About:

• Akash is a Surface to Air Missile with a range of 25 Kms. The missile was inducted in 2014 in IAF and in 2015 in Indian Army. Akash is country’s important missile with over 96 percent indigenisation.
  
  
• After its induction in the Services, interest is shown in Akash missile by many friendly countries.
  
  
• The Cabinet approval will facilitate Indian manufactures to participate in RFI/RFP issued by various countries.
  
  
• So far, Indian defence exports included parts/components etc. The export of big platforms was minimal. This initiative of the Cabinet would help the country to improve its defence products and make them globally competitive.
  
  

About:

• The trial was conducted by Indian Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 km from the coast.
  
  
• It reduces the requirement of ships to come close to the coast to collect spares and stores.
  
  
• Two DRDO laboratories i.e. Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam and ADRDE, Agra were involved in the development of SAHAYAK-NG container along the industry partner M/s Avantel for GPS integration.
  
  
• SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk I. The newly developed GPS aided air dropped container is having the capability to carry a payload that weighs upto 50 kg and can be dropped from heavy aircraft.
  
  
• Sahayak-NG has a Satellite-based Reporting Terminal (SBRT), which provides its precise GPS location enabling the ship in distress to pick up critical stores.
  
  

About:

• This change is historic and its implications may be witnessed beyond Argentina, in Latin America at large.
  
  
• Prior to the passing of the bill, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the woman’s health was at serious risk. Activists have been campaigning for years, calling for an overturning of this law that has been in existence since 1921.
  
  
• The bill calls for greater autonomy for women over their own bodies and control of their reproductive rights, and also provides better healthcare for pregnant women and young mothers.
  
  

About:

• This MoU shall enable India and Bhutan to pursue cooperation in potential interest areas, such as remote sensing of the earth; satellite communication and satellite based navigation; Space science and planetary exploration; use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system; and application of space technology.
  
  
• This MoU would lead to set up a Joint Working Group, drawing members from DOS/ISRO and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) of Bhutan, which will further work out the plan of action including the time-frame and the means of implementation.
  
  

ASHA-India

• Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies.
  
  
• Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centers have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support.
  
  
• The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.
  
  

About:

• The Light House Projects (LHPs) showcase the best of new-age alternate global technologies, materials and processes in the construction sector for the first time in the country at such a large scale.
  
  
• They are being constructed under GHTC-India which envisages to provide an ecosystem for adoption of innovative technologies in the housing construction sector in a holistic manner.
  
  
• The LHPs are being constructed at Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
  
  
• They comprise about 1000 houses at each location along with allied infrastructure facilities.
  
  
• These projects will demonstrate and deliver ready to live houses at an expedited pace within twelve months, as compared to conventional brick and mortar construction, and will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.
  
  

About:

• The DFC consists of two arms. The section launched recently is part of the 1,839-km Eastern DFC that starts at Sohnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
  
  
• The other arm is the around 1,500-km Western DFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to JNPT in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
  
  
• The 351-km section stretches between Khurja, the 12th stop after Sohnewal in the North, to New Bhaupur, near Kanpur.
  
  
• There is also a section under construction between Dadri and Khurja to connect the Eastern and Western arms.
  
  
• It is built at a cost of Rs 5,750 crore through a loan from World Bank (which is funding a majority of the EDFC; the WDFC is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency).
  
  

About:

• Anaemia is the condition of having a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells or quantity of haemoglobin.
  
  
• It can make one feel tired, cold, dizzy, irritable and short of breath, among other symptoms.
  
  
• A diet which does not contain enough iron, folic acid or vitamin B12 is a common cause of anaemia.
  
  
• Some other conditions that may lead to anaemia include pregnancy, heavy periods, blood disorders or cancer, inherited disorders and infectious diseases.
  
  

Anaemia in our country:

• In 15 of these 22 states and UTs, more than half the children are anaemic. Similarly, more than 50 per cent women are anaemic in 14 of these states and UTs.
  
  
• The proportion of anaemic children and women is comparatively lower in Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, and higher in Ladakh, Gujarat, J&K, and West Bengal, among others.
  
  

About:

• Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in Gujarat state, located in the western Satpura Range south of the Narmada River.
  
