Current Affairs - April 2021

UPSC Exams General Awareness (Current Affairs) April 2021

Monthly Current Affairs

APR 2021

                             

Current Affairs – National

 

RTI rejections                                                           

●        According to the Central Information Commission’s annual report, the Centre has only rejected 4.3% of all Right to Information (RTI) requests in 2019-20, the lowest ever rate.

About:

●        However, almost 40% of these rejections did not include any valid reason, as they did not invoke one of the permissible exemption clauses in the RTI Act, according to an analysis of report data.

●        This includes 90% of rejections by the Prime Minister’s Office.

●        Public authorities under the Central government received 13.7 lakh RTI requests in 2019-20, out of which 58,634 were rejected for various reasons.

●        Rejection rates have fallen since the 13.9% rate in 2005-06, and have been steadily trending downwards since the 8.4% spike in 2014-15.

●        In 2019-20, they hit their lowest level so far.

 

Labour   Bureau launches two of the five all India 

surveys         

●        First surveys to be launched are the All-India Survey of Migrant Workers and All-India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey (AQEES).

 

About:

●        These surveys have been developed and designed by the Labour Bureau to plug-in the data gap on various aspects of labour and employment and will aid evidence-based policy making processes.

 

●        It will be path breaking in their “Paperless” data collection and use of latest technology is likely to reduce the survey completion time by at least 30 – 40%.

●        Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, is responsible for thecollation, collection and publication of statistics and related information on wages, earnings, productivity, absenteeism, labour turn-over, industrial relations etc.

●        It also releases Consumer Price Index Numbers (CPI) for Industrial Workers, Rural Labourers and Agricultural Labourers.

 

Payment arrears from sugar mills to cane farmers go up to ₹23,000 crore      

●        Central government data showed that, as on February 28, dues of Rs. 22,900 crore were pending for the cane procured in the current season, which began in October 2020.

About:

●        Mill owners want the Centre to hike the minimum selling price of sugar to address the issue.

●        Apart from price hikes, the other way to increase liquidity is reduce surplus stocks through exports.

●        Prices of sugar are market driven but with a view to protect the interests of farmers, concept of Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar was introduced.

●        By this, industry gets minimum cost of production of sugar, so as to enable them to clear cane price dues of farmers.

Sugarcane pricing:

●        Pricing of sugarcane is governed by statutory provisions of Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 issued under Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955.

●        Under this, Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) is announced on recommendations of

Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

●        Also, apart from FRP, some states declare state specific sugarcane prices called State Advised Prices (SAP), usually higher than FRP.

●        Dual sugarcane pricing distorts sugarcane and sugar economy and leads to cane price arrears.

 

Lab on Wheels                                                          

●        Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia has inaugurated Delhi Technological University’s ‘Lab on Wheels’ programme.

 

About:

●        It will have students of the university travelling in a bus across Delhi to teach government school students and underprivileged children.

●        The idea is to impart education in the fields of Mathematics and Science to those students who come from marginalised and poor economic backgrounds, in order to pique their interests in these subjects while pursuing higher education.

●        In the end, the hope is that it becomes mutually beneficial if some of these students decide to take admission in DTU once they finish schooling.

●        The ‘Lab on Wheels’ will comprise 16 computers, two televisions, one 3D printer, one laptop, cameras and one printer. It will be Wi-Fi enabled, with 100 per cent power back up and fully air-conditioned.

 

Plastic burning main cause behind reduction of visibility in Delhi      

●        According to researchers from the IIT Madras, Chloride rich 

Particles resulting from plastic burning may be primarily responsible for haze and fog formation in Northern India, including Delhi, during the winter months.

 

About:

●        The new study found that chloride-rich particles 

were the highest inorganic fraction in particulate matter, primarily responsible for haze and fog formation in the region.

●        The latest study greatly enhances our understanding about the precise role of PM2.5 in chemistry of fog formation, which will help policy makers to frame the better policies for improving the air quality and visibility over the national capital.

●        The researchers noted that during winter season, most of the Indo Gangetic Plain invariably is engulfed in a dense fog and haze, particularly during the months of December and January.

●        The researchers explained that HCl from various sources combines with ammonia, which is emitted in great amounts over this region.

●        The resulting ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) condenses to aerosol and exponentially increase the water uptake ability of aerosol particles resulting in the increase in size, eventually leading to dense fog formation.

 

35th PRAGATI interaction                                     

●        Prime Minister chaired the meeting of 35th edition of Pro-Active Governance

and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI).

●        The ICT based multi-modal platform for Central and State governments.

●        It is held on every Fourth Wednesday of each month to be known as PRAGATI Day.

●        Participants include Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States.

●        The programme is held through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals and is aimed at addressing common man's grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Centre and States.

 

Exit Poll                                                                     

●        Election Commission of India has recently ban on exit poll.

●        In exercise of the powers under sub-section (1) of Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 has notified the period between 7:00 A.M on 27^th March, 2021 and

7.30 PM on 29^thApril, 2021.

●        Further, under Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in the respective polling areas in each phase of the aforesaid General election and bye-elections.

 

Tribal TB Initiative                                                  

●        Union Health Minister launches Tribal TB Initiative in pursuit of ‘TB Mukt Bharat’.

●        A Guidance Note on Joint Action Plan for Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination, a Special Edition of Tribal Ministry’s Publication ‘ALEKH’ on TB, and a document on Tribal Tuberculosis (TB) Initiative was also released at the event.

 

About:

●        Over 104 million tribal population lives in India, across 705 tribes, accounting for 8.6 % of the country’s population.

●        177 tribal districts were identified as high priority districts where physical remoteness, malnutrition, poor living conditions and lack of awareness contribute to the vulnerability of the tribal population to TB. Initially, the activities of the joint plan will be focusing on 161 districts across 18 identified States.

●        They would involve deploying improved vulnerability mapping techniques, organization of sensitization and capacity building workshops for volunteers, periodic TB active case finding drives, provision of TB Preventive Therapy (IPT) to identified vulnerable population and develop long term mechanisms for vulnerability reduction.

 

Jal Jeevan Mission deploys sensor-based IoT devices to monitor rural drinking water supply systems                                                                      

●        The Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to take the digital route to use sensor-based IoT devices to effectively monitor the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in more than six lakh villages.

 

About:

●        National Jal Jeevan Mission in collaboration with Tata Community Initiatives Trust (TCIT) and Tata Trusts recently completed pilot projects in several remote villages of five States i.e., Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh.

●        A key feature of these pilots has been the use of frugal yet sturdy sensors, which makes the solution scalable and sustainable.

●        One of the key challenges posed to the team was to develop a robust solution at a fraction of the water infrastructure costs (<10-15% of total scheme capex) without compromising on quality or functionality. These costs are expected to reduce further at scale.

●        The Internet of Things (IoT) based remote monitoring provides near real-time information without any manual intervention by using sensors.

●        This would not only allow effective monitoring and management on-ground, but also enable real-time visibility to State water supply/ PHED officials, and citizens, said the government.

●        The pilots have led to several outcomes as it has helped identify distribution issues – such as outages, leakages, low pressure, etc. and led to resolution across sites.

 

Hypnea indica                                                           

●        New species of red algae discovered. They were named Hypnea indica (after India) and Hypnea bullata.

●        They grow in the intertidal regions (an area that is submerged during the high tide and exposed during low tides) of the west, south east Indian coast.

●        Red algae are one of the earliest eukaryotic algae, mostly found in marine habitats. They are red because of the presence of the pigment phycoerythrin.

 

India Energy Dashboards 2.0                                 

●        It is an endeavour to provide single-window access to the energy data for the country.

●        Energy data provided by Central Electricity Authority, Coal Controller's Organisation, and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is compiled in the Dashboards.

●        NITI Aayog launched the Version 1.0 in May 2017.

●        It enables easy downloading of data into convenient spreadsheet formats in a cleaner, more intuitive way.

 

Ministry of Tourism signs MOUs with Online Travel Companies      

●        The primary objective is to provide extensive visibility to accommodation units which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness & Training for the Hospitality Industry).

●        SAATHI was started by Ministry of Tourism and Quality Council of India to help hotel industry in preparedness to continue operations safely and mitigate risks arising out of the COVID pandemic.

