10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | March 11 2021

Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is being implemented in respect of recruitment for Civil posts and services in government and admission in educational institutions.

Criteria for EWS: Persons who are not covered under the scheme of reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs and whose family has gross annual income below Rupees Eight Lakh are to be identified as EWSs for benefit of reservation. Income shall also include income from all sources: i.e., salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application.

Further, persons whose family owns or possesses any of the following assets shall be excluded from being identified as EWS, irrespective of the family income:

–Five acres of agricultural land and above;

–Residential flat of 1000 sq. ft. and above;

–Residential plot of 100 sq. yards and above in notified municipalities;

–Residential plot of 200 sq. yards and above in areas other than notified municipalities.

Statement 1 is correct. The Gaganyaan project has the objective of demonstrating human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with three crew members in orbit and safely recovering them after the mission.

Statement 2 is incorrect. ISRO’s heavy lift launcher, GSLV MkIII is identified for the Gaganyaan Mission and the process for human rating of GSLV MkIII is in progress. The high thrust solid propellant strap-on boosters S200 play an important role in the Human Rated GSLV MkIII.

# Four Indian astronaut candidates are currently undergoing generic space flight training in Russia as part of Gaganyaan Programme.

Statement 1 is incorrect. INS Karanj is the third diesel-electric submarine of the Kalvari class — a class based on the Scorpène-class submarine — commissioned into the Indian Navy recently.

Statement 2 is correct. The submarine is completely made in India. Unlike other submarines which were made under the supervision of France, INS Karanj has been constructed completely under the supervision of MDL (Mazgaon Dock Limited), Naval Engineers.

# Six Scorpene-class submarines are being built in India by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France.

# This year is being celebrated as the ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ which marks 50 years of 1971 Indo – Pak war. Old INS Karanj, commissioned on 04 Sep 1969 at Riga in the erstwhile USSR, also took active part in the conflict.

An outlay of INR 1.97 lakh crore has been announced in Union Budget 2021-22 for PLI schemes for 13 key sectors for a period of 5 years starting from fiscal year (FY) 2021- 22.

These 13 sectors include already existing 3 sectors named (i) Mobile Manufacturing and Specified Electronic Components, (ii) Critical Key Starting materials/Drug Intermediaries & Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, and (iii) Manufacturing of Medical Devices and 10 new key sectors which have been approved by the Union Cabinet recently in November 2020. These 10 key sectors are:

(i) Automobiles and Auto Components, (ii) Pharmaceuticals Drugs, (iii) Specialty Steel, (iv) Telecom & Networking Products, (v) Electronic/Technology Products, (vi) White Goods (ACs and LEDs), (vii) Food Products, (viii) Textile Products: MMF segment and technical textiles, (ix) High efficiency solar PV modules, and (x) Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery.

# The PLI schemes will be implemented by the concerned Ministries/ Departments and will be within the overall financial limits prescribed.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) as a non-lapsable reserve fund for Health in the Public Account from the proceeds of Health and Education Cess levied under Section 136-b of Finance Act, 2007.

— Accruals into the PMSSN will be utilized for the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare namely, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), National Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) etc.

— Administration and maintenance of the PMSSN is entrusted to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

— In any financial year, the expenditure on such schemes of the MoHFW would be initially incurred from the PMSSN and thereafter, from Gross Budgetary Support (GBS).

Statement 1 is incorrect while 2 and 3 are correct.

The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) policy was launched in April, 2000. The Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, was passed by Parliament in May, 2005. The salient features of the SEZ scheme are:

–A designated duty free enclave to be treated as a territory outside the customs territory of India for the purpose of authorised operations in the SEZ;

–No licence required for import;

–Manufacturing or service activities allowed;

–Domestic sales subject to full customs duty and import policy in force;

–SEZ units will have freedom for subcontracting;

–No routine examination by customs authorities of export/import cargo;

# Presently, 378 SEZs are notified, out of which 265 are operational.

All of the above are correctly matched.

PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme intends to facilitate collateral free working capital loans of up to INR10,000/- of one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.

Under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojna (ABRY), the Government of India is bearing for a period of two years, both the employees’ share (12% of wages) and employers’ share (12% of wages) of contribution payable or only the employees’ share, depending on employment strength of the EPFO registered establishments.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has been initiated by Government inter alia, for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals

Similipal, which derives its name from ‘Simul’ (Silk Cotton) tree, is a national park and a Tiger Reserve situated in the northern part of Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district. It is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009.

The Joranda and Barehipani are located within the protected area in the reserve. At least twelve rivers cut across the plain area, all of which drain into the Bay of Bengal. The prominent among them are Burhabalanga, Palpala Bandan, Salandi, Kahairi and Deo.

The vegetation is a mix of different forest types and habitats, with Northern tropical moist deciduous dominating some semi-evergreen patches. Sal is the dominant tree species here. The park is known for the tiger, elephant and hill mynah. It holds the highest tiger population in the state of Orissa.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has been recently conferred with the prestigious International King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, for its commitment to raising awareness of the importance of healthy soils.

World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources. An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002.

# The award, sponsored by the Kingdom of Thailand, is named after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand for his lifelong commitment to raising awareness of the importance of sustainable soil management and rehabilitation for food security, poverty alleviation and more.

The date of 5 December is birthday of the late H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main proponents of this initiative.

The India – Uzbekistan joint military exercise “DUSTLIK II” commenced on 10th March in Foreign Training Node Chaubatia, Ranikhet (Uttarakhand). This is the Second Edition of annual bilateral joint exercise of both armies. The first edition of the exercise was held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan in Nov 2019.

Both contingents will be sharing their expertise and skills in the field of counter terrorist operations in mountainous/rural/urban scenario under UN mandate.