The USA has reaffirmed its support for Taiwan following China’s warplanes entering Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.These overflights were part of a long-standing pattern of incursions by China aimed at pressuring the present democratically elected government of Taiwan to accept China’s demand to recognize Taiwan as a part of Chinese territory. Taiwan Taiwan – the Republic of China (ROC), home to twenty-three … Read more
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Immunisation Division) has issued a Standard Operating Procedure for the Ministry of Home Affairs in case of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI). Background: Emergencyy Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) which have established safety & immunogenicity … Read more
Indian state-owned steel making company Steel Authority of India Ltd has been awarded with Golden Peacock Environment Management award 2020 (GPEM) in the steel sector. The GPEM award was given for its efforts in adopting various environmental measures like upgrading pollution control facilities, treatment and recirculation of wastewater from individual units and outfalls, enhancement in green cover and efficient … Read more
Indigen program: important upsc topic: The aim of the programme was to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India with the objective to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data. Results from the extensive computation analysis of the 1029 sequenced genomes from India were … Read more
Why Evidence of dairy production in the Indus Valley Civilization is in the news? Recently, the year 2020 marks 100 years of discovery of Indus Valley Civilization, and a new study has shown that dairy products were being produced by the Harappans as far back as 2500 BCE. Key Highlights The researchers show the earliest direct evidence of dairy product processing by analysing … Read more
Recently, the dotted garden skink has been spotted in the National Capital Region. About the dotted common skink It is known as Lygosoma Punctata. It is a species of skink found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Skinks are lizards that belong to the Scincidae family and are one of the most … Read more
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Policies and interventions UAPA Bill, 2019 is passed today in Rajya Sabha with 147 Member of Parliaments voted in favour of the UAPA Amendment bill 2019 while only 42 polled against it. Key Features of the Bill It empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists if the person … Read more
The Maharashtra government has withdrawn “general consent” given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the state. What consent is necessary? The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting investigation in that state. There are two kinds of consent: Case-specific and general– Given that … Read more
The Demchok sector is a disputed region centered on the villages of Demchok, Ladakh and Demqog, Ngari Prefecture, situated near the confluence of the Charding Nullah and Indus River. It is part of the greater Sino-Indian border dispute between China and India. Both India and China claim the disputed region, with a Line of Actual … Read more
Definition: An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) is like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return. InvITs work like mutual funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs) in features. InvITs can be treated as the … Read more
It is an initiative of Indian Bank and IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC). It is an initiative for funding start-ups. IITMIC will refer start-ups with proven technology and established cash flows to the bank. The bank, in turn, will extend loans of up to ₹50 crore to these units. This is in collaboration with the … Read more
Pakistan and Nepal were recently re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council, China won a seat by the smallest margin while Saudi Arabia was defeated in the elections. About UNHRC: UNHRC was reconstituted from its predecessor organisation, the UN Commission on Human Rights to help overcome the “credibility deficit” of the previous organisation. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland Composition: … Read more
DRDO test fires BRAHMOS missile successfully: On October 18, 2020, the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) test fired the BRAHMOS missile from INS Chennai successfully. The missile was test fired from an indigenously built stealth destroyer INS Chennai. The missile hit a target in Arabian Sea. About DRDO DRDO is the R&D wing of Ministry … Read more
UPSC Prelims 2021 Important topics: New START treaty: New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force … Read more
On October 16, 2020, the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan announced that India has set a target of becoming trans-fat free by 2022. This target is year ahead of the target of World Health Organization. The announcement was made when the Minister presided over an event organized by the food safety and Standards Authority … Read more