●        It encourages units to register on NIDHI (National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry). NIDHI is an initiative towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat to use technology to empower businesses.

 

Migrant workers treated as ‘outsiders’                  

●        National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) study on the social security and health rights of migrant workers says that this politically invisible section of the society doesn’t get access to even basic facilities and they are looked upon as outsiders or second class citizens in the host states.

●        The human rights body’s study has come at a time when India is witnessing the second wave of Covid-19 infections and there are reports of migrant workers beginning to return home from their places of work.

●        As part of the study, commissioned by NHRC and carried out by ‘Kerala Development Society’, the researchers interviewed around 4,400 migrant              workers, local     workers, employers/contractors, state government officials, elected representatives, scholars, experts, NGO representatives, trade unions members across four states/UTs, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, all of which house a large number of workers from West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

●        Most of the migrant workers who come to Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana work in low income and high-risk sectors such as construction, heavy industry, transport, services, and agriculture, and have poor access to health services, social protection, education services, housing and sanitation, food, water and other utilities.

 

Demographic advantage                                         

●        A report released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, said that China should immediately liberalise its birth policies to tackle the problems of an ageing population and plan to compete economically with a demographically young India and an immigration-friendly US.

 

Key highlights:

●        In a detailed section on India, the report said the gap between the two countries is narrowing.

●        China’s economic growth has been faster than India’s for a long time but in recent years, China’s demographic dividend fading, India’s economic growth has tended to approach China’s.

●        In a rare frank assessment, it added that China’s ageing population and the declining birth rate will become more serious in 10 years while India’s demographic structure will be further optimised.

●        India’s labour force will exceed China’s by hundreds of millions in the years ahead. “By 2050, this advantage will continue to grow.

●        Not only will India have a much narrower elderly population at the top and a much wider workforce in the middle, but it will also have a wider workforce at the bottom, indicating a more abundant workforce and greater growth potential beyond 2050.

●        The report continued saying that since India’s demographic advantage is expected to grow for at least the next three decades, the gap between China and India will narrow, provided that appropriate political and economic measures are taken.

Python-5                                                                    

●        India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, has added the fifth generation Python-5 Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) to its weapons capability.

●        The Python-5 is the second AAM of Israeli origin to be integrated on the Tejas fighter.

●        It is an infra-red guided missile with a range of at least 20km.

●        The first missile was the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) AAM Derby which is a radar-guided weapon with a range of over 50km.

 

Oxygen Concentrators                                            

●        PM CARES Fund would be used to procure 1 lakh portable oxygen concentrators.

●        An oxygen concentrator is a medical device that concentrates oxygen from ambient air.

●        Oxygen concentrator takes in air, filters it through a sieve, releases the nitrogen back into the air, and works on the remaining oxygen.

●        This oxygen, compressed and dispensed through a cannula, is 90-95 per cent pure.

●        A pressure valve in concentrators helps regulate supply, ranging from 1-10 litres per minute.

 

FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge                        

●        It was announced by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to accelerate adoption of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) in government.

●        The challenge calls upon FOSS innovators, technology entrepreneurs and Indian Startups to submit implementable open-source product innovations with possible applications for Govtech in Health, Education, Agriculture, Urban Governance etc.

●        FOSS allows users and programmers to edit, modify or reuse the software’s source code.

●        This gives developers the opportunity to improve program functionality by modifying it.

 

Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Mission on Net Zero   

●        Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CM) IGBC has launched ‘IGBC Mission on Net Zero’ to facilitate ‘India achieve net zero carbon emission status by 2050’.

●        Net zero, also called as carbon-neutrality, is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

●        IGBC is part of CM with vision ‘to enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025’.

●        CM is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and      industry-managed organization, playing a proactive role in India’s development process, founded in 1895.

 

Army War College                                                   

●        The Army War College (AWC), Mhow celebrated its Golden Jubilee today to mark 50 glorious years of its inception as the premier training institute of Indian Army.

●        The College is the fountain-head of all tactical training in the Indian Army and solely responsible for training officers of the Indian Armed Forces and from friendly foreign countries.

●        The College is the leading seat for learning of Warfare, carrying out research in tactics, logistics, contemporary military studies and improvement in military doctrine.

●        The college was originally established as the College of Combat at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on 1 April 1971.

●        It was spun out of the Infantry School, Mhow. In 2003, the college was renamed as the Army War College, Mhow.

●        The Army War College with its proud distinctive identity stands by the inscribed motto ‘Yuddhaya Karir Nischaya’ which means ‘Into Battle With Resolve’.

 

My NEP 2020 platform of NCTE Portal               

●        Ministry of Education launched the “MyNEP2020” Platform of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Web Portal.

●        Platform               seeks               to              invite suggestions/inputs/membership from the stakeholders for preparing a draft for the development of National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) and National

Mission for Mentoring Program membership (NMM).

●        NCTE was established under the NCTE Act 1993 as a statutory body.

●        Its objectives include Planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system.

●        Regulation of norms and standards in teacher education system and their proper maintenance and topics related thereto.

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

Cape of Good Hope                                                 

●        With $200 billion of India’s trade flows with Europe, North America and South America at risk due to the blockage of the Suez Canal, the Department of Commerce has worked out an action plan to cope with the crisis, including possibly re-routing shipments through the Cape of Good Hope.

About:

●        The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast     of         the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.

●        A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa. This misconception was based on the misbelief that the Cape was the dividing   point   between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

●        Contemporary geographic knowledge instead states the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas about        150        kilometres         to the east-southeast.

●        The currents of the two oceans meet at the point   where   the   warm-water Agulhas current meets the   cold-water Benguela current and turns back on itself. That oceanic meeting point fluctuates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point east of the Cape of Good Hope).

●        The Cape of Good Hope is at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula approximately 50 km south of Cape Town, South Africa.

●        When following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward.

 

Eritrea                                                                       

●        Eritrea will pull its troops out of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed winner of the 2019 Nobel PeacePrize said, it is a potential breakthrough in a drawn-out conflict that has seen atrocities carried out against civilians.

About:

●        The Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine regions (kililat) of Ethiopia

●        Tigray is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples.

●        Tigray is also known as Region 1 according to the federal constitution.

●        Its capital and largest city is Mekelle.

●        Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Amhara Region to the south and the Afar Region to the east and south east.

 

Indo-Korean Friendship Park                                

●        India’s First Indo-Korean Friendship Park was jointly inaugurated by Mr Suh Wook, Hon'ble Minister of National Defence, Republic of Korea and Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, at Delhi Cantonment.

●        The park's significance is not only because of it being a symbol of strong India-South Korea friendly relations, but also as a monument to India’s contributions as part of 21 countries which participated in Korean war 1950-53, under the aegis of the United Nations.

●        The park has been developed in joint consultation with Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Indian Army, Delhi Cantonment Board, Embassy of Korea and Korean War Veterans Association of India 

 

Indian beamline project                                          

●        The third phase of the Indian beamline project, a facility for materials research set up under India-Japan Scientific and TechnologicalCooperation, was initiated on March 23, 2021, with special focus on industrial application research.

 

About:

●        The phase would increase the number of young researchers from India to be trained in advanced X-ray techniques of material research.

●        Besides, steps will be taken to allocate more beamtime so that more researchers can get access to it. At present, only 50 % of Indian researchers who apply receive beamtime.

●        The Indian beamline has been constructed and maintained by Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP), Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for       Advanced        Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore; in Japanese synchrotron light source Photon Factory (PF) of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), with support from Nano Mission, Department of Science and Technology (DST).

●        This India-Japan Scientific and Technological Cooperation project was initiated between the DST and the KEK on 24 July 2007.

●        In the first phase (2009-2015) of this project, an X-ray beamline (BL18B) was constructed by SINP in PF, and over the years, this facility has provided substantial amount of quality beamtime for the use of Indian scientists to carry out front-ranking research in advanced materials including nano materials.

 

United Nations Peacekeeping Force                      

●        India delivered on its promise of 2,00,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF) worldwide, sending a shipment bound for Copenhagen.

