The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved the issuance of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the construction of six conventional submarines under Project-75I (India). RFP is a project announcement posted publicly by an organization indicating that bids for contractors to complete the project are sought. Important points: This project envisages indigenous construction of submarines equipped with the …

Recently, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) informed the United Nations (UN) that in 17 cases chemical weapons were likely or definitely used by Syria. OPCW was formed under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) 1997. Important points: A Chemical Weapon is a chemical used to cause intentional death or harm through its toxic properties. Munitions, devices and other …

Recently, the US suspended imposition of retaliatory tariffs against six countries, including India, that had begun imposing digital services tax on companies such as Google and Facebook. Other than India, the countries slapped with this tariff proposal are Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Background: Tariffs were imposed after the office of the United …

The Union Education Minister has approved the release of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories. The PGI is a tool to provide insights on the status of school education in States and UTs including key levers that drive their performance and critical areas for improvement. Important points: The PGI for …

Recently, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends (WESO) report 2021.   Important points: It has pushed over 100 million more workers into poverty worldwide. The world would be 75 million jobs short at the end of this year compared to if the pandemic had not occurred. Relative to 2019, an …

Astronomers tracking star formation activity of the young Universe billions of years ago have long been intrigued by the fact that star formation in galaxies which was at its  highest about 8-10 billion years ago, had declined steadily thereafter. Searching for the reason behind this, they have found that the …

The discrepancy between the abundance of lithium as inferred from observations of stars and the theoretically predicted amount has intrigued astronomers for a long time. Scientists from the Indian Institute of astrophysics have pinned down the mechanism behind the Lithium production in low mass red clump stars. Having found lithium …

Modern technology and Indian traditional knowledge of Ayurveda have been combined for a solution to disinfect water completely and also offer possible health benefits of natural oils. Disinfection of water is essential for removing pathogenic microorganisms that are responsible for causing a number of water-borne diseases. However, the common drawbacks …

A NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) funded CIBER-2 sounding rocket’s launch window will open at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, USA. The aim of CIBER-2 mission is to look for evidence of extra stars that may have been missed in stellar head counts. The ESA (European Space Agency) infrared space observatory Herschel also counted the number of galaxies …

Recently, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society through video conference. Earlier CSIR Floriculture Mission was approved for implementation in 21 States and Union Territories of India. It is also planning to undertake genome sequencing of a sample of nearly 1000 Indian rural youth to determine unique genetic traits, susceptibility …