About:

• Meaning: Materials are said to be exhibiting superconductivity when they exhibit the following two characteristics after being cooled below their critical temperature:
  1. zero electrical resistanceand
     
     
  2. expulsion of magnetic fields (Meissner effect)
     
     
  
  
  
• Superconductor materials: Property of superconductivity is inherent to variety of materials –
  • Chemical elements(e.g. mercury or lead), 
    
    
  • Alloys(such as niobium-titanium, germanium-niobium, and niobium nitride), 
    
    
  • Ceramics(YBCO and magnesium diboride) and
    
    
  • Organic superconductors(fullerenes and carbon nanotubes);
    
    
  
  
  
• Properties:
  • Phase Transition (at critical temp): In superconducting materials, the characteristics of superconductivity appear when the temperatureT is lowered below a critical temperature T_c.
    
    
  • Zero resistance to current: When the superconductor material is cooled below its critical temperature then it shows zero resistance to electric current.
    
    
  • Meissner effect: This means expulsion of a magnetic fieldfrom a superconductor when it is cooled below its critical temperature. This property is used for making high speed, magnetically-levitated trains (MAGLEV).
    
    
  • London moment: It is a phenomenonwhereby a ‘spinning’ superconductor generates a ‘magnetic field’ whose ‘axis’ lines up exactly with the ‘spin axis’.
    
    
  
  
  
• High-temperature superconductors (HTS): These are materials that behave as superconductors at unusually high temperatures.
  
  

About:

• Helium is a chemical element with symbol He and atomic number 2.
  
  
• Properties:
  • It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, non-flammable gas that is lighter than air. When balloons are filled with helium, they will float.
    
    
  • Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements.
    
    
  
  
  
• Source:
  • In universe: After hydrogen, helium is the second most abundant element in the observable universe, the vast majority of which was formed during the Big Bang. Large amounts of new helium are being created by nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars.
    
    
  • On Earth: On Earth it is relatively rare. Most terrestrial helium present today is created by the natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements.
    
    
  
  
  
• Application:
  • Liquid helium is used in cryogenics (its largest single use), particularly in the cooling of superconducting magnets, with the main commercial application being in MRI scanners.
    
    
  • A well-known but minor use is as a lifting gas in balloons and airships.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) is a biometric technology for identifying a person by analysing the characteristics of a person’s face images taken with a digital camera.
  
  
• Working: The mathematical algorithms of FRT follow following stages of image processing:
  • Capture: The first step is to capture the image by using cameras or by scanning existing images.
    
    
  • Extraction: Unique facial data is then extracted from the sample.
    
    
  • Comparison: The data is then compared with the database.
    
    
  • Matching: The software then decides whether the sample matches any picture in the database or not.
    
    
  • Application and benefits:
    • It greatly improves security measures. Anyone who doesn’t have access or permission to a corporation’s premises will be captured by the FRT that sends alerts you instantly about the trespassing.
      
      
    • It is already being used for examination, investigation, and monitoring by Governments all over the world to identify potential and current threats.
      
      
    • There are a lot of social media apps which increase a user experience with FRT.
      
      
    • There is even a progressive adaptation of FRT in medical applications.
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Concerns:
  • Factors such as illumination, expression and pose during face capture can affect the performance of FRT. Low-resolution face images are also very hard to recognize.
    
    
  • High quality images require huge data storage capacity.
    
    
  • There are also concerns related to privacy. FRT can be used to unearth other personal data associated with an individual.
    
    
  
  
  

Roll out in India:

• Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has announced the phased roll-out of face recognition feature as an additional mode of authentication. UIDAI had earlier planned to roll-out face recognition feature from July 1, a target that was later pushed to August 1.
  
  
• Telecom Service providers (TSPs) will start implementing the system from September 15, 2018. For authentication agencies other than TSPs, specific instructions will be issued later on.
  
  
• UIDAI also announced that ‘live face photo’ capture and its verification with the photo obtained in eKYC will be essential in those cases where Aadhaar is used for issuance of mobile SIMs.
  
