Only statement 1 is CORRECT and 2 and 3 are INCORRECT.

Samudrayan Mission
• It is India’s first unique manned ocean mission that aims to send men into the deep sea in a submersible vehicle for deep-ocean exploration and mining of rare minerals. Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• It will send three persons in a manned submersible vehicle MATSYA 6000 to a depth of 6000 metres into the sea for deep underwater studies. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT. (Mariana Trench: – 11,034 meters)
• With this, India will join the elite club of nations such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. Hence statement 3 is NOT CORRECT.

Statement 1 and 2 are not correct, statement 3 and 4 are correct.
MGNREG Scheme
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme introduced by the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. Thus, both the Center and the States share the funding of the scheme. Hence statement 1 is NOT CORRECT.
• It guarantees 100 days of work a year to every rural household with an aim to enhance the livelihood security of people. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• The Act currently covers all districts except for those that have a 100% urban population. Hence statement 3 is CORRECT.
Key Features of the MGNREGS
• Worker will get the work whenever he demands and not when the Government has work available.
• The Gram Panchayat has the mandate to provide employment within 15 days of a work application. If it fails, the worker will get an unemployment allowance.
• It provides for payment of wages within 15 days of completion of work. In case of failure, the worker will get a delay compensation of 0.05% per day of wages earned.
• It provides that minimum one-third of the workers should be women. Hence statement 4 is CORRECT.
• The wage payment should be according to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural laborers in the State.

1 and 2 are correct, 3 is incorrect.

Prompt Corrective Action
• PCA is a framework under which banks with weak financial metrics are put under watch by the RBI.
• The RBI introduced the PCA framework in 2002 as a structured early-intervention mechanism for banks that become under-capitalized due to poor asset quality, or vulnerable due to loss of profitability.
• It aims to check the problem of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the Indian banking sector.
• The PCA is invoked when certain risk thresholds are breached. There are three risk thresholds which are based on certain levels of asset quality, profitability, capital and the like.
Changes after PCA application
There are two types of restrictions, mandatory and discretionary.
1. Restrictions on dividend, branch expansion, directors’ compensation, are mandatory.
2. Discretionary restrictions could include curbs on lending and deposit. Hence statement 3 is NOR CORRECT.
What will a bank do if PCA is triggered?
• Banks are not allowed to renew or access costly deposits or take steps to increase their fee-based income.
• They will also not be allowed to enter into new lines of business.
• RBI will also impose restrictions on the bank on borrowings from the interbank market.
Hence statement 1 and 2 are CORRECT.

Only statement 1 is CORRECT, 2 and 3 are NOT CORRECT.
National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
• NCLT is a quasi-judicial body constituted under section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 in 2016. Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• The tribunal was established based on the recommendation of the V. Balakrishna Eradi committee on the law relating to insolvency and the winding up of companies.
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is the oldest. ITAT, often known as the “Mother Tribunal,” was the first tribunal to be established on January 25, 1941. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• The tribunal deals with matters mainly related to companies law and insolvency law.
• The Companies Act fixes the term of office of chairperson and members of all NCLTs at five years or 65 years, whichever is earlier.
• Decisions of the NCLT may be appealed to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
• The decisions of NCLAT may further be appealed to the Supreme Court of India on a point of law.
Hence statement 3 is NOT CORRECT.

Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)
• SVEP is a sub-scheme under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• The program supports the Self-Help Group (SHG) members and their family members to set up small enterprises in the non-farm sector. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• The program supports them by developing an ecosystem for enterprise development in rural areas, consisting of Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) for enterprise funding and Cadre of Community Resource Persons-Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) for providing Business Support Services.

Marquee Institutional Investors
• A marquee investor is an investor well known for investing in companies that turn into success stories at a later date.
• This person could be either an individual or a corporate/ institutional investor.
• The purchase of some company’s shares by such investors gives others the hope that these companies would turn out to be profitable investments for them too.
• While this can prove to be true in many cases, it is not a rule, because no investor can dictate future business and economic events. Hence statement (d) is NOT CORRECT.
• So, one should not just look at the presence of marquee investors, but the potential of those companies and then invest.

Both statements are NOT CORRECT.
Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) Report
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry releases report on Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) 2021. Hence statement 1 is NOT CORRECT.
• The report launched in 2018 ranks the states and UTs on the basis of their logistics ecosystem, highlights the key logistics related challenges faced by the stakeholders and includes suggestive recommendations.
• The states have been ranked in three separate classes including ‘North Eastern States & Himalayan UTs’ and ‘Other UTs’ group. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• With Competitive & Cooperative federalism, LEADS is creating an Ecosystem for Excellence by bringing in a healthy competitive spirit where everyone is persuaded to improve.

Statement 1 and 2 are CORRECT, 3 is NOT CORRECT.
Retail Direct Scheme
• The Retail Direct Scheme allows retail investors to invest in government securities (G-Sec) by opening a gilt security account with the RBI. Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• The account opened will be called Retail Direct Gilt (RDG) Account.
• From this RDG account, retail investors can buy bonds sold by the central government, state development loans, or bonds issued by state governments, and sovereign gold bonds, whose price is linked to gold. Hence statement 2 is CORRECT.
• However, the participation and allotment of securities will be as per the non-competitive scheme, which means investors can submit bids without specifying a price.
• The bonds get allotted to the investors at a price established by competitive bidding among financial institutions. Hence statement 3 is NOT CORRECT.

Both statements are CORRECT.

Integrated Ombudsman Scheme
• Ombudsman is a public authority that consumers can approach if they are not satisfied with the grievance redressal mechanism of a financial institution.
• It is aimed improving the grievance redressal mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities regulated by the central bank.
• Until now, there were three different ombudsman schemes for the three categories of financial intermediaries: Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) launched in 1995, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies(OS-NBFC),2018 and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT),2019.
• But now an integrated ombudsman scheme has been launched. It covers banks, non-bank lenders and other entities that the RBI regulates.

