EXPLANATION:

• SCALE committee (Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports), a joint government-industry panel has been set up and is looking at ways to increase localization, component manufacturing and employment in the country’s toy industry. The panel is tasked with fast-tracking the growth of the Indian manufacturing sector.
• It is a joint government-industry panel aimed at navigating Indian manufacturing away from the import-dependence pitfalls exposed by the pandemic. The committee is looking at ways to increase localization, component manufacturing and employment in various industries. It is a public-private partnership committee.
• The committee is working on 24 champion sectors including toys and furniture and sector-specific subgroups have been formed to come out with actionable points aimed to promote the growth of these sectors. The government will also explore roping in the industry to set up Toy libraries at railway stations to boost locally indigenous toys. Thus, option (a) is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• The Akash Prime is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system developed by DRDO and produced by Bharat dynamics ltd. The Akash SAM was developed to replace the Russian 2k 12 Kub missile system, currently in service. Apart from the missile system, the ground launcher of the existing Akash weapon was also modified for its advanced variant. Thus, statement 1 is correct.

• The nuclear-capable missile can fly at a speed of up to Mach 2.5 or 860 meters per second at a maximum height of 18 km. It can strike enemy aerial targets like fighter jets, drones, cruise missiles, air to surface missiles as well as ballistic missiles from a distance of 30km.
• In comparison to the existing Akash System, Akash Prime is equipped with an indigenous active Radio Frequency (RF) seeker for improved accuracy. Other improvements also ensure more reliable performance under low-temperature environments at higher altitudes. Thus statement 2 is correct.

 EXPLANATION: 

• The XENON1T experiment is the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN laboratory Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. Thus option (b) is correct.
• LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), a next-generation dark matter detector, will replace the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment. The Critical Decision 3 (CD-3) approval puts LZ on track to begin its deep-underground hunt for theoretical particles known as WIMPs in 2020.
• LZ will be at least 100 times more sensitive to finding signals from dark matter particles than its predecessor, the Large Underground Xenon experiment (LUX), which was decommissioned last year to make way for LZ. The new experiment will use 10 metric tons of ultra-purified liquid xenon, to tease out possible dark matter signals. Xenon, in its gas form, is one of the rarest elements in Earth’s atmosphere.

EXPLANATION: 

• Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – ‘Saubhagya’ a new scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 25th September 2017. Under Saubhagya, free electricity connections to all households (both APL and poor families) in rural areas and poor families in urban areas were provided. Thus option (c) is correct.
• Providing last-mile connectivity and electricity connections to all un-electrified households in rural areas.
• Providing Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) based standalone systems for un-electrified households located in remote and inaccessible villages/habitations, where grid extension is not feasible or cost-effective.
• Providing last-mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining economically poor un-electrified households in urban areas. Non-poor urban households are excluded from this scheme.

EXPLANATION: 

• The APT group includes experienced cybercriminals who can bypass security provisions and cause as damage and disruption as possible. These APT groups have a specific target: they spend time to detect them and they exploit them to gain access. Thus option (c) is correct.

• Most of the APT groups use custom malware to fly under the radar. The APT attack is classified into different phases including planning the attack, mapping company data, avoiding detection, and compromising the network.
• These are the hackers associated with the Indian government            (designated Bitter APT by the industry) who have commercially available zero-day exploits to break into Chinese and Pakistani government-linked computers.

EXPLANATION: 

• The scheme provides for paperless and cashless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service i.e. impaneled public and private hospitals across India. To facilitate this, an online transaction management system has been adopted by States/UTs. Further, claims of the hospitals are also settled through an online portal in a time-bound manner. Thus, statement 1 is correct.
• The PMJAY beneficiaries get an E-card that can be used to avail services. The coverage includes 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days of post-hospitalization expenses. Moreover, around 1400 procedures with all related costs like IT expenses are taken care of. All in all, PMJAY and the e-card provide a coverage of 5 lakh per family, per year. Thus, statement 2 is correct.
• Families who are identified by the government on the basis of deprivation and occupational criteria using the SECC database both in rural and urban areas are entitled to PM-JAY. Thus, statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• • The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals/organizations and does not get any budgetary support. 
  • Donations to PM CARES Fund would qualify for 80G benefits for 100% exemption under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Donations to PM CARES Fund will also qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013.