  

About:

• Kaziranga National Park is located in the Golaghat and Nagaon district of Assam.
  
  
• Conservation status:
  • It was declared a national park in 1974.
    
    
  • UNESCO declared it a world heritage site in 1985.
    
    
  • It became a Tiger Reserve in 2007.
    
    
  • It is also recognized as an ‘Important Bird Area’ by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
    
    
  
  
  
• Fauna: KNP has an estimated –
  • two-thirds of the Indian rhinoceros numbered at 2,413 (Acc. to the latest Rhino census),
    
    
  • 57% of the world’s wild water buffalo population,
    
    
  • One of the largest groups of Asian elephants and
    
    
  • 21 Royal Bengal tigers per 100 sq.km – arguably the highest Tiger density.
    
    
  
  
  
• Threat to Indian Rhinoceros:
  • Indian rhinoceros, or greater one-horned rhino, is categorised as ‘vulnerable’ by IUCN.
    
    
  • The major threats to are Poaching and annual floods in the Brahmaputra which creates havoc in the Kaziranga.
    
    
  
  
  

Recent Division of KNP:

• Assam’s Environment Department has notified the splitting of KNP into (1) Eastern Assam division and (2) Biswanath division, with the Brahmaputra coming in between.
  
  
• Splitting the KNP into two divisions will ensure better deployment of divisional forest officers in the Biswanath area, where most of Rhinoceros poaching happens.
  
  

About:

• Components: Satkosia Tiger Reserve comprises of two adjoining Sanctuaries of central Odisha named as
  • Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary and
    
    
  • Baisipalli Sanctuary.
    
    
  
  
  
• Establishment: These two sanctuaries together covering an area of 963 sq.km. have been notified as Satkosia Tiger Reserve in 2007.
  
  
• Location:
  • It is located in the Angul district of Odisha where the Mahanadi River passes through a 22 km long gorge in the Eastern Ghats mountains.
    
    
  • The area is also a part of the Mahanadi elephant reserve.
    
    
  
  
  
• Biodiversity:
  • Satkosia is the meeting point of two bio-geographic regions of India; the Deccan Peninsula and the Eastern Ghats, contributing to immense biodiversity.
    
    
  • The major plant communities are mixed deciduous forests including Sal and riverine forest.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Meaning:
  • Inflation refers to the rise of prices of goods and services. Hyperinflation occurs when inflation increases very rapidly.
    
    
  • to most economists, hyperinflation situation occurs when the monthly inflation rate exceeds 50%, or if prices on goods increase by half in just one month's time.
    
    
  
  
  
• Cause:
  • It occurs when there is a significant increase in the money supply not supported by economic growth. It is generally associated with economic depression and wars.
    
    
  • Hyperinflation starts when a country's government begins printing excessive money to pay for its spending.
    
    
  
  
  
• Effect:
  • People will tend to hoard goods — including perishables like food — because of rising prices, which in turn, can create shortages in stockpiles.
    
    
  • Savings become worthless because people know the money will be worth less tomorrow so they exchange any cash they have for any physical good they can get (whether they need it or not).
    
    
  • And because people aren't depositing their money, financial institutions and lenders may go out of business.
    
    
  • Tax revenues also fall, meaning governments can't keep up with providing basic services.
    
    
  • Printing more money becomes the only option, making the hyperinflation even worse.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) has published a detailed description of the ‘reference genome sequence of bread wheat’ in the journal Science.
  
  
• Chinese Spring is the name of the bread wheat variety for which the DNA sequence was presented by Scientists.
  
  
• The reference genome decoded covers 94% of the entire wheat genome.
  
  
• The wheat genome is more than five times larger than the human genome and it is also more complex which presented problems for researchers.
  
  
• Significance:
  • The information will help in identifying genes controlling complex agricultural traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases and pests, as well as tolerance to drought.
    
    
  • This will help scientists in developing climate-resilient wheat – the world’s most widely cultivated crop – thus addressing Global Food Security.
    
    
  
  
  

Genome:

• A genome is an organism’s complete set of DNAs, including all of its genes.
  
