1 December 2021

1 www.journalsofindia.com December 2021


CONTENT

1. AGRICULTURE ...................................................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 FARM LAWS REPEAL BILL, 2021 ...................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 INDIA DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE (IDEA) FRAMEWORK .................................................. 7

1.3 PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAYEE YOJANA ......................................................................................... 8

1.4 NITI AAYOG SIGNED STATEMENT OF INTENT WITH UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAM .......................... 8

1.5 NATIONAL FARMERS DAY, 2021 ...................................................................................................................... 9

2. ECONOMY ............................................................................................................................................................ 10

2.1 NATIONAL MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX BY NITI AAYOG .................................................... 10

2.2 WORLD MIGRATION REPORT, 2022 .............................................................................................................. 11

2.3 INFINITY FORUM ................................................................................................................................................ 12

2.4 WAGE RATE INDEX ............................................................................................................................................ 12

2.5 RBI’S CO-LENDING MODEL .............................................................................................................................. 13

2.6 KERALA’S SILVERLINE PROJECT .................................................................................................................... 14

2.7 CONSUMER PROTECTION (DIRECT SELLING) RULES, 2021 ................................................................... 14

2.8 TOKENISATION ................................................................................................................................................... 15

3. ENVIRONMENT .................................................................................................................................................. 16

3.1 BLACK-AND-ORANGE FLYCATCHER & THE NILGIRI FLYCATCHER ...................................................... 16

3.2 GREAT GREEN WALL (GGW) PROGRAMME................................................................................................. 17

3.3 KYHYTYSUKA SACHICARUM ............................................................................................................................ 18

3.4 CHOCOLATE-BORDERED FLITTER ................................................................................................................ 19

3.5 WORLD SOIL DAY, 2021 .................................................................................................................................... 19

3.6 EARTH'S BLACK BOX ......................................................................................................................................... 20

3.7 FINN’S WEAVER BIRD ....................................................................................................................................... 20

3.8 BUXA TIGER RESERVE....................................................................................................................................... 21

3.9 INDIA VOTES AGAINST THE UN RESOLUTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE ................................................. 21

3.10 INDIAN DESERT CAT ......................................................................................................................................... 22

3.11 CHILLAI KALAN ................................................................................................................................................... 22

3.12 MEENDUM MANJAPPAI SCHEME ................................................................................................................... 23

3.13 FLEX FUEL VEHICLES ........................................................................................................................................ 23

3.14 NILGAI ................................................................................................................................................................... 24

3.15 INDRAVATI TIGER RESERVE ........................................................................................................................... 24

4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS............................................................................................................................................. 25

4.1 G20 'TROIKA' ....................................................................................................................................................... 25

4.2 GLOBAL GATEWAY INITIATIVE ...................................................................................................................... 25


4.3 MINSK AGREEMENTS ON THE UKRAINE CONFLICT ................................................................................. 26

4.4 APARTHEID .......................................................................................................................................................... 27

4.5 SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY .............................................................................................................................. 28

4.6 OBSERVER STATUS TO INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE .................................................................. 28

4.7 ASIA POWER INDEX, 2021 ............................................................................................................................... 29

4.8 SAUDI ARABIA’S TABLIGHI JAMAAT BAN .................................................................................................... 30

4.9 UNCLOS TREATY ................................................................................................................................................. 30

4.10 BHUTAN'S TOP CIVILIAN AWARD TO PM MODI......................................................................................... 31

4.11 CHILE'S YOUNGEST-EVER PRESIDENT ELECTED ...................................................................................... 32

4.12 ORGANISATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION (OIC) ................................................................................... 33

4.13 TIANANMEN MEMORIAL .................................................................................................................................. 33

4.14 MISSION SAGAR .................................................................................................................................................. 34

4.15 UNSC RESOLUTION 2615 .................................................................................................................................. 36

5. GEOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................................... 36

5.1 SARYU NAHAR NATIONAL PROJECT ............................................................................................................. 36

5.2 BALTIC SEA .......................................................................................................................................................... 37

5.3 MIS PORTAL FOR RANKINGS OF STATES/UTS IN LAND ACQUISITION PROJECTS ........................... 38

6. GOVERNANCE ..................................................................................................................................................... 39

GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY INDEX, 2021 ................................................................................................... 39 6.1

SAMPANN PROJECT ........................................................................................................................................... 40 6.2

GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX (GGI), 2021 ...................................................................................................... 40 6.3

7. HISTORY............................................................................................................................................................... 43

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER .......................................................................................................................................... 43 7.1

MAHAPARINIRVAN DIWAS .............................................................................................................................. 44 7.2

DURGA PUJA OF KOLKATA ............................................................................................................................... 44 7.3

SALAR MASUD-RAJA SUHALDEV BATTLE .................................................................................................... 46 7.4

SRI RAMNA KALI MANDIR ............................................................................................................................... 46 7.5

GOA LIBERATION DAY ...................................................................................................................................... 47 7.6

SRI AUROBINDO .................................................................................................................................................. 48 7.7

SIDDHA DAY ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 7.8

110 YEARS OF PUBLIC SINGING OF JANA GANA MANA ............................................................................ 50 7.9

TOLKĀPPIYAM .................................................................................................................................................... 50 7.10

DARA SHIKOH ...................................................................................................................................................... 51 7.11

SANKALP SMARAK ............................................................................................................................................. 52 7.12


8. LAW AND POLICY .............................................................................................................................................. 53

8.1 CHARDHAM PROJECT ........................................................................................................................................ 53

8.2 UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION FUND (USOF) ..................................................................................... 53

8.3 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ....................................................................... 54

8.4 PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE .................................................................................................................... 55

8.5 DAM SAFETY BILL .............................................................................................................................................. 56

8.6 POSHAN TRACKER ............................................................................................................................................. 57

8.7 PRADHAN MANTRI SHRAM YOGI MAANDHAN YOJANA .......................................................................... 57

8.8 DEFAULT BAIL .................................................................................................................................................... 58

8.9 THE HIGH COURT & SUPREME COURT JUDGES (SALARIES & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE)

AMENDMENT BILL, 2021 ................................................................................................................................. 59

8.10 SHYAM PRASAD MUKHERJEE RURAL URBAN MISSION (SPMRM) ........................................................ 60

8.11 ATMANIRBHAR HASTSHILPKAR SCHEME ................................................................................................... 60

8.12 LOK SABHA NOD TO NDPS (AMENDMENT) BILL ....................................................................................... 61

8.13 RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN ............................................................................................................................... 62

8.14 ELECTION LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021 ............................................................................................. 62

8.15 BELAGAVI BORDER DISPUTE BETWEEN MAHARASHTRA AND KARNATAKA................................... 63

8.16 WORD 'ANTI-NATIONAL’ NOT DEFINED IN STATUTES ........................................................................... 64

8.17 KARNATAKA PROTECTION OF RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION BILL, 2021 ................................ 65

8.18 SOYA MEAL DECLARED AS ESSENTIAL COMMODITY ............................................................................... 66

8.19 NITI AAYOG HEALTH INDEX, 2021 ................................................................................................................ 67

8.20 RYTHU BANDHU SCHEME ................................................................................................................................ 68

8.21 INDIA’S VACCINATION PROGRAM FOR AGE GROUP OF 15-18 YRS ....................................................... 68

9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 69

9.1 ABUNDANCE OF LITHIUM IN STARS ............................................................................................................. 69

9.2 LASER COMMUNICATIONS RELAY DEMONSTRATION (LCRD) .............................................................. 70

9.3 IXPE MISSION OF NASA ..................................................................................................................................... 71

9.4 STAND-OFF ANTI-TANK (SANT) MISSILE .................................................................................................... 71

9.5 SUPERSONIC MISSILE ASSISTED TORPEDO SYSTEM (SMART) .............................................................. 72

9.6 SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SSLV) ............................................................................................. 72

9.7 NEW NUCLEAR SITE AT JAITAPUR, MAHARASHTRA ................................................................................ 73

9.8 INDIA'S FIRST GREEN HYDROGEN MICROGRID PROJECT ....................................................................... 74

9.9 PARKER SOLAR PROBE ..................................................................................................................................... 74

9.10 PARVOVIRUS ........................................................................................................................................................ 75

9.11 CONTROLLED AERIAL DELIVERY SYSTEM .................................................................................................. 76

9.12 PRALAY MISSILE ................................................................................................................................................. 76


9.13 JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE ................................................................................................................... 76

9.14 PAXLOVID ............................................................................................................................................................. 77

9.15 ALL ABOUT 'OMICRON' ..................................................................................................................................... 78

9.16 5G TECHNOLOGY ROLLOUT IN INDIA IN 2022 ........................................................................................... 78

10. SECURITY ............................................................................................................................................................. 80

10.1 KONYAK TRIBE ................................................................................................................................................... 80

10.2 EXERCISE EKUVERIN ......................................................................................................................................... 80

10.3 CHIEF OF DEFENSE STAFF (CDS) ................................................................................................................... 81

10.4 SWARNIM VIJAY PARV ...................................................................................................................................... 81

11. SOCIETY ................................................................................................................................................................ 82

11.1 SCHEME FOR PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF ENDANGERED LANGUAGES OF INDIA

(SPPEL) ................................................................................................................................................................. 82

12. PEOPLE IN NEWS ............................................................................................................................................... 83

12.1 JNANPITH AWARD, 2021 .................................................................................................................................. 83

12.2 ROYAL GOLD MEDAL OF UK ............................................................................................................................ 84

12.3 RAMANUJAN PRIZE, 2021 ................................................................................................................................ 85

12.4 DESMOND MPILO TUTU .................................................................................................................................... 86

12.5 P.N.PANICKER ...................................................................................................................................................... 87

12.6 SCIENTIST E.O.WILSON ..................................................................................................................................... 87

13. PLACES IN NEWS ............................................................................................................................................... 88

13.1 GREATER TIPRALAND ....................................................................................................................................... 88

13.2 RAIGAD FORT ...................................................................................................................................................... 89

13.3 GOLAN HEIGHTS ................................................................................................................................................. 89


1. AGRICULTURE

1.1 Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021

In news- Recently, the Parliament has passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021.

About the bill-

• The bill is aimed at repealing three farm laws, namely:

1. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 which is aimed at

allowing trade in agricultural produce outside the existing APMC mandis.

2. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act,

2020, which seeks to provide a framework for contract farming.

3. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which is aimed at removing commodities such

as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities.

• The six-page Bill contains only three sections:

1. The first section defines the title of the Act – the Farm Laws Repeal Act, 2021.

2. The second section has provisions to repeal three farm laws.

3. The third section relates to omitting sub-section (1A) from section 3 of the Essential Commodities

Act, 1955.


• The government had inserted sub-section (1A) in the section 3 of the Essential Commodity Act, 1955 that

empowers the government to control production, supply, distribution, etc., of essential commodities.

• The sub-section (1A) provides a mechanism to regulate the supply of foodstuffs, including cereals, pulses,

potato, onions, edible oilseeds and oils under “extraordinary circumstances” which may include war,

famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.

• It also prescribes the price triggers for imposing stock limits.

• Under the sub-section (1A), any action on imposing stock limit shall be based on price rise and an order

for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued if there is a hundred percent increase

in the retail price of horticultural produce; or fifty per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable

agricultural foodstuffs, over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or average retail

price of last five years, whichever is lower.

1.2 India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) framework

In news- The Union Government has finalized an India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) framework

recently.

About India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) framework-

• IDEA was built by taking the publicly available data as existing in various schemes and linking them with

the digitized land records.

• It provides information from running schemes like the PM Kisan, soil health cards, the national crop

insurance scheme PM Fasal Bima Yojana, etc.

• It helps in laying down the architecture for the Agri-stack in the country and that would serve as a

foundation to build innovative agri-focused solutions leveraging emerging technologies to contribute

effectively in creating a better Ecosystem for Agriculture in India.

• As a first step in this direction, the Government has already initiated building federated farmers’

database that would serve as the core of the envisaged Agristack.

Objectives of IDEA-

The objectives of National Digital Agriculture Ecosystem are as follows:

• To enable the farmer to realize higher income and better profitability through access to right information

at the right time.

• To enable better planning and execution of policies, programs, and schemes of the Central and State

governments, and also of the private sector and Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs).

• To enhance efficiencies in the usage of resources including land, water, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and

farm mechanization by providing easier access to information.

• To provide location-specific and personalized extension services across agriculture lifecycle, with

simultaneous protection of privacy of personal data.

• To build capacities across the gamut of digital agriculture and precision agriculture.

• To promote adoption of standards for interoperability and seamless exchange of information across

ecosystems, while ensuring that the digital rights are properly managed.

• To formulate and leverage PPP frameworks for realizing the ‘power of the digital’.


1.3 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

In news- Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved implementation of Pradhan

Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) for 2021-26 with an outlay of Rs.93,068 crore.

Key updates-

• Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), Har Khet ko Paani (HKKP) and Watershed Development

components have been approved for continuation during 2021-26.

• Total additional irrigation potential creation targeted during 2021-26 under AIBP is 13.88 lakh hectare.

• The inclusion criteria have been relaxed for projects under tribal and drought prone areas under AIBP.

• Central funding of 90% of water components for two national projects, namely Renukaji Dam Project

(Himachal Pradesh) and Lakhwar Multipurpose Project (Uttarakhand) has been provisioned.

• A specific provision for development of springsheds has been included in the program.

About Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) -

• Launched in 2015, PMKSY is an umbrella scheme, providing central grants to the State Governments for

specific activities detailed below.

• PMKSY is amalgamation of various schemes namely

○ Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP).

○ Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP) including Command Area Development (CAD), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) and

Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies [Implemented by MoWR, RD & GR].

○ Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) [Implemented by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare]

○ Watershed Development (WD) [Implemented by Department of Land Resources].

• AIBP aims for financial support to irrigation projects.

• Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP) aims for enhancement of physical access on the farm and expansion of cultivable area

under assured irrigation.

• Watershed Development component focuses on development of rainfed areas towards soil and water

conservation, regeneration of groundwater, arresting runoff and promoting extension activities related to

water harvesting and management

1.4 NITI Aayog signed Statement of Intent with UN World Food Program

In news- Recently, NITI Aayog signed a Statement of Intent with United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on

20th December 2021.

Key updates-

• The partnership focuses on mainstreaming of millets and supporting India in taking lead globally in

knowledge exchange using the opportunity of 2023 as an International Year of Millets.

• It also aims at building resilient livelihoods for small-holder farmers and adaptation capacities to climate

change and transforming food systems.

• The Sol focuses on strategic and technical collaboration between NITI Aayog and WFP, to strengthen the

climate resilient agriculture for enhanced food and nutrition security in India

• The parties will be working on the following activities:


• Joint development of a compendium of good practices around millets mainstreaming in priority states and

development of a scaling up strategy.

• To provide technical support for scaling up of millets mainstreaming through intense engagement in select

states with support from state governments, IIMR & other associated institutions.

• Parties will jointly organize a national consultation for line ministries of the Government of India,

concerned departments of State governments, select academic institutions and organizations working in

the field of millets mainstreaming.

• To support leveraging India's expertise to benefit other developing countries for millets mainstreaming by

creation of knowledge management platforms and facilitation of knowledge exchange.

The outcome of this partnership will be achieved in following four phases:

• Phase I: Development of a best practice compendium around millet mainstreaming and a scale-up

strategy.

• Phase II: Support scale-up of millet mainstreaming through knowledge sharing and intense engagement

with select states.

• Phase III: Leverage India’s expertise to support developing countries for millet mainstreaming.

• Phase IV: Working on building capacities for climate resilient and adaptive livelihood practices.

United Nations World Food Program (WFP)-

• The WFP is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations.

• It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, the largest one focused on hunger and food security, and

the largest provider of school meals.

• Founded in 1961, (at the behest of US President Dwight Eisenhower) after the 1960 Food and Agriculture

Organization (FAO) Conference.

• It is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries.

• WFP launched its first programmes in 1963 by the FAO and the UNGA on a three-year experimental basis,

supporting the Nubian population in Sudan.

• In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

• It is funded entirely by voluntary donations.

• WFP is governed by a 36-member Executive Board.

• The European Union is a permanent observer in WFP and, as a major donor, participates in the work of its

executive board.

• The Logistics Cluster is an Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) humanitarian coordination mechanism

whose primary role is supporting emergency responses.

• It works closely with its sister organizations, the FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

• The largest donors are the United States government followed by the European Union.

1.5 National Farmers day, 2021

In news- National Farmers’ Day is celebrated across the nation on December 23 to commemorate the birth

anniversary of the fifth Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh.

About Chaudary Charan Singh-

• He was born into a middle-class peasant family in Uttar Pradesh on December 23, 1902.


• He served as the 5th Prime Minister of India between 28 July 1979 and 14 January 1980.

• Greatly influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he took an active part in the fight for

independence.

• After that, his political career largely focused on socialism in rural India.

• He was active from 1931 in the Ghaziabad District Arya Samaj as well as the Meerut District Indian

National Congress.

• Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the ‘Champion of India’s peasants’.

• He served twice as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, where he played a major role in shaping land reforms.

• He was behind several major farmer-forward Bills, including the Land Utilisation Bill of 1939 and the Debt

Redemption Bill in 1939.

• While serving as agriculture minister in 1952, he led UP in its efforts to abolish the zamindari system.

• He also played a major role in drafting the UP Zamindari and Land Reforms Bill himself.

• He founded the Kisan Trust on 23 December, 1978, a non-political, non-profit making body with the aim

of educating India’s rural masses against injustice, and fostering solidarity among them.

• The aims and objects of the Kisan Trust are to educate India’s rural masses against exploitation and

injustice, to foster unity and solidarity among them

• He also founded Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian Farmers’ Union) a non-partisan farmer’s representative

organization in India.

• The western Uttar Pradesh branch of the union was founded on 17 October 1986 by Mahendra Singh

Tikait.

• Chaudhary Charan Singh breathed his last on January 14, 1980 and a memorial dedicated to him was built

at Raj Ghat and is called ‘Kisan Ghat.’

• The Union government decided to recognise Choudhary Charan Singh’s contribution to the agriculture

sector and welfare of farmers by celebrating his birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas in 2001.

2. ECONOMY

2.1 National Multidimensional Poverty Index by NITI Aayog

In news- NITI Aayog has released the first ever National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMPI) recently.

Key highlights of the index-

• It was developed by the NITI Aayog in consultation with 12 ministries and in partnership with state

governments and the index publishing agencies, namely, Oxford University’s Oxford Poverty and Human

Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

• The National MPI Project is aimed at deconstructing the Global MPI and creating a globally aligned and yet

customised India MPI for drawing up comprehensive Reform Action Plans with the larger goal of improving

India’s position in the Global MPI rankings.

• It is calculated using the household microdata collected at the unit-level for the NFHS-4 (which was

conducted between 2015 and 2016) that is used to derive the baseline multidimensional poverty.

• NFHS is conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare.

• The Index is calculated using 12 indicators - nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, antenatal care, years

of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and


bank account that have been grouped under three dimensions namely, health, education and standard of

living.

• According to Global MPI 2021, India’s rank is 66 out of 109 countries.

• The NMPI enables estimation of poverty not only at the level of the states but also for all the 700-plus

districts across the 12 indicators, capturing simultaneous deprivations and indicator-wise contribution to

poverty.

• As per NMPI, Bihar also has the highest number of malnourished people followed by Jharkhand, Madhya

Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

• Kerala, Goa, and Sikkim have the lowest percentage of population being multidimensionally poor at 0.71

per cent, 3.76 percent and 3.82 per cent, respectively.

• Among the Union Territories (UTs), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (27.36 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir, and

Ladakh (12.58), Daman & Diu (6.82 per cent) and Chandigarh (5.97 per cent), have emerged as the poorest

UTs in India.

• The proportion of poor in Puducherry at 1.72 percent is the lowest among the Union Territories, followed

by Lakshadweep at 1.82 per cent, Andaman & Nicobar Islands at 4.30 per cent and Delhi at 4.79 percent.

2.2 World Migration Report, 2022

In news- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the UN has published the World Migration Report

2022 recently.

About the report-

• The World Migration Report (WMR) is IOM’s flagship publication, having been produced biennially since

2000.

• The 2022 edition is the eleventh in the world migration report series.

• It brings into focus the displacement and migration caused by climate change induced factors, like extreme

disasters and weather events.

• As per the new report, more people are being displaced by disasters (increased to 40.5 million in 2020,

from 31.5 million in 2019) caused by the changing climate than conflicts, reversing a historical trend.

• Extreme temperatures have displaced some 46,000 people anew; droughts caused new displacement of

32,000 people in 2020.

• Storms accounted for 14.6 million displacements and floods for 14.1 million.

• The report quoted the regular data collation by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

• It has found that the Philippines experienced the highest absolute numbers of new disaster

displacements in 2020 (approximately 5.1 million).

• Asia reported the largest displacement due to disasters.

• China reported five million new disaster displacements by the end of 2020.

• India reported nearly four million new displacements due to disasters.

• In 2020, India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt were (in descending order) the top five remittance

recipient countries.

• When compared with the size of the population in each region, shares of international migrants in 2020

were highest in Oceania, North America and Europe, where international migrants represented,

respectively, 22 per cent, 16 per cent and 12 percent of the total population.

• In comparison, the share of international migrants is relatively small in Asia and Africa (1.8% and 1.9%,

respectively) and Latin America and the Caribbean (2.3%).


• The current United Nations global estimate is that there were around 281 million international migrants in

the world in 2020, which equates to 3.6 per cent of the global population.

International Organization for Migration(IOM)-

• Established in 1951, IOM is an intergovernmental organization that provides services and advice concerning

migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant

workers.

• Its headquarters is in Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland.

• IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management:

○ Migration and development

○ Facilitating migration

○ Regulating migration

○ Forced migration.

• It has 173 member states with 8 states holding observer status.

• In September 2016, IOM became a related organization of the United Nations.

• In May 2021, IOM launched a new World Migration Report web portal that integrates fact-based migration

narratives with interactive data visualizations on the most up-to-date global migration data and trends.

• This digital format offers an intuitive representation of the data by displaying interactive visualizations of

global migration trends

2.3 InFinity Forum

In news- Recently, the Prime Minister of India inaugurated InFinity Forum, a thought leadership Forum on

FinTech via video conferencing.