●        The cargo of AstraZeneca Covishield vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune was sent despite the government’s decision to reduce exports in view of the need for vaccines domestically, honouring a commitment made by External Affairs Minister at UNSC.

●     Indian donation, combined with a Chinese commitment for 3,00,000 doses of vaccines would ensure that the entire force of more than two lakh soldiers, which comprises about 91,000 active personnel and 1,11,512 uniformed personnel, receives the requisite two doses each.

●        India’s donation to the UNPKF will also benefit Indian soldiers, who make up one of the largest contingents of peacekeeping troops and police.

●        With more than 5,000 men and women deployed in the Congo, South Sudan and Lebanon, among other countries.

 

China, Iran sign 25-year ‘strategic pact                

●        China and Iran signed what was described as a 25-year "strategic cooperation pact”, during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's on-going six-nation tour to West Asia.

●        The agreement comes amid a major push from China to back Iran, which counts on Beijing as its largest trading partner, as it deals with the continuing weight of sanctions re-instated following then U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

●        China and Russia called for the U.S. to "unconditionally return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as soon as possible and revoke the unilateral sanctions against Iran” as their Foreign Ministers met in China.

●        In this context, they proposed "the establishment of a regional security dialogue platform to converge a new consensus on resolving the security concerns of countries in the region.”

 

Project DANTAK                                                    

●     Project DANTAK is commemorating its Diamond Jubilee in Bhutan.

About:

●        Project DANTAK was established on April 24, 1961 as a result of the visionary leadership of His Majesty the Third King and then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. DANTAK was tasked to construct the pioneering motorable roads in the Kingdom.

●        DANTAK completed the road connecting Samdrup Jongkhar to Trashigang in 1968. In the same year, Thimphu was connected to Phuentsholing by DANTAK. Many Bhutanese had also volunteered to work with DANTAK.

●        Some other notable projects executed by the project include the construction of Paro Airport, Yonphula Airfield, Thimphu – Trashigang Highway, Telecommunication and Hydro Power Infrastructure, Sherubtse College, Kanglung and India House Estate.

●        The medical and education facilities established by DANTAK in far flung areas were often the first in those locations.

●        Over 1,200 DANTAK personnel laid down their lives while constructing important infrastructure in Bhutan.

 

NATO to exit Afghanistan along with U.S.           

●        The announcement by President Joe Biden that the US will withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, has sent tremors through the region’s fault-lines.

About:

●        Unlike the Trump Administration, which made its troop withdrawal by May 1 conditional — on Taliban taking steps to prevent al-Qaeda or any other group from sheltering in Afghanistan, and agreeing to a dialogue on power sharing with the Afghan government — the Biden plan has no strings attached.

●        There are about 2,500-3,500 US troops in Afghanistan at present, plus a NATO force of under 8,000. A co-ordinated withdrawal is expected to begin soon.

●        After withdrawing, the U.S. and NATO aim to rely on Afghan military and police forces, which they have developed with billions of dollars in funding, to maintain security though peace talks are struggling and the insurgency is resilient.

●        September 11 is a highly symbolic date as it will be 20 years since al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. with hijacked airliners, triggering military intervention in Afghanistan.

●        An integral part of NATO’s current mission, Resolute Support, is to train and equip Afghan security forces fighting the Islamist Taliban.

 

Impact on Afghanistan:

●        Biden’s announcement has removed all incentives for the Taliban to agree for a dialogue with the Afghan government.

●        After the full withdrawal of troops, Taliban are likely to see the war, which they believe they have already won, to its completion.

 

Human Rights Watch                                              

●     Human Rights Watch said that Israel is committing the crime of “apartheid” by seeking to      maintain      Jewish      “domination”     over Palestinians and its own Arab population.

 

About:

●        Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human rights abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights, and the group often works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants, and political prisoners.

●        Human Rights Watch in 1997 shared in the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and it played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions.

●        Human Rights Watch was co-founded by Robert

L. Bernstein and Aryeh Neier as a private American NGO in 1978, under the name Helsinki Watch, to monitor the then-Soviet Union’s compliance with the Helsinki Accords.

 

Global immunization strategy                                

●        WHO unveils global immunization strategy to save 50 million lives by 2030.

 

About:

●        A UN-led global immunization strategy was unveiled to reach more than 50 million children who have missed lifesaving jabs against measles and other diseases because of COVID-19 disruption.

●        WHO, along with UNICEF and the vaccine alliance Gavi, said their new global strategy has the potential to save 50 million lives within less than a decade.

●        WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, to avoid multiple outbreaks of life-threatening diseases like measles, yellow fever and diphtheria, it must be ensured that routine vaccination services are protected in every country in the world.

●        A WHO survey showed more than one third of countries were still seeing disruptions to their routine immunisation services.

●        The joint statement said, around 60 mass vaccination campaigns were currently postponed in 50 countries, putting 228 million people, mostly children, at risk of diseases such as measles and polio.

 

Whitest paint                                                            

●        Engineers from Purdue University in the US have created what they are calling the whitest paint yet.

●        Buildings coated with this paint may be able to cool them off enough to reduce the need for air conditioning.

About:

●        The team of researchers at the university created an ultra-white paint in October pushing the limits of how white paint can be.

●        This older formulation was made of calcium carbonate, while the new one is made up of barium sulphate, which makes it more white.

●        The newer paint is whiter and keeps the surface areas it is painted on cooler than the formulation before this could. If this new paint was used to cover a roof area of 1,000 square feet, it may be able to get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts.

●        The team has also claimed that this paint may be the closest equivalent to the blackest black paint called “Vantablack” that is able to absorb up to 99.9 per cent of visible light.

 

Climate change rules                                               

●        New Zealand became the first country to introduce a law that will require financial firms (like Banks, insurers and fund managers) to explain how they would manage climate-related risks and opportunities.

●        The country wants to be carbon neutral by 2050 and says the financial sector needs to play its part.

●        This law will bring climate risks and resilience into the heart of financial and business decision-making.

 

Fukushima nuclear plant                                       

●        China has asked Japan to take back its “wrong decision” to release more than 1 million tonnes of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.

About:

●        The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-square-kilometre     site in     the      towns of Ōkuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.

●        The    plant suffered     major     damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.

●        The chain of events caused radiation leaks and permanently damaged several reactors, making them impossible to restart. By political decision, the remaining reactors were not restarted.

●        In April 2021, the Japanese government approved the dumping of radioactive water of this power plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years.

Hot Springs and Gogra Post                                   

●        During the 11th round of discussions between the senior military commanders of India and China on April 9, to resolve the over 11-month long standoff in eastern Ladakh, China had refused to vacate two of the four original friction points.

About:

●        At two friction points, Patrolling Point 15 (PP15) in Hot Springs, and PP17A near Gogra Post, China still has a platoon-level strength each, along with vehicles.

●        Along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India in China, Indian Army has been given certain locations that its troops have to access to patrol the area under its control. These points are known as patrolling points, or PPs, and are decided by the China Study Group (CSG).

●        PP15 and PP17A are two of the 65 patrolling points in Ladakh along the LAC.

●        PP15 is located in an area known as the Hot Springs, while PP17A is near an area called the Gogra post.

●        Both of these are close to the Chang Chenmo river in the Galwan sub-sector of the LAC in eastern Ladakh. While Hot Springs is just north of the Chang Chenmo river, Gogra Post is east of the point where the river takes a hairpin bend coming southeast from Galwan Valley and turning southwest.

●        The area is north of the Karakoram Range of mountains, which lies north of the Pangong Tso lake, and south east of Galwan Valley.

Cities combating plastic entering the marine environment        

●        The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety signed an agreement on Technical Cooperation titled ‘Cities Combating Plastic Entering the Marine Environment’ at a virtual ceremony in New Delhi.

●        This project is envisaged under the contours of the Joint Declaration of Intent regarding cooperation in the field of ‘Prevention of Marine Litter’ signed between Republic of India and Federal Republic of Germany in 2019.

●        The project, aimed at enhancing practices to prevent plastic entering the marine environment, will be undertaken at the national level (at MoHUA), select states (Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands) and in the cities of Kanpur, Kochi and Port Blair for a period of three and a half years.

