UPSC Quiz – 2020: IAS Daily Current Affairs Quiz Day 135

Solution (b)

European Green Deal

The EU will aim to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a goal that will be enshrined in a ‘climate law’ to be presented in March 2020. That means updating the EU’s climate ambition for 2030, with a 50-55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions to replace the current 40% objective. The 55% figure will be subject to a cost-benefit analysis.

Read More – https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/12/12/eu-releases-green-deal-key-points/

Solution (c)

The government’s support for the Central Plan is called the gross budgetary support (GBS). This is an important component of the Central Plan of the government.

Budgetary support is earmarked for meeting the planned outlays of the central government in a financial year.

The GBS includes the tax receipts and other sources of revenue raised by the government.

The Central Plan includes the GBS and the spending of the public enterprises that do not figure in the Budget.

Solution (c)

An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) is Collective Investment Scheme similar to a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of money from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects to earn a small portion of the income as return.

The InvIT is designed as a tiered structure with Sponsor setting up the InvIT which in turn invests into the eligible infrastructure projects either directly or via special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

The InvITs are regulated by the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014.

InvITS are like mutual funds in structure. InvITs can be established as a trust and registered with Sebi. An InvIT consists of four elements: 1) Trustee, 2) Sponsor(s), 3) Investment Manager and 4) Project Manager.

Solution (a)

“India” saw the light of the day in May, 1906. It declared as its motto the three slogans of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It blazed a new trail in Tamil Journalism. In order to proclaim its revolutionary ardour, Bharathi had the weekly printed in red paper. “India” was the first paper in Tamil Nadu to publish political cartoons. He also published and edited a few other journals like “Vijaya”.

His poetry not only includes works on Hindu deities like Shakti, Kali, Vinayagar, Murugan, Sivan, Kannan(Krishna), but also on other religious gods like Allah and Jesus.

Solution (c)

To meet India’s massive 450 gigawatts of clean energy target, Indian officials announced new financing approach to boost investment in clean energy during the climate talks in Madrid this week. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), the country’s premier public finance institution, is considering an allocation of $20 million in seed funding to set up its pioneering “Green Window” aimed toward catalyzing private investment and expanding the Indian clean energy market.

A green window is a financing approach designed leverage limited government funds to attract private capital to achieve climate and clean energy goals. The IREDA Green Window builds on the globally successful green bank model. Green banks across the world have supported projects worth $50 billion in the last five years.

The aim of the IREDA Green Window is to drive investment into underserved segments of the clean energy market. Under MNRE and IREDA’s leadership, the Green Window is based on extensive market research and stakeholder discussions involved in financing clean energy.

A green window would lower the risk for traditional banks to finance green energy and tap into international capital to help India power its cities and rural communities.