About: 

• The Sundarbans comprises hundreds of islands and a network of rivers, tributaries and creeks in the delta of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal in India and Bangladesh. 
  
  
• The Indian Sundarbans constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area. 
  
  
• It is the 27th Ramsar Site in India, and with an area of 4,23,000 hectares is now the largest protected wetland in the country. 
  
  

Criteria’s met for Ramsar recognition: 

• It met 4 of the 9 criteria required for the status of ‘Wetland of International Importance’ — presence of rare species and threatened ecological communities, biological diversity, significant and representative fish and fish spawning ground and migration path. 
  
  
• The Indian Sundarbans, also a UNESCO world heritage site, is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. 
  
  
• It is also home to rare and globally threatened species, such as the critically endangered northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the vulnerable fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus). 
  
  
• Two of the world’s four horseshoe crab species, and 8 of India’s 12 species of kingfisher are also found here. 
  
  
• It is also home to 2,626 faunal species and 90% of the country’s mangrove varieties. 
  
  

Threats faced by it: 

• Over four million people live on the northern and north-western periphery of the Indian Sundarbans, putting pressure on the ecosystem. 
  
  
• The Ramsar Information Sheet lists fishing and harvesting of aquatic resources as a “high impact” actual threat to the wetland. 
  
  
• The other threats are from dredging, oil and gas drilling, logging and wood harvesting, hunting and collecting terrestrial animals. 
  
  
• Salinity has been categorised as a medium and tourism as a low impact actual threat in the region. 
  
  
• Along with anthropogenic pressures, it is also vulnerable to climate change. 
  
  

About: 

• Background: 
  • The Indian Official Secrets Act, 1889 was brought in with the main objective of curbing the voice of a large number of newspapers that were opposing the British policies. 
    
    
  • It was amended and made more stringent in the form of The Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904, during Lord Curzon’s tenure as Viceroy of India. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Present version: In 1923, a newer version was notified. The Indian Official Secrets Act, 1923 was extended to all matters of secrecy and confidentiality in governance in the country. 
  
  
• Objective: 
  • It broadly deals with two aspects — spying or espionage, covered under Section 3, and disclosure of other secret information of the government, under Section 5. 
    
    
  • Under Section 5, both the person communicating the information, and the person receiving the information, can be punished. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Secret information: 
  • Secret information can be any official code, password, sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information. 
    
    
  • For classifying a document, a government Ministry or Department follows the Manual of Departmental Security Instructions, 1994, not under OSA. 
    
    
  • Also, OSA itself does not say what a “secret” document is. It is the government’s discretion to decide what falls under the ambit of a “secret” document to be charged under OSA. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Poliomyelitis (Polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, mainly affecting children. 
  
  
• The virus is transmitted from person-to-person, mainly through the faecal-oral route. 
  
  
• The poliovirus invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis. 
  
  
• There is no cure for polio, only treatment to alleviate the symptoms. Polio can be prevented through immunization. 
  
  
• Strains: There are three types of polio virus strains – P1, P2 and P3. P2 was eradicated globally in 1999. The last case due to type-2 wild poliovirus globally was reported from Aligarh in India in 1999. 
  
  

Vaccine: There are six different vaccines to stop polio transmission – 

• Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) – protects against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3.  
  
  
• Trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) – protects against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 - following the "OPV Switch" in April 2016, tOPV is no longer in use. 
  
  
• Bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) – protects against poliovirus types 1, and 3. 
  
  
• Monovalent oral polio vaccines (mOPV1, mOPV2 and mOPV3) – protect against each individual type of poliovirus, respectively. 
  
  

About: 

• India Urban Observatory: The state-of-the-art India Urban Observatory will plug the gap into the myriad sources of data from cities, both from real-time and archival sources. 
  
  
• Video Wall: The Video Wall will showcase the insights gained from the Observatory and the various Missions/ offices with the idea to proactively engage with citizens/ visitors in spreading awareness about the various initiatives of the Ministry. 
  
  
• Significance: 
  • As cities begin to implement ‘smart’ solutions, data becomes a significant asset and enabler for data driven Governance, leading to urban transformation. 
    
    
  • The India Urban Observatory would progressively become the chief data analysis and Management Hub of the Ministry. 
    
    
  • It would enable evidence-based policy formulation, capacity building of ecosystem partners on data-driven governance, foster innovation through development of newer and better use cases thereby enabling solutions at scale and speed. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Parent body: The Institute of Archaeology (IA) is an academic wing of ASI under the Ministry of Culture. 
  
