Indian Economy Questions and Answers

Answer: B

False. India is not third in sugarcane production.

India is either first or second in the world, alternating with Brazil, and produces roughly a fifth of the global crop. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra account for most of the Indian output.

Answer: C

The Fourth Plan is called the Gadgil Yojana.

It was drafted under D.R. Gadgil, then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and ran from 1969 to 1974 with the aim of 'growth with stability'. Gadgil also gave his name to the formula for distributing central assistance among the states.

Answer: B

The Reserve Bank of India is the banker to the banks.

Scheduled banks keep their cash reserves with it, settle their claims on one another through it, and borrow from it as lender of last resort. That last function is what makes a central bank indispensable in a crisis.

Answer: D

This is the Blue Revolution.

It refers to the rapid growth of fish production through inland aquaculture and improved marine fishing. India is now the second largest fish producer in the world after China, and inland fisheries have overtaken marine in volume.

Answer: C

The first regional rural banks came into existence in 1975.

Five were set up on 2 October 1975 following an ordinance, the earliest being Prathama Bank at Moradabad. The Regional Rural Banks Act followed in 1976.

Answer: B

It began in 2006.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed in 2005 and the scheme launched on 2 February 2006 in 200 districts, extending nationwide by 2008. It guarantees a hundred days of unskilled wage employment a year to every rural household that demands it.

Answer: A

The Reserve Bank was established on 1 April 1935.

It was set up under the RBI Act, 1934, on the recommendation of the Hilton Young Commission, initially as a shareholders' bank with its head office at Calcutta. It moved to Bombay in 1937 and was nationalised in 1949.

Answer: A

The Community Development Programme started in 1952.

Launched on 2 October 1952 in 55 blocks, it was the first major rural development effort of independent India, covering agriculture, health, education and communications together. Its weakness was that it worked through officials rather than through the people, which led to the Balwantrai Mehta Committee and panchayati raj.

Answer: C

Assam is the largest tea producer.

It grows roughly half of India's tea, in the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys, where the soil, heavy rainfall and high humidity suit the plant. The first Indian tea garden was established there in 1837.

Answer: D

The concept was drawn from Russia.

Nehru was much impressed by Soviet planning, and India's Five Year Plans followed that model in form - fixed periods, physical targets, a central planning body. The content differed: India planned within a mixed economy and a parliamentary democracy.