About the forum-

• InFinity Forum was hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), under the aegis of

Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg on December 3 and 4, 2021.

• Indonesia, South Africa and the U.K. are partner countries in the first edition of the Forum.

• It brings together the leading minds of the world in policy, business, and technology to discuss and come

up with actionable insight into how technology and innovation can be leveraged by the FinTech industry

for inclusive growth and serving humanity at large.

• Theme of the forum was 'Beyond'; with various sub themes including

○ FinTech beyond boundaries, with governments and businesses focussing beyond the geographical

boundaries in the development of global stack to promote financial inclusiveness.

○ FinTech beyond Finance, by having convergence with emerging areas such as SpaceTech,

GreenTech and AgriTech to drive sustainable development.

○ FinTech Beyond Next, with focus on how Quantum Computing could impact the nature of Fintech

industry in the future and promote new opportunities.

• NITI Aayog, NASSCOM, FICCI and Invest India are the domestic partners of the programme.

2.4 Wage Rate Index In news- The expert group of the Ministry of Labour & Employment has released the new series of Wage Rate

Index (WRI) with base year 2016=100 that will replace the old series with base 1963-65=100.


About Wage Rate Index (WRI)-

• WRI is compiled and maintained by the Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour &

Employment (MoL&E).

• It has been revised as per the recommendations of International Labour Organization (ILO), National

Statistical Commission (NSC) etc.

• The new series has increased the scope and coverage in terms of number of industries, sample size,

occupations under selected industries, weightage of industries etc.

• The New WRI Series would be compiled twice a year on point-to-point half yearly basis, as on 1st January

and 1st July of every year.

• About 700 occupations have been covered under 37 selected industries in the new series.

• At sector level, the highest WRI in 2020 (half yearly 2) was reported in Plantation Sector (126.5) followed

by Manufacturing Sector (119.6) and Mining Sector (116.7).

• Among 37 Industries covered, the highest WRI was recorded in Drugs & Medicines (131.4), followed by

Sugar (129.8), Motor Cycles (128.1), Jute Textiles (127.9) and Tea Plantation (127.7).

• On the other hand, the lowest WRI was recorded in Rubber Plantation (106.7), followed by Paper (110.7),

Castings & Forgings (111.3), Woollen Textiles (111.9) and Synthetic Textiles (112.0).

• Average Daily Absolute Wage Rates stood at Rs. 588.5 in 2020 (half yearly 2) as compared to Rs. 576.1 in

2020(half yearly 1), registering a growth rate of 1.6 per cent.

• Among three sectors covered during 2020 (half yearly 2), the highest Average Daily Absolute Wage Rate

was recorded in the Mining Sector (Rs. 1604.3), followed by Manufacturing Sector (Rs. 475.0) and lowest

(Rs. 212.3) in the Plantation Sector.

• The weight of the Manufacturing sector has increased substantially over time whereas the weight of the

Plantation sector and Mining sector has declined.

• Oil Mining Industry has been newly introduced in the basket in place of Mica Mines Industry, to make the

mining sector more representatives of the three different kinds of Mining viz. Coal, Metal and Oil.

2.5 RBI’s Co-lending model

In news- Several banks have entered into co-lending 'master agreements' with NBFCs following November 2020’s

RBI approval of co-lending model.

About Co-lending model (CLM)-

• The CLM, which is an improvement over the co-origination of loan schemes announced by the RBI in

September 2018, seeks to provide greater flexibility to the lending institutions.

• The primary focus of the scheme, rechristened as "Co-Lending Model" (CLM), is to improve the flow of

credit to the unserved and underserved sector of the economy and make available funds to the ultimate

beneficiary at an affordable cost, considering the lower cost of funds from banks and greater reach of the

NBFCs.

• Under CLM banks can provide loans along with NBFCs(including HFCs) to priority sector borrowers based

on a prior agreement.

• Under priority sector norms, banks are mandated to lend a particular portion of their funds to specified

sectors, like weaker sections of the society, agriculture, MSME and social infrastructure.

• The co-lending banks will take their share of the individual loans on a back-to-back basis in their books.

• However, NBFCs shall be required to retain a minimum of 20% share of the individual loans on their books

(This means 80 per cent of the risk will be with the banks — who will take the big hit in case of a default).


• As per a notification by RBI, NBFCs will be the single point of interface for the customers and shall enter

into a loan agreement with the borrowers.

• The ultimate borrower may be charged an all-inclusive interest rate as may be agreed upon by both the

lenders conforming to the extant guidelines applicable to both.

• All transactions (disbursements/ repayments) between the banks and NBFCs relating to CLM have to be

routed through an escrow account maintained with the banks, in order to avoid inter-mingling of funds.

• With regard to grievance redressal, suitable arrangements must be put in place by the co-lenders to

resolve any complaint registered by a borrower with the NBFC within 30 days.

• If the complaint is not resolved, the borrower would have the option to escalate the same with the

concerned Banking Ombudsman/Ombudsman for NBFCs or the Customer Education and Protection Cell

(CEPC) in RBI.

2.6 Kerala’s SilverLine project

In news- Due to its environmental impact, protests are taking place in Kerala against SilverLine, a semi high-

speed railway project.

About Silver Line project-

• The 529.45 km SilverLine corridor connects Kasaragod in the north and Thiruvananthapuram in the south,

with an operating speed of 200kmph.

• It also covers 11 districts through 11 stations.

• The intermediate stations include Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kochi Airport, Thrissur,

Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur.

• At every 500 metres, there will be under-passages with service roads.

• The project, estimated to cost Rs 63,940 crore, is billed as one of the biggest infrastructure plans being

pushed by the state government.

• The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL),

is 2025.

• KRDCL, or K-Rail, is a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways

created to execute big railway projects.

• The project will have trains of electric multiple unit (EMU) type, each with preferably nine cars expandable

to 12.

• The trains can run at a maximum speed of 220 km/hr on a standard gauge track, completing journeys in

either direction in under four hours.

2.7 Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules, 2021

In news- Recently, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution notified Consumer Protection

(Direct Selling) Rules, 2021.

About Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules-

• These Rules shall apply to:

○ All goods and services bought or sold through direct selling. ○ All models of direct selling. ○ All direct selling entities offering goods and services to consumers in India.


○ All forms of unfair trade practices across all models of direct selling and also to a direct selling entity which is not established in India, but offers goods or services to consumers in India.

• As per the new rules, Direct selling entity and direct sellers are prohibited from:

o Promoting a Pyramid Scheme or enroll any person to such scheme or participate in such

arrangement in any manner whatsoever in the garb of doing direct selling business.

o Participate in money circulation schemes in the garb of doing direct selling business.

• For ensuring compliance of these rules by direct selling entities and direct sellers, every State

Government sets up a mechanism to monitor or supervise the activities of direct sellers and direct selling

entities.

• Every direct selling entity to establish an adequate grievance redressal mechanism and display the current

and updated name, contact details.

• Grievance redressal officer to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight

working hours of receipt of such complaint and redresses the complaint normally within a period of one

month.

• Every direct selling entity shall appoint a nodal officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance

with the provisions of the Act and the rules.

• The Rules provide for certain obligation upon Direct Selling Entities which inter alia include :-

○ Incorporation under the Companies Act, 2013 or if a partnership firm, be registered under the Partnership Act, 1932, or if a limited liability partnership, be registered under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008.

○ Have a minimum of one physical location as its registered office within India. ○ Make self-declaration to the effect that Direct Selling Entity has complied with the provisions of the

Direct Selling rules and is not involved in any Pyramid Scheme or money circulation scheme. ○ Have a prior written contract with its direct sellers in order to authorize them to sell or offer to sell

its goods or services, and the terms of such agreement shall be just, fair and equitable. ○ Ensure that all its direct sellers have verified identities and physical addresses and issue identity

cards and documents only to such direct sellers. ○ Create adequate safeguards to ensure that goods and services offered by its direct sellers conform

to applicable laws. ○ Be liable for the grievances arising out of the sale of goods or services by its direct sellers.

2.8 Tokenisation

In news- Recently, the Reserve Bank of India has extended the implementation date of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation norms by six months to June 30, 2022.

New guidelines of RBI-

The following are new guidelines from RBI that will come into effect starting July 1, 2022:

• E-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart and any online delivery platforms such as Zomato and

Swiggy won’t be able to save customers’ credit/debit card details on their servers.

• This comes after RBI’s auto debit policy, which came into effect in October, restricting any automatic

recurring payment services including utility bills, phone recharges, DTH, and even OTT services such as

Netflix, Amazon prime among others.

• RBI wants all the merchants and e-commerce firms to delete all saved card details of their customers

available on their servers and mandate the adoption of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation as an alternative to

card storage (applies to domestic, online purchases)..


• According to the central bank, all merchants need to use encrypted tokens for transactions—and this

should be achieved through tokenisation.

• As per the rules, card service providers have to send a notification to customers five days prior to the date

of payment and debit will be allowed only after the customer approves the payment.

About tokenisation-

• It refers to the replacement of actual card details with a unique alternate code called the ‘token‘, which is

unique for a combination of card, token requestor (i.e. the entity which accepts request from the customer for

tokenization of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a corresponding token) and identified

device.

• A tokenised card transaction is considered safer as the actual card details are not shared with the merchant

during transaction processing.

• Customers who do not have the tokenisation facility will have to key in their name, 16-digit card number,

expiry date and CVV each time they order something online.

• If a credit/debit card is used at a Point of Sale (POS) machine or on an e-commerce market place, the credit

card number is transferred to the tokenisation system which generates 16 random characters, also called

‘token’, to replace the original credit card number.

• In case of multiple cards, each will have to be tokenised.

• Normally, in a tokenized card transaction, parties / stakeholders involved are merchant, the merchant’s

acquirer, card payment network, token requestor, issuer and customer.

• However, an entity, other than those indicated, may also participate in the transaction.

• It aims at improving the safety and security of the payment system.

3. ENVIRONMENT

3.1 Black-and-orange Flycatcher & the Nilgiri Flycatcher

In news- A new study has revealed that the Black-and-orange Flycatcher(BOF) & the Nilgiri Flycatcher(NIF), two

species endemic to the Western Ghats, could suffer a loss of 31 percent and 46 per cent of their range

respectively by 2050 due to climate change.

About the study-

• Researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, developed species distribution models for

two both, BOF and NIF.

• They did this to understand the current potential suitability and possible responses of the species to future

climate change using the MaxEnt algorithm.

• MaxEnt, which stands for ‘maximum entropy modelling’, predicts species’ occurrences by finding the

distribution that is most spread out, or closest to uniform, while taking into account the limits of the

environmental variables of known locations.

• As per the study, about 75 per cent of the currently suitable areas of both species lie outside the protected

area network in the Western Ghats.

• Future predictions for BOF indicate a 30.82 percent loss in suitable areas under the warming scenario

called ‘RCP 8.5’.


Black-and-orange Flycatcher (BOF)-

• BOF is a species of flycatcher endemic to the central and southern Western Ghats, the Nilgiris.

• It is also found in Biligiri Rangana, Kannan Devan Hills and Palni hill ranges in southern India.

• It is unique among the Ficedula flycatchers in having rufous coloration on its back.

• The male is distinctly black headed with black wings.

• The female has the black replaced by dark brown and has a light eye-ring.

• They prefer areas with high leaf litter and undergrowth in open shola grassland habitats.

• IUCN status: Least concerned.

The Nilgiri Flycatcher (NIF)-

• It is an Old World flycatcher with a very restricted range in the hills of southern India.

• It was formerly referred to as the Nilgiri verditer flycatcher because of its similarity to the verditer

flycatcher.

• Nilgiri verditer is a winter migrant to the Nilgiris, which, however, has distinct dark lores and a lighter

shade of blue.

• This small and somewhat long-tailed flycatcher is about 13 centimetres (5.1 in).

• It is dark steely indigo blue with some violet-blue on the forehead and darker lores.

• The female is duller with dark brown on the upperparts and dark grey below.

• Like most flycatchers, it makes sallies to capture insects and returns to its perch.

• It forages mainly in the lower storey but can sometimes be found on top of the canopy.

• It is found mainly in the higher altitude shola forests of the Western Ghats,Nilgiris, Palnis, Anamalai ranges,

the Brahmagiri, Baba Budan and Biligirrangan hills.

• IUCN status: Least concerned.

3.2 Great Green Wall (GGW) programme

In news- The Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative has received 14 billion Dollars in new funding

in 2021.

About Great Green Wall (GGW) programme-

• It aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded ecosystems across 11 countries in the Sahel region.

• The GGW snakes the Sahel region from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East of Africa.

• It was launched in 2007 by the African Union to promote sustainable development and climate change

mitigation.

• The 11 countries selected as intervention zones for the initiative are Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea,

Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

• By 2030, it seeks to sequester 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs. This will support

communities living along the Wall to:

○ Grow fertile land, one of humanity’s most precious natural assets. ○ Grow economic opportunities for the world’s youngest population. ○ Grow food security for the millions that go hungry every day. ○ Grow climate resilience in a region where temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on

Earth. ○ Grow a new world wonder spanning 8000 km across Africa.


• The GGW offers multiple (environmental, social and economic) benefits on an epic scale, touching on 15 of

the 17 United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.

• The initiative brings together African countries and international partners, under the leadership of the

African Union Commission and Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall.

• The Global Mechanism (GM) of the UNCCD implemented a flagship initiative under the Great Green Wall

called FLEUVE.

• The project was financed by the European Commission in the amount of about seven million Euro and was

implemented from 2014-19.

• FLEUVE aimed at strengthening the capacities of local communities to help boost investments in land

restoration and created employment opportunities or ‘green jobs.

• The project was driven by local people themselves to strengthen community resilience to land

degradation, drought and climate variability.

3.3 Kyhytysuka sachicarum

In news- A team of researchers has discovered a new marine reptile in Central Columbia and the specimen, with

a metre-long skull, has been named Kyhytysuka sachicarum.

About Kyhytysuka sachicarum-

• Kyhytysuka means ‘the one that cuts with something sharp’ in an indigenous language from the region in

central Colombia.

• It has been named so to honour the ancient Muisca culture that existed there for millennia.


• Kyhytysuka was a mid-sized ophthalmosaurus with heterodont dentition and several adaptations

suggesting that it was a macropredatory vertebrate hunter living in shallow waters.

• The animal shows the evolution of a unique arsenal of teeth to devour its prey against other ichthyosaurs

that had small, equally sized teeth for feeding on small prey.

• The researchers compared it with other Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs and defined a new type of

ichthyosaur.

• The first definitive ichthyosaur remains in Colombia were discovered in the 1970s in the Paja Formation of

Villa de Leyva.

• Whereas other ichthyosaurs had small, equally sized teeth for feeding on small prey, this new species

modified its tooth sizes and spacing to build an arsenal of teeth for dispatching large prey, like big fishes

and other marine reptiles.

• The species comes from an important transitional time during the Early Cretaceous period when the

Earth was coming out of a relatively cool period, had rising sea levels, and the supercontinent Pangea was

splitting into northern and southern landmasses.

3.4 Chocolate-bordered Flitter

In news- Recently, the species of butterfly, now named the Chocolate-bordered Flitter, was found in Sikkim’s

Dzongu, the ‘land of butterflies’.

About the Chocolate-bordered Flitter-

• It carries the scientific name Zographetus dzonguensis which is named after Dzongu in north Sikkim.

• Its closest relatives are Zographetus pangi in Guangdong, and Zographetus hainanensis in Hainan, both

in southeastern China, close to Hong Kong.

• This species is a golden yellow butterfly with brown borders and spots.

• The physical appearance of the species differs slightly and the internal structures of the males also differ

slightly.

• Dzongu, a Lepcha protected area in North Sikkim, is a biodiversity hotspot.

• Its richness in butterflies had already been recorded way back in the mid-19th century.

• It is bounded by the Teesta River in the south-east, Tholung Chu River in the north-east and by mighty

mountains in the west. It borders the Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve.

3.5 World Soil day, 2021

In news- World Soil Day is observed every year on December 5th.

About World Soil Day-

• It aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, fighting soil salinization, increasing soil awareness and encouraging societies to improve soil health.

• Theme of 2021 edition is to ‘halt soil salinization, boost soil productivity’. • The day was chosen as December 5 to mark the birthday of Thailand’s king, HM King Bhumibol

Adulyadej, who formally made this event happen. • The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) initiated the day under the leadership of

the king of Thailand.


• The International of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in the year 2002 offered a global day to raise awareness of soil degradation effects and prevention.

• Finally, in 2013, the United Nations General Assembly decided to dedicate a day and its first official day started on December 05, 2014.

3.6 Earth's Black Box

In news- Scientists are developing a black box for earth in Tasmania, an Australian island.

About Earth's Black Box-

• It is being developed by researchers from the University of Tasmania.

• This vault is a 33-foot-long box made of 3-inch-thick steel.

• It will record the Earth’s warming weather patterns and it will listen to what we say and do.

• It will create an archive that could be critical to piecing together the missteps should humanity be

destroyed by climate change.

• It will operate much like a plane’s flight recorder, which records an aircraft’s final moments before

crashing.

• It will record leaders’ actions (or inaction) by scraping the internet for keywords relating to climate change

from newspapers, social media and peer-reviewed journals.

• It will collect daily metrics, including average oceanic and land temperatures, atmospheric carbon dioxide

concentration and biodiversity loss.

• Its data will be stored on a giant, automated, solar-powered hard drive with a capacity to collect

information for about 50 years.

• This steel vault will be constructed in Tasmania, an Australian island state off the south coast.

• Tasmania was chosen for its relative geopolitical and environmental safety, and the monolith will be

designed to be resilient against threats including cyclones, earthquakes and, with its sloped walls, attacks

by vandals.

3.7 Finn’s weaver bird

In news- Due to decline in the population in India (less than 500) Finn's weaver, which until now was listed as

“vulnerable” in the IUCN red list has been uplisted to “endangered” category.

About the bird-

• Finn's weaver or Finn's baya (Ploceus megarhynchus), also known as yellow weaver, is a species of

weaver bird found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal.

• Two races are known- the nominate from the Kumaon area and salimalii from the eastern Terai. • The species was named by Hume based on a specimen obtained at Kaladhungi near Nainital. • The species was rediscovered in the Terai near Calcutta by Frank Finn. • Oates called it "The Eastern Baya" in 1889 and Stuart Baker called it Finn's baya in the second edition

(1925) of the Fauna of British India. • Male is predominantly yellow with a dark cheek patch. • Female is streaky brown above and paler below; lacks the strong streaking and facial patterns of Streaked

and Black-breasted Weavers. • It is primarily found in Terai grasslands in Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh, apart from a few

pockets in Assam.


• Destruction of habitat is the primary reason for the sharp decline in the number of these birds. • The other birds from India that underwent reshuffle in IUCN list are Nicobar Imperial-pigeon, Green

Imperial-pigeon and Mountain Hawk-eagle (moved from Least Concerned to Nearly Threatened in the list). • The fifth bird which is a matter of great concern is Lesser Florican which saw movement from

"Endangered" to "Critically Endangered" in the upgraded list (It is only found in India, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat).

3.8 Buxa Tiger Reserve

In news- Recently, a Royal Bengal Tiger has been spotted in Buxa tiger reserve (BTR) in West Bengal after at

least 23 years. It was in 1998 that images of a Royal Bengal tiger were last captured at the reserve.

About Buxa tiger reserve-

• It is a tiger reserve in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India, covering an area of 760 sq km.

• It was created in 1983 as the 15th tiger reserve (which is also a national park) in India.

• Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan.

• The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR and the eastern boundary touches that of the

Assam state.

• The fragile "Terai Ecosystem" constitutes a part of this reserve.

• The Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan is contiguous to the north of BTR and Manas National Park lies

east of BTR.

• BTR serves as an international corridor for Asian elephant migration between India and Bhutan.

• Some of the rivers flowing through this reserve are Jayanti, Sankosh, Raidak, Churnia, Turturi, Dima,

Nonani, Phashkhawa.

• At least 284 bird species inhabit the reserve.

• Mammals present include Asian elephant, gaur, Sambar deer, clouded leopard, Indian leopard

• The main trees are sal, champa, gamhar, simul and chikrasi.

• The forest of the reserve is classified as the Moist Tropical forest.

• Rajabhatkhawa Vulture Breeding Center at Buxa Tiger Reserve for the breeding and conservation of

endangered Indian vultures was established as the second such center with the help of Bombay Natural

History Society and British charity Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

• It emulates the success of the first ever such center at Jatayu Conservation Breeding Center, Pinjore.

3.9 India votes against the UN Resolution of Climate Change

In news- Recently, India voted against a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) linking

climate to security.

Key Highlights-

The draft resolution was sponsored by Ireland and Nigeria.

The resolution sought to enable the Security Council to take up routine discussions on climate change from

the perspective of its impact on peace and conflicts worldwide.

As of now, the appropriate UN forum to discuss all matters on climate change is the UN Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose more than 190 members meet multiple times every year.


Niger, which holds the UNSC presidency for December, organised a debate on December 9 titled

‘Maintenance of international peace and security: security in the context of terrorism and climate change.’

One of the objectives of the debate was to examine how terrorism and security risks could be linked to

climate change.

India and Russia were the only countries to have opposed the draft resolution; China abstained.

India has stated that it was an attempt to shift climate talks from the UNFCCC to the Security Council and a

“step backward” for collective action on the issue.

India also said that if the Security Council indeed takes over the responsibility on this issue, a few states will

then have a free hand in deciding on all climate-related issues, which is clearly neither desirable nor

acceptable,

It was also mentioned that the draft resolution would undermine progress made at Glasgow, where the

latest round of talks under the UNFCCC, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), concluded in

November.

3.10 Indian Desert Cat

In news- An Indian Desert Cat has been spotted for the first time in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve

(PTR) recently.

About Indian Desert Cat-

• Indian Desert Cat also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and Indian desert cat.

• This cat is found in deserts and can survive without water.

• It is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into

western India, western China and southern Mongolia.

• The toes of the species have cushion-like hair which helps it balance the fluctuating desert temperatures.

• It mostly eats fish as its food.

• Its fur is light sandy, and small rounded spots cover its upper body.

