Recently, alumni meets were organized across the country under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) to commemorate 75 years of Independence. Important points: The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announced it on Antyodaya Diwas in 2014. It is a demand-driven placement linked skill training initiative working under the National Rural …

Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the EatSmart Cities Challenge and Transport 4 All Challenge. The challenges aim at creating an environment of right food practices and habits and to make public transport safe, affordable, comfortable, and reliable. Important points: EatSmart Cities Challenge: The EatSmart Cities Challenge …

Recently, Singapore’s Foreign Minister while addressing the 6th edition of the Raisina Dialogue suggested India to reassess its stand on Regional Trading Agreements (RTA) such as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and …

Recently, the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) flagship State of World Population Report 2021 titled ‘My Body is My Own’ was launched. This is the first time a United Nations report has focused on bodily autonomy, defined as the power and agency to make choices about your body without fear …

Sputnik V, the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Russia, has been cleared for emergency use by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). It is now the third coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use approval, after Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech). Important Points About the Sputnik …

The nation celebrated the 130th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar on 14th April 2021. Dr. Ambedkar was a social reformer, jurist, economist, author, polyglot (knowing or using several languages) orator, a scholar and thinker of comparative religions. Important Points Birth: Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was born in 1891 in …

Researchers from IIT Guwahati have developed a technique to improve the performance of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which power most of the portable devices used today. Important Points The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded to Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino for work that led to the …

Recently, Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy called Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) which has been identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy. Important Points Scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, studied around 25,000 luminous Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) from …

The Government launched the “Online Grievance Management Portal of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)” on the occasion of 130th birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar. The portal would make it easier for the SC population to register their complaints. Important Points: It has been designed in collaboration with …

Recently, the government of India launched a mobile app, MANAS (Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System) to promote mental wellbeing across age groups. MANAS was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). PM-STIAC: It is an overarching Council that facilitates the …