Answer: B
Explanation
● Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a Central Sector Scheme with 100%
funding from Government of India.
● Aim : To augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding
farmers’ families across the country.
● The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families
across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded
w.e.f. 01.06.2019 to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of
their land holdings.
● Under the Scheme an amount of Rs. 6000/- per year is transferred in three 4-monthly
installments of Rs. 2000/- directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subject to certain
exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.

● Eligibility : All landholder farmer’s families in the country are eligible for the PM-Kisan
Scheme subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria. Farmers who do not own any land are
not eligible for this scheme. Hence statement 3 is correct.
● Excluded from the scheme
o Institutional land holders,
o Farmer families holding constitutional posts,
o Serving or retired officers and employees of state/central government as well as
PSUs and government autonomous bodies.
o Statement 1 is correct: Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as
retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over Rs 10,000 and those who paid
income tax in the last assessment year.
o Statement 2 is incorrect: Not all professionals are excluded from the scheme. Only
those who have registered with respective Professional bodies and carry out
profession by undertaking practices are excluded.

● Identification of beneficiaries: The responsibility of identifying the eligible beneficiary
farmers and uploading their data on the PM-KISAN portal lies entirely with the state
governments.

Consider the following countries
1) Afghanistan
2) Bhutan
3) Nepal
4) Pakistan
How many of the above countries are member countries of SAARC?

Answer: D
Explanation
● SAARC is a regional intergovernmental organization established in 1985 with 7
founding members.
● SAARC now comprises eight Member States: Afghanistan (joined in 2007), Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

● The main objective of the Association include promotion of welfare of the peoples of
South Asia and to improve their quality of life.
● Decisions at all levels are to be taken on the basis of unanimity; and bilateral and
contentious issues are excluded from the deliberations of the Association.
● SAARC has been defunct since 2014. Pakistan was to host the summit in 2016, but it
was stalled after India refused to participate following the attack in Pulwama in
Jammu and Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based extremists.
● The Secretariat of the Association is located in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The primary purpose of Ways and Means Advances (WMA) is

Answer: B
Explanation
● The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gives temporary loans to the center and state
governments as a banker to the government. This facility is called Ways and Means
Advances (WMA). This facility was introduced in 1997.
● Thus, WMA is a temporary liquidity arrangement that helps meet mismatches in
receipts and payments of the government. 
● Under this scheme, Centre and states can avail themselves of immediate cash from the RBI.
But it has to return the amount within 90 days. Interest is charged at the existing repo
rate.
● The governments are, however, allowed to draw amounts in excess of their WMA limits.
The interest on such overdraft is usually above the repo rate.
● The limits for WMA are decided by the government and RBI mutually and revised
periodically.

The term mercenary is most closely associated with which of the following characteristics?

Answer: C
Explanation
● The distinction between conventional combatants and mercenaries is a fundamental
cornerstone of international humanitarian law (IHL).
○ IHL is a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict. It lays out the
responsibilities of states and non-state armed groups during an armed conflict.
● A combatant is typically a member of the armed forces of a party to the conflict,
whereas a mercenary is recruited from a third-party state unrelated to the conflict.
● Mercenaries usually engage in hostilities motivated primarily by personal gain as opposed
to virtues of patriotism associated with regular combatants.

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1. Consider the following statements about the Open Network for Digital Commerce
1) It is a government-backed initiative aimed at democratizing e-commerce in India.
2) It is mandatory for all the existing digital commerce applications and platforms to be a part
of the ONDC network.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer: A
Explanation
● Statement 1 is correct: In 2022, the government of India launched the pilot phase of open
network for digital commerce (ONDC) with an aim to democratize the country’s fast
growing digital e-commerce space that is currently dominated by the two U.S.-
headquartered firms — Amazon and Walmart.
What is ONDC?
● ONDC is a network based on open protocol and will enable local commerce across
segments, such as mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel,
among others, to be discovered and engaged through a single platform.
● It is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
(DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
● Statement 2 is incorrect: It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting
platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily
choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.

