Note: First few volume of target shots are bigger because we are covering news in detail with static linkages considering fresher's preparation also. Next coming volumes will be more concise.

Environment. Schistura Hiranyakeshi ● It is a rare sub-species of Schistura. ● The fish was named after the Hiranyakeshi river near Amboli village. ● Schistura is a small and colourful fish that lives in water and streams in an abundance of oxygen. ● The Indian State Government can notify the Biodiversity Heritage Sites in consultation with local governing bodies under Section 37 of Biological Diversity Act of 2002.

Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary ● The dam was created in 1975 and was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1983. ● Location: Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary or Pong Dam Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake is in . ● Rivers: The lake is fed by the Beas River. ● Ramsar Site: In 1994, Government of declared Pong Dam Lake as a “Wetland of National Importance”. ○ In 2002, it became a Ramsar Site in November 2002 by government notification. ● Vegetation: The sanctuary area is covered with tropical and subtropical forests. Thus, it shelters a great number of Indian Wildlife animals. ● Fauna: The sanctuary is a host to around 220 species of birds belonging to 54 families. Migratory birds from all over Hindukush and also as far as Siberia come here during winter.

Godavari River (Dakshin Ganga) ● Largest Peninsular river system. ● Source: Trimbakeshwar near Nasik in and outfalling into the Bay of Bengal ● Length: 1465 km. ● Drainage Basin: Maharashtra, , , and in addition to smaller parts in , and Union territory of Puducherry. ● Tributaries: Pravara, Purna, Manjra, Penganga, Wardha, Wainganga, Pranhita (combined flow of Wainganga, Penganga, Wardha), Indravati, Maner and the Sabri. ● Cultural Significance: also takes place on the banks of the Godavari river in Nashik. ● Important Projects on Godavari: ○ Polavaram Irrigation Project. ○ Kaleshwaram.

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○ Sadarmatt Anicut across river Godavari is one among the two irrigation projects in the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures. ○ Inchampalli: The Inchampalli project is proposed on the Godavari River about 12 km downstream of the confluence of Indravati with the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh. ■ It is a joint project among the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. ○ Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP): The Sriram Sagar Project is a multipurpose project, located across the Godavari River near Pochampad of Nizamabad District in Telangana.

Cofferdam ● A cofferdam is defined as a temporary barrier in or around a body of water which allows the process of de-watering, diversion, or damming of water within an enclosed area. ● The major purpose of any cofferdam type is to hold back overwhelming or inconvenient waters and create a dry work environment. ● This allows a project to proceed with as little resistance and as much safety as possible.

Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary ● The Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary is located at Uttara District in Karnataka. ● It is also the only known tiger reserve in India to report frequent sightings of the elusive black panther. ● It is also known to house the Indian sloth bear, the Indian pangolin, the giant Malabar squirrel, dhole, the Indian jackal and the muntjac (barking deer). ● The king cobra and the mugger crocodile (Indian crocodile) are the prime reptilians in the sanctuary.

Net-zero ● Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero. ● Rather, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

A call for net-zero: ● A very active campaign has been going on for the last two years to get every country to sign on to a net-zero goal for 2050. ● It is being argued that global carbon neutrality by 2050 is the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial times. ● The net-zero formulation does not assign any emission reduction targets on any country.

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Net Zero Producers’ Forum ● Qatar, the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Norway have come together to form a cooperative forum that will develop pragmatic net zero emission strategies. ● These countries are collectively responsible for 40% of global oil and gas production. Roles and functions of the Net Zero Producers’ Forum: ● Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero. Rather, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. ● Absorption of the emissions can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal of gases from the atmosphere requires futuristic technologies such as carbon capture and storage. ● The Net Zero Producers’ Forum will consider strategies and technologies which include “methane abatement, advancing the circular carbon economy approach, development and deployment of clean-energy and carbon capture and storage technologies, diversification from reliance on hydrocarbon revenues, and other measures in line with each country’s national circumstances.”

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What is net-zero? ● Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero. Rather, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Madhu Kranti portal: ● Madhu Kranti portal is an initiative of the National Bee Board (NBB), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare under the National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM). ● This portal is being developed for online registration to achieve traceability source of honey and other beehive products on a digital platform. ● Also, the platform will help in checking the quality and source of adulteration of honey.

Significance of Madhukranti Portal ● The portal will help in increasing income of the farmers, boost exports and increase employment generation. The portal will hold the database of all the stakeholders involved in honey production, marketing chains, hive production and sales. This will increase the reach of honey to international markets. By this, the stakeholders can easily be contacted.

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Honey Corners

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● The Honey Corners are special spaces for the sale of honey. ● Operated by NAFED. ○ NAFED is National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation. NAFED has developed 14-15 honey corners. ● More honey corners are to be developed in most of the upcoming major 200 NAFED stores. This will promote market support for honey.

National Beekeeping and Honey Mission ● It is a central sector scheme that was approved by the Government of India for Rs 500 crores. ● It aims at scientific bee keeping and production of honey. ● The main objective of the mission is to achieve the goal of “Sweet Revolution”. ● The Government of India has been establishing quality testing labs to address the issues related to quality of honeybees under the mission.

Project RE-HAB ● Project RE-HAB is Reducing Elephant Human Attacks using Bees. ● It was launched at four spots in the of Karnataka. ● The project aims to prevent elephant human conflicts without creating harm to either of them. The project is highly cost effective. ● The project uses bee boxes as fence to prevent elephants from entering human habitation. The buzz of the bees irritates elephants. Also, elephants fear that the bees might sting them in the inner side of the trunk and in their eyes. ● The bee boxes were provided as a part of Honey Mission.

Three-banded Rosefinch ● A team of scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society recorded a new species of bird. ● The new bird species was identified while exploring the high-altitude coniferous forests of . ● The three branded Rosefinch is a resident of southern China and a vagrant in . Vagrant is a person with no home. ● The Three Branded Rosefinch belongs to the finch species of birds. ● Finch birds have world wide distribution except for Australia and polar regions.

Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve: Maharashtra ● It is situated in Gondia and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra ● 46th Tiger Reserve of India in December 2013. ● NNTR comprised of the notified area of Nawegaon National Park, Nawegaon Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, New Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Koka Wildlife Sanctuary. ● Flora: The major forest type is "Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest". ○ Few thorny plants are also found. ○ Bamboo occurs in abundance.

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● Fauna: ○ Carnivores: Leopards and smaller carnivores like wild dogs, wolf jackals, jungle cats and also the good population of sloth bears are seen. ○ Herbivore includes Cheetal, Sambar, Nilgai, Chousingha, Barking deer, Wild pig and Indian gaur. Mouse deer has also been recorded from the area. ○ More than 300 species of birds have been reported from the area. ● Other Protected Areas in Maharashtra: ○ Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. ○ Melghat Tiger reserve. ○ Sanctuary. ○ . ○ Sanjay Gandhi National Park. ○ . ● Dolphin boom in Odisha’s Chilika lake: ● Odisha has released the final data on the dolphin census Key findings: ● The population of dolphins in Chilika, India’s largest brackish water lake, and along the Odisha coast has doubled this year compared with last year. ● Three species were recorded during the census, with 544 Irrawaddy, bottle-nose and humpback dolphins sighted this year, compared with 233 last year. ● The rise in the Irrawaddy dolphin population in Chilika can be attributed to the eviction of illegal fish enclosures. About Irrawaddy dolphins: ● Found in coastal areas in South and , and in three rivers: the Irrawaddy (), the Mahakam (Indonesian Borneo) and the Mekong (China). ● They are ‘Endangered’ as per the IUCN Red List.

Indo- Pacific Bottlenose dolphins: ● Lives in the waters around India, northern Australia, South China, the Red Sea, and the eastern coast of Africa. ● IUCN status: Near Threatened

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Chilka Lake ● Chilika is Asia’s largest and world’s second largest lagoon. ● It is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent and is home to a number of threatened species of plants and animals. ● In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. ● Major attraction at Chilika is Irrawaddy dolphins which are often spotted off Satpada Island.

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● The large Nalabana Island (Forest of Reeds) covering about 16 sq km in the lagoon area was declared a bird sanctuary in 1987. ● Kalijai Temple – Located on an island in the Chilika Lake. ● Why in news?: The Chilika lake in Odisha, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, was once part of the Bay of Bengal, a study by the marine archaeology department of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), , has found.

Doomsday Glacier: ● Also called the Thwaites Glacier, it is located in Antarctica. ● The melting of this glacier has long been a cause of concern because of its high potential of speeding up the global sea level rise happening due to climate change. ● It is 120 km wide at its broadest. ● Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre. ● Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean. Because of the risk it faces — and poses — Thwaites is often called the Doomsday Glacier.

Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS) ● These are considered as unique and fragile ecosystems that can be marine ecosystems, coastal and inland waters, or terrestrial areas. ● Who notifies BHS? Under Section-37 of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 the State Government in consultation with local bodies may notify areas of biodiversity importance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites(BHS) ● The biodiversity comprises of any one or more of the components like, ○ Species richness - Wild and domesticated species or intra-specific categories, ○ High endemism, ○ Presence of rare, endemic and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, ○ Presence of wild ancestors of domestic/cultivated species or land races or their varieties, ○ Past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having cultural or aesthetic values. ○ Area with significant cultural, ethical or aesthetic values; important for the maintenance of cultural diversity

100% Sustainable Fuels ● A 100% sustainable fuel essentially represents the third generation and most advanced iteration of biofuels, which typically are made from by-products of industrial or agricultural waste.

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Biofuels ● Any hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from an organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time (days, weeks, or even months) is considered a biofuel. ○ Biofuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous in nature. ○ Solid: Wood, dried plant material, and manure ○ Liquid: Bioethanol and Biodiesel ○ Gaseous: Biogas ● These can be used to replace or can be used in addition to diesel, petrol or other fossil fuels for transport, stationary, portable and other applications. Also, they can be used to generate heat and electricity.

Categories of Biofuels:

First generation biofuels: ● These are made from food sources such as sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using conventional technology. ● Common first-generation biofuels include Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable oil, Bioethers, Biogas.

Second generation biofuels: ● These are produced from non-food crops or portions of food crops that are not edible and considered as wastes, e.g. stems, husks, wood chips, and fruit skins and peeling. ● Thermochemical reactions or biochemical conversion processes are used for producing such fuels. ● Examples: Cellulose ethanol and biodiesel.

Third generation biofuels: ● These are produced from micro-organisms like algae. ● Example: Butanol ● Micro-organisms like algae can be grown using land and water unsuitable for food production, therefore reducing the strain on already depleted water sources. Fourth Generation Biofuels: ● In the production of these fuels, crops that are genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon are grown and harvested as biomass. ● The crops are then converted into fuel using second generation techniques. ● The fuel is pre-combusted and the carbon is captured. Then the carbon is geo- sequestered, meaning that the carbon is stored in depleted oil or gas fields or in unmineable coal seams. ● Some of these fuels are considered as carbon negative as their production pulls out carbon from the environment.

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India’s Related Initiatives: ● E20 Fuel: The Indian government has invited public comments for introducing adoption of E20 fuel (a blend of 20% ethanol with gasoline). ● Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana, 2019: The objective of the scheme is to create an ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and to boost research and development in the 2G Ethanol sector. ● Reduction in GST: The Government has also reduced GST on ethanol for blending in fuel from 18% to 5%. ● National Biofuel Policy 2018: The Policy categorises biofuels as "Basic Biofuels'' viz. First Generation (1G) bioethanol & biodiesel and "Advanced Biofuels'' - Second Generation (2G) ethanol, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to drop-in fuels, Third Generation (3G) biofuels, bio-CNG etc. to enable extension of appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) ● IRV 2020 is an initiative led by the Forest Department, Government of , in partnership with WWF India, International Rhino Foundation, and several other organizations. ● The goal of IRV2020 was to increase the rhino population in Assam to 3,000 by establishing populations in new areas. ● Rhinos are now found in four Protected Areas in Assam: Pabitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi , , and . ● Why in News?: ○ Two adult one-horned rhinos were recently translocated from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary to Manas National Park, under the aegis of the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020).

About One- horned Rhinos: ● Only the Great One-Horned Rhino is found in India. ● Also known as Indian rhino, it is the largest of the rhino species. ● It is identified by a single black horn and a grey-brown hide with skin folds. ● They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants. ● Protection Status: ○ IUCN Red List: Vulnerable. ○ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): ■ Appendix I (Threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research). ○ Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.

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Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary ● Location: On the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in Morigaon district in Assam, India. ● Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world and second highest concentration in Assam after Kaziranga National Park. ○ It is often called ‘Mini Kaziranga’ due to similar landscape and vegetation. ○ Pobitora is running a successful Rhino breeding program within its sanctuary. ○ It is running under Indian Government as “Indian Rhino vision 2020” ● The wildlife sanctuary is home to endangered one-horned rhinoceros and the other mammals such as Leopard, Leopard cat, Fishing cat, Jungle cat, Feral Buffalo, Wild pigs, Chinese pangolins, etc. ● About 72% of Pobitora Sanctuary consists of wet savannah of Arundo donax and Saccharum. The remaining area is covered by water bodies. ○ Water hyacinth (an invasive aquatic plant) is a major problem to the area especially to waterfowl, as it forms thick mats on the water surface. ● There are 5 national parks in Assam namely, ○ Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, ○ Kaziranga National Park, ○ Manas National Park, ○ , ○ Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park.

Danube Sturgeon FIsh ● One of the most endangered species in the world, is rampant in the lower Danube (River) region, especially in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. ● Sturgeons have existed since the time of dinosaurs, for about 200 million years. Some of the species can grow up to eight metre in length and live more than a century. ● They are called ‘living fossils’ because their appearance has altered very little over the years ○ Other than Sturgeons, Horseshoe crab and ginkgo trees are examples of living fossils. ● Protection Status: ○ IUCN Red list: Critically endangered. ○ CITES: Appendix-II. ● Danube RIver: the second longest river in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 2,850 km to its mouth on the Black Sea. ● Living Fossil is an organism that has remained unchanged from earlier geologic times and whose close relatives are usually extinct.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature ● It is the world’s leading conservation organization and works in more than 100 countries.

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● Establishment: 1961. ● Headquartered: Gland, Switzerland. ● Mission: To conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth. ● Important Initiatives of WWF: ○ TX2 Goal ○ TRAFFIC ○ Living Planet Report ○ Earth Hour.

The Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) ● Located near Lailad village in the Ri Bhoi district of ● The animals here include the Bengal tiger, the black bear, the leopard and many such species at the verge of extinction such as the necked hornbill and the brown hornbill bird. ● The Sanctuary falls in the Eastern Himalayan Global biodiversity hotspot. ● Other Wildlife Sanctuary in Meghalaya: ○ Siju Wildlife Sanctuary ○ Narpuh Wildlife Sanctuary ○ Baghmara Pitcher Plant Sanctuary ○

Bohag Bird Count 2021 ● Bird count began in Assam. The Bohag Bihu Bird count was launched by Bird Count of India (BCI). ● The BCI is a Non-Governmental Organisation. This is the first time BCI is launching Bohag Bihu bird count. Bohag Bihu ● Bohag Bihu is also called Xaat Bihu. It is the traditional ethnic festival celebrated in Assam. It marks the beginning of Assamese . Bohag is Assamese calendar. The onset of Bohag marks the starting of Rongali Bihu. Rongali Bihu is one of the three most important festivals of Assam. The other two festivals are Kati Bihu and Kongali Bihu. Rongali Bihu ● During Rongali Bihu, many migratory species of birds that visited Assam and its surrounding regions during winter start flying back to their homes.

Exotic Animals: ● The term exotic does not have a set definition but it usually refers to a wild animal or one that is more unusual and rare than normal domesticated pets like cats or dogs. ● These are those species which are not usually native to an area and are introduced to an area by humans.

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Hippopotamus ● Hippopotamus, also called hippo or water horse, is an amphibious African ungulate mammal. ● It is considered to be the second largest land animal (after the elephant). ● Hippos are well adapted to aquatic life. The ears, eyes, and nostrils are located high on the head so that the rest of the body may remain submerged. ● Hippopotamuses were extinct in northern Africa by 1800 and south of Natal and the Transvaal by 1900. They are still fairly common in East Africa, but populations continue to decrease continent wide. ● Protection Status: ○ IUCN Red List: Vulnerable ○ CITES: Appendix Ill

● Threats: ○ Human-wildlife conflict and habitat encroachment. ○ Often killed for their meat under the guise of protection, and they are also hunted for hippo fat and their ivory canine teeth.

Earth Day ( 22 April ) ● Every year, 22nd April is celebrated as Earth Day to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire people to save and protect it. ● The theme for the year 2021 ‘Restore Our Earth’ examines natural processes, emerging green technologies and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems. ● Earth Day was first observed in 1970, when 20 million took to the streets to protest against environmental degradation on the call of US Senator Gaylord Nelson. ● Earth Day is now globally coordinated by EARTHDAY.ORG, which is a non profit organisation. It was formerly known as Earth Day Network. ● It aims to “build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and the planet.” ● It recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration (Earth Summit), to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity. ● The landmark Paris Agreement, which brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions, was also signed on Earth Day 2016.

Blue Nature Alliance ● What is it ?: The Blue Nature Alliance is a global partnership of five core partners and few other Non-Profit Organisations. ● The core partners are Conservation International, The Global Environment Facility, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Minderoo Foundation and Rob and Melani Walton Foundation. ● Aim: To safeguard global ocean biodiversity, build resilience to climate change, promote human well-being and enhance ecosystem connectivity.

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● Targets: The alliance has a target to: ○ Conserve 18 million square kilometres of ocean in five years. ○ Protect 5% of the world’s ocean in five years. ○ Help the world achieve 30% ocean conservation by 2030. ● Target Oceans : The Alliance has started by targeting seven ocean locations. This includes Antarctica, Fiji, Canada, Seychelles, Palau, the Western Indian Ocean and Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. ● The alliance will begin work by working with local communities and national leaders. It aims to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs) and improve the management of existing ones.

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Conservation International(CI) ● Conservation International(CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization founded in 1987. ● Objective : Its mission is to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity. Such as food, freshwater, livelihoods and a stable climate, etc ● Headquarters : Virginia, USA.

Blue Flag Beaches ● Blue Flag beaches are considered the cleanest beaches of the world. ● The Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognised voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators. ● Criteria for Certification: ○ In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained. ○ There are around 33 criteria that are to be met to qualify for a Blue Flag certification, ○ Such as the water meeting certain quality standards, having waste disposal facilities, being disabled- friendly, having first aid equipment, and no access to pets in the main areas of the beach. ○ Some criteria are voluntary and some compulsory. ● Awarded by: Denmark-based non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) awards Blue Flag Certification. ● On the lines of Blue Flag certification, India has also launched its own eco-label BEAMS (Beach Environment & Aesthetics Management Services). ○ BEAMS: Beach Environment & Aesthetics Management Services that comes under ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) project. ○ This was launched by the Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). ● There are eight beaches in India which have received Blue Flag Certification: ○ Shivrajpur in , ○ Ghoghla in Daman & Diu,

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○ Kasarkod in Karnataka and, ○ Padubidri beach in Karnataka, ○ Kappad in , ○ Rushikonda in Andhra Pradesh, ○ Golden beach of Odisha, ○ Radhanagar beach in Andaman and Nicobar.

Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary ● Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Mollem town of Goa. ● It is one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries of Goa and contains within it the Mollem National Park. ● It was formed to protect the vast biodiversity of the Western Ghat. ● Originally known as the Mollem Game Sanctuary, it was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1969 and thence renamed the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary. ● The sanctuary is heavily forested and contains tropical evergreen forests, semi- evergreen forests and moist deciduous forests.

MACS 1407 ● MACS 1407 is a high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean. ● Cultivation: It is suitable for rain-fed conditions of north- east India. ● It is suitable for cultivation in the states of Assam, , , Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern states. Key Features: ● MACS 1407 requires an average of 43 days for 50 % flowering. Further, it takes 104 days to mature from the date of sowing. ● It has white coloured flowers, yellow seeds and black hilum (a scar on a seed marking the point of attachment to its seed vessel). ● Advantages: ○ High Yielding: It gives 39 quantal per hectare making it a high yielding variety ○ Pest Resistant: It is resistant to major insect pests.

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Science & Technology. Vaccine Wastage ● Vaccine wastage is an expected component of any large vaccination drive. But high vaccine wastage inflates vaccine demand and increases unnecessary procurement. ● Different stages where wastage occurs: ○ Cold chain points. ○ District vaccine stores. ○ Vaccination session site. ● How wastage happens ? ○ If the vaccine has crossed expiry date ○ If it is exposed to heat ○ If the vaccine has been frozen breakage ○ Missing inventory and theft ○ While discarding leftover doses ○ Suspected contamination ○ Poor vaccine administration Practices

AIM-PRIME ● Launched by: Atal Innovation Mission in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) & Venture Center. ● AIM-PRIME (Program for Researchers on Innovations, Market-Readiness & Entrepreneurship) is an initiative to promote and support science-based deep-tech startups & ventures across India. ● Implementation by : Venture Center – a non-profit technology business incubator. ● Beneficiaries: ○ Technology developers (early-stage deep tech start-ups, and scientists/ engineers/clinicians) with strong science-based deep tech business ideas. ○ Chief Executive Officers and Senior incubation managers of AIM Funded Atal Incubation Centers that are supporting deep tech entrepreneurs.

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Deep Technology ● Deep techs are very high cutting-edge and disruptive technologies. These technologies base on scientific discoveries, engineering, mathematics,physics, and medicine. ● Examples: A new medical device or technique fighting cancer, data analytics to help farmers grow more food, or a clean energy solution trying to lessen the human impact on climate change.

