Ministry of Finance unveiled two new IT initiatives - ICEDASH and ATITHI - for improved monitoring and pace of Customs clearance of imported goods and facilitating arriving international passengers by electronic filing of Customs baggage and currency declarations.

ICEDASH is an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) monitoring dashboard of the Indian Customs helping public see the daily Customs clearance times of import cargo at various ports and airports. With ICEDASH, Indian Customs has taken a lead globally to provide an effective tool that helps the businesses compare clearance times across ports and plan their logistics accordingly. This dashboard has been developed by CBIC in collaboration with NIC. ICEDASH can be accessed through the CBIC website.

With ATITHI, CBIC has introduced an easy to use mobile app for international travelers to file the Customs declaration in advance. Passengers can use this app to file declaration of dutiable items and currency with the Indian Customs even before boarding the flight to India. ATITHI is available on both, iOS and Android.

Under the CFS, the Govt. of India has been supporting Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad since 2015-16.

Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS)

1. The scheme envisages GoI to provide counter guarantee and interest equalization of 2 % to EXIM Bank to offer concessional finance to any foreign Govt. or foreign Govt. owned or controlled entity if any Indian entity, succeeds in getting contract for the execution of a project.
2. Under the Scheme, EXIM Bank extends credit at a rate not exceeding LIBOR (avg. of six months) + 100 bps. The repayment of the loan is guaranteed by the foreign govt.
3. Under the CFS, the GoI supports Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad since 2015-16.
4. Since the objectives of the Scheme continue to be relevant, it is proposed to extend the Scheme for another five years from 2018 to 2023.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=181368

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The G4 Nations are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.

Statement 1 is correct. The Pala dynasty was founded by Gopala in 750 AD. Statement 2 is correct. The Palas had close trade contacts and cultural links with South East Asia and China. The trade with south East Asia and China was very profitable and added greatly to the prosperity of the Pala Empire.

Statement 3 is correct. Dharmapala revived the Nalanda University. founded the Vikramsila University(present day Bhagalpur district in Bihar). He also founded the Vikramsila University(present day Bhagalpur district in Bihar).

Statement 4 is incorrect. The Pala kings patronized Hinduism too. They gave donations for learning and educational purposes. Vinayakapala built one thousand temples in honour of the Shiva deity. They gave donations to Brahmans to settle in their country and run gurukulas.

India's ranking has deteriorated in the following parameters: Protecting minority investors, paying taxes, registering property and resolving insolvency. There is only a marginal improvement (164 in 2017 to 163 in 2018) in the 'enforcing contracts' parameter.

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