• IUCN status: Least Concern.

• It is included on CITES Appendix II.

• It is also protected under schedule I of the Wildlife protection Act 1972.

• In India, it mainly inhabits the Thar Desert and is associated with scrub desert.

• The name of the Indian Desert Cat was mentioned in old documents of the PTR, but the photographic

presence of this species was not recorded earlier.

• Earlier, the presence of a desert cat was recorded in the state’s Nauradehi sanctuary.

3.11 Chillai Kalan

In news- The harshest period of cold, called 'Chilai Kalan' started on December 21 in the Kashmir valley.

About Chillai Kalan/Chillia Kalan

• Chillai Kalan is a Persian word which means Major Cold and it is the local name given to the 40 day period

(starting from 21 December to January 29 every year) of harsh winter in Kashmir.

• It is followed by a 20-day long Chillai-Khurd (small cold) that occurs between January 31 and February 19

and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 2.


• Interestingly, as per Persian tradition, the night of 21st December is celebrated as Shab-e Yalda - “Night

of Birth'', or Shab-e Cheleh – “Night of Forty”.

• Iranian Azerbaijanis call it Chilla Gejasi, which marks the beginning of the first 40 days of winter.

• The first day of ‘Chillai kalan’ is to be celebrated as ‘World Pheran Day'.

• During this period use of Pheran (Kashmiri dress) and a traditional firing pot called Kanger increases.

• During Chillai-Kalan, the weather in Kashmir valley continues to remain dry and cold with minimum

temperatures hovering below the freezing point and chances of snowfall are most frequent and

maximum.

• The snow that falls during this time period freezes and lasts longer.

• It is this snow that adds to the glaciers of the Valley and replenishes the perennial reservoirs that feed

the rivers, streams and lakes in Kashmir during the months of summer.

3.12 Meendum Manjappai scheme

In news- The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has launched the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ scheme recently.

About the scheme-

• It seeks to promote the use of cloth bags by the public and discourage the use of plastic bags, which have

become rampant in the State over the years.

• ‘Meendum Manjappai’ campaign was organized by the state pollution control board.

• The campaign is known as 'Meendum Manjapai Vizhipunarvu Iyakkam' (Back to Yellow Cloth Bag

Awareness Campaign).

• The campaign aims at reducing single-use plastic, which causes irreparable damage to the environment

and natural resources.

What is single-use plastic?

• Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.

• These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food

packaging.

• Petroleum based plastic is not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into

the water and finds its way into the ocean.

• Although plastic will not biodegrade (decompose into natural substances like soil,) it will degrade (break down)

into tiny particles after many years.

• In the process of breaking down, it releases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the

plastic) which make their way into our food and water supply.

3.13 Flex fuel vehicles In news- Recently, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways called for the manufacturing of Flex

Fuel Vehicles (FFV) and Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) complying with BS-6 Norms.

. About Flex fuel vehicles (FFV)-

• FFV is also called a dual-fuel vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine

designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or methanol fuel,

and both fuels are stored in the same common tank.


• The FFV are capable to run on a combination of 100% petrol or 100% bio-ethanol and their blends, along

with strong hybrid electric technology in case of FFV-SHEVs

• They are distinguished from bi-fuel vehicles, where two fuels are stored in separate tanks and the engine

runs on one fuel at a time, for example, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or

hydrogen.

• In order to accelerate the introduction of Flex Fuel vehicles, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme

has included automobile & auto components and auto components of flex fuel engines.

• NITI Aayog, after acknowledging the strong foundation for the Ethanol blending programme (EBP), has

formulated the road map for Ethanol blending for the period 2020-2025.

3.14 Nilgai

In news- The State government of Bihar has chalked out a plan to sterilize the nilgais instead of culling them to

control their population in view of repeated demand by farmers to save their crops.

About Nilgai-

• The nilgai is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent.

• The scientific name of the nilgai is Boselaphus tragocamelus.

• It is also called the Blue Bull, Ghurparas in Bihar.

• The vernacular name "nilgai" comes from the fusion of the Hindi words nil ("blue") and gai ("cow") and the

word was first recorded in use in 1882.

• Sexual dimorphism is prominent and the males are larger than females and differ in colouration.

• They live in dry areas with a variety of land types.

• It occurs in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Significant numbers occur in the Terai lowlands in the foothills of

the Himalayas.

• It is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and Hindus accord it the same sacred status as cattle (both

belong to the subfamily Bovinae).

• Accordingly, the nilgai is the only one of the four Indian antelopes that is still abundant.

• It comes under Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

• IUCN status: Least Concern.

3.15 Indravati Tiger Reserve

In news- For the first time, a large area (400 square kilometers) of the Indravati Tiger Reserve which is a Maoist-

affected area has been covered in tiger census work.

About the tiger reserve-

• The tiger reserve is located in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.

• The perennial river ‘Indravati’ forms the boundary of the reserve on the Northern and Western side, which

also happens to be the inter-state boundary between Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

• It is one of three Project Tiger sites in Chhattisgarh, along with Udanti-sitanadi, and is home to one of the

last remaining populations of the endangered wild water buffalo.

• Indravati attained the status of a national park in 1981 and a tiger reserve in 1983.

• The topography of the park mainly comprises undulating hilly terrain.


• The vegetation of the Indravati National Park is mainly of the tropical moist and dry deciduous type with

predominance of bamboo, sal and teak.

• The most common trees in the park are teak, lendia, salai, mahua, tendu, semal, haldu, ber and jamun.

• It is home to gaur (Indian bison), nilgai, blackbuck, chausingha (four-horned antelope), sambar, chital,

Indian muntjac, Indian spotted chevrotain, wild boar, tigers, leopards, sloth bears, dholes (wild dog) and

striped hyenas.

• The reserve had three tigers in 2018-19, when the last census took place.

4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

4.1 G20 'Troika'

In news- Recently, India has joined the G20 'Troika to work closely with Indonesia and Italy.

About G20 'Troika-

• Troika refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and the incoming

presidencies — Indonesia, Italy and India.

• As a Troika member, India will work closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and continuity

of the G20’s agenda.

• Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31 2021. This summit focused on three broad,

interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, and Prosperity.

• Indonesia took over the G20 presidency on December 1.

• It will convene the G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled for October 30-31, 2022 with the theme of ‘Recover

Together Recover Stronger’.

• India will assume the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022 from Indonesia, and will convene the G20

Leaders’ Summit for the first time in India in 2023.

4.2 Global Gateway initiative

In news- Recently, the European Commission announced a plan to mobilise €300 billion ($340 billion) in public

and private infrastructure investment around the world.


About the initiative-

• It is the new European Strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport

and strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.

• It is about increasing investments promoting democratic values and high standards, good governance and

transparency, equal partnerships, green and clean, secure infrastructures and that catalyse private sector

investment.

• The initiative aims at mobilising investments of up to 300 billion euros between 2021 and 2027 bringing

together resources of the EU, member states, European financial institutions, private sectors and national

development finance institutions.

• It is an offshoot of a plan by G7 countries to offer developing countries an alternative to the Belt and

Road Initiative of China, presented in June at the industrial powers’ summit in Cornwall.

4.3 Minsk agreements on the Ukraine conflict

In news- Recently, the USA has warned Russia not to invade Ukraine and urged both countries to return to a set

of agreements (MINSK) designed to end a separatist war by Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.

About Minsk agreements-

The Minsk Protocol was an agreement aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas area. Following are the

two sets of agreements that were signed in Minsk in 2014 and 2015:

MINSK I-

• Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists agreed a 12-point ceasefire deal in the capital of Belarus in

September 2014.

• Its provisions included prisoner exchanges, deliveries of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of heavy

weapons.

• The agreement quickly broke down, with violations by both sides.


MINSK II-

• It is a 13-point agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk.

• It was signed by Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions.

• The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine gathered there at the same time and issued a

declaration of support for the deal.

• The deal set out a series of military and political steps that remain unimplemented.

• A major blockage has been Russia’s insistence that it is not a party to the conflict and therefore is not

bound by its terms.

Russo-Ukrainian War-

• It is an ongoing and protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine that began in February 2014.

• The war has centered on the status of the Ukrainian regions of Crimea and Donbas.

• In 2014, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in what was the first time a European country annexed

territory from another country since World War Two.

4.4 Apartheid

In news- Recently, Indian-origin South African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, also known as

“Ebie”, who was also the former deputy minister of international relations, died at the age of 85.

What is Apartheid?

• It is the name of the policy that governed relations between the white minority and the non white

majority of South Africa during the 20th century.

• The apartheid name was first used in about 1948 to describe the racial segregation policies embraced by

the white minority government.

• It dictated where South Africans, on the basis of their race, could live and work, the type of education they

could receive, and whether they could vote.

• According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Asians

and Coloureds, then black Africans.

• Under the administration of the South African president F.W. de Klerk, legislation supporting apartheid

was repealed in the early 1990s, and a new constitution—one that enfranchised blacks and other racial

groups was adopted in 1993.

• The apartheid regime of South Africa ended in 1994, during which year democratic elections were held in

the country for the first time.

• All-race national elections held in 1994 resulted in a black majority government led by prominent anti-

apartheid activist Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress party.

About Ebrahim Ismail-

• He was born in 1937 to parents of Indian origin.

• He belonged to the village of Chasa near Alipore and adopted the surname of the family he had accompanied

to South Africa, which was Ebrahim.

• He was influenced by the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) at

the age of 13.

• By 1952, during the Defiance Campaign his political involvement grew and Ebrahim joined the NIC.


• He became a member of the ANC, spent over 15 years in the Robben Island prison along with Nelson

Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada for taking a position against the apartheid government.

• In 1952, Ebrahim joined the liberation movement as a youth activist and participated in the Congress of the

People Campaign through the NIC.

• In 1961, he joined the armed wing of the ANC called the Umkhonto We Sizwe that was meant to carry out

sabotage activities in the country.

• For his political activities, he was sent to jail for several years.

4.5 Summit for Democracy

In news- Recently, the USA hosted the Summit for Democracy 2021.

About the Summit-

• It was a virtual summit hosted by the United States to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies

abroad on December 9–10, 2021.

• Three themes of the summit were defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption,

and advancing respect for human rights.

• The Summit envisages participation of leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.

• More than 100 countries were invited to the summit, the invitees from the Asia-Pacific region include

India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Pakistan, Maldives and the Philippines, but not Bangladesh.

• However, Pakistan skipped the Democracy Summit.

• During the summit, the Indian Prime Minister mentioned elected republican city-states such as Licchavi

and Shakya which flourished in India as far as 2,500 years back.

• The purpose of the gathering was not to assert that any of the participant countries were perfect

democracies, but to lock arms and reaffirm our shared commitment to make our democracy better and to

share ideas and make concrete commitments on 3 themes mentioned above.

4.6 Observer Status to International Solar Alliance

In news- The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has been unanimously granted observer status (with resolution

76/123) by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) recently.

What is observer status in the UN?

• Observer status is granted by a UNGA resolution.

• Observers have the right to speak at UNGA meetings, but not to vote on resolutions.

• The status of a permanent observer is based purely on practice of the General Assembly, and there are no

provisions for it in the United Nations Charter.

• The practice is to distinguish between state and non-state observers.

• Non-member observer states are recognized as sovereign states, and are free to submit a petition to join

as a full member at their discretion.

• At present, the State of Palestine and Holy See have the observer states at the United Nations.

• Also, the Holy See includes both the Vatican City and sovereign entities.


• The granting of Observer Status to ISA in the General Assembly would help provide for regular and well-

defined cooperation between the Alliance and the United Nations that would benefit global energy growth

and development.

About ISA-

• It is an alliance of more than 122 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either

completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, now extended to all members

of the UN.

• The alliance is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization.

• The initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the India Africa Summit, and a meeting of

member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris in

November 2015.

• It was conceived as a joint effort by India and France to mobilise efforts against climate change through the

deployment of solar energy solutions.

• It was founded at Paris, France and is headquartered at Gurugram, Haryana.

• Its major objectives include global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity and mobilisation

of investment of over US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by 2030.

• Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with

the exception of voting rights.

• After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states world-wide.

• It provides a dedicated platform for cooperation among Governments, multilateral organisations, industry,

and other stakeholders to help achieve a common goal.

4.7 Asia Power index, 2021

In news- Sydney-based Lowy Institute has released Asia Power index, 2021 recently.

About the index-

• It is an index that measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in the Indo-Pacific,

published by the Lowy Institute annually from 2018.

• The Index ranks 26 countries and territories.

• The index evaluates international power in Asia through 128 indicators across the following eight thematic

measures:

○ Resources:

1. Economic capability (17.5%)

2. Military capability (17.5%)

3. Resilience (10%)

4. Future resources (10%)

○ Influence:

5. Economic relationships (15%)

6. Defense networks (10%)

7. Diplomatic influence (10%)

8. Cultural influence (10%)

• As per the index the Covid pandemic has driven down the power of Asian giants like China and India in

the Indo-Pacific region and has weakened their capacity to shape the external environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-governmental_organization

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_India

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narendra_Modi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93Africa_Forum_Summit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations


• It said that the US managed to expand its power through better diplomacy and retained its position as

the most influential nation in the region.

• India is the fourth most powerful country in the region after the US, Japan and China.

• It said that India saw a loss of ranking in critical parameters like diplomatic influence and economic

relationships in the last one year.

• India also lagged in economic diplomacy, dropping one place to finish eighth behind Thailand in the

economic relationships measure.

• Japan and India, the two with the most potential to contribute to a regional multipolar order, lost more

ground in 2021 than China.

• Overall, the USA topped six of the Index’s eight measures in 2021, up from four last year.

4.8 Saudi Arabia’s Tablighi Jamaat ban

In news- Recently, Saudi Arabia has banned the Tablighi Jamaat and Da’wah group, also known as Al Ahbab,

calling it a 'danger to society'.

About Tablighi Jamaat-

• The literal meaning of Tablighi Jamaat is a ‘society for spreading the faith’.

• It a Sunni Islamic missionary movement that was launched in Mewat in 1927 by the Islamic scholar and

teacher Maulana Muhammad Ilyas.

• He first launched his campaign in the Mewat region in northwestern India, where many Hindu converts re-

embraced their original faith in response to Arya Samaj’s ‘shuddhi’ campaign, the original version of ‘ghar

wapsi’.

• The slogan Al-Kandhlawi coined for his new organization captured the essence of its activities — “Oh

Muslims, become true Muslims”.

• The roots of this movement originated from the Darul Uloom madrasa in Deoband.

• While the movement is connected to the Deobandi movement of Sunni Islam, it has much in common with

the Wahhabi style of Islam that is associated with Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment.

• It focuses on exhorting Muslims and encouraging fellow members to follow the pure form of Sunni Islam.

• The focus of the organisation was not on converting people from other faiths into Islam, rather it is

focussed on ‘purifying’ the Muslim faith.

• The Emir is the leader of the international movement and is always related to the group’s founder

Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi.

• The group also has a Shura Council, which is largely an advisory council with different national units and

national headquarters.

• They divide themselves into small Jamaats (societies) and travel frequently across the world to spread the

message of Islam to Muslim houses.

• Tablighi is the largest Islamic missionary movement today.

• In 2013, Kazakhstan banned the Tablighi Jamaat and designated it as extremist.

• The movement is also prohibited in countries including Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and

Uzbekistan.

4.9 UNCLOS treaty

In news- Recently, the Indian Minister of State for Defence reiterated support for the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).


About UNCLOS treaty-

• It is a 63-year-old international agreement adopted in 1982 by more than 160 nations that establishes a

legal framework for how maritime vessels behave while transiting international waters.

• It was established to define coastal and maritime boundaries, to regulate seabed exploration not within

territorial claims, and to distribute revenue from regulated exploration.

• UNCLOS which came into force in 1994 replaced the four Geneva Conventions of April, 1958, which

respectively concerned the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the high seas,

fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas.

• It lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world's oceans and seas establishing rules

governing all uses of the oceans and their resources.

• It also demarcates stretches of waters called exclusive economic zones where coastal states are given the

right to exclusively tap fishery and fuel resources.

• The Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United

Nations serves as the secretariat of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

• The Division monitors all developments relating to the Convention, the law of the sea and ocean affairs

and reports annually to the General Assembly of the United Nations on those developments.

• It also assists the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the

Sea in reviewing such developments.

• In 2015 the UNGA decided to develop an international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on the

conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

• Hence it convened an intergovernmental conference (IGC), with a view to developing the instrument.

• UNCLOS does not deal with matters of territorial disputes or to resolve issues of sovereignty, as that

field is governed by rules of customary international law on the acquisition and loss of territory.

• India is also a State party to the UNCLOS.

4.10 Bhutan's Top Civilian Award to PM Modi

In news- Recently, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred with the highest civilian award of

Bhutan, Ngadag Pel gi Khorlo, on the occasion of the country’s National Day.

About the award-

• Also called the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, it is the Kingdom of Bhutan's highest civilian decoration.

• It is accorded to people who have owed a lifetime of service to the country and its people.

• It has two categories - First Class and Second Class - and takes precedence over all the other orders and

decorations conferred by Bhutan.

• It was founded on 7 November 2008 by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

• The First Class category has a badge from a neck ribbon and a medal ribbon with the star on the left

breast.

• The Second Class award is a badge from a neck ribbon and the Bhutanese emblem.

• Every year, on December 17, Bhutan marks the national day in memory of the birth of the Wangchuk

dynasty in 1907.

• On that day, Druk Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuk was crowned as the king of Bhutan and the reign of the

Wangchuk dynasty has continued ever since.


Other Civilian awards received by the PM Narendra Modi-

• 'Legion of Merit by the US Government' award of the US Armed Forces—given for exceptionally meritorious

conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

• Russia’s highest civilian honour the 'Order of St. Andrew' award in 2019.

• In 2019 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conferred him with its highest civilian honour—‘Order of Zayed

Award’.

• The Maldives gave him the ‘Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddin’the highest honour for

foreign dignitaries—in 2019.

• He received 'King Hamad Order of the Renaissance', the top honour from Bahrain, in 2019.

• In 2018, he was conferred with the 'Grand Collar of the State of Palestine Award', Palestine’s highest honour

awarded to foreign dignitaries.

• He has also received the 'Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud', the highest honour of Saudi Arabia awarded to non-

muslim dignitaries and Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour ‘State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan' in

2016.

4.11 Chile's youngest-ever President elected

In news- Recently, Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric (35 year old) has won Chile's presidential election to become

the country's youngest ever leader.

About Chile-

• The Republic of Chile is a country in the western part of South America.

• It occupies a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

• The Andes Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world.

• The capital is Santiago and Currency is Chilean peso.

• It is bounded on the north by Peru and Bolivia, on its long eastern border by Argentina, and on the west by

the Pacific Ocean.


• It exercises sovereignty over Easter Island, the Juan Fernández Archipelago, and the volcanic islets of Sala y

Gómez, San Félix, and San Ambrosio, all of which are located in the South Pacific.

• Because of the country’s extreme length it has a wide variety of climates, from the coastal desert

beginning in the tropical north to the cold subantarctic southern tip.

• Much of northern Chile is desert; the central part of the country is a temperate region where the bulk of

the population lives and where the larger cities, including Santiago, are located.

• South-central Chile, with a lake and forest region, is temperate, humid, and suitable for grain cultivation.

• It was colonised by Spain, and the culture that evolved was largely Spanish.

• The major landforms of Chile are arranged as three parallel north–south units: the Andes Mountains to the

east; the intermediate depression, or longitudinal valley, in the centre; and the coastal ranges to the west.

• Major mountains of Chile are: Ojos del Salado (6893 meters), Tres Cruces, Llullaillaco, Tres Cruces Central,

Incahuasi.

• Chile has one of the world's largest income gaps, with 1% of the population owning 25% of the country's

wealth, according to the United Nations.

4.12 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

In news- Recently, Pakistan has hosted the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit to discuss the

Afghanistan situation.

About Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-

• OIC is the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of

57 states spread over four continents. 56 of which are also member states of the United Nations, the

exception being Palestine.

• It is the collective voice of the Muslim world and works to safeguard and protect the interests of the

Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.

• It endeavors to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting

international peace and harmony among various people of the world.

• It was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of

Morocco in September 1969 following the criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

• In 1970 the first ever meeting of Islamic Conference of Foreign Minister (ICFM) was held in Jeddah which

decided to establish a permanent secretariat in Jeddah headed by the organization’s secretary general.

• The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union.

• The official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English, and French.

• Its Headquarters is in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

4.13 Tiananmen memorial

In news- Recently, Hong Kong removed the Tiananmen memorial, Pillar of Shame from the University of Hong

Kong.

About the memorial-

• The 8-meter (26-foot)-tall sculpture was constructed in memory of the victims of China's 1989 crackdown

on pro-democracy protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.


• It is made of bronze, copper and concrete.

• Danish Sculptor Jens Galschioet had gifted the statue to the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support

of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

• The Tiananmen massacre, in which hundreds and possibly thousands were killed, was a pivotal moment at

which a divided Communist Party leadership decided to suppress the democracy movement rather than

allow it to grow.

• The statue shows 50 bodies with anguish-ridden faces piled up together commemorating unarmed student

protestors who had been protesting since mid-April in 1989 against corruption, unemployment, inflation,

etc., and were killed as Chinese troops opened fire on them.

• These bodies symbolize the devaluation of the individual, and the sculpture expresses the pain and despair

of what happened.

• It was erected in Hong Kong in 1997 during an annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the event.

• The text at the base of the sculpture reads, “The old cannot kill the young” in English and Chinese.

• Hong Kong was a British colony and not part of China in 1989.

• After its return to China in 1997, it was given partial democracy, with some of its legislature but not the

city's leader chosen by popular vote.

• Demands for greater democracy sparked massive protests in 2014 and 2019.

Other Pillars of Shame-

• They are designed to remind people of events to ensure they don't happen again.

• Ostiense Air Terminal, Rome, Italy, 1996, during the FAO Summit, depicting the deaths caused worldwide by

hunger due to the uneven distribution of the world’s resources.

• Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico in 1999, to mark the site of the December 1997 massacre of 45 members of the civil

society group Las Abejas.

• Brasilia, Brazil in 2000 in homage to the victims of the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre which occurred in 1996.