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Atal Innovation Mission ● AIM is Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. ● Objective: ○ To develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy, provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness and create an umbrella structure to oversee the innovation ecosystem of the country.

Asteroid Apophis ● Asteroid Apophis may hit the Earth in 2068 due to a phenomenon called Yarkovsky effect. ● This effect has eventually accelerated the asteroid’s flow and also changed its path. ● It was discovered in 2004 and has been named after an ancient Egyptian “lord of chaos”. ● It is one of the 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

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Potentially Hazardous Asteroids ● It means that an asteroid has the potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. ● Specifically, all asteroids with a Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU (which is about 7,480,000 Km) or less and an Absolute Magnitude (H) of 22.0 (about 150 mt in diameter) or less are considered PHAs. ● Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance is a method for calculating the minimum distance between two almost overlapping elliptical orbits. ● The Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance between the Earth and the Sun and is roughly 150 million km. ● The absolute magnitude is a measure of the star's luminosity i.e. the total amount of energy radiated by the star every second.

Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) ● AIDA is a joint collaboration between ESA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Observatoire de la Côte d´Azur (OCA), NASA, and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). ● In general, there are two different ways of planetary defence against an asteroid. ○ Blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth, ○ Deflecting it off its Earth-bound course by hitting it with a spacecraft. ● AIDA project seeks to explore the defence mechanism through deflection. ● The project aims to deflect the orbit of the smaller body through an impact by one spacecraft. ○ NASA is building the Double Asteroid Impact Test (DART) spacecraft for this.

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Echo and Bifrost ● Facebook and Google are planning two undersea internet cables named “Echo and Bifrost” to connect the US to Singapore and . ● Echo will run from Eureka, California to Singapore, with a stop-over in Guam, and thereto in Indonesia. ● Google is only investing in Echo,Facebook is investing in both cables. ● Need : The current COVID-19 pandemic across the globe has increased the need for reliable Internet access. ○ And, this will provide vital new connections between the Asia-Pacific region and North America and increase the overall transpacific capacity by 70 per cent.

Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector): ● Russian scientists recently launched one of the world’s biggest underwater neutrino telescopes called the Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector) in the waters of Lake Baikail, the world’s deepest lake situated in Siberia. ● It is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with the IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea. ● It seeks to study in detail the elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos and to possibly determine their sources.

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About Neutrino: ● A neutrino is a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass, which might even be zero. ● Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in the universe. Because they have very little interaction with matter. ● They are incredibly difficult to detect. ● Neutrino has a very tiny mass, no charge and spins half. ● It interacts very weakly with other matter particles. ● Neutrinos come from the sun (solar neutrinos) and other stars, cosmic rays that come from beyond the solar system, and from the Big Bang from which our Universe originated. ● They can also be produced in the lab.

NASA’s InSight Mission ● InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. ● It is being supported by a number of European partners, which include France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). ● It will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth.

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● It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior.

National Policy for Rare Diseases, 2021 ● Aim: The policy aims to lower the incidence and prevalence of rare diseases based on an integrated and comprehensive preventive strategy. ● The strategy includes awareness generation, counselling programmes, providing affordable Health Care among others.

What is a rare disease? ● A rare disease, also referred to as an orphan disease, is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. ● It has a prevalence of 1 or less per 1000 population. ● Most rare diseases are genetic, and are present throughout a person’s entire life, even if symptoms do not immediately appear. ● The commonly reported rare diseases include: Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle cell anaemia, auto-immune diseases among others. ● Categorisation: The policy has categorised rare diseases in three groups ○ Group 1. disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment; ○ Group 2. those requiring long term or lifelong treatment; ○ Group 3. and diseases for which definitive treatment is available but challenges are to make optimal patient selection for benefit. ● Government Support: ○ The government will provide Financial support of up to Rs. 20 lakh under the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi for treatment of those rare diseases listed under Group 1. ○ Moreover, Beneficiaries for such financial assistance would not be limited to BPL families. About 40% of the population, eligible under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, will also be eligible for assistance. ○ Further, for group 2, the State Governments can consider supporting specific patients. It includes a rare disease that can be managed with special diets or hormonal supplements or other relatively low-cost interventions (Diseases listed under Group 2).

UNNATI Programme: ● National space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the UNNATI (UNispace Nano-satellite Assembly and Training by ISRO) programme ● UNNATI is a capacity building programme on nanosatellite development. The primary objectives of the programme are: ● To offer a simplified and increased exposure to satellite fabrication technologies, as part of the UNISPACE initiative. ● To provide theoretical course on satellite technology. ● To provide hands-on training to assemble, integrate and test a low cost, modular nano satellite.

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ProrIISe Software ● Purpose ProrIISe Software aims to automate the legal and bureaucratic part of the patent process. ● It will be helpful for registering intellectual property developed by Indian academicians. ● Benefits: This software is available at a lesser cost when compared to the software available outside India. Earlier the only choice available was outside software products. ● Version 2.0: of the software is aimed for release in 2021. This version will automate the financial part also. ● Similarly, Version 3.0 may release in 2022. It will bring out artificial intelligence approaches to processes required to evaluate a patent.

Heatwave ● The IMD says heatwave is considered when the maximum temperature of a station touches ○ at least 40 degrees Celsius or more for plains, ○ 37 degrees Celsius or more for coastal regions and ○ at least 30 degrees Celsius or more for hilly regions. ● What are the criteria? ○ Heatwave is declared when the departure from normal temperature is by 4.5 to 6.4 degrees Celsius and a severe heatwave is when the departure from normal is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.

Plasma therapy ● Plasma is the liquid part of the blood. ● Convalescent plasma, extracted from the blood of patients recovering from an infection, is a source of antibodies against the infection. ● Plasma therapy involves transfusing plasma retrieved from the blood of people who have recovered from Covid-19 into people suffering from the disease. ● Once a person recovers from Covid-19, he/she develops antibodies , found in plasma or liquid part of blood

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About Plasma: ● Plasma is a straw coloured, viscous fluid constituting nearly 55 per cent of the blood. ● 90-92 per cent of plasma is water and proteins contribute 6-8 per cent of it. ● Fibrinogen, globulins and albumins are the major proteins. ● Fibrinogens are needed for clotting or coagulation of blood. ● Globulins primarily are involved in defense mechanisms of the body ● Albumins help in osmotic balance.

Basics about Blood ● Blood is a specialized body fluid.

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● It has four main components: plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. ● One type of cells are the red blood cells (RBC) which contain a red pigment called haemoglobin. ● The blood also has white blood cells (WBC) which fight against germs that may enter our body. ○ T Cells: A type of white blood cell that is of key importance to the immune system and is at the core of adaptive immunity. ○ It creates the body's immune response to specific pathogens. ○ The T cells are like soldiers who search out and destroy the targeted invader. ● The clot is formed because of the presence of another type of cells in the blood, called platelets.

Functions of Blood: ● Transporting oxygen and nutrients to the lungs and tissues ● Forming blood clots to prevent excess blood loss ● Carrying cells and antibodies that fight infection ● Bringing waste products to the kidneys and liver, which filter and clean the blood ● Regulating body temperature

Wolf-Rayet stars: ● Indian astronomers trace rare supernova explosion to Wolf-Rayet stars. ● The rare Wolf-Rayet stars are highly luminous objects a thousand times that of the Sun. ● They are a heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionised helium and highly ionised nitrogen or carbon. ● They are massive stars. Further, they have completely lost their outer hydrogen. So the WR stares fusing helium or heavier elements in the core. ● The surface temperatures of known Wolf-Rayet stars range from 30,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars. ● They were previously called W-type stars.

ADHD Drugs ● ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ● Both adults and children can have ADHD. ● Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental health disorder that can cause above-normal levels of hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. People with ADHD may also have trouble focusing their attention on a single task or sitting still for long periods of time. ● The ADHD drug belongs to a group of medicines called stimulants. These drugs work by increasing the activity of the brain. ● There are two categories of ADHD Drugs. Stimulants and Non-Stimulants. ● According to FDA, the stimulant medications increase dopamine levels in brain. Dopamine is a brain chemical that is associated with motivation and attention. However, stimulant medications can bring side effects such as high blood pressure, headaches, insomnia and decreased appetite.

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● Most of the ADHD drugs are classified as Schedule II substances as they pose risk of abuse and dependence. ● Non-stimulant ADHD drugs include duanfacine, atomoexetine and clonidine.

Xenobots ● Xenobots are capable of healing themselves. ● They can record memories. ● Xenobots are made from frog cells. They have been named after the Xenopus laevis frog that supplied its cells to create the robot. Xenopus laevis is an African frog. ● These robots are to be used to detect diseases and deliver drugs to specific areas of the body. ● Xenobots are less than 1 milli metre long. ● They are comprised of 500-1000 living cells. ● Xenobots come in different basic shapes and can scoot themselves in linear or circular directions. ● They are capable of joining up together to act collectively. ● They can move small objects by harnessing their cellular energy for a maximum of ten days.

India H2 Alliance (IH2A) ● The India H2 Alliance, IH2A mainly focuses on commercialising hydrogen technologies. It will work towards boosting the hydrogen economy and supply chain in India. ● Formed by The Global energy and industrial majors have joined together to form a new coalition called the India H2 Alliance. ● The initiative to form the alliance was begun by the Reliance industries and Chart Industries. ● Objectives of IH2A: ○ To build hydrogen economy and supply chain in India ○ To help develop blue and green hydrogen production and storage ○ To build hydrogen-use industrial clusters ○ To increase hydrogen-powered fuel cells-based transport ● Blue Hydrogen is produced from the splitting of natural gas into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This is achieved by Steam Methane Reforming or Auto thermal Reforming. ● Green Hydrogen made from non-fossil sources.

African Swine Fever (ASF): ● ASF is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects domestic and wild pigs, typically resulting in an acute form of hemorrhagic fever. ● It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s. ● Causes: It is caused by a large DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family.

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● Mortality Rate: is close to 100 percent, and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop it spreading is by culling the animals. ● Transmission: It is transmitted to pigs through: ○ Direct contact with infected domestic or wild swines ○ Indirect contact through ingestion of contaminated substances or ○ Contaminated material such as food waste, feed or garbage or through biological vectors such as ticks. ● Human Transmission: It is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.

World Organisation for Animal Health(OIE) ● It is an intergovernmental organisation created in 1924 for improving animal health worldwide. ● Members: In 2018, the OIE consists of 182 Member Countries and Territories. India is one of the member countries. ● Headquarters: Paris, France. ● It is also recognised as a reference organisation by the World Trade Organization(WTO).

Oxygen Enrichment Unit ● An oxygen enrichment unit is a device that concentrates the oxygen from the surrounding air. For that, it selectively removes nitrogen to supply oxygen-enriched air. ● The concentrated Oxygen is delivered to the patients having respiratory diseases through an oxygen mask or nasal cannula. Uses: ● The device is useful in remote places, homes, or hospital-like facilities for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), chronic hypoxemia, and pulmonary edema. ● It may also be used as an adjunct treatment for severe sleep apnea (in conjunction with a continuous positive airway pressure unit).

About Liquid oxygen: ● It 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.

Oxygen Enrichment Unit(OEU) developed by CMERI: ● The Oxygen Enrichment Unit(OEU) of CMERI is indigenous. ● Principle : The unit works on the principle of pressure swing adsorption (PSA). It utilizes zeolite columns to selectively remove nitrogen from air under certain pressure thereby increasing the oxygen concentration.

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Benefits of this Oxygen Enrichment Unit(OEU): ● This unit is capable of delivering up to 30 Litres Per Minute(LPM) Oxygen enriched air, which is absent in the other commercially available units. ● The available Oxygen Enrichment Units generally work till 8000 ft from sea level. However, this unit can work up to the altitude of 14000 ft.Thus, it is very handy for usage in the high-altitude terrain battlefield in contingencies. ● Further, this unit will help in High Flow Oxygen Therapy. This therapy is a better method in the treatment and management of COVID-19 patients.

NanoSniffer ● This home-grown Explosive trace detector device (ETD) - NanoSniffer can detect explosives in less than 10 seconds and it also identifies and categorizes explosives into different classes. ● It detects all classes of military, conventional and homemade explosives. It gives visible & audible alerts with sunlight-readable color display. ● NanoSniffer is a 100% Made in India product in terms of R&D and manufacturing. It has been developed by NanoSniff Technologies, an IIT Bombay incubated startup and has been marketed by Vehant Technologies, a spin-off from a former IIT Delhi incubated startup Kritikal Solutions. ● This affordable device will reduce India's dependence on imported explosive trace detector devices.

Robo Plant: Technology to interact with plants ● The scientists from Singapore have developed a technology to interact with plants. The technology has been named as “Robo Plant”. ● The technology helps to control the plants using smart phone applications. ● In future, this technology can be further used to enable farmers to detect diseases in plants. The plants can tell farmers that they are hit by diseases through this technology. ● The Singapore scientists achieved in building the technology by linking plants to electrodes. These electrodes were capable of monitoring weak electrical pulses that are naturally emitted by green plants.

Venus Flytrap: ● It is a carnivorous plant. It is native to subtropical wetlands that are located in the East Coast of United States. It catches prey such as insects with a trapping structure. When the prey touches a hair, the plant prepares to close. The IUCN has put the plant under “Vulnerable” status.

Electrical Signals in Plants: ● The Electrical Signals in plants were first revealed in insectivorous plants by Burdon Sanderson in 1873 and by Darwin in 1875. Plants exhibit several methods of delivering electrical signals. ● The four commonly used propagation methods are as follows:

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○ Action Potential ○ Variation Potential ○ Local Electric Potential ○ Systematic Potential ● Plants also have the capability to sense and respond to the environment. They react to chemicals, light, gravity, moisture, infections, oxygen, infection, temperature, parasite infestation, sound, physical disruption and touch.

Noise in the Ocean: ● The three broad components of oceanic acoustics are: ● Geophony: Sounds created by non-biological natural events like earthquakes, waves and bubbling. ● Biophony: Sounds created by the ocean’s living creatures. ● Anthrophony: Sounds created by human beings (a large portion of which is shipping noise). ○ Impact of Anthrophony: In the short term anthrophony masks the auditory signal processing by marine animals, weakening their ability to forage for food, escape a predator or attract a mate. In the long run, it can thin out the population of some underwater species.

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Hydrophone ● Just as a microphone collects sound in the air, a hydrophone detects acoustic signals under the water. ● Most hydrophones are based on a special property of certain ceramics that produces a small electrical current when subjected to changes in underwater pressure.

Dark Sirens ● The Dark Sirens are nothing but gravitational waves from neutron stars or black holes. ● The Dark sirens can be picked up by gravitational wave detector but not by ordinary telescopes. ● The Cosmologists have been facing the crisis that the universe is expanding, and it cannot be deciphered how fast it is moving away. This is mainly because, different ways of measuring Hubble’s constant provide different results. ● When massive neutron stars or black holes smash together they release huge amount of energy sending out gravitational waves. The LASER Inferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been listening to such massive crashes since 2015. Based on the sound heard, LIGO will help the scientists calculate how far they happened. ● Recently, the discovery of dozens of Quasars have also given hope of determining Hubble’s constant.

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National Supercomputing Mission (NSM): ● Launch: NSM was announced in 2015, with an aim to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a grid of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,500 crores over the period of seven years by 2022. ● It supports the government's vision of 'Digital India' and 'Make in India'. ● Implementation: NSM is jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST - Ministry of Science and Technology) and implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Features: ● It is also an effort to improve the number of supercomputers owned by India. ● These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN). The NKN connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high-speed network. ● Under NSM, the long-term plan is to build a strong base of 20,000 skilled persons over the next five years who will be equipped to handle the complexities of supercomputers. ● Progress of NSM: ● In the first phase, PARAM Shivay, PARAM Shakti, PARAM Brahma, PARAM Yukti and PARAM Sanganak were deployed at IIT (BHU), IIT Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Research. ● Recently, PARAM-Siddhi AI, has been ranked 63rd in the Top 500 list of most powerful supercomputers in the world. It was developed under the NSM.

Little Guru: World’s First Gamified Learning Application ● Launched by : The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) tied up with the Gamapp Sportswizz Tech Private Limited. ● It is a specialized mobile application for learning Sanskrit. ● The app was launched during the celebrations of the 71st Foundation Day of ICCR. Significance: ● It is world’s first Gamified Sanskrit learning application. ● It teaches Sanskrit in an interactive platform. This makes learning easier. ● It will help people to learn Sanskrit in an easy manner based on competition, games, peer to peer interactions, etc.

Nuclear Centrifuge ● A Centrifuge is used to separate particles suspended in a medium. In a Nuclear Centrifuge, Uranium-235 is separated from Uranium-238. It is basically enrichment of Uranium or making it an ideal fuel for the nuclear reactor. Significance ● The Nuclear Fuel used in nuclear reactor must have higher concentration of Uranium- 235 isotope than that of its natural form, that is, Uranium-238. ● The Uranium-235 is more radioactive than Uranium-238. There are currently 2,000 tonnes of enriched Uranium in the world.

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● They are predominantly used for preparing nuclear weapons.

Artemis Programme ● Artemis Programme is an international human space flight programme funded by the US Government. ● The main objective of the programme is to launch a manned mission to the south pole region of the moon by 2024. ● The programme is predominantly carried out by NASA. ● Other international partners in the programme are JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Italian Space Agency, UK Space Agency, UAE space Agency, Brazilian Space Agency, Australian Space Agency, State Space Agency of Ukraine, Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency. ● The total cost of the programme is estimated to be 35 billion USD. ● The programme is to be implemented in three parts. They are as follows: ○ Artemis I: To be launched in 2021 and is an uncrewed flight. It will test the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft. ○ Artemis II: It is the first crewed flight test and is targeted to be launched in 2023. ○ Artemis III: It will land astronauts on the south pole of moon in 2024.

What is Monkeydactyl ? ● The pterosaur species were reptiles, close cousins of dinosaurs and the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight. ● It is a flying reptile with the ‘oldest opposable thumbs’. ○ Opposability of the thumb is defined as being able to “simultaneously flex, abduct and medially rotate the thumb” in a way that one is able to bring the tip of the thumb to touch the tips of the other fingers. ● The new pterosaur fossil was discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China, and is believed to be 160 million years old. ● It has been named Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, also dubbed “Monkeydactyl”. ● They evolved into various species; while some were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, others were as small as paper airplanes.

National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI): ● NIXI has announced to play a supporting role for the IPv6 awareness and adoption in the country along with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). ● National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) is a not-for-profit organization. ● It has been working since 2003 for spreading the internet infrastructure to the citizens of India through the following activities: ○ Internet Exchanges through which the internet data is exchanged amongst ISP’s, Data Centers. ○ .IN Registry, managing and operation of .IN country code domain and .भारत IDN

domain for India.

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○ IRINN, managing and operating Internet protocol (IPv4/IPv6).

IPv4 to IPv6 ● IP: ‘IP’ stands for ‘Internet Protocol’. It is a set of rules that dictate how data should be delivered over the public network (Internet).

IPv4: ● IPv4 was the first major version of IP. It was deployed for production in the ARPANET in 1983. ● It is the most widely used IP version. It is used to identify devices on a network using an addressing system. ● The IPv4 uses a 32-bit address scheme. Till date, it is considered the primary Internet Protocol and carries 94% of Internet traffic. ● It provides an addressing capability of approximately 4.3 billion addresses. IPv6: ● It is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol. The Internet Engineer Task Force initiated it in early 1994. The design and development of that suite is now called IPv6. ● This new IP address version is being deployed to fulfill the need for more Internet addresses. ● IPv6 is also called IPng (Internet Protocol next generation). ● It has the capability to provide an infinite number of addresses. ● With 128-bit address space, it allows 340 undecillion unique address space. It can easily accommodate the growing number of networks worldwide and help solve the IP address exhaustion problem. eFuel ● eFuel is a complex hydrocarbon. It is created based on the following process: ● Water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen using wind generated electricity. ● This hydrogen is then combined with the carbon dioxide filtered from the air to form methanol. ● The methanol is then converted into gasoline using ExxonMobil licensed technology. ● The eFuel shall be used in any cars. ● The cost of production of eFuel is 10 USD per litre. Over time, this is expected to come down to 2 USD per litre. ● The eFuel is a kind of Electro Fuel.

Electro Fuels ● The Electro Fuels are the emerging class of carbon neutral fuels. They are also called Synthetic fuels. They are seen as an alternative to biofuels. They are made by storing electrical energy from renewable sources in chemical bonds of liquid of gas fuels.

‘Whitest ever’ paint ● The ultra-white paint is made up of barium sulphate, which makes it more white.

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● It can reflect 99 per cent of sunlight. ● The paint can keep surfaces 19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than their ambient surroundings at night. It can also cool surfaces 8 degrees Fahrenheit below their surroundings under strong sunlight during noon hours. ● 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

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C): ● MIS-C is a rare but severe hyperinflammatory condition in children and adolescents that typically occurs 2-6 weeks after a Covid-19 infection. ● It is a potentially deadly condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. ● Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal (gut) pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired.

Aditya L1 Mission ● Aditya-L1 Mission is India’s first solar mission planned by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ● It is a joint effort of Indian Space Research Organisation and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences. ● Earlier the name was Aditya -1, which has been renamed as Aditya-L1 Mission. ● It is ISRO’s second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat for a scientific expedition to study the Sun. ● The mission was initially named Aditya 1 which was limited to observing only the solar corona. ● The objective of Aditya L1 mission is to study Sun’s Corona, Chromosphere and Photosphere. In addition, it will study the particle flux emanating from Sun, and the variation of magnetic field strength. ● It is India’s first solar mission. It will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL ● It will have seven payloads (instruments) on board.