  
• Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism.
  
  

Kofi Anan was a diplomat from Ghana.

Career at United Nations (UN):

• He joined the UN in 1962 and worked in several capacities at the UN Headquarters.
  
  
• He served as the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between 1992 and 1996.
  
  
• He served as the 7^th Secretary-General of UN from 1997 to 2006. By this he became the first UN Secretary-General to be elected from the UN staff itself.
  
  
• As a secretary general he launched the –
  • United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS)
    
    
  • Global AIDS and Health Fund,
    
    
  • UN Global Compact and
    
    
  • Millennium Development Goals.
    
    
  
  
  
• Nobel Peace Prize:
  • He and the UN were the ‘co-recipients’ of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
    
    
  • He was awarded for his efforts towards reforming the UN bureaucracy and working towards combating HIV, especially in Africa.
    
    
  
  
  

Post UN:

• After the end of his term as UN Secretary-General, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 for promoting Global sustainable development and peace.
  
  
• In 2012, His memoir, "Interventions: A Life in War and Peace," was published.
  
  
• In 2012, he was appointed as the UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria, to find a resolution to the Syrian conflict.
  
  
• In 2016, he was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis.
  
  

About:

• World Hindi Conference (known as Vishva Hindi Sammelan in Hindi) is a world conference on Hindi language.
  
  
• The conference consists of several Hindi scholars, writers and laureates from different parts of the world to contribute towards the development of the language.
  
  
• List of Conferences:
  
  

• Ministry of External Affairs of India is the nodal Ministry for the 11^th World Hindi Conference.
  
  

About:

• Jim Corbett National Park is a part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve
  
  
• It is located in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. The park encompasses the Patli Dun valley formed by the Ramganga river.
  
  
• The national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger.
  
  
• It is named after Jim Corbettwho played a key role in its establishment.
  
  
• Key facts: It is the oldest national park in India. It was the first area to come under the Project Tiger initiative in 1973.
  
  

About:

• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has done a feasibility study of various models to calculate city-level GDPs for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), which was released recently.
  
  
• Recommendations:
  • It recommends a top-down approach based on sectoral income data in the long term for the calculation of city-level GDP as it would ensure resource-effectiveness.
    
    
  • However, since the data requirements may be too challenging, it recommends a top-down approach based on household expenditure data in the short term.
    
    
  
  
  
• Need of City-Level GDP:
  • City-level GDP data could help municipal bodies to raise funds to finance their Infrastructure needs.
    
    
  • The urban sector is likely to account for 75% of India’s GDP by 2020. By 2011, it had crossed the 60% mark.
    
    
  • According to Global Metro Monitor report, 2018, Hyderabad’s GDP was growing at 8.7%, followed by Surat at 7.9%, comparable with the fastest growing Chinese cities.
    
    
  
  
  
• Way ahead:
  • By the end of September 2018, Government will decide on the feasibility of the project.
    
    
  • If approved, the process to calculate GDP for a pilot city can begin by the end of 2018.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The report on back series data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been prepared by the Committee on Real Sector Statistics (chaired by Sudipto Mundle) which was constituted by the National Statistical Commission.
  
  
• Change in the base year to 2011-12 for calculation of national accounts made past data incomparable. That’s why the report compares growth rates between old series (2004-05) and new series based on 2011-12 prices.
  
  

Findings:

• The Indian economy recorded a 10.08% growth rate in 2006-07, the only instance of double digits growth since liberalisation of the economy in 1991.
  • As per the old series (2004-05), the economy grew at 9.57% during 2006-07.
    
    
  • As per the new series (2011-12), the economy grew at 10.08%.
    
    
  
  
  
• The highest ever growth rate since Independence was recorded at 10.2% in 1988-89 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister.
  
  
• The Indian economy grew at a faster rate during UPA govt. tenure (between 2004-05 and 2013-14) as compared to the first four years of the NDA govt.
  • The average economic growth rate was 8.87 % during the first term (2004-05 to 2008-09) of the UPA govt., which fell to 7.39 % during its second term (2009-10 to 2013-14).
    
