Option (c) is correct.

Explanation:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated a pilot program for the wholesale segment of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the interbank call money market.
• Statement 1 is correct: It allows offline transactions which can be carried out on feature phones.
• Statement 2 is correct: With CBDC, transactions can be done without any bank involved and it’s a digital transfer from people to people where no bank intermediary is involved.
• Statement 3 is correct: There is no need to have a bank account for CBDC transactions.
• Statement 4 is not correct:The e-rupi is issued by RBI and is a legal tender in itself. It need not necessarily be backed by physical currency. 
• The UPI transactions, on the other hand, are completely backed by a physical currency.

Option (c) is correct.

Explanation: 

• As per Indian Tea Association (ITA), the tea industry is passing through a phase of acute financial crisis with prices not keeping pace with the rising costs of production.
• Statement 1 is not correct: Acidic soils are needed for growing tea. It cannot be grown in alkaline soils.
• Statement 2 is not correct: According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, China, in 2022, produced approximately 3.35 million metric tons of tea, making up nearly half of the world’s total tea production.
  • India secures the second spot in the global tea market, and Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia follow. 
  • In 2021-22, Assam and West Bengal produced the vast bulk of India’s tea, accounting for over 83% of the country’s total annual production. 
• Statement 3 is correct: Despite consuming about 85% of its tea domestically, India’s per capita tea consumption, at around 800 gm per year, is among the world’s lowest.
• Statement 4 is not correct: Tea Board of India functions as a statutory body of the Central Government under the Ministry of Commerce.The board is located in Kolkata.

Option (c) is correct

Explanation: 

• As part of its “Global Policy Agenda” , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called to secure funding for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) and Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) to benefit the poorest members.
• The PRGT and RST are concessional lending facilities of the IMF. 
• The PRGT is available to low-income countries that are eligible for the IMF’s concessional financing for poverty reduction.
• The RST was established in 2021 to help low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries build resilience to climate change and other external risks.

Option (b) is correct

Explanation: 

• The central government has introduced changes to the rules governing the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods.
• Statement 3 is correct: The implementing agency for PLI in white goods is Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI). 
  • The agency has also been given the task of recommending the quantum of incentives to manufacturers.
• Statement 2 is correct: The changes in rules accord the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) – the authority to visit the manufacturing sites of the beneficiaries. 
  • Earlier this power was available to the management agencies.
• Statement 1 is not correct: White goods encompass heavy consumer durables or large home appliances, which were traditionally available only in white. They include appliances such as washing machines, air conditioners, dishwashers stoves, refrigerators, etc.
• While they can now be purchased in various colours, they are still commonly referred to as white goods. 
• Brown Goods refers to lightweight electronic consumer durables, including items like computers, digital media players, televisions, and radios.

Option (c) is correct

Explanation: 

• Mumbai-based Immunoadoptive Cell Therapy Private Limited (ImmunoACT) announced the approval of India’s first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
• Statement 1 is correct: CAR-T-cell therapy is a type of cancer immunotherapy treatment.
• Statement 2 is correct: In this, blood is first drawn from the patient. Then, immune cells called T-cells are genetically modified in a laboratory and are injected back into the patient to enable the cells to locate and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
• CAR T-cell therapy is generally accompanied by some side effects. One of them, according to the American Cancer Society, is cytokine release syndrome (CRS). 
  • It is when CAR T-cells multiply, they can release large amounts of chemicals called cytokines into the blood, which can ramp up the immune system.