March Week 4 Current Affairs – UPSC SUPER SIMPLIFIED

Polity

Right to know

Right to know is the species of the right to speech and expression provided by the Article 19(1) (a) of the constitution of India.
A citizen has a fundamental right to access information.
It is the duty of the state to protect the fundamental right.
The Right to Information Act gives citizens the right to ask for information and decide, based on the information received, whether their constitutional rights have been met.

Foreigners Tribunal

Foreigners’ Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies established as per the Foreigners’ Tribunal Order, 1964 and the Foreigners’ Act, 1946.
It is for those who have been left out in the final NRC list or have been marked as ‘D’ meaning ‘doubtful’.
The ones falling under this category have the right to appeal to the Foreigners Tribunal.
Under the provisions of Foreigners’ Act, 1946 and Foreigners Tribunal Order, 1964, only Foreigner Tribunals have the right to declare a person as a foreigner.
Thus, non-inclusion of a person’s name in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner.

Article 224A

The Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State.
Every such person so requested shall, while so sitting and acting, be entitled to such allowances as the President may by order determine and have all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges of, but shall not otherwise be deemed to be, a Judge of that High Court:
Provided that nothing in this article shall be deemed to require any such person as aforesaid to sit and act as a Judge of that High Court unless he consents to do so.

NCLAT

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) is a tribunal which was formed by the Central Government of India under the Companies Act, 2013.
The tribunal also hears appeals from orders issued by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.
It also hears appeals from any direction issued, decision made, or order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The NCLAT includes a Chairperson, a judicial member, and a technical member. It consists of a total of not more than eleven members.

Finance Bill

The Finance Bill is a part of the Union Budget, stipulating all the legal amendments required for the changes in taxation proposed by the Finance Minister.
As per Article 110 of the Constitution of India, the Finance Bill is a Money Bill.
The Finance Bill, as a Money Bill, needs to be passed by the Lok Sabha — the lower house of the Parliament. Post the Lok Sabha’s approval, the Finance Bill becomes Finance Act.
In the case of a Finance Bill, Article 117 of the Constitution categorically lays down that a Bill pertaining to sub-clauses (a) to (f) of clause (1) shall not be introduced or moved except with the President’s recommendation.
Also, a Bill that makes such provisions shall not be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha is authorised to decide whether the Bill is a Money Bill or not. Also, the Speaker’s decision shall be deemed to be final.

Civil Services Board

The Civil Services refer to the career civil servants who are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India.
The CSB is headed by the Chief Secretary of a state and has senior most additional chief secretary or chairman, Board of Revenue, Financial Commissioner or an officer of equivalent rank and status as member.
To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses.
The Supreme Court had in 2013 directed the Centre and the states to set up a civil services board to consider transfers and postings of bureaucrats among others.

Indian Young Lawyers Association vs State of Kerala, 2018

Sabarimala Temple located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Western Ghats prohibited the entry of women in their ‘menstruating years’ (between the ages of 10 to 50), on the grounds that it is a place of worship.
In 2006, Indian Young Lawyers Association filed a public interest litigation petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Sabarimala Temple’s custom of excluding women.
The Association argued that the custom violates the rights to equality under Article 14 and freedom of religion under Article 25 of female worshippers.
Justice Nariman held that “Anything destructive of individuality is anachronistic of Constitutionality. To treat women as people of lower status blinks at the Constitution itself”.

Schemes in news

Van Dhan Yojana (VDY)

The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.
It was launched on 14th April, 2018 and seeks to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products.
VDY , a programme for value addition, branding & marketing of MFPs by establishing Van Dhan Kendras to facilitate creation of sustainable livelihoods for the forest-based tribes.
The Van Dhan tribal start-ups have also emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans.
The scheme will be implemented through the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level.
At State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District collectors are envisaged to play a pivotal role in scheme implementation at grassroot level.

PMAY G

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana, previously Indira Awaas Yojana, is a social welfare programme, created by the Indian Government, to provide housing for the rural poor in India.
A similar scheme for urban poor was launched in 2015 as Housing for All by 2022.
Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development.
An applicant/family/household should not own a pucca house in any parts of the country either in his name or any of his family member’s name
An applicant must not have availed any central/state assistance under any housing scheme from Government of India ever
One adult female membership is mandatory in the property ownership
Property should be co-owned by a female member of the family.

