About:

• Scientific name: Carcharhinus hemiodon (It belongs to the Carcharhinidae family).
  
  
• Common name: Pondicherry Shark, Long nosed shark and Requin baliai (in French).
  
  
• Description: It is identified by its ‘black tips’ of dorsal, pectoral and Tai fins.
  
  
• Distribution: The Pondicherry shark appears to have been broadly distributed in the Indo-Pacific region but are believed to be found mostly near India.
  
  
• IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
  
  
• It is among the 25 ‘most wanted lost’ species that are the focus of Global Wildlife Conservation’s “Search for Lost Species” initiative.
  
  

IAU criteria for a planet:

• In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a definition of a planet according to which for an object orbiting its star to be classified as a planet, it needs to “clear” its orbit; in other words, it must be the largest gravitational force in its orbit.
  
  
• By the IAU definition, Pluto did not qualify because
  • it is influenced by Neptune’s gravity, and
    
    
  • it shares its orbit with frozen gases and other objects.
    
    
  
  
  

New Research:

• Researchers, in a study published in the journal Icarus, have however, opposed this standard for classifying planets.
  
  
• They reviewed scientific literature from the past 200 years and found only one publication (1802) that used the clearing-orbit requirement to classify planets, and suggested it was based on reasoning that has since been disproved.
  
  
• Instead they recommend classifying a planet based on if it is large enough that its gravity allows it to become spherical in shape.
  
  

About:

• GPGP is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans.
  
  
• It was first discovered in 1997.
  
  
• It is also called as the Pacific Trash Vortex.
  
  
• Location: It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
  
  
• Size and Total mass:
  • The GPGP covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, an area three times the size of France.
    
    
  • The mass of the plastic in the GPGP was estimated to be approximately 80,000 tonnes.
    
    
  
  
  
• Formation:
  • It is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each.
    
    
  • When garbage is carried into the center of an ocean gyre, there are no more outside forces acting on the garbage to move it any further. The result is that garbage will often collect at the center of ocean gyres and stay there for many years.
    
    
  • Due to this, the North Pacific Ocean, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean all have substantial patches of garbage.
    
    
  
  
  

International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID):

• Established in:
  
  
• Status: Not-for-Profit, Non-Governmental Organization.
  
  
• Function: It is a leading scientific, technical, international network of experts from across the world in the field of irrigation to promote ‘Sustainable agriculture water management’.
  
  
• HQ: New Delhi, India.
  
  

Sadarmatt anicut:

• Sadarmatt anicut is located across river Godavari in Nirmal district of Telangana.
  
  
• The anicut, which is English word for Telugu’s ana-katta, meaning a rainfall bund, was built in 1891-92 about 50 km downstream of the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) and is chiefly fed by Sawrnavagu stream after the construction of SRSP.
  
  

Pedda Cheruvu:

• The Pedda Cheruvu (big tank in Telugu) is located in Kamareddy district of Telangana.
  
  
• It was built in 1897 and with a capacity of 0.175 tmcft it provides water for irrigation to over 900 acres in Kamareddy, Sarampally, Narsampally and old Rajampet.
  
  

About:

• Composition: The group will be chaired by the Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The other members of the group include Secretaries of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Commerce.
  
  
• Mandate: The group would look into all the issues of e-commerce sector. It has been constituted in the aftermath of concerns being raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy.
  
  
• The first meeting of the group is likely to be held this week.
  
  

About:

• Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease.
  
  
• 
  
  

• Symptoms: Fever, cough and shortness of breath. Around 35% of reported patients with MERS have died.
  
  
• Cause: It is caused by a novel coronavirus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS‐CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
  
  
• Transmission
  • Non-human to human transmission: MERS-CoV is a zoonotic virus, which means it is a virus that is transmitted between animals and people. Dromedary camels are a major reservoir host for MERS-CoV and an animal source of infection in humans.
    
    
  • Human-to-human transmission: The virus does not pass easily from person to person unless there is close contact, such as providing unprotected care to an infected patient.
    
    
  
  
  
• Prevention and Treatment
  • No vaccine or specific treatment is currently available.
    