Baikal-GVD Telescope: ● It is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with the IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea. ● GVD is designed to detect high-energy neutrinos that may have come from the Earth’s core, or could have been produced during nuclear reactions in the Sun. ● It will aid scientists’ understanding of the origins of the universe since some neutrinos were formed during the Big Bang, others continue to be formed as a result of supernova explosions or because of nuclear reactions in the Sun.

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NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter ● NASA's miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars. It was the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. ● Ingenuity is the first helicopter to fly on Mars. ● It was carried by NASA’s rover called Perseverance that was launched in July 2020. ● Ingenuity is able to fly using counter-rotating blades that spin at about 2,400 rpm (Rotations Per Minute). ● It has a wireless communication system, and is equipped with computers, navigation sensors, and two cameras. ● It is solar-powered, able to charge on its own.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover: ● Perseverance is a car-sized Mars rover designed to explore the crater Jezero on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. ● Launched in: The rover was launched in July 2020. It landed at the Jezero Crater of Mars in February 2021. ● Purpose : ○ The rover is designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life. ○ It will also collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. ○ Further, it will also test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.

RESPOND Program : ISRO ● ISRO started the RESPOND (Research Sponsored) programme in the 1970s, ● Objective of encouraging academia to participate and contribute in various Space related research activities. ● Under the Programme, ISRO provides financial support for conducting research and development activities related to Space Science, Space Technology and Space Applications in Academic Institutions in India. ● This is the flagship programme of ISRO to promote extramural research in emerging areas of Space at Academia. ● RESPOND is also participating in the National Missions like IMPRINT (IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology) programme and Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY).

IMPRINT Programme ● The scheme was released in 2015 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education). ● It is a first-of-its-kind Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.

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● IMPRINT provides the overarching vision that guides research into areas that are predominantly socially relevant.

Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana ● It was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2015. ● It promotes innovation of a higher order that directly impacts the needs of the Industry and thereby improves the competitive edge of Indian manufacturing.

International Space Station ● Why in news ?: Russia’s space agency said it hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025 as Moscow considers withdrawing from the International Space Station programme to go it alone.

About International Space Station ● Launched in: 1998. ● Countries involved: involving Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency, the ISS is one of the most ambitious international collaborations in human history. ● ISS is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. ● Purpose: The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific experiments are conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. ● The ISS circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day. ● ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US.

LED (Light Emitting Diode) ● used in electronic displays found in televisions, computer monitors, smartphones and screens on other devices. ● LED originate from an electronic semiconductor component that emits light when current is passed through it. ● This works on the principles of Electroluminescence (EL), when materials emit light in the presence of electric current or strong magnetic fields.

OLED ● The OLED (Organic LED) is built from an electroluminescent layer that consists of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This organic layer is between two electrodes within a substrate. ● OLED-based panels do not need backlighting

QLED ● Quantum Dot LED ● The Quantum Dots are tiny nanoparticles that dramatically improve the color and brightness of the LCD panel they are embedded in.

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● It is a clever technique compared to conventional backlighting because it tries to simulate OLED features, by not overpowering the pixels with too much light.

Mini-LED ● The Mini-LED is another type of backlighting used for LCD TV. They are tinier than Quantum Dots, and almost at the pixel level. They are a form of miniature backlights that are configured in a Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) zones. They are used with QLED to provide much better control of the backlighting. This leads to better imaging quality that some say is comparable to OLED.

MicroLED ● MicroLED are similar to OLED because they emit their own light, therefore requiring no backlighting. MicroLED is actually being touted as more superior in quality to OLED displays. They can provide more brightness along with higher contrast and richer colors, combining the best features of OLED and and backlit LED. ● MicroLED are much smaller than Mini-LED. The size of the diodes are in the order of microns, so they are a millionth of a meter in size.

NASA’s Perseverance mission has extracted oxygen on Mars ● A device aboard the rover was able to produce oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time. ● On Mars, carbon dioxide makes up ~96% of the gas in the planet’s atmosphere. Oxygen is only 0.13%, compared to 21% in Earth’s atmosphere.

About MOXIE: ● MOXIE : The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment ● A technology demonstrator, MOXIE is designed to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour, and is placed inside the Perseverance rover. ● It is the size of a car battery, weighing 37.7 pounds (17.1 kg) on Earth, but just 14.14 pounds (6.41 kg) on Mars. ● Over the next two years, MOXIE is expected to extract oxygen nine more times. ● Process: ○ Like a tree on Earth, MOXIE inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen. ○ To produce oxygen, MOXIE separates oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules. It does so by using heat at a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius. ○ In the process, it also produces carbon monoxide as a waste product, which it releases in the Martian atmosphere.

#FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge: ● The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has announced a #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge to accelerate adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) In Government.

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● The #FOSS4GOVInnovation 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.

Virafin Drug ● What is it ?: Virafin is an antiviral drug that is subcutaneously administered (injected under the skin). ● It is manufactured by a pharma major named “Zydus Cadila”. ● The drug was originally approved for the treatment of liver disease caused by the hepatitis B and C virus. ● The drug has now been repurposed for treating the moderate COVID-19 disease. ● It has been found that when the drug was given to Covid patients in the early stage, it has shown significant improvement in moderate Covid cases. ● The drug was also found to reduce hours of supplemental oxygen required by patients. ● Moreover, patients who were treated with the drug ‘Virafin’ were tested Covid negative within 7 days. ● Hence, after the emergency approval, the drug will now be available on the prescription of a medical specialist for use in hospital/institutional setup.

Harlequin ichthyosis ● Odisha reported its first-ever case of a baby born with Harlequin Ichthyosis, a rare genetic skin condition. ● What is it?: Harlequin ichthyosis is a severe genetic disorder that mainly affects the skin. ● Cause: The disease is caused due to mutations in the ABCA 12 gene inherited from the parents. ● The ABCA12 protein plays a major role in transporting fats in cells that make up the outermost layer of skin. ● Severe mutations in the ABCA12 gene lead to the absence or partial production of the ABCA12 protein. ● This results in a lack of lipid transport. As a result, skin development is affected, according to the severity of the mutation. ● Impact on Skin : The disease creates large diamond-shaped plates across the body that are separated by deep cracks (fissures). The skin becomes dry and scaly almost like fish skin and hence the term ‘icthyosis’, derived from ‘ikthus’, Greek for fish. ● Cases: The disease affects one in three million births. ● Treatment: There is no cure for harlequin ichthyosis and treatment is centred around protecting the skin and preventing infection.

Deep Time Project: ● The Deep Time project in France’s Lombrives Cave came to an end. As part of the project, a group of 15 people stayed in and explored the cave for 40 days and 40 nights. ● They slept in tents, made their own electricity, and had no contact with the outside world.

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● The Deep Time project looked at how a lack of external touch affects one’s perception of time. ● Its aim was to investigate how people adjust to dramatic changes in their living conditions and environments. ● Scientists at the Human Adaption Institute leading the $1.5 million “Deep Time” project say the experiment will help them better understand how people adapt to drastic changes in living conditions and environments.

Project ‘Pyrasol’ ● The foundation stone of the integrated Solar Dryer and Pyrolysis pilot plant was recently laid at Chennai. ● 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 & 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. ● Project Pyrasol : The project focuses on managing and organising collection, treatment, and disposal systems of urban wastes in Indian Smart Cities as well as in other urban centres with an integrated and interactive approach.

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About Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC): ● Established by India and 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.

RT-PCR Tests: ● In an RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test, RNA (Ribonucleic acid) is extracted from the swab collected from the patient. It is then converted into DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), which is then amplified. ● Amplification refers to the process of creating multiple copies of the genetic material - in this case, DNA. ● This improves the ability of the test to detect the presence of the virus. ● Amplification takes place through a series of cycles—one copy becomes two, two becomes four, and so on—and it is after multiple cycles that a detectable amount of virus is produced.

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Ct Value: ● Ct is short for ‘Cycle Threshold’. ● The Ct value refers to the number of cycles after which the virus can be detected. ● If a higher number of cycles is required, it implies that the virus went undetected when the number of cycles was lower. ● The lower the Ct value, the higher the viral load-because the virus has been spotted after fewer cycles. ● Ct is a value that emerges during RT-PCR tests. All patients with a Ct value less than 35 may be considered as positive while those with a Ct value above 35 may be considered as negative. ● It has been found that the time since the onset of symptoms has a stronger relationship with Ct values as compared to the severity of the disease.

Viral Load: ● It refers to the amount of genetic material, commonly RNA, of a virus present in an infected person’s blood. ● This is expressed as the total number of viral particles present in each millilitre of blood. ● A higher viral load in the blood means that the virus is replicating and the infection is progressing. ● An infected person with a high viral load is more likely to shed more virus particles, in the process known as “viral shedding”.

Antimicrobial Resistance ● Antimicrobial resistance is the resistance acquired by any microorganism (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasite, etc.) against antimicrobial drugs (such as antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, antimalarials, and anthelmintics) that are used to treat infections. ● As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others. ● Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”. ● Some bacteria due to the presence of resistance genes are intrinsically resistant and therefore survive on being exposed to antibiotics. ● Bacteria can also acquire resistance. This can happen in two ways: ○ By sharing and transferring resistance genes present in the rest of the population, or ○ By genetic mutations that help the bacteria survive antibiotic exposure. ● Reasons for Spread of Antimicrobial Resistance: ○ The misuse of antimicrobials in medicine and inappropriate use in agriculture. ○ Contamination around pharmaceutical manufacturing sites where untreated waste releases large amounts of active antimicrobials into the environment.

Trachoma ● Trachoma is a neglected tropical eye disease.

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● Caused by : the infection due to the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. ● Transmission: Trachoma spreads through personal contact (via hands, clothes or bedding). It also transmits by flies that contact with the discharge from the eyes or nose of an infected person. ● Vulnerable Group: Trachoma mainly affects children. It is becoming less common with increasing age. ● Impact: If left untreated, this condition can result in visual impairment and blindness.

Global Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020 (GET2020) ● The WHO in 1996 launched the Global Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020 (GET2020). ● Purpose: It supports countries to implement the SAFE strategy in Trachoma elimination. Further, it also strengthens national capacity through epidemiological assessment, monitoring, surveillance, project evaluation and resource mobilization.

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Economy.

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) ● The scheme was launched as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package announced in May 2020 to mitigate the distress caused by coronavirus-induced lockdown, by providing credit to different sectors, especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). ● 100% guarantee coverage is being provided by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company, whereas Banks and Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) provide loans. ● The credit will be provided in the form of a Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility. ● No Guarantee Fee shall be charged by NCGTC from the Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) under the Scheme. ● Interest rates under the Scheme shall be capped at 9.25% for banks and FIs, and at 14% for NBFCs. ● Eligibility: ○ Borrowers with credit outstanding up to Rs. 50 crore as on 29th February, 2020, and with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore are eligible under the Scheme. ○ On 1st August 2020, the government widened the scope of the Rs. 3 lakh crore- ECLGS scheme by doubling the upper ceiling of loans outstanding and including certain loans given to professionals like doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants for business purposes under its ambit. ● Benefits of the scheme: ○ The scheme is expected to provide credit to the sector at a low cost, thereby enabling MSMEs to meet their operational liabilities and restart their businesses. ○ By supporting MSMEs to continue functioning during the current unprecedented situation, the Scheme is also expected to have a positive impact on the economy and support its revival.

National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company ● It was set up in 2014 as a private limited company by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance under the Indian Companies Act,1956. ● Purpose : To act as a common trustee company to manage and operate various credit guarantee trust funds.

Inflation targeting ● It is a central banking policy that revolves around adjusting monetary policy to achieve a specified annual rate of inflation. ● Inflation targeting is known to bring more stability, predictability, and transparency in deciding monetary policy. ○ Strict Inflation Targeting:

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■ It is adopted when the central bank is only concerned about keeping inflation as close to a given inflation target as possible, and nothing else. ○ Flexible Inflation Targeting: ■ It is adopted when the central bank is to some extent also concerned about other things, for instance, the stability of interest rates, exchange rates, output and employment. ● The principle of inflation targeting is based on the belief that long-term economic growth is best achieved by maintaining price stability, and price stability is achieved by controlling inflation. ● To control the price rise, the Centre in 2016 gave a mandate to the RBI to keep the retail inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side for a five-year period ending 31st March, 2021. ● The inflation target for the period 1st April, 2021 to 31st March, 2026 under the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 has been kept at the same level as was for previous 5 years. ● Who sets the inflation target ? : ○ Inflation target to be set by the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, once every five years.

PLI scheme for Food Processing Industry ● The scheme will be implemented over a six-year period from 2021-22 to 2026-27. ● Aim : The scheme aims to support the creation of global food manufacturing champions according to the natural resources of India. ● Objectives of the scheme: ○ PLI scheme will support food manufacturing org with stipulated minimum Sales. ○ Furthermore, It will support Indian brands of food products in the international markets with an outlay of Rs. 10900 crore. ○ Moreover, it will increase employment opportunities for nearly 2.5 lakh persons by the year 2026-27. ○ The scheme will ensure good prices for farm produce and higher income to farmers. ● Applicability: The scheme would cover ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat foods, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products, organic products, free-range eggs, poultry meat and egg products. ○ The applicants selected for the scheme would be required to invest in plant and machinery in the first two years. ● Implemented by: Project Management Agency (PMA) ○ PMA will be responsible for verification of eligibility for support, scrutiny of claims eligible for disbursement of incentive. ● Background: In all, 13 PLI schemes are being rolled out, including those for automobiles, pharmaceuticals, IT hardware including laptops, mobile phones & telecom equipment, white goods (large domestic appliance or large electric appliance), chemical cells and textiles.

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Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme ● The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme has been launched in 10 States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022. ● Its a part of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) which began in 2008 and has been expanded several times. ● Under the scheme, a 14-digit identification number will be issued to every plot of land in the country. ● It is being described as “the Aadhaar for land” — a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in rural India, where land records are outdated and disputed. ● The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude of the land parcel, and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps.

Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme ● It is a Central Sector scheme that has been extended up to 2020-21 at a total cost of Rs. 950 crores. ● Proposed by The Department of Land Resources (Ministry of Rural development) ● It attempts to build upon the commonalities that exist in the arena of land records in various States to develop an appropriate Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS) across the country, on which different States can also add State-specific needs as they may deem relevant and appropriate. ○ ILIMS: The system will contain information on parcel ownership, land use, taxation, location boundaries, land value, encumbrances and many more. ● New initiatives have been taken under the program like the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS), ULPIN, linking of revenue court to land records, integration of consent based Aadhar numbers with land records etc. ○ NGDRS: It is aimed at providing one Nation one software for registration of documents & properties to 'empower citizens'. ● DILRMP's next phase will include linkage of land record databases with banks. ● This will enhance the service deliveries to the citizens of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like Agriculture, Finance, Disaster Management etc.

India and Oil Import ● India is the world’s third-largest consumer of oil. ● India imports 85% of its total oil needs and is often vulnerable to global supply and price shocks. ● The Middle East accounts for 60% of all oil bought by India while Latin America and Africa are the other big supplier blocks. ● In recent months, India has bought more oil from the USA and from newer sources such as Guyana, which has a large Indian diaspora. ● However, due to its geographical proximity, the Middle East can supply cargoes in less time and at low freight rates.

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Stand Up India Scheme: ● Launched on 5 April 2016 ● Objective: ○ to promote entrepreneurship at the grass-root level of economic empowerment and job creation. ○ This scheme seeks to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to the underserved sector of people such as SCs, STs and Women Entrepreneurs. ○ To facilitate bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore to at least one SC or ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up a Greenfield enterprise. ● The offices of SIDBI and NABARD shall be designated Stand-Up Connect Centres (SUCC). ● Eligibility under Stand Up India Scheme: ○ SC/ST and/or women entrepreneurs; above 18 years of age. ○ Loans under the scheme are available for only Greenfield project. ○ Borrower should not be in default to any bank or financial institution. ○ In case of non-individual enterprises at least 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake should be held by either an SC/ST or Woman entrepreneur.

Maritime India Vision 2030 ● It is a ten-year blueprint for the maritime sector which was released by the Prime Minister of India at the Maritime India Summit 2021. ● It will supersede the Sagarmala initiative and aims to boost waterways, give a fillip to the shipbuilding industry and encourage cruise tourism in India. ● National Maritime Day is celebrated every year on 5th April to commemorate the maiden voyage of the first Indian flag merchant vessel 'S.S LOYALTY' from Mumbai to London, on April 5th, 1919. ● 2021 Maritime day ( 5th April ) theme: ‘Sustainable Shipping beyond Covid-19’.

Initiative by Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways: ● Sagarmala Programme ● Project Unnati ● The Sagar-Manthan

Sagarmala Programme ● Flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. ● The main vision of the Sagarmala Programme is to reduce logistics cost for EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment. ● Programme approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2015

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● Implementation of these projects are being done by the Central Line Ministries, State Governments / Maritime Boards and SPVs preferably through the private sector and through the Public Private Participation (PPP) ● Component: ○ Port Modernization & New Port Development ○ Port Connectivity Enhancement: ○ Port-linked Industrialization ○ Coastal Community Development ○ Coastal Shipping & Inland Waterways Transport

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Sagarmala Seaplane Services ● A seaplane is a fixed-wing aeroplane designed for taking off and landing on water. ● The project is being initiated under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) framework through prospective airline operators. ○ SPV is a legal object formed for a specifically-defined singular purpose. ● The project execution and implementation : By Sagarmala Development Company Ltd (SDCL), which is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. ● Benefits: ○ Faster & Comfortable transportation ○ Boost tourism ○ Generate Employment ○ Infrastructure enhancement

SAGAR ● Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) was launched in 2015. It is India’s strategic vision for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). ● Through SAGAR, India seeks to deepen economic and security cooperation with its maritime neighbours and assist in building their maritime security capabilities. ● Further, India seeks to safeguard its national interests and ensure Indian Ocean region to become inclusive, collaborative and respect international law. ● The key relevance of SAGAR emerges when seen in conjunction with India’s other policies impacting the maritime domain like Act East Policy, Project Sagarmala, Project Mausam, India as ‘net security provider’, focus on Blue Economy etc.

Project UNNATI ● Project UNNATI is an initiative by the Ministry of Shipping. ● Launched Project Unnati in 2014 ● Under which efficiency of equipment was studied and every activity was scrutinised to identify excesses/mistakes. ● It aims to enhance the operational and financial performance of the 12 major ports with selected Indian private ports and best-in-class international ports.

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Sagar-Manthan: Mercantile Marine Domain Awareness Centre ● It outlines the priorities of the Government. The Sagar-Manthan: Mercantile Marine Domain Awareness Centre has also been launched today. ● It is an information system for enhancing maritime safety, search and rescue capabilities, security and marine environment protection.

G-SAP: Government Securities acquisition plan ● The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a secondary market Government Security Acquisition Programme (G-SAP) 1.0 for orderly evolution of the yield curve in FY22. ● Under the programme, the central bank will purchase government bonds of worth Rs 1 trillion (or one lakh crores of rupees). Significance: ● The GSAP 1.0 will provide more comfort to the bond market. As the borrowing of the Government increased this year, RBI has to ensure there is no disruption in the Indian market. ● Under the programme, the RBI will commit upfront to a specific amount of Open Market Purchases of government securities. ● The programme will help to reduce the spread between repo rate and the ten-year government bond yield. ● The G-SAP will almost serve the purpose of an OMO calendar, which had been on the bond market’s wish list for a long time.

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Open market operations ● Open market operations is the sale and purchase of government securities and treasury bills by RBI or the central bank of the country. ● The objective of OMO is to regulate the money supply in the economy. ● It is one of the quantitative monetary policy tools. ● RBI carries out the OMO through commercial banks and does not directly deal with the public. ● When the central bank wants to infuse liquidity into the monetary system, it will buy government securities in the open market. This way it provides commercial banks with liquidity. ● In contrast, when it sells securities, it curbs liquidity. Thus, the central bank indirectly controls the money supply and influences short-term interest rates. ● RBI employs two kinds of OMOs: ○ Outright Purchase (PEMO) – this is permanent and involves the outright selling or buying of government securities. ○ Repurchase Agreement (REPO) – this is short-term and are subject to repurchase.

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Indian Energy Exchange ● It is the first and largest energy exchange in India providing a nationwide, automated trading platform for physical delivery of electricity, Renewable Energy Certificates and Energy Saving Certificates. ● Mission: To leverage technology and innovation to establish transparent and efficient energy marketplaces for delivering affordable, reliable energy to consumers. ● The exchange platform enables efficient price discovery and increases the accessibility and transparency of the power market in India while also enhancing the speed and efficiency of trade execution. ● It is a publicly listed company with National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). ● Approved and regulated by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and has been operating since 2008.

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Renewable Energy Certificates (REC): ● Under the REC mechanism, a generator can generate electricity through the renewable resources in any part of the country. ● For the electricity part, the generator receives the cost equivalent to that from any conventional source while the environment attribute is sold through the exchanges at the market determined price. ● The obligated entity from any part of the country can purchase these RECs to meet its RPO (Renewable Purchase Obligation) compliance. ● Obligated entities may either purchase renewable energy or can purchase RECs to meet their RPO set under RPO of their respective States.