  
• It shares a common boundary with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
  
  

Why are tribal communities protesting against the notification?

• Firstly, as per the provisions of the notification, land falling in the eco-sensitive zone cannot be transferred for non-agricultural use for commercial, industrial or residential purposes. Any land that needs to be transferred can be done so only after approval from the state government.
  
  
• Second, a process has been initiated to include the state government as the co-owner of the land in the 121 villages.
  
  
• Third, they feel that it could dilute the “power” vested with villagers under the Panchayat (Extension of Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, implemented in areas notified under Schedule V of the Constitution.
  
  

About:

• Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
  
  
• It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
  
  
• It facilitates an online interactive web-based environment for data integration, 3D and 4D data visualization, data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features, data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources
  
  
• ‘Digital Ocean’ will help to share knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, academic community, maritime industry and policy makers. Digital Ocean also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
  
  

About:

• The news has sparked renewed interest in Proxima Centauri, one of whose planets is believed to revolve in the star’s habitable zone, giving rise to the possibility that it could have, or does, sustain life.
  
  
• Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Sun – considered a close distance in cosmic terms.
  
  
• Its mass is about an eighth of the Sun’s, and it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth.
  
  

About:

• Embroidery done with metallic threads is called kalabattu and forms the zari.
  
  
• The main zari production centres are Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
  
  

Process:

• Here the metal ingots are melted into metal bars called pasa from which lengths are got by beating it after treatment.
  
  
• This is then pulled through perforated steel plates to make it into wires, followed by the tarkashi process to make it thin with rubber and diamond dies.
  
  
• The last stage is called badla where the wire is flattened and twisted with silk or cotton thread to become kasab or kalabattu.
  
  

About:

• The 351-kilometre New Bhaupur- New Khurja section of EDFC is built at a cost of Rs. 5,750 crore and most of its part passes through Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• The section will decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line and will enable Indian Railways to run faster trains.
  
  
• The agro products of Uttar Pradesh will now reach at a faster speed to other parts of the country and it will increase the export capacity of the state which is a landlocked area and doesn’t have any port to send the items abroad.
  
  

About:

• The Bill has come following the 2019 report on Turkey prepared by the intergovernmental body Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meant to fight money laundering and terror financing.
  
  
• The bill consists of 43 articles and has made changes to seven laws on Turkey’s Law of Associations and is meant to keep Turkey from being blacklisted by the Paris-based watchdog of terror financing.
  
  
• The Bill gives the Turkish government the power to appoint trustees to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to suspend their activities, seize their assets and monitor their sources of funding.
  
  

About:

• Brigadier Mohammad Usman MVC (1912 – 1948) was one of only 18 Brigadiers in the Army at the time of Independence and was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for his gallant action during the 1947-48 war.
  
  
• In January–February 1948 Usman repulsed fierce attacks on Nowshera and Jhangar, both highly strategic locations in Jammu and Kashmir.
  
  
• During the defence of Naushera against overwhelming odds and numbers, Indian forces inflicted around 2000 casualties on the Pakistanis while Indian forces suffered only 150 casualties. His defence earned him the nickname Lion of Naushera.
  
  
• The grave is located on the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus in New Delhi. Brig. Usman’s funeral was done with full state honours and the prayer was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
  
  

About:

• The Kisan Rail train carries vegetables such as cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, drumsticks, chillies, onion, etc, as well as fruits like grapes, oranges, pomegranate, banana, custard apple.
  
  
• The loading and unloading of perishable commodities will be permitted at all en route stoppages and no minimum or maximum size of consignment. The government has extended a subsidy of 50 per cent on transportation of fruits and vegetables.
  
  
• The multi-commodity train service has been popular as it also carries relatively small quantities of produce brought in by small, individual farmers.
  
  

About:

• The paper seeks to estimate trend inflation in India to find the answer to a question that goes to the root of flexible inflation targeting (FIT) – is the choice of the target for inflation consistent with its trend?
  
  
• The 4% target for inflation — with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of 2% — was set by the Centre in consultation with the RBI in 2016 and its validity expires on March 31, 2021.
  
  
• The paper finds a steady decline in trend inflation to 4.1- 4.3% since 2014.
  
