BRICS

As India is gearing up to host this year’s BRICS summit, the grouping is facing fresh challenges, from disputes among member countries to tackling COVID-triggered crises and opportunities. What is BRICS? To be clear, BRICS was not invented by any of its members. In 2001, Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill authored a paper called “Building Better… Continue reading

Performance Grading Index 2020 by Education Ministry

The Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index for 2019-20 was recently released. Performance Grading Index The PGI is a tool to provide insights on the status of school education in States and UTs including key levers that drive their performance and critical areas for improvement. It monitors the progress that States and UTs have made in… Continue reading

‘Sea Snot’ outbreak in Turkey

There has been growing environmental concern in Turkey over the accumulation of ‘sea snot’, a slimy layer of grey or green sludge in the country’s seas, which can cause considerable damage to the marine ecosystem. What is ‘Sea Snot’? ‘Sea snot’ is marine mucilage that is formed when algae are overloaded with nutrients as a… Continue reading

Verdict on Maratha reservation ignores inequality within intermediate castes

The article highlights the issues with Maratha reservation judgement delivered by the Supreme Court which rejected the positive discrimination of lower classes of dominant caste. About the verdict The Supreme Court rendered a unanimous verdict on the validity of the SEBC Act, 2018 that was to grant reservation to Marathas. The court held that the… Continue reading

Enabling financial inclusion

The article takes an overview of the progress made by India in the financial inclusion and role played by JAM trinity in it. What is financial inclusion? Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate,… Continue reading

CIBER-2 Mission to count the stars in the Universe

A NASA-funded rocket’s launch window will open at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, USA. The aim of this mission is to count the number of stars that exist in the Universe. Answer this PYQ from CSP 2020 in the comment box: Q.“The experiment will employ a trio of spacecraft flying in formation… Continue reading

Caste-wise split in MGNREGA wage payments

The Centre has asked the States to split wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme into separate categories for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and others from this financial year. What is MGNREGA? The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. This is a labour… Continue reading

SCO Agreement on Mass Media Cooperation

The Union Cabinet has accorded an ex post facto approval for signing and ratifying an agreement on cooperation in the field of mass media between all member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Highlights of the Agreement The agreement, which was signed in June 2019, would provide an opportunity for the member states to… Continue reading

Places in news: Pandav Leni Complex

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found three more caves in the Trirashmi Buddhist cave complex, also known as Pandav Leni, near Nashik, Maharashtra. Answer this PYQ first, in the comment box: Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of… Continue reading

World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021

The report titled World Employment and Social Outlook was recently released by the International Labour Organization (ILO). About the report The report analyses the impact of the crisis on the labour market across the world. It offers projections for recovery and gives details of the unequal impact of the crisis on different groups of workers… Continue reading

Model Tenancy Act 2019

The Union Cabinet has approved the Model Tenancy Act (MTA) to be sent to the States and Union Territories to enact legislation or amend laws on rental properties. Model Tenancy Act MTA is aimed at opening up of the vacant housing stock for rental housing purposes and helping bridge the trust deficit that exists between… Continue reading

US investigation into India’s Digital Services Tax (DST)

The US government has announced the further suspension of punitive tariffs for six months on India, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK while it continues to resolve the DST investigation amid the ongoing multilateral negotiations at the OECD and the G20. Do you remember? GAFA tax—named after Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—is a proposed digital… Continue reading

DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions for exploration of Venus

NASA has selected two missions to the planet Venus, Earth’s nearest neighbor. The missions are called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS. DAVINCI+ and VERITAS (1) DAVINCI+ DAVINCI+ is short for ‘Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging’ and is the first US-led mission to the planet’s atmosphere since 1978. It will try to understand… Continue reading

OneWeb constellation for Internet from the Skies

Following the successful launch of 36 satellites, OneWeb’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation reached 218 in-orbit satellites. What is OneWeb? OneWeb is a global communications company that aims to deliver broadband satellite Internet around the world through its fleet of LEO satellites. OneWeb satellites are built at a OneWeb and Airbus joint venture facility in… Continue reading

China’s EAST Tokamak Device

China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), which mimics the energy generation process of the sun, set a new record. What is China’s ‘artificial sun’ EAST? The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor is an advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device. The purpose of the artificial sun is to replicate the process of nuclear fusion, which… Continue reading

[pib] SDG India Index 2021

The third edition of the SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21 was released by NITI Aayog. SDG India Index The index measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country’s journey towards meeting the Global Goals and targets. It has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability,… Continue reading

What explains the surge in FDI inflows?

The article analyses the factors contributing to the claim of 10% rise in total Foreign Direct Investment in 2020-21 and its impact on economy. Making sense of increased FDI Total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in 2020-21 is $81.7 billion, up 10% over the previous year, reported a recent Ministry of Commerce and Industry press… Continue reading

Lawsuit against 5G and the debate around

A notable actor has filed a lawsuit in the Bombay High Court against the 5G telecom technology up-gradation, trial runs for which have started in India now. What is 5G technology? 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks. It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low,… Continue reading

Child labour in India

The article highlights the risk posed by pandemic to the gains made by India on reducing the child labour in India. Child labour in India A Government of India survey (NSS Report No. 585, 2017-18) suggests that only 79.6%. of the children in the age group of 14-17 years are attending educational institutions (formal and… Continue reading

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