Today in History (Apr 08^th, 1929)

On 8 April, 1929, revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the Central Legislative Assembly at Delhi. The incident is known as the Central Assembly Bombing Case in Modern Indian History.

Let’s revise

A) Repo Rate is the rate at which

1. RBI lends money to the commercial banks
2. RBI borrows money from the commercial banks
3. RBI lends money to the capital market
4. RBI borrows money from the capital market

Ans. (a)

B) Who is the current governor of RBI?

1. Shaktikant Das
2. Rajiv Kumar
3. Rajiv Goel
4. Urjit Patel

Ans. (a)

C) The Reserve Bank of India was founded in the year____

1. March 1 1935
2. April 1 1945
3. April 1 1935
4. January 1 1955

Ans. (c)

D) Repo rate is used by monetary authorities to control inflation. In the event of high inflation, central banks_____

1. Increase the Repo Rate
2. Decrease the Repo Rate
3. Repo Rate has no impact on inflation
4. None of the above is relevant

Ans. (a)

E) What is LAF in banking terminology?

1. Liquidity Adjustment Facility
2. Liquidity Advance Facility
3. Liquidity Action Federation
4. Liquidity Adjustment Facility

Ans. (a)

F) The Monetary Policy Committee is a committee constituted by the central government, and the central bank. This committee is headed by_____

1. Finance Minister
2. Prime Minister
3. Governor of RBI
4. Home Minister

Ans. (c)

G) What does the UNHRC stand for?

1. United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children
2. United Nations Human Rights Council
3. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
4. United Nations Convention on the Rights of all Children

Ans. (b)

H) According to a report released by World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), which country reported the highest number of doping cases in the world?

1. India
2. Myanmar
3. China
4. Bangladesh

Ans. (a)

I) National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) functions under which Union Ministry?

1. Ministry of Education
2. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
3. Ministry of Defence
4. Ministry of Home Affairs

Ans. (b)

Summary of Today’s News

No Israel Embassy is safe warning by Iran

On Sunday, a senior Iranian military adviser issued a stern caution to Israel, stating that none of its embassies could be considered secure in the wake of a recent strike in Damascus, attributed to Israel, which resulted in the deaths of two high-ranking Iranian generals.
Gen. Rahim Safavi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested that an attack on a diplomatic facility could elicit a comparable retaliation. Israel has not officially admitted its role in the incident.

The subject of Youth suicide in India

Suicide, characterized by the deliberate taking of one’s own life, is a tragic and deeply perplexing occurrence. India holds the unfortunate distinction of having the highest number of suicides globally. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2022, 1.71 lakh individuals died by suicide, marking a disturbing increase in the suicide rate to 12.4 per 1,00,000—the highest ever recorded in the country. However, these statistics are likely underestimated due to various factors including inadequate registration systems, lack of medical certification of deaths, and prevailing stigma.
Alarmingly, 41% of all suicides occur among individuals under the age of 30, with suicide being the leading cause of mortality among young women in India. Every eight minutes, a young Indian succumbs to suicide, resulting in profound losses for families, communities, the economy, and the nation’s future. Consequently, suicide among the youth constitutes a significant public health crisis in India.
In November 2019, the Ministry of Health established a task force to develop India’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy. Launched on November 21, 2022, the strategy aims to reduce suicides by 10% by 2030. Immediate priorities include disseminating the strategy nationwide and securing budgetary allocations for its implementation at the state, district, and community levels.

Election commission data shows increase women candidate in general election since 1957

In 1957, only 45 women contested Lok Sabha elections, compared to 726 in 2019, as per Election Commission data. The percentage of women in Parliament increased from 4.5% in 1957 to 14.4% in 2019, while the number of male candidates rose from 1,474 to 7,322 over the same period.
This reflects a fivefold increase in male candidates and a sixteenfold increase in female candidates. In 1957, women constituted just 2.9% of candidates, rising to around 9% in 2019. However, the number of women candidates has yet to exceed 1,000. Gender-wise data for the 1952 Lok Sabha election are unavailable.
For male candidates, their winning percentage declined from 31.7% in 1957 to 6.4% in 2019. However, experts point out that this doesn’t signify any trends in the electability of men and women. Rather, it reflects the increase in the number of candidates from both genders despite the constant number of seats in the Lok Sabha.

Unnecessary complex GST need urgent reforsm

Vijay Kelkar, a key figure in India’s tax reforms and Chairman of the 13th Finance Commission, has urged the next government to urgently simplify the “unnecessarily complex” Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. He proposed establishing an independent secretariat for the GST Council, expressing concerns about the current arrangement where the Union government leads the secretariat, which may be perceived as problematic by the States.
Kelkar emphasized the simplification of the GST structure as a crucial fiscal reform, stating that high GST rates incentivize tax evasion. He suggested implementing a single GST rate of 12%, with revenues evenly distributed among all levels of government and Union Territories, as a solution to curb fraud and enhance effectiveness.