Indo – United Kingdom RelationsThe United Kingdom is keen on exploring trade and investment opportunities in infrastructure, healthcare and IT sectors in the Union Territory of Puducherry. Mr. Ballhatchet (Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) on a visit to Puducherry, said he found the industrial plan laid down during a presentation by the Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation Limited “ambitious and exciting”. Read More...
What is ISA?The ISA, is an Indian initiative that was launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30 November 2015 at Paris, France on the side-lines of the COP-21, with 121 solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially between the tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn as prospective members. Later ISA extended the Membership of the organization to all countries that are Members of the United Nations.Objectives:The overarching objective of the ISA is to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in ISA member countries. It also aims to undertak... Read More...
What is Ebola. Discuss it’s risks, symptoms and prevention. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola virus disease) is a disease caused by four different strains of Ebola virus; these viruses infect humans and nonhuman primates.Compared to most illnesses, Ebola hemorrhagic fever has a relatively short history. Health care professionals discovered Ebola in 1976. There have been several Ebola outbreaks, including the 2014-2016 "unprecedented epidemic" in Africa, which has abated.After an incubation period of 2 to 21 days, symptoms and si... Read More...
What is the purpose Higher Education Financing Agency? How it plans to mobilise funds? The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions and to fund projects to the tune of Rs. 100,000 crore by 2022. The HEFA would be jointly promoted by the identified Promoter and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) with an authorised capital of Rs. 2,000 crore. The Government equity would be Rs. 1,000 crore. The HEFA would be formed as a SPV within a PSU Bank/ Government-owned-NBFC (Promoter) ... Read More...
Why in News?India will participate in the virtual meeting of the Russia-India-China grouping.It might create an opening for de-escalation of tension along the Line of Actual Control with the Russian sources indicating that they support “constructive dialogue” over the tension in eastern Ladakh.What is RIC?RIC as a strat... Read More...
What is PM KUSUM?The Union Government has started Rs.1.4 lakh-crore Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme for promoting solar farming i.e. decentralized solar power production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers.The scheme is considered a “silver bullet” to overcome challenges of irrigation supply, subsidy burden on discoms and farmer distress. It consists of three components:Component-A: 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants. Read More...
Indo – United StatesIndustrial Security Annex (ISA): The Industrial Security Annex (ISA), signed between India and the U.S. at the second 2+2 dialogue in Washington, will open the door for U.S. defence companies to partner with the Indian private sector for several multi-billion dollar deals in the pipeline, including the one for 114 fighter jets.Kashmir issue: U.S. officials in Delhi have also raised the issue of continuing restrictions in Kashmir, including the detention of political leaders, as recently as last we... Read More...
What is NAP? The scheme titled National Afforestation Programme (NAP) has been formulated by merger of four 9th Plan centrally sponsored afforestation schemes of the Ministry of Environment & Forests. The Scheme will be operated by the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests as a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The overall objective of the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) scheme is ecological restoration of degraded forests and to develop the forest resources with peoples’ participation, with focus on improv... Read More...
What is this issue about?The spyware, named Pegasus, was used to hack into any phone simply through a missed video call, predominantly via WhatsApp, giving the attackers unfettered access to the device, including location data, emails, passwords and even the ability to turn on its microphone and camera. It means hacker can know, to whom targeted people were meeting and what kind of discussion they are having. According to security firm Kaspersky, Pegasus is a tool of total surveillance.Pegasus is meant to infiltrate smartphones silently and work on three things: &nb... Read More...
What do you understand by Institution of Eminence (IoE)? Discuss with examples.Institutes of Eminence (IoE) is a recognition scheme for higher education institutes in India, set by the University Grants Commission in 2017. The plan encompasses twenty institutions, 16 of which have already been declared Institutes of Eminence as of August 2019. 10 institutions in public sector and 10 institutions in private sector have to be declared as IoE.Recognized institutes are g... Read More...
The Supreme Court has asked the government to treat a writ petition for setting up expert panels to boost India’s prospects in the Rule of Law Index.What is the Rule of Law Index?The Rule of Law Index is a quantitative assessment tool by the World Justice Project (WJP) designed to offer a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.The RLI covers 128 c... Read More...
Discuss the main points of Cabinet approval for additional capital and equity support to IIFCL.The Union Cabinet has approved additional capital infusion and equity support to government- owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL). IIFCL is a non-banking financial company which provides long-term finance to viable infrastructure projects. The additional equity support for the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21 would be Rs 5,300 crore and Rs 10,000 crore respectively. Read More...
Indo- Russian RelationsIndia and Russia agreed to form specific working groups for aftersales support of key defence platforms and intensify efforts to finalise a cooperation programme for 2021-2030.The Agreement on Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS): India and Russia are finalising a defence agreement that will simplify interoperability and enable military platforms to receive support and supplies across bases in both nations- Agreement on Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS).... Read More...
What is the news?The National Tiger Conservation Authority in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India has published a document titled “Connecting Tiger Populations for Long-term Conservation”, which has mapped out 32 major corridors across the country, management interventions for which are operationalized through a Tiger Conservation Plan, mandated under section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.What are these Tiger corridors?A tiger corridor is a stretch of land linking tiger habitats, allowing move... Read More...
What is AFRS software and its purpose?AFRS is a software that recognizes, records and matches face against various government databases from photos and videos taken from public and private sources. Its purpose is to find missing children, who may be recorded on CCTV; track criminals across a country; Currently, the leading face recognition software are:Amazon RekognitionMicrosoft Face API Read More...
What is 'Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP)' finalised and released by HRD Ministry? Mention it’s main focus areas.In accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister for finalizing a five-year vision plan for each Ministry, the Department of Higher Education of HRD Ministry has finalized and released a five-year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP). EQUIP is a vision plan aiming at ushering transformation in India’s higher education system by implementing strategic interventions in the se... Read More...
What are forex reserves?Forex reserves are external assets in the form of gold, SDRs (special drawing rights of the IMF) and foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, FDI and external commercial borrowings) accumulated by India and controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. Why are forex reserves rising despite the slowdown in the economy?The major... Read More...
Why is Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) model for monetising highways amended? The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways approved certain changes in the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model for monetising National Highways. In August 2016, the Union Cabinet had authorised the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to monetise certain public funded National Highway projects. The revenue generated from this monetisation would be utilised by the central government for the future development, ... Read More...
What is Hong Kong International Convention, 2009? Discuss the merits of India's decision of accession to the Hong Kong International Convention in 2019? The Hong Kong International Convention, 2009 is for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. It has not yet entered into force. The convention has been designed to try to improve the health and safety of current ship breaking practices. The Hong Kong Convention recognised that ship recycling is the most environmentally sound way to dispose of a ship at the end of its life, as most of the ship’s materials can be reused. The Unio... Read More...
What is this report?Earlier the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had assessed impact of climate change on land-based ecosystems, it has now assessed the impact that climate change is having on the world’s oceans and frozen areas (known as the cryosphere). The report portrays very murky picture of ocean and frozen areas.What is significance of ocean and cryosphere?Almost three-quarters of Earth’s surface is covered by ocean, and another 10% is covered by ice sheets and glaciers. These ecosystems are c... Read More...