Bayannur, a city in northern China, is on high alert after a suspected case of Bubonic plague was reported. Recently Authorities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control.Q. What is the plague?A. The plague is a disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is found in animals, particularly rodents.It can be transmitted to humans through infected animals and fleas.&n... Read More...
What is logistics?Logistics is management of flow of goods from origin to destination to meet customer requirements in minimum time at minimum cost.Logistics is used more broadly to refer to the process of coordinating and moving resources – people, materials, inventory, and equipment – from one location to storage at the desired destination. The term logistics originated in the military, referring to the movement of equipment and supplies to troops in the field.Logistics include packaging, warehousing, transport and delivery of raw mate... Read More...
What are the main features of it?The proposed Bill restricts and prohibits the use or installation of hazardous material, which applies irrespective of whether a ship is meant for recycling or not. For new ships, such restriction or prohibition on use of hazardous material will be immediate. That is, from the date the legislation comes into force, while existing ships shall have a period of five years for compliance. Restriction or prohibition on use of hazardous material would not be applied to warships and non-commercial ships operated by Government. Ships shall be surveyed and certified on the inventory of hazardous... Read More...
What is this news?Union Minister Harsh Vardhan recently inaugurated the Next Generation Sequencing (NSG) facility at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad.What is use of NSG?The facility includes technology for high genome sequencing and also diagnostic sequencing of clinical samples. The state of art machine can sequence 18,000 samples in 8 minutes. The NSG would help prenatal genetic screening and counselling, thereby generating large scale genomic data critical for diagnosis and therapy. NSG facility would help in finding drugs for rare genetic diseases, which the ... Read More...
What is India Justice Report?The India Justice Report ranks 18 large and 7 small states according to their capacity to deliver justice to all. It uses government data to assess the budgets, infrastructure, human resources, workloads, diversity and 5-year trends of police, prisons, judiciary and legal aid in each state, against its own declared standards. Four Pillars of Justice assessed in reportPoliceJudiciaryPrisonLegal ... Read More...
In the wake of global pandemic COVID-19, there is steep surge in bio-medical waste, journal “Guardian” recently reported that there are possibly more masks than Jellyfish in world. Q. What is bio-medical waste?A. Any waste which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biologicals. Q. What does it consists of?Human anatomical... Read More...
Q. What is Hydrogen fuel?A. Hydrogen is the lightest and first element on the periodic table. Since the weight of hydrogen is less than air, it rises in the atmosphere and is therefore rarely found in its pure form, H2. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a nontoxic, nonmetallic, odorless, tasteless, colorless, and highly combustible diatomic gas. Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion. Read More...
What is a chit fund?Chit fund is defined as per the Section 2(b) of the Chit Fund Act, 1982. According to this act; A chit fund is a type of rotating savings and agreement among different persons i.e. friends, relatives, neighbors and family members to subscribe a certain sum of money for a specified period of time. Chit funds are often microfinance organizations. Chit Funds are also known as the Chitty, Kuree, chit.In simple terms, a chit fund is an arrangement that a group of people arrive at to contribute money in a defined manner at periodic intervals into a pool or ... Read More...
India and SAARCPakistan and India boycotted each other’s statements at a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Foreign Ministers here on Thursday.Pakistan has been protesting India’s decision to boycott the SAARC summit due to be held in Islamabad since 2016, until cross-border terrorism ends, which has meant that the SAARC summit, which requires all leaders to attend, cannot be held.India has engaged all other SAARC members at different fora. Read More...
What is IREDA?Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) is a Mini Ratna (Category – I) Government of India Enterprise under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).IREDA is a Public Limited Government Company established as a Non-Banking Financial Institution in 1987 engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency/conservation with the mott... Read More...
Why does India need EVs?To reduce import dependency on oil, which is more than 80% of our needReduce air pollutionSpill over benefits in heath sector, reduced spending on illnessPollution causes premature death of working age population; this will be eliminated with of EVsOpportunities for disruptive technology in automobile sector, entrepreneurshipCreation of jobs in sectorEase of livin... Read More...
Discuss the SC’s judgment on disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs.14 rebel MLAs of the Congress and 3 of the JDS were disqualified under the anti-defection law by the Speaker in July 2019. The Karnataka speaker disqualified them under anti defection law and also barred them from contesting polls again till 2023. The MLAs had then approached the SC against the speaker’s order.The Supreme Court confirmed the disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs whose revolt triggered the collapse of the Janata Dal Secular-Congress governmen... Read More...
Q. What are FPOs?A. Farmer Producer Organisations, (FPO) consists of collectivisation of producers especially small and marginal farmers so as to form an effective alliance to collectively address many challenges of agriculture such as improved access to investment, technology, inputs, and markets. Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is providing support for the promotion of FPOs.The resource agencies leverage the support available from governments and agencies like NABARD to promote and nurture FPOs, b... Read More...
Q. What are some of the features of this act?A. The act recognise and vest the forest rights and occupation in Forest land to forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDST) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) who have been residing in such forests for generations.The act also establishes the responsibilities and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance of FDST and OTFD.It strengthens the conservation regime of the fore... Read More...
What are FASTags?FASTags are prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection that allow automatic payment deduction from the FASTag, they are normally affixed on the windscreen of your vehicle. With the help of a FASTag, you will not have to stop your vehicle at toll plazas to pay the toll. As soon as the vehicle crosses the toll plaza, the toll fee will get deducted from the bank account/prepaid wallet linked to the FASTag affixed on the vehicle's windscreen. An activated FASTag works on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Moreover, these FASTags do not have any expiry date, that is, they can be u... Read More...
India and BASICThe 29th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was held in Beijing, China.Outcomes of the recent meet- demands by BASIC:The developed countries to take urgent action to close gaps and provide support to developing nations as a part of the commitment under the Paris agreement on climate change.Global climate action should promote climate justice b... Read More...
What is smog tower? How does it work? Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers. They are usually fitted with multiple layers of air filters, which clean the air of pollutants as it passes through them.The 20-metre (65 feet) high tower will trap particulate matter of all sizes suspended in the air. Large-scale air filters shall draw in the air through fans installed at the top before passing it through the filters and releasing it near the ground.The filters installed in the tower will use carbon ... Read More...
What is IOD?The Indian Ocean Dipole refers to a pattern of sea surface temperature variations in the tropical Indian Ocean that varies from one year to another. It is the difference in sea-surface temperatures between the western and eastern part of the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean Dipole influences weather and extreme events across the Indian Ocean. The Dipole fluctuates between 'positive', 'neutral' and 'negative' phases approximately every three to eight years.What is positive phase of IOD and its impact on global weather?At its positive phase, the eastern Indian Ocean (off Sumatra-Java) is cooler than normal whereas the west is ... Read More...
Discuss the Supreme Court verdict on Ram Mandir.The Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment in the Ayodhya land dispute case that will have far-reaching effects. The five-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi read out a uninanimous judgment and ruled in favour of the Ram Janmabhoomi and said there will be Ram Mandir at the disputed site and Muslims will be given an alternate 5 acre land for their mosque.The main takeaways from the judgement areSupreme Court has granted the entire 2.77 acre of disputed land in A... Read More...
The United States recently announced that international students might have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities moved classes entirely online in the upcoming fall semester. Students attending schools offering “normal in-person classes” can stay, but they cannot take more than “one class or three credit hours online”.Q. What do the new regulations by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement mean for Indian students?A. This, in effect, means Indians currently enrolled in schools or programmes that are entirely onli... Read More...