  
• A target set too [significantly] below the trend imparts a deflationary bias to monetary policy because it will go into overkill relative to what the economy can intrinsically bear in order to achieve the target, the paper said.
  
  
• Analogously, a target that is fixed above the trend renders monetary policy too expansionary and prone to inflationary shocks and unanchored expectations. Hence, maintaining the inflation target at 4% is appropriate for India.
  
  

About:

• This one card will give integrated access to the commuters wherever they travel, whichever public transport they take.
  
  
• The idea of NCMC was floated by the Nandan Nilekani committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
  
  
• NCMC will allow passengers with RuPay debit card, issued in the last 18 months by 23 banks to be swiped for Metro travel. This facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro network by 2022.
  
  
• NCMC is an automatic fare collection system. It will turn smartphones into an inter-operable transport card that commuters can use eventually to pay for Metro, bus and suburban railways services.
  
  
• It will allow entry and exit from Metro stations with the help of a smartphone, known as the automatic fare collection (AFC) system.
  
  

About:

• NMPB envisages the necessity of connectivity between stakeholders in the supply chain and value chain of Medicinal Plants.
  
  
• NMPB Consortia will address/deliberate (not limited to) on Quality Planting Material, Research & Development, Cultivation, Trade of medicinal plants/market linkage etc.
  
  
• To establish the linkage between the farmers and manufacturers, a ‘Seed to Shelf’ approach is being introduced, wherein, aspects related to Quality Planting Materials (QPM), Good Agriculture Practices (GAP’s), Good Post Harvest Practices (GPHP’s) would be addressed.
  
  
• In the first phase NMPB consortia is proposed for medicinal plant species - Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Pippali (Piper longum), Aonla (Phyllanthus emblica), Guggulu (Commiphora wightii), Satavari (Asparagus racemosus).
  
  

About:

• It has been developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  
  
• SIIPL developed and got the license of the first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from the Government of India during COVID-19 pandemic lock-down.
  
  
• This Indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine will be available in the market under the brand name "Pneumosil" at an affordable price in a single dose (vial and pre-filled syringe) and Multidose (vial) presentations.
  
  
• Pneumosil is effective in the prevention of Pneumonia disease.
  
  

About:

• Sunil Kothari (1933 – 2020) was a noted Indian dance historian, scholar and critic.
  
  
• He was instrumental in establishing the School of Arts and Aesthetics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and mentored many art scholars.
  
  
• Books:
  • He has written 12 books on different forms of Indian classical dance and allied art-forms.
    
    
  • He wrote extensively on Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri dance forms.
    
    
  • His scholarly work, Sattriya: Classical Dance of Assam, helped in creating a better understanding of the dance form in the national and global circuit.
    
    
  • His other notable contributions include New Directions in Indian Dance and Kuchipudi Indian Classical Dance Art.
    
    
  
  
  
• Awards:
  • He received Padma Shri award in 2001. He also received Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1995 for overall contribution to the Indian classical dance.
    
    
  • He was awarded a D.Litt. by the Rabindra Bharti University for his research on dance sculptures in the medieval temples of north Gujarat.
    
    
  
  
  

IMD Advisory:

• To avoid an adverse reaction to the cold wave, the IMD shared a list of recommendations, one of which was avoiding alcohol as it “reduces your body temperature”.
  
  
• According to Health Experts, while alcohol may make you feel warmer, it actually reduces your body temperature and compromises your immunity if you then venture out into the cold.
  
  
• Alcohol can decrease the core temperature of the body and increase the risk of hypothermia during cold exposure.
  
  
• Alcohol is a vasodilator, which means that it causes blood vessels to relax and dilate or open. So after consuming alcohol, the volume of blood brought to the skin’s surface increases, making you feel warmer as a result.
  
  

About:

• The snack food counter called the thermopolium at the Pompeii archaeological park’s Regio V was partially excavated in 2019.
  
  
• It was found complete with an image of a Nereid riding a sea-horse, decorative still-life frescoes, food residues, animals bones and victims who died during the volcanic eruption of 79 CE.
  
  

Significance:

• The find is significant because it shows the variety of food consumed by the residents of the town — traces of pork, fish, snails and beef have been found in the containers of the stall.
  