    
  • In contrast, the average growth rate in first four years of the NDA govt. was recorded at 7.35 per cent (2014-15 to 2017-18).
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group who live in East and Central Asia.
  
  
• They live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, where they are one of 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities.
  
  
• Uyghurs primarily practice Islam.
  
  

Recent Controversy: Report by The Economist

• According to a recent report by The Economist, Uyghurs in Xinjiang suffer under a “fully-fledged police state” with extensive controls and restrictions upon their religious, cultural and social life.
  
  
• At least 120,000 Uyghurs are detained in mass detention camps, which aims at changing the political thinking, identities and religious beliefs of detainees.
  
  
• China’s response:
  • China has called the reports “completely untrue”, saying that they are “education and training centres”.
    
    
  • It also pointed to a series of attacks in Xinjiang by suspected Islamist radicals in recent years as justification for a clampdown in a region.
    
    
  
  
  

About SHRC:

• Status: Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 provides for the creation of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).
  
  
• Mandate: SHRC have similar responsibilities as the NHRC but can only inquire into violation of human rights related to subjects in the State List and Concurrent List of the Constitution of India.
  
  
• Composition: It consists of a –
  • Chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court;
    
    
  • one Member who is, or has been, a Judge of a High Court or District Judge in the State with a minimum of 7 years of experience;
    
    
  • one Member having knowledge of, or practical experience in, human rights matters.
    
    
  
  
  
• Appointment: Members are appointed by Governor of that state on the recommendation of a committee consisting of –
  • Chief Minister
    
    
  • Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
    
    
  • Minister of home affairs in that State
    
    
  • Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly
    
    
  
  
  
• Tenure of members: Five years or until attaining the age of seventy years.
  
  
• Present status: 25 states have constituted SHRC.
  
  

Article 243E:

Article 243E deals with Duration of Panchayats. It states that –

• Every Panchayat, unless dissolved earlier, will continue for five years.
  
  
• An election to constitute a Panchayat shall be completed –
  • before the expiry of its 5-year duration
    
    
  • before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution
    
    
  
  
  
• A Panchayat constituted upon the dissolution of a Panchayat before the expiration of its duration will continue only for the remainder of the 5-year period.
  
  

Recent controversy:

• Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) directed the West Bengal State election commission (WBSEC) to conduct probe into the fact that a large number of seats in the recently-concluded Panchayat elections in the State went uncontested.
  
  
• It also directed WBSEC to not declare in the gazette the names of those candidates who had won unopposed.
  
  
• In this background, The West Bengal government informed the SC that this has led to a “constitutional crisis” as the tenure of several panchayats under Article 243(E) of the Constitution was over but new bodies have not been made functional.
  
  
• Supreme Court has listed the matter for further hearing on August 20.
  
  

About:

• The Mullaperiyar Dam is a masonry gravity dam.
  
  
• It is located on the Periyar River in the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala.
  
  
• Although it is located in Kerala, it is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu state.
  
  
• The Periyar National Park in Thekkady is located around the dam's reservoir.
  
  

About:

• Pashmina is a fine type of Kashmiri wool which comes from 4 distinct breeds of the Cashmere goat namely:
  • Changthangi (or Kashmir Pashmina goat) from the Changthang Plateau in Kashmir region, Malra from Kargil area in Kashmir region,
    
    
  
  
  

• Chegu from Himachal Pradesh
  
  
• Chyangara (or Nepalese Pashmina goat) from Nepal.
  
  

• Pashmina (also known as 'cashmere' in the West) literally translates to "Soft Gold" in Kashmiri.
  
  
• It is used to make shawl, scarf and wrap/stole.
  
  
• Kashmir Pashmina has been assigned Geographical indication (GI) tag under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
  
  

About:

• At the national level, Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) are the key committees involved in the top-level decision-making wrt Disaster Management (DM).
  
  
• It deals with major crisis which have serious or national ramifications.
  
  
• Key functions:
  • Oversee the Command, Control and Coordination of the disaster response.
    
    
  • Give direction to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) as deemed necessary.
    
