About:

• Meaning: Disaster tourism is the act of traveling to a disaster area as a matter of curiosity.
  
  
• Criticism:
  • Often, visitors misbehave at sites. If it's a historical site where many have died, one may see travellers taking selfies, making faces, or ignoring the fact that there were many deaths here.
    
    
  • There is a risk of actual physical danger. E.g. In a flood, live wires may be dragging under the water, ready to electrocute an unsuspecting tourist.
    
    
  • Their presence could hamper lifesaving efforts. Tourist vehicles could obstruct rescue efforts and again.
    
    
  
  
  

Disaster tourism in Karnataka:

• Over the past few days, many curious people — both locals and outsiders — began visiting some of the disaster-hit areas in and around Madikeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka.
  
  
• This is acting as a hurdle to the free movement of relief supplies as the existing narrow roads were choked with vehicles, and people taking photographs.
  
  

About:

• Objective: to regulate the use of DNA technology for establishing the identity of victims, offenders, suspects, undertrials, missing persons and unknown deceased persons.
  
  
• Salient Features: The Bill seeks to –
  • prohibit laboratories from undertaking DNA testing, analysing, etc., without obtaining accreditation;
    
    
  • establish a National DNA Data Bank and Regional DNA Data Banks for storing and maintaining the DNA profiles;
    
    
  • Establish a DNA Regulatory Board for –
    • advising the Government on establishing of DNA labs and DNA Data Banks;
      
      
    • granting accreditation to laboratories for undertaking DNA testing;
      
      
    • assisting in criminal investigation between various investigation agencies within the country and with any foreign State, international organisation;
      
      
    • making recommendations to the Central Government for the application of privacy protection wrt use of, DNA samples;
      
      
    
    
    
  • make provision for the security and confidentiality of information relating to DNA profiling, DNA samples and any records in the custody of DNA Data Bank and labs;
    
    
  • provide for offenses and penalties for contravention of certain provisions of the Bill.
    
    
  
  
  

Background:

• Strategic Partnership (SP) policy was approved by the Defence ministry in May 2017 as a part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP).
  
  
• However, progress was delayed due to the lack of specific guidelines. In this background, in July 2018, Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved Implementation guidelines for the SP Model.
  
  

Objectives:

• To reduce current dependence on imports.
  
  
• To bolster defence manufacturing in India through indigenous private defence firms.
  
  

Salient features:

• Segments: Under it 4 segments — submarines, single engine fighter aircraft, helicopters and armoured carriers/main battle tanks — would be opened up for the private sector.
  
  
• Strategic partner:
  • One Indian private company would be selected in each segment as strategic partner.
    
    
  • It will tie-up with foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to manufacture the platforms in India under technology transfer. (Indian company will have 51% ownership).
    
    
  
  
  
• Guidelines lay emphasis on incentivisation of transfer of niche technology and higher indigenous content.
  
  
• All procurements under it would be executed by specially constituted Empowered Project Committees.
  
  

About:

• Scientific name: Acinonyx Jubatus.
  
  
• Common Name(s): Cheetah, Hunting Leopard.
  
  
• Key features:
  • It is the fastest land animal. It can reach speeds of 30 m/s.
    
    
  • Its main diet is Antelope, wild pigs, hares and gazelle. Research indicates that the cheetah avoids livestock populations.
    
    
  
  
  
• Habitat: Cheetah lives in Dryland Ecosystem i.e. Grasslands, Scrublands and Open Forests.
  
  
• Distribution:
  • In Asia, they are found only in the arid regions of eastern IRAN in Asia.
    
    
  • In Africa, they are found in Isolated populations in grasslands, scrublands and open forests across the continent, esp. in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
    
    
  
  
  
• Indian scenario:
  • India was once home to many cheetahs, but became extinct due to over-hunting in India in historical times.
    
    
  • Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952. It is the only large mammal to have been declared extinct in our country in recorded history.
    
    
  
  
  
• Conservation Actions:
  • IUCN status: The known Cheetah population is roughly 6,700 adult and adolescent animals.
    