    
  • As a general precaution, anyone visiting farms or places where dromedary camels are present should practice practise regular hand washing and avoid contact with sick animals.
    
    
  
  
  
• Affected Regions: Health care associated outbreaks have occurred in several countries, with the largest outbreaks seen in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the Republic of Korea.
  
  

Constitutional Provisions wrt Schedule Tribes (STs):

• Article 366(25): It defines Scheduled Tribes as those tribes that are deemed under article 342 to be STs for the purposes of this Constitution.
  
  
• Article 342(1): President may notify the STs in a state after consultation with the Governor of the state. 
  
  
• Article 342(2): It talks about the further inclusion or exclusion of any tribe from this list.
  
  

Criteria for a tribe to be included in the list of ST:

• For the process of inclusion/exclusion/modification in the list of Scheduled Tribes, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs follows the following criteria:
  
  

1. Indications of primitive traits;
   
   
2. Distinctive culture;
   
   
3. Geographical isolation;
   
   
4. Shyness of contact with the community at large; and
   
   
5. Backwardness
   
   

• According to the Ministry, these criteria are not spelt out in the Constitution but have become well established and accepted.
  
  

Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950:

• In accordance with the above-mentioned constitutional provision and the criteria evolved, the President issued the "Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
  
  
• It contains the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to particular States or Union Territories.
  
  

Process for inclusion in/exclusion from and modifications in the ST list:

• Only those proposals, which have been recommended by the concerned State Government/ UT Administration and the Registrar General of India (RGI) as well as the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) are to be considered for amending the legislation.
  
  
• After the matter is approved by the Cabinet, a Bill is introduced in Parliament. Any modifications in the list of STs can be made only through an amending Act of Parliament.
  
  
• What if RGI doesn’t support the proposal?
  • In case a proposal is opposed by RGI, it is referred back to the State Govt. for reviewing or further justifying their recommendation in the light of the observations of RGI.
    
    
  • In such cases, where the RGI does not agree to the point of view of the State Govt/UT on a second reference, the Government of India may consider for rejection.
    
    
  
  
  
• What if RGI supports, but NCST doesn’t? Those cases with which the State Governments and the RGI are in agreement, but which the Commission (NCST) have not supported, would be rejected at the level of Minster for Tribal Affairs, Government of India.
  
  

About:

• Background: In keeping with the PM Modi’s vision of a New India by 2022, Government of India launched the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ in January 2018.
  
  
• Objective: To transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
  
  
• 3C Strategy: The broad contours of the programme are –
  • Convergence (of Central & State Schemes),
    
    
  • Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and
    
    
  • Competition (among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan).
    
    
  
  
  
• How many? 115 districts have been identified on the basis of objective criteria such as education, health, rural road connectivity etc. Of these 35 are affected by Left Wing Violence.
  
  
• Prabhari Officers:
  • Senior level Government officers (Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary) have been nominated as Prabhari officers.
    
    
  • Their task is to coordinate the efforts of the Centre and the states in addressing the needs of the districts.
    
    
  
  
  

Types of Pardoning Power:

• Under article 72 and 161 pardoning power is given to president and governor respectively.
  
  
• Now this pardoning power available to both comprises of following powers –
  
  

Difference between pardoning powers of President and governor:

Other key points:

1. Pardoning power of president and governor is not a discretionary power rather they MUST act on the aid and advice of their council of ministers
   
   
2. The exercise or non-exercise of pardon power by the President or Governor is not immune from judicial review. Limited judicial review is available in certain cases.
   
   

Recent decision:

• The 7 convicts have been in jail for over 27 years for assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.
  
  
• The recent decision by Tamil Nadu government follows the Supreme Court’s observation last week that the Governor shall be at liberty to decide on the remission application of Perarivalan, one of the convicts, “as deemed fit.”
  
  
• Options before the governor:
  • Advice of council of minister is binding on the governor; so he may accept it immediately.
    
    
  • No time limit is prescribed in the constitution, and the governor can take his time.
    
    
  • The governor can seek centre’s opinion in the matter.
    
    
  • The governor can seek reconsideration of the decision.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Organic solar cells are made of thin layers of organic materials with thickness in the 100-nanometre range.
  