    
  
  
  
• Composition:
  • Cabinet Secretary (Chairperson)
    
    
  • Secretaries of Ministries / Departments and agencies with specific Disaster management responsibilities.
    
    
  
  
  

LIGO:

• LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory.
  
  
• The LIGO project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors in USA. Two are at Hanford in the State of Washington and one is at Livingston in Louisiana.
  
  
• The discovery of gravitational waves earned three U.S. scientists (who were closely involved with LIGO) the Nobel for physics in 2017.
  
  

LIGO-India:

• The proposed LIGO-India project aims to move one Advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India to detect gravitational waves.
  
  
• Proposed Location: Hingoli District of Maharashtra.
  
  
• Agencies involved:
  • It is a joint collaboration between the LIGO laboratories of the Caltech and MIT of the USA and three lead institutions in the LIGO-India consortium namely –
    • Institute of Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar;
      
      
    • Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune; and
      
      
    • Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.
      
      
    
    
    
  • This project will be jointly funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
    
    
  
  
  
• Timeline: The project was given in-principle approval by the Union Cabinet in 2016. It is expected to be completed by 2025.
  
  
• Significance:
  • It is an important project in the field of fundamental sciences in the country. It will help to launch an entirely new discipline of gravitational-wave astronomy.
    
    
  • Large separation of Indian observatory with the two in USA which will permit better detection of gravitational wave.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Common Name(s):
  • Humboldt Penguin, Peruvian Penguin, or patranca.
    
    
  • It is named after the Humboldt Current it swims in.
    
    
  
  
  
• Scientific Name: Spheniscus humboldti.
  
  

• Range Description:
  • Native: it lives along the coast of Peru and Chile.
    
    
  • In captivity: They can be found in zoos all around the world, including Germany, south Korea, India, United states etc.
    
    
  • Penguins and India: 8 Humboldt penguins were brought to Mumbai from South Korea in 2016. The recent penguin is the first penguin to be born in the country.
    
    
  
  
  
• Breeding sites:It prefers to breed on islands and rocky coastal stretches, where Guano deposits are available to use as nest.
  
  

• IUCN status:
  
  
• Major Threats: Its population is declining due to over-fishing, climate change, ocean acidification and habitat destruction including by invasive species.
  
  

• Impact of El Nino-La Nina dynamics: During El Nino, prey availability is reduced to penguins leading to nest abandonment and chick mortality. However, La Nia conditions improve food availability producing higher breeding success and chick survival.
  
  

Collection of Statistics Act, 2008:

• It was enacted to facilitate collection of statistics on economics, demographic, social, scientific and environment aspects by the Ministries/Departments at the Union/State/Local Governments.
  
  
• The Act extends to the whole of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
  
  

Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Act, 2017: Salient Features

• Jurisdiction: The amendment act extends the jurisdiction of the 2008 Act to J&K for the collection of statistics pertaining to subjects under the Union or the Concurrent list of the Constitution as applicable to J&K.
  
  
• Use of information: The 2008 Act provides that the information collected under it can only be used for statistical purposes. The amendment act removes this provision.
  
  
• Nodal officer: It provides for the appointment of a nodal officer by the central or state government for coordinating and supervising statistical activities under the government by whom he/she is appointed.
  
  

About:

• Meaning: PCA Framework are the corrective measures suggested by RBI that should be a taken by commercial banks when its financial condition worsens beyond a level.
  
  
• Objective: To maintain sound financial health of commercial banks.
  
  
• Parameters: Under it, RBI has specified trigger points in terms of three parameters:
  1. Capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR),
     
     
  2. Net non-performing assets (NPA) and
     
     
  3. Return on Assets (RoA).
     
     
  
  
  
• Actions: If a bank hits the trigger point (like CRAR of 9%, 6%, 3%) then RBI initiates certain structured/mandatory and discretionary actions in respect of that bank.
  • Structured actions are those which are essential to restore the financial health of banks.
    
    
  • Discretionary actions are taken by RBI depending upon the profile of each bank.
    
