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Recently, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has invoked the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 to curb tur dal prices surging. States and Union Territories are asked to direct ‘stockholder entities to upload the data of stocks held by them’ on an online monitoring portal of the Department of Consumer Affairs, on a …

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)issued the first set of guidelines for digital lending, to crack down on illegal activities by certain players. Towards addressing concerns that had sprung up, the RBI had constituted a Working Group on ‘digital lending including lending through online platforms and mobile apps’ (WGDL) in January, 2021. The …

In July 2022, Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) witnessed a net outflow of Rs 457 crore as investors parked their money in other asset classes as part of their portfolio rebalancing strategy. This was in comparison to a net inflow of Rs 135 crore in June 2022. Gold ETF, which aims to track the domestic physical gold …

Recently, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Communications stated that there is no impact on the Environment due to Electromagnetic Field levels in India. Electromagnetic fields are a combination of invisible electric and magnetic fields of force. Electric fields are created by differences in …

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Review announced a 50-basis point hike in the repo rates thereby taking the cumulative rate hike over the last three months to 140 basis points.  Policy Repo Rate: 5.40% Repo rate is the rate at which the …

Recently, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) started a project to digitally map soil nutrients in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and central America to increase efficiency in using fertilizers. Also, it will organize and improve existing soil maps. Soil Mapping Soil Mapping is the process of delineating natural bodies of soils, classifying and grouping the delineated …

Recently, the Ministry of finance has informed Lok Sabha that the value of counterfeit currency in the banking system reduced from Rs 43.47 crore in 2016-17 to about Rs 8.26 crore in 2021-22. Counterfeiting, manufacture of false money for gain, a kind of forgery in that something is copied so as …

Government of India has set the target to expand India’s renewable energy installed capacity to 500 GW by 2030. India is also targeting to reduce India’s total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of the nation’s economy by less than 45% by the end of …

According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s (AIMS) annual long-term monitoring report, Australia’s northern and central Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has experienced high levels of coral reef cover over the past 36 years. The researchers also warned that the gains could be quickly reversed due to rising global temperatures. Key highlights of Report …

Researchers at the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have identified a fungus capable of removing toxic, recalcitrant (Not easily controlled), and carcinogenic Pyrene or Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the environment. The researchers used gas chromatographic-mass spectrometer and serotome analysis for their study. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric identification of prominent metabolites helped determine the pyrene …

Recently a report was released titled ‘Outbound Travel and Tourism – An Opportunity Untapped’, which shows India’s outbound tourism will surpass USD 42 billion by 2024. Outbound tourism is the act of travelling ‘out’ of the home country for the purposes of tourism. The Indian outbound travel market is among the fastest growing …

As per a recent study, there are fewer people employed in agriculture today, but the transformation has been weak. Those moving out of farms are working more in construction sites and the informal economy than in factories. In 1993-94, agriculture accounted for close to 62% of the country’s employed labour force. The labour percentage in agriculture (based …

Recently, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications has invited input on the need to revise the legal framework governing the telecom sector. It has also released a consultation paper which suggested the need for a new legal framework that is clear, exact, and in tune with the altering occasions and applied sciences. The legal …

Recently, India has enhanced its climate change targets for 2030. In UNFCCC COP 26 at Glasgow in 2021, the Prime Minister of India had made a series of new promises to strengthen climate actionfrom India. India is now committing itself to at least 45% reduction in emissions intensity of GDP (emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels. The existing …

As a part of the Union Government AatmaNirbhar Bharat’s initiative to promote self-sufficiency in Fertilizers, it is advising and supporting the Indian fertilizer companies to strengthen their backend supply chain. Status of Fertilizer Industry in India Agriculture, including its allied sector, is the largest source of income in India, the sector contributes 19.9% to …

Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired indigenously developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM). ATGMs are primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. The missiles can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and …

Recently, India has enhanced its climate change targets for 2030. In UNFCCC COP 26 at Glasgow in 2021, the Prime Minister of India had made a series of new promises to strengthen climate actionfrom India. India is now committing itself to at least 45% reduction in emissions intensity of GDP (emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels. The existing …

Agriculture, including its allied sector, is the largest source of income in India, the sector contributes 19.9% to the country’s GDP, with 54.6% of the population engrossed in agricultural activities. The agricultural sector largely depends on the fertilizer industry, which manufactures some of the most important raw materials required for the production of crops. In addition, …

Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired indigenously developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM). ATGMs are primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. The missiles can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and …

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has hiked Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2022-23 (October – September) by Rs 15 per quintal. The Centre has also announced a premium of Rs 3.05 per quintal for each 0.1% increase in recovery of sugar over and above 10.25% and reduction …