Energy Saving Certificates (ESCerts): ● These are the tradable certificates under the Perform, Achieve, Trade (PAT) Scheme of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). ● It is a market-based mechanism to incentivise energy efficiency in large energy-intensive industries.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) ● Background: NABARD came into existence on 12th July 1982 ● Recommendations: Established based on the recommendations of the Committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the chairmanship of Shri B. shivaraman. ● Replaced: ○ The Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and ○ Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and ○ Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC). ● Status: It is a statutory body established under ‘National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981’. ● Purpose

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○ It is a development bank focussing primarily on the rural sector of the country. ○ It is the apex banking institution to provide finance for Agriculture and rural (Non farm)development. ● Cooperation with the RBI: ○ RBI provides 3 directors to NABARD’s Board of Directors. ○ NABARD provides recommendations to RBI on issue of licenses to Cooperative Banks, opening of new branches by State Cooperative Banks and RRBs. ● Headquarters: Mumbai. ● Major Functions of NABARD: ○ It provides refinance support for building rural infrastructure. ○ It supervises Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and helps them develop sound banking practices and integrate them to the CBS (Core Banking Solution) platform. ○ It is involved in designing Union government’s development schemes and their implementation. ○ It prepares district level credit plans to guide and motivate the banking industry in achieving these targets. ○ It provides training to handicraft artisans and helps them in developing a marketing platform for selling these articles. ○ NABARD has various international partnerships including leading global organizations and World Bank-affiliated institutions that are breaking new ground in the fields of rural development as well as agriculture.

Prepaid Payment Instruments ● The Prepaid Payment Instruments or PPI are means through which purchase of goods and services shall be made against the value stored in such instruments. ● The Prepaid instruments shall be used as magnetic stripe cards, smart cards, internet accounts, mobile accounts, online wallets, paper vouchers or any other instrument used to access a prepaid amount.

Copyright (Amendment) Rules,2021 ● In India, the copyright regime is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Rules, 2013. ● The Copyright Rules, 2013 were last amended in the year 2016. ● Aims at adopting electronic means as a primary mode of communication and working in the Copyright Office. ● It is to match with the technological advancement in the digital era. ● Objective of the amendments: Further, It will bring the existing rules in parity with other relevant legislations.

Consumer Confidence Survey ● Conducted every two months by the Reserve Bank of India.

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● The survey is conducted to measure how pessimistic or optimistic the consumers are regarding their financial situation. ● Five economic variables : The Survey measures consumer perception on five variables such as employment, economic situation, price level, spending and income. ● Indices: The Consumer Confidence Survey has two main indices namely current situation index and future expectations index. ● The future expectations index measures what consumer thinks about the change in an economic issue one year ahead. ● The current situation index measures the change in consumer perception over an economic issue in the last year.

Key Highlights of the survey ● The Consumer Confidence Index declined from 55.5 points in January 2021 to 53.1 points in March 2021. ● The Future Expectations dipped from 117.1 in January 2021 to 108.8 in March 2021. ● When the index measure is above 100, it signals optimism and while it is below 100, it represents pessimism. ● The consumers expectation on general economic situation and employment situation for the year ahead was also pessimistic.

RBI: Inflation Forecast Model Amended ● The new model will capture how fiscal and monetary policy interact with real economy elements in a better way. The new model is broken into three blocks: ● The first block decomposes the primary deficit of the Government into structural and cyclical components. It is also called fiscal block. A structural increase in deficit of the Government will create a positive output gap. This will in turn make borrowings costlier and will eventually depreciate the currency. This means country will face higher inflation. On the other hand, the cyclical shock is negligible. ● The second block includes the complex system of pricing in India. It includes items such as diesel and petrol that are priced on the basis of international oil prices, local taxes and exchange rates. This block is also called the fuel block. ● The third block is the Balance of Payment block. This block recognizes the costs that are associated with spurts in volatility in exchange rate.

How is inflation measured in India ? ● In India, inflation is measured using two main indices namely Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). ● The Consumer Price Index measures the weighted average of prices of basket of consumer goods and services such as food, transportation and medical care. ○ It is measured by calculating the average of price changes of each item in the predetermined basket of goods. ● On the other hand, the Whole Price Index is measured based on prices at wholesale level.

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Shaphari: Certification Scheme for Aquaculture Products ● Developed by: Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) ● Purpose: It is an Antibiotics free Certification Scheme. ● Shaphari is based on the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s technical guidelines on aquaculture certification. ● It is a market-based tool for hatcheries to adopt good aquaculture practices and help produce quality antibiotic-free shrimp products to assure global consumers. ● The entire certification process will be online to minimise human errors and ensure higher credibility and transparency. ○ Shaphari is a Sanskrit word that means superior quality of fishery products suitable for human consumption. ● Two Components of Shaphari: ○ Certifying hatcheries for the quality of their seeds. ■ Those who successfully clear multiple audits of their operations shall be granted a certificate for a period of two years. ■ Hatcheries: facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. ○ Approving shrimp farms that adopt the requisite good practices.

● Significance: ○ The certification of hatcheries will help farmers easily identify good quality seed producers. ○ Certified aquaculture products will help exporters to export their consignments to markets under stringent food safety regulations without the fear of getting rejected. ○ It will bolster confidence in India’s frozen shrimp produce, the country’s biggest seafood export item. ● India Fish Market: ○ India is the second-largest fish producer in the world. ○ Fish Sector provides employment to 14 million people in harvesting, processing packaging, and distribution. ○ Major Producing States: Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, and are the major shrimp producing States.

Marine Products Exports Development Authority

● MPEDA is a nodal coordinating, state-owned agency engaged in fishery production and allied activities. ● History: established in 1972 under the Marine Products Export Development Authority Act (MPEDA), 1972. ● Ministry: the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. ● Headquartered in Kochi, Kerala.

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● Functions: to increase exports of seafood including fisheries of all kinds, specifying standards, marketing, processing, extension and training in various aspects.

Global Minimum Corporate Tax ● The US proposal envisages a 21% minimum corporate tax rate, coupled with cancelling exemptions on income from countries that do not legislate a minimum tax to discourage the shifting of multinational operations and profits overseas. ● The proposal for a minimum corporate tax is tailored to address the low effective rates of tax shelled out by some of the world’s biggest corporations, including digital giants such as Apple, Alphabet and Facebook, as well as major corporations such as Nike and Starbucks. ● These companies typically rely on complex webs of subsidiaries to hoover profits out of major markets into low-tax countries such as Ireland or Caribbean nations such as the British Virgin Islands or the Bahamas, or to central American nations such as Panama. ● The proposal aims to somewhat offset any disadvantages that might arise from the proposed increase in the US corporate tax rate.

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Equalisation Levy: ● To address the challenges posed by the enterprises who conduct their business through digital means and carry out activities in the country remotely, the government has the ‘Equalisation Levy’. ● The equalization levy is aimed at taxing foreign companies which have a significant local client base in India but are billing them through their offshore units, effectively escaping the country’s tax system. ● The Income-tax Act, 1961 has been amended to bring in the concept of “Significant Economic Presence” for establishing “business connection” in the case of non-residents in India.

Corporate Tax

● Corporation Tax or Corporate Tax is a direct tax levied on the net income or profit of a corporate entity from their business, foreign or domestic. ● The rate at which the tax is imposed as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is known as the Corporate Tax Rate.

Tax Heaven

● A tax haven is generally an offshore country that offers foreign individuals and businesses little or no tax liability in a politically and economically static environment.

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e-SANTA: ● It is an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and the buyers. ● Launched by Ministry of Commerce and Industry ● It will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade. ● The term e-SANTA was coined for the web portal, meaning Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers’ Trade in Aquaculture. ● e-SANTA will ‘RAISE’ the lives & income of farmers by: Reducing Risk, Awareness of Products & Markets, Increase in Income, Shielding Against Wrong Practice and Ease of Processes.

National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) ● NaCSA an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry Govt. of India ● Established in 2007 ● The objectives of NaCSA are to encourage and uplift the small and marginal farmers through organization of clusters and maintaining Best Management Practices in shrimp culture)

Currency Chest ● What is it ? : A currency chest is a place where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stocks the money meant for banks and ATMs. ● Governance of Currency Chest: These chests are usually situated on the premises of different banks but administered by the RBI. ● Belongs to: The money present in the currency chest belongs to the RBI. But the money kept in the strong room outside the currency chest belongs to the bank. ● Security arrangement for the chests?: The security of currency chests varies from one bank to the other where the chests are situated. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reimburses the security expenses to the bank as per the set norms. ● Recovery Procedure if stolen: As per the set guidelines, the bank in which the currency chest is situated is liable to fulfil the loss of the currency chest.

Dindori Millets Project ● The project was started with 1,497 women-farmers from 40 villages – mostly from the Gonda and Baiga tribes – growing these two minor millets (Kodo and Kutki) on 749 acres. ● An International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported initiative to revive Kodo and Kutki Millets cultivation, started in the year 2013-14 in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh, has given new life to the forgotten crops.

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About IFAD: ● IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations and was one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. ● Founded in 1977, IFAD focuses on rural poverty reduction, working with poor rural populations in developing countries to eliminate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.

Millets ● Millets are often referred to as Superfood and its production can be seen as an approach for sustainable agriculture and a healthy world. ● Millets in India: ○ The three major millet crops currently grown in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet). ○ Kodo, kutki, chenna and sanwa are bio-genetically diverse and indigenous varieties of “small millets”. ● Major producers include , Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and .

Currency Depreciation ● Currency depreciation is a fall in the value of a currency in a floating exchange rate system. ● In a floating exchange rate system, market forces (based on demand and supply of a currency) determine the value of a currency. ● Currency depreciation increases a country’s export activity as its products and services become cheaper to buy. ● The RBI intervenes in the currency market to support the rupee as a weak domestic unit can increase a country’s import bill. ● Rupee depreciation means that rupee has become less valuable with respect to dollar. ● It means that the rupee is now weaker than what it used to be earlier. ● For example: USD 1 used to equal to Rs. 70, now USD 1 is equal to Rs. 76, implying that the rupee has depreciated relative to the dollar i.e. it takes more rupees to purchase a dollar. ● Impact of Depreciating Rupee: ● Losers: ○ People Importing from outside. ○ People seeking foreign education. ○ People travelling abroad. ○ People investing abroad. ○ People seeking medical treatment abroad etc. ● Gainers: ○ People exporting from India. ○ People receiving remittances from Non Resident Indian (NRI). ○ Foreign tourists as travel to India gets cheaper.

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Gold Hallmarking: ● Gold Hallmarking is providing purity certification to the gold jewellery and artefacts. ● Only three grades of jewelleries will now be hall marked under the new regulations. They are 14-carat, 18-carat and 22-carat. Earlier, ten grades of gold jewelleries were hall marked. ● The new Gold Hallmark will contain four marks. They are purity in carat, BIS mark, assay centre’s name and the identification mark of the jeweller. ● The system is also available for consumers who want their old jewelleries hallmarked. ● A person found violating the provisions will have to pay a minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh or five times the price of the article.

Fugitive Economic Offender: ● A person can be named an offender under the law if there is an arrest warrant against him or her for involvement in economic offences involving at least Rs. 100 crore or more and has fled from India to escape legal action.

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme ( SISFS ) ● It was announced in the ‘Prarambh: Startup India International Summit’ that marks the five-year anniversary of the Startup India initiative. ● The Fund aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization. ● Implementation: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) constituted An Experts Advisory Committee(EAC). Which will be responsible for the overall execution and monitoring of the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. ● Nodal Department: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. ● Eligibility Conditions: ○ A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application. ○ Startups should not have received more than Rs. 10 lakh of monetary support under any other Central or State Government scheme. Features: ● 945 Crore corpus will be divided over the next 4 years for providing seed funding to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India. ● The scheme is expected to support an estimated 3,600 startups through 300 incubators. ● Grants of upto Rs. 5 crore will be provided to the eligible incubators selected by the committee. ● The selected incubators will provide grants of up to Rs. 20 lakh for validation of proof of concept, or prototype development, or product trials to startups. ● Investments of up to Rs. 50 lakh will be provided to the startups for market entry, commercialization, or scaling up through convertible debentures or debt-linked instruments. Significance:

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● The SISFS will Secure seed funding, Inspire innovation, Support transformative ideas, Facilitate implementation, and Start startup revolution. ● The Scheme will create a robust startup ecosystem, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns of India, which are often deprived of adequate funding.

Seed Funding

● It typically represents the first official money that a business venture or enterprise raises. ● It helps a company to finance its first steps, including things like market research and product development. ● There are many potential investors in a seed funding situation: founders, friends, family, incubators, venture capital companies and more. ● One of the most common types of investors participating in seed funding is a so-called "angel investor." ● Angel investors tend to appreciate riskier ventures (such as startups with little by way of a proven track record so far) and expect an equity stake in the company in exchange for their investment. ●

Britcoin: ● In the wake of declining cash payments in the country partly due to the Corona pandemic, the Bank of England and the Treasury are considering creating Digital Currency. ● The Digital currency, if passed, would exist alongside cash and bank deposits and act as a new form of money to be used by households and businesses in England. ● It would sit at the interface between cash and private payments systems and would not necessarily be based on distributed ledger technology. ● This ‘britcoin’ would be tied to the value of the pound to eliminate holding it as an asset to derive profit. ● The move could have an economic impact in the form of wider investment into the UK tech sector and lower transaction costs for international businesses. ● Britain’s digital currency would be different in a key sense as if passed, it would be issued by state authorities. ● Currently, only the Bahamas has such a currency, though China is trialing it in several cities.

Sudarshan Sen committee ● Committee headed by : Sudarshan Sen. ● Terms of reference: ○ To review the existing legal and regulatory framework applicable to ARCs and recommend measures to improve efficacy of ARCs. ○ To review the role of ARCs in the resolution of stressed assets, including under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), and give suggestions for improving liquidity in and trading of security receipts.

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Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) ● Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) is a specialized financial institution that buys the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) from banks and financial institutions. It helps banks in cleaning up their balance sheets. ● Thus, it helps banks to concentrate on normal banking activities. Banks, Instead of going after the defaulters, can focus on selling their bad assets to the ARCs at a mutually agreed value. ● Regulated by: ○ Legal Basis: SARFAESI (Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act, 2002 provides the legal basis for the setting up of ARCs in India. ○ Functions under: ARCs function under the supervision and control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). ● Capital Requirements for an ARC: ○ As per the SARFAESI Act, ARCs should have a minimum net owned funds of Rs. 100Cr. ○ The ARCs also have to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of 15% of its risk- weighted assets. ○ The amount of Risk-weighted assets helps to determine the minimum capital that a bank must hold to reduce the risk of insolvency.

Ways and Means Advances ● Background: The WMA scheme for the Central Government was introduced on April 1, 1997. ● They are temporary loan facilities provided by RBI to the government to enable it to meet temporary mismatches between revenue and expenditure. ● The government makes an interest payment to the central bank when it borrows money. ● The rate of interest is the same as the repo rate, while the tenure is three months. ● The limits for WMA are mutually decided by the RBI and the Government of India. ● States are allowed an overdraft facility (to borrow in excess of WMA limit) with additional 2% interest. Of 21 days.

There are two types of Ways and Means Advances — normal and special. ● A Special WMA or Special Drawing Facility is provided against the collateral of the government securities held by the state. ● After the state has exhausted the limit of SDF, it gets normal WMA. ● The interest rate for SDF is one percentage point less than the repo rate. ● The number of loans under normal WMA is based on a three-year average of actual revenue and capital expenditure of the state.

Significance of this move: ● The increased limit comes at a time when government expenditure is expected to rise as it battles the fallout of a spreading Coronavirus. The availability of these funds will

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government some room to undertake short term expenditure over and above its long term market borrowings.

Compulsory Licensing: ● Compulsory License is a licence issued/authorised by the government that allows the company or an individual seeking other’s intellectual property to use it (making, using and selling a patented product or employing a patented process) without having to seek the consent of the owner/the right holder, by paying a predetermined fee for the license. ● Indian Patents Act 1970 and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights deal with compulsory licensing. ● The application for a compulsory license can be made any time after 3 years from the date of sealing of a patent.

Large Area Certification’ scheme ● The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under its flagship scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) has launched this unique quick certification programme to harness these potential areas. ● Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group. ● 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.

Benefits of LAC: ● As per the established norm of organic production systems, the areas having chemical input usage history are required to undergo a transition period of minimum 2-3 years to qualify as organic. ● During this period, farmers need to adopt standard organic agriculture practices and keep their farms under the certification process. ● On successful completion, such farms can be certified as organic after 2-3 years. The certification process also requires elaborate documentation and time to time verification by the certification authorities. ● Whereas under LAC requirements are simple and the area can be certified almost immediately.

Corporate Social Responsibility ● The term "Corporate Social Responsibility" in general can be referred to as a corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company's effects on the environment and impact on social welfare.

Governance: ● In India, the concept of CSR is governed by clause 135 of the Companies Act, 2013.

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○ India is the first country in the world to mandate CSR spending along with a framework to identify potential CSR activities. ● The CSR provisions within the Act is applicable to companies with an annual turnover of 1,000 crore and more, or a net worth of Rs. 500 crore and more, or a net profit of Rs. 5 crore and more. ● The Act requires companies to set up a CSR committee which shall recommend a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy to the Board of Directors and also monitor the same from time to time. ● The Act encourages companies to spend 2% of their average net profit in the previous three years on CSR activities.

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Indian Polity.

Article 244(A) of the Constitution ● Article 244(A) allows for creation of an ‘autonomous state’ within Assam in certain tribal areas. ● Inserted into the Constitution in 1969, it also has a provision for a Legislature and a Council of Ministers. How is it different from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution? ● The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — Articles 244(2) and 275(1) — is a special provision that allows for greater political autonomy and decentralised governance in certain tribal areas of the Northeast through autonomous councils that are administered by elected representatives. ● In Assam, the hill districts of Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and West Karbi and the Bodo Territorial Region are under this provision. ● Article 244(A) accounts for more autonomous powers to tribal areas than the Sixth Schedule. Among these the most important power is the control over law and order.

Sixth Schedule ● The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution provides for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, and to safeguard the rights of the tribal population in these states. ○ This special provision is provided under Article 244 (2) and Article 275 (1) of the Constitution. ● In Assam, the hill districts of Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and West Karbi and the Bodo Territorial Region are under this provision. ● The Governor is empowered to increase or decrease the areas or change the names of the autonomous districts. While executive powers of the Union extend in Scheduled areas with respect to their administration in fifth schedule, the sixth schedule areas remain within executive authority of the state. Fifth Schedule: ● The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes in any state except the four states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. ● The whole of the normal administrative machinery operating in a state do not extend to the scheduled areas. ● At present, 10 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana have Fifth Schedule Area.

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● Tribal habitations in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir have not been brought under the Fifth or Sixth Schedule. ● The acts of Parliament or the state legislature do not apply to autonomous districts and autonomous regions or apply with specified modifications and exceptions. ● The Councils have also been endowed with wide civil and criminal judicial powers, for example establishing village courts etc. However, the jurisdiction of these councils is subject to the jurisdiction of the concerned High Court.

The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021 ● The ordinance seeks to dissolve certain existing appellate bodies and transfer their functions to other existing judicial bodies. ● Through this ordinance the Appellate authorities under nine laws have been replaced with High Courts. ● The Ordinance has amended the Finance Act 2017 to include provisions related to the composition of search-cum-selection committees, and term of office of members in the Act itself.

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About Search-cum-selection committees

● It provides that the Chairperson and Members of the Tribunals will be appointed by the Central Government on the recommendation of a Search-cum-Selection Committee. ● Members of the committee: ○ Chief Justice of India, or a Supreme Court Judge nominated by him, as the Chairperson (with casting vote), ○ Secretaries nominated by the central government, ○ The sitting or outgoing Chairperson, or a retired Supreme Court Judge, or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. ○ The Secretary of the Ministry under which the Tribunal is constituted (with no voting right). ● Term of Office: ○ The term of office for the Chairperson of the tribunals will be of four years or till the attainment of the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier. ○ For other members of the tribunals, the term will be of four years or till the age of sixty-seven years, whichever is earlier.

The Nine Laws (Replacement of Appellate Authorities/Tribunals): ● The Cinematograph Act, 1952. ● The Trade Marks Act, 1999. ● The Copyright Act, 1957. ● The Customs Act, 1962.

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● The Patents Act, 1970. ● The Airports Authority of India Act, 1994. ● The Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002. ● The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) ● The ordinance seeks to include the NCDRC within the purview of the Finance Act 2017. The NCDRC has been set up under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Tribunals: ● Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. ● It performs a number of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing administrative decision and so forth. ● A Tribunal, generally, is any person or institution having an authority to judge, adjudicate on, or to determine claims or disputes – whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.

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Constitutional provisions: ● They were not originally a part of the Constitution. ● The 42nd Amendment Act introduced these provisions in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. ● The Amendment introduced Part XIV-A to the Constitution, which deals with ‘Tribunals’ and contains two articles: ○ Article 323A deals with Administrative Tribunals. These are quasi-judicial institutions that resolve disputes related to the recruitment and service conditions of persons engaged in public service. ○ Article 323B deals with tribunals for other subjects such as Taxation, Industrial and labour, Foreign exchange, import and export, Land reforms, Food, Ceiling on urban property, Elections to Parliament and state legislatures, Rent and tenancy rights.

International Virtual Election Visitors Programme (IVEP) 2021: ● Hosted by: the Election Commission of India. ● Attended by ?: Election management bodies of 26 other countries and three international organisations took part in it. ● Focus of the programme: The programme aims to provide the participants with an overview of ○ The large canvas of the Indian electoral process. ○ New initiatives taken by ECI on voter facilitation, transparency and accessibility of the electoral system.

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○ ECI’s response to the changing needs of training and capacity building and New formats necessitated by COVID-19 ○ insights into the elections underway in different states.