  
• It is also the first time an entire thermopolium has been excavated, complete with pateras, or bronze drinking bowls, ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups, wine flasks etc.
  
  

About:

• The report, ‘Counting the Cost 2020: A Year of Climate Breakdown’ has been prepared by the UK based non-profit organisation Christian Aid.
  
  
• Though hurricanes in the US and central American countries turned out to be the most expensive ($41 billion), floods in India during June-October period caused the loss of highest number of human lives.
  
  
• In fact, India’s floods, which killed 2,067, caused loss of more human lives than casualties in all other 14 destructive climate disasters put together.
  
  
• Floods in Pakistan which claimed 410 lives figured at second spot followed by the US and central American countries (400 lives lost in hurricanes) at the third position in the list of 15.
  
  
• The cyclone ‘Amphan’, which struck the Bay of Bengal in May, had caused financial losses valued at $13 billion in just a few days in India and Bangladesh and caused loss of 128 human lives.

  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2-of-15-most-destructive-2020-climate-disasters-impacted-india-says-report/articleshow/79984276.cms

  
  
  

About:

• The new species, named Portulaca laljii, discovered from Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh has unique features such as a tuberous root, no hair in its leaf axils, a reddish pink flower, prolate-shaped fruits, and copper brown seeds without lustre.
  
  
• The flowers are very attractive and bloom for months from June to February.
  
  
• The plant bears beautiful, tiny pink flowers for eight months. It is because of the succulent nature of tuberous roots that the plant can survive on rocky crevices.
  
  

About:

• The new National Education Policy (NEP), released in July this year, advocates reducing the number of entrance tests to “eliminate the need for taking coaching for these exams”.
  
  
• There are 40-odd central universities run by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and, collectively, all of them have about 1 to 1.25 lakh seats across different disciplines at the undergraduate level.
  
  
• Of these, currently about 16 central universities, all set up under the UPA-II government, have a common entrance test for Bachelor’s study.
  
  
• If the NEP suggestion is implemented, the National Testing Agency will be tasked to conduct a common aptitude test as well as specialised common exams for different disciplines at least twice a year, for admission to bachelor’s in central universities.
  
  

About:

• Punjab & Sind Bank MD and CEO said these are special types of zero coupon bonds issued by the government after proper due diligence and these are issued at par.
  
  
• Since these bonds are not tradable, the lender has kept them in the Held-To-Maturity (HTM) bucket, not requiring it to book any mark-to-market gains or losses from these bonds.
  
  
• Though these will earn no interest for the subscriber, market participants term it both a ‘financial illusion’ and ‘great innovation’ by the government where it is using Rs 100 to create an impact of Rs 200 in the economy.
  
  
• Unlike the previous tranches of recapitalisation bonds which carried interest and were sold to different banks, these “non-interest bearing, non-transferable special GOI securities” have a maturity of 10-15 years and issued specifically to Punjab & Sind Bank.
  
  

About:

• The giant iceberg A68, the biggest block of free-floating ice from Antarctica with an area of about 5,800 sq. km, has been drifting in the Atlantic Ocean since 2017.
  
  
• This year, due to an ocean current, the iceberg was propelled into the South Atlantic Ocean and since then it has been drifting towards the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, which is a British Overseas Territory (BOT).
  
  
• This has prompted fears about the impact the iceberg could have on the island’s abundant wildlife.
  
  
• Icebergs travel with ocean currents and either get caught up in shallow waters or ground themselves.
  
  
• Recently, US National Ice Center (USNIC) confirmed that two new icebergs calved from A68a and were large enough to be named and tracked. They are called A68E and A68F.
  
  

Who can summon a session of the Assembly?

• According to Article 174 of the Constitution “The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit” .
  
  
• The provision also puts on the Governor the responsibility of ensuring that the House is summoned at least once every six months.
  
  
• Although it is the Governor’s prerogative to summon the House, according to Article 163, the Governor is required to act on the “aid and advice” of the Cabinet.
  
  
• So when the Governor summons the House under Article 174, this is not of his or her own will but on the aid and advice of the Cabinet.
  
  

About:

• On December 16, outgoing President Donald Trump, issued the “National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion”.
  