●        The new project is envisaged to be another successful collaborative effort under the Indo-German Bilateral Development Corporation working on sustainable urban transformation.

 

Black Sea                                                                  

●        Recently, Russia beefed up warship presence in Black Sea at a time of tense relations with West and Ukraine.

●        Black Sea is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and the Anatolian peninsula (Turkey).

●        It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits.

●        Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and strait of the Dardanelles connects it to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean.

●        To the north, it is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait.

 

Freedom Pineapple campaign                                

●        Ties between China and Taiwan, which have historically been rocky over issues such as sovereignty, foreign relations and military build-up, are now being tested by pineapples.

About:

●        On March 1, China banned the import of pineapples from Taiwan, alleging there was a risk of “harmful creatures” that could threaten its own agriculture.

●        Since then, an angry Taiwan has refuted China’s claims of pests being found in imported pineapples, and has gone on to insist that the move is aimed at increasing political pressure on Taiwan, which China considers its own province.

●        Following this, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen kicked off a “pineapple challenge” on social media to attract more Taiwanese consumers to buy the fruit and counter China’s move.

●        Taiwan’s foreign minister also urged “like-minded friends around the globe to stand with #Taiwan & rally behind the #FreedomPineapple”.

 

The larger dispute between Taiwan and China:

●        Under its “One China” policy, Beijing considers Taiwan a province of China, even though Taiwan is a democratic, self-ruled country.

●        Although the two participate separately in international events, China repeatedly insists that Taiwan should be called “Chinese Taipei”, in efforts to prevent international recognition of Taiwan as a country.

●        Towards the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and before the post-war treaties were to be signed, members of the Kuomintang party (KMT) were driven out of the mainland by the Communists, who would later establish the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

●        The KMT retreated to Taiwan, becoming a government in exile. For some time, Taiwan was internationally recognised as the government of the Republic of China (RoC), and still officially calls itself so.

 

World Happiness Report 2021                               

●        World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 on happiness and how countries have differed in their success in reducing the deaths and maintaining connected and healthy societies.

●        Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world followed by Iceland, Denmark.

●        India ranked 139 (out of 149 countries) while neighbouring countries like Pakistan is on 105th, Bangladesh on 101st and China on 84th.

●        India ranked 140th in 2019 and 144th in 2020.

 

Key highlights of the report:

●        Trust and the ability to count on others are major supports to life evaluations, especially in the face of crises.

●        Factors supporting successful COVID-19 strategies include confidence in public institutions, income inequality (a proxy for

 social trust), whether the head of the government was a woman etc.

●        Success of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) in Asia-Pacific region resulted from measures that were both top-down, with governments setting strong control policies, and bottom up, with general public supporting governments.

●        More individualistic culture of North Atlantic countries and relative looseness of social norms may also have contributed to lower public support for NPIs.

 

Yemen rebels advance on Marib                            

●        Yemen’s Houthi rebels have taken full control of the northwest Kassara battlefield, advancing close to the centre of Marib city despite heavy casualties.

About:

●        Marib is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen.

●        It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is located in the region of the Sarawat Mountains.

●        Marib and its surrounding oil fields make up the last significant pocket of government-held territory in the north, the rest of which is under rebel control, including the capital Sanaa.

●        The loss of Marib would be a major blow for the Yemeni government and for Saudi Arabia which has supported its militarily since March 2015, after the rebels captured Sanaa.

 

The Council of the European Union                      

●        The Council of the European Union approved conclusions on a European Union strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to “reinforce its strategic focus, presence and actions” in this region.

About:

●        It aims to contribute to “regional stability, security, prosperity and sustainable development,” at a time of “rising challenges and tensions in the region.”

●        The Council tasked the High Representative and the Commission with putting forward a Joint Communication on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific by September 2021.

●        The renewed EU commitment to the Indo-Pacific will have a long-term focus and will be based on “upholding democracy, human rights, the rule of law and respect for international law.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Innovators Growth Platform                                  

●        Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made it easier for startups to list on IGP.

●        Introduced in 2019, IGP is aimed providing technology-oriented start-ups or companies with early-stage investors a listing opportunity with a much more relaxed framework.

●        IGP as a platform has the promise to increase capital availability significantly and has the added advantage of enabling exits for early-stage investors.

IEPFA Mobile App                                                  

●        Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs virtually launched Central Scrutiny Centre (CSC) and Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority’s (IEPFA) Mobile App.

●        The initiatives by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. These initiatives leverage to strengthen the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Digitally empowered India’. Shri Rajesh Verma, Secretary, MCA, and other senior officials attended the virtual launch event.

 

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority’s (IEPFA) Mobile App

●        The IEPFA Mobile App aims at achieving the goal of financial literacy, spreading investors’ awareness, education, and protection among investors.

●        The IEPFA App will have the facility of tracking the status and progress of the IEPF claim refund process. Moreover, it also provides a mechanism for investors and common citizens to report on the suspected fraudulent schemes.

 

Centre approved grants for rural local bodies (RLBs) in 18 states     

●        The Centre released ₹12,351.5 crore to 18 States as grants to rural local bodies (RLBs) for 2020-21, taking the total grants released for such bodies this year to ₹45,738 crore.

●        Grants to RLBs are released as per recommendations of 15th Finance Commission (FC).

●        They are provided to all three tiers of Panchayati Raj- Village, Block and District.

●        15^th FC has recommended two types of grants- basic and tied grants.

●        Basic grants are untied and can be used by the local bodies for location specific felt needs except for salary or other establishment expenditure.

●        Tied grants can be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and (b) supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.

 

Government slashes rates on small savings schemes by up to 1.1%       

●        The government has sharply slashed the rates on all small savings instruments for the first quarter of 2021-22.

 

About:

●        This bringing the rate of return on the Public Provident Fund down from 7.1% to 6.4% and effecting cuts ranging from 40 basis points (0.4%) to 110 basis points (1.1%).

●        The sharpest cut announced earlier was seen in the quarterly interest rate paid on one-year term deposits, from 5.5% in the January to March quarter to 4.4% in this quarter.

●        The rate of return on the Senior Citizen Savings’ Scheme was cut from 7.4% to 6.5%, while the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme’s return was reduced from 7.6% to 6.9%.

●        The interest rate paid on National Savings Certificate and Kisan Vikas Patra were also reduced from 6.8% to 5.9%, and from 6.9% to 6.2%.

●        The Kisan Vikas Patra, which used to mature in 124 months, will now mature in 138 months.

 

India pushes deadline for coal-fired utilities to adopt new emission norms       

●        The government has pushed back deadlines for coal-fired power plants to adopt new emission norms by up to three years, and allowed utilities that miss the new target to continue operating after paying a penalty, according to a notice.

About:

●        India had initially set a 2017 deadline for thermal power plants to install Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) units that cut emissions of sulphur dioxides. But that was postponed to varying deadlines for different regions, ending in 2022.

●        The new order dated April 1 from the environment Ministry said plants near populous regions and the capital New Delhi will have to comply by 2022, while utilities in less polluting areas have up to 2025 to comply or retire units.

●        Operators of coal-fired utilities have long been lobbying for dilution of the pollution standards, citing high compliance costs.

●        A task force will be constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board to categorise plants in three categories “on the basis of their location to comply with the emission norms”.

●        In case of non-compliance, a penalty of up to ₹0.20 will be levied for every unit of electricity produced.

 

Govt keeps inflation target at 2-6% for 5 years  

●        The Centre has decided to retain the inflation target of 4%, with a tolerance band of +/- 2 percentage points for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

 

About:

●        RBI in its report had stressed that the current numerical framework for defining price stability was appropriate for the next five years.

●        The amended RBI Act of 2016 provided for the inflation target to be set by the Government of India, in consultation with RBI, once in every five years.

●        Inflation targeting is a monetary policy system wherein the central bank of a country has a specific target inflation rate for the medium-term and publicises this rate. This is done by the MPC in India.

 

About MPC:

●        MPC was set up on the recommendation of the Urjit Patel Panel.

●        MPC is formed with six members:

●        Three members are from the RBI while the other three members are appointed by the government.

●        RBI Governor acts as the Chairman.