  
• They were first introduced by the research group of Dr. Ching Tang at Kodak Research Laboratories in 1986.
  
  

Working:

• Organic solar cells basically comprise the following layers: first electrode, electron transport layer, photoactive layer, hole transport layer, and second electrode.
  
  
• In general, a solar cell absorbs light, separates the created electrons and holes from each other and delivers electrical power at the contacts.
  
  

Benefits:

• Compared to silicon-based devices, polymer solar cells are lightweight, potentially disposable and inexpensive to fabricate, flexible, customizable on the molecular level and potentially have less adverse environmental impact.
  
  

Key Findings for the period 2001-2014:

• Share in unnatural deaths: 25% of all accidental deaths in India due to unnatural causes happened as a result of extreme weather events.
  
  
• Major cause: Most extreme weather event-induced deaths were due to lightning (40%), followed by extreme precipitation (24%), heatwave (20%) and cold wave (15%).
  
  
• Vulnerable groups: Men and elderly are at maximum risk due to extreme weather events.
  
  
• Vulnerable Regions: Burden of deaths was the highest in central India. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal were most affected by extreme weather events.
  
  

About:

• Aero India is a biennial air show and aviation exhibition held in Bengaluru, India at the Yelahanka Air Force Station.
  
  
• It is organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation, Ministry of Defence.
  
  
• This five-day event will be a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with public air shows. The show will see participation by global leaders, investors and think-tanks in aerospace industry from across the world.
  
  
• Besides giving fillip to the domestic aviation industry it would further the cause of Make in India.
  
  

About:

• World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA) is a biennial Summit organised by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of India.
  
  
• Objective is to provide Accreditation agencies from across the world a common platform to share best practices, insights and to enhance their understanding of accreditation.
  
  
• NBA has already organised three Summits in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
  
  
• WOSA 2018 is being held from 7 – 9 September, 2018 in New Delhi with the theme “Challenges and Opportunities in outcome-based Accreditation”.
  
  

RUTF / EDNF:

• Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is also referred as Energy Dense Nutritious Food (EDNF).
  
  
• It is a medical intervention to improve the nutrition intake of children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
  
  
• RUTF is a packaged paste of peanuts, oil, sugar, vitamins, milk powder and mineral supplements, which contains 520-550 kilocalories of energy per 100 g. The paste is given to children aged between six months and six years, usually after a doctor’s prescription.
  
  
• RUTF use is common in Africa, where the incidence of malnutrition among children is high. In India, pilot projects have been taken up in the states of Maharashtra, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.
  
  
• Arguments against RUTF:
  • Wrong food habit: Children who are given RUTF find it too heavy to eat anything else afterward. Thus, RUTF may replace appropriate food habits.
    
    
  • Not a one-stop solution: RUTF is not a panacea for all forms of severe acute malnutrition in children. They also require inpatient treatment and round the-clock medical care.
    
    
  • Need more study: There is no largescale study of post-RUTF treated children in India so far vis-a-vis other interventions for the management of SAM.
    
    
  
  
  

Recent controversy:

• The disagreement centred around the what kind of food and how it is to be procured under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Key differences between the two are –
  
  

About:

• Type: Road-rail bridge.
  • It is a double deck bridge with a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the upper deck.
    
    
  • It is the fourth rail-road bridge built on the Brahmaputra.
    
    
  
  
  
• Location: It crosses Brahmaputra river. It connects Dhemaji district (NH-52) and Dibrugarh district (NH-52B) in Assam.
  
  
• Length: Upon its completion, the 4.94-kilometre-long bridge will become the longest and fourth largest bridge in India.
  
  
• Operator: Northeast Frontier Railway.
  
  
• Background: While former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel bridge in 1997, work started in 2002, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction.
  
  
• Significance: It is located just over 20 km away from the Assam- Arunachal Pradesh (AP) border. It will enhance India's ability to transport troops & supplies to its border with China in AP.
  
  

About:

• ‘Vaishnava Jana To’ is one of the most popular Hindu bhajans which speak about the life, ideals and mentality of a Vaishnava Jana (a follower of Vishnu).
  