  
• Under it, he asked Nasa to “initiate fission surface power project for lunar surface demonstration by 2027 with scalability to a power range of 40 kilowatt-electric and higher to support a sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars”.
  
  
• NASA aims to establish a flight hardware system that is ready for integrating with the lunar lander by 2026-end. The fission power system — as the nuclear reactor is called — will benefit future robotic and human exploration missions to the moon as well as Mars.
  
  
• The availability of safe, efficient, and readily available power is critical to these missions and a fission surface power system meets those requirements.
  
  
• The fission surface power system will be fully manufactured and assembled on earth and integrated on a lander as a payload.
  
  
• The system — consisting of four major subsystems including a nuclear reactor, an electric power conversion unit, heat rejection array, and power management and distribution subsystem — will be designed to operate for up to 10 years.
  
  

About:

• The art of making Monpa handmade paper originated over 1000 years ago. Gradually the art became an integral part of local custom and culture in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
  
  
• Once produced in every household in Tawang, this handmade paper was a major source of livelihood for the locals.
  
  
• The fine-textured handmade paper, which is called Mon Shugu in the local dialect, is integral to the vibrant culture of the local tribes in Tawang.
  
  
• The paper has great historic and religious significance as it is the paper used for writing Buddhist scriptures and hymns in monasteries.
  
  
• The Monpa handmade paper, will be made from the bark of a local tree called Shugu Sheng, which has medicinal values too.
  
  

About:

• Marathwada Rail Coach Factory is going to contribute in overall development of this region of Maharashtra.
  
  
• This factory has been designed with an initial capacity of manufacturing 250 MEMU / EMU / LHB / trainset type advanced coaches per annum.
  
  
• A 5 km long rail connectivity has been provided for movement of coaches from the factory to a new electronically interlocked Harangul railway station, which earlier used to be only a halt station.
  
  

About:

• Namghars (literally meaning Prayer House) are places for congregational worship associated with the entire Assamese community and the Ekasarana sect of Hinduism, in particular, that is native to Assam.
  
  
• Besides forming the primary structure used for worship, they also function as meeting houses for congregations, as well as theatres for dramatic performances (bhaona).
  
  
• The Namghar, also called the kirtanghar, is also the central structure in the Sattras (monasteries of the Ekasarana religion) where the other buildings are positioned around it.
  
  
• Namghars were introduced in Assam by the Vaishnavite saints Damodaradeva, Madhavadeva and Sankaradeva for Assamese people where they can culture and practice naam (devotional songs) and Bhakti of God (devotion).
  
  

About:

• The scheme will provide a financial cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family for in-patient care and surgical procedures.
  
  
• Getting free treatment of up to 5 lakh rupees under this scheme would improve the ease of living. Right now about 6 lakh families of the state are getting the benefit of Ayushman Bharat Scheme. All 21 lakh families will get the same benefit after the SEHAT scheme.
  
  
• Another benefit of this scheme would be that treatment is not limited to government and private hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir only. Rather, treatment can be availed from thousands of hospitals empanelled under this scheme in the country.
  
  

About:

• He inaugurated the e-office and Thoubal Multipurpose Project (Thoubal Dam) in Imphal through virtual mode which will irrigate 35,104 hectares.
  
  
• He also laid the foundation stone of projects, including the Churachandpur Medical College, IT-SEZ at Mantripukhri, Manipur Bhawan in New Delhi and the Integrated Command and Control Center at Imphal.
  
  
• Shri Shah said earlier projects were abandoned after performing ground-breaking ceremonies and work is now being done under the leadership of Modi ji, to inaugurate all projects whose foundation stones were laid by previous governments.
  
  

About:

• Arya won as councillor from Mudavanmukal ward of Thiruvananthapuram corporation at the 2020 Kerala local body elections at the age of 21 and was appointed as the mayor of the corporation which made her the youngest mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
  
  
• The Guinness world record for the youngest Mayor is now held by Michael Sessions, who became Mayor of Hillsdale in the USA at the age of 18 years in 2005.
  
  
• In India, Suman Koli who became the Mayor of Bharatpur in Rajasthan at 21 years in 2009 is one of the youngest.