GS-2 WORLD FOOD PRICE INDEX RISES IN FEBRUARY The World food prices have increased for the ninth consecutive month in February 2021. This increase is the at its highest level since July 2014. Highlights The Food and Agriculture Organisation stated that the food prices have increased because of jumps in …

GS-2 INDIA’S PERFORMANCE IN QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS The eleventh edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject was released on March 4, 2021. The report was compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The ranking provided the independent comparative analysis regarding the performance of 14,435 individual university programme. As per …

GS-1 TSUNAMI WARNINGS ISSUED IN NEW ZEALAND The National Emergency Management Agency highlighted that; New Zealand has issued a Tsunami warning in the coastal areas on March 4, 2021 following an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 in the north-eastern coast of the country in the Kermadec Islands region. Highlights This was the third …

GS-3 SIMLIPAL FOREST FIRE The Simlipal Tiger Reserves in Odisha underwent the massive fires recently. The wildfires broke in the biosphere reserve situated in the Mayurbhanj district of Assam. Similipal Tiger Reserve It is a tiger reserve situated in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha in the northern part. The reserve …

The Government is aware that certain fraudsters are selling material with dubious names of ‘anti-radiation pack’ and ‘Rice-puller’, etc. having radio-activity and certified by BARC/DAE Crisis Management Group (CMG), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) keep getting alerts/intimation very frequently regarding fraudulent transactions involving certain …

GS-2 NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (NHRC) NHRC of India is an independent statutory body established on 12 October, 1993 as per provisions of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, later amended in 2006. NHRC has celebrated its Silver Jubilee (25 years) on October 12, 2018. Its headquarter is located in New Delhi. …

GS-2 CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS DUE TO COVID IMPACTED 247 MN CHILDREN IN INDIA: UNICEF  As many as 1.5 million schools remained shut during 2020 due to the pandemic and lockdowns, impacting 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in India, according to data released by UNICEF. Report: Online education is not an …

GS-3  14 TROJANS FOUND IN SERVERS Recentrly, Maharashtra Home Minister submitted a report prepared by the State’s cyber cell on a possible cyberattack that caused the October 12 power outage in Mumbai and parts of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Power Minister of Maharashtra recently said the report found 14 Trojan programs that had entered …

GS-2 FIELD TRIALS FOR CENSUS-NPR TO BEGIN SOON  The Registrar-General of India (RGI) is preparing to conduct field trials of the first phase of the Census and the National Population Register (NPR) using a mobile application in all the States and Union Territories. First phase: The first phase involving house listing and housing …

GS-2 FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2021: DEMOCRACY UNDER SIEGE: The government in India and its State-level allies continued to crack down on critics during the year. Freedoms in India have reduced, according to a report from a U.S. thinktank, Freedom House, resulting in India being classified as ‘partly free’. The ruling Hindu nationalist …