UPSC 2018 Economy PYQs with Answers

NPOP is implemented under the Commerce Ministry framework with APEDA as the secretariat/accreditation body. Sikkim became India's first fully organic State. It is not operated under the Rural Development Ministry.

Hulled cereal grains, cooked eggs and newspapers with advertising material were exempted under GST, while processed/canned fish was not generally exempt in the same way.

Capital infusion into public sector banks has not steadily increased every year. The merger of SBI associate banks with SBI was implemented as part of public-sector banking consolidation/strengthening.

Air India was nationalized in 1953, Imperial Bank became SBI in 1955, Kerala elected the first communist government in 1957, and Goa became part of India in 1961. Sequence: 3-2-1-4.

Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan in 1858-59/1860, earlier than Arya Samaj founding, Anandamath and Satyendranath Tagore's ICS success.

PMKVY is under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, not Labour and Employment. It includes soft skills, entrepreneurship, financial/digital literacy, and aligns skills with NSQF.

In mid-18th century Bengal, the English East India Company exported cotton textiles, silk, saltpetre and opium among its staple commodities.

The original IRNSS/NavIC constellation has three geostationary and four inclined geosynchronous satellites. Its service area is India and about 1500 km beyond, not 5500 sq km, and it is regional rather than full global coverage.

RBI manages securities for both Union and State Governments, so statement 1 is wrong. Treasury bills are issued by the Government of India, not States, and are issued at a discount.

British rule in the 19th century pushed commercialization of Indian agriculture through cash crops, revenue demands and market integration.

If the capital-output ratio is high, large savings/investment produce relatively little extra output, so capital formation may not significantly raise output.

Human capital formation means increasing people's knowledge, skills, health and capacities; it is accumulation of intangible human wealth, not merely physical/tangible capital.

Legal tender is money that a creditor is legally bound to accept in settlement of a debt or claim.

A Money Bill may deal with appropriation from the Consolidated Fund of India, not the Contingency Fund. Hence option C is the incorrect statement.

BHIM allows UPI transfers to any UPI-enabled bank account. The claim comparing chip-pin debit cards as four-factor and BHIM as only two-factor is not correct as stated.

India enacted the GI Act to meet its WTO/TRIPS obligations on protection of geographical indications.

NFSA makes the eldest woman of 18 years or above the household head for ration-card purposes. It is not limited only to BPL families, and the maternity entitlement is not the stated 1600-calorie take-home ration.

Capital Adequacy Ratio represents bank capital relative to risk-weighted assets, providing a buffer against losses. The required CAR is set by regulators/RBI norms, not by each bank individually.

NPCI operates the National Financial Switch, which links ATMs across India.

India has imported more edible oil than it produced domestically in recent years. Customs duties are imposed on imported edible oils, so statement 2 is incorrect.

Merchant Discount Rate is the fee charged to a merchant by the acquiring bank/payment service for processing card payments from customers.

As per the NSSO survey, Rajasthan had the highest share of agricultural households among rural households, and in Kerala many agricultural households received maximum income from non-agricultural sources. The OBC share statement is not correct as framed.