Role in Democratising Digital Commerce
● The ONDC platform aims to create new opportunities, curb digital monopolies and
support micro, small and medium enterprises and small traders and help them get on
online platforms.
● The ONDC aims to enable buying of products from all participating e-commerce
platforms by consumers through a single platform.
● Currently, a buyer needs to go to Amazon website/app, for example, to buy a product from a
seller on Amazon. Under ONDC, it is envisaged that a buyer registered on one participating
e-commerce site (for example, Amazon) may purchase goods from a seller on another
participating e-commerce site (for example, Flipkart).

● The ONDC model is trying to replicate the success of the Unified Payments Interface
(UPI) in the field of digital payments.
○ UPI allows people to send or receive money irrespective of the payment platforms they
are registered on.

● The open network concept also extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital
commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel,
urban services, etc.
Significance
● The government believes that ONDC will put an end to the domination of the e-
commerce market by a few large platforms. Amazon and Flipkart, for instance, have
been accused of discriminating among sellers on their platforms and promoting certain
seller entities in which they hold indirect stakes.
● With an open network like ONDC that connects buyers and sellers across platforms, the
government hopes to level the playing field and make platforms redundant.
● It is said that buyers will also be able to access sellers across platforms without having to
switch between multiple platforms.
● Over the next five years, the ONDC expects to bring on board 90 crore users and 12 lakh
sellers on the network.
● The ONDC will standardize operations like cataloging, inventory management, order
management and order fulfillment, hence making it simpler and easier for small
businesses to be discoverable over network and conduct business.
Challenges
● ONDC faces its own share of challenges and risks, which must be addressed. One of the
pivotal challenges lies in ensuring the adoption and acceptance of ONDC by the various
stakeholders within the e-commerce ecosystem.
● Another challenge is to ensure the quality and reliability of the services and products
offered on the network. ONDC will have to establish clear standards and guidelines for
quality assurance, consumer protection, data privacy, cybersecurity, etc.
● ONDC will also have to ensure effective dispute resolution mechanisms for handling
complaints and grievances.
● ONDC will have to ensure the sustainability and scalability of the network to make sure
that the network can handle the increasing volume and variety of transactions and
data.

2. Consider the following statements about the “Smart Cities Mission”.
1. The objective of this scheme is to give decent quality of life for urban citizens through smart
solutions.
2. The mission is operated as a Central sector scheme.

Answer: A
Explanation
● The Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015.
● Statement 1 is correct: The main objective of the Mission is to promote cities that
provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent
quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.

● The Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through
comprehensive work on social, economic, physical and institutional pillars of the city.
● The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development by creation of replicable models
which act as lighthouses to other aspiring cities.
Coverage
● The mission will cover 100 cities that have been distributed among the States /Union
Territories (UT) on the basis of an equitable criteria.
● Each State/UT will have a certain number of potential Smart Cities, with each State/UT
having at least one.
Funding
● Statement 2 is incorrect: The Mission is operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The
Central Government gives financial support on an average Rs.100 crore per city per
year. An equal amount on a matching basis is to be provided by the State/Urban Local
Bodies (ULBs).
● Additional resources are to be raised through convergence, from ULBs’ own funds, grants
under Finance Commission, innovative finance mechanisms such as Municipal Bonds, other
government programs and borrowings.
● Emphasis has been given on the participation of the private sector through Public
Private Partnerships (PPP).
What are Smart Cities?
● There is no standard definition or template of a smart city.
● In the context of our country, the six fundamental principles on which the concept of
Smart Cities is based are:

Implementation by Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
● The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds,
implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects.
● Each Smart City will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees
of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.
● The SPV will be a limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 at the
city-level, in which the State/UT and the ULB will be the promoters having 50:50 equity
shareholding.
Why in News?
● The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has extended the deadline for the Smart Cities
Mission till March 2025, allowing cities to complete ongoing projects, which account for
around 10% of the total projects.

3. Consider the following statements about the Cabinet committees
1) Cabinet committees are set up by the Prime Minister.
2) All the eight cabinet committees are headed by the PM.