Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Economy) – June 30, 2020

Repatriates Cooperative Finance and Development Bank Ltd., (REPCO BANK) was registered on 19.11.1969 as a Cooperative Society under the relevant provisions of Madras Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 with Jurisdiction over the State of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Union Territory of Puducherry for the purpose of promoting the rehabilitation activities for repatriates from neighbouring countries mainly from Sri Lanka and Burma.

• Though originally registered under the Madras Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, the Bank is deemed to be registered under the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.
• The Bank is under the administrative control of FFR Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. Constitutionally, the Bank is a Multi State Cooperative Society.
• The Bank was promoted by Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs in association with the State Governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The Society’s rules and regulations are governed by its byelaws.
• In terms of the byelaws, as the share of the Government is more than 51%, the Board of Directors are appointed by the Govt. of India.
• The area of operation of the bank covers the south Indian states viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• As on March 31, 2019 the government of India held 49.15 per cent of the share capital, four southern state governments held 6.24 per cent and the remaining 45 percent was held by individual repatriates.

Currency Swap Arrangement is an arrangement, between two friendly countries, which have regular, substantial or increasing trade, to basically involve in trading in their own local currencies, where both pay for import and export trade, at the pre-determined rates of exchange, without bringing in third country currency like the US Dollar.

• In such arrangements no third country currency is involved, thereby eliminating the need to worry about exchange variations.
• The swap arrangement (in 2018) is an agreement between India and Japan to essentially exchange and re-exchange a maximum amount of USD 75 Billion for domestic currency, for the purpose of maintaining an appropriate level of balance of payments for meeting short-term deficiency in foreign exchange.

Basel is a city in Switzerland. It is the headquarters of Bureau of International Settlement (BIS), which fosters co-operation among central banks with a common goal of financial stability and common standards of banking regulations.

• Basel guidelines refer to broad supervisory standards formulated by this group of central banks – called the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
• The set of agreement by the BCBS, which mainly focuses on risks to banks and the financial system are called Basel accord.
• The purpose of the accord is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses. India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.

In June 2004, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS. The guidelines were based on three parameters, which the committee calls it as pillars.

• Capital Adequacy Requirements: Banks should maintain a minimum capital adequacy requirement of 8% of risk assets
• Supervisory Review: According to this, banks were needed to develop and use better risk management techniques in monitoring and managing all the three types of risks that a bank faces, viz. credit, market and operational risks
• Market Discipline: This need increased disclosure requirements. Banks need to mandatorily disclose their CAR, risk exposure, etc to the central bank. Basel II norms in India and overseas are yet to be fully implemented.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act 1985.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a Statutory Body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India, is the apex organization engaged in the work related to the development of export of agricultural and processed food products from India.

APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the following scheduled products:

• Fruits, Vegetables and their Products.
• Meat and Meat Products.
• Poultry and Poultry Products.
• Dairy Products.
• Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products.
• Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products.
• Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds.
• Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages.
• Cereal and Cereal Products.
• Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts.
• Pickles, Papads and Chutneys.
• Guar Gum.
• Floriculture and Floriculture Products.
• Herbal and Medicinal Plants.

The Consumer Welfare Fund Rules were framed and notified in the Gazette of India in 1992, which have been incorporated in Consumer Welfare Fund Rule 97 of the CGST Rules, 2017.  Consumer Welfare Fund has been setup under section 57 of the CGST Act, 2017.

Financial assistance from CWF is given to various Institutions including Universities, Voluntary Consumer Organization (VCOs) and States to promote and protect the welfare and interests of the consumers, create consumer awareness and strengthen consumer movement in the country.  Grants from CWF have been given for the following major projects:

• Creation of Consumer Law Chairs/ Centres of Excellence in Institutions/Universities of repute to foster research and training on consumer related issues.
• Projects for spreading consumer literacy and awareness.
• Establish Corpus Fund at the State level, through co-contribution.

The objectives of the NAFED shall be to organize, promote and develop marketing, processing and storage of agricultural, horticultural and forest produce, distribution of agricultural machinery, implements and other inputs, undertake inter-state, import and export trade, wholesale or retail as the case may be and to act and assist for technical advice in agricultural, production for the promotion and the working of its members, partners, associates and cooperative marketing, processing and supply societies in India.  In furtherance of these objectives, the NAFED may undertake one or more of the following activities.

