Sangeet Natak Akademi awards

 Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships (Akademi RatnaSadsya) and Sangeet

Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are two awards presented annually.
 These awards are recognised as the most coveted national honours bestowed on
performing artists as well as teachers and scholars of performing arts.
 The award will be given to the eminent persons from the field of tribal music,
dance, theatre and traditional folk arts.

Sangeet Natak Akademi awards

 Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships (Akademi RatnaSadsya) and Sangeet

Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are two awards presented annually.
 These awards are recognised as the most coveted national honours bestowed on
performing artists as well as teachers and scholars of performing arts.
 The award will be given to the eminent persons from the field of tribal music,
dance, theatre and traditional folk arts.

Sangeet Natak Academy

 The Sangeet Natak Akademi was set up in 1953 for the promotion of performing
arts.
 The Sangeet Natak Akademi is an Autonomous Body under the Ministry of
Culture.
 It acts at the national level for the:

1. Promotion and growth of Indian music, dance and drama;

2. Maintenance of standards of training in the performing arts;
3. Revival, preservation, documentation and dissemination of materials as well as
instruments relating to various forms of music, dance and drama.
4. Recognition of outstanding artists.

 The Akademi is also responsible for the establishment and maintenance of

institutions and projects of national importance in the field of performing arts.

Cyber & Information Security (CIS) Division

 Union Ministry of Home Affairs has created Cyber & Information Security (CIS)
division.
  Under this division Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and
the Cyber Police Force will be set up.
 The CIS Division will have four Wings, namely Security Clearance, Cyber
Crime Prevention, Cyber Security and Information Security Wings
each headed by an Under Secretary level Officer.
 It is also proposed to appoint the Chief Information Security Officer
(CISO) and Deputy CISO.

Highest ranked SMART city

 Surat has emerged as India's highest ranked smart city with the largest
number of projects implemented and completed under the Smart City Mission.
 Surat is closely followed by Pune at number two, Visakhapatnam, Udaipur,
Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Indore.
 Almost all these cities have planned command and control centres to control
urban services like city-wide Wi-Fi network, safety and security, citizen feedback
management, integrated traffic management, parking and other citizen services.

National Logistics Plan

Recently Union government has introduced an ambitious national logistics plan to

allow seamless movement of inputs and finished goods across the country.

 By this government aims to come out with the most cost-effective method to
transport goods till 2035 to provide a competitive edge to the Indian industry.
 Logistics division in the commerce department is in talks with logistics
providing ministries of railways, roadways, shipping, inland waterways and civil
aviation besides the logistics using ministries including food processing, coal and
mines to chalk out the plan.
 The logistics division has created a National Logistics Information Portal, which
will also be an online logistics marketplace.

World Future Energy Summit

 an annual event, dedicated to advancing future energy, energy efficiency and

clean technologies.
  It will be held in Abu Dhabi every year.
 International Solar Alliance participated in the recently held WFES.

International Solar Alliance (ISA)

 In accordance with CoP21 Paris Declaration ISA was established as a treaty

based international inter-governmental alliance.
 It is alliance of 121 solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially
between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
 The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being set up in Gurgaon.
 The agreement will become operational after at least 15 countries have ratified
it.
 So far 19 countries have ratified and 48 countries have signed the ISA
Framework Agreement.
 International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement entered into force
thereby making ISA a de jure treaty based international
intergovernmental organisation.

Lalit Kala Akademi’s National Exhibition of Art

 It is held every year to exhibit works of brilliance and to give appreciation and
recognition to outstanding artists.
 The exhibition covers artworks from extensive series of mediums like paintings,
sculptures, graphics, photographs, drawings, installation and
multimedia.

Lalit Kala Academi

 Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Fine Arts) is an autonomous

organisation under the Ministry of Culture.
 It has headquarters at New Delhi and regional centres at Bhubaneswar, Chennai,
Kolkata, Lucknow and Shimla.
 Lalit Kala Akademi is the nodal agency of the Government of India to promote
understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country.
 The Akademi conducts international exhibition on contemporary art in New Delhi
every three years.
 It also conducts the National Exhibition of Photography and Art.
 It publishes bi-annual art journals, Lalit Kala Contemporary (English), Lalit Kala
Ancient (English) and Samkaleen Kala (Hindi).
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)

 The PMSMA programme was launched in 2016 under the ministry of health and
family welfare.
 It aims to ensure free comprehensive and quality antenatal check-ups to pregnant
women for ensuring safe pregnancy.
 The programme is carried out across India with participation of private doctors.

AGNI- V

 Recently India test-fired Agni-V, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile in its final

operational configuration.
 Agni V is a nuclear capable missile, which can reach the northern-most parts of
China with its strike range of over 5,000-km.
 The missile is over 50-tonne and designed to carry a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead.
 It is considered to be a credible strategic deterrent against India’s aggressive foes.
 It is part of the Agni series surface to surface missiles indigenously developed by
DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).

Nirman Samvaad

 A one-day Mega Conclave called ‘Nirman Samvaad’, a first ever interaction between
the Ministry of Railways and the Construction Industry concluded recently.
 It was a major event aimed at taking measures to ensure expeditious
implementation of ambitious Railway Infrastructure Development Plans.
 The Conclave was organized by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), a dedicated arm
of Ministry of Railways for fast track implementation of railway projects.

Malimath Report

 Justice Malimath Committee or The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice

System was constituted by the Home Ministry in 2000.
 The committee had submitted its report in 2003 and made recommendations on
crime investigation and punishment.
 The recommendations were never implemented. It is now going to be revisited by
the government.
 One of its key recommendations is admissibility of confessions made before a police
officer as evidence in a court of law.
 Other recommendations are

i. Stringent punishment for false registration of cases,

 ii. Constituting a National Judicial Commission and
iii. Amending Article 124 to make impeachment of judges less difficult
iv. Standard of “proof beyond reasonable doubt” followed in criminal cases be done
away with.

Sholas

 The Sholas are a mosaic of mountane evergreen forests and grasslands.

 They are found only in high altitude (>1500 metres above sea level) regions
within the tropics, and are limited to the southern part of the Western
Ghats.
 They are characterised by undulating grassland patches, interspersed with thickets
of stunted evergreen tree species.
 Recent study has indicated that timber plantations, , expanding agriculture and the
spread of invasive species reduced two thirds of the shoals in palani hill ranges of
Western Ghats.
 There is a marked 67% decline in grassland area compared to 1973 level.
 The natural march of invasive species such as prolific-seed-producer, acacia and the
policy push for plantations in 1990s seems to be the main cause for decline.
 Fragmented grasslands also displaced endemic species Nilgiri Pipit.

Nilgiri Pipit

 Nilgiri Pipit (Anthus nilghiriensis) is a bird endemic to the Western Ghats of

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, southern India.
 It occurs on grassy upland slopes interspersed with bushes and trees, mainly above
1,500 m, and is commonest over 2,000 m.
 It is listed as “Vulnerable” in IUCN red list category.
 It feeds mostly on creeping grass in valleys, but nests in marshy grasslands with
slightly taller grasses and sedges, particularly near streams.
 It has been recorded consuming the seeds of grasses and herb.
 Its grassland habitat is gradually being converted to plantations of tea, eucalyptus
and silver wattle Acacia dealbata.

IPrism

 IPrism is an Intellectual Property (IP) competition, organized by the Cell for IPR
Promotion and Management (CIPAM), Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP).
 CIPAM collaborated with ASSOCHAM and ERICSSON India for this event.
  This competition invites students to submit films on piracy & counterfeiting which
causes significant loss to the industry and pose serious safety threats to the
consumers.
 The competition aims to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in the younger
generation.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav

 The 7th edition of ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav-2018’ was inaugurated at

Bengaluru.
 It was conceived in 2015 by Ministry of Culture.
 It was organised with intent to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the country.
 This year, Ministry of Culture organised RSM under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
mission.
 The ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ programme under Ministry of HRD, aims to
actively enhance interaction between people of diverse cultures living in different
States and UTs in India.
 As per the programme, each year, every State/UT would be paired with another
State/UT in India for reciprocal interaction between the people.

Orange Passports

 Ministry of External Affairs has decided to offer orange coloured passport to the
travellers who require an emigration check.

ECR status

 As per the Emigration Act, 1983, certain categories of Indian passport holders
require obtaining an ‘Emigration Clearance’ for going to certain countries.
 Emigration, as per the Act, means the leaving of India by any Indian citizen with
the intent of taking up employment in certain foreign countries.
 Persons who don’t have a minimum educational qualification of 10th standard
(SSC, Matriculation) will come under ECR category.
 The idea behind the ‘ECR’ is to ensure the safety of uneducated and unskilled
Indian citizens, from the most deprived socio-economic strata, against prevailing
legal conditions in certain foreign countries.

Types of passports issued in India

 Regular Passport - This has a navy blue cover; it is issued to citizens for
ordinary travel like vacations and business trips.
  Diplomatic Passport - This has a maroon cover; it is issued to Indian
diplomats, top-ranking government officials (joint secretary and above) and
diplomatic couriers.
 Official Passport - This has a white cover; it is issued to individuals
representing the Indian government on official business.

FDI in single brand retail

 Union government has decided to allow 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in single-brand retail trading through the automatic route last week.
 Single-brand retail chain is expected to sell all its products under only one label
across its store, example Burger King, KFC, Levis.
 If an MNC operates a single-brand retail chain, the product must also be sold
under the same brand name globally.
 The MNC must also source 30 per cent of its purchases for the business from
India.
 Now this rules are slightly relaxed to allow an MNC to set off any local sourcing
for its global business, against this 30 per cent quota.

FDI

 Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment made by a company or

individual in one country in business interests in another country.
 Foreign direct investments are distinguished from portfolio investments in which
an investor merely purchases equities of foreign-based companies.
 FDI comes to India with two routes through automatic and Government route.
 Automatic route-under this route the foreign companies do not need a prior
approval for investment either by the Government or the Reserve Bank of India.
 The investors are only required to intimate the Regional office concerned of the
Reserve Bank within 30 days of receipt of inward remittance.
 Government route - Certain activities that are not covered under the
automatic route and that require prior Government approval comes under this
route.
 Earlier Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) issued permissions for such
foreign investments.
 Recently FIPB was scrapped and now concerned government department can
clear such procedures.
UMANG App

 UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is

envisaged to make e-governance.
 It is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to
drive Mobile Governance in India.

 It provides a unified approach where citizens can install one application to avail
multiple government services.
 The app services include Aadhaar, DigiLocker, and Bharat Bill Payment System
(BBPS). Etc.

SAREX – 18

India and Japan

Anti-Piracy operations

Japan and Indian Coast Guard

held in Chennai.

Japanese coast guard ship “Tsugaru”, a patrol vessel with helicopters will participate in
this exercise.

SAREX – 18

 It is a joint search and rescue exercise between India and Japan to help increase
mutual understanding in Anti-Piracy operations.
 During the exercise, helicopters of the Japan and Indian Coast Guard will perform
cross landing operations to improve compatibility between the two forces.
 This year, it will be held in Chennai.
 Japanese coast guard ship “Tsugaru”, a patrol vessel with helicopters will participate
in this exercise.

Internet Service Provider for Nepal

China has recently become Nepal’s second Internet service provider

China Telecom Global (CTG) – terrestrial optic fiber cable

CTG has already expanded Internet services to Pakistan, Laos and Thailand.
Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)

continuation of MPLADS till the term of the 14th Finance Commission i.e. 31.03.2020.

launched in 1993-94.

to improve physical and institutional infrastructure in their constituencies.

Lok Sabha MP chooses these villages from the constituency he/she represents and the
Rajya Sabha MP chooses it from the state he/she represents.

MPs cannot pick villages which belong to themselves or their spouses.

Gram Panchayat would be the basic unit for development.

The scheme requires MP to draft a village development plan, identify gaps in funding and
mobilizing MPLAD funds to create additional resources specifically from CSR initiatives of
various corporate houses.

District Collectors will carry ground-level surveys along with monthly review meetings to
monitor progress.

LEADS Index

 Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index is a composite indicator to

assess international trade logistics across states and Union territories.
 It is based on a stakeholders’ survey conducted by Deloitte for the Ministry of
commerce and industry.
 Gujarat topped the first-of-its-kind index, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh took the
second and third positions, respectively.
 The index is loosely based on the World Bank’s biannual Logistics
Performance Index (LPI).
 India was ranked 35 among 160 countries in LPI in 2016, up from 54 in
2014.
 LEADS is based on eight parameters such as infrastructure, services,
timeliness, track and trace, competitiveness of pricing, safety of cargo,
operating environment and regulatory process.

Kala Azar

 India has missed the 2017 deadline for elimination of Kala Azar.
  Elimination is defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar to less
than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
 Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, is caused by the
protozoan Leishmania parasites.
 It is transmitted to humans through infected sandflies.
 It is characterized by irregular bouts of fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen
and liver, and anaemia.
 The parasite migrates to the internal organs such as the liver, spleen, and bone
marrow, and, if left untreated, may result in the death.
 It is endemic to the Indian subcontinent in 119 districts in four countries
(Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal).
 India itself accounts for half the global burden of the disease.
 Further, a little-known skin condition called Post Kala Azar Dermal
Leishmaniasis (PKDL), a red flag for transmission of Kala Azar has been growing
steadily over the past few years.

Chiru Goat

Chiru goat is also known as the Tibetrean antelope.

It is native of China (Tibet, Xinjiang region) and India (North Eastern Ladakh region) and
regionally extinct in Nepal.

it is killed for making of the famous Shahtoosh shawls, which is renowned for its
quality from Srinagar.

In 2017, it has been included in “Near Threatened” category by IUCN.

Impeachment of a SC judge

 According to constitution a judge of the SC can be removed from his office by an

order of the president.
 The president can issue the removal order only after an address by parliament
has been presented to him in the same session for such removal.
 The address must be supported by special majority of each house of the
parliament (i.e. a majority of the total membership of that house and a majority
of not less than 2/3rd of the members of that house present and voting).
 Article 124 (4) specifies the grounds of removal as proved misbehaviour or
incapacity.
 So far no SC judge has been impeached in India.
U5MR

 India registered a significant decline in under-five child mortality.

 It is calculated per 1000 live births, in India it is 39 out of 1000 births.
 India with the current rate of decline of U5MR is on track to meet the SDG target
for under-five child mortality of 25 by 2030.

MR

 Infant mortality rate is number of deaths per 1000 child births under one year of
age.
 In India this number is 34 out of 1000 births.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)

 This scheme has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of
irrigation and improving water use efficiency in a focused manner.
 It focuses on end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management,
field application and extension activities.
 The scheme now comes under Ministry of Agriculture and farmer’s Welfare.
 PMKSY has been formulated amalgamating schemes of

1. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water

Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR),
2. Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land
Resources (DoLR).
3. On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation (DAC).

Appointment of SC judges

 The Chief Justice of India and the Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the
President (on the recommendation of the collegium) under clause (2) of Article 124
of the Constitution. (Collegium has not been mention in the constitution).
 he/she can hold office until the age of 65 years.
 Constitution has not fixed the tenure of SC judge.
SFOORTI application

 Ministry of Railway has launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real
Time Information (SFOORTI) Application.
 Both passenger and freight trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections can
be viewed through this application.
 Position of Rakes for specific type of Stock, loading and unloading of goods can also
be viewed through this application.
 It provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic
Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.

SC direction on Mullaperiyar Dam

 Supreme Court directed union government to constitute a special committee to

prepare for disaster management in Mullaperiyar dam.
 SC also ordered Tamil Nadu and Kerala Governments to prepare their disaster
management plan on the dam.
 Concerns pertaining to the dam’s stability and lifespan would continue to be
examined by an existing committee set up in 2014.
 The dam situated at the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar rivers is located
entirely in Kerala.
 The dam is operated by the Tamil Nadu government for its irrigation and power
generation needs

Sankalp Programme

 Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop ‘Sankalp’ for the retiring employees of

Ministries/Departments was organised by the Department of Pensions &
Pensioners' Welfare (DOP&PW).
 The aim of this program is to counselretiring employees for joining into advisory
bodies of their respective offices and also to dispose of grievances.

 DOP&PW has so far conducted Pre-Retirement Counselling for more than 3000
employees under the Sankalp project.
 A web portal for “Sankalp’ programmehas also been launched, for Pensioners,
Pensioner Associations and NGOs to avail the services.
 This programme is not to be confused with “Sankalp Se Siddhi” Scheme.

Prolonged heat-wave
Combined scientific measure of heat and humidity is termed as “wet-bulb temperature”,
the study claims that fluctuations in wet-bulb temperature is the reason for the heat
waves.

The population with outdoor jobs, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions are likely to
be the most vulnerable and this could even give rise to new disease and threaten
agriculture.

Talanoa Dialogue
"Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji and thePacific.

 Enhancing climate action every five years, informed by periodical progress and
identifying new opportunities for action, is a fundamental premise of the Paris
Agreement on climate change
 The 2018 facilitative dialogue for stocktaking exercises on climate change is called
the Talanoa Dialogue.
 The dialogue will assess global progress towards meeting the Paris long-term goals.
 It will also highlight opportunities to step up action, and help spur countries to move
forward on enhancing their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by 2020.
 This dialogue will be launched as a pivotal change, with a new momentum to drive
the investment and action needed to achieve a climate resilient future.

India’s State Action plan on Climate Change

 India has committed to meet its current target of 33% reduction in emission
intensity of the 2005 level by 2030, by generating 40% of its energy from
renewables.
 States are important for the realisation of this goal and they are considered as Sub
national modules.
 The Under2Coalition, a MoU by subnational governments to reduce their
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions towards net-zero by 2050, is generating a unique
precedent for bold climate leadership, with its member states and regions
surpassing 200 in number.
 Currently, Telangana and Chhattisgarh are signatories to this pact from India.

Akash Missile

 Recently Indian army planned to procure Akash Missiles.