    
  • The species is listed on Appendix I of CITES.
    
    
  
  
  

Earlier Plan:

• According to the earlier plan formulated in 2011, 20 cheetahs were to be translocated to Nauradehi sanctuary located in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district from Namibia in Africa.
  
  
• Nauradehi was found to be the most suitable area for the cheetahs as its forests are not very dense to restrict the fast movement of the spotted cat. Besides, the prey base for cheetahs is also in abundance at the sanctuary.
  
  
• Namibia Cheetah Conservation Fund even showed its willingness to donate Cheetah to India. However, the State was not ready to finance the plan contending that it was Centre’s project.
  
  

About:

• It is a Non-Governmental Organisation in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.
  
  
• HQ:
  
  
• Established in:
  
  
• BNHS has been designated as a 'Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation' by the Department of Science and Technology.
  
  
• BNHS is the partner of Bird Life Internationalin India. Bird Life International is a global partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity. It is headquartered in Cambrige, UK.
  
  
• Logo: The BNHS logo is the great hornbill.
  
  

About:

• A buyback is a mechanism through which a listed company buys back shares from the market.
  
  
• Method: A buyback can be done either through open market purchases or through the tender offer route.
  • Under the open market mechanism, the company buys back the shares from the secondary market. Historically, most companies had preferred the open market route.
    
    
  • Under tender offer, shareholders can tender their shares during the buyback offer.
    
    
  
  
  
• Benefits:
  • Buybacks are typically done when a company has a significant cash reserve and feels that the shares are not fairly valued at the current market price. Since the shares that are bought back are extinguished, the stake of the remaining shareholders rise.
    
    
  • Since a buyback is usually done at a price higher than the then prevailing market price, shareholders get an attractive exit option, especially when the shares are thinly traded.
    
    
  • It is also more tax-efficient than dividends as a way to reward shareholders.
    
    
  • Promoters also use this mechanism to tighten their grip on the firm.
    
    
  
  
  
• Regulations:
  • A company can use a maximum of 25% of the aggregate of its free reserves and paid-up capital for a buyback.
    
    
  • A company cannot do a second buyback offer within one year from the date of the closure of the last buyback.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act took effect in May 2016 to regulate and promote the real estate sector.
  
  
• Objective: It aims to bring about transparency and efficiency in an opaque industry and has a mandate to protect consumer interest, including establishing a speedy redressal system.
  
  
• Salient Provisions:
  • The Act is applicable all over India, except J&K. It applies to all under-construction projects with a plot size above 500 sq. m or projects with 8 apartments or more;
    
    
  • Each state has to set up its own regulator, keeping the central law as the framework;
    
    
  • Real estate agents must be registered with the authority before executing any transaction;
    
    
  • Developers cannot advertise, market, book, sell or invite persons to purchase a plot, apartment or building without registering the project with the regulator;
    
    
  • The project can be cancelled if rules are not regularly followed;
    
    
  • Developers are accountable for after-sale services; The developer is liable to rectify structural damages for five years.
    
    
  
  
  
• Significance:
  • The idea behind Rera was to create a legal framework for the fair and transparent functioning of the industry. Earlier, the realty sector functioned in a legal vacuum.
    
    
  • Before Rera, most builders took buyers for granted, swindled funds in different projects thus leading to delayed delivery across several cities.
    
    
  • In the two years, the number of new launches has come down because there is greater pressure on developers to be transparent about the use of money.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• All-India Judicial Service (AJIS) is a proposed judicial service in India.
  
  
• Background:
  • Original constitution didn’t provide for the creation of an AIJS.
    
    
  • After the Swaran Singh Committee’s recommendations in 1976, Article 312 was modified by the 42^nd constitution (amendment) act in 1977 to provide for an AIJS.
    
    
  • Law commission in its 116^th report suggested the Direct recruitment of judges from the entry level onwards would be through an open competition and this would be handled by an independent and impartial agency.
    