●        The government members are appointed by the Centre on the recommendations of a

search-cum-selection committee which is to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

 

IMF projects India’s growth rate to jump to impressive 12.5 per cent in 2021

●        IMF projects India’s growth rate to jump to impressive 12.5 percent in 2021.

 

Growth Projection:

●        India – After an estimated contraction of 8% in the fiscal year that ended March 31, India is projected to grow at 12.5 % during the current year, settling down to 6.9% growth year (FY22/23).

●        Global – After an estimated contraction of -3.3 percent in 2020, the global economy is projected to grow at 6 percent in 2021, moderating to 4.4 percent in 2022.

 

Divergent Impacts:

●        Output losses have been particularly large for countries that rely on tourism and commodity exports and for those with limited policy space to respond.

●        Emerging market economies and low-income developing countries have been hit harder and are expected to suffer more significant medium-term losses.

●        Close to 95 million more people are estimated to have fallen below the threshold of extreme poverty in 2020.

●        However, the COVID-19 recession is likely to leave smaller scars than the 2008 global financial crisis.

 

Policy priorities:

●        Countries will need to tailor their policy responses to the stage of the pandemic, strength of the recovery, and structural characteristics of the economy.

●        Policies should first focus on escaping the crisis, prioritizing health care spending, providing well-targeted fiscal support, and maintaining accommodative monetary policy while monitoring financial stability risks.

 

Strong international cooperation is vital:

●        On the health care front, this means ensuring adequate worldwide vaccine production and universal distribution at affordable prices— including through sufficient funding for the COVAX facility.

●        Ensure that financially constrained economies have adequate access to international liquidity.

 

KG-DWN 98/2 block                                                

●        Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has called on buyers to bid for natural gas from the Deepwater fields of the KGDWN-98/2 block off of the east coast of India.

About:

●        ONGC is set to supply about 2 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per Day (MMSCMD) of natural gas from the fields starting at the end of June.

●        The ramping up of production from the KG-DWN 98/2 block by ONGC is a key component of the government’s plan to boost domestic production with the block expected to reach peak production of 15 MMSCMD by 2024.

●        This would account for about a 20 percent increase above the company’s current production level of about 70 MMSCMD.

●        Natural gas production from the Krishna Godavari basin is a key part of India’s plans to reduce import dependence by boosting domestic production.

●        India currently imports about half of its natural gas requirements of 175 MMSCMD.

National Pension System                                         

●        The National Pension System (NPS) will no longer compel investors to convert 40% of their accumulated retirement corpus into an annuity, as poor yields and high inflation are translating into negative returns.

 

About:

●        The regulator will soon allow those saving up to

₹5 lakh to take the whole amount at retirement, up from ₹2 lakh at present.

●        The pension fund regulator is also hoping to launch the first guaranteed return NPS scheme in the coming year.

●        Separately, amendments will be made to the PFRDA Act of 2013 to allow NPS members with a balance over ₹5 lakh to retain 40% of the corpus in the NPS or wind it down over a few years through a system akin to a systematic withdrawal plan.

●        Postretirement, a person has to take 40% of the total corpus as an annuity as per the law’s mandate, and 60% can be commuted and taken as a lump sum.

●        The Finance Ministry has announced plans to amend the PFRDA law since Budget 2019-20 and to make legislative changes to override the statutory annuitisation provision.

 

Government            Securities              Acquisition Programme                            

●        RBI Governor has announced Government Securities Acquisition Programme (G-SAP), through which it will purchase government securities worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the first quarter of FY22.

 

Benefits of this Programme:

●        In the backdrop of the government’s elevated borrowing for this year, which the RBI has to ensure goes through without causing disruption, G-SAP aims to provide more comfort to the bond market.

●        Market participants always wanted to know the RBI’s Open Market Operations (OMO) purchase calendar, and the RBI has now provided that to the market through this announcement on GSAP.

●        it will provide certainty to the bond market participants with regard to RBI’s commitment of support to the bond market in FY22.

●        The announcement of this structured programme will help reduce the spread between the repo rate and the 10-year government bond yield. That, in turn, will help to reduce the aggregate cost of borrowing for the Centre and states in FY22.

 

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for White Goods (Air Conditioners and LED Lights  

●        The Union Cabinet approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for White Goods (Air Conditioners and LED Lights) with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 6,238 crore.

About:

●        The PLI Scheme for White Goods shall extend an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of five years to companies engaged in manufacturing of Air Conditioners and LED Lights.

●        An entity availing benefits under any other PLI Scheme of Govt. India will not be eligible under this scheme for the same products but the entity may take benefits under other applicable schemes of Govt. of India or schemes of State governments.

●        The Scheme will be implemented as a pan India scheme and is not specific to any location, area or segment of population. A number of global and domestic companies, including a number of MSMEs are likely to benefit from the Scheme.

●        Benefits: It is estimated that over the period of five years, the PLI Scheme will lead to incremental investment of Rs. 7,920 Crore, incremental Production worth Rs. 1,68,000 Crore, exports worth Rs 64,400 Crore, earn direct and indirect revenues of Rs 49,300 crore and create additional four lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities.

 

Inflation targeting                                                    

●        On the last day of the financial year 2020-21, the Finance Ministry announced that the inflation target for the five years between April 2021 and March 2026 will remain unchanged at 4%, with an upper tolerance level of 6% and a lower tolerance level of 2%.

About:

●        This is the retail inflation target that will drive the country’s monetary policy framework and influence its decision to raise, hold or lower interest rates.

●        India had switched to an inflation target-based monetary policy framework in 2015, with the 4% target kicking in from 2016-17.

●        Many developed countries had adopted an inflation-rate focus as an anchor for policy formulation for interest rates rather than past fixations with metrics like the currency exchange rate or controlling money supply growth. Emerging economies have also been gradually adopting this approach.

●        In adopting a target for a period of five years, the central bank has the visibility and the time to smoothly alter and adjust its policies in order to attain the targeted inflation levels over the medium term, rather than seek to achieve it every month.

 

Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the Food Processing Industry           

●        The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has issued detailed operational scheme guidelines and has launched an online portal for ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry’(PLISFPI).

About:

●        As a part of Prime Minister’s announcement of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Government of India has approved a new Central Sector Scheme namely Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry’ for implementation during 2021-22 to 2026-27 with an outlay of Rs. 10,900 crore.

●        Its objective is to support creation of global food manufacturing champions commensurate with India’s natural resource endowment and support Indian brands of food products in the international markets.

●        Ministry of Food Processing Industries is inviting applications for availing sales based incentives and grants for undertaking Branding and Marketing activities abroad under the scheme from three categories of Applicants:

●        Category-I: Applicants are large entities who apply for Incentive based on Sales and Investment Criteria. Applicant under this category could undertake Branding & Marketing activities abroad also and apply for grant under the scheme with a common application.

●        Category-II: SMEs Applicants manufacturing innovative/ organic products who apply for PLI Incentive based on Sales

●        Category-III: Applicants applying solely for grant for undertaking Branding and Marketing activities abroad.

 

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund                           

●        Agriculture Infrastructure Fund has crossed the Rs. 8000 crore mark after receiving 8,665 applications worth Rs. 8,216 crores. The largest share of the pie is contributed by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) (58%), agri-entrepreneurs (24%) and individual farmers (13%).

 

About:

●        The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a medium

– long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee.

●        The duration of the scheme is from FY2020 to FY2029 (10 years).

●        Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores.

●        Eligible beneficiaries include farmers, FPOs, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, SHGs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Projects.

 

RBI caps age at 70 for bank MD, CEO, director positions         

●        The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) fixed the tenure of MD, CEO and whole-time director (WTD) in a private sector bank at 15 years and prescribed the maximum age of 70 years for such functionaries.

About:

●        These directives form part of the instructions issued by the RBI with regard to the chair and meetings of the board, composition of certain committees of the board, age, tenure and remuneration of directors, and appointment of the WTDs.

●        The RBI said it would come out with a Master Direction on Corporate Governance in banks in due course.

●        The post of the MD & CEO or WTD cannot be held by the same incumbent for more than 15 years.

●        Thereafter, the individual will be eligible for re-appointment as MD & CEO or WTD in the same bank, if considered necessary and desirable by the board, after a minimum gap of three years, subject to meeting other conditions.

