Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – April 17, 2018

Three performance indicators to rank the States:

• average days of employment per household,
• percentage wages paid within the promised 15 days of enlisting to work, and
• the work completion rate.

Each indicator measures the implementation of MGNREGA in the State on an important output. Collectively the three indicators capture the key aspects of MGNREGA implementation- employment generation, wages paid in time, and assets created as promised.

Over the years, direct tax base has been narrowing. Wider direct taxation is better than indirect taxation because Indirect taxes negatively affect the poor as everybody has to pay the indirect taxes uniformly. Statement 2 is correct. For more details refer to this news article by The Hindu 

Headquarter of Inland Waterways Authority of India is in Noida. 

Bhanga–Lakhimpur is National Waterway No. 6.

National Waterway No. 5 is Talcher to Paradip.

A Congressional resolution aiming to bring India on a par with America’s NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies in terms of Defence trade and technology transfer was introduced recently.

The US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act (HR 4825) proposes to amends the Arms Export Control Action.

A group of influential US lawmakers have introduced a Bill in the Congress asking the US President Barack Obama administration to help India join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Masala bond is a term is used to refer to rupee-denominated borrowings by Indian entities in overseas markets. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, issued a ₹1,000 crore bond to fund infrastructure projects in India. These bonds were listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). IFC then named them Masala bonds to give a local flavour by calling to mind Indian culture and cuisine. While it may seem odd to name a staid debt instrument after food stuffs, it has been done in the past. Chinese bonds, named Dim-sum bonds after a popular dish in Hong Kong, have been around for while. So have Japanese bonds named Samurai after the country’s warrior class.

These are issued to foreign investors and settled in US dollars. Hence the currency risk lies with the investor and not the issuer, unlike external commercial borrowings (ECBs), where Indian companies raise money in foreign currency loans. While ECBs help companies take advantage of the lower interest rates in international markets, the cost of hedging the currency risk can be significant. If unhedged, adverse exchange rate movements can come back to bite the borrower. But in the case of Masala bonds, the cost of borrowing can work out much lower.

Government of India is implementing Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) policy w.e.f. 1st April 2010. The notable features of this scheme are as follows:

• This scheme is for 22 grades of decontrolled fertilizers namely DAP, MAP, TSP, DAP Lite, MOP, SSP, Ammonium Sulphate and 15 grades of complex fertilizers.
• These fertilizers are provided to the farmers at the subsidized rates based on the nutrients (N, P, K & S) contained in these fertilizers.
• Additional subsidy is also provided on the fertilizers fortified with secondary and micronutrients as per the Fertilizer Control Order such as Boron and Zinc.
• The subsidy given to the companies is fixed annually on the basis of its nutrients content (i.e. Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash and Sulphur).
• Under this scheme, Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of fertilizers has been left open and manufacturers/marketers are allowed to fix the MRP at reasonable level.
• Urea does not come under NBS.

This is basic question of simple economics. All are imp reasons for lack of manufacturing base in India.