    
  
  
  
• Arguments for its creation:
  • Our constitution provides for its creation. Law Commission of India (LCI) in its various reports (14^th, 77^th and 116^th) and Supreme Court (in two of its judgments in 1991 and 1993) have recommended its creation.
    
    
  • If designed with the right incentives of pay, promotion and career progression, it could potentially become an attractive employment avenue for bright young law graduates.
    
    
  • Existing system has led to shortage of judges as today the subordinate judiciary depends entirely on state recruitment.
    
    
  • Judicial service will make the judiciary more accountable, more professional, and arguably, also more equitable.
    
    
  • In France, the judiciary is operated by a career judicial service
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Governor is the head of the executive of the state.
  
  
• He/she is appointed by President of India.
  
  
• Qualifications and conditions for appointment:
  • Should be a citizen of India.
    
    
  • Should have completed 35 years of age.
    
    
  • Should not hold any office of profit under the union govt. or state govt. or any local Authority or any other public authority.
    
    
  • Should not be a member of either house of parliament or a house of the state legislature.
    
    
  
  
  
• Tenure:
  • Governor holds office for a term of 5 years from the date on which he assumes office. This term of 5 years is subject to the pleasure of president.
    
    
  • He/she can resign anytime by addressing a resignation letter to the president.
    
    
  
  
  
• Oath: The oath of office to the governor is administered by the chief justice of concerned HC and in his absence by the senior-most judge of the HC available.
  
  
• By 7^th Constitution Amendment Act of 1956, same person can be appointed as governor of 2 or more states.
  
  

About:

• Tejinder Pal Singh Toor is an Indian shot putter from
  
  
• In the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships (Bhubaneswar) he bagged a Silver medal.
  
  
• in the 2018 Asian games (Jakarta) he bagged a Gold.
  • His throw of 20.75m broke the Games record of Saudi Arabia’s Sultan Abdul Majeed (20.57m) set in 2010.
    
    
  • That also saw him break Om Prakash Singh’s national record (20.69m, 2012).
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• A missile scientist, Dr. Reddy is the Director General of the strategic missiles division.
  
  
• His tenure as the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister ended two months ago.
  
  
• Now he has been appointed to the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) and Chairman, Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) for a period of two years.
  
  
• For his distinguished contributions, he has received several prestigious awards which includes the first IEI-IEEE (USA) joint award for Engineering Excellence.
  
  

About:

• Established in: 2001
  
  
• Composition:
  • Chairman: Defence Minister.
    
    
  • Members: Minister of State for Defence, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Defence Secretary, Secretary Defence Research & Development, Secretary Defence Production, Chief of Integrated Staff Committees HQ IDS, Director General (Acquisition).
    
    
  • Member Secretary: Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence.
    
    
  
  
  
• Objectives:
  • Overall guidance of the defence procurement planning process.
    
    
  • Ensuring expeditious procurement of the approved requirements of the Armed Forces.
    
    
  
  
  
• Key Functions:
  • In-principle approval of 15 Year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan for Defence Forces and
    
    
  • Categorization of the acquisition proposals relating to 'Buy', 'Buy & Make' and 'Make'.
    
    
  
  
  

Recent approval:

• DAC approved procurement of 111 Utility Helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs. 21,000 crores. This is the first project under Defence Ministry’s Strategic Partnership (SP) Model.
  
  
• It also approved procurement of:
  • 150 Indigenously Designed and Developed Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) for the Indian Army,
    
    
  • 14 Vertically Launched Short Range Missile Systems.
    
    
  
  
  

Background:

• India has a target of having 33 % of its geographical area under the forest cover. Acc. to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2015 the total forest is 24.16 %.
  
  
• Under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, the government collects money for carrying out Compensatory Afforestation (CA) across the country.
  • This is funded from industrial projects like mining or dams which leads to diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
    
    
  • This fund has accumulated to be over Rs. 66,000 crores over the past four decades.
    
    
  
  
  

Rules:

• To ensure proper utilisation of this Rs. 66,000 crores, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act 2016 was enacted by Parliament in 2016.
  