●        It added that during this three-year cooling period, the individual shall not be appointed or associated with the bank or its group entities in any capacity, either directly or indirectly.

●        With regard to upper age limit for MD & CEO and WTDs in the private sector banks, the RBI said that no person can continue in such positions beyond the age of 70. The maximum age limit for chairman and non-executive directors has been fixed at 75 years.

 

Large Area Certification                                         

●        14,491 ha area of UT of A&N Islands becomes the first large contiguous territory to be conferred with organic certification under ‘Large Area Certification’ scheme.

About:

●        Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) is working to identify Traditional Organic Areas to transform them into certified organic production hubs.

●        The Government of India has certified 14,491 ha of such area under Car Nicobar and Nancowry group of islands in UT of A&N Islands.

●        This area becomes the first large contiguous territory to be conferred with organic certification under the ‘Large Area Certification’ (LAC) scheme of the PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System) certification programme.

 

Large Area Certification” (LAC) programme:

●     Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under its flagship scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) has launched a unique quick certification programme “Large Area Certification” (LAC) to harness these potential areas.

●     LAC is a Quick certification process that is cost-effective and farmers do not have to wait for 2-3 years for marketing PGS organic certified products.

●     Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group. Documentations are simple and maintained village-wise.

●     All farmers with their farmland and livestock need to adhere to the standard requirements and on being verified get certified en-mass without the need to go under conversion period.

●     Certification is renewed on annual basis through annual verification by a process of peer appraisals as per the process of PGS-India.

 

KG-DWN 98/2 block                                                

●        Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has called on buyers to bid for natural gas from the Deepwater fields of the KGDWN-98/2 block off of the east coast of India.

About:

●        ONGC is set to supply about 2 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per Day (MMSCMD) of natural gas from the fields starting at the end of June.

●        The ramping up of production from the KG-DWN 98/2 block by ONGC is a key component of the government’s plan to boost domestic production with the block expected to reach peak production of 15 MMSCMD by 2024.

●        This would account for about a 20 percent increase above the company’s current production level of about 70 MMSCMD.

●        Natural gas production from the Krishna Godavari basin is a key part of India’s plans to reduce import dependence by boosting domestic production.

●        India currently imports about half of its natural gas requirements of 175 MMSCMD.

 

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Novel bacterial strains discovered                          

●        Bacterial strains belonging to the family Methylobacteriaceae were isolated from different locations aboard the ISS.

●        New bacteria contains genes that fix nitrogen, dissolve phosphate and assimilate potassium

— three nutrients important for plants to grow both on earth and space.

●        New bacterial species has been found to bust stress that plants undergo in zero gravity in space.

●        Discovery could help in space agriculture to meet the long-term food needs of astronauts and space tourists to the moon or Mars.

 

NISAR                                                                      

●        NASA and ISRO are collaborating on developing a satellite called NISAR, which will detect movements of the planet’s surface as small as

0.4 inches over areas about half the size of a tennis court.

●        The satellite will be launched in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, into a near-polar orbit and will scan the globe every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission of imaging the Earth’s land, ice sheets and sea ice to give an “unprecedented” view of the planet.

 

What is NISAR?

●        NISAR is an all-weather satellite that’s going to give us an unprecedented ability to look at how Earth’s surface is changing.

●        It’s an SUV-sized satellite that is being jointly developed by the space agencies of the US and India.

●        The partnership agreement was signed between NASA and ISRO in September 2014.

●        NASA will provide one of the radars for the satellite, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers and a payload data subsystem.

●        ISRO, on the other hand, will provide the spacecraft bus, the second type of radar (called the S-band radar), the launch vehicle and associated launch services.

 

Axiom Mission                                                          

●        A former Israeli fighter pilot, an American technology entrepreneur and a Canadian investor will be part of the crew of the first entirely-private orbital space mission.

●        The three men are paying a whopping $55 million each to fly aboard a SpaceX rocket for an eight-day visit to the International Space Station.

●        It organised by Houston-based spaceflight firm Axiom.

About:

●        The Axiom Mission 1 (AX 1) flight is being arranged under a commercial agreement with NASA.

●        The mission will be the first to use a commercially built spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon 2, best known for flying its first two crews to the ISS late last year.

●        But Axiom insists that the mission is by no means a vacation.

●        The three men will participate in research and philanthropic projects alongside the astronauts from all over the world who are already stationed at the ISS.

●        The private astronauts will have to pass medical tests and also undergo 15 weeks of rigorous training before their trip to space.

 

AIM-PRIME                                                            

●        Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog launched AIM-PRIME (Program for Researchers on Innovations, Market-Readiness and Entrepreneurship).

 

About:

●        It is an initiative to promote and support science-based deep-tech startups and ventures across India.

●        AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to launch this nationwide program which will be implemented by Venture Center - a non-profit technology business incubator.

●        Deep technology is an outcome of very intense research and development (R&D) with high knowledge content.

●        The benefits of this program are aimed at addressing specific issues through training and guidance over a period of 12 months.

●        Candidates selected for the program will get access to in-depth learning via a comprehensive lecture series, live team projects, exercises, and project-specific mentoring.

●        They will also have access to a deep tech startup playbook, curated video library, and plenty of peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

●        The AIM-PRIME program is specifically tailored for the rapid scaling up of deep-tech science ventures in India, providing not just the necessary intellect and support but also the exposure they rightly deserve.

●        The announcement was made as a part of the virtual programme attended by officials of AIM, NITI Aayog, BMGF, Venture Centre, Incubators, startups and mentor amongst other beneficiaries.

 

MACS 1407                                                              

●        Indian Scientists have developed a high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean.

 

About:

●        This newly developed variety called MACS 1407 is suitable for cultivation in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern states and its seeds will be made available to farmers for sowing during the 2022 Kharif season.

●        In 2019, India produced around 90 million tons of soybean, widely cultivated as oil seeds as well as a cheap source of protein for animal feed and many packaged meals and is striving to be among the world’s major producers of soybean.

●        High-yielding, disease resistant varieties of the legume can help achieve this target.

●        Scientists from MACS- Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi have developed this variety.

Pyrolysis pilot                                                           

●        The foundation stone of the Integrated Solar Dryer and Pyrolysis pilot was laid by Dr. K J Sreeram, Director, CSIR- Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai.

About:

●        The pilot is part of the Indo-German project ‘Pyrasol’ launched to transform urban organic waste into biochar and energy in smart cities. It was awarded to CSIR-CLRI by the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre.

●        The project will ultimately lead to technology development for the joint processing of Fibrous Organic Waste (FOW) and Sewage Sludge (SS) of Indian smart cities into hygienic and highly valuable biochar associated with energy recovery, carbon sequestration and environmental improvement.

●        Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) was established by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India & Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Govt. of Germany to facilitate Indo-German R&D networking with emphasis on industry participation, applied research and technology development.

●        IGSTC through its flagship program ‘2+2 Projects’, catalyses innovation centric R&D projects by synergising the strength of research and academic institutions and public/private industries from India and Germany.

 

DRDO  develops     single     crystal blades for helicopter engines                                   

●        Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed single crystal blades technology and supplied 60 of these blades to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as part of their indigenous helicopter development program for helicopter engine application.

About:

●        It is part of a program taken up by Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), a premium laboratory of DRDO, to develop five sets (300 in number) of single crystal high pressure turbine (HPT) blades using a nickel-based super alloy.

●        Helicopters used in strategic and defence applications need compact and powerful aero-engines for their reliable operation at extreme conditions.

●        To achieve this, state-of-the-art Single Crystal Blades having complex shape and geometry, manufactured out of Nickel based superalloys capable of withstanding high temperatures of operation are used.

●        Very few countries in the world such as USA, UK, France and Russia have the capability to design and manufacture such Single Crystal (SX) components.

●        Special ceramic composition had to be formulated for making strong ceramic moulds which can withstand metallostatic pressure of liquid CMSX-4 alloy at 1500°C and above during casting operation.

 

Tianhe module                                                         

●        China launched the core module of its space station, kicking off a series of key launch missions that aim to complete the construction of the station by the end of next year.

 

About:

●        The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan.

