TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS1 Related B. GS2 Related GOVERNANCE 1. Surrender policy put on hold INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. U.S. sanctions on Russia may be discussed in Sochi C. GS3 Related ECONOMY 1. Banks under PCA will get over legacy issues soon, says Goyal 2. ‘Reward States for policies that stabilise population’ 3. 180 days too long for resolving insolvency, says IBBI member 4. Govt. creates DG for trade remedies D. GS4 Related E. Editorials INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. The East Asian reset POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 1. Identity in exile 2. Should we do away with the I&B Ministry F. Prelims Fact G. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions H. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS1 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
B. GS2 Related
1. Surrender policy put on hold
- The implementation of the new rehabilitation and surrender policy designed for Jammu and Kashmir has been put on hold indefinitely in wake of suspension of operations announced by the Centre a day ago.
- The policy proposed Rs.6 lakh to militants who surrendered and an extra amount for those with weapons. It also proposed arranging loans for surrendered militants for self-employment. The J&K government had finalised the package on Home Ministry’s advice.
- A senior government official said the suspension of operations in the month of Ramzan was necessary as the Kashmir Valley needed a phase of peace. Since 2016, the Valley has witnessed continued violence.
- The official said there will be no cordon and search operations by the Army. Home Minister Rajnath Singh Home said that Centre had asked the security forces not to launch operations in J&K in the month of Ramzan. Security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect innocent people.
- The decision followed successive reports given by special representative Dineshwar Sharma that killings and encounters were not yielding the desired results and the emotional upsurge at funerals of militants killed in encounters was aiding recruitment by terror outfits.
- Security forces have been asked to encourage surrenders and arrests in the Valley and only go for specific intelligence-based operations.
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. U.S. sanctions on Russia may be discussed in Sochi
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to the Russian seaside resort of Sochi to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday for what government sources called an exchange of views on various international issues including the U.S. sanctions on Russia and Iran, and India’s commitment to its defence ties with Russia.
- Referring to the U.S.’s twin actions of passing the CAATSA law that provides for sanctions on countries conducting defence and energy trade with its adversaries as well as pulling out of the six-party nuclear agreement with Iran, which will also affect India.
- The government has made it clear that it is also standing by Russia on the latest standoff with western countries over the Salisbury case of chemical poisoning of two Russians in the U.K., as well as alleged Russian support to the Assad regime for chemical attacks in Syria.
- The External Affairs Ministry has demanded evidence of the allegations by the U.S. and European countries before apportioning blame, a stand which has been viewed with some concern in Washington.
Understanding CAATSA
- CAATSA was passed overwhelmingly by the US Congress and signed reluctantly by President Donald Trump. Enacted on August 2, 2017, it aims to counter the aggression by Iran, Russia and North Korea through punitive measures.
- The Act deals with sanctions on Russian interests such as its oil and gas industry, defence and security sector, and financial institutions, in the backdrop of its military intervention in Ukraine and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US Presidential elections.
- Section 231 of the Act empowers the US President to impose sanctions on persons engaged in a significant transaction with Russian defence and intelligence sectors.
- Two of the most stringent of these sanctions are the export licence restriction by which the US President is authorised to suspend export licences related to munitions, dual-use and nuclear related items; and the ban on American investment in equity/debt of the sanctioned person.
- Some other sanctions, which are of not much relevance to India, include restriction on US Export Import Bank assistance; prohibition on loans from international financial institutions; exclusion from participation in US government procurement; and visa restrictions on corporate officers of the sanctioned entities.
- Department of State has notified 39 Russian entities, dealings with which could make third parties liable to sanctions.
- These include almost all of the major Russian companies/entities such as Rosoboronexport, Almaz-Antey, Sukhoi Aviation, Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, and United Shipbuilding Corporation which are active in manufacturing defence items and/or their exports.
C. GS3 Related
1. Banks under PCA will get over legacy issues soon, says Goyal
- Finance Minister Piyush Goyal expressed confidence that the 11 banks placed in the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) plan would overcome their ‘legacy’ issues and emerge stronger shortly.
- The Centre would, over the next few days, ensure that every possible support is given to strengthen the resolve of these banks to come out of the PCA framework as quickly as possible.