  
• In August 2018, the Government of India notified the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Rules, 2018 to implement the act.
  
  
• Salient features of Rules:
  • At least 80% of the fund shall be used for activities like natural/artificial regeneration and protection of plantations and forests
    
    
  • The remaining 20% of the fund will be used for strengthening of the forest and wildlife-related infrastructure and capacity building of the personnel.
    
    
  • These activities will be taken up in consultation with the Gram Sabha or the Village Forest Management Committee (VFMC), as the case may be.
    
    
  • The money will not be used for travelling allowances, undertaking foreign visits, purchase of furniture, office equipment etc.
    
    
  
  
  
• After notifying the rules, the Union Ministry of Environment notified that the provisions of the CAF Act 2016 will come into force from September 30.
  
  

Criticism of rules by Opposition Parties and Environmentalists:

• The new rules undermine the authority of the Gram Sabha as they have been equated with the joint forest management committee (JFMC). Gram Sabha is a statutory authority established under the FRA and PESA, whereas JFMC has got no legal status.
  
  
• The new rules undermine the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 and PESA (Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas), 1996 which established the primacy of a Gram Sabha in protecting, managing and conserving their forests.
  
  
• They violate the assurances given in parliament in 2016 by the then environment minister Anil Madhav Dave that the rules will ensure the primacy of Gram Sabhas.
  
  
• The proposal for the creation of land banks for CA from revenue forests and degraded forests further allows for illegal takeover of community land at a large scale.
  
  
• Formal recognition of rights is limited to only 2-3% of the minimum potential in the last 10 years.
  
  

About:

• Status: It is a statutory body established in 1987 under the BIS Act 1986. It replaced the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), a body set up under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
  
  
• Parent ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  
  
• HQ: New Delhi.
  
  
• Objective: BIS is the National Standard Body of India for achieving harmonious development of the activities of standardization, certification marking and quality certification of goods.
  
  
• Functions: BIS is involved in various activities such as Standards Formulation, Product Certification Scheme, Hall Marking Scheme, Laboratory Services etc.
  
  

Benchmarking of services:

• To ensure quality in the services sector, BIS has decided to establish a framework for quality services and benchmarks to deal with consumer complaints
  
  
• For this, a separate ‘divisional council’ for services will be setup. Under this, technical committees will be set up for each service, having representation from govt. and industry.
  
  
• The initial focus will be the 12 champion services sectors identified by the government (which includes IT, tourism, transport, finance services, legal services etc).
  
  
• Need for benchmarking of services: According a survey by ‘Local Circles’ –
  • In the absence of defined customer service standards in the country, a majority of consumers were not happy with after-sales services.
    
    
  • Customer service numbers of many companies do not work.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Name of Project: The project is titled ‘National strategy for inclusive and community-based living for persons with mental health issues’.
  
  
• Objective:
  • Mainstreaming persons with mental illness, who no longer require hospital care for their inclusion and community-based living.
    
    
  • There have been instances where Mentally-ill patients are abandoned by their families after they are admitted to mental health hospitals.
    
    
  
  
  
• Bodies involved: National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) is coordinating the project in 14 hospitals.
  
  

About:

• Anganwadi employees under the government’s ICDS programme are ‘honorary workers’ from the local community who come forward to render their services, on part time basis, in the area of child care and development.
  
  
• Functions: They are responsible for providing supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, pre-school non-formal education, and health and nutrition education to ICDS beneficiaries.
  
  
• Present Status: There are nearly 28 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers in the country.
  
  

Honorarium:

• As per the last revision in 2011, Union Government currently pays a monthly honorarium of ₹3,000 to anganwadi workers, ₹2,250 to workers at mini anganwadis and ₹1,500 to anganwadi helpers in the prescribed cost-sharing ratio with the States.
  
  
• Apart from these, additional amount of honoraria are also paid by most of the State Governments / UT Administrations from their own resources.
  