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) : ● Set up by the Government in February, 1964 ● Recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam. ● In 2003, the Parliament enacted CVC Act conferring statutory status on the CVC. ● Independent Body: The CVC is not controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body which is only responsible to the Parliament. ● Composition: It is a multi-member Commission consisting of a Central Vigilance Commissioner (Chairperson) and not more than 2 Vigilance Commissioners (Member). ● Term: Their term is 4 years or 65 years, whichever is earlier. ● Removal by: the President. ● Reports: It submits its report to the President of India. ● The CVC receives complaints on corruption or misuse of office and to recommend appropriate action. ● Who can approach CVC ? ○ Central government ○ Lokpal ○ Whistle blowers ● Why in news?: Recently, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has modified the guidelines pertaining to the transfer and posting of officials in the vigilance units of government organisations, restricting their tenure to three years at one place.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): ● The CBI was set up in 1963 by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs. ○ Now, the CBI comes under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. ● The establishment of the CBI was recommended by the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962–1964). ● The CBI is not a statutory body. It derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. ● The CBI is the main investigating agency of the Central Government. ● It also provides assistance to the Central Vigilance Commission and Lokpal. ● It is also the nodal police agency in India which coordinates investigation on behalf of Interpol Member countries.

AI Portal SUPACE ● The Chief Justice of India (CJI) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based portal ‘SUPACE’ in the judicial system aimed at assisting judges with legal research. ● SUPACE is short for Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency.

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● It is a portal through which the Supreme Court intends to leverage machine learning to deal with the amount of data received in the filing of cases. ● SA Bobde described it as a ‘hybrid system’ and ‘a perfect blend of human intelligence and machine learning’ that does wonder when paired with human intelligence. ● It is a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge. ● It is not designed to take decisions, but only to process facts and to make them available to judges looking for an input for a decision. ● Initially, it will be used on an experimental basis by the judges of Bombay and Delhi High Courts who deal with criminal matters.

Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) ● Why in news?: The government by an ordinance has abolished the Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). ● The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation And Conditions Of Service) Ordinance, 2021, which came into effect on April 4, amends the Cinematograph Act, 1952 by omitting some sections and replacing the word “Tribunal” with “High Court” in other sections. ● FCAT was a statutory body constituted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in 1983, under the Cinematograph Act, 1952. ● Its main job was to hear appeals filed under Section 5C of the Cinematograph Act, by applicants for certification aggrieved by the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). ● Composition: The tribunal was headed by a chairperson and had four other members, including a Secretary appointed by the Government of India to handle. ● The Tribunal was headquartered in New Delhi.

What is Darbar Move?

● It is a century-old practice in which the government functioned for six months each in the two capitals of the erstwhile State, Srinagar and Jammu. ● The practice was reportedly started in the late 19th century by Ranbir Singh, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. ● It is done as Jammu & Kashmir has two capitals i.e. Kashmir during summer and Jammu during winter. ● Duration: The secretariat is located in Srinagar from May to October and in Jammu from November to April. ● The Durbar Move was started to take the administration to the doorstep of the people of Kashmir which is closer to . ● The practice also enabled greater interaction and bonding among the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Criticisms surrounding: ● The ‘Darbar Move’ results in wastage of tremendous amount of time, efforts and energy on inefficient and unnecessary activity. ● It is taxing for security forces too. It nurtures inefficiency and leads to lack of governance.

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● The same negatively impacts justice dispensation and impedes judicial administration. ● It also causes delay in justice dispensation as government records are not available to the pleaders in one region for six months at a time.

Jordan Crisis ● Jordan is a unitary state that is ruled under a Constitutional Monarchy. ● The former crown prince Hamzah was recently placed under de facto house arrest. He is the half-brother of the King Abdullah. Hamzah was accused of undermining national security. This was because he attended the meetings with tribal leaders that openly criticized the ruling monarch. According to Jordanian Government, there had been an attempt for a political coup to destabilize the country. The Government also says that foreign entities also attended the meeting.

Different Governments: Unitary, Federal, Confederal

Unitary : “One Big Chair” ● is a state that is governed as a single entity where the central government is ultimately supreme. ● In a Constitutional monarchy, a monarch (ruler or king) exercises authority in accordance to a written or unwritten constitution. ● The country may be divided into states or other sub-units, but they have no power of their own. For example, ● England depends on its Parliament, a legislative body, to create and enforce the laws in the country.

Federal: “Set of Chairs” ● A federal form of government splits power between independent states and a central government. ● The power rests in both places, and each gets its authority from a governing document, like the U.S. Constitution. ● Independent branches inside the central government may also share power.

Confederal: “Many Different Chairs” ● The confederal form of government is an association of independent states. ● The central government gets its authority from the independent states. ● Power rests in each individual state, whose representatives meet to address the needs of the group

Azadi ka Amrut ● The idea of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav was launched by PM Modi in March 2021. ● It is a series of events organized by the Government of India to commemorate the 75th anniversary of independence. ● It was launched 75 weeks ahead of the 75th anniversary. It was launched on March 12, 2021 to commemorate 91 years of Dandi March.

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Raisina Dialogue ● Raisina Dialogue is an annual multilateral conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics. ● Organized by: The Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation have been jointly organizing it since 2016. ● Purpose: The conference discusses cooperation on the most challenging international policy matters. ● Participation: The dialogue involves a variety of global policymakers including heads of state, cabinet ministers, and local government officials. ● In addition, the Dialogue also welcomes major private sector executives, as well as members of the media and academia. ● Significance: The design of the dialogue follows Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue. ● In 2021, the conference was hosted in a hybrid format with in-person conversations and digital discussions. ● Theme for 2021: ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers, and Out of Control”.

National Startup Advisory Council ● Constituted by the ‘Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). ● Its role is to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. Functions of NSAC: ● Suggest measures to foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students. ● Promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country, including semi-urban and rural areas. ● Support creative and innovative ideas through incubation and research and development to transform them into valuable products. Structure of NSAC: ● The National Startup Advisory Council will be chaired by the Minster for Commerce & Industry. ● The Council will consist of the non-official members, to be nominated by the Central Government. ● The nominees of the concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, will be ex-officio members of the Council.

Article 142 ● Article 142 “provide(s) a unique power to the Supreme Court, to do “complete justice” between the parties, i.e., where at times law or statute may not provide a remedy, the Court can extend itself to put a quietus to a dispute in a manner which would be fit the facts of the case.

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Memorandum of Procedure ● Memorandum of Procedure(MoP) is an agreement between the judiciary and the government. ● It contains a set of guidelines for making appointments to the Supreme Court and High Court. ● Significance: The MoP is a crucial document as the Collegium system of appointing judges is a judicial innovation that is not mandated through legislation or text of the Constitution. ● Evolution of MoP: ○ The MoP evolved based on three SC decisions – the First Judges Case (1981), Second Judges Case (1993), and the Third Judges Case (1998). ○ In 2016, the MoP re-negotiations took place following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the National Judicial Appointments Commission(NJAC). ○ However, a judicial order can overturn the negotiations as an order of the SC is the law of the land binding the government.

Article 311(2)(C) of the Constitution: ● The J&K government has constituted a Special Task Force (STF) for identifying and scrutinising the government employees who are involved in any cases related to posing threat to the security or anti-national activities. ● STF will scrutinise cases of employees suspected of activities requiring action under Article 311(2)(C) of the Constitution.

Under provison (c) to Article 311 (2): ● Where the President is satisfied that the retention of a person in public service is prejudicial to the security of the State, his services can be terminated without recourse to the normal procedure prescribed in Article 311 (2). ● The satisfaction referred to in the proviso is the subjective satisfaction of the President about the expediency of not giving an opportunity to the employee concerned in the interest of the security of the State. ● This clause does not require that reasons for the satisfaction should be recorded in writing. That indicates that the power given to the President is unfettered and cannot be made a justifiable issue, as that would amount to substituting the satisfaction of the court in place of the satisfaction of the President. Safeguards to civil servants: ● Article 311(1) : It says that a civil servant cannot be dismissed or removed by any authority subordinate to the authority by which he was appointed. ● Article 311(2): It says that a civil servant cannot be removed or dismissed or reduced in rank unless he has been given a reasonable opportunity to show cause against action proposed to be taken against him.

Article 224A: Appointment of ad-hoc Judges ● This Article was not part of the Constitution of India, 1950. It was inserted by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963.

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● The appointment of retired judges was provided for in the Constitution under Article 224A (appointment of retired judges at sittings of High Courts). ● Under the Article, the Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of judge of that court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a judge of the High Court for that State. ● Tenure: Generally for a period between two and three years (may vary on the basis of the need.) ● Number: The number of ad-hoc judges in the court should be in the range of 2 to 5 for the time being (Depending on the strength of the High Court and the problem faced by it.) ● Allowances: Their emoluments and allowances should be on a par with a permanent judge of that court minus the pension. ● They will be entitled to allowance/perks/perquisites as are available to permanent/additional judge(s). ● Reasons For huge Pendency: ○ The Government is the Biggest Litigant. ○ Less Budgetary Allocation: The budget allocated to the judiciary is between 0.08 and 0.09% of the GDP. ○ Practice of Seeking Adjournments. ○ Delay in Judicial Appointment.

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SVAMITVA scheme ● Why in news ?: The scheme has been extended to all states. Earlier, it was launched only for 9 states. ● Background: Launched on Panchayati Raj Diwas (April 24th, 2020). ● Purpose: The scheme seeks to map residential land ownership in the rural sector using modern technology like the use of drones. ● The scheme aims to revolutionise property record maintenance in India.

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● Ministry: The scheme is piloted by the Panchayati Raj ministry. ● Features: ○ Under the scheme, residential land in villages will be measured using drones to create a non-disputable record. ○ Property card for every property in the village will be prepared by states using accurate measurements delivered by drone-mapping. ○ These cards will be given to property owners and will be recognised by the land revenue records department. ● Advantages of the scheme ○ The delivery of property rights through an official document will enable villagers to access bank finance using their property as collateral. ○ The property records for a village will also be maintained at the Panchayat level, allowing for the collection of associated taxes from the owners. The money generated from these local taxes will be used to build rural infrastructure and facilities. ○ Freeing the residential properties including land of title disputes and the creation of an official record is likely to result in appreciation in the market value of the properties. ○ The accurate property records can be used for facilitating tax collection, new building and structure plan, issuing of permits and for thwarting attempts at property grabbing.

National Panchayati Raj Day ● The first National Panchayati Raj Day was celebrated in 2010. Since then, the National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on 24th April every year in India. ● The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been awarding the best performing panchayats/States/UTs across the country in recognition of their good work. ● After the Constitution came into force, Article 40 made a mention of panchayats and Article 246 empowered the state legislature to legislate with respect to any subject relating to local self-government. ● Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) was constitutionalized through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 to build democracy at the grass roots level and was entrusted with the task of rural development in the country.

Section 144 of CrPC ● Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) of 1973 has been imposed in Gurugram, owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. ● Section 144 has often been used to clamp down on telecommunication services and order Internet shutdowns.

About Section 144 CrPC:

● This law empowers the magistrate of any state or union territory in India to pass an order prohibiting the gathering of four or more people in a specified area.

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● It is imposed in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger of some event that has the potential to cause trouble or damage to human life or property. ● This order can be passed against a particular individual or general public.

Features of Section 144: ● It places restrictions on handling or transporting any kind of weapon in the given jurisdiction. The maximum punishment for such an act is three years. ● According to the order under this section, there shall be no movement of public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed. ● Further, there will be a complete bar on holding any kind of public meetings or rallies during the period of operation of this order. ● It is deemed a punishable offence to obstruct law enforcement agencies from disbanding an unlawful assembly. ● It also empowers the authorities to block internet access in the region. ● The ultimate purpose of Section 144 is to maintain peace and order in the areas where trouble could erupt to disrupt the regular life.

Duration of Section 144 Order: ● No order under this section can remain in force for a period of more than 2 months. ● Under the state government’s discretion, it can choose to extend the validity for two more months with the maximum validity extendable to six months. ● Once the situation becomes normal, Section 144 levied can be withdrawn. Difference between Section 144 and Curfew: ● Section 144 prohibits gathering of four or more people in the concerned area, while during curfew people are instructed to stay indoors for a particular period of time. The government puts a complete restriction on traffic as well. ● Markets, schools, colleges and offices remain closed under the curfew and only essential services are allowed to run on prior notice.

Article 223 of the Constitution ● “Appointment of acting Chief Justice” ● When the office of Chief Justice of High Court is vacant or when any such Chief Justice is, by reason of absence or otherwise, unable to perform the duties of his office, the duties of the office shall be performed by such one of the other Judges of the Court as the President may appoint for the purposes.

Departmentally-related standing committees (DRSCs): ● Until the 13th Lok Sabha, each DRSC comprised 45 members — 30 nominated from Lok Sabha and 15 from the Rajya Sabha. ● However, with their restructuring in July 2004, each DRSC now has 31 members — 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha, to be nominated by Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha chairman, respectively. ● They are appointed for a maximum period of one year and the committees are reconstituted every year cutting across party lines.

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Composition of Financial Committees: ● The estimates committee has 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha ● Both the public accounts committee and the committee on public undertakings have 22 members each — 15 elected from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha.

CoWIN: ● It is a cloud-based IT solution for planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Covid-19 vaccination in India. ● The Co-WIN platform is owned by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

69th Amendment Act, 1992 ● It added two new Articles 239AA and 239AB under which the Union Territory of Delhi has been given a special status. ● Article 239AA provides that the Union Territory of Delhi be called the National Capital Territory of Delhi and its administrator shall be known as Lt. Governor. ○ It also creates a legislative assembly for Delhi which can make laws on subjects under the State List and Concurrent List except on these matters: public order, land, and police. ○ It also provides for a Council of Ministers for Delhi consisting of not more than 10% of the total number of members in the assembly. ● Article 239AB provides that the President may by order suspend the operation of any provision of Article 239AA or of all or any of the provisions of any law made in pursuance of that article. This provision resembles Article 356 (President’s Rule).

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International Relation, Organisation & Reports.

Global Gender Gap Report 2021: WEF ● Released by World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ● Aim: To serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics. Through this annual yardstick, the stakeholders within each country are able to set priorities relevant in each specific economic, political and cultural context. ● First published in 2006. ● It benchmarks 156 countries on their progress towards gender parity in ● Four dimensions: ○ Economic Participation and Opportunity, ○ Educational Attainment, ○ Health and Survival and ○ Political Empowerment. ● Over the Index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality). ● It also examines the drivers of gender gaps and outlines the policies and practices needed for a gender-inclusive recovery.

Key Reports

● India’s Position: ○ India is now one of the worst performers in South Asia, it is now ranked 140 among 156 countries.India has fallen 28 places compared to 2020 ○ For India, most of the decline occurred on the political empowerment subindex. The decline also took place on the economic participation and opportunity subindex, and health and survival subindex. ○ The estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men's, which puts the country among the bottom 10 globally on the economic participation and opportunity subindex. ● In South Asia, Bangladesh ranked 65, 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116. ● Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. ● Top 10: Include Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Rwanda, Sweden, Ireland and Switzerland.

World Economic Forum ● The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

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● It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. ● The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. ● Some major reports published by WEF are: ○ Energy Transition Index. ○ Global Competitiveness Report. ○ Global IT Report ○ WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University publishes this report. ○ Global Gender Gap Report. ○ Global Risk Report. ○ Global Travel and Tourism Report.

Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2021: UNESCAP ● released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). ● According to the report, India is estimated to record economic growth of 7% in 2021-22, over a contraction of 7.7% witnessed in the previous fiscal on account of the pandemic’s impact on normal business activity. ● The socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was amplified due to a lack of resilience and investments in people and the planet. ● India’s 2021 economic output, however, is expected to remain below the 2019 level despite a robust reduction in new Covid-19 cases and the start of vaccine roll-out. ● India entered the pandemic with already subdued GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth and investment.

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ● The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region. ● It has 53 Member States and 9 Associate Members from Asia-Pacific Region including India. ● Established: 1947 ● Headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand ● Objective: To overcome some of the region’s greatest challenges by providing results- oriented projects, technical assistance, and capacity building to member States.

BIMSTEC ● Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization. ● Formed in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. ● Permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh. ● Member countries: Originally started with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and later included Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.

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● It includes all the major countries of South Asia, except Maldives, Afghanistan and Pakistan. ● First summit held in Thiland

Objectives: ● Creating an enabling environment for the rapid economic development of the sub-region. ● Encouraging the spirit of equality and partnership. ● Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the areas of common interests of the member countries. ● Accelerating support for each other in the fields of education, science, and technology, etc. Why the region matters? ● Over one-fifth (22%) of the world’s population live in the seven countries around it, and they have a combined GDP close to $2.7 trillion. ● The Bay also has vast untapped natural resources. One-fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the Bay every year. ● One-fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the bay every year

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ● Also Known as Iran Nuclear Deal. ● The JCPOA was the result of prolonged negotiations from 2013 and 2015 between Iran and P5+1+EU (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, or the EU). ● Under the deal, Tehran agreed to significantly cut its stores of centrifuges, enriched uranium and heavy-water, all key components for nuclear weapons. ● In January 2020, following the drone strike on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Gen. Qasem Soleiman, Iran announced that it would no longer observe the JCPOA’s restraints.

What is enriched uranium? ● Enriched uranium is produced by feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges to separate out the most suitable isotope for nuclear fission, called U-235. ● Low-enriched uranium, which typically has a 3-5% purity of U-235, can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. ● Highly enriched uranium has a concentration of 20% or more and is used in research reactors.

World Cities Culture Forum ( WCCF ) ● Establishment: WCCF was established in London in 2012 with eight cities. ● Member Cities: It has 43 participating member cities. ○ Participating member cities include London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Lisbon, San Francisco, Shanghai, etc. ● Delhi is invited this year but it is not a part of member cities.

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● Role: It enables the policy makers of member cities to share research and intelligence, and explores the vital role of culture in their future prosperity. ● Managed By: The activities of the World Cities Culture Forum are organised and delivered by BOP Consulting, a specialist consulting firm, on behalf of the Greater London Authority, London’s Municipal Government. ● It is attended by Deputy Mayors for Culture and Heads of Culture from the member cities. ● 2021 Theme: The Future of Culture. ● Report: World Cities Culture Report

UN Women ● What is it?: UN Women is the United Nations entity, dedicated to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. ● Established in: 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly to accelerate the progress on meeting women’s needs worldwide. ● Headquarter: New York, United States. ● UN Women formed by merging the four previously distinct parts of the UN system which are: ○ Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) ○ International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) ○ Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) ○ United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The main roles of UN Women are: ● To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women in their formulation of policies, global standards, and norms. ● To help the Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society. ● Furthermore, to hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality. It includes regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

E9 initiative ● The initiative aims to accelerate recovery and advance the Sustainable Development Goal 4 agenda by driving rapid change in education systems in three of the 2020 Global Education Meeting priorities: (i) support to teachers; (ii) investment in skills; and (iii) narrowing of the digital divide. ● Participants: Spearheaded by the UN, the E9 countries include Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.

E9 Partnership ● Established in 1993, formed to achieve the goals of UNESCO's Education For All (EFA).

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● Aims at strengthening political will and collective effort to ensure quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. ● Benefits: ○ Building on the established partnership of E9 countries allows these nine countries the opportunity to benefit from this global initiative and accelerate progress on digital learning and skills towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education. ○ Sustainable Development Goal 4 : Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Education For All (EFA): ● An international initiative, first launched at the World Conference on Education for All by UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank in Thailand in 1990. ● Participants endorsed an 'expanded vision of learning' and pledged to universalize primary education and massively reduce illiteracy by the end of the decade. ● Ten years later, with many countries far from having reached this goal, a broad coalition of national governments, civil society groups, and development agencies met again in Dakar, Senegal, and affirmed the commitment to achieving EFA by the year 2015. ○ They identified six key education goals which aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015 (e.g. the Dakar Framework for Action).

China’s digital currency: ● Officially titled the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the digital RMB (or Renminbi, China’s currency) is a digital version of China’s currency. ● It can be downloaded and exchanged via an application authorised by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank.

Key features of the digital currency: ● This is a legal tender guaranteed by the central bank, not a payment guaranteed by a third-party operator. ● There is no third-party transaction, and hence, no transaction fee. ● Unlike e-wallets, the digital currency does not require Internet connectivity. The payment is made through Near-field Communication (NFC) technology. ● Unlike non-bank payment platforms that require users to link bank accounts, this can be opened with a personal identification number.

World Economic Outlook: IMF ● It is a survey by the IMF that is usually published twice a year in the months of April and October. ● It analyzes and predicts global economic developments during the near and medium term. ● Purpose : It analyzes and predicts global economic developments during the near and medium term.

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Reports Highlights: ● Title: “Managing Divergent Recoveries” ● Suggested Accommodative Monetary Policy: ● Monetary policy should remain accommodative (where inflation is well behaved), while proactively addressing financial stability risks using macroprudential tools.

Global Economy: ● The IMF predicted stronger recovery in 2021 and 2022 with growth projected to be 6% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022. ● In 2020, the global economy contracted by 3.3% ● The contraction for 2020 is 1.1% points smaller than previous projection, reflecting: ● Higher-than-expected growth outturns in the second half of the year for most regions after lockdowns were eased and as economies adapted to new ways of working. ● Additional fiscal support in a few large economies and the anticipated vaccine-powered recovery in the second half of the year. ● The economies that are dependent on Tourism are severely hit. Eg: Spain.

Indian Economy: ● Indian economy is expected to grow by 12.5% in 2021 and 6.9% in 2022. ● In 2020, India’s economy witnessed an estimated contraction of 8%. ● Growth rate for India in 2021 is stronger than that of China. ● China was the only major economy to have a positive growth rate of 2.3% in 2020, and is expected to grow by 8.6% in 2021 and 5.6% in 2022. ● Hotel and Restaurant sector has suffered huge production and employment losses due to COVID-19.