  Akash was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
 It is indigenously developed short-range surface-to-air missile (SR SAM) with a
range of 25 km.
 It can simultaneously engage multiple targets in all weather conditions and has a
large operational envelope from a low altitude of 30 metres to a maximum of up to
20 km.

INS Arihant

 INS Arihant is India’s only operational ship submersible ballistic nuclear (SSBN)
asset.
 It is its most dependable platform for a second-strike.
 This is because the other options, land-based and air-launched, are easier to detect.
 Arihant has been immobilised after ‘accident’ 10 months ago
 It can stay undetected deep underwater for long periods and ranges far and wide.
 INS Arihant and other nuclear launch platforms are operationally handled by the
Strategic Forces Command.
 They report to the Nuclear Command Authority chaired by the Prime Minister.
 However, over 100 nuclear warheads are not mated with missiles or bombs and
remain in civilian custody of the Atomic Energy Department and the DRDO

Nuclear Command Authority (NCA)

 It is responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's

nuclear weapons programme.
 Organisational structure of NCA includes Political Council and Executive
Council.
 Executive Council is headed by National Security Advisor and Political
Council is headed by Prime Minister.
 The Executive Council gives its opinion to the Political Council, which authorises a
nuclear attack when deemed necessary.
 This kind of organisational structure is created to prevent the accidental or
unauthorised use of nuclear weapons.
 Strategic Forces Command is a part of Nuclear Command Authority, responsible to
operationalize the directives of NCA and for the management and administration of
the country’s tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.
 SFC is headed by Commander-in-chief of the rank of Air Marshal.
 It will have the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear
weapons and warheads, after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA.
INS Arihant

 INS Arihant is India’s only operational ship submersible ballistic nuclear (SSBN)
asset.
 It is its most dependable platform for a second-strike.
 This is because the other options, land-based and air-launched, are easier to detect.
 Arihant has been immobilised after ‘accident’ 10 months ago
 It can stay undetected deep underwater for long periods and ranges far and wide.
 INS Arihant and other nuclear launch platforms are operationally handled by the
Strategic Forces Command.
 They report to the Nuclear Command Authority chaired by the Prime Minister.
 However, over 100 nuclear warheads are not mated with missiles or bombs and
remain in civilian custody of the Atomic Energy Department and the DRDO.

Nuclear Command Authority (NCA)

 It is responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's

nuclear weapons programme.
 Organisational structure of NCA includes Political Council and Executive Council.
 Executive Council is headed by National Security Advisor and Political Council is
headed by Prime Minister.
 The Executive Council gives its opinion to the Political Council, which authorises a
nuclear attack when deemed necessary.
 This kind of organisational structure is created to prevent the accidental or
unauthorised use of nuclear weapons.
 Strategic Forces Command is a part of Nuclear Command Authority, responsible to
operationalize the directives of NCA and for the management and administration of
the country’s tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.
 SFC is headed by Commander-in-chief of the rank of Air Marshal.
 It will have the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear
weapons and warheads, after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA.

Mankidia Tribe

 Mankidia is one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in

Odisha.
 They critically depends on making rope with siali fibre that’s richly available in
Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
  They were denied habitat rights inside the STR under Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
 So they would now be deprived of the non-timber forest produce.
 This is because the State Forest Department has objected on grounds that tribals
could be attacked by wild animals.
 Had it been approved, the Mankidia would have been the first PVTG to have habitat
rights.
 In Odisha, processes have been initiated for according habitat rights to PVTGs such
as Bondas, Didai, Hill Khadia and Paudi Bhuyan.
 “‘Habitat’ as defined under the FRA includes the area comprising the customary
habitat and such other habitats in reserved forests and protected forests of primitive
tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities and other forest dwelling STs.

Particularly vulnerable tribal group

Tribal communities are often identified by some specific signs such as primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical
isolation, shyness to contact with the community at large and backwardness.

Along with these, some tribal groups have some specific features such as dependency on hunting, gathering for food,
having pre-agriculture level of technology, zero or negative growth of population and extremely low level of
literacy.

These groups are called Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

The need for identification

PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups

. Due to this factor, more developed and assertive tribal groups take a major chunk of the tribal development funds,
because of which PVTGs need more funds directed for their development.

In this context, in 1975, the Government of India initiated to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate
category called PVTGs and declared 52 such groups

while in 1993 an additional 23 groups were added to the category, making it a total of 75 PVTGs out of 705
Scheduled Tribes, spread over 17 states and one Union Territory (UT), in the country (2011 census).

How they are identified

Government of India designed a procedure to identify PVTGs. According to the procedure, the state governments or UT
governments submit proposals to the Central Ministry of Tribal Welfare for identification of PVTGs. The Central Ministry
then examines the proposals in consultation with the Planning Commission. After ensuring the criteria is fulfilled, the
Central Ministry selects those groups as PVTGs
State / UT Name PVTGs Name

Andhra Pradesh and 1. Bodo Gadaba 2. Bondo Poroja 3. Chenchu 4. Dongria Khond 5. Gutob Gadaba 6.
Telangana Khond Poroja 7. Kolam 8. Kondareddis 9. Konda Savaras 10. Kutia Khond 11.
Parengi Poroja l2. Thoti

Bihar and Jharkhand 13. Asurs 14. Birhor 15. Birjia 16. Hill Kharia 17. Konvas 18. Mal Paharia 19.
Parhaiyas 20. Sauda Paharia 21. Savar

Jharkhand Same as above

Gujarat 22. Kathodi 23. Kohvalia 24. Padhar 25. Siddi 26. Kolgha

Karnataka 27. Jenu Kuruba 28. Koraga

Kerala 29. Cholanaikayan (a section of Kattunaickans) 30. Kadar 31. Kattunayakan 32.
Kurumbas 33. Koraga
Madhya Pradesh 34. Abujh Macias 35. Baigas 36. Bharias 37. Hill Korbas 38. Kamars 39. Saharias
and 40. Birhor
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh Same as above
Maharashtra 41. Katkaria (Kathodia) 42. Kolam 43. Maria Gond
Manipur 44. Marram Nagas
Odisha 45. Birhor 46. Bondo 47. Didayi 48. Dongria-Khond 49. Juangs 50. Kharias 51. Kutia
Kondh 52. Lanjia Sauras 53. Lodhas 54. Mankidias 55. Paudi Bhuyans 56. Soura
57. Chuktia Bhunjia

Rajasthan 58. Seharias

Tamil Nadu 59. Kattu Nayakans 60. Kotas 61. Kurumbas 62. Irulas 63. Paniyans 64. Todas

Tripura 65. Reangs

Uttar Pradesh and 66. Buxas 67. Rajis
Uttarakhand
West Bengal 68. Birhor 69. Lodhas 70. Totos
Andaman & Nicobar 71. Great Andamanese 72. Jarawas 73. Onges 74. Sentinelese 75. Shorn Pens
Islands

The characteristics of PVTGs

In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, who are less
developed among the tribal groups.

In 2006, the Government of India renamed the PTGs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
PVTGs have some basic characteristics –

they are mostly homogenous

with a small population

relatively physically isolated

social institutes cast in a simple mould

absence of written language

relatively simple technology and a slower rate of change etc.

Population
In India, tribal population makes up for 8.6% of the total population.

Tribal people live in about 15% of the geographical area of the country.

PVTGs are scattered in different geographical areas of the country.

According to the 2001 census, the PVTGs population is approximately. 27,68,322.

There are 12 PVTGs having a population above 50,000 and the remaining groups have a population of 1000 or less.

The PVTG of Sahariyas has the highest population of 4,50,217, while the PVTGs of Sentinelets and Andamanese has a
very small population of 39 and 43, respectively.

Scheme for PVTGs

Pratyush

 Pratyush is an array of computers recently unveiled in India.

 It can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops.
 One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a
reflection of the computing capacity of a system.
 The machines will be installed at two government institutes: 4.0 petaflops HPC
facility at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune & 2.8
petaflops facility at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather
Forecast, Noida.
  Pratyush is also the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated for weather
and climate research.
 A key function of the machine’s computing power would be monsoon forecasting
using a dynamical model.
 With the new system, it would be possible to map regions in India at a resolution
of 3 km and the globe at 12 km.

Web portal to accept online abuse cases

 The Ministry of Home Affairs is set to launch a web portal where people who have
faced online abuse can register complaints on a real-time basis.
 It includes victims of cybercrimes like financial frauds.
 The Centre also plans to give access rights to banks on the portal to address cases of
fraudulent transactions online.
 According to India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), there was a
21% increase per year in incidents of cybercrime.
 The portal has also been readied on the directives of a committee appointed by the
Supreme Court to check circulation of child pornography and sexual violence
videos on the Internet.

Bishing Stand-off

 Troops of Indian and Chinese security forces are locked in a standoff near Bishing in
Arunachal Pradesh.
 The standoff is firmly within Indian Territory, about 4 km from the McMahon Line.
 The standoff began after Indian troops involving the Indo-Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) and the Indian Army were informed by local villagers that a Chinese road-
building team had entered India with bulldozers.
CFC and ozone depletion

 Chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) are long-lived man- made chemical compounds that

eventually rise into the stratosphere.
 There they are broken apart by the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation, releasing chlorine
atoms that go on to destroy ozone molecules.
 Recent findings proved an international ban on CFCs, has resulted in about 20%
less ozone depletion.
 The Montreal Protocol and its amendments have banned the use of ozone destroying
chemicals and the rate of ozone depletion seems to have slowed.

 Scientists used data from the Aura satellite to determine how ozone and other
chemicals have changed year to year.
 Aura is a NASA mission to study Earth's ozone, air quality, and climate and conduct
research on the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of Earth's atmosphere.

Nayachar Islands

 Nayachar is a newly emerged island with mangrove ecosystem in the middle estuary
of the Hooghly River in West Bengal.
 This land mass was created in the Indian Sunderbans by river silt deposits, and
remained largely submerged, rising occasionally above the water level.
  Till 1990 it was completely barren, with hardly any plant or animal species, at
present there are 151 animal species on the island, making it a rare case in ecology.
 The natural succession of species on the island has been aided by the inundation of
water during tides, and the soil brought from other places by fishermen.

Labelling organic products

 The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had issued regulations
that required food companies selling organic produce to get certified from either one
authority.
 Certificate issuing authorities will be National Programme for Organic
Production (NPOP) or the Participatory Guarantee System for India
(PGS-India).
 Companies could also get a voluntary logo from the FSSAI that marked its produce
as ‘organic.’
 It will be implemented from July 2018, any company that claims to sell organic
food and not sticking to standards can be prosecuted.

NPOP

 Organic farming certification had been done through a process of third party
certification under the NPOP.
 This is a top- down mechanism run by the Ministry of Commerce used for certifying
general exports.
 Nearly 24 agencies were authorised by the NPOP to verify farms, storages and
processing units and successful ones got a special ‘India Organic’ logo.

PGS-India

 The PGS-India programme had been working from 2015, it involves a peer-
review approach.
 Here, farmers play a role in certifying whether the farms in their vicinity adhered to
organic-cultivation practices.
 This programme was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture through the
National Centre of Organic Farming.
NASA’s Mission to explore Ionosphere

 NASA has announced two missions to explore the little-understood area of 96

km above Earth’s surface.
 The two missions Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
and Ionospheric Connection Explorer(ICON) will team up to explore the
ionosphere.
 ICON will be in low-Earth orbit, at 560 km above Earth, like a close-up camera while
GOLD will be in a geostationary orbit over the Western Hemisphere, about 35,398
km above the planet’s surface.
 It will help in full-disk view of the ionosphere and the upper atmosphere beneath it
every half hour.

Ionosphere

 The ionosphere is defined as the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is ionized by
solar and cosmic radiation.
 It lies 75-1000 km (46-621 miles) above the Earth, the thickness of the
ionosphere is quite tiny compared with the size of Earth.
 Due to high energy from the Sun and from cosmic rays, the atoms in this area are
“ionized,” and are therefore positively charged.
 These are the layers of near-Earth space and are home to radio signals used to guide
airplanes, ships and Global Positioning System satellites.

Jal Mahotsav

 Third Jal Mahotsav has been celebrated in Hanuwantiya Island in Khandwa district
under the aegis of Indira Sagar Dam project (that forms the largest reservoir in
India).
 It is India’s biggest water carnival through which is organised every year in
Hanuwantiya.
 Jal Mahotsav promotes rural economies, and transforms hinterlands towards local
economic development.
National Clean Air Programme

 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has formulated National Clean
Air Programme (NCAP) as a medium term national level strategy to tackle the
increasing air pollution problem across the country.
 The overall objective is to ensure a comprehensive management plan for prevention,
control and abatement of air pollution.
 The NCAP focuses on collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources
of pollution and coordination between relevant Central Ministries, State
Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.
 A separate component on ‘Technology Assessment Cell’ has been envisaged under
NCAP to evaluate the technologies for prevention, control and abatement of air
pollution.

National Tobacco Control Policy

 Union government is planning to propose a policy for enforcing various provisions

of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products.
 As of now Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003), lies with the
States/Union Territories.
 At present there is a National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) with one
objective of ensuring effective implementation of the provisions under COTPA,
2003.
 There are State and District Level Coordination Committees under NTCP to oversee
its implementation.
Milk under price stabilisation fund

 To create additional domestic demand for milk the agriculture ministry has sought
inclusion of the milk under the Price Stabilisation Fund scheme.
 If milk is included in the Price Stabilisation Fund, it would enable states to
distribute milk through the public distribution system.
 The Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) was set upunder the Department of Agriculture,
Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) and later transferred to Department of
Consumer Affairs (DOCA).
 It aims to help regulate the price volatility of important agri-horticultural
commodities like onion, potatoes and pulses were also added subsequently.

Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh

 In the Budget 2017-18, an exclusive fund called “Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh”
(RRSK) has been made.
 The fund has a corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore over a period of 5 years.
 This fund will be used for giving a major boost to safety related works for improving
safety of tracks, rolling stock and proliferation of other safety technologies and
training of staff.

Bomb Cyclone

 It’s a weather term that applies to a massive winter storm that struck off the U.S.
Southeast, the storm has dumped freak snow in this region.
 This storm will usually stay out to sea and blow with high winds gusts
exceeding 100 kmph.
 Bomb cyclones draw air from Polar Regions after they leave it means extra cold
Arctic air this is based on polar vortex.
 Storm intensity is measured by central pressure the lower the pressure, the stronger.
 A storm is considered a “bomb” when the pressure drops rapidly at least 24 millibars
in 24 hours,Millibar is the unit of atmospheric air pressure.

National Clean Air Programme

  Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has formulated National Clean
Air Programme (NCAP) as a medium term national level strategy to tackle the
increasing air pollution problem across the country.
 The overall objective is to ensure a comprehensive management plan for prevention,
control and abatement of air pollution.
 The NCAP focuses on collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources
of pollution and coordination between relevant Central Ministries, State
Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.
 A separate component on ‘Technology Assessment Cell’ has been envisaged under
NCAP to evaluate the technologies for prevention, control and abatement of air
pollution.

National Tobacco Control Policy

 Union government is planning to propose a policy for enforcing various provisions

of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products.
 As of now Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003), lies with the
States/Union Territories.
 At present there is a National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) with one
objective of ensuring effective implementation of the provisions under COTPA,
2003.
 There are State and District Level Coordination Committees under NTCP to oversee
its implementation.

Milk under price stabilisation fund

 To create additional domestic demand for milk the agriculture ministry has sought
inclusion of the milk under the Price Stabilisation Fund scheme.
 If milk is included in the Price Stabilisation Fund, it would enable states to
distribute milk through the public distribution system.
 The Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) was set upunder the Department of Agriculture,
Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) and later transferred to Department of
Consumer Affairs (DOCA).
 It aims to help regulate the price volatility of important agri-horticultural
commodities like onion, potatoes and pulses were also added subsequently.

Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh

 In the Budget 2017-18, an exclusive fund called “Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh”
(RRSK) has been made.
 The fund has a corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore over a period of 5 years.
  This fund will be used for giving a major boost to safety related works for improving
safety of tracks, rolling stock and proliferation of other safety technologies and
training of staff.

Bomb Cyclone

 It’s a weather term that applies to a massive winter storm that struck off the U.S.
Southeast, the storm has dumped freak snow in this region.
 This storm will usually stay out to sea and blow with high winds gusts exceeding 100
kmph.
 Bomb cyclones draw air from Polar Regions after they leave it means extra cold
Arctic air this is based on polar vortex.
 Storm intensity is measured by central pressure the lower the pressure, the stronger.
 A storm is considered a “bomb” when the pressure drops rapidly at least 24 millibars
in 24 hours,Millibar is the unit of atmospheric air pressure.

Polar Vortex

 The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the
Earth’s poles.
 It always exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in
winter.
 The term "vortex" refers to the counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the
colder air near the Poles.
 Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand,
sending cold air southward with the jet stream.
 This occurs fairly regularly during wintertime and is often associated with large
outbreaks of Arctic air in the United States.
 Polar vortex is not a feature that exists at the Earth’s surface and it is not confined to
the U.S.
 Portions of Europe and Asia also experience cold surges connected to the polar
vortex.

Cryosphere

 Cryosphere refers to the frozen part of the earth surface.

 It might be comprised of snow, river and lake ice, sea ice, glaciers, ice shelves and ice
sheets, and frozen grounds.
 This region plays a major role in the Earth’s climate system through its impact on
the surface energy budget, the water cycle, and sea level.
  It is a fundamental control on the physical, biological and social environment over a
large part of the Earth’s surface.
 Cryosphere is a natural integrator of climate variability and provides one of the most
visible signatures of climate change.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

 The IPCC is an international body for the assessment of climate change, it was
established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO).
 The IPCC reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-
economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate
change.
 It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or
parameters.

Atal Pension Yojana

 Recently the subscriber’s base under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached
more than 8 million.
 APY is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years.
 Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of
Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60
years.
 The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise
of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to
the nominee.
 The APY Scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS
contribution of Central Govt employees.
 APY can be opened through banks, Postal departmentand also through a complete
digital channel through eNPS platform.