- The banks under PCA are Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Maharashtra.
What is Prompt Corrective Action?
To ensure that banks don’t go bust, RBI has put in place some trigger points to assess, monitor, control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled. The process or mechanism under which such ac tions are taken is known as Prompt Corrective Action, or PCA.
Why the need for PCA?
The 1980s and early 1990s were a period of great stress and turmoil for banks and financial in stitutions all over the globe. In USA, more than 1,600 commercial and savings banks in sured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) were either closed or given financial assis tance during this period. The cumulative losses incurred by the failed institutions exceeded US $100 billion. These events led to the search for appropriate supervisory strategies to avoid bank failures as they can have a destabilising effect on the economy.
2. ‘Reward States for policies that stabilise population’
- Using contemporary population data to assign weightages to States would be a ‘realistic’ approach, economists told the Fifteenth Finance Commission on, adding that there must also be rewards for a population stabilisation policy.
- It makes sense to give weightages based on the most current trends in population but that can’t come at the expense of the States that have done a good job on bringing their populations under control. So, we discussed this and also how to deal with the uncertainty around GST.
- The permissible limits on borrowings under fiscal consolidation roadmap needed to be equally applicable to Centre and States in the context of overall macroeconomic framework.
‘Need to balance’
- Among the issues discussed were how rewards for past performance of States needed to be balanced with incentives for future performance, the paucity of realistic revenue and employment data, and the challenges being faced in making robust GDP projections and pension liabilities.
- Another issue that came up was how the States are coping with their troubled power distribution companies and how the UDAY bonds will affect States’ interest liabilities and overall finances.
- Commission members later met the panel’s advisory council and discussed the issues in greater detail, according to an official in the Finance Ministry.
- The meeting with the advisory council was more detailed and stressed more on certain issues such as how centrally sponsored schemes are to be better managed, and the state of the political economy across the country.
3. 180 days too long for resolving insolvency, says IBBI member
- A member of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) said the current time limit to resolve insolvency cases was more than adequate. This assumes significance in light of demands for more time to resolve cases filed for bankruptcy.
- Currently, after a case is admitted in the National Company Law Tribunal, it has to be resolved within 180 days, failing which the company goes into liquidation. In exceptional cases, the NCLT may allow another 90 days for resolution.
- Although the IBBI was dealing with all accounts, “RBI has concentrated its attention on large and big accounts because they constitute more than 25% of the defaulters.
- When a loan is not repaid, the default is automatically construed as criminal conduct under the Code. But there could be situations where the default is purely a result of market forces. Therefore, it can’t be called criminal conduct in all cases.
4. Govt. creates DG for trade remedies
- The Ministry of Commerce on Thursday issued a notification for a unified Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) that would subsume the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied duties, Directorate General of Safeguards and some functions of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.
- DGTR will be the apex national authority for all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures. The body will also provide trade defence support to domestic industry and to exporters in trade remedy investigations instituted by other countries.
- The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is the agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, responsible for execution of the import and export Policies of India. It was earlier known as Chief Controller of Imports & Exports (CCI&E) till 1991.
- DGFT plays a very important role in the development of trading relations with various other nations and thus help in improving not only the economic growth but also provides a certain impetus needed in the trade industry. For promoting exports and imports DGFT establish its regional offices across the country
Functions and responsibilities of DGFT:
- DGFT entrusted with the responsibility of implementing various policies regarding trade, for example, Foreign Trade Policy.
- DGFT is the licensing authority for exporters, importers, and export and import business.
- DGFT can prohibit, restrict and regulate exports and imports.
- DGFT has important role to issue Notifications, Public notices, Circulars, etc.
- DGFT grant 10 digit IEC (Importer Exporter Code), which is a primary requirement to Import Export
- DGFT introduces different schemes from time to time regarding trade benefits throughout the country.
- DGFT has introduced ITC (HS CODE) schedule-1 for import items in India and Schedule-2 for Export items from India.
D. GS4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. The East Asian reset
After years of mistrust, China reaches out to Japan with high-level visits
- It appears to be the season for diplomatic resets in Asia.
- Would-be hegemon China is at the centre of this regional spring thaw.