  
• Background:
  • It was written in the 15^th century by the poet Narsinh Mehta in the Gujarati language.
    
    
  • Later, the bhajan was included in Mahatma Gandhi’s daily prayer.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The World Hindu Congress (WHC) is a global platform to address critical issues impacting Hindus worldwide, including human rights, discrimination, and cultural assaults.
  
  
• It is being organized by World Hindu Foundation.
  
  
• Organised every four years, the previous edition of the World Hindu Congress was held in the Delhi in 2014.
  
  
• WHC 2018 Theme: Sumantrite Suvikrante – THINK COLLECTIVELY, ACHIEVE VALIANTLY.
  
  
• WHC’s seven parallel conferences showcase how the values and creativity of the Hindu community impact the economic, education, media, organizational and political spheres.
  
  

About:

• Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of India.
  
  
• It means studying Indian society using concepts of Indian civilization, instead of concepts of European sociology.
  
  
• ICCR Distinguished Indologist Award:
  • It is an annual award instituted in 2015 by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
    
    
  • Cash prize: US$ 20,000.
    
    
  • It is given to a person for one’s exemplary contribution to Indology.
    
    
  • Past Recipients:
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Need of revamp:
  • The current Code of Medical Ethics developed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) dates back to 2002.
    
    
  • But since then, much has changed in the medical and many relevant topics do not find a mention in the present code.
    
    
  
  
  
• Key Features of draft code proposed by IMA:
  • Individual doctors may be allowed to advertise their practise to compete with aggressively marketed corporate hospitals.
    
    
  • Doctors should ensure that surrogates/egg donors are not exploited.
    
    
  • Cadaver organ donations must be made compulsory for all unless an individual specifically states that he or she does not want to become an organ donor.
    
    
  • Medical students should study ethics throughout the duration of the MBBS course.
    
    
  • IMA is against physician-assisted suicide. This decision on the issue of ‘end of life’ can only be taken by relatives.
    
    
  
  
  
• Way ahead:
  • IMA would be releasing a handbook on the redefined code of medical ethics to its members in the coming month.
    
    
  • Subsequently it would be submitted to all the relevant Central Ministries – health, medical education, law and justice and the MCI – for consideration.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The term ‘Sandbox’ In the financial industry, refers to a mechanism for developing regulation that keeps up with the fast pace of innovation.
  
  
• The term originally referred to the small box filled with sand where children play and experiment in a controlled environment. In the computer science world, a sandbox is a closed testing environment designed for experimenting safely with web or software projects.
  
  
• Now, in the digital economy arena, it means a regulatory sandbox i.e. testing grounds for new business models that are not protected by current regulation, or supervised by regulatory institutions.
  
  
• These testing grounds are especially relevant in the fintech world, where there is a growing need to develop regulatory frameworks for emerging business models.
  
  

About:

• The report suggests a holistic framework for efficient and convenient public transport to answer the twin problems of pollution and congestion.
  
  
• The overall objectives of the framework are 3C’s:
  1. Clean: Pollution-free, leading to clean air and hence better health and living standards
     
     
  2. Convenient: Seamless, safe, affordable, accessible for all sections including the elderly & disabled.
     
     
  3. Congestion-free: Minimum congestion levels, and hence enhanced economic efficiency
     
     
  
  
  
• Pillars: To achieve the objectives, following action-agenda is advocated around four key pillars –
  1. Connect Bharat: it calls for building Safe, Adequate and Holistic Infrastructure (SAHI) for all our citizens.
     
     
  2. Optimize travel footprint,
     
     
  3. Promote seamless, co-operative transport, and
     
     
  4. Adopt green modes and technologies.
     
     
  
  
  
• Enablers: These pillars have to be well supported by a common set of enablers – Skills and employment, Intelligent Transport Systems, Public Awareness, Governance and Financing.
  
  

About:

• Mobilise Your City (MYC) is an international initiative in the field of Sustainable urban transport.
  
  
• Objective: To contribute to the –
  • International climate process and
    
    
  • UN’s Agenda 2030, esp. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
    
    
  
  
  
• Strategy: Beneficiary partners – national and local govts. – will be assisted in their preparation of National Urban Mobility Policies and Investment Programs (NUMPs) and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).
  