Sin Cess

 A sin cess is added to products or services that are seen as vices, such as alcohol,
tobacco and gambling.
  These types of taxes are levied by governments to discourage individuals from
partaking in such activities without making the use of the products illegal.
 General public usually accepts sin taxes because they are indirect taxes that only
affect those who use the products.
 Under the GST regime, a cess is levied on luxury, demerit and sin goods to make
good the loss suffered by the states on account of roll out of the new indirect tax
regime.
 Sin cess in India is levied on top of the highest tax rate of 28% on these goods.

abby's star

 Tabby’s star is the “most mysterious star in the universe” as it kept dimming and
brightening irregularly, following no pattern.
 Officially called KIC 8462852, the star is 1,000 light years away from the Earth and
1,000 degrees hotter than the Sun.
 There was a 20% decrease in brightness and the dip lasted from five to 80 days.
 A recent report showed that the dimming is caused by ordinary dust particles, the
majority of them at a size less than one micrometre.

RTE amendment bill 2017

 The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill,
2017 is yet to be passed.
 The Right to Education Act, 2009 prohibits detention of children till they complete
elementary education i.e., class 8.
 The Bill amends this provision to state that a regular examination will be held in
class 5 and class 8 at the end of every academic year.
 If a child fails the exam, he will be given additional instruction, and take a re-
examination.
 If he fails in the re-examination, the relevant central or state government may decide
to allow schools to detain the child.

The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017

 The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha recently.

 It seeks to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
 A negotiable instrument is a document that promises payment to a specified person.
E.g Cheque
 The Act defines promissory notes, bills of exchange, and cheques.
  It also specifies penalties for bouncing of cheques, and other violations with respect
to such negotiable instruments.

he Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017

 The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha recently.

 It seeks to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
 A negotiable instrument is a document that promises payment to a specified person.
E.g Cheque
 The Act defines promissory notes, bills of exchange, and cheques.
 It also specifies penalties for bouncing of cheques, and other violations with respect
to such negotiable instruments.

Zojila Tunnel

 It is an upcoming project in J&K which aims at providing all weather connectivity

between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

 The construction of the tunnel has been approved recently by PM-led Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs,
 The project has been approved on the Engineering, Procurement and Construction
(EPC) mode.
 It holds strategic and socio-economic significance, given the fact that the region of
Leh has limited connectivity due to threat of avalanches.
 The project will be executed by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H).
New Savings Bonds

 The Centre recently announced the introduction of 7.75% savings bonds.

 It will have a maturity of seven years carrying interest at 7.75% per annum payable
half-yearly.
 There will be no maximum limit for investment in the bonds.
 At the same time, these bonds are not tradeable in the secondary market and
are not eligible as collateral for loans from banking institutions/non-banking
financial companies.
 Interest on the bonds will be taxable under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
 The bonds will, however, be exempt from wealth tax under the Wealth Tax Act, 1957.
 The bonds are open to investment by individuals, including joint holdings and
Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs).
 NRIs are not eligible to invest in these bonds

No Development Zone

 The River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order,

2016 provides that the bank of River Ganga, its tributaries or the active flood area of
them shall be construction free zone.
 It also prohibits construction of any structure for residential or commercial or
industrial or any other purposes.
 The National Green Tribunal has directed to identity and demarcate the flood plains
of river Ganga from Haridwar to Unnao.
 Once the demarcation of flood plain is completed, 100 metres from the edge of the
river would be designated as no development/construction zone.
 Further, Ministry of Environment Forests & Climate Change also circulated draft
notification on “River Conservation Zones” in 2015 to all States.
 Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation has taken
up the matter with all the states. Only Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Manipur have
enacted the Legislation.

Reduction in Ozone Depletion

 The scientists have observed for the first time that levels of ozone-destroying
chlorine are declining, resulting in less ozone depletion.
  There has been an international ban on chlorine-containing human made chemicals
called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
 Measurement show that this has resulted in about 20% less ozone depletion during
the Antarctic winter than there was in 2005.
 Stratospheric ozone protects life on the planet by absorbing potentially harmful
ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts,
 CFCs are long-lived chemical compounds that eventually rise into the stratosphere.
 In the long months of polar winter, chemical reactions take place in Polar
Stratospheric Clouds that could not take place anywhere else in the atmosphere.
 These reactions convert the inactive chlorine in CFCs into more active forms,
especially chlorine gas (Cl2).
 When the sunlight returns to the South Pole in October, UV light rapidly breaks the
bond between the two chlorine atoms, releasing free chlorine.
 Chlorine atoms go on to destroy ozone molecules, resulting in Antarctic ozone hole.
 The measurements are made by Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura
satellite, which has been monitoring continuously since 2004.

Spike missile

 India has cancelled a $ 500 million deal to buy 1,600 Spike anti-tank guided missiles
from Israel.
 This is because of decision of defence ministry to procure world-class missile from
state owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) by 2021.
 Spike is a man-portable "fire and forget' missile built by Israel's state-run firm,
Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, which can hit moving targets such as a tank.
 It allows the soldier who fires the missile to quickly move for cover.

Barak missile

 India is now planning a deal for 131 Barak surface-to-air missiles from the Israeli
firm coasting around $70 million.
 These missiles are surface to air missiles designed to be used as a ship-borne anti-
missile defence system against anti-ship missiles.
 Barak also known as LR-SAM or as MR-SAMis an Indian-Israeli surface-to-air
missile (SAM), both maritime and land-based versions of the Barak exist.
 Barak 8 was jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), India's Defence
Research &Development Organisation (DRDO).
Keoladeo National Park

 It is Located in Bharatpur district, the eastern part of Rajasthan.

 The park is spread over nearly 30 sq.km which comprises many artificial and
seasonal lagoons.
 Keoladeo attracts several migratory birds that make the region their breeding and
wintering grounds.
 It is an UNESCO World Heritage and also a Ramsar site.
 The Siberian crane is one of the rare species that was spotted here till about the turn
of the century.
 It habitat for nearly 365 species of birds, including raptors and waterfowls.
 Animal such as Jackals, Sambar, Nilgai, wild cats, hyenas, wild boar, porcupine and
mongoose can be found in the region.

Classical Language Status

 Maharashtra government has sent a proposal to Ministry of Culture for granting

classical language status to Marathi language.
 As of now, six languages i.e. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia and Sanskrit
have been given the status of classical languages.
 The criteria adopted for the eligibility of a language for granting classical language
status are

i. High antiquity of its early texts/ recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
ii. A body of ancient literature/ texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by
generations of speakers;
iii. The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
iv. The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be
a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

The benefits include-

 A one-time grant of Rs 100 crore for research and development of the language.
 Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in the concerned
language.
 Setting up of a 'Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages' can be set
up.
 The University Grants Commission can be requested to create, to start with at least
in Central Universities, a certain number of professional chairs for classical
languages, for scholars of eminence in the concerned language.
NABARD

 The Parliament has recently passed the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
 The Bill seeks to amend the NABARD Act, 1981 which establishes NABARD by
transferring the agricultural credit functions of RBI and refinance functions of the
then Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
 The amendment bill seeks to increase the authorised capital of the Bank to 30,000
crore rupees from 5,000 crore rupees.
 Currently the Central government is holding 99.60% share of the bank and the rest
is with RBI (0.40%).
 The capital can be increased further by the government in consultation with the RBI.
 NABARD is responsible for providing and regulating facilities like credit for
agricultural and industrial development in the rural areas.
 It provides both direct finance (lending directly to customers) and refinance
(lending to financial institutions to provide loans to customers)

Direct Finance Refinance

i. State Cooperative Banks and
i. Loans for Food Parks and Food Regional Rural Banks for providing
Processing Units in Designated short term agricultural loans
Food Parks
ii. Loans to Warehouses, Cold
Storage and Cold Chain ii. Cooperative Banks - State, District,
Infrastructure Primary Urban; RRB, Commercial
iii. Rural Infrastructure Banks, Agriculture Development
Development Fund Finance Companies, NBFC for
iv. Long Term Irrigation Fund providing credit for investment
v. Alternative Investment Fund activities in agriculture and allied
activities.

Humpback Whale

 The humpback whale is one of the four species of baleen whales occurring in
Indian waters.
 Characteristic baleen plates and paired blowholes help distinguish baleen
whales from toothed whales.
  These whales strain huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates to
capture food
 Humpback Whales migrate annually from the summer feeding grounds near the
poles to warmer winter breeding waters closer to the Equator.
 They are found near coastlines, feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton, and small
fish.
 The Arabian Sea humpback whales are the only sedentary whales in the world,
feeding and breeding in the same area.
 Researchers from Environment Society of Oman have tagged a female humpback
whale named as “Luban” to track its movement via satellite.
 It started its journey from Oman, heading towards east and reached off the coast of
Goa after two months.
 Even though the IUCN Red List categorises humpback whale as of ‘least concern’,
it recognised the distinct Arabian Sea population as ‘endangered’ in 2008.

Bhima Koregaon Battle

 It is one of the last battles of 3rd Anglo-Maratha War in January 1818, between
Maratha ruler Baji Rao Peshwa II and the British East India Company along with the
local Mahar community.
 The battle brought an end to the domination of Peshwas.
 Historically, Mahars were considered as untouchables.
 Maratha King Shivaji, nevertheless, recruited large number of Mahars into the
Maratha Army in the 17thcentury.
 However, relations between Mahars and Peshwas turned sour after Baji Rao II
reportedly insulted the community by rejecting their offer to serve the army.
 This made them to side with the English against the Peshwa’s numerically superior
army.
 After the victory, British erected a commemorative victory pillar (Koregaon
Ranstambh) in Bhima-Koregaon village in 1818.
 Dr BR Ambedkar visited the site.
 This year, the event commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battle had been
met with protests.

NARI

 NARI is an online portal developed by the Ministry of Women and Child

Development.
  The portal will provide women citizens with easy access to information on
government schemes and initiatives for women.
 It provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering the
schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.

e-Samvad

 e-Samvad is an online portal to provide a platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to
interact with the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
 Through e-Samvad, NGOs and civil society can provide their feedback, suggestions,
put up grievances, share best practices which will help in formulation of effective
policies.

NARI

 NARI is an online portal developed by the Ministry of Women and Child

Development.
 The portal will provide women citizens with easy access to information on
government schemes and initiatives for women.
 It provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering the
schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.

e-Samvad

 e-Samvad is an online portal to provide a platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to
interact with the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
 Through e-Samvad, NGOs and civil society can provide their feedback, suggestions,
put up grievances, share best practices which will help in formulation of effective
policies.

Margdarshan

 Margadarshan scheme is under the purview of All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE), a national level apex advisory body under Ministry of Human
Resource and Development.
 The scheme aims to provide mentoring to institutes by a well performing Institute.
 Institutions of repute will act as a mentor with its existing facilities to serve as the
hub to guide and disperse knowledge to 10 technical institutions.
 It will allow for information sharing, such as technical education, research and
sharing of resources to encourage best practices.
 Mentor institute also provide services to faculty for self improvement.
  Government owned, aided and self financed institutes and universities approved by
AICTE can participate.
 Duration of the project shall be of 3 years.
 The fund dispersed by AICTE shall be utilized to conduct programmes for technical
up liftment of the faculty members and shall not be used for purchase of equipment
like computer, laptop etc.

Swayam Prabha

 The Swayam Prabha is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-

quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite.
 The channels cover higher education, school education and assist the students (class
11th & 12th) prepare for competitive exams.
 The contents are provided by IITs, UGC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS.
 Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous Inter-University
Centre (IUC) of UGC maintains the web portal.
 INFLIBNET is involved in creating infrastructure for sharing of library and
information resources and services among Academic and Research Institutions.
 It allows students to choose the time of their convenience for learning.
 It widens the scope of SWAYAM, an online education platform which covers
teachers training, graduate and post graduate courses.

Training Teachers through Swayam Prabha

 After the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the RTE, many teachers without
requisite training had been hired.
 The RTE (Amendment) Act, 2017 mandates teachers to acquire Bachelor/Diploma
in Elementary Education by May, 2019 to retain their jobs.
 The NIOS, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of HRD, is tasked with
training these teachers.
 Under Swayam Prabha, the government had one DTH channel in English and Hindi
of the 32 channels for telecasting educational programmes dedicated to teacher
training.
 The government has decided to increase it to 3 channels along with providing an
encoder device that permits live video interaction
 ISRO is collaborating with NIOS in providing the devices to the teachers.
Rooftop Solar Plant
  GAIL has commissioned the country's second-largest rooftop solar power plant with
a capacity of 5.76 Mega Watt at Pata, Uttar Pradesh.
 The country's largest rooftop solar plant is located in Amritsar and has a capacity of
12 MW

Night Frogs

 Frogs belongs to the genus Nyctibatrachus are commonly known as night frogs.
 They are found only in the Western Ghats mountain range.
 Scientists have recently discovered new night frog “Mewasinghi”, belonging to
Nyctibatrachus from Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kozhikode.
 It is found in a small stream running along the Peruvannamuzhi dam.
 It is closely relative to Athirappilly night frog (found south of the Palakkad Gap in
Thrissur and Idukki) and the Kempholey night frog (found in the northern Western
Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka).

New Ginger Species

 Scientists have discovered two new species of Ginger in Manipur and Nagaland.
 They were found in easternmost districts bordering Myanmar.
 Both the plants are from the family of Zingiberaceae, to which the commonly found
Ginger (Zingiberofficinale) belongs.
 The species discovered in Nagaland, is an epiphytic plant and grows on tall trees.
 The species from Manipur was found growing in rock crevices, boulders and
humus rich soil in the Shirui Hills.

LiFi
  Light-fidelity (LiFi) is a technology used for free-space communication using visible
and near-visible light.
 It is similar to Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), a technology for wireless local area network
communication using microwaves.
 Microwaves can pass through walls while transmitting signals whereas visible and
near-visible light cannot pass through walls.
 Thus it makes LiFi signal network more secure.
 Scientists have recently added a new layer of security to LiFi.
 Light bounces off from walls and falls on the receiver.
 So wall boundaries can be used effectively for reflecting signals so that
communication is maintained even without line-of-sight communication between
the signal source and receiver.
 Receiving detectors can receive both direct and reflected signals.
 Walls painted with fluorescent and phosphorescent paints absorb and then emit
light with marginal loss.
 The paints continue to emit light even several hours after the original source of light
has been switched off.
 This makes the communication signal more effective and secure.

SOFIA

 SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is the largest

airborne observatory in the world.
 It consists of an extensively modified Boeing aircraft carrying a reflecting telescope
with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters.
 The observatory is based at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale,
California.
 The project is implemented by NASA and German Aerospace Center (DLR).
 Many objects in space emit almost all their energy at infrared wavelengths. Often,
they are invisible when observed in ordinary visible light.
 Thus SOFIA observes universe in infrared wavelengths to get the expanded views.
 It is preparing for its 2018 campaign for observing Saturn’s giant moon Titan.

Schemes to Promote Milk Production

 Government of India is implementing RashtriyaGokul Mission, National Dairy Plan-

I to supplement the efforts of States in promoting milk production.
  RashtriyaGokul Mission has been initiated with the aim of development and
conservation of indigenous bovine breeds thereby enhancing milk production and
productivity.
 National Dairy Plan-I has focus on development and conservation of indigenous
breeds of cattle and buffalo through implementation of progeny testing and pedigree
selection programme.

i. 6 indigenous breeds of cattle (Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Kankrej, Tharparkar and Hariana)
ii. 6 buffalo breeds (Murrah, Mehsani, Jaffarabadi, Nili Ravi, Pandharpuri and Banni)
Narcondam Hornbill

 The Narcondam hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami) is a small, distinctive, dark

hornbill, measuring 45 to 50 cm in length.
 They are monogamous, non-migratory resident birds showing sexual
dimorphic.
 This species is endemic to the tiny (6.8 sq.kilometers) dormant volcanic island of
Narcondam, forming part of the Andaman Islands, India.
 It is resident in fairly open mixed forest, which covers most of the island, from sea-
level to the peak
 This hornbill is listed as “Endangered” in IUCN red list and CITES Appendix
II.
 It is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act and Narcondam Island is a wildlife
sanctuary, near Myanmar’s Coco Island.
 The Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of these hornbill species in India is
the Narcondam Island Wildlife Sanctuary.
 Its population appears to be stable despite some degree of hunting and habitat
degradation.

World’s First Photovoltaic Highway

 World’s first solar highway in Jinan, the capital city of China's Shandong province
was recently opened for testing.
 The new solar road consists of an insulating layer on the bottom, photovoltaic panels
in the middle, and transparent concrete on top.
 It can generate 1 million kilowatt-hours of power in a year and saves the space for
building solar farms and shorten the transmission distance.

Umananda Island

 It is the smallest inhabited river island in the world.

 It is situated in the river of Brahmaputra in Assam.
 According to the Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva lived in the island much to the
ananda or joy of his consort Uma, another name for Parvati, hence the name
‘Umananda’.
 It is also known as Peacock island, because it resembled a peacock’s feathers
splayed in full view.
 Golden Langur, one of the most endangered species of primates is found in this
island.
 Golden langurs are found only in parts of Western Assam and the neighbouring
foothills of the Black mountains of Bhutan.
Agariyas

 Agariyas are nomadic tribes and traditionally salt farmers in Rann of Kutch, a
seasonal salt marsh in Thar Desert, Rajasthan.
 The tribes derive their names from the word “Agar” meaning salt farms.
 During the monsoon months, the Rann of Kutch is submerged in sea water.
 As the sea water finally begins to recede in October, the Agariyas move in and begin
the elaborate process of salt farming.
 This salt is different from the marine salt produced on the coast and is locally known
as Badagara, literally meaning Bada (big) and Agara (pan).
 They suffer from skin lesions, severe eye problems, tuberculosis and abnormally thin
legs, stiff with years of exposure to high concentration of salt.
 After the salt production season, they move to the peripheral villages.
 High Temperature, high wind velocity and high soil salinity makes Rann of Kutch an
ideal place for salt production.
 It is home to rare breed of wild ass and flamingos

Dhanush Artillery Gun

 Dhanush is an upgraded version of the Swedish bofors howitzers.