  

About Article 142 of Constitution:

• Title: Enforcement of decrees, orders of Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc.
  
  
• Provisions: This article has 2 provisions –
  • 142(1): The Supreme Court may pass an order for doing complete justice.
    
    
  • 142(2): It confers three different powers on the Supreme Court. They are:
    • Securing the attendance of persons before it.
      
      
    • Discovery and production of documents and
      
      
    • Investigation and punishment of contempt of itself.
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  

About A-142(1): Doing Complete Justice

• The objective of Article 142(1) is that the Supreme Court must not be dependent on the executive for the enforcement of its decrees and orders.
  
  
• Such dependence would otherwise violate the principles of independence of the judiciary and separation of powers, both of which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
  
  
• In Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India (1998), it was decided that this article
  • Cannot be used to over-ride the existing law, but only to supplement the law and
    
    
  • Can be invoked for procedure purposes only.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas connecting Sikkim with Chumbi Valley of the Tibetan Plateau in China.
  
  
• it is one of the three open trading border posts between China and India; the others being
  • Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and
    
    
  • Lipulekh at the trisection point of Uttarakhand–India, Nepal and China.
    
    
  
  
  
• Nathu La pass was re-opened in 2006 to
  • shorten the travel distance to important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the region and
    
    
  • give a boost to Indo-China trade.
    
    
  
  
  

It is also one of the five officially agreed Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies to improve relations

About:

• Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of the state of Kerala.
  
  
• Time and Duration:
  • It is a harvest festival, celebrated in the beginning of the month of Chingam, the first month of Malayalam Calendar (Kollavarsham). This corresponds with the month of August-September according to Gregorian Calendar.
    
    
  • Carnival of Onam lasts from four to ten days. First day, Atham and tenth day, Thiruonam are most important of all.
    
    
  
  
  
• Background: According to a popular legend, the festival is celebrated to welcome King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.
  
  

Celebrations:

• Elaborate feasts, folk songs, elegant dances, energetic games, elephants, boats and flowers all are a part of the dynamic festival called Onam.
  
  
• The most impressive part is the grand feast called Onasadya, prepared on Thiruonam. It is a nine-course meal consisting of 11 to 13 essential dishes.
  
  
• Another key feature is Vallamkali, the Snake Boat Race, held on the river Pampa.
  
  
• There is also a tradition to play games, collectively called Onakalikal, on Onam. Men go in for rigorous sports like Talappanthukali (played with ball), Ambeyyal (Archery), Kutukutu and combats called Kayyankali and Attakalam.
  
  
• Women indulge in cultural activities.
  • They make intricately designed flower mats called, Pookalam in the front courtyard of house to welcome King Mahabali.
    
    
  • Kaikotti kali and Thumbi Thullal are two graceful dances performed by women on Onam.
    
    
  
  
  

Tennis (Men's Doubles):

• In Tennis, the Men's Doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won the Gold by defeating Kazakhstan's team.
  
  
• India has claimed the men’s doubles Tennis gold on four occasions, the last pair being Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh in the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
  
  

Rowing:

• Team of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh won Gold in Rowing Men's Quadruple Sculls event.
  
  
• This is only the second gold for India in the rowing events at the Asiad. Bajrang Lal Takhar had won the men’s singles sculls at the 2010 Games.
  
  

About:

• SPEEDEX is an acronym for the “Stores, Proactive, Efficient and Expeditious Despatch of Extra Size/ Wt Consignment.”
  
  
• Background:
  • In the past, IAF had been using hired transport for movement of cargo to various IAF bases, which resulted in delay in dispatch of critically required stores.
    
    
  • In this background, SPEEDEX contract was concluded in June 2018 with Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd and Ashok Travel & Tours for the ‘Air’ & ‘Surface’ component
    
    
  
  
  
• Objective:
  • Under this, operationally urgent consignments will move by Air Mode and normal consignments by Surface Mode.
    
