending by 2025. This has been done with a view to boost agricultural economy, to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel, to save foreign exchange on account of crude oil import bill and to reduce the air pollution as Ethanol and ethanol-gasoline mixtures burn cleaner and have higher octane levels than pure gasoline.

To meet out the requirement of ethanol, the Government has notified a scheme for extending financial assistance to project proponents for enhancement of their ethanol distillation capacity or to set up distilleries for producing 1st Generation (1G) ethanol from feed stocks such sugarcane, rice available with Food Corporation of India, maize etc.

Ethanol is a renewable biofuel because it is made from biomass. Ethanol is a clear, colorless alcohol made from a variety of biomass materials called feedstocks. Fuel ethanol feedstocks include grains and crops with high starch and sugar content such as corn, sorghum, barley, sugar cane, and sugar beets.

Statement 1 is correct. The Chandrasekhar Limit of 1.4 solar masses, is the theoretical maximum mass a white dwarf star can have and still remain a white dwarf. Above this mass, electron degeneracy pressure is not enough to prevent gravity from collapsing the star further into a neutron star or black hole.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The limit is named after the Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who first proposed the idea in 1931.

He was not a recipient of Bharat Ratna but was honored with Padma Vibhushan in 1968.

Statement 1 is correct. Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about the functioning of a person’s specific organs, or to treat them.

In using radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis, a radioactive dose is given to the patient and the activity in the organ can then be studied either as a two-dimensional picture or, using tomography, as a three-dimensional picture. Diagnostic techniques in nuclear medicine use radioactive tracers which emit gamma rays from within the body.

Statement 2 is correct. Therapeutic applications of radioisotopes typically are intended to destroy the targeted cells. In radiation therapy for cancer, the patient’s tumor is bombarded with ionizing radiation, typically in the form of beams of subatomic particles, such as protons, neutrons, or alpha or beta particles, which directly disrupt the atomic or molecular structure of the targeted tissue. Ionizing radiation introduces breaks in the double-stranded DNA molecule, causing the cancer cells to die and thereby preventing their replication.

# Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has evolved a design for the first PPP Research Reactor for production of Nuclear Medicines. This premier research organization of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is ready to share the technology of production of a variety of nuclear medicines.

Statement 1 is correct. India has the largest domestic market for spices in the world. Traditionally, spices in India have been grown in small land holdings, with organic farming gaining prominence in recent times.

India is the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices; the country produces about 75 of the 109 varieties listed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and accounts for half of the global trading in spices.

Statement 2 is incorrect. India is the world’s largest exporter of chili and turmeric, the exports of which have recorded a steady progress, over the years.

During 2019-20, chili export contributed to more than 40 per cent in volume and 29 per cent in value of India’s total spice exports. Turmeric held a share of 11 per cent in volume and 6 per cent in value of the export basket.

# Spices Board conducted the Virtual Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) for Chili and Turmeric, with focus on Andhra Pradesh, which saw participation from 245 stakeholders. This was the 14th BSM conducted by the Board in FY 2020-21.