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2020-09-30 17:24:59+00:00
Acumen IAS- Knowledge without Boundaries
Exclusively for students preparing for UPSC/IAS/IPS/IRS
Email: academic.acumenias@gmail.com
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Whatsapp us @ +917428119993
#CurrentAffairs #GK # Civilservices
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https://t.me/AcumenIAS
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2020-09-30 16:13:59+00:00
Congo Hemorrhagic Fever
✅The Palghar administration has asked authorities to remain alert against a possible spread of the Congo fever in the Maharashtra district.
✅The CCHF is a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus) of the Bunyaviridae family.
✅The virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate of 10 to 40 per cent, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).
✅There is no vaccine available for either people or animals against the disease
✅Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.
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2020-09-30 16:09:13+00:00
Amnesty International
✅Amnesty International India has halted its human rights operations in India due to the freezing of its bank accounts by the Government of India.
✅It is an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded in London (UK) in 1961.
✅It seeks to publicize violations by governments and other entities of rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), especially freedom of speech and of conscience and the right against torture.
✅In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
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2020-09-30 16:01:17+00:00
Cat Que virus from China
✅Scientists from Maximum Containment Laboratory and ICMR-National Institute of Virology have noted the presence of antibodies against the Cat Que virus (CQV) in two human serum samples.
✅The presence of the Cat Que virus has been largely reported in Culex mosquitoes in China and in pigs in Vietnam.
✅CQV comes under the category of Arthropod-borne viruses.For CQV, domestic pigs are considered to be the primary mammalian hosts.
✅It was first isolated in 2004 from mosquitoes during the surveillance of arbovirus activity in northern Vietnam
✅It infects both humans and livestock species.
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2020-09-30 07:49:36+00:00
SC refuses to postpone UPSC Prelims.
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2020-09-27 12:12:50+00:00
BELYO
✅It is country’s first COVID-19 blockchain platform
✅ It will convert COVID-19- related clinical and vaccination data of citizens currently from the physical form into digital assets.
✅This data then can be retrieved by contact tracing apps like Aarogya Setu
✅Developed by: BelfricsBT, a global blockchain start-up, along with YoSync, a start-up incubated at IIIT Bangalore
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2020-09-27 12:12:09+00:00
Blackrock
✅New android malware which can steal information like passwords and credit card information
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2020-09-27 12:11:23+00:00
Betelgeuse Star
✅NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope observations have shown clearly that the mysterious dimming of the star Betelgeuse is due to a cloud of immense amount of hot material ejected into space, which blocked its starlight.
✅The dimming of the star started in late 2019 and by April this year it had recovered, according to material released by NASA
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2020-09-27 12:10:35+00:00
Integrated Market Surveillance System (IMSS)
✅The RBI has proposed to implement IMSS, which would include capabilities for market surveillance, management information system (MIS) reports, standard and ad hoc reports (through slicing and dicing of data), and compliance monitoring
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2020-09-27 12:10:14+00:00
Human African Trypanosomiasis
✅Human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, is a disease caused by parasites transmitted through infected tsetse flies. According to the WHO, Sleeping sickness is currently found in 36 sub-Saharan African countries
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2020-09-27 12:08:56+00:00
AUDFso1
✅A team of Scientists from the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) has discovered one of the earliest galaxies called AUDFs01 using UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on AstroSat.
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2020-09-27 05:16:29+00:00
Recruitment of Assistant Managers (Officer Grade A)in IFSCA from amongst candidates appeared in the Interview of Civil Services Examination-2019 conducted by UPSC
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2020-09-26 13:13:09+00:00
Important Articles: September 26, 2020
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2020-09-26 12:56:53+00:00
Important Articles: September 26, 2020
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2020-09-26 03:45:34+00:00
Dear Students,
We are excited to announce that, due to our remarkable growth over the last 3+ years, we are expanding!
In fact, we are opening a new Office and Classroom in Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhi.
We thank you for your continued support and look forward to your patronage in the future also.
How to contact our new office in Delhi?
Acumen IAS
Phone: +917428119993
Mail: info@acumenias.in
Address:
57, 3rd floor
Old Rajinder Nagar
New Delhi
110060
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2020-09-25 16:54:18+00:00
Fujiwhara Effect
✅It is a phenomenon that occurs when two nearby cyclonic vortices move around each other and close the distance between the circulations of their corresponding low-pressure areas
✅ Recently two tropical storms, formed in the western Atlantic Ocean at nearly the same time, are likely to impact the Gulf of Mexico, sparking concerns of the rare Fujiwhara effect that occurs when two hurricanes combine to form a mega hurricane
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2020-09-25 16:52:11+00:00
Inflammageing
✅It refers to the inhibition of one’s immunity as the body’s inflammation reaches higher levels as one ages leaving the elderly more vulnerable
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2020-09-25 16:51:32+00:00
Azad Pattan hydel power project
✅Recently, Pakistan and China have signed an agreement for the 700 MW Azad Pattan hydel power project on the Jhelum river in PoK
✅The Azad Pattan project is one of five hydropower schemes on the Jhelum, the other four are Mahl, Kohala, Chakothi Hattian and Karot projects
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2020-09-25 16:50:34+00:00
Sahel Region
✅Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south.
✅Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea
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2020-09-25 06:40:09+00:00
Important Articles: September 25, 2020
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2020-09-24 17:12:23+00:00
GEF & GCF (Don't get confused anymore)
⭕️Global Environment Facility (GEF)
⭕️Green Climate Fund(GCF)
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
✅It was established in 1992 during Rio Summit.
✅It is an umbrella type of funding mechanism which provides funding to following conventions:
1⃣Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
2⃣United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
3⃣Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
4⃣UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
5⃣Minamata Convention on Mercury.
✅GEF has 18 implementing partners for this purpose, like World Bank, Asian development bank, World wide fund(WWF), IUCN, FAO etc.
✅Today GEF has become an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector to address global environmental issues.
Green climate fund (GCF):
🔰 It is a fund within UNFCC,founded in 2010 to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
🔰It is based in the new Songdo district of South Korea.
💡GEF has set set itself a goal of raising $100 billion per year by 2020 for financing climate actions.
So, the diffrence b/w GEF and GCF is:
✔️GEF is older
✔️GEF has broader mandate, GCF deals with UNFCCC only.
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2020-09-24 17:09:00+00:00
National Green Tribunal💡
Objective❓
🌀To provide effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment.
🌀Giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property.
Chairperson and Members of NGT❓
🔰At least 10 and maximum 20 Full time Judicial members
🔰At least 10 and maximum 20 Full time Expert Members
Qualification for Chairperson❓
🔸The person should have been either a Judge of India’s Supreme Court or Chief Justice of a High Court in India.
Qualification for Judicial member❓
🔺A Judge of Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of High Court, Judge of a High Court
Qualification for Expert members❓
🔺Either a degree in Master of Science (in physical sciences or life sciences) with a Doctorate degree or Master of Engineering or Master of Technology Or an experience of fifteen years in the relevant field and administrative experience of fifteen years in Central or a State Government or in a reputed National or State level institution.
Post retirement jobs❓
💎Once retired, the chairman or judicial members can not take up any job related to matters of this tribunal for at least 2 years.
Other important facts❓
🚩Appointment of members is done by Central Government.
🚩Chairperson of NGT is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
🚩Judicial Members and Expert Members of the Tribunal are appointed on the recommendations of such Selection Committee.
🚩Chairperson, Judicial Member and Expert Member hold office for 5 years.
🚩Maximum age of the chairman 70 years if he has been a Supreme Court Judge and 67 years, if he has been a high court judge.
🚩Chairperson can be removed from his office via an order made by the Central Government after an inquiry made by a Judge of the Supreme Court in which such Chairperson or Judicial Member has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.
Jurisdiction❓
💢The NGT has jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question relating to environment is involved and such question arises out of the implementation of the enactments specified in Schedule I of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
The acts listed in Schedule 1 are:
🔺The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974;
🔺The Water (Prevention and Control o[Pollution) Cess Act, 1977;
🔺The Forest (Conservation) Act,
🔺The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981;
🔺The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986;The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991;
🔺The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
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2020-09-24 17:03:48+00:00
West to East arrangement of Hills
1. Mikir
2. Dafla
3. Miri
4. Abor
5. Mishmi
(Acumen Smart Logic-- None of the Hills starting with 'M' are adjacent to each other;
Ending with Mishmi - Miss Me 😉)
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2020-09-24 15:37:47+00:00
Correction in Catalyst RECAP 2020
1. ICC: India not a member(page no:33)
2. Lop Nur test site is in China(page no:88)
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2020-09-24 03:35:13+00:00
Important Articles: September 24, 2020
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2020-09-24 02:52:11+00:00
Important Articles: September 24, 2020
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2020-09-23 17:35:59+00:00
Gupkar Declaration
✅Recently, the six political parties of Jammu and Kashmir signed a statement titled as ‘Gupkar Declaration II’ to collectively fight against the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir
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2020-09-23 17:18:24+00:00
Abraham Accords
✅It is also known as UAE-Israel Peace Accords.