• A fourth Pillar of Shame was planned in Berlin, Germany, in homage to the victims of the Nazi regime but due

to various problems, the artist had to cancel the project.

4.14 Mission SAGAR

In news- As part of Mission SAGAR, Indian Naval Ship Kesari entered the Port of Maputo, Mozambique recently.

About Mission SAGAR-

• SAGAR refers to Security And Growth for All in the Region.

• It is conducted in close coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, and other agencies of the

Government of India.

• It highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her neighbouring countries, ASEAN

countries and further strengthens the existing bond.

• Under Mission Sagar-I, Indian Navy undertook this mission in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out

to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.

• Under Mission Sagar-II, the Indian Navy had deployed INS Airavat to Port Sudan. In this regard, INS

Airavat carried a consignment of 100 tonnes of food aid for the people of Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti

and Eritrea.

• Under Mission Sagar III, the Indian Navy had sent flood support to Vietnam which was affected by floods.


• Since May 2020, the Indian Navy has deployed ships to 15 Friendly Foreign Countries under SAGAR

missions.

• These deployments spanned over 215 days at sea and delivered a cumulative assistance of more than

3,000 MT of food aid, over 300 MT LMO, 900 Oxygen Concentrators and 20 ISO containers.

• INS Kesari, a Landing Ship Tank (Large) had undertaken a similar mission in May – June 2020 to provide

humanitarian and medical assistance to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros,

including deployment of Medical Assistance Teams of the Indian Navy in multiple locations.

About Republic of Mozambique-

• It is a country located in Southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north,

Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa to the

southwest.

• The capital and largest city of Mozambique is Maputo and Portuguese is its official language.

• Common native languages include Tsonga, Makhuwa, Sena, and Swahili.

• The country's population of around 29 million is composed of overwhelmingly Bantu people.

• The country is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the

east.

• The country is divided into two topographical regions by the Zambezi River.

• The country is drained by five principal rivers and several smaller ones with the largest and most important the

Zambezi.

• Rugged highlands to the west include the Niassa highlands, Namuli or Shire highlands, Angonia highlands, Tete

highlands and the Makonde plateau, covered with miombo woodlands.

• The country has four notable lakes: Lake Niassa (or Malawi), Lake Chiuta, Lake Cahora Bassa and Lake Shirwa,

all in the north.

• Mozambique has a tropical climate with two seasons, a wet season from October to March and a dry season

from April to September.

• The voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498 marked the arrival of the Portuguese, who began a gradual process of

colonization and settlement in 1505.

• It gained independence from Portugal in 1975, and is still suffering from the effects of a 16-year civil war that

ended in 1992.


4.15 UNSC Resolution 2615

In news- Recently, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passed a resolution permitting a

carveout in sanctions against the Taliban to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

About the resolution (2615)-

• It was put forward by the U.S., and was passed after Security Council members, including veto-wielding

China and Russia, had objections to a draft version.

• In passing the text, the Council carved out an exemption for humanitarian assistance and other activities

that support basic human needs from sanctions imposed under resolutions 2255 (2015) and 1988 (2011),

concerning individuals and entities associated with the Taliban in constituting a threat to peace and

security.

• This carveout covers urgently needed humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic

human needs in Afghanistan.

• It includes activities related to shelter and settlement assistance, food security, education, livelihoods

support, energy, water, sanitation, health including COVID-related assistance, nutrition, and hygiene,

among others.

• The resolution mandates a review of the carveout every six months.

• It also requests that an Emergency Relief Coordinator brief the UNSC every six months on the delivery of

assistance and any obstacles to implementation.

• It also “calls on all parties” to respect human rights and observe international humanitarian law.

Note: Resolution 2593 (backed by India) was adopted recently that called on the Taliban to not permit

Afghanistan to become a training ground for terrorists.

What is a United Nations resolution?

• It is a formal text adopted by the United Nations (UN).

• Although any UN body can issue resolutions, in practice most resolutions are issued by the Security Council or

the General Assembly.

• Except concerning UN budgetary matters and instructions to lower UN bodies, General Assembly resolutions

are non-binding.

• The General Assembly resolutions as the expression of member states' views, and as not legally binding upon

member states.

5. GEOGRAPHY

5.1 Saryu Nahar National Project

In news- The Saryu Nahar National Project has been inaugurated by the Prime Minister recently.

About the Saryu Nahar National Project-

• The work on the project started in 1978 but due to administrative reasons it got delayed.


• In 2016, the project was brought under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with the target to

complete it in a time bound manner.

• Saryu canal project has been built with a total cost of more than Rs. 9800 crore.

• The project involves interlinking of five rivers - Ghagra, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini to ensure

optimum usage of water resources of the region.

• The project will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29

lakh farmers of over 6200 villages.

• It will benefit nine districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh namely - Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda,

Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj.

Sarayu river-

• It originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot Mountain in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand, India.

• This river is mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Veda and Ramayan.

• It is one of the seven tributaries of the river Gaṅga and considered so sacred that it washes away impurities of

humankind.

• Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Shree Ram and capital of state Ayodhya in Treta Yuga is located on the bank

of Sarayu river.

• The river Ghaghara is the main tributary of Sarayu River, also Mahakali and Karnali rivers join in the Bahraich

District of Uttar Pradesh and then is famous as Sarayu River.

• Later Sarayu River meets the river Ganges.

5.2 Baltic Sea

In news- Recently, two ships collided in the Baltic Sea between the Danish island of Bornholm and the southern

Swedish city of Ystad.

About Baltic sea-

• It is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, extending northward from the latitude of southern Denmark almost to

the Arctic Circle and separating the Scandinavian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe.

• Proceeding clockwise from the west, the countries bounding the Baltic are Denmark, Sweden, Finland,

Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany.


• The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea-Baltic Canal and to

the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal.

• It is the largest expanse of brackish water in the world.

• The shallowest part of the Baltic is the continental shelf, from which rise the islands of the Danish

archipelago.

• The Baltic Sea is so nearly landlocked that its waters are remarkably fresh.

• Its longest rivers, the Vistula and the Oder, drain regions that have a temperate continental climate and

become swollen by spring snowmelt, thus further reducing the salinity of the Baltic.

• The highest salinity is recorded in the western Baltic and the lowest is at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia,

where it is less than a third of this amount.

• Marked seasonality is the principal feature of the Baltic climate (Winters are long and cold, and summers

are short and comparatively warm).

5.3 MIS portal for rankings of States/UTs in Land Acquisition Projects

In news- Recently, the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati launched the MIS (Management

Information System) portal (Vikas Portal) under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land

Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013.

About the portal-

• It is a software-driven program to submit information by respective State/UTs on land acquisition for

developmental projects.

• The portal is developed in-house by the NIC team of the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural

Development.

• It will capture information on various parameters of land acquisition, required for ranking of the

State/UTs.

• It will not show only data and figures but it will show the speed of the development in the country.

• As per the ranking and performance, the top 3 States and top 3 districts will be awarded.

• The entire ranking process is on auto mode and there will be no interference of the department in the

raking process.

• In the first phase, land acquisition under RFCTLARR Act, 2013 undertaken from 01.01.2014 onwards will be

covered for ranking purposes and this will be a continuous process.

• Each State/UT will get marks out of a total of 140 marks.

• There is also the provision of the negative marking for delaying implementation.

Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR)

Act, 2013-

• It regulates land acquisition and lays down the procedure and rules for granting compensation, rehabilitation

and resettlement to the affected persons in India.

• The Act has provisions to provide fair compensation to those whose land is taken away, brings transparency to

the process of acquisition of land to set up factories or buildings, infrastructural projects and assures

rehabilitation of those affected.

• The Act establishes regulations for land acquisition as a part of India's massive industrialisation drive driven by

public-private partnership.

• The Act replaced the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, a nearly 120-year-old law enacted during British rule.


6. GOVERNANCE

Global Health Security Index, 2021 6.1

In news- The second edition of GHI Index has been released recently.

About the Index-

• The Index measured the capacities of 195 countries to prepare for epidemics and pandemics.

• It has assessed countries across six categories, 37 indicators and 171 questions, using instantly available

information.

• The index is developed in partnership by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins

Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, working with Economist Impact.

• It was first launched in October 2019.

• It is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities

across the 195 countries that make up the States Parties to the International Health Regulations.

• It benchmarks health security in the context of other factors critical to fighting outbreaks, such as political

and security risks, the broader strength of the health system, and country adherence to global norms.

• The world’s overall performance on the GHS Index score slipped to 38.9 (out of 100) in 2021, from a score

of 40.2 in the GHS Index, 2019.

• Around 101 high-, middle- and low-income countries, have slipped in performance since 2019.

• In South Asia, India, with a score of 42.8 (out of 100) too, has slipped by 0.8 points since 2019.

• But three neighbouring countries — Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives — have improved their score by

1-1.2 points

• In 2021, no country scored in the top tier of rankings and no country scored above 75.9.


• Most countries, including high-income ones, have not made dedicated financial investments in

strengthening epidemic or pandemic preparedness.

• Around 90 countries have not fulfilled their full financial contribution to the World Health Organization.

14 of these are high-income countries.

• Best prepared countries are the USA, Australia and Finland.

• Worst prepared countries are Somalia, Yemen and North Korea.

Sampann project 6.2

In news- Recently, the Ministry of Communications stated that over 1 lakh people are getting pension directly

into their bank accounts through the SAMPANN project.

About SAMPANN project-

• SAMPANN stands for System for Accounting and Management of Pension.

• Launched in 2018, it is an ambitious project of the Central Government being implemented by the

Controller General of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications.

• It is a seamless online pension processing and payment system for Department of Telecommunications

pensioners.

• It is the brand name for Comprehensive Pension Management System (CPMS).

• It provides direct credit of pension into the bank accounts of pensioners.

• The system has helped the Department in faster settlement of pension cases, improved

reconciliation/auditing and ease of accounting.

• It is a system with a flexible design which enables it to accommodate ever expanding requirements.

• It has also been instrumental in settling close to 76000 BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2019 cases in a

short span of 6 months.

• It has ensured recurring monthly savings to the Government of India on account of Commission being paid

to Banks/Post Offices for payment of Pension which approximately amounts to Rs. 11.5 Crores as of June,

2021.

Benefits/facilities under the SAMPANN -

• Pensioners can view the pension sanctions i.e. ePPO (Digitally signed PPO), Gratuity sanction and sanction of

revision of pension on the dashboard, along with details of commutation payment and arrears. It may be

noted these sanctions will be available for future use.

• Pensioners can lodge grievances online and check its status also. Alternately the Pensioner can always call the

national Helpline 1800-113-5800 or mail his grievances/query.

• Pensioners can check the pension payments made till now on his/her dashboard.

• Retirees will get the feature to update their mobile number, Email ID and address online at any time at their

leisure.

• Retiring officer/official can see the progress of his/her application at the top of the dashboard till pension

Authorization.

Good Governance Index (GGI), 2021 6.3 In news- The Good Governance Index 2021 prepared by DARPG has been released on Good Governance Day which is observed on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25th December).


About Good Governance Index (GGI)-

• It is a uniform tool across States to assess the Status of Governance and impact of various interventions

taken up by the State Government and UTs.

• Though the states and UTs are ranked on all indicators separately, composite ranking is also calculated

for these states and UTs under their respective groups based upon these indicators.

Objectives of GGI:

○ To provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs. ○ Enabling the states and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving

governance. ○ Encouraging states to shift to result oriented approaches and administration.

• GGI 2021 Framework covered ten sectors and 58 indicators.

• The sectors of GGI 2020-21 are Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Commerce & Industries, Human Resource

Development, Public Health, Public Infrastructure & Utilities, Economic Governance, Social Welfare &

Development, Judicial & Public Security, Environment, and Citizen-Centric Governance.

• The GGI 2020-21 categorizes States and UTs into four categories, i.e., (i) Other States – Group A; (ii) Other

States – Group B; (iii) North-East and Hill States; and (iv) Union Territories.

• Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa top the composite rank score covering 10 sectors.

Top ranking States in the Sectors as well as in Composite Ranks is as follows:

Sectors Group A Group B NE & Hill

States

UTs

Agriculture & Allied

Sector

Andhra

Pradesh

Madhya

Pradesh

Mizoram D & N

Haveli

Commerce and

Industry

Telangana Uttar

Pradesh

J & K Daman &

Diu

Human Resource

Development

Punjab Odisha Himachal

Pradesh

Chandigarh

Public Health Kerala West Bengal Mizoram A & N

Island

Public Infrastructure

and Utilities

Goa Bihar Himachal

Pradesh

A & N

Island


Economic Governance Gujarat Odisha Tripura Delhi

Social Welfare and

Development

Telangana Chhattisgarh Sikkim D & N

Haveli

Judiciary and Public

Safety

Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Nagaland Chandigarh

Environment Kerala Rajasthan Manipur Daman &

Diu

Citizen Centric

Governance

Haryana Rajasthan Uttarakhand Delhi

Composite Gujarat Madhya

Pradesh

Himachal

Pradesh

Delhi

Good governance:

• Governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not

implemented).

• Government is one of the actors in governance.

• Other actors involved in governance vary from landlords, associations of peasant farmers, cooperatives, NGOs,

research institutes, religious leaders to media, lobbyists, international donors, multinational corporations, etc.

• All the related actors play a major role in decision- making or in influencing the decision-making process.

• Good governance assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that

the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.


It has 8 major characteristics:

• Participation: Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Participation

could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives.

• Rule of law: Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially.

• Transparency: The decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and

regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be

affected by such decisions and their enforcement.

• Responsiveness: Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within

a reasonable time frame.

• Consensus oriented: Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad

consensus which is in the best interest of the whole community.

• Equity and inclusiveness: A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members (especially

vulnerable) feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society.

• Effectiveness and efficiency: The processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society

while making the sustainable use of resources at their disposal.

• Accountability: The governmental institutions, private sector and civil society organizations must be

accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders.

7. HISTORY

St. Francis Xavier 7.1

In news- Recently, the Prime Minister of India has greeted the people of Goa on the day of the Feast of St.

Francis Xavier.

About St. Francis Xavier-

• He was a Spanish Jesuit who lived as a Roman Catholic missionary in the 1500s.

• He was born on 7th April 1506 in the kingdom of Navarre in present day Spain.

• He was one of the first seven members of the Jesuit order under the leadership of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

• He travelled extensively, particularly in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan, to share his faith.

• Francis was the first Jesuit to go to Japan as a missionary.

• He is the patron saint of Roman Catholic missions.

• He was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan.

• He brought several novel strategies to missionary work that influenced generations of Roman Catholic

missions.

• He is credited for the idea that missionaries must adapt to the customs and language of the people they

evangelize.

• He also advocated for an educated native clergy to perpetuate the newly formed Christian communities.

• He died on December 3, 1552 on the island of Sancian (now Shang-ch’uan Tao, off the Chinese coast) while

trying to gain entrance to China, which was then closed to foreigners.

• Xavier was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island, Taishan, Guangdong.

• On 11 December 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa.

• The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a

silver casket on 2 December 1637.


• The Feast of St Francis is celebrated at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• It is considered the greatest example of Baroque architecture in the whole of India.

• The mausoleum was built in the 17th Century by the Florentine sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini and took

10 long years to complete.

Mahaparinirvan Diwas 7.2

In news- The Government of India observed the 66th Mahaparinirvan Diwas on December 6, 2021.

About Mahaparinirvan Diwas-

• The death anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas.

• The term ‘parinirvan’ has a deep meaning in Buddhist traditions and refers to someone who has attained

nirvana in his lifetime and after death.

• Babasaheb Ambedkar was regarded as a Buddhist guru because of his great influence in India to eradicate

the social scourge of untouchability.

• Ambedkar's admirers and followers believe he was as influential as Lord Buddha, which is why his death

anniversary is celebrated as Mahaparinirvana Divas.

• The Union government has decided to celebrate Mahaparinirvan Divas as part of the major

commemoration of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

About Dr.B.R Ambedkar-

• He was born on April 14, 1891, in Madhya Pradesh.

• He had done his education at Elphinstone College under Bombay University, Columbia University and then

completed his Bar course from London School Of Economics.

• A revolutionary freedom fighter, Ambedkar had played a pivotal role in the upliftment of the poor and

backward classes of the society.

• Ambedkar led the Dalit Buddhist campaign from the front and worked relentlessly for their equal human rights

and betterment.

• He was the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee for the constitution of independent India on

August 29, 1947.

• He was also the law minister of India after independence.

• He had also started fortnightly and weekly papers named ‘Excluded India’, ‘Mook Nayak’, ‘Janta’ to raise voice

against the atrocities on Dalits.

• In 1956 he published his book ‘Annihilation Of Caste’ which vehemently criticized the then practice and laws

regarding the untouchables and Dalits.

• The Reserve bank of India was formed on the concept presented by Babasaheb to the Hilton Young

Commission.

• His 20 page autobiography, ‘Waiting for a Visa’, is used as a text book in the Columbia University.

• He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India, posthumously in 1990.

Durga Puja of Kolkata 7.3

In news- Recently, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural

Heritage put “Durga Puja in Kolkata” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.


About Durga puja of Kolkata-

• It is an annual festival celebrated in September or October, most notably in Kolkata.

• It marks the ten-day worship of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga.

• In the months preceding the festival, small artisanal workshops sculpt images of Durga and her family

using unfired clay pulled from the Ganga River.

• The worship of the goddess then begins on the inaugural day of Mahalaya, when eyes are painted onto the

clay images to bring the goddess to life.

• The next significant day of the festival is the sixth day (Sashthi), on which devotees welcome the goddess

and festive celebrations are inaugurated.

• It ends on the tenth day, when the images are immersed in the river from where the clay came.

• Thus, the festival has also come to signify ‘home-coming’ or a seasonal return to one’s roots.

• The goddess along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya are revered.

• Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is celebrated because of Durga's victory over

Mahishasur.

• Since 2016, the West Bengal government has been organising a Durga Puja Carnival — a parade of popular

pujas from Kolkata and adjoining districts along with cultural performances — at Red Road to attract

global attention for the festival and boost tourism.

• The ‘Probasi Puja’ *Durga Puja organised by the Bengali community outside West Bengal+ is more of a

community event like bhog [offering].

• Art historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta has played an important role in getting Durga Puja in Kolkata included

in UNESCO’s list.

UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity-

• It comprises the diverse cultural practices and expressions of humanity, and seeks to raise awareness of the

importance of such practices and expressions, encourage dialogue that respects cultural diversity, as well as

give due recognition to the practices and expressions of communities worldwide.

• It has 492 elements in its list, which includes 13 entries from India.

• Besides Durga Puja in Kolkata (2021), the India list has:

○ Kumbh Mela (2017). ○ Nowruz (2016). ○ Traditional brass and copper utensil-making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab (2014). ○ Sankirtana of Manipur (2013). ○ Buddhist chanting of Ladakh (2012). ○ Chhau dance, Kalbelia dance of Rajasthan, and Mudiyettu of Kerala (2010). ○ Ramman festival of Garhwal (2009) and ○ Kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre, Ramlila, and Vedic chanting (2008). • The 2021 Representative List also has entries including Arabic calligraphy, Uzbekistan’s Bakhshi art, Congolese

rumba, falconry, Inuit drum dancing of Denmark, and the traditional Italian knowledge and practice of truffle

hunting and extraction.

• Apart from the Kolkata Durga Puja, the Saint John celebrations in Venezuela, the Corpus Christi festival

celebrated in Panama and the Bolivian Grand Festival of Tarija were also included in UNESCO's list of

'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity'.

• The list now also includes Nora, an acrobatic form of dance theatre from southern Thailand, and Al-Qudoud al-

Halabiya, a form of traditional music from Aleppo (Syria), along with the Congolese rumba and Xòe, a

Vietnamese dance form.

• In addition, Ceebu Jën, a Sengalese culinary art form, and pasillo, a type of music and dance that emerged in

Ecuador, were also added to the coveted list.


Salar Masud-Raja Suhaldev battle 7.4 In news- Recently, the Indian Prime Minister, while inaugurating Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor in

Varanasi, referred to several historical episodes including the battle between Salar Masud and Raja Suhaldev.

About Salar Masud-

• He was known as Ghazi Mian and believed to have acquired popularity as a warrior in the 12th century.

• He was the nephew of the 11th century Turkik invader, Mahmud of Ghazni, whose invasion of India is

known as the moment when Islam entered large parts of the subcontinent.

• His tomb at Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh stands as a place of pilgrimage (mainly during the Urs festival ) for a

large number of Muslims as well as Hindus.

• The most comprehensive source of information about Ghazi Mian is the Mirat-e-Masaud (Mirror of

Masaud), a 17th century Persian hagiography written by Abdur Rahman Chisti, a Sufi saint of the Chisti

order.

• It was at Bahraich, where in the course of a battle in 1034 CE between Masud and a local king by the name

Suheldev that the former was wounded by an arrow and succumbed.

• The 13th century Sufi poet and scholar Amir Khusrao is known to have mentioned him in his writings.

• The 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta had supposedly visited his shrine at Bahraich along with

Sultan Mohammad Bin Tughlaq.

• Mughal emperor Akbar is known to have made a land grant in 1571 CE for the sake of maintaining Ghazi

Miyan’s shrine.

About Raja Suhaldev-

• He was the king of Shravasti during the 11th century.

• According to Mirat-e-Masudi, Suhaldev belonged to the “Bhar Tharu” community.

• He is believed to have been the eldest son of the king of the Bhar community, from which emerged the

Pasi community, a Dalit caste group of the region.

• Popular history of the region identifies him by several names including Suhaldev, Sakardev, Sahardev, and

Suhildev.

• In 2016 Amit Shah hailed Suheldev as a national hero and unveiled his statue at Bahraich.

Salar Masud-Raja Suhaldev battle-

• There are different opinions among historians regarding this battle and it is a mix of history and myth.

• As per the Mirat-e-Masaud, Masud accompanied Mahmud Ghazni in all his campaigns, including the

celebrated expedition to Somnath in Kathiawar.

• King Suheldev was deeply moved by the loot and destruction of the magnificent Somnath temple by invader

Ghazni that he decided to give up the comfort of royal life as a prince.