  
• Background: It was launched at 21^st Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December, 2015.
  
  
• Agencies involved: It is a multi-donor action, jointly co-financed by the –
  • European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO),
    
    
  • French government and
    
    
  • German government.
    
    
  
  
  

Recent Agreement: MYC programme in India

• Urban mobility plans at local level will be implemented in three pilot cities viz. Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad for reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions related to urban transport.
  
  
• The three cities will receive grant of Euro 3.5 million through the French funding agency Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) for investments and technical assistance.
  
  

About:

• It was the first ever exclusive meeting of Education Ministers in the history of G-20.
  
  
• At the end of the meeting, G20 Education Ministers’ Declaration 2018 was released. Its key highlights were:
  • In line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda, it aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
    
    
  • 21^st century skills (related to societal and technological innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Internet of Things) should be considered in curriculum development.
    
    
  • Promote High participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
    
    
  • Create conditions for the emergence of innovative instruments for financing education.
    
    
  • Facilitate the internationalisation of education, including the cross-border recognition of qualifications and skills, and the mobility of students, teachers etc.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• This allows the transit of goods from other countries to Nepal via all of China’s ports, including Tianjin, Shenzhen, Lianygang, Zhanziang and dry-ports that include Lhanzin, Lhasa and Shigatse.
  
  
• Negotiations for Transit protocol were initiated in 2016 after the economic blockade by India.
  
  

Comment:

• Significance:
  • This will end Nepal’s heavy dependence on Indian ports for trade with other countries.
    
    
  • Overland trade to and from Nepal is now routed mainly through Kolkata which takes up to three months.
    
    
  
  
  
• Challenges:
  • Plan to connect Nepal with China could face issues due to a lack of proper roads and customs infrastructure on the Nepalese side of the border.
    
    
  • The nearest Chinese port is also located more than 2,600 km from its border.
    
    
  
  
  
• China’s inroad in Nepal:
  • The two sides are conducting a feasibility study for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and are planning to construct a railway link into Nepal and an electric transmission line.
    
    
  • China is thus challenging India’s long-held position as the dominant outside power.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Background:
  • The Youth Parliament Scheme was first introduced in the Schools in Delhi in 1966-67.
    
    
  • In 1988, a separate scheme of Youth Parliament for Kendriya Vidyalayas at the National Level was launched.
    
    
  
  
  

• Similarly, in 1997-98, two new Youth Parliament Schemes at the national level, one for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and the other for Universities/Colleges were launched.
  
  

• Objectives of scheme: To make students –
  • understand the parliamentary procedure,
    
    
  • consider public issues and form their opinion on them and
    
    
  • trained in the technique of group discussion and debate
    
    
  
  
  
• Implementing ministry: Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
  
  

About:

• Under Rule 3(5) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Establishment & Regulation of Societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Rules, 2001, state can confer powers upon “any society” in a district to prevent cruelty against animals.
  
  
• According to senior advocate Indira Jaising, this rule provided “State accreditation” to cow vigilantism as these civil society groups have been given police power to stop vehicles, search premises and seize animals.
  
  
• In July 2017, the Supreme Court condemned the frequency of lynching and calling it “horrendous acts of mobocracy” by cow vigilantes.
  
  

About:

• Vembanad Lake is also known as Vembanad Kayal, Vembanad Kol, Punnamada Lake (in Kuttanad) and Kochi Lake (in Kochi).
  
  
• Spanning several districts of Kerala and covering a territory of more than 2033.02 km², it is the largest lake in Kerala and the longest Lake in India.
  
  
• It is separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow barrier island and is a popular backwater stretch in Kerala.
  
  
• Vallam Kali (a.k.a Nehru Trophy Boat Race) is a Snake Boat Race held every year in the month of August in Vembanad Lake.
  
  
• In 2002 it was included in the list of wetlands of international importance, as defined by the Ramsar Convention.
  
  
• The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is located on the east coast of the lake.
  
