GS-III

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 : …

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 …

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 …

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 …