PM Awas Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.
The mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers.
A slum is defined as a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60 – 70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.
Beneficiaries include Economically weaker section (EWS), low-income groups (LIGs) and Middle Income Groups (MIGs).
The annual income cap is up to Rs 3 lakh for EWS, Rs 3-6 lakh for LIG and Rs 6 + -18 lakhs for MIG.
EWS category of beneficiaries is eligible for assistance in all four verticals of the Missions whereas LIG and MIG categories are eligible under only Credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) component of the Mission.

Gram Ujala

This Scheme is an ambitious scheme that offers the world’s cheapest LED bulbs in rural areas.
This is the first such scheme in India. It provides the LED Bulbs in these areas at a mere ₹10.
This scheme also furthers its climate change strategy and strengthen the self-reliance credentials.
The scheme does not come with the government’s support or subsidy.
It was launched in Varanasi.

Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LED for All (UJALA)

Under the UJALA scheme, LED bulbs, LED Tube lights and Energy efficient fans are being provided to domestic consumers for replacement of conventional and inefficient variants.
EESL has embraced norms of transparency in all its operations.
The procurement of LEDs is done through an open e-bidding process and the information about the program is disseminated through a website www.ujala.gov.in which monitors the real time progress of the UJALA scheme.

One District, One Product

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) under Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME Scheme).
It provides financial, technical and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises.
The scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefits of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products.
ODOP for the scheme has a framework for value chain development and alignment of support infrastructure.
This scheme is being implemented for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.

MSP for Minor Forest Produce

TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has recently entered a MoU with the Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu for the implementation of the MSP for MFP Scheme and the Van Dhan Yojana.
The Minimum Support Price for MFP is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
It aims to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal gatherers of forest produce.
The fair prices provided are almost three times higher than what is available to them otherwise.

Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products

A new scheme, RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) has been launched by the government for exporters.
The scheme provides for rebates of Central, State and Local duties/taxes/ levies which are not refunded under any other duty remission schemes.
Under the scheme, the embedded central, state and local duties or taxes will get refunded and credited in an exporter’s ledger account with customs.
This can be used to pay basic customs duty on imported goods.
The credits can also be transferred to other importers.
The RoDTEP rates, conditions and exclusions under which it can be availed would be specified by the department of commerce, based on recommendation of the GK Pillai committee.
The RoDTEP scheme will replace the popular Merchandise Exports from India Scheme as the latter has been found to violate global trade norms following a complaint from the United States at the World Trade Organization.

International Relations

Free Movement Regime

The India–Myanmar border has a Free Movement Regime (FMR) which allows tribes living along the border to travel 16 km (9.9 mi) across either side of the border without visa restrictions.
FMR along a 32-kilometre band — 16 km on either side of the border, which passes through harsh terrain, as also through plain land and water bodies.
It gives impetus to India’s Act East Policy.

BBIN

The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal Initiative is a subregional architecture of countries in Eastern South Asia, a subregion of South Asia.
The BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) was signed on 15 June 2015 at the BBIN transport ministers meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan.
The agreement will permit the member states to ply their vehicles in each other’s territory for transportation of cargo and passengers, including third country transport and personal vehicles.
Each vehicle would require an electronic permit to enter another country’s territory, and border security arrangements between nations’ borders will also remain.
Cargo vehicles will be able to enter any of the four nations without the need for trans-shipment of goods from one country’s truck to another’s at the border.

Qatarization

Qatarization (or Qatarisation) is a governmental initiative devised to increase the number of Qatari citizens employed in public and private sectors.
The target is 50% of the workforce in the Industry and Energy sector.
Qatarization is one of the focuses of the Qatar National Vision 2030.

IAEA

The Statute of the IAEA was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field.
It works for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The Department of Safeguards under IAEA carries out the IAEA’s duties and responsibilities as the world’s nuclear inspectorate, supporting global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
The primary role of the Department is to administer and implement IAEA Safeguards.
It also contributes to nuclear arms control and disarmament, by responding to requests for verification and other technical assistance associated with related agreements and arrangements.
It has 172 member states of which India is a member state.

NPT

The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.
The Treaty represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States.
Opened for signature in 1968. The treaty entered into force in 1970.
A total of 191 States have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States.
To further the goal of non-proliferation and as a confidence-building measure between States parties, the Treaty establishes a safeguards system under the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Safeguards are used to verify compliance with the Treaty through inspections conducted by the IAEA.
Despite playing an important role in the negotiations, India didn’t sign the NPT because the blatant unfairness was against our interests.

UN High commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 17,300 staff working in 135 countries.
UNHCR was created in 1950 to address the refugee crisis that resulted from World War II.
Parent organizations: United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Economic and Social Council

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

GCC is a political and economic union of Arab states bordering the Gulf.
It was established in 1981 and its 6 members are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

March Week 3 Current Affairs — Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

One sun, One world, One grid

One Sun, One World, One Grid” (OSOWOG) — a trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe.
The idea was first floated in 2018 during the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.
The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
The solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East, which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc, and far West, which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.

Ever Given

MV Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, will now head to the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt for a full inspection.
Ever Given’ that had blocked the Suez Canal since March 23 wrenched free from the sandy bank by tug boats.

New Development Bank

The fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi (2012), the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa considered the possibility of setting up a new Development Bank to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies, as well as in developing countries.
During the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014), the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
The NDB is building a robust and diversified portfolio of sustainable infrastructure projects, in order to fulfill its mandate and achieve strategic objectives.
The Bank’s Articles of Agreement specify that all members of the United Nations could be members of the bank, however the share of the BRICS nations can never be less than 55% of voting power.

Economy

Monetary Policy Committee

MPC is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India.
The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least 4 times a year (specifically, at least once BIMONTHLY) and it publishes its decisions after each such meeting.
The Governor of Reserve Bank of India is the chairperson ex officio of the committee. Decisions are taken by majority with the Governor having the casting vote in case of a tie.
The current mandate of the committee was to maintain 4% annual inflation until 31 March 2021 with an upper tolerance of 6% and a lower tolerance of 2%.
The committee comprises six members – three officials of the Reserve Bank of India and three external members nominated by the Government of India.
The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 was amended by Finance Act (India), 2016 to constitute MPC which will bring more transparency and accountability in fixing India’s Monetary Policy.

Public Sector Undertakings

A state-owned enterprise in India is called a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) or a Public Sector Enterprise.
These companies are wholly owned by the Government of India or one of the many state or territorial governments or both together in parts.
As of today, there are 10 Maharatnas, 14 Navratnas and 74 Miniratnas.
PSUs are classified as central public sector enterprises (CPSUs, CPSEs) or state level public enterprises (SLPEs).
CPSEs are administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Small finance banks

Small Finance Banks are a type of niche banks in India. Banks with a small finance bank license can provide basic banking service of acceptance of deposits and lending.
Small Finance Banks should provide 75% of the loans to the priority sectors.
Initially when licensing guidelines for small finance banks were issued, it was prescribed that the minimum paid-up equity capital requirement for setting up an SFB would be Rs 100 crore.
And for a non-banking financial company converting into a small finance bank, the minimum net worth would be Rs 100 crore.
Objective: financial inclusion by primarily undertaking basic banking activities to un-served and underserved sections including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries.

ULPIN

The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme, as it is being called, has already been rolled out in 10 states, the report quotes the Department of Land Resources, and will be extended across the country by March 2022.
The Central government has plans to introduce a 14-digit identification number for every plot of land in the country within a year.
The land records database will then reportedly be integrated with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis.
It will act like ‘Aadhar for land’ and prevent land frauds.

GSDP

Gross State Domestic product is the sum of all value added by industries within each state or union territory and serves as a counterpart to the national gross domestic product (GDP).
GSDP means the GDP of a state eg. Maharashtra. If we want to find out the GSDP equivalent for India – we call it the GDP.

Special Economic Zone

A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in a country that is subject to different economic regulations than other regions within the same country.
The economic regulations of special economic zones (SEZs) tend to be conducive to—and attract—foreign direct investment (FDI).
Incentives: Duty-free import/domestic procurement of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units.
Income tax exemption on export income for SEZ units under the Income Tax Act for first 5 years, 50% for next 5 years thereafter and 50% of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years.
Exemption from Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).

March Week 4 Current Affairs — Special Economic Zone

Standing External Advisory Committee

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday set up a standing external advisory committee, which will evaluate applications for universal banks and small finance banks (SFBs).
SEAC comprising eminent persons with experience in banking, financial sector and other relevant areas, will have a tenure of three years.
“on-tap” licensing of SFBs, 2019, the RBI had indicated that a standing external advisory committee (SEAC) would be constituted, which would be involved in the process of evaluating the application in these spaces.

Venture capital (VC) Fund

Venture Capital is a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.
Venture capital generally comes from well-off investors, investment banks, and any other financial institutions.
However, it does not always take a monetary form; it can also be provided in the form of technical or managerial expertise.

LNG

Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport.
It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.
The power plants take natural gas from natural gas pipelines, liquefy it in small-scale liquefaction facilities, and store it in cryogenic tanks.
The LNG is regasified and burned by the power plants when needed.
Some ships, trucks, and buses have specially designed LNG tanks to use LNG as fuel.

Science & Technology

LHC

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex.
The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.
The aim of the LHC’s detectors is to allow physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics, including measuring the properties of the Higgs boson and searching for the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetric theories, as well as other unsolved questions of physics.

Particle Accelerator

A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for basic research in particle physics.
A particle accelerator is a machine that accelerates elementary particles, such as electrons or protons, to very high energies.
Particle accelerators use electric fields to speed up and increase the energy of a beam of particles, which are steered and focused by magnetic fields.
The particle source provides the particles, such as protons or electrons, that are to be accelerated.
The beam of particles travels inside a vacuum in the metal beam pipe.
The vacuum is crucial to maintaining an air and dust free environment for the beam of particles to travel unobstructed.
Electromagnets steer and focus the beam of particles while it travels through the vacuum tube.
Particle detectors record and reveal the particles and radiation that are produced by the collision between a beam of particles and the target.

GISAID

GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source established in 2008 that provides open-access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
GISAID has been recognized for incentivizing rapid exchange of outbreak data during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, the H7N9 epidemic in 2013, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

H5N1 (Bird Flu)

Strains of the influenza virus that primarily infect birds, but can also infect humans.
This type of flu is most often contracted by contact with sick birds.
It can also be passed from person to person.

Environment

Panna National Park

Panna National Park is located in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh in India.
The National Park is situated at a point where the continuity of the Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests belt, which starts from Cape Comorin in South India, is broken and beyond this the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests of the great Indo-Gangetic Plain begins.
This area is the northernmost tip of the natural teak forests and the easternmost tip of the natural ‘Kardhai’ Anogeissus pendula forests.
The Ken river flows through the park.
Among the animals found here are the tiger, leopard, chital, chinkara, nilgai, sambhar and sloth bear.
The park is home to more than 200 species of birds including the bar-headed goose, honey buzzard, king vulture, blossom-headed parakeet, changeable hawk-eagle and Indian vulture.

Project Elephant

Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India Ministry of Environment and Forests.
It is to provide financial and technical support to wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants.
The project aims to ensure the long-term survival to the populations of elephants in their natural habitats by protecting the elephants, their habitats and migration corridors.
Other goals of Project Elephant are supporting the research of the ecology and management of elephants, creating awareness of conservation among local people, providing improved veterinary care for captive elephants.

Water Contaminants

The World Health Organization (WHO) has established Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (GDWQ) to classify the many contaminants that threaten potability.
The GDWQ uses several parameters to classify contaminants: inorganic, organic, radiological, microbiological, and aesthetic.
Inorganic contaminants include minerals like metals, heavy metals, and metalloids, along with nitrogen-oxygen chemicals like nitrites and nitrates.
Arsenic is a metalloid of prime concern due to its widespread global presence in drinking water and its health threats. Dangers include skin damage, circulatory problems, and increased cancer risk.
Nitrates, another widespread contamination due to their use in fertilizer and their presence in human and animal waste, often are introduced into water supplies through sewage, and agricultural and livestock runoff.
Radon enters drinking water via the natural decay of radium and uranium deposits, and the process can be exacerbated by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) associated with oil and gas.

Places in news

Sulawesi Islands

Sulawesi, an Indonesian island east of Borneo, comprises several long peninsulas radiating from a mountainous center.
It’s known for coral reefs and dive sites such as Bunaken National Park, the Togian Islands and Wakatobi National Park.
Its largest city is Makassar, home to Fort Rotterdam, a former Dutch fort now housing 2 museums.

Pong Dam Lake

In 1974, the Pong Dam was erected on the Beas River, upstream of the district of Talwara in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
The Dam was constructed to serve the purpose of generating hydroelectricity and land irrigation.
The raised water level thus invariably created an artificial lake which was coined the name Maharana Pratap Sagar after the great ruler of Mewar.
The specialty of this lake is that it is a sanctuary for birds of numerous species including Bar Headed Geese and Red-necked Grebe.
In this effect, the entire reservoir was decreed as a Wildlife Sanctuary by the Himachal Pradesh government in the year 1986.
Pong Dam Lake was declared as Ramsar Site in November 2002.
Fauna:Barking deer, sambar, wild boars, nilgai, leopards and oriental small-clawed otters.
Birds: Bar Headed geese, Anser indicus, northern lapwing, ruddy shelduck, northern pintail, common teal, spot-billed duck, Eurasian coot, red-necked grebe, black-headed gulls, plovers, black stork, terns, water-fowl and egrets amongst others.

Teesta River

Teesta River, that rises in the eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Bangladesh and enters the Bay of Bengal.
Around 83% of the river’s catchment lies in India and the remaining 17% lies in the neighbouring Bangladesh.
Teesta originates at an altitude of 5,330m from Tso Lhamo lake of North Sikkim Himalayas, while the Brahmaputra originates on the Angsi Glacier in Tibet.
In Bangladesh Teesta joins the Brahmaputra, which is also known as Jamuna.
Left tributaries: Dik Chhu, Rangpo River, Lang Lang Chu, Lachung River, Rani Khola
Right Tributaries: Ranghap Chhu, Rangeet, Ringyong Chhu.

KG basin

Krishna Godavari Basin is a peri-cratonic passive margin basin in India. It is spread across more than 50,000 square kilometres in the Krishna River and Godavari River basins in Andhra Pradesh.
The site is known for the D-6 block where Reliance Industries discovered the biggest natural gas reserves in India in 2003.
The basin contains about 5 km thick sediments with several cycles of deposition, ranging in age from Late Carboniferous to Pleistocene.

Barak Valley

The Barak Valley is located in the southern region of the Indian state of Assam.
The main city of the valley is Silchar. The region is named after the Barak river.
The Barak valley mainly consists of three administrative districts of Assam – namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi.
Barak Valley is home to eight primate species namely Bengal slow loris, Rhesus macaque, Assamese macaque, northern pig-tailed macaque, stump-tailed macaque, Phayre’s leaf monkey or spectacled monkey, capped langur, and Western hoolock gibbon.

Suez Canal

Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia.
The Suez Canal, which separates the continent of Africa from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, handling about 10% of all world trade.
The passage saves ships some 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) of travel compared to the route around Africa.

Whitsun Reef/ Julian Felipe Reef

Whitsun Reef is a reef at the northeast extreme limit of the Union Banks in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea.
It is the largest reef of the Union Banks.
Union Banks (Pagkakaisa Banks and Reefs) is a large drowned atoll in the center of Dangerous Ground in the Spratly Islands in South China Sea.

Palawan Island

Palawan is the largest island in the Palawan Province, in the western Philippines.
The north west coast of the island is along the South China Sea, while the south east coast forms part of the northern limit of the Sulu Sea.

Tamarind falls

The Tamarind Falls or Tamarin Falls are a scenic attraction of southwest Mauritius.
They are a series of seven cataracts located on the River Tamarin, two kilometers northwest of the large lake Mare aux Vacoas.

Cauvery Basin

The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is an Indian river flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range.
Tributaries: Left-Harangi, Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavathy
right- Lakshmana Tirtha, Kabini, Bhavani, Noyyal, Amaravati, Moyar.

Nagarhole National Park, also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Sathyamangalam tiger reserve, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary are present on Cauvery Basin.

Reports & Index

World Happiness Report, 2021

The World Happiness Report 2021, is issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared.
Aim : First to focus on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, and second to describe and evaluate how governments all over the world have dealt with the pandemic.
India ranked 139 out of 149 countries in UN’s World Happiness Report 2021
Finland ranked 1 in the report with India’s neighbours Pakistan ranking 105th, Bangladesh at 101st and China on 84th on the report.

Art & Culture

Khajuraho

The Khajuraho is a city of Group of Monuments is a group of Hindu temples and Jain temples in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India, about 175 kilometres southeast of Jhansi.
They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The temples are famous for their nagara-style architectural symbolism and their erotic sculptures.

March Week 1

March Week 2 Current Affairs

March Week 3 Current Affairs