    
  • g. banks are restricted from certain riskier activities such as expanding the number of branches, increasing the size of their loan book and paying dividend.
    
    
  
  
  
• Type of institutions covered: The PCA framework is applicable only to commercial banks. It is not applicable to –
  1. Co-operative banks,
     
     
  2. Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and
     
     
  3. Financial Management Institutions (FMIs).
     
     
  
  
  
• Present status:
  • Currently, 11 out of 21 Public-sector Banks are under the RBI’s PCA framework.
    
    
  • These are Dena Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and United Bank of India.
    
    
  
  
  

Unified payment interface (UPI):

• Unified payments interface (UPI) is a payment system that allows instant, real-time money transfer between any two bank accounts by using a smartphone.
  
  
• Each Bank provides its own UPI App for Android, Windows and iOS mobile platform(s).
  
  
• Type of Transactions performed via UPI: Merchant payments, remittances, bill payments etc.
  
  
• Agencies involved: UPI is developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
  
  
• Benefits:
  • Being a digital payment system, it is available round the clock (24x7) and across public holidays.
    
    
  • Customers do not have to typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.
    
    
  
  
  
• It is in operation since
  
  

UPI 2.0: Salient Features

• Linking of overdraft account: In addition to current and savings accounts, customers can link their overdraft account to UPI.
  
  
• Invoice in the inbox: Now Customers can check the invoice sent by merchant prior to making payment. It will help customers to check whether it has come from the right merchant or not.
  
  
• QR code: Customers can check the authenticity of merchants while scanning Quick Response (QR) code. This provides an additional security.
  
  
• One-time mandate: The new One Time Mandate feature allows users to schedule a payment for later after making a commitment at present. This UPI mandate feature can be executed one time only.
  
  

Methodology:

• The NABARD survey was conducted in 2016 in 245 districts of 29 states covering 40,327 households.
  
  
• The survey had considered 2015-16 as the reference year and all data are pertained to that year.
  
  

Highlights of NAFIS 2016-17:

• Agricultural households accounted for 48% of rural households.
  
  
• Income
  • Income of farmers’ (Agricultural households) grew at a compounded growth rate of 12% per annum since 2012-13. 
    
    
  • Agricultural households earned 23% more than non-agricultural households.
    
    
  • Agricultural households earned 34% of their income from cultivation and 34% from Wage earnings, followed by salaries (16%).
    
    
  • Non-agricultural households earned 54% of their income from wages followed by salaries (32%).
    
    
  
  
  
• Savings: 88 % of the rural households reported having a bank account.
  
  
• Investment:
  • 4 % of agricultural households also reported investment. Average investment per investing agricultural households was Rs 62,734.
    
    
  
  
  
• Debt:
  • 5% of agricultural households and 42.8% of non-agricultural households have outstanding debt.
    
    
  • 69% of borrowings of all households were from institutional sources.
    
    
  
  
  
• Insurance and Pension:
  • 26% of agricultural households and 25% of non-agricultural households are covered under
    
    
  • 9% of agricultural households are covered under crop insurance.
    
    
  • 20 % of agricultural households and 19% of non-agricultural households are covered under
    
    
  
  
  

Indra Sawhney case:

• In 1992, a nine-judge Bench of the court in the Indra Sawhney case (also known as the Mandal case), upheld the caste-based reservation for the OBCs as valid.
  
  
• The court also said the creamy layer of the OBCs (those earning a specified income) should not get the benefits of reservation.
  
  
• The ruling, however, confined the exclusion of the creamy layer to the OBCs and not the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
  
  

Petition by Samta Andolan Samiti:

• Now, a petition filed by Samta Andolan Samiti, which represents the poor strata of the SCs/STs in Rajasthan, wants the creamy layer or Rich among the SCs/STs to be excluded from the benefits of Reservation.
  
  

View of Union Government:

• Union government has replied in the supreme court (SC) that the creamy layer concept couldn’t be applied to SCs/STs.
  
  
• Arguments given:
  • Backwardness can never be changed and that there were still instances of upper castes not employing lower castes in their homes.
    
