CONTEXT: Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) has held that lottery, gambling and betting are taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, 2017. BACKGROUND: The SC passed the order in a batch of pleas filed by various lottery dealers who argued that the Central government had wrongfully classified lottery …

CONTEXT: Ranjitsinh Disale, a primary teacher from Maharashtra’s Solapur, has won the Global Teacher Prize 2020. GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE: It is a 1 million dollar award presented annually to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession. Varkey Foundation, which is a global charitable foundation focused …

CONTEXT: The major demand of the protesting farmers has been that the government guarantee in writing the MSP system, which assures them of a fixed price for their crops, 1.5 times of the cost of production. What is MSP? The MSP (minimum support price) assures the farmers of a fixed …

CONTEXT: Recently, the Union Education Minister has set up a task force for preparing a roadmap on imparting technical education in the mother tongue of students. AIM: To achieve the Prime Minister’s vision that students may pursue the professional courses such as medicine, engineering, law, etc in their mother tongue. …

CONTEXT: Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has released the World Malaria Report (WMR) 2020. The report provides a comprehensive update on global and regional malaria data and trends including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, elimination and surveillance. It indicates that India has made considerable progress in reducing its malaria burden. MAIN …

CONTEXT: Recently, the government has announced two major initiatives for ending the hazardous practice of manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewer lines and making the mechanised cleaning must. BACKGROUND: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will amend the law for making machine cleaning mandatory, whereas the Ministry of …

CONTEXT: Curtain raiser of the 26th DST – CII Technology Summit takes place. DST – CII Technology Summit: The yearly summit has been instrumental in providing significant opportunities to forge and foster global technology partnerships. The heads of the partnering countries have addressed the technology summits in the past – …

CONTEXT: Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’ over southwest Bay of Bengal. MAIN POINTS: According to the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west northwestwards with a speed of 9 kmph, intensified into a cyclone storm and lay centred over southwest …

CONTEXT: 56 ‘Raising Day’ event of the Border Security Force (BSF) was held on 1 December 2020 in New Delhi. MAIN POINTS: The BSF was raised in 1965 after the India-Pakistan war. It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces of Union of India under the administrative control …

CONTEXT: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav – Madhya Pradesh.The next focus state would be Gujarat, followed by West Bengal. BACKGROUND: It is a national tribal festival and a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development …