GS-III

A steep fall in the price of Robusta coffee during the harvest season and low production owing to climate change are worrying coffee growers in south India, a major coffee cultivating region in the country .Spot price of raw Robusta coffee in Wayanad on Saturday was Rs. 3,618 a bag …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the institution of a national unity award on the lines of the Padma awards, an official statement said on Sunday. The annual award would be given to any Indian who has contributed to national unity in any manner, the statement said, adding that the …

India on Sunday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km. The flight was tested from Integrated Test Range at the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island near here. The indigenously developed Agni-IV is a two-stage missile.PTI Source Link : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nuclear-capable-agni-iv-missile-successfully-test-fired/article25815942.ece

The effect of the BJP’s loss in three States in the Hindi heartland was visible at the GST Council meeting held on Saturday in New Delhi, with the famous accord of the Council across party lines disrupted by a heated exchange among members.As the meeting got under way, the Ministers …

The first MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) service linking Mysuru with Bengaluru was launched on Sunday. The regular services will commence from December 26 from Bengaluru and from December 27 from Mysuru.This is an extension of the service, which was operating between Bengaluru and Ramangaram. The MEMU service is the …

The cold wave in the Capital continued on Sunday with the minimum temperature dropping to 3.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal. Gurugram was even colder with the minimum dipping to 2 degrees Celsius.The cold weather has brought with it unfavourable meteorological conditions for the dispersal of pollutants with the …

Watching films in cinema halls is set to get cheaper with the government slashing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on tickets. The GST comes down to 18% from 28% for tickets exceeding Rs. 100 and has been lowered to 12% from 18% for those up to Rs. 100.The decision …

Only one out of 39 locations through which the Ganga flows had clean water in the post-monsoon period this year, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has said in its latest study.As many as 37 of the 41 locations through which the river flows reported moderate to severe water pollution …

The defeat in the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh has made the government go back to the drawing board over the issue of rural distress. Some measures to bolster incomes in the countryside may be announced by the end of the winter session of Parliament. While the …

A major challenge in the construction of the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge — set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25 — was finding the required skilled manpower, and convincing the personnel to work in the hostile conditions of Upper Assam.“Getting the required manpower on this project …

Six months after Maharashtra imposed its ban on plastics, raising fears of job losses and a sizeable financial impact on local industry, urban bodies in the State have reported reductions in plastic waste of up to 40%, officials said.This even as the State’s Finance Department is still studying the impact …

When the devastating floods in August submerged large tracts of farmland across Kerala, the Pokkali paddy variety, which grows to a height of up to 2 m, survived the rising waters. The GI-tagged Pokkali is a saltwater-tolerant paddy grown in the coastal fields of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. Endemic …

The Goods and Services Tax Council cut rates on 17 items and six types of services during its 31st meeting on Saturday, leaving only one common use item — cement — in the 28% bracket.Cutting rates on cement would have a significant impact on revenues and so the Council decided …

With garbage piles increasing over the years and more sewage flowing in open canals, the amount of bacteria and fungal microbes in the air is on a steady rise.Since 2010, the Department of Environmental Science in Bengaluru University has been studying the amount of bioaerosols — a term to cumulatively …

Researchers have genetically modified a common indoor plant, pothos ivy, to remove pollutants inside the house, according to a new study. They put modified plant and normal pothos ivy in glass tubes and added either benzene or chloroform gas into each tube. They found that the concentration of either gas …

Researchers at University of Cambridge programmed it to play a number of short musical phrases Scientists have been building and programming piano-playing robots for decades. But there’s something different about a new robotic hand that tickles the ivories with techniques usually reserved for humans. Rather than relying on a maze …

A study on 16 breeds through physical fitness and behavioural tests is underway How do you measure a chicken’s happiness? Is it in the way it runs for food? How much time it spends preening? To size up what might make chickens happy in their brief lives, researchers at the …

Street artist and social commentator Banksy has apparently popped up in Wales, leaving a new artwork on a garage in Port Talbot that refers the town’s air pollution. A video posted to his official Instagram account on Wednesday afternoon had close-ups of the piece. With the children’s song Little Snowflake …

The Centre has sought Parliament’s nod for an additional equity infusion of Rs. 2,345 crore for debt-laden Air India (AI) and a separate sum of Rs. 1,300 crore for a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which houses the national carrier’s debt and non-core assets. Special purpose vehicle The SPV, Air India …

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday has announced a cap for funds raised via external commercial borrowing (ECB) at 6.5% of the country’s GDP. Based on GDP figures for March 31, 2018, ‘the soft limit works out to $160 billion,’ the central bank said in a statement. Outstanding …