✅The deal states that UAE would recognise the state of Israel and establish formal diplomatic relations with it, while Israel would halt its controversial plan to annex swathes of the Palestinian West Bank
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2020-09-23 17:17:45+00:00
Loya Jirga
✅A Loya Jirga, or "grand council", is a mass national gathering that brings together representatives from the various ethnic, religious, and tribal communities in Afghanistan
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2020-09-23 17:17:09+00:00
Barakah Nuclear Power Plant
✅Barakah is the Arab world’s first nuclear reactor started by UAE
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2020-09-23 17:16:39+00:00
Thanjavur quartet
✅Thanjavur Quartet were four brothers, Chinnaiah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu, who lived during the early 19th century and contributed to the development of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music.
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2020-09-23 06:31:42+00:00
Important Articles: September 23, 2020
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2020-09-23 02:54:03+00:00
Important Articles: September 23, 2020
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2020-09-22 18:22:26+00:00
Important Articles: September 22, 2020
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2020-09-22 18:12:37+00:00
Important Articles: September 22, 2020
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2020-09-22 15:24:06+00:00
We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the positive feedback we keep receiving....(Reviews of Acumen Prelims Coach Programme)
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2020-09-22 15:06:03+00:00
Aspirants Corner by Acumen IAS
Dear students,
Acumen IAS has enabled an Aspirants corner feature in our web site so that students can interact with other UPSC aspirants,make a peer group, clear doubts, make discussions and streamline your preparation.
Access Aspirants Corner at
https://www.acumenias.in/aspirants-corner
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2020-09-21 16:05:17+00:00
Farzad-B Gas Field
✅It is an Iranian natural gas field that was discovered in 2012
✅Recently, India was informed that Iranian government had recently decided to keep ONGC’s foreign arm OVL out of the Farzad-B gas field exploration project
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2020-09-21 16:04:37+00:00
Thanjavur quartet
✅Thanjavur Quartet were four brothers, Chinnaiah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu, who lived during the early 19th century and contributed to the development of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music
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2020-09-21 15:34:02+00:00
Okavango Delta
✅It is a vast inland river delta in northern Botswana and has the world’s largest elephant population
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2020-09-21 15:33:36+00:00
Sakteng Wild life Sanctuary
✅It is Located in Eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh border
✅China claims Sakteng Wildlife sanctuary as its territory
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2020-09-21 15:32:46+00:00
Eulophia Obtuse
✅The rare orchid species has been rediscovered from Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh
✅Its IUCN Status is Critically Endangered
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2020-09-21 15:32:17+00:00
Tetrastemma
✅Researchers have identified this new species of marine invertebrate along the coast of Tamil Nadu
✅It feeds on dead and decaying material and helps to recycle nutrients in coastal and deep water sediments
✅It has neurotoxins in its proboscis which could lead to developing drugs.
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2020-09-21 15:31:32+00:00
KAZI 106F
✅It is India’s only Golden Tigress found in Kaziranga National Park, Assam
✅Also known as ‘Tabby tiger’ or ‘Strawberry tiger’
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2020-09-21 15:30:27+00:00
Four Sha
✅It is a South China Sea disputed four island groups namely Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and the Macclesfield Bank area.
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2020-09-21 12:46:52+00:00
Aspirants Corner by Acumen IAS
Dear students,
Acumen IAS has enabled an Aspirants corner feature in our web site so that students can interact with other UPSC aspirants, clear doubts, make discussions and streamline your preparation.
Access Aspirants Corner at https://www.acumenias.in/aspirants-corner
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2020-09-21 12:07:49+00:00
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2020-09-20 13:02:56+00:00
Jainism in the Past
✅ The name of Jaina Tirthankra Rishabha is found in the Rig Veda.
✅The Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavat Purana describe Rishaba as an incarnation of Narayana.
✅The male nude torso discovered from the Indus Valley culture has something to do with the tirthankaras.
✅ There were twenty-four tirthankaras, all Kshatriyas and belonging to the royal family. Parsavnath was the 23rd
tirthankara.
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2020-09-20 13:01:05+00:00
Important Terms
✅Ajnanevada: Ajnanevada refers to the jain doctrine agnosticism or scepticim. In the Jaina text, there is mention of 67 kinds of Ajnanevada.
✅Anuvratas: Anuvratas refer to first five vows in Jainism.These are more moderate version of Mahavrate. These vows include abstinence from gross violence, gross falsehood,gross stealing, contentment with one’s own wife and limitation of one’s possessions.
✅Avasarpini: In Jainism time is divided into infinite equal time
cyeles or ‘Kalchakras’. Every time cycle is further divided into two equal halves. The first half is the progressive cycle or ascending order, called ‘Utsarpini’ where as the second half is the regressive cycle or descending order, called ‘Avasavpini’.
✅Samavasarana: The term samavasarana refers to a place
where all have a common opportunity of acquiring the window the theme of Samavasarana has been popular in Jain art.
✅Samayasara: Samaysara is a famous Jain text written by Acharya Kundakunda. In this text, Acharya describes about ‘Ratnatraya’ which includes Samyak Darshan, Samyak Gyan, Samyak Charitra.
✅Samachari: It refers in a part of Kalpsutra. Which deals with Jain monks.
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2020-09-20 12:59:06+00:00
Five Categories of Siddhas (Jainism)
✅ Tirthankara, who has attained salvation.
✅Arhat, who is about to attain Nirvana.
✅Acharya, the head of the ascetic group.
✅Upadhyaya, teacher or saint, and
✅Sadhu, an ordinary ascetic
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2020-09-20 03:11:59+00:00
Important Articles: September 20, 2020
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2020-09-20 03:10:31+00:00
Important Articles: September 20, 2020
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2020-09-19 06:56:44+00:00
Important Articles: September 19, 2020
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2020-09-18 21:20:13+00:00
Do you know ?
✅Two important Harappan crops → Wheat, barley
✅The most widely used metal by the Indus Valley people → Bronze
✅Harappan trading station → Lothal.
✅The most important industry at Lothal and Chanhudaro → Bead at making.
✅Station of Harappan cattle → Nesadi
breeders
✅The largest Harappan settlement in India→ Kuntasi
✅Traces of rice cultivation have been found at → Lothal and Rangpur.
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2020-09-18 16:33:17+00:00
Important Articles: September 18, 2020
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2020-09-18 16:25:00+00:00
Air Bubble
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2020-09-18 16:21:47+00:00
Tidal disruption events (TDE)
✅Scientists have found a new way to probe into supermassive black holes – detecting their properties like mass and spin by observing how they rip apart stars.
✅Most black holes lead isolated lives and are impossible to study.
✅Astronomers study them by watching for their effects on nearby stars and gas.
✅Stars are disrupted when the black hole's tidal gravity exceeds the star's self-gravity, and this phenomenon is called tidal disruption events (TDE).
✅This model, which can be applied after the star is observed to be tidally disrupted, and an accretion disk is formed, will help in expanding our understanding of the physics besides building valuable statistics of the black hole mass and stellar mass.
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2020-09-18 16:18:37+00:00
Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA)
✅The U.S. is expecting India to sign the last foundational agreement, BECA, at the next India-U.S. 2+2 ministerial dialogue.
✅This agreement would facilitate exchange of geospatial information between India and United States for both military and civilian use.
So far, India has signed three foundational agreements:
✅The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).
✅The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
✅The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was signed a long time ago. An extension to the GSOMIA, the Industrial Security Annex (ISA), was signed at the last 2+2 dialogue.
What is 2+2 Dialogue?
✅The 2+2 dialogue is the highest-level institutional mechanism between India and USA that brings together the perspectives of the two countries on foreign policy, defence and strategic issues.
✅The new dialogue format was agreed to between the India and the US during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington D.C. in June, 2017.
✅The dialogue mechanism includes defence and foreign ministers of the two countries.
✅It replaced India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue for trade and commercial issues.
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2020-09-18 16:15:47+00:00
Gilgit-Baltistan
✅Pakistan has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan’s status to that of a full-fledged province.
What’s the issue?
✅Gilgit-Baltistan has functioned as a “provincial autonomous region” since 2009.
✅It is controlled by Pakistan.
✅Besides, in a recent order, the Pakistan Supreme Court also allowed the amendment to the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order of 2018 to conduct the general elections in the region.
Where is Gilgit Baltistan located?
✅It borders China in the North, Afghanistan in the west, Tajikistan in the north west and Kashmir in the south east.
✅It shares a geographical boundary with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and India considers it as part of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir, while Pakistan sees it as a separate from PoK.
✅It has a regional Assembly and an elected Chief Minister.
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2020-09-18 02:25:06+00:00
Join Our Team
Acumen IAS has come a long way since its inception. And Yes, We are now expanding.
Owing to the efforts of an outstanding team, we are a center of innovation – a fact acknowledged by our competitors.
But this is just the beginning of our journey. We need rockstars to help us transform this industry forever. If you are passionate about writing, teaching, and helping aspirants, we want you in the Acumen IAS clique.
If you're interested, Send your CV to
hr@acumenias.in
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2020-09-17 14:51:16+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-17 14:12:08+00:00
Jigyasa
What’s in News?
✅CSIR-CMERI conducted a webinar on Scientific & Technological Interventions combating COVID-19, under the Jigyasa programme.
What is Jigyasa?
✅Jigyasa is a student-scientist connect programme launched by the Central government and implemented by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).
✅It is one of the major initiatives taken up by CSIR at national level for further widening and deepening its Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR).
✅Its objective is to extend the classroom leaning and focus on a well-planned research laboratory based learning.
✅The programme is a unique platform for bringing together scientists and teachers for nurturing young minds. It envisages opening up the national scientific facilities to school children, enabling CSIR scientific knowledge base and facility to be utilized by schoolchildren.