    
  • Objective is to reduce the time taken for transportation of items to the field units so as to strengthen Military Logistics.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The study ranks 14 cities (6 megacities and 8 metropolitan cities) on the basis of emissions of carbon dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, as well as energy guzzling from urban commuting.
  
  

Need of study:

• Indian cities are experiencing an explosive motorisation phase. It took around 60 years (1951-2008) for the number of registered vehicles to reach 105 million. Thereafter, the same number of vehicles was added in just six years (2009-15).
  
  
• Greenhouse gas emissions from transport—though the third highest currently among all sectors—has recorded the steepest increase, which is responsible for health-damaging toxic exposure.
  
  

Rankings on overall emissions and energy consumption:

• Bhopal tops for lowest overall emissions and energy use from urban commute
  
  
• Kolkata and Mumbai emit least among six megacities due to high usage of public transport and walking; Kolkata also has short travel distances due to its compact form.
  
  
• Delhi, despite having high share of public transport trips, is at the bottom due to the sheer number of people, high volume of travel and personal vehicles and long trip distances.
  
  
• Though metropolitan cities have scored better than megacities due to lower population, lower travel volume and vehicle numbers, they are at risk due to much higher share of personal vehicle trips and high growth rate.
  
  

Recommendations for promoting clean and low carbon mobility:

• Stop urban sprawl;
  
  
• Reduce distances between residence, jobs and recreation through compact urban forms;
  
  
• Scale up integrated public transport, walking and cycling; and
  
  
• Put restraints on use of personal vehicles.
  
  

Timeline:

• State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) had conducted India’s first auction of wind power projects in 2017.
  
  
• This was a 1,000 MW bid for projects to be connected on ISTS (inter-state transmission system) under which power generated from one state (renewable resource rich state) could be transmitted to other renewable deficient states.
  
  
• Mytrah, Inox, Ostro, Green Infa and Adani were winners under this auction.
  
  
• On August 24, 2018, Ostro Kutch Wind Private Ltd commissioned a Wind Power Project (of 126 MW capacity) in Bhuj (Gujarat). Energy generated from this project is being purchased by Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
  
  

Background:

• During winter months, many of the remote posts are cut off for several months because of adverse terrain and extreme weather, making emergency evacuation near impossible.
  
  
• Communication between soldiers deployed and the medical staff through satellite-enabled telemedicine nodes will transform the delivery of health care till the weather clears up.
  
  

Details of initiative:

• ISRO will establish 53 more nodes in the first phase over and above the existing 20, in various establishments of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country.
  
  
• On the Siachen glacier, in addition to a functioning node, four more nodes are being established.
  
  
• Agencies involved: It is a joint initiative by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS).
  
  

Terminologies:

• Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA): In a PTA, two or more partners agree to reduce tariffs on agreed number of tariff lines.
  
  
• Free Trade Agreement (FTA): In FTAs, tariffs on items covering substantial bilateral trade are eliminated between the partner countries. Compared to a PTA, FTAs cover more products on which duty is to be reduced.
  
  
• Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA): These agreements consist of an integrated package on goods, services and investment along with other areas including IPR, competition etc.
  
  

India-Singapore CECA:

• The CECA was signed in 2005 and its first review was concluded in 2007. The CECA was the first comprehensive agreement covering trade in goods, services and investments, which India had signed with any of its trading partners.
  
  
• The signing of the Second Protocol, amending CECA, will boost bilateral trade between India and Singapore. Under it, both sides agreed to expand the coverage of tariff concessions, liberalize the Rules of Origin and rationalize Product Specific Rules.
  
  

About:

• Objective: To provide an opportunity to the armed forces of SCO nations to train in counter terrorism operations in urban scenario in a multinational and joint environment.
  
  
• Members: Military contingents of the all eight SCO member nations are participating in this exercise.
  
  
• Comment: The SCO Peace Mission Exercise will be a landmark event in the history of SCO defence cooperation.
  
  

About:

• Constitution of India (Article 168 & 169) provides for bi-cameral legislatures in certain States.
  