#Target_shots Addition

International Monetary Fund ● The IMF was set up along with the World Bank after the Second World War to assist in the reconstruction of war-ravaged countries. ○ The two organisations were agreed to be set up at a conference in Bretton Woods in the US. Hence, they are known as the Bretton Woods twins. ● Created in 1945, the IMF is governed by and accountable to the 189 countries that make up its near-global membership. India joined on 27th December, 1945. ● The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system — the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other. ● The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability. ● Reports by IMF: ○ Global Financial Stability Report ○ World Economic Outlook ●

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World in 2030: Public Survey Report ● Report was recently published by UNESCO Key findings: ● According to the report, Climate Change, Violence and Conflict, Loss of Biodiversity and discrimination and inequality, water and housing, lack of food are the four biggest challenges to peaceful societies of 2030. ● According to the participants, education is the only crucial solution to many difficulties to be faced in 2030. However, the North Americans (US, Canada) believe in science and not in education. ● Apart from education, the only other solution is international cooperation.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ● It is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of 4th April, 1949, ● Members: United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. ● Headquartered at Brussels, Belgium. ● A key provision of the treaty, the so-called Article 5, states that if one member of the alliance is attacked in Europe or North America, it is to be considered an attack on all members. That effectively put Western Europe under the "nuclear umbrella" of the US. ● NATO's protection does not extend to members' civil wars or internal coups. ● As of 30th March 2021, there are 30 member states, with the Republic of North Macedonia becoming the latest member to join the alliance in 2020. ● Membership Action Plan ○ It is a NATO programme of advice, assistance and practical support tailored to the individual needs of countries wishing to join the Alliance. ○ Participation in the MAP does not prejudge any decision by the Alliance on future membership. ○ Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently participating in MAP. ●

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Renewable Capacity Statistics Report 2021 ● The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) produces comprehensive statistics on a range of topics related to renewable energy.

Key Findings ● A record 260 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy capacity was added worldwide in 2020, up 50% from the year before ● the agency said more than 80% of all new electricity capacity added last year was renewable, with solar and wind accounting for 91% of new renewables ● The rise in new capacity was partly because of the decommissioning of fossil fuel power generation in Europe, North America and in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey. ● Total fossil fuel additions fell to 60 GW in 2020 from 64 GW the previous year.

#Target_shots Addition

About IRENA: ● It is an intergovernmental organisation mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy. ● It is the first international organisation to focus exclusively on renewable energy, addressing needs in both industrialized and developing countries. ● It was founded in 2009 & its statute entered into force on 8 July 2010 ● Headquartered in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. ● Total Members of the Agency – 161 Members (as of 2019). ● India has become the 77th Founding Member of IRENA. ● IRENA is an official United Nations observer.

IMF: Solidarity Tax ● Solidarity Tax suggested by IMF ● It is a temporary tax. ● The International Monetary Fund recently announced Solidarity Tax on Pandemic Winners. ○ That is, the companies that prospered during COVID-19 crisis should pay additional tax to show solidarity towards those hit hardest by the pandemic. ● In general Solidarity Tax is a government-imposed tax that is levied to provide funding towards unifying projects. It acts in conjunction with income taxes. T ● he solidarity tax is an additional burden on taxpayers including sole proprietors, individuals and corporations. ● It shall be imposed to reduce social inequalities that increased during the recent health crisis. ● The Solidarity Tax was introduced by IMF citing Germany’s Solidarity tax after reunification.

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Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) ● Freedom of Navigation Operations involves passages conducted by the US Navy. ● The US Navy conducts such operations in the exclusive Exclusive Economic zone of coastal nations. ● It reaffirms the US policy of exercising and asserting its navigation and overflight rights and freedoms around the world. ● Purpose: These operations denotes that the United States did not agree to the exclusive maritime claims of coastal nations. Thus preventing those claims from becoming accepted in international law. ● According to the US Department of Defense(DoD), the FONOP Program has existed for 40 years. ● So far, the program continuously reaffirmed the US policy of exercising and asserting its navigation and freedom rights around the world. ● India’s Response : India has protested the U.S. decision to conduct a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) in the western Indian Ocean.

Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) ● According to UNCLOS, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources. ● This includes energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline to 200 nautical miles (1 NM- 1,852 meters) from the coast of the country. ○ within this the coastal state has the right to explore and exploit, and the responsibility to conserve and manage, both living and non-living resources.

The Territorial Disputed area: ● West Bank: The West Bank is sandwiched between Israel and Jordan. One of its major cities is Ramallah, the de facto administrative capital of Palestine. ○ Israel took control of it in the 1967 war and has over the years established settlements there. ● Gaza: The Gaza Strip located between Israel and Egypt. Israel occupied the strip after 1967, but relinquished control of Gaza City and day-to-day administration in most of the territory during the Oslo peace process. ○ In 2005, Israel unilaterally removed Jewish settlements from the territory, though it continues to control international access to it. ● Golan Heights: The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Israel effectively annexed the territory in 1981. ○ The US has officially recognized Jerusalem and Golan Heights as part of Israel. ● Fatah: Founded by the late Yasir Arafat in the 1950s, Fatah is the largest Palestinian political faction. ○ Unlike Hamas, Fatah is a secular movement, has nominally recognized Israel, and has actively participated in the peace process. ● Hamas: Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organization by the US government. In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Authority's legislative elections.

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○ It ejected Fatah from Gaza in 2007, splitting the Palestinian movement geographically, as well.

OPEC ● What is it?: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries. ● History: It was founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela). ● Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, although Austria is not an OPEC member state. ● OPEC members: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. ● OPEC+: A larger group called OPEC+ was formed in late 2016 to have more control on the global crude oil market. ○ The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries. ● OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Vaccine passport: ● It is an electronic record of vaccination, possibly in the form of a QR code, that is easily accessible through a smartphone or possibly stored on the device, though it could also be printed out. It is mostly used for International travel. ● In February 2021, Israel became the first country to introduce a certification system that allows those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to access certain facilities and events.

World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE):

● The need to fight animal diseases at global level led to the creation of the Office International des Epizooties through the international Agreement signed on January 25th 1924. ● In May 2003 the Office became the World Organisation for Animal Health but kept its historical acronym OIE. ● Nature of Org: The OIE is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide. ○ Recognised as a reference organisation by the World Trade Organization (WTO). ● The organisation is placed under the authority and control of a World Assembly of Delegates consisting of Delegates designated by the Governments of all Member Countries. ● The main objective of the OIE is to control epizootic diseases and thus to prevent their spread.

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Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: ● RCEP is the world's largest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and was signed by all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional organization (ASEAN) members and key partners including China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand at the 4th RCEP leaders’ summit in November 2020. ● It could be some time before any country sees the benefits, because six ASEAN nations and three other nations have to ratify it before it takes effect. ○ Ratification will likely be tricky in national parliaments, owing to both anti-trade and anti-China sentiments among the countries. ○ Recently, Singapore became the first RCEP participating country (RPC) to complete the official ratification process and deposit its ratification instrument.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: ● The CPTPP is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 11 countries around the Pacific Rim which are : ○ Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. ● After the US withdrew from negotiations of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the remaining 11 participants scrambled to amend the text of the agreement, and the newly renamed CPTPP was signed in March 2018. ○ It came into force in December 2018. Significance: ● Removes Tariffs: ○ The CPTPP removes 99% of tariffs on goods and services, just like the original TPP did. ● Broad Coverage: ○ The CPTPP covers a broad range of goods and services. These include financial services, telecommunications, and food safety standards. ● Reduces Environmental Abuses: ○ All countries agreed to cut down on wildlife trafficking. That helps elephants, rhinoceroses, and marine species the most. ○ It prevents environmental abuses, such as unsustainable logging and fishing. Countries that don't comply will face trade penalties.

The Hydrogen Economy – New Delhi Dialogue 2021 ● Organized by :The Energy Forum (TEF) and the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, organised a Hydrogen Roundtable titled “Hydrogen Economy- the Indian Dialogue-2021” in a virtual mode. ● The roundtable will discuss emerging hydrogen ecosystems and exploring opportunities for collaboration, cooperation and coalition. ● The Hydrogen Roundtable, the first of its kind, will comprise a High-level Ministerial Session, followed by five Panel Discussions by eminent policy makers, experts and

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industry leaders from different geographical regions of the world, with focus on policy roadmaps and mapping demand and supply of Hydrogen. ● A separate session is devoted to India’s Hydrogen Mission. ● The objective of the roundtable is to understand the progress of the Hydrogen ecosystem across continents and contribute to creating synchrony among the think tanks, Governments and the industry to join forces for developing innovative and sustainable technologies at attractive costs.

UNFPA’s population report: ● Recently, The United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Flagship State of World Population Report 2021 ● Titled ‘My Body is My Own’ was launched. ● This is the first time a United Nations report has focused on bodily autonomy. What is bodily autonomy? ● The report defined ‘Bodily autonomy’ as the power and agency to make choices about your body without fear of violence or having someone else decide for you. ● Some Examples: ○ Child marriage. ○ Female genital mutilation. ○ Lack of contraceptive choices leading to unplanned pregnancy. ○ Unwanted sex exchanged for a home and food. Highlights of the report: ● Nearly half the women from 57 developing countries do not have the right to make decisions regarding their bodies, including using contraception, seeking healthcare or even on their sexuality. ● In countries where data is available, only 55% of women are fully empowered to make choices over healthcare, contraception and the ability to say yes or no to sex. ● Only 75% of countries legally ensure full and equal access to contraception. ● Women around the world are denied the fundamental right of bodily autonomy with the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbating this situation. Facts about India in the Report: ● In India, according to NFHS-4 (2015-2016), only about 12% of currently married women (15-49 years of age) independently make decisions about their own healthcare. ● For a quarter of women (23%), it is the spouse that mainly takes decisions about healthcare. ● Information provided to women about use of contraception is also limited.

About IWWAGE ● Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy(IWWAGE) is an initiative of LEAD. ● LEAD is an action-oriented research center of IFMR Society (a not-for-profit society registered under the Societies Act).

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● Aim: To build on existing research and generate new evidence to inform and facilitate the agenda of women’s economic empowerment.

UN Food Systems Summit 2021 ● The first-ever UN Food Systems Summit is expected to hold in September 2021. For that, the United Nations Secretary-General has called for members to participate. ● Purpose: The summit will strategize the actions for positive change in Agri-food systems in the world. It will help to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ● Focus: The Summit will focus on levers and pathways to shape food systems nationally and globally. ● Significance: The summit will be held as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. ● Action Tracks: The Summit’s Action Tracks offer stakeholders to learn and share new actions, partnerships and to amplify existing initiatives. ● The five Action Tracks are: ○ Track 1: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all. ○ Track 2: Shift to sustainable consumption patterns. ○ Track 3: Boost nature-positive production. ○ Track 4: Advance equitable livelihoods. ○ Track 5: Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress.

Global Food Policy Report 2021 ● Released by The International Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI) ● It is an immune mediated adverse drug reaction caused by the emergence of antibodies that activate platelets in the presence of heparin. ○ Heparin is an anticoagulant or blood thinner which prevents the formation of blood clots. ○ It is used to treat and prevent blood clots caused by certain medical conditions or medical procedures and is also used before surgery to reduce the risk of blood clots. ● It is the most important and most frequent drug? induced type of thrombocytopenia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality if unrecognised. ○ Thrombocytopenia is a condition in which one has a low blood platelet count.

Inclusive Internet Index 2021 ● Released by: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in partnership with Facebook. ● Purpose: It seeks to measure the extent of accessibility and affordability of the Internet. Also, the internet should be able to enable positive social and economic outcomes at the individual and group levels. ● Countries Covered: The index assesses the performance of 120 countries representing 98% of global GDP and 96% of the global population. ● Categories: The Index score is based on the scores of 4 categories; ○ Availability

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○ Affordability ○ Relevance ○ Readiness. Key Findings ● Topped by : Sweden ranks 1st in the index, followed by the US and Spain. ● India’s Rank: 49th out of 120 countries in the Index. ● India is set to reach one billion internet users by 2025. There were over 687.6 million internet users in India in 2020.

Travel bubble: ● Creating a travel bubble involves reconnecting countries or states that have shown a good level of success in containing the novel coronavirus pandemic domestically. ● Such a bubble would allow the members of the group to rekindle trade ties with each other, and kickstart sectors such as travel and tourism. ● Significance and potential: ○ Potential travel bubbles among better-performing countries around the world would account for around 35 per cent of the global GDP. Such arrangements are especially being favoured by smaller countries, who are likely to benefit after being able to trade again with larger partners. ●

State of the Global Climate 2020: WMO ● Released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Key findings of reports: ● Global Temperature: ○ 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record, despite a cooling La Niña event. ○ The global average temperature was about 1.2° Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level. ○ The other two warmest years are 2016 and 2019. ○ The six years since 2015 have been the warmest on record. ○ 2011-2020 was the warmest decade on record. ● Greenhouse Gases: ○ Emission of major greenhouse gases increased in 2019 and 2020. ○ It will be higher in 2021. ○ Concentrations of the major greenhouse gases in the air continued to increase in 2019 and 2020. ● Oceans: ○ In 2019, the oceans had the highest heat content on record. Over 80% of the ocean area experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2020. ■ A marine heatwave is defined when seawater temperatures exceed a seasonally-varying threshold for at least 5 consecutive days.

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○ The percentage of the ocean that experienced “strong” marine heat waves (45%) was greater than that which experienced “moderate” marine heat waves (28%). ● Sea-level Rise: ○ Since record-taking started in 1993 using the satellite altimeter, sea-level has been rising. It is due to the La Niña induced cooling. ○ Sea level has recently been rising at a higher rate partly due to the increased melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. ● The Arctic and the Antarctica: ○ In 2020, the Arctic sea-ice extent came down to second lowest on record. ○ The 2020 minimum extent was 3.74 million square kilometre, marking only the second time (after 2012) on record that it shrank to less than 4 million sq km. ○ In a large region of the Siberian Arctic, temperatures in 2020 were more than 3°C above average. ○ A record temperature of 38°C was noted in the town of Verkhoyansk, Russia. ○ The Antarctic sea-ice extent remained close to the long-term average. ○ However, the Antarctic ice sheet has exhibited a strong mass loss trend since the late 1990s. ○ This trend accelerated around 2005, and currently, Antarctica loses approximately 175 to 225 Gigaton per year, due to the increasing flow rates of major glaciers in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. ● Extreme Weather Events in India: ○ India experienced one of its wettest monsoons since 1994, with a seasonal surplus of 9% that led to severe floods and landslides. ○ Cyclone Amphan, which hit Kolkata in May 2020, has been named as the costliest tropical cyclone for the North Indian Ocean region that brought about an estimated loss of USD 14 billion. ● Climatic Impact: ○ Extreme Weather Situations: ○ Along with the pandemic, people across the world struggled to survive as they faced extreme weather in the form of storms, cyclones, heavy rainfall and record heat. ○ Response and recovery to people hit by cyclones, storms and similar extreme weather was constrained throughout the pandemic in 2020.

South China Sea dispute Location: ● South China Sea is an arm of western Pacific Ocean in Southeast Asia. ● It is south of China, east & south of Vietnam, west of the Philippines and north of the island of Borneo. ● It is connected by Taiwan Strait with the East China Sea and by Luzon Strait with the Philippine Sea. ● Bordering states & territories: the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.

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Strategic Importance: ● This sea holds tremendous strategic importance for its location as it is the connecting link between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean (Strait of Malacca). ● According to the United Nations Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD) one-third of the global shipping passes through it, carrying trillions of trade which makes it a significant geopolitical water body. Claims Over Islands: ● The Paracel Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. ● The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Philippines. ● The Scarborough Shoal is claimed by Philippines, China and Taiwan. ● Since 2010, China has been converting uninhabited islets into artificial islets to bring it under UNCLOS (For example, Haven Reef, Johnson South Reef and Fiery Cross Reef).

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Boao Forum for Asia ● History: The Boao Forum for Asia was initiated in 2001 by 25 Asian countries and Australia (increased to 28 in 2006). ● It is a non-profit organisation. ● The opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021 was held in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province. ● Attended by more than 2,600 guests from over 60 countries and regions. ● Theme: “A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Cooperation.” ● Significance: ○ It has provided a high-end platform for political, business and academic leaders in Asia and the world. ○ It is modelled on the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland. ○ The Forum is committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries even closer to their development goals. ○ It has made positive contributions to the promotion of regional economic integration, common development and the building of a more prosperous and harmonious Asia.

Global Youth Mobilization Local Solutions campaign ● Launched on April 19, 2021. ● It is mandated to fund youth in communities impacted by the pandemic to take up innovative programmes to rebuild lives. ● An initial $2 million (nearly Rs 15 crore) be available in four tiers, from $500 through to $5,000 and an “accelerator” programme will scale and replicate the most promising solutions, with further funding lined up over the coming months.

It is being supported by six of the world’s largest youth organisations: ● World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations. ● World Young Women’s Christian Association. ● World Organization of the Scout Movement. ● World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. ● The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. ● The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.

Council of the European Union: ● The Council of the European Union is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in the Treaty on European Union. ● It is one of three legislative bodies and together with the European Parliament serves to amend and approve the proposals of the European Commission, which holds legislative initiative.

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● It was founded on 1 July 1967. ● The primary purpose of the Council is to act as one of two vetoing bodies of the EU’s legislative branch, the other being the European Parliament. Together they serve to amend, approve or disapprove the proposals of the European Commission, which has the sole power to propose laws. ● Jointly with the Parliament, the Council holds the budgetary power of the Union.

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International Court of Justice

● ICJ is a principal judicial organization of the United Nations (UN). It was established in 1945 by a UN Charter and began working in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice. ● It settles legal disputes between member countries and gives advisory opinions to authorized UN Organs and Specialized Agencies. ● An Indian, Judge Dalveer Bhandari has been a member of the ICJ since April 2012. ● It is seated in the Peace Palace of Hague, Netherlands.

Vienna Convention: ● The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations is an international treaty that defines consular relations between independent states. ○ A consul (who is not a diplomat), is a representative of a foreign state in a host country, who works for the interests of his countrymen.

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● Article 36 of the Vienna Convention states that foreign nationals who are arrested or detained in the host country must be given notice without delay of their right to have their embassy or consulate notified of that arrest. ● If the detained foreign national so requests, the police must fax that notice to the embassy or consulate, which can then verify the detained person. ● The notice to the consulate can be as simple as a fax, giving the person's name, the place of arrest, and, if possible, something about the reason for the arrest or detention.

World Press Freedom Index ● Published by : Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders since 2002. ● Purpose: The Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. ● However, the index neither ranks public policies and nor is it an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country or region. ● The report labelled 132 countries as “very bad”, “bad” or “problematic”. ● Parameters: The index ranks 180 countries based on the following parameters, such as a) pluralism, b) media independence c) environment and self-censorship d) legislative framework e) Transparency f) Infrastructure, and g) Abuses.

Key findings of report: ● Journalism, the main vaccine against disinformation, is completely or partly blocked in 73% of the 180 countries. ● Only 12 of the Index’s 180 countries (7%) can claim to offer a favourable environment for journalism. ● Norway has topped yet again for the fifth year in the row, followed by Finland and Denmark. ● Eritrea is at the bottom meanwhile China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178. ● India ranks 142nd on the World Press Freedom Index 2021. The rank is the same as in 2020 after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016. ● India is among the countries classified “bad” for journalism and is termed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists trying to do their jobs properly. ● India’s South Asian neighborhood è Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145, and Bangladesh at 152.

Freedom of Press ● Article 19 : The Constitution, the supreme law of the land, guarantees freedom of speech and expression under Article 19, which deals with ‘Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech, etc. ● Freedom of press is not expressly protected by Indian legal system but it is impliedly protected under article 19(1) (a) of the constitution, which states - "All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression".

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● In 1950, the Supreme Court in Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras observed that freedom of the press lay at the foundation of all democratic organisations. ● However, Freedom of press is also not absolute. It faces certain restrictions under Article 19(2), which are as follows- ● Matters related to interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

Britcoin ● It is a central bank-backed digital currency of the United Kingdom. ● It is aimed at tackling some of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. ● The BoE-backed digital version of sterling would potentially allow businesses and consumers to hold accounts directly with the bank. ● It could speed up domestic and foreign payments and reduce financial stability risks. ● The digital version of sterling would not replace either physical cash or existing bank accounts.

Dogecoin ● Dogecoin is a Cryptocurrency created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. It was created as a faster alternative to Bitcoin. ● Origin: Dogecoin was started as a satire on the numerous fraud crypto coins that had sprung up at the time. It takes its name and logo from a Shiba Inu meme that was viral several years ago. ● How is it different from Bitcoins ?: Bitcoins fixed the maximum possible number as 21 million (a figure that is estimated to be reached by 2040). But the Dogecoin numbers do not have an upper limit and there are already more than 100 billion in existence. ● The reason behind Dogecoin’s Rise: The main reason believed to be behind Dogecoin’s rise is its listing on Coinbase (Coinbase is the most popular virtual currency exchange in the US). ● Concerns: Cryptocurrencies are considered highly volatile and may crash as fast as they rise. This is because they do not have any intrinsic value such as land or gold. Further, they are also susceptible to manipulation by small groups who often hold large numbers of virtual currency in circulation.

Cryptocurrency ● It is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. . ● It is supported by a decentralized peer-to-peer network called the blockchain. Blockchain technology ensures that all transactions in cryptocurrencies are recorded in a public financial transaction database.

USCIRF report: ● The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent bi- partisan commission, has released its 2021 annual report.

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● It is an advisory body to the US Congress. ● USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report assesses religious freedom violations and progress during calendar year 2020 in 26 countries and makes independent recommendations for US policy. ● It is Headquartered at Washington DC. ● The Report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries: ○ “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)” is a designation by the US Secretary of State of a nation engaged in severe violations of religious freedom under IRFA (International Religious Freedom Act of 1998). ○ A “Special Watch List” country is one that is deemed not to meet all of the CPC criteria but engages in or tolerates severe violations of religious freedom.