✅It aspires to inculcate the culture of inquisitiveness on one hand and scientific temper on the other, amongst the school students and their teachers.
✅Student Residential Programmes, scientists as teachers and teachers as scientists, lab specific activities/Onsite Experiments etc are some of the activities included under the programme.
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2020-09-17 14:10:16+00:00
Hunar Haat
What’s in News?
✅The Minority Affairs Ministry has announced that ‘Hunar Haat’ will be resumed after a gap of about 6 months.
About Hunar Haat
✅Hunar Haat is an exhibition of handicrafts and traditional products made by artisans from the minority communities.
✅It is organised by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme.
✅Hunar Haat, which provides market and opportunity to master artisans and craftsmen from remote areas of the country, has become a credible brand of rare exquisite indigenous handmade products.
✅This year’s edition will have local-to-global as the theme and the focus will be on indigenous exquisite Indian toys. People will be able to buy Hunar Haat products through the digital media as well.
✅The Minority Affairs Ministry is registering these artisans and their indigenous products on “GeM” (Government e-Marketplace).
USTTAD
✅The Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) scheme aims to preserve heritage of traditional arts and crafts of minority communities and build capacity of traditional crafts persons and artisans and establish linkages of traditional skills with the global market.
✅Under the scheme, assistance will be provided to traditional artisans to sell their products in order to make them more compatible with modern markets.
✅It will prepare skilled and unskilled artisans and craftsmen to improve their products to make them viable on the global stage.
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2020-09-17 14:09:19+00:00
eSanjeevani
What’s in News?
✅The eSanjeevani facility has crossed over 300,000 tele-consults since its introduction.
What is eSanjeevani?
✅eSanjeevani is the national teleconsultation service provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
✅It was launched in November 2019 to provide tele-consultation at 150,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) across states by December 2022.
✅eSanjeevani is based on the hub-and-spoke model to connect HWCs with primary health centres, community health centres, medical colleges, and district hospitals.
✅The platform supports two types of telemedicine services: doctor-to-doctor (eSanjeevani) and patient-to-doctor (eSanjeevani OPD), with the latter being launched to take medical services to patients unable to visit hospitals because of the lockdown imposed to check the pandemic spread.
✅Under the scheme, states are required to identify and set up dedicated ‘Hubs’ in Medical Colleges and District hospitals to provide tele-consultation services to ‘Spokes’, i.e. Sub Health Centres (SHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs).
✅Govt. of India’s Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) also offers specialized health services for its beneficiaries through eSanjeevani OPD. CGHS has set up four specialised OPDs on eSanjeevaniOPD namely ENT, Medicine, Ophthalmology & Orthopaedics.
Benefits
✅Ensuring physical distancing, the telemedicine service connects doctors with patients. It has provided essential healthcare at a critical time when conventional medicine is perceived to be risky owing to the nature of the infectious disease.
✅Telemedicine has helped decongest secondary and tertiary hospitals and improve documentation, data-collection, diagnosis, and care without risking the safety of the patients or the health workers.
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2020-09-17 14:06:46+00:00
National Bamboo Mission
What’s in News?
✅Under the National Bamboo Mission, 22 bamboo clusters have been introduced in nine states.
What is the National Bamboo Mission?
✅National Bamboo Mission is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme started in the year 2006-07 which was later subsumed under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).
✅The Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of bamboo sector by adopting area-based, regionally differentiated strategy and to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing.
✅Under the Mission, steps have been taken to increase the availability of quality planting material by supporting the setting up of new nurseries and strengthening of existing ones. To address forward integration, the Mission is taking steps to strengthen marketing of bamboo products, especially those of handicraft items.
✅The Mission focuses on development of bamboo in States where it has social, commercial and economical advantage, particularly in the North Eastern region and States such as Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand etc.
✅It was restructured in 2018 for implementation till the end of 14th Finance Commission i.e. 2019-2020.
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2020-09-17 06:26:12+00:00
India has joined the Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Amendment as Observer state
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2020-09-16 06:00:30+00:00
Important Articles: September 16, 2020
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2020-09-16 04:59:04+00:00
Important Articles: September 16, 2020
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2020-09-16 04:14:01+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-15 14:27:09+00:00
We have prepared an exclusive current affairs material specially focused on Prelims 2020.
The material covers 18 months current affairs in just 150 pages for last minute revision.
It's a highly recommended material for our students as there's high probability that topics covered could be appeared in the upcoming prelims.
Share it with your friends.
Kindly go through it and send your feedbacks to academic.acumenias@gmail.com
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2020-09-15 14:21:53+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-15 14:21:06+00:00
Khadi and Village Industries Commission
What’s in News?
KVIC’s venture into the online marketing segment has been met with widespread success throughout India.
What is KVIC?
✅The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is a statutory body formed by the Government of India, under the Act of Parliament, 'Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956'.
✅It is an apex organization under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, with regard to khadi and village industries within India, which seeks to – “plan, promote, facilitate, organise and assist in the establishment and development of khadi and village industries in the rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.”
✅The commission focuses on creation of common service facilities for processing of raw materials, such as semi-finished goods. KVIC also helps in building up reserves of raw materials for supply to producers.
✅The KVIC is authorized to establish and maintain separate organisations for the purpose of carrying out any or all of the above matters besides carrying out any other matters incidental to its activities.
✅To improve the quality of Khadi products and to ensure their better acceptability for marketing, KVIC is implementing schemes like Market Promotion and Development Assistance (MPDA) Scheme, Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP).
Objectives
✅The social objective of providing employment.
✅The economic objective of producing saleable articles.
✅The wider objective of creating self-reliance amongst the poor and building up of a strong rural community spirit.
Functions
✅Building up of a reserve of raw materials and implementation for supply to producers
✅Formation of common service facilities for processing of raw materials that include semi-finished goods
✅Promoting the sale and marketing of Khadi and Village Industries products, as well as handicrafts
✅Promoting research in the village industries sector related production techniques and equipment
✅Providing financial assistance to individuals and institutions for the development and operation of Khadi and Village industries
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2020-09-15 14:19:44+00:00
Fossil Ape
What’s in News?
✅An international team of researchers has unearthed a 13-million-year-old fossil of a newly discovered ape species in Uttarakhand.
About the Research
✅The fossil, a complete lower molar, belongs to a previously unknown genus and species (Kapi ramnagarensis). It is the earliest known ancestor of the modern-day gibbon.
✅The molar was photographed and CT-scanned, and comparative samples of living and extinct ape teeth were examined to highlight important similarities and differences in dental anatomy.
✅It pushes back the oldest known fossil record of gibbons by at least five million years, providing a much-needed glimpse into the early stages of their evolutionary history.
✅The discovery fills a major void in the ape fossil record and provides important new evidence about when the ancestors of today's gibbon migrated to Asia from Africa.
✅It points towards the theory that the migration of great apes, including orangutan ancestors, and lesser apes from Africa to Asia happened around the same time and through the same places.
✅Today, gibbons and orangutans can both be found in Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia, and the oldest fossil apes are from Africa.
✅Over the past century, numerous specimens collected near Ramnagar have proven important in understanding the evolution and biogeography of many mammalian groups, including hominoid apes.
✅The Ramnagar region may represent the first occurrence of apes and other mammalian lineages in the Siwaliks.
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2020-09-15 14:18:42+00:00
Bt Cotton
What’s in News?
✅Report reviews have revealed that the introduction of Bt cotton has contributed to only a minimal improvement in the cotton production in the country.
What is Bt Cotton?
✅Bt cotton is an insect-resistant transgenic crop designed to combat the bollworm.
✅Developed by US giant Bayer-Monsanto, it involves insertion of two genes viz ‘Cry1Ab’ and ‘Cry2Bc’ from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into cotton seeds.
✅This modification codes the plant to produce protein toxic to Heliothis bollworm (pink bollworm) thus making it resistant to their attack.
✅In short, the transgene inserted into the plant's genome produces toxin crystals that the plant would not normally produce which, when ingested by a certain population of organisms, dissolves the gut lining, leading to the organism's death.
✅The commercial release of this hybrid was sanctioned by the government in 2002. Bt cotton remains the only GM crop allowed to be cultivated in the country.
Hurdles
✅The seeds are more expensive than local, non-genetically modified varieties. Moreover, seeds cannot be reused and farmers need to buy new stock for every growing season.
✅This, along with licensing agreements with local seed companies, has given Monsanto a near monopoly on cotton seeds in India that has been the biggest worry for agriculturists.
✅The introduction of hybrid Bt-cotton led to an initial reduction in insecticide use, but by 2012, insecticide use was at pre-2002 levels, and now targeted still newer induced secondary pests.
✅Resistance to insecticides and to Bt toxins was developing in pink bollworm and American bollworm: two pests which were running havoc on Indian cotton industry. This resulted in double jeopardy of insecticide and biotechnology to Indian farmers.
GEAC
✅In India, it is the responsibility of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to assess the safety of a genetically modified plant, and decide whether it is fit for cultivation.
✅The GEAC comprises experts and government representatives, and a decision it takes has to be approved by the Environment Ministry before any crop is allowed for cultivation.
✅Besides Bt cotton, the GEAC has cleared two other genetically modified crops — brinjal and mustard — but these have not received the consent of the MoEFCC.
