CONTEXT: Curtain raiser of the 26th DST – CII Technology Summit takes place. DST – CII Technology Summit: The yearly summit has been instrumental in providing significant opportunities to forge and foster global technology partnerships. The heads of the partnering countries have addressed the technology summits in the past – …
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BSF RAISING DAY
CONTEXT: 56 ‘Raising Day’ event of the Border Security Force (BSF) was held on 1 December 2020 in New Delhi. MAIN POINTS: The BSF was raised in 1965 after the India-Pakistan war. It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces of Union of India under the administrative control …
Read More »HAYABUSA 2 SPACECRAFT
CONTEXT: Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft left the asteroid Ryugu a year ago and is expected to reach Earth and drop a capsule containing the precious samples in southern Australia on December 6. The soil samples and data from the asteroid could provide clues to the origins of the solar system. Hayabusa2 …
Read More »PILIBHIT TIGER RESERVE
CONTEXT: The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR – Uttar Pradesh) recently bagged international award TX2 for doubling the number of tigers in the past four years.TX2 Award goes to one site that has achieved remarkable and measurable increase in its tiger population since 2010. IMPORTANT POINTS: Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) PTR …
Read More »HONEY FPO PROGRAMME
CONTEXT: Recently, the Honey Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) Programme of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) was virtually inaugurated.It is inauguarted by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. IMPORTANT POINTS: The programme has been launched under the Formation and Promotion of FPOs. It is a new …
Read More »ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAYS
CONTEXT: Recently, the Minister of Railways has inaugurated the newly electrified Dhigawara- Bandikui section of North Western Railway and flagged off the first train on this electrified route from Dhigawara station in Alwar District, Rajasthan. BACK GROUND: 1832: The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras. 1837: The …
Read More »MISSION COVID SURAKSHA
CONTEXT: The Government of India has announced the stimulus package of Rs. 900 crore for the Mission COVID Suraksha, the Indian Covid-19 Vaccine Development Mission, which will help the development process of the vaccine candidates. AIM: Accelerating pre-clinical and clinical development. Licensure of Covid-19 vaccine candidates that are currently in …
Read More »ARTPARK
CONTEXT: ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park) is a joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Science & AI Foundry, set up as a Section 8 company (Not for Profit) with a seed grant from the Department of Science and Technology (Govt. of India). MAIN POINTS: It is set up …
Read More »INDIA’S GDP CONTRACTS 7.5% IN SECOND QUARTER
CONTEXT: As per estimates released by the National Statistical Office, India’s GDP contracted 7.5% in the second quarter of 2020-21. MAIN POINTS: India has now entered a technical recession with two successive quarters of negative growth. Agriculture, which was the only sector to record growth between April and June this …
Read More »CLIMATE CHANGE KNOWLEDGE PORTAL
CONTEXT: Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched the ‘India Climate Change Knowledge Portal’. MAIN POINTS: AIM: The Portal will help in disseminating knowledge among citizens about all the major steps the Government is taking at both national and international levels to address climate change issues. …
Read More »FISCAL DEFICIT REACHES 120% OF ANNUAL TARGET
CONTEXT: The Union Government’s fiscal deficit further widened to ₹9.53 lakh crore, or close to 120% of the annual budget estimate, at the end of October of the current fiscal (2020-21). DETAILS: The deficit widened mainly due to poor revenue realisation. The fiscal deficit or gap between the expenditure and …
Read More »HONEY FPO’S
CONTEXT: Inauguration of Honey FPOs under the “Formation & Promotion of 10,000 FPOs” Scheme. IMPORTANT POINTS: The Honey FPO Programme of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) has been inaugurated. The Honey FPOs made by the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) under the aegis of …
Read More »RE-INVEST 2020
CONTEXT: PM inaugurates RE-Invest 2020. MAIN POINTS: The 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020) is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’. The event is showcased as India’s biggest renewable energy event. The …
Read More »CYCLONE NIVAR
CONTEXT Recently, the tropical cyclone Nivar has made landfall along the Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast.Landfall refers to the phenomenon of a cyclone’s outer wall moving over the coastline and beyond. MAIN POINTS Tropical Cyclone: A tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized …
Read More »PRADHAN MANTRI KISAN SAMPADA YOJANA (PMKSY).
CONTEXT: Recently, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries has attended the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) meeting to consider the proposals received under the Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Cluster (APC) of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY). MAIN POINTS: IMAC approved 7 proposals with a total …
Read More »NEGATIVE YIELD BONDS
CONTEXT: China sold negative-yield debt for the first time. 5-year bond was priced with a yield of – 0.152%, and the 10-year and 15-year securities with positive yields of 0.318% and 0.664%. What are negative yeild bonds? These are debt instruments that offer to pay the investor a maturity amount …
Read More »BRAHMOS MISSILE
CONTEXT: Recently, India has successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The test by the Army comes over a month after the Naval version of BrahMos was successfully test fired from Indian Navy’s indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai. Features : …
Read More »CHANG’E-5 MISSION
CONTEXT: China has launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades. MAIN POINTS The Chang’e-5 mission, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect lunar material to help scientists …
Read More »AVIATION SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK 2020
CONTEXT: AAI observes Aviation Safety Awareness Week 2020. About Aviation Safety Awareness Week: The AAI observes Aviation Safety Awareness Week during the last week of November every year. To raise awareness of aviation safety, AAI undertook various employee engagement programs at the airports and ANS stations like reviewing documents and …
Read More »SENTINEL-6 SATELLITE
CONTEXT: Recently, Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. MAIN POINTS: Sentinel-6-Satellite is a part of the mission dedicated to measuring changes in the global sea level. The mission is called the Jason Continuity of Service …
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