Freedom of Religion in India ● Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 25-28 of the Constitution of India. ● Article 25 (Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion). ● Article 26 (Freedom to manage religious affairs). ● Article 27 (Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion). ● Article 28 (Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain educational institutions).

Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) ● The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on 29 May 2014 ● This treaty came into force on 1st January 2015. ● Member states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan ● Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has a GDP of over $ 5 trillion. ● It is an integrated single market of 180 million people. ● The EAEU encourages the free movement of goods and services, and provides for common policies in the macroeconomic sphere, foreign trade and investment, agriculture,customs,transport industry,energy,competition and antitrust regulation. ● It has free movement of goods, services and labour. ● It has its own bureaucratic structure.

Armenian Genocide ● While Turkey disagrees, the consensus among historians is that during the Armenian Genocide, between 1915 to 1922, in the First World War, thousands of Armenians perished due to killings, starvation and disease, when they were deported by Ottoman Turks from eastern Anatolia. ● The International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates that more than 1 million Armenians may have died. Why is the acknowledgement significant?

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● Researchers say that the acknowledgement by the US government would have little legal impact on Turkey, other than becoming a cause for embarrassment for the country and perhaps giving other countries the impetus to also acknowledge the genocide. ● However, this acknowledgement in the international community may be unwelcome and unpalatable for Turkey.

Leaders’ Summit on Climate 2021 ● The Leaders' Summit on Climate was convened by the US President virtually. ● 40 world leaders, including the Prime Minister of India, were invited to the event to underscore the urgency of stronger climate action. ● This summit is seen as a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Conference of the Parties 26 (COP 26) in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. ● Objectives of the summit: ○ Get the world’s major economies to reduce emission in this decade while also getting the public and private sector involvement. ○ Show how climate action can have economic and social benefits. Build new businesses and industries. ○ Using the technology available to adapt to climate change but also reduce emissions. Use nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. ○ Protect lives and livelihoods by finding ways to adapt to climate change. ●

Energy Transition Index 2021 ● Released by The World Economic Forum(WEF) ● What is it ? : Energy Transition Index is an annual report by the World Economic Forum ● (WEF). ● Purpose : The ranking aims to enable policy-makers and businesses to plan for a successful energy transition. ● ETI checks the readiness of countries for transition to secure, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive energy systems. ● Parameters: The index ranks 115 countries on the basis following three dimensions: ○ Economic development and growth, ○ Environmental sustainability and ○ Lastly, Energy security and access; ● Key Takeaways ○ Sweden tops the index. It is followed by Norway and Denmark. ○ India ranks at the 87th position among 115 countries in the Energy Transition Index (ETI). #Target_shots Addition

World Economic Forum ● The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss non-profit foundation established in 1971, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

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● Recognized by the Swiss authorities as the international institution for public-private cooperation. ● Mission: Committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. ● Some major reports published by WEF are: ○ Global Competitiveness Report. ○ Global Gender Gap Report. ○ Global Risk Report. ○ Global Travel and Tourism Report. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW ) ● It is an international organization established by the Chemical Weapons Convention, 1997 to implement and enforce the terms of the non-proliferation treaty, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, or transfer of chemical weapons by signatory states. ● The OPCW is authorized to perform inspections to verify that signatory states are complying with the convention. ● By the 2001 Relationship Agreement between the OPCW and the United Nations, the OPCW reports on its inspections and other activities to the UN through the office of the Secretary General. ● The organisation was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits: ● Developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling, or retaining chemical weapons. ● The direct or indirect transfer of chemical weapons. ● Chemical weapons use or military preparation for use. ● Assisting, encouraging, or inducing other states to engage in CWC-prohibited activity. ● The use of riot control agents “as a method of warfare.”

United Nations Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC) ● India has been elected to three key bodies of the UN ECOSOC. These bodies are the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), Executive Board of UN Women, Executive Board of the World Food Programme.

UN-ECOSOC ● Established in: 1945. ● It is one of the six main organs of the United Nations. ● Other organs are UNSC, UNGA, Trusteeship Council, ICJ, and UN secretariat. ● Headquarters: New York, United States. ● Aim: To serve as a forum for discussing international economic and social issues. It also works towards formulating policy recommendations addressed to the Member States and the United Nations system. ● Members: The Council consists of 54 Member States. The UNGA will elect them for a three-year term.

Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ):

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● What is it ?: CCPCJ is a functional commission of the UN-ECOSOC ● Purpose: The commission serves as the primary organ that guides the activities of the United Nations. Especially in the fields of crime prevention and criminal justice. ● Members: CCPJ has 40 member states that are elected by ECOSOC. ● Headquarters: Vienna, Austria.

World Food Programme(WFP) ● Background: Both the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) founded the WFP in 1961. ● Aim: To eradicate hunger and malnutrition with the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for food aid itself. ● Significance: It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and part of its Executive Committee. ● Funding : Voluntary donations from world governments, corporations and private donors will entirely fund the operations of WFP. ● Members: The Executive Board of WFP consists of 36 states members. The board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP. ● Nobel Prize: WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. ● Headquarters: Rome, Italy.

Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI) ● The Chandler Good Government Index is an annual Index, built by government practitioners, for government practitioners, measuring the capabilities and effectiveness of 104 governments around the world. ● The Chandler Institute of Governance (CIG) is an international non-profit organisation, headquartered in Singapore. ● The index focuses on seven pillars: ○ leadership and foresight; robust laws and policies; strong institutions; financial stewardship; attractive marketplace; global influence and reputation; and helping people rise. ● Objective: ○ It supports government leaders and public officers worldwide in nation building and strengthening public institutional capacity through training, research and advisory work. ○ It also shares tools and frameworks for effective policymaking, and empowers nations to provide better public services for citizens. ● Significance of the index: ○ Good government is a deciding factor in whether nations succeed. The Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI) shows why investing in strong government capabilities is vital to securing positive outcomes for citizens and businesses. ● Highlights of the 2021 index:

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○ Seven of the top ten countries are in Europe, but there are four continents represented in the top ten, with Singapore first in Asia, New Zealand leading Oceania, and Canada foremost in the Americas. ○ All of the top ten countries are high-income, as defined by the World Bank. ○ India has been ranked 49th. ○ Sri Lanka 74th, Pakistan 90th and Nepal 92nd.

Project Dantak: ● Project DANTAK completes 60 years in Bhutan ● Project DANTAK was established on April 24, 1961. ● DANTAK was tasked to construct the pioneering motorable roads in the Kingdom. ● Notable projects executed by the project include: ● The construction of Paro Airport, Yonphula Airfield, Thimphu – Trashigang Highway, Telecommunication & Hydro Power Infrastructure, Sherubtse College, Kanglung and India House Estate. ● Significance: ○ Over the years, DANTAK has met the myriad infrastructure requirements in Bhutan in accordance with the vision of Their Majesties and the aspirations of the people in a symbiotic manner. ○ The medical and education facilities established by DANTAK in far flung areas were often the first in those locations. ○ The food outlets along the road introduced the Bhutanese to Indian delicacies and developed a sweet tooth in them.

GloLitter Partnerships Project ● Launched by : the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO). ● The Government of Norway provided initial funding for the project. ● Aim : The project aims to help the maritime transport and fishing sectors to adapt to a low-plastic future. To achieve this goal, this initiative will assist developing countries to apply best practices for prevention, reduction, and control of marine plastic litter from those sectors. ● Participating Countries: 30 Countries will be participating in the project. India is one of the participating countries. ● Significance: ○ The project will promote compliance with the Voluntary Guidelines of the MARPOL Convention. It contains regulations against discharging plastics into the sea. ○ Further, protecting the marine environment is also the objective of Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 14.

MARPOL

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● International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is one of the main international conventions. It aims at the prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes. ● Adopted in: The Convention was adopted by the International Maritime Organisation(IMO) on 2nd November 1973. ● India is a signatory to the MARPOL Convention. ● Annexes : The convention currently includes six technical Annexes: ○ Annex I: Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil ○ Annex II: Regulations for the Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk ○ Annex III: Prevention of Pollution by Harmful Substances Carried by Sea in Packaged Form ○ Annex IV: Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Ships ○ Annex V: Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships ○ Annex VI: Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships. ●

Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) ● In a move to counter China’s dominance of supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region, trade ministers of India, Japan and Australia have formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI). ● The SCRI aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the region. ● Initially, SCRI will focus on sharing best practices on supply chain resilience and holding investment promotion events and buyer-seller matching events to provide opportunities for stakeholders to explore the possibility of diversification of their supply chains. ● Possible policy measures under the initiative may include: (i) supporting the enhanced utilization of digital technology. (ii) supporting trade and investment diversification. ● Meeting: The meeting by the trade ministers of three countries will be convened at least once a year. It will be helpful in the implementation of the SCRI as well as to consult on how to develop the Initiative. ● Significance : The SCRI aims to reduce dependence on China amid a likelihood of rechurning of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Human Rights Watch: ● Founded in 1978, it 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. ● Headquartered in New York.

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Karen rebels ● The Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest rebel group, has also said its fighters had taken the army camp on the west bank of the Salween river. ● Myanmar’s military has launched air strikes on a village and outpost near the Thai border, after ethnic minority Karen insurgents attacked a Myanmar army post in some of the worst clashes

The Karen National Union (KNU) ● The KNU is the dominant political organisation representing ethnic minority Karen communities in Karen, or Kayin, State, bordering Thailand. ● Its aim is self-determination for the Karen people in a region of about 1.6 million people, roughly the size of Belgium, where they are the ethnic majority in the state.

Karen Conflict: ● Marginalised in then Burma’s post-independence political process, the KNU started a rebellion in 1949, which it waged for nearly 70 years. One of its key grievances was the majority Bamar community’s dominance of Myanmar’s state and military. ● The conflict has been described as one of the world’s “longest running civil wars”. What’s the demand? ● Karen nationalists have been fighting for an independent state known as Kawthoolei since 1949.

Tianhe module ● It is the first module of China’s planned space station. ● The core module, currently the largest spacecraft developed by China, was launched into low earth orbit by a Long March-5B rocket, marking the first step of China’s efforts to build its own station in two years. ● The Tianhe module will act as the management and control hub of the space station ● Tianhe 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.

World’s Oldest Water: ● World’s Oldest Water Found in Canada Sheds Light on the Beginning of Life. ● In 2019, geologist and earth sciences professor Dr. Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto received the top science prize of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering worth $1 million for discovering the world’s oldest water. ● It was found at a depth of 2.4 kilometers in Kidd Creek Mine. ● The water is highly saline, which is ten times saltier than seawater.

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The Global Forest Goals Report 2021: UN Report ● The Report has been prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. ● It provides an initial overview of progress of Goals and targets contained within the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2030.

Status of World Forest: ● Total Forest Area: According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020) report, the world’s total forest area is 4.06 billion hectares (bha), which is 31% of the total land area. This area is equivalent to 0.52 hectares per person. ● Top Countries in Forest Cover—the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China constituted more than 54% of the world’s forests.

United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 ● The United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 was created with a mission to promote sustainable forest management and enhance the contribution of forests and trees to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ● The agreement on the first-ever UN Strategic Plan for Forests was forged at a special session of the UN Forum on Forests held in January 2017 and provides an ambitious vision for global forests in 2030. ● Goals and Targets: It features a set of six Global Forest Goals and 26 associated targets to be reached by 2030, which are voluntary and universal. ○ It includes a target to increase forest area by 3% worldwide by 2030, signifying an increase of 120 million hectares, an area over twice the size of France. ● It builds on the vision of the 2030 Agenda and recognizes that real change requires decisive, collective action, within and beyond the UN System.

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Security & Defence. Exercise SHANTIR OGROSHENA 2021: ● It is a multinational military exercise in Bangladesh. ● Indian army will take part this year. ● ‘Shantir Ogroshena’ 2021 means “Front Runner of the Peace”. ● It will be held at Bangladesh to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangladesh ‘Father of the Nation’ Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. ● Military observers from the USA, UK, Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore will also be in attendance throughout the exercise. ● Other Exercises involving Bangladesh: ○ SAMPRITI (Army). ○ TABLE TOP (Air). ○ IN-BN CORPAT (Navy). ○ SAMVEDNA (Multinational Air Exercise with Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and UAE).

LA PEROUSE: ● It is a multilateral maritime exercise being conducted in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region. ● Led by French Navy. ● initiated by France in 2019, included ships from Australia, Japan and the US. ● India is taking part in it. ● It will witness complex and advanced naval operations including surface warfare, anti-air warfare and air defence exercises, weapon firing exercises, cross deck flying operations, tactical manoeuvres and seamanship evolutions such as replenishment at sea.

Indo-French Joint Exercises ● Desert Knight-21 and Garuda (Air exercise) ● Varuna (Naval exercise) ● Shakti (Army exercise)

Shantir Ogroshena, 2021 ● The multinational military exercise “Shantir Ogroshena, 2021” was begun at Bangabandhu Senanibas, Bangladesh ● The exercise is being held to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He is the Father of Bangladesh. ● Participant: India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan , Bangladesh, ● Also, military observers from UK, USA, Turkey, Kuwait, Singapore and Saudi Arabia are to participate in the exercise. ● The main objective of the exercise is to enhance interoperability among neighbourhood. This will help in peace keeping operations. ● The theme of the exercise is: “Robust Peace Keeping Operations”

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Advanced Chaff Technology ● The Defence Research and Development Organisation recently developed an Advanced Chaff Technology to safeguard naval ships against missile attacks. ● The Chaff technology is used in Naval ships worldwide to self-defend against enemy radar and radio frequency missile seekers. ● The most significant fact of the Advance Chaff Technology developed by DRDO is that it uses very less chaff material to deflect enemy missiles. Chaff ● Chaff is originally called Window. The idea of using Chaff developed in the era of second world war. ● It is basically a radio frequency counter measure. ● It consists of aluminium coated glass fibres ranging in lengths of 0.75 centimetres to 0.8 centimetres. They are released in packets of 100 million such fibres.

Ingenuity Helicopter ● Ingenuity is a technology demonstration of powered flight in another planet. ● NASA is to perform a series of test flights over thirty Martian days with the help of Ingenuity helicopter. ● NASA recently announced that its Ingenuity Helicopter has been dropped on the surface of mars successfully and is in preparation for its first flight. ● The main challenge of Ingenuity Helicopter is that it would have to survive temperatures as low as -130 degrees Fahrenheit. Such low temperatures could freeze and crack the onboard batteries in the craft. The helicopter has successfully survived the temperature. ● The helicopter weighs 1.8 kilograms. ● It is a solar powered helicopter. The energy from the solar array in the helicopter will power the helicopter and also keep it warm during night. ● The full speed of the helicopter is 2,400 rpm. ● It is to reach a maximum height of 4.6 metres in Mars. ● The Ingenuity helicopter was dropped on the Martian surface by the Perseverance rover as a part of Mars 2020 mission.

PS Zoroaster ● Indian Prime Minister will gift a Fast Patrol Vessel named PS Zoroaster to Seychelles during the virtual event. ● Built by: Fast Patrol Vessel(FPV) PS Zoroaster will be built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineering. ● Purpose: It is useful for multi-purpose operations such as patrolling, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching, and search and rescue(SAR). ● Significance: This will be the fourth Fast Patrol Vessel, gifted by India to Seychelles. Other gifted vessels by India include PS Topaz (2005), PS Constant (2014), Patrol Boat Hermes (2016).

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SARTHAK ● SARTHAK: ‘Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education ● Launched in pursuance of the goals of NEP2020 and to assist States/UTs in this task. ● The programme aims at providing an all-around development for the students at the primary and secondary level. ● It will also establish a safe, secure, inclusive and conducive learning environment for students as well as teachers. ● The major focus is to define activities in such a manner which clearly delineate goals, outcomes and timeframe i.e., it links recommendation of NEP with 297 Tasks along with responsible agencies, timelines and 304 outputs of these tasks.”

INS Sarvekshak ● The INS Sarvekshak is fitted with survey equipment such as Side Scan Sonars, Deep Sea Multi Beam Echo Sounder and a completely automated digital surveying and processing system. ● It operates under the Southern Naval Command. ● The INS Sarvekshak carries an integral Chetak helicopter. The helicopter is deployed during the survey. ● INS Sarvekshak was the first ship of Indian Navy to deploy solar power. ● Why in news?: The INS Sarvekshak is on a deployment to Mauritius for undertaking Hydrogrpahic surveys along with Mauritius. ○ The Hydrographic surveys help in the measurement of ocean features that affect marine dredging, maritime navigation, offshore oil exploration and drilling and other related activities. ● Indian Naval Ships for surveys ○ The Indian Naval ships involved in surveying are INS Darshak, INS Sagardhwani, INS Investigator, INS Sarvekshak, INS Sandhayak, INS Sutlej, INS Nirupak, INS Jamuna, INS Makar.

Dhruv MK III: Advanced Light Helicopter ● The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-DHRUV) is a twin engine, multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter in the 5.5 ton weight class. ● Manufactured by : It is a multi-role chopper with the Shakti engine manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Features: ● The aircraft, a step up from Mk 1, will be able to mitigate low visibility during search and rescue operations even at night. ● It has a 0.7 mm gun, which will give a huge capability from a LIMO (low intensity maritime operations) standpoint. ● The automatic flight control system is hugely superior to the previous one. ● Role: The Mk III version of the ALH has an all glass cockpit and will be used for search and rescue, special operations and coastal surveillance.

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Exercise Khanjar ● Exercise Khanjar is a Joint Special Forces Military Exercise between India and Kyrgyzstan. ● Aim: The exercise aims to boost the strategic partnership between India and Kyrgyzstan. It also focuses on high-altitude, mountains and counter-extremism drills. ● Background: The exercise was started in the year 2011. This is the Eighth Edition of the Exercise.

About Kyrgyzstan: ● Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordering Kazakhstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. ● Its capital is Bishkek. ● It is often referred to as ‘Central Asia’s only democracy. ● The mountainous region of Tian Shan covers over 80% of the country.

KRI Nanggala: ● It is an Indonesian submarine which went missing recently. ● The submarine was reportedly exercising in a location 25 miles north of . ● The Indian Navy has dispatched its deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV) from Visakhapatnam to support the Indonesian Navy in the search and rescue efforts.

Exercise VARUNA 2021 ● The Indian and French Navies have been conducting bilateral maritime exercises since 1993. Since 2001, these exercises have been called ‘VARUNA’. ● This is the first time that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is participating in the Varuna maritime exercise. ● The ‘Varuna’ joint exercise is part of the French carrier strike group’s ‘CLEMENCEAU 21’ deployment, which the French Navy is conducting in the eastern Mediterranean, the Gulf and the Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea). ● Other Indo-French Joint Exercises: ○ Desert Knight-21 and Garuda (Air exercise) ○ Varuna (Naval exercise) ○ Shakti (Army exercise) ●

Python-5: ● DRDO conducts maiden trial of Python-5 Air to Air Missile. ● Python is a family of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) built by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. ● Python 5 can engage enemy aircraft from very short ranges and near beyond visual range.

Beyond Visual Range AAM

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● A beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) is an air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of engaging at ranges of 37 km or beyond. This range has been achieved using dual pulse rocket motors or booster rocket motors and ramjet sustainer motors. ● In addition to the range capability, the missile is also capable of tracking its target at this range or of acquiring the target in flight. ● Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) technology enables the fighter-pilots to shoot precisely at the enemy targets which are beyond their visual range. ● Astra missile works on BVRAAM.

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Social Issues.

Forest Governance by Indigenous and Tribal Peoples ● Released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC). Key Points of Report: ● The deforestation rates in the Caribbean and Latin America are lower in Indigenous and Tribal territories. ● the new report highlights that Indigenous and Tribal Peoples have generally been much better guardians of their forests in comparison to those responsible for the region’s other forests. ● Indigenous and tribal peoples and the forests in their territories play important roles in regional and global climate action as well as fighting against hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. ● the new report highlights that Indigenous and Tribal Peoples have generally been much better guardians of their forests in comparison to those responsible for the region’s other forests. ● Indigenous and tribal peoples and the forests in their territories play important roles in regional and global climate action as well as fighting against hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. ● Indigenous and tribal peoples are invaluable agents against climate change ○ It should be noted that around 45% (half) of the intact forests in the Amazon Basin are present in indigenous territories. The area of intact forest decreased by only 4.9% between the years 2000 and 2016 in the region’s indigenous areas. However, in the non-indigenous areas, the decline was 11.2%.

PM-KUSUM ● Prime Minister’s Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme ● launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) ● Purpose: to support installation of off-grid solar pumps in rural areas and reduce dependence on grid, in grid-connected areas. ● Objective of providing financial and water security. ● Components of the PM-KUSUM: ○ Component-A: 10,000 MW of decentralised ground-mounted grid-connected renewable power plants. ○ Component-B: Installation of two million standalone solar-powered agriculture pumps. ○ Component-C: Solarisation of 1.5 million grid-connected solar-powered agriculture pumps.

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Sankalp se Siddhi: ● It is a Village and Digital Connect Drive launched by TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. ● It is a 100 day drive stared from April 1, 2021. ● The drive will entail 150 teams visiting ten villages each of which 10 in each region from TRIFED and State Implementation Agencies, visiting ten villages each. ● The main aim of this drive is to activate the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras in these villages.

About Van Dhan Vikas Kendras initiative: ● Under Van Dhan Scheme Van Dhan Vikas Kendras constituted, provide skill up- gradation and capacity building training and setting up of primary processing and value addition facilities. ● The initiative aims to promote MFPs-centric livelihood development of tribal gatherers and artisans. ● It mainstreams the tribal community by promoting primary level value addition to MFP at grassroots level. ● Significance: Through this initiative, the share of tribals in the value chain of Non- Timber Forest Produce is expected to rise from the present 20% to around 60%.

What is Minor Forest Produce (MFP) ?

