GS-III

Dutch ranger Andre Donker sighs as he looks out at the rippling grey waters of the Markermeer, one of Europe’s largest freshwater lakes. “Once upon a time it was teeming with fish here,” he said. But this vast 700-square-km expanse of water, which regulates the level of water in the …

We’ve read those stories of recent extinctions — Sudan, the last male northern white rhino and Brazil’s Spix’s macaws — with much consternation. But closer home, a tale of extinction may be unfolding before our very eyes: the Great Indian Bustard, that narrowly missed being christened India’s national bird, is …

The Union government is planning to raise about Rs. 10,000 crore through a follow on offer of Bharat-22 ETF in February, an official said. “Plans are on for launching the third tranche of Bharat-22 ETF around February. The offer is likely to have a base issue size of Rs. 5,000 …

At a time when the farming community here is switching to cash crops to tide over the huge loss in paddy cultivation, Thirunelly Agri Producer Company Ltd., a farmers’ collective in Kerala’s Wayanad district, has taken the plunge to revive rice production, albeit in a different avatar. The company made …

One of the biggest challenges that a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor faces is to maintain a balance between growth and inflation. Shaktikanta Das — who assumed charge as the 25th Governor last week — has a different challenge that he needs to balance, at least in his initial …

With the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) — India’s biggest reform in the tax structure — the government has succeeded in moving a step closer towards making the country a unified common market, leading the nation’s economy towards growth and sustainability. The agricultural sector continues to remain the …

We need to work hard to achieve double-digit growth, says the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog The new RBI Governor will be much better as he is more of a team player and displays greater maturity, NITI Aayog Vice- Chairman Rajiv Kumar explains in an interview. He also, for the first …

Credit flow to industry, or the lack of it, has been a bone of contention between the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). While RBI and its supporters assert that bank lending is now growing at a brisk pace, the government and industry lobbies insist that the credit …

Bangladesh on Sunday honoured 12 Indian war veterans as it celebrated the 47th anniversary of the ‘Victory Day’, marking its emergence as an independent nation following the 1971 Liberation War. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the nation to work together for the prosperity of the country, …

Key questions on whether developed countries would come good on earlier commitments to make available $100 billion annually by 2020 remained unsolved at the end of the Katowice climate summit. Moreover, a fundamental tenet — that developed countries and developing countries have ‘differentiated’ responsibilities towards addressing emissions — appeared to …

Attacking the Congress’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday that a JPC could not go into the “correctness or otherwise” of a Supreme Court verdict. “The court conducts a judicial review; it is a non-partisan, independent and fair …

More than 100 rescue workers, comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel, could not rescue or recover the bodies of at least 13 miners trapped in an illegal coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district. The mine got flooded when …

The maximum limit of this leave would be 180 days and can be availed in three spells in a calendar year Male employees of the State government are now entitled to child care leave in case their wives are bed-ridden or incapacitated due to mental health problems and unable to …

According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) records till December 15, 2018, there were 95 cases of tiger deaths in the country. Of this, 41 cases of tiger deaths outside tiger reserves have been reported. Of them, 14 occurred in Maharashtra, which accounted for over 34% of all deaths …

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday said it will move court if the Centre brings an ordinance for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya or the triple talaq Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha. At the meeting of the working committee of the AIMPLB, …

Military communication satellite GSAT-7A, due to be launched on December 19 evening from Sriharikota, is expected to add a new space-based dimension to the way Indian Air Force interlinks, operates and communicates with its aircraft. Although all Indian communication satellites offer capacity to the armed forces, GSAT-7A will be the …

The Andhra Pradesh Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Research Centre (AWARE), a division of the RTGS, on Sunday said cyclone Phethai might make landfall by the evening of Monday between Kakinada and Tuni. It would be accompanied by winds blowing at 80-100 kmph. The RTGS sounded high alert in East …

Graphene, a form of carbon and a super-strong, ultra-light material discovered in 2004, enables flexible electronic components, enhances solar cell capacity, and promises to revolutionise batteries. Now scientists have added one more use to this list.They have found a potential new application of this material for detecting Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis …

By sequencing the exome (the part of the genome composed of exons that gets translated into proteins) of 32 people from eight families who suffer from mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis, Bengaluru-based researchers have identified 42 rare mutations in the genes implicated in very severe mental …

Besides treatment, there is an urgent need for monitoring tuberculosis treatment to achieve better results. Researchers from the National Jalma Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, have succeeded in identifying a couple of cell-based markers to study the response of TB patients to treatment.Currently, studying the sputum of the …