Indian Economy

The Antyodaya Programme, launched on 5th October 1975, was aimed at uplifting the poorest of the poor (Antyodaya means 'rise of the last person'). It focused on improving the condition of the weakest sections of society through employment generation and asset creation. The program was not limited to scheduled castes or urban areas specifically, but targeted all economically vulnerable persons at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

Correct answer is (4). 

Credit cooperative societies were the first type of cooperatives established in India, starting with the establishment of the first cooperative credit society in 1904 in Maharashtra. These were modeled after the German cooperative system and focused on providing rural credit to farmers, who were exploited by moneylenders.

The Special Economic Zone Act was passed by Parliament in May 2005 and came into force on February 10, 2006. This legislation provided the legal framework for establishing Special Economic Zones in India to promote exports and attract foreign investment with tax incentives and simplified regulations.

Correct Answer: Gulzari Lal Nanda

The company was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the private insurance industry in India. Over 245 insurance companies and provident societies were merged to create the state owned Life Insurance Corporation.

No specific attempts were made for estimating national income in India during the pre-independence era. In 1868, the first attempt was made by Dadabhai Naoroji. He, in his book ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’, estimated Indian per capita annual income at a level of Rs. 20.

Option (1) is the correct answer.

CENVAT (Central Value Added Tax) is a form of indirect tax in India that allows manufacturers to claim credit for taxes paid on inputs. It replaced the earlier MODVAT system and applies to excise duties and service taxes. Income tax is a direct tax, not indirect, and CENVAT specifically deals with indirect taxation on goods and services.

 Option (1) is correct.

India has a well-developed tax structure with clearly demarcated authority between Central and State Governments and local bodies.
Central Government levies taxes on income (except tax on agricultural income, which the State Government can levy), customs duties, central excise and service tax.
Value Added Tax (VAT), stamp duty, state excise, land revenue and profession tax are levied by the State Governments.

Statement 1 is wrong: Please note that Excise duty is not a tax on sale of goods but it is a tax on manufacture or production of goods for sale (in India).
Rest of the three statements are perfectly correct. 

The GST is an indirect tax that will replace existing levies such as excise duty, service tax and value-added tax (VAT). The states and the federal government will impose the tax on almost all goods and services produced in India or imported. Exports will not attract GST.
The GST will not cover goods like crude oil, diesel, petrol and alcohol. These goods are major sources of revenues for most states.
Exports would be zero-rated and imports would be levied the same taxes as domestic goods and services adhering to the destination principle. 

The Hindu Rate of Growth refers to the low annual growth rate of the socialist economy of India before 1991, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income growth averaged 1.3%. 

India’s Second Five-Year Plan (1956-61):- The second plan was to set India on the path of industrialization. P.C. Mahalanobis was the moving spirit behind the second five year plan. He gave the highest priority to strengthening the industrial base of the economy.
It was in this light that the 1948 Industrial Policy Resolution was revised and the new resolution of 1956 was adopted. There was emphasis on the expansion of the public sector and establishment of a socialistic pattern of society.

Correct answer is (1). 

Correct answer is (2). 

In India, marginal holdings of less than 1 hectare (ha) accounts for 60% of all holdings but only 20% of total cultivated area. On the other hand, holdings above 2 hectares accounts for only around 20% of all holdings but 60% of cultivated area, with holdings above 10 hectares accounting for just 1% of holdings, but 12% of area.

A Budget Deficit is the excess of spending over income for a government, corporation, or individual over a particular period of time. The opposite of a deficit is a surplus.
Fiscal deficit is noticed when government's total expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates (excluding money from borrowings).
Deficit differs from debt, which is an accumulation of yearly deficits.
Fiscal deficit is regarded as a positive economic event by some economists like Keynes.

Core inflation represents the long run trend in the price level. In measuring long run inflation, transitory price changes should be excluded. One way of accomplishing this is by excluding items frequently subject to volatile prices, like food and energy.

The amount received as national income is identical to the amount spent as national expenditure, which is also identical to what is produced as national output. Throughout macroeconomics, the terms income, output and expenditure are interchangeable.

The Indian WPI figure was earlier released weekly on every Thursday and influenced stock and fixed price markets. The Indian WPI is now updated on a monthly basis.

In order to improve health of the small scale industries (SSIs), the Government of India appointed Abid Hussain Committee in 1991. The Committee submitted its report, which carried some revolutionary recommendations, in 1997.
Though the S. P. Gupta Committee was also constituted for the cause of the SSIs, its year of appointment was 1999.

Both the statements given are perfectly correct.
Kisan Credit Card Scheme was introduced in 1998-99 to facilitate access to credit from Commercial Banks, Cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks.
Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) was set up with a corpus of Rs.10,000 crore with NABARD to finance rural infrastructure development projects by states.

The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) faced multiple crises that hampered growth: rising inflation due to increased money supply, the Suez Crisis (1956) which disrupted trade routes and increased oil prices, and rapid depletion of foreign exchange reserves from heavy imports of machinery and capital goods. The plan's ambitious industrialization targets required massive imports, draining forex reserves.

Keeping the budgetary deficit under control is a direct monetary policy tool that reduces government borrowing from the market, leaving more funds available for private sector and reducing demand-pull inflation. The other options are long-term structural measures.

The India-Switzerland tax information exchange treaty follows OECD norms on transparency and information exchange. The OECD provides the international framework for combating tax evasion and banking secrecy issues.

Option C refers to State Finance Commissions which deal with Panchayats and Municipalities. The Central Finance Commission deals with Centre-State tax distribution, grants-in-aid principles, and presidential referrals - not state-local bodies.

Option (3) is the correct answer.

All three statements are correct as per the committee report on slum statistics - 75.26 million in 2001, projected 93.06 million in 2011, and slums formed 26.31% of urban population in 2001.