    
  • An intense investigation is undertaken before notifying the community under Articles 341 and 342.
    
    
  
  
  

SC/ST are a homogeneous group and any action to regroup them based on economic or social advancement would not be apt.

About:

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a former prime minister who was also known for his master oratory and poems.

Political career:

• He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over four decades.
  
  
• In 1951, he joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was restructured into Bharatiya Janata Party by him in 1980.
  
  
• He was the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai. As a foreign minister, he was the first person to speak in Hindi in the United Nations in 1977.
  
  

Prime minister:

• He served as the Prime Minister of India (PM), thrice:
  • first for a term of 13 days in 1996,
    
    
  • then for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and
    
    
  • then for a full term from 1999 to 2004.
    
    
  
  
  
• He was the first PM who was not a member of the Indian National Congress party to have served a full five-year term in office.
  
  
• He is also the first and only person since Jawaharlal Nehru to occupy the office of PM through three successive Lok Sabhas. 
  
  

Honours:

• He was conferred Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and Bharat Ratna in 2015.
  
  
• In 1994, he was given the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award.
  
  
• Since 2014, his birthday, 25 December, is marked as Good Governance Day.
  
  
• In 2015, he was conferred the Bangladesh Liberation War honour (Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona).
  
  

About:

• Status: The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
  
  
• Background: It was established in 1964 in the memory of First Prime Minister (PM) of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964).
  
  
• Location: It is located in the Teen Murti House, Delhi (the official residence of the first PM).
  
  
• Administration: Prime Minister of India Is the President of the NMML.
  
  
• Units: It has four major constituents namely –
  1. a Memorial Museum,
     
     
  2. a Library on modern India,
     
     
  3. a Centre for Contemporary Studies and
     
     
  4. Nehru Planetarium.
     
     
  
  
  

About:

• The Grandmaster (GM) title is awarded to chess players by the World Chess Organization (also known as FIDE).
  
  
• Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain.
  
  
• Once achieved, the title is held for life.
  
  
• Requirements for becoming a Grandmaster:
  • A player must have attained an Elo rating of at least 2500 (although they need not maintain this level to keep the title).
    
    
  • In addition, at least two favourable results (called norms) from a total of at least 27 games in tournaments involving at least three other Grandmasters are required.
    
    
  • A player can also achieve this title by winning the Women's World Championship, the World Junior Championship, or the World Senior Championship.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Scientific name: Pectinophora gossypiella.
  
  
• The pink bollworm is an insect known for being a pest in cotton farming.
  
  
• Physical description:
  • The adult is a small, thin, gray moth with fringed wings.
    
    
  • The larva is a dull white, caterpillar with eight pairs of legs with pink banding along its back.
    
    
  
  
  
• Range: It is native to Asia, but has become an invasive species in most of the world's cotton-growing regions.
  
  
• Management: Populations of bollworms is generally controlled with insecticides alongwith with mating disruption, chemicals, and releases of sterile males which mate with the females but fail to fertilize their eggs.
  
  

About:

• Scientific Name: Strobilanthes kunthianus.
  
  
• Common Names: Neelakurinji; Kurinji.
  
  
• Distribution:
  • It is a shrub prominently found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats.
    
    
  • Besides it is also seen in the Shevroys in the Eastern Ghats.
    
    
  
  
  
• Blooming period: The blue flowers of Neelakurinji blossoms only once in 12 years.
  
  
• Conservation: Core area of Kurinjimala Sanctuary, in Idukki district of Kerala, protects the kurinji.
  
  
• Cultural significance:
  • Nilgiri Hills (Literally meaning the blue mountains), got their name from the blue flowers of Neelakurinji.
    
    
  • The Paliyan tribes (in Tamil Nadu) use it as a reference to calculate their age.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• According to official figures (available till March 2018), the Army has 1,561 women officers, the Air Force 1,594 and the Navy 644.
  
  
• So far, women officers are recruited mostly on short service commission for 14 years, which means they are not eligible to get pension.
  
  
• While women are given short service commission in all arms and services other than infantry, mechanised infantry, armoured and Artillery, permanent commission is currently limited to education, legal branches apart from medical and dental services.
  