  
• Location: Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. 
  
  
• Mandate: The institute will provide modern amenities for research scholars and students from India and all over the world which enables them to achieve their full potential in the field of Archaeology.  
  
  

About: 

• Objective: 'Bolo' app aims to help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English. 
  
  
• Features: 
  • The free app, which is being launched in India first, uses Google's speech recognition and text-to-speech technology. 
    
    
  • The app features an animated character 'Diya', who encourages children to read stories aloud and helps if the child is unable to pronounce a word. It also lauds the reader when she completes the reading. 
    
    
  • The app will be expanded to other Indic languages like Bengali, soon. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Significance: 
  • According to the ASER 2018 report, only half of students enrolled in grade 5 in rural India can confidently read a grade 2 level textbook. 
    
    
  • Google piloted the 'Bolo' app in about 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh and early results reportedly show that 64 per cent of children showed an improvement in reading proficiency in just three months. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Features: It is an unmanned spacecraft weighing 585-kilogram. 
  
  
• Timeline: 
  • It was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company from Cape Canaveral in Florida on February 22. 
    
    
  • The trip is scheduled to last seven weeks, with the touch down due on April 11. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Mission objective: 
  • For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission. 
    
    
  • But the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the moon's formation. 
    
    
  • It also carries a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the Israeli flag. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Bodies involved: It was launched by NGO SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.  
  
  
• Nomenclature: Beresheet means Genesis for Hebrew. 
  
  

About: 

• Features: DD Free Dish is India's only open access Direct-To-Home (DTH) Service from Doordarshan which is provided free of cost (no monthly fee). 
  • DD FreeDish viewers can watch 80 SD MPEG-2 TV channels and 18 SD MPEG-4 channels apart from 40 radio channels. 
    
    
  • DD Free Dish has a reach of approximately 30 million households which is 15 % of the total TV Households in the country. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Background: Doordarshan started its DTH service DD Direct+ in 2004, which was re-named as DD Free Dish in 2013. 
  
  
• Agencies involved: DD Free Dish DTH service is owned and operated by Public Service Broadcaster Prasar Bharati. 
  
  

LPCVD device: 

• Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a deposition method used to produce high quality, high-performance, solid materials, typically under vacuum. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. 
  
  
• Low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) involved CVD at sub-atmospheric pressures. Reduced pressures tend to reduce unwanted gas-phase reactions and improve film uniformity across the wafer. 
  
  

Recent development: 

• The LPCVD device developed indigenously by CSIR-NPL costs about Rs.5,00,000, which is one-tenth of the imported ones. 
  • Generally, LPCVD devices have three mass flow meters through which hydrogen, argon and hydrocarbon gases are supplied to grow the graphene. 
    
    
  • Since the mass flow meters are expensive, the CSIR-NPL team used replaced two such meters that supply argon and hydrocarbon with calibrated rotameters. 
    
    
  
  
  
• The quality of the single-layer graphene produced is metrology-grade, and the device is ready for technology transfer. Though there are about one billion grains in 4x2 square-inch single-layer graphene, the grains are highly connected to give a single continuous layer of graphene. 
  
  

About: 

• Aves Island is an island of the Andaman Islands. 
  
  
• It belongs to the Stewart Sound Island sub-group in the North and Middle Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 
  
  

Timeline: 

• December 2018: The Government of India issued a coastal regulation zone notification that largely allows tourism and development projects located near coasts in mainland States to come up closer to the sea. 
  
  
• January 2019: It issued an Island Zone Protection Notification in to allow similar relaxations in the Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Islands. It divides the big or major, Andaman Islands into two groups – 
  • Group 1: Islands with geographical areas of > 1,000 sq. Km. 
    
    
  • Group 2: Islands with geographical areas of > 100 sq. Km but < 1,000 sq. km. the new notification allows development at 20 m and beyond in small islands. 
    
    
  
  
  
• February 2019: However, the proposed Aves island project was not cleared by expert committee on coastal clearance because it was located 20 m away from the High Tide line (HTL). But the existing coastal zone regulations require such projects to be at least 50 m away from the HTL. 
  
  

About: 

• Objectives: 
  • Provide an integrated approach towards cooling and related areas including reduction in the cooling demand, in order to reduce emissions. 
    
    
  • Assessment of cooling requirements across the sectors in the next 20 years and the associated refrigerant demand and energy use. 
    
    
  • Map the technologies available to cater the cooling requirement including passive interventions, refrigerant-based technologies and alternative technologies such as not-in-kind technologies. 
    