- India is not the only rival with which Beijing has recently been trading pleasantries rather than threats. Usually fraught China-Japan ties are in the midst of an upswing as well.
Peace overture
- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Japan on a three-day state visit, his first trip to Tokyo since taking office five years ago. It was also the first top-level bilateral visit after relations between the two countries plummeted in 2012 over a chain of disputed islands claimed by both sides.
- One signal came last September when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese leader in 15 years to attend the Chinese Embassy’s annual National Day celebrations in Tokyo.
- Since then, Mr. Abe and Mr. Xi have met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam.
- But the real “reset” began with the resumption of a stalled high-level economic dialogue after an eight-year hiatus, to discuss the unfolding events on the Korean peninsula.
Why the tensions:
- Japan and China have one of the tensest, yet economically intertwined relationships. Beijing believes Japan is yet to properly atone for its brutal invasion of China in the run-up to and during the Second World War.
- In the post-War alignment, Japan has remained firmly tethered to the U.S., often putting it in an adversarial position vis-à-vis China.
- Perhaps the most challenging point of contention is the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands as they are known in China and Japan, respectively, in the East China Sea.
China-japan relations:
- Nonetheless, Japan was an important player in China’s economic rise, which saw the country’s transformation from an agrarian backwater to a global manufacturing powerhouse.
- According to the Japan External Trade Organisation, China-Japan trade stands at about $350 billion by comparison, India-China trade is $84.44 billion.
- China has overtaken Japan as the world’s second-largest economy and has also eclipsed it as a global geostrategic player.
- And the two countries continue to vie for influence in the region, with Southeast Asia, in particular, emerging as a theatre for this competition.
What has changed:
- So, what explains the ongoing thaw, there is a triumvirate of motivating factors on the Japanese side: an unpredictable U.S., North Korea and business interests.
- The US President Donald Trump’s America First policy and the tariffs he has slapped on some $60 billion worth of Chinese products have also impacted Japan, which despite its status as a U.S. ally, failed to get any exemption from new duties on steel and aluminium.
- This is only the latest example of the increasingly uncertain U.S. policy towards Japan and the wider region, it’s “fragile and vague”.
- The result is that Japan needs to keep ties with China on an even keel, at least until it can be surer of the U.S.’s intentions.
- Abe is also hoping that China can use its influence with North Korea to highlight Japan’s concerns, at a time when Tokyo feels somewhat shut out of the flurry of diplomacy on the Korean peninsula.
- He is particularly worried that in the heat of rapprochement, allies like the U.S. will forget about the 12 Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and ’80s who still remain unaccounted for.
- And finally, the many Japanese businesses invested in China, that have on occasion suffered punitive measures from Beijing, always welcome stronger bilateral ties.
- Conversely for China, the idea of Japan’s leader asking for support on North Korea plays well domestically as an example of Beijing’s international clout.
- Moreover, given the simmering possibility of a trade war with the U.S., better ties with economic heavyweight Japan are also in China’s interests.
China is keen on getting Japan with its signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):
- His efforts culminated in the establishment of a public-private council in Japan to discuss joint projects with China related to the BRI.
- Although initially reluctant to participate in the BRI, Tokyo has signalled that it is open to the initiative as long as proposed infrastructure projects meet the criteria of being “open, transparent, fair and economically feasible.”
- In this way Japan can keep on the right side of China without necessarily committing to participation. Similarly, the Japan-backed Asian Development Bank is exploring co-financingprojectswith the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment bank, even though Japan has formally steered clear of it.
Conclusion:
- Yet, any China-Japan alignment is a tactical and provisional affair, rather than long-term and strategic, born out of the current moment in a fluid geopolitical landscape.
- It is more akin to a pause rather than a resolution of conflict.
- And as with the India-China reset, although it is temporarily beneficial to both sides, the foundation of the bilateral relationship remains troubled and treacherous.
Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Identity in exile
Refugees issues:
- Refugees in India are being denied access to essential services due to a lack of Aadhaar. UIDAI must adhere to its commitment to inclusiveness.
- Refugees in India are being denied access to essential services due to a lack of Aadhaar. UIDAI must adhere to its commitment to inclusiveness Aadhaar was primarily conceived as a tool for socio-economic inclusion.