  

Recent findings of Central Water Commission (CWC):

• The Vembanad Lake was able to absorb only 0.6 billion cubic metres (BCM), of the 1.63 BCM caused due to excessive rainfall.
  
  
• Lake’s capacity shrunk due to congestion; intense rain, lack of spillways and reservoirs led to surge. The situation may have been better if the capacity of the lake was larger.
  
  

About:

• Features:
  • IOWave18 focused on a simulating an earthquake with magnitude of 9.3 at Northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
    
    
  • It was followed by issuing tsunami bulletins to national and regional stakeholders through various modes and evacuation of people in coastal regions.
    
    
  
  
  
• Agencies involved:
  • The Exercise was organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, which coordinated the setting up of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.
    
    
  • In India, IOWave18 was coordinated by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Agencies involved: Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puraskar Pao contest was launched by the Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with the MyGov portal of the Government of India.
  
  
• Objective: Spreading awareness about water conservation.
  
  
• Programme Detail:
  • Any Indian citizen can participate in the contest.
    
    
  • He or she needs to shoot an ‘original video’ capturing the significant contributions and best practices in the field of Water Conservation.
    
    
  • Three winners will be chosen every fortnight till the 4th of November this year. The winners will be given prize amount of Rs 25,000/, Rs 15,000/- and Rs 10,000/- respectively.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI) is a laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
  
  
• Its mandate is research on the production and utilization of salt.
  
  
• It was inaugurated by Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1954.
  
  
• It is located at Bhavnagar, in Gujarat.
  
  

Recent news:

• The CSMCRI has developed a mobile Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant for supplying drinking water to natural calamity-hit areas. The unit fitted to a bus can produce 3,000 litres of potable water an hour at an operating cost of just 60 paise a litre.
  
  
• The Kerala Water Authority has arranged to supply the treated water in affected areas of Central Kerala where drinking water scarcity is at its worst.
  
  

About:

• Bharat Ke Veer portal was launched by the Union Home Ministry in 2017.
  
  
• It facilitates online donation
  • directly to the families of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the country in line of duty from January 1, 2016
    
    
  • or towards the “Bharat Ke Veer” corpus which would be used to decide to disburse the fund equitably to the Braveheart’s family on need basis.
    
    
  
  
  
• To ensure maximum coverage, a cap of 15 lakh rupees is imposed, so that they can choose to divert part of the donation to another Braveheart account or to the “Bharat Ke Veer” corpus.
  
  
• Now, Union Government has been granted the status of a registered trust to ‘Bharat ke Veer’ by making it exempt from income tax under form 80 (g).
  
  

About:

• India is the Partner Country in the 87^th Izmir International tradeshow being held in Izmir – the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara – from 7th to 11th September, 2018.
  
  
• In this tradeshow India has Launched a mega business pavilion ‘Source India’ hosting 75 Indian companies with the aim of tie-ups in order to increase India’s exports to Turkey and other neighbouring countries.
  
  
• This is part of a series of Source India pavilions that the ‘TPCI’ is hosting in important tradeshows across the world for boosting India’s exports.
  
  

About:

• Government of India has constituted thirty-three Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) and five Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) across the country on helping financial institutions recover their bad debts quickly and efficiently.
  
  
• DRT enforces provisions of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions (RDDBFI) Act, 1993 and also Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.
  • Under the RDDBFI Act, 1993 banks approach the DRT.
    
    
  • Under SARFAESI Act, 2002 borrowers, guarantors, and other any other person aggrieved by any action of the bank can approach the DRT.
    
    
  
  
  
• Appeals against orders passed by DRT lie before
  
  
• Recent Decision: Any bank or financial institution cannot approach DRTs if the amount due is less than Rs. 20 lakh.
  
  

Section 377:

• Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". Carnal means relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities.
  
  
• It criminalized all forms of sexual activity other than heterosexual penile-vaginal intercourse which includes Child abuse, Beastality and Sex among Homosexuals.
  
  
• Person convicted under this section can be imprisoned for 10 years and even for life.
  
  
• Battle for its removal:
  • The section was decriminalized with respect to sex between consenting adults by the High Court of Delhi on July 2009.
    
