Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY):-Scheme: The objective of scheme is to recharge ground water and create sufficient water storage for agricultural purposes. It also focuses on revival of surface water bodies so that ground water level can be increased, especially in the rural areas.
The concept of office of profit originates from Britain where, during the conflicts between the Crown and the Parliament in the 16th century, the House of Commons disqualified members from holding executive appointments under the Monarch. The underlying principle behind this is the doctrine of separation of powers. The office of profit rule seeks to ensure that legislators act independently and are not lured by offers from the executive. India’s Constitution makers adopted this idea under Articles 102(1)(a) and 191(1)(a) which state that a lawmaker will be disqualified if he or she occupies “any office of profit” under the Central or State governments, other than those offices exempted by law. While the term “office of profit” is not defined in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, in multiple decisions, has laid out its contours.
BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) Key Facts: (1). BHIM is Aadhaar-based payments app developed by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). (2). The app allows easily transferring money or making a payment from your bank account using only phone number. (3). t can work even on basic phones as it supports USSD payments. (4). It has mobile wallet facility in which money can be loaded. (5). Using it anyone can directly connect their phone to bank account like a debit card. (6). The app also allows user to scan a QR code. (7). The merchant can also generate his QR code through the app. (8). Payment can be done through scanning QR code. (9). Merchants can also use the BHIM app to receive money from a smartphone or Aadhaar Pay if customer has linked a bank account and Aadhaar ID. (10). Payments through this app are happening directly from and to bank accounts, so merchants don’t have to worry about transferring wallet earnings to the bank account. (11). All major UPI connected Indian banks accepts money through BHIM app. (12). Even banks not connected to UPI can receive money through BHIM through IFSC assigned to banks.
Silver Royal + Blue Royal + Peacock Royal are some rare species of Butterfly found in India.
The ultimate objective for the river to be clean - -> Coliform bacteria level. -> Biochemical oxygen demand. -> pH and dissolved salts remain within the standards. Note - Only these 3 variables ensure Clean River.
World Haemophilia Day- 17 April 🔷Every April 17 World Haemophilia Day is recognised worldwide to increase awareness of haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. The theme of WHD 2018 is 'Sharing Knowledge Makes Us Stronger'. 🔷World Haemophilia Day was started in 1989 by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) which chose to bring the community together on April 17 in honour of WFH founder Frank Schnabel’s birthday.
What you need to know about IXPE mission ? Slated to launch in 2020, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will help explore some of the most turbulent and extreme environments in our universe — from the hottest, messiest star factories to violent jets screaming away from monster black holes. The IXPE mission will fly three telescope systems capable of measuring the polarisation of X-rays emitted by cosmic sources.
Operation Swarn: The Railway Ministry is to launch “Operation Swarn” to improve services in Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains. The cleanliness and quality of food suffered a lot in these trains
First Tejas Express: Indian Railways has introduced India’s first high speed, air-conditioned Tejas Express between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai and Karmali. Tejas Express is a state of the art train capable of running at the speed of 200 kmph with ultra modern amenities run between Mumbai and Karmali
Google Unleashes AlphaGo in China: AlphaGo is a narrow AI, computer program developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind in London to play the board game Go. In October 2015, it became the first Computer Go program to beat a human professional Go player without handicaps on a full-sized 19×19 board. AlphaGo’s algorithm uses a Monte Carlo tree search to find its moves based on knowledge previously “learned” by machine learning, specifically by an artificial neural network (a deep learning method) by extensive training, both from human and computer play.
Dhola sadiya: It is the country’s longest bridge located in Assam. It was recently inaugurated by PM Modi. This new, three lane, 9.15 kilometre bridge has been built over river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, linking Dhola to Sadiya in Assam. It has been constructed on BOT Annuity basis at a total cost of Rs 2,056 crore, as part of the Arunachal Package of Roads and Highways under the Ministry’s Special Accelerated Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE). The objective was to bring the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh closer to each other. The bridge will also reduce the distance from Rupai on NH- 37 in Assam to Meka/Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh by 165 KM. The travel time between the two places will come down from the current six hours to just one hour – a total five hour reduction. This will result in saving of petrol and diesel worth Rs 10 Lakh per day.
Who is a fugitive economic offender ? A Fugitive Economic Offender is a person who has an arrest warrant issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
DARPAN-PLI App: Context: The government has launched DARPAN-Postal Life Insurance App. The App will help in collection of premium for postal life insurance and rural postal life insurance policies at branch post offices anywhere in India, with online updation of the policies. DARPAN project: With a view to achieve total digitisation of postal operations in the country, the department has launched Digital Advancement of Rural Post office for a new India (DARPAN) Project, which aims at connecting all one lakh 29 thousand Rural Branch Post Offices.