●        The Tianhe module will act as the management and control hub of the space station Tiangong, meaning Heavenly Palace, with a node that could dock with up to three spacecraft at a time for short stays, or two for long.

●        Tianhe has a total length of 16.6 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters and a take-off mass of 22.5 tonnes, and is the largest spacecraft developed by China.

●        The space station will be a T shape with the core module at the centre and a lab capsule on each side.

●        The station will operate in the low-Earth orbit at an altitude from 340 km to 450 km. It has a designed lifespan of 10 years, but experts believe it could last more than 15 years with appropriate maintenance and repairs.

 

Background:

●        The Chinese space station is expected to be a competitor to the aging International Space Station (ISS) which is a modular space station in low Earth orbit.

●        It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies which included NASA, (US), Roscomos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

 

Automated Lane Keeping Systems

●        The UK has become the first country to announce regulation of the use of self-driving vehicles at slow speeds on motorways.

About:

●        Britain’s transport ministry said that it was working on specific wording to update the country’s highway code for the safe use of self-driving vehicle systems.

●        The ministry will start with Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS) – which use sensors and software to keep cars within a lane, allowing them to accelerate and brake without driver input.

●        The use of ALKS would be restricted to motorways, at speeds under 60 km per hour.

●        The UK government wants to be at the forefront of rolling out autonomous driving technology and the transport ministry forecasts by 2035 around 40% of new UK cars could have self-driving capabilities, creating up to 38,000 new skilled jobs.

●        However, the dangers of drivers apparently misunderstanding the limits of technology has been an issue in the United States, where regulators are reviewing about 20 crashes involving Tesla’s driver assistance tools, such as its ‘Autopilot’ system.

 

Oldest water on Earth                                             

●        World’s Oldest Water Found in Canada Sheds Light on the Beginning of Life.

About:

●        A 2016 study by Canadian geologists is eliciting significant interest, for the clues it offers in the search for alien life, especially on Mars.

●        The research is based on a discovery made by Dr Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto, who in 2009 extracted from a Canadian mine water that is 1.6 billion years old– the oldest to be found on our planet.

●        The discovery of the water 2.4 km below the Earth’s surface has since been heralded as one of great importance, given its ramifications on what we know about the origin and evolution of our planet, the nature of water and life, as well as the possibility of finding life on Mars.

●        Sherwood Lollar had been carrying out research at the Kidd Creek mine, located on the 2.7 billion-year-old Canadian Shield, one of the world’s largest continental shields – meaning the oldest and least tectonically active parts of the Earth’s crust.

●        Researchers then conducted studies on the sample, finally settling at the 1.6 billion years figure.

●        Investigations into the highly saline water led to a pathbreaking discovery: scientists found that chemolithotrophic microbes– bacteria that can thrive in the most extreme surroundings– had been able to survive in the subterranean liquid.

●        The Canadian Shield, on which the Kidd mine is located, in the past used to form an ocean floor, as per the report. Over millions of years of flux, however, its horizontal seabed became vertical, now preserved in the mine’s rock walls from which the water sample was extracted.

 

NTIPRIT conducts webinar on NavIC

●        National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT), the apex training institute of Department of Telecommunications, Government of India conducted a webinar on April 28, 2021 on the topic NavlC — Opportunities for the Telecom Industry” in collaboration with ISRO and Telecom Industry.

 

About:

●        NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system established and maintained by ISRO.

●        It covers India and a region extending up to 1,500 km beyond Indian mainland (primary coverage area).

●        It provides position accuracy better than 20m(20) and timing accuracy better than 50 ns (20).

●        The actual measurements demonstrate accuracy better than 5 m and 20 ns respectively.

●        NavIC based applications are being used in various civilian sectors, including, transport, map applications, and timekeeping. Some examples for NavlC enabled mobile phones include the Redmi Note 9 series from Xiaomi, the Realme 6 series, the OnePlus Nord, etc.

●        NavlC is an indigenous positioning system that is under Indian control. There is no risk of the service being withdrawn or denied in a given situation.

 

Cybercrime volunteers

●        The Union Home Ministry has said it does not maintain a centralised list of volunteers enrolled under the cybercrime volunteer programme since the police is a “State subject” under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

 

About:

●        The Ministry, through its cybercrime grievance portal, cybercrime.gov.in, aims to raise a group of “cybercrime volunteers” to flag “unlawful content” on the Internet.

●        A digital rights group, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), has said the programme enables a culture of surveillance and could create potential social distrust by encouraging civilians to report the online activities of other citizens.

●        In response to a RTI application on the total number of volunteers who have applied under the Cybercrime Volunteers Programme of the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, the Ministry said the information could be sought directly from the respective States and Union Territories.

●        The programme was expected to include 500 volunteers, 200 “cyber awareness promoters” and 50 “cyber experts”.

●        The National Cybercrime Ecosystem Management Unit, of which the Cybercrime Volunteers Programme is a constituent, is part of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) scheme launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in January 2020.

●        The project was approved in October 2018 at an estimated cost of ₹415.86 crore. The I4C scheme that includes other components also has been allocated ₹69.80 crore in the 2021-22 Budget.

 

Centre     bars     use     of    liquid     oxygen     for non medical purposes                                                    

●        Invoking the Disaster Management Act, the Centre ordered States that all liquid oxygen, including the existing stock with private plants, should be made available to the government and will be used for medical purposes only.

 

About:

●        Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen.

●        Liquid oxygen has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic: it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet.

●        Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle.

●        Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen.

Uses:

●        It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquidfueled rocket invented in 1926 by RobertH. Goddard, an application which has continued to the present.

●        In commerce, liquid oxygen is classified as an industrial gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the oxygen found naturally in air by fractional distillation in a cryogenic air separation plant.

●        Liquid oxygen is the most common cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen, kerosene or methane.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

Maharashtra Bhushan award 2020                        

●        Legendary singer Asha Bhosle will be presented the Maharashtra Bhushan award for the year 2020.

●        A committee headed by Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

●        The award, instituted in 1996 by the State government to recognise distinguished work and achievements of eminent persons from the State, representing different walks of life, carries a cash prize of ₹10 lakh and a citation.

 

Oscars 2021 winners list                                          

●        U.S. road movie Nomadland emerged as the big winner at the Oscars on Sunday with threemajor prizes, including a historymaking award for director Chloe Zhao.

 

About:

●        Chloe Zhao makes history as first woman of colour to get best director award. She is also only the second woman to win best director after Kathryn Bigelow, who broke the glass ceiling in 2010 when she won the prize for The Hurt Locker.

●        Zhao’s drama about marginalised Americans roaming the West in vans was honoured for best picture, director and actress for Frances McDormand, who now is in elite company with her third Academy Award.

●        Hopkins’ win at 83 for his shattering portrayal of a dementia sufferer in The Father makes him the oldest actor to win a competitive Oscar in history.

List of winners of the 93rd Academy Awards:

●        Best picture: Nomadland

●        Best actress: Frances McDormand

●        Best actor: Anthony Hopkins

●        Best supporting actress: Yuh-Jung Youn

●        Best supporting actor: Daniel Kaluuya

●        Best director: Chloe Zhao

 

Karen people                                                            

●        Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base today near the border with Thailand.

 

About:

●        The KNU, which controls territory in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border, is a close ally of the resistance movement against the military takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Its armed wing is called the Karen National Liberation Army.

●        There is a similar situation in northern Myanmar, where the Kachin minority claims to have captured several government outposts and been the target of air attacks.

●        The Karen and the Kachin are two of the bigger minority groups that have been seeking greater autonomy for decades, during which there have been periods of armed conflict punctuated by ceasefires.

●        The Karen are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language-speaking peoples. These Karen groups reside primarily in Kayin State, southern and southeastern Myanmar.

Bernie Madoff                                                          

●        Bernie Madoff, the Wall Street financier who was sentenced to 150 years after being convicted for what came to be known as the largest and most devastating Ponzi scheme in financial history, died in the US.

About:

●        A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.

●        The scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from legitimate business activity (e.g. product sales and/or successful investments), and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds.

●        Ponzi schemes rely on a constant flow of new investments to continue to provide returns to older investors. When this flow runs out, the scheme falls apart.