    
  • Providing skill training to RAC (Refrigeration and Air Conditioning) service technicians. 
    
    
  • Develop an R&D innovation ecosystem for indigenous development of alternative technologies. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Targets: 
  • Curtailing the cooling energy requirements by 25-40 %, Reduction of cooling demand across sectors by 20-25 % and refrigerant demand by 25-30 % by 2037-38.  
    
    
  • Training and certification of 100,000 serving sector technicians by 2022-23. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Objective: To create awareness amongst the domestic consumers to encourage transition towards energy efficient microwave ovens and Washing machines. 
  
  
• Duration: Initially, the program for Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines will be implemented on a ‘VOLUNTARY’ basis and will be valid up to 31st December 2020. 
  
  
• Benefits: 
  • Government has estimated savings of over 3.0 Billion Units of electricity at consume-end through adoption of Star Rated Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines by 2030. 
    
    
  • This would be equivalent to Green House Gases (GHG) reduction of 2.4 Million-ton of CO2 by the year 2030 through these initiatives. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Implementing agency: Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). 
  
  
• Need of programme: 
  • The size of Indian Microwave Oven market stood at 1.21 million units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 2%. 
    
    
  • The size of Indian Washing Machine market stood at 6.1 million units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 8% fuelled by a growth in urbanization. 
    
    
  • Therefore, it is important to optimize energy performance of Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Full name: National Energy Efficiency Strategy Plan 2031 – UNNATEE (Unlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential). 
  
  
• Features: 
  • It describes the implementation strategy to establish a clear linkage between energy supply-demand scenarios and energy efficiency opportunities. 
    
    
  • It offers a comprehensive roadmap to address India’s environmental and climate change mitigation action through energy efficiency measures. 
    
    
  • It clearly delineates the energy efficiency targets for the respective demand sectors upto the state levels. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Bodies involved: PwC India has assisted Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in executing this assignment. This document has been prepared after extensive discussion with various departments, organisations and authorities. 
  
  
• Way ahead: The document has now been released for larger public consultation and seeking comments/ valuable inputs from all the stakeholders. 
  
  

About: 

• What is it? ‘Rail Sahyog’ (railsahyog.in) is a web portal. 
  
  
• Background: It was launched by Minister of Railways in September 2018. 
  
  
• Objective: To provide a platform for the Corporates & PSUs to contribute to creation of amenities at/near Railway Stations through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds. 
  
  
• Features: 
  • The companies interested in contributing can register their requests on portal. 
    
    
  • The selected applicants will be intimated to deposit the funds with Railways/nominated agencies like RITES/RAILTEL etc which will get the work executed thereafter. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Recent projects launched through Rail Sahyog: 
  • Giving Wi-Fi Facility at 4,791 stations by Tata Trust. 
    
    
  • Constructing 2,400 Toilets in circulating areas of stations through CSR support from corporates like Coal India Ltd. and its Subsidiaries; NLC; IRFC; CONCOR and PGCIL. 
    
    
  • 5,000 Steel Benches at Railway Stations by General Insurance Corporation. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Objective: To address the need for applied research and development for the inland waterways sector. 
  
  
• Mandate: The centre will be a hub for latest technology tools for maritime sector. It will provide technological support, research, testing and experimentation facility to the Ministry of Shipping and its subordinate offices such as Inland Waterways of India, Cochin Shipyard Limited and major ports. 
  
  
• This Centre will focus on following domain areas: 
  • Ship Design for Coastal/Inland waterways 
    
    
  • Shipbuilding Technology and Structural Design 
    
    
  • Transport Systems & Logistics 
    
    
  • Cryogenic Cargo Handling 
    
    
  • Green/Renewable Energy harvesting from Coastal and Inland waters 
    
    
  • Automation and AI for Maritime Operations 
    
    
  
  
  
• Parent programme: It has been setup under Sagarmala programme. 
  
  
• Funding: 
  • CICMT is being fully funded under unique and innovative projects under Sagarmala. 
    
    
  • The cost of the project is Rs. 69 crores. 
    
    
  • The funding for CICMT is for 5 years only and once the facility is functional, revenues generated from the end users will make it sustainable. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Significance: 
  • The centre will reduce India’s dependence on foreign institutions. At the moment there is no testing and experimentation facility available in the country for inland and coastal vessels for which the shipbuilders have to approach various European countries. 
    
    
  • It will also reduce the cost of research drastically and result in cost and time savings for work in the Port and Maritime sector. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Nari Shakti Puraskar is the highest civilian honour for women in India. 
  