• PM CARES Fund has also got exemption under the FCRA and a separate account for receiving foreign donations has been opened. This enables PM CARES Fund to accept donations and contributions from individuals and organizations based in foreign countries. This is consistent with respect to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since 2011. Thus statement 1 is correct.
• As per the PM CARES Fund rules, the minimum donation can be INR 1. Thus, statement 2 is incorrect.

EXPLANATION: 

• “first-to-file” does not mean that whoever files first will certainly get a patent. It does mean that between two or more inventors who separately file for similar inventions, the one who files first will have the right with respect to later filers to pursue their patent. It could also mean that the earlier-filed application may be used as prior art against subsequent applicants. Thus statement 1 is correct.
• A patent is a form of preservation of intellectual property. It is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. The term of every patent in India is twenty years from the date of filing the patent application, irrespective of whether it is filed with provisional or complete specification. Thus statement 2 is correct.

EXPLANATION:  

• Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy laid the foundation stone for the development of Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district. The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2014-15 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, with the goal of focusing infrastructure development to harness pilgrimage and heritage tourism destinations for their direct and multiplier effects on job employment and economic development. The programme aims to develop infrastructure to ensure world-class development of the areas with a focus on tourist facilities. Thus, statement 1 is correct.
• PRASHAD is a central-sector scheme that receives full financial support from the government. Thus, statement 2 is incorrect.

EXPLANATION: 

• National Single Window System is a one-stop digital platform that aims at allowing investors to apply for various pre-operations approvals required for commencing a business in the country. The system aims to make the business registration process easier, allowing the beneficiary to get significant approvals online, without having to run to the government offices for approvals and can avail themselves of services with just a click. “This is freedom from bureaucracy and from windows within windows. This will not only enable ease of doing business but also ease of living. Thus statement 1 is correct.
• Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, launched the National Single Window System (NSWS) for investors and businesses. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade along with Invest India initiated the process of developing the portal as a National Single Window System. Thus statement 2 is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• The Green Voyage 2050 Project is a partnership project between the Government of Norway and IMO launched in 2019 aiming to transform the shipping industry towards a lower carbon future. Thus statement 1 is correct.

• • It supports developing countries, including Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in meeting their commitment towards relevant climate change and energy efficiency goals, for international shipping, through supporting the Initial IMO GHG Strategy. Thus statement 2 is correct.

• The project includes four main components as follows:

• Component 1 - Developing global tools to support the implementation of the Initial IMO GHG Strategy.
• Component 2 - Capacity building, policy, and NAP development.
• Component 3 - Strategic partnership development.
• Component 4 - Technology cooperation, innovation, and pilot demonstrations. The Green Voyage 2050 Project is working with 12 countries: Azerbaijan, Belize, China, Cook Islands, Ecuador, Georgia, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Thus statement 3 is correct. 

EXPLANATION: 

• Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav on 27th September released the report of the first quarter of the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for April to June 2021 of the All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES) prepared by the Labour Bureau. 
• The AQEES has been taken to provide quarterly updates about the employment and related variables of establishments, in both organized and unorganized segments of nine selected sectors. These nine selected sectors are Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation and Restaurant, IT/BPO, and Financial Services. 
• Minister said that the estimated total employment in the nine selected sectors from the first round of QES is 3 crore and 8 lakh approximately. Thus all statements are correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• A K-shaped recovery occurs when, following a recession, different parts of the economy recover at different rates, times, or magnitudes. This is in contrast to an even, uniform recovery across sectors, industries, or groups of people. A K-shaped recovery leads to changes in the structure of the economy or the broader society as economic outcomes and relations are fundamentally changed before and after the recession. This type of recovery is called K-shaped because the path of different parts of the economy when charted together may diverge, resembling the two arms of the Roman letter "K". Hence option (c) is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• In the current times, a large number of disputes related to direct taxes are pending at various levels of adjudication from Commissioner (Appeals) level to Supreme Court. These tax disputes consume a large part of resources both on the part of the government as well as taxpayers and also deprive the government of the timely collection of revenue. With these facts in mind, an urgent need was felt to provide for the resolution of pending tax disputes which will not only benefit the government by generating timely revenue but also the taxpayers as it will bring down mounting litigation costs and efforts can be better utilized for expanding business activities. Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 was enacted on 17th March 2020 under which the declarations for settling disputes are currently being filed. Hence option (a) is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• Angel tax is the direct tax imposed not on the whole funding received by the startups from Angel investors, but on capital raised in excess of the fair market value by a startup. Hence statement 1 is incorrect and statement 2 is correct. 
• As per the current tax rate, it is 30.9% of the amount funded by the Investor in excess of the fair market value of the share, just equal to the rate of Corporate Income tax as the said excess funded amount is considered as income of the startup company as per the section 56 (2) of the Income Tax Act. Hence statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• Depreciation of rupees is defined as the decrement in the value of the Rupee against the Dollar or any other hard currency. The supply of the dollar in the Indian market prevents the depreciation of the Indian rupee. If the export of any kind of item increases, the supply of dollars in the Indian market will increase. Thus, it will prevent the depreciation of Indian rupees. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Similarly, if the import of any kind of item decreases, it will prevent the dollar from moving out of the country. This will also give strength to the Indian rupee and will prevent its depreciation. Hence statement 2 is correct. 
• The value of the Indian rupee against the dollar or any hard currency in the forex market depends upon the demand and supply of the dollar. It doesn't get affected by the increment or decrement of the subsidies. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

EXPLANATION:

• The Finance Commission is a Constitutionally mandated body that is at the centre of fiscal federalism. Set up under Article 280 of the Constitution, its core responsibility is to evaluate the state of finances of the Union and State Governments, recommend the sharing of taxes between them, lay down the principles determining the distribution of these taxes among States. Its recommendation is not binding in the government. Hence statements 1 and 2 are incorrect, and statement 3 is correct. 
• States share fell sharply from 36% in the financial year 2018-19 to 32% in the financial year 2019-20. This is well below 42%, which was recommended in the 14th Finance Commission. Hence statement 4 is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• Cess is a form of tax charged/levied over and above the base tax liability of a taxpayer. A cess is usually imposed additionally when the state or the central government looks to raise funds for specific purposes. Cesses are levied for specific purposes and its proceeds can only be used for that specific purpose. For example, the government levies an education cess to generate additional revenue for funding primary, secondary, and higher education. Hence statement 1 is incorrect. 
• As the name suggests, the surcharge is an additional charge or tax. It is levied on the tax payable and not on the total income. Surcharges are used for general purposes, where it is the discretion of the central government to use its proceeds for whichever purposes it deems fit. Hence statement 2 is incorrect. 
• Cess and surcharges levied by the central government, do not come under a divisible pool of Central taxes and that's why these are not shared with the state governments. Hence statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• Treasury bills, a kind of government securities, are issued by RBI for the central government only and are of short-term nature, which means less than 1 year. Treasury bills are basically of four kinds with the maturity of 14 days, 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days. Hence statement 1 is correct. 
• The central government and state government issue government securities through RBI in the market to manage their debt. 
• Government securities can be issued for central government as well as state government by RBI and are of long-term in nature as well as short-term. Hence statement 2 is correct. 
• The central government through RBI issues treasury bills and government securities to make up for the mismatch between its receipt and expenditure. Hence statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION: 

• A bond is a loan made by an investor to a borrower for a set period of time in return for regular interest payments.
• The interest paid on a Bond is on the basis of face value. For example, if a bond of Rs 100 (face value) is issued by the company/government and is paying 7% annual interest, then the return will be Rs 7. This Rs. 100 bonds will be bought and sold in the market at a price more than or less than 100. If this bond is sold in rupees 90 then the person who bought the bond will get Rs 7 as interest from the issuer of the bond, which comes as 12.8% of 90. Thus when the price of the bond is decreasing the percentage return is increasing which is nothing but bond yield. Hence option (b) is correct.