Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon- July 19

The Union Government has set up Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM), a new wing to provide intelligence inputs taking action against tax evaders. It has been has been set up will be under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

More about Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management:

• The DGARM was set up on 1 July 2017, coinciding with rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
• It will function as an apex body of CBEC for data analytics and risk management and will report to the chairman of CBEC.
• It will utilize internal and external data sources for detailed data mining and analysis to generate outputs for focused and targeted action by field formations and investigation wings of the CBEC.

Statement 1 is incorrect. SRCIP is a strategic initiative that aims to achieve regional integration among the members of the SASEC group by improving road connectivity within the North Bengal-North Eastern Region in India.

Statement 2 is correct.

Thus, the correct answer is b.

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India performs only auditing functions.

Important points about CAG:

• CAG is concerned with providing a fair and transparent audit leading to credible governance.
• CAG is appointed by President and can be removed from office in a manner and on grounds like Judge of a Supreme Court.
• It is the CAG’s audit reports which helps ensure executive’s accountability to the Parliament in the sphere of financial administration.
• Since it conducts audit of expenditure on behalf of the Parliament, it is an agent of the Parliament and thus responsible only to it.

None of the above statements are incorrect.

Statement 1: The Appropriation Bill is required to be passed for votable as well as non-votable expenditures and also any vote on account.

Statement 2:  Once the Appropriation Bill has been passed, no amendments in its amounts can be proposed.

More about Appropriation Bill:

• Appropriation is the process of setting aside the money for a particular purpose or expenditure.
• As per Article 114 of the constitution of India, no amount can be withdrawn from the consolidated fund of India without authorization from the parliament of India or legislature of the states. Due to this, the parliament as well as state assemblies need to pass appropriation bills as a part of budget exercise to be able to withdraw money from consolidated fund of union or state.
• Appropriation bill is only presented in the parliament after the presentation of estimated expenditure specified under Article 113 of the Indian Constitution.
• Once the bill gets President’s assent, it becomes Appropriation Act.

Salary and Allowances of the Governor are charged expenditures from the Consolidated Fund of the State.  If same person is appointed as governor of more than one states, the salary etc. are shared by the concerned states.

More about Governor:

• Governor is the constitutional head of the state in the same way as President is the Constitutional head of the Union.
• The Governor should not be member of any house of the parliament.
• A Governor enjoys personal immunity from legal liabilities for his official acts. When he is in office, he is immune from criminal proceedings even in respect of the personal acts.

Statement 1 is incorrect: No. RCEP is not supposed to create a single integrated market because zero-tariff rates are not going to be achieved and we cannot call any arrangement which has tariff barriers as single market. Slashing tariff beyond a limit is not possible for numerous reasons.

Statement 2 is correct: Since 2012, sixteen countries {ASEAN+6} have been engaged in the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Importance of RCEP for India:

• The RCEP would enable India to strengthen its trade ties with Australia, China, Japan and South Korea.
• It would be the world’s largest trading bloc covering a broad spectrum of issues such as trade in goods, services, investment, competition, intellectual property rights, and other areas of economic and technical cooperation.

Concerns/Challenges for India:

• Non-trade issues such as environment and labor are likely to be prickly as well and need greater attention.
• India must take steps to strengthen its Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) sector.
• Tariff barriers, which have been a matter of discontent in bilateral FTAs, particularly in the case of the ASEAN-India FTA, will be central to the negotiations in the upcoming rounds of RCEP negotiations.

None of the above statements are correct.

Statement 1 is incorrect: As per the Sixth Schedule, the four states viz. Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram contain the Tribal Areas which are technically different from the Scheduled Areas.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The councils under the sixth schedule have been given more power than the local governments under the 73rd and 74th amendments in the rest of the country. It has been established that this autonomy paradigm has brought a degree of equilibrium within the tribal societies mainly via the formal dispute resolution under customary laws.

Knowledge Byte:

• The Legislations passed by the Autonomous councils come into effect only after the assent of the Governor. However, Governor works as per the aid and advice of the state Council of Ministers.
• Para 12 (A) of the Sixth Schedule clearly states that, whenever there is a conflict of interest between the District Councils and the state legislature, the latter would prevail. Thus state enjoys the superiority