World Heritage Site Context: As many as 6 monuments/historical sites in the North Eastern states have been identified tentatively for listing under World Heritage Site. Monuments/sites identified/placed under tentative list for listing under world heritage in the north eastern states are: Apatani Cultural Landscape, Arunachal Pradesh. Iconic Saree Weaving Clusters of India. Moidams – the Mound – Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty, Assam. Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh. River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra River in Assam. Thembang Fortified Village, Arunachal Pradesh. UNESCO world heritage site: A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance. The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 UNESCO member states which are elected by the General Assembly. Each World Heritage Site remains part of the legal territory of the state wherein the site is located and UNESCO considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site. As of July 2017, 1,073 sites are listed: 832 cultural, 206 natural, and 35 mixed properties, in 167 states. Italy is the home for the largest number of sites with 53. Selection of a site: To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an already classified landmark, unique in some respect as a geographically and historically identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance (such as an ancient ruin or historical structure, building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, mountain, or wilderness area). It may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet. Legal status of designated sites: UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site provides prima facie evidence that such culturally sensitive sites are legally protected pursuant to the Law of War, under the Geneva Convention, its articles, protocols and customs, together with other treaties including the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and international law. What are endangered sites? A site may be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger if there are conditions that threaten the characteristics for which the landmark or area was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Such problems may involve armed conflict and war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, or uncontrolled urbanization or human development. This danger list is intended to increase international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures. Threats to a site can be either proven imminent threats or potential dangers that could have adverse effects on a site. The state of conservation for each site on the danger list is reviewed on a yearly basis, after which the committee may request additional measures, delete the property from the list if the threats have ceased or consider deletion from both the List of World Heritage in Danger and the World Heritage List.
Bagh-e-Naya Qila Context: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will be using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to map the contours of the area around the Bagh-e-Naya Qila excavated garden inside the Golconda Fort. It has roped in the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to carry out the mapping. About Bagh-e-Naya Qila: The Naya Qila garden inside Golconda Fort was built by successive rulers of the Deccan and is one of the few symmetrical gardens extant. There are strange figures and animals worked out of stone and stucco on the walls of the outer fort facing the Naya Qila. In 2014, when the ASI excavated the area after diverting the water flow, it discovered water channels, settlement tanks, walkways, fountains, gravity pumps, and a host of other garden relics. What is Ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology? Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band (UHF/VHF frequencies) of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. How it works? Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) uses a high frequency radio signal that is transmitted into the ground and reflected signals are returned to the receiver and stored on digital media. The computer measures the time taken for a pulse to travel to and from the target which indicates its depth and location. The reflected signals are interpreted by the system and displayed on the unit’s LCD panel. Applications: GPR can have applications in a variety of media, including rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures. In the right conditions, practitioners can use GPR to detect subsurface objects, changes in material properties, and voids and cracks. Limitations: The most significant performance limitation of GPR is in high-conductivity materials such as clay soils and soils that are salt contaminated. Performance is also limited by signal scattering in heterogeneous conditions (e.g. rocky soils). What’s important? For Prelims: Naya Qila and GPR technology. For Mains: GPR technology, applications and limitations.
Kadaknath is a chicken breed whose black meat is in demand in some quarters. ‘Kadaknath’ is known for its high iron content and lower cholesterol, when compared with other breeds. The protein-rich meat of Kadaknath, chicks and eggs are sold at a much higher rate than other varieties of chicken. The breed is native to Jhabua, Alirajpur and parts of Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
Pratyush Pratyush is the fastest supercomputer of India. It was launched in January 2018. Pratyush consists of several computers that can deliver a peak performance of 6.8 Petaflops. It is the first multi-Petaflops supercomputer ever built in India. One petaflop stands for million billion (quadrillion) floating point operations per second. The word Pratyush literally means Sun. Use of Pratyush Pratyush is dedicated to weather and climate research. Pratyush consists of two units. The units are located at two government institutes: 4.0 PetaFlops unit at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune; and 2.8 PetaFlops unit at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida. The combined output of Pratyush is 6.8 PetaFlops. Comparison with global supercomputers According to Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world. With the introduction of Pratyush, Indian supercomputer will move from the 300s to the 30s in the Top500 list of worlds fastest supercomputers. What are Supercomputers? Supercomputers are the fastest computing machines. Recent supercomputers are capable of performing quadrillions of calculations per second or petaflops. A petaflop is the ability of a computer to do one quadrillion floating-point operations per second (FLOPS). Additionally, a petaflop can be measured as one thousand teraflops. Supercomputers differ from ordinary computer in the following three ways: 1. Supercomputer uses chips made of gallium arsenide (a semiconductor) that can conduct information six times faster than the ordinary chips and generate less heat than the ordinary chips. 2. Supercomputers perform parallel processing or simultaneously perform different acts unlike the sequential processing carried out by the ordinary computer. 3. Supercomputers use advanced software to speed up their operations.
LPG, also known as propane and autogas, is a by-product of crude oil extraction and the refining process. Many people who consider LPG as an alternative to petrol do so because they believe that the combustion of propane results in lower CO2 emissions. LPG burns cleaner than petrol and therefore emissions of particulates is very low. Moreover, LPG is non-toxic, non-corrosive and free of tetra-ethyl lead and additives. It also has a high octane rating.
International Vaccine Institute (IVI) (1). IVI is an international non-profit organization devoted to developing and introducing new and improved vaccines to protect the people, especially children, against deadly infectious diseases. (2). It was established in 1997 on the initiatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (3). Its work is exclusively on vaccine development and introduction specifically for people in developing countries, with a focus on neglected diseases affecting these regions. (4). Currently, IVI has 40 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) as signatories to its Establishment Agreement. (5). Why in news? India has become full-time member of IVI
💎The China type of climate is characterized by warm, moist summers and cool, dry winters. South-east monsoon brings heavy precipitation during summer months to most areas. 💎The Mediterranean climate is characterized by a dry, warm summer with off-shore trade winds and receive most of their precipitation in winter when the Westerlies shift equator-wards. 💎The British type of climate is under permanent influence of Westerlies as well as the ocean and thus receive adequate rainfall throughout the year.