Daily Quiz #22 UPSC Prelims Marathon – October 29, 2019

Explanation: The belief in the self-correcting quality of the market and the ‘invisible hand’ of Adam Smith got a major setback in early 20th century during the Great Depression (1929). The impact of the depression spread from the USA to other economies of Western Europe escalating large scale unemployment, downfall in demand and economic activities and lockouts in industrial enterprises. The prevailing Smithonian macro ideas failed to check the crisis. A new approach was needed which came in the famous work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) by the English economist at Cambridge University, John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946).

Explanation: The dilemma of measuring the developmental level of economies was solved once the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published its first Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990. The report had a human development index (HDI) which was the first attempt to define and measure the level of development of economies. The ‘index’ was a product of select team of leading scholars, development practioners and members of the Human Development Report office of the UNDP. The first such team which developed the HDI was led by Mahbub ul Haq and Inge Kaul. The term ‘human development’ is a corollary of ‘development’ in the index.

Explanation: After the reports of the NPC were published and the government was set to go for the five-year plans, a lone blueprint for the planned development of India was formulated by the famous socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan— the Sarvodaya Plan published in January 1950. The plan drew its major inspirations from the Gandhian techniques of constructive works by the
Community and trusteeship as well as the Sarvodaya concept of Acharya Vinoba Bave, the eminent Gandhian constructive worker.

Explanation: The period of the three consecutive Annual Plans was 1966–69. Though the Fourth Plan was ready for implementation in 1966, the weak financial situation as well as the low morale after the defeat by China, the government decided to go for an Annual Plan for 1966–67. Due to the same reasons the government went for another two such plans in the forthcoming years. The broader objectives of these Annual Plans were inside the design of the Fourth
Plan which would have been implemented for the period 1966–71 had the financial conditions not worsened by then. Some economists as well as the opposition in the Parliament called this period as a discontinuity in the planning process, as the Plans were supposed to be for a period of five years. They named it a period of “Plan Holiday”, i.e., the planning was on a holiday.

Explanation: Under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) a certain percentage of the funding is borne by the Centre and the states in the ratio of 50:50, 70:30, 75:25 or 90:10 and the implementation is done by the state governments. CSSs are formulated in subjects from the State List to encourage states to prioritise in areas that require more attention. Funds are routed either through the Consolidated Fund of the states and or are transferred directly to state/district level autonomous bodies/implementing agencies. As per the Baijal Committee Report (1987), CSSs have been defined as the schemes which are funded directly by Central ministries/departments and implemented by the states or their agencies, irrespective of their pattern of financing, unless they fall under the Centre’s sphere of responsibility, i.e., the Union List.