List of practice Questions

Read the following passage and answer the question
The stock market has demonstrated gravity-defying qualities lately. Despite worries about rate hikes, Fed taper and the inflationary impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, Indian indices rule just 3.5 per cent below lifetime highs. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is right in crediting retail investors for the market's shock-absorbing capacity. As Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out nearly $19 billion from stocks in the last six months, domestic investors have cushioned the fall by pumping in $20 billion. Selling by FPIs even of a fraction of this amount used to precipitate market meltdowns until a few years ago. In the four years from FY19 to FY22, retail investors have been taking multiple routes to raise their equity allocations. Demat accounts have more than doubled to nudge the 9 crore mark. Inflows into equity mutual funds have risen from 1.1 lakh crore to 1.6 lakh crore, with SIP flows up by 34 per cent. Equity mandates granted to NPS and EPF have allowed these pension funds to invest over 1.5 lakh crore annually in stocks. Apart from these conventional vehicles, individuals have been investing through newer options such as exchange traded funds and curated portfolios. It is heartening to see the equity cult in India taking off despite the withdrawal of policy sops such as zero tax on equity gains. While the retail investor's newfound propensity for equities is good for the economy and markets, there are some discomfiting aspects to it as well. One, it is clear that a large number of first-time investors are preferring direct stock bets over the institutional route. Despite the surge in SIPs, domestic mutual funds today own just 7.4 per cent of the outstanding stock on the NSE, compared to the direct retail holding of 7.3 per cent. Retail investors favour riskier small and mid-cap stocks while institutions prefer large-caps. Two, derivatives turnover on the bourses has trebled in the last couple of years with retail investors making up a third of the volumes. This suggests that many prefer short-term punting on prices to long-term business ownership. Three, with the market's vertical climb from February 2016 punctuated by just one big correction in March 2020 (from which it swiftly recovered) investors who've joined the equity party recently have no experience of a bear market. Equity product pitches rely mainly on past performance, so new investors who have come in post-2019 at Nifty valuations of 25-50 times, may have unrealistic return expectations. This is the fall side to what Sitharaman said about domestic investors stepping in to buy when FPIs head for the exit. Given that the days of global easy-money policies powering asset prices are ending, first-time equity investors need to be made aware of the risks they're taking on, especially in the DIY route. Market regulator SEBI and financial product firms must use their investor education coffers to ensure that new investors understand equity risks. Else, we could have an encore of the 2000 and 2008 experiences when many investors, after being singed by the market correction, left the asset class for good.
The retail investors are...............
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The sharp surge in gold imports this fiscal once again turns the spotlight on the need to find alternative avenues to meet the insatiable demand of Indians for the yellow metal. With consumers on a buying spree after the second wave of the pandemic, gold imports between April and November 2021 was at a nine-year high of $33.23 billion around 50 per cent higher than in the corresponding period in 2019-20, The last time gold imports crossed $30 billion in the first eight months of the fiscal year was in 2012-13. The Reserve Bank of India was then forced to take drastic measures to curb imports including hiking import duty sharply and laying down that 20 per cent of gold imported should be exported as jewellery. The RBI's actions were prompted by current account deficit expanding to 4.8 per cent of GDP and the rupee depreciating sharply. The surging gold imports this year could also turn problematic as the trade deficit has expanded since September, hitting a multi-decade low in November 2021. The rupee is also under pressure due to the rising trade deficit as well as continued foreign portfolio outflows. High gold imports is a structural issue in A recent report by the World Gold Council pointed out that gold imports by India have been consistently high since 2012, averaging 760 tonnes per year. This is because the domestic supply is limited, with imports meeting almost 86 per cent of domestic demand. It is clear that the Centre needs to find long-term sustainable solutions to increase the domestic supply. The obvious way to do so is to bring some of the 25,000 tonnes of gold held by households and temples into circulation, The Centre needs to consider another gold monetisation scheme (GMS) that offers higher returns compared with the previous schemes and is better tuned to the feeling and emotions of consumers, A scheme that promises that another equivalent piece of jewellery will be returned to the customer at the end of the deposit period could find more takers since the biggest drawback of the ongoing GMS is that the customer loses the jewellery and gets a gold coin or bar at the end of the scheme. Building greater awareness towards non-physical forms of gold such as sovereign gold bonds and gold exchange traded funds will also help reduce investment-led demand for physical gold to some extent. It may also be a good idea to set up bullion banks that focus on gold loans to retail and rural customers. The prime function of these banks will be to mobilise the surplus gold with citizens through gold monetisation schemes. They can also buy and sell gold in the bullion exchanges being set up in India and in the offshore business centre in GIFT City, thus imparting liquidity to these exchanges.
