GS-III

Rising rupee, GST receipts lift mood Foreign investors have pumped in almost Rs. 4,800 crore into the Indian capital markets in the last five trading sessions, after pulling out large sums in October, amid cooling global crude oil prices and rising rupee. The recent infusion comes following a net outflow …

CCI presence in market also keeping prices above MSP The cotton season has commenced this year with an unusual trend — prices are up despite new arrivals. The price of the widely-used Shankar 6 variety is Rs. 130.42 a kg against Rs. 105.34 a kg last November. Since October 1, …

State to focus on food processing, IT/ITES, automobile, auto parts, among others Claiming to have achieved all-round development over the last 20 years, Odisha has invited global investors to invest in the eastern State and benefit. Inaugurating the five-day second edition of the Make In Odisha Conclave in Bhubaneswar, Chief …

The rankings serve as a trusted ready-reckoner for foreign investors looking to invest in a country India’s leap in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings this year has slipped under the radar, in the cacophony over demonetisation and the RBI-Centre spat. The country has, in fact, been one …

Free trade advocate T.N. Srinivasan passes away at 85 On Sunday in Chennai, India lost one of its notable economists with the passing of T.N. Srinivasan. Indian economists around the world joined the chorus of tributes and praise for the academic, whose publications and teachings made inroads into several important …

‘It is the primary responsibility of the public sector banks, as also infra creation’ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday asked public sector banks to step up lending to the industrial sector as it is their ‘primary responsibility,’ besides ‘partnering infrastructure creation’. Mr. Jaitley, who was addressing the Union Bank …

From an accountant’s perspective, the govt. can rightfully stake a claim to the central bank’s surplus “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s,” said Jesus. The Judean population of the time were evidently satisfied with the answer. But the RBI and …

Mars sunrise recreated with musical piece Scientists have created the soundtrack of the 5,000th Mars sunrise captured by NASA’s rover, Opportunity, using data sonification techniques. Researchers from the Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Exeter in the U.K. created the two-minute piece of music, titled Mars Soundscapes. It will …

Pedal desks can help sedentary employees achieve their health goals, and lower the risk of diseases linked to physical inactivity, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in U.S. found that pedalling while conducting work tasks improved insulin responses …

The world’s largest supercomputer designed to work in the same way as the human brain has been switched on for the first time. The Spiking Neural Network Architecture machine is capable of completing more than 200 million million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100 million transistors. …

After human deaths continued, the order was to tranquillise the tigress and shoot-at-sight only as a last resort, says A.K. Misra, who sanctioned the kill Avni, the tigress of Pandharkwada, was shot dead by sharp-shooter Asghar Ali Khan on the spur of the moment, said A.K. Misra, the Principal Chief …

System may intensify into severe storm in the next 24 hours The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into Cyclone ‘Gaja’ on Sunday. North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to get good rain on November 14 and 15, India Meteorological Department officials said. Named ‘Gaja’ by Sri …

Patrol team targeted ahead of first phase polling in 18 constituencies A day before the first phase of polling in the partly Maoist-dominated areas of Chhattisgarh, insurgents triggered a series of improvised explosive devices (IED) in the Koylibeda block of Kanker district, killing one BSF sub-inspector and injuring another. Inspector-General …

Praying mantids prey on smaller insects and sometimes the odd frog or lizard. Now, it looks like they’ve added fish to their menu too, for naturalists have observed one catching and eating small ornamental fish in a garden in Bengaluru. Guppy-catcher It was on the evening of March 7 last …

Natural recharge during monsoon may not help much if groundwater depletion becomes acute, as rainfall of past years controls current storage With 230 billion metre cube of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater. The …

The pH and salinity of the waters exceeded permissible limits for ecologically sensitive zones The water quality at the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary might be unsafe for avifauna to feed and breed, notes a study that examined different pollution indicators in water. Researchers from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli compared their results …

Sensitivity for pulmonary TB and pleural TB were 94% and 93%, respectively. A highly sensitive diagnostic test for pulmonary TB and pleural TB has been developed by a multi-institutional team led by Jaya Sivaswami Tyagi from the Department of Biotechnology at AIIMS. The diagnostic test makes use of a DNA …

Since April 2016, all oral polio vaccines (OPV) across the world contain only two of the three polio serotypes — Type 1 and Type 3. Type 2 is banned because the wild, disease-causing version of this virus was eradicated globally by 1999, and because OPV itself can cause polio in …

Seeks experiment ideas from space agencies, universities and researchers An 18-month-old pitch for what could be the first Indian orbiter mission to Venus has just been refreshed and relaunched, opening it up now for international experiments. Tentatively marking the yet to be named ‘Mission Venus’ for mid-2023, the Indian Space …

Devastated orchard owners try to mend trees felled by untimely snowfall, say compensation announced is just a speck in comparison to the losses November is the peak wedding season in south Kashmir’s ‘apple bowl’ Shopian. But Riyaz Dar, an orchard owner from Hirpora village in the district, has decided to …