{"id":18634,"date":"2018-04-14T13:40:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T08:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18634"},"modified":"2018-04-13T12:41:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T07:11:15","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-13-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-13-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 13, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) According to the recent India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017, Forest and Tree Cover of the country has increased by 1% as compared to assessment of 2015. Does this growth in forest cover calls for a sigh of relief or we should be more cautioned than before? (GS \u2013 2)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction: <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>12th February, 2018: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2017 and it is 15th such report in the series.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Key findings of the report:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>(Positive changes)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Forest and Tree Cover:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forest and Tree Cover of the country has increased by <\/span><b>8,021 sq km (1 %)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as compared to assessment of 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Very dense forest:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The very dense forest has increased by <\/span><b>1.36 %<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as compared to last assessment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forest cover has increased in:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andhra Pradesh (2,141 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karnataka (1,101 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kerala (1,043 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Odisha (885 sqkms) and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Telangana (565 sqkms).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Water bodies:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water bodies inside forest cover have increased by <\/span><b>2,647 sqkms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during the last decade.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">States showing increase in water bodies within forest areas:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maharashtra (432 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gujarat (428 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Madhya Pradesh (389 sqkms).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Water conservation:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State Forest Departments have also undertaken steps to improve water conservation through different interventions such as building Check dams, vegetation barriers, percolation ponds, contour trenches etc. under various Central &amp; State Government schemes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Mangrove cover:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mangrove forests have increased by <\/span><b>181 sqkms.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">States showing increase in terms of mangrove cover:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maharashtra (82 sqkms),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andhra Pradesh (37 sqkms) and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gujarat (33 sqkms).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Please note<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Mangroves play a major role in protecting <\/span><b>coastal areas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from erosion, tidal storms and tsunamis.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Nationally Determined Contributions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is striving towards achieving its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goal of creating additional carbon sink of <\/span><b>2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Carbon stock:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The total carbon stock in the country\u2019s forest is estimated to be 7,082 million tonnes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>(Negative changes)<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">F<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">orests in most of the biodiversity-rich <\/span><b>north-eastern <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">part of the country have been contracting continuously over the last few years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forest cover has decreased in:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mizoram (531 sq km),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagaland (450 sq km),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arunachal Pradesh (190 sq km),<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tripura (164 sq km) and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meghalaya (116 sq km).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to mention here that these states are in the North Eastern region of the country where the total forest cover is very high i.e. more than <\/span><b>70% in each state.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, the report serves as rightful guide to acknowledge the overall scenario of the country\u2019s forest covers and its related dimensions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) In the light of first bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19, do you think that RBI has done well to adopt a balanced approach in the current economic context? (GS \u2013 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Reserve Bank of India\u2019s (RBI\u2019s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has recently introduced the first bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Salient features of RBI\u2019s bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19 are:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benchmark repo rate has been kept <\/span><b>unchanged at 6%.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reverse repo rate has also been left <\/span><b>unchanged at 5.75%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the bank rate at <\/span><b>25%.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The inflation projection to <\/span><b>7-5.1%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the first half of the financial year 2018-2019 and <\/span><b>4.4% in H2 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been revised.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A GDP growth of <\/span><b>4% in FY19<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from <\/span><b>6.6% in FY18<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been forecasted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, the GDP growth has been projected at <\/span><b>3-7.4% in H1<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>7.3-7.6% in H2<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of <\/span><b>FY19.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A minimum level of<\/span><b> \u2018loan component\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in fund based working capital finance for larger borrowers is being specified.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Concerns are raised on the <\/span><b>global trade war<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>stock market volatility<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> triggered by uncertainty regarding the pace of normalisation of US monetary policy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warnings have been circulated to all the <\/span><b>banks and financial entities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to restrain themselves dealing with <\/span><b>virtual currencies <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>cut all the ties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> within three months.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Inflation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in respect of liquefied <\/span><b>petroleum gas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has declined in line with <\/span><b>international price movements.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, the rate of increase in prices of <\/span><b>firewood and chips, and dung cake<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been moderated.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Signs of revival in <\/span><b>investment activities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with exports to getting a boost from the <\/span><b>improvement in<\/b> <b>global demand<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have been cleared.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establishment of a <\/span><b>Data Sciences Lab<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> within the RBI has been proposed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, the RBI has done well to adopt a lot balanced approach in the current economic context.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) Write short notes on: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>a) Post-earning drift in economics (GS \u2013 3) <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post-earning drift refers to the tendency among stocks and other financial securities to offer abnormal returns to investors even weeks or months after an earnings surprise. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A stock, for instance, might continue to rise strongly for a number of weeks after the underlying company posts excellent results. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This happens because it takes time for investors to fully incorporate all the relevant fresh information about a stock into its price. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The prevalence of the drift is considered to be a refutation of the famous academic hypothesis that markets efficiently price all securities at all times.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>b) Replication crisis in science and technology (GS \u2013 3) <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replication crisis refers to the failure of many scientific studies to replicate the results of previous studies. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is usually attributed to various errors and biases in the methodology used by scientists to conduct their experiments on a subject. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Others, however, have attributed the replication crisis to the inherent impossibility of arriving at the real truth in certain fields of study using scientific methods. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This may be due to randomness. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since some major scientific theories have been based on data that have failed to be replicated by follow-up studies, many scientists have been forced to rethink their previous conclusions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) According to the recent India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017, Forest and Tree Cover of the country has increased by 1% as compared to assessment of 2015. Does this growth in forest cover calls for a sigh of relief or we should be more cautioned than before? (GS \u2013 2) Introduction: 12th&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-13-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 13, 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704857597},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}