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2020-09-15 14:16:43+00:00
Panama Disease
What’s in News?
✅ Scientists from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) have manufactured a bio-fungicide to help combat Panama disease.
What is Panama Disease?
✅ Fusarium wilt of banana, popularly known as Panama disease, is a lethal fungal disease that primarily affects banana plants. It is caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc).
✅ One of its strains, called Tropical Race 4 or TR4, is creating the maximum havoc, threatening almost 80 per cent of the global banana production.
✅ During the 1950s, an outbreak of Panama disease almost wiped out the commercial Gros Michel banana production which was the dominant cultivar of bananas. This led to producers incurring heavy costs and switching to other disease-resistant variants.
✅ Currently, the Cavendish banana is the most widely used cultivar.
✅Panama disease caused by the strain Tropical Race 4 (TR4) threatens the production of the Cavendish banana, with over 80 per cent of the global banana production susceptible to the outbreak.
✅ The fungus enters the plant through the roots and colonizes the xylem vessels thereby blocking the flow of water and nutrients. Disease progression results in the collapse of leaves at the petiole, the splitting of the pseudostem base and eventually plant death.
✅ The leaves begin to wilt, and the stem of the plant starts turning dark brownish before the plant dies.
✅If one plant gets it, then it is most likely that an entire plantation can be wiped out.
✅Infected suckers do not start showing symptoms of Fusarium wilt until they are about 4 months old, a situation that has contributed to the spread of the disease through planting material. The fruit does not show any specific disease symptoms.
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2020-09-15 06:25:47+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-14 15:46:19+00:00
Living Planet Report 2020:
✅Released by international non-profit World Wide Fund for Nature.
findings:
✅The population of vertebrate species declined by around 68 per cent between 1970 and 2016. Living Planet Index was used by the report to calculate this decline.
Wildlife populations in freshwater habitats suffered a decline of 84 per cent, equivalent to four per cent per year, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
✅The average two-thirds decline in global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish in less than 50 years in large parts is due to the same environmental destruction, which is contributing to emergence of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19.
✅75 per cent of earth’s ice-free land has been significantly altered, most of the oceans polluted and over 85 per cent area of wetlands lost ~ all due to human activity.
✅One in five plants is threatened with extinction
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2020-09-14 15:44:10+00:00
iRAD App:
✅iRAD stands for Integrated Road Accident Database Project.
✅The primary purpose of IRAD is to enhance road safety.
✅It is developed by Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) and will be implemented by the National Informatics Centre.
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2020-09-14 15:42:40+00:00
Trans-fat
Why in News?
✅India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan were among countries that need to act urgently against trans-fat, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
✅Trans fatty acids (TFAs) or Trans fats are the most harmful type of fats which can have much more adverse effects on our body than any other dietary constituent.
✅These fats are largely produced artificially but a small amount also occurs naturally. Thus in our diet, these may be present as Artificial TFAs and/ or Natural TFAs.
✅Artificial TFAs are formed when hydrogen is made to react with the oil to produce fats resembling pure ghee/butter.
✅In our diet the major sources of artificial TFAs are the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVO)/vanaspati/ margarine while the natural TFAs are present in meats and dairy products, though in small amounts.
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2020-09-14 11:07:24+00:00
Important Articles: September 14, 2020
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2020-09-12 16:08:12+00:00
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana
What’s in News?
✅The Prime Minister has launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
About PMMSY
✅ The Matsya Sampada Yojana is a scheme to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector in India.
✅It aims to enhance fish production to 220 lakh metric tons by 2024-25 from 137.58 lakh metric tons in 2018-19 at an average annual growth rate of about 9%.
✅Constituting about 7.73% of the global fish production, India is currently the second largest aquaculture and the 4th largest fish exporting nation in the world.
✅Thrust will be given towards enhancement of fish production and productivity, quality, sustainability, technology infusion, post-harvest infrastructure, modernisation etc
✅PMMSY will create a conducive environment for private sector participation, development of entrepreneurship, business models, promotion of ease of doing business, innovations and innovative project activities including start-ups, incubators etc. in fisheries sector.
✅The scheme will also focus on several new activities and areas such as Traceability, Certification and Accreditation, Aquaculture in saline/alkaline areas, Genetic improvement programmes and Nucleus Breeding Centres, GI in fish, disease diagnostic and quality testing labs, Organic Aquaculture Promotion and Certification and Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) devices.
✅Insurance coverage for fishing vessels is also being introduced for the first time.
Objectives
✅Harnessing of fisheries potential in a sustainable, responsible, inclusive and equitable manner
✅Enhancing of fish production and productivity through expansion, intensification, diversification and productive utilization of land and water
✅Modernizing and strengthening of value chain - post-harvest management and quality improvement
✅Doubling fishers and fish farmers’ incomes and generation of employment
✅Enhancing contribution to Agriculture GVA and exports
✅Social, physical and economic security for fishers and fish farmers
✅Robust fisheries management and regulatory framework
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2020-09-12 15:34:15+00:00
Stubble Utilisation
What’s in News?
✅The Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) alongwith the science and the technology department, is tackling stubble burning by creating alternatives for stubble utilisation.
Utilisation Methods
✅Rice straw can either be used alone or mixed with other biomass materials in direct combustion, whereby combustion boilers are used in combination with steam turbines to produce electricity and heat.
✅The by-products are fly ash and bottom ash, which have an economic value and could be used in cement and/or brick manufacturing, construction of roads and embankments, etc.
✅After crushing, pressing, increasing density and forming, the straw can be converted into small solid pellet fuel.
✅This kind of fuel has high efficiency and is easy to store. It can be widely used for heating, life stove, hot water boiler, industrial furnace, biomass power plant, etc. It can replace coal at the domestic level and solve environment pollution problem.
✅Biomass plants are the most beneficial means to tackle with the problem of stubble burning. If enough biomass power plants are set up locally, it will provide a new source of income to farmers and also save the environment from stubble burning. Moreover, the fuel produced can be of major economic significance.
✅Composting of the straw is another option as it allows the decomposition of rice straw to enable recovery of portions of its nutrients and organic components.
Bio-CNG
✅PEDA, the state nodal agency is currently working on eight projects of Bio-CNG apart from biomass projects.
✅Biogas consists mainly of methane (CH4, 55-65%) and carbon dioxide (CO2, 35-45%). Methane is a valuable form of gas, as it is an efficient energy carrier with a wide range of uses.
✅Aside from methane and CO2, biogas also contains trace components like water vapor, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), siloxanes, hydrocarbons, ammonia, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. The proportion of these trace components depends on the source of the biomass.
✅The presence of water vapor, H2S, and CO2 make biogas very corrosive and unsuitable to be used as fuel. If this biogas is used as fuel in automobiles it can cause erosion of the metal parts, which in turn increases the maintenance cost of the vehicles.
✅In order to tackle this problem, the solution that is available is to upgrade biogas. Biogas upgrading or purification is the process by which contaminants in the raw biogas stream are absorbed or scrubbed, leaving more methane per unit volume of gas. This final product is called biomethane.
✅The most widely used technologies for biogas upgrading are water scrubbing, Pressure Swing Adsorption, membrane, and chemical scrubbing. Of these technologies, water scrubbing and Pressure Swing Adsorption are considered to be most appropriate on a small scale due to low cost and easy maintenance.
✅Biomethane can also be compressed and bottled into cylinders and it is called Bio-Compressed Natural Gas (Bio-CNG) or simply Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG).
✅Bio-CNG contains about 92-98 % of methane and only 2-8 % carbon dioxide. The high methane content and calorific value combined with the low quantity of moisture, hydrogen sulphide and impurities makes Bio-CNG an ideal fuel for automobiles and power generation.
✅The low emission levels of Bio-CNG also make it a more environment-friendly fuel than biogas.
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2020-09-12 15:32:01+00:00
WMCC
What’s in News?
✅India and China have agreed on a five-point plan for resolving border tension during the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
WMCC
✅One of the conditions of the five-point plan is that the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) should continue its meetings.
✅The WMCC was established in 2012 as an institutional mechanism for consultation and coordination for management of India – China border areas, as well as to deal with important border affairs related to maintaining peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas.
✅The Working Mechanism is headed by a Joint Secretary level official from the Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India and a Director General level official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and it is composed of diplomatic and military officials of the two sides.
✅The Working Mechanism will study ways and means to conduct and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between military personnel and establishments of the two sides in the border areas.
✅The Working Mechanism also explores the possibility of cooperation in the border areas that are agreed upon by the two sides.
✅However, the Working Mechanism will not discuss resolution of the Boundary Question or affect the Special Representatives Mechanism. It can undertake other tasks that are mutually agreed upon by the two sides.
✅The Working Mechanism will address issues and situations that may arise in the border areas that affect the maintenance of peace and tranquility and actively works towards maintaining the friendly atmosphere between the two countries.
✅WMCC holds consultations once or twice every alternatively in India and China. Emergency consultations, if required, may be convened after mutual agreement.
Shanghai Cooperation Operation
✅The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation formed in 2001 in Shanghai, China.
✅After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up.
✅The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan while Uzbekistan was added to the organisation during its inception in 2001.
✅Initially serving as observer nations, Pakistan and India were accepted as full members in 2017.
✅Since its formation, the SCO has focused on regional non-traditional security, with counter-terrorism as a priority. The fight against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism has become its mantra. Today, areas of cooperation include themes such as economics and culture.
