9 1 0 2 - R E B O T C O Mamallapuram Informal Summit - India and China Tracing the historical connection and the follow up to Wuhan summit IPC - Nobel for Naga Green A road map for Indian-Origin Peace Talks Crackers Criminal Justice Reforms Abhijit Banerjee Revamping the Nobel Prize in Economics A lasting solution to Balancing livelihood of colonial law for his study on poverty using Naga insurgency or cracker manufacturers Randomized Control Trials (RCT’s). yet another deadlock? and pollution control. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. POLITY 01 • PRAKASH Portal • Affirm Affirmative Action (AA) at the crossroads • It is still an amber light for road safety • CJI names Justice Bobde as successor – Appointment of • Going down together: On IMF’s slowdown warning CJI • What can India do to overcome the global slowdown? • Hybrid Model’ to elect civic body heads in Rajasthan •Asia’s remarkable economic transformation • Disabled people can now vote via postal ballots •A tax policy that could work • IPC-A road map for Criminal Justice Reforms • A road to economic revival runs through agriculture • Police Commemoration Day •Apprenticeship Pakhwada • Sedition: On FIR against celebrities • Authorized World Skills India Training Centers (AWSITC) • Sikkim CM’s disqualification • DPIIT launches website and mobile app for IPR • Supreme Court recalling its verdict diluting SC/ST anti- atrocities law • India Innovation Index 2019 • Why the Supreme Court must rethink capital • India Intellectual Property (IP) Guide punishment? • ‘Nirvik scheme may give fillip to export credit’ • Court sets aside order to try juvenile as adult • Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture • Vigilance Awareness Week •Firm steps to ease the fiscal federalism tension 2. ECONOMY 10 • Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Guidelines and Specifications 3. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 36 • Ease of Doing Business Index • China’s growing clout at the UN • GDP is a means, not an end • Ekuverin • Global Competitiveness Index • Future Investment Initiative Forum • GM cottonseeds approved as food by U.S. regulators • India Bangladesh Relations • Khadi and Village Industries Commission • Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) • MeitY Start-up Summit • Indo-Chinese educational tie-ups need nod from Home, • Microfinance Institutions- RBI raises lending limit foreign Ministries • MGNREGA-Government to peg wages to inflation • Indus Water Treaty • Model Tenancy Act, 2019 • India- Mexico Relationship (Towards a strategic partnership) • National E-assessment Centre (NeAC) • IMNEX • Nobel for Abhijit (Economics of poverty) • KAZIND • PFRDA permitted now Overseas Citizen of India to enroll in NPS at par with Non-Resident Indians • Minsk Dialogue • Title Insurance • Nepal-China cooperation • Sahyatri Mobile App • Nitaqat law- Indians stranded in Saudi seek help • World Cotton Day • Nomadic Elephant • Youth Co: Lab • Power of Siberia • RBI rate cut • Tulagi Island • Creating jobs for young India • How will purchases from Russia affect India-U.S. ties? • Rethinking Water Management Issues • Turkish incursion into Syria • Dharma Guardian •Reang Tribe (Brus in Mizoram) • Ex Eastern Bridge – V • Red notice •Exercise Shakti •Odisha camps to connect with tribals in Maoist-hit area • IN-BN CORPAT •Danx-19 • India-Philippines Business Conclave • DTrack • India, Saudi Arabia constitute Strategic Partnership • Ghostcat Malware Council • Naga Peace Talks • Death of a terrorist • Open General Export Licences (OGEL) • India, Pakistan sign Kartarpur pact •Escaping the honey trap •Mamallapuram Informal Summit- India and China • Making a friend of the neighbour 7. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 78 • Aarey Milk Colony tree-felling case • C40 Cities Climate Summit • Centre clarifies on definition of land as forest 4. SOCIAL ISSUES 57 • Drone cameras threatening Nilgiris wildlife • Vayoshreshtha Sammans • Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Viruses (EEHV) • Warli • Eravikulam National Park • Miles to go before becoming open defecation-free • E-waste clinic • Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped • Ganges River Dolphin • National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges • Green Crackers • Green energy target lacks deadline 5. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 60 • Hindon River- Sanitation force to clean • Biotechnology sector- Different peas in different pods • Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of • Can organoids, derived from stem cells, be used in disease Arctic Climate (MOSAIC) treatments? • Saharan silver ant • Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information (GEMINI) • World Animal Day • LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) • Zingiber Perenense and Zingiber Dimapurense mission • ‘Foreign’ plastic invades Great Nicobar Island • Spectroscopy • BASIC Ministerial Meet on Climate Change • SCISAT • First National Protocol to Enumerate Snow Leopard • Nobel Prize Population in India Launched • Nobel Prize- Chemistry • mHariyali • Nobel Prize – Medicine 8. HEALTH ISSUES 91 • Nobel Prize- Physics • Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) • Global Bio-India 2019 • Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 6. SECURITY AND DEFENCE 69 • eDantseva website • Air Force Day • Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria • Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (ABCWF) • Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report • Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) • National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB) • M982 Excalibur precision-guided artillery shells • National Health Profile (NHP) 2019 • Rafale • Polio-2 out of 3 wild poliovirus strains have been eradicated, says WHO • Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study 14. MISCELLANEOUS 115 • Ranitidine • Fit India Plog Run • United to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis • Military Nursing Service (MNS) Raising Day • WHO India Country Cooperation Strategy 2019–2023 • National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (NCSRA) • For a happy childhood • Nayi Taleem • ‘Cataract major cause of blindness above 50’ • Nobel Peace Prize • With nine cases a day, Mizoram is top State with HIV prevalence rate • Poison Fire Coral fungus • Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) • India is home to Asia’s oldest bamboo • North East Handloom and Handicraft Exhibition in • Food Safety Mitra (FSM) Scheme Aizawl 9. ART AND CULTURE 101 • Kayakalp Awards • Ajanta Caves • World Standards Day • Audio Odigos • Prahari scheme • Bhagat Namdev ji 15. PRACTICE QUESTIONS 118 • Kettukazhcha 16. ANSWER KEYS 133 • Ramlila • Urdu is an Indian language, not a foreign language 17. MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS 136 • Bhaona 18. INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 139 • Lakshmi Narasimha Temple • Vishwa Shanti Stupa • Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav • Thotlakonda Buddhist Monastery 10. GEOGRAPHY 105 • Scientists excavate ‘Ancient River’ in Uttar Pradesh • The secondary monsoon: On rainfall behaviour 11. EDUCATION 107 • NEET Examination Scam • School Education Quality Index (SEQI) • Tenure Track System (TTS) in IIT’s 12. DISASTER MANAGEMENT 110 • Bihar Rain 13. GOVERNANCE 111 • ‘FASTags will work as Aadhaar to track vehicles’ • ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative launched • RTI- NGOs getting ‘substantial’ government grant fall within: SC • Village Secretariat System • National Panchayat Awards 2019 • SARAS Aajeevika Mela Inaugurated Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here OCTOBER-2019 1 POLITY 1. Affirmative Action (AA) at the crossroads • Harvard claims that they judge ‘excellence in a Meaning variety of forms, and include students with diverse experiences, backgrounds, skills and interests’. • Affirmative action laws are policies instituted by the government to help level the playing field for those Indian parallel historically disadvantaged due to factors such as race, • In India, the fact that entry-level cut-offs are lower color, religion, sex, or national origin. for reserved category students is seen as proof that • These laws typically pertain to equal opportunities in the reservation policy is “anti-merit”, and leads to its employment, education, and business. corollary, viz., abolition of reservations is needed in order to improve merit. • It can also be looked at as eliminating or bringing down decimations against a particular set or group of • AA, or reservations in India, is essentially a policy of people. compensatory discrimination, which discriminates in favour of groups that are traditionally discriminated Background against, stigmatised and marginalised, such as • In 2014, a group called “Students for Fair Admissions” African-Americans, Latinos in the U.S.; Dalits and (SFFA), founded by Edward Blum, alleged that Harvard Adivasis in India. University discriminates against Asian-American • Because of historical and contemporary applicants in the undergraduate admissions process. discrimination, these groups would typically be • The lawsuit claimed that Asian-Americans were held under-represented in formal institutions, and in order to higher standards compared to students from to compensate for that, preferential policies such as other races, and that Harvard was using an “illegal” quotas are needed. quota system, which informally capped the number Other methods of college admissions unchallenged of Asian-Americans, but gave preferential access to African-American or Latino students. • “Legacy” Admissions, I.E. Preferential Admissions for students whose parents graduated from Harvard or A look at stats Radcliffe (its former sister school) • The Asian-Americans are roughly 6% of the U.S. * According to 2018 data, 42% of private population, but 23% of them entered the batch in institutions and