  
• Objective: To acknowledge achievements by women and institutions in recognition of their relentless service towards the cause of women empowerment and social welfare. 
  
  
• Instituted by: The Ministry of Women and Child Development. 
  
  
• When given? Every year on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8). 
  
  
• Instituted in: 1991. 
  
  
• Categories: The award is given in six categories, with each category named after eminent women in Indian history. These are - 
  • Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award: named after Ahilya Bai Holkar, 18th-century ruler of Malwa kingdom. 
    
    
  • Kannagi Award: named after Kannagi, a legendary Tamil woman. 
    
    
  • Mata Jijabai Award: named after Mata Jijabai, mother of Shivaji, who founded the Maratha Empire in the 17th century. 
    
    
  • Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award: named after Rani Gaidinliu, a 20th-century Naga spiritual and political leader. 
    
    
  • Rani Lakshmi Bai Award: named after Rani Lakshmi Bai, the Queen of Jhansi. 
    
    
  • Rani Rudramma Devi Award (for both men and women): named after Rudrama Devi, a 13th-century ruler of Deccan Plateau. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Cash prize: 1 lakh. 
  
  

About: 

• Date: International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. 
  
  
• History: 
  • IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first​ ​IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. 
    
    
  • Prior to this the​ Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women's equality. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Organized by: IWD is not country, group or organization specific.​ IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. 
  
  
• Objective: It is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. 
  
  

About: 

• Composition: Former Supreme court judge Justice (retd) F M Kallifulla will head a panel of mediators in the case. Other members of the panel of mediators include spiritual guru Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu. The panel of mediators may co-opt more members. 
  
  
• Timeline: 
  • Proceedings in the case will be held in Faizabad and process to start within a week. 
    
    
  • The panel of mediators will file a progress report of the mediation proceedings within four weeks and the process should be completed within eight weeks. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Background: 
  • A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi recently had reserved the order after hearing various contesting parties. 
    
    
  • Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lala. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Objective: FASER's focus is to find light, extremely weakly interacting particles that have so far eluded scientists, even in the high-energy experiments conducted at the CERN-operated Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest particle accelerator in the world. 
  • Seven years ago, scientists discovered the Higgs boson at the LHC, completing one chapter in our search for the fundamental building blocks of the universe. 
    
    
  • But now scientists are looking for new particles. The dark matter problem shows that we don't know what most of the universe is made of. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Bodies involved: Initiated by physicists at the University of California, Irvine, the FASER project is funded by grants from the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Simons Foundation – with additional support from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. 
  
  
• Location: The FASER detector, which will be one of only eight research instruments at the LHC, is being built and installed during the collider's current hiatus. 
  
  
• Project Duration: 5-year. 
  • It will collect data from 2021 to 2023. 
    
    
  • The LHC will be shut down again from 2024 to 2026. During that time, the team hopes to install the larger FASER 2 detector, which will be capable of unveiling an even wider array of mysterious, hidden particles. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Working: 
  • The FASER instrument is compact, measuring about 1 meter in diameter and 5 meters long. 
    
    
  • It will be placed at a specific point along the 16-mile loop of the LHC, about 480 meters away from the instrument used by the ATLAS Collaboration to discover the Higgs boson.  
    
    
  • As proton beams pass through the interaction point at the ATLAS instrument, they may create new particles that will go through concrete in the LHC tunnel and then into the FASER instrument, which will track and measure the progress of their decay. 
    
    
  • FASER will collect data any time ATLAS is operating. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• NASA has captured images of shockwaves from supersonic aircraft, as part of efforts to create a jet that flies faster than the speed of sound without producing sonic boom. 
  
  
• Using the schlieren photography technique, NASA's images show for the first time the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic planes in flight. 
  
  
• The images were captured during the fourth phase of Air-to-Air Background Oriented Schlieren flights (AirBOS), which took place at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in the US. 
  
  
• The images depict two T-38 supersonic jets from the US Air Force during a test flight from the research center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. 
  
  

Supersonic Booms: 

• When aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound, shockwaves travel away from the vehicle, and are heard on the ground as a supersonic boom. Shockwaves produced by aircraft merge together as they travel through the atmosphere and are responsible for this boom. 
  
  
• Supersonic booms have led to restrictions on breaking the sound barrier over land. 
  
  
• The ability to fly supersonic without a sonic boom may one day result in lifting current restrictions on supersonic flight over land. 
  
  
• NASA will use the data collected as part of their development of the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology X-plane, which they hope will produce only a quiet rumble rather than a sonic boom. 
  