 It is a 155 mm gun with a maximum range of 40 km compared to 17 –km range of
the original guns.
 It is expected to be inducted in the Indian Army by 2018.
 Army is keen on inducting Dhanush since it has not inducted any new artillery
gunds since the Bofors procured in 1980’s form Sweden.

Siang River

 The Siang River flows for about 1,600 kilometres as Tsangpo River through the Tibet
plateau, before entering India in Arunachal Pradesh.
 The river becomes Brahmaputra after it flows into Assam near Sadiya.
 In recent days, Siang which flows through Arunachal Pradesh has unusually turned
muddy and darkened.
 This has firmed up the suspicion that China may have begun construction of the
world’s longest tunnel upstream.
 The 1000 km long tunnel will divert water from the Brahmaputra River in Tibet
close to Arunachal Pradesh to the parched Xinjiang region.
PSLV C-40

 ISRO is planning to launch 31 satellites, including India’s Cartosat-2 series earth

observation space craft, in a single mission using PSLV C-40 in January, 2018.
 The mission will be the first PSLV mission after the unsuccessful launch of the
navigation satellite IRNSS-1H.
 The mission consists of 28 nano satellites from abroad, including Finland and the
U.S., one micro and one nano satellite from India along with one Cartosat satellite.
 The satellites will be launched from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
 Earlier this year, PSLV-C37 launched the first Cartosat-2 series satellite along with
103 co-passenger satellites in a single flight.
 Click here to know about Cartosat-2 satellite.

Siang River

 The Siang River flows for about 1,600 kilometres as Tsangpo River through the Tibet
plateau, before entering India in Arunachal Pradesh.
 The river becomes Brahmaputra after it flows into Assam near Sadiya.
 In recent days, Siang which flows through Arunachal Pradesh has unusually turned
muddy and darkened.
 This has firmed up the suspicion that China may have begun construction of the
world’s longest tunnel upstream.
 The 1000 km long tunnel will divert water from the Brahmaputra River in Tibet
close to Arunachal Pradesh to the parched Xinjiang region.
 Siang River
Financial Stability and Development Council

 The 18th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) has
recently been held in New Delhi.
 FSDC was established in 2010 with Union Finance Minister as its Chairman.
 It was to solve the regulatory tussle between SEBI and IRDA on the regulation of
Unit Linked Life Insurance Plan (ULIP).
 Its members include

i. the heads of financial sector regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA, and IRDA)
ii. Finance Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs
iii. Secretary, Department of Financial Services
iv. Chief Economic Adviser

 FSDC has two core functions:

1. to perform as an apex level forum to strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism

for maintaining financial stability
2. to enhance inter-regulatory coordination and promote financial sector development
in the country

 It will focus on financial literacy and financial inclusion.

 It will monitor macro-prudential supervision of the economy and also assess the
functioning of the large financial conglomerates.
 FSDC sub-committee is chaired by the Governor of RBI.
Blue Flag

 The 'Blue Flag' is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental

Education (FEE) that a beach, sustainable boating tourism operator, meets its
stringent standards.
 Union Environment Ministry has launched a pilot project for beach clean-up and
development and is also striving for the 'Blue Flag' certification for such identified
beaches.
 Under the project, each state or UT has been asked to nominate a beach which will
be funded through the ongoing Integrated Coastal Management Programme.

FEE

 Foundation for Environmental Education is a non-governmental organization

promoting sustainable development through environmental education.
 It was formed in 1981 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 The Blue Flag was originally a symbol of an environmental awareness initiative in
France in 1987.
 It was later adopted as a programme by FEE, followed by other initiatives like
adoption of the Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE).

Garbage Emergency

 Bali has declared a “garbage emergency” across a six-kilometer stretch of coast.

 Indonesia is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China.
 Indonesia is one of the nearly 40 countries that are part of the UN Environment’s
Clean Seas campaign.
 The campaign aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans, boost
recycling services, curb the use of plastic bags, launch cleanup campaigns and raise
public awareness.
 As part of its commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic
waste by 70% by 2025

Advanced Air Defence (AAD)

 Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) is a two tired defence shield which aims to destroy
enemy ballistic missiles.
 The BMD consists of two interceptor missiles, the Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV)
and the Advanced Area Defence (AAD) missile.
  PDV/Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor is capable of destroying missiles at
exo-atmospheric (high) altitudes of 50–80 km.
 PDV is a two stage supersonic missile fuelled by solid motor in 1st stage and liquid
fuelled in 2nd stage.
 AAD/Ashvin Advanced Defense interceptor is capable of destroying missiles at
endo-atmosphere (low) altitudes of 15-30 kilometers.
 AAD is a single-stage supersonic solid fuelled interceptor missile.
 The Ballistic Missile Defence shield is expected to be achieved by 2022.
 AAD was recently successfully test-fired from a test range in Odisha.

FAME II

 FAME India Scheme [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric
Vehicles in India] was launched in 2015.
 Its objective is to support hybrid/electric vehicles market development and
Manufacturing eco-system.
 The phase I of FAME expires on March 31, 2018.
 In phase II, the government is targeting a fully (100%) electric fleet for public
transport, including buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws.
 The FAME India Scheme is aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments i.e. 2
Wheeler, 3 Wheeler Auto, Passenger 4 Wheeler Vehicle, Light Commercial Vehicles
and Buses.
 It has 4 focus areas i.e. Technology development, Demand Creation, Pilot
Projects and Charging Infrastructure.

Mahadayi River Dispute

 There have been ongoing protests in Karnataka on the issue of sharing of Mahadayi
river waters.
 Mahadayi river originates in Karnataka before flowing into Goa where it is called
Mandovi.
 Karnataka is seeking release of 7.56 tmcft water by Goa from the river for the
Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, , which is being opposed by Goa.
 The project involves building barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, tributaries of
Mahadayi river, to divert water to the Malaprabha which meets drinking water
needs of the north Karnataka districts of Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot and Gadag.
 Goa is of the view that it has no problem in providing "reasonable and justified"
amount of 0.1 TMC of water to Karnataka for its drinking needs.
 The matter is pending before the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.
Pod Taxi Project

 A high-level panel has recommended inviting fresh bids for India’s first pod taxi
project.
 The projected Rs. 4,000-crore scheme, also known as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT),
is to start off with the 12.3 km Delhi-Gurugram pilot corridor on public-private
partnership basis.
 PRT is an advanced public transport using automated electric pod cars to provide a
taxi-like demand responsive feeder and shuttle services.
 It is for small groups of travellers and is a green mode of uninterrupted journey.
 The automated people mover (APM) standards in the US constitute the minimum
requirements for an acceptable level of safety and performance for the PRT.

Atal Tinkering Labs

 Niti Aayog brainchild Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has selected additional 1,500
schools across the country to establish Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
 ATLs are play workspaces fitted with state-of-the-art technologies like 3D printers,
robotics, sensor technology kits, Internet of things (IoT), miniaturised electronics.
 The labs are designed to spur the spark of creativity, and go beyond regular
curriculum and text book learning.
 AIM will enhance the coverage of ATLs to over 98 per cent smart cities and 93 per
cent districts.
 The addition of these schools will give a major boost to realise the vision of the
mission to cultivate one million children in India as the innovators of tomorrow.

LiDAR to monitor Air Quality

  Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is currently focussing on its surface-level
monitoring of air quality of Delhi-NCR.
 However, in “later stages”, it is also planning to take up vertical monitoring by using
advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) devices.
 LiDAR is a monitoring system for mapping and modelling in -micro-topography,
forestry, agriculture, meteorology and environmental pollution-
 LiDAR projects laser beams towards the sky.
 Subsequently, the interplay of light with the objects falling on its path through
absorption, reflection, scattering help determine the composition of suspended
particulates.
 Elastic Backscatter LiDAR and Raman LiDAR are used in monitoring air pollutants
vertically.
 The CPCB and IMD had used the Elastic Backscatter LiDAR during the 2010
Commonwealth Games and the data was utilised in 3D modelling and forecasting
during the games.

Memristors & AI

 Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are computing systems that can learn and
progressively improve performance on tasks by considering examples.

 Researchers have recently developed a new type of neural network chip that can
dramatically improve the efficiency of teaching machines to think like humans.
 It improves a typical neural network’s capacity and reduces the required training
time.
 They have been created in the past with larger optical components.
 Now the researchers have created their system using memristors.
 Memristors are a special type of resistive device that can both perform logic and
store data.
 This contrasts with typical computer systems, where processors perform logic
separate from memory modules.
 Hence they require less space and can be integrated more easily into silicon-based
electronics.

ND-4201

 Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND-4201) is India’s first home-grown high purity

gold reference standard recently launched.

 It will be the reference material for gold of ‘9999’ fineness i.e gold that is 99.99%
pure.
 It will be beneficial to the consumers and public at large to ensure purity of gold.
 Once the BND’s of other purity gold are made available in the market, jewellers will
move towards more instrumental methods.
  The conventional fire assay methods for testing are not only time consuming but
also not environment friendly as poisonous gases are released.
 This will also be useful for Collection and Purity Testing Centres to certify the purity
of gold deposits under the gold monetisation scheme.

CAMPA Rules

 Compensatory and Afforestation Fund (CAF) Bill envisaged the creation of a

permanent Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority
(CAMPA).
 The Bill establishes the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund and a State
Compensatory Afforestation Fund under each State.
 The Bill allows the States to access nearly Rs.42,000 crore, mostly collected from
industrial projects as penalties, from CAMPA and channel it into afforestation
projects.
 More than a year after the Union government brought in the law, it is yet to frame
rules to get the money disbursed.
 While States are getting money, it continues to be under an “ad hoc” mechanism
whereby the Centre disburses it on a needs-basis.
 Also a year after the law came into being, the disbursal this year has dropped to a
three-year low.

e-HRMS

 Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions recently launched electronic-

Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS).
 e-HRMS is an online platform for central government employees to apply for leave
and access their service-related information.
 It will also help the employees to apply for different kind of claims/reimbursements,
loan/advances etc on a single platform.
 The e-service book which is already in service for DoPT employees for accessing the
service-related details of an employee will also be integrated in to the e-HRMS.

City Logo

 Bengaluru becomes the first Indian City to have a logo on its own.
 With this initiative of Karnataka Government, the city joins New York, Melbourne
and Singapore.
 The logo, ‘Be U’, is a mix of typography in English and Kannada. The first part of the
logo is in English and the rest in Kannada.

Ripple and Petro

  Ripple is a technology that acts as both a cryptocurrency and a digital payment
network for financial transactions.
 It was released in 2012 and its coin is labeled as XRP.
 Ripple operates on an open source and peer-to-peer decentralized platform that
allows for a seamless transfer of money in any form, whether USD, Yen, litecoin, or
bitcoin.
 It is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capital, which now
stands at around $43 billion.
 Petro is a cryptocurrency launched by Venezuela backed by oil reserves.
 It is mainly to shore the collapsed oil economy.
 Venezuela’s real currency “Bolivar” is in freefall, and the country is sorely lacking in
basic needs like food and medicine.

Design University

 India's first and only design university “World University of Design” was recently
opened at Sonipat, Haryana.
 It is situated on NH1 in Rajiv Gandhi Education City (NCR) in Sonipat, the
largest planned integrated city for education in India.
 The university has international collaborations with foreign universities like
University of West Scotland, the Vancouver Film School, and the Italian University
of Design.

The State of the World’s Children 2017

 The report on “The State of the World’s Children 2017” was recently released by
UNICEF.
 It accesses the status of “Children in the Digital Economy”.
 It has a tagline, “For every Child | a digital Bridge, for every Child | digital parity, for
every children | digital safety and for every Child | digital care”.
 It has highlighted that around 3 out of 5 youth in Africa are offline, compared to just
1 in 25 in Europe.
 It says that the online gender gap is growing. Globally there are 12 per cent more
men than women online, and the gap is greatest in low-income countries.

World Migration Report 2018

 International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the UN migration agency has

recently published “World Migration Report 2018” during IOM council, held at
Geneva.
 This report is the ninth in IOM’s World Migration Report (WMR) series and the first
since IOM became the UN Migration Agency.
 IOM is an inter-governmental organization, established in 1951.
  It works in the field of migration with governmental, intergovernmental and non-
governmental partners.
 The organisation has 166 member countries (including India) and 8 observer states.
 It aims to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees
and internally displaced people.
 IOM works to ensure the humane management of migration by providing services
and advice to governments and migrants, and promote international cooperation on
migration issues.

Champion State

 Union Government has recently recognized Odisha as a 'Champion State' for

recording the highest growth in exports during 2016-17.
 Odisha’s export volume has been increased from Rs 19, 082 crores in 2015-
16 to Rs 40,872 crores in 2016-17.
 The growth of exports has a direct positive impact on the enhancement of
employment and livelihood opportunity.

India’s first social audit law

 Meghalaya has recently become India’s first state to operationalize a law that makes
social audit of government programmes a part of government practice.
 The legislation is applicable to 11 departments and 26 schemes in the north eastern
state.
 A social audit facilitator will be appointed to conduct the audit directly with the
people. So far, social audits of government programmes have been done at the
initiative of civil society organisations.

By this new law social audits will have an official sanction and becomes the mandate of the
government

lobal conference on functional materials

 Global conference on functional materials was recently held at Telangana, which was
attended by delegates from 10 different countries.
 The conference was aimed to address the application aspect of the functional
materials in areas of societal relevance.
 The term functional materials cover different material classes ranging from
semiconductors over polymers and molecular crystals to nanoparticles.
 It is their special electrical, optical and magnetic properties which make functional
materials so important.
  Technologies such has Computation, Communication, Sensors, storage and
displaying of information uses the functional materials.

Guru Gobind Singh

 350th Prakash Parv (birthday anniversary) of Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated
recently.
 He is the tenth Sikh Guru who formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at age
nine.
 He was the son of ninth Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur.
 He founded the Sikh warrior community called Khalsa in 1699, changing the Sikhs
into a saint-soldier order for protecting themselves.
 He introduced the Five Ks, the five articles of faith that Khalsa Sikhs wear at all
times.
 He enshrined the scripture the Guru Granth Sahib as Sikhism's eternal Guru,which
made him the last guru of Sikhs

New frog species - Odorrana arunachalensis

 Scientists have discovered a new frog species in Arunachal Pradesh.

 The new species has been named Odorrana arunachalensis.
 It is a medium-sized green frog adapted for a life in torrential waters.
 The frog inhabits fern-covered rocky areas along hill streams in mixed wet tropical
forests.
 The presence of a black band-like mark between the eyes is a distinguishing
character that separates it from all the other frog species.
UN Ocean conference

 The UN Ocean Conference was held at UN headquarters in New York.

 It is a high-level United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of
Sustainable Development Goal 14.
 SDG 14 emphasises to conserve and sustainably use the oceans.
 Many voluntary commitments for concrete action to advance implementation were
made by governments during the conference.
 To follow-up on the implementation of these voluntary commitments United
Nations recently have launched nine thematic multi-stakeholder Communities of
Ocean Action.

Huntington’s disease

 Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive
breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
  It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working
years and has no cure.
 It is known as the quintessential family disease because every child of a parent with
HD has a 50/50 chance of carrying the faulty gene.
 Researchers have recently reported that treatment with a compound called “CTEP”
improved memory and also prevents harmful protein build ups in the brain.

Tadoba Tiger Reserve

 Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is located in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

 It is Maharashtra’s oldest and largest National Park.
 It is one of India's 47 project tiger reserves existing in India.
 The word 'Tadoba' is derived from the name of God "Tadoba" or "Taru," which is
praised by local tribal people of this region.
 "Andhari" is derived from the name of Andhari River that flows in this area.
 It is often referred to as “The Jewel of Vidarbha”

Andhari is the tributary of wainganga . andhari is a minor river.

Huntington’s disease

 Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive
breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
 It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working
years and has no cure.
 It is known as the quintessential family disease because every child of a parent with
HD has a 50/50 chance of carrying the faulty gene.
 Researchers have recently reported that treatment with a compound called “CTEP”
improved memory and also prevents harmful protein build ups in the brain.

Tadoba Tiger Reserve

 Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is located in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

 It is Maharashtra’s oldest and largest National Park.
 It is one of India's 47 project tiger reserves existing in India.
 The word 'Tadoba' is derived from the name of God "Tadoba" or "Taru," which is
praised by local tribal people of this region.
 "Andhari" is derived from the name of Andhari River that flows in this area.
 It is often referred to as “The Jewel of Vidarbha”.

CRISPR
  CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic
Repeats.
 Researchers has recently used genome editing tool “CRISPR – Cas9” to partially
treat the genetic deafness in mice.
 A single mistake in “Tmc1 gene” causes loss of inner ear hair cells leading to
deafness.
 Scientists believe that the world could one day help treat certain forms of genetic
hearing loss in humans.
 CRISPR - Cas9 is a most prominent genome editing technique by targeting specific
stretches of genetic code to edit DNA at precise locations.
 The technique allows researchers to permanently modify genes in living cells and
organisms and to correct mutations at precise locations in the human genome to
treat genetic causes of disease.
 It can be used to target multiple genes simultaneously and can also activate gene
expression instead of cutting the DNA.

Kaleswaram Project

 Central government has recently granted environmental clearance to the

Kaleswaram Project.
 Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme was taken up in 2007 to utilise
the water of Pranhita tributary of Godavari River.
 After the formation of Telangana, the project was redesigned into two sections.
 The original component serving the Adilabad area was called the Pranahitha
project.
 The second part is called Kaleswaram Project serving the Karimnagar,
Warangal, Nizamabad and Medak districts.
 Water from Godavari River after the confluence by the Pranahita tributary is lifted
to provide lift irrigation facility.
 Lift Irrigation project - Pumps are used to lift the water from canals or rivers at
lower level to the area at higher level for irrigation purpose.

