Recently, the Centre has released the first instalment of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to States, in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 that has claimed thousands of lives since April 2021. Normally, the first instalment is released in June as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission. Important point: SDRF has …

A tiny snake “Xylophis deepaki” has been named in honour of Indian herpetologist Deepak Veerappan for his contribution in erecting a new subfamily Xylophiinae to accommodate wood snakes. The common name suggested for the species is ‘Deepak’s wood snake’. Important point: It is a tiny snake of just 20 cm length with iridescent scales. It was first found on a coconut plantation in Kanyakumari. …

The eight core sectors grew by 6.8% in March 2021 (the highest in 32 months), after a 3.8% dip in February, but the spike was largely due to the base effects from March 2020. During 2020-21 (April-March), output of the eight sectors contracted by 7% as against a positive growth of 0.4% in 2019-20. Important point: These comprise 40.27% of the …

According to the report Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2021, the second wave of Covid-19 can put India’s economic recovery at “risk”. ADO is a series of annual economic reports on the Developing Member Countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Important point: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rebound strongly by 11% in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 due to continued …

Recently, India’s Health Ministry said that a new double mutant variant of the coronavirus had been detected in addition to many other strains or Variants of Concern (VOCs) found in 18 states in the country. Important points: Variants of a virus have one or more mutations that differentiate it from the other variants that are in circulation. While most …

Evolutionary biologists from different countries have shown that the regions of host genomes that increase the risk of getting severely ill and protect against the SARS-CoV-2 virus were inherited from Neanderthals. Neanderthals are an extinct species of hominids that were the closest relatives to modern human beings. Important point: A region on host chromosome 3 acts as a …

A study published in Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) says that due to the significant melting of glaciers because of global temperature rise, Earth’s axis of rotation has been moving more than usual since the 1990s. While this change is not expected to affect daily life, it can change the length of …

On the 21st of May, a glorious era will come to an end with the decommissioning of the first destroyer of the Indian Navy – INS Rajput. INS Rajput, the lead ship of the Kashin-class destroyers built by the erstwhile USSR was commissioned on 04 May 1980 and has rendered …