  
• Many women officers have taken the legal route demanding permanent commission.
  
  
• In April 2018, the government told the Supreme Court that it was open to it. Implementation guidelines are being finalised by the Defence Ministry.
  
  

About:

• PMJAA is also known as Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).
  
  
• It is a government-sponsored health insurance scheme under which free treatment will be provided for up to ₹5 lakh a family a year in any government or empanelled private hospitals all over India.
  
  
• The scheme will be available for 10.74 crore beneficiary families i.e. about 50 crore Indian citizens.
  
  
• Eligibility:
  • Only financially weak and underprivileged members of the society are eligible.
    
    
  • Only individuals registered under the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 and having a valid Aadhar Card are eligible.
    
    
  
  
  
• Timeline: On September 25, 2018, the scheme will be launched on a pilot basis in 80-100 districts. From October 2018 onwards, the scheme will be expanded.
  
  

About:

• Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon. It is the largest coastal lagoon in India.
  
  
• Location: It is spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
  
  
• Environmental significance:
  • Chilika lagoon is visited by lakhs of migratory birds every year.
    
    
  • In 1981, it was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention due to its rich biodiversity
    
    
  
  
  
• Nalbana Island is a major island in the center of the Chilika lake. It has been notified as a Nalbana Bird Sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act.
  
  

Waterdome project:

• A ‘water aerodrome’ refers to an area of open water that can be used by seaplanes and amphibious aircraft to land and take off.
  
  
• On August 11, Union Government gave in-principle approval to the proposed waterdome project in Chilika lake.
  
  
• However, environmentalists fear that, sound pollution will discourage migratory birds from coming to Chilika. It will also affect the fish and other marine life in the lake, thereby affecting the livelihood of the fishermen.
  
  

About:

• The awards were instituted in 1958 by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
  
  
• These are annually conferred on the Independence Day.
  
  
• It is conferred to recognise contribution of scholars the field of 9 languages (Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pali, Prakrit, Classical Oriya, Classical Kannada, Classical Telugu and Classical Malayalam).
  
  
• These awards are not given posthumously. Also, these awards are not given to scholars
  • who have received this award earlier, or
    
    
  • who are convicted in a criminal case/against whom a criminal case is pending in a court.
    
    
  
  
  
• Key differences:
  
  

About:

• Style: He was known for his satirical works. Through his poems, he reacted to the contemporary socio-political issues of Kerala.
  
  
• Honours:
  • In 2006, he was conferred with the lifetime achievement award for literature by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
    
    
  • He has also won, Sanjayan Award, Kunjan Nambiar Kavitha puraskaram, P Smaraka Puraskaram and Mahakavi Ulloor Award.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Subramania Bharati (1882 – 1921) was a Tamil poet, Indian independence activist and a social reformer from Tamil Nadu.
  
  
• He is also known as ‘Bharathiyar’ and ‘Mahakavi Bharati’.
  
  
• He is considered as one of the pioneers of modern Tamil literature. He used Nondi Chindu in most of his works.
  
  
• His poetry covered political (related to Indian Independence movement), social (women and Dalit empowerment) and spiritual themes.
  
  

Subramania Bharati Award:

• Background: It was established by Central Institute of Hindi (Kendriya Hindi Sansthan) in 1989 on the name of Tamil writer Subramania Bharathi.
  
  
• Criteria: It is annually awarded by the President of India to a person for his/her significant services in development of creative/critical areas in Hindi.
  
  

About:

• Gaganyaan is the human space flight programme under which 3 Indian astronauts will go into space by 2022.
  
  
• This will be done by using its own capabilities. A GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle will lift them to their orbit.
  
  
• R. Lalithambika, a specialist in advanced launcher technologies, will lead the project as Director of the Human Space Flight Project.
  
  
• If successful, India would become the fourth nation to conduct a human space flight programme after USSR/Russia, USA and China.
  
  
• In 1984, India’s first astronaut Wing Commander (retd.) Rakesh Sharma orbited Earth as part of a Soviet mission.