Ganga Gram

 Ganga Gram is a project for sanitation based integrated development of all 4470
villages along the River Ganga.
 Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is the nodal agency for
implementation of the Ganga Gram Project.

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)

 PMRPY Scheme has been designed to incentivise employers for generation of new
employment.
  Government of India will be paying the 8.33% EPS contribution of the employer
for the new employment.
 This scheme has a dual benefit, where, on the one hand, the employer is incentivised
for increasing the employment base of workers in the establishment.
 On the other hand, a large number of workers will find jobs in such establishments.
 A direct benefit is that these workers will have access to social security benefits of
the organized sector.

Mission Antyodaya

 Under the mission, Department of Rural Development in partnership with State

Governments has involved in ranking 50,000 Gram Panchayats.
 The ranking is based on parameters of physical infrastructure, human
development and economic activities.
 It facilitates identification of gaps in a quest for poverty free gram panchayats and
drive economic activities.
 Public institutions like Krishi Vigyan Kendras, MSME Clusters will be involved for
enhancing productive employment and economic activities.

Pare Hydroelectric Plant

 The Pare hydro electric project is a run-of-the-river scheme on the Dikrong

River in Arunachal Pradesh.
 Dikrong River is one of the tributaries of Brahmaputra originates from Dafla
hills and it passes through Itanagar.
 The project is being implemented by North Eastern Electric Power Corporation
(NEEPCO).
 Earlier in 2008, Germany had signed a loan agreement with NEEPCO for providing
Euro 80 million under Indo-German Bilateral Development Cooperation.
 A loan agreement was recently signed for providing additional funding of Euro 20
million for this project.

Rewa Mega Multi Power Project

 Rewa Mega Multi Power project with the capacity of 750 MW is located in Madhya
Pradesh.
 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is signed between Delhi Metro Railways
Corporation (DMRC) & Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company (MPPMC).
 Thus it becomes the first power project to conduct interstate sale of solar power to
Delhi Metro.
  It will supply 24 per cent of its power to Delhi Metro during the power project
lifetime.
 International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the transaction adviser in the project and
the World Bank is funding the internal infrastructure of the project.

 .

Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY)

 PMVVY is a Pension Scheme under the Ministry of Finance, exclusively for the
senior citizens aged 60 years and above.
 It provides social security to protect senior citizens against a future fall in their
interest income due to uncertain market conditions.
 Life Insurance Corporation of India is the implementing agency.
 It enables assured pension/return linked to the subscription amount based on
government guarantee to LIC.
 It provides an assured return of 8% p.a. payable monthly for 10 years and is
exempted from Service Tax/ GST.
 The ceiling of maximum pension is for a family as a whole, the family will comprise
of pensioner, his/her spouse and dependants.
 The shortfall owing to the difference between the interest guaranteed and the actual
interest earned shall be subsidized by the Government of India and reimbursed to
the Corporation.

IT Campus for Persons with Disabilities

 The Telangana government has announced that it will set up the world’s first IT
campus for Persons with Disabilities.
 It entered in to agreement with Vindhya E-Infomedia Private Limited which will
provide employment opportunities to PWD.

DARPAN

 Ministry of Communication launched “DARPAN - Digital Advancement of

Rural Post Office for A New India”.
 The project aimed at realizing financial inclusion of un-banked rural
population.
 It is IT modernization project which intends to provide a low power technology
solution to each branch postmaster to improve service delivery.
  DARPAN offers core banking services such as cash deposit and withdrawal in
savings bank and recurring deposit, mini statement, Aadhaar seeding and daily
transaction report.
 The application will also be used for the reimbursement of social security benefits
such as MNREGS, old age pension and DBT.
 It is targeted to complete the project by March 2018

SRISTI

 SRISTI - Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration

of India is a proposed scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
 The proposed scheme will incentivise the installation of roof top solar projects in
India.
 It aims to achieve a national solar rooftop target of 40 GW by 2021-22.
 Under SRISTI, a central financial assistance will be provided only for installation of
roof top solar plants in residential sectors.
 Once approved, the concept will acts as a basis for phase – II of solar
rooftop power programme.

ICGS Sujay

 Samarth Class OPV is a series of six 105m offshore patrol vessel (OPV) being built by
Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Coast Guard.
 Indian Coast Guard Ship Sujay is the sixth in the series of six OPV under Samarth
class.
 The other ships are ICGS Samarth, Shoor, Sarathi, Shaunak, Shaurya.
 ICGS Sujay is based at Paradip, Odisha under the operational and
administrative control of Commander Coast Guard Region (North-East).
 It will be deployed extensively for EEZ surveillance and will give a fillip to the
maritime protection in the state of Odisha and West Bengal in particular.

Kimberly Process

 The Kimberley Process (KP) is a joint Government, International Diamond Industry

and Civil Society initiative to stem the flow of Conflict Diamonds.
 Conflict Diamonds- Rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to
finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments.
 In its 2016 session held in Dubai, India was appointed as Vice Chair of KP for 2018
& Chair for 2019. The EU will be chair for 2018.
 This year, the session was held at Brisbane, Australia.
 It came into effect in 2003 with representation from 81 countries including EU.
  India is one of the founding members, which held chair for the year 2008

Ro – Ro services in India

 In RO-RO service, vessels have either built-in or shore-based ramps that allow the
cargo to be efficiently rolled on and off the vessel when in port.
 This is in opposite to the lift-on and lift-off (lo-lo) vessels, which use a crane to load
and unload cargo.
 This service is currently in operational in two states – Gujarat and Assam.
 Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) rolled out a regular RO-RO between
Assam-Meghalaya connecting Dhubri and Hatsingimari.
 Dhubri and Hatsingimari are located in the north bank and south bank of River
Brahmaputra.
 Recently, India’s first RO-RO passenger (RO Pax) service was inaugurated between
Ghogha in Saurashtra and Dahej in south Gujarat in the Gulf of Khambhat region.

Naseem Al Bahr'

 'Naseem Al Bahr' or 'Sea Breeze' is India’s bilateral naval exercise with the
Omani navy conducted since 1993.
 The 11th edition of the exercise was recently held off the coast of Oman.
 The Indian Navy deployed two naval ships - INS Trikand and INS Teg - for the
exercise, an Indian Navy submarine and the versatile P8I long-range maritime
aircraft.
 India has an ancient maritime tradition and maritime interaction with Oman dating
back to more than 4,000 years.
 Archaeological research at sites in Mesopotamia, Bahrain, and Oman has led to the
recovery of artefacts traceable to the Indus Valley civilization.
 Bilateral relations between Indian and Oman were formally established with the
signing of the 1953 Indo-Oman Treaty of Friendship, Navigation and
Commerce, a first between India and an Arab country.

P-8I

 It is a long-range, multimission maritime patrol aircraft manufactured by Boeing,

for the Indian Navy.
 The aircraft was designed to protect the vast coastline and territorial waters of India.
 It can conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare
(AsuW), intelligence, maritime patrol, and surveillance and
reconnaissance missions.
National Rail and Transport University (NRTU)

 The Cabinet recently approved the setting up of India's first National Rail and
Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara in Gujarat.
 The university plans to use latest pedagogy and technology applications such as
satellite based tracking, Radio Frequency Identification and Artificial Intelligence to
improve on-the-job performance and productivity.
 It is expected to have 3,000 full-time students.
 A not-for-profit company would be created under Section 8 of the Companies Act,
2013.
 The company will be created by the ministry of railways and it would be the
managing company of the proposed university.
 The company will provide financial and infrastructural support to the university

Schaller’s Wood Scorpion

 It is a new species recently identified from Tripura.

 They are found in low elevations in parts of Tripura, including Trishna Wildlife
Sanctuary and Bison National Park.
 It is the 11th wood scorpion species from India.
 India is home to more than 125 species of scorpions. Nine of India’s 11 wood
scorpions are endemic to the country.
 Wood scorpions are also called dwarf scorpions as they are only about 3 cm long and
live in small burrows on the ground, making them very difficult to spot.
  Scorpions belong to the class Arachnida (having 8 legs) and phylum Arthopoda
(jointed legs).
 Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary and Bison National Park is well known for Indian Bison
locally known as Gaur.
 It also supports of viable population of Holook Gibbon, Spectacled Langurs, slow
loris, Pig Tailed Macaque.

TRIVE Project

 Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) is a central sector

scheme, implemented by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
 It aimed at improving the quality and the market relevance of vocational training
provided in ITIs.
 The project will also strengthen the apprenticeship programme through industry-
cluster approach.
 It helps in setting up Vocational Education and Training (VET).
 VET is a national body for vocational education which shall regulate accreditation
and certification to bring uniformity in vocational training.
 It is supported by World Bank loan assistance.
 A financing agreement for the credit of USD 125 million for this project was recently
signed by the Government of India with the World Bank.

Dramatic Performances Act, 1876

 The birth of professional Bengali theatre and plays like Nildarpan in

1872 brought anti-British subject matter to the general public.
 Subsequently the government passed the DPA in 1876 during the period of
Lord Lytton to regulate theatre.
 It empowered the government 'to prohibit Native plays which are scandalous,
defamatory, seditious or obscene'.
 The police could 'enter, arrest, and seize scenery, dresses, etc'.
 Also, public dramatic performances 'in specified localities' had to receive a license’,
and 'a copy of the piece, shall be previously furnished to the proper authorities'.
 Even after Independence, the DPA remained in effect, with most states introducing
their own amended versions.

Kepler 90i
  NASA has recently announced that it found another solar system with 8 planets.
 The historic discovery was made by new scientific analysis of data obtained by the
Kepler space telescope.
 Kepler 90 is the first star to host as many planets as our own solar system.
 The new planet “Kepler 90i” is a small rocky planet, but very close to the sun which
is hotter than Earth
 It is located 2,500 light years from Earth and it orbits its home star every 14
days and is about 30% bigger than Earth.
 The planets in the Kepler 90 system orbit much closer to their host star than Earth is
to the sun.
 It is similar to the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, previously thought
to be the next biggest solar system.

Institute of National Importance (INI)

 INI is a status conferred to a premier public higher education institution in India by

an Act of Parliament.
 It is conferred on an institution which "serves as a pivotal player in developing
highly skilled personnel within the specified region of the country/state".
 INIs receive special recognition and funding.
 All IITs, NITs, AIIMS’, School of Planning and Architecture and Indian Institutes of
Science Education and Research are considered Institutes of National Importance.

AKALA Scheme

 The scheme is being implemented in the State of Karnataka to curb corruption in

public service delivery in key departments.
 More than 725 services are being provided under this mission.
 Now, the state government has proposed to launch the version 2 of SAKALA scheme
with the existing SAKALA-1 fails to curb corruption.
 SAKALA -2 will address shortcomings in the existing Act by including a provision
for imposing penalty of Rs. 250 per day for delay in addressing complaints.
 The proposed Bill includes mandatory display of citizens’ charters and job
charts in all government departments, social audits, public hearings and
district & state level grievance redress processes.

Kapra Lake
  Kapra Lake is located in north east part of Greater Hyderabad.
 The lake is polluted, choked by water hyacinth and acts as a breeding ground for
mosquitoes.
 The discharge of industrial waste and sewage into waterbodies leads to the growth of
water hyacinth which affects the lake’s ecosystem and causes groundwater
contamination.
 The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has come out with a plan that
turns the water hyacinth into organic manure.
 Good quality organic fertilizer with adequate content of carbon, nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium is produced through the process of anaerobic
composting method

Water Hyacinth

 Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial plant, native to South America.

 It can grow to a height of 3 feet with dark green leaves with flowers above the water
and heavily branched, dark fibrous root system underneath.
 It is a very aggressive invader forming thick mats which can cause oxygen depletion
in the waterbodies and kills the aquatic plants and fish.
 Submerged portion provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates.
 After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food for
many aquatic invertebrates.
 It has no known direct food value to wildlife and is considered a pest species.

National Programme on use of Space Technology for Agriculture (NPSTA)

 NPSTA is a proposed programme which envisages integrated use of Space and

Geospatial Tools for Mapping, Monitoring and Management of Agriculture.
 The current running programmes will be subsumed under this. They are

i. Project FASAL (for crop forecasting),

ii. Project NADAMS (for drought assessment),
iii. Project CHAMAN (for horticultural assessment and development),
iv. Project KISAN (for crop insurance) and Crop Intensification planning.

 The programme will have four sub-programmes

i. Crop Assessment & Monitoring;

ii. Agricultural Resources Management;
iii. Disaster Monitoring and Mitigation
iv. Satellite Communication and Navigation Application

Global Innovation Index

 The index is released by Cornell University U.S, World Intellectual Property

Organization (WIPO) and INSEAD (a France based International Business School).
 It ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities using more than
80 indicators.
 India currently ranks 60th out of 127 countries on the Global Innovation Index
(GII) 2017 as compared to 66th rank in 2016 and 81st rank in 2015.
 Switzerland remains the most innovative country followed by Sweden, Netherlands,
US and UK.
 China is the first middle-income country that entered the top 25 ranking.
 It is computed based on the average of scores in two sub-indices i.e the Innovation
Input Index & Innovation Output Index.

Strength Weakness
ICT services exports (1st),
Ease of starting a business (114th),
Creative goods export (18th) and
Ease of resolving insolvency (111th), Ease
Growth rate of GDP per person (5th)
of paying taxes (118th).

Government’s initiatives in boosting innovation

 NITI Aayog, DIPP and CII together launched “India Innovation Index”.
 It will rank states on Innovations through country’s first online innovation index
portal that will capture data on innovation from all Indian states.
 The Smart India Hackathon and Smart India Hardware Hackathon have been
launched to improve the innovative abilities of the students in the Higher Education
Institutions.
 Projects like IMPRINT and Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) focusing
scientific community in promoting research and innovation.
 The Start-up India initiative has also put in place a mechanism for identifying and
incubating the innovative ideas.
Mass Extinction Survivor

 The fossil of an aquatic reptile – sauropterygian which survived the mass extinction
has been found recently.
 The Triassic – Jurrasic mass extinction has destroyed all aquatic species except this
reptile clade.
 It is believed to have lived safe in the depths of the sea which enables it to survive.

White Spotted Bush Frog

 It is found only in the Western Ghats’ Agastya Hills in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 It was rediscovered in 2011 after 125 years.
 It belongs to the category of tree frogs and breeds inside hollow bamboo stems.
 It is categorized as “Critically Endangered” in IUCN Red list.
 Male frogs watch over their eggs to guard them from cannibalizing by other male
frogs.
 This is the first known instance of cannibalism among tree frogs of the
Rhacophoridae family.

White Spotted Bush Frog

 It is found only in the Western Ghats’ Agastya Hills in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 It was rediscovered in 2011 after 125 years.
 It belongs to the category of tree frogs and breeds inside hollow bamboo stems.
 It is categorized as “Critically Endangered” in IUCN Red list.
 Male frogs watch over their eggs to guard them from cannibalizing by other male
frogs.
 This is the first known instance of cannibalism among tree frogs of the
Rhacophoridae family.

Resolution in UNSC on Jerusalem’s Status

 United States has recently recognized Jerusalem as the Israel’s capital, taking a
stand against the two state solutions.
  Egypt has drafted a resolution in United Nation Security Council expressing deep
regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.
 The resolution does not specifically mention about US President Donald Trump.
 The draft UN resolution had also called upon all countries to refrain from
establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
 The resolution was voted in favor by all members of Security Council except the US
which vetoed the resolution.
 Present ten non-permanent members (with end of term date) are Egypt (2017), Italy
(2017), Japan (2017), Senegal (2017), Ukraine (2017), Uruguay (2017) Bolivia
(2018), Ethiopia (2018), Kazakhstan (2018), Sweden (2018).

Forest Fires

 Forest Fires has been reported in Somanakadu valley, Charmadi range of

Western Ghats.
 The range is located in Karnataka region of Western Ghats.
 It acts as a water source for Netravathi River which has many rivulets from
this range as tributaries.
 Environmentalists have alleged that the forest fire is caused by estate owners to
occupy the land after the region has completely been denuded.

List of Invasive Animal Species

 Zoological survey of India has recently compiled the list of invasive animal species.
 These are species which pose a threat to the native biodiversity and human well-
being.
 Papaya Mealy Bug - It belongs to Mexico and Central America.
 It is believed to have destroyed huge crops of papaya in Assam, West Bengal and
Tamil Nadu.
 Cotton Mealybug - It is a native of North America but has severely affected cotton
crops in the Deccan.
 Amazon Sailfin catfish – It is destroying fish populations in the wetlands of
Kolkata.
 African Apple Snail – It is said to be most invasive among all alien fauna.
 It is a mollusk and was first reported in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands but today
it is found all across the country.
 Orange Cup-Coral – It originated in the Indo-East Pacific.
 It has been reported in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Kutch, Kerala
and Lakshadweep.
Nyaya Gram

 It is a township with a judicial academy and auditorium in the Allahabad High

Court.
 The U.P state government has provided the funding for this judicial infrastructure.
 And U.P public works department is the nominated construction agency.
 It will help judges to assemble and deliberate on the contemporary legislation and
developments in the field of law.

Gene to Tackle Stress Faced By Plants

 Plants during their lifetime face biotic stress induced by living entities (pathogens)
and abiotic stress caused by non-living entities (drought, osmotic stress, chemical
or salt stress).
 Scientists have recently discovered a single gene whose expression controls the
plants’ response to both biotic and abiotic stress.
 Hsp31 is a heat shock protein found in the plants. Over expression of this protein
renders them tolerant to stresses.
 Methylglyoxal is an aldehyde which regulates processes such as cell proliferation
and its survival at lower concentrations. But above a certain level it becomes toxic,
targeting proteins and DNA to turn them non-functional.
 Hsp31 protein is found to detoxify the methylglyoxal when it reaches higher
concentration.
 The protein is similar to PARK7 protein in humans which is linked to the early onset
of Parkinson’s disease.
 Researchers believe that this finding can be used to engineer plants that can
withstand, for instance, drought or bacterial infections.

