GS-3 PENCH TIGER RESERVE Recently, a female cub of ‘man-eater’ tigress Avni has been released into the wild in the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) of Maharashtra.  Important points: It is located in Nagpur District of Maharashtra and named after the pristine Pench River. The Penchriver flows right through the middle …

GS-3 DUMPING INERT WASTE IN ASOLA BHATTI WILDLIFE SANCTUARY The Supreme Court-mandated Ridge Management Board has decided to constitute an expert committee to look into the proposal of dumping inert (non-reactive) waste in the mines of Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary (Delhi). Inert Waste: Inert was te is waste which is …

GS-3 SOLID FUEL DUCTED RAMJET TECHNOLOGY The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted the test of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology, which is crucial for the indigenous development of long range air-to-air missiles. Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) Technology: SFDR technology is a missile propulsion …

GS-2 QS WORLD SUBJECT RANKINGS 2021 25 programmes offered by higher education institutions in India ranked among the top 100 in the world in their respective subject categories, according to the latest edition(11th) of the QS World University Rankings by Subject. About the QS World Subject Rankings: Quacquarelli Symonds (QS): …

GS-2 ROAD TO GENDER INEQUALITY: UNDP Recently, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its latest report named “Protecting Women’s Livelihoods in Times of Pandemic: Temporary Basic Income and the Road to Gender Equality” has proposed a Temporary Basic Income (TBI) for poor women in developing countries. The proposal comes …

GS-2 INDIA – SWEDEN RELATIONS Indian Prime Minister held a Virtual Summit with the Prime Minister of Sweden to discuss bilateral issues and other regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest. The Summit provided an opportunity to discuss the international situation and response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as …

GS-3 FALLING RUPEE RESERVES OF IRAN Recently, Indian merchants have almost entirely stopped signing new export contracts with Iranian buyers due to caution about Iran’s falling rupee reserves with Indian banks. Earlier in 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs informed that India is no longer involved in the Farzad-B gas …

GS-1 AMENDMENT OF INSURANCE OMBUDSMAN RULES, 2017 Recently, the Union government amended the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017, bringing insurance brokers within the ambit of the Insurance Ombudsman and also allowed policy holders to file online complaints. Important points: Enlarged the Scope Of Complaints: Earlier it was only disputes. Now the amended rules will cover …

GS-2 EASE OF LIVING INDEX (EoLI) 2020 Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020. About: The EoLI aims to measure the well-being of Indian citizens in 111 cities, across the pillars of Quality of Life, Economic-ability, and …

GS-2 MUNICIPAL PERFORMANCE INDEX (MPI) 2020 Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020.  About: In the Million+ category, Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal. In the Less than Million category, New …

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 …