  

About: 

• Components: The Scheme "FMBAP" has been framed by merging the components of two continuing XII Plan schemes titled "Flood Management Programme (FMP)" and "River Management Activities and Works related to Border Areas (RMBA)". 
  
  
• Objective: To assist the State Governments to provide reasonable degree of protection against floods in critical areas. 
  
  
• Strategy: 
  • Adopting structural and non-structural measures and enhancing capabilities of State/Central Government officials in related fields. 
    
    
  • Completion of the on-going projects already approved under FMP. 
    
    
  • Hydro-meteorological observations and Flood Forecasting on common rivers with the neighbouring countries. 
    
    
  • Survey and preparation of DPR etc. of water resources projects on the common rivers with neighbouring countries like Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, Sapta Kosi-Sun Kosi Projects in Nepal which would benefit both countries. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Coverage: The FMBAP Scheme will be implemented throughout the country. The proposal will benefit towns, villages, industrial establishments, communication links, agricultural fields, infrastructure etc. from floods and erosion in the country. 
  
  
• Funding pattern: 
  • The funding pattern for FM Component for works in general category States will continue to be 50% (Centre): 50% (State) and for projects of North Eastern States, Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the funding pattern will continue to be 70% (Centre): 30% (State). 
    
    
  • RMBA component being specific to activities in border areas with neighbouring countries will continue to be funded as 100% grant-in-aid / central assistance. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Benefits: The works under the scheme will protect valuable land from erosion and flooding and help in maintaining peace along the border. 
  
  

Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP): 

• Objective: To make available quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all. 
  
  
• Implementing agency: Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), under the administrative control of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India. 
  
  
• History: 
  • Jan Aushadhi Scheme was launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in 2008 across the country. 
    
    
  • In 2015, the Jan Aushadhi Scheme was revamped as Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana (PMJAY). 
    
    
  • In 2016, it was again renamed as Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). 
    
    
  
  
  
• The Salient features of the Jan Aushadhi Scheme are: 
  • Making quality medicines available at affordable prices for all, particularly for the poor and disadvantaged, through specialized outlets called the Jan Aushadhi Stores (JAS). 
    
    
  • To ensure quality supply of generic medicines from the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSUs) and Good manufacturing practices (GMP) compliant manufacturers in the private sector. 
    
    
  • To ensure prescription of generic medicines by the Government doctors with proactive support from the State Governments. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Other affordable quality health products launched under the PMBJP Scheme: 
  • Jan Aushadhi Suvidha Oxo-Biodegradable Sanitary Napkins at Rs. 2.50 per piece; 
    
    
  • Jan Aushahi Swabhiman at Rs. 140 for a pack of 5 Adult Diapers; 
    
    
  • Jan Aushahdi Bachpan at Rs 20 only for a pack of 5 baby diapers; 
    
    
  • Jan Aushadhi Ankur pregnancy test kits at Rs 20; 
    
    
  • Jan Aushadhi Urja Energy Drink at Rs. 35 for a300 gm pack, among others. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Launched in: 2003. 
  
  
• Administration: ECHS is a flagship Scheme of the Ministry of Defence, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. It functions under the Chiefs of Staff Committee through the Adjutant General in the Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army). 
  
  
• HQ: The Central Organisation ECHS is located at Delhi. 
  
  
• Objective: To provide allopathic medicare to Ex-servicemen pensioner and their dependents through a network of ECHS Polyclinics, Service medical facilities and civil empanelled/Govt hospitals spread across the country. 
  
  
• Funding: The Scheme has been structured on the lines of CGHS to ensure cashless transactions, as far as possible, for the patients and is financed by the Govt of India. 
  
  
• Recent decision: 
  • Union Cabinet has approved the grant of medical facilities under ECHS to World War-II Veterans, Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs), Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) and pre-mature retirees. 
    
    
  • This would benefit over 43,000 individuals who were so far not covered under the ECHS. 
    
    
  • Also, as a special dispensation, war-widows will be exempt from one-time contribution to join ECHS. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

The reforms include – 

1. Relocation of 229 officers from the Army headquarters: The number of officers being moved out was 20% of the number of officers in the Army headquarters in the national capital, and they would be deployed in forward locations along the borders with China and Pakistan. 
   
   
2. Creation of a new post of Deputy Chief for Military Operations & Strategic Planning: This post is being created to deal with military operations, intelligence, strategic planning and operational logistics. 
   
   
3. Setting up new wings for vigilance and human rights issues. 
   
   
4. Other reforms include restructuring the Army’s officer cadre, bringing down age of key commands, arresting rising revenue expenditure and “rightsizing” the force. 
   
