Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, a report titled ''The Annual Review of State Laws, 2021'' was released by PRS Legislative Research. As per the report, Kerala got first place in 2021, with its House sitting for 61 days, the highest for any State. Kerala had also promulgated 144 ordinances, the highest in the country last year. Q. What are the Highlights of the Report? A. Sittings: States such as Manipur, Od... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has registered 14,143 cases under FEMA and PMLA between 2019-20 and 2021-22 as compared to 4,913 cases in 2014-15 to 2016-17. Year 2021-22 saw the highest number of money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases. Q. What is Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999? A. The legal framework for the administration of... Read More...
Q. Why is this in news? A. Google Street View is launched in ten cities of India under the Guidelines of the National Geospatial Policy (NGP), 2021. NGP 2021 lets Indian companies collect map data and license it to others. Q. What is Google Street View? A. About: Google Street View is an immersive 360-degree view of a location captured using special cameras mounted on vehicles or on backpacks by data collectors moving around the city streets. The images are... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, during question hour in Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided data related to left extremism in India. Q. What are the Key Data Facts? A. The incidents of Naxal violence in the country have dropped by 77 % between 2009 and 2021, and deaths of security force personnel due to Maoist violence have more than doubled in Chhattisgarh in the past three years. Similarly, the resultant deaths (civilians + security forces) have reduced by 85 ... Read More...
Q What is the context ? A Attero Recycling, one of India’s largest electronic waste management companies, is set to invest close to $1 billion in expanding their electronic waste recycling facilities in India. Q What is E-waste Management ? A E-waste management is a complicated process given the multitude of actors that are involved in the process. The major stakeholders in the value chain include importers, producers/manufacturers, retailers (businesses/government/others), consumers (individual households, businesses, government and others), tra... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, a new biomass-based boiler technology was launched in India (Kurukshetra, Haryana) that claims to accommodate all kinds of agricultural residue as fuel and can be greener and may also help reduce the burden of stubble burning. Biomass-based electricity is gaining the attention of regulators and policy makers, as the country moves towards power generation that is not carbon-intensive. Around 2.6% of the country’s electricity demand is met by biomass. Q. What are the Key Highlights? Read More...
Q. Why is this in news? A. The Government has informed the Supreme Court that the appointment of Chairperson and Members of the 22nd Law Commission of India is under consideration. The setting up of the 22nd Law Commission was constituted by the Government on February 21, 2020. However, no progress has been made in the appointments till date. The Government invoked the ‘doctrine of separation of power’, which says that one arm of governance should not encroach into that of another. Q. What are the Issues over appointment? A. Read More...
Q. Why is this in news? A. The PM has hoped to extend the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) to block and city levels. Q. What is Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)? A. Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts. The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors... Read More...
Q. Why is this in news? A. Recently, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of short-term contracted soldiers was announced. Q. What is Agnipath Scheme? A. This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now. The scheme aims at strengthening national security and for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces. Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’. After completing the four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces.... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, the Minister of Railways has launched Indian Railway Innovation Policy- “StartUps for Railways”. Q. What are the Key Highlights of the Policy? A. About: Grant up to Rs. 1.5 Crore to innovators on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment. The complete process from floating of problem statement to development of prototype is online with defined time line to make it transparent and objective. Trials of pro... Read More...
Q. Why in News? A.The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) is taking a hard look at the neobank business model where fintechs plug into a conventional bank’s network and become customer-facing banking service providers. The concern is that the digital model business can scale up very fast and could grow to be bigger than the underlying bank in terms of customers. Although neobank customers continue to be accountholders of the underlying bank, the only channel available to these users is the fintech-owned digital platform. Read More...
Q. Why is this in news? A. The Supreme Court has crafted a victory for a disabled student by using its special powers under Article 142 to declare the successful completion of her Master of Designs course from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Q. What is Article 142? A. Article 142 titled ‘Enforcement of decrees and orders of the Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc.’ has two clauses: [1] Article 142(1) The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary fo... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, the Centre has approved the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for the Khari season 2022-23, stating that the rates are at least 1.5 times of the weighted average cost of production. The rates for 14 Kharif crops have been increased, the hikes ranging from 4% to 8%. Q. What is Kharif Season? A. Crops are sown from June to July and Harvesting is done in between September-October. Crops are: Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, the global Sustainable Development Report, 2022 was released. India was ranked 121 out of the 163 countries. It was ranked 117 in 2020 and 120 in 2021. Earlier, in February 2022, the Prime Minister addressed the The Energy and Resources Institute’s(TERI) World Sustainable Development Summit. Q. What is a Sustainable Development Report? A. About: It is a global assessment of countries' progress Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Chhattisgarh has become only the second state in the country to recognise Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights of a village inside a Kanger Ghati National Park. While CFR rights are an important empowerment tool, getting a consensus amongst various villages about their traditional boundaries often proves a challenge. In 2016, the Odisha government was the first to recognise Community Forest Resources (CFRs) inside the Simlipal National Park. Q. What are the High... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Recently, Bihar government has announced that it will undertake a socio-economic survey of all castes and communities (SECC). Q. What is the Difference between Census and SECC? A. Census: The origin of the Census in India goes back to the colonial exercise of 1881. Census has evolved and been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others to capture the Indian population, access resources, map social change, ... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News? A. Stockholm+50 is being held in Stockholm, Sweden. It will commemorate the 50 years since the 1972 United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference). The UN General Assembly will be convening this international meeting. This is being held at a time when the world is facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and waste, nature and biodiversity loss, as well as other planetary issues even after 50 years of the Stockhol... Read More...
Q. Why in News? A. Recently, an expert committee headed by a retired Supreme Court (SC) judge has been constituted by Uttarakhand to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and for checking all the relevant laws that control personal matters for those living in Uttarakhand. A few months ago, the Allahabad High Court also called upon the Central government to initiate the process for implementation of UCC. Q. What is Uniform Civil Code (UCC)? A. ... Read More...
Q What is the context ? A Over the past four years, 137 countries have engaged intensively with the OECD to find a solution to the tax challenges arising from digitalisation. Like any international agreement, finding a middle ground has been difficult and a series of compromises have been made. Q What makes it difficult to tax the digital economy? A Operation across the border: The unique feature of the digital economy is that firms can operate seamlessly across borders and users and their data contribute to their profits. Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Wheat procurement is now underway in various states of the country. Q How is Wheat Procurement done in India ? A The main purpose of procuring for the central pool is ensuring the MSP as well as the country’s food security by making food available to the weaker sections at affordable prices. The Centre procures wheat by paying the minimum support price (MSP) announced for the crop. The States do it under two systems: The centralised one, also called the non-decentralised procurement sys... Read More...