Q Why is it in News ? A The researchers from the Geological Survey of India collected about 30 meteorite fragments with the largest weighing around a kilogram near the town of Katol in Nagpur in 2012. Q What is Significance of meteor study ? A Now, by studying the composition of these meteorite fragments, researchers have unraveled the composition expected to be present in the Earth’s lower mantle which is at about 660 km deep. Studying the meteorite could also tell us more about how our Earth evolved from being a magma ocean to a rocky planet. Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Recently, the Goa government’s Feni Policy 2021 has paved the way to take the GI (Geographical Indication) Certified Goan Cashew Feni forward at par with other international Liquors such as Mexico’s tequila, Japanese Sake and Russia’s Vodka. The Goa government in 2016 classified Feni as the Heritage Spirit of Goa. Q What is specific about Cashew Feni ? A It is the first liquor product in the country to obtain ‘Heritage Drink’ status and got its GI cer... Read More...
Q What is the context ? A Recently, the union government has introduced Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021 which has reduced the fee for patent filing and prosecution for educational institutions by 80%. It is aimed at promoting innovation and development of new technologies. Q What can be called as a Patent ? A A patent is a form of preservation of intellectual property. It is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way o... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A The Centre has started the process to revise school textbooks by appointing former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Kasturirangan as the head of a 12-member steering committee responsible for developing a new National Curriculum Framework (NCF). Q What is National Curriculum Framework (NCF) ? A The new NCF is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The committee will be headed by K Kasturirangan, who had also led the NEP 2020 drafting committee. The national curriculum framework serves as... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A The announcement of the new Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) trilateral security pact has naturally generated animated debate in strategic circles, before the QUAD summit. Q What is the AUKUS? A The first major initiative of AUKUS would be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia. The nuclear-powered submarines will give Australia naval heft in the Pacific, where China has been particularly aggressive. While the US and Britain have had the capability for decades, Australia has never had a nuclear-powered ... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A The Indian government has been encouraging agricultural exports to meet an ambitious target of $60bn by 2022. Q What is state India’s agri-exports ? A The Ministry of Food Processing Industries shows that the contribution of agricultural and processed food products in India’s total exports is 11%. Primary processed agricultural commodities form the majority share. India’s export earnings will increase by focusing more on value-added processed food products rather... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Inflation for the last four months has been worryingly high. This is happening at a time when demand has been down, unemployment has been high, many have lost incomes and poverty has aggravated. Q Issues with the recent inflation data? A The shock of lockdowns not only made data collection difficult but the consumption basket for calculating CPI should have been changed. Issue with the base: In April and May 2020, data on production and prices could not be collected due to the strict lockdown. Read More...
Q What is context ? A The government has made it clear in the Supreme Court that a caste census of the Backward Classes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome”. Q What is Socio-Economic and Caste Census ? A The SECC 2011 was conducted for the 2011 Census of India. Then government approved the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 to be carried out after discussion in both houses of Parliament in 2010. The SECC 2011 was conducted in all states and union territories of India and the first findings were revealed in July 2015. ... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A On the face of it, the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, is well placed to lead the stabilization of Afghanistan after the American retreat. Q What are some key details about SCO ? A After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up. The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The SCO was formed in 2001, with Uzbekist... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A A team of scientists has resolved the genetic mystery of Simlipal’s so-called black tigers. Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A India’s unemployment rate in August was 8.3 per cent. This was higher than the 7 per cent recorded in July. The month-to-month variations notwithstanding, these are all very high unemployment rates. Q Why inflation gets more attention in India than unemployment? A Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) results showed the historically high unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent for 2017-18 (July to June). It was at a 45-year high. New norm at 7-8 per cent: Till then, India was used to recording an&nb... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Recently, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched ‘PM-DAKSH’ (Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi) Portal and ‘PM-DAKSH’ Mobile App to make the skill development schemes accessible to the target groups - Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Safai Karamcharis. Q What are some key details about PM-Daksh Scheme ? A PM-DAKSH Yojana is being implemented from the year 2020-21. Under this, eligible target groups are provided with the skil... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Recently, the Union Cabinet has cleared the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Bill, 2021. The failure of banks such as Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank reignited the debate on the low level of insurance against the deposits held by customers in Indian banks. Deposit Insurance: It is a protection cover against losses accruing to bank deposits if a bank fails financially and has no money to pay its depositors and has to go in for liquidation. ... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Recently, the government introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment Bill), 2021 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill is set to replace the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amendment Ordinance 2021 promulgated in April 2021. It introduced an alternate insolvency resolution process for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with defaults up to Rs 1 crore called the Pre-packaged Insolvency Resolution Process (PIRP). In March 2021 a sub-committee of the Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) r... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Special Economic Zones (SEZ) have touched new heights in terms of performance in Exports, Investment and Employment in the last three years. Q What is an Special Economic Zones ? A An SEZ is a territory within a country that is typically duty-free (Fiscal Concession) and has different business and commercial laws chiefly to encourage investment and create employment. SEZs are created also to better administer these areas, thereby increasing the ease of doing business. Q What... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on a phased implementation strategy for its own digital currency and is in the process of launching it in wholesale and retail segments in the near future. A high-level inter-ministerial committee set up by the Finance Ministry had recommended Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with changes in the legal framework including the RBI Act, which currently empowers the RBI to regulate issuance of bank notes. Q What is Digital Currency ? A Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A With the 2021 Census coming up, several political parties have demanded a nationwide caste census. Q What is Caste Census? Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes. Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste. However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published. In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others. The Mandal... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A According to a recent RBI report on ‘Monetary transmission in India’, the share of outstanding loans linked to External Benchmarks Lending Rate (EBLR - like repo rate), increased from as low as 2.4% during September 2019 to 28.5% during March 2021. This increase in EBLR linked lending will contribute to significant improvement in monetary policy transmission. However, still 71.5% of outstanding loans are Internal Benchmark Lending Rate (IBLR- like base rate and MCLR) linked loans, which continues to impede the monetary policy transm... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A Water pollution caused by detergents has become a big concern in the global context. The per capita (per person) detergent consumption in India is around 2.7 kilogram per year. It is around 3.7 kg in the Philippines and Malaysia and 10 kg in the United States of America. Q What is Water Pollution ? A Water pollution occurs when harmful substances often chemicals or microorganisms contaminate a stream, river, lake, oce... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ? A The Leader of Opposition in the Goa Legislative Assembly is set to move a private member’s resolution to recommend to the Central government to address the various issues associated with the anti-defection law. Q What is Ant-Defection Law ? A The Tenth Schedule popularly known as the Anti-Defection Act was included in the Constitution via the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985 and sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political pa... Read More...