   

Details of Measures approved: 

1. Large Hydropower Projects to be declared as Renewable Energy source (as per existing practice, only hydropower projects less than 25MW are categorized as Renewable Energy). 
   
   
2. Declaring Large Hydropower Projects (HPO) as part of non-solar Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO). 
   
   
3. Tariff rationalization measures including providing flexibility to the developers to determine tariff by back loading of tariff after increasing project life to 40 years, increasing debt repayment period to 18 years and introducing escalating tariff of 2%. 
   
   
4. Budgetary support for funding flood moderation component of hydropower projects.  
   
   
5. Budgetary support for funding cost of enabling infrastructure i.e. roads and bridges. 
   
   

Need for Measures:  

• India is endowed with large hydropower potential of 1,45,320 MW of which only about 45,400 MW has been utilized so far. Only about 10,000 MW of hydropower has been added in the last 10 years. 
  
  
• The hydropower sector is facing challenges due to which the share of hydropower in the total capacity has declined from 50.36% in the 1960s to around 13% in 2018-19. 
  
  
• DISOMS are reluctant sign Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Hydro Power due to higher tariff, particularly, in the initial years. One of the reasons for high tariff of hydropower is the loading of cost of flood moderation and enabling infrastructure in the project cost. 
  
  
• In this backdrop, the decision has been taken to adopt measures to promote hydropower sector including providing budgetary support for flood moderation cost and enabling infrastructure cost and tariff rationalization measures to reduce tariff and thus the burden on the consumer. 
  
  

Recent decisions by Union Cabinet: 

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved: 

1. Setting up of a National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, to drive clean, connected, shared, sustainable and holistic mobility initiatives. 
   
   
2. Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) valid for 5 years till 2024 to support setting up of a few large-scale, export-competitive integrated batteries and cell-manufacturing Giga plants in India. 
   
   
3. Creation of a PMP valid for 5 years till 2024 to localize production across the entire Electric Vehicles value chain. 
   
   

Both PMP schemes will be finalised by the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage. 

e-Dharti app: 

• e-Dharti app is a new online system where all the three main modules i.e. Conversion, Substitution and Mutation have been made online. 
  
  
• The payment system in Land & Development Office (L&DO) has also been completely digitized. The public can now submit their applications online by visiting L&DO website and are not required to visit this office for submission of them and for follow up of their applications. 
  
  
• Work is also going on other three small modules namely Sale Permission, Mortgage Permission and Gift Permission and will be completed soon. 
  
  

e-Dharti Geo Portal: 

• e-Dharti Geo Portal is another important application on which Land & Development Office (L&DO) has started working. 
  
  
• e-Dharti Geo Portal is GIS based mapping of all L&DO's approx. 65000 properties. 
  
  
• Through this application each and every Government property under L&DO, whether it is allotted or still lying vacant, is proposed to be mapped on a portal called “e-Dharti Geo Portal”. Through this portal the Lessee of the property will be able to see the basic details of his/her property along with map showing its location. 
  
  
• The Lessee can also be issued a Property Card from this office about his property if he asks for it. 
  
  

About: 

• Background: At present, apparel and made-ups are the two segments supported under the Scheme for Rebate of State Levies (RoSL). However, certain State as well as Central Taxes are continued to be present in the cost of exports. 
  
  
• Recent Cabinet Decision: 
  • The Cabinet decision provides for a scheme to rebate all embedded State and Central Taxes/levies for apparel and made-ups which have a combined share of around 56% in India’s textile export basket. 
    
    
  • Rebate of taxes/levies has been permitted through an IT-driven scrip system at notified rates. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Benefits: 
  • The proposed measures are expected to make the textile sector competitive. 
    
    
  • This will enable the Government to take various measures for making exports of apparel and made-ups zero rated, thereby boosting India’s competitiveness in export markets and ensure equitable and inclusive growth of textile and apparel sector. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Status: It is a Deemed University and a research institution under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. 
  
  
• Mandate: It is country’s premier research institute dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. 
  
  
• Location: With support from J.R.D. Tata, then chairman of the Tata Group, TIFR was founded on 1 June 1945, and Homi Bhabha was appointed its first director. 
  
  
• Established in: 1945. 
  
  
• Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT): GMRT, located near Pune (Narayangaon) is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths. It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, a part of the TIFR. 
  
  

About: 

• The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to return faculty reservations in higher education institutions to the earlier “200-point roster system”, whereby the University or college as a whole is considered as a unit, rather than each department. 
  