• King Suheldev waged guerrilla warfare against Mahmud Ghazni’s army.

• It is believed that in this battle, Suheldev’s army completely destroyed Salar Masud’s army.

Sri Ramna Kali Mandir 7.5

In news- Recently, the President of India inaugurated the reconstructed Ramna Kali temple in Ramna, a part of

the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka where the landmark Suhrawardy Udyan (the former Ramna Race Course) is

located.


About the Kali temple-

• In the 17th century, Dhaka was a provincial capital of the Mughal Empire, and an important trading

centre.

• The history of the area called Ramna (‘lawn’ in Persian) can be traced back to the early 1600s, when it

was occupied by high officials of the Mughals.

• After Dhaka passed under British rule in 1858, the “jungle of Ramna” was cleared, and a race course and

boulevard were built for the pleasure of the Raj elite.

• The Kali temple in the area is believed to have been built during the Mughal period by a Hindu sect.

• It is said that it was built by a certain Haricharan Giri who was a mahant in the temple.

• However, it is the second oldest Hindu temple in Bangladesh, the Dhakeshwari Temple being the oldest.

• The architectural design of the temple changed over the centuries in which it stood.

• The temple has a tall shikhara (tower).

• The design of the temple is documented in pictures taken at Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's address of 7 March

1971.

• In 1929, the temple complex acquired an additional building for the devotees of the famous saint

Anandamayee, who later became Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s spiritual advisor.

• Anandamayi was popularly addressed as “Shahbag-er ma”, or the Mother of Shahbag.

• The temple was destroyed by Pakistani forces during their Operation Searchlight in March 1971.

• A reconstruction of the complex was announced in 2017, when then External Affairs Minister, the late

Sushma Swaraj, inaugurated 15 development projects in Baridhara, Dhaka.

Goa Liberation day 7.6

In news- Goa Liberation Day is observed on December 19 every year in commemoration of the Indian armed

forces freeing Goa from Portuguese colonial rule.

About Goa liberation day-

• Goa was ruled by the Portuguese for more than 450 years and its liberation movement started on June

18, 1946 after socialist leader Dr Ram Manohar Lohia plunged himself into the freedom movement with

many young Goans.

• This day is now observed as Goa Revolution Day.

• However, even as India became independent on August 15, 1947, Goa continued to be under Portuguese

rule 14 years after that.

• After multiple agitations by freedom fighters, India made peaceful attempts for Goa’s liberation through

diplomatic channels.

• As a last resort, the Indian government then led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, sent in its armed

forces to the coastal state after which the Portuguese surrendered and Goa was liberated on December

19, 1961.

• The first tri-service operation of the Indian armed forces, Operation Vijay of 36- hours (from December 18,

1961 to December 19, 1961) led to the liberation of Goa.

• This moment also marked the exit of the Portuguese, the last of the European colonists to leave India.

• After the liberation, Goa was annexed into the Indian union and was the Union Territory of Goa, Daman

and Diu.

• It continued to remain a Union Territory until 1987 when it was accorded statehood and Goa became

India’s 25th state.


Sri Aurobindo 7.7

In news- Recently, the Union government has formed a high-level 53 member committee headed by the Prime

Minister to mark the 150th birth anniversary (which falls on August 15, 2022) of Indian philosopher Sri

Aurobindo.

About Sri Aurobindo Ghose-

• He was a renowned and important personality in the history of the Indian resurgence and Indian

nationalism.

• He was born on August 15, 1872, in Kolkata.

• His father Krishna Dhun Ghose was a surgeon in Rangpur, Bengal.

• He was drawn to the Indian freedom movement as a revolutionary leader.

• He cleared the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination securing the 11th rank out of 250 candidates.

• He joined King’s College for the training but had himself disqualified for an exam by arriving deliberately

late as he had no interest in the ICS.

• He returned to India and secured employment in the Baroda State Service with the help of an

acquaintance.

• In 1897, he joined Baroda College as a French teacher and also taught himself Sanskrit and Bengali during

this time.

• He attended Congress sessions and helped establish the Anushilan Samiti of Calcutta in 1902.

• He and his brother revolutionary Barin Ghose contributed articles to the magazine Jugantar which

inspired many young people to take up revolutionary work.

• In 1905, Aurobindo started an English newspaper called Bande Mataram.

• In May 1908, Aurobindo was arrested in connection with the Alipore Conspiracy Case or Alipore Bomb

Case.

• This was in the wake of the attempt to assassinate the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingford by

Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki.

• Some of his literary works include: Bases of Yoga, Bhagavad Gita and Its Message, The Future Evolution of

Man, Rebirth and Karma, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, Hour of God, etc.

• He passed away on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry aged 78.

Contribution of Aurobindo Ghosh in Spirituality-

• It was during his incarceration in Alipore Jail that Aurobindo’s life started transforming into one of spirituality

and self-realization.

• He said that he heard the voice of Swami Vivekananda in prison and became convinced of the truth of

Sanatana Dharma.

• He started practicing Yoga and withdrew from political life as then.

• He developed a kind of Yoga called Integral Yoga and believed that human beings can evolve further into

something truly divine.

• The British tried to arrest him for sedition for his writings, but he fled to Pondicherry in 1910 which was a

French colony, and the arrest warrant against him was withdrawn.

• In 1914, he started publishing a magazine called Arya.

• He attracted many followers and this led to the founding of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926.

• In that year he entrusted the work of guiding the seekers to his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa (1878–

1973), who was called “the Mother” in the ashram.


Siddha Day 7.8

In news- Fifth Siddha Day was celebrated on 23rd December 2021.

About the Siddha Day-

• The Ministry of Ayush observes Siddha Day on eve of Agathiyar’s birthday every year, which falls during

the Ayilyam star of Margazhi Month.

• This year, the Fifth Siddha Day celebration was on “Strength of Siddha Medicine for Communicable

Diseases”

• It was jointly organized by the Central Council for Research in Siddha, National Institute of Siddha and

Directorate of Indian Medicine & Homeopathy, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Objectives of Siddha Day-

• To sensitize the public about the holistic approach of healthcare and disease prevention.

• To propagate the unique strengths of Siddha Medicine.

• To integrate Siddha into the mainstream of healthcare.

• To equip the students, faculty members and practitioners of Siddha for providing standard care.

• To harness the potential of Siddha to incorporate into National Health Policy & National Health Programs.

About Siddhar Agasthiyar-

• Agastya was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism.

• I in the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian

subcontinent.

• He was born in Star “Ayilyam” in the Tamil month Margazhi.

• Agastya appears in numerous itihasas and Puranas including the major Ramayana and Mahabharata.

• He is one of the seven most revered rishis (the Saptarishi) in the Vedic texts, and is revered as one of the

Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition, who invented an early grammar of the Tamil language, Agattiyam,

playing a pioneering role in the development of Tampraparniyan medicine and spirituality at Saiva centres in

proto-era Sri Lanka and South India.

• He is also revered in the Puranic literature of Shaktism and Vaishnavism.

• He is one of the Indian sages found in ancient sculpture and reliefs in Hindu temples of South Asia, and

Southeast Asia such as in the early medieval era Shaiva temples on Java Indonesia.

• He is the principal figure and Guru in the ancient Javanese language text Agastyaparva, whose 11th century

version survives.

• He is traditionally attributed to be the author of many Sanskrit texts such as the Agastya Gita found in

Varaha Purana, Agastya Samhita found embedded in Skanda Purana, and the Dvaidha-Nirnaya Tantra text.

• He is also referred to as Mana, Kalasaja, Kumbhaja, Kumbhayoni and Maitravaruni after his mythical origins.

About Siddha system of medicine-

• It is one of the oldest codified traditions of healthcare originated in the Indian sub-continent with many

intricate, novel therapeutic interventions and treatment modalities.

• The term ‘Siddha’ has come from ‘Siddhi’- which means achievement.

• The human body consists of the five primordial elements-earth, water, fire, air and space, the three humours-

vatha, pitta and kapha and seven physical constituents.


• The fundamentals and principles largely rely upon Panchabootham, taste and three humours.

• Siddhars were the men who achieved supreme knowledge in the field of medicine, yoga or tapa (meditation).

• According to the Siddha system, the individual is a microcosm of the universe.

110 years of public singing of Jana Gana Mana 7.9

In news- Jana Gana Mana, the National anthem of India was first publicly sung 110 years ago on December 27,

1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.

About Jana Gana Mana-

• It was originally composed as Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in Bengali by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

• It is written in high Bengali Sanskrit and is taken from the first five stanzas of a Brahmo Hymn.

• It was translated into English as ‘Morning Song of India’ and given a tune on February 28, 1919 during

Tagore’s brief stay at Madanapalle.

• Then a nondescript town, Madanapalle got a coveted place in history as Tagore chose to stay with Irish

poet James H. Cousins, then principal of Besant Theosophical College.

• Till then, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was just a lyric.

• It became a song after the principal’s wife Margaret Cousins gave it a tune.

• A slightly different version of the song was later adopted by Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army

in 1941 as the national anthem, called ‘Shubh Sukh Chain’ which also became popular in India.

• The anthem was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the National Anthem (Hindi version) on

24 January 1950.

• The original poem was translated by Abid Ali into Hindi and the original Hindi version of the song was a

little different.

• The same day, Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of the assembly and former President of India, had also

declared ‘Vande Mataram’ as the National Song.

• The formal rendition of the national anthem takes approximately 52-seconds and is sung in the raga Gaud

Sarang.

• According to Article 51A (a) of the constitution, the anthem shall be the duty of every citizen of India to

abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National

Anthem.

Tolkāppiyam 7.10

In news- The Minister of State for Education released the Hindi translation of Tolkāppiyam and the Kannada

translations of 9 books of Classical Tamil literature recently.

About Tolkāppiyam-

• Tolkappiyam is the most ancient extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil

literature.

• It is a comprehensive text on grammar, and includes sutras on orthography, phonology, etymology,

morphology, semantics, prosody, sentence structure and the significance of context in language.

• The surviving manuscripts of the Tolkappiyam consists of three books, each with nine chapters, with a

cumulative total of 1,612 sutras in the nūṛpā meter.


• The three books are -the Eluttatikaram (“Eluttu” meaning “letter, phoneme”), the Sollatikaram (“Sol”

meaning “Sound, word”) and the Porulatikaram (“Porul” meaning “subject matter”, i.e. prosody, rhetoric,

poetics).

• There is no firm evidence to assign the authorship of this treatise to any one author.

• Tholkapiyam, some traditionally believe, was written by a single author named Tholkappiyar, a disciple of

Vedic sage Agastya mentioned in the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE).

• Some in the Tamil tradition place the text in the mythical second sangam, variously in 1st millennium BCE

or earlier.

• According to the traditional legend, the original grammar was called Agathiam written down by sage

Agastya, but it went missing after a great deluge.

Dara Shikoh 7.11

In news- Recently, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that Dara Shikoh

was 'deliberately' not given due importance by certain governments due to prejudiced politics.

A brief note on him-

• Dara Shikoh was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

• He was born on 11 March 1615 in Ajmer, the land of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, to whom his father Shah

Jahan had prayed for a son.

• He was designated with the title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba and was favored as a successor by his

father and his older sister, Princess Jahanara Begum.

• He had developed a keen interest and proficiency in Sufi mysticism and the Quran at a young age.

• At the age of twenty-five, Dara wrote his first book, Safinat-ul-Awliya , a concise document detailing the

lives of the Prophet and his family, the Caliphs and of saints belonging to the five major Sufi orders then

popular in India.

• He was initiated into the Kadiri order of Sufis by his pir (spiritual guide), Mulla Shah.

• He was a follower of the Armenian Sufi-perennialist mystic Sarmad Kashani,as well as Lahore's famous

Qadiri Sufi saint Mian Mir, whom he was introduced to by Mullah Shah Badakhshi (Mian Mir's spiritual

disciple and successor).

• He had completed the translation of fifty Upanishads from their original Sanskrit into Persian in 1657 so

that they could be studied by Muslim scholars.

• His translation is often called Sirr-i-Akbar ("The Greatest Mystery"), where he states boldly, in the

introduction, his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Qur'an as the "Kitab al-maknun"

or the hidden book, is none other than the Upanishads.

• His most famous work, Majma-ul-Bahrain ("The Confluence of the Two Seas"), was also devoted to a

revelation of the mystical and pluralistic affinities between Sufic and Vedantic speculation.

• He had also commissioned a translation of Yoga Vasistha.

• Other works by him include ‘Risala-i-hak Numa’ (The Compass of the Truth), the ‘Shathiyat or Hasanat-ul-

Arifin’ and the ‘Iksir-i-Azam’.

• He had developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai.

• In the war of succession which ensued after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657, Dara was defeated by his younger

brother Prince Muhiuddin (later, the Emperor Aurangzeb) in the Battle Deorai.

• He was executed in 1659 on Aurangzeb's orders in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne.


Sankalp Smarak 7.12

In news- Recently, a Sankalp Smarak was dedicated to the nation by Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar

Command exactly 78 years after Netaji’s arrival in Andaman & Nicobar on 29 Dec 2021.

Historical significance of this day-

• In the saga of India’s freedom struggle, 30 December 1943 holds a special place etched in time.

• It was on this day that a national flag was hoisted for the first time on Indian soil, at Port Blair.

• It is also significant that Netaji escaped British surveillance from Kolkata on 16 Jan 1941 and stepped back

on Indian soil after nearly three years, at Port Blair Aerodrome on 29 Dec 1943 at 11:30 am and unfurled

a National flag the next day.

• Netaji’s visit to the islands as the Head of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind and Supreme

Commander of Indian National Army marked a symbolic fulfilment of his promise that the Indian National

Army would stand on Indian soil by the end of 1943.

• This historic visit also marked a declaration of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the “first liberated

territory of India”.

• The location of Netaji’s historic arrival on 29 Dec 1943 accompanied by Sarvashri Anand Mohan Sahay

(Secretary with Ministerial Rank), Captain Rawat - ADC and Col DS Raju (personal physician of Netaji), lies

within the premises of what is now Andaman and Nicobar Command’s Air Station INS Utkrosh.

• Smarak which was unveiled recently is a tribute not only to the resolve of the soldiers of the Indian

National Army and their innumerable sacrifices.

• It also reminds us of the values enshrined by Netaji himself, “Nishtha, Kartavya aur Balidan” or

“Commitment, Duty and Sacrifice” that continue to underscore the ethos of the Indian Armed Forces and

the resolve of the Indian Soldier.

Note: The Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, the Neil Island would now be

known as Shaheed Dweep and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.

About Subhash Chandra Bose-

• Subhas Chandra Bose, affectionately called as Netaji, was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa.

• His father Janaki Nath Bose was a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a pious and religious

lady.

• He topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province and graduated with a First Class in Philosophy

from the Scottish Churches College in Calcutta.

• He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings and was known for his patriotic zeal as a

student.

• To fulfill his parents wishes he went to England in 1919 to compete for Indian Civil Services. In England he

appeared for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination in 1920, and came out fourth in order of merit.

• However, Subhas Chandra Bose was deeply disturbed by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, and left his Civil

Services apprenticeship midway to return to India in 1921.

• After returning to India Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and

joined the Indian National Congress.

• On Gandhiji's instructions, he started working under Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, whom he later

acknowledged as his political guru.

• On May 20, 1923 he was elected leader of the All India Youth Council and secretary of the Bengal State

Congress.


• He became mayor of Calcutta in 1930.

• In 1938 he accepted nomination as the INC presidential candidate.

• He organised the All India Forward Bloc on Oct 8, 1939.

• Bose escaped from India after it became hostile towards him in 1941.

• He was the first man to call Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation.

• He earned the title ‘Netaji’, in Germany in 1942 by the Indian soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj.

• In 1943, he came to Singapore to lead the Indian Independence league and rebuild the INA to make it an

effective instrument for the freedom of India.

• On 21 October 1943, he proclaimed the formation of the provisional government of independent India (Azad

Hind) in Singapore.

• On Aug 18, 1945 Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared and later he was announced to have died in a plane crash

on the way to Taiwan, but this has been hotly disputed and never confirmed.

8. LAW AND POLICY

8.1 Chardham project

In news- Recently, the Uttarakhand government announced that the Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam

Management Act, under which the Board was set up, would be withdrawn.

Key updates-

• The Bill aimed at bringing the ‘Char Dham’ or the four shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and

Yamunotri, besides 49 other temples, under the purview of a proposed shrine Board, was passed by the

Assembly in December 2019.

• The shrine board is the highest governing body for the management of the 53 temples and has powers to

frame policies, formulate the budget and sanction expenditure, among others.

• The board may also give directions for the safe custody, prevention and management of funds, valuable

securities, jewellery and properties vested in the temples.

About Chardham project-

• Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana (Char Dham Highway Development Project) is an initiative of the

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

• The Rs 12,000-crore highway expansion project was envisaged in 2016 to widen 889 km of hill roads to provide

all-weather connectivity in the Char Dham circuit.

• It covers Uttarakhand’s four major shrines — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and part of the

route leading to Kailash Mansarovar yatra.

• Uttarakhand State Public Works Department, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the National Highway &

Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited are the implementing agencies of the project.

8.2 Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

In news- The Union Cabinet has approved the utilisation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for

provisioning of mobile services in Uncovered Villages of Aspirational Districts of five states.


Key updates-

• The Project envisages providing 4G based mobile services in the 7,287 uncovered villages of 44

Aspirational Districts across five States.

• The five states include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra & Odisha.

• The cost of the project is Rs 6,466 crore including operational expenses for 5 years.

About Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)-

• USOF is a fund under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication.

• USOF generated by Universal Service Levy(USL) which is collected from the Service Providers at a defined

percentage of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) as a component of Licence Fee.

• The collections of USL are credited to the Consolidated fund of India and allocation of funds to USOF is

through Parliamentary approval.

• The balances to the credit of the Fund does not lapse at the end of the financial year.

• It aims to provide a balance between the provision of Universal Service to all uncovered areas, including

the rural areas.

• The concept of Universal Service Obligation was originated by Rowland Hill in 1837, with his postal

reforms, which included uniform rates across the United Kingdom.

• The New Telecom Policy (NTP) 1999 of the Department of Telecom, GoI had Universal Service as one of its

main objectives.

• Further, NTP envisaged the implementation of USO for rural and remote areas would be undertaken by all

fixed service providers who shall be reimbursed from the USOF.

• The Universal Service Support Policy came into effect in 2002.

• The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 gave statutory status to USOF.

• There are 24 partners for USOF including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bharti Airtel Limited, Tata

TeleServices Limited, Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Telecom Limited, Aircel, Vodafone, etc

Objectives of USOF-

• Economic: Network extension & stimulate uptake of the ICT services.

• Social: Mainstreaming the underserved & un-served areas/groups by bridging the Access Gap.

• Political: To enable citizens to exercise their political rights in an informed way.

• Constitutional: Equitable distribution of the fruits of the telecom/digital revolution and fair allocation of

national resources (pooled USO levy) via targeted subsidies.

8.3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities

In news- Every year, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is marked on December 3.

About the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD)-

• The day is observed to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities at every level of

society and development.

• Additionally, it also aims to raise awareness of the situations of persons with disabilities in all aspects of

political, social, economic and cultural life.

• Since 1998, the day has been observed every year with a particular theme.


• The theme of 2021 is ‘Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive,

accessible, and sustainable post-COVID-19 world’.

• The annual observance of this day began in 1992 after it was proclaimed by the United Nations General

Assembly resolution 47/3.

• In 2006, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was also adopted.

• It aims at working towards creating equal opportunities for persons with disabilities through the

implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy-

• It was launched in the year 2019.

• The Strategy provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion

through all pillars of the work of the United Nations.

• Through the Strategy, the United Nations system reaffirms that the full and complete realization of the human

rights of all persons with disabilities is an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and

fundamental freedoms.

8.4 Public Accounts Committee

In news- The centennial year of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was observed recently.

About Public Accounts Committee (PAC)-

• PAC is a committee of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the

purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India.

• It is one of the three Financial Parliamentary committees, the other two are the Estimates Committee

and the Committee on Public Undertakings.

• It is the oldest Parliamentary Committee and was first constituted in 1921 in the wake of Montagu-

Chelmsford Reforms.

• It consists of 22 Members, 15 Members are elected by Lok Sabha and 7 Members of the Rajya Sabha are

associated with it.

• PAC is constituted every year under Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok

Sabha.

• The Speaker is empowered to appoint the Chairman of the Committee from amongst its Members.

• Till 1966-67, a senior member of the ruling party used to be appointed by the Speaker as Chairman of the

Committee.

• In 1967, however, for the first time, a member from the Opposition in Lok Sabha, was appointed as the

Chairman of the Committee by the Speaker. This practice continues till date.

• A Minister is not elected a member of the Committee.

Functions of PAC-

• Its function is to examine the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by the House to

meet the expenditure of the Government of India, the annual Finance Accounts of the Government of

India and such other accounts laid before the House as the Committee may think fit except those relating

to such Public Undertakings as are allotted to the Committee on Public Undertakings.


• Apart from the Reports of CAG on Appropriation Accounts of the Union Government, the Committee

examines the various Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General on revenue receipts,

expenditure by various Ministries/Departments of Government and accounts of autonomous bodies.

• The Committee looks upon savings arising from incorrect estimating or other defects in procedure no

more leniently than it does upon excesses.

• In scrutinising the Appropriation Accounts of the Government of India and the Reports of the Comptroller

and Auditor General thereon, it is the duty of the Committee to satisfy itself—

○ That the monies shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for, and applicable to the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged.

○ That the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it; and ○ That every re-appropriation has been made in accordance with the provisions made in this behalf

under rules framed by competent authority.

8.5 Dam Safety bill

In news- Recently, the Parliament has passed the landmark Dam Safety Bill (2019), paving the way for

enactment of the Dam Safety Act in the country.

Key provision of the bill-

• The Bill provides for adequate surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of all the large dams in

the country so as to prevent dam failure related disasters.

• The Bill covers those dams having the height of over 15 metres and between 10 and 15 metres with

certain stipulations.

• As per the provision of the Bill, a National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) will be constituted to help

evolve uniform dam safety policies, protocols, and procedures.