    
  • That judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court of India on 11 December 2013 with the Court holding that amending or repealing Section 377 should be a matter left to Parliament, not the judiciary.
    
    
  
  
  

Recent Supreme Court Verdict:

• The SC Bench has unanimously held that criminalisation of private consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex under Section 377 of the IPC was unconstitutional.
  
  
• The court, however, held that the “unnatural” sexual acts like bestiality and sexual act without consent continues to be a crime under Section 377.
  
  
• Arguments given:
  • It declared the tyranny of Section 377 “irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary.” Section 377 thus far punished homosexuality with 10 years of imprisonment.
    
    
  • It called the law “Macaulay’s legacy,” which continued for 68 years despite a liberal Constitution because of the manifest lethargy of the lawmakers.
    
    
  • It shackled the human instinct to love and has been a reason for much tragedy.
    
    
  • It violated the right of the LGBTQ community to “equal citizenship and equal protection of laws.”
    
    
  • Bodily autonomy was individualistic. Choice of a partner was part of the fundamental right to privacy.
    
    
  
  
  

Interpol notices:

• Interpol is an international organization facilitating international police cooperation against cross-border terrorism, trafficking, and other crime.
  
  
• It issues 8 type of notices (7 of which are colour-coded) which are in the form of alert/requests allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information.
  
  

Background:

• The ‘2+2’ dialogue is a meeting between the India Ministers for External Affairs and Defence, and the US Secretaries of State and Defence to focus on “strengthening strategic, security and defence cooperation” between the two countries.
  
  
• The two countries agreed upon holding such a dialogue during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to U.S. last year.
  
  
• At the ministerial level, this is the first time that India will be holding a ‘2+2’ dialogue with any country. At secretarial level, however, India has had similar ‘2+2’ dialogue with other countries.
  
  

Key highlights of the inaugural India-U.S. ‘2+2’ Ministerial Dialogue are –

1. a) COMCASA:
   
   

• India and the U.S. signed the landmark Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) which comes into force immediately and is valid for 10 years.
  
  
• It will allow the U.S. to transfer specialised equipment for encrypted communications for U.S.-origin platforms like C-17, C-130 and P-8I aircraft to India.
  
  
• With COMCASA, India has concluded 3 of the 4 foundational agreements with the U.S. that had been planned, the other two being General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).
  
  

1. b) Other key highlights:
   
   

• Both sides called on Pakistan to stop terrorist strikes on “other countries” and urged for maritime freedom in the Indo-Pacific region.
  
  
• Both sides India and the U.S. will hold a first-ever tri service joint exercise on the east coast of India in 2019.
  
  
• Both sides will soon begin negotiations on an Industrial Security Annex (ISA) that would allow Indian private sector to collaborate with the U.S. defence industry.
  
  
• To further defence innovation, a Memorandum of Intent was signed between the U.S. Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Indian Defence Innovation Organization – Innovation for Defence Excellence (DIO-iDEX).
  
  
• The next 2+2 meeting is to be held in the United States in 2019.
  
  

Haifa:

• Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel.
  
  
• It is built on the slopes of Mount Carmel and is a major seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa.
  
  

Haifa battle:

• The battle of Haifa, that took place in 1918, was part of a series of battles fought between the allied powers and the Ottoman empire.
  
  
• However, unlike most British battles in the region, the one at Haifa was fought by cavalry regiments of the three Indian princely states who served present day Israel under British Indian army.
  
  
• These three princely states were:
  1. Jodhpur State, 
     
     
  2. Hyderabad State and 
     
     
  3. Mysore State.
     
     
  
  
  
• After an incredibly brave action, they overtook the enemy and captured the town, along with 1,350 German and Ottoman soldiers, artillery and machine guns.
  
  

Teen Murti chowk:

• Teen Murti (literally ‘three statues’) is a Memorial built in 1922 by British sculptor, Leonard Jennings.
  
  
• The memorial comprises life-size statues of three soldiers, and was built in the memory of the Indian soldiers from three Indian princely states who served in the battle of Haifa.
  
  
• This memorial stands on the road junction in Delhi and thus it is known as Teen Murti Chowk.