  
• A number of teachers and student unions have been agitating for such a decision for over a year, arguing that the 13-point roster system, which considered each department as a separate unit, effectively phased out reserved positions, especially in smaller departments. 
  
  
• The Ordinance will ensure that the Constitutional provisions of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the socially and educationally backward classes in the faculty recruitment will be protected. 
  
  

Gonds tribe: 

• According to 2011 Census, Gonds, believed to belong to the Dravidian stock, have been notified as a scheduled tribe in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. 
  
  
• The largest numbers are concentrated in the central part of India, known among tribal groups as Gondwana, which includes the Satpuda Plateau, a portion of the Nagpur plain area and the Narmada Valley. 
  
  
• Census 2011: The total population of the Gond tribe in the country is 11,344,629. This tribe comprises 13.45 per cent of the total Scheduled Tribes’ population of India, and is the largest tribal group in the country. 
  
  

Gondi Language: 

• Language family: Gondi is a South-Central Dravidian language. 
  
  
• Census 2011: The total Gondi speaking population, according to it, is 2,713,790. 
  
  
• Script: 
  • The Gondi script is perhaps the only script in the country besides Urdu which is written right to left. 
    
    
  • In the northern and central India, it is the only language, barring Gujarati, which has a script of its own. All other north and central Indian languages use the Devnagri script. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Dialects: 
  • Gondi, is heavily influenced by the other local languages spoken in the respective states. E.g. the Gondi spoken in Andhra Pradesh is known colloquially as “Telugu Gondi” and that spoken in Maharashtra is known as “Marathi Gondi”. 
    
    
  • Some of the more important dialects are Dorla, Koya, Madiya, Muria, and Raj Gond. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Neglect by Government of India: 
  • The Gond tribal community feel that the language has been unduly ignored by the Indian government by not including it in the 8^th Schedule of the Constitution. 
    
    
  • Gondi has also not been included under the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, which is developing a unicode – a programme for computers, which allows the user to type in any of the 22 Scheduled Indian languages. 
    
    
  
  
  

National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG): 

• Parent agency: It is an autonomous institute under Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. 
  
  
• Objective: To promote good governance through Capacity Building on Public Policy and Governance both at National and International Level and carrying out studies/ action research on issues relating to governance. 
  
  
• HQ: Its head office is at New Delhi and registered office at Mussoorie. 
  
  
• Background: The NCGG traces its origin to the National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR). NIAR was set up in 1995 by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). NIAR was subsequently rechristened with an expanded mandate, as NCGG, which was inaugurated in 2014. 
  
  

About: 

• Background: In January 2019, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development launched an online campaign, ‘#www: Web Wonder Women’. 
  
  
• Objective: The Campaign aims to discover and celebrate the exceptional achievements of India women across the globe, who have used the power of social media to run positive & niche campaigns to steer a change in society. 
  
  
• Agencies involved: for this campaign, Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has partnered with Breakthrough and Twitter India. 
  
  
• Features of the campaign: 
  • The Campaign invited Entries via Nominations from across the world. Indian-origin women, working or settled anywhere in the world, are eligible for nomination. 
    
    
  • Nominations were invited in a large number of categories including Health, Media, Literature, Art, Sports, Environmental protection, fashion among others. 
    
    
  • The shortlisted entries were open for public voting on Twitter and the finalists were selected by a specialized panel of judges. 
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Every year, cities and towns across India are awarded with the title of 'Swachh Cities' on the basis of their cleanliness and sanitation drive as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that was launched in 2014. 
  • Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) conducted its first survey ‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ survey for ranking 73 cities (Urban Local Bodies), under the ambit of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). 
    
    
  • ‘Swachh Survekshan-2017’ covered 434 cities, ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’ covered 4,203 cities and Swachh Survekshan 2019 has covered. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Swachh Survekshan 2019 covered all Urban Local Bodies in the country (4,237 cities), making it the largest such cleanliness survey in the world. 
  
  
• Top ranked cities received a statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi as award for their work towards cleanliness. 
  
  
• Indore bagged award for cleanest city for third straight year in Swachh Survekshan. Indore has reported a 70% drop in vector-borne ailments in 2019, which is being attributed to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. 
  
  

Recent study published in WHO Bulletin: 

• The study analyses the findings of the National Family Health Survey 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 to compare the coverage of ICDS over a 10-year period. 
  