RBI has to intervene to reduce the gold imports in the backdrop of..............
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The dire wamings of climate change experts are coming true.Flooding caused by torrential rainfall in the past two weeks has claimed close to 500 lives and left thousands homeless in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.Tens of thousands of people in Durban are,reportedly,without water and there are concerns of an infectious disease outbreak.Authorities fear the toll could climb much higher.Intense rainfall in spring and early summer is part of South Africa's weather pattern.In April-May,a low-pressure system,stemming from the westerly trough systems of cold air,develops south of the country and often results in inclement weather.In 2019,flash floods claimed 85 lives in Durban.But the intensity of the downpour this year was unprecedented.Some parts of kwa Zulu-Natal experienced a year's rainfall in less than 36 hours.The weather vagary is straight out of classical climate change literature:Warmer seas push large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere leading to intense spells of rainfall.But that's one part of the story.The deluge's catastrophic turn has mu ch to do with a failing that's common to several parts of the world,including India:Durban's drainage system that has,at best,seen cosmetic improvements in more than a century,was ill-equipped to handle the relentless downpour.As in climate disasters in most parts of the world,the poor in South Africa have borne the brunt.Durban is a city of migrants,and large numbers live in shacks,locally called "informal settlements".These houses —an Apartheid-era legacy of the poor living in low-lying areas —were the first to be swept away by the flash floods.Experts have sounded the red alert for more extreme weather events in South Africa in the coming years.As in other parts of the world,the way forward lies in improving the accuracy of warning systems,and building the resilience of people,especially the poor.This should be the focus of adaptation strategies.
Accordling to the passage,climate disasters affect
It is unfortunate that the proposal by the Chief Justice of India (CJl)for a national judicial infrastructure corporation with corresponding bodies at the State level,did not find favour with many Chief Ministers at the recent joint conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers.A special purpose vehicle,vested with statutory powers to and implement infrastructure projects for the judiciary,would have been immensely helpful in augmenting facilities for the judiciary,given the inadequacies in court complexes across the country.However,it is a matter of relief that there was agreement on the idea of State-level bodies for the same purpose,with representation to the Chief Ministers so that they are fully involved in the implementation.The CJl,N.V.Ramana,who had mooted the proposal some months ago,sought to dispel the impression that a national body would usurp the powers of the executive,and underscored that it could have adequate representation of the Union/States.He had flagged the gulf between the available infrastructure and the justice needs of the people.If his proposal had been accepted,the available funding as a centrally sponsored scheme,with the Centre and States sharing the burden on a 60:40 ratio,could have been gone to the national authority,which would allocate the funds through high courts based on need.It is likely that Chief Ministers did not favour the idea as they wanted a greater say in the matter.Given the experience of allocated funds for judicial infrastructure going unspent in many States,it remains to be seen how far the proposed State-level bodies would be successful in identifying needs and speeding up implementation.It will naturally require greater coordination between States and the respective High Courts.Union Law Minister Kiren Rijju has promised assistance from the Centre to the States for creating the required infrastructure,especially for the lower judiciary.While it is a welcome sign that the focus is on infrastructure,unmitigated pendency,chronic shortage of judges and the burgeoning docket size remain major challenges.CJl Ramana flagged some aspects of the Government's contribution to the burden of the judiciary —the failure or unwillingness to implement court orders,leaving crucial questions to be decided by the courts and the absence of forethought and broad-based consultation before passing legislation.While this may be unpalatable to the executive,it is quite true that litigation spawned by government action or inaction constitutes a huge part of the courts'case burden.The conversation between the judiciary and the executive at the level of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers may help bring about an atmosphere of cooperation so that judicial appointments,infrastructure upgradation and downsizing pendency are seen as common concerns.
As per the passage, what is the major reason contributed from the Government for increasing burden of the Judiciary?