A working group headed by former Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman GN Bajpai has suggested that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) come up with a standardised framework with a real-time data bank, with data on time, cost and recovery rates together with macroeconomic indicators to assess the success of the five-year-old law and improve its implementation.

Only statements 1 and 2 are CORRECT, 3 is NOT CORRECT.

Cairn Oil & Gas has partnered with US-based Halliburton to start shale exploration in the Lower Barmer Hill formation, Western Rajasthan.
Tight Oil
• Tight oil (also known as shale oil, shale-hosted oil or light tight oil) is light-gravity crude oil found in petroleum-bearing shale or tight sandstone formations of low permeability.
• It is different from oil shale, which contains kerogen.
Hence statement 1 and 2 are CORRECT.
• It is found in smaller batches, and deeper than conventional crude deposits. Hence statement 3 is INCORRECT.
• Its extraction requires creation of fractures in oil and gas rich shale to release hydrocarbons through a process called hydraulic fracking.
• Tight oil can be processed into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels.

Only statement 1 is CORRECT, 2 is NOT CORRECT.

National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS)
• It is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Education for Skilling Indian Youth.
Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• It is a one year programme equipping youth with practical knowledge and skills required in their field of work.
• The Apprentices will be imparted training by industry and commercial organisations.
The government of India has decided to make some changes to the NATS Scheme. These changes are:
• NATS will now include students from humanities, science and commerce besides students from engineering stream.
• Apprentices who have completed graduate and diploma programmes in Engineering, Humanities, Science and Commerce will receive a stipend of Rs. 9,000 and Rs. 8,000 per month, respectively.
Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• The scheme will also provide apprenticeships in the emerging areas under ‘Production Linked Incentive’ (PLI) such as Mobile manufacturing, Medical devices manufacturing, Pharma sector, Electronics/Technology products, Automobile sector etc.

Statement-1 and 3 are CORRECT, Statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
Wage Rate Index (WRI)
• The WRI measures the relative changes in wage rates over a period of time.
• High or low Wage Rate Index in an industry does not necessarily indicate high or low wage rate in that industry as compared to other industries.
• The new series of WRI with base year 2016=100, is being compiled and maintained by Labour Bureau, an attached office of Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• The new series of WRI with base 2016=100 will replace the old series with base 1963-65=100.
• The New WRI Series with base 2016=100 would be compiled twice a year on point-to-point half yearly basis, as on 1st January and 1st July of every year.

China’s next moon missions — Change 6,7, and 8 — could contribute to the construction of an International Lunar Research Station in the south pole of the moon. The ILRS will have a space station orbiting the Moon, a base on the surface that will have several intelligent robots performing a variety of jobs. To support the ILRS, Beijing hopes to build a super-heavy rocket Long March CZ-9 before the end of this decade.
China has also added an international dimension to its moon plans by inviting other countries to participate in the ILRS project. Russia, once a leading space actor, has now joined hands with China on the ILRS.

Maghreb Region
• The Maghreb, also known as Northwest Africa and the Arab Maghreb, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world.
• The region includes Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
• It also includes the disputed territories of Western Sahara and the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla.
Indian Naval Ship Tabar took part in a Maritime Partnership Exercise with Algerian Navy ship ‘Ezzadjer’.

Statements 1 and 2 are incorrect, only Statement 3 is correct.

Borrowing by States
• Article 293(3) of the Constitution requires states to obtain the Centre’s consent in order to borrow in case the state is indebted to the Centre over a previous loan.
• In practice, the Centre has been exercising this power in accordance with the recommendations of the Finance Commission.
• Every single state is currently indebted to the Centre and thus, all of them require the Centre’s consent in order to borrow.
• Does the Centre have unfettered power to impose conditions under this provision?
• Neither does the provision itself offer any guidance on this, nor is there any judicial precedent that one could rely on.

Both statements are CORRECT.

What Connected Lending?
• Connected lending involves the controlling owner of a bank giving loans to himself or his related parties and group companies at favourable terms and conditions.
• Business groups need financing, and they can get it easily with no questions asked if they have an in-house bank.
• In short, companies can use the bank as a “private pool of readily available funds”.
• Big business groups already account for a major chunk of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system even without becoming promoters of a bank.

Statements 1 and 3 are CORRECT, while statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
Bharat Gaurav Scheme
• Under this Scheme, theme-based tourist circuit trains, on the lines of the Ramayana Express, can be run either by private or State-owned operators. Hence statement 1 is CORRECT.
• Service providers, who can be an individual, company, society, trust, joint venture or consortium will be free to decide themes/circuits. Hence statement 2 is NOT CORRECT.
• They will offer an all-inclusive package to tourists including rail travel, hotel accommodation and sightseeing arrangement, visit to historical/heritage sites, tour guides etc.
• They have full flexibility to decide the package cost. Hence statement 3 is CORRECT.

“One country, two systems” is a constitutional principle of the People’s Republic of China describing the governance of Macau, and formerly of Hong Kong, since they became Special administrative regions of China in 1999 and 1997 respectively.
This system has also been proposed by the PRC government for Taiwan, but the Government of the Republic of China has refused this suggestion (it has also been previously claimed that the system was originally designed for Taiwan.

Statement 1 is NOT CORRECT, 2 is CORRECT.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• It is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
• It was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Hence statement 1 is NOT CORRECT.
• As the preeminent nuclear watchdog under the UN, the IAEA is entrusted with the task of upholding the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970. Hence statement 2 is CORRECT.
• Though established independently of the UN through its own international treaty, the agency reports to both the UN General Assembly and the UNSC.