ANSWER: D

About e-Shram Portal

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the e-Shram portal.
• It is a government portal, launched six months ago, with the aim of creating a national database of unorganised workers and to facilitate social security schemes for them.
• Unique IDs on the e-Shram portal carry the same series from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) universal account number (UAN).
• If a worker is registered on the eSHRAM portal and meets with an accident, he will be eligible for Rs 2.0 Lakh on death or permanent disability and Rs 1.0 lakh on partial disability

ANSWER: C

Key Highlights:

• According to the report, the Indian economy is likely to take over 12 years to overcome the COVID-19 losses.
• Taking the actual growth rate of (-) 6.6% for 2020-21, 8.9% for 2021-22, and assuming a growth rate of 7.2% for 2022-23, and 7.5% beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 losses in 2034-35.
• The supply constraints and longer delivery times pushed up shipping costs, and commodity prices, thereby intensifying inflationary pressures and threatening the nascent economic recovery across the world.
• While the RBI expects the Indian economy to grow at 6.35 in FY24, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report pegged India’s growth rate for FY24 at 6.9%.

Theme of the report

• The theme of the report is “Revive and Reconstruct” in the context of nurturing a durable recovery post-COVID and raising trend growth in the medium term.

Other Findings of the Report:

• The report states that for the country to hop on to a strong and sustainable growth path, price stability is a necessary precondition.
• Reducing general government debt to below 66% of GDP over the next five years is important to secure India’s medium-term growth prospects.
• The report emphasized providing opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses.
• India’s free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations should focus on the transfer of technology and better trade terms for high-quality imports from partner countries.
• The report says that the task is to create a virtuous cycle of greater opportunity for entrepreneurs, businesses, and the fiscal authority.

Reforms Highlighted in the Report

• Seven Wheels of Economic Progress: The blueprint of reforms proposed in the Report revolves around seven wheels of economic progress:
• Aggregate demand.
• Aggregate supply.
• Institutions, intermediaries and markets.
• Macroeconomic stability and policy coordination.
• Productivity and technological progress.
• Structural change.
• Sustainability

 ANSWER: A

Key Highlights:

• According to the report, the Indian economy is likely to take over 12 years to overcome the COVID-19 losses.
• Taking the actual growth rate of (-) 6.6% for 2020-21, 8.9% for 2021-22, and assuming a growth rate of 7.2% for 2022-23, and 7.5% beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 losses in 2034-35.
• The supply constraints and longer delivery times pushed up shipping costs, and commodity prices, thereby intensifying inflationary pressures and threatening the nascent economic recovery across the world.
• While the RBI expects the Indian economy to grow at 6.35 in FY24, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report pegged India’s growth rate for FY24 at 6.9%.

Theme of the report

• The theme of the report is “Revive and Reconstruct” in the context of nurturing a durable recovery post-COVID and raising trend growth in the medium term.

Other Findings of the Report:

• The report states that for the country to hop on to a strong and sustainable growth path, price stability is a necessary precondition.
• Reducing general government debt to below 66% of GDP over the next five years is important to secure India’s medium-term growth prospects.
• The report emphasized providing opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses.
• India’s free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations should focus on the transfer of technology and better trade terms for high-quality imports from partner countries.
• The report says that the task is to create a virtuous cycle of greater opportunity for entrepreneurs, businesses, and the fiscal authority.

Reforms Highlighted in the Report

• Seven Wheels of Economic Progress: The blueprint of reforms proposed in the Report revolves around seven wheels of economic progress:
• Aggregate demand.
• Aggregate supply.
• Institutions, intermediaries and markets.
• Macroeconomic stability and policy coordination.
• Productivity and technological progress.
• Structural change.
• Sustainability

 ANSWER: A

About M15 Petrol:

• M15 is a blend of 15 % methanol and 85 % Petrol.
• It helps lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 5 to 10%. Blending 15% methanol in petrol would bring down GHG emissions by 20% in terms of particulate matter, NOx, and SOx, thereby improving the urban air quality.
• Coal reserves and municipal solid waste can be converted into methanol.
• It helps in achieving fuel independence and reducing the import burden. Blending of 15% methanol in petrol can result in at least a 15% reduction in the import of crude oil.

Methanol economy

• According to NITI Aayog, Methanol Economy will create close to 5 million jobs through methanol production/application and distribution services. Additionally, Rs 6000 crore can be saved annually by blending 20% DME (Dimethyl Ether, a derivative of methanol) in LPG. This will help the consumer in saving between Rs 50-100 per cylinder.

ANSWER: D

About Atal New India Challenge

• Atal New India Challenge is a flagship program of Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog.
• The program aims to seek, select, support and nurture technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance.
• ANIC solicits innovations in the prototype stage and supports the selected start-ups through to the commercialization stage over a course of 12 – 18 months.

Objectives:

• To incentivize innovations in areas critical to India’s development and growth – Education, Health, Water and sanitation,  Agriculture, Food processing,  Housing, Energy, Mobility, Space Application etc.
• To address the Commercialization Valley of Death (Gap between the research and commercialization) – supporting innovators scale over the risks associated with access to resources for testing, piloting and market creation.

ANSWER: B

About Whitley Gold Award:

• Snow leopard expert and wildlife conservationist Charudutt Mishra has won the prestigious Whitley Gold Award for his contribution to involving indigenous communities in the conservation and recovery of big cat species in Asia’s high mountain ecosystems.
• Princess Anne presented the award to Mishra at London’s Royal Geographic Society. This is his second Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) Award. He got the first in 2005.

About Charudutt Mishra

• Mishra is co-founder of Mysore (Karnataka)-based Nature Conservation Foundation and executive director of the Snow Leopard Trust.
• Mishra established India’s first community-based initiatives to save the endangered snow leopard. These include innovative livestock insurance programmes to boost income and discourage retaliatory killings and locally-managed wildlife reserves on community land.

ANSWER: C

About World Tuna Day:

• World Tuna Day is observed globally on 2nd May every year.
• This day is established by the United Nations (UN) to raise awareness about the importance of tuna fish.
• Tuna is a significant source of food for humans as the fish has several rich qualities such as Omega 3, Vitamin B12, proteins and other minerals.