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● Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act defines a Minor Forest Produce (MFP) as all non- timber forest produce of plant origin and includes bamboo, brushwood, stumps, canes, cocoon, honey, waxes, Lac, tendu/kendu leaves, medicinal plants etc.

Government Initiatives to Fight Left Wing Extremism ( LWE ): ● Greyhounds: It was raised in 1989 as an elite anti-naxal force. ● Operation Green Hunt: It was started in 2009-10 and massive deployment of security forces was done in the naxal-affected areas. ● LWE Mobile Tower Project: To improve mobile connectivity in the LWE areas, the Government in 2014, approved installation of mobile towers in LWE affected States. ● Aspirational Districts Programme: Launched in 2018, it aims to rapidly transform the districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas. ● SAMADHAN:It stands for ○ S- Smart Leadership, ○ A- Aggressive Strategy, ○ M- Motivation and Training, ○ A- Actionable Intelligence, ○ D- Dashboard Based KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and KRAs (Key Result Areas), ○ H- Harnessing Technology, ○ A- Action plan for each Theatre, and ○ N- No access to Financing. ● This doctrine is the one-stop solution for the LWE problem. It encompasses the entire strategy of government from short-term policy to long-term policy formulated at different levels.

Integrated Health Information Platform ( IHIP ) ● Launched by Min. of H&FW ● The Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) is the next generation highly refined version of the presently used Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). ● India is the first country in the world to adopt such an Advanced Digital Surveillance System ● According to the minister, India is the first country in the world to adopt such an advanced disease surveillance system. ● The new version of IHIP will house the data entry and management for India’s disease surveillance program. ● In addition to tracking 33 diseases now as compared to the earlier 18 diseases, it shall ensure near-real-time data in digital mode, having done away with the paper-mode of working. ● It is in sync with the National Digital Health Mission.

Anamaya: ● Anamaya is a tribal health collaborative supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

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● It is an initiative bringing together governments, philanthropists, national and international foundations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to end all preventable deaths among the tribal communities of India. ● Aim: ○ To build a sustainable, high-performing health ecosystem to address the key health challenges faced by the tribal population of India. ○ To end all preventable deaths among Indian tribal communities, and enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities of India on a Mission Mode. ● It will begin its operations with 50 tribal, Aspirational Districts (with more than 20% Scheduled Tribe population) across 6 high tribal population states. ● Over a 10-year period, the work of the THC will be extended to 177 tribal Districts as recognised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Poshan Gyan: ● It is a national digital repository on health and nutrition. ● Launched by NITI Aayog, in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University. ● Purpose: Poshan Gyan repository is conceptualized as a resource, enabling search of communication materials on 14 thematic areas of health and nutrition across diverse languages, media types, target audiences and sources. ● The content for the repository was sourced from the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Women and Child Development and developmental organizations.

Infant Toddler and Caregiver-friendly Neighbourhoods (ITCN) Training and Capacity Building Programme: ● Launched by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in partnership with Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF). ● The Programme is designed to help build capacities of city officials and young professionals for developing young children and family-friendly neighbourhoods within cities in India. ● Under the programme, city officials and young professionals are proposed to be skilled through certified training and capacity building modules.

Aahaar Kranti: ● Aim: The mission will aim to spread the message of the need for a nutritionally balanced diet. Further, it will highlight the importance of being accessible to all local fruits and vegetables. ● Launched by Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) and Global Indian Scientists’ and Technocrats’ Forum (GIST). ● Motto: ‘Uttam Aahaar Uttam Vichaar’ or ‘Good Diet-Good Cognition’.

Key Features of the Mission:

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● Components: The mission will work on multiple dimensions simultaneously. It will seek to promote: ○ Better awareness ○ Better nutrition and ○ Also, better agriculture. ● The Aahaar Kranti movement is designed to address the peculiar problem being faced by India and the world called “hunger and diseases in abundance”. ● These messages will be imparted through the curriculum in the form of `what’s and `why’s of nutrition, or through the forms of games. ● The content will be available both online and offline and in all vernacular languages besides English and . It will aim to reach out to as many as possible. ● The mission will especially focus on training teachers. Who in turn will pass on the message to the students and through them to their families and finally the society at large. ○ Such a strategy was adopted for the eradication of Polio, and it turned out to be a grand success. ● The mission will also utilize India’s rich knowledge of Ayurveda-based nutrition to practice.

Nagas ● Nagas are a hill people who are estimated to number about 2. 5 million (1.8 million in , 0.6 million in and 0.1 million in Arunachal states) and living in the remote and mountainous country between the Indian state of Assam and Burma. ● There are also Naga groups in Myanmar. ● The Nagas are not a single tribe, but an ethnic community that comprises several tribes who live in the state of Nagaland and its neighbourhood. ● Nagas belong to the Indo-Mongoloid Family. ● There are nineteen major Naga tribes, namely, Aos, Angamis, Changs, Chakesang, Kabuis, Kacharis, Khain-Mangas, Konyaks, Kukis, Lothas (Lothas), Maos, Mikirs, Phoms, Rengmas, Sangtams, Semas, Tankhuls, Yamchumgar and Zeeliang.

Konyak Community ● The Konyak are a Naga people and are recognised among other Naga by their tattoos, which they have all over their face and hand. ● The facial tattoos were earned for taking an enemy's head. ● They have the largest population among the Nagas. ● The Konyaks can be found in the Mon district of Nagaland, India and in Myanmar, in the Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal. ● The Konyak language belongs to the Northern Naga sub-branch of the Sal subfamily of Sino-Tibetan. ● Characteristics: ○ They are known as headhunters of North East India.

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○ In the recent past, they were known as war loving and often attacked nearby villages of other tribes taking the heads of opposing warriors as trophies to hang in the Morong (a communal house). ○ The number of heads indicated the power of a warrior and the tribe and became a collective totem.

Mission Covid Suraksha ● Mission Covid Suraksha is India’s targeted effort to enable the development of indigenous, affordable and accessible vaccines for the country. ● The Centre had announced this package during the third economic stimulus. ● The Mission with its end-to-end focus from preclinical development through clinical development and manufacturing and regulatory facilitation for deployment consolidate all available and funded resources towards accelerated product development. ● It is led by the Department of Biotechnology and implemented by a dedicated Mission Implementation Unit at Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

BIRAC ● Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise. ● It has been set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.

Saubhagya Scheme ● Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – ‘Saubhagya’ ● Launched in September, 2017 with a target to electrify all households by December 2018. ● The nodal agency for implementation of the scheme across the country would be the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC). ● Transformers, meters, wires, and other such types of equipment will be made available at subsidized prices. ● All the states had declared on Saubhagya portal that all the willing un-electrified households had been electrified as on 31st March 2019, except 18,734 households in LWE (left wing extremist) affected areas of Chhattisgarh.

UJALA Scheme ● UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) is a zero-subsidy scheme launched by the Government in 2015. ● It is touted as the world’s largest domestic lighting project. ● The objective is to promote efficient lighting, enhance awareness on using efficient equipment that will reduce electricity bills and preserve the environment. ● Every domestic household having a metered connection from their respective Electricity Distribution Company is eligible to get the LED bulbs under the Scheme.

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PRAAPTI ● It is a web portal launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Power. ● ‘PRAAPTI’ stands for Payment Ratification and Analysis in Power Procurement for bringing transparency in invoicing of generators. ● The power distribution companies are able to clear the invoices and reply to claims raised by the generators on this portal.

GARV (Grameen Vidyutikaran) App: ● To monitor transparency in implementation of the electrification schemes, Grameen Vidyut Abhiyantas (GVAs) have been appointed by the government to report progress through GARV app.

Vidyut PRAVAH ● The Mobile/Web App provides real-time information of current demand met, shortages if any, surplus power available and the prices in Power Exchange.

MANAS app launched: ● MANAS App is a well-being App that stands for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System. ● MANAS was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India ● It is endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). ● Aim to build a healthier and happier community, to empower it to nurture its innate potential for building a Swasth and Atmanirbhar Bharat. ● MANAS is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment the mental well-being of Indian citizens. ● MANAS App integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.

Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) ● An overarching Council that facilitates the Principal Scientific Adviser’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly. ○ The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India coordinates to facilitate and ensure the implementation of significant interventions by concerned government departments, agencies, and ministries. ● The PM-STIAC Secretariat is based at Invest India and provides support to the Office of the PSA on project management and monitoring of the aforesaid interventions and national missions

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● Objective ○ Synergizing Science & Technology collaborative research with various stakeholders both in central and state governments. ○ Facilitating future preparedness in science and technology emerging domains. ○ Formulating and coordinating major inter-ministerial Science & Technology missions. ● PM-STIAC has identified nine national science missions that aim to address major scientific challenges to ensure India’s sustainable development. ○ Mission 1: Natural Language Translation ○ Mission 2: Quantum Frontier ○ Mission 3: Artificial Intelligence (AI) ○ Mission 4: National Biodiversity Mission ○ Mission 5: Electric Vehicles (EVs) ○ Mission 6: BioScience for Human Health ○ Mission 7: Waste to Wealth ○ Mission 8: Deep Ocean Exploration ○ Mission 9: AGNIi (Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations)

Child Labour and Forced Labour (Meaning):

● The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. ● Forced labour is defined as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. ○ The term forced labour includes slavery and practices similar to slavery as well as bonded labour or debt bondage. ● Bonded Labour is a practice in which employers give high-interest loans to workers who work at low wages to pay off the debt.

Provisions of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016: ● According to the Act, employment of children below the age of 14 years in any commercial enterprise is illegal. ● The Act also bars the employment of adolescents in occupations that deal with hazardous working conditions such as chemical plants and mines. ● The Act says that children can only work after school hours or during holidays and that children are allowed to work in family owned secure sectors.

EatSmart Cities Challenge and Transport 4 All Challenge ● Launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

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● The challenges aim at creating an environment of right food practices and habits and to make public transport safe, affordable, comfortable, and reliable.

EatSmart Cities Challenge ● It aims to create a competitive spirit in the cities. Through this it will recognise the efforts that scale up various initiatives under Eat Right India. ● The challenge has been opened in all smart cities of India. Also, it has been opened in cities with a population of more than five lakh. ● The challenge will motivate smart cities to develop a plan to support sustainable food environment. Also, it will support them in developing physical, economic and social infrastructure along with the application of smart solutions.

Transport 4 All Challenge ● The challenge was launched in collaboration with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. ● The main objective of the challenge is to bring together cities, startups and citizen groups in developing solutions that help improve public transport. ● The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy is a non-governmental organisation. It mainly focuses on developing transit systems and promote walking and biking. Also it will improve private bus operator margins. ● The transport sector was hit badly as COVID-19 crisis brought the entire world to a halt. This challenge has the potential to support cities to recover from this crisis.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana ● The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announced it on Antyodaya Diwas in 2014. ● It is a demand-driven placement linked skill training initiative working under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). ● It uses skill training and placement in wage employment as a tool to diversify income and enable sustained upward movement out of poverty. ● Beneficiaries: ○ DDU-GKY is uniquely focused on rural youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years from poor families. ● Objective: ○ Adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families ○ Cater to the career aspirations of rural youth. ● Alumni Meet: ○ Alumni meet is an important component of the scheme. ○ The Alumni meets provide healthy ground for experience sharing by the former trainees with their present counterparts on topics like placements, career goals, challenges they faced in finding employment before undertaking the training and the benefits they reaped after.

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Gender Samvaad ● Gender Samvaad is a joint attempt between the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) to create a common platform to share experiences emerging from this effort. ● The attempt is to generate greater awareness on gender related interventions under DAY-NRLM across the country and best practices, with a focus on hearing voices from the states and the field.

Tribal TB Initiative

● Launched by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Tribal Affairs. ● It aims to fulfil the Prime Minister’s goal of ‘TB MuktBharat’ by 2025, five years ahead of the global deadline. ● 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 Action Plan for Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination will be focusing on 161 districts across 18 identified States. ● Tribal Ministry released the Publication ‘ALEKH’ on TB. ● The UT of Lakshadweep and district of Badgam in Jammu & Kashmir have been declared TB Free on World TB Day this year.

Gender bias and inclusion in advertising in India ● a study released recently by UNICEF and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. ● The research measures over 1,000 television and YouTube advertisements aired across India in 2019. The ads analysed were those that received the most reach.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana ● Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was announced as part of the relief package during the COVID-19 pandemic. ● Aim: To ensure sufficient food for the poor and needy during the coronavirus crisis. ● Ministry: The department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. ● Features: Under the scheme, about 80 Crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries are eligible for an additional quota of free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month over and above their regular monthly entitlement.

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● Duration: The scheme was announced in 2020 for three months till July. Later it was extended till November 2020 to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the poor. ● However, the scheme is functional once again. As many States are undergoing curfews and the high rates of coronavirus infections, leading to a slowdown in economic activity.

Project Ladakh Ignited Minds ● To provide better educational opportunities for Ladakhi students, the Indian Army has initiated the project Ladakh Ignited Minds: A Centre of Excellence and Wellness. ● The project is aimed at providing better training facilities to disadvantaged Ladakhi students to give them opportunity to study in niche educational institutes. ● Implementation: ○ Fire and Fury Corps of Indian Army with the support of HPCL and execution agency NIEDO will provide a holistic training for Ladakhi youth. ○ In the first batch, comprising 20 girls, 45 students from Leh and Kargil districts, would get training for JEE and NEET entrance examinations.

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History , Art & Culture. Dadasaheb Phalke Award ● Rajinikanth has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2019. About the Award: ● Dadasaheb Phalke award is India’s highest award in cinema. ● It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting). ● The award prize consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of ₹10 lakh and a shawl. ● The award is given to people for their “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema”. ● It was first presented in 1969. The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, “the first lady of Indian cinema.”

What is Uruka ? ● The day before is known as Uruka, the last day of the month of Poush as per the Assamese calendar. ● On Uruka, people erect makeshift huts called Meji from bamboo, leaves and thatch. ● Bihu is a set of three important Assamese festivals which include Rongali or Bohag Bihu in April, Kongali or Kati Bihu in October and Bhogali or Magh Bihu, observed in January.

Traditional New Year Festivals ● The Vice President of India greeted the people on festivals ‘ Sukladi, , , , , , , and Bohag Bihu’. ● These festivals of the spring season mark the beginning of the traditional new year in India. ○ Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Ugadi. ○ Karnataka: Yugadi /Ugadi. ○ Maharashtra: Gudi Padwa. ○ Sindhis: Cheti Chand. ○ Manipuris: Sajibu Cheiraoba. ○ of Bali and Indonesia also celebrate their new year on the same day as . ○ Kashmir: .

AICTE Lilavati Awards, 2020 ● Theme “Women Empowerment” ● The prize has been named after the twelfth century book called “Lilavati”. ● The book was written by the mathematician Bhaskara II. Lilavati was the daughter of Bhaskara II. ● The award is presented annually as a part of AICTE Innovative education programme to empower women.

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Lingaraja Temple ● Lingaraj Temple : It is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. ● Built by : It is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty with later additions from the Ganga rulers. ● Architecture: The temple is a classic example of Kalinga style of architecture. ● Style: It is built in the Deula style that has four components: vimana (structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), nata mandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings). ● The other attraction of the temple is the Bindusagar Lake, located in the north side of the temple. ● On the western banks of Bindusagar, lies the garden of Ekamra Van named after the Hindu mythological texts where Bhubaneswar the capital city of Odisha was referred as Ekamra Van or a forest of a single mango tree. ● Other Important Monuments in Odisha: ○ Konark Sun Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site) ○ Jagannath Temple ○ Tara Tarini Temple ○ Udaygiri and Khandagiri Caves

Mahavir Jayanti ( 25th April ) ● Mahavir Jayanti is one of the most auspicious festivals in the Jain community. ● This day marks the birth of Vardhamana , who was the 24th and the last and who succeeded the 23rd Tirthankara, . ● According to Jain texts, Lord Mahavira was born on the 13th day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Chaitra.

About Lord Mahavira: ● Mahavira was born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen , a Lichchhavi princess in the year 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, identical with modern day in . ● Mahavira belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty. ● Lord Mahavir was named Vardhamana, which means “one who grows”. ● He abandoned worldly life at the age of 30 and attained ‘kaivalya’ or omniscience at the age of 42. ● Mahavira taught ahimsa (non-violence), (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (chastity) and aparigraha (non-attachment) to his disciples and his teachings were called Jain Agamas. ● Ordinary people were able to understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers because they used Prakrit. ● It is believed that the Mahavira passed away and attained (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) at the age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir in Bihar.

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Jainism ● The word Jaina comes from the term Jina, meaning conqueror. ● Tirthankara is a Sanskrit word meaning 'Ford maker', i.e., one who is able to ford the river, to cross beyond the perpetual flow of earthly life. ● Jainism attaches utmost importance to ahimsa or non-violence. ● It preaches 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows): ○ Ahimsa (Non-violence) ○ Satya (Truth) ○ Asteya or (Non-stealing) ○ Aparigraha (Non-attachment/Non-possession) ○ Brahmacharya (Celibacy/Chastity) ● Among these 5 teachings, the Brahmacharya (Celibacy/Chastity) was added by Mahavira. ● The three jewels or Triratna of Jainism include: ○ Samyak Darshana (right faith). ○ Samyak Gyana (right knowledge). ○ Samyak Charitra (right conduct). ● Jainism is a religion of self-help. ○ There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings. ○ It does not condemn the varna system. ● In later times, it got divided into two sects: ○ Shvetambaras (white-clad) under Sthalabahu. ○ (sky-clad) under the leadership of Bhadrabahu. ● The important idea in Jainism is that the entire world is animated: even stones, rocks, and water have life. ● Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants, and insects, is central to Jaina philosophy. ● According to Jain teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma. ● Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma and achieve the liberation of the soul. ● The practice of Santhara is also a part of Jainism. ○ It is the ritual of unto death. Swetambara Jains call it Santhara whereas Digambars call it .

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Geography. Red sea: ● The Red Sea (also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. ● The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. ● To the north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). ● The sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley. ● The salinity of the Red Sea is greater than the world average, approximately 4 percent. ● This is due to several factors: ○ Lack of significant rivers or streams draining into the sea. ○ Limited connection with the Indian Ocean, which has lower water salinity. ○ High rate of evaporation and very little precipitation. ○

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Umngot: ● It is a river in Meghalaya. ● It is considered to be India’s clearest river. ● The river attracts many tourists to Dawki bordering Bangladesh. ● The river is the natural boundary between Ri Pnar (of Jaintia Hills) with Hima Khyrim (of Khasi Hills).

Black Sea ● The Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. ● It is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don. ● The Black Sea ultimately drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea. The Bosporus Strait connects it to the small Sea of Marmara which in turn is connected to the Aegean Sea via the Strait of the Dardanelles. ● To the north, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait. ● The Black Sea covers 436,400 km2 (not including the Sea of Azov), making it the world's largest inland body of water.

National climate vulnerability assessment Report ● Released by The Department of Science and technology ● The report is titled ‘Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework’. ● It identifies the most vulnerable states and districts in India with respect to current climate risk and key drivers of vulnerability ● Several key drivers of Vulnerability used by the report for the assessment, For instance: 1) Percentage of the population living below the poverty line; 2) income share from natural resources; 3) Also, the proportion of marginal and small landholdings, 4) Women’s participation in the workforce, and; 5) The density of healthcare workers among others Key findings of the report: ● It has identified Jharkhand, Mizoram, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal as states highly vulnerable to climate change. ● These states, mostly in the eastern part of the country, require prioritization of adaptation interventions. Need for vulnerability assessment: ● Mapping the parts of India that are vulnerable to extreme changes will help initiating climate actions at the ground level. ● The assessment will help Policymakers in initiating appropriate climate actions. It will also benefit climate-vulnerable communities across India through development of better- designed climate change adaptation projects. ● The assessments can further be used for India’s reporting on the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. And finally, these assessments will support India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change.

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Cholistan desert: ● Located in Pakistan. ● The place was in news because of recent shooting of two Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) here. Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) ● The GIB, which is the State bird of Rajasthan ● India’s most critically endangered bird. ● The GIB’s population of less than 100 in Rajasthan accounts for 95% of its total world population. ● As per IUCN which categorised the GIBs as “endangered” in 1994, was forced to upgrade the species to the status of “critically endangered” in 2011 because of continued threats faced in the survival of these large birds. ● Protection Status: ○ International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List: Critically Endangered ○ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix1 ○ Convention on Migratory Species (CMS): Appendix I ○ Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule 1 ● The wildlife authorities in Rajasthan had permitted captive breeding of GIB,protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, in Rajasthan’s Desert National Park (DNP) through a project executed by the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India in 2019 after a prolonged debate.

Chad ● It is a landlocked state in north-central Africa. ● It is named after Lake Chad. ● This is the second-largest lake in Africa (after Lake Victoria) and its basin covers parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. ● The Sahara Desert roughly covers one third of the country. ● The south has large expanses of wooded savannas and woodlands. ● Chad is also a part of the Sahel region. ● Sahel is a semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan. ● It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south. ● Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003, with the completion of a USD 4bn pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast. ● Group FACT: ○ The Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), is a political and military organisation in the north of Chad, with the goal of overthrowing the government of Chad.

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Marib ● 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. ● 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.

Places in News- Sahel: ● Chad, the former French colony is now prime outpost of the West in fighting Islmamist militants across the Sahel. France still has a strong military presence in the sahel region. ● The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. ● Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. ● The Sahel part of Africa includes northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, the extreme north of Cameroon and Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme north of South Sudan, Eritrea, and the extreme north of Ethiopia.

KOWLOON PENINSULA: ● Hong Kong is set to grant a site on the western Kowloon peninsula, to China’s national security office for its permanent base in the city. ● The Kowloon Peninsula is a peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong, alongside Victoria Harbour and facing toward Hong Kong island.

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