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2020-09-12 06:25:45+00:00
Important Articles: September 12, 2020
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2020-09-11 09:38:03+00:00
REVISED AND EXCLUSIVE CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR PRELIMS 2020
CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-11 09:38:02+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-11 06:42:10+00:00
Important Articles: September 11, 2020
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2020-09-09 15:02:37+00:00
Acumen News Watch August 2020
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2020-09-09 14:53:16+00:00
Silicosis
What’s in News?
✅The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has criticised the West Bengal government for inaction and lack of appropriate response in compensating silicosis-affected people.
What is silicosis?
✅Silicosis is a progressive lung disease caused by breathing in tiny bits of silica, a mineral that is part of sand, rock, and mineral ores such as quartz.
✅Continuous exposure can cause silica to build up in lungs and breathing passages.
✅It occurs most commonly in people working in the quarrying, manufacturing, and building construction industries.
✅Silicosis is an incurable condition with its potential to cause permanent physical disability, and is recognized as one of the most prevalent occupational health illnesses in the world.
✅Exposure to large amounts of silica can go unnoticed as it is odourless, non-irritant and does not cause any immediate health effects. But long-term exposure is associated with pneumoconiosis, lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, and other lung diseases.
✅Diagnosis is especially challenging as it is difficult to determine if a person is suffering from tuberculosis or silicosis, which often leads misdiagnosis.
✅Deliberate misdiagnosis is also seen as employers seek to escape any liability, since diagnosis of silicosis could lead to heavy compensation under the legislation.
Legislation
✅Silicosis is a notified disease under the Mines Act (1952) and the Factories Act (1948).
✅It is recognized as occupational diseases by the Factories Act and Employees Compensation Act, which mandates employers must pay compensation to workers who are afflicted.
✅Factory Act of India (1948) mandates a well-ventilated working environment, provisions for protection from dust, reduction of overcrowding and provision of basic occupational health care.
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2020-09-09 14:52:17+00:00
Bio-bubble
What’s in News?
✅Bio-bubble has helped resume sports amidst the pandemic, and will be employed in the upcoming IPL and ISL.
What is a bio-bubble?
✅Bio-secure bubble or its more popular portmanteau ‘biobubble,’ is a bio-secure environment planned to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
✅The aim of a bio-bubble is to keep players/teams/athletes relatively isolated from the outside world so as to greatly minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.
✅A bio-bubble permits only authorised sports persons, support staff and match officials to enter the protected area after testing negative for COVID-19. Individuals are regularly tested, temperature checked with respective health reports filed accordingly.
✅The bio-bubble does not just limit itself to the pitch or field; it is, of course, mandatory that all entities partake in this new form of quarantine. Bio-secure bubbles will include hotels, training sessions, matches and transportation.
✅Players will not be permitted to have access to families, visitors, friends, and relatives for the duration of a tournament, and will not be permitted to pay a visit to family or friends, outside the team’s bio-secure environment.
✅Medical teams — including physio and masseurs units — are mandated to don PPE kits while coming in contact with the players.
✅Different zones will be created for team members, match officials, operations teams, ground staff, broadcast teams, hotel staff and security personnel.
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2020-09-09 14:49:13+00:00
Air Suvidha Portal
What’s in News?
✅The Ministry of Civil Aviation has introduced the Air Suvidha portal to facilitate exemption from institutional quarantine.
About Air Suvidha
✅Air Suvidha is a Self-Reporting and Exemption Form Portal for international arrival passengers. It provides a contactless solution for international passengers travelling to India.
✅It comprises two forms; a self-declaration form where passengers fill in basic details and information about recent travel history, and an exemption form that, if approved, will exempt the passenger from institutional quarantine.
✅Prior to the portal’s introduction, the forms would be filled at the airport immediately ahead of the departure.
✅The new portal will help passengers avoid the hassle of providing the same set of information and documents to different authorities multiple times as the online portal has the smart option to auto-fill the second application using the previous application’s request number.
✅Applications will get auto-routed to the respective State governments depending upon the first port of arrival.
✅Similarly, all self-declaration applications will be routed to Airport Health Organisation (APHO), under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
✅If the exemption form is accepted by the state government, the international passenger will be allowed to go under 14 days’ home quarantine. If not, the passenger will have to undergo institutional quarantine as per the government norms and approved centre.
✅A copy of approval or rejection of exemption requests on specific grounds will be emailed to passengers.
✅Passengers are required to submit the exemption form along with supporting documents, including copy of their passports, at least 72 hours before boarding their flights.
APHO
✅The Airport Health Organization (APHO) is a Point of Entries Health (POEs) Organization, which comes under International Health Division of Directorate General of Health Services under Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
✅The main purpose of the Point of Entries Health (POEs) Organizations is to prevent spread of disease of international significance (Public Health Emergencies of International Concern) from foreign countries to India and vice versa.
✅It also ensures provision of safe healthy environment at point of entries for travellers and the staff working at the POEs. The safe healthy environment includes provision of safe food, safe drinking water, sanitation & Vector control at POEs.
✅The APHOs work under Indian Aircraft (Public Health) Rules 1954 & International Health Regulations (2005). The Aircraft (Public Health) Rules-1954 was framed by central Govt. of India, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 8A of The Aircraft Act 1934.
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2020-09-09 14:46:16+00:00
Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle
What’s in News?
✅The DRDO successfully flight tested the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV).
What is HSTDV?
✅The HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight.
✅The HSTDV cruise vehicle is mounted on a solid rocket motor, which takes it to a required altitude, and once it attains an optimum speed, the cruise vehicle is ejected out of the launch vehicle.
✅With the expulsion of the cruise vehicle, the scramjet engine is subsequently ignited automatically.
✅In the demonstration, a solid rocket motor of Agni missile was used to take the vehicle to an altitude of 30 kilometers where the cruise vehicle separated from the launch vehicle and the air intake opened as planned.
✅India became the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to develop and successfully test hypersonic technology.
Hypersonic Vehicle
✅In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that greatly exceeds the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
✅The unit tested by the DRDO can achieve upto six times the speed of sound or Mach 6, which is well over 7000 kilometers per hour or around two kilometers per second.
Scramjet
✅Scramjet is short for Supersonic Combustion Ramjet.
✅A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor.
✅A ramjet-powered vehicle requires assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
✅Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites.
✅Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and can operate up to speeds of Mach 6.
✅However, the ramjet efficiency starts to drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.
✅An improvement of the ramjet engine, the scramjet engine efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion.
✅Scramjet engines designed by ISRO uses hydrogen as fuel and the oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser. Since, it uses oxygen from the atmosphere as fuel therefore the weight of the system is less and its efficiency is more.
✅Primarily utilized for the development of long-range cruise missiles of the future, the technology has multiple civilian applications also. It can be used for launching satellites at low cost too.
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2020-09-09 11:39:45+00:00
REVISED AND EXCLUSIVE CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR PRELIMS 2020
CATALYST RECAP 2020
-
2020-09-09 11:39:10+00:00
THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
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2020-09-09 11:01:52+00:00
Acumen IAS THE CATALYST RECAP 2020
With the overwhelming response we got for the Catalyst magazine and multiple requests from our students, We are releasing CATALYST RECAP 2020 covering 18 months current affairs in just 150 pages.
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2020-09-08 07:22:04+00:00
Important Articles: September 8, 2020
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2020-09-07 13:23:19+00:00
Lung Cancer Therapy
What’s in News?
✅Indian researchers have developed a theranostics (diagnostic therapy) drug candidate for lung cancer.
Research
✅Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, is tough to detect at early stages, making it difficult to treat.
✅The researchers have developed a small molecule for selective recognition of BCL-2 GQ through unique hybrid loop stacking and groove binding mode with turn on far-red fluorescence response and anticancer activity demonstrating the potential as GQ-targeted lung cancer theranostics.
✅G-quadruplexes (GQs) are non-canonical DNA secondary structures which regulate a wide range of cellular processes, including expression of several oncogenes.
✅The selective recognition and imaging of oncogene specific non-canonical DNA secondary structures (G-quadruplex-GQ structures) holds great promise in the development of diagnostic therapy (theranostics) for cancer and has been challenging due to their structural dynamics and diversity.
✅In cancer cells, stabilization of GQs leads to replication stress and DNA damage accumulation and therefore considered as promising chemotherapeutic target.
✅The study revealed that the selective recognition originating from the distinct loop structure of GQ that alters the overall probe interaction and binding affinity. TGP18 binding to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 GQ ablates the pro-survival function and elicit anti-cancer activity by inducing death in cancer cells.
✅It has been discovered that inhibition of BCL-2 transcription synergized with signalling cascade of nucleolar stress, DNA damage, and oxidative stress triggers apoptosis signalling pathway.
✅Intervention of GQ mediated lethality by TGP18 translated into anti-cancer activity in both in vitro 3D spheroid culture and in vivo xenograft models of lung cancer.
✅This methodology can be further exploited to develop cancer-type specific theranostic drugs with tremendous implications in personalized medicine.
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2020-09-07 13:22:28+00:00
International Day of Clean Air for blue skies
What’s in News?
✅The very first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies will be held on September 7th, 2020.
About the observance
✅The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution to hold an International Day of Clean Air for blue skies on December 19, 2019, during its 74th session and invited the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to facilitate the observance of the International Day.