• It also provides for the establishment of a National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) as a regulatory body for

ensuring the nationwide implementation of dam safety policies and standards.

• At the State level, the Bill prescribes for the constitution of State Committees on Dam Safety (SCDS) and

the establishment of the State Dam Safety Organizations (SDSO).

• It also addresses in a comprehensive manner, critical concerns related to dam safety on account of

emerging climate change related challenges.

• It provides for regular inspection and hazard classification of dams.


• It also provides for drawing up of emergency action plans and comprehensive dam safety reviews by an

independent panel of experts.

• There is provision for an emergency flood warning system to address the safety concerns of downstream

inhabitants.

• Through this Bill the Dam owners are required to provide resources for timely repair and maintenance of

the dam structure, along with related machinery.

• This Bill has penal provisions, involving offences and penalties, for ensuring compliance of the provisions.

• The definite timelines have been provided in the Bill for the establishment of a robust institutional

framework, with the support of both the Centre and the States.

Key facts-

• After China and USA, India is the 3rd largest dam-owning nation in the world.

• There are around 5,700 large dams in the country, of which about 80% are already over 25 years old.

• Nearly 227 dams that are over 100 years old are still functional.

8.6 Poshan tracker

In news- The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has spent over Rs. 1,000 crore on its Poshan

or Nutrition Tracker. However, the data is yet to be made public by the government.

About Poshan Tracker-

• The Poshan Tracker, known as the ICDS-CAS (Integrated Child Development Services- Common

Application Software) in its earlier avatar.

• It was set up with the aim of tracking and improving various services delivered at anganwadis and to

ensure nutritional management of beneficiaries.

• Its purpose is to provide a 360-degree view of the activities of the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), service

deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and complete beneficiary management for pregnant women,

lactating mothers and children.

• It is one of the key pillars of the Poshan Abhiyan or Nutrition Mission approved by the Union Cabinet in

November 2017 with a financial outlay of Rs. 9,000 crore for three years.

• It gives the MoWCD daily data from 12.3 lakh anganwadi centres, with 9.8 lakh beneficiaries, including

children, in the age of six months to six years, as well as pregnant women and lactating mothers.

• It records real-time data on malnourished and ‘severe acute malnourished’ children in each anganwadi.

• On its Poshan Tracker website (https://poshantracker.in/), the government hosts a dashboard which

provides only administrative details at the national, State and district level.

• This includes total attendance, vaccinations, take-home ration delivered and hot cooked meals served for

the past one month, past seven days, and today.

• It neither allows an analysis of these services over a period of time nor does it share critical information —

such as nutrition status of the beneficiaries — that researchers, economists and activists are most

interested in.

8.7 Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana

In news- As of November 2021, nearly 46 lakh unorganized workers have been registered under the Pradhan

Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan pension scheme.


About the scheme-

• PM-SYM is a Central Sector Scheme launched in 2019 and administered by the Ministry of Labour and

Employment and implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India and CSCs.

• LIC is the Pension Fund Manager and responsible for Pension pay out.

• It is a voluntary and contributory Pension Scheme for Unorganized Workers for entry age of 18 to 40

years with monthly income of Rs.15000 or less.

• Under this scheme, minimum assured monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- is provided to the unorganized

workers after attaining the age of 60 years.

• After his/ her death, the spouse will receive a monthly family pension which is 50 % of the pension.

• If a beneficiary has given regular contribution and died due to any cause (before age of 60 years), his/her

spouse will be entitled to join and continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution

or exit the scheme as per provisions of exit and withdrawal.

• Under the scheme, contribution is made to the scheme on a 50:50 basis where prescribed age-specific

contribution shall be made by the beneficiary and the matching contribution by the Central Government.

• Any worker who is covered under any statutory Social Security Scheme such as NPS, ESIC, EPFO and an

income tax payee is not entitled to join the scheme.

• The subscriber is required to contribute the prescribed contribution amount from the age of joining the

scheme till the age of 60 years.

• Unorganized workers covered under the scheme are home based workers, street vendors, head loaders,

brick kiln, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washer-men, Rickshaw Pullers, Rural landless labourers,

own account workers, agricultural workers, construction workers, beedi workers, handloom workers,

leather workers, etc.

8.8 Default bail

In news- Recently, the lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was given the default bail, but the co-accused was

denied the same relief.

What is default bail?

• Also known as statutory bail, this is a right to bail that accrues when the police fail to complete

investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.

• This is enshrined in Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure(CrPC) where it is not possible for the

police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders

for either police or judicial custody.

• This section concerns the total period up to which a person may be remanded in custody prior to filing of

charge sheet.

• For most offenses, the police have 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report before the

court.

• However, where the offense attracts death sentence or life imprisonment, or a jail term of not less than 10

years, the period available is 90 days.

• At the end of this period, if the investigation is not complete, the court shall release the person “if he is

prepared to and does furnish bail”.

Principles related to statutory bail-

• It is a right, regardless of the nature of the crime.


• The stipulated period within which the charge sheet has to be filed begins from the day the accused is

remanded for the first time.

• It includes days undergone in both police and judicial custody, but not days spent in house-arrest.

• A requirement for the grant of statutory bail is that the right should be claimed by the person in custody.

• If the charge sheet is not filed within the stipulated period, but there is no application for bail under

Section 167(2), there is no automatic bail.

• In general, the right to bail on the investigation agency’s default is considered an ‘indefeasible right’, but it

should be availed of at the appropriate time.

Its applicability on special laws-

• In the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the period is 180 days.

• However, in cases involving substances in commercial quantity, the period may be extended up to one year.

• This extension beyond 180 days can be granted only on a report by the Public Prosecutor indicating the

progress made in the investigation and giving reasons to keep the accused in continued detention.

• In the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the default limit is 90 days only.

• The court may grant an extension of another 90 days, if it is satisfied with a report by the Public Prosecutor

showing the progress made in the investigation and giving reasons to keep the accused in further custody.

8.9 The High Court & Supreme Court Judges (Salaries & Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021

In news- Recently, the Loksabha has passed the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions

of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021 by voice vote.

Key provisions of the bill-

• The Bill seeks to amend the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954, and the

Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.

• These Acts regulate the salaries and conditions of service of the judges of High Courts and the Supreme

Court of India.

• Both the Acts particularly provide that every retired judge or his/ her family after his/ her death, shall be

entitled to pension or family pension respectively.

• The bill further proposes to insert an explanation in sections 17B of the HC Judges Act and 16B of the

Supreme Court Judges Act to clarify the government’s objective.

• It addresses the anomalies in the disbursal of pension of retired Supreme Court and High Court judges.

• The amendments entitle them to an additional quantum of pension or family pension when they attain a

certain age in accordance with a specified.

Constitutional provisions related to the High Court & Supreme Court-

• Articles 214-231 deals with the provisions of High Courts in India.

• It provides for separate high courts for separate states,

• As per 7th constitutional amendment act the same high court can be the court for more than one state.

• The Chief Justice and Judges of the High Courts are to be appointed by the President under clause (1) of Article

217 of the Constitution.

• Article 124(1) and Amendment act of 2008 states that there shall be a Supreme Court of India consisting of a

Chief justice of India (CJI) and 34 judges including the CJI.


• Salaries of Judges of the Supreme Court are determined by Parliament by law.

8.10 Shyam Prasad Mukherjee Rural Urban Mission (SPMRM)

In news- Recently, the Union Minister of State for Rural Development stated in Lok Sabha that Shyam Prasad

Mukherjee Rural Urban Mission (SPMRM) is achieving all its goals steadily despite its inherent complexity and

uniqueness

About the SPMRM mission-

• It was launched in the year 2016 in mission mode to develop 300 clusters in the country holistically by

provisioning of economic, social and physical infrastructure facilities.

• The vision of SPMRM is development of a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural

community life with focus on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived

to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a cluster of Rurban villages.

• The main objectives of SPMRM are to stimulate local economic development, enhance basic services, and

create well planned Rurban clusters.

• Under the Mission, presently, there are 109 tribal clusters and 191 non-tribal clusters under different

stages of development across 28 States and 6 Union Territories (UTs) of the country.

• Regarding the objective of having 'sustainable planned development of rural habitat on spatial

perspective' a spatial planning platform has been developed in collaboration with Bhaskaracharya

National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics and Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) with 2 fund streams: Convergence through various schemes

(Central sector, centrally sponsored schemes, State sector/ sponsored schemes/ programmes, CSR funds

etc) and Critical Gap Funds (CGF).

8.11 Atmanirbhar Hastshilpkar Scheme

In news- North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi) has introduced Atmanirbhar

Hastshilpkar Scheme for the Artisans under the Ministry of Development of North-East Region (MoDoner).

About the scheme-

• Objective of the scheme is to develop the petty artisans of the North Eastern Region by providing

financial assistance in the form of term loan for income generating activities for setting up / expansion /

modernization / working capital requirement and other activities related to the sector.

• The credit facility under the scheme is collateral free and carries a subsidized interest rate of 6% p.a.,

which is repayable in 24 months.

• For regular repayment, an incentive of 1% on the interest rate is provided, which will be refunded to the

artisans on successful repayment of loans.

• Artisans can apply for the scheme at NEDFi with the following eligibility criteria:

a. Registered/ unregistered artisan/ Individual.

b. Having valid qualification or practicing any art form.

c. No existing loan from any other bank/ financial institution.

d. Bank Account.

e. Aadhaar Card.


8.12 Lok Sabha nod to NDPS (Amendment) Bill

In news- Lok Sabha has passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill recently.

Key highlights-

• The bill amends the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and seeks to correct the

drafting error in the 2014 amendment to this act.

• It seeks to correct what the government termed a “clerical error”, which was rectified by an ordinance

promulgated in September 2021 and the Bill is to effect that change into the Act.

• In 2014, a substantial amendment was made to the NDPS Act to allow for better medical access to narcotic

drugs.

• In Section 2 (viii)a, the amendment defined “essential drugs” under Section 9, and it allowed the

manufacture, possession, transport, import inter-State, export inter-State, sale, purchase, consumption

and use of essential narcotic drugs.

• But before the 2014 amendment, a Section 2(viiia) already existed and contained a catalogue of offences

for which the punishment is prescribed in Section 27A.

• While defining “essential drugs” in 2014, the legislation re-numbered Section 2.

• However, Section 2 (viiia) sub-clauses i-v, which were supposed to be the catalogue of offences, does not

exist after the 2014 amendment and is now Section 2(viiib).

• However, the drafters missed amending the enabling provision in Section 27A to change Section 2(viii)a to

Section 2(viii)b.

• This error in the text meant since 2014, Section 27A was inoperable.

• The error was noticed by a district judge in West Agartala.

• In June 2021, the Tripura High Court, while hearing a reference made by the district court, flagged the

drafting error, urging the Centre to bring in an amendment and rectify it.

NDPS Act, 1985

• It is the principal legislation through which the state regulates the operations of narcotic drugs and

psychotropic substances.

• The Act is widely regarded as a prohibitionist law which seeks to grapple with 2 kinds of offences: trafficking of

prohibited substances i.e. cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale, as well as their consumption.

• It provides for establishment of specialized courts to deal with offences set out in the Act.

• The quantum of punishment under the NDPS Act is based on the quantity of drugs found which may be

classified into 3 categories: small, less than commercial and commercial.

• Section 8 of the Act explicitly prohibits the cultivation of opium, poppy, coca or cannabis plants.

• It also prohibits the production, manufacture, distribution including warehousing, transport, purchasing and

selling of prohibited drugs and psychotropic substances.

• It also prohibits their financing as well as consumption and harboring offenders guilty under the Act.

• The act provides procedural safeguards to prevent innocent civilians from being unnecessarily harassed.

• The 2014 amendment provides for the accreditation of treatment centres by relevant government authorities.

• Nodal agency is the Department of Social Welfare (awareness).

• The Narcotics Control Bureau is tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the activities undertaken by

various law enforcement agencies.

• The Ministry of Finance looks into cases grappling with drug trafficking, money laundering and other

offences which are closely linked with drug abuse.


8.13 Right to be forgotten

In news- Recently, the Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019,

which was tabled in Parliament, contains provisions related to the ‘right to be forgotten’.

About Right to be forgotten-

• ‘Right to be forgotten’ is a fairly new concept in India where an individual could seek to remove or delete

online posts which may contain an embarrassing picture, video or news articles mentioning them.

• The doctrine of the ‘right to be forgotten’ was accepted as an essential part of the ‘right to privacy’ as per

the judgments passed by the Orissa High Court and the Karnataka High Court.

• The Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right under article 19 by the Supreme Court in its

landmark verdict in Puttaswamy case in 2017.

• Currently, it falls under the purview of an individual’s right to privacy, which is governed by the Personal

Data Protection Bill that is yet to be passed by Parliament.

• Clause 20 under Chapter V of this bill titled “Rights of Data Principal” mentions the “Right to be

Forgotten.”

• It states that the data principal (the person to whom the data is related) shall have the right to restrict or

prevent the continuing disclosure of his personal data by a data fiduciary.

• Under the Right to be forgotten, users can de-link, limit, delete or correct the disclosure of their personal

information held by data fiduciaries.

• A data fiduciary means any person, including the State, a company, any juristic entity or any individual who

alone or in conjunction with others determines the purpose and means of processing of personal data.

• As per the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Information Technology Act

provides for blocking certain information for public access and allows removal of certain unlawful

information from an intermediary platform.

8.14 Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

In news-The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha recently.

Key features of the Bill

• The Bill seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people who want to

register as voters for the purpose of establishing identity.

• It also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar number from "persons already

included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll, and to identify

registration of name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than

once in the same constituency.

• The Bill makes it clear that no application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and

no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate

Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed.

• It further says that such people will be allowed to furnish other alternative documents as may be

prescribed.

• The Bill amends the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act,

1951 to implement certain electoral reforms.


• The 1950 Act provides for allocation of seats and delimitation of constituencies for elections, qualifications

of voters, and preparation of electoral rolls. The 1951 Act provides for the conduct of elections, and

offences and disputes related to elections.

• The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill states that Section 23 of the Representation of Peoples

Act will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to curb the

menace of multiple enrolment of the same person in different places.

• It also seeks to amend clause (b) of section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 specifying the 1st day of January, 1st

day of April, 1st day of July and 1st day of October in a calendar year as qualifying dates in relation to the

preparation or revision of electoral rolls.

• The 1951 Act permits the state government to requisition premises needed or likely to be needed for

being used as polling stations, or for storing ballot boxes after a poll has been conducted.

• The Bill expands the purposes for which such premises can be requisitioned. These include using the

premises for counting, storage of voting machines and poll-related material, and accommodation of

security forces and polling personnel.

8.15 Belagavi border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka

In news- Border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka reared its head again in the Belagavi region of

Karnataka.

A brief note on the border dispute-

• At the time of Independence, the region of Belagavi (the Belgaum) was part of the Bombay presidency.

• The erstwhile Bombay Presidency, a multilingual province, included the present-day Karnataka districts of

Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dharwad and Uttara-Kannada.

• The region was, however, integrated with the state of Mysore (now Karnataka) during reorganisation of

states on linguistic lines.

• The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which divided states on linguistic and administrative lines, made

Belgaum and 10 talukas of Bombay State a part of the then Mysore State (which was renamed Karnataka

in 1973)


• While demarcating borders, the Reorganisation of States Commission sought to include talukas with a

Kannada-speaking population of more than 50 per cent in Mysore.

• The MES came into existence in 1948 with the sole aim of pushing for integration of Belgaum with

Maharashtra during the reorganization of states.

• The essential claim of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) and pro-Marathi groups is that Belagavi is a

largely Marathi-speaking region and it should be a part of Maharashtra instead of Karnataka which is a

Kannada-speaking state.

• The MES and other groups claim that nearly 45 percent of the district is Marathi speaking while pro-

Kannada groups argue that the Marathi population is only around 35 per cent which is on par with the

Kannada-speaking population of the region.

• The Government of India constituted the Mahajan Commission under former Chief Justice Mehr Chand

Mahajan on 25 October 1966.

• The Commission, which submitted its report in August 1967, recommended that 264 villages be

transferred to Maharashtra (which formed in 1960) and that Belgaum and 247 villages remain with

Karnataka.

• Maharashtra rejected the report, calling it biased and illogical, and demanded another review.

• Karnataka welcomed the report, and has ever since continued to press for implementation, although this

has not been formally done by the Centre.

• In 2004, the Maharashtra government moved the Supreme Court for a settlement of the border dispute

under Article 131(b) of the Constitution, demanding 814 villages from Karnataka on the basis of the

theory of village being the unit of calculation, contiguity and enumerating linguistic population in each

village.

8.16 Word 'Anti-national’ not defined in Statutes

In news- Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha that the word ‘anti-national’ has

not been defined in statutes.

More information on the word anti-national-

• The word ‘anti-national’ has not been defined in Statutes.

• However, there are criminal legislations and various judicial pronouncements to sternly deal with unlawful

and subversive activities which are detrimental to the unity and integrity of the country.

• The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 inserted in the Constitution Article 31D (during Emergency)

which defined “anti-national activity” and this Article 31D was, subsequently, omitted by the Constitution

(3rd Amendment) Act, 1977.

• In 2019, when the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released the annual Crime in India report for the

year 2017, it included for the first time a new chapter on “Crime Committed by Anti-National Elements.”

• The chapter listed - “North East insurgents, Left Wing Extremists and Terrorists (including Jihadi terrorists)”

as the three anti-national elements.

• According to the NCRB report, these three elements were responsible for 398 violent attacks that took

place in 2020.

• Parliament’s standing committee on communication and information technology, headed by Congress MP

Shashi Tharoor, in its report on “ethical standards in media coverage” recommended that the government

properly define terms such as “anti-national attitude” to remove any ambiguity in interpretation.


8.17 Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021

In news- Recently, the Karnataka assembly passed the anti-conversion bill - The Karnataka Protection of Right to

Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021.

Key features of the bill-

• It proposes a maximum punishment of 10 years of imprisonment for forcible conversion of persons from

Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe communities, minors and women to another religion.

• It prohibits conversion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, allurement of marriage, coercion and undue

influence.

• As per the bill, complaints of conversions can be filed by family members of a person who is getting

converted, or any other person who is related to the person who is getting converted, or any person

associated with the person getting converted.

• The offence of conversion is cognisable and non-bailable and will attract a jail term of three to five years

and a fine of Rs. 25,000 for people found violating the law and a jail term of three to 10 years, and a fine of

Rs. 50,000 for people converting minors, women and persons from the SC and ST communities.

• It also envisages a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to victims of forced conversions.

• Once the law comes into force, any person intending to convert to another religion will have to inform the

district magistrate at least thirty days in advance.

• The person executing the conversion must also give a notice one month in advance, following which an

inquiry will be conducted by the district magistrate through the police to establish the real intent of

conversion.

• Not informing authorities will carry a prison term of six months to three years for persons who are

converted and one year to five years for the persons carrying out the conversions.

• After getting converted, the person has to again inform the district magistrate within 30 days after

conversion and must appear before the district magistrate to confirm his/her identity.

• Not informing the district magistrate will lead to the conversion being declared null and void.

• Post conversion, the district magistrate has to inform revenue authorities, the social welfare, minority,

backward classes and other departments of the conversion, who will, in turn, take steps with respect to

the entitlements of the person in terms of reservations and other benefits.

• It also states that any marriage which has happened for the sole purpose of unlawful conversion or vice-

versa by the man of one religion with the woman of another religion, either by converting himself before

or after marriage or by converting the woman before or after marriage, shall be declared as null and void

by the family court.

• It, however, provides an exemption in the case of a person who “reconverts to his immediate previous

religion” as “the same shall not be deemed to be a conversion under this Act”.

List of other states with similar laws-

• Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar

Pradesh and Uttarakhand have laws restricting religious conversion.

• Penalties for breaching the laws can range from monetary fines to imprisonment, with punishments ranging

from one to three years of imprisonment and fines from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000.

• Some of the laws provide for stiffer penalties if women, children, or members of Scheduled Castes or

Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) are being converted.

• Some other States, including Manipur, are reportedly “considering similar laws.”


• Odisha was the first State to enact anti-conversion legislation, the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967.

Madhya Pradesh enacted the same the following year.

Similar initiatives at central level-

• In post-Independent India, the first Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill was introduced in

1954, which sought to enforce “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion with government

officials.” This bill was rejected.

• This was followed by the introduction of the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill in 1960.

• The bill was aimed at checking conversion of Hindus to ‘non-Indian religions’ which, as per the definition in the

Bill, included Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

• The Freedom of Religion Bill in 1979 sought “official curbs on inter-religious conversion.”

• These bills fell through for want of majority approval.

8.18 Soya Meal declared as Essential Commodity

In news- Recently, the Union government declared Soya Meal as an Essential Commodity up to 30th June, 2022.

Key updates-

• The Government has amended the Schedule of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

• The decision would empower the Union Government and all States, UTs to regulate production,

distribution etc. of Soya Meal and to smoothen the sale and availability of this item in the market.

• It will stop unfair market practices and enhance the availability for consumers like Poultry farm and Cattle

feed manufacturers.

• Maximum stock of 90 days production, as per daily input production capacity of Plant/Miller/Processor,

can be held and the storage location should be declared.

• Trading company/Trader/Private Chaupals: Only Government registered enterprise, maximum stock of

160 MT with a defined and declared storage location can be stored.

• In case of stocks held by respective legal entities are higher than the prescribed limits then they shall

declare the same on the portal of Department of Food and Public Distribution and bring it to the

prescribed stock limits within 30 days of the issue of the notification.

Essential Commodities Act, 1955

• The EC Act was legislated at a time when the country was facing scarcity of foodstuffs due to persistent

abysmal levels of foodgrain production.

• It aims to provide, in the interest of the general public, for the control of the production, supply and

distribution of, and trade and commerce, in certain commodities.

• There is no specific definition of essential commodities in The EC Act.

• Section 2(A) of the act states that an “essential commodity” means a commodity specified in the Schedule of

this Act.

• The Act gives powers to the central government to add or remove a commodity in the Schedule.

• It enables the government to fix the minimum support price (MSP) of any packaged product that it declares an

“essential commodity”.

