GS

The Supreme Court recently intervened on behalf of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustards over the birds falling dead after colliding with power lines running through their dwindling natural habitats in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Threat from electrocution: A Bench led by Chief Justice of India will examine on a priority basis whether overhead …

The Supreme Court recently asked the Centre and the Election Commission of India to respond to a plea that fresh elections should be conducted in constituencies where the highest number of votes polled are NOTA (None Of The Above). The petition said candidates ‘rejected’ by voters should not be fielded again in the …

Pitting the largest animal on land against a minute insect. That is how the authorities intend to mitigate human-elephant conflict that seems to continue unabated in Kodagu and other parts of the south Karnataka region. Project RE-HAB: A pilot project launched in Kodagu entails installing bee boxes along the periphery of the forest and …

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) moved a Bill in the Lok Sabha recently in which it proposed that the “government” in the National Capital Territory of Delhi meant the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi. The Bill gives discretionary powers to the L-G even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make …

More than half of the faculty positions reserved for the OBCs in Central institutions of higher education are vacant while about 40% of those reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes also remain unfilled. Lacuna: The situation is particularly acute in the elite Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), where more than 60% of …

The Supreme Court ruled that serving bureaucrats must not be appointed as election commissioners to ensure that the independence of the office of the election commissioner is not compromised. Important points: A Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing an appeal by the Goa government against an order of the Bombay High Court. The Bombay High Court …

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh to check illegal influx from Myanmar into India. The instructions have also been given to Border Guarding Force (BGF), i.e. Assam rifles. India already has a lot of Rohingya migrated from Myanmar. India, treats all refugees entering the country as illegal immigrants. In 2020, …

New Space India Limited (NSIL) has been incorporated as a wholly owned GoI Undertaking/Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE). Antrix Ltd is another PSU under the Department of Space that acts as an commercial arm of the ISRO New Space India Limited (NSIL): It functions under the administrative control of Department …

The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to chalk out a plan for studying the mythical Sarasvati river for the next two years, after the earlier panel’s term ended in 2019. About: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on March 10 issued a notification for “reconstitution of the Advisory Committee …

The Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, has said that CSIR-AMPRI has been successfully adopting ‘Waste to Wealth’ strategy as the institute has developed radiation shielding materials utilizing industrial wastes as raw materials. Significantly , a novel process for making lead free and …

THE INDUS Indus Commissioners of India and Pakistan are set to meet on March 23-24 in New Delhi. Indians are committed towards full utilisation of India’s rights under the treaty and believe in amicable solution of issues through discussion. This will be the first meeting of Indus Commissioners after a gap of two and …

HAVING EMBARKED on an ambitious asset monetisation drive to raise additional resources, and hoping to raise Rs 20,000 crore through sale of assets under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2021-22, the Government is looking to divest the remaining equity stake held by Airports Authority of India (AAI) in the Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and …

Ahead of the hearing of a petition by Haryana government seeking permission for mining in Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad in the Supreme Court, environmentalists and the residents are strongly opposed to mining being legalised and demand that forest cover be increased in the State. In an email campaign to the Chief Justice of …

Important points The Centre will allow residents to fill the National Population Register (NPR) form on their own, through the online mode, a month before the door-to-door enumeration by Census officials starts. After filling the form online, residents will get a reference code that they can mention to the field enumerator at …

The Indian Army is in the process of procuring Mobile Integrated Network Terminal (MINT) systems under Make II Category of DAP 2020.  Important points: The system is envisaged as a lightweight, portable, state of art integrated communication solution with satellite backhaul and wireless access system to support voice, video and …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the sounding rocket called RH-560 on March 12, 2021. The rocket was launched in order to study “attitudinal variations” in the neutral winds and plasma dynamics. Important points: The RH-560 rocket was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Sriharikota Range (SHAR). …

The Supreme Court held that independent persons and not bureaucrats should be appointed State Election Commissioners. Important points: It said that giving government employees the additional charge of State Election Commissioners is a “mockery of the Constitution”. The top court directed that the States should appoint independent persons as Election …

The foreign secretary of India stated on March 12, 2020 that the Leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan have agreed to pool finance, manufacture and distribute the capacity in order to send 1 billion coronavirus vaccines across Asia and in the Indo-Pacific region to assist them by …

The National Academy of Letters have announced the names for the “Sahitya Akademi Award 2020 on March 12, 2021. The names were announced during the opening of annual “Festival of Letters” event. Highlights The award will be bestowed upon the politician-writer M Veerappa Moily, poet Arundhathi Subramaniam along with other …

The study by a group of researchers in Italy published recently in the journal Nature Food draws on a new global database that provides estimates of food system greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2015. Important points: One third of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are linked to …