Know all about the National Board for Wildlife

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) hasn’t met since 2014. Policy decisions and clearances have, meanwhile, come from a standing committee to the dismay of experts. This newscard is all about the factoids on National Board for Wildlife. The fact that they haven’t met since 2014 makes it interesting for UPSC to quiz you on… Continue reading

[pib] ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ campaign

Union HRD Ministry has launched a week-long ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ campaign for Crowdsourcing of Ideas for Improving Online Education ecosystem of India. ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ campaign Students and teachers are the main target audience of this campaign. Students who are currently studying in schools or higher educational institutions are the ones engaging with the existing… Continue reading

Financing the pandemic rescue package

Context The priority for India is to ensure that it overcomes the COVID-19 pandemic and kick-starts GDP growth. Financing strategy for the 1.7 lakh crores package Rather than fix the weaknesses in the macroeconomy: a high fiscal deficit of 7.49% and government indebtedness that was 69% of GDP in 2019, the government wants to overcome… Continue reading

Is e-NAM portal capable of supporting farmers?

Context The union government has launched new features in electronic agriculture market platform (e-NAM), to decongest wholesale markets amid coronavirus threat. Whether these features would solve the problems of farmers is a matter of question. What is e-NAM? eNAM platform is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India. It was launched on April… Continue reading

India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package

The Centre has approved a centrally funded ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’ with the objective of strengthening national and state health systems. About the Package The package is 100 per cent centrally funded project under the National Health Mission. It will be implemented in three phases from January 2020 to March… Continue reading

[pib] Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT)

The Union govt. has launched a training module for management of COVID-19 named ‘Integrated Government Online training’ (iGOT) on DIKSHA platform of MHRD. About iGOT It is training module for management of COVID-19 on DIKSHA platform for the capacity building of frontline workers to handle the COVID-19 pandemic efficiently. Courses on iGOT have been launched… Continue reading

[pib] Kendriya Bhandar

Kendriya Bhandar which functions under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has taken the unique initiative of providing “Essentials Kits” to needy families during the ongoing lockdown. About Kendriya Bhandar The Central Govt. Employees Consumer Cooperative Society Ltd. is popularly known as Kendriya Bhandar. It was set up in 1963 as a welfare project… Continue reading

Third mass bleaching of Great Barrier Reef

A survey has found record sea temperatures had caused the third mass bleaching of the 2,300-kilometre Great Barrier Reef system in just five years. What is Coral Bleaching? When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn… Continue reading

Delhi’s ‘5T’ war against virus

Delhi CM has announced a “5T plan” created by his government to contain COVID-19 spread in Delhi. These five Ts are testing, tracing, treatment, teamwork and tracking-monitoring. 5Ts strategy 1)Testing Testing when done on a mass scale enables the actual data of people affected by novel coronavirus. Like South Korea, Delhi will be testing on… Continue reading

[pib] Biofortified Carrot ‘Madhuban Gajar’

Madhuban Gajar It is a biofortified carrot variety with high β-carotene and iron content developed by Shri Vallabhhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya, a farmer scientist from Junagadh district, Gujarat. The variety is being cultivated in more than 1000 hectares of land in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh during the last three years. It is… Continue reading

[pib] “Samadhan” Challenge

A mega online challenge – SAMADHAN – has been launched to test the ability of students to innovate. “Samadhan” Challenge The Innovation Cell of the Ministry of HRD and All India Council for Technical Education in collaboration with Forge and InnovatioCuris has launched this online challenge. Under the challenge, the students and faculty will… Continue reading

‘Bhilwara Model’ for containment of coronavirus

Bhilwara in Rajasthan was one of the early hotspots of the COVID-19 outbreak. The government responded with extraordinarily aggressive measures — and the ‘Bhilwara model’. The success of the model is attributed to the fact that Bhilwara, which was the first district in Rajasthan to report most number of covid cases has now reported only… Continue reading

MPLADS funds suspended over COVID-19 crisis

The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the temporary suspension of MPLAD Funds during 2020-21 and 2021-22 in view of the adverse impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 in India. Why suspend MPLAD? The consolidated amount of MPLAD Funds for 2 years – Rs 7,900 crores – will go to Consolidated Fund of India. The… Continue reading

[pib] Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH)

Department of Science & Technology has approved setting up of a Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH). What is CAWACH? CAWACH will help to address various challenges faced by country due to severe impact of COVID-19. CAWACH will identify up to 50 innovations and startups that are in the area of novel,… Continue reading

A niggardliness that is economically unwarranted

Context The Centre can afford to step up its COVID-19 assistance to a higher scale; fiscal deficit is no worry. Comparison with the US Unemployment benefit in the US: In the United States, for instance, where the lockdown has raised the number of persons filing unemployment claims from 2.8 lakh to 6.6 million in a… Continue reading

Let no one go hungry

Context The impact of the lockdown, effected from midnight of March 24, has been particularly severe on migrant workers. The state must utilise FCI stock for those who have ration cards and those who don’t. India’s labour force and impact of lockdown on it Nearly one-fifth of India’s labour force consists of internal migrants. As… Continue reading

Restarting the economy after lockdown

(This newscard is the excerpt from an article published in the TOI, authored by former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. It discusses a series of reformative measures to boost our economy once the lockdown restrictions are eased.) Context Economically speaking, India is faced today with perhaps its greatest emergency since Independence. The global financial crisis… Continue reading

Comparing current crisis with Great Depression, 1929

With the novel coronavirus pandemic severely affecting the global economy, some experts have begun comparing the current crisis with the Great Depression — the devastating economic decline of the 1930s that went on to shape countless world events. Looming depression ahead Experts have warned that unemployment levels in some countries could reach those from… Continue reading

AMMA Canteen and its success

The Amma Canteen, a delivery system to provide urban food security in Tamil Nadu, has become an effective mechanism in reaching the needy during the lockdown. AMMA Canteen Amma Unavagam better known as Amma Canteen is a food subsidization programme run by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Under the scheme, municipal corporations of the state-run… Continue reading

What is Drive-through Testing?

To work around the challenges of home-based testing in the country, a New Delhi based firm has offered ‘drive-through test’ for COVID-19. Drive-through Testing Those who feel sick drive up to a test centre where nurses wearing protective gear collect a nose or throat sample from the car itself. Results are mailed or messaged in… Continue reading

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