  
• During this time, the average respondents benefiting from these services increased from 9.6% to 37.9% for supplementary food, 3.2% to 21% for health and nutrition education, 4.5% to 28% for health check-ups and 10.4% to 24.2% for child-specific services over a period of 10 years. 
  
  
• At the same time, the poorest of the poor or quintile 1, who were the largest beneficiaries in 2006, got left behind quintile 2 and quintile 3 by 2016 for all four indicators such as supplementary food, counselling on nutrition, health check-ups and early childhood services. 
  
  
• Also, Mothers without any schooling were the lowest beneficiaries as compared to those with primary and secondary schooling in 2006, and they continued to be so in 2016. 
  
  

About: 

• The Ministry of Environment has amended the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 on March 1, 2019. 
  
  
• The amendment has been done to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound management of hazardous waste in the country. 
  
  

Salient features of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management& Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019: 

1. Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU). 
   
   
2. Exporters of silk waste have been given exemption from requiring permission from the Ministry of Environment. 
   
   
3. Electrical and electronic assemblies and components manufactured in and exported from India, if found defective can now be imported back into the country, within a year of export, without obtaining permission from the Ministry of Environment. 
   
   
4. Industries which do not require consent under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, are now exempted from requiring authorization also under the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016, provided that hazardous and other wastes generated by such industries are handed over to the disposal facilities. 
   
   

About: 

• The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India has held 4 meetings of the PM-STIAC since October 2018 and key national missions emerged from the discussions, which are being driven by the PM-STIAC through the PSA’s office. 
  
  
• Each mission is being led by a lead Ministry and will engage international and national institutional partners, young scientists and industry. 
  
  

List of Nine Science and Technology Missions: 

1. Natural Language Translation: The mission will eventually enable access to teaching and research material bilingually i.e. in English and one’s native Indian language. 
   
   
2. Quantum frontier: This mission aims to initiate work in control of the quantum mechanical systems. 
   
   
3. Artificial intelligence: This mission will focus on efforts that will benefit India in addressing societal needs in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities and infrastructure, including smart mobility and transportation. 
   
   
4. National biodiversity mission: This mission will include a comprehensive documentation of India’s biodiversity with the potential for cataloguing and mapping all lifeforms in India including associated cultural and traditional practices. 
   
   
5. Electric vehicles: This mission is critical for India to reduce fossil fuel consumption and mitigate emissions by making Electric Vehicles (EVs) economically viable and scalable. 
   
   
6. BioScience for Human Health: The primary goal of the mission is to construct comprehensive reference maps of genomes and to understand the dynamics of how exposure to different environments have impact on our bodies. 
   
   
7. Waste to Wealth: The goal of the mission is to identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials and extract worth. 
   
   
8. Deep Ocean Exploration: The purposes of this mission is to scientifically explore the deep oceans towards improving our understanding of the blue frontier. 
   
   
9. AGNIi: This mission aims to support the national efforts to boost the innovation ecosystem in the country by connecting innovators across industry, individuals and the grassroots to the market and helping commercialise innovative solutions. 
   
   

About: 

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) will explore putting up a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites that will identify and track movement of ships globally esp. in the Indian Ocean where France has its Reunion Islands. 
  
  
• Before that, they will initially share data from their present space systems and develop new algorithms to analyse them. 
  
  
• The agreement comes a year after the broad collaboration plan the two governments initiated during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in March 2018. 
  
  

Indo-French space collaboration: 

• The two agencies have earlier put up two climate and ocean weather monitoring satellites Megha-Tropiques (2011) and SARAL-AltiKa (2013) that are considered a model for future space collaborations. 
  
  
• This fleet will be augmented with the launch of Oceansat-3-Argos mission in 2020 along with a joint infrared Earth-observation satellite. 
  
  

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC): 

• It is the India's premier multi-disciplinary nuclear research facility. 
  
  
• Mandate: 
  • Its core mandate is to sustain peaceful applications of nuclear energy, primarily for power generation. 
    
    
  • It manages all facts of nuclear power generation, from theoretical design of reactors to, computerised modelling and simulation, risk analysis, development and testing of new reactor fuel materials, etc. 
    
    
  • It also conducts research in spent fuel processing, and safe disposal of nuclear waste. Its other  research focus areas are applications for isotopes in industries, medicine, agriculture, etc. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Established in: 1954. 
  
  
• Motto: Atoms in the service of the Nation. 
  
  
• Headquarters: Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra. 
  
  
• Parent organisation: Department of Atomic Energy. 
  
  
• Research institutions affiliated to BARC include: IGCAR (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research), RRCAT (Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology), and VECC (Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre).