hindu imp.

30 March 2024 02:07 AM
1) climate change
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)
• ecosystems shape local climates, climate change
is transforming ecosystems.
Climate shift causes saveral heaalth crises include
dengue(results in high population of
mosquito), epidemic and nipah breakdown.
•
• The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme
(IDSP)
India’s air pollution is solely responsible for the
highest number of respiratory diseases such as
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (50%
of all cases in the world are in India),
asthma (13% of global burden is in India) and rising
cases of cancer and stroke throughout the
country. The result is that people in these cities
have a reduced life expectancy, of nine years,
•
2) Karnataka’s monumental challenge
Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebid, and
Somanathapur in Karnataka were recently declared
as UNESCO World Heritage Site
•
Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage
(DAMH)- responsible for monument
conservation.
•
27
06 August 2023 10:55 AM
september 2023 Page 1
1. G20
• Missed opportunity for labour right.
• Concerns about labour right
→ forced labour
→ Kafala system in arab gulf where some nine
million Indians are working under exploitative
working conditions. The Arab Gulf countries follow
an exploitative
• Need for labour
→ Portable insurance schemes are important
→ need job creation
→ decent working conditions.
→ equal pay, gender equality,
→ the elimination of forced labour and child labour,
→ an end to modernday slavery, and
→ the protection of their rights and the welfare of
their families
• ILO’s Forced Labour Convention known as C29.
india has retified in it
• 530 million workers, of whom 430 million are in
the informal sector, who are prone to different
New Section 1 Page 1

the informal sector, who are prone to different
forms of exploitation.
• Four labour codes regarding there protection
→ the Code on Wages,
→ Industrial Relations Code
→ Social Security Code and
→ the Occupational Safety,Health and Working
Conditions Code
2. Sanatasna Dharma, as you all know, means
eternal religion
3. the temple town of Joshimath in the Chamoli
district of Uttarak hand was ‘sinking or submerging"
• The National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, in
its report, said that the network of springs, drainage
systems
4. NASA’s OSIRISRex (OriginsSpectral
InterpretationResource
Identifi•cationSecurityRegolith Explorer) project
Launched in 2016,
• OSIRISRexc had collected from the surface of
101955 Bennu. And landed in earth on Utah desert.
Bennu is an asteroid orbiting the sun (with a period
of 436 days) such that it comes relatively close to
the earth once every six years or so. It contain
water rich carbon
This material can be extracted from asteroids; we
can also tap the water present in them in the form
of permafrost or saturated minerals as a resource in
space.
•
• doomsday rocks-rock which came toward earth.
Many missions have found that many asteroids are
solidifi•ed debris from supernovae, and are made
of the same stuff• as the solar system: dust, rocks,
water ice,
and an alloy of iron, nickel and cobalt — a sort of
natural steel
•
5. Growth in elder (above 60) share in population .
with growth rate 41%
• due to advances in health care and increased life
expectancy
• International Day of Older Persons (October 1)
the United Nations Population Fund’s India Ageing
Report 2023, is that the population above 60 years
will double from 10.5% or 14.9 crore (as on
July 1, 2022) to 20.8% or 34.7 crore by 2050
•
• More than 40% of the elderly in India are in the
poorest wealth quintile, with about 18.7% of them
living without an income. It may affect quality of
there life.
more than two fifths of the elderly are in the
poorest wealth quintile —
ranging from 5% in Punjab to 47% in Chhattisgarh;
also, 18.7% of the elderly do not have any in come.
-
1999 and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents

1999 and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents
and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 lay down
the care of the elderly but to ensure that senior ci
tizens live in dignity, public and private policies
must provide a more supportive environment.
-
India’s National TB Prevalence Survey, 2021,
revealed that the prevalence of TB in people over
the age of 55 was 588.(per one lakh population),
much
higher than the overall national prevalence of 316.
-
• Challenge for elder
- loneliness from losing spouses or family, and the
anxiety of not being ‘useful
- lowered ‘will to live’, especially in the absence of
social and emotional support systems
28
01 October 2023 10:19 PM
1. Architect of India’s Green Revolution
departs(M.S. Swaminathan)
• His major contributions are
→ developing high yielding Basmati varieties,
→ using technology of mutation for various crops,
→ application of genetics for increasing production,
→ food security and launching programmes such as
‘lab to land'
→ launching programmes such as “lab to land”
→ Nutritional quality through mutation of crops,
→ biofortification,
→ funding States to promote agriculture,
→ precision farming, advocacy through National
Academy of Agricultural Sciences and
→ establishment of a Central Institute for Women
in Agriculture were all his pet project
cultivate rice with C4 carbon fixation capabilities,
enabling improved photosynthesis
and water utilisation.
→
2. HINDU MARRIGE REFORM.
• Self respect marriage.
• Dravidian movement
• Rau Committee report of 1947
affirmed the legal status of Virasaiva, Brahmo
Samaj, Arya Samaj and
Prarthana Samaj marriages; thus the Hindu
Marriage Act 1955 granted legal status only to
these reformed marriages.
→
Madras High Court which held far more radical
perspectives on gender rights like transgender
wedding under the Hindu Marriage Act
→
3. India’s kidney transplant deficit
• Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in India, affecting
about 17% of the population
• Methods for kidney exchange

• Methods for kidney exchange
kidney ‘swaps’ and kidney ‘chains’
• First, in all States except Kerala, it is illegal to
donate a kidney out of altruism.
The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues
Act 1994 amend in 2011-
swap transplants were legalised
•
he Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues
Rules 2014,swap transplants
are allowed only for near relatives.
-
4. the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance
The ‘Five Eyes’ is a multilateral intelligencesharing
network of five
countries, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K.
and the U.S
•
• surveillancebased and tracks signals intelligence
(SIGINT)
• the U.S. is responsible for Russia, northern China,
most of Asia…..
Likewise other four countries alloted different part
of country. Hence these five coutry
network known as five eye.
29
01 October 2023 10:20 PM
1. action plan to fight Delhi air pollution
• Pollution mainly due to due to meteorological
factors and stubble burning.
• Action
Bio decomposer to be used over 5,000 acres of
farmland to prevent stubble burning ;The bio
decomposer is a microbial liquid spray which, when
sprayed onto paddy stubble, breaks it
down in a way that can be easily absorbed into the
soil,
→
decided to impose a complete ban on the sale,
storage, production, and
bursting of firecrackers for the third consecutive
year.
→
→ ban on burning garbage in the open
“To control dust pollution on roads, 82 mechanical
road sweeping machines, 530 water
sprinkling machines, and 258 antismog guns will be
deployed during winter
→
• Panjab action
- Paddy crop procurement is set to start on October
1 in Punjab
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has
in recent years been imposing penalties on farmers
found involved in burning
crop residue, in accordance with an NGT order of
2015 banning stubble burning.

2015 banning stubble burning.
-
Screen clipping taken: 01-10-2023 10:33 PM
2. Women reservation in police
• Police’ being a ‘State’ subject in the Seventh
Schedule to the Constitution
• women force is insufficient even in dealing with
cases that are related to women
it would take not less than 20 years to increase
women’s representation from 10% to 30% in the
entire police force.( the attrition rate in the police
forces is about 2.5% to 3% and the annual
sanction of new posts to be about 1.5% to 2%)
•
Parliament, 30 years ago, enacted the 73rd and
74th Constitutional Amendments that
sought to make panchayats and municipalities
“institutions of selfgovernment”. It mandated a
minimum of onethird of seats and offi•ce of
chairpersons in panchayats and municipalities to
be reserved for women.
•
• Report by different bureucrates
2004 paper by Esther Duflo and Raghabendra
Chattopadhyay-- on panchayats in
West Bengal and Rajasthan found that women
leaders invest more in public goods
-
Ms. Duflo --womenled panchayats made higher
investments in public
services like drinking water, education, and roads
-
- Pranab Bardhan and others-- found that women’s
reservations worsened the
30
01 October 2023 10:20 PM
Pranab Bardhan and others-- found that women’s
reservations worsened the
targeting of welfare programmes for SC/ST
households
-
Vijayendra Rao and Radu Ban --found that women
leaders perform no diff•erently than their
male counterparts in south India
-
3. Global dispute settlement for trade
The WTO’s dispute settlement system, conceived as
a two tier panel cum appellate body
structure ( like in Indian court sc, hc,dc)
•
• Mechanism for settlement
- annulment proceedings.
- appellate mechanism.
- India, presumably, supports the idea of an
appellate review
Law commission said :The government should not
tinker with the age of

tinker with the age of
consent — currently 18 years --- planning for
16yr.— under the Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act
4.
• Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body.
the Commission makes recommendations to the
Government (in the form of Reports)
1. Common school syllabus
• Challenges
- To prerve the state culture and language through
there own syllabus.
- A child can better relate to a curriculum that is
more closely related to his/her life outside the
school.
The State Councils of Educational Research and
Training (SCERTs) and State Education Boards either
adopt or adapt
NCERT’s model syllabi and textbooks or develop
their own based on the NCF. The affidavit explained
-
2. Hard shell turtle trafficking network highest in
chennai -illegal
3. The concerns of using Aadhaar
• Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS).
• g Aadhaar in MGNREGA has reduced delays in
wage payments.
The government’s push to make Aadhaar based
payments mandatory in MGNREGA has faced
resistance from workers and field officials.
•
4. TB drugs shortage in India.
• Tb medicines -Rifampicin — a medicine used for
treating drug sensitive TB and — Linezolid,
Clofazimine, and Cycloserine
• new drug regimen was launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in March this year.
1
01 October 2023 10:21 PM
october 2023 Page 6
1. India’s statistical performance
• Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) ranks India
67 among 174 countries by world bank, Norway
topped
• India will elect UN statistical commission for 4 yrs
from Jan 2024.
• SPI has five pillar and 22 dimensions for
estimation.
(.i.e. data use; data services; data products; data
sources, and data infrastructure)
India has poor performance in data use(rank101),
data products(105), moderate in data infra.(73),
and good in data sources (31), and
data service (35) data are from SPI 2019.
-
2. A time to articulate new constitutional ideas for
India.

India.
• Agarwal’s draft of the “Gandhian Constitution for
Free India”, first published in 1946
- It was less of a legal text and more a moral code.
In it, the rights to personhood, liberty and equality
• Ambedkar vs Gandhi on constitutional ideology
- Ambedkar believed that India needed a powerful
state machinery that could ensure law and order at
the margins of the country.
Gandhi on the other hand believed that a large
state would be too distant from the people.
- For Ambedkar, the state would be dutybound to
manage the economy and control industries for the
common good.
But for Gandhi, self sustaining villages based on
agriculture and cottage industry were the way
forward.
- Ambedkar’s vision, through fundamental rights to
life, liberty and equality for every individual.
Gandhi thought differently: history could not be
undone by a policy document such as a
constitution — it
needed individuals to change themselves.
• feudalism, sectarianism and casteism?
2
02 October 2023 03:27 PM
october 2023 Page 7
The 2023 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
has been awarded to Katalin Karikö and Drew
Weissman for developing the mRNA vaccine
technology that became
the foundation for history's fastest vaccine
development programme during the COVID-19
pandemic.
1.
• Dr. Karikó is only the 13th woman to win the
prize.
mRNA stands for messenger RNA, a type of
molecule that carries instructions from the DNA to
a cell’s cytoplasm, where those messages are ‘read’
to produce S proteins(PROS) found on the surface
of the COVID-19 virus. This causes
•
the body to create antibodies which will fight the
virus if the individual were to contract the
infection.this method is known as vitro
transcription.
- Corbevax - protein sub unit vaccine that developer
licensed it to indias biological e for manufacture
they did not patent it.
2. released the report of a caste survey conducted
in the State
• The survey report — Bi har Jaati Adharit Ganana,
3. ‘Green War Room’
Launched in 2020, the Green War Room has state-
of-the-art air quality monitoring equipment and a
team of experts, including scientists and data

team of experts, including scientists and data
analysts, which
keeps an eye on all sources contributing to Delhi's
air pollution
•
3
03 October 2023 11:31 PM
october 2023 Page 8
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier
have been awardedthe 2023 physics
Nobel Prize.
1.
• For research using ultra-quick light flashes that
enable the study of electrons inside
atoms and molecules. Idea came from hamming
bird.
• From 1987, Dr. L'Huillier
et al. found, explained, the principles
of producing attosecond
light pulses
• Electrons in matter
move very fast, interacting
on the order of a few
hundred attoseconds
• In 2001, Dr. Agostini
et al. produced a
series of pulses
using these
principles, each
of 250-attosecond
duration
• 2001, Dr. Krausz and
co. isolated a single pulse
of 650 attoseconds
duration
• Using this, they measured the kinetic energy of a
bunch of
electrons emitted by
krypton atoms
• Attosecond physics provides scientists with the
ability to look
at the minutest particles at the shortest timescales.
An atto second is one-billionth of a nanosecond.(10
^-18sec) The Nobel laureates
developed experiments to produce ultrafast laser
pulses, which
can be used to understand the world at a really
minute scale
with applications across chemistry, biology and
physics
2. World cup 13th edition in india after hosting for
1987, 1996, 2011
3. Nagorno-Kara Nagorno-Karabakh is located
within the
international borders of Azerbaijan. It iS
in the South Caucasus region between
eastern Europe and western Asia,
- Conflict over the region between armenia and

- Conflict over the region between armenia and
azerbaijan
New elected maldives president mohamed muizzu
stick to remove indian military
personnel stationed in that island as requested by
the people
4.
4
04 October 2023 11:36 PM
october 2023 Page 9
1. glacial lake bursts in Sikkim
• South Lhonak lake suddenly overflowed into the
Teesta river, creating flash floods that destroyed
the Chungthang dam(State’s largest hydroelectric
project,)
•
• “avalanche from the icecapped feature”
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been
awarded to Alexei Ekimov, Louis Brus, and Moungi
Bawendi for their work on quantum dots — very
small crystals
with peculiar properties that have found application
in a variety of fields, from newage LED screens to
quantum computers.
2.
• Each quantum dot has only a few thousand atoms
(whereas a single droplet of wa ter can have a
sextillion).
• Property
- an entire dot can mimic the behaviour of an atom
The dots have another famous property. If you
shine some light on a quantum dot, it will ab sorb
and re emit that light at a different frequen cy (or
colour) depending on its size. Smaller dots emit
light of higher frequency (bluer) and vice versa.
-
3. Once in five years the Union government
constitutes a Finance Commission
- Every Finance Commission recommends a formula
for the horizontal distribution of the Union
government’stax revenue among the States
- The first Finance Commission decided a State’s
share based on its population size
the Eighth Finance Commission (198489), stipulated
to use only the 1971 population in the distribution
instead of the 1981 population. This
practice continued thereafter till the Thirteenth
Finance Commission (2010-15)
-
Fifteenth Finance Commission openly declared
taking the 2011 population in the distribution
formula. With this, the southern
States lost the advantage of getting some financial
rewards for population control. Therefore, the
southern States have already started facing
reduced financial transfersfrom the Union
government as a reward for controlling population
growth.

