industries manufacturing & service sectors section 2 MCQ Questions & Answers Detailed Explanation

Answer: (a)

The government has relaxed norms for giving Maharatna status to public sector enterprises, a move that will benefit blue-chip companies such as Coal India, GAIL, BHEL and NMDC in their expansion plans.

Only four state-run companies --ONGC, SAIL, IOC and NTPC -- at present enjoy the Maharatna status, which gives them the financial and managerial autonomy to invest up to Rs. 5,000 crore in a new venture without seeking government approval.

Under the new norms, a company qualifying for the Maharatna status should have an average annual turnover of Rs. 20,000 crore during the last three years against Rs. 25,000 crore prescribed earlier.

Further, the criteria on average annual net worth have been relaxed to Rs. 10,000 crore from the earlier limit of 15,000 crores.

Answer: (b)

The expansion of the public sector was based on industrial policy resolution, 1956. The government announced the new industrial policy in July 1991.

The first industrial policy of the government was announced in April 1948.

Subsequently, Industrial Policy resolutions were announced in 1956, 1980, 1990 and 1991.

Answer: (b)

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) scheme was launched in July 2015 for power sector reforms in rural areas with a view to ensuring round the clock electricity supply to farmers and rural households.

The following were the various objectives/ components of DDUGJY:

1. Separation of agriculture and non-agriculture feeders
2. Strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas, including metering at distribution transformers, feeders and consumers end
3. Completion of targets laid down under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) by subsuming RGGVY under DDUGJY (The RGGVY was launched in April 2005 with an objective of providing access to electricity to all rural households. Households belonging to BPL are provided connections free of cost.)
4. Despite the government’s aggressive village electrification programme, the DDUGJY launched in July 2015, under which 78% of 18,000 villages were electrified as in September 2017 (Out of total 597,464 census villages, 594,547 villages (99.5%) were electrified), it was realized that the problem of electricity ‘access’ wasn’t resolved. A village is declared to be electrified if 10% of the households are given electricity along with public places such as schools, panchayat offices, health centres, dispensaries and community centres.

With a large number of households still remaining without access to electricity, the Government of India launched the SAUBHAGYA scheme in September 2017 which aims at ensuring the coverage of households as opposed to villages (under DDUGJY).

The SAUBHAGYA scheme, with an outlay of Rs. 16,320 crore, funds the cost of last-mile connectivity to willing households to help achieve the goal of lighting every household in rural and urban areas (about 4 crore households) by 31 December 2018.

Under the SAUBHAGYA scheme, BPL households were provided free electricity connections and the rest of the households not covered under BPL can avail of it by paying Rs 500 in 10 instalments of Rs50 each along with their monthly bill. The beneficiaries for free electricity connections will be identified using Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.

For that household where the national electricity grid can’t reach, households will be provided with solar power packs along with battery banks. State-run Rural Electrification Corporation is the nodal agency for the scheme. There will be no government subsidy for the monthly electricity consumption. 99.99% of households have been electrified as of March 2020.

Answer: (b)

The first petrochemical industry in India was started with the establishment of National Organic Chemical Industry Limited in 1961.

The company manufacture various organic and inorganic chemicals. The real thrust of the Petrochemical industry in India came with the establishment of Indian Petrochemical Corporation Limited (IPCL) at Baroda on March 22, 1969, with a view to promote and encourage the use of plastics in India.

Answer: (d)

Just as diseases are identified by certain symptoms, industrial sickness can be identified by the following symptoms. These symptoms act as leading indicators of sickness, and if immediate remedial actions are not taken, the sickness will grow to the extent that the organization will find its natural death.

Continuous reduction in

• turnover,
• Piling up of inventory,
• Continuous reduction of net profit to sales ratio,
• Short term borrowings at a high interest rate,
• Continuous cash losses leading to erosion of tangible net worth etc.

However, the decline of market share is not an immediate indicator.

Answer: (d)

SEBI, the regulatory body completed 25 years of its establishment in 2013.

It was formed in the year 1988 to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development and regulate the securities market.