Wakaleo Schouteni

 It is a new species of marsupial lion discovered in Australia which has been

extinct for at least 19 million years.
 It was a meat eating predator existing in the late Oligocene to early Miocene era
(some 18 to 26 million years ago).
 It is named in honour of palaeo-artist Peter Schouten.
 With this new finding, it is believed that two different species of marsupial lions
were present in Oligocene era.

Sampark, Samanvay, Samvad

  It is a conclave organized by the Ministry of Railways to discuss and deliberate
“Vision for New Railway – New India 2022”.
 The conclave is aimed at

i. breaking the boundary put up by railway organization in sharing information

(sampark)
ii. improve co-ordination (samanvay)
iii. find solutions (samvad) to the critical issues facing Indian Railways

 It encouraged all officers to give inputs and bring out the ground realities and
potential impediments to implementation of new policies and reforms

Fatehpur Sikri

 A royal city named Fatehpur Sikri on the Vindhya hills (presently near Agra) was
constructed by Akbar in 1569.
 It served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585, and later used by
the British as an army outpost.
 The fortification hosts various structures namely,
 Buland Darwaza - It is the main entrance to the palace at Fatehpur Sikri, believed
to be the most iconic architectural accomplishment of Akbar’s reign.
 Buland Darwaza means gate of magnificence, is the highest gateway in the world (54
meters from the ground level).
 It was built in 1601 A.D. by Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat.
 Ibadat Khana (house of worship) - Akbar met with scholars and priests of every
religion to have philosophical debates on religion.
 Haram Sara - Akbar’s wife lived in this minor complex.
 Shabistan-i-Iqbal - It is commonly known as JodhaBai’s palace, which has
exquisite carvings, columns with beautiful mouldings, and brackets.
 Only the emperor’s seven or eight main wives lived the

Tuirial Hydro power

 Tuirial Hydro Electric Project (60 MW) in Mizoram is being implemented by North
Eastern Electric Power Corporation.
 The project was started in 1998, which is the biggest power project located in
Mizoram.
 It is earth fill and gravity dam over Tuirial which is the first ever Central project to
be successfully commissioned in Mizoram.
 Ministry of Power has been partly funded the project under NLCPR-Central Scheme.
NLCPR

 Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) for the North East region is
provided by the Ministry of Development of north east region (DoNER).
 The accumulations in NLCPR are utilized by the Ministry of DoNER under the two
Schemes of NLCPR (State) and NLCPR-Central for which annual budgetary
allocations are provided in the normal budgetary process.
 Under the NLCPR (State) Scheme, priority projects of North Eastern States are
being funded.
 Under NLCPR-Central Scheme, funds are provided to Central Ministries for
implementing projects of national and regional importance.

ITCOO

 Cabinet recently approved Agreement with UNESCO on establishment of

International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography in Hyderabad.
 It focuses on development of capacity for the countries on the Indian Ocean Rim
(IOR), African countries bordering the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, small island
countries under the framework of UNESCO.
 Centre will provide assistance in areas of capacity building and training, knowledge
sharing and exchange of information.

Operational oceanography

 The operational oceanography is an activity of conducting systematic oceanographic

studies towards providing information services to various sectors.
 Such sector includes fisherman, disaster management, shipping, ports, coastal
states, navy, coast guard, environment, offshore industries for conducting their day-
to- day operations.

New projections on Antarctic

 New research on the melting of Antarctic ice sheets has suggested a dramatically
faster pace of melting than is currently believed to be occurring.
 As per the study’s projection under a high greenhouse gas emission future the
median global mean sea level could rise from ~80 cm to ~150 cm.
 Without protective measures, by 2100 (rising seas will) submerge land currently
home to more than 153 million people.
  To scale the loss it is nearly four times the combined population of Mumbai, Delhi,
Bengaluru and Hyderabad, as per Census 2011.

North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS)

 The Union Cabinet has recently approved new scheme NESIDS to fill up the gaps in
creation of infrastructure in specified sectors till March, 2020.
 It is a central sector scheme which will be funded 100% by the Central Government.
 It covers,

i. Physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power, connectivity and specially

the projects promoting tourism
ii. Infrastructure of social sectors of education and health.

 Thus it will not only strengthen health care and education facilities in the region but
will also encourage tourism and employment opportunities for local youth.

Initiatives by Ministry of Railways

 SRESTHA - New R&D organisation to serve the future technology needs of Railways.
 SUTRA – A special unit for Transportation Research and Analytics.
 The team will be involved in World class data analytics, simulation softwares,
network optimisation and decision support systems.
 NIVARAN – A grievance redressal portal and first IT application in Rail Cloud for
resolving service related grievances of serving and former railway employees.

RNI Report

 Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) is mandated to submit an annual report on

the status registered publications to the government under PRB Act, 1867.
 RNI reports acts as an important index for print media in the country.
 It gives comprehensive analysis of growth amongst regional language publications.
 It submits its report to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
 This year report highlighted that 4007 new publications were registered.
 Uttar Pradesh tops the list of largest number of registered publications.

Exercise Ekuverin

 It is the joint military exercise conducted between India and Maldives.

 It is being conducted every year alternatively in India and Maldives.
 This year, the 8th annual exercise will be conducted in Belagavi, Karnataka.
  The objectives are to enhance defence cooperation and interoperability between the
army of both countries with emphasis on Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorist
operations under UN mandate.

National Ayush Mission

 It is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Ayush with the objective of
providing cost effective AYUSH Services with a universal access.
 It also aims to improve educational institutions capable of imparting quality AYUSH
education and adoption of quality standards of Ayush drugs.
 The resource allocation to the States/UTs is proposed on the basis of population,
backwardness and performance of the State/UT.
 Grant-in Aid will be transferred through treasury route to State Governments.
 Union Cabinet has recently approved the continuation of the scheme from 2017-
2020.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)

 WPI represents the price of basket of goods at a wholesale stage i.e. goods that are
sold in bulk and traded between organizations instead of consumers.
 WPI is calculated by the Office of Economic Advisor, DIPP under Ministry
of Commerce and Industry.
 The base year for the index is 2011-12.
 The components of WPI include Primary articles, Manufacturing items, fuel
and power with different weightages assigned to them.
 The weightages are Primary Articles (Weight 22.62%), Fuel & Power
(Weight 13.15%), and Manufactured Products (Weight 64.23%).
 It basically indicates the rise in profitability of industries.
 The annual rate of inflation is calculated based on monthly WPI.
 WPI index for the month of November, 2017 rose to eight month high (3.93%
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

 OIC is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member

states.
 Its administrative centre is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
 Turkey currently holds the chairmanship of the organization.
 India is not a member to this organisation.
 The organisation works to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world
in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.
 At the recently held summit in Turkey, it has declared “East Jerusalem” as the
capital of Palestine, rejecting the US stance as “dangerous”.

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana

 The programme was launched to give access to cheap credit to poor and small
fledgling businesspersons with the objective to provide self-employment.
 Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. [MUDRA] is an NBFC
supporting development of micro enterprise sector.
 Under the scheme, loans are given to non-farm income generating enterprises in
manufacturing and trading and services whose credit needs are below Rs.10 lakh.
 MUDRA provides refinance support to Banks / MFIs for lending to micro business.
 Public sector, regional, rural, State and urban cooperative banks to eligible for
refinancing from MUDRA.
 Loans can be availed under three categories
i. Shishu for loans up to Rs.50,000;
ii. Kishor for loans above Rs. 50,000 and up to Rs.5 lakh;
iii. Tarun for loans above Rs.5 lakh and up to Rs.10 lakh.
 Mudra debit cards are issued to borrowers. Using these, they can withdraw the loan
from any ATM in India, as and when they need the money.
 Union government has recently tasked Labour Bureau to carry out the survey to
ascertain the number of jobs created under the scheme

World Inequality Report

 The report is published by World Inequality Lab, based at the Paris School of
Economics, which aims to promote research on global inequality dynamics.
 According to the report, since 1980, 27% of all new income worldwide was
captured by the richest 1%, while the poorest 50% captured only 13% of
growth.
  It has highlighted the inequality prevailing in India and stated that the top 10% of
the earners accounted for 56% of the income earned in 2014.
 The report says that deregulation and opening-up reforms in India since 1980s have
led to substantial increase in inequality.

Sakhi

 National Workshop on Role of Sakhi was recently inaugurated by the Ministry of

Women and Child Development.
 Sakhi is a one-stop centre for providing medical, legal and rehabilitation facilities for
women subjected to any kind of violence.
 These centres are focused to provide integrated support and assistance under one
roof both in private and public spaces in a phased manner.
 It focuses on strengthening of Multi Sectoral Response to violence faced by Women.

World Conference on Vedas

 The conference is being held in New Delhi, inaugurated by Vice President.

 It will have in-depth discussions on de-mystifying various myths and fallacies
surrounding the Vedas and Manu Smriti.
 A special session on the World Parliament and UN's Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and declaration on human rights will be other salient features of the
conference

India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS)

 IBPS aims at setting up business process outsourcing (BPO) units in rural areas to
secure balanced regional growth of the industry.
 It is under the Digital India Programme to create employment opportunities and
promotion of BPO operations.
 The objective is to create opportunities for the youth living in these areas so that
they do not need to migrate to urban clusters.
 It provides capital support along with special incentives up to Rs 1 lakh in the form
of viability gap funding (VGF) to companies to create BPO units.
 Disbursement of financial support under the schemes is directly linked with
employment generation.
  It provides special incentives for employment to women and Divyang, setting up
operations in towns other than capital towns, generating employment beyond target
and promoting local entrepreneurship.
 There are also special provisions for the Himalayan states of Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand
 Metro cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, National
Capital Region (NCR), and Pune, along with their urban agglomeration were
excluded.

SANKALP Project

 Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP)

aimed at providing market relevant training to youths across the country.
 It is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship and supported by World Bank loan assistance.
 It also aims to enhance institutional mechanisms for skills development and
increase access to quality training by setting up a national body for vocational
education - Vocational Education and Training (VET).
 VET shall regulate accreditation and certification in both long and short term
thereby bringing about uniformity in vocational training.
 India has recently signed the loan agreement with World Bank for this project,
which ends in 2023.

Ban on Petcoke

 The Supreme Court relaxed its ban on the use of petroleum coke and allowed cement
and limestone industries to use it.
 The court has earlier urged States and Union Territories to move forward towards a
nationwide ban on the use of petcoke and furnace oil to power up industries in an
attempt to fight pollution.
 The decision to modify its earlier stand is due to government’s stand that petcoke is
used as an ingredient and not as fuel in the cement industry.
 The sulphur is mostly absorbed in the process of cement-making.
 Click here to know more about Petcoke and Furnace oil.

New Island
  The world’s newest island “Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai” was formed during a
volcanic eruption in the remote Pacific three years ago.
 The island rose from the seabed about 65 km northwest of the Tonga capital
Nuku’alofa.
 Scientists expected that the island will last anywhere from six to 30 years due to its
resilience.
 It is mainly because warm sea water combined with ash during the volcanic
explosion to create a concrete-like substance known as “tuff” (a light porous rock).
 Scientists believe that studying the life cycle of this new island will give insights in to
Mars environment, since it is having many similar volcanic islands.

Diphtheria

 Bangladesh has recently launched vaccination drive for Rohingya children against
Diphtheria after suspected outbreak kills nine refugees.
 Diphtheria is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by
the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria.
 It primarily infects the throat and upper airways, and produces a toxin affecting
other organs.
 The toxin causes a membrane of dead tissue to build up over the throat and tonsils,
making breathing and swallowing difficult.
 The disease is spread through direct physical contact or from breathing in the
coughs or sneezes of infected individuals.
 It can be fatal if left untreated, but has become increasingly rare in recent decades
due to high rates of vaccination.
 Diphtheria vaccine is a bacterial toxoid, ie a toxin whose toxicity has been
inactivated.

ASEAN – INDIA Connectivity Summit

 The summit is being organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership

with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
 The summit with the theme “Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for
Asia in the 21st Century” was held in New Delhi.
 Vietnam and Cambodia has participated from the ASEAN side.
 The summit focuses on developing strategies to enhance economic, industrial and
trade relations between ASEAN and India.
 It aims at accelerating prospects through Infrastructure, Roadways, Shipping,
Digital, Finance, Energy and Aviation.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

  India is set to host the 3rd annual meeting of AIIB at Mumbai in 2018.
 The theme of the meeting will be 'Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure:
Innovation and Collaboration”.
 AIIB is a new multilateral financial institution founded to bring countries together
to address the daunting infrastructure needs across Asia.
 The bank has 52 member states with its headquarters at Beijing, China.
 China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders of AIIB.
 United States and Japan are not its members.
 It has authorized capital of US 100 billion dollars and subscribed capital of USD 50
billion.
 It offers sovereign and non-sovereign finance for projects in various sectors with an
interest rate of London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 1.15 % and a
repayment period of 25 years with 5 years in grace period.

Merchant Discount Rate

 MDR is the fee a merchant pays to Bank for providing debit and credit card services.
 It compensates the bank issuing the card, the bank which puts up the swiping
machine (Point-of-Sale or PoS terminal) and network providers such as Mastercard
or Visa for their services.
 The charges are usually shared in a pre-agreed proportion between them.
 RBI specifies the maximum MDR charges that can be levied on every card
transaction.
 As per RBI rules, the merchant must pay the MDR out of his earnings and cannot
pass it on to the customer.
 As per the recent RBI notification, with effect from January 2018, small
merchants will pay a maximum MDR of 0.40 per cent of the bill value
and others will pay 0.90 per cent.
 RBI has also set a monetary cap at Rs. 200 per bill for small merchants
and Rs. 1,000 for large ones.
 Small merchants are defined as those with a turnover of up to Rs.20
lakh in the previous year.

Retail Inflation

 Retail inflation is measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as the base
year.
 CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of
consumer goods and services that are consumed by the average consumer.
  It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the basket of goods.
 It is released by Central Statistics Office in 3 categories such as CPI rural, CPI urban
and CPI combined.
 CPI combined rises by 1.30 per cent in November to 4.88 over the previous month.

Institute of Eminence

 Government has recently approved the enabling regulatory architecture for

Institutions of Eminence to enable them to reach top 100 in world institutions
ranking.
 Institutions of Eminence comprise 10 public and 10 private educational institutions.
 They have complete freedom to decide the curricula, hire domestic and foreign
faculty and fix a fee structure of their choice.
 These institutions are expected to make into top 500 world rankings in a decade.
 The institutions which are among top 50 in the National Institute Ranking
Framework are allowed to apply for this scheme.

World Economic Situation and Prospects Report

 The report is a jointly published by the United Nations Department of

Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
 This year report marks the 70th anniversary of the publication.
 It is the flagship report on the state of global economy.
 The report highlights that, global economic growth reached 3 per cent in 2017, the
highest growth rate since 2011.
 It states that, India is set to see the growth accelerating to 7.2% in 2018-19 and 7.4%
in 2019-20, up from the 6.7% in 2017-18.

UN-DESA

 UN-DESA is based at UN Headquarters in New York.

 It is an entity of the UN Secretariat responsible for economic, social and
environmental issues.
 It promotes international cooperation in the pursuit of sustainable development.
 It helps countries individually and regionally to formulate and implement national
development strategies.
 Its in-depth policy analysis has helped resolve many of the world’s most pressing
socio-economic issues.
  It publishes “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017”, which is the
annual assessment of global and regional progress towards the Goals.

UNCTAD

 It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and part of the UN Secretariat.

 It is a part of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG).
 It was formed specifically to handle the problems of developing countries dealing
with trade, investment and development issues.
 Other reports published by UNCTAD – Trade and Development Report,
World Investment Report, The Least Developed Countries Report,
Information and Economy Report, Technology and Innovation Report
and Commodities and Development Report.

United Nations Development Group (UNDG)?

Laqshya Initiative

 Government of India has recently launched Laqshya - Labour Room Quality

Improvement Initiative.
 Its objective is to reduce preventable maternal and new-born mortality, morbidity
and stillbirths by improving the quality of care provided in the labour room.
 It will be implemented in Government Medical Colleges besides District Hospitals,
and Sub- District Hospitals and Community Health Centres.
 The initiative plans to conduct quality certification of labour rooms and also
incentivize facilities achieving the targets outlined.

First NIC-CERT
  National Informatics Centre (NIC) provides nationwide common ICT infrastructure
consisting of national and state “Data Centres” to support e-Governance services to
the citizen.
 National Knowledge Network (NKN) has been set up to connect
institutions/organizations carrying out R&D, Higher Education and Governance
with speed of the order of multi Gigabits per second.
 Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is under the Ministry of Electronics
and Information Technology.
 It has been designated to serve as the national agency to collect, analyse and
disseminate information on cyber incidents.
 Country’s first NIC-CERT has been recently setup that will monitor, detect and
prevent cyber attacks on government networks
 It uses various tools to gather intelligence to identify vulnerabilities and possible
exploits thereby predicting cyber incidents.

Ranganadi Hydroelectric Dam

 It is the Run-of-the-River (ROR) dam constructed on Ranganadi River in Arunachal

Pradesh.
 ROR is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is
provided.
 Substantial flooding of the upper part of the river is not required for run-of-river
projects as a large reservoir is not required.
 It does not require the formation of a reservoir thus eliminating the methane and
carbon dioxide emissions.
 The Emissions are generally caused by the decomposition of organic matter in the
reservoir of a conventional hydro-electric dam.

Degradation of Plastic Bags

 A recent study has found that the plastic wastes which find its way to ocean are
being shredded by marine organisms in to microplastics.
 The marine wildlife is actually contributing to the spread of microplastics within the
marine environment.
 A marine organism “Orchestia Gammarellus”, an amphibod found in the coastal
areas of Northern and Western Europe involved in breaking up of the plastic bags
into microplastics.
 Scientists examined the rate at which plastics were broken down by the marine
organism.
  They also found that the type of plastic such as conventional, degradable and
biodegradable had no effect on the rate of ingestion by the organism.
 Amphibod – They are microscopic Crustaceans inhabiting all parts of the sea, lakes,
rivers, sand beaches, caves, and moist (warm) habitats on many tropical islands.

