Correct Answer: c) To offer personalised mentoring for lagging students to reach grade-level competencies.

Explanation:
Mission Daksh, launched by the Bihar Education Department under Samagra Shiksha, focuses on identifying students who are behind in learning and providing targeted, personalised remedial support. The goal is to help them attain grade-level competencies, often using approaches like Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL). It is not primarily about increasing enrolment or vocational training for teachers.

Correct Answer: a) 1

Explanation:
– Statement 1: Correct. The cement industry is highly regionalized and concentrated in a handful of states with large limestone reserves. States such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka account for the bulk (roughly 80–90%) of capacity. So “around 87% … in a few major states like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh” is broadly correct.
– Statement 2: Incorrect. India is the second-largest producer of cement in the world; China is the largest.
– Statement 3: Incorrect. Cement is a weight-losing, bulky, low-value product; plants are typically located near raw material sources (especially limestone), not near ports. Exports are a small share of output, so siting near ports is not the norm.

Correct Answer: b) 27.3%, 30.1%

Explanation:
As per official data (MoSPI/Ministry of MSME), the share of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India’s Gross Value Added (GVA) rose from 27.3% in 2020-21 to 30.1% in 2022-23. The other options overstate the MSME contribution, which typically hovers around the high-20s to about 30% range.

Correct Answer: c) Atal Innovation Mission

Explanation:
– The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) 2020 proposed initiatives like:
• One Nation, One Subscription (centralized national access to scientific journals)
• Research and Innovation Excellence Frameworks (RIEF) to assess and incentivize quality research
– Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is an older, separate initiative under NITI Aayog launched in 2016; it is not an outcome of STIP 2020.
– Since only option (c) is not from STIP 2020, “More than one of the above” is incorrect.

Correct Answer: a

Explanation:
– Statement (a): True. PLFS 2023-24 shows that since 2021-22 the LFPR of rural females has risen faster than that of urban females. The surge in rural female participation is driven largely by increases in self-employment and unpaid family work in rural areas; urban female LFPR has also improved but by a smaller margin.

– Statement (b): False. It is highly unlikely that “90%” of the 36 states/UTs have a WPR (all ages) below the national average (about 43.7%). Several large states/UTs have WPRs above the national average, so such an extreme skew is not supported by the PLFS distribution across states.

– Statement (c): False. The share of female workers in agriculture has not shown a “significant decrease” from 2017-18 to 2023-24. If anything, women’s employment gains have been concentrated in self-employment including agriculture, so the claim of a sharp fall is not in line with PLFS trends.

Since only (a) is correct, option (d) (“More than one of the above”) is not correct.

Correct Answer: c) a-2, b-1, c-4, d-3

Explanation:
– a) Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme → 2: It targets energy-intensive industries to improve energy efficiency and thereby reduce emissions through tradable energy-savings certificates.
– b) MISHTI → 1: The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 to promote mangrove plantations along coastlines.
– c) LiFE initiative → 4: The Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) was unveiled by India at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021 to encourage sustainable lifestyles.
– d) National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) → 3: Launched in 2019 as a national strategy to reduce air pollution levels, especially PM2.5 and PM10, in Indian cities.

Explanation:

According to the data, the percentage of the population who are multidimensionally poor in these states is as follows:
Jammu and Kashmir: 2.81%
Himachal Pradesh: 3.88%
Uttar Pradesh: 17.40%
Since both Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh had a multidimensional poverty rate below 6%, the correct answer is d) More than one of the above.

Correct Answer: a)

Explanation:
– Statement (a) is correct: RBI’s weekly data show India’s foreign exchange reserves hovered in the mid-$630s to mid-$650s billion range for much of late 2024; by end-December 2024 they were roughly around $640 billion, i.e., near that level.
– Statement (b) is incorrect: India is typically among the top 4–5 countries globally by forex reserves (after China, Japan, Switzerland, and often Taiwan/Russia), not seventh.
– Statement (c) is incorrect: 2024 did not see an overall BoP deficit of about $24 billion; in fact, India recorded net accretion to reserves over the year amid capital inflows, not a reserve decline due to a BoP deficit.

Therefore, only (a) is correct.

Correct Answer: a)

Explanation:
Before the Kisan Rin Portal launch, farmers submitted manual claims for Interest Subvention and Prompt Repayment Incentive schemes through their banks. These claims were then processed and overseen by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (as the nodal ministry) and NABARD (which handles reimbursements for Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks, while RBI handles commercial banks).

Correct Answer: a) Rajasthan

Explanation:
– As per the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways’ state-wise progress under Bharatmala Pariyojana up to 31 October 2024, Rajasthan recorded the highest constructed road length.
– This is largely because multiple major Bharatmala corridors pass through Rajasthan (notably long stretches of the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway and the Amritsar–Jamnagar corridor), giving it a higher cumulative completed length than Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra by that date.