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A study published recently says that a significant part of the Amazon rainforest has been heading towards a tipping point since the early 2000s. It may be losing its ability to bounce back from extreme events such as drought or fire, threatening to become a dry savanna-like ecosystem. In this study, researchers analyzed 30 years of …

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the setting up National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) as a wholly owned Government of India company. The Finance Minister had announced plans to set up a special purpose vehicle for this purpose in the Union Budget 2021-22. In August, 2021, the government of India launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). …

Recently, the Minister of Finance presented the Union Budget2022-23. This section deals with proposals related to ‘PM GatiShakti’. PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for Multi-Modal Connectivity, launched in October 2021, is an initiative aimed at coordinated planning and execution of infrastructure projects. The objective is to bring down logistics costs. GatiShakti is a digital …

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected the education sector. But even before the pandemic, the lack of an adequate number of universities led to limited options for aspiring students. This created a need to reform the way in which we impart higher education. The surge of digital technologies provided a whole new …

Recently, in its Budget 2022-23, the Government of India announced that its central bank will issue a digital currency as early as 2022-23. It is one crucial decision that most major economies are refusing to make in a hurry. The arguments in favor of digital rupee claim that an electronic representation of India’s legal …

Recently, the Finance Minister, in her Budget 2022 announced a 30% tax on income from virtual digital assets. Additionally, she also proposed a Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) on payment made in relation to the transfer of virtual digital assets at 1% above a monetary threshold. A person (deductor) who is liable to make payment of specified …

Recently, Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2), a payload onboard Chandrayaan-2, has made the first-of-its-kind discovery on the distribution of one of the noble gases, Argon-40. India launched Chandrayaan-2, its second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in July 2019. Chandrayaan-2 Mission Chandrayaan-2 is an integrated 3-in-1 spacecraft consisting of an Orbiter of the Moon, …

Recently, the Finance Minister launched the E-bill Processing system on the occasion of 46th Civil Accounts Day (1st March). It was announced in the Union Budget 2022 to use the technology for facilitating the financial inclusion drive in India. The “Civil Accounts Day” is observed every year to mark the anniversary of the inception of the Indian Civil Accounts …

The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) has deployed PARAM Ganga-a High-Performance Computational (HPC) facility at IIT Roorkee, with a supercomputing capacity of 1.66 Petaflops. Earlier, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru installed the supercomputer ‘ParamPravega’. It has been established by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the approach of NSM. The basic idea behind building a …

Amid the deepening crisis in Ukraine, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided to postpone its firepower demonstration, Exercise Vayu Shakti. The exercise was scheduled in the Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan. The last edition of Vayu Shakti was held in February 2019. What is Ex Vayu Shakti? It is a triennial exercise once every three year. It …

The Ninth Edition of India – Sri Lanka Bilateral Maritime Exercise SLINEX (Sri Lanka–India Naval Exercise) is being conducted at Visakhapatnam. The 8th edition of SLINEX was conducted off Trincomalee, Sri Lanka in October 2020. The exercise is being conducted in two phases, the Harbour Phase at Visakhapatnam followed by the Sea Phase in the Bay of Bengal The Harbour …

A team of scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has discovered a new gin berry species named Glycosmis albicarpa from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. BSI, established in 1890, is the apex research organisation under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEFCC) for carrying out taxonomic and floristic studies on wild plant resources of the country. …

Recently, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways received the maiden voyage of food-grains from Patna to Pandu port via Bangladesh in Guwahati (Assam). Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is planning to run a fixed schedule sailing between NW1 and NW2 heralding a new age of inland water transport for Assam & the Northeast India. The Inland Vessels …

Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released the second part of its sixth assessment report. This second part of the report is about climate change impacts, risks and vulnerabilities, and adaptation options. The first part of this report, on the physical science of climate change in 2021. It had warned that 1.5 degree Celsius warming was likely to be …

Recently, the Indian Army commenced implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging of its ammunition inventory. Earlier in 2021, the Union Government integrated the E-Way Bill (EWB) system with FasTag and RFID. RFID is a type of passive wireless technology that allows for tracking or matching of an item or individual. The system has two …

Recently, India has improved its overall International Intellectual Property (IIP) score from 38.4% to 38.6%, and the country is ranked 43rd out of 55 countries on the International Intellectual Property Index. International Intellectual Property Index is an annual report compiled by the US Chambers of Commerce. This year (2022) the index is topped by the US with 95.4%. …

Recently, the Prime Minister greeted India’s scientific community on the occasion of National Science Day (28th February). National Science Day (NSD) is celebrated annually on 28th February to commemorate the discovery of the Raman Effect by Nobel laureate and Physicist CV Raman on this day in 1928. In 1986, the National Council for Science & Technology asked …

Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released the second part of its sixth assessment report. This second part of the report is about climate change impacts, risks and vulnerabilities, and adaptation options. The first part of this report on the physical science of climate change in 2021. It had warned that 1.5 degree Celsius warming was likely to …

The Russia-Ukraine conflict may give India an opportunity to ship more wheat in the global markets. More than a quarter of the world’s wheat export comes from Russia and Ukraine. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, accounting for more than 18% of international exports. In 2019, Russia and Ukraine together exported more …

In the three years, benefits under Pradhan MantriKisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) have been provided to about 11.78 Crore farmers and funds amounting to Rs 1.82 lakh crore in various installments have been released to the eligible beneficiaries of this scheme across India. PM Kisan It was launched on 24th February, 2019 to supplement financial needs of …