Asset Stripping

 It refers to the practice of buying an ongoing business with the aim of selling off its
individual assets to buyers in the open market.
 It usually happens when a business as an ongoing entity is no longer able to operate
profitably and add value to its existing shareholders.
 Instead of incurring even more losses, it might be a better option for the
shareholders to simply sell off its assets and realize its value.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

 It is a paramilitary force that works under the command of the Union Home
Ministry.
 The CISF security consultancy wing was raised in 1999 which provide expert advice
over 150 institutions such as IITs, IIMs, RBI etc.
 It earns revenue through this service by charging consultancy fee.
 Recently, it has extended its special consultancy wing services to the schools across
the country to protect school children.
 It will provide security suggestions to organizations and agencies to strengthen
safety and security features.

Hambantota Port

 Hambantota port is located in southern province of Sri Lanka.

 It was formally handed over to China on a 99-year lease.
 The lease is accordance to repay the $8 billion loan that the country owes to
China.
 China Merchants Port Holdings Company and the Sri Lanka ports Authority will
own the port and the investment zone around the port.
 The port city is twinned with Chinese city of Guangzhou since 2007.
 Twin towns are a form of legal or social agreement between towns, cities, provinces,
regions, states, and even countries in geographically and politically distinct areas.
  It is intended to foster friendship and understanding between different cultures as
an act of peace and reconciliation and to encourage trade and tourism.

World Heritage Tag

 The Telangana government is planning to send a proposal to UNESCO to get “World

Heritage Site” tag for Hyderabad.
 Monuments which will be included in the file are Charminar, Golconda and Qutb
Shahi Tombs.
 Charminar was built by Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th Sultan, Qutub Shahi
Dynasty in 1591.
 Golconda fort was first built by kakatiya dynasty and later ceded to Bahmani
sultanate in 1364.
 Qutb Shahi dynasty of Bahmani sultanate expanded the fort which was finally came
under Mughal ruler Aurangazeb.
 Qutb Shahi tombs are located in Ibrahim Bagh close to Golconda fort.

Waste management and pollution exchange platform

 India is set to launch its first waste management and pollution exchange and trading
platform.
 London based leading provider of exchange technology will collaborate with the
Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (CGanga) will to launch this
Platform.
 It will address the waste management and pollution related problems in the Ganga
river basin, which is a part of the Ganga clean-up initiative.
 The exchange solution will include technology to deliver market data, warehouse
receipts, finance and trading, including auctions, quoting and continuous trading
facilities.

CGanga

 CGanga is the new think-tank formed under the aegis of NMCG (National Mission
for Clean Ganga).
 Its stated objectives is to make India a world leader in river and water science.
 It is responsible for introducing new technologies, innovations and solutions into
India.
  The Centre is headquartered at IIT Kanpur and represents leading science and
technological institutes of the country.

Day Zero

 Weekly reports on water levels in the dams that supply Cape Town capital of South
Africa, terms “Day Zero”.
 It is the day when most taps could stop running and in South Africa it is expected to
probably arrive in May 2018.
 The severity of the crisis, brought on by three years of poor rains and surging water
demand.
 In a bid to curb water consumption, the city has banned residents from watering
their gardens and washing their cars, shut most public swimming pools.

Polyamory

 It is a practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of all the
people involved.
 Its definition is often expanded as consensual, ethical, and responsible non-
monogamy which is different from polyandry and polygamy.
 The polyamorous group or Polycules is committed to every one of its members,
mentally and physically.
 This society is distantly related to the Gond people, an indigenous tribal people still
living in central India.

Excitonium

 Scientists have proven the existence of new form of matter called Excitonium, which
was first theorised almost 50 years ago.
 There are five known phases of matter - solids, liquids, gases, plasma and Bose-
Einstein condensates, Excitonium is a condensate.
 Excitonium is made up of particles known as excitons, which are made from an
escaped electron.
 Excitonium exhibits phenomena like a superconductor.

Wassenaar Arrangement
  Click here to know about Wassenaar Arrangement.
 India has been admitted as the 42nd member of Wassenaar Arrangement.
 Members are admitted based on the consensus of the existing members.
 A country must also meet certain criteria such as compliance to a range of global
non-proliferation treaties including NPT to get admitted to the arrangement.
 U.S backed the admission of India in the aftermath of signing of civil nuclear
cooperation in 2005.
 Barring China, all permanent members of UNSC are signatories.
 Upon becoming the member, India will get access to high technology which will help
address the demands of Indian Space and defence sectors.
 It will also boost India’s chances of joining Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
 Earlier this year, India had updated its export control lists to bring them in line with
international standards, including those required by the Wassenaar Arrangement.

Global Compact for Migration

 It is the first intergovernmental negotiated agreement under the auspices of UN to

cover all dimensions of migration.
 The agreement was signed in the UNGA by adopting a non-binding political
declaration “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants” in 2016.
 The declaration pledged to uphold the rights of refugees, help them resettle and
ensure they have access to education.
 All the 193 member countries of UNGA became the part global pact for migration.
 It is framed consistent with target 10.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
 Under the agenda, member States committed to cooperate internationally to
facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration.
 United States has recently withdrawn from this pact, saying that the declaration is
inconsistent with its policies.

Trachoma

 It is a chronic infective disease of the eye and a leading cause of corneal blindness in
India, affecting young children.
 It is caused by poor environmental and personal hygiene and inadequate access to
water and sanitation.
 According to the National Trachoma Survey Report (2014-17), India has become free
from Trachoma with an overall prevalence found to be only 0.7%, much below the
criteria set by WHO.
 According to WHO, active trachoma is considered eliminated if the prevalence of
active infection among children below 10 years is less than 5%.
  Trachoma is no longer a public health problem in India.
 The disease is found to be affecting the population in certain pockets of north Indian
states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the Nicobar
Islands.

World’s largest free-trade Agreement

 The European Union and Japan concluded negotiations on a free-trade deal to

create the world's largest open economic area.
 It will remove EU tariffs of 10 per cent tariffs on Japanese cars and the 3 per cent
rate typically applied to car parts.

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

 The convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage was adopted by
UNESCO in the year 2003.
 It acknowledges cultural heritage also encompasses tradition and living expression
in addition to tangible places, monuments and objects.
 The 12th session of Intergovernmental committee for the safeguarding of the
Intangible Heritage is being held at South Korea.
 In this session, the committee has added “Kumbh Mela” as an intangible heritage.
 Kumbh Mela is the largest congregation of pilgrims in the planet, held once in every
12 years in 4 places - Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik.
 It represents a syncretic set of rituals related to worship and ritual cleansing in holy
rivers in India.
 It is the third inscription to the list in the two years following the addition of “Yoga”
and “Norouz” last year

ther Intangible cultural Heritage from India

 Ramlila- the traditional performance of the Ramayana

 Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
 Tradition of Vedic Chanting
 Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas.
 Chhau dance
 Kalbelia folk dance and songs of Rajasthan
 Mudiyettu,ritual theatre and dance drama of kerala.
 The Buddhist chanting of Ladakh
 Sankirtana –the ritual singing, drumming, and dancing of Manipur
 The traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of
Jandiala Guru, Punjab.
  Yoga and Norouz

Up gradation in IUCN list

 IUCN has recently upgraded the status of two kiwi birds from “Endangered” to
“Vulnerable”.
 The two species are the northern brown kiwi and the rowi kiwi.
 They are flightless birds found in New Zealand.
 The conservation of these species was taken care by the New Zealand government
for the past 25 years under “Kiwi Recovery Plan”.
 It mainly involved predator (dogs, feral cats) control which is the biggest threat for
the survival of kiwis.
 The plan also has community engagement and operation Nest Egg to improve the
juvenile survival rates.
 Kiwis lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any bird species.
 The upgrade in the status came after the steady increase in its population.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)

 Mission Indradhanush (MI) was launched to vaccinate children against life

threatening diseases.
 It focuses on unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children in the pockets of low
immunization coverage in high risk and hard to reach areas.
 IMI aims to reach each and every child under two years of age and all those pregnant
women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme.
 IMI focus on 190 districts across 24 states with an objective of 90% full
immunization coverage in those areas by Dec, 2018.
 IMI was launched in Oct, 2017 at Vadnagar, Gujaarat.
 Vaccines against Tuberculosis, Poliomyelitis, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria,
Pertussis, Tetanus and Measles are provided in all covered areas.
 In few selected states and districts, vaccines are also provided against
Haemophilus influenzae type B and Japanese Encephalitis.

Operation Sahayam
  It is an Indian Navy exercise for undertaking search and rescue operation and
providing Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) in the south east Arabian Sea
and Lakshadweep islands in the aftermath of Cyclone OCKHI.

Nuclear Suppliers’ Group

 NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear

proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that
can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
 It was founded in response to the Indian nuclear test in May 1974.
 As of now, the NSG has 48 members with European Commission and the Zangger
Committee Chair participates as observers.
 The NSG Chair for 2017-2018 is Switzerland.
 The NSG Guidelines contain “Non-Proliferation Principle,” adopted in 1994.
 It means a supplier, notwithstanding other provisions in the NSG Guidelines,
authorises a transfer only when satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to
the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
 India has been pursuing member countries of NSG to become a member but its
entry is being opposed by China, New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey and Austria.

International Tourism Mart

 It is being organized by the Union Ministry of Tourism in association with North

Eastern States.
 This year, the 6th International Tourism Mart is organized at Guwahati, Assam.
 It is organised in the North Eastern States on rotation basis.
 The earlier editions of this mart have been held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong,
Gangtok and Imphal.
 It is organized with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region
in the domestic and international markets.
 It will put the spotlight on India’s “Act East Policy”, blossoming ties with ASEAN
and the larger East Asia region.

National Green Tribunal

 Click here to know more about NGT.

 Current rules require that every Bench of the NGT consist of “two or more” members
and made up of at least one judicial and one expert member.
 However, a recent notification from the Union Environment Ministry has relaxed
this requirement.
 It has allowed the Chairperson of NGT to constitute single member benches.
  The notification was issued following the SC criticized the union government for not
filling up vacancies in the NGT principal and zonal benches.

Ichamati River

 It is a transboundary river in West Bengal which flows through India and

Bangladesh.
 It forms the international border between India and Bangladesh for 21 kilometres.
 The Mathabhanga River originates in Bangladesh and it bifurcates near Nadia
in West Bengal in to Ichamati and Churni.
 Ichhamati River and its branches form a large oxbow lake complex near
Bangaon in North 24-Paraganas district.
 The river is facing the problem of siltation leading to thin flow of water in the dry
season and floods in the rainy season.
Akash Missile

 Akash is an indigenously developed medium-range, surface-to-air

missile defence system.
 It can target aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 m.
 It consists of Rohini radar that detects incoming aircraft with a range of 120 km.
 It can intercept fighter jets, cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles.
 Recently, it was test fired with an indigenous radio frequency seeker.
 This is the first surface-to-air missile with indigenous seeker that has been test fired.
 With this success, India has achieved the capability of making any type of surface-to-
air missile
 This missile is being inducted into Army as Short Range Surface to Air Missile
(SRSAM).

Gulf Cooperation Council

 The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional political and economic alliance of six Gulf
States.
 Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are the
member countries.
 It is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
 Its aim is to achieve ever closer union between the energy rich Gulf countries.
 The UAE has recently announced that it has formed a new economic and
partnership group with Saudi Arabia, separate from the GCC.
 This move could undermine the popularity of GCC.

Soil Health Card Scheme

 Soil Health Card scheme was launched in 2015 in Rajasthan.

 The card informs farmers about nutrients status of the soils along with the
recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to improve soil health and
fertility.
 The card will be issued once in every 2 years to a farm so that nutrients deficiency
can be regularly detected and improved.
 The aim is to provide Soil Health Card to all 120 million farm holdings by Dec, 2017.
 In the first phase of the scheme (2015-17), 100 million SHC have been distributed.
 The second phase began on May 1, 2017, and will continue for the year 2017 to 2019.
 This scheme is being implemented in collaboration with State Governments.
 Every year World Soil Day is celebrated on 5th December
International Solar Alliance

 The ISA is an Indian initiative, jointly launched by India and France in Paris, on the
sidelines of COP-21, the UN Climate Conference.
 It has recently become a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization
with the ratification by Guinea as the 15th country.
 It aims to channel $300 billion in 10 years to promote renewable energy projects
under a global mega fund for clean energy.
 The framework agreement was opened for signatures in the 22nd session of the UN
Climate Change Conference held at Marrakech, Morocco in 2016.
 So far, 46 countries have signed and 19 countries have ratified the Framework
Agreement of ISA.
 The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being set up in National
Institute of Solar Energy, Gurgaon.
 Further, ISA has also been developing a Common Risk Mitigating Mechanism
(CRMM) for de-risking and reducing the financial cost of solar projects in the ISA
member countries.

Panchteerth

 Union government has decided to develop five places “Panchteerth” in honor of

Babasaheb Dr. B.R.Ambedkar.
 It includes,

1. His birthplace (Janma Bhoomi) in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh

2. Dr.Ambedkar Memorial in London where he stayed while studying in U.K
3. ‘Deeksha Bhoomi’ in Nagpur, where he took education
4. ‘Mahaparinirvan Sthal’ in Delhi
5. ‘Chaitya Bhoomi’ in Mumbai.

First Battery Back-up Project

 Andhra Pradesh is planning to develop a 160 MW solar-wind hybrid project with

battery back-up facility.
 This is the first such project to be developed in the country.
 World Bank is going to fund this project in Anantapur district in AP.
 Hybrid solar-wind solutions are almost exclusively used to generate electricity.
 120 MW of energy will be from Solar and 40 MW from wind turbines.
 The energy generated by solar and wind turbines will be stored in the hydrogen
battery instead of transferring it to grid.
Flink

 Functional Living Ink (Flink) is a new printing material developed by scientists from
Switzerland.
 Flink contains different bacteria as ink which makes it possible to print objects with
biochemical properties.
 It allows printing using different inks containing different species of bacteria at
different concentrations in order to produce objects exhibiting several properties.
 The ink is composed of a biocompatible hydrogel along with bacteria to give it a
structure.
 The culture medium for the bacteria is mixed into the ink so that the bacteria have
all the prerequisites for life.

Survey on Employment

 Currently, there is no fixed definition for “formal” workers.

 The formal workers definition is highly restrictive which exclude many workers who
have decent and steady jobs but either do not work in large enough enterprises or do
not have written contracts.
 Thus a task force led by ex-vice chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya was
formed.
 The task force called for a fresh definition of formal employment to include any
person who gets a Form 16 reflecting income tax deductions at source.
 The plan is to include workers covered under any one of The Employees’ State
Insurance Act, 1948 and miscellaneous provision Act 1952, government and other
public sector employees, workers having coverage under private insurance or
pension schemes of PFs.

Netra

 Netra is the first indigenously built Airborne Early Warning and Control System
(AEW&C) developed by DRDO.
 It is light-weight autonomous UAV for long range surveillance and reconnaissance
operations.
 This radar system is mounted on Embraer aircraft which gives 240-degree coverage
of airspace.
 It helps to detect and track aircraft, missiles, ships and vehicles.
 The other countries which have developed AEW&C are United States, Russia and
Israel.
 For the first time, an IL-78 refueller aircraft has recently carried out air-to-air
refuelling of the Embraer aircraft.
 Air-to-air refuelling allows the aircraft to stay airborne much beyond their limits,
allowing better exploitation of capabilities.
IL-78 Refueller Aircraft

 It is a multi-purpose four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Russia.

 The IAF is one of the few air forces in the world to operate mid-air refuellers. It now
operates six Russian IL-78 refuellers.
 The name of the air-to-air refuelling method is ‘Probe and Drogue’.

Siddu

 Siddu is a name given to the new genetic variation of Jack Fruit.

 It has lycopene content of 2mg per 100 gm of pulp, as against 0.2 mg in normal
varieties.
 It is also rich in anti-oxidants.

Ethereum

 Ethereum is similar to Bitcoin in the sense that they are both open-source platforms
based on blockchain technology.
 These decentralised payment network with its own cryptographic currency, allows
anonymous payments without the need for a bank or other third party.
 Ether is the digital currency of the ethereum blockchain and it is the second-largest
cryptocurrency after bitcoin.
 But while Bitcoin is limited to using blockchain technology for Bitcoin payments,
Ethereum can also be used to build decentralised computational platforms.
 Ethereum technology allows for third party applications, not just the currency, to
run on the network.
 It allows a number of apps to be built and it is also being used by start-ups to raise
money with initial coin offering.

Kamov 226T

 India and Russia had signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) earlier this year
to buy Kamov 226T helicopters.
 Under the agreement, India will buy few choppers off the shelf and remaining will be
fully built in India.
 The Kamov 226T is a twin-engine light but multi-role chopper offers services for
both military and civilian purposes.
 The helicopters will replace India's ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak.
 The military version of 226T is capable of working in extreme and difficult weather
conditions and can be used effectively for reconnaissance, targeting and monitoring
of transportation.
  The helicopter has a maximum speed of 250 km/hour and a cruise speed of 220
km/hour with maximum takeoff weight of 3,600 kg.
 The helicopters will now be built completely using digital technology as part
of the pilot project.
 It is the first experience to create a new helicopter modification by using only
software.

Chabahar Port

 The first phase of the chabahar port project known as the “Shahid Beheshti port”
was inaugurated recently.
 It opens up a new strategic transit route between Iran, India and Afghanistan,
bypassing Pakistan under the 2016 Indo-Afghan-Iran trilateral pact.
 The port lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western
coast.
 India is also constructing a railway line between Chabahar and Zahedan to connect
the port to rest of the Iranian railway network.
 It is further to be linked with Delaram-Zaranj road, built by India in Afghanistan
that connects at Afghan-Iran border via rail through Zahedan.

 The port, through Zahedan railway network, could also be linked with the
International North South Transport Corridor connecting India with Russia.
 Over a month ago, India sent its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan by sea
through the Chabahar port, marking opening of the new strategic transit route.

