Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 21, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Countries like India and Switzerland accumulated foreign exchange (forex) reserves rather than investing in assets abroad to prevent currency appreciation.

Foreign Exchange reserves or Forex reserves are assets such as foreign currencies, gold reserves, treasury bills, Other Government Securities etc retained by a central bank or other monetary authority.

• RBI is the custodian of the Foreign exchange reserves in India.
• Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 set the legal provisions for governing the forex reserves in India.
• It checks the balance payments and influences the foreign exchange rate of its currency and maintains stability in financial markets.

Composition of India’s Forex Reserves

• The Foreign exchange reserves of India consists of below four categories:
• Foreign Currency Assets
• Gold
• SDR
  • The SDR is an international reserve asset created by IMF in 1969 for internal accounting purposes.
  • SDRs are allocated by the IMF to its member countries and are backed by the full faith and credit of the member countries' governments.
  • Also known as paper gold, the value of SDR is based on a basket of five currencies - the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling.
• Reserve with the IMF (also known as reserve tranche position)
  • Reserve tranche position is the difference between the IMF’s holdings of that country's currency and the country's IMF-designated quota.
  • The reserve tranches that countries hold with the IMF are considered their facilities of first resort, meaning they will tap into them before seeking formal credit that charges interest

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

On April 19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated her Budget announcement on setting up 75 digital banking units in 75 districts of the country this year. This is to take forward the government’s agenda of digital financial inclusion.

• Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India announced the guidelines for DBUs, following the report of a working group of the Indian Banks Association.
• A digital banking unit is a specialised fixed point business unit or hub housing certain minimum digital infrastructure for delivering digital banking products and services as well as servicing existing financial products and services digitally in self-service mode at any time.
• Commercial banks (other than regional rural banks, payment banks and local area banks) with past digital banking experience are permitted to open DBUs in tier 1 to tier 6 centres, unless otherwise specifically restricted, without having the need to take permission from the RBI in each case.
• As per the RBI, each DBU must offer certain minimum digital banking products and services.
• Such products should be on both liabilities and assets side of the balance sheet of the digital banking segment. Digitally value-added services to conventional products would also qualify as such.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Global Ayush Investment & Innovation Summit 2022 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

• The three day Ayush global summit will witness a dialogue with entrepreneurs, industry, startups and other stakeholders to encourage them to increase investment for innovation in Ayush as the sector continues to showcase colossal room for growth.
• The Global Ayush Investment & Innovation Summit will be in progress till April 22, 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat and commenced a day after the Prime Minister inaugurated the WHO-Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar.
• In 2014, where the Ayush sector was less than $3 billion, today it has increased to more than $18 billion.

New initiatives

• Many new initiatives in Ayush sector were announced by the Prime Minister, first being a special Ayush mark for Ayush products. This will give people all over the world the confidence of quality Ayush products.
• Government will develop a network of Ayush parks to encourage the promotion, research and manufacturing of Ayush products across the country.
• A new category named 'Ayush Aahar' was announced which will greatly facilitate the producers of herbal nutritional supplements.
• India will soon introduce a special Ayush visa category for foreign nationals who want to come to India to take advantage of Ayush therapy was announced.
• PM Modi announced launch of Ayush Export Promotion Council and four Ayush ICT initiatives which includes Ayush Information Hub, AyuSoft, Ayush Next and Ayush GIS.
• Prime Minister also released a comic book named ‘Professor Ayushman’, which describes how Ayush systems and products helped in fighting not only COVID-19 but other diseases also.
• On this occasion, the Prime Minister distributed awards to the winners of 'Ayush Start-up Challenge’ organised by All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in association with Start-up India.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has amended rules governing Nidhi companies, whereby its prior declaration will be mandatory for certain entities before they start accepting deposits.

• Now, public companies desiring to function as Nidhis must obtain prior declaration from the central government before accepting deposits, the Ministry said.
• A Nidhi company, especially popular in southern states like Tamil Nadu, is a non-banking financial company. The core business of Nidhi companies is borrowing and lending money between their members.
• For timely disposal, it has also been provided in amended rules that in case no decision is conveyed by the central government within 45 days of the receipt of applications by companies in NDH-4 form, approval will be deemed as granted. This will apply for such companies which shall be incorporated after Nidhi (Amendment) Rules, 2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

• Prime Minister Street Vendors AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) was announced as a part of the Economic Stimulus-II under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
  • It has been implemented since 1st June 2020, for providing affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdowns, with a sanctioned budget of Rs. 700 crore.
• Under this scheme, the vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• On timely/early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on a quarterly basis. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • There will be no penalty on early repayment of the loan. The vendors can avail the facility of the enhanced credit limit on timely/early repayment of the loan.

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
• SAARC comprises eight member States:
  • Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh
  • Bhutan
  • India
  • Maldives
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
• There are currently nine Observers to SAARC, namely: (i) Australia; (ii) China; (iii) the European Union; (iv) Iran; (v) Japan; (vi) the Republic of Korea; (vii) Mauritius; (viii) Myanmar; and (ix) the United States of America. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The Headquarters and Secretariat of the Association are at Kathmandu, Nepal. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre:

• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre or the Amritsar massacre of 13th April 1919 accounts for the gruesome execution of hundreds of innocent people by the Gurkha British Indian army on the orders of the then Anglo-Indian Brigadier R.E.H. Dyer. Hence statement 1 is correct.
  • These people were protesting peacefully against the Rowlatt Act 1919. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Jallianwala Bagh became a key point in the history of India’s struggle for independence and it is now an important monument in the country.
• The Jallianwala Bagh tragedy was one of the causes that led Mahatma Gandhi to begin organising his first large-scale and sustained nonviolent protest (satyagraha) campaign, the Non Cooperation Movement (1920–22).
• The Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood that he had received in 1915.
• The then government of India ordered an investigation of the incident (the Hunter Commission), which in 1920 censured Dyer for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military.

• Mahavir was born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen Trishala, a Lichchhavi princess in the year 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, identical with modern day Vaishali in Bihar. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Mahavira belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• There are several historians who believe that he was born in a place called Ahalya bhumi and the land has not been plowed for hundreds of years by the family that owns it.
• Lord Mahavir was named Vardhamana, which means “one who grows”.
• He abandoned worldly life at the age of 30 and attained ‘kaivalya’ or omniscience at the age of 42.
• Mahavira taught ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (chastity) and aparigraha (non-attachment) to his disciples and his teachings were called Jain Agamas.
• Ordinary people were able to understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers because they used Prakrit. Hence,statement 3 is not correct.
• It is believed that the Mahavira passed away and attained moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) at the age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir in Bihar.

Mid Day Meal scheme

• About: It is the largest school feeding programme of its kind in the world, covering students enrolled in government schools from Classes 1 to 8. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
  • The basic objective of this scheme is to enhance enrolment in schools.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Education. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Background: The programme was first introduced in 1925 for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation.
  • The union government launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on a pilot basis in 1995 for children in Classes 1 to 5.
  • By October 2007, MDMS had been scaled up to Class 8.

Impeachment of President

• According to Article 61, the President can be removed from his office before the expiry of his term only on the grounds of violation of the constitution. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• However, the Constitution does not define the meaning of the phrase ‘violation of the constitution’. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• The impeachment process can be started from any house of the parliament by levelling charges against him. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • The notice bearing the charges against the president must be signed by at least a quarter of the members of the house.