10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz : February 2 2021

Explanation: The horizontal devolution determines each state’s share in central taxes depending their status/performance in the weights assigned to following criterion:

–On horizontal devolution, while XVFC agreed that the Census 2011 population data better represents the present need of States, to be fair to, as well as reward, the States which have done better on the demographic front, XVFC has assigned a 12.5 per cent weight to the demographic performance criterion.
–Income distance is the distance of the state’s income from the state with the highest income.
–XVFC has re-introduced tax effort criterion to reward fiscal performance.

Statement 1 is correct. In order to maintain predictability and stability of resources, especially during the pandemic, XVFC has recommended maintaining the vertical devolution at 41 per cent – the same as in report for 2020-21.
It is at the same level of 42 per cent of the divisible pool as recommended by FC-XIV. However, it has made the required adjustment of about 1 per cent due to the changed status of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into the new Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The XVFC proposes that the Union Government may constitute in the Public Account of India, a dedicated non-lapsable fund, Modernisation Fund for Defence and Internal Security (MFDIS). The total indicative size of the proposed MFDIS over the period 2021-26 is Rs. 2,38,354 crores.
Statement 3 is correct. XVFC has recommend that health spending by States should be increased to more than 8 per cent of their budget by 2022.
Given the inter-State disparity in the availability of medical doctors, it is essential to constitute an All India Medical and Health Service as is envisaged under Section 2A of the All-India Services Act, 1951.

Statement 1 is correct. The fiscal deficit in BE 2021-2022 is estimated to be 6.8% of GDP. The fiscal deficit in RE 2020-21 is pegged at 9.5% of GDP – funded through Government borrowings, multilateral borrowings, Small Saving Funds and short-term borrowings.

Statement 2 is incorrect. This financial year 2020-21 is expected to end with an Annual Current Account Surplus for the first time after a period of 17 years.

A “gig worker” means a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship.
Traditional workers have a long-term employer-employee relationship in which the worker is paid by the hour or year, earning a wage or salary. Outside of that arrangement, work tends to be temporary or project-based; workers are hired to complete a particular task or for a certain period of time.
The budget 2021-22 has proposed a portal that will collect relevant information on gig, building, and construction workers, among others. This will help formulate health, housing, skill, insurance, credit and food schemes for migrant workers.

Through Union Budget 2021-22, the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs announced that the Government will consolidate the provisions of SEBI Act, 1992, Depositories Act, 1996, Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and Government Securities Act, 2007 into a rationalized single Securities Markets Code.
Securities are tradable financial instruments used to raise capital in public and private markets. There are primarily three types of securities: equity—which provides ownership rights to holders; debt—essentially loans repaid with periodic payments; and hybrids—which combine aspects of debt and equity.

Statement 1 is correct. The Finance Minister announced that a new centrally sponsored scheme, PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana.
This will develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases.
Statement 2 is incorrect. PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana will be in addition to the National Health Mission. The main interventions under the scheme are:
–Support for rural and urban Health and Wellness Centers
–Setting up integrated public health labs in all districts and 3382 block public health units in 11 states;
–Establishing critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions;
–Strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
–Expansion of the Integrated Health Information Portal to all States/UTs
–Setting up of a national institution for One Health, a Regional Research Platform for WHO South East Asia Region, 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories and 4 regional National Institutes for Virology.

Statement 1 is correct. A professionally managed Development Financial Institution is necessary to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing. Accordingly, a Bill to set up a DFI will be introduced.
Government has provided a sum of Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise this institution and the ambition is to have a lending portfolio of at least Rs 5 lakh crore for this DFI in three years time.
Statement 2 is correct. The Union Finance Minister announced launch of a “National Monetization Pipeline” of potential brownfield infrastructure assets stating that Monetizing operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.
The Minister informed that an Asset Monetization dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors.

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) was established in April, 2019 as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to run and manage the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS); Statement 2 is correct.
EMRSs are a flagship intervention of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to provide quality education to tribal students in remote tribal areas. The programme being implemented since 1998 have created a niche in the tribal education landscape of the country. However, the scheme was revamped in 2018 to improve the geographical outreach of the programme and introduce several qualitative changes to improve learning outcomes in the schools.
Currently there are 588 schools sanctioned across the country in 28 States/UT with around 73391 students enrolled in the Schools. Another 152 schools shall be sanctioned by the year 2022.

Statement 1 is correct. PNEUMOSIL is India’s first indigenously developed pneumococcal vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
# Pneumosil has been licensed by Drugs Controller General (India) in July 2020 after approval from Subject Expert Committee (SEC).
Statement 2 is incorrect. PNEUMOSIL will primarily help to fight against pneumococcal pneumonia amongst children and will be available at an affordable competitive price with an advantage of presence of serotypes 6A and 19A in the vaccine.
The unique feature of this WHO pre-qualified PCV is its composition which is specially tailored to the prevailing serotype prevalence of S. pneumoniae in India and other regions of the world.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The ASEAN-INDIA Hackathon is an initiative taken by Ministry of Education as proposed by the Prime Minister of India during Singapore India Hackathon in 2019. The ASEAN India Hackathon is being organized online from 1st -3rd February 2021
Statement 2 is correct. The Hackathon will provide a unique opportunity to India and ASEAN countries to solve their common identified challenges under two broad themes of “Blue Economy” and “Education” and thereby provide an opportunity to forward their economic and cultural ties through collaboration in education, science and technology.