India & CITES

 India has been awarded with the Certificate of Commendation from CITES for its
regional and global effort to combat illegal wildlife trade.
 It was given to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).
 India is the only recipient of this Certificate of Commendation at the 69th Standing
Committee meeting of CITES at Geneva.
 WCCB conducted and coordinated a species specific wildlife enforcement Operation,
codenamed Operation Save Kurma.
 The operation aims to combat the proliferating illegal trade in live turtles and its
parts from the country to destinations abroad.

CITES
  CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and
animals.
 It is also known as the Washington Convention.
 Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants
does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild.
 It accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and
plants.
 Participation is voluntary, and countries that have agreed to be bound by the
Convention are known as Parties.
 Presently, 183 countries across the world are signatory to the Convention.
 Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, it does not take the place of
national laws.
 Rather it provides a framework respected by each Party, which must adopt their own
domestic legislation to implement CITES at the national level.

International Maritime Organisation

 Click here to know more about International Maritime Organisation.

 In its 30th session of IMO held in London, India has been re-elected to the council of
IMO under “Category B”.
 The IMO council consists of 40 members in which category A consists of 10
members, category B – 10 members and category C – 20 members.
 The council plays a crucial role to play in deciding various important matters in
relation to the global shipping industry.
 India has had the privilege of being elected to and serving the council of the IMO,
ever since it started functioning, except for two years during 1983-1984.
 India is a party to 34 IMO Conventions and protocols.
 It is currently in the advanced stage of ratifying Ballast Water Convention and
Bunker Convention.

Ballast Water Convention

 Ballast water management convention was adopted in IMO in 2004.

 It came into force in September, 2017.
 The convention aims to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic organisms from one
region to another.
 It establishes standards and procedures for the management and control of ships'
ballast water and sediments.
 All ships in international traffic are required to manage their ballast water and
sediments to a certain standard according to the management plan.

Bunker Convention
  The convention was adopted in 2001 and came into force in 2008.
 Its aim is to ensure that adequate, prompt, and effective compensation is available
to persons who suffer damage caused by spills of oil, when carried as fuel in ships'
bunkers.
 It applies to damage caused on the territory, including the territorial sea, and in
exclusive economic zones of States Parties.
 It is modeled on the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution
Damage, 1969.
 Upon ratification, it applies to an Indian vessel, wherever it is situated, and to a
foreign flag vessel while it is within Indian jurisdiction.

Kapu Reservation Bill

 The Kapu community, with 27 per cent population in the state of Andhra Pradesh,
has been demanding reservations for decades.
 In 2016, Manjunath Commission was set up to recommend quota for Kapus and it
has submitted its report.
 The Kapu reservation bill was recently passed by the assembly, providing 5% quota
in education and employment in the state.
 The kapu, Telaga, Balija and ontari communities would get the quota under the new
cateogory ‘F’.
 There will be no political quota, meaning no reservation in political posts or
positions.
 With this reservation, it will take the total quota in the state to 55 per cent, which is
more than 50 per cent limit restricted by the Supreme Court.
 Thus it makes the central government nod necessary for inclusion in the Schedule
IX of the constitution.
 The existing quota for Backward Communities remains unaffected.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

 It is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the SARS coronavirus.

 It leads to shortness of breath and/or pneumonia.
 The only symptom common to all patients appears to be a fever above 38 °C (100
°F).
 There is no vaccine for SARS and no cases have been reported worldwide since
2004.
 According to WHO, SARS affected regions include China, Hong Kong, Singapore
and Canada.
 Recently, Chinese virologists have found the origins of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
 A single population of horseshoe bats in a cave in Yunnan province in China caused
the outbreak.

oastal Shipping Agreement

  Member Countries of BIMSTEC recently discussed the draft text of Coastal Shipping
Agreement drafted by the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.
 It would apply to coastal shipping (i.e) shipping within 20 nautical miles of the
coastline.
 The objective is to facilitate coastal shipping by promoting lot of cargo movement
between the member countries through the cost effective, environment friendly and
faster coastal shipping routing.
 It is expected to give a boost to trade between the member countries.
 Coastal ship movements require smaller vessels and lesser draft, and therefore,
involve lower costs.
 BIMSTEC grouping - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and
Thailand

Sharavathi Project

 Sharavathi Project is a pumped storage scheme planned by Karnataka Power

Corporation.
 It involves constructing an upstream reservoir across one of the tributary of
Sharavathi River.
 There will be one underground power station which will utilise the water from the
upstream and downstream reservoir for power generation with a capacity of 2000
MW of electricity.
 The underground pipeline connects two reservoirs such as Talakalale and
Gerusoppa reservoir. And a power plant is situated underneath a reserve forest.

 The forest comes between the sharavathi wildlife sanctuary near Jog forest reserve
and Aghanashini Lion Tailed Macaque conservation reserve.
  It got pre-construction clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests

Pumped Storage Scheme

 Pumped storage hydro plants store and generate energy by moving water between
two reservoirs at different elevations.
 During times of low electricity demand, such as at night or on weekends, excess
energy is used to pump water to an upper reservoir.
 The turbine acts as a pump, moving water back uphill.
 During periods of high electricity demand, the stored water is released through
turbines.
 A pumped-storage plant works much like a conventional hydroelectric station,
except the same water can be used over and over again.

Floating Solar Power Plant

 India’s largest floating solar power plant project at the Banasura Sagar Dam in
Wayanad district is completed and going to be commissioned soon.
 It has the generating capacity of 500 Kilo watt and it will be fed to the Kerala State
Electricity Board grid using underground cables.
 It can be more efficient than their ground-mount counterparts due to the water
body’s cooling effect on the modules.
 They collect less dust which cuts down on maintenance and they also preserve water
levels through shading.
 Earlier in the year NETRA (NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance), installed a
100kW floating solar plant at Kayamkulam, which is also in Kerala.

Frequent cyclones in Arabian Sea

 A recent study by researchers has found that extremely severe cyclones are
becoming more frequent in the Arabian Sea.
 Researchers pointed global warming as a reason for increasing frequency of
cyclones.
 Normally, Arabian Sea sees one extremely severe cyclone in every 4 years.
 Cyclones in Arabian Sea –

1. 1998 – 2013 - Only 5 extremely severe cyclones

2. 2014 - Cyclone Nilofar hitting Gujarat.
3. 2015 – Two cyclones Chapala and Megh hitting the Yemeni island of Socotra.
 4. 2017 – Cyclone Ockhi.

 There are two factors contributed to the increased severity of Arabian Sea cyclones,
particularly post-monsoon.
 First, Arabian Sea surface becomes warmer than the other ocean basins during this
period.
 Second, due to the interplay of global warming, climate variability and weather
changes, winter monsoon circulation has been weakening over the years

yclone OCKHI

 A cyclonic Storm “OCKHI” is formed over Comorin area in South Kerala Coast.
 It is very likely to move west-northwest wards towards Lakshadweep Islands.
 The cyclone warning has been issued to South Kerala, adjoining districts of south
Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep Islands.

Stages of Cyclone Warning

 The cyclone warnings are issued to state government officials in four stages.
 The first stage warning known as "Pre Cyclone Watch" contains early warning about
the development of a cyclonic disturbance.
 The second stage warning known as "Cyclone Alert" contains information on the
location and intensity of the storm and coastal districts likely to experience adverse
weather, advice to fishermen, general public, media and disaster managers.
 The third stage warning known as "Cyclone Warning” forecasts likely point and time
of landfall.
 The fourth stage of warning known as "Post Landfall Outlook" forecasts expected
time of landfall.

Stage of Warning Time Colour Code

Cyclone Alert Issued at least 48 hrs in advance. Yellow
Cyclone Warning issued at least 24 hours in advance. Orange
Post landfall out look Issued at least 12 hours in advance Red.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme

 The government in consultation with the RBI, had floated Series III of Sovereign
Gold Bond.
 The bonds are to be issued by RBI.
  They will be restricted for sale to resident Indian entities including individuals,
HUFs, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions.
 They will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.
 Recently, RBI has increased the maximum investment to 4 kg (from 500g) for
individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and 20 kg for Trusts.
 The interest rate is fixed at the rate of 2.50% per annum.
 The tenor of the bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option from 5th year.
 The interest on Gold Bonds shall be taxable.
 The capital gains tax arising to an individual on redemption of SGB has been
exempted.
 Bonds can be used as collateral for loans and are eligible for Statutory Liquidity
Ratio purposes in Banks.

Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC)

 SFAC is an exclusive Society of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.

 It focused on increasing incomes of small and marginal farmers through aggregation
and development of agribusiness.
 It is implementing the National Agriculture Market Electronic Trading (e-Nam)
platform.
 The purpose is to provide for a single unified market for agricultural products with
much higher price discovery for farmers.
 It implements Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme to Farmer Producer Companies
to improve availability of working capital and development of business activities.
 It promotes development of small agribusiness through its Venture Capital
Assistance Scheme for value added processing and marketing linkages.

Stopping Malaria Germs from Invasion

 Plasmodium falciparum is the parasite that causes malaria in humans.

 P. falciparum invades Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and replicate inside them. It is during
the blood stage of infection that malaria occurs.
 Recently, Researchers, for the first time, deciphered a multiprotein complex that is
involved in the invasion of RBCs by the parasite.
 They have also identified a peptide molecule that can effectively prevent the
interaction between malaria parasites and receptors found on RBCs.
 The peptide molecule targets a specific receptor “cyclophilin B” found on the surface
of RBCs to prevent the invasion of the parasite.
 Cyclophilin B is used by the parasites to bind to the cells and causing the malaria.

Preserving India’s Heritage City

  Ahmedabad has been declared India’s first World Heritage City by the World
Heritage Committee of UNESCO.
 But it is facing difficulties in defending its tag of world heritage city due to pollution.
 Ahmedabad's conservation committee has 3 years to document close to 3,000
buildings of heritage value to strict UNESCO standards.
 The committee has also the responsibility to show that the decline and destruction
in the city is slowing over the years.
 If the deadline is missed, UNESCO may revoke or downgrade Ahmedabad's listing
to "heritage in danger".
 UNESCO experts have been warning that the city lacked a convincing plan for
protecting its ancient citadels, mosques and tombs.

Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)

 Recently new Chief Election Commissioner was appointed by President of India.

 At present, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is a three-member body, with
one Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (EC).
 Under Article 324(2) of the Constitution of India, the President of India is
empowered to appoint the CEC and the ECs.
 Article 324(2) also empowers the President of India to fix from time to time the
number of Election Commissioners other than the CEC.
 When any other election commissioner is so appointed the CEC shall act as the
chairman of the election commission.
 All Election commissioners have equal powers and receive equal salary
allowances and other perquisites which are similar to those of a judge of the
Supreme Court.
 If the CEC and other ECs differ in opinion on any matter, such matter shall be
decided by according to the opinion of the majority
 The CEC or an EC holds office for a term of six years from the date on which he
assumes his office or until he attains the age of 65 years before the expiry of six
years term.
 Apart from other election commissioners CEC is provided with security of tenure he
can be removed from his office only on the basis resolution passed in parliament
with special majority in both the houses (Impeachment process).
 Key points to remember

1. The constitution has not prescribed the qualifications (legal, educational,

administrative or judicial) for the CEC or any other members of Election
commission.
2. The constitution has not debarred the retiring election commissioners from any
further appointment by the government.
5G technology

 Union telecom ministry had announced 5G technology will be rolled out from 2020.
 5G promises ultra-reliable, very fast speeds and high bandwidth mobile connectivity
and supports massive interconnected devices spread across wide areas like Internet
of things (IoT).
 5G provides peak speeds of 20 times, compared with 4G.
 This would entail accelerating the BharatNet programme for deploying connectivity
infrastructures.

Bharat Net

 BharatNet project was establish in 2017, to provide digital infrastructure on a non-

discriminatory basis by an affordable broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps
for all households.
 The entire project is being funded by Universal service Obligation Fund
(USOF), which was set up for improving telecom services in rural and remote areas
of the country.
 The objective is to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-
banking, Internet and other services to the rural India.

NASA’s Kilopower Project

 NASA has invented a small nuclear reactor Kilopower, It can generate a reliable
power supply by using uranium-235 reactor core.
 This power system could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power enough to
run two average households continuously for at least 10 years.
 This reactor will be used for electronic propulsion systems and for providing safe
and plentiful energy for future robotic and human missions for Mars and beyond.

Credit scores

 A credit score determines how creditworthy a person is and helps banks and
financial institutions decide on loans.
 In India, the scores are issued by credit reporting agencies such as CIBIL, Equifax,
Experian, Etc.
 These agencies are regulated by the RBI and collect data from banks on their loans
and come up with credit scores through use of algorithms.
 The data is updated frequently. Credit scores in India range from 300-900.
  A credit report may be obtained for free once a year from every credit reporting
agency.

Forest Helpline

 Maharashtra government has launched 24X7 forest helpline number“1926”.

 This helpline number can be used to lodge complaints or get information about a
variety of issues related to forests and wildlife.
 This is the first of its kind in the country to address the general and emergency
queries of the citizens regarding forest department.

Hansa Jivraj Mehta

 Hansa Jivraj Mehta a social activist served in theconstituent assembly from 1946-
1949, was a Padma Bhushan awardee.
 She was amember of the Fundamental rights sub-committee, theadvisory committee
and the provincial constitutionalcommittee.
 Hansa Mehta’s mostsignificant contribution to the constituent assemblydebates was
in trying to make the Uniform Civil Code(UCC) a justiciable part of the constitution.
 She also served as a member of the UN subcommitteeon the United National
Declarationof Human Rights committee.
 She successfully championed her cause changing thephrase in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,from “All men are born free and equal” to “All
humanbeings are born free and equal.”

First investment for NIIF

 Recently a Dubai based marine firm DP World has partnered with NIIF to create an
investment platform for ports, terminals, transportation and logistics businesses in
India.
 National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is set-up to function as a major
platform in India for attracting foreign investments to fund stalled infra
projects.
 The NIIF is being operationalized by establishing three Alternative Investment
Funds (AIFs) under the SEBI Regulations.

1. The proposed corpus of NIIF is Rs. 40,000 Crores (around USD 6 Billion).
2. GOI’s contribution to the AIFs under the NIIF scheme shall be 49% of the
total commitment.
 3. NIIF has mandate to solicit equity participation from strategic anchor partners, like
overseas sovereign/quasi-sovereign/multilateral/bilateral investors.

nternational Dam Safety Conference

 India will be hosting the International Dam Safety Conference 2018 at

Thiruvananthapuram on January 23-24.
 Central Water Commission is organizing the event in association with Kerala state
government.
 Dam safety conferences is an annual event under the Dam Safety Rehabilitation and
Improvement Project (DRIP) project, the conferences will be conducted in DRIP
states.
 The key recommendations emerging from the deliberations of the conference will be
circulated to stakeholders as well as policy makers for implementation.

DHARMA App

 Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA) will be

launched during the international dam safety conference.
 The app will serve as a web tool to digitize all dam related data effectively.
 It will help to document authentic asset and health information pertaining to the
large dams in the country, enabling appropriate actions to ensure need based
rehabilitation.

DRIP

 Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) was implemented by Ministry

of Water Resources (MoWR) with assistance from the World Bank.
 The Central Dam Safety Organisation of Central Water Commission is coordinating
and supervising the Project implementation.
 The main objectives of DRIP are

1. To improve the safety and performance of selected (223 dams across 7 different
states) existing dams in a sustainable manner.
 2. To strengthen the dam safety institutional setup in participating states as well as at
central level.

 The Seven DRIP States includes Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand.

CWC

 Central Water Commission is a technical organization functioning under the

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
 The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating,
coordinating and furthering in consultation about the water resources to the
concerned state governments.
 Central Water Commission CWC is headed by a Chairman, with the status of Ex-
Officio Secretary to the Government of India.
 The work of the Commission is divided among 3 wings namely,

1. Designs and Research (D&R) Wing.

2. River Management (RM) Wing.
3. Water Planning and Projects (WP&P) Wing.

Road kills App

 Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) a wildlife NGO has developed a mobile appcalled
Road Kills.
 This app will help citizens to report wildlife deaths by uploading geo-tagged
photographs to a public forum.
 The information generated from the application can help identify crucial sections of
roads or railway lines where animal deaths are high to pinpoint regions that require
urgent mitigation measures.
 The data can also help determine what species are more at risk on specific road or
rail stretches.

Nation Year of Millets

  Union government is about to announce 2018 as National year of millets.
 Under which union government will adopt a mission-mode approach to promote the
nutrient-rich cereals, including sorghum, ragi and foxtail millets.
 The millet mission will boost production of these cereals, which are naturally rich
with protein and nutrients such as iron, calcium and zinc, and also consume less
water and inputs, thus being ecologically sustainable.

Why in news?
IMF has released the latest update of the World Economic Outlook ahead of the World
Economic Forum.
What are highlights?

 India - India is projected to grow at 7.4% in FY19 as against 6.7% this year.
 This is projected to gain pace to grow at 7.8% in FY20.
 India has slipped behind China this year in tax collections owing to disruption
caused by demonetisation and GST.
 The forecast will help India regain the tag of fastest-growing major economy,
backing the government's economic revival theme.
 Notably, stock markets have been surging recently, hitting successive records.
 This is encouraged by the economic revival prospects and corporate earnings
optimism, apart from other factors.
 Other countries - In the current year, China will grow 6.8%, just ahead of India
but will slip to 6.6% next year.
 The US is forecast to grow 2.7% and 2.5% in 2018 and 2019, respectively, slightly
higher than earlier estimates.
 Global - The IMF noted that 2017 saw the best global growth in seven years.
 The global economy is expected to grow 3.9% this year, faster than 3.7% forecast
earlier in October.
 The revision in global growth forecasts reflects increased global growth momentum
and positive impact of US tax policy changes.
 Shared priorities across all economies include implementing structural reforms to
boost potential output and making growth more inclusive.