• The Union government passed an amendment to the act in 2020 which allowed the government to delist

certain commodities as essential, allowing the government to regulate their supply and prices only in cases of

war, famine, extraordinary price rises, or natural calamities.


About Soybean-

• It is an annual legume of the pea family (Fabaceae).

• It is native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.

• It is economically the most important bean in the world, providing vegetable protein for millions of people and

ingredients for hundreds of chemical products.

• Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and tofu skin are made.

• Fermented soy foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, and tempeh.

• It contains significant amounts of phytic acid, dietary minerals and B vitamins.

• Like many legumes, soybeans can fix atmospheric nitrogen, due to the presence of symbiotic bacteria from the

Rhizobia group.

8.19 NITI Aayog Health Index, 2021

In news- NITI Aayog, recently released the fourth edition of the State Health Index for 2019–20.

About the index-

• The report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”, ranks states and Union Territories on their year-

on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status.

• The index has been compiled and published since 2017.

• The objective of the Index is to track progress on health outcomes and health systems performance,

develop a healthy competition and encourage cross-learning among states and UTs.

• It aims to nudge states/UTs towards building robust health systems and improving service delivery.

• Round IV of the report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental

improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.


• It was developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in close consultation

with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

• It is a weighted composite index based on 24 indicators grouped under the domains of ‘Health

Outcomes’, ‘Governance and Information’, and ‘Key Inputs/Processes’.

• Each domain has been assigned weights based on its importance with higher scores for outcome

indicators.

• Among the Larger States, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana emerged among the best three performers in

terms of Overall Performance.

• Uttar Pradesh ranked at the bottom (Rank 19) in Overall Performance; however, it ranked at the top in

terms of Incremental Performance by registering the highest incremental change from the Base Year

(2018-19) to Reference Year (2019-20).

• On the other hand, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were top two performers in terms of Overall Performance with

the highest Reference Year (2019-20) Index Scores but ranked twelfth and eight respectively in terms of

Incremental Performance.

• Among the Smaller States, Mizoram emerged as the best performer in Overall Performance as well as

Incremental Performance while among UTs, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ranked among the bottom UTs

in terms of Overall Performance but emerged as the leading performer in terms Incremental Performance.

8.20 Rythu Bandhu scheme

In news- The Telangana state government started crediting money to farmers' bank accounts under 8th phase of

Rythu Bandhu Scheme from 28th December, 2021.

About the scheme-

• Launched in 2018, Rythu Bandhu (Agriculture Investment Support Scheme) is Telangana government’s

direct benefit transfer scheme for farmers.

• Under the scheme, each farmer gets Rs 5,000 per acre per crop season without any ceiling on the number

of acres held.

• The grant helps them cover the expenses on input requirements such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and

labour.

• The Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) supervises the Rythu Bandhu cheques distribution at village level.

• This scheme is based on anticipated input expenditure for each acre of land and there is no restriction on

the number of acres owned by a farmer.

• This is the first direct farmer investment support scheme in India, where the cash is paid directly whereas

PM-KISAN only provides support to the family and not to the farm units.

8.21 India’s vaccination program for age group of 15-18 yrs

In news- India will start administering Covid-19 vaccines to children in the age group of 15-18 years from 3rd

January 2022.

About the vaccination program-

• As per the Union Health Ministry, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be the only vaccine that will be

administered to eligible recipients in the age group of 15-18 years.


• This makes it the second Indian vaccine after ZyCoV-D, a DNA plasmid vaccine, to be approved for those

above 12.

• ZyCoV-D, by Zydus Cadilla, is a three-dose combination whereas Covaxin by Bharat Biotech is a two-dose

vaccine to be administered four weeks apart.

• The company also says that being an inactivated whole virion vaccine, the dosage for children is the same

as those for adults.

• Children born in 2007 and earlier shall be eligible to receive the vaccine under this program.

• Beneficiaries can register online through an existing account on Co-WIN, or after creating a new account

through a unique mobile number.

• Children can book a slot using their parents’ existing Co-WIN accounts.

• All beneficiaries irrespective of their income status are entitled to get jabbed for free at government

vaccination centres.

• However, those who visit private hospitals or vaccination centres have to pay the requisite fees.

About Covaxin (for adults)-

• It is India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council

of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV).

• The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell derived platform technology.

• Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects.

• They contain dead viruses, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount

a defensive reaction against an infection.

• Covaxin is included along with immune-potentiators, also known as vaccine adjuvants, which are added to the

vaccine to increase and boost its immunogenicity.

• It is a vaccine with no sub-zero storage, no reconstitution requirement, and ready to use liquid presentation in

multi-dose vials, stable at 2-8 degrees.

9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

9.1 Abundance of Lithium in stars

In news- Recently, scientists have found a clue to the mystery behind the high abundance of Lithium.

Key findings-

• For more than four decades, Astronomers have known that a class of stars have an anomalous amount of

Lithium on their surface.

• Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bangalore, an autonomous institute of the

Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India have for the first time confirmed that all

the lithium-rich stars are burning helium in their core.

• They have speculated that lithium production is linked to the violent helium-core flash.

• The observations were gathered on the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope at the Australian Astrophysical

Observatory.

• The survey GALAH - named after a common Australian bird, provided a collection of about 500,000 stars

with well-determined physical and chemical properties, including lithium abundances.


• This exercise, done for the first time on such a large scale and across a wide range of mass and metallicity,

reveals the rare presence of lithium-rich giants in all the Sun-like low-mass stars.

• They created virtual stars of various masses and metallicity and compared the properties of these virtual

stars with that of real stars from the GALAH survey that confirmed that all the lithium-rich stars are

burning helium in their core.

About Lithium-

• It is a trace element on Earth, and a key component of rechargeable batteries.

• It is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3.

• It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal.

• Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.

• Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in vacuum, inert atmosphere

or inert liquid such as purified kerosene or mineral oil.

9.2 Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD)

In news- Recently, NASA has launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) from Cape

Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

About LCRD-

• It is the first-ever laser communications system (to transmit data from space to Earth) of NASA.

• Currently, most NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data.

• LCRD has two optical terminals – one to receive data from a user spacecraft, and the other to transmit

data to ground stations.

• The modems will translate the digital data into laser signals which will then be transmitted via encoded

beams of light.

• These capabilities make LCRD NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end optical relay.

• Optical communications will help increase the bandwidth 10 to 100 times more than radio frequency

systems.

• The LCRD payload is hosted onboard the US Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite 6

(STPSat-6).

• It will be in a geosynchronous orbit, over 35,000km above Earth.

• For the first two years, LCRD will test its communications capabilities.

• It will be controlled by engineers at the LCRD mission’s ground stations in California and Hawaii.

• The team will send test data through radio frequency signals and the LCRD will reply using optical signals.

• Using infrared lasers, LCRD will send data to Earth at 1.2 gigabits-per-second (Gbps).

Note-

• Optical communications systems are smaller in size, weight, and require less power compared with radio

instruments.

• The infrared light used for laser communications differs from radio waves because it occurs at a much higher

frequency and shorter wavelength, allowing engineers to pack more data into each transmission.

• More data yields more information and discoveries about space at once.


9.3 IXPE mission of NASA

In news- Recently the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)

spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

About IXPE mission-

• IXPE is an international collaboration between NASA, the Italian Space Agency, along with partners and

providers in 12 other countries.

• It is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and

mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other

high-energy objects.

• The mission’s primary length is two years and the observatory will be at 600 kilometres altitude, orbiting

around Earth’s equator.

• IXPE is expected to study about 40 celestial objects in its first year in space.

• It will shed light on exploded stars, black holes and other violent high-energy events unfolding in the

universe.

• IXPE carries three state-of-the-art space telescopes and each one of the three identical telescopes hosts’

one light-weight X-ray mirror and one detector unit.

• This new mission will complement other X-ray telescopes such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the

European Space Agency’s X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton.

9.4 Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile

In news- Recently, DRDO and Indian Air Force (IAF) flight-tested the indigenously designed and developed

Helicopter launched Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from Pokhran ranges.

About SANT missile-

• It has been designed and developed by Research Center Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in coordination with

other DRDO labs and participation from industries.

• It is equipped with a state-of-the-art millimeter wave (MMW) seeker which provides high precision strike

capability from a safe distance.

• The weapon can neutralize targets in a range up to 10 kms.

• This is the third in the series of indigenous stand-off weapons to be tested in recent times, after the Long-

Range Bomb and Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW), further strengthening the arsenal of the Indian Air

Force.

Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW)-

• It was designed and developed by Research Center Imarat (RCI) in coordination with other DRDO Laboratories

and extensive support from IAF.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bengaluru has carried out weapon integration with the aircraft.

• Electro-optical configuration of the system is equipped with Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker technology

enhancing the weapon's precision strike capability.

• The system is designed for a maximum range of 100 kilometres.


Long Range Bomb (LRB)-

• It is the indigenously-developed guided bomb.

• It was designed and developed in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories by Research Center Imarat (RCI),

a DRDO laboratory in Hyderabad.

About Research Centre Imarat (RCI)-

• It is a DRDO laboratory located in Hyderabad, Telangana.

• RCI is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out research and development in the technologies of

Control Engineering, Inertial Navigation, and Imaging Infrared seekers, RF Seekers & Systems, On-board

Computers and Mission Software.

• It was established by APJ Abdul Kalam in 1988.

9.5 Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo System (SMART)

In news- Recently, a supersonic missile assisted torpedo system developed by DRDO was successfully launched

from Wheeler Island in Odisha.

About the missile-

• It is a next generation missile-based standoff torpedo delivery system.

• Torpedoes are self-propelled weapons that travel underwater to hit the target and can be fired from either

above or under the water surface.

• This canister-based missile system consists of advanced technologies viz. two stage solid propulsion,

electro-mechanical actuators and precision inertial navigation.

• This SMART system comprises a mechanism by which the torpedo is launched from an existing supersonic

missile system — by making complex modifications in it — which takes the torpedo to a much longer

range than its own.

• The system also gives flexibility in terms of the launch platform that comes with the missile system.

• The anti-submarine warfare assets consist of deployment of submarines, specialized anti-submarine ships,

air assets and state of the art reconnaissance and detection mechanisms.

• It was the second successful test of the SMART system, its maiden successful test in October 2020.

9.6 Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)

In news- Recently, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology has said that ISRO is

developing a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) with private participation to be launched in 1st quarter of

2022.

About Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)-

• SSLV will provide a payload capability of 500 kg to a 500 km planar orbit.

• The development of SSLV is in the final stages and the first developmental flight of SSLV is targeted during

the first quarter of 2022.


• Government has sanctioned a total cost of Rs.169 Crores for the development project including the

development & qualification of the vehicle systems and the flight demonstration through three

development flights (SSLV-D1, SSLV-D2 & SSLV-D3).

• The SSLV consists of three solid fuel stages and a bi-propellant RCS/Velocity trimming module.

• The hardware & structures for the SSLV development project will be realized through private industry.

• The development of SSLV has been primarily envisaged to realize a cost-effective launch vehicle with high

launch frequency and quick turnaround capability in order to cater to the growing opportunity in the

global launch services market for small satellites.

9.7 New nuclear site at Jaitapur, Maharashtra

In news- The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology said that the Government has

accorded ‘In-Principle’ approval of the nuclear site at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

About the nuclear site-

• Six European Pressurized Reactors of 1650 MW each will be set up in technical cooperation of Framatome

(former Areva) of France.

• Once built, it would be the largest nuclear power generating site in the world with a total capacity of

9900 MW.

• In 2010, French state-controlled nuclear engineering firm Areva S.A. and Indian state-owned nuclear

operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India signed the agreement regarding this site.

• The present installed nuclear power capacity in the country is 6780 MW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framatome


• The share of nuclear power in the total electricity generation in the country is about 3.1% in the year

2020-21.

• In this context, the present nuclear power capacity of 6780 MW is planned to be increased to 22480 MW

by 2031 on progressive completion of projects under construction and accorded sanction.

9.8 India's first green hydrogen microgrid project

In news- Recently, the NTPC has awarded a project of “Standalone Fuel-Cell based Micro-grid with hydrogen

production using electrolyser” at Simhadri (near Visakhapatnam).

About green hydrogen microgrid project-

• It is India’s first Green Hydrogen based Energy Storage Project and one of the world's largest.

• It has been designed by National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) Limited.

• It would be a precursor to large scale hydrogen energy storage projects and would be useful for studying

and deploying multiple microgrids in various off grid and strategic locations of the country.

• The hydrogen would be produced using the advanced 240 kW Solid Oxide Electrolyser by taking input

power from the nearby Floating Solar project.

• The hydrogen produced during sunshine hours would be stored at high pressure and would be electrified

using a 50 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell.

• It is a unique project for India and would open doors for decarbonising the far-off regions of the country

like Ladakh, J&K etc., hitherto dependent on diesel generators.

• The project is in-line with the vision for becoming carbon neutral by 2070 and making Ladakh a carbon

neutral territory.

• Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyzer powered by

renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

• NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NTPC REL) has also inked a pact with the Union territory of Ladakh for a

green hydrogen mobility project, with the company along with NVVN jointly executing the project.

9.9 Parker solar probe

In news- Recently NASA's Parker solar probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the outer atmosphere of

the Sun.

Key updates-

• It flew through the Sun's upper atmosphere 'Corona' and sampled magnetic fields and particles there.

• The data beamed back by the probe released by Nasa showed that the probe came as close as 1.3 crore

kilometres to the surface of the Sun.

• The spacecraft used its Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) to capture unique structures

known as coronal streamers as they passed through the atmosphere of the Sun.

• At one point, as the spacecraft dipped to just beneath 1.5 crore kilometres from the Sun’s surface, it

transited a feature in the corona called a pseudo streamer.

• Pseudo Streamers are massive structures that rise above the Sun’s surface and can be seen from Earth

during solar eclipses.

• Passing through the pseudo streamer was like flying into the eye of a storm.


About the Parker probe-

• It is the first-ever mission to “touch” the Sun.

• The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, travels directly through the Sun’s atmosphere.

• It was launched aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, on Aug. 12, 2018.

• The Probe uses Venus’ gravity during seven flybys over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to

the Sun.

• It is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect

life and society.

• The spacecraft and instruments are protected from the Sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield,

which needs to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 2,500 F.

• The primary science goals for the mission are to trace how energy and heat move through the solar corona

and to explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.

• It carries four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image

the solar wind.

• In April 2021, Parker crossed what is termed the Alfvén critical boundary (Alfvén is the outer edge of the

corona).

• It is the point where solar material that is normally bound to the Sun by gravity and magnetic forces breaks

free to stream out across space.

9.10 Parvovirus

In news- Nearly, 2,000 pets and stray dogs in Maharashtra’s Amravati were infected with the Canine Parvovirus

recently.

About Parvovirus-

• Canine parvovirus (also referred to as CPV, CPV2, or parvo) is a highly contagious viral disease that can also

be life-threatening in puppies and dogs.

• It affects the gastrointestinal tract of canines with puppies being more susceptible.

• Bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, drastic weight loss, dehydration and lethargy are some of the symptoms.

• The virus has reported a 90 percent mortality rate.

• It spreads through direct contact with an infected dog or by indirect contact with a contaminated object,

including the hands and clothing of people who handle infected dogs.

• The dogs can get exposed to the parvovirus every time it sniffs, licks, or consume infected faeces.

• Indirect transmission occurs when a person who has recently been exposed to an infected dog touches the

puppy, or when a puppy encounters a contaminated object, like food or water bowl, collars and leashes.

• Parvo, being a resistant virus, easily survives in the environment, and anything can be contaminated with

it, including leaves and grass.

• Parvovirus has no cure and inoculating a puppy or a dog gives them a fighting chance against the

infection.

• The first dose is given at 45 days old and the second 21 days after the first dose.

• To properly protect canines, it is necessary to administer the vaccine to them while they are puppies and

then continue to do the same every year.


9.11 Controlled Aerial Delivery System

In news- Recently, DRDO’s Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra conducted a

flight demonstration of the Controlled Aerial Delivery System(CADS).

About CADS-

• CADS is used for precise delivery of payload upto 500 kgs at predetermined location by making use of

manoeuvrable capabilities of Ram Air Parachute (RAP).

• It uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) for the coordinates, altitude and heading sensors for the

heading information during its flight.

• The CADS, with its onboard electronics unit, autonomously steers its flight path using waypoint navigation

towards target location by operating controls.

• System performance was demonstrated at Drop Zone, Malpura from an altitude of 5000m.

• The system was para-dropped from AN32 aircraft and then steered to the predesignated landing point in

autonomous mode.

• Eleven paratroopers of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force chased the CADS-500 in air and landed

simultaneously.

• A CAD delivers the attached payload within a CEP of 100 m utilizing gliding & maneuvering capability of a

high performance RAM Air Parachute.

• The system operates under complete autonomous mode with manual override capability during its entire

flight regime.

9.12 Pralay missile

In news- Recently, DRDO conducted the maiden flight test of indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile

'Pralay' from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.

About Pralay missile-

• Pralay is a new-generation short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile.

• It is powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor and many new technologies.

• It can hit the target at a range of 150 to 500 kilometers with an accuracy of less than 10 meters.

• It has been developed in a way to be able to defeat interceptor missiles.

• It has the ability to change its path after covering a certain range mid-air.

• The missile, which can be launched from a mobile launcher, has a guidance system that includes state-of-

the-art navigation mechanisms and integrated avionics.

• It is the amalgamation of technologies developed for exoatmospheric interceptor missile Prithvi Defence

Vehicle (PDV) from Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme and Prahaar tactical missile.

9.13 James Webb Space Telescope

In news- James Webb Space telescope was finally launched on December 25, 2021.


About the telescope-

• The $10 billion telescope is a space telescope being jointly developed by the European Space Agency

(ESA), Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency.

• The biggest telescope set to observe the universe was launched onboard the powerful Ariane-5 rocket

from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

• Once operational, Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other

stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

• It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission.

• Webb has two primary scientific missions, which together will account for more than 50 percent of its

observation time.

○ First, explore the early phases of cosmic history, looking back in time to only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

○ Its second major goal is the discovery of exoplanets, meaning planets outside the solar system. It will also investigate the potential for life on those worlds by studying their atmospheres.

• It will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble.

• Unlike Hubble, the current premier space telescope that revolves around the planet, Webb will orbit the

Sun.

• It will remain directly behind Earth, from the point of view of the Sun, allowing it to remain on our planet’s

night side.

• The telescope’s centerpiece is its enormous primary mirror, a concave structure 21.5 feet (6.5 meters)

wide and made up of 18 smaller hexagonal mirrors.

• They’re made from beryllium coated with gold, optimized for reflecting infrared light from the far reaches

of the universe.

• The observatory also has four scientific instruments.

• It has been deployed at the second Lagrange point (L2) orbiting the sun roughly 15,00,000 kilometers away

from Earth.

• It will finally reach its intended orbit, the Lagrange-2 point, a month after it leaves the planet.

9.14 Paxlovid

In news- Recently, US Pharma Giant Pfizer has received USFDA emergency use authorization for its Covid-19

antiviral treatment Paxlovid.

About Paxlovid-

• It is an antiviral Covid-19 treatment candidate, PF-07321332, which is administered in combination with

low dose HIV medicine ritonavir. • It showed a reduced risk of hospitalisation or death by 89 per cent, within three days of symptom onset;

and 88 per cent, within five days of symptom onset. • Paxlovid can be used to treat adults with Covid-19 who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are

at increased risk of progressing to severe disease. • Pfizer announced a deal with the United Nations backed public health organization Medicines Patent Pool

(MPP). • Under the deal, it signed a voluntary license agreement for Covid-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate

Paxlovid. • The agreement will facilitate the production and distribution of Paxlovid by granting sub-licenses to

qualified generic medicine manufacturers. • The drug, Paxlovid, is a faster way to treat early COVID-19 infections, though initial supplies will be

extremely limited.


• All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection.

9.15 All about 'Omicron'

In news- Cases of Omicron, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing across the world.

About Omicron-

• The variant known scientifically as B.1.1.529 is believed to have shown many mutations and has been

declared as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

• It is the latest of the five VoC and is far more transmissible than its predecessor delta and has the ability

to evade immunity.

• Omicron has been declared as a VoC based on observed mutations, their predicted features of increased

transmission, immune evasion and risk of re-infections.

• But its origin remains unclear (though the cases reported in South Africa initially), much like the one found

in Wuhan.

• Currently, there are three popular theories of omicron’s genesis. They are:

○ The virus persisted in an immunocompromised person who suffered from COVID-19 for a long period.

○ A “reverse zoonotic event” could be behind an omicron, where it may have evolved in an animal host, possibly a rodent and thereafter jumped onto humans, triggering another wave of COVID-19 infections.

○ The variant evolved in a population where genome sequencing is extremely sparse or non-existent. • Its 50 mutations, 32 of which are on the spike protein alone, is worrisome as this is where the variant gets

its vaccine-evading and high transmission characteristics from.

9.16 5G technology rollout in India in 2022

In news- The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) announced that 5G telecom services are set to be rolled

out in selected cities in India in 2022.

Key updates-

• The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 include Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata,

Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and

Gandhinagar.

• Leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials

sites in these cities.

• Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also

involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services.

• The Department of Telecom has roped in leading research institutions for development and testing of 5G

technology.

• Eight agencies - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT

Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering

& Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT) - are involved in the

research project called 'Indigenous 5G Test bed project'.

• The Indigenous 5G Test bed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021.

• The project has been funded by the Department of Telecom.


• Test bed refers to creating a specific environment for testing the products or services. It includes

hardware, software, operating system, and network configuration.

• The Department of Telecom has allocated spectrum to Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and MTNL

for 5G trials. Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Mavenir also engaged in the trials.

What is 5G?

5G refers to the 5th generation mobile network. When rolled out, it will represent a quantum leap over the

current 4G mobile networks.

If successfully implemented, it can deliver 10 times faster internet and more than 10 times improvement in

latency (the time difference between sending and receiving messages) over 4G

5G is expected to reduce latency to 1 millisecond (one thousandth of a second).

5G also comes with substantially more capacity and hence will enable more connected devices without

issues of network congestion.

Major Difference between 5G and 4G-

With respect to speed:

4G can currently reach top speeds of up to 100 Mbps, though real-world performance is generally no more

than 35 Mbps.