  
• Status: Legislative Council is the Upper House of State Legislature. Like the Rajya Sabha it is a permanent House i.e. not subject to dissolution.
  
  
• Process of establishing it: Union Parliament has the power to create or abolish the Legislative Council on the basis of resolutions adopted by special majority in the Assembly of the concerned State.
  
  
• Strength: The maximum strength of the Legislative Council of State is fixed at one-third of strength of the Legislative Assembly of that State and not less than 40.
  
  
• Present status: At present there are seven Legislative Councils in the country.
  
  

Election of Council Members:

• Elections to the State Legislative Councils are held under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (Article 171).
  
  
• The Council members are elected by members of Legislative Assembly of respective states, by members of local bodies, by graduates, by teachers of secondary schools and by nomination by Governor.
  
  
• Criteria for becoming a member:
  • Minimum age limit to be a member of Legislative Council is 30 years.
    
    
  • Council members are elected from those possessing special knowledge and experience in the field of Art, Science, Literature, Social Science and cooperative movement.
    
    
  
  
  
• Tenure: Members are elected for a period of 6 years and one third members retire every second year.
  
  

About:

• Kuldip Nayar was a Indian He was known for his stand against the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency as the Editor of The Statesman.
  
  
• He was nominated as a Member of the Rajya Sabha in 1997.
  
  
• He was also a former High commissioner of India to United kingdom.
  
  
• His autobiography was released in 2012 by the name Beyond the Lines.
  
  

About:

• Neanderthals and Denisovans are extinct groups of hominins that separated from each other more than 390,000 years ago.
  
  
• These two groups inhabited Eurasia — Neanderthals in the west and Denisovans in the east — until they were replaced by modern humans around 40,000 years ago.
  
  
• Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has sequenced the genome of Denisova 11, a 50,000-year-old individual from Denisova Cave in Siberia, and discovered that she had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
  
  
• The Denisova 11 bone fragment was excavated in 2012 from the Denisova Cave. The fragment is part of a long bone, and it is estimated that she was at least 13 years old when she died.
  
  

About:

In 2017, NITI Aayog set up 5 Working Groups (WGs) to prepare a roadmap for sustainable development in Himalayas which submitted their reports recently.

Other Recommendations:

• Set up a Himalayan Authority for holistic development of entire Himalayan region and
  
  
• Launch “Himalaya Calling”: An Awareness to Action Campaign as people’s movement.
  
  

Background:

• As per the Economic Survey 2017-18 –
  • 22 million people are employed in the Indian logistics sector and
    
    
  • the worth of Indian logistics market would be around USD 215 billion in next two years compared to about USD 160 billion currently.
    
    
  
  
  
• However, India’s logistics sector is highly complex with the involvement of more than 20 govt. agencies, 40 partnering govt. agencies (PGAs) and 37 export promotion councils.
  
  
• Also, the aim is to reduce the logistics cost from the present 14% of GDP to less than 10% by 2022.
  
  

National Logistics Portal:

• In this background, in this year’s budget speech, Union Finance Minister announced the National Logistics Portal.
  
  
• It will be single window platform linking all stakeholders of EXIM and domestic trade like traders, manufacturers, logistics service providers, financial services, Government departments etc.
  
  
• The portal will be implemented in phases and will be a key step towards making India a logistics hub.
  
  

Background:

• Rural Housing programme, as an independent programme, started with Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) in 1996. However CAG in its report published in 2014 identified Gaps related to lack of transparency in selection of beneficiaries, low quality of houses etc.
  
  
• To address these gaps and in view of government’s commitment to provide ‘Housing for All’ by 2022, IAY was restructured into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna – Gramin (PMAY-G) in 2016.
  
  

Salient features:

• Vision: To provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless hoseholds and those living Kutcha House/Dilapidated House by 2022.
  
  
• Immediate target: To cover 1 crore households living in Kutcha House/Dilapidated House in 3 years from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
  
  
• Minimum size of the house has been increased to 25 sq.mt. from 20 sq.mt. with a hygienic cooking space.
  