✅The International Day of Clean Air for blue skies calls for increased international cooperation at the global, regional and sub-regional levels.
✅It stresses the importance of and urgent need to raise public awareness at all levels and to promote and facilitate actions to improve air quality.
✅It provides a provide a platform for strengthening global solidarity as well as political momentum for action against air pollution and climate change, including actions like the increased collection of air quality data, carrying out joint research, developing new technologies and sharing best practices.
✅The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which outlines a road map to achieving sustainable development, environmental protection and prosperity for all, recognizes that air pollution abatement is important to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Objectives
✅Raising public awareness at all levels—individual, community, corporate and government—that clean air is important for health, productivity, the economy and the environment.
✅Demonstrating the close link of air quality to other environmental/developmental challenges such as – most and foremost – climate change and the global Sustainable Development Goals.
✅Promoting and facilitating solutions that improve air quality by sharing actionable knowledge best practices, innovations, and success stories.
✅Bringing together diverse international actors working on this topic to form a strategic alliance to gain momentum for concerted national, regional and international approaches for effective air quality management.
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2020-09-07 13:21:02+00:00
Assam Rifles
What’s in News?
✅The Delhi High Court has granted 12 weeks to the Union government to make a decision on the dual control structure for Assam Rifles.
What is Assam Rifles?
✅Assam Rifles which is also referred to as the Sentinels of North East is the oldest paramilitary force of India.
✅Assam Rifles is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
✅It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the MoD.
✅It plays an important role in internal security (counter insurgency and border security operation). It also provides aid to the civilians in times of emergency.
✅Since 2002 it has been guarding the Indo–Myanmar barrier as per the government policy "one border one force".
✅It is the most awarded paramilitary force in both pre- and post-independent India.
Background
✅Assam Rifles was formed as a single unit called Cachar Levy in 1835 to assist the British rulers in maintaining peace in the Northeast.
✅Later on, this unit was converted into the Assam Military Police Battalion with two additional battalions in 1870.These battalions after their service to British in World War I, were renamed as the Assam Rifles.
✅The Assam Rifles have fought in both the World Wars. The post-Independence role of the Assam Rifles continued to evolve, ranging from conventional combat role during Sino-India War 1962, operating in foreign land as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in 1987 (Operation Pawan) to peacekeeping role in the North-Eastern areas of India.
✅It was after the Chinese aggression in 1962 that the Assam Rifles battalions were placed under the operational control of the Army.
Dispute
✅The dual control structure of the Assam Rifles has sparked controversy over the decades as both the MoD and MHA are vying for singular control over the force.
✅MHA has argued that all the border guarding forces are under the operational control of the ministry and so Assam Rifles coming under MHA will give border guarding a comprehensive and integrated approach.
✅The Army is of the opinion that the Assam Rifles has worked well in coordination with the Army and frees up the armed forces from many of its responsibilities to focus on its core strengths. G iving the control of the force to MHA or merging it with any other CAPF will confuse the force and jeopardise national security.
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2020-09-07 13:19:49+00:00
POSHAN Abhiyaan
What’s in News?
✅Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, the month of September is observed as POSHAN Maah i.e. Nutrition month every year, since 2018.
About POSHAN Abhiyaan
✅The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
✅It is a multi-ministerial convergence mission with the vision to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.
✅The objective of POSHAN Abhiyaan to reduce stunting in identified Districts of India with the highest malnutrition burden by improving utilization of key Anganwadi Services and improving the quality of Anganwadi Services delivery.
✅The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is the implementing agency, while NITI Aayog has been entrusted with the task of closely monitoring the POSHAN Abhiyaan and undertaking periodic evaluations.
✅Under the Abhiyaan, Swasth Bharat Preraks will be deployed one in each district for coordinating with district officials and enabling fast and efficient execution of the Abhiyaan across the country. Swasth Bharat Preraks would function as catalyst for fast tracking the implementation of the Abhiyaan.
POSHAN Maah
✅Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the POSHAN Maah provides a month-long activities focussed on antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, girls education, diet, right age of marriage, hygiene and sanitation and eating healthy (food fortification).
✅The activities focus on Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) and are based on Jan Andolan Guidelines.
Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh
✅The Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh (BPKK) is a repository of diverse crops across agro-climatic zones in India for better nutritional outcomes.
✅The project has two components – Development of a Food Atlas and Documentation of promising practices for Jan-Andolan for POSHAN Abhiyaan.
✅The Agro-Food Atlas is to act as a repository of diverse crops across 127 agro-climatic zones of the country having three parts- crops currently being grown, agro-ecological conditions (soil, organic carbon content, ground water availability etc) and guidance on how a greater diversity of crops could be encouraged in a particular district or block to promote dietary diversity and nutrition.
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2020-09-06 13:03:01+00:00
✅The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the rainforests of the Western Ghats and spreads over three States — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
✅They have an estimated population of about 3,500 individuals which is fragmented into 49 sub-populations.
✅Illegal hunting, and accidents due to electrocution or being run over by vehicles caused a decline in population in some places, which led to their IUCN classification as a “threatened species”.
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2020-09-06 12:57:03+00:00
The Nelliyampathy forest. Valparai (Tamil Nadu) and Nelliampathy (Kerala), are both hornbill habitats in the Western Ghats.
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2020-09-06 12:44:49+00:00
Six feet in height, the sarus crane is the tallest flying bird in the world and towers over the two-feet-tall purple moorhen in the mushy marshlands.
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2020-09-06 11:48:19+00:00
Important Articles: September 6, 2020
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2020-09-04 15:45:37+00:00
https://acumenias.in/course/acumen-edge-mcqs-compilation-chapter-2
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2020-09-04 14:07:19+00:00
Reserved Forests
What’s in News?
✅A 600-acre land parcel in the Aarey Milk Colony near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) has been declared as ‘reserve forest’ by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
What are reserve forests?
✅Reserved and protected forests are two classifications for forests that are accorded a certain degree of protection.
✅Land rights to forests declared to be Reserved forests or Protected forests are typically acquired (if not already owned) and owned by the Government of India.
✅Unlike national parks of India or wildlife sanctuaries of India, reserved forests and protected forests are declared by the respective state governments.
✅At present, reserved forests and protected forests differ in one important way: Rights to all activities like hunting, grazing, etc. in reserved forests are banned unless specific orders are issued otherwise.
✅In protected areas, rights to activities like hunting and grazing are sometimes given to communities living on the fringes of the forest, who sustain their livelihood partially or wholly from forest resources or products.
✅Under Section 4 of The Indian Forest Act, 1927, the state government can “constitute any land a reserved forest” by issuing a notification in the Official Gazette, “declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved forest”, and “specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land”.
✅The Government is required to appoint a Forest Settlement Officer (FSO) “to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits or in or over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same”.
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2020-09-04 14:06:56+00:00
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd.
What’s in News?
✅EESL will procure 250 electric vehicles from Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor India.
About EESL
✅Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is a Super Energy Service Company (ESCO), which enables consumers, industries and governments to effectively manage their energy needs through energy efficient technologies.
✅Founded in 2009, it is a joint venture of four National Public Sector Enterprises – NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC), REC and POWERGRID, and was set up under Ministry of Power.
✅It is the world's largest public ESCO and implements the world's largest energy efficiency portfolio across sectors like lighting, buildings, electric mobility, smart metering, agriculture, etc.
✅EESL projects receive funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF - an international partnership of 183 countries), international development banks, United Nations agencies, and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
✅EESL has played a crucial role in implementing programmes such as Unnat Joyti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA), Street Light National Programme, National Energy Efficient Fan Programme, Atal Jyoti Yojana, Energy Efficient Buildings Programme etc.
✅EESL focuses on solution-driven innovation with no subsidy or capital expenditure (CAPEX). It is able to do so using its Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) model, which obviates the need for any upfront capital investment by the consumer.
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2020-09-04 14:05:40+00:00
Rural Self Employment Training Institutes
What’s in News?
✅The e-ceremony of the foundation stone laying of the Institute building of National Academy of RUDSETI (NAR) was held.
What are RSETIs?
✅RSETIs or Rural Self Employment Training Institutes, an initiative of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to have dedicated infrastructure in each district of the country to impart training and skill upgradation of rural youth geared towards entrepreneurship development.
✅RSETIs are managed by banks with active co-operation from the Government of India and State Governments. The NAR undertakes monitoring, mentoring and capacity building of the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes staff.
✅Land for setting up the RSETIs is allotted to the concerned Banks, free of cost, by the State Governments.
✅Each RSETI offers about 30 to 40 Skill Development Programmes in a financial year in various avenues. They include Agricultural, General, Processing, Product-Making and other such programmes.
✅After successful completion of the training, the rural youth are provided with credit linkage assistance by the banks to start their own entrepreneurial ventures.
Objectives
✅Rural BPL youth will be identified and trained for self-employment.
✅The trainings offered will be demand driven.
✅Area in which training will be provided to the trainee will be decided after assessment the candidate’s aptitude.
✅Hand holding support will be provided for assured credit linkage with banks.
✅Escort services will be provided for at least for two years soon to ensure sustainability of micro enterprise trainees.
✅The trainees will be provided intensive short-term residential self-employment training programmes with free food and accommodation.
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2020-09-04 14:04:31+00:00
Acumen News Watch 4th September
🔅Novichok🔅
What’s in News?
✅The Germany government has suggested that there is evidence that the poisoning of Russia's opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was accomplished with the help of Novichok.
