What ails the Ken-Betwa River Link Project?

The Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) held its third meeting in New Delhi. What is the Ken Betwa Link Project? The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for the interlinking of rivers. Under this project, water from the Ken River will be transferred to the Betwa… Continue reading

Green Comet appears close to Earth after 50,000 years

The rare green comet that last came to Earth about 50,000 years ago has returned to the skies of Earth. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can be seen with the naked eye if the conditions in the sky are just right. What are Comets? Comets are frozen rocky or gas-filled objects that are remnants of the formation… Continue reading

Norovirus Cases detected in Kerala

The Kerala Health Department confirmed two cases of the gastrointestinal infection norovirus in class 1 students in Ernakulam district. What is Norovirus? Norovirus is an important cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in children as well as adults worldwide. It leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pain. Being a diarrhoeal disease, it can lead to… Continue reading

Species in news: Olive Ridley Turtles

Hundreds of vulnerable Olive Ridley Turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have washed ashore along the coastline between Kakinada and Antarvedi in the Godavari region during the ongoing annual breeding season on the east coast. Why in news? The wastewater from the aqua ponds is also being released into the sea. This is suspected to be one of the… Continue reading

Lay-off Indian techies scrambling for options to stay in US

Thousands of Indian IT professionals in the US, who have lost their jobs due to the series of recent layoffs at companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, are now struggling to find new employment within the stipulated period under their work visas. Recent layoff is US Nearly 200,000 IT workers have been laid off since… Continue reading

Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion can send missions to Mars in 45 days

NASA is planning to send mission to Mars in 45 days using the Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion. Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion: What is it? NASA relaunched its program to develop bimodal nuclear propulsion a few years ago. Bimodal nuclear propulsion is a two-part system that includes an NTP and NEP element. This system is expected to enable… Continue reading

INS Vagir commissioned into the Indian Navy

The fifth Scorpene class conventional submarine was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vagir. INS Vagir The latest submarine gets its name from the erstwhile Vagir, a submarine that served the Navy between 1973 and 2001 and undertook numerous operational missions. The construction of the new Vagir began in 2009 and it took its… Continue reading

PM named 21 Andaman Islands after Param Vir Chakra recipients

Prime Minister named 21 largest unnamed islands of Andaman & Nicobar Islands after India’s 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees. Note: Earlier, Ross Island was renamed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep by the Prime Minister during his visit to the Island in 2018. Neil Island and Havelock Island were also renamed Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep.… Continue reading

PM calls for Prison Reforms and Repeal of Obsolete Laws

Prime Minister has suggested prison reforms to improve jail management and recommended repealing obsolete criminal laws, at the national annual police meet. Issues with Prisons in India Overcrowding: 149 jails in the country are overcrowded by more than 100% and that 8 are overcrowded by margins of a 500%. Overcrowding takes affects the already constrained… Continue reading

Employment days under MGNREGS at a 5-year low

The average days of employment provided per household under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are at a five-year low, this financial year. What is the news? As on January 20, the average days of employment provided per household is 42 days while it was 50 days in 2021-22, 52 days in 2020-21,… Continue reading

Excavations reveal Buddhist monastery complex at Bharatpur of Bengal

Recent excavations at Bharatpur in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district have revealed the presence of a Buddhist monastery. Bharatpur Buddhist Monastery Complex The Kolkata Circle of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) started excavating the site in the second week of January and a structural complex of a monastery has now been partially exposed. The… Continue reading

What is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), and how it impacts the climate?

The EU is weaning itself off piped Russian gas by rapidly expanding imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from US. What is Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG? LNG is natural gas reduced to a liquid state (liquefaction) through intense cooling to around -161 degrees Celsius (-259 Fahrenheit). It is constituted almost wholly of methane —… Continue reading

What are Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) Bonds?

The Bombay High Court has quashed the write-off of Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds worth Rs 8,400 crore issued by Yes Bank Ltd, bringing relief to investors. What are AT1 bonds? AT-1, short for Additional Tier-1 bonds, are a type of unsecured, perpetual bonds that banks issue to shore up their core capital base to meet… Continue reading

Highlights of ASER 2022

Pratham’s Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2022 — the first full-fledged one after the pandemic has now been published. ASER Survey This is an annual survey (published by the education non-profit Pratham) that aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India. ASER has… Continue reading

TRAI’s Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) Proposal

Telecom operators have expressed concerns over user privacy on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) proposal. Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) Under this phones would need to display the name of a caller, by extracting the name of the telecom subscriber from their SIM registration data. The feature would provide the called… Continue reading

Chinese hydro-hegemony over Brahmaputra

India has planned to build a buffer reservoir in the proposed Arunachal hydropower project to counter China’s proposed 60,000 MW Medog hydropower project on the Brahmaputra River. Brahmaputra hydrology: A tool of aggression for China China has continued to use the water of river Brahmaputra for its interest and has intentionally created hazardous conditions for… Continue reading

Agnipath Scheme game changer says PM

The Agnipath scheme for recruitment is a “transformative policy” which will be a “game changer” in strengthening the armed forces, said the Prime Minister. What is Agnipath Scheme? This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now. Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’. After… Continue reading

UPI for NRIs: What it means for India and Indians abroad

The National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) has allowed Indians abroad to use fast payments network UPI, if their domestic bank accounts are linked to their foreign mobile numbers. What is UPI? UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank transactions. The interface is regulated by… Continue reading

[pib] First evidence of Solitary Waves near Mars

In a first-of-its-kind discovery, a team of Indian scientists from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) reported the first evidence of the presence of solitary waves around Mars. Mars Of the largest Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury. In… Continue reading

Reconstructing past Deep-Water Circulations of Indian Ocean

Studies have indicated that tectonically driven changes in the ocean gateways such as the closure of the Central American Seaway, a body of water that once separated North America from South America, since the late Miocene period, had a dramatic impact on the Indian Ocean circulation. What is Global overturning circulation (GOC)? It is the… Continue reading

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