GS-III

India’s first six-tonne-class ‘big bird’ in space, advanced communication satellite GSAT-11, was put into orbit in the early hours of Wednesday from the European spaceport in Guiana in South America. Its mission is to enable high-speed satellite-based Internet services to users in rural and remote areas and to businesses down …

In a bid to minimise the damage caused to forests and wildlife due to infrastructure projects, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday directed all implementing agencies of proposed projects to hold a joint meeting and check whether a single, consolidated and elevated road can be constructed instead of multiple ones. …

Study says 26% of global premature death and disease burden by air pollution occurs in India India, with 18% of the world’s population, has a disproportionately high 26% of the global premature deaths and disease burden due to air pollution. Moreover, one in eight deaths in India was attributable to …

Centre expects receipts to exceed the budgeted target this year, says chairman Demonetisation was beneficial in terms of increasing the tax base as well as increasing direct tax collections, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sushil Chandra said on Tuesday. The government expects to exceed the budgeted target for direct …

Facing a public outcry, J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday said “the word Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)” for the J&K Bank had no legal connotation. Former State Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, however, said the Governor’s statement reflected “utter ignorance”. “J&K Bank is registered as a Government company under the …

Winter is likely to be warmer than average, with fewer ‘cold wave’ days between December and February, according to a forecast by the India Meteorological Department. The forecast suggests that ‘above normal’ seasonal minimum temperatures (>0.5° C) are most likely over most of the subdivisions of the country. However Jammu …

Cooperation in Mangdechhu power project a sign of strong ties: Vijay Gokhale India is expected to commission a major hydropower project in Bhutan in the coming weeks, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Tuesday. Delivering a speech on India-Bhutan relations, the top diplomat said cooperation in the hydropower sector was …

Only 12% of pledges have materialised: Ministry paper The Finance Ministry has issued a ‘discussion paper’ that has criticised the accounting methods used by developed countries to report how much money they have given, so far, to developing countries to address climate change. Accounting procedures, regarding the flow of climate …

A committee of wildlife experts warned on Monday that Canada’s largest land predator, the polar bear, was at risk of disappearing from its vast Arctic landscape as melting Arctic sea ice makes hunting prey a challenge. “It is clear we will need to keep a close eye on this species,” …

While their manoeuvre in the legislature proved inadequate to oust Mr. Rajapaksa’s disputed government, Monday’s appeal court order delivered a legal blow to the legitimacy that the Rajapaksa camp claims. On November 13, the Supreme Court stayed Mr. Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament and restrained the Election Commission from preparing for …

Professor-research scholar duo invents device that yields a near-accurate mileage of a car Why does your hatchback, sedan or SUV give you a mileage different from what the car manufacturer claims under test conditions? This question made a Mizoram University professor and a research scholar invent a measuring device that …

Amount to be deposited with CPCB The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed the Delhi government to deposit an environmental compensation of Rs. 25 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for failing to curb air pollution in the Capital. A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh …

Kolkata NGO compiles 35 cases of sexual assault More than 100 differently-abled women and girls have raised allegations of sexual harassment in West Bengal since 2012, a city-based NGO working for the rights of the disabled said. Thirty five cases of sexual assault on differently-abled girls and women were reported …

A part of ISRO’s new satellite fleet for high-speed Internet services, it will take off from French Guiana A team of top officials and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organisation (IISRO), now stationed in the Guiana Space Centre, South America, is going over the last steps before it sees …

U.P. govt. to reduce the numbers of ‘unproductive’ cattle by curbing their birth In Uttar Pradesh, where the ban on cow slaughter is taken very seriously, what’s illegal for humans may well prove a godsend to tackle the growing menace of stray bulls: sex selection. The State government plans to …

Sri Lankan leader plans to move the Supreme Court today against order Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Monday temporarily restrained controversially installed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet of Ministers from functioning in their respective offices. The interim order follows a quo warranto petition filed by 122 MPs …

NASA is set to launch a rocket to get a closer look at the how the earth’s atmosphere is leaking into space. Understanding atmospheric escape on earth has applications all over the Universe — from predicting which planets might be habitable, to piecing together how Mars became a desolate landscape. …

It felt as if humanity had crossed an important line: In China, a scientist named He Jiankui announced recently that twins had been born in November with a gene that he had edited when they were embryos.But in some ways this news is not new at all. A few genetically …

The government has constituted a six-member committee to look at selling as many as 149 small and marginal oil and gas fields of state-owned ONGC and Oil India to private and foreign companies to boost domestic output, sources said.The panel is headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and …

China has not accepted India’s proposal to carry out bilateral trade in local currencies, which was aimed at bridging the ballooning trade deficit with the neighbour, an official said.India’s exports to China stood at only $13.4 billion and imports aggregated to $76.4 billion in 2017-18, leaving a trade deficit of …