Q.1 Indo-China joint mechanism on the Brahmaputra river was aimed at :
1. Sharing river water
2. Sharing river water data
3. Sharing information on transboundary projects
4. Addressing concerns on dams in upper Brahmaputra
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1,3,4
B) 2 & 3
C) Only 2
D) 1 & 2
Ans. B
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.2 Who among the following are the members of the Washington Accord ?
1. India
2. China
3. Malaysia
4. South Africa
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1,3,4
B) Only 1 & 2
C) Only 3
D) 1,2,3,4
Ans. D
* The Washington Accord is an international accreditation agreement for professional engineering academic degrees, between the bodies responsible for accreditation in its signatory countries. *The Washington Accord covers undergraduate engineering degrees under Outcome-based education approach. *Engineering technology and postgraduate programs are not covered by the accord, although some engineering technology programs are covered under the Sydney Accord and the Dublin Accord. *Only qualifications awarded after the signatory country or region became part of the Washington Accord are recognized. *The accord is not directly responsible for the licensing of Professional Engineers and the registration of Chartered Engineers, but it does cover the academic requirements that are part of the licensing processes in signatory countries. *India became the permanent member of the Washington Accord *It is an esteemed international treaty on engineering studies and mobility of engineers across signatory countries including the US, the UK and Australia signatories are: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. *The treaty covers undergraduate engineering degrees under Outcome-based education approach. The accord doesn’t take into account engineering technology and postgraduate programs.
Q.3 What is meant by Deficit Financing ?
A) Capital expenditure on items of public construction, public borrowing & public enterprises
B) Difference in borrowing & external & internal resources
C) Government’s expenditure on excess of revenue which causes a shortage in the budget therby making the government to finance its plans by borrowing
D) Difference of the total expenditure & income from all the sources
Ans. C
*Deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. *When the outlay of a government (i.e., the total of its purchases of goods and services, transfers in grants to individuals and corporations, and its net interest payments) exceeds its tax revenues, the government budget is said to be in deficit; government spending in excess of tax receipts is known as deficit spending. *Governments usually issue bonds to match their deficits. *They can be bought by its Central Bank through open market operations. Otherwise the debt issuance can increase the level of (i) public debt, (ii) private sector net worth, (iii) debt service (interest payments), and (iv) interest rates. *Deficit spending may, however, be consistent with public debt remaining stable as a proportion of GDP, depending on the level of GDP growth. *The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus; in this case, tax revenues exceed government purchases and transfer payments. *For the public sector to be in deficit implies that the private sector (domestic and foreign) is in surplus. *An increase in public indebtedness must necessarily therefore correspond to an equal decrease in private sector net indebtedness. In other words, deficit spending permits the private sector to accumulate net worth. *Following John Maynard Keynes, many economists recommend deficit spending to moderate or end a recession, especially a severe one. *When the economy has high unemployment, an increase in government purchases creates a market for business output, creating income and encouraging increases in consumer spending, which creates further increases in the demand for business output. (This is the multiplier effect.) This raises the real gross domestic product (GDP) and the employment of labour, and if all else is constant, lowers the unemployment rate. (The connection between demand for GDP and unemployment is called Okun’s law.) *The increased size of the market, due to government deficits, can further stimulate the economy by raising business profitability and spurring optimism, which encourages private fixed investment in factories, machines, and the like to rise. This accelerator effect stimulates demand further and encourages rising employment. *Similarly, running a government surplus or reducing its deficit reduces consumer and business spending and raises unemployment. This can lower the inflation rate. Any use of the government deficit to steer the macro-economy is called fiscal policy.
Q.4 Which among the following groups are adversely affected by inflation?
1. Wage earners in the informal sector
2. Profit earners
3. Salary earners with salary indexed to inflation
4. Pensioners with fixed pensions
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1 & 4
B) 3 & 4
C) 1 & 2
D) 2 & 3
Ans. D
FRAMED FROM wikipedia
Q.5 With reference to the Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana, consider the following statements:
1. It is a centrally sponsored scheme
2. The scheme has been launched by the Ministry of youth affairs & sports
3. It provides easy access to information, mentor network, incubator, credit and accelerator to create a pathway for the youth.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1 & 3
B) Only 2
C) 2 & 3
D) 1,2,3
Ans. A
The scheme has been launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.6 With reference to the common reporting standard, consider the following statements :
1. It is an agreement to share information on residents’ assets and incomes automatically in conformation with the standard
2. It is supposed to transfer all the relevant information automatically and systematically.
3. It includes all 34 OECD countries
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1 & 3
B) 2 & 3
C) Only 1
D) 1,2,3
Ans. D
*The Common Reporting Standard (CRS), formally referred to as the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, is an information standard for the automatic exchange of information (AEoI), developed in the context of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
*The legal basis for exchange of data is the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and the idea is based on the USA Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) implementation agreements.
*On May 6, 2014, forty-seven countries tentatively agreed on a “common reporting standard”: an agreement to share information on residents’ assets and incomes automatically in conformation with the standard.
*This agreement is informally referred to as GATCA (the global version of FATCA)”, but “CRS is not just an extension of FATCA”.
*Endorsing countries included all 34 OECD countries, as well as Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Africa.
China,including Hong Kong and more than 80 other countries have agreed to become signatories.
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.7 What is a Green Box subsidy?
1. These include direct payments to farmers to limit production and certain government assistance to encourage agriculture and rural development in developing countries
2. These include government policies of Minimum support Prices (MSP) for agricultural products or any help directly related to production quantities (for eg. power, fertiliser, seeds, pesticides, irrigation
etc.)
3. These include amounts spent on research, disease control, infrastructure and food security
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 2 & 3
B) Only 3
C) 1 & 2
D) 1,2,3
Ans. B
Green Box subsidies include amounts spent on research, disease control, infrastructure and food security. These also include direct payments made to farmers such as income support that do not
stimulate production. These are not considered trade distorting and are encouraged.
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.8 Who among the following are the members of the BIMSTEC ?
1. Bangladesh
2. Myanmar
3. India
4. Sri Lanka
5. Thailand
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1,3,4,5
B) 1,2,4,5
C) Only 1,2,4
D) 1,2,3,4,5
Ans. D
Other members of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) :
Myanmar
Nepal
Bhutan
Resolution by BIMSTEC members :
• Enhance cooperation in environmental protection and sustainable development.
• Enhance cooperation in the field of agriculture, including crops, livestock and horticulture besides fisheries.
• Finalize an agreement on trade in goods by 2014 with intent to promote regional commerce
• Conclude the Agreement on Services and Investments
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.9 Who among the following are the members of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) ?
1. Finance minister
2. Prime Minister
3. Governor of states
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1 & 3
B) Only 1 & 2
C) 1,2,3
D) Only 1
Ans. D
Chairperson : The Union Finance Minister of India
Other Members:
Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBl), Finance Secretary and/ or Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Chairman Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Joint Secretary (Capital Markets), DEA, will be the Secretary of the Council,
Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC):
Apex-level body constituted by government of India Idea to constitute such a super regulatory body was first given by Raghuram Rajan Committee in 2008
FRAMED FROM WIKIPEDIA
Q.10 Who among the following are the members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ?
1. UK
2. USA
3. Germany
4. France
5. Iceland
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
A) 1,2,4
B) 1,2,3,3
C) 1,2,5
D) All are the members
Ans. D
NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty (signed on 4 April 1949). The organization comprises a system of collective defence through which its member states accord to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external threat.
Baltic States or countries are 3 northern European countries east of the Baltic Sea – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which attained independence from the Russian Empire in the backwash of World War I. In the period between the World Wars, the Baltic States also included Finland.