  
• The cost of unit assistance is to be shared between central and state governments in the ration 60:40 in plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan states.
  
  
• Beneficiaries are selected using housing deprivation parameters in the Socio Economic And Caste Census (SECC), 2011 data which is to be verified by the Gram Sabhas.
  
  

About:

• Mutual funds: Mutual funds are professionally managed investment vehicles which help investors to grow their money by investing in financial assets such as equities, bonds, gold and other assets.
  
  
• Total Expense Ratio (TER):
  • Mutual fund companies charge a cost to their investors for managing their schemes.
    
    
  • This cost is called the TER which is expressed as a percentage of assets managed.
    
    
  
  
  
• Components of TER: Mutual funds typically incur two types of expenses –
  • Non-recurring expenses during the launch of a fund, which in India, are usually borne by the fund house and not charged to investors.
    
    
  • Recurring expenses such as the management fee, distributors’ commission, registrar’s fee, trustee fee and marketing expenses. These expenses are total up to the TER, which is expressed as a percentage of assets managed.
    
    
  
  
  
• In India, the maximum TER that a fund can charge its investors is prescribed by SEBI.
  
  
• Now, SEBI is planning to review TER limits for mutual funds to address concerns related to concentration of profits among a few large fund houses so as to encourage healthy competition.
  
  

About:

• Fluoroquinolones are a class of antibiotics that are commonly used to treat a variety of illnesses such as respiratory and urinary tract infections. But, like other antibiotics they do not treat viral infections such as colds or flu.
  
  
• Fluoroquinolones include ciprofloxacin (Cipro), gemifloxacin (Factive), levofloxacin (Levaquin), moxifloxacin (Avelox), norfloxacin (Noroxin), and ofloxacin (Floxin).
  
  
• Various fluoroquinolones are available in India. E.g. Norfloxacin is sold under different brand names by different companies in India: Norflox by Cipla, Enflox by Sun Pharmaceuticals, Norflot by Natco Pharma, etc.
  
  
• CDSCO is planning labelling changes following similar action taken by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in July 2018 “to strengthen the warnings about the risks of mental health side effects and serious blood sugar disturbances.”
  
  

Demands made to SC by Union Govt:

1. Service providers should reduce the time taken by to comply with content removal requests under the IT Act to less than 10 hours from about 36 hours at present.
   
   
2. Besides deploying ‘proactive monitoring tools’, service providers should employ agencies for removal of sexually violent content (esp. related to child pornography and rape).
   
   
3. Services providers should share certain data with law enforcement agencies to identify the origin of such content. The issue of tracing the origin of “unlawful” content is already a bone of contention between the government and WhatsApp due to its misuse to spread fake news.
   
   

About:

• Sweden began its feminist foreign policy in 2014 "in response to the discrimination and systematic subordination faced by women around the world."
  
  
• Its goals include the promotion of economic emancipation, fighting sexual violence and improving women's political participation.
  
  
• The manual is derived from four years of work to place gender equality at the core of the country's international agenda.
  
  
• Projects cited in the manual include Sweden’s efforts towards promoting women rights in five war-torn and post-conflict nations -- Afghanistan, Colombia, Congo, Liberia and Palestine.
  
  

About:

• The Union Ministry of Tourism has been organizing the International Buddhist Conclave biennially (with earlier conclaves being held in 2004, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016).
  
  
• IBC 2018 has been organized by the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the State Governments of Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• It is a 4 days long Conclave from 23rd – 26th August, 2018 being held at New Delhi and Ajanta (Maharashtra), followed by site visits to Rajgir, Nalanda and Bodhgaya (Bihar) and Sarnath (UP).
  
  
• Delegates from 29 countries having significant Buddhist population are participating in it.
  
  
• The Conclave features Panel discussion between scholars and monks, and B2B meetings between the foreign and Indian tour operators and an ‘Investors’ Summit’.
  
  
• On the occasion, The President of India also launched the Ministry of Tourism website on important Buddhist sites - indiathelandofbuddha.in.