• to facilitate, coordinate and promote the marketing and trading activities of the cooperative institutions, partners and associates in agricultural, other commodities, articles and goods;
• to undertake or promote on its own or on behalf of its member Institutions or the Government or Government Organizations, Inter-State and international trade and commerce and undertake, wherever necessary, sale, purchase, import, export and distribution of agricultural commodities,  horticultural and forest produce.
• to undertake purchase, sale and supply of agricultural, marketing and processing requisites, such as manure, seeds, fertilizer, agricultural implements and machinery, packing machinery, construction requisites, processing machinery for agricultural commodities, forest produce, dairy, wool and other animal products;
• to act as warehouseman under the Warehousing Act and own and construct its own godowns and cold storages;
• to act as agent of any Government agency or cooperative institution, for the purchase, sale, storage and distribution of agricultural, horticultural, forest and animal husbandry produce, wool, agricultural requisites and other consumer goods;
• to act as insurance agent and to undertake all such work which is incidental to the same;
• to organize consultancy work in various fields for the benefit of the cooperative institutions in general and for its members in particular;

Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). ASI is principal source of industrial statistics in India. It does not cover unorganized or unregistered or informal sector enterprises.

• ASI, an annual event, not only facilitates suitable data collection based on appropriate sampling techniques but also ensures timely dissemination of statistical information to asses and evaluates the dynamics in composition, growth and structure of organized manufacturing sector.
• The structure and function of the industrial sector is an important perspective of Indian Economy. It is imperative for industries to grow both qualitatively and quantitatively to boost the economy.
• The well-being of the industries depends truly on the formulation and promotion of industrial policies framed by the policy makers.
• To frame suitable industrial policies the policy makers need to be aware about the quantified aspect of the existing scenarios in the industries in the country.
• This is where the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is conducted by National Sample Survey Office, Government of India.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (Pm-Kisan) is a Central Sector Scheme. It provides income support to all small and marginal landholding farmer families having cultivable land.

PM Fasal Bima Yojana is a centrally sponsored scheme and it replaced all other existing insurance schemes except the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme.

Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is a Central Sector Scheme under Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW).

NOTE: The central welfare schemes at the state level fall into two broad categories. The first category is centrally sponsored schemes, and the second is the central sector schemes. While the Union government fully funds the central sector schemes, centrally sponsored schemes are jointly funded by the Centre and states.

The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) aims to enhance fish production to 220 lakh metric tons by 2024-25 from 137.58 lakh metric tons in 2018-19 at an average annual growth rate of about 9%.

• The Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Giriraj Singh, said the ambitious scheme will result in doubling export earnings to Rs.1,00,000 crore and generate about 55 lakhs direct and indirect employment opportunities in fisheries sector over a period of next five years.
• Dedicating the PMMSY to fishers, fish farmers, fish workers, fish vendors and other stakeholders associated with the fisheries sector, Shri Giriraj Singh said that insurance coverage for fishing vessels is being introduced for the first time.
• The PMMSY will be implemented over a period of 5 years from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25 in all States/Union Territories.
• The Fisheries Minister said that about 42% of the total estimated investment of the PMMSY is earmarked for creation and upgradation of fisheries infrastructure facilities.
• Focus areas include Fishing Harbours and Landing Centers, Post-harvest and Cold Chain Infrastructure, Fish Markets and Marketing Infrastructure, Integrated Modern Coastal Fishing Villages and Development of Deep-sea Fishing.
• Besides creating critical fisheries infrastructure by attracting private investments in fisheries sector, the scheme plans to reduce post-harvest losses from the present high of 25% to about 10% by modernizing and strengthening value chain.
• Under the Swath Sagar plan, activities envisaged with a view to modernize the fisheries sector include promotion of Bio-toilets, Insurance coverage for fishing vessels, Fisheries Management Plans, E-Trading/Marketing, Fishers and resources survey and creation of National IT-based databases.

International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS) is a series of conferences, sponsored by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Bank (WB), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other international development agencies.

• ICAS started in 1998 in response to overarching need for better agricultural data worldwide and is held every three years to address issues of agricultural statistics (information/data) development.
• United States, Italy, Mexico, China, Uganda and Brazil have been the host countries for ICAS in the past.
• The 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-VIII) was held from 18th to 21st November 2019 in New Delhi.
• The theme of the conference is Statistics for Transformation of Agriculture to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.