5G has the potential to be 100 times faster than 4G, with a top theoretical speed around 20 Gbps and

current, real-world speeds from 50 Mbps to 3 Gbps.

With respect to latency:

Latency is a measure of the time it takes a packet of information to travel between two points

Latency in 4G networks is currently about 50 milliseconds, while 5G networks are expected to shrink that to

an impressive 1 ms.

With respect to coverage:

5G will take several years to reach a level of coverage similar to 4G, and it will have different

implementations (high-, medium-, and low-band 5G), each with its own speed and bandwidth.

With respect to bandwidth:

5G is expected to have significantly more bandwidth, or capacity, than 4G as well. In part, this is because 5G

will make much more efficient use of available spectrum.

4G uses a narrow slice of the available spectrum from 600 MHz to 2.5 GHz, but 5G is divided into three

different bands.

Each band has its own frequency range and speed, and will have different applications and use cases for

consumers, businesses, and industries

Difference between 5G and other generations-


10. SECURITY

10.1 Konyak tribe

In news- Recently, several civilians from the Konyak tribe were killed by the security forces in an “ambush” in

Nagaland’s Mon district.

About Konyak tribe-

• The Konkyaks are one of the major ethnic groups of Nagaland who reside mostly in the Mon district also

known as 'The Land of The Anghs'.

• The Konyak language belongs to the Northern Naga sub branch of the Sal subfamily of Sino-Tibetan.

• This ethnic tribe is mostly found in the Tirap, Longding, and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh and

the Sibsagar district of Assam and sizable population in Myanmar as well.

• The Anghs/Wangs are their traditional chiefs whom they hold in high esteem.

• Facial tattoos were earned for taking an enemy's head.

• Known to be one of the fiercest warrior tribes in Nagaland, the Konyaks were the last to give up the

practice of head-hunting – severing heads of enemies after attacking rival tribes – as late as the 1980s.

• Other unique traditional practices that set the Konyaks apart are: gunsmithing, iron-smelting, brass-works,

and gunpowder-making.

• They are also adept in making 'janglaü' (machetes) and wooden sculptures.

• Mon is the only district in Nagaland where separatist group NSCN (IM) has not been able to set up base

camps, largely due to resistance from the Konyaks.

10.2 Exercise EKUVERIN

In news- 11th Edition of Exercise EKUVERIN between India & Maldives was conducted at Kadhdhoo Island,

Maldives from 06 to 19 December 2021.

About the exercise-

• Ekuverin, an annual joint military exercise, has been held every year since 2009 between India and

Maldives.

• Ekuverin means 'Friends' in the Dhivehi language.

• It seeks to enhance synergy & inter-operability between Armed Forces of both the Nations in terms of

understanding transnational terrorism both on land & at sea, conducting Counter Terrorism & Counter

Insurgency Operations and sharing best military practices and experiences.

• Besides rigorous training, the joint military exercise also includes cultural and sports activities to enhance

defense cooperation and bilateral relations.

• The 14 days Joint Exercise is held alternatively in India and Maldives.

• The 10th edition of the exercise was held in 2019 at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra.

• Besides the Ex Ekuverin, 4th edition of Exercise Ekatah (Naval training) was also held between India and

Maldives in July 2021.


10.3 Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)

In news- Recently, India’s first Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat was killed in a helicopter crash in

Tamil Nadu.

About Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)-

• The Chief of Defense Staff of the Indian Armed Forces (CDS) is the military head and chairman of the

Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Indian Armed Forces.

• The post of Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee (Chairman-CoSC) had been formed in 1947 as a

precursor to the post of CDS, responsible for advice to the Defense Minister on all military matters.

• The creation of the post of Chief of Defense Staff was first recommended by the report of the Group of

Ministers on ‘Reforming the National Security System’ (2001) to provide single-point military advice to

the government.

• The CDS was one of the 99 recommendations made by Lt. Gen. (retd.) D.B. Shekatkar Committee, which

submitted its report in December 2016.

• The CDS is the senior-most and highest-ranking uniformed officer on active duty in the Indian military,

and is the principal staff officer and chief military adviser to the Minister of Defense.

• The CDS also heads the Department of Military Affairs.

• He is a four-star general like the three chiefs.

• CDS will be the ‘first among equals’ in the hierarchy.

• The first Chief of Staff was Bipin Rawat who took office on 1 January 2020 and held it until his death on 8

December 2021.

Role & responsibilities of CDS-

• Evaluate plans for 'Out of Area Contingencies', as well as other contingencies such as Humanitarian Assistance

and Disaster Relief.

• Implement Five-Year Defense Capital Acquisition Plan (DCAP), and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans

(AAP), as a follow-up of the Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP).

• Assign inter-Services prioritization to capital acquisition proposals based on the anticipated budget.

• Integrate and rationalize international cooperation plans.

• Prepare strategy papers on military matters for consideration of the competent authority.

• Bring about reforms in the functioning of three Services

• Prepare an empirical and objective report on annual achievements in jointness during the year for the

Defense minister.

10.4 Swarnim Vijay Parv

In news- Recently, Swarnim Vijay Parv was celebrated at India Gate, New Delhi on December 12-13, 2021 to

commemorate 50 years of India’s historic victory in the 1971 war and the Indo-Bangladesh friendship.

A brief note on Indo-Pak war of 1971-

• It was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh

Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 to the fall of Dacca (Dhaka) on 16 December 1971.

• Pakistan launched the brutal genocide ‘Operation Searchlight’ to curb the Bengali resistance.


• The war began with Operation Chengiz Khan's preemptive aerial strikes on 11 Indian air stations, which

led to the commencement of hostilities with Pakistan and Indian entry into the war for independence in

East Pakistan on the side of Bengali nationalist forces.

• All the three wings- the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy valiantly fought in the war.

• As part of the war, the Battle of Longewala (in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan) began on the intervening night of

December 4th-5th.

• 13 days after the war started, India achieved a clear upper hand, the Eastern Command of the Pakistan

military signed the instrument of surrender on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka, marking the formation of

East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh.

• Officially, East Pakistan had earlier called for its secession from Pakistan on 26 March 1971.

• The Simla Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of

Pakistan on 2nd July 1972 was much more than a peace treaty seeking to reverse the consequences of the

1971 war (i.e. to bring about withdrawals of troops and an exchange of PoWs).

11. SOCIETY

11.1 Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India (SPPEL)

In news- The Union Minister of Culture has mentioned the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of

Endangered Languages of India (SPPEL) in Rajya Sabha recently.

About the SPPEL-

• This Scheme was instituted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 2013.

• The sole objective of the Scheme is to document (digitally) and archive the country’s languages that have

become endangered or likely to be endangered in the near future.


• The scheme is monitored by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) located in Mysuru,

Karnataka.

• Under this Scheme, the CIIL, Mysore works on protection, preservation and documentation of all the

mother tongues/languages of India spoken by less than 10,000 speakers keeping in mind the degree of

endangerment and reduction in the domains of usage.

• All the languages listed under SPPEL are placed under one of the six Zones for academic or administrative

convenience. The six zones are:

1. Northern Zone is documenting the endangered languages spoken in Chandigarh, Haryana,

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand

2. Southern zone covers documentation of the endangered languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh,

Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

3. Northeast Zone comprises eight states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,

Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.

4. Under East Central Zone fourteen languages come under SPPEL.

5. West Central Zone is geographically attached to the States /Union territories of Gujarat,

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Daman, Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli, and Goa. In this zone, five languages

have been identified as Endangered in the first phase of documentation of the SPPEL. They are:

Baradi, Bhala, Bharwad/Bharwadi, Diwehi, Nihali.

6. The last one is Andaman and Nicobar Island.

• In the first phase of the scheme, 117 endangered languages/mother tongues have been chosen from all

over India for study and documentation on a priority basis.

Endangered languages in India-

• India has the highest number of languages – 197 languages- which were endangered, vulnerable or extinct as

of 2017.

• Out of these 5 languages were extinct, 42 critically Endangered, 7 severely endangered and 62 were definitely

endangered and 81 were vulnerable.

• Neary 60% of these languages originated in the Northeast and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

• More than half of endangered languages have fewer than 10000 speakers and therefore have not been

recorded in the Indian Census.

• India’s language Census records only those languages with more than 10,000 speakers.

• According to UNESCO, any language that is spoken by less than 10,000 people is potentially endangered.

12. PEOPLE IN NEWS

12.1 Jnanpith award, 2021

In news- Recently, Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr has won the 56th Jnanpith Award, and Konkani novelist

Damodar Mauzo has won the 57th Jnanpith Award.

Damodar Mauzo (from Goa)-

• He is notable for his novels, such as Karmelin, and Tsunami Simon, and short stories, such as Teresa’s Man

and Other Stories from Goa.

• His first collection of short stories was Ganthon, published in 1971.


• He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his novel Karmelin, which revolves around the lives of

domestic workers in the Middle East.

• He is the co-founder of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival.

• He is also an activist and worked towards the inclusion of Konkani as a language in the Eighth Schedule of

the Constitution of India in the 1980s, in a movement called Konkani Porjecho Avaz.

• This is the second Jnanpith Award for a Konkani writer, the first being Ravindra Kelekar in 2006.

About Nilmani Phookan Jr (Guwahati, Assam)-

• He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.

• Phookan is a poet of renown, having written Surya Henu Nami Ahe Ei Nodiyedi, Gulapi Jamur Lagna, and

Kobita.

• Primarily a poet, he also writes prose and is a pioneering art critic from Assam, with a focus on folklore and

folk art.

• Phookan is the third Assamese writer to receive the Jnanpith, other two were Birendra Kumar

Bhattacharya in 1979 and Mamoni Raisom Goswami in 2000.

About Jnanpith Award-

• Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award.

• It is presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards

literature".

• Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the

Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and English, with no posthumous conferral.

• From 1965 till 1981, the award was given to the authors for their "most outstanding work" and consisted of a

citation plaque, a cash prize and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.

• The first recipient of the award was the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup who received the award in 1965

for his collection of poems, Odakkuzhal (The Bamboo Flute), published in 1950.

• The rules were revised in subsequent years to consider only works published during the preceding twenty

years, excluding the year for which the award was to be given.

• Out of twenty-three eligible languages the award has been presented for works in sixteen languages: Hindi

(eleven), Kannada (eight), Bengali and Malayalam (six each), Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, and Urdu (four each),

Assamese and Telugu (three each), Punjabi, Tamil and Konkani (two each), English, Kashmiri and Sanskrit (one

each).

About Bharatiya Jnanpith-

• It is a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India.

• It was founded on February 18, 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and his wife Rama

Jain to undertake systematic research and publication of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali and Apabhramsha texts and

covering subjects like religion, philosophy, logic, ethics, grammar, astrology, poetics, etc.

• It annually publishes hundreds of books in Hindi (both original and translated works) and other languages, and

also presents India's highest literary awards, the Jnanpith Awards and the Moortidevi Award.

12.2 Royal Gold Medal of UK

In news- Recently, Balkrishna Doshi received the Royal Gold Medal for architecture 2022.


About Balkrishna Doshi-

• Born in 1927 in Pune, to an extended family of furniture makers, Mr Doshi studied at the JJ School of

Architecture.

• Having worked under Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, he is a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture

in India.

• His more noteworthy designs include the IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa, CEPT

University, and the Aranya Low Cost Housing development in Indore which was awarded the Aga Khan

Award for Architecture.

• He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and has been on the selection committee for the

Pritzker Prize, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

• He is also a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects.

• Doshi's work on the reunification of Indian and English heritages through his practice was awarded a

Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2007, award's first edition.

• In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is considered

one of the most prestigious prizes in architecture.

• He has also been awarded the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.

About the award-

• It is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in

recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture.

• It is given for a distinguished body of work rather than for one building, and is therefore not awarded for

merely being currently fashionable.

• It was first awarded in 1848 to Charles Robert Cockerell, and its second recipient was the Italian Luigi Canina in

1849.

• Candidates of all nationalities are eligible to receive the award.

12.3 Ramanujan Prize, 2021

In news- Recently, Professor Neena Gupta, a mathematician at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, has

been awarded the 2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from developing countries.

About Professor Neena Gupta-

• She has received a prize for her outstanding work in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra.

• She is the third woman to receive this prize.

• Professor Gupta's solution for solving the Zariski cancellation problem, a fundamental problem in Algebraic

Geometry, earned her the 2014 Young Scientists Award of the Indian National Science Academy.

• The problem was posed by one of the most eminent founders of modern Algebraic Geometry, Oscar

Zariski, in 1949.

About the prize-

• It was first awarded in 2005 (named after Srinivasa Ramanujan).

• In 2021, the name of the Prize was changed to the DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize.

• The DST of the Government of India has been funding the Prize since 2014.


• It is administered by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) of Italy jointly with

the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Government of India and the International Mathematical

Union (IMU).

• This prize is given annually to an eminent Mathematician who is less than 45 years of age and has conducted

outstanding research in developing countries by ICTP, Trieste and is sponsored by the Department of Science

& Technology (DST), Government of India.

Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)-

• It is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite

agreement between the Italian Government, UNESCO, and International Atomic Energy Agency.

• It was founded in 1964 by the late Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam.

• It is located near Miramare Park, near Trieste, Italy.

• It seeks to accomplish its mandate by providing scientists from developing countries with the continuing

education and skills that they need to enjoy long and productive careers.

• ICTP has been a major force in stemming the scientific brain drain from the developing world.

About International Mathematical Union (IMU)-

• It is an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organization

• Its purpose is promoting international cooperation in mathematics.

• It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC).

• IMU endorses ISC's Principle of Freedom, Responsibility and Universality of Science.

12.4 Desmond Mpilo Tutu

In news- Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop, anti-apartheid icon passed away in Cape

Town recently.

About Desmond Mpilo Tutu-

• He was a human rights activist, a South African Anglican bishop, theologian and human rights activist.

• He was born on 7 october 1931 in Klerksdorp, South Africa.

• In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that

position.

• From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black General Secretary of the

South African Council of Churches.

• He is widely known for his staunch opposition to apartheid, which resulted in him receiving a Nobel Prize

in 1984.

• He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996,

in both cases being the first black African to hold the position.

• He emphasized nonviolent protest and encouraged the application of economic pressure on South Africa.

• Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.

• He also served as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the abolition of apartheid

and is known for coining the term "Rainbow Nation" to describe post-apartheid South Africa.

• Tutu authored or coauthored numerous publications, including:


○ The Divine Intention (1982), a collection of his lectures. ○ Hope and Suffering (1983), a collection of his sermons. ○ No Future without Forgiveness (1999), a memoir from his time as head of the Truth and

Reconciliation Commission. ○ God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time (2004), a collection of personal reflections and ○ Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference (2010), reflections on his beliefs about

human nature. • He had received numerous honours, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009), an award

from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that recognized his lifelong commitment to “speaking truth to power”

(2012), and the Templeton Prize (2013).

12.5 P.N.Panicker

In news- Recently, the President of India unveiled a statue of the late P.N. Panicker at Poojappura in

Thiruvananthapuram.

About P.N. Panicker-

• Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker was born in a Nair family on 1909 March 1 to Govinda Pillai and Janaky

Amma at Neelamperoor, Kerala.

• He is the father of the Library and Literacy Movement in Kerala and is an eminent personality.

• In 1926 he started the Sanadanadharmam Library as a teacher in his hometown.

• Panicker led the formation of Thiruvithaamkoor Granthasala Sangham (Travancore Library Association) in

1945 with 47 rural libraries.

• The slogan of the organization was 'Read and Grow'.

• Later on, with the formation of Kerala State in 1956, it became Kerala Granthasala Sangham (KGS).

• Libraries created by the movement of Panicker later became a nerve centre of all social and cultural

activities of which the literary movement of Kerala is an impressive example.

• Grandhasala Sangham won the ‘Krupsakaya Award’ from UNESCO in 1975.

• After his organization was taken over by the State, Panicker became subject to political interference and in

1977 he responded by founding the Kerala Association for Non-formal Education and Development

(KANFED).

• KANFED was instrumental in starting the Kerala State Literacy Mission, which led Kerala to its universal

literacy movement.

• Thus, Kerala became the first state which achieved universal literacy.

• Panicker died on 19 June 1995, at age 86.

• The Government of Kerala acknowledged his contributions and ordered that 19 June be observed,

annually, as Vaayanadinam (READING DAY ).

• In 2017, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared June 19, Kerala's Reading Day, as National

Reading Day in India.

12.6 Scientist E.O.Wilson

In news- Scientist, E.O Wilson, naturalist dubbed ‘modern day Darwin died recently.

About Edward Osborne Wilson-

• He was an American biologist, naturalist, and writer.


• He was born on June 10, 1929 in Birmingham.

• He was an influential biologist who on numerous occasions had been given the nicknames "The New

Darwin", "Darwin's natural heir" or "The Darwin of the 21st century".

• He was a longtime Harvard University research professor, and his biological specialty was myrmecology,

the study of ants, on which he was called the world's leading expert, and was nicknamed Ant Man.

• He was the author of hundreds of scientific papers and more than 30 books, two of which won him Pulitzer

Prizes for nonfiction: 1978’s On Human Nature, and The Ants in 1990.

• He has been called "the father of sociobiology" and "the father of biodiversity" for his environmental

advocacy, and his secular-humanist and deist ideas pertaining to religious and ethical matters.

• Among his contributions to ecological theory is the theory of island biogeography (developed in

collaboration with the mathematical ecologist Robert MacArthur).

• In collaboration with W.L. Brown, he developed the concept of “character displacement,” a process in

which populations of two closely related species, after first coming into contact with each other, undergo

rapid evolutionary differentiation in order to minimize the chances of both competition and hybridization

between them.

• He was instrumental in launching the Encyclopaedia of Life, a free online database documenting all 1.9

million species on Earth recognised by science.

13. PLACES IN NEWS

13.1 Greater Tipraland

In news- Tribal outfits in Tripura have been demanding to carve out a separate state of 'Greater Tipraland' for

the indigenous communities in the region under Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution.

The demand for Greater Tipraland-

• Tripura was a kingdom ruled by the Manikya dynasty from the late 13th century until the signing of the

Instrument of Accession with the Indian government on October 15, 1949.

• It has been pointed out that the indigenous people have been dislodged from land reserved for them by

the penultimate king of the Manikya dynasty Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman.

• The demand mainly stems from the anxiety of the indigenous communities in connection with the change

in the demographics of the state, which has reduced them to a minority.

• It happened due to the displacement of Bengalis from the erstwhile East Pakistan between 1947 and

1971.

• From 63.77 per cent in 1881, the population of the tribals in Tripura was down to 31.80 per cent by 2011.

• Among the 19 notified Scheduled Tribes in Tripura, Tripuris (aka Tipra and Tiprasas) are the largest.

• According to the 2011 census, there are at least 5.92 lakh Tripuris in the state, followed by Reangs (1.88

lakh) and Jamatias (83,000).

• Tripuris demand the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council and some surrounding areas to be

made into a separate state from Tripura by name Tipraland.

• There is also a demand for a Greater Tipraland by adding Tripuris dominant areas outside the Tripura-

Mamit district of Mizoram, Cachar and Hailakandi districts in Assam, and Bandarban, Khagrachari, and

Chittagong of Bangladesh.


Steps taken to address their demand-

• The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) was formed under the sixth schedule of the

Constitution in 1985 to ensure development and secure the rights and cultural heritage of the tribal

communities.

• The TTAADC, which has legislative and executive powers, covers nearly two-third of the state’s geographical

area.

• The council comprises 30 members of which 28 are elected while two are nominated by the Governor.

• Also, out of the 60 Assembly seats in the state, 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

13.2 Raigad fort

In news- Recently, the Indian President visited the Raigad fort and paid tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

About Raigad fort-

• It is a hill fort situated about 25 km from Mahad in the Raigad district of Maharashtra at 2,851 feet above

sea level.

• As per the British Gazette the fort was known to early Europeans as the ‘Gibraltar of the East’.

• Its decisive feature is a mile and a half flat top which has adequate room for buildings.

• In its prime, the fort had 300 stone houses and a garrison of 2,000 men.

• The fort, which was earlier called Rairi, was the seat of the Maratha clan Shirke in the 12th century.

• The fort also overlooks an artificial lake known as the ‘Ganga Sagar Lake’.

• The only main pathway to the fort passes through the “Maha Darwaja” (Huge Door).

• The King’s durbar inside the Raigad Fort has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway

called the Nagarkhana Darwaja.

• The fort has a famous bastion called “Hirakani Buruj” (Hirkani Bastion) constructed over a huge steep cliff.

• The fort changed hands a number of times from the dynasty of Bahaminis to the Nizam Shahis and then

the Adil shahis.

• In 1656 Chhatrapati Shivaji captured it from the Mores of Javli who were under the suzerainty of the

Adilshahi Sultanate.

• In 1662, Shivaji formally changed the fort’s name to Raigad and added a number of structures to it.

• On June 6, 1674, Shivaji was coronated at Raigad by Gagabhatt where he took on the title of Chhatrapati.

• Six years later, Shivaji passed away in Raigad in 1680 and was cremated at the fort.

• On 9 May 1818, the fort was looted and destroyed by the British.

13.3 Golan Heights

In news- Recently, Israel’s government approved a $317 million plan to double the Jewish settler population in

the Golan Heights, 40 years after it annexed the territory captured from Syria.

About Golan Heights-

• Golan Heights, also called Golan Plateau is a hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan River valley on the

west.

• The area’s name is from the biblical city of refuge Golan in Bashan.


• Geographically, the Golan is bounded by the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee on the west, Mount

Hermon on the north, the seasonal Wadi Al-Ruqqād (a north-south branch of the Yarmūk River) on the

east, and the Yarmūk River on the south.

• It is roughly boat-shaped and has an area of 1,150 square km.

• The area was part of extreme southwestern Syria until 1967.

• Israel occupied it in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the territory, promoting settlement and

agriculture there as well as creating a thriving local tourism industry.

• The US was the first country to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, which the rest of the

international community regards as Israeli-occupied.

• A disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria, signed following the Yom Kippur War of October

1973, established a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights, monitored by a UN Disengagement

Observer Force (UNDOF).

• The UNDOF mandate was renewed every six months thereafter.

1 December 2021

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