●        The term “Ponzi Scheme” was coined after a swindler named Charles Ponzi in 1919. However, the first recorded instances of this sort of investment scam can be traced back to the mid-to-late 1800s.

 

Vladimir Putin                                                         

●        Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the legislation that may be able to keep him in power until 2036, when he will be 83 years old.

About:

●        Putin, a former KGB officer who is now 68, completes his ongoing six-year tenure — his fourth as President — in 2024.

●        He has already run the country either as President or as Prime Minister for more than 20 years.

●        This is the longest period a leader has been in power since Joseph Stalin, who was Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953) and the premier of the Soviet Union from 1941-1953.

●        Some critics have likened Putin’s move to a power grab while others have called them a “constitutional coup”.

What’s the change?

●        Before the new legislation was signed, a President could serve a maximum of two consecutive six-year terms. That term limit remains even in the new legislation.

●        What has changed is that Putin’s previous terms will not be counted once the new legislationcomes into effect. These will be “zeroed

out”, giving him the option of serving two more consecutive terms after the current one ends in 2024.

 

SPORTS

Thisara Perera

 

●        All-rounder Thisara Perera became the first Sri Lankan to hit six sixes in an over in any form of professional cricket during a domestic tournament near here.

●        The 31-year-old achieved the feat during his unbeaten 13-ball 52 while captaining Sri Lanka Army   in   a   group   match    against Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club in the Major Clubs Limited Over List A tournament at the Army Ground in Panagoda town.

●        His knock, which had eight sixes in it, was also the second-fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in List A cricket, after former Sri Lanka all-rounder Kaushalya Weeraratne's 12-ball fifty in 2005.

 

MCQ

Q.1)          Consider the following statements regarding Government Securities Acquisition Programme:

1.      G-Secs are debt instruments issued by the government to borrow money.

2.   It will purchase government securities worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the second quarter of FY22.

 

3.     It aims to provide more comfort to the bond market, market participants.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1 and 2 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.2)   Online dispute resolution launched by

 

(a)   Ministry of Finance

 

(b)   National Development Council

 

(c)   Reserve Bank of India

 

(d)   Niti Aayog

 

Q.3)     With reference to the Quasars, consider the following statements:

1.   Quasars are extremely luminous cores of distant galaxies that are powered by supermassive black holes.

 

2.    They can help determine the expansion rate of the universe and help address other mysteries, such as dark matter.

 

3.    Scientists have recently found quasars warped by a naturally occurring cosmic “lens” and split into four similar images.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.4)       With reference to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, consider the following statements:

1.     It is an international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.

 

2. It was first adopted in 1982.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.5)    With reference to the SARTHAQ program, consider the following statements:

1.  It was launched in pursuance of the goals of NEP2020 and to assist States/UTs in this task.

2.  It help them to imbibe 21st century skills along with India’s tradition, culture and value system.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.6)     With reference to the Software Defined Radio system, consider the following statements:

1.   It is being developed by ISRO.

 

2.        It will have enhanced data transmission capability, enhanced voice clarity and data

transmission       accuracy      in     spectrally      noisy environments

 

3.   It will replace Combat Net Radio which supports voice communication only and has limited or no data transmission capability.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1 and 2 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.7)          In India National Family Planning Program was introduced in the year

(a) 1952

 

(b) 1955

 

(c) 1967

 

(d) 1972

 

Q.8)       With reference to the Carbon Watch, consider the following statements:

1.    It is a mobile application to assess the carbon footprint of an individual.

2.   The application can be downloaded through a QR code in Android supported smart cell phones.

3.    Delhi became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 2 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   3 only

 

Q.9)    Recently seen in news about UTF Harbour Project, it is signed between

(a)   India-Mauritius

 

(b)   India-Sri Lanka

 

(c)   India-Bangladesh

 

(d)   India-Maldives

 

Q.10)        With reference to the gig economy consider the following statements:

1.  According to Economic Survey 2020-21, India’s gig economy is now among largest in the world due to the wider adoption of e-commerce and online retailing.

 

2.  Gig workers as workers outside the traditional employer-employee relationship.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.11)          Consider    the    following     statements regarding Nano Sniffer:

1.    It can accurately detect a wide range of military, commercial, and home-made explosives threats.

2.   It provides trace detection of nano-gram quantity of explosives & delivers result in seconds.

 

3.     India became the first country has developed such kind of devices.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1 and 2 only

 

(d)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

Q.12)     Sputnik V is a COVID vaccine that has been developed by

(a)   Japan

 

(b)   France

(c)   Italy

 

(d)   Russia

 

Q.13)          Consider the following statements regarding Financial Action Task Force:

1.    It is an inter-governmental body established in 1989.

2.     It aims to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

 

3.    Pakistan is the only country has been put under FATF grey list.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   1 and 2 only

 

Q.14)      With reference to the Bombay Natural HistorySociety, consider the following statements:

1.           It is a non-governmental organisation established in 1883.

2.    It specializes in the conservation of nature and natural resources as well as organizing education activities and exploration of natural history.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.15)          Consider the following statements regarding Northern Ireland:

1.   It was created in 1921.

 

2. It is geographically as well as politically part of the Ireland.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.16)      With reference to the DIKSHA portal, consider the following statements:

1.   It is a national platform for school education that is available for the use of all states and UTs of India.

 

2.    The platform is developed for school education, foundational learning programs and to support

inclusive learning for underserved and differently-abled communities of learners and teachers.

 

3.    It Offers textbooks for students across different boards and languages, and training modules for teachers.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.17)          Consider the following statements regarding Remdesivir:

1.    It is an injectable antiviral that aims to prevent replication of the virus.

2. It was manufactured first time to treat Ebola.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.18)          Consider    the    following     statements regarding Thwaites Glacier:

1.    It is 120 km wide at its broadest, fast-moving, and melting fast over the years.

2.      Thwaites’s melting already contributes 4% to global sea level rise each year.

 

3.    Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   3 only

 

Q.19)             Recently      seen       in     news      about Narrow-Line Seyfert 1, what is it?

(a)   Ransomware

 

(b)   New active galaxy

 

(c)   Asteroid

 

(d)   Virus strain

 

Q.20)     Gangavaram deep-water port is located at:

(a)   Andhra Pradesh

 

(b)   Telangana

 

(c)   Assam

 

(d)   Odisha

 

Q.11) Consider the following statements regarding Indian Rhino Vision 2020 program:

1.       The program is initiated by Assam Forest Department and International Rhino Foundation.

2.   It aims to reduce the risk to the rhino population from poachers by spreading the population in multiple parks.

 

3.      It aims rhino population to 2,000 in seven protected areas in Assam.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1 and 2 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.22)     With reference to the Raisina Dialogue, consider the following statements:

1.   It is held annually by India since 2015.

 

2. It attracts leading minds from the global strategic and policy-making community to discuss broader foreign policy and strategic issues facing the world.

 

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   Neither 1 nor 2

 

(b)   Both 1 and 2

 

(c)   1 only

 

(d)   2 only

 

Q.23)    With reference to the zoonosis, consider the following statements:

1.     It is an infectious disease that jumps from a non-human animal to humans.

2.    It can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water and the environment.

 

3.     Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic.

 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

 

(a)   1 and 3 only

 

(b)   2 and 3 only

 

(c)   1, 2 and 3 only

 

(d)   2 only

Q.24)     Recently seen in news about e-SANTA platform, it has been associated with

(a)   pharmaceuticals

 

(b)   aqua farmers

 

(c)   logistics

 

(d)   education

 

Q.25)     Recently seen in news Gruppe S, it has been associated with which of the following countrie?

(a)   Italy

 

(b)   Iran

 

(c)   France

 

(d)   Germany

 

:: MCQ ANSWERS ::
1. (A)	2. (D)	3. (C)	4. (B)	5. (B)	6. (B)	7. (A)	8. (A)	9. (D)	10. (B)
11. (D)	12. (D)	13. (D)	14. (B)	15. (C)	16. (C)	17. (B)	18. (C)	19. (B)	20. (A)
21. (D)	22. (B)	23. (C)	24. (B)	25. (D)

 Thanks UPSC Portal