growth.
-
4. carbon with an accounting system
• carbon accounting
• A national carbon accounting (NCA) system
• e carbon tax returns
An NCA will bring the concept of carbon books to
the nation and will make it mandatory for
businesses and individuals to declare/report their
carbon inflows and outflows. It will make the
circulation of carbon visible,
•
• convertibility between the carbon accounts and
the rupee accounts.
• carbon GDP
• Gross National Happiness
5. In first election since 2019, Ladakh queues up,
registers 77.61% voting
6. “Swavlamban 2.0
The national action plan for green shipping
promoting ecofriendly practices and incentives for
low emission ships, will help position India’s
maritime
sector as environmentally
7.
5
05 October 2023 09:38 PM
october 2023 Page 10
1. Norway’s Jon Fosse wins Nobel for literature
• Nynorsk language,
2. Karnataka facing green drought: Minister
• the impact of rainfall deficiency on agriculture
3. Diabetes
• Madras Diabetes Research Foundation in
collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical
Research(ICMR) and the Union Health
Ministry(UCMR) revealed that
- 11.4% of India’s population or 10.13 crore people
are living with diabetes and
- 15.3% of the population or an additional 13.6
crore people are prediabetic.
- It also found that 28.6% of the population would
be considered to be obese as per the BMI measure.
• ultra processed food and beverages or high in
sugar, fat, and salt are risky and can lead to
diabetes.
• Billions of rupees are spent on marketing and
advertising ultra processed food and beverages,
which leads to increased consumption by
vulnerable populations
. The food industry also participates in programmes
such as ‘Eat Right’, making false promises. Such
partnerships do not allow us to make a strong
regulation that could
reduce the consumption of ultra processed food
and beverages
•
• Way forward

• Way forward
defining ‘healthy food’, OR a warning label on
unhealthy food, and restrictions on the promotion
and marketing tactics of unhealthy food and
beverages---
The governments of South Africa, Norway, and
Mexico have recently taken similar actions.
-
6
07 October 2023 01:14 AM
1. Nobel Peace Prize2023 goes to jailéd Iranian
activist Narges Mohammadi
her tireless campaigning
for women's rights and democracy, and against the
death penalty.
• For campaigning
for women's rights and democracy, and against the
death penalty.
2. Aligning higher education with the United
Nations SDGs
• he United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17
with 169 targets that all 193 UN
member States have agreed to try to achieve by
2030.
• SDG4 pertains to access to quality education. It is
prerequisite for the achievement of other goals.
- The national education Policy (NEP) 2020
• Result of sdg4 or quality education
- higher education as it accelerates
social mobility, empowers people through
creativity and critical thinking, and grants them
employment skills.
- A university-inclusive education, thus, better
protects people against
poverty (SDGI), prevents them from hunger
(SDG2), supports them for good health and
well-being (SDG3), promotes gender equality
(SDG5), provides them decent work, which in
turn drives economic growth (SDG 8), and
reduces inequalities (SDGIO).
- the knowledge generated from
Research-
-- affordable and clean energy (SDG7), sustainable
cities and communities (SDGII), climate change
and global warming (SDG13), as well as studying
3. Two out of five amphibians
are facing extinction threat
due to climate change: study.
7
08 October 2023 11:17 PM
1. GST Council affirms 28% tax on online betting
from Oct. 1
2. pig organs for transplantation
The transplantation of animal organs into humans
(xenotransplantation) may

(xenotransplantation) may
offer a solution to the worldwide organ shortage.
•
• risk of zoonosis (transmission of animal viruses to
humans)
The porcine endogenous retrovirus has also been
identifi•ed as a risk for transmission into
humans
•
8
09 October 2023 12:15 AM
1. Kejriwal inaugurates debris recycling plant
The plant at Jahangirpuri has the capacity to recycle
2,000 tonnes of debris every day.
( delhi daily debris 6500tonnes)
•
An estimated 75 million people, according to the
Pew Research Center,
slipped back into poverty during the COVID19
pandemic
2.
3. When inflation is high, banks' interest rates may
rise
4. the rail gauge debate
• railway network in India is Broad Gauge (BG) with
a width of 1.676 metres
metro rail systems in parts of the country are
coming up
on Standard Gauge (SG) of 1.435 m width
•
Atmanirbhar India, it is unsound. India has its own
semi high speed
train designs such as the Vande Bharat series of
trains designed
and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in
Chennai
•
• SG is a cheaper system than BG
• o BG is the higher turning radius with a
consequent reduction in speed
• SG would be around 7% higher than that on BG
• Gauge and track structure cannot be altered
except at great cost
5. What caused the flood in Sikkim?
a Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), these are
instances of large
lakes formed from the melting of glaciers, suddenly
breaking free of their moraine —
natural dams that are formed from rock, sediment
and other debris
•
the primary reason for the sudden surge appears to
be a
likely combination of excess rainfall and a GLOF
event
•
9

9
10 October 2023 01:04 AM
1. Claudia Goldin wins 2023 Economics Nobel Prize
for research on workplace gender gap.
2. . India ranks 161 out of 180 countries in the
World Press Freedom Index
3. Mental health and the fl•oundering informal
worker.
• T he theme of World Mental Health Day (October
10)
• India’s informal workforce accounts for more than
90% of the working population
• patriarchal structures
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
unemployment and poor quality employment have
consistently been detrimental to mental health
•
• demographic dividend,
• The Code on Social Security 2020
4. The state of India’s Scheduled Areas
The story so far: I ndia’s 705 Scheduled Tribe (ST)
communities — making up 8.6% of
the country’s population
•
• Bhuria committee in 1995 recommendation
• Article 244(1)&(2)
• Scheduled Areas cover 11.3% of India’s land area,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and
Himachal Pradesh.
•
• 59% of India’s STs remain outside the purview of
Article 244.
• Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and the
Biological Diversity Act 2002
In 1995, the Bhuria Committee, constituted to
recommend provisions for
the extension of panchayat raj to Scheduled Areas,
•
The Fifth Schedule confers powers exclusively on
the President to declare
any area to be a Scheduled Area.
•
• Neither the Constitution nor any law provides any
criteria to identify Scheduled Areas.
1961 Dhebar Commission Report-preponderance of
tribal population; compactness and
reasonable size of the area;
-
• PESA’s enactment
• FRA 2006
5. EU freezes Palestinian funding following Hamas
attack on Israel
10
10 October 2023 03:01 PM

10 October 2023 03:01 PM
1. Electoral bond 2017
2. Women want change, society needs change
the 17th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report
of the World Economic
Forum (published on June 20, 2023)
•
# round table conference --the National Council of
Women in
India. They demanded neither discriminatory nor
favourable treatment on the basis of gender
in legislative representation
•
Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, a Muslim League
member, on the other hand advocated, along
with Radhabai Subbarayan, a minuscule fi•ve per
cent reservation for women.
•
3. Blue economy.
4. need evidencebased traditional medicine
• Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha have their own
pharmacopeia in India
• Epistemology
5.
11
11 October 2023 09:23 AM
1. Operation Ajay’ set to evacuate Indian nationals
from Israel
2. UN Security Council reform is a song in a loop
UN was founded in 1945, the Council consisted of
11 members out of a
total UN membership of 51 countries; in other
words, some 22% of the member states were on
the Security Council
•
Today, there are 193 memberstates of the UN,
and only 15 members of the Council — fewer than
8%
•
• the UN was set up by the victorious Allies of the
Second World War
Any amendment requires a two thirds majority of
the
overall membership, in other words 129 of the 193
and not attract the
opposition of any of the existing permanent five.
•
3. Demonetisation that caused the slowing during
2016
4. the indirect tax regime’s launch in July 2017,
• alcohol for human consumption outside the GST
net,
Excise duty charges are collected by state
governments for alcohol and narcotics.
To ensure that the State Governments continue to

To ensure that the State Governments continue to
have a
strong inflow of revenue (other than what they get
from GST).
• The Cess levied on so called demerit goods
5. the Indian Ocean, which sees 86% of global trade.
6. 3.21 lakh appeals pending with Information
Commissions: report.
7. Govt. sets lithium mining royalty rate at 3% of
LME prices.
royalty rate for niobium mining at 3% of the
average sale price, and for
rare earth elements at 1% of the average sale price
of rare earth oxide.
•
12
12 October 2023 11:06 PM
1. India ranks 111 out of 125 countries in hunger
index.
the ceiling of 50% on reservation set by the
Supreme Court in the
Indra Sawhney case in 1992.
2.
• the Economically Weaker Sections [EWS] brought
in by the Central government [in 2019]
13
13 October 2023 11:57 PM
1. West Asia conflict
not affect IMEC
• The india middle east europe economic
corridor(IMEC)
14
14 October 2023 12:02 PM
1. Ferry to Sri Lanka plies after 40 years
the launch of an international, high speed pas
senger ferry service between Nagapatti nam on the
eastern coast of Tamil Nad
u and Kankesanthurai in the northern pro vince of
Sri Lanka.
•
2. How is the IORA a key bloc for India?
• the Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) Council
of Ministers (COM)
• the 23nation grouping
• Sri Lanka took charge as Chair this year from
Bangladesh, and India is ViceChair
It also has 11 dialogue partners: China, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Germany, Italy,
Japan, South Korea, Russia, Türkiye, the U.K. and
the U.S
•
• IORA was formed in 1997
• its genesis came from a speech Nelson Mandela
gave in Delhi in 1995.
A third of the world’s population (2.6 billion

A third of the world’s population (2.6 billion
people) live in the region, and 80% of global oil
trade, 50% of the world’s containerised cargo and
33% of its bulk cargo passes through It.
•
the IORA’s seven priority areas are maritime safety
and security;
trade and investment facilitation; fi•sheries
management; disaster risk management;
academic, science and technology; tourism and
cultural exchanges; and gender empowerment.
The IORA also runs a special fund in addition.
•
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment
Act(MTPA)-
only one registered medical practitioner will
be required for the abortion of a foetus up to 20
weeks of gestation and of two for the
termination of pregnancy from 20 to 24 weeks of
gestation. The opinion of a state level medical
board is required for abortions over 24 weeks, in
case of suspected foetal abnormalities.
3.
The 2021 Act increased the upper gestation limit
from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of
women, including survivors of rape, victims of
incest and other vulnerable women
•
• a prolife versus prochoice debate.
4. Israel’s missile defence shield- Iron Dome Missile
Iron Dome is a short range anti-rocket, anti mortar,
and antiartillery
system with an intercept range of 2.5 to 43 miles
and was developed by Rafael
Advanced Defence Systems of Israel,
•
5. The detective of economics
Harvard University collect ed data of over 200 years
from dusty U.S. archives to
show how women have faced up to the gender gap
in earnings, women’s participation in the labour
force, the changes through
the years, the reasons why and what can be done
to reach gender parity.
•
Ms. Goldin’s research showed that wo men’s
participation in the
labour force did not necessarily move in step with
economic growth. One of
the patterns that emerged looked like a U shaped
curve, showing that the
participation of married women decreased with the
transition from an agrarian
to an industrial society in the early 19th century,
but then started to rise with
the growth of the services sector in the early 20th
century.
•

•
Then, the U shaped curve turned upwards, and
more women began joining the
workforce due to techno logical progress, rise in
education levels and the
emergence of the services sector.
•
6. Centre unveils tradeable Green Credit.
Trading green
• The programme will cover 8 types of activities,
including tree
plantation, water management and sustainable
agriculture
15
16 October 2023 04:34 AM
plantation, water management and sustainable
agriculture
over eight types of activities — tree plantation,
water management, sustainable agricultur
e, waste management, air pollution reduction, and
mangrove
conservation and restoration. To get the Green
Credit, one needs to register
the activity with the administ.
•
• Green Credit, which shall be made available for
trading on a domestic market platform.
7. that the Green Credit programme is independent
of the carbon credit provided
1. Count of ‘current’ construction workers drops by
around 90%
the main reason for the fall in the number is a case
by the Anti Corruption
Branch (ACB) on “fake workers” allegedly being
registered with the board, leading
to such workers not renewing their membership
•
2. Abhinav Bindra won the nation’s first ever
individual Olympic gold at Beijing 2008,
3. The theme for World Food Day (October 16) this
year — ‘Water is Life, Water is Food’
the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) and the United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP)
•
About 60% of India’s net sown area is rainfed,
contributing to 40% of the total food
production.
•
• irrigated agriculture accounts for 72% of global
freshwater withdrawals
• About 40% of the planet’s total land area is
degraded
Impact - rainfed rice yields in India are projected to
reduce by 20% in 2050,
and by 47% in 2080 scenarios, while irrigated rice

and by 47% in 2080 scenarios, while irrigated rice
yields are projected to decline by 3.5% in 2050 and
5% in 2080 scenarios. Wheat yields are
projected to decrease by 19.3% in 2050 and 40% in
2080, while kharif
maize yields could decline by 18% and 23%
•
IFAD ensures that micro irrigation infrastructure is
environmentally
and socially sustainable and financially viable
•
The WFP is collaborating with the Government of
Odisha to develop solutions for
smallholder farmers, focusing on women. The goal
is to enhance resilience through solar
technologies, establish community based climate
advisory services to help manage climate impacts
and promote a millet -
value chain that reduces water usage and improves
nutrition.
•
The UN’s food agencies work closely with the
Government of India and State governments on
innovations such as Solar 4 Resilience, Secure
Fishing, and the revival of millets for renewable
energy promotion, food security and nutrition.
•
4. RCEP(the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership)
(RCEP) is a free trade agreement among the Asia-
Pacific nations
of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Japan, South
Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
5. Centre likely to raise age of retirement of
scientists to 65 FROM 60
Its larger purpose, sources suggest, is to stem the
flight of its top senior
scientists to universities and the Indian Institutes of
Technology, where the retirement age is 65, The
Hindu has learnt
•
6. IOC amends Olympic Charter to strengthen its
human rights commitments
All competitors, team officials or other team
personnel in
the Olympic Games shall enjoy freedom of
expression in
keeping with the Olympic values and the
Fundamental
Principles of Olympism,
16
16 October 2023 03:52 PM
1. e FIR,
The Law Commission of India, in Report No. 282,
recommended that “in cases where the

recommended that “in cases where the
accused is not known, registration of an eFIR should
be allowed for
all cognisable offences”
•
Benefits - the police will have to take cognisance of
the complaint as the system will
automatically generate receipt. This will ensure
almost free registration of crime.
•
-they will not be able to change the contents of the
complaint.
9
01 December 2023 10:58 PM
november 2023 Page 23
1. INDIAN ECONOMY PROBLEM
in India, according to economists, is that insufficient
numbers have moved out of agriculture into
manufacturing.
•
SERVICE jobs require levels
of education that people in rural areas do not
have. Therefore, when they move out of agriculture
•
2. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
3. Same-sex couples: A judge to the rescue
Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court
has
On November 17, 2023, in Sushma vs Commissioner
of
Police, he tasked the State government
with working out a “Deed of
Familial Association”. which would provide legal
status to
relationships between same sex couples and other
LGBTQIA+
couples
•
Supreme Court decision in Supriyo vs Union of India
wherein
the Supreme Court refused to
recognise the right to marry, or
even the right to civil unions, of samesex couples.
•
• queer couples
4. Haryana’s employment reservation law
Haryana government in 2021 that
guaranteed 75% reservation of jobs paying a
monthly salary of less than ₹30,000
(originally ₹50,000) for local residents of the State
in
private sector jobs in Haryana
•
Employers found to be violating the Act are liable to
a fi•ne
between ₹10,000 and ₹2 lakh.
•
it violates Article 19 of the Constitution,which

it violates Article 19 of the Constitution,which
guarantees the
right to freedom, including to reside and settle in
any part
of the Indian territory and practise any
profession, business or trade.
•
t the government is empowered to create such
reservations
under Article 16(4) of the Constitution,
•
States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
have enacted laws providing reservations
for their local residents in the private sector.
•
23
23 November 2023 07:52 PM
1. the Act and Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022
permitted use of donor gametes.
2. CLIMATE CHANGE
To keep temperatures below 1.5°C, annual
emissions must reduce every year,
until 2030, by 8.7%. What the report says is that the
world collectively emitted 57.4 billion tonnes
in 2022, an increase of 1.2% over 2021. The pan
demic saw 4.7% drop in emissions but the
projections for 2023 suggest that
the globe is nearly back to pre pandemic emission
levels
•
• Extended warm periods also promote the
proliferation of water and foodborne pathogens
and diseases
n. The risk of dying from pulmonary disease
increases by 1.8–8.2% during a heat wave
and hospitalisation rates will go up by 8% for every
1% increase in temperature above 29°C.
•
• Spring season ‘disappearing’ in many States,
shows study
22
1. First woman judge in SC, Fathima Beevi, dead
• In 1950, she was the first student to complete a
degree in law.
2. COP 28: India’s equity demand
• 1,000 billion tonnes of CO2 in emissions causes an
estimated 0.45 degrees Celsius
the world average (6.6 tonnes CO2-
eq. per capita),obal carbon budget to date. The
contribution of South Asia — which
includes India — to historical cumulative emissions
is only around 4% despite
having almost 24% of the entire world population.
The per capita CO2FFI (fossil

The per capita CO2FFI (fossil
fuel and industry) emissions of South Asia was just
1.7 tonnes CO2equivalent per
capita, North America (15.4 tonnes CO2eq. per
capita)
•
m ‘global carbon budget’ refers to the maximum
cumulative global anthropogenic CO2
emissions – from the preindustrial era to when such
emissions reach net zero
•
• IPCC AR6,
• U.N. Development Programme’s
Multidimensional Poverty Index Report 2023
India has set up the International Solar Alliance, the
Coalition
for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and the Global
Biofuel Alliance. Through the
‘Lifestyle for Environment’ (LiFE) mission.
•
• Global Stocktake (GST)
Kambala (or Kambla/Kambula) is an annual buffalo
race held in the southwestern Indian state
of Karnataka. Traditionally, it is sponsored by local
Tuluva landlords and households in the
coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi of
Karnataka and Kasaragod of Kerala, a
region collectively known as Tulu Nadu.
3.
In india : approximately 64% of the total Goods and
Services Tax (GST)
came from the bottom 50% of the population, and
the top 10% contributed 3% of GST
4.
24
24 November 2023 11:47 AM
1. climate-smart agriculture in India.
CSA comprises three pillars or objectives: (1)
sustainably increase agricultural productivity and
incomes; (2) adapt and build resilience to climate
change; and (3) reduce/remove GHG.
•
Dimensions of climatesmart practices include
watersmart, weathersmart, energy smart, and
carbonsmart practices.
•
agroforestry, sustainable water management, and
precision agriculture are all concrete examples of
CSA
•
CSA promotes crop diversifi•cation, increases water
effi•ciency, and integrates drought resistant crop
types
•
The agricultural sector share in GHG’s emissions in
2018 was 17%. Therefore, CSA
implementation is crucial

implementation is crucial
•
• aids in enhancing farmland carbon storage. The
Paris Agreement goal.
• carbon sequestration
. The National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change,
National Innovation on
Climate Resilient Agriculture, Soil Health Mission,
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana,
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, BiotechKISAN,
and Climate Smart Village are a
few examples of government initiatives in India.
•
the Governor may return the Bill (if
it is not a Money Bill) to the House for reconsider
ation, but when the Bill is passed again, with
or without changes, he cannot withhold assent
2.
3. CERTIn is India’s nodal agency that responds to
computer security breaches
25
1. the 50th anniversary of the renaming of Mysore
State as Karnataka
Karnataka ancient poet- Siddalingaiah, M. Govinda
Pai, and women Vachanakaras
like Akka Mahadevi.
•
2. Antarctica’s ozone hole expands midspring since
2001.
The core (middle stratospheric layer) of the Antarc
tic ozone in midspring
(October) has experienced a 26% reduction since
2004, by Nature Communications
report
•
The Montreal Protocol designated a list of
controlled
ozone depleting substances that were banned from
future production in 1987
•
the past three years (20202022) have witnessed the
re emergence of large and longlived ozone holes
over Antarctica in mid spring,
while early spring still shows a slight ozone increase
(or a slight recovery
of the ozone hole)
•
This reduction is potentially driven by dynamical
changes in the mesosphere
(the atmospheric layer above the stratosphere and
the ozone layer).
•
3. Is India lagging in measles vaccination?
Measles is a contagious disease caused by a virus,
which spreads through the air when an
infected person coughs or sneezes. Measles starts

infected person coughs or sneezes. Measles starts
with a cough, runny nose, red eyes, and
fever. Then a rash of tiny, red spots break out
•
• Measles can be prevented with the MMR vaccine
A new report from the World Health Organization
and the U.S. Center's for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said measles
cases in 2022 have increased by
18%, and deaths by 43% globally, compared to 2021
•
• India’s Universal Immunisation Programme
The Health Ministry maintains that just over 21,000
Indian children did not get the shot of
measles vaccine.
•
What has been the impact of COVID19 on the
vaccination programme?
The WHO notes that the pandemic has led to
setbacks in surveillance and immunisation
efforts across the globe
•
26
1. All India Judicial Service (AIJS).
2. RBI’s latest move to increase risk weights for
lending
(RBI) directed banks and nonbanking financial
companies (NBFCs)
to reserve more capital for risk weights. The
mandatory risk weight requirement
has been increased by 25 percentage points. This
would be applicable to
unsecured personal loans, credit cards and lending
to NBFCs.
•
it has directed that the risk weight for consumer
credit exposure
be increased by 25 percentage points to 125%, for
all commercial banks and
NBFCs. This would apply to personal loans (and
retail loans for NBFCs),
excluding housing loans, education loans, vehicle
loans and loans secured by gold
and gold jewellery
•
The apex banking regulator has decided to increase
the risk weight to
125% for NBFCs and 150% for SCBs.
•
Enrolment in higher education among Muslim
students in the age group of 1823
dropped by more than 8.5% in 202021, says a
report prepared from the
analysis of data from the Unified District
Information System for Education
Plus (UDISE+) and the All India Survey of Higher

Plus (UDISE+) and the All India Survey of Higher
Education (AISHE).
3.
29
1. Cyber security
• threats such as Ransomware and Phishing, as also
the Zeroday syndrome
2. It’s time to revamp the structure of the Supreme
Court.
The Supreme Court of India has three jurisdictions
under the Constitution:
original, appellate, and advisory.
•
In March 1984, the Tenth Law Commission of
India proposed that the Supreme Court be split
into two divisions: the Constitutional Division and
the Legal Division
-
Reiterating this, the Eleventh Law Commission
stated in 1988 that dividing the Supreme Court into
parts would make justice more widely
available and would significantly decrease the fees
that litigants have to pay
-
During colonial times, there were three Supreme
Courts: in Bombay, Calcutta, and
Madras. The Indian High Courts Act of 1861
replaced the Supreme Courts with High Courts
for separate regions. The Government of India
Act, 1935, created the Federal Court of India as an
appellate body for the Privy Council and High
Courts.
-
first Supreme Court included eight judges,
eight in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978,
26 in 1986, 31 in 2009 and 34 in 2019.
-
The Supreme Court hears matters between the
Centre and the States, as
well as between two or more States; rules on civil
and criminal appeals; and provides legal and
factual advice to the President. Any person can
immediately petition the Supreme Court if they
consider their basic rights have been infringed
-
28
1. The Silkyara tunnel rescue
• led by the National Disaster Management
Authority
• Rat hole mining
2. GOVT ACTION ON MODERNISATION OF
AGRICULTURE
The Centre will provide drones to 15,000
progressive women self help

progressive women self help
groups (SHG) to be rented out to farmers for
agricultural purposes.
•
• The groups would get Central financial assistance
at 80% of the cost of drone.
30
1. COP28 summit
• Loss and Damage Fund cleared on Day One of
COP28 summit
- the eligibility - all developing nations for the funds.
greenhouse gas emissions are triggering extreme
weather events, air pollution,
food insecurity, water scarcity and population
displacement, which in turn, are altering the
trajectory of vector borne diseases and 40% of
climaterelated poverty would
be due to direct health impacts.
•
• the Green Climate Fund
• The Global Climate and Health Alliance
(GCHA)2011(cop17)
the Global Stocktake (GST) 2015 aims to serve as an
evaluation of
countries' progress towards global climate action
•
Date 15/10
From the outset, fossil fuels, responsible for around
75% of all greenhouse gases and about
90% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,
•
• The 700MWe units of the project are the largest
nuclear power reactors to be built by NPCIL
• Date 21/12
• Outcomes of the COP-28 climate summit
the GST “enables countries and other stakeholders
to see where they are
collectively making progress towards meeting the
goals of the Paris Agreement
•
The decision of countries’ at COP28 to transition
away from fossil fuels was
coupled with the ambition to triple renewable
energy capacity by 2030. More
than 20 countries also pledged to triple their
nuclear energy capacity. However,
the transition from fossil fuels is restricted to
energy systems alone;
•
• carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon
removal
green finance? The COP28 also witnessed the
establishment of innovative global green fi•nance
mechanisms
•
• ALTÉRRA

• ALTÉRRA
India didn’t sign this declaration of reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
in the health sector and reduce methane emissions
from the agriculture, waste,
and gas sectors.
•
the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
“Climate change as the greatest
threat to global health in the 21st century”
•
Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)for measuring
progress achieved
towards the targets mentioned in paragraphs 910
of the GGA draft decisions
(FCCC/PA/CMA/2023/L.18)
•
1
december 2023 Page 32
No news
2
04 December 2023 11:37 AM
1. A massive exoplanet closely orbits a very low-
mass star.
It , demonstrating that small stars can
sometimes host larger planets than was previously
thought
•
BCG(vaccine for TB) revaccination study in
adults to begin in 23 States.
2.
Liqour prohibition action in bihar in 2016 through
e Bihar Excise Act, 1915 and
promulgated the Bihar Prohibition and Excise
(Amendment) Act, 2016.
3.
• The two repots came from survey in 2018 and
2023
- 1.64 crore have quit drinking, and spent the
money saved to buy milk, vegetables and clothes
-t 1.82 crore have quit drinking but 4.39%
admitted that they were still consuming liquor.
“99% women and 92% men of the State are in
favour of the prohibition in resp. year
India has launched PM MITRA ( a Central
government
scheme to set up mega textile parks and promote
the
entire value chain)
4.
introduced “Kasturi Cotton Bharat” brand,
which he claimed could be traceable using
blockchain
technology, and that it would be “carbon positive”
•
• ****climate change

• ****climate change
3
1. Govt action for disability.
In India, govt has made unique id for persons with
disabilities (UDID)
card, established as part of the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities Act (2016).
•
• SPARK project
The ILO and the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), in collaboration
with the Women’s Development Corporation in
Maharashtra, are implementing the Sparking
Disability Inclusive Rural Transformation (SPARK)
project.
-
Disability Inclusion Facilitators (DIFs) engage with
the community, persons with disabilities,
caregivers of persons with disabilities, women from
selfhelp groups and other stakeholders to
raise awareness about disability inclusion.
-
- By this scheme the disabled person will joint to
SHG for establishing an enterprises.
4
The Rajya Sabha passed
the Post Office Bill on Mon day, which repeals and
replaces the Post Office Act of 1898.
1.
2. The need to transform agri-food systems
UNFAO(United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization) report says that there are
substantial “hidden costs” (*in millet, oilseeds)
-
whose yield per hectare is comparable to those of
rice
and wheat, are also more nutritious, grow in
semiarid conditions without
burdening groundwater tables, require minimal
input, and provide a diversified food basket.
-
• ('.' green revolution hyv) and the impacts of
intensive agriculture?
70% of India’s agricultural production of weat and
rice (the area under cultivation of
coarse grains dropped by 20% between 19661967
and 20172018, whereas the
area under rice and wheat increased by nearly 20%
and 56% respectively)
•
- fertilizers undermined seed sovereignty,
dismantled Indigenous knowledge systems,
shift from diverse crop varieties and staples such as
pulses and millets to

pulses and millets to
monoculture plantations.
-
- compromised the nutritional needs of households
- excessive extraction of groundwater.
also increased indebtedness among agrarian
households.(In 2013, the debt to asset
ratio of a farmer’s household in India was 630%(6 x)
higher than in 1992)
(monthly household income of a farming household
sits at ₹10,816(in 2012-13 rs6426).)
-
The expansion of sugarcane cultivation affects
biodiversity, increases
the pressure on groundwater resources, and
contributes to air and water pollution.
-
the National Food Security Act 2013, 65% of
households (around 800
million people) in India are legally assured a right to
food at subsidised rates
through the Public Distribution System.
•
• Integrated Child Development Services and the
MidDay Meal Schemev.
• Food Corporation of India (FCI),
- maintain a central pool of buff•er stock and
- to procure, transport, and
- store foodgrain stocks in the country
(the FCI procured 341.32 lakh million tonnes (MT)
of wheat and 514.27
lakh MT of rice ,3.49 lakh(<1%) MT of coarse grains
such as
jowar, bajra, ragi, maize, and barley )
-
The global food system structure has a direct
impact on the last mile — on both
farmers and soil. Between 2012 and 2016, large
fluctuations in soya prices in the
global market and a glut in supply from Latin
American countries eroded income
for soy farmers and agro companies in Malwa
•
- Also global trade relations have influenced food
production systems in the Global South.
• How can crop diversifi•cation help?
offers ecosystem services such as nitrogen fixation
(reduce urea or DAP use) and pest traps,
and
-
- supports the local biodiversity.
- contribute to improving soil health.
3. ‘Corporate bond market The corporate bond
market is a financial market where companies can
raise capital by issuing
debt securities to investors. And
-
- In return for purchasing bonds, investors receive

- In return for purchasing bonds, investors receive
periodic interest payments.
5
1. Michaung makes landfall in Andhra Pradesh
• high velocity winds with a maximum sustained
speed of 90100 kmph.
2. Glaciers shrank 1 m a year in a decade: WMO
The World Meteorological Organization’s recent
report, “The Global Climate 2011-2020”-
In the section on the state of glacier health, it
points out that, on average, the world’s
glaciers thinned by approximately a metre a year
from 2011 to 2020.V
•
In Africa, glaciers on the Rwenzori Moun tains and
Mount Kenya are projected to
disappear by 2030, and those on Kilimanjaro by
2040. The report points to the rapid growth of
proglacial lakes and the likelihood of glacier lake
outburst fl•ood (GLOF),
•
• The decade from 2011 to 2020 witnessed a rise in
economic
losses due to extreme weather. but also saw a drop
in deaths
• The drop in deaths w's due to
advancements in early warning systems and
disaster management
• This WAS the first decade that the depleted ozone
hole visibly showed recovery
• Heatwaves the highest human casualties and
tropical CYCLONE cause economic damage
• While climate finance nearly doubled, it needs to
increases'. enfold by the decade end
1. India provides $250 mn Line of Credit to Kenya
A line of credit is a financial arrangement between a
borrower and a financial institution,
typically a bank. It represents a predetermined
amount of money that the borrower can access
on an as-needed basis. Unlike a traditional loan
where you receive a lump sum upfront, a line
of credit allows you to borrow and repay funds
flexibly within the predetermined limit.
•
6
8
1. India’s alarming ‘fixed dose combination’
problem .
FDCs contain antibiotics is alarming because of the
increasing prevalence of
antibacterial microbial resistance (AMR) in India.
•

•
the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), under
which the government fi•xes the
prices of individual drugs. Since drug combinations
were traditionally not covered
under the DPCO, the pharmaceutical industry
decided that making FDCs provided an easy way
to escape the remit of the DPCO.
•
there were no standards set by bodies such as the
Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission for testing these drugs for quality of
manufacture.
•
• the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The advantage of going down the FDC route is that
it gives individual companies a
reason to charge higher prices for their drugs
•
• the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization
(CDSCO).
2. The India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement was
signed in December 1998.
3. U.S. FDA approves pair of gene therapies for
sickle cell disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on
Friday approved a pair of
gene therapies for sickle cell disease
•
• gene editing technology that won its inventors the
Nobel Prize in 2020
2020. Sickle cell disease is a painful, inherited blood
disorder. The sickle cells tend to
stick together and can block small blood vessels,
causing intense pain. It also can lead to strokes and
organ failure.
•
• The only longer term treatment for sickle cell
disease is a bone marrow transplant
9
1. Green turtles nesting range expands under
warming climate.
Sex Ratio Imbalance: Green turtles, like some other
reptiles, exhibit temperature-dependent
sex determination. Warmer temperatures during
incubation tend to produce more female
hatchlings, while cooler temperatures lead to more
males.
•
Distribution Changes:
The expansion of nesting ranges may result in
changes in the distribution
of green turtle populations.
•
•
2. Honeyguide birds learn signals by honey hunters

2. Honeyguide birds learn signals by honey hunters
The greater honeyguide is a small African bird that
has developed a unique cooperative
relationship with humans, specifically honey
hunters.
•
Humans then open the nests to collect honey, and
in return, the honeyguides benefit by
consuming the beeswax +ve symbiosis relation
•
10
Cauvery basin lost nearly 12,850 sq. km of green
cover(e Cauvery basin was lost
in the 50 years from 1965 to 2016, s)
1.
• published by scientists and researchers at the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
reduction of dense vegetation was 35% (6,123 sq.
km)
and that of degraded vegetation, 63% (6,727 sq. km
•
11
1. Harvest the Odisha story to ensure food security
• BY THE FOLLOWING STEPS;
Farmers are adopting climate resilient cultivation
practices, that include
integrated farming, zeroinputbased natural
farming, nonpaddy crops, better water
management, watersaving devices, epest
surveillance, and largescale farm mechanisation
with womenfriendly drudgeryreducing farm
implements.
•
12
1. Gene therapy offers new hope for those with
sickle cell disease
• the U.S. FDA has ap proved two gene therapies —
Casgevy and Lyfgenia
e Lyfgenia uses a disabled lentivirus as a vector to
introduce into the blood stem cells a
new gene for haemoglobin that mimics the healthy
version
•
Casgevy uses the geneediting tool of CRISPRCas9 to
disable a particular gene
(BCL11A) that turns off foetal haemoglobin pro
duction in blood stem cells
•
• the BCL11A gene prevents the produc tion of
foetal haemoglobin.
• Since both gene therapies use patients’ own
blood cells for gene editing,

blood cells for gene editing,
2. criminal Billsin Lok Sabha
• NEW RULES UNDER the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second)
Sanhita Bill (BNSS), 2023
the definition of terrorist act has been expanded to
include “economic security” and
“damage or destruction of any property in India or
in a foreign country used or
intended to be used for the defence of India”. The
Bill retains death penalty as punishment.
-
an officer not below the rank of Superin tendent
of Police (SP) shall
decide whether to register the case under this
Sanhita or under the UAPA.
-
In cases of rape, print ing or publishing of any
matter relating to court
proceedings without permission has been made a
punishable offence with
imprisonment for two years
-
- The Bill replaces “men tal illness” with “unsound
mind”
Causing harm to the men tal health of a woman has
been included as a crime
under Section 85 of the Bill
-
The minimum sentence of seven years imprison
ment for mob lynching has
been dropped and re placed with imprisonment
for life, while the maxi mum punishment remains
death
-
- The Bill defines a “child” as any person below the
age of 18
3. 74% Indians could not aff•ord healthy diet in
2021: report
More than 74% of Indians could not afford a
healthy diet in 2021, the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said
in a report on Tuesday
•
during the pandemic and the “5Fs” crisis – food,
feed, fuel, fertilizer,
and finance – the Asia Pac ific region witnessed
har rowing statistics
•
• It said that 16.6% of the country’s population was
undernourished
It said that 31.7% of chil dren in India under the age
of five showed stunted
growth. “Stunted growth and development are the
result of poor maternal
health and nutrition
•
• report noted, adding that 2.8% of children below
five were overweigh

five were overweigh
• It said that 53% of wo men aged between 15 to 49
in India had anaemia
13
1. Activist Ali Abu Award and pianist Daniel
Barenboim win Indira Gandhi Peace Prize
for 2023 for their efforts in bringing together the
youth and people of Israel and the Arab
world for a non violent rsolution of the
IsraelPalestine conflict
15
1. India oman relation
The India Oman strategic partnership was signed
during Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s visit to Oman in November 2008
•
During the Persian Gulf crisis in June 2019, the
Indian Navy launched ‘Operation Sankalp’ to
ensure the safe passage of Indian flagged ships
•
India was the second largest market for Oman’s
crude oil exports for the year 2022 after
China.
•
The MoU on Duqm Port during Mr. Modi’s visit is a
historic landmark in our security cooperation,
providing basing facilities, Operational Turn
Round and other logistics facilities to Indian naval
ships operating in the region.
•
• India Middle East Europe Connectivity Corridor
(IMEEC)
m the South Asia Gas Enterprise (SAGE), a private
consortium based in India, to
lay a 1,400 km long deepsea pipeline from Oman to
India for the transfer of gas.
•
16
1. How will Article 370 verdict impact federalism?
Supreme Court’s ruling in S. R. Bommai versus
Union of India (1994) which
defined the ambit of powers that can be exercised
during President’s rule
•
• Statehood?
• asymmetric federalism’
2. Is the world closer to phasing out fossil fuel?
(climate change cop28)
India and China, have protested against the singling
out of
coal among fossil fuels, on the grounds that they
need them for lifting their masses out of poverty

need them for lifting their masses out of poverty
and providing energy security. India, while rich in
coal reserves
•
• . However, now that all fossil fuels have been
included in the Dubai Consensus
e. India’s National Electricity Plan, 202227, plans to
add nearly 87,000 MW in this
period in the form of fresh coalfi•red capacity:
27,000 MW via under construction power plants
and 60,000 MW from new plants.
•
e, switching from coaltogas reduces emissions by
50% when
producing electricity and by 33% when providing
heat
•
methane? Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and
has several times more heat trapping capabilities
compared to carbon dioxide. d responsible for
about a third of planetary warming just behind
carbon dioxide. mainly
methane results from the agricultural sector
•
17
1. the Forest Rights Act
2006,the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, enacted by the
Lok Sabha
•
• the 1878 (colonial) Indian Forest Act
this colonial forest policy took multiple forms.
now that forests were seen as primarily a timber
resource, shifting
cultivation was banned.
a.
the so called survey and settlement of agricultural
lands was
incomplete and biased in favour of the state.
b.
to ensure labour for forestry operations, ‘forest
villages’ were created,
wherein forest land was leased for agriculture to
(mostly Adivasi) households in return for
compulsory (virtually bonded) labour.
c.
since forests were now state property, all access
to forest produce was limited, temporary and
chargeable, and always at the mercy of the forest
bureaucracy that was armed with police powers.
d.
even where access was permitted, the local
community had no right
to manage the forest, as the state logged valuable
forests and made heavily used forest de facto(de

forests and made heavily used forest de facto(de
facto) open access.
(*Legitimate residents and cultivators became
‘encroachers’ overnight)
e.
•
• Grow More Food’ campaign
The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and the Forest
(Conservation) Act 1980 (FCA)- ANOTHER
INJUSTICE FOR TRIBALS.
•
2. One person, one vote, one value
The government has constituted four delimitation
commissions so far: in 1952, 1962,
1972 and 2002
•
Two member constituencies: Abolished by the Two
Member Constituencies
(Abolition) Act, 1961
•
Modi inaugurates Surat Diamond Bourse (the hub
of diamond cutting and polishing)in
Gujarat, says it will add 1.5 lakh more jobs.
3.
• RESULT -EMPLOYMENT INCREASE(+1.5LAKH)
The 700MWe units of the project are the largest
nuclear power reactors
to be built(Indigenously) by NPCIL
4.
18
1. The Telecommunications Bill, 2023
It will consolidating spectrum rules, right of way,
dispute resolution between service providers
and the Department of Telecommunications or
local governments,
and simplifying bureaucratic procedures such as
applying for licences and permits
for telecom operators. Licensing pro cesses are set
to be digitised. The Bill
will replace the Telegraph Act, 1885.
•
• The Bill tries to deal with privacy, surveillance and
spamming concerns.
19
1. Tax ‘HFSS’( High Fat Sugar Salt (HFSS) foods)
foods, view it as a public health imperative
• result obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure,
productivity and economic growth
Method to decrease it - 1. Taxation, 2.promotion of
nutrition
literacy 3.effective food labelling,
•
• , Kerala had also introduced a ‘fat tax’ way back in
2016

2016
20
1. JN.1 variant of COVID19 spread the parent
lineage
BA.2.86, the JN.1 variant carries an additional mu
tation (L45
5S) in the spike protein,
•
2. India’s defence budgeting and the point of
deterrence
The Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft
(MMRCA) programme
•
India’s research and
development expenditure at just 0.7% of its GDP
•
China, incidentally,
spent $421 billion in 2022, which is 2.54%
•
• the Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX)
scheme--
aims to promote innovation and
technology development in Defence and
Aerospace by engaging Industries
Lok Sabha passes Telecom Bill 2023 to replace
138year old Telegraph Act
3.
Bill seeks to reform and simplify the regulatory
and licensing regime for telecommunications and
•
• remove bottlenecks in creating telecom
infrastructure.
It also allows the government to temporarily take
control of telecom services in the interest of
national
security and
•
provide a nonauction route for the allocation of
satellite
spectrum
•
“telecommunication” and “telecommunication
services” that will include “transmission… of any
messages”. Read together, this will allow the
Union government to license Over The Top (OTT)
messaging applications such as WhatsApp or
email services such as Gmail.
•
4. the Post Office Bill, 2023
• Bill allow 1. the interception of articles
transmitted via post
The officer-in-charge appointed by the Union
government is
given the authority to intercept, open, or detain any
postal
article

article
2.
• Concerns
1. the Bill violates the fundamental right to privacy
2. It violates Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and Article21
5. WHO prequalifi•es a malaria vaccine by Serum
Institute
• the R21/MatrixM malaria vaccine,
6. ‘Rating firms’ biases raise developing nations’
funding costs
the world’s top sovereign
credit rating agencies in cluding Fitch, Moody’s and
Standard & Poor’s
•
21
1. Money Laundering Act, 2002 -to fight the drug
menace and terrorism)
22
nope
23
1. the Telecommunications bill, 2023 (get assent
from president in 26th dec)
the Bill will replace *the Telegraph Act of 1885,
*the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933 and
*The Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act,
1950.
•
Aim*It aims to consolidate the law for wireless
networks and Internet service providers, and
*simplify the process of application for licences and
permits for telecom operators
•
Changes* defines the mechanism for exercising the
right of way for laying telecom
infrastructure*. It also spells out emergency
measures the government can take in the
interest of national security and public safety such
as intercept messages, suspend
telecommunication services as well as take
temporary possession of any telecommunication
service or network.*Do Not Disturb’ register to
ensure they don’t receive a specified class of
messages without prior consent.*The Bill governs a
whole host of services, including over-the top
services such as WhatsApp, Telegram and email
services like Gmail *The Bill also
marks a shift from a licensing regime to an
authorisation regime,(where all
telecommunication services in India “shall obtain an
authorisation from the Central
Government,)*The telecommunication network is
not considered part of the property for

not considered part of the property for
transactions or tax purposes( the Bill is also
welcomed for providing relief to the
infrastructure industry from the additional
exorbitant tax burden. )
•
Result expected*“help spur growth in the nascent
space sector..*also help drive innovation,
create opportunities for startups,*strengthen the
country’s position in the global
satellite market*
•
• Concerns*indiscriminate surveillance”* weaken
online safety
2. India-Maldives ties
• Former president of maldives Ibrahim Mohamed
Solih administration’s ‘India first’ policy.
the government of Mohamed Muizzu(present
maldives
preident) decided against renewing a hydrographic
survey agreement with India
•
hydrographic survey*It is the science of studying
oceans, seas, and
other water bodies, by compiling and analysing
data, maps, and charts. Branching off from
applied sciences, it looks at measuring and
describing the physical attributes of water
bodies and predicting how they might change over
time
•
India has been an active member of the
International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
since 1955.(other members- Mauritius, Seychelles,
Tanzania, Maldives,
Mozambique, Vietnam, Myanmar, Kenya, and Sri
Lanka)
•
24
1. Fourth dose of COVID19 vaccine not required,
says INSACOG chief(
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics or
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium)
2. India’s jobs crisis, the macroeconomic reasons
• Kaldor Verdoorn coefficient
3. The evolving role of the Colombo Security
Conclave
• this organisation came into its own in 2011, with
Sri Lanka
CSC has focused on five pillars — *maritime security
and safety;* countering
terrorism and radicalisation; *trafficking and
transnational crime; cybersecurity and
*protecting critical infrastructure, and
*humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
•

•
• Member-india, srilanka, maldives, Mauritius, (
with Bangladesh and the Seychelles as observers)
4. Krishna Waters Award by the Union Ministry of
Irrigation and Power
5. criminal laws
• Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023
Changes-s modified the definition of the crime of
terrorism(defined as a terrorist act
‘with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the
unity, integrity,
economic security, or sovereignty of India or with
intent to strike terror or likely to
strike terror in the people or any section of the
people in India or any foreign country).
*o define “cruelty” against a woman by her
husband and his relatives*d Bill replaces the
term ‘mental illness’ with ‘unsoundness of mind’
•
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita,
2023
• ‘community service
Changes*l Bill permitted the use of
handcuffs*permitted the conduct of
court proceedings through audiovisual mean*The
BNSS expands
the maximum limit of police custody under general
criminal law from 15 days
to either 60 days or 90 days
•
• Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023
l Bill allowed the admissibility of electronic evidence
by underscoring that an electronic record
shall have the same legal effect as a paper record
•
25
the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, which is
celebrated as the Good Governance Day on 25th
December
1.
2. Article 370 issue closed, but terror victims need
closure
The Supreme Court has ordered the establishment
of a Truth-and-Reconciliation
Commission to address human rights violations
both by state and non-state actors in
Jammu and Kashmir since the 1980s
•
• the truth and reconciliation commission
the five main characteristics of truth
commissions*First,
they focus on the past, rather than ongoing events.
* Second, a truth commission
investigates a pattern of events that took place
over a period of time. *Third, it engages directly

over a period of time. *Third, it engages directly
and broadly with the affected population,
gathering information on their experiences.
*Fourth, a truth commission is a temporary body,
with the aim of concluding with a final report.
*Fifth, a truth commission is officially authorised or
empowered by the state.
•
Some similar commission in world*International
Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ),
Brazil 2001*Commission of Inquiry into
Disappearances of People of Uganda, 1974
•
26
*make more for India in India
1. Women empowerment
• *‘From Women Development to Womenled
Development
• Sustainable Development Goals gender gaps
• How *participation as decision makers
• Gender Budget
a strategy to achieve equality between women and
men by
focusing on how public resources are collected and
spent.
deficit in budget allocation * womenspecific
schemes are just
about 40% of an already inadequate budgetary
allocation
•
Witness of women lapse*the share of women in
regular waged work
fell in India*according to an analysis of the Periodic
Labour
Force Survey (PLFS), from 21.9% in 20182019 to
15.9% in 20222023.*
Over 95% of women are in the unorganised sector
with no job or
income security* the share of women engaged in
agriculture has
increased to 64.3% in 202223 from 55.3%
•
Govt actions employment of women
through*MGNREGA*Almost
one crore women work in Anganwadis, as ASHA
workers, as mid day meal scheme workers, as
facilitators, and so on
•
India and Russia signed some “very important”
agreements related to the construction of
the future powergenerating units of the
Kudankulam nuclear power plant(tamilnadu)
2.
3. current account deficit (CAD)
4. The production linked incentive (PLI) schemes for
14 sectors

14 sectors
Boost for exports
The sectors included elec tronics, telecommunica
tion, pharma, white goods
(AC and LED light compo nents), and textiles. The
aim is to enhance India’s
manufacturing capabilities and exports.
•
27
1. High levels of child undernutrition have been a
persistent problem in India
determinants of undernutrition*e food intake,
*dietary diversity*, health,* sanitation,
* women’s status and *the overarching context of
poverty
•
• common measures *heightforage *and
weightforheight
The WHO standards are based on a Multicentre
Growth Reference Study (MGRS) *National Family
Health Survey (NFHS)5
•
• Govt action for child nourishment* midday
meals*anganwadis
2. the World Happiness Report
• India ranked 126 out of 137 despite being the fifth
largest economy
The happiness matrix includes six variables: GDP
per capita; healthy life expectancy
at birth; generosity; social support; freedom to
make life choices, and perception of corruption
•
3. Significant climate milestones of 2023
• Hottest year(2023): According to the Copernicus
Climate Change Service (C3S),
currently the warmest calendar year on record, and
1.43°C warmer than the pre industrial reference
period from January to October
•
Highest sea surface temperature ever: According to
the U.S. National Ocean and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
•
Sea ice in the Antarctic reached an annual
maximum of 16.96
million sq. km on September 10, 2023, the lowest
since 1979. This
year’s maximum was 1.03 million sq. km, below the
previous record low set in 1986
•
• Lowest Antarctic sea ice extent: According to
NOAA,
• Record carbon dioxide levels: . The Global Carbon
Budget Report
Action*Loss and damage fund*134 countries at
COP28 pledged to tackle

COP28 pledged to tackle
the climate impact of the food industry
•
28
1. Government orders genome sequencing of all
COVID cases
• genome sequencing
2. Pegasus spyware *
Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-
arms company NSO Group
29
1. The Union government on Friday decided to raise
the Interest rates up on two schemes
• Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme (SSAS) from
8% to 8.2%
• Public Provident Fund (PPF), which had been
hiked to 7.9% from 7.1%(2019)
2. Centre, Assam sign peace pact with ULFA
faction(“tripartite settlement)
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)*) is an
armed separatist organisation operating in the
Northeast Indian state of Assam*It seeks to
establish an independent sovereign nation state of
Assam for the indigenous Assamese people*it was
founded on 7 April 1979
•
3. 11th century Jain sculptures discovered in
Mysuru district
4. the International Day for Persons with Disabilities
(December 3) passed
• , the United Nations has shifted the focus on
innovations that reduce disability
non invasive brain stimulation (NIBS)
procedures*Functional (or
peripheral) Magnetic Stimulation
(FMS)*transcranial electrical stimulation
(TES)*transcutaneo
us auricular vagus nerve stimulation (tAVNS)
•
5. Indian Navy unveils new epaulettes for admirals
• Navy Day celebrations on December 4
• new design of epaulettes for admirals, inspired by
rajmudra of Chhatrapati Shivaji
30
1. Textile sector faces ESG challenges
• News- indian textile export decline
(how)
○ new rules like EU’s CBAM(Carbon Border
Adjustment Mechanism)
the European Union (EU’s) moves towards
implementing its environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) goals

governance (ESG) goals
○
•
Environmental, Social, and Governance
(ESG)*purpose*(limit or stop importing textile from
those Industry
which cause high carbon footprint in environment)*
•
Aim
- delivering a real impact by maintaining and
reducing its carbon footprint.
Result-
- It helps in the adoption of traditional methods to
promote the community-based approach toward
eco
friendlier ways of sustainable living.
In india
the textile and apparel sector in Tamil Nadu
contributes more than 50% of installed
renewable energy capacity in the State
○
○ india recycles almost 90% of its used PET bottles
into fibre
○ The Synthetic and
Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC)
is recommend exemption
for MSMEs from ESG
norms in the proposed FTA
with the EU (as the EU has exempted its own
MSMEs from ESG norms and the
Indian government must
ask for a similar treatment
for India’s producers)
•
31
05 January 2024 10:33 PM
The West Bengal government has issued a
notification declaring Poila Boisakh, the first
day of the Bengali New Year, as the
1.
State Day and the song
‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jal’
written by Rabindranath
Tagore as the State Song
The signing of a tripartite agreement, between the
United Liberation Front of Asom, the
Union government and the Assam State
government
2.
United Liberation Front of Asom
The ULFA is a byproduct of the antiforeigners
Assam Agitation that
began in 1979 and ended with the signing of the

began in 1979 and ended with the signing of the
Assam Accord in August 1985
○
the ULFA on April 7, 1979, to launch an armed
struggle with
the objective of establishing a sovereign Assam
○
The government responded in 1990 with an
offensive codenamed
Operation Bajrang and banned the ULFA by the
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
○
the leaders of the Rajkhowaled faction signed a
ceasefire agreement with the Centre in September
2011
○
Opposed to talks, Baruah “expelled” Rajkhowa from
the ULFA in
2012. In April 2013, the antitalks group was
renamed ULFA (Independent) ). The pro talks
group signed the peace accord 12 years
○
•
• the Assam Accord of 1985.
the peace accord 2023 offer?
the ULFA has agreed to renounce violence, disarm,
disband the
armed organisation, vacate their occupied camps,
and participate in
peaceful democratic process established by the law
○
○ ₹1.5 lakh crore for the allround development of
Assam
maintaining the territorial integrity of Assam
through
amicable settlement of boundary disputes with
neighbouring States in the Northeast
○
adopted for the delimitation exercise conducted in
2023
in future delimitation processes. The pact envisages
ensuring maximum
representation for indigenous communities in the
126member Assam
Assembly by keeping nonoriginal inhabitants,
primarily migrant Muslims, out
○
○ the pact seeks exemption for Assam from Section
3 of the Citizenship Act of 1955
•
3. From the New Year 2024, wages under the
MGNREGS will be paid only through an
Aadhaar based payment system (ABPS)
the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System(APBS)
○ the APBS, an offspring of
the National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI)

India (NPCI)
○ In cases of multiple accounts
for the same person, the APBS
automatically sends money to the
latest mapped account.
•
Concerns
○ diverted payments (bank
payments being redirected to the wrong
account)
○ lack of accountability( lack of knowledge for
workers)
•
1
06 January 2024 12:14 AM
january 2024 Page 65
President Droupadi Murmu notified the inclusion of
the Hattee community in the Himachal
Pradesh’s Scheduled Tribes list,
1.
2. XPoSat(Xray Polarimeter Satellite)
XPoSat in a two part mission, onboard a Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
on its C58 flight on January 1
•
Obective - to study black holes ( to study polarised
X rays emitted in astrophysical phenomena.)*will
study Xrays of energy 0.815 keV
•
• from the Satish Dh wan Space Centre in
Sriharikota
• the XPoSat into an eastward low inclination orbit.
Polarimeter an instrument which measures the
angle of rotation by passing polarized light
through an optically active (chiral) substance.
•
it has become the second nation to send
an observatory to study as tronomical sources such
as black holes, neutron stars
among others. after NASA’s Imaging Xray
Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
•
• Place -XPoSat in the desired orbit of 650 km with
sixdegree inclination,”
It carries two payloads, namely POLIX (Polarimeter
Instrument in Xrays) and XSPECT (Xray
Spectroscopy and Timing)
•
3. Responding to the new COVID19 subvariants -JN1
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
or SARSCoV2
• new subvariant of the Omicron variant of
SARSCoV2, the JN.1(a variant of interest (VoI))
• genetic structure (genome)
• It is proven that the risk to children is the lowest
among any age group
ACTION NEED-
○ Surveillance

○ Surveillance
○ The clinical management should focus on a
syndromic approach to respiratory illnesses.
People with cough and cold or fl•ulike illness must
follow good respiratory
etiquette such as wearing masks in public places,
covering their nose and mouth when coughing or
sneezing and frequent handwashing
○
•
• It is more of an individual health concern than a
public health concern
4. Reigniting the flame of India Korea defence
cooperation
• Korea’s status as an advanced high tech digital
superpower,
5. The woes of pensioners and PF members
• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation
(EPFO)’
the 2014 amendments where the pensionable
salary cap was raised
to ₹15,000 a month from ₹6,500 a month
•
6. S. Venkitaramanan- India’s 1991 crisis and the
RBI Governor’s role
S. Venkitaramanan had a pivotal role in steering
India through the financial crisis by employing
strategies like pledging gold reserves and
implementing import compression, stabilising the c
ountry’s balance of payments;
•
• 1990, India faced a severe balance of payments
stress (b/w import export)
Action
pledging its gold to international banks for a hard
currency loan
“In April 1991, the Government raised $200.0
million from
the Union Bank of Switzerland through a sale (with
a repurchase option) of 20
tonnes of gold confi•scated from smugglers (sic)
▪
Again, in July 1991, India shipped 47 tonnes of gold
to the Bank of
England to raise another $405.0 million
▪
○
the RBI had begun a programme of import
compression, implemented
mainly via raising the cash margin on imports
○
a devaluation of the rupee, to improve the balance
of payments over the long term(for
the import compression)(By these the Indian
product become cheaper in respective of
○
•

•
2
06 January 2024 12:41 AM
the import compression)(By these the Indian
product become cheaper in respective of
others in foreign
* And it also reduce the import as the import
commodity price Getting increase)
Result- the current account deficit flipped from a
high of 3 percent in 1990-
91 to a mere .3 percent of GDP in 1991-92
•
7. radiocarbon dating
The technology allowed scholars a clearer and
measurable view of the past, clarifying the histo
ry of human migration, the rise and fall of
civilisations, and undulations of the earth’s climate
•
8. India and Pak. exchange list of nuclear
installations
• The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988
and came into force on January 27, 1991.
The pact mandates the two countries to inform
each other of nuclear installations and facilities to
be covered under the
agreement on the every New Year
•
9. Uttarakhand bans purchase of agriculture,
horticulture land in State by ‘outsiders
1. PM calling the tamilnadu a brand ambassador for
‘Make in India'.
2. The global nuclear order (GNO) is under strain
GNO RESULT-
○ the taboo against nuclear weapons has held
since 1945.
non proliferation has been a success., A only four
Country (India, Israel, North
Korea, and Pakistan.) add on in nuclear weapon
country after 1970
○
•
the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. initiated multilateral
negotiations in
Geneva in 1965 on a treaty to curb the spread of
nuclear weapons. Three years later, the Nuclear
NonProliferation Treaty (NPT)
(India had chosen not to sign the NPT)
•
Seven countries (the U.S., U.S.S.R, U.K., Canada,
France, Japan, and West
Germany) held a series of meetings in London and
concluded that ad hoc export controls were
urgently needed to ensure that nuclear technology,
transferred for peaceful purposes,
not be used for PNEs.
•

•
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons
○ 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 Maldives to revoke an agreement with India for
joint
hydrographic surveys in Maldivian waters
3.
Hydrography purpose information collected from
the seas can be used for
▪ civilian and military purposes.
Marine scientists maintain that the data that helps
advance non military objectives, such as ensuring
navigational safety, marine scientific research,
and environmental monitoring,
▪
can also be used to facilitate military aims such as
surveillance of a
nation’s vital coastal installations and war fighting
assets.
▪
○
•
• The United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS)
3
06 January 2024 01:18 AM
1. I-T searches, a form of extra-constitutional power
the Income Tax Act, 1961,
Which grants to the taxman, untrammelled police
power
to forcibly search persons and their properties,
and seize goods found during such a search,
including money, bullion, and jewellery.
○
the IncomeTax Act, require no judicial
licence(where as
the Code of Criminal Procedure, where
actions were customarily made under the
authority of a magistrate)
○
•
Way forward
○ It should be based on the doctrine of
proportionality
“Wednesbury” principle(the principle states that a
public
authority's decision can be challenged if it is so

authority's decision can be challenged if it is so
unreasonable.
And It allows the courts to intervene if a decision is
deemed
irrational, unreasonable, or blatantly absurd )
○
•
2. The blood management system needs a fresh
infusion
Concern
from 2014-15 to 2016-17, a surplus of 30 lakh blood
units
and related products were discarded. The
primary reasons were expiration from not being
used, degradation during storage.
○
○ the myths around blood donation
•
Way forward
The hub and spoke model (where high volume
blood
banks act as a hub for smaller blood centres)
○
○ International cooperation
to improve awareness through regular campaigns.
(social
media)
○
•
3. The dispute on India’s debt burden
The IMF, in the report, states that India’s
government debt
could be 100% of GDP under adverse circumstances
by fi•scal 2028.
How they say
considerable investment is
required to reach India’s climate
change mitigation targets and
improve resilience to climate
stresses and natural disasters
▪
○
•
Public debt has increased faster in developing
countries compared to
developed countries over the last decade
How
due to growing development financing needs, the
cost of
living crisis, and climate change.
▪
▪ Later loan taker have to give high interest
○
•
The India faces challenges in enhancing its credit
ratings.
Even with the tag of being the fastest growing

Even with the tag of being the fastest growing
major economy,
sovereign investment ratings for India have
remained the same for a
long time
Both Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have
kept
India’s credit rating unchanged at ‘BBB' ’ since
August 2006(India’s low per capita income is a
major factor that pulls down score in the sovereign
rating.)
○
•
4
06 January 2024 01:36 AM
major factor that pulls down score in the sovereign
rating.)
India's physical deficit distribution
○ The Union government’s debt
was ₹155.6 trillion, or 57.1% of GDP,
at the end of March 2023 and the
debt of State governments was
about 28% of GDP
•
4. 55% of patients given antibiotics only as a
preventive measure
SpaceX’s Falcon9 to launch India’s GSAT20; satellite
to
spread broadband coverage
5.
1. Urbanisation
• .National Commission on Urbanisation
Urbanisation impact
impacted climate changes ,massive land use,
building typologies, iniquitous cities,
duality, informality, crisis of pollution, housing,
water and sanitation challenges, and some of the
most unequal city spaces.
○
information technology is one of the enablers but
also disablers.
Economic Disparities:due to creating disparities in
information access, digital skills,
and opportunities. This divide can contribute to
social and economic inequality
within urban populations
▪
▪ Job Displacement:
▪ Cybersecurity Concerns
▪ Privacy Issues:
▪ Increased data traffic
▪ Disconnection and Social Isolation
○
•
Current urban program

Current urban program
the Swachh Bharat Mission or Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and
Urban Transformation (AMRUT),
○
○ National Heritage City Development and
Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY),
○ Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
•
digital footprint - one's unique set of traceable
digital activities, actions, contributions, and
communications manifested on the Internet or
digital devices.
makes it attractive to cybercrooks
2.
5
06 January 2024 02:12 AM
1. The need to examine the examination system
• A credible examination system
there are complaints that the examination boards
test only memory. So,
teachers in turn coach students to memorise
answers and score marks rather than teach them
higher order thinking
•
The employability of a graduate depends on higher
order learning, while
examination boards do not certify students on
those skills.. Our institutional examinations fail in
this.
•
• This in turn has created a coaching market for
competitive examinations and skilling
• In a decentralised education system through
autonomous institutions
• The use of technology in assessment enhances
credibilit
2. Secularism versus secularisation
“The word secularisation is a social process... of loss
of belief in religious
doctrines, ceasing to carry out standard rituals,
changing diets and so on and so forth.
•
Secularism is a diff•erent idea. It’s a polit ical
doctrine and its main idea is that religion should
be kept out of the orbits of the politics
•
6
06 January 2024 06:22 PM
1. Textile industry seek financial support
• Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS)
7
07 January 2024 03:00 PM
1. ISRO should help everyone enjoy the fruits of its
new science missions

new science missions
Xposat
○ lifetime of fi•ve years
Working
▪ the sun with seven instruments:
▪ VELC, a corona graph to study the uppermost
layer of the sun’s atmosphere;
▪ SUIT, an ultraviolet imaging tele scope;
▪ SoLEXS and HEL1OS, to study solar fl•ares and
coronal mass ejections;
▪ ASPEX and PAPA, to study the solar wind and
plasma; and
a set of dig ital magnetometers to measure
properties of the
magnetic fi•eld around the spacecraft
▪
○
•
2. Structured negotiation as a boost for disability
rights
• Structured negotiation is a collaborative and
solutiondriven dispute resolution technique
Benefits
○ avoid the high costs and negative publicity
associated with litigation
○ decreasing pendency, paperwork and red tape
it can allow service providers such as PayTM to
avoid the embarrassment of being
labelled as noncompliant
○
•
• the Chief Commissionerfor Persons with
Disabilities (‘CCPD’)
• optimism
3. Rise in child marriages in West Bengal
A recent study on child marriage in India published
in the Lancet noted the overall decrease in
child marriage across the country but pointed out
that four States,
mainly Bihar (16.7%), West Bengal (15.2%), Uttar
Pradesh (12.5%), and Maharashtra
(8.2%) accounted for more than half child marriages
in girls.
•
The paper titled ‘Prevalence of girl and boy child
marriage across States and
Union Territoriesin India, 1993–2021
•
Child marriage causes
○ migratory population
○ Illiteracy
•
impact
○ sexual and genderbased violence
10 infants died at Murshidaba,majority of the
children were born with

children were born with
extremely low birth weight. m. Because of child
marriage and
poverty, children are born with a low birth weight
○
•
Govt action from wb
Kanyashree Prakalpa is a conditional cash transfer
scheme aimed at
incentivising the schooling of all teenage girls
between the ages of 13 and 18,
○
○ ‘Rupashree Prakalpa’
the Government had introduced the Prohibition of
Child
Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in Parliament in
December 2021 for raising
the age of marriage of women to 21 year
○
•
4. IITDelhi team makes fi•rst hires landslide risk
map for India
a national landslide susceptibility map can help
identify the most dangerous
areas and help allocate resourcesfor mitigation
strategies better
•
landslide conditioning factors.
○ soil cover (or the type of soil in the area),
○ the number of trees covering the area, and
○ how far it is from any roads or mountains.
The fewer trees there are in a place, the closer it is
to roadbuilding
activity, and the steeper the local slope, the more
unstable the place will be and
thus more prone to landslides
○
•
• machine learning methods was used to analyse
the data.
8
08 January 2024 03:52 PM
the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provision) Act,
2023 was
passed to bring about changes in 42 central Acts of
varied genre, ranging from the Indian Post
Offi•ce Act, 1898, the Railways Act, 1989, and the
Cinematograph Act, 1952
1.
2. An ambitious push for values, ethics in higher
education
Mulya Pravah 2.0-It seeks to inculcate human
values and professional ethics in higher
education institutions
•
WAYFORWARD

WAYFORWARD
THE officers and staff• must ‘refrain from
misappropriating fi•nancial and other resources,
and refuse to accept gift, favour, service, or other
items from any person, group, private business,
or public agency which may affect the impartial
performance of duties
○
•
3. Understanding the EU’s carbon border tax
(EU)’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
(CBAM). The policy, which intends to tax
carbon intensive products coming into the EU from
2026
The CBAM is intended to work like the EU’s
Emission Trading
System (ETS), which sets a cap on the amount of
GHG emissions permitted.
○
○ steel will be greatly aff•ected by the CBAM.
•
The EU contended,
○ a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions by 2030,compared to 1990 levels,
there is a threat to EU products being replaced by
carbonintensive imports from
other countries such as India or China.
○
•
INDIA ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
it amended the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, to
introduce the Carbon
Credit Trading System (CCTS)
○
○ the Green Credit Programme Rules
•
India comment on EU's step
the practice as being violative of the common but
differentiated responsibilities
principle agreed upon under the Paris Agreement.
○
the EU could collect the tax and return the funds to
such countries to
invest in their green technologies.
○
•
4. New criminal bill
PM suggests rollout of three new criminal laws in
U.T.s by yearend(this act
Starting with the Union Territories),Chandigarh as
was being planned earlier
•
• Crime and Criminal Track ing Network and
Systems (CCTNS
9
11 January 2024 12:14 AM

nope
10
11 January 2024 12:30 AM
1. Vikalp Sangam
• homestaybased tourism,?
• s black economy?
2. After a record 1,111 NGOs got FCRA nod in 2023,
30 get clearance in Jan
the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA),
2010-enabling the organisation
to receive foreign funds.
•
11
11 January 2024 06:19 PM
1. Mamata asks PM Modi to list Bengali as ‘classical
language’
classical language’ consideration based on certain
linguistic, cultural, and historical
criteria.
•
2. Swachh Survekshan Awards2023,
• announced by the Union Ministry of Housing and
Urban Aff•airs on Thursday
Sub categories
○ the cleanest ‘canton ment’ town
○ ‘Cleanest Ganga town
○ the cleanest ‘Best Safaimitra Surakshit Sheher’
(Cities safest for sanitation workers).
•
12
12 January 2024 01:17 PM
1. SC refuses to stay law on CEC, EC selection; issues
notice to govt
Screen clipping taken: 13-01-2024 11:06 AM
The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve,
known as the safest ad dress of the greater one
horned rhinoceros, has recorded a 27% i
ncrease in the number of resident and winter
migratory waterbirds
2.
Knowledge and integrity will have to go together
alongside genuine empathy for the
common man if the image of India’s police force
has to improve.
3.
• DGPs and their immediate subordinates should
spend an hour a day
4. India’s longest sea bridge atal etu
5. DRDO conducts successful fl•ight test of Akash
missile (surfacetoair missile (SAM)
The flight test was conducted against a highspeed
unmanned aerial target at
very low altitude.

very low altitude.
6.
7. Myanmar junta, armed alliance reach ceasefi•re
.junta military vs (National Liberation Army (TNLA),
the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army
(MNDAA), and the Arakan Army (AA)
•
13
13 January 2024 11:05 AM
vaccination cam paign against human papil
lomavirus (HPV),which cause 70% of cervical
cancer.
1.
• . In India, cervical cancer is the se cond most
common can cer in women,
• “HPV vaccination Efficiency Is 90%
2. India’s oldest living city found in Vadnagar,as old
as 800 BCE
3. .
Screen clipping taken: 14-01-2024 11:32 AM
4. South Africa dragged Israel to the ICJ
invoking the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948,
against Israel, accusing it of committing genocide
during its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
•
ICJ
Concerns
▪ The ICJ has compulsory jurisdiction only if the
parties involved have accepted it.
▪ The ICJ does not have a direct enforcement
mechanism.
In certain cases, the UN Security Council can be
involved in enforcing ICJ
judgments.However, the effectiveness of such
measures can be influenced by
political considerations and the veto power of the
Security Council's permanent
members.
▪
○
•
the Genocide Convention 1948
It was the first human rights treaty to be adopted
by the UN
General Assembly. It primarily arose form a
commitment to ‘never again’ allow mass killing of
people such as the Holocaust.
○
genocide means acts such as killing members of a
national, racial, ethnic or religious group;
○
•
14
14 January 2024 11:28 AM

nope
15
15 January 2024 02:33 PM
1. U.S. relists Houthis as terrorists in response to
Red Sea attacks
Operation Prosperity Guardian launched by the U.S.
which was intended to operate under the
Combined Maritime Force’s (CMF) Combined Task
Force 153
•
India, which had joined the CMF as associate
partner in 2022 and was upgraded to full member
in November 2023,
•
18
18 January 2024 12:12 PM
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has
developed an improvised
distress alert transmitter (DAT) with advanced capa
bilities for fi•shermen at sea
to send emergency mes sages from boats.LIKE f bad
weather, cyclone
tsunami or other emergen cies
1.
through a com munication satellite and re ceived at
a central control station (Indian Mission
Control Centre)The information is then forwarded
to maritime res cue coordination centres
(MRCCs)
•
2. Crafting a new phase in IndiaU.K. defence ties
• Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs)
• People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
• U.K. is in a position to help redress the Indian
Navy’s technological gaps against the Chinese.
London and New Delhi are cementing cooperation
is in electrical propulsion
to power aircraft carriers.
○ low acoustic signature
The British have agreed to train, equip and help
establish the infrastructure
necessary to develop an electric propulsion system
○
•
19
19 January 2024 11:23 PM
NOPE
21
21 January 2024 08:19 PM
1. T he Finance Commission’
Two important tasks of the Finance Commissions
are
○ (i) to recommend the proportion of the Union tax

○ (i) to recommend the proportion of the Union tax
revenues to be assigned to States
○ (ii) to recommend the share of each State in the
assigned tax revenue.
•
Finance Commission devises a distribution formula
to a
principles of equity (generally 80-90%)
. Equity stipulates that the revenuescarce States
and States with higher
expenditures get larger shares of Union tax revenue
than others
▪
▪ Ex bihar
○
. Equity(10 to 20%)
is to reward the States that are effi•cient in
collecting revenue and
rationalising spending.
▪
▪ Ex. Gujrat, tamilnadu
○
•
he case of distributing revenue from Union excise
duties, the entire
distribution was based on population or other
indicators of expenditure needs such as area, per
capita income, proportion of Scheduled
Caste/Scheduled Tribe population, and some
indicators of social and physical infrastructure
needs.
•
Efficiency Indicators
Tax effort is broadly defined as the ratio of own
revenue of a State to
its Gross Domestic Product.
○
○ Fiscal discipline is the proportion of own revenue
to the revenue expenditure of a State.
•
equity indicators
per capita income, population as per the 2011
Census instead of the
conventional 1971 Census, area, forest cover, etc.
○
•
cascading tax burden
a tax is applied at multiple stages. Ultimately it
increasing the overall tax burden on the
final consumer.
○
•
‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana-’PM announces
solar
rooftop scheme for 1 crore households
2.
23

23
23 January 2024 09:05 PM
1. Analysing the rising gap in incomes
• the Periodic Labour Force Survey
According to a recent report by the State Bank of
India (SBI), India has witnessed a
significant fall in inequality over the last decade.
•
the Gini coefficient
a standard measure of inequality that ranges from
0, indicating perfect equality,
to 1, indicating perfect inequality
○
•
• 80% of income earners earn less than ₹•2.5 lakh
per annum
a polarisation in incomes. Incomes of the top 10%
have grown faster than the bottom 30%,
○
•
2. Gender equity in education:
The gender gap widens due to
○ social norms
○ gender stereotypes correlated with biological
factors such as adolescence
•
evidence
the mean years of schooling for girls has almost
tripled from just 1.7
years in 1990 to 4.7 in 2018.for males from 4.1 to
8.2 years.
the simple difference between male and female
attainment, has
actually increased with time from 2.4 years to 3.5
years.
▪
○
the dropout rate for boys in Class 1 is marginally
higher at 6.88 (6.38 for
girls), this trend radically reverses by Class 8, when
almost twice the number of
girls are dropping out of the schooling system.
○
The latest Annual Status of Education Report “Early
Years” is proof of this. More boys than girls tend to
be enrolled in private
institutions, where parents incur out of pocket
expenditure. The preferred
choice for girls’ enrolment is the free government
school, highlighting societal
gender biases in exercising school choice.
○
•
Challenge
The lack of a regulatory framework, inadequate
funding, poor quality and no

funding, poor quality and no
legislation for universal access to early childhood
education continue to serve as
bottlenecks in India
○
•
Action require
early childhood education (ECE)-
the seeds of gender norms are ingrained and where
children
develop an understanding of identities, behaviours
and stereotypes
▪
▪ eliminates gender stereotypes and therefore,
erases the gender gap
○
•
24
24 January 2024 09:57 PM
▪ eliminates gender stereotypes and therefore,
erases the gender gap
• Action -Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao
• "Every dollar invested in ECE yields over a
thousand dollars in return"
1. Providing clean water to all
the Jal Jeevan Mission
Jeevan Mission has already provided tap water to
73% of rural
households. This means that more than 14 crore
rural households
have tap connections compared to only 3.23 crore
in August 2019
○
•
• United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6
(clean water and sanitation for all
multi village schemes through
bulk water transfer were planned. Community
water purification
plants were provided to meet drinking and cooking
water needs for the short term
○
•
RESULT EXPECTATION
safe water can reduce infant deaths by almost 30%,
with
the potential to prevent 25% of underfi•ve deaths
in India
○
•
A study conducted in the financial year 202324 by
the World Health
Organization states that
○ 4 lakh diarrhoeal deaths can be averted if tap
water is provided in every household.

water is provided in every household.
The Jal Jeevan Mission can lead to economic savings
of up
to $101 billion or ₹8.37 lakh crore
○
•
ACTION
○ Nal Jal Mitra initiative,
○ Over 5.29 lakh village water and sanitation
committees/ Pani Samitis
About 22.98 lakh women have been trained for
testing water samples using fi•eld
testing kits
○
It also ensures continuous monitoring and
surveillance of water quality
parameters through advanced technologies.
○
•
2. Reconsidering the free movement regime
HISTORY
○ d the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826
•
• Act East policy
concern
○ hit and run operations.
○ “illegal immigrants” and
○ “narcoterrorists” to justify their “ethnic
cleansing”.
•
2023 The civil war in the neighbouring country also
forced
some 40,000 people into Mizoram
•
Why are Mizoram and Nagaland opposed to ending
the FMR?
○ Mizos share ethnic ties with the Chin people
across the border.
○ live on the Indian side, their farms are on the
other side.
•
25
25 January 2024 11:12 PM
1. Govt program to reduce the effect of brain drain
• Vaibhav (VAIshwik BHArtiya Vaigyanik),
• VAJRA program
The differences
in the two schemes are minor. Vaibhav is
exclusively for the Indian diaspora, while VAJRA can
include other nationalities too. V
•
2. Why is there no snowfall in Kashmir?
its driest January2024 since 1901, with a 99.7%
shortfall in January rain
compared to what is normal.
•

•
Reason
○ Lack of adequate moisture
○ This also resulted in a very dense fog persisting
over the plains of northwest India
three major reasons behind the lack of snowfall —
and
consequently – intensifying cold waves over north
India.
▪ a drastic fall in Western Disturbances (WDs) over
northwest India
▪ prevailing ElNino conditions; and
▪ the absence of a strong jet stream.the jet stream
has been shifting northwards
▪ global warming
○
•
• Western Himalayan Region got 80% less rain than
normal.
• India reported its hottest ever December.
3. Higher education enrolment rose by 19 lakh in
202122: govt. survey
4. The impact of cold waves on community well-
being
• cardiovascular issues elevated blood pressure and
heart rate, asthma and bronchitis.
low visibility and weatherrelated mobility
restrictions lead to a lack of sunlight and
limited movement.
•
• mood fl•uctuations
• physical discomfort and mental strain
• reduced social interaction
26
27 January 2024 11:30 AM
1. India-France defence ties take a bigger leap
• “codesign and codevelopment” of mili tary
hardware
2. Union govt. makes it clear that Aadhaar card no
proof of citizenship, and birth dat
27
27 January 2024 11:41 AM
The Odisha government launch LABHA (Laghu Bana
Jatya Drabya
Kraya) Yojna — a 100% Statefunded minimum
support price scheme for minor forest produces.
1.
MSP collected at the procurement centres by Tribal
Development
Cooperative Corporation Limited of Odisha
•
2. Pros and cons of simultaneous elections
• cost of holding general elections t
• permanent campaign’ mode, which acts as a
hindrance to policy making and governanc

hindrance to policy making and governanc
• impact on administrative efficiency
• a federal country; detrimental to the federal
spirit; a basic structure of the Constitution
• President’s rule under Article 356 of the
Constitution
constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 85, 172
and 174 that deal with the duration
and dissolution of Lok Sabha and
•
• cycle after two and half years.
l amendments to the Constitution and the
Representation of the People Act,
1951; (b) any ‘noconfidence motion’
•
• e newly constituted House should be only for the
remainder period of the original House
• Parliamentary democracies like South Africa,
Sweden and Germany have fixed tenures
A lack of confidence against the German
Chancellor can be
moved only by electing a successor
•
What can be an ideal solution? There is a lack of
consensus among
various political parties about the conduct of
simultaneous elections
•
30
31 January 2024 11:29 PM
1. What makes the India-France ‘strategic
partnership’ tick
Relation witness
The ‘Strategic Partnership’ was tested when India
undertook its series of nuclear tests in May 1998
and declared itself a nuclear weapon state. When
compared to other countries, France was the fi•rst
country to open a dialogue with India a
○
It was the fi•rst P5 country to support India’s claim
for a permanent seat in
an expanded and reformed UN Security Council
○
○ in favour of multipolarity
•
• counterterrorism, intelligence sharing
Cooperation in the space
○ French assistance to set up the Indian launch
facility at Sriharikota
•
• PostBrexit, France is an entry point for Europe
and Francophonie
1
01 February 2024 09:30 PM
february Page 92
1. What are the effects of internationalization of
bond market in a country

bond market in a country
ANS.-The internationalization of a country's bond
market can have several effects, both
positive and negative. Here are some of the
potential impacts:
Positive Effects:
Increased Capital Inflows:
International investors gain access to the domestic
bond market, leading to
increased capital inflows. This can help the country
raise funds for economic
development and reduce reliance on domestic
sources.
▪
a.
Diversification of Investor Base:
A more diverse investor base can enhance market
liquidity and stability.
International investors bring different perspectives
and risk appetites, contributing
to a more dynamic bond market.
▪
b.
Lower Borrowing Costs:
As the investor base expands, the demand for the
country's bonds may increase,
potentially leading to lower borrowing costs for the
government and domestic
entities.
▪
c.
Enhanced Market Efficiency:
The participation of international investors can lead
to increased market
efficiency, better price discovery, and improved risk
management practices.
▪
d.
Currency Stabilization:
International investors may require the use of the
local currency, leading to
increased demand and potential stabilization of the
local currency.
▪
e.
Negative Effects:
Vulnerability to Global Factors:
Increased internationalization exposes the domestic
bond market to global
economic conditions and financial market trends,
making it more vulnerable to
external shocks.
▪
f.
Exchange Rate Risks:
If international investors demand repayment in a
different currency, it may expose

different currency, it may expose
the country to exchange rate risks, especially if its
currency is volatile.
▪
g.
Hot Money Flows:
Rapid inflows and outflows of international capital
(often referred to as "hot
money") can lead to volatility and instability in the
bond market, affecting interest
rates and asset prices.
▪
h.
Policy Challenges:
The central bank may face challenges in managing
monetary policy, especially if
there is a conflict between domestic economic
goals and the interests of
international investors.
▪
i.
Potential for Speculative Activity:
Increased international participation may attract
speculative investors, leading to
short-term market distortions and risks.
▪
j.
3
february Page 93
What are microcredentials? They are shortduration
learning activities with proof of
specifi•c learning outcomes
1.
5
february Page 94
1. A critical view of the ‘sanitation miracle’ in rural
India
• Goal 6 in the 17
• subsidised Central Rural Sanitation Programme
(CRSP) in 1986.
the government launched Phase II of the SBM-G.
The focus here was on the sustainability of initial
achievements by promoting solid and liquid
waste management
The government aims to transform India from ODF
to ODF Plus by 2024-
25. Around 85% of villages in India have become
ODF Plus
○
•
The primary reasons for not using one were: not
having any superstructure (21%);
the facility malfunctioning (22%); the facility being
unhygienic/unclean (20%), and personal
reasons (23%).

reasons (23%).
○ lack of access to water
○ Social norms of purity
○ the substructure had collapsed
○ e pits were full.
•
National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS)
Round3 (2019-20),
conducted by the Ministry, shows that 95% of the
rural population had toilet access in India
•
Sanitation behaviour also varies across
socioeconomic classes. NARSS3 fi•nds that access
to toilets was highest for upper castes (97%) and
lowest for Scheduled Castes (95%
•
Action
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) programme was launched
to provide tap water to each household by 2024.
○
Social norms that act through social networks
play a signifi•cant role in toilet construction and use
○
•
2. An Uttar Pradesh model to tackle malnutrition
the importance of women’s empowerment in
tackling malnutrition by supporting
community based micro enterprises led by selfhelp
groups. These enterprises
produce fortifi•ed and nutritious foods for
pregnant/breastfeeding mothers and children,
provided as take home ration through the
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
programme
•
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) by
using two pilot plants in Unnao and Fatehpur in
2021.
•
• provides livelihood opportunities to local women,
empowering them economically.
• provided with machinery and raw materials such
as wheat at subsidised rates to produce and
The WFP has collaborated with the Department of
Women and Child Development to enhance
the nutritional value and utilisation of
supplementary nutrition
•
3. Myanmar’s civil war and India’s interests
. Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) and the
People’s Defence Forces
control many towns in diff•erent parts of the
country
•
• Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project
(KMTTP) in Myanma
• Geo-economic and geopolitical challenges of

• Geo-economic and geopolitical challenges of
northeast India.a landlocked region
India and Myanmar signed the framework
agreement on the Kaladan
project in 2008.delayed because of rugged terrain,
inadequate inter departmental coordination,
political instability and security challenges in
•
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and
the Ta’ang National Liberation
Army, is part of the Three Brotherhood alliance,
which some claim has China’s support.
•
• Arakan Army receives considerable funding and
military equipment from China
• e ChinaMyanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC)
6
february Page 95
february Page 96
1. The severe erosion of •scal federalism
fnancial embargo”,d the Centre of pushing the State
into a severe •nancial crisis by imposing a
limit on its borrowings
•
• a Net Borrowing Ceiling (NBC)
• Article 293 of the Constitution
• severe erosion of •scal federalism in the country
• state-owned enterprises also part of it
• o Article 293(3) o
• 202 of the Constitutio
2. Understanding the delimitation exercise
• Article 82 and 170 of the Constitution
• f ‘one citizen-one vote-one value
• the Lok Sabha based on the 1951, 1961 and 1971
Census was •xed at 494, 522 and 543,
the most important reform for strengthening
democracy is to empower the local bodies of
panchayats and municipalities who engage with the
citizens on a day-to-day basis
•
3. Lok Sabha passes anti-cheating Bill
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Public Exami
nations (Prevention of Un fair Means) Bill,
2024, to check malpractices and or ganised cheating
in govern ment recruitment exams. The
Bill proposes a mini mum of three years impri
sonment and a •ne up to ₹1 crore
•
7
february Page 97
1. 390-year-old lamp post in Nalgonda unravels
trade links of Telangana
• Deepastambham (lamp post)
• While Dhwajastham bam (•ag pole) is part of
temple architecture,

temple architecture,
• dated to June 1635
in Telugu mixed with Tamil language. It is dedicated
to Kasi Viswa natha and because of its
height,
•
it would have served as a lighthouse on the riverine
trade route,”, describe land trade routes.
But make refe rence to riverine trade
•
• the Qutb Shahi rulers
2. Road map for •scal consolidation
• The buoyancy of tax revenue comes to 1.33
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management
(FRBM) Act, 2003 wanted that the debt-GDP
ratio of the Centre and States taken together
should not exceed 60%. For the Centre, the
target level was indicated at 40%. T
•
3. Satellite-based toll collection
Satellite-ba
sed toll c...
•
8
february Page 98
1. What are the regulations with respect to rice
prices?
• “Bharat rice” to bring down rice prices in the
market
• the nearly 430 varieties of rice produced in the
country,
Resons
○ Minimum Support Price for rice has gone up
○ the cost of transport, storage, etc.
○ a demand for rice for consumption, ethanol
production, and cattle feed
•
2. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Ki san Samridhi Sah-
Yojana
• the exten sion of Fisheries and Aqua culture
Infrastructure De velopment Fund till 2026
9
february Page 99
1. Swaminathan, Rao, Charan
Singh to get Bharat Ratna
The Green Revolution pioneer and two former
PMsjoin former Deputy PM I-K. Advani, former
Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur in the list of awardees
this year, the longest ever announced in a
year
10
february Page 100
1. the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution)
Amendment Act, 2024
What is the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974?

Pollution) Act, 1974?
This led to the creation, in September 1974, of the
Central Pollution Control Boards
(CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB)
○
the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is to
collect, collate and disseminate
technical and statistical data relating to water
pollution,”. While the CPCB is
empowered to conduct checks and provide
guidance on technical standards to be
adhered to, the SPCB files cases and is expected to
enforce compliance. Violating the
provisions of the Water Act can mean industries
being shut down
○
•
What are the amendments?
○ Refer bill
•
11
february Page 101
1. Global Green Credit Initiative.
• Ind - uae relation
2.
12
february Page 102
A government-initiat ed rating system for the
hospitality sec tor, aimed at ensuring
world-class hygiene and sanitation at hotels, re
sorts,
1.
The ranking scheme — Swachhata Green Leaf Rat
ing — was launched in No vember
last year by the Un ion Tourism Ministry in
collaboration with the De partment of
Drinking Wa ter and Sanitation.
•
2. Earth-wide telescope conrms black hole’s
shadow is ‘real
The Event Horizon Telescope is a global network of
radio telescopes that work together.
In 2019, it produced the rst image of a black hole,
the one at the centre of the M87
galaxy
•
13
february Page 103
1. India-UAE ties
• 11th World Government Summit in Dubai.
The Bharat Mart project comes on the heels of the
ambitious India-UAE Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which
completed its •rst year in 2023 and has
already seen India’s trade with the UAE grow by

already seen India’s trade with the UAE grow by
16% to $85 billion.
•
• UAE’s position as India’s third largest trading
partner and second largest export destination
2. XVI Finance Commission
• chaired by former NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman
Arvind Panagariya
14 and 15
february Page 104
SC strikes down electoral bonds scheme, calls it
unconstitutional
Consern
▪ , which provides blanket anonymity to political
donors
▪ electoral bonds promoted corruption
“contributions made by companies are purely
business transactions made with the
intent of securing benets in return”.
▪
▪ It says voters’ right to information about political
funding is violated
the Companies Act that removed the cap of 7.5% of
a company’s profit that can be
donated to political parties without any require
ment to disclose details of the
recipient parties in its profit and loss accounts. It
has also mandated disclosure of
donation details since 2019.
▪
▪ Electoral bonds also removed the earlier limits
on how much of its profits a company could
donate to political parties. The scheme even
allowed loss:+making companies to nuke
donations.
○
○ quid pro quo=
"something for something"
1.
the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991
“In providing a guarantee for the preservation of
the religious character of places of
2.
16
february Page 105
“In providing a guarantee for the preservation of
the religious character of places of
public worship as they existed on 15 August 1947
○
○ , the Places of Worship Act, which made an
exception for the Babri Masjid
What is behind Ladakh’s unrest?
demanding full Statehood for Ladakh and inclusion
in the Sixth Schedule to safeguard

in the Sixth Schedule to safeguard
land, culture, language, and environment. The ‘Leh
Chalo’ protest led by Leh Apex Body
(LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA)
resulted in a shutdown. T
○
Why has Ladakh turned to protests?
concerns among locals about the loss of identity,
resources and bureaucratic
overreach.
▪
Ladakh is worried that opening up the region to
non-locals and industrialists would
impact the region’s demography, eventually leading
to the alienation and loss of
distinct identity
▪
the Muslim-majority Kargil which wanted to remain
a part of the erst while State
and not join the Buddhist-majority Leh
▪
▪ Article 35A.
○
a four-point agenda in 2021.
▪ Their main demands include having a full-•edged
legislature,
▪ constitutional safeguards under the Sixth
Schedule,
▪ separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil
districts,
▪ and job reservations for locals
○
demand an increase in the number of Lok Sabha
seats from one to two (one each for
Kargil and Leh)
○
The LAB and KDA have demanded the government
to extend Ladakh’s territorial control
up to Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
(PoK)
○
h the LAB and KDA urging the government to grant
special status to Ladakh on the lines
of Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim and other northeastern
States
▪ 80% of Ladakh’s total population of 2.74 lakh are
tribals
○
3.
India, Nepal sign pact to link UPI, NPI for faster
remittances
aimed at facilitating cross border remittances bet
ween India and Nepal by enabling
users of the two systems to make instant, low-cost
fund transfers,
a.

a.
fast payment systems through the UPI NPI linkage
would further deepen •nancial
connec tivity and “reinforce the enduring historical,
cultu ral, and economic ties
bet ween the two countries
b.
4.
february Page 106
Farmers demand
the Union government to bring an ordinance for a
legal gua rantee to Minimum
Sup port Price (MSP) for crops.
○
○ MSP based on the "C2+50%" formula.
○ "A2 plus FL" formula,
1.
2. Joblessness rising in country
with education levels: study
3. Nearly 5000 of pregnancies in
India are high-risk
Prevalence of high-risk pregnancies was highest in
Meghalaya (678%), Manipur (66.7%).
Mizoram ((2.5%) and Telangma
•
(603b). while lowest in Sikkim (.u.n,). ()disha
(37-3%) and ( :hhattivrh (381%)
4. Recalibrating merit in the age ofArtificial
Intelligence
• he concept of meritocracy, wherein
individuals are rewarded and advance
based on their abilities, achievements and
hard work, rather than their social status or
Background.
○ meritocracy foster a sense Of entitlement among
the successful and
resentment among those left behind, thereby
eroding social cohesion. Critical theorists,
AI as a disruptive factor
Individuals with access to AI tools gain a significant
advantage, not necessarily due to
their personal abilities, but because of the
enhanced capabilities of these tools.
○
○ an Al tool can predict
pancreatic cancer in a patient three years before
radiologists can make the diagnosis.
Capabilities such as this can lead to the
displacement of jobs that involve routine,
predictable tasks. This also means that Al would
impact high-wage job.
○ Cause socio economic disparity.
○ the opaque nature of many AI
algorithms, coupled with the concentration of
power in a few tech giants, poses significant
challenges to accountability. And eroding
meritocratic idea.

meritocratic idea.
•
5. The enormity of the Indian electorate and its
State-wise variances
17
february Page 107
february Page 108
1. Engineering graduates are steering the service
industry
• due to the adaptability and problem-solving
mindset ingrained in their education. Employers,
Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity,
innovation, dealing with ambiguity, adaptability
and •exibility are some of the most relevant skills
required to succeed in these modern org..
•
18
february Page 109
1. ‘Nel’ Jayaraman Mission IN TN
traditional paddy varieties, including Aruvadham
Kuruvai, Poonkar, Thooyamalli, Seeraga
Samba, Mappillai Samba, Sivan Samba and Karuppu
Kavuni, would be cultivated on 10,000
acres across the State in 2025-26
•
2. India’s Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
the concept of ‘deemed forests,’ or tracts that were
not offcially classi•ed as such in
government or revenue re cords.
•
India’s ambitions to create a carbon sink of 2.5
billion-3 billion tonnes, to meet its net zero
goals have required forest laws to be “dynamic"
and, therefore, the rules have sought to
remove ‘deemed forest,’ n
•
3. National cervical cancer control scheme
• to encourage vaccination against cervical cancer
for girls aged nine to 14.
almost all the cases (99%, according to the World
Health Organization) are linked to in fection
with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common
virus transmitted through sexual con tact.
While most HPV infections resolve sponta neously
and the women remain symptom-free,
persistent infection can lead to cervical cancer.
•
• as VIA and VILI tests and help look for
precancerous lesions and cancer
4. panchayats as self-governing institutions
“Panchayats earn only 1% of the revenue through
taxes”, with the rest being raised as grants
from the State and Centre .
•
• 80% of the revenue is from the Centre and 15 %

• 80% of the revenue is from the Centre and 15 %
from the States. T
gram sabhas
They have the authority to impose taxes, fees, and
levies, directing the funds towards
local development projects, public services, and
social welfare programmes.
empowering villages to become economically
independent and resilient. Thus, gram
sabhas need to promote entrepreneurship, and
foster partnerships with external
stakeholders to enhance the e•ectiveness of
revenue generation e•orts
○
•
When gram panchayats collect 89% of own taxes,
the intermediate panchayats collect 7% and
the district panchayats a nominal amount of 5%.
There is a need to demarcate OSR for the
entire three-tier panchayats to ensure equitable
sharing
•
5. .farmers protesting
the MSP they proposed is based on the A2+FL+ 50%
method (input cost and family labour) or
at the rate of C2 (input cost and rent of the land)+
50%
•
• t no law on MSP has been enacted yet,
The MSP is the price at which the government
promises, on paper, to procure agricultural
produce from farmers. There are MSPs for 22 crops,
primarily grains, pulses and oil seeds,
paddy and copra. According to studies, only a small
share of farmers in the country bene•ts
from MSPs
•
the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce
(Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential
Commodities (Amendment) Act, and the Farmers
(Empowerment and Protection) Agreement
on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act
•
21
february Page 110
1. Vignettes of a Janus-faced economy
Economic dualism-the coexistence of subsistence
agriculture and cash production of industrial
goods
•
two major welfare policy initiatives.
First, in November 2023, the government extended
the free food grain distribution
programme (under the Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Anna Yojana) for •ve years
○
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has
been the highest.
○
•
COVID-19 and the lockdown caused a spike in the
unemployment rate and increased demand
for MGNREGS.
•
Agriculture and non-agriculture rural real wages
grew at 8.6% and 6.9% per annum during
2019-10 to 2013-14. However, during 2014-15 to
2018-19, growth of real farm and non-farm
wages decelerated to 3.3% and 3% per annum. In
the last •ve years, 2019-20 to 2023-24, the
annual growth rate of real rural wages has become
negative for both agriculture (-0.6%) and
non-agricultural (-1.4%) workers
•
Indian investors traded a whopping 85.3 billion
options contracts. No other country trades
such humongous volumes of options contracts
annually.
•
Concern
Share market--average time an Indian trader holds
an option is less than 30 minutes,
according to data from mutual fund provider
○
•
29
04 March 2024 12:32 AM
february Page 111
1. .
• India stand - united tate of palestine. Not on 2
nation theroy. Beased on 1967 border.
2
02 March 2024 11:03 AM
march Page 112
1. Note book
3
03 March 2024 08:46 PM
march Page 113
1. NEW GI TAGES
Cuttack Rupa Tarakasi (silver •ligree)
○ •ligree was incorpo rated into jewellery as ear ly
as 3,500 BCE in Mesopo tamia
Tarakasi work reached Cuttack from Per sia through
Indonesia some 500 years ago by
sea trade.
○
○ jewellery and gems bet ween Kalinga and Indone
sia,” t
•
league are Ban glar Muslin,
○ one of the popular traditional han dloom crafts
of Bengal;

of Bengal;
•
• Ratlam Riyawan Lahsun (Garlic)
the Am baji White Marble
which is formed when limestone is re-crystallised
under the earth’s crust due to intense
pressure and heat. T
○
•
• Assam Majuli Manuscript Painting
4
04 March 2024 11:44 AM
march Page 114
1. World Trade Organization (13th Ministerial
Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhab)
Imp concern
○ disruptions on critical shipment routes
○ , tariff-heavy trade policies
•
Geneva (MC12)
a permanent solution in agriculture for public stock
holding to ensure domestic food
security or subsidies to the fsheries sector. Which is
india's concern
○
•
• Investment facility pact
5
05 March 2024 12:08 PM
march Page 115
1. Woman empowerment opportunity
T he transition to low-carbon development has the
potential to add about 35 million green
jobs in India by 2047.
•
a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 2019 report
shows that men comprise 85% of the
work force in sectors such as infrastructure,
transport, construction, and manufacturing
•
A study in 2023 by the Skill Council for Green Jobs
indicated that 85% of the training for green
skills was imparted to men while over 90% of
women believed that social norms limited their
participation in training for green jobs.
•
, safety concerns, lower representation in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) subjects,
•
only 30.8% in engineering, manufacturing and
construction programmes which are the key
sectors for green transition. To bridge this gap early
hands-on learning, mentorship,
scholarships, •nancial assistance, and awareness
generation are crucial to empower women in
green jobs-related •elds.
•

•
• inclusive for all
The average MPCE stands at ₹3,773 in rural India
and ₹6,459 in urban India. Notably, when
considering imputed values of free items, these
•gures increase to ₹3,860 and ₹6,521,
respectively
2.
6
07 March 2024 12:34 AM
march Page 116

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