What is Novichok?
✅The term Novichok, which translates to ‘newcomer’, is used to refer to a group of advanced nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.
✅They were known as fourth-generation chemical weapons and were developed under a Soviet programme codenamed Foliant.
✅Russia and the United States once ran two of the largest chemical weapons programs in the world. Russia completed the destruction of a stockpile declared to the OPCW last year. The United States is in the final stages of destroying its own stockpile.
✅Novichok came into public knowledge when former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the city of Salisbury in the UK in 2018.
✅Some variants of Novichok are thought to be five to eight times more toxic than the VX nerve agent. It is deemed to be much more lethal and sophisticated than the likes of Sarin or VX.
✅Novichok agents have similar effects to other nerve agents - they act by blocking messages from the nerves to the muscles, causing a collapse of many bodily functions.
✅Russia is not believed ever to have declared Novichok or its ingredients to the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversees a treaty banning their use.
✅The weaponisation of any chemical is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, of which Russia is a signatory.
Chemical Weapons Convention
✅The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral arms-control treaty that outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors.
✅The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical Weapons came into force in 1997. India enacted the Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000, to bring effect to the treaty.
✅The main obligation of member states under the convention is to effect this prohibition, as well as the destruction of all current chemical weapons. All destruction activities must take place under OPCW verification.
✅The CWC is open to all nations and currently has 193 states-parties. Israel has signed but has yet to ratify the convention. Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan have neither signed nor ratified the convention.
OPCW
✅The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an independent, autonomous international organisation with a working relationship with the United Nations.
✅The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997.
✅The OPCW is authorized to perform inspections to verify that signatory states are complying with the convention. The OPCW also performs testing of sites and victims of suspected chemical weapons attacks.
✅The organisation was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”.
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2020-09-03 17:55:20+00:00
Coral Reefs
What’s in News?
✅A study has found that even a ‘dead’ coral reef has quite a significant role in providing protection and nourishment to marine species.
What are corals?
✅Coral are made up of genetically identical organisms called polyps. These polyps have microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within their tissues.
✅Coral reefs are the colonies of coral polyps that are held together by calcium carbonate. The corals and algae have a mutually-beneficial relationship.
✅The coral provides the zooxanthellae with the compounds necessary for photosynthesis. In return, the zooxanthellae supply the coral with organic products of photosynthesis, like carbohydrates, which are utilized by the coral polyps for synthesis of their calcium carbonate skeletons.
✅Coral reefs are also regarded as the tropical rainforest of the sea and occupy just 0.1% of the ocean’s surface but are home to 25% of marine species.
✅The largest of these coral reef systems, The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the largest coral reef is more than 1,500 miles long.
Coral Bleaching
✅When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching.
✅The pale white colour is of the translucent tissues of calcium carbonate which are visible due to the loss of pigment producing zooxanthellae.
✅The corals become vulnerable in the absence of the algae and begin to die if the temperature of the sea remains high for weeks. Corals can recover if the stress-caused bleaching is not severe.
✅Half of the Great Barrier Reef has been bleached to death since 2016.
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2020-09-03 17:54:01+00:00
Lumpy Skin Disease
What’s in News?
✅Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is fast spreading in some districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra.
What is Lumpy Skin Disease?
✅Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is an infectious viral disease of the cattle and bovine animals. It is caused by a pox virus of the genus Capripox virus.
✅It is characterized by the development of stiff, round, cutaneous nodules of 2-5 cm in diameter on the skin of the animal, besides causing fever, lesions in the mouth and reduced milk production.
✅Many animals in a herd will be affected but a few animals die from the disease. Death rates are greater among calves. The virus strain currently active in Maharashtra is said to have about 20 per cent morbidity and about 1 per cent mortality rate.
✅Transmission of LSD occurs via insect vectors and vaccination is the most effective means of control. The disease is believed to be spread between animals by biting flies (Stomyxos calcitrans) and mosquitoes, although spread of the disease is often related to cattle movements.
✅There is no treatment for the virus, so prevention by vaccination is the most effective means of control.
✅Since the virus spread via insects, it’s important to ensure that the sheds are insect-free. The animals can be massaged with insect repellents. Apart from this, affected animals have to be kept away from healthy ones and should not be taken away for grazing.
✅The virus is not zoonotic and doesn’t infect humans through consumption of milk or meat.
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2020-09-03 17:53:06+00:00
Railway Board
What’s in News?
✅The Appointments Committee of the cabinet (ACC) has formally approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board as its first CEO.
What is the Railway Board?
✅The Railway Board was constituted in 1905 as the chief administrative and executive body to assist the Minister of Railways.
✅The Railway Board is the apex body of the Indian Railways which reports to the Parliament via the ministry of railways.
Restructuring
✅In a major move to reform the 150-year-old railway board, the Union Cabinet approved the restructuring of the apex body of the Indian Railways.
✅The Railway Board now consists of four members and a chairperson. A central service called as Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) has been introduced by unifying its eight railways services.
✅The five members of the Board, other than a Chairman-cum-CEO, will now be the Members Infrastructure, Finance, Rolling Stock, Track, and Operations and Business Development.
✅There will also be a Directorate General - Human Resources (DG - HR) under the Chairman. The Board will also have some independent members, who will be highly distinguished professionals.
✅The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
✅This is in line with the recommendations of numerous committees, notably Rakesh Mohan (2001) and the Bibek Debroy panel (2015).
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2020-09-03 17:52:07+00:00
Acumen News Watch 3rd September
Zero Hour and Question Hour
What’s in News?
✅In view of the pandemic and a truncated Monsoon Session, Parliament has scrapped the Question Hour and curtailed Zero Hour.
What is Question Hour?
✅The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is usually termed as Question hour. During this one hour, Members of Parliament ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
✅Notified in the Rules of Procedure of the House, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning over the years.
✅The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries. Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
✅The presiding officers of the two Houses decide whether a question raised by an MP will be admitted for answering by the government.
✅Ministries receive the questions 15 days in advance so that they can prepare their ministers for Question Hour.
✅Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session. But there are two days when an exception is made.
✅There is no Question Hour on the day the President addresses MPs from both Houses in the Central Hall. Question Hour is not scheduled either on the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget.
✅The questions are classified into three types – Starred, Unstarred and Short Notice.
✅Starred Questions are distinguished by an asterisk and require oral answers along with the possibility of supplementary questions. They are printed in green colour.
✅Unstarred questions require a written answer, and cannot be followed by any supplementary questions. They are printed in white colour.
✅Short notice questions are considered when questions pertaining to public importance and of urgent character are to be raised. It is asked by giving a notice of less than ten days and it is answered orally. The list of these questions is printed in light pink colour.
Zero Hour
✅Zero Hour is the time when Members of Parliament (MPs) can raise Issues of Urgent Public Importance.
✅Zero Hour is an Indian innovation in the field of parliamentary procedures and has been in existence since 1962. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure.
✅For raising matters during the Zero Hour, MPs must give the notice before 10 am to the Speaker/ Chairman on the day of the sitting. However, Speaker, Lok Sabha / Chairman, Rajya Sabha may allow or decline a Member to raise a matter of importance.
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2020-09-03 07:39:47+00:00
Important Articles: September 3, 2020
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2020-09-03 07:31:05+00:00
Important Articles: September 3, 2020
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2020-09-02 14:49:14+00:00
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2020-09-02 13:57:25+00:00
Indra 2020
What’s in News?
✅India and Russia will take part in a naval exercise in the Andaman Sea, close to the Straits of Malacca.
About Indra 2020
✅INDRA NAVY-2020 is planned as PASSEX on September 4-5, during the passage of Russian Navy ships from Hambantota to Malacca Straits in the Bay of Bengal.
✅A passage exercise is normally undertaken whenever an opportunity arises, in contrast to pre-planned maritime drills.
✅Recently, Indian Naval ships conducted a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the U.S. Navy’s USS Nimitz carrier strike group near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
✅INDRA NAVY-2020, earlier planned in Vladivostok, had been postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic situation.
✅India-Russia (INDRA) Exercises between the Army, Navy and Air Force of the two countries have been held since 2005.
✅Joint Tri-Services Exercises ‘INDRA’ are also being held once in two years since 2017. The last INDRA Tri-Services Exercise was held in India in December 2019.
Significance
✅The move follows the withdrawal of India form the Kavkaz 2020 multinational exercise in Russia, which will see the participation of Chinese and Pakistani troops.
✅It is also a significant exercise in context of the ongoing standoff with China in Ladakh. The naval exercise will be conducted amid high operational alert by the Indian Navy close to the strategic location of the Strait of Malacca.
✅India is keen to develop a partnership with Russia in the Indo-Pacific region based on its principle of inclusive Indo-Pacific construct. Russia on its part wants to steadily enhance its presence in the region spanning Lisbon to Jakarta and seeks Indian presence in its Far-East as Indo-Pacific partnership.
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2020-09-02 13:56:30+00:00
Gaganyaan-Alpha Mission
What’s in News?
✅India and France are in talks to provide similar equipment to the Gaganyaan astronauts as to be used in the European Space Agency’s Alpha Mission.
What is the Alpha Mission?
✅Alpha is a crewed six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It will be undertaken by the European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
✅It is the second operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, launching in spring 2021 from Cape Canaveral, USA, to the International Space Station.
