Daily Current Affairs MCQ - November 7, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

India’s current account balance saw a far lower surplus of $6.5 billion (0.9% of GDP) in the first quarter ended June 30, (Q1FY22) compared with a surplus of $19.1 billion (3.7% of GDP) a year earlier.

The surplus in the current account in Q1FY22 compared with the previous quarter was primarily on account of contraction in the trade deficit to $30.7 billion from $41.7 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net services receipts, as per data provided by the (RBI).

Net services receipts increased, both sequentially and on a year-on-year basis, on the back of robust performance of net exports of computer and business services. Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, amounted to $ 20.9 billion, an increase of 14.8% from their level a year earlier.

In the financial account, net foreign direct investment recorded inflow of $11.9 billion compared with an outflow of $0.5 billion.

Net foreign portfolio investment was $ 0.4 billion ($0.6 billion), data showed.

Myanmar is bordered by Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest.

The Jal Shakti Ministry released a guide for the safe rescue and release of stranded Ganges River Dolphins. The document has been prepared by the Turtle Survival Alliance, India Program and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department (EFCCD), Uttar Pradesh. The guide has been drawn from years of experience of the organisation while rescuing 25 Ganges River Dolphins (GRDs) stranded in irrigation canals.

The GRDs have been designated the National Aquatic Animal of India since 2010 and are listed as ‘Endangered’ under IUCN Red List Assessments, Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972), Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Found throughout the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India and Bangladesh, the Ganges River Dolphin [Platanista gangetica gangetica] is a global priority and is also an indicator of healthy aquatic systems.

Every year, from July to November, an upsurge in cases of dengue has been observed. The disease has a seasonal pattern, i.e., the peak comes after monsoon and it is not uniformly distributed throughout the year. Dengue virus is transmitted through the bite of a female Aedes (Ae.) mosquito. Aedes is a day time feeder and can fly up to a limited distance of 400 meters. Dengue mosquitoes can’t breed once the temperature falls below 16 degrees.

IgM and IgG antibodies test and NS1 antigen test. Both are done through ELISA kits and hence are popularly known as Elisa test.

• Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973 was enacted to nationalise all the coal mines in India. It was repealed in 2018.
• The demand-supply mismatch started in 1991 (the liberalisation period) and started widening. This led the government to allow captive mining. mining for own use only. This coal cannot be sold to other players.
• The 2015 legislation (Coal Mines (Special provisions) Act, 2015) allowed re-entry of private players into the sector. It enabled auctioning of coal mines.
• The 2018 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs allowed the auctioning of mines to the private players on basis of offer of highest price/ tonne.
• The Coal resources of India are available in older Gondwana Formations of peninsular India and younger tertiary formations of north-eastern region.
• The lignite reserves stand at a level around 36 billion tonnes, of which 90% occur in the southern State of Tamil Nadu.
• Top 5 States in terms of total coal reserves in India are: Jharkhand > Odisha > Chhattisgarh > West Bengal > Madhya Pradesh.

To enhance the productivity of cattle, the Rashtriya Gokul Mission was initiated in 2014 with a focus on the genetic upgradation of the bovine population through widespread initiatives on artificial insemination, sex-sorted semen, and in vitro fertilization.

India is the highest livestock owner of the world.

As per the Economic Survey-2021, the contribution of Livestock in total agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32% (2014-15) to 28.63% (2018-19).

A key indicator of an economy’s long-run debt sustainability is the differential between interest paid on government debt and the economy’s nominal growth rate. When the cost of raising debt is lower than the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, public debt comes with low fiscal costs. In such a situation, the debt-to-GDP ratio of the economy declines as debts are rolled over.

The census of one of the world’s most threatened cetaceans, the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) — a freshwater dolphin that is found in river Beas, is all set to commence in the winter as part of a project by the Centre.

The Indus river dolphin is classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and, until recently, it was believed that these dolphins were endemic to Pakistan. But in 2007, a remnant but viable population of Indus dolphins was discovered in Punjab’s Harike wildlife sanctuary and in the lower Beas river.

The Indus river dolphin was declared the State aquatic animal of Punjab in 2019.

A new study has found under-reported debts to the tune of $385 billion in projects carried out in dozens of countries under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with a rise in “hidden” debt on account of an increasing number of deals struck not directly between governments but structured through often opaque arrangements with a range of financing institutions.

The total debt, was “systematically under-reported to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS) because, in many cases, central government institutions in LMICs [low and middle income countries] are not the primary borrowers responsible for repayment”.

Debtor Reporting System (DRS) is a statistical reporting system maintained by the World Bank to monitor the debt of developing countries. Information is supplied through reports from debtor countries.

The Government kept the interest rates on small savings schemes unchanged for the September-December period. Small savings rates are reviewed every quarter and this is the sixth consecutive quarter that the government has maintained the rates.

The small savings schemes basket comprises 12 instruments including the National Saving Certificate (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and Sukanya Samridihi Scheme.