10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: September 25, 2020

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 has been passed by the parliament recently to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.

Statement 1 is correct. The Act states that a person may accept foreign contribution if they have: obtained a certificate of registration from central government, or not registered, but obtained prior permission from the government to accept foreign contribution.

The Bill adds that any person seeking prior permission, registration or renewal of registration must provide the Aadhaar number of all its office bearers, directors or key functionaries, as an identification document.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Under the Act, a person who receives foreign contribution must use it only for the purpose for which the contribution is received.  Further, they must not use more than 50% of the contribution for meeting administrative expenses.  This Amendment Bill reduces this limit to 20%.

Option 1 is correct. The Gobi Desert is a vast, arid region in northern China and southern Mongolia.

Option 2 is correct. The Kunlun Mountains constitute the chain that forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin in China.

Option 3 is incorrect. Tonle Sap is a seasonally inundated freshwater lake in Cambodia, the Tonle Sap River connects the lake to the Mekong River.

Statement 1 is correct. The PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) is a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to facilitate street vendors to access affordable working capital loan for resuming their livelihoods activities, after easing of lockdown.

Statement 2 is correct. The credit is being provided by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, Cooperative Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies, Micro-Finance Institutions and SHG Banks.

Salient features of the Scheme:

-Initial working capital of up to `10,000/-

-Interest subsidy on timely/ early repayment at 7%

-Monthly cash-back incentive on digital transactions

-Higher loan eligibility on timely repayment of the first loan

Statement 1 is correct. Under NASA’s Artemis program, NASA’s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft nearly a quarter million miles from Earth to lunar orbit. Astronauts will dock Orion at the Gateway and transfer to a human landing system for expeditions to the surface of the Moon. They will return to the orbital outpost to board Orion again before returning safely to Earth.

Statement 2 is correct. Phase 1 of the program plans to land the first woman and the next man on the surface of the Moon in 2024.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) is not any statutory body set up through an Act of Parliament. It is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. It came into existence in January 1965.

Statement 2 is correct. It is mandated to recommend minimum support prices (MSPs) for government procurement to incentivize the cultivators to adopt modern technology, and raise productivity and overall grain production in line with the emerging demand patterns in the country.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by CACP.

The Food Corporation of India was setup under the Food Corporation’s Act 1964, in order to fulfill following objectives of the Food Policy:

-Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers (by procurement of food grains at MSP)

-Distribution of food grains throughout the country for public distribution system (PDS).

-Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security

Statement 1 is correct. The National Medical Commission (NMC), in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI), as the country’s apex regulator of medical education and profession has come into existence

Statement 2 is incorrect. As per the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the Central Government shall appoint the Chairperson, part-time Members based on the recommendation of a Search Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

Under the Act, states will establish their respective State Medical Councils within three years.  These Councils will have a role similar to the NMC, at the state level.

Statement 1 is correct. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) is available to people in the age group 18 to 70 years with a bank account.

The risk coverage under the scheme is Rs.2 lakh for accidental death and full disability and Rs. 1 lakh for partial disability.

Statement 2 is correct. The Government recently clarified that Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) doesn’t cover COVID-19 related deaths.

# Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) covers COVID deaths with certain conditions.

# The PMJJBY is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account. Risk coverage under this scheme is for Rs. 2 Lakh in case of death of the insured, due to any reason.

Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – “Saubhagya” was launched with an aim to achieve universal household electrification.

Statement 1 is correct. Under Saubhagya free electricity connections to all households (both APL and poor families) in rural areas and poor families in urban areas will be provided. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has been designated as nodal agency for the Saubhagya scheme.

Statement 2 is correct. Schemes targets for providing Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) based standalone system for un-electrified households located in remote and inaccessible villages / habitations, where grid extension is not feasible or cost effective.

Statement 3 is correct. The prospective beneficiary households for free electricity connections under the scheme would be identified using SECC 2011 data. However, un-electrified households not covered under SECC data would also be provided electricity connections under the scheme on payment of Rs. 500 which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 instalments through electricity bill.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) calculates cost of production at three levels: (i) A2, which includes cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, labour; (ii) A2+FL, which includes the implied cost of family labour (FL); and (iii) C2, which includes the implied rent on land and interest on capital assets over and above A2+FL.

CACP reckons only A2+FL cost for return. However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.