- The Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition against the government’s order to carry out an en masse deportation of Rohingya refugees.
- Considering the lack of a domestic asylum law and limited judicial precedent on the subject, this case offers a great opportunity for the Court to lay down basic principles on refugee recognition and protection that reflect India’s constitutional values and its international commitments.
- One of the key issues being raised is that of providing access to essential services to the Rohingya during their stay in India.
- While the government is arguing that refugees already have access to health and primary education, the petitioners have pointed out that this access is now ineffective owing to the linking of these services to Aadhaar.
- The Court passed an interim order appointing nodal officers in Delhi and Mewat, who could be approached by Rohingya refugees if they were being denied access to essential services. However, the question of Aadhaar for refugees still remains.
About Aadhaar:
- Aadhaar was primarily conceived as a tool for socio-economic inclusion.
- As per the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), it is with this objective that they have designed a simple enrolment system that accepts a wide range of documents as proof of identity and residence so as to make it easy to procure an Aadhaar.
- For example, for those without any documents, UIDAI accepts a “Letter of Introduction” from a wide set of people who are pre-designated as introducers.
- Most importantly, in the interest of inclusiveness — UIDAI did not link Aadhaar to citizenship.
- The Aadhaar Act states that any individual who has resided in India for at least 182 days in the year immediately preceding the date of application is eligible for Aadhaar.
- In fact, in the Aadhaar case, UIDAI has clarified that foreigners fulfilling the above requirement can obtain an Aadhaar, subject to the submission of the prescribed documents.
- Thus, based on the above, it would follow that refugees, who are registered with the government and/or the UN Refugee Agency (and are thus not “illegal immigrants”), should be issued Aadhaar if they meet both the residence and the documentation requirements.
Most Aadhaar centres are not clear about whether refugees are eligible to apply for Aadhaar:
- While Sri Lankan and Tibetan refugees have been issued Aadhaar based on their government-issued documentation, refugees from the Afghan, the Burmese and the Congolese communities living in New Delhi report that they are being turned away by local centres due to the lack of clarity on the issue.
- Further, the documents held by them are not being recognised as valid proof of identity or residence.
- These refugees have varying sets of documentation — some with Long-Term Visa (LTV) issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, or bank passbooks, and others with only their passports and the UNHCR-issued refugee cards.
- Many eligible refugees have also been scared to apply for Aadhaar due to the fear of being wrongly prosecuted as local authorities often incorrectly equate them with illegal immigrants.
Refugees facing problems:
Aadhaar increasingly being enforced as a precondition to access any service, refugees are not even being able to avail of services that they once had.
- For instance, a 2015 Report of the Human Rights Law Network records that Rohingya children in Mewat, Haryana were not allowed to register at the local government school due to lack of documents, including the Aadhaar card.
- More recently, some refugee children were prohibited from sitting for their Board exams for the same reason.
- Further, many refugees report facing day-to-day difficulties like getting a SIM card, opening a bank account, renting accommodation, seeking livelihood opportunities or even accessing private hospitals.
- This is resulting in refugees being steadily excluded from mainstream systems and leaving them extremely vulnerable to exploitation.
- One would argue that such problems of exclusion of Aadhaar are being faced by many Indians as well.
- Rohingya refugees are a “special category” of people who are fleeing genocidal conditions in Myanmar; and are in the “worst of the worst” conditions in the absence of identity documents with fewer avenues for work, health, education.
- Its applicable to the entire refugee community living in India, all of whom were forced out of their countries due to conflict, persecution, torture etc.
Conclusion:
- The applicability of Aadhaar and its requirement for accessing essential services is obviously contingent on the decision of the Supreme Court on the validity of the Aadhaar Act itself.
- However, the government should consider issuing uniform documentation to refugees so as to confirm their status as legal residents and UIDAI must adhere to its commitment to inclusion by allowing more flexibility to refugees so as to establish their identity.
- Further, officials must be sensitised about refugees, and the existing systems to establish identity like establishing identity through introducer systems must be extended to this group.
2. Should we do away with the I&B Ministry
Background:
- No advanced democracy has an I&B Ministry. They instead have independent commissions
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel briefly handled the Home Ministry after India attained Independence, it is a little-known fact that he also handled the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry.
- He used the I&B portfolio to reach out to the people with urgent messages during the country’s formative and most difficult period.
- That time was marked by post-Partition riots, the difficulty of settling millions of migrants from Pakistan, the problem of integrating more than 500 princely states and so on.
- It was also a time when literacy was very low and the circulation of newspapers even lower.
- Under those circumstances, All India Radio (AIR) was the only institution which could pass on the government’s momentous messages to both officials and the people.
- After the Constitution was adopted, AIR rendered a huge service to India’s culture not only by collecting all the available information on classical music in the country but also by getting both Carnatic and Hindustani music recorded by ace maestros.
- It also propagated new agricultural methods to reach out to the farmers directly and played a crucial role in bringing about the Green Revolution.
Conferring autonomy:
- Even while broadcasting services were put to such irreplaceable use, the founders of our Republic were acutely alive to the importance of promoting the autonomy of our democratic institutions.
- India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking in the Constituent Assembly in 1948, said that our final goal should be to endow AIR with the same autonomy and strength as what is given to the BBC.
- The political demand for conferring autonomy gained volume only in the 1970s, because of which the G. Verghese Committee went into the question and submitted its recommendations.
- But it assumed the shape of a specific statute only in 1990 when leaders from all parties, including Rajiv Gandhi as the Opposition leader, reached a consensus.
- In 1997 to notify the Act — The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990. The time had come for abolishing the I&B Ministry.
I&B Ministry outlook:
- It is important to note that no advanced democracy, be it in Western Europe or in North America, has a Ministry called I&B. Those democracies instead have independent commissions.
- In the U.S., for example, the Federal Communications Commission has been effective in regulating the functions of television companies for more than a half a century.
- Prasar Bharati enjoys statutory autonomy. Any institution, particularly Prasar Bharati, cannot enjoy true autonomy without financial independence.
- The BBC enjoys financial autonomy as the citizens pay fees compulsorily and directly to it.
Abolish the portfolio:
- The demand for autonomy was relevant a few decades ago when private channels were neither available nor as effective as they are today.
- Public broadcasting services are autonomous in every democracy, though private channels are as prevalent as they are in our country. If a Minister is there for the portfolio, he/she cannot sit idle; they poke their nose into the functioning of such institutions by way of self-employment. Hence, the urgency to abolish this portfolio.
However, government must shape public perceptions through the Ministry to reflect reality:
- The I&B Ministry is an apex body of the government to formulate and administer the rules, regulations and laws relating to information, broadcasting policy, and administration as enshrined in the transaction of business rules.
- There has been a tremendous growth in private media in all forms including television, FM radio, Web portals, and print and social media.
- With such a proliferation of private players in the media, the government, through the I&B Ministry with its vast information and broadcasting infrastructure, should ensure the optimal utilisation of this world and engagement with all the stakeholders.
Shaping public perception:
- The government’s role in making information available to the people in inaccessible areas continues to remain paramount.
- We are all aware that social media has become an integral part of our life. Our lives have been impacted with 24×7 news channels, an expanded citizen consciousness and a digital revolution.
- Not only does news break and spread on social media, but wars on social media shape the action on TV screens, newspaper pages, and thus the minds and hearts of citizens.
- The protests in the wake of any gang rape are examples of how social media shapes action.
- Therefore, the challenges posed by social media to the government are huge, and so are the opportunities.
- Public perception, public order and national security are closely interlinked.
- The government needs to shape public perceptions so that they reflect the reality and amplify the effectiveness of governance.
Issues regarding the I&B ministry:
- There are many issues engaging the Ministry, such as the outreach of AIR and Doordarshan; planning manpower; budgetary requirements; issues relating to the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill of 2011; cross-media ownership/cross-media monopoly in various segments; the role of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity and its spread amongst small, medium, and regional language newspapers; etc.
Evolving a media strategy:
- In a country like India, the media needs to be more responsible and self-regulated considering the sensitivities involved. The lessons learnt from 26/11, the interviews by various individuals in the aftermath of the hanging of Yakub Memon and other issues relating to portrayal of crime against women and children cannot be silently ignored.
- Given the multitude of issues engaging the public’s attention, and to develop a holistic and integrated approach, this is a great opportunity for the I&B Ministry to prepare, plan and evolve a media strategy which can be skilfully executed in a proactive manner through various media platforms.
- There is a vast pool of talent in the Ministry to execute and effectively implement the objectives of the Ministry.
I&B Ministry reforms has to be initiated for its existence:
- The question is not whether the Ministry should be junked, but how it should be reformed.
- The Ministry, as it stands currently, has outlived its utility even to efficaciously service the needs of the Union government. The question therefore is not whether it should be junked but how to reform it.
- The Ministry’s mandate is it administers the print industry, the private broadcast industry, films, and Prasar Bharati.
- It also oversees numerous allegedly autonomous institutions ranging from film institutes to the Registrar of Newspapers for India.
- It is the principal media outreach mechanism of the government of the day. It discharges that responsibility through the Press Information Bureau.
Bohemians and control freaks:
- Bohemians believe that the entire media space should be liberated from the tyranny of the government.
- They believe that everyone should be free to start any print, broadcast or digital media vehicle.
- If there are aberrations, the set of reasonable restrictions enunciated in the proviso to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the laws made pursuant to it are more than enough to deal with any contingency. Reasonable restrictions include the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
- On the other hand, control freaks stress that every element of the media space should be tightly regulated.
- The solution lies in between — in reforming different aspects of the Ministry, thereby transforming it completely over a period of time.
- To achieve this, some of the issues that require rigorous discussion include whether an autonomous and overarching media regulator, administering both techno-economic issues and content, can take care of the myriad functions currently performed by the Ministry — a colossus Media Regulatory Authority of India.
Incremental reform:
- Reform has to be incremental.
- Carve out pieces of the Ministry, reform and liberate them one by one. The film remit is a low-hanging fruit.
- The Cinematographic Act can easily be repealed and the Censor Board abolished and replaced with a Programme and Advertising Code as it is for the television industry.
- Similarly, the private television industry and radio would need two sets of regulators — a Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India to perform licensing and other techno-commercial functions but with very restricted penal powers, and a self-regulatory framework embedded in statutory regulation to monitor content, much like other professional bodies that have the powers of peer review.
- The current self-regulatory frameworks are a bit of a prank, for the lack of a better word. If Prasar Bharati has to truly become a public broadcaster, it has to be liberated from the apron strings of the I&B Ministry.
- There can be no autonomy if its funding continues to be routed through the Ministry, and the Minister remains accountable to Parliament for both its omissions and commissions.
F. Prelims Fact
Nothing here for today!!!
G. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam
Question 1. Consider the following statements about Prompt Corrective Action, or PCA:
- It is meant to assess, monitor, control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled.
- The process or mechanism under which such actions are taken is known as Prompt Corrective Action, or PCA.
Which of the following statements are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- None of the above
See
Question 2. Consider the following statements about The Countering America's Adversaries
Through Sanctions Act:
- It is a United States federal law.
- It imposed sanctions on Russia only.
Which of the above statements are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- None of the above
See
Question 3. Consider the following statements when PCA is triggered:
- RBI has set trigger points on the basis of CRAR (a metric to measure balance sheet strength), NPA and ROA.
- Under PCA, Banks will also have to launch a special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain generation of fresh NPAs.
Which of the above statements are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- None of the above
See
Question 4. Consider the following statements about Directorate General of Foreign
Trade (DGFT):
- The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is the agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India.
- DGFT can prohibit, restrict and regulate exports and imports.
Which of the above statements are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- None of the above
See
H. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
General Studies II
-
Explain the constitutional and situational discretionarily powers of the governor. Also, comment on the recommendation of Sarkaria and Punchi Commission in the appointment of CM when no party holds a majority.
- The realignment of ties between India and China, Japan and China is a tactical and provisional affair, rather than long-term and strategic. Explain the causes for rapprochement.
- Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy in J&K should provide a healing touch and provide an alternative path of peace and prosperity to Kashmiri youth. What are the possible issues that need to be addressed to make it fruitful?
Also, check previous Daily News Analysis
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