✅The mission has been named after Alpha Centauri, the closest stellar system to Earth, following the French tradition to name space missions after stars or constellations.
Crew Dragon
✅Crew Dragon is a part of the Dragon 2, a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
✅SpaceX is the first private company to launch people (human spaceflight) into orbit, a feat achieved by the US, Russia & China.
✅It is the fifth class of US spacecraft to take human beings into orbit, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
Gaganyaan
✅Gaganyaan is the human space flight programme under which Indian astronauts will go into space by 2022. This will be done by using its own capabilities.
✅A GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle will lift them to their orbit, which has the necessary payload capability to launch a three-member crew module in low earth orbit.
✅If successful, India would become the fourth nation to conduct a human space flight programme after USSR/Russia, USA and China.
✅DRDO signed MoUs with ISRO to offer technologies for the mission, including space food, survival kits for crew, radiation protection equipment and parachutes.
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2020-09-02 13:55:11+00:00
Special Frontier Force
What’s in News?
✅It has been reported that the Special Frontier Force has been instrumental in thwarting the occupation of Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
What is the Special Frontier Force?
✅The Special Frontier Force (SFF) is a covert outfit which was formed in the immediate aftermath of the 1962 Sino-India war.
✅It was initially called Establishment 22 after the 22 Mountain Regiment, as it was assembled by an Artillery Officer who commanded the latter.
✅Its recruits are mainly comprised of a mixture of Tibetans and Gorkhas. The units that comprise the SFF are known as Vikas battalions.
✅It falls under the purview of the Cabinet Secretariat where it is headed by an Inspector General who is an Army officer of the rank of Major General.
✅The SFF units are not part of the Army but they function under operational control of the Army. The units have their own rank structures which have equivalent status with Army ranks.
✅Special Frontier Forces is similar to Indian Army Parachute Regiment composing off both Airborne Battalions and Special Forces Battalion. While the Airborne Battalions train for behind the enemy lines warfare which include guerrilla warfare, Direct Action, Sabotage, the SG and Para Gurkhas train for clandestine jobs, unconventional warfare and Hostage Rescue.
Major Operations
✅They took part in operations in the 1971 war, Operation Blue Star in Golden Temple Amritsar, Kargil conflict and in counter-insurgency operations in the country.
✅In the 1971 war, the SFF operated in the Chittagong hill tracts in East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) to neutralize Pakistan Army positions and help the Indian Army advance ahead. The operation was code-named ‘Operation Eagle’.
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2020-09-02 13:53:06+00:00
Acumen News Watch 2nd September
Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan
What’s in News?
✅The Union Government has been successful in implementing the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan.
What is the scheme?
✅The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan was launched to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens who have returned to their home states due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
✅It was implemented in the context of the need to strengthen the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
✅A total of 116 districts across six states, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha (where maximum migrant workers have returned) have been chosen for the campaign.
✅The chosen districts include 27 Aspirational Districts.
✅The scheme is a coordinated effort by 12 different ministries including rural development, Panchayati Raj, Road transport and highways, mines, drinking water and sanitation, environment, railways, petroleum and natural gas, new and renewable energy, border Roads, Telecom and agriculture.
✅The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for this campaign and the campaign will be implemented in close coordination with the State Governments.
Benefits
✅It will create livelihood opportunities for the returned migrants, and while doing so it is expected to create durable infrastructure in rural areas.
✅The basket of a wide variety of works will ensure that each migrant worker is able to get an opportunity of employment according to his skill, in the coming 125 days.
✅The Program will also prepare for expansion and development of livelihoods over a longer term.
Aspirational Districts Programme
✅Aspirational Districts are those districts in India which are affected by poor socio-economic indicators.
✅These are aspirational in the context, that improvement in these districts can lead to the overall improvement in human development in India.
✅At the Government of India level, the programme is anchored by NITI Aayog. In addition, individual Ministries have assumed responsibility to drive the progress of districts.
✅With States as the main drivers, ADP seeks to focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
✅ADP is based on 49 indicators from the 5 identified thematic areas, which focuses closely on improving people’s Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.
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2020-09-01 14:13:08+00:00
Dead Zones
What’s in News?
✅Due to climate change, the areas affected by low-oxygen levels in the Danish Seas, has doubled in a year.
What are dead zones?
✅"Dead zone" is a more common term for hypoxia, which refers to a reduced level of oxygen in the water. Dead zones are areas of water bodies where aquatic life cannot survive because of low oxygen levels.
✅Dead zones are generally caused by significant nutrient pollution, and are primarily a problem for bays, lakes and coastal waters since they receive excess nutrients from upstream sources.
✅Hypoxic zones can occur naturally, but scientists are concerned about the areas created or enhanced by human activity.
✅Dead zones occur because of a process called eutrophication, which happens when a body of water gets too many nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen.
✅At normal levels, these nutrients feed the growth of an organism called cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. With too many nutrients, however, cyanobacteria grow out of control, which can be harmful.
✅Algal blooms prevent light from penetrating the water’s surface. They also prevent oxygen from being absorbed by organisms beneath them.
✅When these algae die and sink to the bottom, they provide a rich food source for bacteria, which in the act of decomposition consume dissolved oxygen from surrounding waters.
✅Human activities are the main cause of these excess nutrients being washed into the ocean.
✅The largest dead zone in the world, the lower portion of the Black Sea, occurs naturally. Oxygenated water is only found in the upper portion of the sea, where the Black Sea’s water mixes with the Mediterranean Sea that flows through the Bosporus Strait.
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2020-09-01 14:12:07+00:00
Solar Tree
What’s in News?
✅CSIR-CMERI has developed the world’s largest solar tree in Durgapur, West Bengal.
What is a solar tree?
✅They are solar panels mounted atop a long pole. The pole can support multiple panels in different spots, much like branches on a tree.
✅Solar trees are made of metal structure and come along with solar panels at the topmost as a substitute for twigs of an actual tree.
✅Solar trees are flexible and rotate to face the sun and produce maximum possible amount of energy using a technique called “spiralling phyllataxy”.
✅The innovation is suitable for use in off-the-grid remote areas or in places that need point-sourced light like car parks and street lighting. Besides, with gird connectivity or battery store, the solar tree can also supply electricity wherever needed.
✅They are mostly utilized as a source to instruct and to make people realize why solar technology is significant and is being utilized for this purpose in numerous schools and companies all over the world.
Benefits
✅In situations where space is a constraint, solar trees provide an option for installing multiple layers of solar panels while maximizing the efficiency of the available area.
✅The solar tree design is efficient and strikingly appealing. Compared to the way standard solar panels are laid out, solar trees look a lot more aesthetically pleasing.
✅Solar panel trees can aid as an amazing option for assets where solar roofing doesn’t seem possible. They are also accessible with involuntary sun tracking and in-built vacuuming machines.
✅Agricultural models can provide a consistent economic return and help the farmers counter the effects of the uncertain variations in Agriculture related activities, thus, making farming an Economic and Energy Sustainable practice.
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2020-09-01 14:06:43+00:00
Quantum State Interferography
What’s in News?
✅Indian researchers have discovered a new way of quantum state estimation, which can make crucial quantum operations much simpler.
Quantum State
✅Quantum states are the undefined properties of an object before they've been detected, such as the spin of an electron or the polarisation of a photon. A quantum state is a vector that contains all the information about a system.
✅The complex mathematics behind these unsettled states can be plugged into special algorithms for solving complex mathematical problems, producing hard-to-break security codes, or predicting multiple particle interactions in chemical reactions.
✅The determination of an unknown quantum state is usually done by a method known as Quantum State Tomography (QST). This involves measuring projection of the quantum state on various directions in state space and reconstructing the quantum state from the information obtained.
✅However, in particular, scenarios where the dimensions are large, the operations needed to perform tomography increase quadratically. The experimental settings often need to be changed many times, thus making the process very cumbersome.
Details of the research
✅Scientists from Raman Research Institute, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, have found a new way of inferring the state of a system from an interference pattern, which they term ‘Quantum State Interferography’.
✅The researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to infer the unknown quantum state of a higher dimensional system, without changing any settings in the experimental setup.
✅The setup utilizes two interferometers from which many interferograms can be obtained to reconstruct the state.
✅This provides a ‘black box’ approach to quantum state estimation - between the incidence of the photon and extraction of state information, conditions within the set-up are not changed, thus providing a true single-shot estimation of the quantum state.
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2020-09-01 14:05:23+00:00
Acumen News Watch September 1
Pinaka Rocket Artillery
What’s in News?
✅The government has signed contracts worth ₹2,580 crores to supply six Army regiments with Pinaka missiles.
About Pinaka
✅Pinaka is an indigenous multi-barrel rocket launch system, integrates state-of-the-art technologies for delivering superior combat performance.
✅Development of Pinaka commenced in 1986 at a Pune-based DRDO facility, known as Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE). DRDO was responsible for the overall design and development.
✅The initial version of weapon system was called Mark I, which had a range of 40 km. The upgraded version or Pinaka Mark II has an extended range of 70 to 80 km.
✅The Pinaka MK-II Rocket is modified as a missile by integrating with the Navigation, Control and Guidance System to improve the end accuracy and enhance the range.
✅The navigation system of the missile is aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
✅Pinaka saw service during the Kargil War, where it was successful in neutralising enemy positions on the mountain tops. It has since been inducted into the Indian Army in large numbers.
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2020-09-01 06:16:36+00:00